Bullet Point Metal Reviews

Concise Summary: Well, I haven't really listened to Burning Point much before this album, but I knew they existed mainly because of the singer, Nitte Valo, who formerly sang for Battle Beast. I decided to listen to The Blaze because of this new song  (which was so good that I almost did a song review on it; can't wait to hear more) from Nitte's new project or maybe side project Seraphiel.  The Blaze is the last full-length album that Nitte sang on, and I was curious to check it out. It's... interesting. As I would have expected, the vocals were superb, but I'm not sure how to feel about the instrumentals. It almost seems like Blazing Point was trying to replicate an 80s or 90s hair metal sound, especially because the overall mix on the album sounded kind of muffled and lacked the clarity of a lot of modern recordings. However, the riffs and songwriting diversity weren't very impressive. I respect this album because I'm pretty sure I understand t...

Concise Summary: Within Silence is a somewhat new Christian Power Metal band from Slovakia. Return from the Shadows is their second album, and it's pretty good. The instrumentals are decent and remind me a bit of Theocracy (another band initially from Ulterium Records). The lyrical content of this album is great, and there is actually meaning behind the words - something very refreshing to hear. Most songs these days have very shallow or no meaning behind the lyrics, but not so with the songs on Return from the Shadows! The mixing and mastering on this album is decent, especially considering that neither Ulterium Records nor Within Silence are likely to have a huge budget for that, but it could definitely be better. The vocals seem a bit too unrefined on this album.  Martin Klein has a very good voice, don't get me wrong, but there are a couple spots where the lyrics are off the beat a bit, and the chorus that makes one or two appearances on the album is extremely we...

Concise Summary: Metalite is a brand new band and Heroes in Time is their first full-length album, which is quite good in my opinion! Metalite has a metal/pop sound, which is very fun to listen to - it's kind of refreshing to have a more cheerful sound in metal once in a while. By now, those of you who have been in the metal scene for awhile might be thinking Metalite is an Amaranthe tribute band. Unfortunately, I wouldn't completely disagree. There are a few differences between the two bands such as Metalite not having any screamed vocals or male vocals and Metalite's songwriting being more synth driven than guitar driven, where Amaranthe often has more guitar and drum driven songs. That being said, I think Metalite is putting themselves dangerously close to Amaranthe; they need to work on making their own sound. Overall, I really like Metalite's potential and Heroes in Time is a great album; I can't wait to see what the band will turn into once they matur...

Concise Summary: Overthrow by Veil of Maya is just one of those albums that kind of grows on you. I wrote this review in a rather negative light at first, but as I'm re-listening to Overthrow, I'm enjoying it more and more... I am not a huge fan of the style, but that's my personal taste. Veil of Maya actually put in quite a few unique things into this album. There are a lot of slow, clean interludes with some interesting synth and keyboards which make nice reprieves from the brutal onslaught of guitar. Also, those interludes help to eliminate potential ear fatigue. I would say that for me, this album was "meh" at best the first time I listened through it, but as I'm sitting here re-listening, I'm liking it more and more... To sum it up, I have no doubt some people will really love this album immediately, but for others like me, they might need to listen through a few times. There's a lot more to this album than you can take in on just one l...

Concise Summary: For being such a popular band, Trivium sure didn't put out a mainstream record with The Sin and the Sentence, and I love it! The shortest song on the album is 3:38, and most of the songs clock in above 5 minutes, which was refreshing to see since a lot of popular bands go with the magic radio-friendly 3-4 minute range for all of their songs. I love the sound on this album. The screams are on-point and the cleans are sung in a lower register than a lot of popular music (including popular metal music) these days. The guitars sound very good on the album, and there are quite a few sick riffs and harmonies. What really stood out to me on The Sin and the Sentence, however, was that bass ! It has a very dirty, unprocessed sound and boy does it ever hit hard on the low end. Also, the bass drum kicks on this album seemed especially good; I don't usually notice things about the drum track much, but that stood out to me for some reason. Overall and awesome eff...

Concise Summary: I haven't really listened much to We Came as Romans, and after listening to this album I'm not planning on starting. Cold Like War is extremely basic metalcore. There's nothing on this album that really makes it unique, and I'm honestly very disappointed. The vocalists of the band are quite talented, but the musicianship of the album just makes the songs not worth a second listen. The synth on the album is horribly overused, and the flow of the album itself is basically nonexistent. Most of the songs just seems like a boring re-hashes of other ones on the album and there are only one or two that are actually interesting/good, in my opinion. Overall, Cold Like War is a very disappointing album in my opinion.  My Rating: 4 out of 10 Highlights: Good singing A few decent riffs Lowlights: Basic and overused synth Boring songwriting No flow to the album Basic lyrics A lot of Cookie-cutter songs Favori...

Concise Summary:  Dvwkins is a very new band, and Blinding Sights is their first EP! I have to say, they're very promising. They are decently unique in their sound, but their level of musicianship as a band is what I found most impressive. Blinding Sights is a killer EP. The combination of female clean vocals and male screamed vocals is done very well. Sometimes when bands try to do a vocal combination like that, they overlap the clean lead with screaming in the background, which really doesn't sound that great. However, Dvwkins adopted the strategy of having very limited overlapping cleans and screams, deciding instead to separate the two vocal styles for much of the EP, which was a very professional move in my opinion. Overall, a great EP, and I can't wait to hear more from Dvwkins in the (hopefully) near future!  My Rating: 9 out of 10 Highlights: Very well-done vocals Great instrumentation Awesome straight-up metalcore sound Great mixing and...

Concise Summary: To be honest, I haven't really listened much to Iced Earth, even though they're fairly well known. Incorruptible is their first full album that I've listened to, and I think I might have to listen to more! The style is very reminiscent of 80s-90s metal, with very vocal and guitar-driven songs and very little of the orchestration that is found in a lot of modern metal. The album has a very straightforward and unassuming sound, which is very refreshing in a world of over-processed and synth-driven music. Even though the sound of the album is fairly simple, the songwriting is still decently interesting and diverse and there are even a few experimental parts thrown into the mix. Something I particularly enjoyed about this album was that the lyrics weren't extremely cliché like a lot of the albums I've listened to recently. Overall, a very solid and enjoyable album. My Rating: 8 out of 10 Highlights: Straightforward Sound and M...

Concise Summary: Pyramaze is a Danish power metal band that was formed in 2001, but this is the first album I have heard from them. I have to say that I am extremely impressed. The musicianship on Contingent is SO impressive. There is a huge range of instruments and styles used throughout the album, but there are never too many instruments at once, so ear fatigue never sets in. The synths used on this album combine brilliantly with the guitars, and the piano interludes are absolutely beautiful. The strings that are used throughout Contingent also add a lot to the overall feel and continuity of the album. The vocals on this album are very good, but my one complaint is that the lyrics get fairly repetitive in places, which is a bit boring. That being said, this is by far one of the most brilliant albums I've ever heard musically.  My Rating: 9 out of 10 Highlights: Brilliant songwriting  Amazing variety of styles Incredible use of instruments Very go...

Concise Summary: Do Not Deviate is a super hard-hitting technical death metal album from the mostly unknown band Replacire. This album mainly consists of brutal riffs combined with very heavy vocals; just how a good death metal album should sound! However, Replacire did experiment a bit on this album and threw in some interesting clean vocals and an entire track devoted to a piano interlude! Even though there is a lot going on in each track, the mixing is quite good, and the feeling of being squashed by a wall of sound doesn't really set in. Overall a very solid effort.   My Rating: 8 out of 10  Highlights: Brutal Riffs Great Screaming Impressive shredding Ridiculously technical songwriting Unique sound Superb mixing/mastering Lowlights: I really would have liked to see more experimentation on this album with clean vocals/clean guitars, and possibly some more melodic parts. The whole album seems a bit too homogeneous as far a...

Well, I have to say I'm disappointed by this album. Probably the biggest problem for me is that the mixing sounds like a tube sausage. Ninety percent of this album is just a wall of noise with super rich guitar and bass sound, some background synth, and a string orchestra.  Orden Ogan's Gunmen was guilty of the same thing. Interestingly, both bands released their new albums through AFM Records, so the super-compressed non-stop wall of noise could be something that's being encouraged by AFM. That type of mixing is fine for listening to one or two songs (basically radio music), but when you try to listen to the full album, you end up with ear fatigue. Also, almost all the songs seem cookie-cutter, following the same pattern, and the lyrics aren't anything special. I was looking forward to Phoenix because I've really liked Nocturnal Rite's other albums, but this seems like a step backwards to me.  My Rating: 6 out of 10 Highlights: Tasteful ...

Concise Summary: WOW. I'm completely blown away by Phantom Anthem. August Burns Red completely outdid themselves on this album. The sheer musical craftsmanship is insane and the amount of style diversity in this album is something you wouldn't normally expect to find, especially for metalcore. The vocals are incredible, the guitar is amazing, the drumming is unbelievably technical, even the bass on has several chances to stand out and shine! I was interested in the way ABR was going with their last album, Found in Far Away Places, and they took what they tried there and really REALLY implemented on Phantom Anthem. It's an absolutely amazing effort. This album will go down in my history books as one of the best metalcore albums ever created. It's not Messengers, arguably one of the most quintessential metalcore albums in history, but it's just as good, if not better, in its own unique way.  My Rating: 9.5 out of 10 Highlights: Amazing drumming U...