S H I E L D H O U S E

Release Date: Nov 2nd 2018 Label: Epic Album Link:      I was not at all expecting to review this album, nor was I expecting to hear it. Swizz Beatz, though he is a legendary producer in modern Hip-Hop, is not known to release actual albums. He typically just works production and raps on others songs. The only other album he has ever released is 2007's One Man Band Man . I pretty much exclusively know him from his production work on 2000's Kanye albums and Rick Ross albums, and he is always recognizable in his production style, which is often very slick and varied; mixing new sounds and old soul samples. His voice is also distinct, husky and dark, he sounds more like an old man than he does a skinny 30-something.       Poison is his newest album, and is only 32 minutes long but Swizz says he had "70 songs ready for this album" and decided to cut it down to 10. Though he left the purported Kanye/Bono song, and a same-song showcase of Jay Z,...

L-R: Martin Mendez(bass), Martin Lopez(drums), Peter Lindgren(guitar), Mikael Akerfeldt(vocals, guitar) Release Date: August 29th, 2005 Label: Roadrunner Records Album Playlist:      For the first post of October, I wanted to kick it off with a new kind of review that will pop up every now and then on the blog. A legacy review is for, well, an older album which I hold very dear. There are many, and I would love writing about why specific albums are important to me and the genre in which they're found.      Naturally, I'm starting legacy reviews with my favourite album ever... Starting high, I know. Either way, I thought it would be fitting for this month in particular. I am aiming to make the blog posts this month more frequent and more topical, and believe me when I say this album IS an October album. Autumn is a season where I get sentimental and nostalgic for many things, I can't explain it but there are always bands and types of music I find...

Release Date: August 31st Label: Sacred Bones Records Album Link:      To be honest, beside a few exceptions , I have had a lapse in interest in new Metal music in the last couple months. YOB sparked my interest when I reviewed it, and even that is more Rock oriented than my usual Metal listening habits. Not that I've actively turned away from it, in fact I've been going back to older Progressive Rock albums and also exploring different genres which I like, mainly Classical this past August. However I knew that I would have to listen to Thou's Magus when I included "The Changeling Prince" on the track roundup a couple months ago.      Sludge Metal is named for it's production quality and pace usually, it's always very muddy and thick. Often listening to bands like Indian, Neurosis, and Electric Wizard will leave one feeling like they've walked through a very oppressive pool of molasses. Because I don't particularly enjoy this genre, I ...

Release Date: September 14th Label: Profound Lore Records Album Link:      There have been an abundance of critically acclaimed Death Metal albums released this year in 2018, the modern Death Metal renaissance is definitely in full swing on labels like 20 Buck Spin and Profound Lore but none of the albums have truly caught my attention like this one did. I first heard this band earlier this year through their 2014 debut demo and was instantly attracted. It was so simultaneously unpleasant and alluring. Infernal Coil have their own unique blend of Grindcore and Death Metal that sounds fit to be the soundtrack to an Apocalypse. Within A World Forgotten is the most unique and in my opinion, best, Death Metal album of 2018.      The album starts unlike any other I've ever heard, I can't even describe it so I'll just link to the track ... In short, this is not a friendly album. "Wounds Never Close"sets the stage for this 35 minute merciless ...

Release Date: July 20th Label: 88Rising  Album Link:      The moods of my listening patterns change when I hear a song I really like for the first time, I will end up searching for more like what I just heard. This patterns increases in intensity until after a certain point I will end up hating a song because I have listened to it so much...      Thankfully, this has not been the case with "Midsummer Madness" the centerpiece song to this label compilation debut album for 88Rising. The label in question are a media brand focusing on celebrating contemporary Asian artists, sporting such names as Joji (formerly Pink Guy/FilthyFrankTV), Rich Brian : a talented Indonesian Rapper out of Jakarta, Keith Ape : a South Korean rapper who comes off as much nicer than his music would have you believe and can effortlessly switch between Korean and English mid verse. And finally, Higher Brothers : an extremely charismatic and exciting fo...

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: Relapse Records Album Link: "Your heart brings me home "      Some of the best music comes through in times of raw emotion, that is undoubtedly true. Many artists write their best music when morose, or angry. It is unfortunate yes, but it is true for many artists. On the other side, some of the best lyrics are written to reflect emotions and lay bare the writer's true feelings. Now you throw Doom Metal in the mix, a genre whose name has literally come from the feeling it tries to evoke, made famous by bands like Black Sabbath, Candlemass, and Witchfinder General, and you get YOB. YOB, like many bands were once all about the Doom  and Gloom that came with their chosen sound, and were good at it.      However, something happened between their last album: Clearing the Path to Ascend  and this one. Vocalist and Guitarist Mike Scheidt was diagnosed with Acute Diverticulitis last year, and it almost killed him....

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: GOOD Music, Def Jam Album Link      Hot on the heels of fan polarizing album ye , Kanye West returns with Cleveland born hip hop artist Kid Cudi, famous for 2009's Man on the Moon: The End of Day . Together they've debuted under the name KIDS SEE GHOSTS, dropping a self-titled album in the process. The collaboration between the two is nothing new of course; Kanye noticed Cudi back in 2008 at a Def Jam meeting, and has acted as Cudi's mentor ever since. The two worked together on Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak , an album that would shape the future of not only Kid Cudi, but other popular rappers today such as Drake, Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino, and B.o.B. West also served as executive producer on Man on the Moon: The End of Day , and Kid Cudi continued to work with Kanye on all of Kanye's future projects. The creation of this new group was announced back in April 2018, and production on this album started over following Kanye We...

Release Date: June 8th 2018 Label: 20 Buck Spin Album Link:      Becoming the most recognised Death Metal band from Toronto in the short existence of a year and a half might sound like a feat of stature, but unfortunately it isn't the greatest achievement. The only reason for this is that Toronto's presence in the Death Metal community isn't notable at all. But to Tomb Mold's credit, they have simply blown up. They've existed for just over 2 years, and being picked up by a well respected label and distributor, 20 Buck Spin, is the jackpot for an up and coming Metal band. But do Tomb Mold deliver on their second full length album, and their first on 20 Buck Spin? We will find out below ↡      Tomb Mold are not a band I would listen to on a regular basis, their admittedly popular brand of very chaotic and dissonant Finnish style Death Metal does get tiresome to listen to in my opinion and I wouldn't often listen to an album like this more than a co...

Release Date: June 1st 2018 Label: GOOD Music Album Link:      This review will be a bit different, with Josh and I both taking point, providing our opinion on this long-awaited album.      Sometimes, our musical tastes intersect: Kanye West is one of the most long running examples of that intersection. We will be laying out our opinions on the songs, composition, and production on the album and how it holds up in Kanye West's modern discography. By modern I mean his past two albums because I can speak for the both of us when I say it is not going to hold a candle to his older albums. Following that, we will each provide opinions on each of the songs on the album in order, one after the other. We will not be delving into the political aspects of the lead up to this album, and only will comment on Kanye West as a person should it be reflected in the content of the album. Kellan:      I was cautiously optimistic when it came to thi...

Release Date: May 18th, 2018 Label: Season of Mist Album Link:      Progressive Metal is in dire need of a renaissance, the new wave of Djent bands and Math Rock bands who label themselves or equally are labelled by others as Progressive Metal are a largely sanitised group of bands which end up being interchangeable with one another. There are anomalies within these genres, such as Animals as Leaders, who have transcended genre classification in their four album existence, and other bands like Tesseract and Uneven Structure who have perfected a good albeit simple sound that has spawned many plagiarisers.       While Opeth, forever my favourite band, have drifted gracefully away from the Progressive Death Metal which built their career and fanbase and now exist in a sort of nostalgic Progressive Rock vacuum alongside Ghost and The Sword, they still inspire many today. Among this number are Alkaloid, a "Progressive Metal Supergroup" consisting...

Release Date: March 30th, 2018 Label: Blood Music Album Link      Unfortunately, I missed this album when it was released and am since reviewing this rather late. Before this album I had never heard of this band, and this album was my first exposure to them. Going into this album off of a Spotify recommendation, I had no idea that I would want to review this album. I knew nothing about it! Generally, Spotify will recommend me something that has been out for quite a while or has been out long enough for it not really to make sense if my aim is to review current music. Due to this I went into this album simply to listen with my ears, and not analyse it instantly as I do when an album comes out which I planned  to critique. I'm glad I went in open-minded and adventurous, because The Contagion in Nine Steps  is the most creative and bizarre album I have heard in a very long time.       Lychgate are an Avant-Garde Metal band out of London, sha...

Release Date: March 30, 2018 Label: Get On Down Spotify Link     Czarface Meets Metal Face is the team-up album by hip hop's super individuals; Czarface, a group consisting of the underground duo 7L & Esoteric and east coast legend Inspectah Deck, and MF DOOM, the underground villain best known for his numerous rap personas (Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, and Doom to name a few). A true testament to Czarface & MF DOOM's superhuman rap vocabulary ,  Czarface Meets Metal Face is a lyrical gun show through and through.    I'm a huge MF DOOM fan, and every good MF DOOM fan knows that the metal faced villain never puts out new music anymore. Notably, the last full length album Doom appeared on was his collaboration with Bishop Nehru on 2014's NehruvianDoom . Even more disappointingly, back in August-September 2017, Doom had a partnership with Adult Swim to release new singles each week, free to stream under the name of The Miss...