I can see an UFO...

Strapping Young Lad - Alien

Another great album from Townsend's band...

"This album absolutely owns! While I do enjoy Strapping�s other work, �Alien� completely obliterates them all!

Once you listen to track one, Imperial, it really sets the mood for what the rest of the album holds. It�s dark, it�s scary, and it�s goddamn brilliant. Each track is different in it�s own way, but they all retain the same heaviness and darkness and that unique SYL quality.

The guitars really set the atmosphere of the album. They�re not overpowering the other instruments like on their self-titled, yet they�re not in the background either. They�re at the right volume to be forceful but not dominant. With the playing, it�s impeccable. Both Devin and Jed mostly use the lower strings, but occasionally come out with something that could sound like a solo, but never eventuates (Shitstorm, Shine). We Ride is the only song with solo�s, and while they�re good, it�s better that they limited it to one song, as the album really didn�t need solo�s and endless wankery everywhere. The drumming is also tightly played. Some of the beats he does are awesome, not to mention that in some parts of the album, you�ll find that the beats are more complex than originally thought (for example, at 2:08 in Shine, he adds � hi-hats in a 4/4 beat. I never noticed that until much later, and it was a very interesting find!). It just makes the music that much more technical and interesting.

The best part of the album has to be the vocals. Not many albums can state that the vocals are the best quality of the music, but I think here it is. It�s unlike Devin�s other work. He does his usual clean singing (Love?) and regular harsh vocals, but then occasionally he�ll come out with a very long scream (Love?, Thalamus) that would surely render my lungs unusable.

One of the most stand-out songs is definitely Shitstorm. One of the most negative, hate-filled songs to be ever produced, it really shows Devin Townsend�s state of mind at the time. The song climbs and climbs until it reaches a peak where Devin screams �I fucking hate myself! Everything about this is fucked!�, and then descends back down to normality again. Brilliant.

After the seventh track, your mind needs time to recover from what hit it, so track eight�s Two Weeks is a slower, acoustic piece to bring you back to the real world again. It works as an intermission, and oddly enough, it does its job perfectly. Somehow, it fits with the rest of the album, which by any metal album�s standards, shouldn�t. It�s very�classy. That�s the only way to describe it.

Skeksis is another excellent track, easily my favourite. It�s a long one, which takes over two minutes to get started, but the whole thing is quality. At 4:14, Gene become a human drum machine, essentially playing the same thing over and over until 5:31, yet it never gets boring. Also, at 4:14, a guitar riff comes in from the rhythm guitar that will have you automatically headbanging. Awesome stuff.

It wouldn�t be feasible for me to explain the highlights of every song, because I think I�ve made my point. Basically, this album is the heaviest, and probably will be the heaviest, album of Strapping Young Lad�s discography. If you love heavy death metal, this album has to be in your collection. Let the insanity begin."(review from metal-arhives.com)

Death fucking metal...

Morbid Angel - Altar of Madness

Old school death metal album from old school death metal band...

"What we have here is a death metal classic from the early days. This one should always be mentioned when discussing the old DM together with Consuming Impulse, Scream Bloody Gore and Left Hand Path. Yes, this is one of the best 10 death metal albums of all time. One can conclude by now this also still is the ultimate Morbid Angel album.

The album has no bad songs. The whole album is one briliant concept which starts en end in quality. The into to �Immortal Rites� is cool in the evil kind of way and not too long. �Immortal Rites� itself is filled with changes in pace and massive aggressive riffs.

�Maze Of Torment�, �Bleed For The Devil� and �Blaphemy� are the fastest and most aggressive tunes here and the �catchy� anthem �Chapel of Ghouls� a fan fave and live classic. Talking about catchy, check out the chorus of �Damnation�. The original CD bonus track �Lord Of All Fevors and Plague� also is one of the best songs on the album. Why they choose this song not to be on all version of the album remains a mystery.

The performance is great. Sandoval rules on drums just like he did on the Terrorizer debut and both these album carved his name in stone forever. Compare the versions on this album to their earlier recordings with Mike Browning and it becomes obvious how important Sandoval is to the speed and intensity fo the material.

Azagtoth and Brunelle both excel on leads and it still is a shame Brunelle isn�t in the group anymore. Last but not least we have mr. Vincent who sounds really great on this album. Most notible difference with other Morbid Angels album (on which he sang) is his raspy voice here. No deep grunt but I remember reading an interview back in those days in which he said he had a cold of something similar when he recorded his vocals for Altars Of Madness. Well all I can say is, make sure you�re sick the next time you record with Morbid Angel because his vocals here are the best in his entire career! They�re beyond evil and eerie.

The sound is utterly briliant. Whereas the next album would sound too deep and polished (thus losing the sense of speed and aggression at some points) with sterile drums this one is still natural, clear and brutal. Guitars have plenty of definition and the whole sound is perfectly balanced to match the concept. This album is a masterpiece."(review from metal-arhives.com)

All souls can fly...

Soulfly - Conquer [2008]

After their last album The Dark Ages,Soulfly rose in my eyes.Normally my expectations for this album were high,and by the time the first track was over i came to one conclusion...Max does it again ! I'm gonna pick this sucker up...

The 'groove' in 'groove metal'

Droid - Droid (2007)

Droid is a groove metal band with death metal influences,they have released only one album until now that i find great.Listen to songs like "My Oath","Built To Last" and "No Gods No Master",they're truly adrenaline fueled and heavy as shit...but hell the whole album is all killer no filler.

"Talk about being in the right place at the right time -- the way Long Beach, CA metallists Droid got signed was by playing a show at the Whisky-A-Go-Go, which was attended by Korn guitarist Munky. It just so happened that the man known for his admiration of seven-string guitars was also scouting bands to sign to his about-to-be-launched label, Emotional Syphon Recordings, and Droid was the first act to get the nod (and as an added bonus, getting to tour with Korn before having any recordings in the shops). Which brings us to their 2007 self-titled debut -- with none other than Munky serving as "executive producer." With all these Korn-konnections, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Droid's sound at times reflects their big brothers during their irate moments -- but they're more of a straight-ahead metal band (few artsy fartsy bits reside here). In fact, judging by such ditties as the album opening "The Resurrection" and "God of Anger," the quintet isn't bashful in breaking out the death metal (especially the group's growler/screamer, James "Buddy" Eason). And wouldn't you know it, another Korn-approved pal drops by for a bit -- Deftones' singer Chino Moreno -- on the bash n' rager, "Vengeance Is Mine." This is one Droid whose power supply appears to be bubbling over with anger."(review from allmusic.com)

God had a Lamb once....

Lamb of God - New American Gospel (2000)

I think this is Lamb of God's second best album (the first place goes to Ashes of The Wake),so it's worth the download.

"Describing themselves at pure American metal and signed to Metal Blade Records, Lamb of God (formally Burn the Priest), came up with this ten song debut release.Is it any good? In one word yes. In two words, hell yes.

The band's sound is difficult to explain. It might be the production value on this one but, a lot of the album is drum oriented and they are out in the forefront. This isn't really a problem if you like double bass, really high symbol hits, and different snare and tom sounds. However, the drums were recorded tough, and I mean tough. A bass hit
almost sounds like a regular snare hit, and if you're listening to this album too loud, those symbol hits are pure hell as they are driven straight into your ear with no filtration. The guitars are very good and really produce a hard hitting heavy sound even though they are only tuned in drop-D. For the people who don't know notes, listen to this album, and listen to Tool - Ænima and you're listening to the same tuning. Few can bring a hard hitting path of destruction in drop-D anymore. Bass is also heard in the album which is a rarity these days. The singer (screamer) is a little different. He is loud and higher pitched for having the typical death metal style. However, either due to the production value or my patience level, I can't understand a damn thing he is saying. However, if that doesn't matter to you (since it doesn't bother me), the music that they are playing is very good. It surprises me that this is their first major release. They sound like they have been playing for decades with the tightness of their sound. There's a lot of tempo and musical changes here to help keep the album interesting. Even though it's about 40 minutes long."(review from kickedintheface.com)