This album is a very good definition of what modern heavy metal is supposed to sound like.
In Flames – Foregone
Rob Zombie – The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy
As good as any Rob Zombie record, it just delivers. Perhaps more musical than the usual, ranging a bunch of genres from the default industrial metal through hard rock and heavy metal to funk and even country, and having melodies that may be beyond what one would expect from this guy.
Enslaved – Utgard
It is a fantastic nordic metal record with prog, heavy, and black elements mixed in. But whatever it is, the one track Urjotun is one mind blowing single track that is right there amonst the top 3 of 2020 for sure. Right as the synth beat and drum groove starts (and just by typing this it’s clear how non-typical this song is on the album) I get goosebumps, and then it goes into a black metal march just to go clean after a minute and get back to the synth and groove again. It is not at all a nordic metal thing, much rather some industrial rock thing on par with the best of Killing Joke, but then melts it with Enslave’s burning voice making it their own. This song is just epic.
Ministry – AmeriKKKant
It’s still good that they finally didn’t break up for good in 2008 after all.
Cradle Of Filth – Hammer of the Witches
Just one post ago I wrote about Karyn Crisis creating the metal album of 2015 and now after quite some days of listening to the new Cradle of Filth ablum on repeat I am seriously thinking: may 2015 be an year of metal? There is also a Fear Factory record in the works, Disturbed seems promising, and strange to say but Bullet for My Valentine released three very much okay singles so far.
So, as for Cradle of Filth. This album truly resembles the greatest days when I listened to a lot of speedy metal like this, and this was around the gloriuos times of Cruelty & The Beast. Actually I wonder what the whole ablum would be withouth the track “Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess”, because this one is like poison infecting my mind and the chorus hooks come back to me throughout the day always wanting a re-listen.
I least expected to be totally addicted to a CoF album this year but this one deserves some replays. Would be great to catch a live show this year with this lineup and some of the new tracks.