Review: Elysian- Wires Of Creation

Band: Elysian

Release: Wires Of Creation

Genre: Melodic Progressive Metal

Label: Self-Released

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElysianMetal

Tracklist:

1. Man's Design

2. Sigma

3. The Climb From Fear

4. Eternal Breath

5. Sense Offender

6. The Gate

7. Play The Hand

8. Calming The Storm

9. Conquest

10. Machine

11. A Cry From The Helpless

Review: 7/10

Elysian is an Australian band that draws influence from bands like Periphery, and SiKth, with a spaced out instrumental likeness in the spirit of Pink Floyd to deliver spaced out, experimental songs. Wires Of Creation is a amalgamation of virtuosic guitars riffs and solos, menacing vocals courtesy of Ben, and ambience that creates something entirely new in the metal world… sort of.

When the first signs of music pops out with the first track “Mans Design,” right away you hear the Periphery influence in the guitars that reminisce of their song “The Walk.” Far from being a blatant rip-off however, Ben’s evil vocals kick in over the calmness of the music. It’s much like a contrast between light and dark, at least one gets that type of vibe. The music is, for a lack of a better word, more “earthly,” and the vocals sound like they belong on a brutal deathcore release.

Changing it up a bit on “Sigma,” the music goes on a melodic metalcore sort of groove and even the vocals are toned down a little bit. The riffs shown in the song are wholly unique and catchy. It eventually slips off into ambient territory with the drums providing an ethereal soundscape and the guitars expanding upon it. Chunky, djent-y riffs are abound on “Sense Offender” as well, which really pushes them further into the melodic side of music.

They don’t deviate much at all from this formula, but “The Gate” is a good try. While it’s full of faster paced guitars instead of the jumpy djent they’ve been playing so far, the drums still follow the formula. Definitely more metalcore in nature, the vocalist keeps it brutal with his shredding vocal skills. Before long, they bring back the chunky riffs unfortunately.

It’s a really good release, but it follows a little too closely in Periphery’s footsteps. While there are a few differences, the guitars is where the similarities are found. Not to sound too critical of it, it is an album worth checking out. If you’re a fan of Periphery, then this album has a chance at becoming a regular spin in your CD player.

Review: Uneven Structure- Februus (2011)

Band: Uneven Structure

Release: Februus

Genre: Progressive Metal/Ambient/Mathcore

Label: Basick Records

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unevenstructure

Tracklist:

1. Awaken

2. Frost

3. Hail

4. Exmersion

5. Buds

6. Awe

7. Quittance

8. Limbo

9. Plenitude

10. Finale

Review: 10/10

Going up on my list as not only one of the best albums of the year, but as one of the best I’ve ever heard, Uneven Structure have unleashed the demon that is Februus. Although this review is long overdue, I wasn’t going to let it slide past me. With a perfect blend of progressive metal, mathcore, atmospheric elements, and the energy that is on par with the almighty Meshuggah, Februus will take the music world by storm.

Beginning with a soft, atmospheric intro in “Awaken” that steadily gets heavier and heavier, you can really feel the energy that set to come, then it slaps you across the face with uncompromising brutality that is partly lead by palm muting guitars and partly led by the bass. You can easily be overwhelmed (in a very good way) by the barrage of complex guitar arrangements, snare shots that blast outward whenever they’re hit, and the one-two punch of energy demanding screaming and the harmonic, male-siren-if-sirens-were-males singing really left me in awe at this band. AND IT’S ONLY THE FIRST SONG!

Menacing and heavy guitar hits start off the next song “Frost.” The atmospheric elements of the band are shown more in this song, with sultry, inviting singing that is wholly unique and awesome. The overall atmospheric element is held throughout the entire song, even when it gets heavy. This is one of those songs that can put anyone out of a bad mood and really make a person feel positive.

Chaos descends in “Hail.” Precise guitar slams and crazy drumming keep your attention on edge by coming off slightly Dillinger-esque, allowing your mind to wander off as it pleases as the music envelops you. So many bands attempt to cross metal and ambient, but few can actually pull it off for six minutes at a time and actually have it captivate someone as much as this band accomplishes.

This band truly has technical poly-rhythms down to a fine art. I will say that this band should NOT, I repeat NOT, be pigeon holed as a fucking djent band. I love bands that people consider djent, but that word is thrown around way too much and the value is diminished. Getting high while listening to this also gives a whole new perspective on the album. This album is best described as a roller coaster, with the ups of meat tenderizing brutality, the lows being the ambience soundscape, all brought together with awesome middle ground that covers the bases well.

This is a must have album for any metal head’s collection. To experience this among all other types of metal should be placed on your bucket list.

Review: Blotted Science- The Animation Of Entomology EP (2011)

Band: Blotted Science

Release: The Animation of Entomology

Genre: Progressive Metal

Label: EclecticElectric

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Blotted-Science/106052046092225

Tracklist:

1.Ingesting Blattaria

2. Cretaceous Chasm

3. Vermicular Asphyxiation

4. A Sting Operation 

I - Human Barbequed

II - Cessation Sanitation

III - Seeing Dead People

IV - Omitting Eyes

Review: 5/5

I am extremely biased toward anything Blotted Science releases; Ron Jazombek is my favorite living guitar player, Alex Webster is my favorite bass player of all time, and they always seem to work with extremely talented individuals such as Charlie Zeleny, who was drummer for Machinations of Dementia in 2007, and Hannes Grossman, the drummer for this year’s release, The Animation of Entomology. I had extremely high expectations for this release when I first heard about it, and I am glad that the band lived up to them. 

The band intended to give the album a film-score vibe with an extreme-metal twist, and I believe they succeeded when you take into consideration the insect-horror theme they decided to go with. The animations to go along with the music have not been released yet, but I can tell by the rapid and spastic playing that it is going to mesh well with the silly and frantic thematic style to be expected from insect-based animation.

The playing is extremely clean and precise, even when going through passages of seemingly frenetic phrases at ridiculous speeds, and I believe this shows a great amount of forethought and effort was put into every note played. Hannes Grossman has some ridiculous drum passages, such as those at the beginning of Cretaceous Chasm, that make a seasoned active-listener to progressive metal and jazz say to myself “what the fuck?” and “oh shit!” and the entire album is full of insanely crazy guitar and bass phrases that are articulate enough to make it not sound like just a barrage of randomly played notes and interesting enough to set it all apart from your average shred wankfest. 

Anyone familiar with Ron Jarzombek and his other projects will know what to expect; there are plenty of dark passages, crazy clusters of notes, and sections that could only be inspired by the likes of Carl Stalling and Disney films. The mix is very well balanced, the effects and tones used are all amazing and none of them take away from the music and its message. As is typical with Jarzombek, every instrument is very clearly heard on each song; even during a solo-type passage or section where one stands out, none of the others are drowned out into obscurity. 

My only qualm with the album is its length, and this is only a minor problem. While I understand that writing, scoring, recording, and mixing an album of this level of complexity takes a lot of time and energy, I couldn’t help but want much more by the time the album had finished. The Animation of Entomology is only an EP, but the catchiness of the music, the flow, the production quality, and everything else about it makes me feel that it is so much more than just a few songs tossed my way to help me get over the fact that a new full-length release by blotted science won’t be around for a quite a while. I love Cannibal Corpse, I love the false sense of hope of there ever being another Watchtower release, and I am looking forward to Ron Jarzombeks DVD lessons that he has been working on for years, but I feel that the band is being a tease, much like that girl that makes out with her busty friend at a party but refuses to let anyone stick it in her gash, leaving a large group of men to suffer with blue balls for the rest of the evening. 

Regardless of that one minor problem, I still feel like this band did a thorough job scraping the uterus at the clinic when they aborted this album out of some random suburban girls cunt. In order for a suburban bitch to save face with her rich mommy and daddy so that she may keep her breast implants and her luxury sedan, the entire fetus needs to be removed; therefor I give this album a full 5 out of 5 fetal chunks!

Review: Black Polaris- Empires (2011)

Band: Black Polaris

Release: Empires

Genre: Progressive Deathcore

Label: Independently Released

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blackpolarisuk

Tracklist:

1.

Review: 7/10

The first thing I have to say about Black Polaris’ new album Empires is that you have to listen to it through headphones, as it doesn’t sound so well over speakers due the instruments melding together. They are progressive deathcore, with death metal and black metal influences. The breakdowns, notably the one in “Oracle,” are refreshingly original and they don’t strive to sound like 98% of the other deathcore bands out there today.

The black metal influence is mostly in the vocals and sometimes the guitar tones that are used. Death metal influence lies mostly in the drumming, but is also shown at random times in the other instruments. A few songs into the album and the guitars start to lack in originality, as I’m quite confident I’ve heard “Effortless” played before. It’s very hard for a band to break out into the deathcore field and not sound like something that’s already been released. Luckily, these guys still throw in enough to set themselves apart from the pack, though the production of this album really held them back from making an even bigger impact. Their usage of the synth keys are a little questionable. The fake choir used in the beginning of “Power, Corruption” had me laughing. When he switched over to using synth orchestra instruments, it sounded truly menacing and gave a little bit of a Dimmu Borgir side.

After listening to this album for the past few days, the vocals really started to grind my nerves to the ground, and the overall production is just horrible. But the music is really good and is definitely worth checking out. You can go to their Facebook page and download it for free!

Review: Aegaeon- Dissension (2011)

Band: Aegaeon

Release: Dissension

Genre: Progressive/Deathcore

Label: Independently Released

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AegaeonUS

Tracklist:

1. Dimensions Of Reality

2. Meeting

3. A Product Of Variety

4. Explanation

5. Reshaping The Mulverse

6. The Consumption Of Everything

7. Perception

8. Impermanence

9. Time

10. The Awakening

11. End

Review: 8.6/10

Literally, there are only two bands that can pull off monotone vocals and actually sound bad fucking ass. Aegaeon and A Night At The Chalet. After a long wait, Aegaeon have finally unveiled their debut album entitled Dissension. One thing I like is how much more clear it is compared to the muddiness of the Exponential Transcendence EP. The vocalist has gotten a tad more comprehensive as well (you can actually pick out some of the words this time), but he is still the brutal monster on the vocals that sounds like a real life bear grabbed a microphone and fronted a death metal band. 

The first song “Dimensions Of Reality” begins right where the last EP left off. The musicianship is tight as ever, with brutal guitars hits and drums that perfectly match every transition that goes on. Having the bear-like monotone vocals can get a little nerve grating after a while, and really diminishes on the replay value over time. It has that quality where you can play it, then come back to it after a few weeks or so, but not something I can see listening to every day. 

Definitely the best song on the album is “A Product Of Variety,” with the blast beats, heavy riffs, and bellowing vocals will make this track memorable. “Reshaping The Mulverse” just makes you want to punch babies. The haunting guitar riffs that are spread throughout the entire album give this a unique feel and truly make it stand out among the rest of the deathcore and death metal albums of the year.

Review: Izeovasis- Bound By Design EP (2011)

Band: Izeovasis

Release: Bound By Design EP

Genre: Progressive Metal/Djent

Members: Jason, Nick, Jamison, Derek

Label: Unsigned

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Izeovasis/165678580151365

Tracklist:

1. Already Forgotten Words

2. Because Of Me

3. Corrupted By Mistake

4. A Thousand Times More

5. Weightless

Rating: 8.3/10

Izeovasis is a band from Livermore, CA that I really haven’t heard of till they sent me their new EP Bound By Design. They play a aggressive, slightly technical metal style not unlike bands like Periphery or Sikth. Although they are nowhere near as spazztic as Sikth, they resemble them more closely than any other band I can think of.

“Already Forgotten Words” starts out as a head slammer track that has very much resembles Periphery’s song “The Walk.” Most notably the guitars have the same tone (but with a lower quality mix) and the drums blend with the guitars in the same style as well. But it’s their aggressiveness they bring that sets them apart from other bands. With the transitions between breakdown moments and the faster parts, they really know how to keep it going without losing any momentum.

“Corrupted By Mistake” is a slower but really heavy song that can bring a live set into a huge hardcore pit for the dancers. Nothing really technical like the rest of the EP, but still pretty good. They have a few transitions but they all remain in the same tempo throughout the song and doesn’t speed up. It’s a good change of pace.

“A Thousand Times More” sounds a lot like the last song, but has enough to make it stand out on its own. It has the crunchy math core sound like some of Periphery’s songs with hoarse, screeching vocals and drums that are almost on a permanent breakdown state. I would have to say this is the best track on the album, though I feel it’s way too short.

Overall this is a pretty good EP, though it needs some elbow grease and polish. I know that with the right producer these guys will turn out to be an awesome band. 

Interview: Jake Bowen of Periphery

Periphery is one of the most talked about bands today. Djent wasn't really a popular genre until they came along and totally blew the doors off of it with heavy yet catchy, well-written songs like "Icarus Lives!," "The Walk," and "Letter Experiment." I decided to hit up guitarist Jake Bowen to learn a little bit more about Periphery and also what his favorite Whitest Kids U Know skit is.

Ridge: So what is the story behind Periphery. What made you guys 

decide to get together and write some of the most diverse and progressive music out there today?

Jake: Periphery was pretty much built over the internet, Misha and the original singer were from Maryland and they just started putting their recordings online for free download and it just happen to catch the attention of our original line up. We all just knew that the sound that Misha was producing was what we wanted to do musically.

What other bands are you playing in/used to play in before Periphery?

I used to play in a metal band called Trapnote, I used to jam with lots of different musicians and styles. Besides Periphery I write electronic music with some help from my close friends.

How did you break your finger? Too much meedly meedly?

According to Lambgoat I broke it off in a dudes butt haha. But truthfully I was hanging on our Periphery backdrop in Manchester and I lost my footing and landed on my middle finger wrong. It still looks a little funky but for the most part my full range of motion is restored and I'm playing better than ever.

Fallout is one of my all time favorite games and I see you're a fellow player. What is your favorite DLC for Fallout 3?

Operation Anchorage is cool, makes it more arcade like but I'd have to say Mothership Zeta, the ending was pretty epic!

What is your favorite skit from Whitest Kids U Know?

Either the Peeing on Leg or How Abraham Lincoln Really Died haha.

What gear can you recommend to other people in terms of recording and playing live?

A moderately priced firewire audio interface for recording and a good preamp, we use Fractal Axe FX Ultras which we use in the studio and on stage.

Other than Meshuggah of course, what are some of your top musical influences? What bands do you listen to on a daily basis?

He Is Legend, Telefon Tel Aviv, Prefuse 73, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails, the stuff my homie Elliot Coleman writes.

What has been your greatest live show experience? What venues or cities do you like to play at the most?

Toronto always brings it. The Rave in Milwaukee is also fun because you can spend hours exploring it.

Tell your fans a bit about your gig as Dream Theater's keyboard tech.

I was Jordan Rudess's keyboard tech, I'd setup his keyboards and computers for the show. Dream Theater was my first touring experience and my only tech experience, I really learned a lot it was great to learn that aspect of touring before actually doing the performing side of things.

What songs do you like to play the most live? Do you guys play any covers?

Buttersnips and Racecar are my favorites to play.

So what can fans expect from the upcoming double album? What details can you give on it so far?

Can't give too much away as we're still in the process of putting it together, I can tell you it's gonna be really long and contain some back catalog soundclick ideas revamped as well as a ton of new songs. I think anyone who has a soul and likes music will dig it.

Are there any upcoming tours and shows for Periphery?

We have some stuff planned but no official announcements to make, yet...

What has been the biggest challenge so far for you and Periphery in the music business?

Just being able to realize that nothing ever pans out the way you want it to all the time, you gotta be flexible and accept change otherwise you'll just break under the constant pressures that we face.

Any shout outs you want to give out?

I'd like to shout out to my neighbors to stop parking in the spaces crooked, it's really annoying.

Any parting words of wisdom you want to bestow on your fans and other avid guitar players?

Smoke weed erreday.

Interview: Dan of Shake It Up

Interview @ 4/9/2011

"Like" Shake It Up here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shake-It-Up/155984547752109

Shake It Up is a band you will hear about in the near future. Although he only has 1 song made as of this interview, you can tell he knows what he's doing. With his powerful and stage grabbing voice, one can only imagine how far he can go. Catchy melodies, memorable lyrics, and (at some parts) heavy hitting, his debut song The Tide is one that I can see on the radio (labels take note ;)). I decided to have this interview with the man behind Shake It Up before he blows up and becomes too busy for one.

1. So how did Shake It Up form? What can you tell people about your band that haven't heard you yet?

D: The Idea of Shake It Up formed in late 2009 about a year after my other band broke up. I took that time to really step aside from the music scene and wait until my heart was back in it. Even though the idea came about for the band earlier, I didn't start writing "The Tide" until June of 2010. 

2. Is it all yourself or do you have other people play instruments or fill in live?

D: Shake It Up in and of itself is just me. However, I do have other studio musicians. Personally, I only play bass, so all of the songs are written completely off of that. Whenever I come into the studio, I make sure to have at least the skeleton in mind of how I want the guitars to sound and what I want them to do, as well as what the drum parts are. My brother Nick is also a big part of Shake It Up, he is an amazing drummer and really helps me get what's in my head drum-wise into something that transfers into the studio. 

Another guy I have to give big-ups to is one of my best friends, Nate. He plays guitar on all of the upcoming songs and we feed off of each other amazingly. 

As for live performances, I do not have any lined up, but if and when I do, I will most likely call on the people listed above. 

3. What are some of your musical influences? 

D: Oh man, I have way too many. I would have to say- Chasing Victory, Person L, Oceana, Underoath, Mae, and As Cities Burn are all pretty huge for me right now.  

4. For only having one song it seems like you know what you're doing. Have you played in any other bands before?

D: First off, thank you.

I have played in other bands before. I had my beginning years in a high school punk band, and then spent some of my greatest couple years of music in a band called Nihilio. Nihilio was by far my most memorable and most influential band that I have ever been in to date. I had other smaller amounts of time in small bands sprinkled in between those as well. 

5. Is there any upcoming releases? 

D: Yes! I am so glad you asked. 

I will be releasing my debut EP this summer. 

6. What other sort of hobbies do you have other than making music? Any other projects you want your fans to know about?

D: I am very much into basketball. People never believe me, but I love playing and initially, I thought my future would just be playing college ball. I'm also just an all-around music nerd. I love finding out anything and everything about artists, and going back to hear what previous records and EPs sounded like in order to experience their progression. 

7. What is your biggest inspiration to go out and play?

D: First of all, my faith and my calling to just go and love on anyone and everyone. That is huge for me, and I just love being there for people and doing whatever I can for them. 

My wife, she is so supportive and loving of me.

Just my all around drive to make music and share it with others. 

8. Where do you see yourself in about 5 years?

D: Hopefully with several records out whether it be independently or through a label, and performing wherever I can, all around the world. 

9. Are there any live shows/ tours coming up?

D: Not at the moment

10. Any last words for your fans?

D: Do what you love, not what people think you should love. 

And by no means should you ever let fear hold you back, if you are feeling a song, I mean really feeling a song, but you are afraid of what people will say about it, just write it/record it/release it or whatever. If that song is really coming from inside you, then that song is right for this moment in your life. 

*Against the tide*