For Today – Immortal
For Today really don’t bring anything new to the table on “Immortal”. If you have listened to them before then you pretty well know what you will be getting into. Not saying that it is totally horrible, minus the deathcore riffs and breakdowns there are a few moments on the album where the beat actually picks up and some melody is included. This is the first song “Fearless” the only song on the album that I think I could tolerate for extended listens and that might even be slightly generous. All in all the album is pretty basic even for deathcore. Christian deathcore at that. Vocalist Matty the Mexican preaches his way through the album much like he does live. If this is your cup of tea then you will be all about this album, if you don’t like deathcore or Christian themed music then stay away from it.
Rating: A tremendous FLOOR STOMP 4/10!
Ignitor – Year Of The Metal Tiger
Ignitor is a throwback to the old days of metal. Where denim and leather were the keys and soaring vocals and shout out loud choruses were the tickets to success. More akin to the likes of Judas Priest and Saxon; Ignitor puts forth a stellar effort with “Year Of The Tiger.” Songs like “Heavy Metal Holocaust” and “The Kaiser” are great metal anthems that any fan of NWOBHM should check out. Not to mention the old school thrash metal sound with those fantastic soaring vocals of Jason McMaster. Ignitor is one of the better bands that I have heard trying to incorporate this sound.
Rating: 8/10
Steel Assassin – WWII: Metal of Honor
An album that ties into the story of World War II? Yeah that has my history buff name written all over it! Steel Assassin has been around for thirty years off and on but only in the past five or so have they really been active. Such a damn shame, this album is full of great classic, thrash, and power metal moments that could have really blossomed the band and turned them into a great commodity over the past thirty years. But they are active now and that is what matters I suppose. Songs like the opener “God Save London” and on down to “Four Stars of Hell” are perfect examples of the bands sound. The great thrash metal sound with the NWOBHM melody and power metal soaring vocals? That is something that just can’t go wrong.
Rating: 8/10
Vampires Everywhere – Hellbound and Heartless
You know I was in this phase when Vampires Everywhere! First burst onto the scene and I thought that they were a great band, even with the auto-tuned vocals. Hell they were one of the first bands that I heard with them and I loved it. I kind of fell out of luster though and “Hellbound and Heartless” doesn’t do much to bring me back in. With the pseudo-industrial sound that is going on through the album with the lack of clean vocals kind of turns me off a lot. The shining moment is the cover of Nirvana’s “Rape Me” which even then I have heard better versions. Songs like “Anti-Hate” and “Star of 666” kind of steal the show but in general any song could be put in their because they are so frightenly similar.
I think this is the product of a band changing their sound and trying to go in a different direction more than it is a bad album. It’s a sound that I personally do not like but I know many other people will do. I will rate the album based on the music and style itself and not my opinion because of that.
Rating: 6/10
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