• Skeletonwitch: Breathing the Fire
• The Black Dahlia Murder: Deflorate
• Job for a Cowboy: Ruination
• Austrian Death Machine: Double Brutal
• Slayer: World Painted Blood
• August Burns Red: Constellations
• Lamb of God: Wrath
• Dethklok: Dethalbum II
• Darkest Hour: The Eternal Return
• Revocation: Existence is Futile

Most of these were awesome, though to be honest 2009 wasn’t the best year for metal in my opinion so it wasn’t exactly hard to shine. Job for a Cowboy seems to have matured to the point of a reputable death band with Ruination, The Black Dahlia Murder stepped it up even harder (which was hard to imagine) with Deflorate, and Skeletonwitch…they just continue to amaze me with their excellence. With these exceptions, better luck next year folks. Stay classy metalheads.

In 2007, they released an album entitled “The Dethalbum”, and I recently got a chance to give their Sophomore album “Dethalbum II” a good listen. My hat comes off for Brendon Small and the crew behind Dethklok for this release. Where the first album was all about the show, making really epic songs with humorous themes and lyrics, this album seems to focus a bit more on the music.

That doesn’t mean the songs aren’t funny, take Laser Cannon Deth Sentence for instance. If you follow the show, during the second season’s first episode the Dethklok guys go to a prison to play a show for the prisoners, on the premise that they’ll be able to choose how 25 of the prisoners are executed. They play this beast of a song from on top of a 50 story giant metal robot spider with drills for legs as it stomps all over the fans and blows up the prisoners. This song is four minutes and thirty six seconds of absolute non-stop frenzied brutality.

Dethsupport is another hilarious song that makes you wonder if Dethklok even understands the concept of limits. The whole song is talking about somebody who is on life support, and the chorus seems to be a repeated chant of “PULL THE PLUG!”

The first track, Bloodlines, is probably my favorite track on the album, despite how much I’ve anticipated and anxiously awaited Laser Cannon Deth Sentence. It screams amazing from start to finish, sampling the scene from the episode where the band goes to the Amazon to do the drug Yopo. There’s a bit of a tribal feel to the whole thing, finishing strong with an epic progression of guitar riffs, tribal drums, and Nathan Explosion’s dark death growls. Every time I hear it, I shit my pants.

With tracks like The Gears, Burn the Earth, and Black Fire Upon Us, it’s evident that the objective here was to ensure that all who listened left the album with a stunned expression and destroyed eardrums.

I must sadly also mention that I’m largely unhappy with the way the vocals of this album have been altered in some songs. It sounds like they were recorded underwater, you’ll notice what I’m talking about if you listen to about 2:55 into The Gears. It’s a little bit weird, but overall it doesn’t harm the album too much.

All said, I’d say I have to definitely give this album an 8/10. Keep making more epic albums for us to melt our faces to, Dethklok!

Get the album from Amazon.

metalunderground.com has the the scoop:

“On the behalf of my mates in The Black Dahlia Murder, we are fucking pumped to hit the road with Skeletonwitch, Toxic Holocaust, and Trap Them. We have forged this alliance in the name of Satan, hand picking the best bands possible to bring you the most stage dive worthy tour of the fall. Circle up!” comments vocalist Trevor Strnad.

Tour w/ Slipknot
08/23 Kennewick, WA Toyota Center
08/24 Spokane, WA The Big Dipper not part of tour
08/25 Great Falls, MT Four Seasons Arena
08/26 Billings, MT MetraPark Arena
08/27 Pocatello, ID Icon not part of tour
08/28 Boise, ID Qwest Arena
08/29 Salt Lake City, UT The “E” Center Of West Valley
08/31 Colorado Springs, CO World Arena & Ice Hall
09/01 Casper, WY Casper Event Center Arena
09/02 Sioux Falls, SD Nutty’s North not part of tour
09/03 Fargo, ND Fargodome
09/04 Rochester, MN Mayo Civic Center
09/05 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom

Tour w/ Children of Bodom, Skeletonwitch
09/18 Providence, RI Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
09/19 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom
09/20 Clifton Park, NY Northern Lights
09/22 Quebec City, QC Theatre Capitole
09/23 Montreal, QC Metropolis
09/25 Kitchener, ON Elements Night Club
09/26 Toronto, ON Sound Academy
09/27 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
09/28 Minneapolis, MN Epic
09/30 Winnipeg, MB The Garrick Centre
10/01 Saskatoon, SK Odeon Events Centre
10/02 Calgary, AB MacEwan Hall Ballroom
10/03 Edmonton, AB Edmonton Events Centre
10/05 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
10/06 Seattle, WA Showbox at the Market
10/07 Portland, OR Roseland Theatre
10/09 San Francisco, CA Regency Center w/ Austrian Death Machine
10/10 Pomona, CA The Glass House
10/12 Phoenix, AZ Marquee Theatre w/ Austrian Death Machine

Tour w/ Skeletonwitch, Toxic Holocaust, Trap Them
10/13 San Diego, CA Soma
10/14 Victorville, CA Karma
10/15 San Luis Obispo, CA Downtown Brewing Co
10/17 Orangevale, CA The Boardwalk no Toxic Holocaust
10/19 Murray, UT Murray Theater
10/20 Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep
10/22 Iowa City, IA Picador
10/24 Madison, WI Orpheum Stage Door
10/25 Columbus, OH The Basement
10/26 Evansville, IN Boney Junes
10/27 Nashville, TN Rocketown
10/29 Metairie, LA The High Ground
10/30 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
10/31 Augusta, GA Sector 7G
11/01 Wilmington, NC The Soapbox Laundrolounge
11/02 Baltimore, MD The Ottobar
11/03 Farmingdale, NY The Crazy Donkey
11/04 Hartford, CT Webster Underground
11/06 Cleveland, OH Peabody’s Down Under
11/07 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection
11/08 Louisville, KY Uncle Pleasants
11/10 Syracuse, NY Lost Horizon
11/11 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place
11/12 Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance
11/13 Bucksport, ME The Kave

They’ll be coming through Columbus in October, who else will be going with me? The Basement is going to be absolutely packed.

<butters> hows Hester Prynne?
<butters> never listened to them
<Chris> Hmm, an interesting mix
<Chris> First track was like a rose funeral sounding thing
<Chris> Some cool riffage in another one, still another has some pretty bland drumming
<Chris> I’d say worth a listen, mostly good
<butters> booo to bland drumming
<Chris> Yeah the bland drumming was really only in the one
<Chris> A pet peeve is blatant mixing of vocals (like scratching the vocals) and they did it at least once
<Chris> Some pig squeals which you may like, some heavy breakdowns
<Chris> Hester Prynne reviewed in 7 IMs
<butters> ROFL

There you have it, Hester Prynne reviewed. Who says chatting on AIM isn’t productive?

I was definitely not disappointed. These guys have a unique blend of heavy as hell and soft, almost to the point of emo. Normally I hate that kind of music, but something about these guys just makes me all warm inside. Or something. They’re a pretty badass sound.

My favorite track is probably the opening track, Deceiver, for its tasty riffs and perfect blending of heavy and light. If you’re looking for a good metalcore track to groove to, it’s great. In addition, The Fall starts out deceptively pop-ish but then turns into a pretty good metal track about a minute and a half in, and just sort of does this screaming vs. singing battle throughout, reminding me a little bit of As I Lay Dying’s style.

I won’t do a long-winded review, and I will mention that the album is a short 7 tracks long, but it’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re open to more than “it must be absolutely 100% full on death metal all the time forever”. Give the album a listen, check it out, perhaps buy it. You know the deal.

Bottom line: 7/10

.

I pre-ordered my copy of the album through cmdistro.com. They told me it would ship on 6/23, a full week before the album officially releases. I figured that even with a few days shipping I’d still be able to get it early. Yesterday, it arrived. I tore open the packaging and plugged it in to give it a complete listen.

Here’s the tracklist:
  1.  Wake Up (3:48)
  2.  Lifted (4:08)
  3.  Smoke (3:08)
  4.  Something Invisible (2:57)
  5.  No Time To Bleed (2:22)
  6.  Suffer (3:56)
  7.  …and Then She Bled (3:55)
  8.  Wasted (3:13)
  9.  Your Creations (3:59)
10.  Genocide (2:17)
11.  Disengage (4:04)

Runtime 37:47

The first couple tracks, Wake Up and Lifted, are both heavy as hell, but I’m assuming you’ve all heard these already. Track 3, Smoke, starts out with this horror movie sounding effect, which is sure to shatter your eardrums if you turn it up too loud. A little drumming, and then the song starts. It’s loud, it’s angry, and it’ll throw you all over the place.

Right now, my favorite track on the album is No Time To Bleed, by far. This song is packed with so much brutality it’s insane. Some of the lyrics are “AND THIS IS NOT A CHURCH, AND I DO NOT PREACH, AND I HAVE NO TIME TO BLEED”. About 1:45 into the song is what I love so much about it. This breakdown is so immense and loud it’s hard to fight back the desire to destroy something whenever I listen to it.

Track 7, …and Then She Bled, is a bit of an interlude. This track has no vocals, overlaying what sounds like a 911 call where a woman is getting murdered. Ironically, this is probably one of the more relaxed tracks on the album. Wasted has one of my favorite ways to start a metal song; a loud blast from a drum and then the whole band starts in with all the grindcore rage that they do.

Overall, this album is an easy 5/5 from me. The vocals on this album have a bit of a different sound to them, but overall it definitely still has that brutal unique sound that only Suicide Silence seems to have. I think back to The Cleansing, with tracks like Unanswered, The Diseased, and In A Photograph, and I realize that they don’t really have directly comparable tracks. Some may dislike this, but personally I love it. The whole album is fresh, I don’t feel like I’m listening to The Cleansing, and that’s definitely a good thing.

Anyway, back to the album. To set things up, they begin the album with I Loathe, a great track. About 1:20 into it, it gets really heavy, and I can’t help but start headbanging to it, no matter where I am. Follow this up with Prey To Anguish, and you have a fantastic back-to-back combo. Prey To Anguish has that really heavy melodic death metal sound that you can just get lost in.

The Wretched of the Earth is track 3, which is pretty good. The shrieking gets to be a bit too much here, but it’s all good. Track 4, Grave New World, is a pretty sweet sounding track. It epitomizes why I like Neaera, it alternates between the ultra brutal growls and the high pitched shrieking, all while keeping a pretty steady double-bass beat and melodic sound in the background.

Age of Hunger is probably my favorite track on this album. Right off the bat it gets into that heavy sound, but the little breakdown about a minute and a half into it is why this song is so badass.

I’m going to leave the rest of the album a mystery for you to explore yourself, and I highly suggest you do so. You can buy the MP3 download from Amazon here. Overall, I’m giving this thing a 4/5, solely because sometimes it can get a little bit repetitive. Check it out!

Well, today is here, I have my copy of the album, from Amazon. I’ve been listening to it all morning, and I must say it’s a good album.

We start with The Greyman. This is truly the way to introduce your record. Running 1:12, without words, and full of badass, I was immediately impressed. The double bass here is perfectly timed, as I have come to expect, and overall the track gets you amped.

The first thing I notice once we get into the tracks with vocals is that the vocals have changed drastically from the Persephone Demos. Personally, I find this new “shouting” style to be inferior to the previous growling, and for me this detracts from the overall sound.

That’s not to say that it’s bad. The rest of the band continues to deliver that totally badass brutal sound, and while it’s different and I don’t personally like it the vocals are still pretty good.

All said, I’d rate it at a 4/5, and definitely advise you pick up a copy