Rating: 5/5
…
Should I even allow myself to post this review? I have so completely fallen in love with the fifth album from the San Franciscan sextet, it may be difficult to objectively criticize. The band was off my radar until last year, when Metal Blade scooped them up and decided to reissue their last four albums. Brad Barratt tackled all of those, so I decided to cruise down “17th Street” myself.

So it’s blackened Southern bluesy sludge by a bunch of French dudes? I know everyone lately opens with similar description, but if you’ve heard Glorior Belli, the badassery is obvious. After a full opening of “Dark Gnosis” from ‘The Great Southern Darkness’ and a bad joke from me, we get FULL-ON deep regarding their obscure name and origins, the underlying thread between Scandinavia and the Mississippi Delta, and how Julien channels his beliefs through the music. Then, just to reel it back a bit… questions about booze.

Rating: 5/5
…
This is the purpose for which rock ’n’roll was intended. Not to be background music in the local Target or to be recited soullessly by an army of never-ending American Idol contestants, but to remind us of what visceral chaos lives just below the surface of our pristine, orderly world.

It had been well over a year since I spoke with a band birthed from the ’90s New England metal scene. It was a pleasure to welcome Trevor Phipps, the vocalist of Unearth, who some—like me, for example—argue is the heaviest among the “Big 4 of Massachusetts Metalcore”.

Rating: 2.5/5
…
I hate to knock a good effort, but this is what criticism is all about. “Phoenix” might fill you up, but I want more flavor. Maybe next time Hate Eternal could consider spicing up the simmering stew instead of burning the bird in the flames.

Rating: 4.5/5
…
Amon Amarth does not simply stand on the shoulders of giants—they ARE the fucking mountain.

I, for one, am psyched to see these guys make the jump. Victory never struck me as the right fit for BTBAM, and I hope Metal Blade finds them even greater success.

Rating: 4.5/5
…
“On Divine Winds” manages to emulate the horrors and realities of war using a potent mix of death/grindcore. Hail of Bullets have written an excellent concept album that encourages the listener to read up on the history of the battles fought between the Allied soldiers and the Japanese Empire.

Rating: 4/5
…
While maybe not the most logical step from the weedy rhythms of “Witchcult Today”, “Black Masses” manages to captivate for its entirety. It doesn’t sound like any other Electric Wizard album. However, that’s only part of what makes it great…

Rating: 4/5
…
GWAR are not necessarily breaking any new barriers in the metal world; they are still consistently good and never fail to make me laugh. However, if you want the real experience, an album isn’t the place to go. They are, and always will be, a live experience. That doesn’t mean their albums can’t impress, though.