SONG FOR THE DAY: COHEED AND CAMBRIA - DOMINO THE DESTITUTE

Coheed and Cambria were an integral part of my musical growth during my early teenage years and their first two albums, "The Second Stage Turbine Blade" and "In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3" still rank among my all-time favourites to this day. Third album "From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness" was also excellent, but, unfortunately, since then gradual simplification of the band's sound have left me slightly less impressed with each subsequent record.

But, holy crap you guys! Coheed just released the first single from their upcoming 6th album, "The Afterman: Ascension", and it's totally awesome! Proggy, emotionally charged, over 8 minutes long - it's old-school Coheed all the way through. I love it, and if the rest of the album is similar, we are in for a treat. Take a listen.

ALBUM REVIEW: THE FACELESS - AUTOTHEISM

The Faceless are still a young band but, over the course of their first two albums, their name became fitting in ways they can't have wanted. Technical death metal in the vein of Necrophagist, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Origin was the order of the day - blistering, mathematical, and, unfortunately, unoriginal. There was no denying the talent of the guys involved, but the music they were offering was nothing new. Don't misunderstand -  it was good music, and well worth a listen for fans of the genre, but it felt like the band was merely imitating their favourites, rather than trying to find their own voice. Faceless indeed.

So, after a four year absence, more of the same for third album Autotheism? No, yet also in some ways yes, but all for the positive. Bear with me, I'll explain. Guitarist, vocalist and founding member Michael Keene has clearly expanded his musical boundaries (and listened to a lot of Devin Townsend) since previous album Planetary Duality, and the band is all the better for it.

SONG FOR THE DAY: AGALLOCH - FIRE ABOVE, ICE BELOW

 A quick note - song for the day will not update every day, just when I feel like it. So there.

Agalloch have long been one of my favourite bands, and Fire Above, Ice Below is my favourite song of theirs. The track embodies everything that is great about this band - a perfect mixture of black, folk and post-metal, mournful atmospherics, hair-raising guitar lines - this song has it all. The combination of the guitar and backing vocals at 3:55 gets me every time. Enjoy!

 

Agalloch recently released a new one-song EP, Faustian Echoes, which is just as excellent as the rest of their discography. So if you liked this one, do yourself a favour and check them out.

ALBUM REVIEW: FOZZY - SIN AND BONES

As anyone who knows me will tell you, my three great loves in life are metal, video games and professional wrestling. As such, one would safely be able to assume that I must therefore love Fozzy, the metal band fronted by pro wrestler Chris Jericho.

The truth is slightly less black and white. I have always found Fozzy to be somewhat hit-and-miss, with most of their popularity coming from the fact that they are the band with the wrestler, rather than good musicianship. That said, Jericho has long been one of my all-time favourites in the squared circle, so I am always willing to give Fozzy a fair listen. Clear growth has been made from their days as a comedy cover band, and as time goes by, their ratio of good to bad songs weighs ever further into the good.

Which brings us nicely to their brand new album, "Sin and Bones". Heralded by Jericho himself as the band's best work yet, I can safely say that I agree with Y2J. "Sin and Bones" is, for the most part, a fun, unchallenging slice of retro-tinged heavy metal.

I'M ALIVE? I'M ALIVE!

That's right, after over a year of inactivity, THE METAL BLOG IS BACK. What started as a mere university project will soon become the best heavy metal website on the internet. So make sure to bookmark, subscribe, and check back frequently for all the metal goodness that flows from my brain, through my fingers, directly to YOUR FACE.

Enjoy!