Some bands spend their entire careers stuck in the shadows of others. Female-fronted rock bands are constantly compared to Paramore; prog-metal acts are weighed up against Dream Theater and Periphery; and political rock bands get pinned with the “RATM Clone” tag as soon as they hit a proper groove.
Third-group members Djevara have done more than most to Read more…
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As I write these words, the internet is exploding. To say that this concept double album has been hotly anticipated is a major understatement; to judge from all the hype, Juggernaut is nothing less than the metal world’s equivalent of a cancer cure.
Well, is it?
I’m glad you asked. Read more…
I have a very strong emotional attachment to many of the releases listed below. Choosing this list was exceptionally tough; I’ve been fortunate to discover some incredible bands and artists over the past year, and it’s safe to say that outside this list lie a great many immense tunes that can be found via a quick browse through TMMP’s archives when you’re done with this lot. However, the following choices are the cream of the crop. Read more…
As the originators of the metal style known as djent, Meshuggah are one of the most influential heavy bands in existence today. If you’ve ever sat and scratched your head at an ultra-complex riff until you listened to the cymbal pattern and suddenly it all made sense, you were most likely listening to a band paying lip service to Meshuggah – if not a track by the Swedish maestros themselves. Djent bands the world over owe their rhythmic and tonal signatures to Meshuggah, although the origin of the genre-encompassing word itself is the subject of much controversy. Read more…
Some shows are born special. Although I’m relatively new to The Hell, I’ve already become hopelessly addicted to their latest album (reviewed here) – so nothing short of a bad case of death was going to stop this show (the first of The Hell’s A Shitemare Before Christmas tour) from getting featured on TMMP. Read more…
Bursting out of the gate with a crystal-clear salute in Meshuggah’s direction and really coming into its own from second track 91367 onward, No Sleep is a dense album easily penetrable to fans of modern progressive metal, and worth the time and effort for the curious. Read more…
From the big picture perspective down to the finest details, this album is a spectacular triumph. Skyharbor’s struggle to make their latest opus more than just a fanciful dream is finally over – and they’re evidently revelling in the results, as well they should. Read more…
Metal’s been around for a long time now – but it never ceases to amaze me how many musicians are still finding ways to breathe new life into a genre so frequently mocked for its backward-looking retromania.
On Confrontation, Red Seas Fire take all manner of pre-existing metallic mutations and mix them into still another fresh sound. Think Korn’s first album mixed with Periphery’s latest and you have Tyrants; visualise Chester Bennington laying down vocals over a Killswitch Engage / Tesseract jam and you’ll get closing track Compass. The Gold Room, meanwhile, offers fuzzy riffs and hardcore vocals alongside catchy lyrics sure to translate live and a bit of Dillinger Escape Plan-esque mathiness toward the end, while The Grand Escape is pure djent-fuelled filth. In short, Confrontation is all killer, and absolutely no filler. Read more…
A note-one winner. Melodic tech-metal with elements of Periphery-influenced djent and (on opener Ephemeral) a fantastic Tom Morello stutter-guitar moment kept me set on staying put for this LP’s full running time. I do not regret that decision. Read more…
One of my favourite things about the Internet is easy access to music from across the world. Here at TMMP, I’ve been honoured to hear music from the UK, the USA, Belgium, France, Israel, Japan, and many other territories besides. Júlio Stotz hails from Brazil – and his debut EP Suspended In Reverie is a confident, flamboyant, and solid-as-concrete construction. Read more…