Fortress is the sophomore effort of the Miniature Tigers. Produced by the Morning Benders' Chris Chu, Fortress, or F O R T R E S S as it is meant to be, finds the Miniature Tigers in their comfort zone, combining catchy and upbeat rhythms with technical and pitchy melodies that hold together quite well. Also track 4 is a collaboration with Neon Indian, and it rocks. Great album.

Check: 3,4,6,8

RIYL: Early Of Montreal, Ruby Suns, More Conventional Animal Collective (Sung Tung era.)

4/5

Cathedral – The Guessing Game

Release Date: 2010Mar26 (US)

Label: Nuclear Blast

Rating: 2.5/5

It has been about 20 years now since Lee Dorrian last grunted at the helm of Napalm Death. In those 20 years, the man’s career has changed almost as drastically as possible. Once he departed the grindcore legends, he decided to stop making one-minute blasts of power and move into the slow-moving doom business by releasingCathedral‘s debut album, Forest of Equilibrium. The downtuned, crushing riffs on that record will forever hold a special place in my heart. It’s truly a wonderful album. My big question, however, is: “what the hell happened?”

Despite Dorrian doing an occasional awesome project (“Ice Cold Man” for the Probot album and Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine come to mind), what he has done with Cathedral has not impressed me one bit. He does not have the touch he used to. In those early days with the band, his vocals consisted mainly of deep, grunty croons. Nowadays, it sounds like he is trying to be a heavier Bob Dylan with the way he emphasizes words. The issue is that Dylan is the only person who can make his voice work. This style is still prominent on The Guessing Game, and it seriously detracts from the album.

The band has some moments, like the miniature, Sabbath-y jam on “Edwige’s Eyes” or the short, uneventful but exciting intro that is “Immaculate Misconception”. However, these are few and far between. I don’t know who’s doing most of the writing in these songs, but they’re full of the kind of riffs that people write when they’ve been playing an instrument for about a year and only know basic scales and chord progressions. I don’t get the sense that any real thought went into writing these songs––they just come off as sloppy and thrown together. The clearest example is “Death of an Anarchist”, which features one of the least creative, most unoriginal minor key riffs I’ve ever heard. In stark contrast, the first half of “Requiem for the Voiceless” returns to the classic Cathedral style with slow-churning, deep doom. It is the one song on the whole album that works tremendously well.

I give this album a 2.5 because it can at least be entertaining. It is not complete crap and can work if you accept Dorrian’s voice and don’t take it from any analytical point of view. Just do not expect anything remotely revolutionary and enjoy it for what it is:  Cathedral, no more, no less.

FCC: 2

Try: 2, 6, 9, 12

01. Immaculate Misconception

02. Funeral of Dreams

03. Painting in the Dark

04. Death of an Anarachist

05. The Guessing Game

06. Edwige’s Eyes

07. Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine

08. One Dimensional People

09. Casket Chasers

10. La Noche del Buque Maldito (aka Ghost Ship of the Blind Dead)

11. The Running Man

12. Requiem for the Voiceless

13. Journey into Jade

Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare

Release Date: 2010Jul27 (US)

Label: Warner Bros.

Rating: 3/5

Well folks, here it is. Likely to be the best-selling metal album of the year, Avenged Sevenfold‘s new record,Nightmare, has dropped. Before even listening to it, my thoughts were already difficult to explain. City of Evil was my first metal album and it was one that I truly adored. I’m not gonna lie that it’s still a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but once that self-titled album came out, I moved deeper into the vast ocean of metal. Now, three years later, and some incredibly life-changing years they’ve been, I get the opportunity to write to you how I feel about their new LP. Then there’s also the added factor that drummer James “The Rev” Sullivan (R.I.P.) is gone and Mr. Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater has stepped in. That threw quite a curveball at me.

If A7X have one thing going for them, it is that their sound is unmistakably theirs. Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates have arguably as solid chemistry as Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) or Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson (Thin Lizzy). The first time I heard the single “Nightmare” on the radio, I knew that no one else could possibly be playing that; I can’t say that about many other bands today. But they need to get rid of the cheesiness, because “It’s your fucking nightmare” might be one of the worst lines I have heard all year.

Mike Portnoy’s drumming fits into the bands formula very well. He and The Rev have always had similar styles, and this is especially evident here. However, Portnoy still maintains his instantly recognizable style. “Welcome to the Family” begins with a drum fill much like the one that opens up “Honor Thy Father” from the Dream Theater album “Train of Thought”. I doubt that Portnoy had much influence on the writing process, but he does, albeit to a small extent, breathe new life into the band.

Unfortunately, Avenged Sevenfold have fallen too far into balladry:  four of the eleven tracks, and they are not even very good. “Buried Alive” uses the “Metallica” formula, “So Far Away” sounds like a bad country western song, “Tonight the World Dies” rips on “Creep” by Stone Temple Pilots, and “Fiction” features a vocal technique which, as described by Longo, sounds as though M. Shadows is “chewing his face off.” That vocal style, might I add, is actually the worst singing I have ever heard; only masochists and raging fanboys apply.

Interestingly, A7X appear to be getting both heavier and softer simultaneously. Throughout Nightmare, you’ll find the occasional breakdown, while at the same time other songs sound almost like they could be done by The Fray. Clearly, the band is better at writing heavy stuff. For this reason, they need to just stick with what they know, because nothing tears a band apart more than indecision. Though Nightmare is a step up from their last album and may sell lots of copies, they are ultimately doomed for failure if they do not make up their minds.

FCC: 1, 7

Try: 2, 5, 9, 11

01. Nightmare

02. Welcome to the Family

03. Danger Line

04. Buried Alive

05. Natural Born Killer

06. So Far Away

07. God Hates Us

08. Victim

09. Tonight the World Dies

10. Fiction

11. Save Me

Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier

Release Date: 17Aug2010 (US)

Label: Universal

Rating: 5/5

Any diehard Iron Maiden fan reading this now understands the painful anticipation of this album. The first hinted release date was possibly 2008, but that whole Somewhere Back in Time world tour kind of got in the way. Then we all thought “okay, 2009 for sure” …look at how that turned out. Finally, after the longest break between Iron Maidenalbums in their career, The Final Frontier has hit the streets. I have not been this pumped for an album in a long time.

I tried to hate this album. I really really did. Every fanboyish compulsion told me “this is the greatest thing ever.” In my search for holes in Maiden‘s songwriting, production, and just overall execution, I ended up with nothing. I will admit that the last few albums had their issues (some more than others) but The Final Frontier is virtually flawless. That’s right, I said it:  flawless.

The most fascinating thing Iron Maiden have done is hit a second crest in their career. The Final Frontier is to today’s band what Powerslave and Somewhere in Time were to the group in the ’80s. In a nutshell, I would describe it as 1/4 Brave New World, 1/4 Dance of Death, 1/4 A Matter of Life and Death, and 1/4 brand-spanking-new. “Satellite 15″ is the first sign of change, with a spacey, Dream Theater-meets-Pink Floyd intro. Its combination of bass-synth ambience, screaming guitar, and pounding drums certainly starts with the sense of going into space. It leads perfectly into the title track, which has, despite some issues I had upon initial listening, already reached the point of giving me goosebumps.

The rest of the record falters not once throughout the entirety of its 76 minutes––these songs are top notch. “El Dorado” showcases the band’s signature use of gallops, “Coming Home” is the best ballad they’ve written this millennium, and “The Alchemist” is a Dickinson-ized version of “Man on the Edge”. The first half’s tracks also offer something for fans with a shorter attention span, while the second half sees the band expanding into the progressive, 7-plus minute tracks that have become a staple of Maiden albums as of late. Of these five songs, the best would certainly be “The Talisman” and “When the Wild Wind Blows”. The former starts off with a gorgeous acoustic 12-string arrangement reminiscent of the last album’s closer, “The Legacy”. The latter comes in as the band’s third longest song to date and succeeds as the album’s climax.

Iron Maiden are peaking just as high––if not higher––than they did in their heyday. Each album for the last ten years has been a cut above the last, a feat rarely achieved by a band of their age. The Final Frontiercertainly doesn’t stop this trend and should remain a classic for years to come.

FCC OK

Try 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10

01. Satellite 15… The Final Frontier

02. El Dorado

03. Mother of Mercy

04. Coming Home

05. The Alchemist

06. Isle of Avalon

07. Starblind

08. The Talisman

09. The Man Who Would Be King

10. When the Wild Wind Blows

Decrepit Birth – Polarity

Release Date: 27Jul2010 (US)

Label: Nuclear Blast

Rating: 4/5

Decrepit Birth‘s third studio album begins with a melodic guitar arrangement almost reminiscent of  The Fucking Champs. The similarities, as you might expect, stop there. The band waste no time whipping out Schuldiner-esque riffs and guttural growls. The sound in general is still pretty much what you have grown to expect from Decrepit Birth––a modernized version of later Death material––butPolarity sees the band in their best form yet.

In contrast to other bands of the tech death genre,Decrepit Birth does not shoot for angularity. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. The riffs and melodies you find in their songs flow together seamlessly and, despite the high level of musical ability, never seem to get overly complex or too much for the human mind to handle. For those of you who only know their 2003 debut, …And Time Begins, things have changed quite a bit since then. No longer are they meddling with creating the heaviest sound possible. Polarity showcases a near-perfect blend of melody, brutality, and technicality.

Unfortunately, the sound can be a bit unoriginal at times. Whenever Sotelo plays a solo, I think to myself“is Chuck Schuldiner still alive?” On the plus side, Chuck’s axe-wielding abilities were most virtuosic and worthy of worship,  but on the minus side, it brings little new to the table; I may as well go listen to The Sound of Perseverance. Decrepit Birth have yet to achieve Death‘s high quality, and I am not sure they can reach that level.

On its own merits, Polarity demonstrates just how good and––dare I say––listenable technical death metal can be. Where genre-mates like Necrophagist and Brain Drill stray as far from consonance in order to be as insane as possible, Decrepit Birth have realized how to harmonize opposites.

FCC OK

Try 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11

01. (A Departure of the Sun) Ignite the Tesla Coil

02. Metatron

03. The Resonance

04. Polarity

05. Solar Impulse

06. Mirroring Dimensions

07. A Brief Odyssey in Time

08. The Quickening of Time

09. Sea of Memories

10. Symbiosis

11. Darkness Embrace