Might as well get started.
Best Album:Nile's Fear - The New Genocide Plot - Tracklisting + Other Stuff:
Wake Up to Death At Your Door: Similar to Avenged Sevenfold with Machine Head riffs.
Spared by a Coma (3:14) - Carver, Araya, Adler - For the first 5 or 6 seconds there is silence, and then the band rips into a face smashing set of intro chords, over which Lucas pounds out furious drum fills. They quickly rip into a relentlessly fast riff, which at first is only played by Jackson, before accompanied by everyone else. They change to a slightly more melodic riff and Lucas slows his beat, signaling for Matt to come in, screaming out violent and throat ripping lyrics. They slowly increase the speed of the riffs and drums, until the song reaches its climax at a vicious chorus, whose anthemic lyrics are unmistakable: 'Where has it come from? How can it be stopped? So quickly we're to meet our end, our empire we have lost. Karmatic armegeddon, no religion could foresee a planet once forsaken, not even a memory'. Matt takes an interesting solo, which is quite memorable, and they repeat some of the earlier passages, which lead out of the song.
Cancerous Bullets [single] (8:36) - Araya, Demmel - This song starts off with a powerful and gut wrenchingly fast thrash riff, laden with tons of string skipping and polyrythms, beautifully played by Matt, while David slams down an intricate harmony line and Lucas blasts savage yet technical death metal beats, infused with a tribal backing rythm. Over this madness Jackson lays down a mind blowing solo that takes one to a land of primal violence and purely majestic awe. They all converge on a chromatic riff, and Matt begins singing, using a mix of raspy grunge vocals, thrashy shouting and hardcore "talking". They rip through a progressive line of frenzied leads and arpeggiated harmonies, Matt and Jackson trading solos whenever the vocals stop. Suddenly the band cuts out, leaving Lucas to take a massive drum solo leading directly into a heavy as fuck breakdown, which finishes the song.
1349 (Corpses) [single]: Sounds like Slayer, Megadeth (a.k.a. old school thrash metal)
The Boy in the Bloody Pajamas (28:41) - Carver, Adler, Araya - The song begins on a rather somber note, leading right into a sad Middle Eastern influenced instrumental passage, played using entirely clean tones and a mix of cymbals, church bells, gongs and the occasional tom for the drum part. The band moves fluidly through different pieces, painting a story of depression, pain, loss and hopelessness, with Matt's ghostly vocals fading in and out like a hideous snake that is beaten back into hiding everytime it emerges from its hole. Jackson performs multiple acoustic solos, and David takes one as well, employing a very clean tone. At the 19 minute mark distorted tones and military snare drums fade in, and a brief passage of utter violence and savage riffs ensue, only to cut slowly back into clean playing, which can't decide to be victorious or horrified. The song fades out slowly.
Fate Takes A Turn For The Worst (5:19) - Araya - There is not much that can be said about this brutal, dark song which sings about chaos, death and there being no escape, hinting at Armageddon. It is composed of pure melodic death metal riffs and leads, accompanied by intense blast beats and growls that would give even the most professional of screamers a bloody cough. Somehow Matt and Jackson manage to pull off a 1:30 second shred-tastic harmonized solo, which when paired up with the breakneck speed of the track should prove nearly impossible and demands every bit of attention possible from both players.
Bury The Bones of Your Martyrs: Sounds like Trivium, All That Remains, specifically "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" by Trivium (see where I got the name?)
Life is an Unholy Thing: Sounds like All Shall Perish
The Words Still Echo: Instrumental, mainly synthesizers and other sound effects such as military drum, church bells, etc., occasional guitar work.
Into A Strange New World [single]: Sounds like Iron Maiden with more contemporary sound.
Sales:
9 weeks: 1,007,000 records
Chart Peak:
US: 1
UK: 57
Europe: 1
Australia: 1
World: 31
more info
hereThe Wicker Man - Jeremy - Tracklisting + Other Stuff:
Finally, the long awaited second half of our double disc album, Call to Monstrosity, will be released in just 4 days. The album's title, as you probably know, is Jeremy. We really wanted to spend a lot of time on this one, unlike Satanic Pantheon, which was tracked in just 2 weeks. We used up 1 and a half weeks just laying down the basic drum parts (which aren't that basic!), excluding the fills. Every single band mate along with Scott H. scrutinized everyone else's part to find even the smallest mistake, which is why we've appropriately named this record 'The Overdub Album'. There are 2 versions of the record, the original version and the bonus edition, which contains a movie on the recording of the album, along with live performances, music videos, covers and plenty more. We've posted the descriptions of some of our favorite tracks. The track listing is as follows:
Death Camp (8:37) - Hanson, Styxx, Demmel - A church bell rings, accompanied by a crash cymbal, while Moose plays a delicate Spanish flamenco influenced acoustic set of arpeggios, trills and melodies. Another bell and crash, and Brian has joined in, playing an equally interesting counter melody with a slighly distorted, crisp sounding guitar, reminiscent of the counter melody in the intro of 'Not Alone' by All That Remains. Slowly building up in the background, Charlie blasts out a very complex and thrashy drum beat, which sounds completely alien to the guitar playing. The different elements only come together when the band blasts into a 3 second, heavily distorted set of diminished chords, before landing right back on cue, now all playing an interesting Latin influenced acoustic passage, over which Brian takes a mind blowingly melodic solo, which he executes with ease. He joins the rest of the band in their acoustic/clean jam, and Vinny begins to sing. Slowly, the music takes on a more chromatic sound, with gaining distortion every moment. When the build-up reaches it's peak Moose plays a short and extremely fast lick, signaling for the beginning of a heavily distorted, blast beat laden chorus which is overloaded with guitar hooks/harmonies and Vinny's mix of gritty and melodic singing, spiced up by the occasional growl. They cruise through multiple verses and choruses, inter-woven with solos, riffs and instrumental breaks. Around the 6 minute point Charlie takes a drum solo that trumps even the incredible drumming of metal giants such as Hell Hammer and Brann Dailor, after which the band smashes through a few metronome breaking fast thrash riffs, which are entirely shouted, similar to Robb Flynn of Machine Head, and Brian and Moose exchange solos, before ending on a white noise.
Jeremy's Wall from Society (17:53) - C. Haner, Styxx - Definitely the Tool track of the record. The guitar tones on this song consist of mainly Korn-ish psychedelic harmonics and arpeggiated barre chords. Charlie pounds out some intense tribal beats on the toms, only occasionally employing the use of cymbals our the snare. Mike slaps floating riffs on his bass that almost seem to drift away like ghosts. Vinny manages to capture the perfect ratio of horror to violence in his vocals to create that look over your shoulder feeling. The over-all effect of these different parts can be appropriately described as and acid trip through a haunted house. The mathematically flawless calculations and unison of the band allows them to twist in and out of dark complexes, execute perfect random moments of heaviness and race down haunting roads. The song eventually explodes into a shear wall of pure Mastodonian metal. The drums flash between complicated 16th note polyrythms and lightning fast drum fills, over which Vinny growls out lyrics, Brian and Moose work some chromatic chugging riffs and Mike takes an incredible bass solo which oddly is harmonic to Vinny's singing, although when played seperately they sound nothing alike.
Born on Hate (10:13) - Hanson, M. Haner, Demmel - The track begins with a short pretty set of clean chords, before Moose, by himself, lays down a gliding set of diminished and minor arpeggios on the lower strings. Vinny comes in, singing barely above a whisper, accompanied by the occasional crash cymbal and bass note, which eventually progresses faster and faster until it becomes much more of a background than an occasional embellishment. Vinny begins to sing louder, and scratching noises from Brian's distorted guitar interrupt and obscure the music for brief patches, which leads almost directly into a grooving riff played by Brian, who is quickly joined by the band. This becomes the verse, which is followed by a much more laid back pre-chorus featuring a simple hi-hat beat and palm muted arpeggios, leading into a climactic chorus beautifully layered with tom beats, guitar harmonies and melodic singing. After the second verse, the band shifts into a churning riff, which comes to a peak and then drops out, leaving only a clean guitar and choir-like vocals. A simple drum fill leads into the second chorus. They pound through several more parts, blast shelled with chugging, churning and grooving riffs. Around the 7 minute mark Moose comes in with an uber melodic solo, very clearly neo-classical influenced. The band plays a few more minutes worth of thrashy riffs, before ending on one note, with the same haunting clean guitar from the start leading them out.
Advice of the Wicked (9:01) - Styxx -
Exile (14:52) - M. Haner, C. Haner, Hanson -
Days on the Edge (18:19) - Demmel -
When Hearts Bleed Ink (11:55) -Hanson, M. Haner, Styxx - The song begins on a four chord progression, backed up by a steady floor tom beat. Then Moose kicks in with a catchy riff, and is soon joined by the rest of the band, who grove on the riff with him. Vinny begins to sing, Charlie occasionally echoing his words. They smash through a Trivium influenced riff, split in two by a triplet powered pre-chorus, which of course means a chorus follows afterword. This chorus in particular is very anthemic and will definitely be used as a crowd sing-along in live shows. They smash through another verse-pre-chorus-chorus set before riding on a powerful riff over which Vinny yells the lyrics. The band slowly fades out, and is replaced by Moose playing a diminished set of clean chords, which proceeds a four minute clean passage, where Brian takes a very blues/jazz influenced solo. The song slowly builds back into blast beating metal fury, which is notable for the intense shredding solos Brian and Moose play in quick succession. The recording fades out on one of the now common tom-tom riffs.
Somewhere to Hide (8:46) - Hanson, Styxx -
The Abyss (Looms Overhead) (15:22) - Demmel, M. Haner, C. Haner, Hanson, Styxx -
Fistful Of Steel (6:36) - Hanson, Styxx -
Sales:
38 weeks - 1,810,000 records
Chart Peaks:
US: 1
South America: 3
UK: 5
World: 46
more info
hereThe Wicker Man - A Haunted Road - The Covers:
Drag The Waters (Pantera Cover)- The opening riff to this song is has this massive, fuck off sort of feel to it, and really sets the pace for the album. Not much was changed with this one riff wise, since Pantera wrote every single great metal riff there is, and the only big difference is an added breakdown and harmony passage in the solo.
Set To Fail (Lamb of God Cover) - This is an instant classic by LOG, who are some of the best riffers of today, and we really showed just how versatile the different pieces of the song are by double timing the verse and halving the speed of the second chorus. Charlie would make Chris Adler proud with the skill exercised in his mid breakdown drum solo.
Not Alone (All That Remains Cover) - As soon as the opening harmony collides with your ear drums, the sense that this is gonna be one of the best covers off the album is unmistakable. Brian plays Oli Herbert's original solo, with Moose harmonizing half a measure off. Definitely a single candidate.
Throes of Peridition (Trivium Cover) - This is certainly the track the band fucked with the most. It is entirely instrumental, acoustic and three times as long, clocking in at 18 minutes. Anyone expecting a straight forward Trivium cover will be surprised, but not disappointed by this interesting rendition
Battery (Metallica cover: Live w/ Transferium Project) - Name pretty much sums this one up. Audio taken from our No Prayer For Brazil DVD.
Wage Slaves (All Shall Perish cover) - Another live performance. We really wanted to keep it real with this one, since ASP is a lesser known band, and we really wanted to get the word out to people about them.
Practice What You Preach (Testament cover) - This one's a really powerful thrash song, and we really wanted to stress that. Over loaded with blast beats and jagged riffs, this song screams of mosh pits and good times. Brian takes an elongated solo on this one, lasting over 4 minutes.
Aesthetics of Hate (Machine Head cover) - Future single for Cover Extravaganza, this song is notoriously tight and well executed by the band. The track was originally written in response to the article 'Aesthetics of Hate: RIP Dimebag Darrell and Good Riddance', a hateful strike against Dimebag and metal as a whole.
Bat Country (Avenged Sevenfold cover) - OOC: was lazy and didn't do the last 2. sorry :)
Everything Went Black (The Black Dahlia Murder cover) - Also off No Prayer For Brazil
Sales:
9 weeks: 1,058,000
Chart Peak:
US: 2
UK: 1
South America: 2
Europe: 47
World: 33
more info
hereBest Band (Not gonna win, but worth a shot :)) - The Wicker Man
Best Newcomer - Nile's Fear
