Mnemic - The Audio Injected Soul

Band: Mnemic

Album: The Audio Injected Soul

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Release: 2004

Length: 45 minutes

Tracks: 11

Country of Origin: Denmark

                             

I briefly mentioned Mnemic in my previous review on Soilwork’s masterpiece “Figure Number Five” so I felt the need to make my next review all about them, since they are sometimes left out of the list of great melodic death metal bands, and I feel that needs to be corrected.

Mnemic is a Danish Melodeath band founded in the early nineties, but didn’t get their full debut album, Mechanical Spin Phenomena, released until late 2003.  A year later, the band released this, their second album and last with singer Michael Bøgballe, whom I will from now on refer to as Michael because Bøgballe is a pain to continuously copy-and-paste and I frankly am not sure how to even pronounce his name correctly.  After this album, Michael left the band and went on to sing with lesser-known hard rock band Smaxone, whom I recommend to anyone that likes any hard rock, particularly their song “Go Back.”  New singer Guillaume Bideau joined Mnemic not long after and has so far sung on three full albums for the band, including their latest release earlier this year.  It is a common debate with fans of bands that are in Mnemic’s position about who is the best Mnemic singer.  I myself came into Mnemic after Michael had already left and went back after getting more into them to see what they used to sound like, and honestly, not much is different.  Michael and Bideau have very similar singing styles but they are different enough that it is easy to tell one from another, unlike Scar Symmetry who lost Christian Alvestam and replaced him with two singers that sound exactly like him (even though I am a giant fan of the band to this day, I must be honest).  The real difference lies in how experienced one they sound.  When I first listened to Passenger (an album with Bideau singing), I could’ve sworn that the band was relatively new, since the singer sounded like he was new to the scream & clean combo that is a staple of the genre.  When I go back to MSP, the actual debut for both Mnemic and Michael, Michael makes it sound like he had been doing this for many years, that it comes natural for him, kind of like Anders in In Flames.  So when I am asked the question as to what Mnemic is the best, it is a hard decision but I usually go for Michael-era Mnemic, just for the intensity and natural feel of MSP, and to a lesser degree, this album.

Enough about Michael, the real consistency Mnemic had through all of their albums lied in the stings of the dual guitarists, Rune and Mircea.  These two RULED the stages they played and the albums they played on, ensuring no song went without significant contribution from their end.  This is why I am also not much a fan of their latest release, the first without Rune.  Even though a new guitarist, Victor, took his place, it just didn’t have the same feel as the two men who started and built the band from nothing, most of the beats relied on Bideau and the new Bassist, Simone.  If you haven’t noticed, I have been dancing around the issue a bit, and that is the fact that this album fell from the heights Mnemic set with MSP.

I do enjoy this album, very much in fact, but differently than any other Mnemic album because it seems that Michael changed from a Melodeath man to an entirely different type of monster, one that combined bits of Mushroomhead, Ill Nino, and L.D. 50-era Mudvayne to create the new Mnemic sound.  This is very apparent on the songs “Sane VS Normal,” “Illuminate” and “Overdose in the Hall of Fame.”  In these, Michael will switch between the deep growl-type speaking reminiscent of some Mushroomhead songs, the clear singing which sounds exactly like a lot of Ill Nino’s hits and the screaming of Mudvayne, particularly that found in “Dig” and “Severed.”  In the previous album, and particularly their single “Ghost,” Michael had his own sound that I honestly cannot compare because itr is so different and so styalistically his it would be ignorant to try to compare it to anything outside of Melodeath bands who built their sound on MSP.  Michael also strangely focused on the clean parts of his singing for this album as well, a stark contrast to the scream-focused singing in MSP and most of Mnemic’s work to follow.  In essence, this seemed like a straight commercial release, one that followed on the coattails of successful Melodeath bands who were changing their ways like Soilwork and In Flames, who went more Melodic a couple years prior.  There are enjoyable parts of this album though, especially since this is the first album in the WORLD (yes, this is a true fact) to be recorded using Bonaural recording technology, which makes the listener actually feel as though the sound is coming from all around them when listening to it through speakers, stereos or headphones instead of from just one or two sources.  They only used this on two tracks, “The Audio Injection” and “Deathbox,” but it really is a fantastic experience and makes the tracks even more explosive when pumped up to 11.  For those fans of Duran Duran, first: why are you here? And second: they have an obligatory inclusion of a cover version of Wild Boys, which is very well done and I believe surpasses the original, but then again, we are talking about comparing Mnemic and Duran Duran.  A little difficult to compare.  Other enjoyable tracks include “Dreamstate Emergency” (my favorite), “Door 2.12” and “Mindsaver,” all of which encapsulate their new sound very well, which may be a plus or minus for you, depending on what you are looking for.

All in all, The Audio Injected Soul is a very good album, however it has its downisdes and I cannot honestly say that Mnemic progressed when releasing this only a year after MSP, which I consider to be their best album to date.  This does explain a little as to why Michael now sings for a hard rock band instead of a Melodeath band, but I will still miss his distincting yelling and screaming yelps found in most of the Mnemic songs he sang on.

My Rating: 3.9/5

Review by Diesel

Omega Point - TV (Single)

Artist:  Omega Point
Single:  TV
Genre:  Psychedelic
Release Date: August 2012
Length: 4:38
Country of Origin:  Canada

I have a confession to make:
Normally, I avoid singles like the plague.  This is because, in my mind, an artist doesn't appear to be taking their music very seriously until they put out an album or an EP, and if an artist isn't taking their own music seriously, why should I take their music seriously?  

From time to time, however, I'll find singles like Omega Point's TV, which is the antithesis to my normal disdain for singles.  The story behind this single is very peculiar.  The video that accompanies this song originally went to the song "The Music Scene" by Blockhead.  Upon viewing that video, Omega Point felt that "The Music Scene" didn't do the video justice, and decided to record his own song for this stunning work of animation.

The results speak for themselves, people.  (Get it?  That's a pun, because this is an instrumental.)  This eery sonic masterpiece fits very well with the video, and the combination of the two will leave you awestruck.  The purposeful synchronicity of the music with this animation is absolutely perfect, and the psychedelic properties of both will leave you wanting to drop some acid, smoke some weed, and watch it again.

And that's not even the best part - I found this video when Omega Point posted it on one of my favorite chan sites, and after a brief discussion with him, he gave me permission to distribute this single for free (download link below).  

This dude is awesome.  I'm anxiously awaiting an album or EP, and I hope all of you can enjoy this as much as I did.

My Rating - 5/5, DOWNLOAD THIS SHIT NOW!


Thanks again to Omega Point for providing this excellent work of art for free.
http://www.mediafire.com/?gzoy233af4zahlr

Review by Ishmael

Voltera - The Birth of the End of the World

Band: Voltera

Album: The Birth of the End of the World

Genre: Industrial Metal

Release: 2010

Length: 54 minutes

Tracks: 13

Country of Origin: Australia

First of all, I would like to give some mad props to Tony Hawk's Project 8 for introducing me to this band. In retrospect, a lot of the games in that series always seem to have amazing soundtracks. Especially THUG2. Damn. Anyway, I figured I'd give Voltera's second release a review. First of all I'd like to point out that this band is heavily underrated, however, they're not that well-known, but definitely should be.

This is probably one of the darkest industrial albums with a female singer that I have heard since The Birthday Massacre released 'Violet' back in 2004.Not only does Voltera's singer Jessica have an amazing clean voice, her growls can almost instantly give you the chills, especially after the twist in the opening track. The opening track, "Do What Your Daddy Say" was originally on their debut EP, 'Exorsister,' but was the only one reworked for this release. (I honestly wish they would've reworked 'Saints and Ladders' for this album as well... Love that song.) Anyways, "Do What Your Daddy Say" starts off with a repeating drumroll, followed by a higher octave bass, low clean guitar, clean vocals, and some percussion, but in the matter of 23 seconds the illusion breaks off into a heavy chorus with distorted guitars and Jessica's signature growls. This immediately sets a tone for the rest of the album, always having a rapid yet smooth transition between clean vocals and growls, but it all flows really well.

Songs like "It Beats For You," "Pyramids of Mexico," "Exorsister," "Perpetual Motion," and "Psychopathia Sexualis" really set quite an experimental industrial tone, with enough synth layered in it that it could potentially kick your fucking teeth in. At the same time, there are some songs that match quite a dark, haunting tone that even when teamed with some clean vocals, they could still give you some serious chills. "Death of Innocence" contains the lyrics as being portrayed from a child: "Mommy, I don't want to be a skeleton, Mommy, I don't want to die." If that's not dark enough for you then you most likely need to get your head checked. The ending track "Captain" is probably the most chill-inducing one of them all, especially because the sound of that piano throughout the song is incredibly spooky.

Also it seems that every album I've reviewed thus far has an instrumental on it. The instrumental on this album is called "11:11," wherein the time matches the song, and my God, it may not be Maggot Brain or an incredibly long solo track, but it is definitely one of the most experimental pieces I will gladly listen to in one sitting, even repeatedly. (Note that I said repeatedly. I still think 'Delirium Cordia' by Fantomas is one of the craziest fucking things I've ever heard, much respect, but I'm not going to listen to some 75-minute instrumental on repeat.) The song is constantly changing within itself, and every following step that it takes does exactly what the rest of the album has done. It gives you chills. Although it ends abruptly with the sound of an alarm clock, it's a pretty solid intro into the next track "Rocking Horse." With that, I'd like to say I have to give some respect for these guys using a sax rather awesomely, both in "Rocking Horse" and in "Knees," which I believe are the only songs from this album with a music video.

In short, I love this album from start to finish, it's dark, foreboding, haunting, sometimes very fast-paced, and essentially one hell of a ride. I personally recommend the shit out of it to all industrial fans and experimental fans. They have all of their songs from this release on available for streaming on their ReverbNation page.

Voltera on ReverbNation

Voltera on Facebook

Overall Rating: 5/5

Review by Paradox

Soilwork - Figure Number Five

Band: Soilwork
Album: Figure Number Five
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Release: 2003
Length: 40 minutes
Tracks: 11
Country of Origin: Sweden

This band. This FUCKING band.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Soilwork, easily one of the best Melodic Death Metal bands out there and one of the few that consistently churn out fantastic albums, others in that boat being Scar Symmetry, Mnemic and In Flames… Sorry, In FUCKING Flames.  Soilwork started back in the 1990s, during the beginnings of what is now referred to as Melodic Death Metal, or Melodeath, after bands such as Dark Tranquility and In Flames led the way.  Ever since their first album, they’ve been labeled as one of the most definitive bands in the genre, and one of the few who consistently experiment with different styles in each of their albums.  Soilwork is one of my personal favorite bands for their consistency in creating great albums and songs and the fact that they have not slowed down one bit since they have started, in fact their most recent album has some of the heaviest stuff they’ve ever released.

This is Figure Number Five, appropriately named since it is their fifth studio album to date, released at a time when Melodeath as music, not just in Soilwork, began changing and becoming more Melodic than Death, a transition which I personally approve.  The album, as does the rest of Soilwork’s discography, revolves around the singer Bjorn “Speed” Strid.  American metal listeners not attuned to the Swedish scene may have heard him on the song Collapsing by Demon Hunter, which is probably the closest he got to a mainstream hit in the United States.   His singing is split into two types, harsh and clean, and he mixes between the two styles almost seamlessly within each song, a talent which lends greatly to metalheads listening to the album who will be headbanging and thrashing around before and after the chorus and then will proceed to jump and sing during the choruses themselves.  This lends to a great concert experience, and I personally suggest to ANY metalhead to go and see a Melodeath show for those reasons.  The guitarist, Peter Wichers, who would sadly leave the band following the next release, pumps up the album with his chugging guitars which just seem to rip straight into you with every strum and it just feels better and better the more you listen and the drummer does some of the best drumming I've heard in a while, however it is largely kept in the background and he doesn't really get the solo he deserves.

The album starts out explosively with the mindlessly catchy song “Rejection Role” which seems to come straight out of nothing (heh) and slap you in the face if you are not ready for the ride Figure Number Five is about to present you.  It is a fantastic song and when the song calms down briefly near the two-thirds mark of the track, Speed’s clean vocals are the perfect match for the calm intensity.  “Overload” does exactly what you’d expect and is much heavier than the previous track, so it will appeal to those who feel that “Rejection Role” was not fast and heavy enough.  But it’s okay, because you’re not gonna think that.  “Brickwalker” is one of the most interesting songs on the tracks because it sounds like a Five Finger Death Punch song written and performed by In Flames, and shows the obvious influence big brother Flames has on Soilwork, even this far in their career.  The two actually collaborate together often, as seen in the music video for “Rejection Role,” where In Flames shows up to mock and taunt Soilwork, an action Soilwork repays to In Flames in their video for “Trigger.” More of my favorites on the album include “Cranking the Sirens,” “The Mindmaker,” and “Distortion Sleep”, all mixing the great formula that Soilwork has devised for this album.  The album even has a ballad-type song, “Departure Plan,” which honestly throws you off a tad, particularly after finishing the heaviest song in the track which I will next present, but it speeds up a bit and is a great song for those looking for a strange type of slow song.  And trust me, Melodeath bands produce some of the hardest ballads I’ve ever heard.  The heaviest track on the album is by far “Light the Torch,” complete with distorted screams and chugging perfect for punching a fucker’s face in the pit or at work or, well, anywhere really.  That song will make you want to kill things.  And its GLORIOUS.

Easily one of the best albums in the genre.  If you’re looking into the genre, I would highly suggest this album as one of your first, however it may set the bar a little too high for other Melodeath albums you listen to I the future.

Here's Soilwork being awesome.  Thank me later.

My Rating: 5/5

Review by Diesel

Cacophony - Go Off!

Band: Cacophony
Album: Go Off!
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release: 1988
Length: 40 minutes
Tracks: 8
Country of Origin: United States

I've already done an introduction to Cacophony in my last post, so I'll just get right to the album. This one's gonna be a bit shorter.

Let me start off by saying that in this album, I can actually stand Peter Marrino's vocals a bit more than that of Speed Metal Symphony. The major difference between this one and Speed Metal Symphony is that SMS never stopped shredding. It seems for this one that it takes up until the introduction of the first instrumental on the album, the title track, 'Go Off!' to actually cue in some work that's nearly nothing but shred. I'm not saying the guitar work on this album is mediocre, because it's not at all. It contains quite a bit more moments with a neo-classical sound, most prominent in 'Images' but also shows up in the tracks 'E.S.P.' and 'Floating World.' The bass on this album is more prominent than it was in Speed Metal Symphony.

I will say that the most prominent shred track on this album would have to be the instrumental track, 'Go Off!' but Cacophony still managed to put out a hell of an album, just like they did with Speed Metal Symphony. This time it seemed that they were acting more as a band than focusing on two amazing shredders. Which, as I said, is in no negative context towards Cacophony, it's just easier to see that Speed Metal Symphony had much more complex guitar work. Again, I dearly wish that Jason Becker would recover from his ALS and Cacophony would release another album, but we can only hope.

Here's the title track:

Overall rating: 4.75/5

Review by Paradox

Mastodon - Leviathan

Band: Mastodon
Album: Leviathan
Genre: Sludge Metal/Progressive Metal
Release Date: August 2004
Length: 47 minutes
Tracks: 10
Country of Origin: United States

It's fucking heavy, and I like that.
It's based loosely one of my favorite books, Moby Dick, and I like that.
It gives me seasickness, and I fuckin' like that.

This album is a very sludge-influenced album with such a progressive twist.  With it's fairly quick pace that seems to roll very choppily, yet regularly, it makes you feel like you're on a ship out at sea.  Nowhere is that more apparent than in their 13 minute opus, Hearts Alive.  I feel like I'm aboard a ship that is beginning to ride out into a hurricane, makes it to the eye, rides through to the other side, and finally out to peaceful waters.  

Listening to that behind my wall of speakers at very high volume, it did a great job of using the different channels to induce some symptoms of seasickness.  These guys wanted you to feel like shit to convey the ideas they were pouring into this album.  The subtly tuned bass produces some very discordant noises which are designed to make you feel uneasy.  This album is not just music, it's a fucking journey.

You can experience, through this album, the feelings of 19th century whalers - their fear, awe of the vast oceans, the raw brutality of hunting the world's largest living creatures for slaughter.  Few albums convey this kind of intensity.  This album will probably be a hallmark of both Sludge and Progressive metal for decades, and rightly so.  With it's very technical guitar work and very rhythmic bass lines, fans of both of these genres will be pleased.  The vocals only further seal the intensity of the emotions, making you feel as if you are coming down with sea madness.

And then they fucking turn the ship around.  With the closing track, Joseph Merrick, they play you the tale of a 19th century tragedy - the elephant man.  If I were a prissy bitch, I'd call it an emotional roller-coaster, but I'm not a prissy bitch.  Instead, I'll tell you that this song is a fucking train-wreck of emotions.  This train was hauling thousands of gallons of pity and sorrow, and now that it's crashed, it filled the sea with despair.  You can almost hear the people calling you a freak.  All of this, and there is not a single lyric in this three-and-a-half minute song.

I really can't say that there's any reason why any fan of Sludge or Progressive shouldn't have a copy of this album.  The fusion of these two genres is like a good marriage - they don't happen often, but you're happy when you see one that does.  If you don't have a copy, go out now and get one.

My Rating: 5/5

Mastodon Website
http://www.mastodonrocks.com/

Leviathan, Full Album on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sulY3bixDxI






Review by Ishamael

Cacophony - Speed Metal Symphony

Band: Cacophony
Album: Speed Metal Symphony
Genre: Heavy Metal

Release: June (?) 1987
Length: 45 minutes
Tracks: 7
Country of Origin: United States

I'm going to be reviewing both of Cacophony's albums, Speed Metal Symphony and Go Off! because I feel for any musician, these albums should very highly be praised by musicianship. The shred work on this one especially is amazing. So on that note, I'm going to make my point clear that I'm not really going to focus on much else here aside from the guitar work. The drums are alright, but that's not what this review is here for. The bass is almost not really there because the guitar's the majority of what you want to focus on here. And lastly, I'm not going to focus on Peter Marrino's vocals at all, because they aren't very memorable. This album should be noted for its intense guitar work, as the names of the most important assets to Cacophony are in the band's header, Marty Friedman and Jason Becker.

I'd assume most metal fans would recognize the name Marty Friedman (if you were to ever read liner notes) as the lead guitarist from Megadeth who participated in all releases from 1990's 'Rust in Peace,' to 1999's 'Risk.' This album would be recorded years before his 9-year stint with Megadeth. However, not too many people recognize the name Jason Becker, as he has long been dormant from the music scene making any new material since 1995's 'Perspective,' an album which astoundingly he recorded after being struck with ALS, a disease that would nearly completely paralyze him.

Anyway, onto the album. Like I said, my only focus here is on the work supplied by Marty Friedman and Jason Becker. The shredding on here is simply amazing and I highly suggest that every guitarist should listen to this album multiple times throughout their life. I'm not kidding, if you play guitar, go out and get yourself a copy of this album right now. There are two instrumentals on this album, 'Concerto' and 'Speed Metal Symphony' but as far as I'm concerned this entire album could just be instrumental and still be nothing less than incredible. As I said, Peter Marrino's vocal work isn't really all that memorable, I'm just here for the guitars. 'Concerto' is more than likely my favorite off the album because the seemingly 'dueling' guitar work throughout it is absolutely astounding. It's a four minute, thirty-seven second instrumental piece that nearly takes my breath away every time I listen to it. And that's not to say that I have anything against other tracks on this album, as I don't. In fact, I'm listening to the whole album as I'm posting and I just got done finishing 'Burn the Ground,' which is track #5 and the guitar solos throughout that entire song could possibly bring the dead back to life. The entire album is done in a 1980s heavy metal style, as it should be, yet it contains some neo-classical influence, as portrayed in the third track, 'The Ninja', which is most likely my second favorite off of the album. The opening clean guitar portion is beautiful, and it never ceases to be amazing throughout the rest of the song. The final track, 'Speed Metal Symphony' is an amazing closer to an already amazing album. 30 seconds short of being a 10 minute instrumental, yet every second has some insane work put into it.

This album has really opened my eyes personally as a guitarist into much greater things, and I honestly can not say a bad thing about this album. Every second is amazing, yet I just wish that Cacophony's stint wasn't so short. If Jason Becker would ever recover (which sadly most likely is near impossible), him and Marty Friedman should definitely look into another amazing creation like this, because this was absolutely astounding.

Overall Rating: 5/5

Here's 'Concerto,' my overall favorite piece from the album:

Review by Paradox