S H I E L D H O U S E

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: 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....

         A lot of good songs this month! I have found myself openly exploring more music, and that is a good thing. I find that within a month's time, I will usually stick to one sort of "atmosphere" when it comes to music, by that I mean emotion. If i'm in the mood for "sad" music, as is per the norm, then I will listen to anything ranging from The Killing Joke, The Handsome Family, Opeth's Rock albums (more on those at some point in the future), Empyrium, and Light Jazz. A "happier" playlist might include Rap, Celtic music, Steve Winwood, or Mastodon. While it can be diverse, I feel like with the way that I listen to music a list made up of songs with the same "vibe" or "atmosphere" can get boring, or even worse: listened to for the sake of listening to something.       Because of this, I explored a bit more into other moods this month and I felt very rewarded in doing so. In all honesty, this blog is as much for mysel...

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...

Part of a stacked "second generation" lineup of Solid State Records, a then young label, Haste the Day is an American Christian metalcore band from the state of Indiana. Although they were never anything as groundbreaking as other Solid State bands of the time (see Underoath, August Burns Red, and Norma Jean), Haste the Day represents a decade of the perfection of 2000's era metalcore. What makes Haste the Day such a stand out band is their genuine energy, familiar song structure, and catchy hooks & choruses. Admittedly, I only got into the band at the dead end of their career with the release of "Attack Of The Wolf King", but as my tastes and opinions have continued to open up and grow since then, Haste the Day has remained as a band that I can always put on shuffle and have a good time. As such, I thought I'd go through the band's discography and rank the albums top to bottom, as well as give some of my personal thoughts on each of the albums,...

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: April 3rd Label: Independently Released Album Link      Mesarthim is one of the more well respected of the modern "Atmospheric Black Metal" bands, taking inspiration form the likes of Darkspace or Paysage D'hiver. The spacey themes that envelop Mesarthim's sound generally aren't felt so much more than they are implied. The Density Parameter 's surprise release allows more room for the space and cosmic influences breathe. I had first discovered Mesarthim on Bandcamp about a year ago, and the only reason I decided to give them a chance is because of the ease and access of checking out the music before buying it. I plan to do a post on the joys of Bandcamp at some point, cause for real I love it. Anyway, despite the difficulty of finding a good  Atmospheric Black Metal band I decided to check out this band  because of other's reviews. Others state that this is a band which is specifically better than most similar bands, and after exploring a...

Release Date: March 23rd Label: Osmose Productions Album Link      After 6 years, Australia's Mournful Congregation follow up their magnum opus  The Book of Kings  with another monumentally heavy slab of sarcophagial Funeral Doom Metal. Moving at the pace of a funeral procession, this album never ceases to be creative, dark, beautiful, and an incredible journey. Spanning an hour and twenty minutes, this album crosses every plane of the genre and is a great introductory piece to the band's style (if there are any first time listeners here).      The genre of Funeral Doom Metal is a very  diverse and ultimately a poor label for so many diverse bands and styles of music. Whereas many bands come off as evil, otherworldly, and dissonant, Nortt and Evoken being prime examples, Mournful Congregation implement melody, acoustics, choirs, and spoken word passages. They are a very different band who are given a great amount of respect within ...