How Not to Incite Victory

Listen to the new effort from Bleeding Through. They know exactly how.

Here's what they thought they'd do. Get 8 string guitars and write the same old shit they've played a hundred times because tuning it down = heavier. Look guys, that worked with the drop D grunge movement, it worked with Korn, and it worked with Meshuggah, but it worked because each had a very specific adjustment to playing style. Bleeding Through apparently only got part of the formula. I guess you could say, they need a Hiro.

YAH TAI!!!

Now look, I understand that, to a certain extent, this band is a hardcore band. So you're not going to get musical complexity in some respects. But seriously - what they've put on record is so atrocious I would highly recommend no one else ever pick up another 8 string guitar again. Save Meshuggah.

The reason why Meshuggah decided to use 8 string guitars is because they knew that the band was heading in a different musical direction. They wanted to sound more sinister. More brooding. This meant slowing down the tempo, and quitting chords in favor of writing riffs based on lines of notes. They said, hey, this eighth string plays more like a bass. So let's play it more like a bass. They went even further, by harmonizing these guitar note lines in an nearly imperceptible manner in order to give the "monotonal" sound a presence of depth. They knew that chugging chords at people with this much low end doesn't really do anything (though, in all fairness, they did attempt this with Obzen, and seemed to do it right). It's much like the backwards logic of the loudness war - everything is louder, but that doesn't necessarily equal better. Likewise, going to 8 or 9 strings, well, that would be uncivilized. You might as well play bass.

And speaking of the loudness war, the quality of sound on this record is just fucking terrible. Devin Townsend should be ashamed of himself for even being credited with this record. It simply sounds like shit. There is too much bass, nothing interesting on the vocals, and the drums are so thin and hollow it sounds like someone was just hitting paper instead of a snare and cymbals. Except for the kick drums, which are typically way too loud in the mix and, really, almost bears the quality of your average rapper's demo.

Just don't buy this fucking record. It's everything that's wrong with the scene, and in a larger sense, everything that's wrong with modern music, too.

Gojira Instruct Us on The Way of All Flesh

It's surprisingly easy to call a band the future of metal and be horribly wrong. Many, many times, these bands don't live up to their next phase, shaming those of us who believe we have acute musical perception. Case in point, I once called Orgy the future of metal. You can name a one or two stinkers you committed to, too, I'm sure.

Fortunately for Gojira, this is not a symptom. Living up to their odd nom de plume, they arrived on the American scene just about two years ago out of Nowhere, France, and floored me in one roar. I screamed like a silly little girl because this French outfit was one thing many New American Wave of Metal Bands are not - interesting. From Mars to Sirius was a monster with an emphasis on massive riffage, unconventional rhythmic patterns, technical proficiency, a melodic screaming style, and wicked pig squealing, minus any superfluous solo work. This band also had something most bands don't - brothers.

Whenever you have brothers in a band it is usually a magical combination, and Joe and Mario Duplaintier are no exception. Mario shines in particular, variating and articulating his drum work with heart stopping double bass lines and hardware flourishes that add contrast to his brother's precise guitar playing, rough vocals and simple phrasing. Fellow bandmates Jean-Michel Labadie (bass) and Christian Andreu (guitar) double the power of their songwriting, providing full immersion into the enchanting soundscape of Gojira.

The Way of All Flesh continues this trend. When any artist has to follow up to a big success, it affords them two options - do something completely different and blow people's minds, or stick to the format and crunch out a flawless sequel. This latter method is exactly what Gojira chose - write heavy riffs, focus on well arranged tempo shifts without stepping too often into odd meter, and perform it all machine tight. From the big boom doom groove of Vacuity, to the campfire percussion intro in The Art of Dying, to the crushing ferocity of Adoration for None (with guest vocals served by personal endorser Randy Blythe), Gojira offer a wide range of what metal can do and be. Perhaps the riskiest cut is A Sight to Behold, featuring a digital flanger effect while Joe's vocals are spoken through a harmonized vocal distortion a la Meshuggah's Mind's Mirrors off of their Catch 33. (Whew, that was a mush!) Save a riff very similar to Meshuggah's Bleed, Gojira exhibit the influences of their contemporaries Soulfly, Fear Factory, Mastodon and Lamb of God with subtlety and panache.

Another point of intrigue is the lyrical concern of Gojira, which is unique in combining eco-consciousness, spirituality and science fiction. There is perhaps not one other band that could get away with the idea of space faring whales who save the Earth from human ignorance. Gojira pull this off once more with powerfully emotional lines, like in Toxic Garbage Island, where we share in the sheer rage Joe Duplantier feels at a "plastic bag in the sand." You are ready to believe him when he tells you that "you have the power to heal yourself" in Esoteric Surgery. We understand his struggle with human consciousness and the choice he makes to "try not to get it anymore" in the aforementioned A Sight to Behold.

Ironically, it is this very sentiment that makes it clear that Gojira does get it, and gets it better than most others.

(I still love Orgy though. Everyone has their vice!)

All Hope Is Gone. Yes. Yes it is.

But not for Slipknot. As soon as the subversive American anthem Gematria makes its vociferous entry, it is startlingly clear that this band might never fall off. It's part of the unique sonic quality Slipknot has, which dispels all calm with the sound of doom. When they say "we will burn your cities down" you better believe it.

Whether or not you like Slipknot, you should respect them. With each record this band manages to grow just enough without forgetting their essential tenets and losing their original force. Truly commendable for 9 men with serious anger issues.

And these men are angry. Joey Jordison, Chris Fehn and the delightfully violent Clown are just relentless in their percussive pyrotechnics. The hulking opening of Sulfer drives into a grinding riff that is put over the top by the brute growl and singing voice of Corey Taylor, pushed to the furthest possible edge. Equally impressive is the fiery and sporadic solo work by Mick Thompson and James Root on this song, the title track and others, like This Cold Black. Though the band has taken a step back form the experimentalism of Vol. 3, what that record did for them was enrich their existing dynamics. Ever more present is the sonic engineering of Craig Jones and Sid Wilson, from the aural quirks on Butcher's Hook to the creepy whine on the verses of Gehenna. Fill in the low end with the solid bass work of Paul Gray, and you've got a heavy palette designed to feed your metal needs.

If there is one thing Slipknot suffers from, it is from being too consistent. The brutality of the record forces the second half to pale in comparison to the first. All Hope Is Gone overdoses on highly structured song arrangement and very polished production, which has a tendency to undercut the urgency of their attack. However, thanks to this focus, Psychosocial is a perfect bite of what Slipknot is.

One thing that gives this album some sort of contrast is the inclusion of the uncharacteristic acoustic Snuff. A beautiful song, though dangerously close to becoming the soft song type this band might feel in the future that they have to go to. Dead Memories feels more Slipknot-like in this regard.

So, to sum, despite a bit of overextension on their part, overall, Slipknot compile a solid album that should be part of your catalog. Beware: may cause rioting.

Death Magnetic. That's a great title.

Chris Adler has been quoted as being part of Team Megadeth when it comes to 80s thrash. And I have to admit, I myself have definitely leaned towards Megadeth more often than not when it comes to the two of four Legends of Thrash.

Metallica will, nevertheless, always be the benchmark metal band of our time, and their success and reach cannot really be contested. First of all, metal is in their name. Second, the fact that you can refer to yourself as an old school Metallica fan only further confirms their legendary status. Third, your sister likes them. But the most fascinating thing about Metallica is that, during their heyday, they made the right move again, again and again. And then again and again. They were an unstoppable behemoth of metal, and even Mustaine admitted that they brought metal to such a high level that it was damn near impossible to catch up to them. Rust in Peace, arguably better than Justice for All, was promptly followed by The Black Album, pushing the entire metal scene to pursue minimalism in the 90s. Every single metal band was behind those guys.*

After the Black Album, not so much. And as stupid as it was, the rage directed at Metallica for cutting their hair was just physical evidence for fans that Metallica had finally fallen off, at least musically speaking. Financially, they were sound - but the live show is a completely different discussion. No fan goes to see Metallica because they don't play the old shit anymore.

So after Load, Reload and the atrocious St. Anger, what can be said about Death Magnetic?

It shreds. It grooves. It dives and bombs and devastates your ear drums.

It rocks!

Don't you dare tell anyone I said that, though. I will deny deny deny.

But seriously folks, the record starts on high, and pretty much stays there. Much of this has to do with the loudness war. The record is compressed to the max, and honestly, did anyone really need to compare the CD with the Guitar Hero version to get that impression? But what I mean is, say what you will about their steady degradation in song writing, Metallica gets points for doing the one thing they do best - compelling arrangement. They have always had this eerie ability to make a riff that, stand alone, would be hard to listen to for 8 minutes. They are experts at variating on one riff and reappropriating the same idea in different contexts so that it sounds fresh and well done every time, whether or not the song writing is decent. Suicide & Redemption, while unimpressive as an instrumental for technical precision, is a great example of this, and even more so because the technical stuff is toned down.

I'm not going to say there aren't any lame tunes on this record. When it comes to songs, it's clear Megadeth is better at pulling the heart strings. The Day That Never Comes is sappy and really corny. Unforgiven III is the second song to reduce the greatness of the original, and proves that Metallica should just never use any instruments other than guitar, bass and drums. (Screw S&M. \m/) But Cyanide, Judas Kiss and All Nightmare Long put the cock back in rock, if you don't mind me saying so. And that's what this record tried to do. Did it succeed? Not totally. But it did kill T.I. which is quite an accomplishment. Even that dude is behind Metallica. And when it comes right down to it, people still love metal and still love Metallica.

*Right now, though, the position of innovator belongs to Meshuggah, who is so far ahead of the genre, however, that they have moved nearly outside of it.