Herrschaft - Architects Of The Humanicide
Style: Black Metal/Industrial
Running Time: 22 Minutes and 32 Seconds
Label: http://www.code666.net/


Let me first say that before I heard Herrschaft I was not a fan of any bands with industrial tendencies. With that being said Herrschaft's 'Architects Of The Humanicide' may just have changed my opinion a bit. While 'Architects Of The Humanicide' threw me for a loop completely it was a pleasant surprise to hear this album away from all the metal thats usually blasting from this stereo.

To begin the album starts with song 'Rise To The Humanicide' which builds in about 1 minute of buzzing and beeping to an almost Techno (Electro for some) sort of beat with sinister sounding vocals thrown over top. When 'Rise...' ends second track 'Apogee' crunches in and delves into a thick soundscape of programming and synth driven riffs. The album doesn't change much from that vibe though. Much of 'Architects Of The Humanicide' is fueled on by the synth wrap around guitar work, but a good base is formed by the vocal styling of M.X.. Which seems to be a mix of really processed and effected vocals with a snarling almost completely black metal delivery.

As the album progresses in time, the songs get longer and a little more complex, adding female vocals and sometimes allowing the guitars to be brought to the forefront of the music instead of relying solely on following the synth around like a lost child. Closer 'De Flammes Et D'ombres' really raises the bar for the entire E.P. and builds a very nice crescendo to the end of its six minutes that ends the album perfectly. At the end of it all though this very short five song E.P. from these French industrial black metalers serves as a very fine effort for Code666 Records. They always seem to be putting left field releases out and this is absolutely no different for them.

'Architects Of The Humanicide' is a very solid E.P. and really leaves you wanting more from Herrschaft.

Score: 7/10

Blinded By Faith - Weapons Of Mass Distraction
Style: Death Metal/Melodic
Running Time: 44 Minutes and 15 Seconds
Label: http://www.galyrecords.com


Maybe opening your album with the sounds of planes crashing into the World Trade Centers really seemed like a good idea to set the mood for a darker sounding melodic death metal album. In all aspects though it just feels wrong to have to bring that up to achieve your theme. To be quite truthful the album could have started without that and Blinded By Faith still would have had a release that was quite decent.

For melodic death metal it's a little hard to stand out in a crowd. Every thing is a little redundant and boring these days, and very few bands release solid efforts that move anyone to feeling something new of the genre. Blinded By Faith have released 'Weapons Of Mass Distraction' to an over populated scene rampant with stagnation and barely any technical movement beyond whats been achieved already. By no means are they pushing the boundaries of melo-death, but at least they're not completely boring in their attempts.

Guitars that seem to, out of nowhere, kick into overdrive and speed through some intricate passages of short technicality. This technicality plays well in the back of the music but when brought forth through solos its evident that the solo work is pretty substandard, sounding like very bad fretboard wankery that seemingly leads nowhere. Vocal work that ranges out of the norm at times, and drum work that sets a very nice canvas for everything to lay on. Theres nothing much here that you wouldn't be familiar with already, and to be perfectly honest its not a bad feeling of familiarity. Though on occasion the vocals bothered me, ranging in and out of screaming/shouting/clean sung and deeper not quite guttural sounding moments. The very same vocals felt refreshing at times though when they were dropped completely and set aside for some spoken word, or female vocal work.

In 44 minutes Blinded By Faith have ran headlong through eight real tracks and two intro/outros. While the intro/outro tracks do absolutely nothing for me it's obviously felt elsewhere these were necessary tracks that needed to be on this release. All in all though for as familiar as 'Weapons Of Mass Distractions' is I can't say that I'm thoroughly disappointed or really awe-struck with this release. Albeit no technical achievement whatsoever from what we've really come to expect, still a very solid release.


Score: 6.5/10

Municipal Waste - The Art Of Partying
Style: Crossover Thrash/Hardcore
Running Time: 32 Minutes and 8 seconds
Label: http://www.earache.com/


32 minutes of blazing thrash about partying. The only question I would have is, can you stomach something like that ? If your answer happens to be yes, then Municipal Waste have just the album for you. 'The Art Of Partying' displays a knack for catchy rhythms and shouted choruses that anyone can sing along with. The only flaw though is that after the half hour of music is over, you will most likely sit there and go 'how did that one song go?'. Despite being completely solid musically 'The Art Of Partying' suffers from being completely forgettable. It's unfortunate that it is that way, but after the CD was over I couldn't place the songs in my head with the way that they actually sounded.

There are those bands that everyone goes wild about simply for harking back to a time that the listener will never forget... or never got to experience themselves. Municipal Waste happens to be one of those bands that people have gone crazy about, can we say its for the mere fact that Dave Witte is behind the kit or, is it honestly because they have a revitalized sound and have some rather humorous lyrical content ? I can't think of another band that I've honestly just laughed at lyrically (that hasn't deserved it) , and by no means is that bad here. As the music builds to climaxes within these 15 songs the lyrics just bring a completely new level to them. Shouting them out is always fun and when it's all said and done I've remembered more of the lyrics than any certain musical part throughout 'The Art Of Partying'.

There are few passages within 'The Art Of Partying' that actually stand out as being better than the last and every song seems to kind of lead to the next with no real change in formula. Sure no one really needs to experiment too terribly badly with every new track, it would just be a bit refreshing to hear something no one was expecting. That being said theres also some fine guitar work here and there that really creates a nice frame for the vocals to hang on pitch wise. Vocally theres not much outside of shouting, which is generally expected from the genre, and it totally works throughout the whole of 'The Art Of Partying'. Another stand out feature (next to the lyrical content) of this album is the drum work, while fairly simplistic for the majority of the album, its little subtleties like a few blasting sections and rolling double bass kicks that feel very welcome when heard.

As I said though, its unfortunate that Municipal Waste has put out a solid album that just doesn't seem to be too remarkable but it will most certainly suit their fans' craving for a new album.

Score: 6.5/10

Diskreet - Infernal Rise
Style: Technical Metalcore/Death Metal
Running Time: 26 Minutes and 2 Seconds
Label: http://www.candlelightrecordsusa.com

As bands continuously blur the lines of metal there will inevitably be those that, in the wake of an obvious overabundance of a quick fad, jump right in to lay their 'claim' to the same crap we've been hearing. Claiming a new and different sound is something not many bands can do, and certainly after hearing 'Infernal Rise' by Kansas' Diskreet i can't honestly say this is a refreshingly enjoyable album but where they lack inventiveness the band supplies impeccably strong orchestration.

Instrumentally speaking here on 'Infernal Rise' theres an awful lot of work going into songs. Taking you through blazing technical passages and then throwing you for a , honestly, quite predictable breakdown Diskreet toss your ears around like a rag doll. It's all over too quickly but the abruptness of it is what almost makes it good. If you had to sit through an hours worth of blast beats and technical onslaughts, you might get quite bored. The way Diskreet do it is simply making it short and sweet, to the point, if you will.

While the musical work on 'Infernal Rise' isn't completely on point constantly, the more mosh worthy moments of this album make for an interesting listen. The fact that they've thrown in absolutely pointless movie quotes makes some of the songs feel completely devoid of a real emotion behind them. Maybe they were trying to build an atmosphere for you through these clips but in doing that it seems as if whatever the clip was trying to convey mood wise just couldn't be done lyrically. Couple this with the fact that the drums throughout 'Infernal Rise' sound like tin cans being beat on and you've got enough ammo to kill this album completely. The insane fretwork and rhythmically crushing slower passages can't save this album completely. The drums are a base for most bands and when your drums sound like they've either been processed to hell or you're beating on tin cans in the booth, you can't honestly get into the music lying over top of that sound. It's hard to give a bad score to a band that shows a bit of stylistic promise, however I must in the true nature of reviewing music site lack of originality for the score that Diskreet deserves.

Score: 5/10

The Handshake Murders - Usurper
Style: Technical Metalcore
Running Time: 32 Minutes 20 Seconds
Label: http://www.goodfellowrecords.com


As innocuous as Metalcore is these days, very few bands can honestly put out an effort without it being rife with absolute stagnation for the genre. Is it a dead genre and are people beating a dead horse ? Thats for you to decide in all honesty. Every year there are more bands playing the same breakdowns and same open D's everyone has become pretty used to by now. Some bands break the molds and unfortunately for The Handshake Murders they aren't doing anything too spectacular on this release. 32 minutes of Meshuggah-esque stop and start riffage with little to no real innovation or change to the pattern. These songs feel like they would be right at home on the next A Life Once Lost record, with very little change and who knows maybe ALOL heard this and went 'Shit they stole our gig...' But I digress, the music is rather uninspired end of story.

There are more than a few times on "Usurper" where The Handshake Murders display a rather uncanny knack for sheer aggression within their music. To be quite honest the entire album is heavy as a really heavy thing... but when The Handshake Murders entire rhythm section syncs up and the albums intensity is at its height you can't help but at least bob your head a little to the beat. For as stale as the riffing is there is no real fault in displaying your influences on your bands collective sleeves. However relying too heavily on your predecessors musical inclinations rather than creating your own will site a bit of fault in most peoples eyes.

Not much can honestly be said about this release its fairly repetitive throughout and honestly I made it through the album three times in a row thinking i was listening to three or four songs. It gets rather boring about four to five songs in and though the intensity is still displayed from time to time, it's just not enough to save the sinking ship that is The Handshake Murders first full length album "Usurper".

Score: 4.5/10

Infernaeon - A Symphony Of Suffering
Style: Death Metal/Black Metal
Running Time: 31 Minutes and 3 Seconds
Label: http://www.prostheticrecords.com


If you're one of the few people that still get excited during an intro to an album, then the opening song on Infernaeon's debut album for Prosthetic Records entitled "Shades Of Obscurity" is going to enthrall you. The vast majority of intros that lead into albums have absolutely no point of being on that album, and quite frankly this isn't exactly an out of place intro so much as it doesn't accurately reflect the following 30 minutes of actual music. Sure theres playful keyboard work that almost echoes the classical ambiance of Infernaeon's album opener but as for the rest of the musical work on this album, its rather standard blackened death metal.

"Embodiment Of Sin" is the albums first honest to goodness real track and it doesn't really strike me as something wholly original. Their press sheet would have me believe that Infernaeon has a purpose and that is to 'unleash original underground metal'. This purpose, seems to have not been completely met with their first offering "A Symphony Of Suffering". Thats not meant to completely degrade the work on "A Symphony Of Suffering", because by no means is it absolutely stagnant waters that Infernaeon seem to trudge through. Rather it is meant to say that though the band has potential, they don't display an awful lot of talent in creating new, fresh sounding metal.

The first real qualm with this album that many people have pointed out, has to be the horrible sounding snare drum. The rest of the music is brought forth almost perfectly, however that snare drum sound just irks people for some reason. Its very reminiscent of an older death metal album, sure it sounds like drummer Nick Agusto is banging on a cardboard covered trash can lid but I can't honestly fault the band for wanting this sound. It's fairly obvious they wanted this sound because with Erik Rutan behind the complete mastering of this album I'm sure the drums could have sounded better. Throughout the entire album vocalist Brian Werner's screams are a bit boring in all honesty, they lack enthusiasm most of the time. Though he has a great style befitting the band I just get bored listening to this album. Sticking with the vocals of this album people have made claim that Brian Werner, at the end of 'Sleeping God' holds a scream for 40 seconds. The real time of it is from 4:40 on the song to 5:12, thats 32 seconds people, it's still impressive yeah, but rounding up probably wasn't the way to go.

The albums saving grace is the guitar work in almost all songs, some fantastic riffs are thrown about, It's too bad that its not entirely consistent on the album that every riff sounds fantastic. But hey, if there were too much fretwork wankery people would complain of that too. The solo work on this album is fantastic as well the band doesn't go wrong in any department with their guitar-work. The keyboards throw the guitars sometimes and it leaves an unsatisfying taste in my mouth listening to them but overall it adds some good moments to the discs 31 minutes of play time.

It's unfortunate that Infernaeon didn't exactly deliver an original underground metal album here, however what works for them doesn't exactly work for everyone and the style mixing they pull off is good but faulted on many levels. Hopefully with more time and a stronger, better release I can say more good things about this band in the future.

Score: 5.5/10

Dead Man In Reno - Dead Man In Reno
Style: Metalcore
Running Time: 43 Minutes and 30 Seconds
Label: http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk/


While I can't exactly base my thoughts of an album around a title or even a name of a band, I can usually tell what something is going to be before i put it in. With Dead Man In Reno's debut self-titled album on Candlelight Records, I was skeptical that what I was about to hear was a metalcore blunder of an album. Thankfully to my surprise what I heard over the next 45 minutes of playing time was a welcome, refreshing and hopeful listening experience.

Metalcore is synonymous these days with great production and not so fantastic playing ability anymore. Dead Man In Reno aim to take that last little note out of the equation and replace it with fine arrangements and great musicianship all around. While everyone and their cousin continue to play out the painfully old Swedish metal of 'Slaughter Of The Soul'-era At The Gates, Dead Man In Reno choose to, instead, pull away in not so typical American metalcore fashion. While they do indeed rely on the double Swede guitar melodies to pull through the majority of their album the way they do it seems more mature than the standard. Opting more of a breakdown heavy album doesn't usually play out well for most bands, but every time you think that Dead Man In Reno is done for, they seem to whip out something from their bag of guitar tricks. Solos, interweaving melodies intricately played with style and what seems to be ease for guitarists Chris Penuel and Stuart Ogran.

However, like most metalcore bands, for one reason or another Dead Man In Reno sends you into a panicking moment of 'what the hell'-esque feelings with the song 'Given A Season Of Sun'. The brief instrumentally sappy feeling of this song is quickly shoved aside as 'Goodbye Tommorow, Hello Dead Letters' technical performance rears its head and you are treated to what it is Dead Man In Reno does best that sets themselves apart from the entire pack of metalcore drones. The five songs thereafter are hit or miss unfortunately. While the 8 minute long 'Cursed' is a refreshing piece of musical achievement, incorporating an orchestrated arrangement throughout its middle and nearing end bursting into solo performances that leave your jaw on the floor. The remaining two tracks leave something to be desired and almost kill the albums momentum in terms of energy and ingenious playing ability, instead of using more technically proficient styling Dead Man In Reno take us into territory we know, clean vocals thrown about and typical guitar-work.

When it's all said and done though Dead Man In Reno's self-titled album has honestly pushed them to the front running for metalcore for this year. Nearly every aspect of this album leaves you wanting more from this band, and the next album is sure to be more precise and outstanding.

Score: 7.5/10

Despised Icon - The Ills Of Modern Man
Style: Metalcore/Death Metal
Running Time: 39 Minutes and 53 Seconds
Label: http://www.centurymedia.com/


On this, their 3rd full length, Despised Icon seem to have it in for everyones ears. Whether you're being blasted with technicality or sheer brute force, you can't deny that 'The Ills Of Modern Man' is heavy. Despised Icon has inevitably raised the bar for those coined under the genre of 'Deathcore', did any of us really think this wasn't coming from this band from the great white north ? Though it has taken two years since 'The Healing Process' and hordes of bands have released records trying to claim the 'throne' of sorts. Popular culture would have you believe that bands like Job For A Cowboy, Elysia, All Shall Perish and the like are at the forefront of this genre movement. Though popular culture doesn't always reflect refinement of a particular sound, I guess. Nothing in particular against the aforementioned bands' latest releases, all are stellar in performance

In nearly 40 minutes Despised Icon has completely obliterated the competition and set aside any preconceived notion that 'The Healing Process' couldn't be topped in absolute heaviness. Though some bands have almost completely dropped the 'core' from their next release( ahem Job For A Cowboy) Despised Icon seem to embrace the usage of breakdowns. Which have obviously been all too popular the past 5-6 years in metal/hardcore based music. The fact that they embrace the usage of this element lends greatly to most of their song structures. Occasionally you can see one coming a mile away but as soon as it hits you almost have the feeling of not caring at all that its been thrown in. The technical mastery thrown around the songs on 'The Ills Of Modern Man' more than make up for the lack of skill it takes to chug away on an open D.

The machine like mastery of the drums by Alex Pelletier is astounding, the dual vocal attacks of Alex Erian and Steve Marois are simply brilliant in the way that they compliment each other. Guitar work is handled by both Eric Jarrin and Al Glassman, with Sebastien Piche on bass and all three of these guys handle their instruments with skill and technical proficiency.

It's undeniable that 'The Ills Of Modern Man' has likely become the benchmark that bands from here on have to overcome in this genre of metal. It won't exactly be easy but I know one things for sure, this album is sure to please any fan of 'The Healing Process' or 'Consumed By Your Poison'. Even if both albums relied on a more specific sound 'The Ills Of Modern Man' has rolled them into one and produced quite a fine 3rd release, even if not entirely original in every aspect.


Score: 8.5/10

The Funeral Pyre - The Nature Of Betrayal
Style: Metalcore/Black Metal
Running Time: 43 Minutes and 8 Seconds
Label: http://www.creator-destructor.com/


Poised to take control of the newest wave of blackened metalcore( have they honestly got much of a fight in this territory at the moment ? ), we have here The Funeral Pyre's second release 'The Nature Of Betrayal', a 43 minute foray into cold, bitter territory. Has it been done before, yes in all honesty, but can The Funeral Pyre bring enough to the table in 43 minutes to make you think differently ?

The answer... for as bored as I was listening to this album, is still a yes. At 'The Nature Of Betrayal's best moments The Funeral Pyre seem to take on the face of a band that is trying their hardest to create something fresh sounding for the masses. That certainly leads to me feeling a bit of admiration for The Funeral Pyre and the way they play. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that throughout 'The Nature Of Betrayal' The Funeral Pyre seem to rely too heavily on their influences. Whereas I was hoping for groundbreaking new music, I instead got a trip down memory lane.

'The Nature Of Betrayal' honestly sounds as if it were recorded much more than a year ago. The instrumentation through 'The Nature Of Betrayal' can be described as very mature comparatively to metalcores usual stagnation on riffs and back work. For The Funeral Pyre I can say that their guitar-work is average, while I don't hear anything quite breathtaking it all plays nicely together and sounds fitting in standard verse chorus fashion. Occasional breaks from the standard mold are found throughout but rarely do they shine with much intensity. Vocal styling ranges from raspy high pitched scream to death metal growling.

The melding of these two almost opposing genres is somewhat fantastical. To think that not many bands have been able to pull the honest sound off is in itself refreshing for metal. The way 'The Nature Of Betrayal' plays out calls to mind bands like Undying, As Hope Dies and At The Gates respectively. The usage of keyboards to create an atmosphere for the music is very Dimmu Borgir-like or even Bleeding Through-esque. For their attempts The Funeral Pyre can be dealt some sympathy in the fact that their influences were great, and that they are trying to emulate them in intensity and ingenuity for genre mixing. But for the very same fact The Funeral Pyre is faulted on their formulaic behavior that we have all heard before.

Score: 5/10