Moonspell - Night Eternal (2008)

Bought this one completely blindly– had a gift certificate at a local record store. Listened to 30 seconds of one track at the listening station and decided to pick it up. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the band, like I was, Moonspell is a Portugese goth metal band that has been around for a little while. With their latest release, Night Eternal, they have a veeeeery gothy album that may be a bit heavy-handed when it comes to the dark style. A lot of female vocals, spoken parts of songs, a lot of synth which creates an absolutely enormous sound (very produced) and somewhat corny lyrical content. Even with all of that, its still an enjoyable album. (Similar Artists: Paradise Lost, Dark Tranquility) GOOD

Emmure- The Respect Issue (2008)

This album is atrocious. Its the bastard child of death metal and BroCore. Its all breakdowns and the music itself takes absolutely ZERO talent. When I saw these guys at the New England Metal and BroCore *ahem* I mean Hardcore Festival the guitarist and bassist literally did not move their hands on the necks of the guitar more than once per song. The singer is a joke and dances around like Fred Durst on stage. Total garbage. (Similar Artists: Despised Icon) BLASPHEMY!

With Blood Comes Cleansing - Horror (2008)

Ugh. More deathcore, and this time it’s Christian Dethcore. Typical 2007-2008 boring deathcore schlock. Squeeze a liberal amount of Suicide Silence into your palm, lather, rinse, repeat (until you’re really loathsome). (Similar Artists: Born Of Osiris, Despised Icon, White Chapel) BLASPHEMY!

Nervecell - Preaching Venom (2008)

Totally badass. Brutal and thrashy death metal, the way it should be. Vocals veeeery reminiscent of Glen Benton of Deicide. Hell, the music itself is very reminiscent of Deicide. Really cool solos mixed in with some of the fastest drumming I’ve heard recently. A very strong effort from a very talented group of guys. (Similar Artists: Deicide, Kataklysm) VERY GOOD

Deicide -  Till Death Do Us Part (2008)

Speaking of Deicide… Continuing in the style of The Stench Of Redemption, Glen Benton and friends release another quality old school death metal album. Its a little thrashier than classic Deicide but I think its for the best. I would love to see this band put out an album that really pushes the envelope and that is really what I think holds them back. Every Deicide release is good but never all that amazing, I just think that Glen Benton has a very simple time throwing his anti-Christian lyrics into that Deicide style and has no intention of changing it much. Oh well, still a solid album. (Similar Artists: Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse) GOOD

Origin -  Antithesis (2008)

Another absolutely brutal album from the super fast technical death masters, Origin. I feel the same way about this album as I do about the Deicide album, its kind of the same thing in a different package. You know exactly what you are getting with this album but its not boring by any stretch. Interesting how that works. I guess its just a sign of how good this band really is. Unbelievable double bass on this one. Absolutely wild. (Similar Artists: Brain Drill, The Faceless) VERY GOOD\

Textures - Silhouettes (2008)

Really cool band and even cooler album. Heavily influenced by Meshuggah, these Dutch guys can straight up play. While the music itself is loaded with interesting time signatures and polyrhythms, what stands out to me is the vocals. While the singer’s (Eric Kalsbeek) vocals aren’t as refined as someone like Mikael from Opeth or Christian from Scar Symmetry, the man does a fantastic job. With harsh vocals reminiscent of Jens Kidman of Meshuggah and a clean style that is similar to Mike Patton of Faith No More, he creates a very new and different sound. Definitely pick this one up. (Similar Bands: Meshuggah, Mnemic) AMAZING

Bloodbath -  Unblessing The Purity EP (2008)

Wow. Death metal the way it was meant to be. Sporting two members of Opeth (Mikael on vocals and “Axe” on drums), Bloodbath comes thundering back with this 4 song EP. I cannot tell you how awesome this is and how excited I am for the full length, The Fathomless Mastery, to hit on October 6th. Go out of your way to hear this. Flawless everything from production to execution and one of the guitarists is nicknamed “Sodomizer!” THE TOTAL PACKAGE! (Similar Artists: Opeth, Deicide, Suffocation) AMAZING

Monstrosity - Millenium (1996)

I heard about this album on the new Cannibal Corpse DVD in the band history documentary. Little did I know that George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher was the singer for the band Monstrosity before he took over for Chris Barnes in CC. Someone in the documentary referred to this as one of the best technical death metal albums ever created. When I heard “best technical death metal” and “Corpsegrinder,” I knew I had to listen. And I did. I wouldn’t call it the best technical death metal album ever, I would even go as far as to say that its not technical death metal (compared to today’s lofty standards like Necrophagist, Origin, etc). What I would call it is a classic. It takes the best that the thrash and death categories have to offer and combines them seemlessly and perfectly. Some of Corpsegrinder’s finest work and an amazing achievement for the band. Get it. Now. (Similar Artists: Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Deicide, Suffocation, Spawn Of Possession) MANDATORY OWNAGE

Enjoy your Monday off, everybody!

Reviews by COLE