Metal Days – July Jumble
Each month, I like to take a look at some of the best metal from the previous year. This month, we take a look at Daughters, High on Fire, Amorphis, and VOIVOD!
Amorphis – Queen of Time
Amorphis is one of the first bands I’ve simply enjoyed. They have a wide variety of tempo’s throughout the album, with clean vocals and a strong instrumental presence. The vocals do get pretty rumbly, but right along the vein that I enjoy, as you can still understand the words of the song, and make out what the theme is.
Recommended Songs: The Bee, The Golden Elk – both of these are excellent!
Personal Rating:
This is the first 5 I’ve given this year. Its a solid metal album, with a doomy-prog sound with enough melodic to it that it really pulls me in and keeps me the whole album. Definitely, one I am keeping around.
Voivod – The Wake
Voivod is a strange Techno-progish hybrid. I didn’t catch much thrash in this band, though they were said to have been thrash “early on” they have definitely changed, and their doomy sound is good, but I can’t really get into it, as its too erratic for me to really enjoy.
Recommended Songs: Iconospiracy, Sonic Mycelium
Personal Rating:
Solidly average for a person who likes faster, thrashier metal. Its got a cool sound, and the vocals are fine, if raspy, so I can’t dock them too much, but they absolutely aren’t a band I am going to reach for more from.
High on Fire – Electric Messiah
High on Fire ha\s a very strange, grinding sound that clearly feels like its prog, but also stoner metal. Its strange and, honestly, I’m not a fan. There are some good sounds, but its mostly just an ever-crashing symphony of noise and riots.
Recommended Tracks: Drowning Dog – Clearly the best on the album.
Personal Rating:
I’m giving a lot of threes this year because a lot of the albums are fairly standard fare. I’m not impressed or disappointed in many of them, to this point, and Electric Messiah is right in the middle here. I’m not going to actively turn this off if it comes into my playlist, but it also won’t see a permanent slot.
Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want
For all the garbage I throw at many bands that don’t sound like my type of music, there are always ones that do find their way into my brain. Daughters is one of those unique albums that, while most of the time I find my self zoning out and not paying attention to because of its slow, ponderous grind, There are still parts here and there that I find myself rocking out to, or just bobbing along with. The musicality is nice, and though the tempo is very slow, the vocals are fun, kinda chanting word type of stuff, but not enough real singing for me to embrace.
Recommended tracks: Less Sex, The Reason They Hate me
Personal Rating:
The album just has no lasting effect on me. The industrial, unproduced sound simply isn’t the type of music I enjoy, and though the lyric style is novel, its also one that grows tiresome quickly. All together, its a pretty mediocre album, for my tastes.
