Mastodon – Blood Mountain

Review# 249

Blood Mountain strikes just the right balance between Heavy Metal and Prog. There is still still a healthy dollop of passion and power that I often find missing from true Prog. I thrashed this album so much when I first got it that I am surprised that the CD still works. Mastodon have made an album that is sprawling and epic with an overall flowing feeling of journeying through a world that they have created.

Crystal Skull: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11eis4XVfVE
Colony Of Birchmen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQo9bwQ2rQc&ob=av2e
Hunters Of The Sky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6F1AFbsapc

Black Sabbath – Volume IV

Review# 248

If this album did not have the tedious track Changes and the unnecessary and pointless FX then it would be an even more awesomer than it is already. To be fair just having Supernaught on the album cancels out irritation from those two tracks.

Supernaught: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlW9s_QGyJc
Snowblind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyHFxo0_pJs

Boris with Michio Kurihara – Rainbow

Review# 247

Boris team up with Japanese guitarist Michio Kurihara for Rainbow. Similarly to previous Boris works there is a lot of Sludge and Stoner Rock elements on Rainbow. It is quite a good collaboration, adding a few Psychedelic flourishes to the overall sound. And some of the guitar work is just brilliant, Sweet No1 is a perfect example of this. Great album with a really good sound. I have the US Dragcity Records version which finishes with No Sleep Till I Become Hollow as opposed to the Japanese release which finishes with ...And, I Want.

Sweet N°1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJn30wLGzuM
Rafflesia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO5fUXhtHTQ

The Defiled – Grave Times

Review# 246

The Defiled have done well with their first full length album. A hit with Metal Hammer magazine giving it a lot of publicity and also giving away copies free with the magazine. It is an album that grows with every listen but some of it just reminds me too much of Nu-Metal so I have so far found a but of resistance to it. But some parts of the album are great. Maybe time will tell.

In The Land Of Fools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2xtSRtQICw
Black Death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx-StmC10rc

Alice Cooper – Welcome To My Nightmare

Review# 245

Welcome To My Nightmare is a highly enjoyable album. It is a concept album based on a kid named Steven and his travels through his nightmares. I would like to watch the stage show/concert sometime as the music works well at conjuring up images and knowing what Alice can do I imagine it would be great. The songs I have seen live always go down well anyway.

Cold Ethyl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmhwV-Cxceo
Welcome To My Nightmare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKpEoRlcHfA
Black Widow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFc-g-BbVG8

Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV

Review# 244

Ghosts is an interesting album. It's two disks of Industrial ambient darkwave and is described by Trent Reznor as "music for daydreams" which pretty much sums it up! There are no vocals and not a huge amount of guitar etc with most of the music made digitally. But definitely an interesting listen.

18 Ghosts II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM-SXW3T5D4
28 Ghosts IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASFFsXL2Iqg

Katatonia – Viva Emptiness

Review: 243

I love the last two Katatonia albums but Viva Emptiness (the release before The Great Cold Distance) does very little for me. While it still has the Doomy sound and melancholy that I love in the last two releases I just find it a little flat. I also have a problem with this horrible harsh inflection that is used on all of the swearing through out the album. Anyone who knows me knows that I have absolutely no problem with ANY swear word at all, the problem is that the song can be sung along nicely then all of a sudden there is just this horrible and un-necessary tone. It does not further the song making swear words stick out like sore thumbs, in fact it's distracting and detracting. And it's done practically EVERY time!
The album gets a little better toward the end, but on the whole it's a far cry from The Great Cold Distance or Night Is The New Day.

Ghost Of The Sun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y6MTcUNYrs