Review for February Metal Releases: Wrath, Earthsblood, and Evisceration Plague

Considering this is my first time reviewing albums, I'll explain a little bit in how I do my reviews. I'm not very linear like most magazines or internet sites that review metal albums. I tend to scope out everything in an album. Content, originality, aggression, lyrics, and so on, plus a band's personal notation in performance or structure. But I won't waste cyberspace with a wall of text and make it decent enough length to read. Remember, this is just my own handy-dandy review so don't always assume that I'm right. However, I bring up the good, bad, ugly, hidious, and but-her-face in most albums and express it aggressively.



Well lets dissect shall we?

Well, look at what the cat dragged in. More like look at what the hellcat dragged in! Anyways, first up is Lamb of God's blood boiling recent release, Wrath. My metal brethren from DotH were really looking forward to another mind-blowing, fist-pounding record from the metalcore beasts from Virginia. From the contents of the release, the results definitely don't disappoint. As you can tell differently from their last release, Sacrament, it would seem that they have gone away from the "Pantera-isque" riffs as quoted by the varities of metalheads. There are still some traces of Sacrament, "Set to Fail" is a prime candidate for this example. But, Wrath brings a blood vortex of malice and crub-stomping mayhem that proves them to be the new leaders of the metal scene. "Contractor" and "Dead Seeds" kicks the fuck out of your groin and launches you into a pit of throbbing "thrashism". Yet, its not only thrash-and-mash but ideal groove sections and bone-sawed rhythms such as "Broken Hands" puts enough mood into the mix. One thing that threw me off was the shockingly melodic and clean tones in Wrath. Especially the opening track "The Passing" and "In Your Words" but keeps the tightness of metal quality in hand, kicking it into overdrive . I didn't see this coming but ironically I dig how LoG is experimenting outside their brain-bashing genre. So the final thing to ask and probably every metalhead will say this, is this a possible Album of the Year? That would be a yes. Wrath has enough testosterone driven metal to make this a win.

Wrath's Rating: 95%





After putting their conceptual framework of a post-apocolyptic future with spine-shattering riffs into The Constituion of Treason, you would think God Forbid would put out another solid album. Well after hearing "Walk Alone" from one of their samples, I was hoping for a little bit more. After the release of Earth's Blood my worries were to be proved wrong. One thing you should notice from the other predecessor is a more refined and melodic work with the leads from the Coyle Brothers. Along with their polished musicship, more vocals are running towards Doc and Dallas. While this works well with them in most cases, in songs such as "War of Attrition", they tend to go overboard with it. "Empire of the Gun" is another case where Doc and Dallas's vocals are depended on. I don't mind there clean vocals in melodic sections, their ability to growl or scream with their counterpart, Byron, isn't as impetus. Yet, the knuckle crunching riffs left me deaf and satisfied. As it would seem Byron, black frontman of GF, didn't contribute as much to his vocals with his crew. However, Byron continues to bring a vicious roar to the album. While this album might be a departure from most albums with a somber tone like Gone Forever. The group brings enough crushing blows to be a solid addition to the increasing popularity of GF.

Earth's Blood Rating: 87%

Ah, Cannibal Corpse. You never cease to fuel my hunger for good ol' death metal. Adding another tasty morsel to their discography, number 11, Evisceration Plague. Erik Rutan (ex-Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal) is once again hired to produce a mind spliting album for CC. Hearing from the opening track "Priests of Sodom" , you can tell the similarities to their last album Kill. In a nutshell, this is part two of Kill. Fortunately, this is not a bad thing. Pat O' Brien brings more inhuman, sinister leads to the album and doesn't disappoint. Paul Mazurkiewicz gives a more accurate and pulse pounding blasts from the kit, Alex Webster with his classically heavy bass lines, and of course, George Fisher being George Fisher. In honesty, I can't really write more about this album to say that there isn't anything new here. Besides the fun of delicious gore from "Skewered from Eye to Eye" and "To Decompose", CC doesn't bring new tricks to the table. Mainly, that is the only problem with the album. However, don't overlook this album. Its another slaughter spree from the always appropriate CC.

Eviscearation Plague Rating: 85%

Hope you enjoyed. Keep metal alive. Feel free to give your opinions and comments. Thank you.