A few weeks ago, Hearwax posted an interview I conducted with <strong>Crime In Stereo</strong>’s <strong>Kristian Hallbert</strong>. Amongst other things, he talked about the great deal of time and effort that was invested into their latest, <em>I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone</em>, which didn’t really strike me as anything overly significant at the time. Bands will often say stuff like that, and generally, when someone boasts about the amount of time and effort they’ve put into something, it means they’re pleased with the results; I mean they’re not going …

All’s Quiet – Like Vultures
Fuck it. This album is FUN. After the ambient calm of “The Division,” “Directionary” hits the listener in the face with its southern-fried hardcore. Picture Maylene and the Sons of Disaster or He Is Legend and you’ve got this, and the rest of the album, pretty well mapped out.
Throw in some melodic bits and some breakdowns and you have a rather winning formula. I usually don’t like stuff like this, but this album’s a charmer. It’s a bit derivative, but …

If you’ve ever asked me what I’m looking forward to in the future of metal, you’ve probably heard a lot of fanboyish rants about Kelly Shaefer and Steve Flynn working on new Atheist material, you’ve probably heard about Periphery’s seemingly endless attempt to release their debut, and you’ve probably heard about Pathogenic.  I’m particularly excited for Pathogenic’s release because it’s probably my favorite re-interpretation of the groove metal niche founded by Meshuggah thats become so popular over the last year and a half or so, and it excels where others …

I love riffing. There’s nothing better in hardcore and metal than when a band can be heavy but still have serious groove; When you can listen to a song, and you can get into the groove of it and imagine exactly what kind of reaction it invokes in a live setting, especially when it’s one of high energy and not just people standing around with their arms crossed. Forfeit absolutely excels in this area.
The Lower Depths is fast, heavy, pissed off, and best of all, loaded with solid riffing. All …

Arsis – Starve For The Devil
What the hell happened? Deflorate adopts We Are The Nightmare’s second axeman and suddenly the core members of Arsis return – for this? Starve For The Devil is an album that painfully reveals itself by the third track; you get it, we get it, you want to play metal, cool. In a positive light, one could see how a more bare bones melodeath and thrash love affair could reveal gems in the foundation of Arsis’ sound – but Arsis excelled at revealing that anyway, allowing …