Bullet Point Metal Reviews

Concise Summary:  Avenged Sevenfold is one of the most successful metal bands since Metallica. Although their debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet was definitely what I would consider pretty bad, their second album, Waking the Fallen was and is an absolute masterpiece! The singing, the lyrics, the musicianship, the instrumentation, the flow of the album; everything is perfect. The sheer diversity of musical styles and the way each song is so unique is just incredible. There isn't a single filler song on the album. The sound quality of the album isn't amazing, but since it was recorded in 2003, that's not terribly surprising - what matters more is that the mixing and mastering of the album is perfect. Albums this good are extremely rare, and I have to say I don't know when I've heard another album quite this good.   My Rating: 10 out of 10 Highlights: Huge diversity in musical instruments and styles Songwriting is diverse, technical, ...

Concise Summary:  When I first found Gyze, I never would have suspected they were from Japan. But here they are, a Japanese melodeath band, and they're really good! They are classified as a melodic death metal band, but I would almost say it's more like neoclassical death metal. The only thing that keeps them from being a straight up neoclassical metal band is probably the screamed lyrics. As you might have already guessed, the instrumentals on Northern Hell Song are some of the most technical and epic that I've heard in quite a while. The shredding was Yngwie Malmsteen level, and the riffs were SO on point. This is a really great album musically, but the vocals didn't seem to be mixed quite right (it got drowned out by the guitars) and it's very hard to make out any of the lyrics. Otherwise, a really great album.  My Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Highlights: INSANE shredding  Absolutely amazing riffs The screaming is good (even though you...

Concise Summary: Brothers of Metal might just be one of the greatest bands that has formed within the past 10 years. Prophecy of  Ragnarök, for a debut album, is nothing short of incredible. It combines folk metal, viking metal, and some power metal into one amazing album. Along with their amazing songwriting and interesting lyrics, Brothers of Metal created a very unique sound for themselves with a combination of both female and male-led vocals. The female vocals are generally clean, while the male vocals are more raspy. The way they are combined is something that I've not really heard before, but I really like it. This band is going places - they put out an almost perfect album for a debut; how high can they go? My Rating: 9.5 out of 10  Highlights: Amazing songwriting Good album flow Amazing singing Interesting lyrics Catchy riffs Impressive instrumentation Lowlights: Some not-so-great content/language on two of the songs (Fi...

Concise Summary: What the actual heck happened to Arch Enemy? After signing Jeff Loomis, I would have thought the songwriting would have gotten more technical and the solos would have been setting fire to my headphones. However, the opposite turned out to be true. Compared to the masterpiece that was War Eternal, Will to Power is pathetic. The riffs are boring, the solos are all but non-existent, and Allissa's lyrics are so watered down and generic, the album gets tiresome to listen to. There are a few places where this album shines, but overall, it's a pretty bad effort.  My Rating:  4 out of 10 Highlights: A few nice rhythmic parts Allissa experimented with some clean vocals, which sounded really good Some nice instrumentals Lowlights: Dumb lyrics Boring and repetitive riffs No insane solos from Jeff Loomis?!? The album's flow isn't very obvious or good. Favorite Song: I guess Dreams of Retribution was OK ...