Winterblind – Ya Mashina

Winterblind is a black metal band that hails from Belgium, and has just released their first full-length album, “Ya Mashina”, in mid-2015. The first thing that you’ll notice on this record is that the production is very muffled. It’s almost as if they put something over the microphone before recording. Of course, given that this is black metal, the sound is very intentional. It’s a bit of a strange choice as the production itself sounds good, but it just sounds very quiet and different from anything else, making it a jarring record to listen to before or after another one. It won’t take long for you to forget about this, however, because the opening track “Sol”, quickly unleashes some thrashy riffing. This is a common theme on “Ya Mashina”; the band’s genre can’t quite simply be labeled as just black metal as they incorporate a variety of influences, with thrash being a major one. There are also plenty of more progressive sounding moments on the album, and progressive metal is probably the best label for the album. The only real constant is that the vocals tend to stay in the black metal realm, with disgusting screams being the preferred method of attack. 

This versatility is also the record’s downfall. The band changes things up often, and never quite settles in on a sound. As a listener (and a reviewer), it’s difficult to really latch onto anything. Whenever Winterblind gets into a groove, it disappears. Sometimes this happens when they’ve come up with a truly headbanging thrash-inspired riff, while at others it is in a more melodic, atmospheric section, but it seems to occur relatively often on every song. While I do appreciate the prime characteristics of many subgenres (and in black metal’s case, atmosphere is right at the top), if the songwriting isn’t there, it’s hard to enjoy. This isn’t necessarily a knock on Winterblind; some people are going to love this sound, but it’s so far removed from the elements of metal I like that it’s difficult to get into.

Be sure to check out and like Winterblind on Facebook!

Highlights

All/none

Final Rating

3.0/5 or 60%. 

Written by Scott

Slayer – Repentless

Much has changed since Slayer released “World Painted Blood” in 2009. The unfortunate passing of Jeff Hanneman has brought in Gary Holt (Exodus) on guitars, and Paul Bostaph has returned on drums. This means that Slayer is largely the Kerry King show featuring Tom Araya on vocals, but I have no issue with that. King has been the driving force of the band for the last two decades, and though I’d prefer to see some tracks written by Holt, "Repentless" is the album that will show whether or not King can truly write an entire album.

The record begins with “Delusions of Saviour”, which is an ominous intro that builds a ton of atmosphere before the unrelenting title track. This dark aura is something Slayer should have done long ago, and gets things off to a good start. “Repentless” is the most stereotypical Slayer track on this record. It’s fast, heavy, has tons of tremolo picking, and features a surprisingly impressive vocal performance from Tom Araya (who sounds much more energetic on this record than he does live). This song displays the biggest flaw with the album: the lyrics are bad. It’s a common theme on many tracks (and really, most songs written by Kerry King in recent years), but if you can ignore the lyrics on this album, you’ll enjoy it much more.

The thrashing continues with “Take Control”, another song driven by tremolo picking (though these riffs are quite a bit higher-pitched than those in “Repentless”). Despite getting off to a fast start, most of this album doesn’t quite move at warp speed. Many tracks are mid-paced, and feature plenty of chugging. This sounds like it would be a bad thing, and while it does accent the fact that Slayer needs to move to playing in E flat tuning rather than their current one, the chugging is incredibly heavy and conducive to headbanging. Sometimes these riffs are more straight forward, like the one that opens “Piano Wire”, while at other times, they show some homage to old-school Slayer with their choice of notes (“Vices“ has one great example before and after the guitar solos).

The performances of the two newcomers are relatively strong. Gary Holt doesn’t actually have too many opportunities to shred, but he takes advantage of the ones he is given, occasionally using his wah-pedal. Bostaph’s playing is obviously featured much more prominently and fits the music well. He can’t match Dave Lombardo when it comes to double bass, but he’s a monster with his fills and uses them often enough to keep things interesting.

In terms of highlights, “Repentless” has many. “Cast The First Stone” is a song that is not particularly fast, but has a very catchy chorus where Bostaph’s drumming takes over. “Implode” starts off quite middling, but eventually picks up the pace and ends up being one of the more brutal tracks on the record. The 1-2 punch of “Atrocity Vendor” and “You Against You” provides the final jolt of adrenaline, as both of these songs are classic old-school sounding Slayer.

Unlike many listeners of modern Slayer, I don’t have many complaints about this record. A major one would be that “When The Stillness Comes” is very underdeveloped; it spends about 3 minutes being relatively slow before busting out one of the most incredible riffs on the record at the end, and then it just abruptly stops. If the song were lengthened a couple of minutes, it would have a much greater impact. Aside from that, the lack of speed on this record may bother some, but Slayer has actually written some interesting songs that can carry the record despite absence of speed. All things considered, “Repentless” turned out a lot better than it could have, and the possibility of Holt contributing to Slayer’s next album means that the best for modern Slayer may be yet to come!

Be sure to check out and like Slayer on Facebook!

Highlights

"Repentless"

"Cast The First Stone"

"Implode"

"Atrocity Vendor"

Final Rating

4.3/5 or 86%. 

Written by Scott

Rocka Rollas – Pagan Ritual

Metal’s busiest musician, Cederick Forsberg, is back with the 5^th Rocka Rollas release in as many years. Despite being a relatively straight forward speed metal band, their sound has changed quite a bit over the years. From the very raw debut, to the more refined “Conquer” and “Metal Strikes Back”, the band unleashed an unhinged sound that left nothing back on “The Road To Destruction”. This change was largely driven by Ced taking over on vocals, as his singing is wild and off the wall. “Pagan Ritual” shows Ced continuing to sing, but another change for the band. Now Rocka Rollas is beginning to incorporate some more epic sounds into their music. This had been hinted at in the past with songs like “Conquer” and “Swords Raised In Victory”, but is now more developed on “Pagan Ritual”.

The first example of this epic style is the song lengths and structure. Most tracks on this album reach or exceed 5 minutes, and are not the standard verse/chorus. The songs still have choruses, but they aren’t as predictable as you might expect from the band’s previous work. Another way the band tries to be more epic is through clean interludes and unique, almost Celtic melodies (“Gaulic Boare” pulls off both at the same time).  The shredding solos that once dominated the band’s sound have been dialed back, both in intensity and frequency. They’re still there, but you certainly won’t hear a song with 4 solos in a row on “Pagan Ritual”.

It would be an exaggeration to say that this change is a drastic one. Rocka Rollas is still focused around killer melodies and riffs. “The Punic Wars”, as one example, has a harmonized lead towards the end of the track that can contend with anything Maiden has done. “Lost In An Enchanted Forest” is the song with the best guitar acrobatics, as Ced and second guitar player Emil unleash some furious fretwork. There is a melody in the second half of the song that is reminiscent of Autopsy’s “Thorns and Ashes”, which later bursts into a tremolo-picked version of the same melody that is far more potent.

The less structured approach to songwriting means that this is the least memorable Rocka Rollas record. There are still obvious hits: “Viking Lord” will be stuck in your head for days from even just a single listen. The opening of “Pagan Ritual” manages to make drums catchy using just a crash/china cymbal. These are just two examples, but there are quite a few on this record. Overall though, not every song manages to make an impact immediately. Or even after numerous listens for that matter. This isn’t to say these songs are bad; in fact, they sound pretty much like the others. They just lack those big choruses that are easy to grasp. “Demigod”, for example, remains a mystery to me after 10 or so spins.

On the whole, “Pagan Ritual” is still the most interesting Rocka Rollas album to date. For a band that puts something out every single year, they manage to switch up the formula often enough that it never gets boring. This album is also a major step forward in making Rocka Rollas a distinct project from another band of Ced’s, Breitenhold. It may seem like I’m being overly harsh, but this is just the result of holding Rocka Rollas to an absurdly high standard. This album is fantastic and crushes most other speed metal bands, but it is the weakest Rocka Rollas album to date aside from the debut.

Be sure to check out and like Rocka Rollas on Facebook!

Highlights

"The Punic Wars"

"Pagan Ritual"

"Viking Lord"

Final Rating

4.5/5 or 90%. 

Written by Scott