Heavier than Hell's Top Ten Anticipated Albums of 2014

10. Anthrax

Anthrax have always been the least of the Big Four to me, owing primarily to my disinterest in the John Bush years (which coincide with when I was getting into metal). 2011's Worship Music was the best of the recent works from those major thrash bands though, and with Megadeth and Slayer each having, well, poor years in 2013 (you'll notice Slayer does not make this list), now might be Anthrax's moment to really shine.

 

9. Fear Factory

I have a feeling that Fear Factory's on the way out. It pains me to say, because they were one of my favorite bands in high school, and Soul of a New Machine or Demanufacture would probably earn a place on a top ten or twenty all time albums list. But all of the acrimonious lineup changes and a decreased profile are, in my opinion, likely signs of an end to their days as a national touring outfit. They're still putting out good albums though, so they'll have my ears as long as possible. Especially if Matt DeVries is laying bass tracks down on this one.

 

8. Testament

Another thrash band I didn't grow up loving, but it's been hard to ignore just how great they've been lately. Dark Roots of Earth is a great album, and I can't wait to see what they follow that up with. Based on the upward swing they've been on from The Gathering to The Formation of Damnation to now, it has the potential to be a hell of a thing.

 

7. In Flames

Opinions on In Flames's last album, Sounds of a Playground Fading, seem to vary. I like it, but given how far they went off the rails after Reroute to Remain (or Soundtrack to Your Escape), it's only one small step in the right direction. Here's hoping the next album's the giant leap for Jesterkind.

 

6. Mastodon

As I said in my review of their Live at Brixton release (located here: http://jakespeare88.blogspot.com/2013/12/another-trinity-for-christmas-three.html), this is one that I've been anticipating for quite a while. They may not thrill me on the road, but in the studio there's few bands I find as compelling as Mastodon. The Hunter wasn't my favorite of theirs, but the advance press I've seen make it sound like they're headed in a more conceptual direction again. Maybe not Crack the Skye 2.0, but something closer.

 

5. Foo Fighters

Had to figure I wasn't going to get through a list without one non-metal album. Sorry. Site might be called Heavier than Hell but even I mellow out on occasion. Wasting Light was probably the best album the Fighters have produced to date, definitely their best since Colour and the Shape, and this newest work is supposedly another more experimental recording, so hopefully similar processes will yield similar results. Whatever the quality, I'm sure it'll be catchy.

 

4. Down

The second EP is done at last. I remain unsure whether Kirk Windstein or Bobby Landgraf recorded the guitar tracks alongside Pepper Keenan, but regardless I am pumped to hear new Down. Perhaps even moreso if it's the first with a new lineup.

 

3. Lamb of God

This one feels like a bit of a question mark, considering the only official word has been that they're looking to enter the studio soon and hopefully have an album out by the end of the year, but I'm fairly confident that it'll happen, and it'll be spectacular when it does. Seeing Randy's energy onstage is unreal enough, but to have him finally write about and express his feelings about what occurred in Prague is going to be...well, rough, but cathartic and powerful.

 

2. Machine Head

I suppose it isn't that much longer than the usual two year cycle between albums, but it's been three long years since Unto the Locust and I am dying for some new Machine Head. Curious to hear what Jared MacEachern brings to the table, curious to see if the publicized focus on shorter songs comes to pass, just give it to me now please. There's no uncertainties or second thoughts in the back of my head on this one. I just want new Machine Head.

 

1. Slipknot

This one, however, I am full of mixed emotions about. Few bands are more important to me than Slipknot, and I've been hoping and hoping for them to record again for years. But the loss of Joey Jordison is pretty significant for me, and I can't determine at this point what Slipknot would sound like without his distinctive style on the drums. So we'll wait and see I guess. It'll certainly be a unique experience, that much I'm sure of.

Heavier than Hell's Top Ten Albums of 2013

10. Skillet-Rise

 

Number ten was a hard record to pin down this year. Amon Amarth was here. Nine Inch Nails was here for the longest time. It wasn't until the last week or two that I found myself listening to this album pretty much front to back yet again, getting all the words, and humming all the little parts, and at that point I realized it was the number ten that I'd been looking around for. Lead guitar isn't a position with a constant member in the Skillet lineup, but I really hope Seth Morrison is in the band to stay. A lot of the "little parts" that I was mentioning are his guitar work, like the solo at the beginning of Circus for a Psycho for instance.

 

9. Carcass-Surgical Steel

 

The metal album du jour for the last part of 2013. For all the complaining about Tool taking eight years between albums, Carcass producing another work after seventeen years must've led to some crazy hype. Being unfamiliar with them before this, the results are strong enough to me that I'm not surprised at the ecstatic reactions from those who have been waiting patiently for it. I'm still not a death metal guy, but I start to understand it listening to this.

 

8. Palms-Palms

 

An otherworldly soundtrack to a Michael Mann film that doesn't exist. Chino Moreno has a voice like no other, and combined with the experimental, post metal stylings of most of Isis, the results are idiosyncratic and oddly soothing. This is an album I love to fall asleep to, and I mean that in the best possible way. The trance it puts you in is a pleasurable one.

 

7. Korn-The Paradigm Shift

 

The straw that broke the butthurt camel's back. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm as happy as anybody to have a great Korn album in my ears, but I'm absolutely overjoyed that this album seems to have placated my fellow fans, so at last I may wander onto fan sites for news about the band without being greeted by pages of comments about how they're "THIS CLOZE I SWEARZ" to giving up on the band.

 

6. Gemini Syndrome-Lux

 

I can't remember the last debut record that had the kind of effect on me that Lux has had. I put it on because they were the one name on a concert bill that I didn't know, and quickly they became my reason to be there that night. A potent alt metal effort along the lines of 10 Years and the Deftones, this is the rare band that I hope to hear myself saying "I knew about them before they were big" about one day.

 

 5. Protest the Hero-Volition

 

 

A rare album that lives up to an absolutely crushing amount of hype. I had never heard Protest the Hero's music before this album, and it turned me into an instant fan. I've been listening to them constantly since the release, and this is still the album I come back to the most. Now is Protest the Hero's time, either jump on board or don't.

4. Black Sabbath-13

 

I'm tired of the Bill Ward debate at this point, from either side. I'm tired of people saying you can't have Black Sabbath without Bill Ward, and I'm tired of people saying he doesn't matter. Bill Ward was a founding member of one of the most important bands in metal or rock and roll in general, but Black Sabbath has become a much bigger thing than just those four original members. It's become a beast that encompasses and includes the contributions of dozens of members including, yes, a good number of drummers. Great drummers, like Vinny Appice and Eric Singer. Ozzy isn't the only vocalist that Sabbath ever had, Geezer isn't the only bassist that Sabbath ever had, and Bill Ward isn't the only drummer that Sabbath ever had. 13 may not represent the reunion that it was initially advertised as, but it represents a Black Sabbath album that can stand toe to toe with timeless works like Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and that should be enough for anybody.



3. Queens of the Stone Age-Like Clockwork

 The fact that Like Clockwork is the popular hit that it is, while not being a bad thing at all, is so weird. It's such a strange, hypnotic, bleak album. I mean, some of the first lyrics you hear include "If life is but a dream, wake me up" and "The view from Hell is blue skies". Those are the words the untrained masses want to hear? Alright. Well, then I'm among the majority. After two albums that just seemed to be quirky in service of nothing, something's brought the soul back to Queens of the Stone Age. It's a damn shame that it had to be Josh Homme nearly dying, but in the end from the outside looking in on this one, the end is really all we have, and in this case the horrible means led to a fantastic end.



2. Dream Theater-Dream Theater



I've been hoping for a, well, a metal album from Dream Theater for years, but it was coming to the point where I wasn't even taking it seriously when I said it anymore. At just about the last minute, my hopes and dreams came true and reignited my interest. With all the symphonic complexity that Dream Theater fans have come to expect, and all of the heaviness that I and many others had come to pine for, this is the new definitive Theater album, and I guess I can only hope a sign of things to come.

1. Killswitch Engage-Disarm the Descent

 

That's right. My album of the year has been my album of the year since April. That says little about the music of the following eight months and so much about just how good this album is. An intense return to form for Killswitch Engage, and in a much quieter way, one of the most spiritual and Godly records of the year which I appreciate. It was pretty clear that Killswitch needed a change by the end of the Howard Jones era, and there really wasn't anywhere else they could go but up, but just how far up they managed to reach with Disarm the Descent makes me a happy fan.

Heavier than Hell's Top Five Live Performances of 2013

5. Rob Zombie

 

When this list was first coming together, there was originally a "Special Mention" given to Five Finger Death Punch and In this Moment. Neither band would've made the list based on the quality of their music, but in terms of putting of showmanship both were top notch. Production design and showmanship aren't among the top qualities of the performances that made the rest of my list, so I felt I should highlight some who made it a top quality. I'm telling you this as a reminder to always give things a few passes before you post them, because if I'd highlighted those two for showmanship over music and not given Rob Zombie a slot on the list for living up to both categories simultaneously, I would've failed at my job.

Highlight: So many. John 5 playing a glowing guitar, Rob running around the arena during 5's solo, We're an American Band, on and on.

 

4. Korn

 

Korn's my favorite band, so to see them recapture the olden days, both in terms of lineups and crowd size, in November was a real treat. To see them do it well was no surprise.

 

3. Demon Hunter

 

Demon Hunter's one of those bands where I could stand to hear them perform all of their albums back to back to back and wouldn't complain. Unfortunately, they were only a support act to In Flames when I saw them in February. Fortunately, a little Demon Hunter goes a long way, and setlist debates aside, they managed to blow the other three acts that evening off the stage with their brutal, fast paced set.

 

2. Filter

 

The year's biggest surprise in terms of a live performance. Richard Patrick's played venues ten times the size of Bismarck's O.N.E., and I'm sure he would've loved to have been playing a venue ten times the size of the O.N.E. that evening. You couldn't tell though. In terms of sheer enthusiasm, there was no greater display this year.

 

1. Lamb of God

 

A show so anticipated I came home early from a family vacation to ensure I could be there, one which lived up to my expectations in every way. People literally hanging off of balconies, circle pits that took up the whole floor, the world has missed Randy Blythe and his homecoming tour proved one for the ages.

 

 

Heavier than Hell's Top Five Surprises and Disappointments of 2013

DISAPPOINTMENTS

5. Icon for Hire-Icon for Hire

 

Icon for Hire went from a promising pop rock debut to, well, something with all the trappings of pop but none of the catchiness or hooks, and certainly none of the rock. The sophomore slump is certainly all too common, but a group completely having this kind of reversal is disheartening.

 

4. Trivium-Vengeance Falls

Once again, I got all excited about a Trivium album and it got close, but no cigar. This one has me moreso to blame for its placement on the list than any other, because I probably, no, definitely should've known better.

3. Device-Device

When Disturbed went on hiatus, my only real interest was in David Draiman's next move. After finishing Device's debut album, I was reminded that a band is not just a frontman. As good a voice as his is, it's nothing without quality songwriting and performing around it.

2. Stone Sour-House of Gold and Bones Part 2

Last year's first part of the House of Gold and Bones saga wasn't just Stone Sour's best album to date, it was one of the best rock records in quite a while. A diverse effort that showcased the many different styles and techniques the band was capable of, it left me longing for more. Unfortunately, part two just isn't nearly as dynamic, in fact it ends up quite monotonous. The more universal lyrical concepts of the first part are left behind for a focus on the overarching story, and the compositions just don't standout, especially coming after songs like Tired and A Rumor of Skin.

 

1. Alice in Chains-The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

This isn't the first disappointing Alice in Chains album. The self-titled has its defenders, but I can't listen to it and not hear Layne and the band's spirits dying with every note. The disappointments of The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here are far more generic. The songs just aren't great. A lot of it is low key enough to put one to sleep. The title track and singles Hollow and Stone are enough to keep one going, but this still isn't quite worthy of the name Alice in Chains.

SURPRISES

5. Newsted-Heavy Metal Music

Jason Newsted is still obnoxious and tries way too hard, but the results at least somewhat justify the means. At the end of the day, that's really all we should ask for.

4. Soulfly-Savages

Having now listened to the Soulfly records that I missed, this seems a weird one to end up making me a fan compared to better efforts like Conquer and Enslaved, but the timing ended up the way it was, and better late than never. 

3. A Day to Remember-Common Courtesy

Judging by the six digit sales figures of the opening week, I'm one of the last to jump onto the Day to Remember bandwagon, but I'm okay with that. Huge choruses, a beast of a drummer in Alex Shelnutt, I can see why people love these guys.

2. Battlecross-War of Will

 It's been a strange trip with Battlecross, going from finding them pretty sad on Trespass America, to enjoying them live in front of Demon Hunter and In Flames this year, and culminating in one of my favorite albums of the year. Guess that's a testament to the power of aggressive promotion.

1. Chimaira-Crown of Phantoms

Mark Hunter, in less than two years, found new band members to fill every single position in Chimaira other than vocalist, launched one of the most successful IndieGoGo campaigns in the history of metal crowdfunding, and put out one of the best albums of 2013. What have you done lately?

Another Trinity for Christmas: Three Recent Live Releases

By about mid-November, the flow of new albums has usually ground to a halt, which is great for those who are preparing end of the year stuff (stay tuned...), but leaves a bit of a gap for people looking for something to listen to. Luckily, a confluence of events has led to a number of live albums/DVDs coming out from some fairly big names. But are they all worth the time?

It'd be hard to argue that a free hour and a half of live music isn't worth a look, but when that free content is coming from Trent Reznor, any doubts can be safely erased. One of the great things about being a NIN fan in 2008 was watching Trent's bitterness at Interscope Records result in a four part instrumental album and a new studio record, all for no charge! Apparently, being in the middle of the honeymoon periods for two of his artistic endevours with Columbia Records hasn't stopped him, because with no warning at all a fully produced concert film documenting the Los Angeles stop of the band's Tension tour appeared on December 5th to once again reward us. There's a Blu-Ray release to follow next year, but watching the YouTube version on an HDTV put most of the professional releases I've seen this year to shame. As expected, the stage design and production values are high, with all sorts of cool interlocking screens and curtains illuminated by seemingly alien lighting rigs entertaining the eyes, but this is also, honestly, the most entertaining the music has been to at least these ears in a while. Back up singers Lisa Fischer and Sharlotte Gibson add a great flavor to many of these songs, and even manage to make the excerpts of Closer that pop up sound somewhat sultry and alluring. The set is probably still not heavy enough for those that are craving Downward Spiral 2.0, but March of the Pigs and the like are still played with plenty of power. People have been divided on the new album, but I think those who have positive memories of NIN live will find they've picked up where they left off, perhaps improving in the process.

Black Sabbath, on the other hand, have had a reputation for quite a while as an act that would be better off perhaps retiring from the road (or retiring completely depending on who you ask), a feeling built almost entirely on the fact that Ozzy, let's face it, has had better vocal days. With a little correction in studio, he's just fine. But live, at least in the last decade or so, it seems like every clip of him varies between out of tune with occasionally different lyrics at best, to incoherent mumbling and wailing at worst. So while the chart topping return of any other legacy act would of course be grounds for a big Blu-Ray/DVD appearance, Gathered in their Masses sounded like a bit of a risk, even to someone who liked 13 as much as I did (again, stay tuned...). Were the concerns justified?

Well, not entirely...

Putting aside Ozzy for a moment, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler really should be studied in terms of how to age gracefully as rock stars. Iommi's health has unfortunately become a question mark in the last year, but due to cancer, not damage from the years he's put on either from drugs or natural aging. These two can arguably still play just as well as they could in Sabbath's glory days. The set is heavier than hell, including the contributions of Tommy Clufetos, who isn't Bill Ward but fills the absence appropriately. Let's face it, if Ward's name hadn't occupied so many headlines, I don't think that many people would feel the void left. But these aren't the people I spent the whole introduction talking about. What about Ozzy? Well, he's better than he's sounded in a while, and the new songs in particular are sung with a fair bit of enthusiasm and power. It's when he loses the thread a bit or starts improvising during instrumental solos that he falls apart, and it takes a bit each time for him to find his way back to the pitch again. His crowd banter would be better off cut, people are just cheering at what they think he's trying to say at this point. Still, improvement is improvement. I wish he'd gotten to show that improvement on a few of the band's better songs, like Symptom of the Universe and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but they're inexplicably cut short. Into the Void can be played but no Sabbath Bloody Sabbath? Who made that decision? Regardless, this isn't a waste of money, and it certainly made me feel better about buying tickets for a performance I thought I'd be seeing moreso out of some inexplicable duty in the future. Realistic expectations will be met, and I don't think it will be hard to keep those in check at this point.

Another name band with an iffy live reputation are the devils that came out of Georgia (so sorry), Mastodon. The band's star has been on the rise since Leviathan with many people putting them with Lamb of God right at the forefront of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, and chart success starting to match that reputation. But lots of places, such as MetalSucks most notably, have published editorials alongside their praise questioning in particular the vocal aspects of the live performance. When I saw them in 2010, they projected a mind alteringly hypnotic film to play behind them while they ran through Crack the Skye in its entirety, and as soon as the intro to Blood and Thunder began during the encore the place went nuts enough that it didn't really matter, but the lack of a real lyrical presence in the set was definitely noticeable. 2011's Live at the Aragon was frankly awful, with only a couple of hits to supplement the Crack the Skye run through and embarrassing vocals for a professional recording. My hopes were up for Live at Brixton, which features a much longer and varied setlist and is coming off of touring for The Hunter, where one of the bands' goals as stated in the press was to bring a certain spark back to the live performances.

Unfortunately, I'm going to end up echoing the previous Sabbath review. It ALMOST gets there.

The energy is certainly improved. Instead of creating an immaculate, immersive presentation like the Crack the Skye tour, the emphasis is definitely back on the heavy. The problem is that the course almost feels too corrected, and lots of little nuances are lost. The set is a breakneck race to the finish line, and even on albums like Blood Mountain and Remission part of the fun with Mastodon is finding that weird guitar tone or the crazy drum fill that few other bands seem to be bothered with. For every Curl of the Burl, which comes through in all of its stomping, headbanging glory, there's two other songs that doesn't quite get there. Also, while the vocals are certainly more audible than the mumbly, whispery attempts on Live at the Aragon, they're certainly not up to what should be considered a live standard yet. I mention my 2010 experience in the intro to say that in the moment, this is something that could be overlooked, but when removed from the experience, sitting in your room examining this release with a sense of detachment, they don't work. None of this affects my anticipation for next year's new studio album, but it certainly would've been nice to come into that disc with good memories in mind. 

Concert Review: Night of the Living Dreads featuring Rob Zombie, Korn, and Scar the Martyr at the Bismarck Civic Center 11/09

A Rob Zombie performance is something I've wanted to experience since I was a teenager. Beginning in middle school, horror movies were an obsession, and as a penchant for the dark and scary began to carry over into musical choices, Rob Zombie was an early gateway drug to heavier and more brutal things. His lyrics peppered with references to the very movies that consumed most every thought in my head, he spoke my language for most of high school. The last couple of albums and films from him weren't quite up to snuff, but Hellbilly Deluxe is never far from the rotation here, and after watching hundreds of YouTube clips of the fire, quite possibly brimstone, and robots that decorate his stage shows, the desire to see that in person still remained.

Basically, they didn't need to sell it that hard, but pairing him on a co headlining tour with my favorite band, now reunited with the guitar player that hooked me into them in the first place, put the Night of the Living Dreads tour way over the top on the anticipation meter, and that was before they added Joey Jordison's Scar the Martyr as an opener. This seems an odd way to promote something, but this show was such an event that the anxiety attack I had while trying to negotiate uncooperative companies and timeframes for the two meet and greets beforehand was that much more unbearable. Didn't these people understand that adrenaline was coursing through my veins? Don't stress me out, I'm a live wire here!

In case the point hasn't been made yet, the day didn't start off well. We should all wish that our bad days could end with shows like this.

When reviewing Scar the Martyr's self titled debut album, I expressed concerns over how produced and enhanced Henry Derek's vocals sounded and wondered how they'd hold up in a live setting without Rhys Fulber nearby. I can now tell you from experience that he does a fine job, but I still find myself a bit ambivalent about Martyr as a whole. As fun as it is to listen to Joey Jordison on disc, watching him beat on the kit in person is a whole other ball game, and that's worth the price of admission, I just wish the material, which he produced ostensibly by himself, and the band he picked to perform it were a bit more compelling. The song choices were also a bit odd. Original single Blood Host was picked, but Soul Disintegration, the second and by far the best song on the album, was not. The "deep" cuts that they picked to fill out the setlist weren't particularly memorable, and all erred on the side of melodic as opposed to heavy, which doesn't exactly get a crowd pumped up. I was pleased to be able to see Joey play drums, because I'm skeptical that I'll ever get to see him play with Slipknot, but outside of that novelty at this point I'm not sure I'd be interested in some of the headlining tours I've seen advertised for them.

Evidentally, Korn and Rob Zombie switched spots back and forth on this tour, but on this particular evening it might've served Rob well to say "Y'know what? I'll just get it out of the way right now". From the opening notes of Blind, at least those that were audible above the screaming, it was clear who the crowd was here to see, and they did not seem to come out of the evening disappointed. When Korn came through Fargo last year, they put on a good enough performance that clearly demonstarted that they'd emerged from the dark times that followed Head's departure, and now with Head back in the band and a sold out arena in front of them, they successfully erased any memory of those times and brought us straight back to the nineties. If the fencing surrounding Ray Luzier's drum kit had been expanded to include a stage, one could have been forgiven for thinking we'd actually stepped through a time machine back to the original Family Values tour. The songs may be newer, but the energy is the same old school, youthful rage that a group of twenty something misfits brought out in the nineties. Even the appearance of a fan on stage, the now ominpresent security concern plaguing the entire industry after Randy Blythe's trial, couldn't stop Korn's momentum. As Head and Munky's guitars played off each other and Jonathan Davis raged and screamed, the captive audience in the Bismarck Civic Center witnessed that rarest of events, a band recapturing their moment in the sun. Korn's fifteen minutes just got extended to at least twenty, and judging by the screams of the six thousand, a further extension may be in order.

After weeks of proclaiming to my friend, a non Zombie fan, that the show would be worth it just for the fireworks, it was a little dismaying to discover there would in fact be none. In fact, there wouldn't be any dancers or robots either. While anticlimactic in these regards, the show that Mr. Zombie put on was still a memorable affair. I don't think the idea of shooting balloons into the crowd during the cover of Grand Funk Railroad's We're an American Band really paid off, unless Rob intended to spend the evening fending them off with his mic stand as the crowd merely sent them back towards the stage instead of dispersing them amongst themselves, but Zombie doing laps around the arena while John 5 played a furious solo on a glow in the dark guitar was the kind of memorable moment you just don't see at every show. The nostalgic glory vibe set by Korn continued into Mr. Zombie's set, which other than three songs off of the most recent album consisted only of material at least twelve years old and beyond, but given the reaction it appears that Dragula and Thunder Kiss '65 won't be going into retirement any time soon.

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