Rating: 3.5/5
…
For lack of a better term, the music has more “bounce”, which injects a new energy into the BLS formula. Overall, this could very well be Black Label Society’s best record to date.

Rating: 4/5

There are plenty of Metal fans out there that worship Sleep. Many of these same folk also have great reverence for both of the bands birthed from its dissolution: Om and High on Fire. And I never thought I wanted to hear a happy medium between that divide, yet that is exactly what Zoroaster delivers.

Hatebreed – “For The Lions” released May 5, 2009 on E1 Music One of metallic hardcore’s fiercest champions give their voice and music in tribute to those that helped push them there.  Many tracks feature bands with high crossover appeal, like Hatebreed themselves, but what I found most exciting was their treatment of metal tracks, particularly the strong melodies of Metallica’s “Escape” and the metal band they have shown the closest allegiance to since their inception: Slayer, which appropriately ignites the album.  They even take you to the taproot, covering The Misfits’ “Hatebreeders,” from which they adopted their name.  [...read more]