Brief Album Reviews

We're already two months into 2011, and already a handful of notable metal/hardcore artists have released or are nearly ready to release an album.

Architects (UK) - The Here and Now

Architects have been steadily growing in popularity over the past couple years, making plenty of waves with their 2009 release Hollow Crown, solidifying themselves as one of the up-and-coming metal acts across the pond with their chaotic nature, yet elegant presentation. This release is a step in a different direction, as they experiment more with melodies and clean vocals, similar to that of Alexisonfire. While fans who were expecting another brutal effort may be disappointed, the album is still fairly heavy (Delete, Rewind), while the songwriting has grown and shown more maturity (An Open Letter To Myself). It's hard to find bands that aren't bound by their genre, and Architects did a nice job of broadening their musical horizons.

8/10

Bayside - Killing Time

Bayside is one of those bands who's music continually impresses throughout each album. With longevity that most bands would die for, the New York-based punk/pop band has probably put out their best effort to date. A great combination of brutal honesty in their lyrics, and unmatched catchiness throughout, Killing Time hits on many issues that are personal yet easy to relate to. The first three tracks are stellar, mixing tempo while getting a glimpse into how the pace of the album will go. The only issue is that the record is so short, by the time it really gets rolling, it's already over. Awesome all around.

9/10

Darkest Hour - The Human Romance

Their first release from new label home Metal Blade, Darkest Hour has produced another solid album to add to their discography. Fleeing from Victory Records potentially got the hopes a little too high for many fans, including myself. So while this album has a lot of excellent bright spots (Savor the Kill, Violent By Nature), there are an equal amount of yawns. This has been the case with DH in most of their albums though; enough great songs to put together an excellent live set list, but a lot of filler to go with it.

7/10

Emmure - Speaker of the Dead

Oh man, where to begin on this album. Emmure has never blown anyone away with musical genius or thoughtful content, but they carved an interesting niche in a watered down metalcore world, offering strong energy and catchy-as-hell songs. Their lack of musicianship really shines in this album, and if you read the interview with vocalist Frankie Palmeri explaining the lyrical content from Speaker, his sanity begs to be questioned. While there are a couple rowdy songs (Children of Cybertron, Area 64-66) the rest of the album is more or less a joke that is actually kind of funny to listen to, then gets tiresome real quick.

3.5/10

The Famine - The Architects of Guilt

It generally takes a lot for me to get excited about a pure Death Metal album, but The Famine are the exception to the rule with this release. Their honest brutality and relentless songs are very difficult to dislike. Instead of conforming with their contemporaries to sell more albums, they remain heavy without being so for the sake of being heavy. The opening three tracks display their innate ability to be earth crushingly heavy, yet keep enough melody to keep it interesting, and for lack of a better word, awesome.

8.5/10

Releases coming up in the next couple months to keep an eye on:

Scale The Summit - The Collective (3/1)

Children of Bodom - Relentless Reckless Forever (3/8)

The Human Abstract - Digital Veil (3/8)

As Blood Runs Black - Instinct (3/15)

Onward To Olympus - The War Within Us (3/15)

Born Of Osiris - The Discovery (3/22)

Protest The Hero - Scurrilous (3/22)

Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising (3/29)

Becoming The Archetype - Celestial Completion (3/29)

Emery - We Do What We Want (3/29)