By Night - Sympathy For Tomorrow review

Year : 2012
Genre : Metalcore with a Hardcore mindset
Label : Independent
Origin : Sweden
Rating : 8.8 / 10

By Night's Sympathy For Tomorrow puts at least one reviewer into a pleasant position, because the music I personally found on the disc sounds to me as the epitome of well executed non-emo metalcore with a hardcore attitude kept intact throughout the way.

The characterology of the stimulus in my opinion consorts nicely to a blend between the music of recent day Biohazard without the "supportive nuclear radiation" - the beauty of music journalism - AND hefty-butt metalcore which shows exactly sub-zero interest in the teenager antics of salescurvecore and its themes revolving around breakup traumas, suicidal lamentations and the HORROR of seeing your neighbor seeing you seeing him with a rubber giraffe.

The By Night guys are doing an especially noteworthy job with their top of the heat guitar production work : everything they offer is clearly and precisely defined STUFF with full value sonic meat on it. Virtually no out-of-real-estate distortion is present enough to be bugged about it, and THAT is something to be tamely bugged about. The data emerges ripe, muscular without having to be bloated like a whale on war steroids as the latest Lamb of God. NO, I do not want to pick on that release, especially not after how I was kind of a douche with it, but notice this : Resolution is sooooo "senselessly massive" sounding at its most crowded places that the sheer weight sounds to overwhelm the actual details and intricacies actually being presented. It takes tremendous effort to actually make out and appreciate what is being played, some of the time. Reason I mention the premiere Pantera peers is my percept that By Night similarly wants to deliver you music with crystal clear thought behind it, but, giving its elements in equally crystal clear-, YET soberly limited fashion is top priority for this ensemble. This is a rare-, but always very pleasant approach to encounter and be graced by, as most bands will be content with soniccannoning you into your favorite submission for your money. Guys, let's talk about the music.

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Demon Hunter - True Defiance review

Year : 2012
Genre : Alternative Metal with Metalcore and Groove elements
Label : Solid State Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 9.0 / 10

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The new Demon Hunter LP arrives with an elegant trick, and that is to consort orthodox metalcore rhetorics with a much more ripe take on alternative metal incorporated into the fabrics than the variant of said element obtainable in the works of the stock-metalcore act. The top-form alternative fascinations of this disc are reeking top-form Stone Sour, and this influence is showing through the deeply melodic choruses. Segments that feature a strong mid-range vocal presence which exhibits only very mild interest in conforming to the OH!, so usual emo variant of the metalcore-chorus. After all, the chorus in emo metalcore "usually is" just a radio friendly example of alternative metal plus suckdom lyrics, share your opinion in the comment section if you think I'm deeply mistaken about this. (Too?) In the meantime though, read on to find out more about this ripped, curvatious sonic delivery.

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I, The Breather - Truth and Purpose review

Year : 2012
Genre : Metalcore
Label : Sumerian Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 5.0 / 10

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Approaching this record with great anticipation will almost surely disappoint you, in my opinion. Unless you have bought this LP, of course. It is totally normal to delude yourself into thinking that this is the reinvention of metalcore, in case you have paid for this release.

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno. I, The Breather brings you the same kind of ultra-iterated metalcore you have heard a million times before, and it seems to me as a shameless distortion of the related "pseudo-facts" if someone you know or hear about this release from seeks to introduce this disc as the next big metalcore thing. The genre seems to stagnate steadily, and this LP does not seem to draw a point to explore a profitable direction from, not to my ears. Read on to find out more about this vastly predictable, sorrowfully complacent sonic product.


I need to re-saturate my delicate position of the blatantly deceived, as birds were twittering to me about this release as the next legit astonishment in metalcore warfare, as I just hinted previously. I sent a bird back with the message attached to its leg : "Get your head out of your ass, I'm begging you". There are vastly more efficient and significant recent releases than this is, even from the same record company this spin belongs the catalog to of. I just reviewed Veil of Maya's latest outing, and that LP, while doubtless belongs to the microgenre of deathcore, brings much more vivid entertainment AND a breath of much needed fresh air than the metalcore ultra-orthodoxies this record is a tepid galore of have ever had the capacity or ambition to dream of. If you are a met(h)(al)core maniac, you still will delude yourself that it is fresh, of course.

Take all the metalcore platitudes that to this day still weigh in as marketable, - which signifies a terrible state of musical massawareness and hive-exigency - dissect recorded riffs to parts, feed them into a randomizer routine and copy-paste your fucking ass to hell and back. Be sure to include a part next where you bang on your bottom open string, and place your fingers on random frets from time to time to add musical variation to your pre. In the chorus, jump to the air while letting easily accessible melancholic minor pop chords ring out to wild space, and be sure to put a blaming index finger into the face of God upon landing. Lastly, rent a random idiot who is willing to whine about his breakup trauma or a fake riot or whatnot, and congratulations, you have just made your metalcore single. Add awesome breakdowns at your taste. Serves : a Stadium filled with zombies.

This isn't to say that the release lacks all good things. It just struggles legendarily to bring any. And WHAT those are, you wonder. As much as it pains me to say this, of COURSE they are the breakdowns. Everything else is "been there, done that, bored to death with it already, thanks". Aren't you annoyed a little bit with the "recent" trend how every metalcore randomer on the Internet is struck by awe from the metalcore breakdowns?

It's like this : "Omigod form 0:45, that brekdaun is raping my soul!! I'm 14 tomorrow and I'm so getting this!"

and

"Can't wait to get my preorder! Those breakdowns are out of this earth!"

Auuuua. They are not out of this Earth. They are very simplistic gap-arrangements on orthodox minigum-guitar chugging, parked into a sequencer ran by a computer, and that is that. Your taste has just been served. I'd certainly believe you if you'd say that there ARE very significant metalcore breakdowns that I'm not aware of, but there only are a very limited selection of those on this baby. The majority of breakdowns herein do belong to the methodology I have just been describing to you, and they are NOT out of this Earth, quite the contrary : they belong to consume culture, and they are made to serve out your taste. Synonym : to serve out your limitations. It is not necessary to wield immunity towards overly iterated patterns, but it in my opinion is a mistake to regard them with false awe claiming they are new. The ending riff of Meshuggah's Electric Red IS out of this Earth with capacity to shape and shock the receptors, to shape and shock your awareness. Other that that, I think "we", as a hive entity, should reserve big words like "out of this Earth" to describe sonic percepts that indeed sound to demand such rabid notions. The latest I, The Breather full length is not bad, mind you. It's worse : mediocre.

Rating : 5.0 / 10

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Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour review

Year : 2012
Genre : Whateverthefuckyouwantcore
Label : Ambush Reality, Hopeless
Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 4.0 / 10

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Step 1. Imagine a music box filled with different albums representing each one of these genres : metalcore, post-punk, lightweight dubstep, drum and bass, trance, hell, even annoying-ass Elton John pop, inviting you to drop saliva to your favorite pink plusch hyppo you love to sleep with since you are 12. (In other words : since a year.)

Step 2. Hook yourself up with a portable mini nuke and a cup filled with the green goo of musical DNA enfusion, arm the mini nuke to 30 secs and put these things into the music box. Close the lid. Wait one minute. Put on your HAZMAT suit. Open the lid. Get the resultant hyper-hybrid of a disc. It will have Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour written on it, and your nervous system will be hijacked! Now, if you are 13 years old, it is your lucky moment to produce your catharsis-run for the honest bewilderment of all traditions, because, what you are holding in your hands is none other than your : oh, so favorite album of all remembrance. If you are past 13, then you still do NOT need to be a retrograde douché to steadily dismiss this record as

VAAAAAAAAASTLY

I mean :

VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTLY overrated.

This is what the cover art suggests, too, (- "V"-astly overrated - ) and it mimes a triangle only to please the highest levels of the Illuminati, I suppose. It would be supremely easy to be an utter douchebag with this release, because, frankly, as I just wrote, it sounds to me that it is the music of the rebellious acne-kit 13 years old, yet it has its share of acceptable-, even (relatively) enjoyable moments amidst the immense dosages of supremely superficial political rants administered in the copied tradition of the action figure-variant of Rage Against the Machine. Read on to find out more about this - in my opinion - overrated release.


"Spiritually", this record seems to attempt to emerge as an after-feel experiment of everything Clockwork Orange on an antitheses-register, as the band members seek to occupy the position of the Good Willed Villain, the Warm Hearted Brigand, the Good Outlaw, or whatnot. They are your popculture Robin Hoods, armed with a fraction of the talent of their role model inspirators. Unfortunately, they seem to lack the charisma of an American z-movie star who has just been denied the key role of a shampoo spot, - or maybe I fail to pick up on their charm - but, what the hell, these dudes still behave like they just pulled the galaxy out of their asses. It would be acceptable if they'd sport the collective charisma of primetime Rutger Hauer, but what I see, is angry (sex) dwarfs being pissed off at my garden. WOW! Promising sight, I must admit. Lemme bring my lé pink lingerie.

Lyrics? Oh yes, some claim that the lyrics are superb on this disc. Uhm. Naive little thoughts seeking to emerge to bombastic qualities, - doomed to Fail Legendarily, of course - like : - can't quote verbatim, thank God - "do not think that little groups can't change the world! They CAN! They DID before!" Oh dear oh dear.

The members of Enter Shikari are not quite ripe musicians yet, in my opinion, and they reign in the position of being free to conceal their deficits with pseudo-content generated by the state of the art production environment they rely on. You are, of course, free to suggest that I should chew on a flamethrower with your finger on the trigger for saying so. Currently, the Enter Shikari dudettes seem to me as enthusiastic fanboys and Kerrang! readers, indulging amidst their musical inspirations, accounting those with stock-talent levels in a professional production environment, being fixated on superficial, naive political rants about the ideological and economical state of the planet. Nothing beyond-, and nothing new when compared to what you have heard a 23423423 times before in this field.

Their flamboyancy is their biggest and greatest asset, and there are moments when they seem to go - only in character!! - Faith No More, and you know that I'm a Faith No More fangirl. I dare say that the lyrical behavior of this LP is more conscious POSE than thoughtful-, heartfelt CONTENT, and it shows no capacity I can pick up on that would offer anything above the platitudes of narrative political rants. Buuuuuuuuut. The music, for the most part, is not stellar on this release, okay?? It is, for the aforementioned most part, is above average at best, and seldom are the times it goes beyond that. You suck ancient Baphomet dick if you think it is great music all over. Same as with Meshuggah : if you don't like Meshuggah, you suck. Sorry. Deal with it.

I have little doubt that mainstream UK media will be absolutely baffled by the superflamboyant stylistic intensity brought on by these dudes, though. Mainstream UK media needs to bow down to-, and needs to worship its own products. Its own current Idols. Oh my God. What the world has come to since the brilliant-, still-kill evergreens of Rick Astley. I like Iron Maiden and Susan Boyle, too, so be quick when you kill me.

On Facebook, everyone is rockstar, therefore no one is. I feel every little group with an affection towards music, with a superb production team behind the squad, could bring the primer qualities of this release. Let me draw a parallel. The faultiness-, the tasteless pretentiousness of the dogma that everyone should be put on a TV screen that enjoys receiving cheap attention, becomes evident. Like : what the hell do you show those two idiots in the Britan's Got Talent TV show for? I show zero interest in witnessing their eventless faces and their anti-humorous, attention seeking behavior. I'm 100% sure I'm not the only one who feels this way about the matter, too, because I have asked others. I have nothing against them as human beings, of course. But don't attempt to serve them for me as elements of entertainment. They are NOT that, and they are not funny. Monty Python is funny. Mr. Bean is funny. Anything below THAT level, should be witnessed with sobriety and relentless, scientific rigor. In this day and age, the mildly talented is invited and free to invade the camera, and this is what they are doing to the inappropriate invitation of a pretentious production ethos. You are no longer free to say to somebody :  "Dude, you look like shit on screen. Only worse." This tendency is a terrible thing to witness. Why do you violate my awareness with those two?

Same thing : this is not great music, because it constantly seeks to pretend that it so much more than it actually is. This is music with promise in it, and its primer promise is its relentless urge to project myriad lights - ANY kind of light, for that matter - on itself. It is above average pop festival medley administered in the spirit of 238947237423423 different genres to serve out everyone out in a building like a cheap prostitute would do, only, this propensity can be regarded as degrading, because the elements served to you hardly are consistent in their quality.

Anyway, each song on this release is composed of about 25 segments seeking to serve out different genres like a prostitute that has been paid upfront, and none of these segments tend to last more than half a minute, tops. This album is a commercial product that is aimed to serve out the capricious appreciative "capacities" and harshly limited artistic horizons of the hormone-trodden 13 years old adolescent who thinks throwing up on a random face at a festival is a rebellious obligation that must be done once a month. As noted, the actual music is not all that sharp when witnessed for the respective ultimate worth of its myriad components, and the vocal style propagated on it makes me feel that the fronter needs a hug. Not necessarily by a bear, but. .. Just kidding. I'm looking forward for the next delivery of these dudettes, and word is, that their live shows are truly magnificent. Amen to that.

On a sentimental note : I realize that this is a harsh review, and I might write another one later on, to see if my initial views of this release have been changed. If you already have a radically different global percept of this LP than mine and you feel the urge to share it, then please feel free to educate me regarding my suspected deficits in the comment section below. Remember : I'm not against these guys, I simply think - currently - that they are vastly overrated. But I'm not 100% sure yet.

Rating : 4.0 / 10

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The Unguided - Hellfrost review

Year : 2011
Genre : Metalcore
Label : DespotZ Records
Origin : Sweden
Rating : 4.0 / 10

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Hellfrost is in a hurry to claim all tops of all mountains reigning on moral high grounds, as the band's "melodic death metal" debut starts out with a blaming index finger in humanity's face, and, as it turns out, it has this fixation on keeping it close to that particular collective nose all the way through the spin. So, expect a "melodic death metal" album which isn't that at the first place, because, this sounds much more like family friendly metalcore with tastefully sculpted electronic elements. If you find yourself in the hurry right away to advice me to choke on a row of dead anacondas for not acknowledging this release for what it is on PAPER, then do yourself the courtesy of checking out track 3 on this release, called "Betrayer of the Code" : - oops, Freud nods¿? This is pretty standard metalcore with the weightless fake screaming and some nice goth synths as extra on top. Insomnium's great One for Sorrow DOES sound like melodic death. But this sounds as metalcore, yes, salivated chorus included. Guys, let's talk about the music.


As noted, The Unguided's debut, for the most-, if not for all the part of it, sounds to me like very disciplined, family friendly metalcore stimuli - yupp, even your mom in those hair rolls nods on this music, because she secretly enjoys a chorus from that handsome young man - with quite skillfully/safely provoked production values. The Hellfrost chorus, as an autonomous entity herein, could be the catharsis of any soft rock song, and the main-, yet only deviations from those the record is able to present are the results of the fact that now you are hearing these soft rock choruses with angry, fat guitars at their bases, and there you have your screamo dudette as well, who has the sole function to repeat every single fucking line the lead singer is singing IS SINGIIIIIING! and it is annoying like ass LIKE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!

It is notable that the record shows NO notable struggles to deliver relevance beyond the song template it is utilizing, and comes steadily and sorrowfully short in the department of serious entertainment, in my opinion, and here is why : granted, a little bit of effort is put into the verse, then you get your soft rock chorus, - synonym : cheap way out, congratulations - and, you are lucky if a techno-spiced interlude is coming your way yet in the fabric before your receptors being subjected to yet another verse and yet another chorus. You have just been served, biatch. Track number 7 called "Green Eyed Demon" is a thorough example of how 75% of this album sounds to me like. It has SOME better moments, - none of which I could regard exceptional or worth revisiting - but few and far between, and all drowning miserably in the galore of "so what." grade soft rock metalcore choruses.

I like the intentionally computerized/cybernetized guitars in track number 8, called "Iceheart Fragment", and the inevitable soft rock chorus of the song sounds extremely shitty after the sexy cybernetic guitars of the verse, at least in the world I seek to project. This release has an awesometicularly hard time delivering a chorus I can give a dime with two lost holes in it for, and I have no extra intention to make The Unguided fan even more angry of me then she/he probably already is, so I will attempt to wrap this review up on a more positive note, as I have no desire of coming across as a megatroll who wants to spoil your enjoyment. No, I want you to have it, and have the possible best of it, and my opinion is that what The Unguided's debut gives is not that, but a row of play-it-safe alibi declarations that seek to serve out your assumed-, extremely low level needs without any capacity or desire to calibrate, to elevate those levels at the first place. If you are serious about your melodic death metal fix, check out Insomnium's One for Sorrow, which is a vastly superior and serious release. I must admit that I think there are some pretty thoughtful lyrics on this The Unguided debut album, more precisely : thoughtful lines in some of the lyrics, - "some wounds are not meant to be heal at all", "no one comes to love pain, we can only hope to endure it" - but, as for the music, this one still is below average fantasy action figure toy-metalcore to me. These guys need to put immense efforts into their song writing capabilities in my opinion, because what I have heard on this release from a musical point of view, is relentless metalcore mediocrity delivered with top of the heat production tools.

Rating : 4.0 / 10

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Vildhjarta - Masstaden review

Year : 2011
Genre : Djent with ambient elements
Label : Century Media
Origin : Sweden
Rating : 6.5 / 10

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Sweden Vildhjarta - geSUNtheit, Mein Herr - invades your receptors with a concept album that embraces its narrative influences from the Jungle Book and the video role playing game Final Fantasy VII. On paper, this band plays djent, in reality, a good amount of this sounds like pretty disturbed metalcore warfare to me, and here is why : that massive chunk of this baby is gravitating around the continuous act of scattering/littering artificially "portioned" djent patterns around on top of mid-tempo metalcore rhythms, but all the good will in the whole wide world would be less than enough to keep your poker face intact while attempting to regard ALL the content herein as really-really intricately rhythmized.

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope.

A healthy amount of this release sounds like heavily syncopated metalcore, - without the corporal punishment choruses, luckily - and the things it looks way better than just that with, are not ever-present on it, unfortufuckingnately.

This almost exclusively is a mid-tempo release, and it is hard to get rid of the feeling that the record shows everything it has the capacity to show right in the first 5 minutes of it. And you are wrong about it, too, because Masstaden has its 10 minutes of strongest offerings at its climax, and these deliveries are more flamboyant builds than you could realistically hope for by witnessing the massively metalcorish start and the middle region of this relatively lopsided declaration.

Combine the - usually - not too risky, nor too inventive schizo rhythm patterns with your everyday average metalcore bonobo screaming, - sometimes complimented by a more death metalish growl, so what. - add half a minute of smoke on the water ambient interlude every 5 minutes, and you have a precise impression of this contribution, which would pack much more entertainment value and relevance if to bring more of what it looks best with. Read on to find out more about this release.


Vildhjarta starts out efficiently enough, but, as hinted, it has a limited initital supply to offer true relevance beyond syncopated rhythmic attractions, and probably this is the reason that the best parts of the spin will start to engage your receptors well beyond the midsection. This LP also contains ambient interludes, but they rarely serve other purpose than to sedate the miserable with alibi-glitter when the monster in the djent would be a risk to awake. Actual musical development and relevant variation is not ever-evident on this spin, which makes me an unhappy boy.

The starting portion of Vildhjarta's Massteden is one, single, psychotic song composed of muted/released shrapnels of deep chugs, but no, they do NOT reveal all too complex or exciting rhythms as they want you to recognize them as. Fear not, Sunshine! After the track 8th mark - oorgle! - things turn to the better, because there is only 1 dosage of bonobo screaming you need to endure before the LP finally starts to negotiate its Cream De La Cream, pha.

Track number 10, called "All These Feelings" finally starts out with an inventively rhythmized riff, in fact, so inventively rhythmized, that the band instead drops it after a minute, and escapes to ambient arpeggio. Auuuua. The release has a stronger period nevertheless in the ending portion, track number 12 "Deceit" once again features delicious, odd rhytmization you can finally take serious because it gives you the same courtesy, but, to be honest, the bonobo screaming that joins in, ruins the experience for me. "Emencely".

Though Vildhjarta's Masstaden could very easily be decipherable as a record that repeats itself over and over and over and over in the same sonic frequency, - probable courtesy of the lowest possible note being banged mercilessly on an 8 stringed guitar - there are elements on it that are better than they sound first. Yet, as a full spin, above average at BEST.

Rating : 6.5 / 10

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Trivium - In Waves review

Year : 2011
Genre : Metalcore
Label : RoadRunner Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 7.5 / 10

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Metalcore has all the reasons in the whole wide world - and then some more - to show a reminder or two of a set of balls combined with a delicate suggestion of a well tamed layer of beastly chest hair if it wants to ignite an album via its own mechanics and favorite tools. A former metalcore/thrash attraction, Trivium's In Waves marks the group's shift towards pretty much unalloyed metalcore warfare, and now that this recognition is out of your way so it can invade your back and weigh down on you instead, this delivery still should not be dismissed based on negative bias for what it dares and seeks to be.

In Waves is on a constant mission to compliment a kind of moderately, but smartly varied instant-intensity. The tracks surely do bring without exception the everyday average metalcore urge to crave and reek accessibility with a tint of angst-spiced melancholy trustily embedded, yet the premiere benefits of this LP are a ripe sense of balance and the pure musculature musical skill it relentlessly showcases its elements with. The album manages to deliver individual components that paint well defined limbs on a body that is doubtlessly capable to express dignity, despite the ubiquitous presence of a pretty sub-dimensional, and frankly, almost weightless vocal performance. In Waves, while it certainly speaks one language and one language only, speaks that one pretty fluently. Trivium's latest does everything in its power to carve out the realized concept of the so called catchy tune using the premiere tools and various moods of extreme metal, but the question remains if it's sufficient to praise the bitchslap to the face. Read on to find out how this determination works in a practical sense on Trivium's latest spin to date.



Thank Heaven and Hell for the band's compositional techniques and abilities, the one and only essential component-group that separates this spin from the salivated hive subconscious flattered by the genre's less eminent practitioners. As result of taking the trade - and you, with this act -(un)dead serious, Trivium makes sure to not come up with anything that is not worth presenting to a set of legit ears, and only the one who is currently calibrated to hate eternally, reigns as the reflection that is likely to reject the flamboyant, serious fabric this record successfully declares itself as.

The tracks are consisting of smartly varied, organically connected elements that always pack the readiness either to give the vibe to bang the head over, or to invite you to immerse yourself into your favorite secretive frustrations, yet the verses, choruses, breakdowns all tend to have the ability to affect your awareness in a dramatic and much welcomed fashion. Funnily enough, the band ventures unto quite WTF?!-grade death metal territory on occasions, blast beating the remnants of your puny psyche away for half a minute or so. These moments are rare to come by though, and, strangely, this but-a-tint of pronounced death metal presence is absolutely refreshing to see, simply because they are now being partnered up with less aggressive, though not a tad less efficient metal methods.

While the spin is a pretty functional and strong delivery as an instrumental contribution, its decent and relatively rare to find sing-range vocals are heavily afflicted by this terrible metalcore urge to scream away stuff using the "now let's imitate how a half-beheaded bonobo on fire while in a free fall would scream this line" tradition. If metalcorish screaming is still your thing, then you will have a set of whole galaxies to stimulate your most private spaces over, but, if metalcorish screaming is getting tiresome to you, then know that Trivium's In Waves features strong enough of instrumental and compositional content - MUSICAL content - to make this evident flaw of bonobo screaming tolerable. Strangely and luckily enough, this reigns as a solid metalcore output, one that raises the bar of the genre via the act of claiming and refining the dignity of it. Trivium's In Waves is metalcore done seriously, and, as such, you have no other option than to take it serious.

Rating : 7.5 / 10

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Hokum - The Creation of Pain review

Year : 2011
Genre : Groove Thrash Metalcore
Label : GoodDamn Records
Origin : Germany
Rating : 6.0 / 10

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Though confusing it may sound, - pun just might be intended - German group Hokum thrashes emo metalcore with a groove. The record, though presenting the results of this experiment with such intense of a stare fixed on its own body that it very well could destruct a statue in a staredown contest, finds itself in a more and more difficult position to bring you elements worth scrutinizing as the spin approaches its middle grounds, having shown everything by that point that it is capable to show. Having shown everything it aspires to show.

Based on initial impressions you could form by watching the group's earlier - and great - work, one must suspect that the this time around extremely slimy metalcore component of this outing is incorporated into this otherwise gritty fabric to appeal to a wider audience, one fond at feeding on romantic angst, bitterness-comfort and routine-disillusionment, but the emo screaming and song structures demand a steep price now. They arrive and afflict, and tend to smuggle a bad taste in the mouth of the follow up full-paua groove that attempts to kick nearby asses nice and proper. With an introductory ado, this here record sounds to be tainted with over-emoted elements seeking to bow down to shortcuts not necessarily worth bowing down to. Read on to find more about the operational field of this relatively compromised, but doubtlessly decently presented delivery.



Hokum takes a Philip Anselmo mimicry, puts a pepperoni rocket in his ass, ignites the thing, and makes the host scream on top of well thought out and solidly presented grooves, riffs and whatnot. Grooves and riffs that, unfortunately, sound to have little connection with each other, a flaw that sounds to haunt this record persistently. The Creation of Pain indeed is worthy of its name, as you are forced to attempt to put a cautious foot on the musical fabric that does not sound to have any more agenda than to address its own urge to exhibit constant fluctuation. Your awareness is subjected to persistent bribery throughout this effort, as the band shoots doubtlessly well constructed, but, at heart, random musical stuff after random musical stuff at you, yet exceptionally strong riffs or grooves are nowhere to be found. They are not invited. All is administered so it is suitable to scream lines on top of, yet the one particular feeling the tracks are excelling masterfully at invoking, is that of a quiet state of secretive, bored confusion : one that makes you wonder what should you do with the well presented, but directionless masses of grooves and riffs that have no other evident function than to connect two emo sequences, while the exact, "verbatim", copied Philip Anselmo melodic lines are echoing in your head. Because you just have heard them being stolen. Again. Note-to-note, bend-to-bend theft, dude.

Groove gets traded for a riff, a riff gets squashed by a groove, then a slimy pile of emo metalcore snot-covered ball of contagious radioactive urine - which is not good for your health at all, mind you - bitchslaps you silly and you are forced to reset your awareness before reaching the point of no return. The instrumental elements easily are the best aspects of this spin, as the record produces a wide, weighty sound, and the riffs and grooves have the noticeable will to try and render life, but they do not know each other, and, as such, they remain riffs and grooves with autonomous, respective charisma and dignity, seeking partners, but they never quite seem to find one, on this spin. Hokum gives you musical idea on top of musical idea, and the common denominator of these is NOT a well structured conception to connect those, but Philip Anselmo's mimicry, addressing his favorite frustrations to date. Not a bad album. Worse : mediocre.

Rating : 6.0 / 10

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