Nu-metal starts here. Essential. - 100%
Written by Bloodstone on April 1st, 2009

Yes, Faith No More may have have laid down the groundwork for it, the sub-genre that came to dominate metal for more than half a decade. However, this album is the one that truly came to define the sound as we know it. Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, SlipKnot, you name 'em - never, and I mean NEVER would we have gotten the likes of those if not for this seminal work. In addition, it single-handedly influenced Machine Head so much to the point of maturing beyond their thrash metal beginnings and evolve into something far more intelligent, dynamic and emotionally engaging (see their masterwork, The Burning Red). Needless to say, something this influential can only have sprung from a true work of genius.

What can be said that hasn't already been said? Well, being one of the first to review them on this site of mostly close-minded elitist nekrocult worship stuff, I feel many of you are still in need of enlightenment, despite the album's blatant musical supremacy that should be obvious from the first spin. Rolling along at slow to mid-pace for the most part, riffs absolutely crush with doomy might in an Alice in Chains or early Black Sabbath manner. Nice to see them pay tribute to the Gods - their frontman DID give us Ozzfest, after all. This, along with Fieldy's positively funk-HAY bass lines along with David Silveria's underrated and groovy drumming on this album together form practically THE birth of the jumpdafukup phenomenon - need I say more? I'm telling you, this is where it ALL started. And of course something needs to be said about vocalist Jonathan Davis, who can go from what is still considered the best whining AND moaning in business, to a Hetfield-esque roar reminiscent of that of St. Anger (a full NINE YEARS before the fact, holy shit). Furthermore, no review of KoRn's debut would be complete without mentioning Ross Robinson's production, who effectively removes the stereotype of metal guitars having to sound all distorted, sharp and vicious, proving just how truly open-minded heavy metal can get.

From "Blind" to "Helmet in the Bush", it's classic shit all the way, but try as they might, nothing comes close to the sheer IMPACT of album closer "Daddy", the magnum opus of KoRn's career. Dealing with Jonathan being sexually abused as a child, the song takes the listener on a journey deep into his tormented mind, almost making one suffer the feelings shame, guilt and regret Jon did. The end of this song is emotionally compelling to the point of being nearly unlistenable; here, Jon breaks down and actually starts CRYING. Wow. I have to admit, so did I the first time I heard this song, it really connects with you on that high a level. Masterful, and what a finale to what would already be possibly 90's metal's crowning achievement. As it stands now, however, remove "possibly" and you're in the right ballpark.

Yes, SlipKnot may have revolutionized musical aggression as we know it, and something needs to be said about Limp Bizkit's ability to bring the heavy metal and hip-hop aesthetic together and come out stronger than either (as well as to push the limits of how many f-bombs one can fit into a song). But for my money, the first is still the best.

The mother of all shoutouts! Live! - 100%
Written by Napero on April 1st, 2009

If there's something the current metal scene lacks, it's a brotherly cohesion and sense of unity. The various sub-sub-genres try to find their own paths, and instead of working for the common good and striving to do what is best for Metal, bands nowadays seem to be locked in petty rivalries, commercial competition and lack of respect for the Metal Underground. The state of Metal is lamentable, and the commercialization and mainstreaming of the scene is to blame.

It's sorry to see that even such genres and Rap and R'n'B have found a pride in their scene, and even if Metal today is filled with crappy 7" splits of minor bands, such collaborations as the various Soul & R'n'B projects are rare, if not non-existent in Metal. One of the unfortunately absent part of that culture in metal is the "shoutout", or giving props to the other groups of persons in the field, respcting their work and acknowledging the skill and technicality of the other bands in a friendly sense.

It wasn't always like this. Judas Priest know how to do just that in the late 70s, and Unleashed in the East is a mighty live shoutout to the wonderful, striving and fresh scene of the junction between the 70s and the 80s. It marks a turn of the decade, and chips the respect the Priest crew felt for the other mighty bands of the early scene.

A lot has been written of the mighty live album, and it's of course necessary to reiterate the fact that Unleashed is one of the best live albums ever. Considering the fact that they managed to get such immensely metallic, furious and technically perfect performance on tape so early in the struggling metal scene is a testimony to their importance and pioneer spirit. There is no place for filler, no weak tracks, and no need for compromise on this marvellous slab of live aggression, and even if Halford actually re-recorded some of the vocal tracks in a studio (which I doubt, for the record), it does not diminish the overall performance. As far as live albums go, only Made in Japan and Live After Death soar to heights even close to the mighty Unleashed.

But what about the "shoutout" part mentioned above? Well, that's easy! Open you fucking eyes!

Exciter, the opening track of this marvellous live album, gives props to the original, almighty canadian speed metallers, Exciter (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1103). Formed in the turn of the decade, the inclusion of this track on a live album perfectly showcases the interest and knowledge the Priest hunks had in the rising scene. Anyone without any Exciter albums can now leave the hall! The impeccable quality of Exciter's music is further enhanced by the respect from the mighty Judas Priest itself.

And who would be more deserving of the honour to get the second place on the list of props than Running Wild (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=306), the German Speed Metal maniacs with almost 4 years of fury under their belts at the time, and a lot left to show to the World. I saw them live in 1989, and perhaps they had turned into a virtual dinosaur by then, but in 1979 they still had the spark, and were eager to kick everybody's asses with the early proto-power speed metal. Yeah, they started the scene that was to give birth to Children of Bodoms and Stratovariuses of the scene. Priest sure had its fingers on the pulse of the scene, Running Wild was an almost completely unheard of band back in the day.

Sinner (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=22100) got the honour of representing the NWOBHM on the album, and even if their only single is rumoured to be magnificient, their flight ended soon after the release of Unleashed. It's a pity, and perhaps telling of the state the british Metal scene at the time: too many bands, and even the ones with good ideas and excellent delivery were often buried in the morass of bickering and unethical competition, and lost their interest, splitting up. It was a symptom of the greater downfall that was to follow two decades later, but the mention on a Judas Priest live album certainly reserves them a place in the pantheon of early metal. I'm going to hunt the single down. That's a promise.

The album continues predictably with The Ripper (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=257), and then turns to more obscure paths of bands long gone and unknown today. However, such bands as Genocide (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=26882) and
Tyrant (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=494) eventually get their share of the Metal Gods' respect.

Yes, this is a snapshot of the thriving scene still in its fledgling infancy after almost a decade after Black Sabbath's debut. Priest didn't abandon their habit of hidden references to other mentionable fighters in the scene on their later albums, either. There's a tribute to Steeler (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1693) on British Steel, Hellion (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1151) on Screaming for Vengeance, the polish masters Turbo (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=3536) on Turbo (duh...), and even a dual mention of the NWOBHM juggernaut Hammer (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=3447) and their canadian counterpart Anvil (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=542) on the almighty Painkiller. These guys have been the heart and mind of a wonderful scene, and like most of the works of the Illuminated, the evidence is there to see for those who know how to look. Because Judas Priest knows what's hot, and Unleashed in the East is a lasting, ruthless and utterly unbelievably mighty memorial to the scene that was there almost three decades ago.

Respect!

Wheres my whitechapel dawg? - 25%
Written by Scotar on April 1st, 2009

So the other day I was looking for some really br00thal death metal and some douchebag with long hair and a denim vest recommended this album. Dude cut your hair and wear a polo with a flat bill hat. That's some really fuckin metal clothes right there bro. Man it blows. I mean I really love death metal like Suicide Silence and Whitechapel, y'know really heavy shit that makes you want to dance like a 8 year old having a seizure. Me and my boyz like listening to it too as we cruise in my brand new Mercedes and hanging out at Hot Topic or when working out and getting my swoll on. Y'heard me? But man this shit makes me sit and think and I don't like doing that since I like to fuck my 13 year old girlfriend instead of listen to complex music.

First off this album starts off like the garbage it is without a cool sample from The Punisher or Saw and just has some guys yelling and then it goes into this lame ass death metal. Yo, where's the breakdowns? It just goes through these riffs that sound like there from some horror movie and like it sounds different every 20 seconds and there's nothing to two-step too. it's dark and spooky and not good for working out to or cruising around to or dancing like a down syndrome penguin to. That's the only reasons I listen to music because otherwise I just be on myspace and checking out all the hot middle school chicks.It also goes on for like 6 MINUTES!!! Long songs aren't cool because I can't pay attention that long, I mean I liked that 9 minute Green Day but that song was really emotional and made me think of my girlfriend. I love them hos, particuarly barely the ones that just hit puberty. The rest of the songs have these things called leads and they don't blast beat all the time and sometimes they slow down into these scary, doom parts after going somewhat fast.

Also this guy's vocals suck. He sounds like a monster and he don't change it up, dawg. Like wheres the Brees and the high pitched 16 year old wailing? Also there's no new cool gang shouts that get me pumped up and angry about that teacher calling me a Neanderthal. What the fuck is that anyway, like an alien or a movie? I mean he should of seen that movie Zen of Screaming and then he could sound like that dude from Impending Doom, who's just sick! He's also growling about stuff like death, apocalypse, and zombies and shit but he should really talk about raping and dismembering that girl who just broke up with you. That's what I wanted to do to my last ho when she said there was 6 year difference between us and her dad thought I was a pedophile, love has no age bitch. I mean that stuff Entombed sings about is just creepy. Did they get their name from that Job for a cowboy song Entombment For A Machine? It's a dumb name as it wasn't a nonsensical phrase like See you next tuesday or my children, my bride. It should've been like Entomb My Daughter Sally. That'd be bitchin. The album cover was gay too with some dark, evil forest. What are they tree huggers? They needed a mutilated chick on the cover to me to jack off to, not some Lord of the Rings shit.

This album also came out like 50 years ago and is old as shit. I think we really need to recycle old music because only music made in the past 5 years is good. Where they like influenced by Vanilla Ice and Michael Jackson cuz there wasn't any heavy music till Slayer released the song Raining Blood for Guitar Hero back in 2004. I love Guitar Hero and they have some great shit like Avenged Sevenfold and Slipknot. I used like that stuff till I got into the really heavy stuff like Winds of Plague and Salt the Wound. There also like from Sweden or Singapore or somewhere like that. Don't they just listen to polka and A-ha? Real metal doesn't come countries with 24-hour nights in an extremely cold winter but from rich suburbs where the parents buy you a brand new car but are assholes because they say they won't pay the 1000 dollar phone bill you used up talking to your underage girlfriend. Yeah we have tough shit here.

In their photo they all look like dbags with long hair and leather jackets and next to some giant cross in a graveyard. That's just creepy. They should've taken it by a gym with all of them having Yankee flatbills and looking tuff like Emmure. They're so br00thal by the way.

While I am really tough and extreme thanks to my heavy music and working out a lot, I know that I'm hear all thanks to the love of God. If Entombed weren't just the biggest douchebags ever, then they trash Jesus as a liar in the last track. Hey guys, you're going to hell for that! I mean all the really extreme bands like August Burns Red and Impending Doom know that Christ loves everyone and he died for you. I dare these faggots to say that to his face since Jesus worked out all the time and was really hard. I mean my crew(Maple Street Brotality, represent!) would beat the shit out of them since that's what metal is all about: hate moshing people for dumb fucking reasons.

So if you're looking for some music to dance to like an overtly imaginative first grader imitating his favorite kung fu films , you need to go buy that new Plea For Purging album, not this old man death metal that my grandpa listened to.

Overrated. - 65%
Written by failsafeman on April 1st, 2009

My opinion on this album has changed quite a bit over the years I've owned it. When I first got it, I was bewildered; what was this strange, archaic riffing? Who the hell was this nasal dude wailing about D&D? I guess it makes sense, since his nickname is "The Shark", but I admit that their prominent nose is not the first thing I think about. Then, I learned a bit about metal and started to get into the weird sound; I was drawn into the strange world of Manila Road. I followed the Manila Brick Road, or whatever. Now that I know pretty much all about 80s metal, the novelty has really worn off. Manila Road would get much better later on, but here they were still essentially stumbling around without having found their muse yet.

For a prime example, instead of the power/thrash riffage of later albums, we have NWOBHM ripoffs (Shelton has admitted to copying Angel Witch in the laborious final track, but unfortunately he was unable to copy their songwriting talent. The thing plods along for fifteen minutes, and it feels like The Shark should be reminding you "Remember well my friend, a metalhead never cries, even during really long and boring songs which rip off better NWOBHM bands") and then of course the 70s psychedelic holdover crap which Shelton rightfully abandoned on the horrible "Mark of the Beast" but which unfortunately still lingers here to some extent and is present in an annoyingly apparent influence, notably on the meandering and weak "Veils of Positive Existence", which tries to suck the listener in with "atmosphere" but fails to deliver with Shelton's painfully weak constantly echoing vocals that cannot live up to the lyrics (and what the hell are the veils of negative existence anyway? why would he be sailling a ship through them?)

Then of course there is the painfully christian title track, metal apologism at it's worst. I mean, who is he trying to kid? Right after Flaming Metal Systems, he tries to claim that he's not burning? Nonsense!

The final nail in the coffin though is the utterly banal opening, which displays an ominous and promising pitch-shifted narration in fine power metal tradition, but then goes on to fuck it all up with a mediocre riff which sounds like a speeding train...a child's toy train set, that is. With bunnies as conductors. Then there's the wailing chorus, which apparently is meant to convey the antagonists dismay at being trapped in the city of the dead, but more accurately reflects my dismay at having to sit through the song of dead ideas.

Luckily "Feeling Free Again" is a stronger track, which doesn't try to bury the listener with pretension and instead stays true to it's light-hearted title. This greatly brings up the score of the album in my eyes, saving it from utter shittiness.

In short, everyone who likes this album should re-roll a new character, as clearly the one they're playing now has shitty taste.

Windir - Arntor - 100%
Written by Derigin on April 1st, 2009

"My God". Those were the exact words that crept out of my mouth the first time I heard this album. They may be what you will be thinking too when you hear this. I found this band a few weeks ago, but it's a band that's hard to place. One moment, they're throwing out melodic viking metal riffs and in the next, they are engaging in an even more melodic power metal riff! One aspect that's apparent is their apparent influence and appreciation of the vikings, which, if appreciated in a bad way, would make them no better than Bathory or Thyrfing.

Now, onto the true review of this album.

"Arntor" starts with one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard. There are no words to describe this glory of glories. It's 3 minutes and 17 seconds of true and utter wonder; it leaves me wondering what else could follow this 'beginning.' This is by far the most catchy of any intro I have ever listened to. The feeling I get from this music is truly epic; I am a viking warrior, on a journey over the seas of Helgoland, pillaging and plundering all in my path! A good way to imagine this all is to imagine the first riffs of the second song as being a defending Christian garrison against the raids of us viking warriors, and the final riffs of the fourth song as being our victory march on the church of Lindisfarne, and then the scrawling vocals and riffs of "Kampen" as our burning of that said church. The ending, of course, is our return back to our homeland. This is by far the one and only conclusion that can be drawn from this music. It's a true epic, which can only compare to that of the movies Beowulf or the 13rd Warrior.

The growling of the vocalist is some of the best I've ever heard, especially for a viking metal band. The instrumentation is ideal; everything is mixed so well, it all goes together so well. If I may say so, it should be said that the exotic instruments they use in this work are used in a manner which is perfect for this album. They're like a nice walk through a forest, or the waves washing against our gold-ladden ships... so pleasant and wonderful. I really wish they would do more of these instrumental breaks, it's what makes it all that more worthwhile... satisfied. It can't go unsaid that their use of real viking instruments should be the keystone to their success. Afterall:

They... are... vikings.

That's what really makes this album so authentic.

This album shows that these guys have a great future ahead of them. I can only hope that they continue to create works like this, especially after six years of waiting. >:( I would recommend this to every fan of metal, especially those who appreciate death metal, extreme black metal and classical music.

A dead-end direction - 30%
Written by Abominatrix on April 1st, 2009

With the advent of the Internet and easily transportable digital media, it seems as though metal really has become a global phenomenon. It's now no surprise to hear of bands from obscure parts of the world playing all manner of styles, trying to copy their favourite Norse, English or American groups, for the most part. NO doubt, there were some true and trailblazing pioneers, birthing metal in uncharted and possibly dangerous territories way back in the days when P2P and message boards didn't exist, and people traded cassettes and cobbled together zines with cheap paper and glue. So, when I first heard of Root, I thought to myself, "wow, black metal from a communist country! That's neat! I'm surprised they even know what metal is aside from Black Sabbath and Deep Purple!"

Well, the joke's on me, I guess, because while Root is obviously going for something evil and sinister on "hell Symphony", what we hear is actually pretty far from black metal, and makes me think that they've only been labeled such in retrospect. Obviously, the Czech Republic wants to have its own notoriety within the black metal spectrum, and people always point to a certain cadre of bands, including this one, as progenitors of something groundbreaking and interesting. Well, have you ever heard of Master's Hammer? Dai? Amon Goeth? Stimi Plamenu? Crux? I didn't think so! There's a reason this scene didn't last too long, folks, and there's a reason that people always associate black metal with Norway! Root are supposed to be the real fathers of the "Czech black metal scene", and while this isn't their first album, I'm willing to bet the debut is even less black metal than this one, it being released in 1990 and full of old demo material to boot, from way back when the Iron Curtain was still around and those poor guys were likely to have their degraded, swapped around cassettes confiscated by the KGB or some equivalent thereof. So, not wanting to step on too many toes, I guess, and not having the balls that our murdering and church-burning friends in Norway had, Root decided to play it safe and release what basically amounts to a heavy metal album.

You heard right. On this so-called legendary album, you won't hear frenzied tremolo riffs or drifting, moody and snow-covered harmonies. You won't hear piercing shrieks, and you won't hear blastbeats for more than a few seconds at a time. The production is total shit, but not in the cool way that Darkthroen or Burzum might present. It actually sounds like Root wanted their album to be slick and well produced like Iron Maiden or something, but all the equipment in those old commy studios was faulty and since they couldn't afford to record abroad, they just had to make do with something totally sub-par. The drums in particular have an extremely obnoxious sound to them, most notably the snare, which, when percussed, sounds like a wooden box with rattly chains attached to it. Guitars try to be crunchy, which is definitely the wrong approach for black metal anyway, but in the end just come out seeming ugly and recorded on the cheap. The whole presentation is just baffling, actually, and the terribly phrased English lyrics hinder everything even further. Why are they so obsessed with demons? Does singer Big Boss (hah hahh hah!) think he's King Diamond? He looks really fucking ugly, too, and his moniker belongs in a video game. Each song, until the end, when things get really weird, is dedicated to some devil or demon, and it's as if they just looked through a list of hellish names mentioned in the Bible or "Paradise Lost" maybe, though I doubt they're that literary-minded, and Big Boss drunkenly mumbled some lyrics, which they called the framework for a song. "Satan", which you'd think would be the most colossal hymn to the Dark Lord or something along those lines, isn't even a real song, consisting only of lazy and slow drumming (I hate slow double bass!) and Big Boss talking a whole lot of nonsense in an incomprehensible accent.

There are solos on this album, too, and everybody knows that guitar solos are for rock and heavy metal and are anathema to good black metal. It sounds like Root wants to be Children of Bodom and that's terrible, especially as their guitarist isn't talented like Sexy Alexi and just shreds mindlessly most of the time, though there's a hint of pseudo-spooky melody here and there. The composition is truly all over the place, and reminds me of Metallica's "...and Justice for All", which, when you think about it, was probably a pretty recent revelation to the guys in this band. There are thrashy riffs, slow and incredibly tedious trudging riffs, weird guitar harmonies, acoustic parts, and sudden bursts into frantic speed where the guitarists try to out-pick James Hetfield and fail miserably. There's no rhyme or reason to any of this and any song that does make sense is over pretty quickly and never seems to get anywhere or make any kind of statement. It's as if they read a book on how to write songs and purposefully set out to do everything in opposition to that perfectly sound advice. The album opens with a really long instrumental track (well, Big Boss does mumble something and deliver a nasty cackle more likely inspired by awful Eastern European whisky and unfiltered cigarettes than by something truly demonicat the outset), and before you realise it's an instrumental you might think, "aha, an epic opener! Cool!" ... only there are no lyrics, and it's just a big collection of useless and random riffs that are thrash one minute and doom the next. "Leviathan" is mostly slow and incredibly plodding, causing the eyes to become fastened to the player's time clock, but then goes into some chugging and almost-blasting (the drummer really isn't that fast) that just screams "woohoo, bang your heads guys!" I don't know about you, readers, but if I were threatened by a Leviathan I sure wouldn't be headbanging! "Abadon" is sort of cool and has a song structure that makes sense, but it's only three minutes long, and unfortunately Celtic Frost already did this thing with the tooting horns back in 1986, so it's pretty redundant.

I complained about the opening instrumental, "Beelzebub", a few lines back, but I must sort of retract a bit of negativity here, because the fact that Big Boss doesn't puke his vocals all over it is actually a really good thing. If you're easily convinced by a few catchy rock riffs, you might be tricked into nodding your head with approval as these first seven minutes of your listening experience go by. It was really sneaky of the band to refuse to show off their vocalist's um .. talents in the first piece of music on the album, and make it the longest composition, too! However, after the jangly and out-of-tune-sounding acoustic guitar intro of "belial", the guy starts up, and I've suddenly wondering if I can bare to listen to this anymore in order to tell you people to stay well clear of it. What the hell were these guys thinking, letting this old fat fuck into the band? It's obvious that he doesn't have any more of an idea of what black metal is than the guitarists do, because he switches between a sort of lazy cross between a mumble and a death metal growl, and some kind of awful croaking noise that sounds like a goat being strangled. Oh, and he tries some clean vocals too, and comes off sounding a bit like Layne Staley from Alice in Chains, even harmonising with himself as he sings something that's probably supposed to be evil and scary but just, isn't. Big Boss (god, I can't say that name without giggling) is responsible for all of the atrocious lyrics, and he's obviously no brighter than your average grade-schooler or christian fundamentalist, because, as I implied earlier, they're all about biblical stuff. Another cool thing about Norway is that they finally got beyond the whole Satan schtik and started singing about paganism and culture, which really sets black metal apart as a true art form, separate from and superior to all manner of rock and heavy metal music, which is mostly just out to shock grandmothers by talking about the devil. Do people even believe in the devil in the Czech Republic? I thought religion was banned there or something, at least when the country used to be called Czechoslovakia. I guess Root were trying to be rebellious in their own way, but once again, it reiterates the reason for this whole scene's insular nature and explains why I can't find Root albums at my local record store and why King Diamond never took the band on tour. It's childish and transparent nonsense that anybody with a brain could see through. Nobody cares about your demons, Boss. Go back to your collective farm or wherever it was you came from, because you're obviously no musician.

So, to sum up, this album is something I checked out while looking for some nifty, old-school black metal, and I was really disappointed. What I got was some hodgepodge of heavy metal clichés with a few nods to mainstream rock and an old guy pandering to all the evil satanik kiddies. Stick to Marduk or Burzum if you want real black metal, and remember that most of these cult, old-school albums are obscure for a good reason. The early 90s were a time when black metal hadn't yet really come into its own, and bands like Root were a dime a dozen, claiming to be something they weren't and all the while fooling people into thinking that black metal was just the next step up (or down?) from Alice Cooper.

Does he know that Windir broke up?

I like that for all of his fictitious bashing, failsafeman never takes a stab at Necropolis. Can't even bring yourself to criticize it facetiously

The final nail in the coffin though is the utterly banal opening, which displays an ominous and promising pitch-shifted narration in fine power metal tradition, but then goes on to fuck it all up with a mediocre riff which sounds like a speeding train...a child's toy train set, that is. With bunnies as conductors. Then there's the wailing chorus, which apparently is meant to convey the antagonists dismay at being trapped in the city of the dead, but more accurately reflects my dismay at having to sit through the song of dead ideas.

But lo and behold, Mr.PDH (I know that’s not his real name, shut up) has done the previously thought-to-be impossible task and actually made a half decent, possibly very good, ambient album!

So to wrap up, this is a technical powerhouse with solos and melodies forced up your ass every ten seconds, but by the end of the album, only a couple forced rams will still be resonating in your presumably throbbing anus.

From the review of Paysage d'Hiver's Einsamkeit album.

Final score: 95%.

From his review of Death's The Sound of Perseverance. I place that particular hilarious sentence in the good/what the christ category. Gave me a good laugh.

Haha, thanks man! I hate looking at my older reviews because my scoring system was so much different back then. I'd probably rank that album at about a 77 now, even though my opinion on it hasn't changed one bit. The good songs are absolutely fantastic, while the not quite as good songs are almost completely forgettable and overshadowed by the good tracks by a wide margin.

Not entirely sure what your complaint is, but I need to knock that score down a fair bit. <-- Which I guess is what you're btiching about.

Not really bitching, but the overall tone of the review would suggest an 80-ish score, not 95%, which is very near perfection.

This is not an album for someone with an inverted cross tattooed on their left forearm and hair that they can use to sweep floors with. Following, however, in this vein: this is most certainly not an album any intelligent sapien should miss.

I cannot stress quite enough how diverse this band actually is. Once you begin to appreciate the gradual modulations and the billion different chords (all seemingly played at once) for what they are, you will realize that this is definitely not a "regular" black metal band.

Keeping into this meat grinder of an album, you notice a lot of layering and things that truly take a discerning ear to catch.

If I do have a complaint (which will be the reason this review is not 100%) it is that this band tends to compromise songwriting and harmonizing for lyrical strength and the ability to convey an effective point

One of the best albums of 2008 and a must listen for any smart person.

Caspian, Krallice fanboys seem even more retarded than Opeth ones.

Caspian, Krallice fanboys seem even more retarded than Opeth ones.

I'd be interested to see your opinion of it (along with a theocracy review ). I like a lot of hipster rubbish and even Krallice escaped me.

krallice are a genuine hipster band. Pitchfork put them in their top 10 metal releases for '08, which is pretty good proof.

Terrorizer and Decibel both put Krallice in their top 40's for 2008 as well.