Sigh - The Curse of Izanagi [2010]

Wow, straight-forward old school Black Metal start for this album... of course, it doesn't last long. The production is pretty shitty; sounds like it was recorded on old tape tracks and then left in the sun for too long. However, it does have the charm of the Black Metal of old, plus, it definitely sounds like they recorded it live instead of recording each instrument separately... probably a money/time issue. I like the change of pace that this album has to offer versus previous efforts, but I don't like how it gets me into the mood for some solid Black Metal and then leaves the genre tied up in the trunk of a car until the last song, which is a cover.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sigh - Scenes From Hell [2010]

The production has taken a hit since Hangman's Hymn. It's not nearly as heavy. However, it is much more creative, harkening back to the days of Scenario IV but with more thrash influence and much more active songwriting. The drums are probably the worst produced instrument on the entire album, which is a shame. Fuck, the songwriting is definitely their best yet. I'm three tracks in and if they keep this shit up through the entire album, I may be willing to entirely forgive the really shitty production. End of album: WOW... they actually fucking kept the wonderfully spastic creativity all the way through the album. Every song is excellent. By the end, I had completely forgotten about the shitty production. However, I am left to wonder what could have been if the production were up to modern standards.

Rating: 9

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cephalic Carnage - Misled by Certainty [2010]

Ugh, off to a really disappointing start. Things finally get interesting around 2min in to "The Incorrigible Flame", but it doesn't last long at all. "Abraxas of Filth" FINALLY shows a little creativity and carefully crafted songwriting. God damn, this album really drags on. It truly feels like time is moving slower as a result of listening to this album. There's very little creativity at all and I'm still missing the dichotomy of the older albums a lot. This album has declined in quite a few ways from Xenosapien. There are some catchy parts, but most of it feels bland to me. Production quality is ok, but the overall bass seems to have been cut a bit.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Septic Flesh - Sumerian Daemons [2003]

Jesus fuck, "unbeliever" starts the album off as a completely different animal than I had gotten used to on Revolution DNA; so fucking powerful it's scary. "Virtues of the Beast" puts all of my fears to rest by returning to the more sedate Gothic feel that they effectively captured on RDNA... and then "Faust" switches things back to the more brutal feel that "Unbeliever" had. Well, in the end, this album managed to come damn close to fixing one of the main issues I had with previous albums: the feeling of repetitiveness by the end of the album. There are a few songs in the middle that feel fairly similar, but the nearly constant switching back and forth between brutality and sedatives in between songs really kept the album interesting for me. The keyboard parts deserve special mention as they are flawlessly written and executed. The addition of choir really adds depth to the music as well. Overall, this album is a great step forward from RDNA.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/septicfleshband

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Septic Flesh - A Fallen Temple [1998]

Still has a dark tone to it. Production isn't as polished as RDNA and the songs aren't as catchy. Still, good and unique Gothic Metal.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/septicfleshband

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

The Haunted - The Haunted Made Me Do It [2000]

Nice new production; it's a bit heavier and more clear. After the really cool intro track and "Bury Your Dead", things begin to deteriorate. The songwriting isn't as catchy or spirited as the previous album was.

Rating: 6

http://www.the-haunted.com/site/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

The Haunted - The Haunted [1998]

As stock as this style has become over the years, I truly miss the melodic thrash from this era because it had an energy and soul that the new shit just doesn't fucking have anymore. Sure, it's nothing new, but it's catchy and has some kick. There are only a couple fillers throughout the album. The rest are all well-written, energetic, catchy, and heavy. However, there's very little variation between the songs. So, towards the end it feels a bit repetitive.

Rating: 7

http://www.the-haunted.com/site/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

DELUHI - JAGANNATH [2008.12.31]

Starts off with a breakdown riff, the pain of which is eased by the nifty keys and effects. It's pretty obvious now that DELUHI have been taking a few pages from the chapter of one of Soilwork's "books" for most of the last few albums. However, even that can't really make me feel better about the first song after the fourth time a breakdown is played. It's really holding the song back a lot. "RebelSicks, ShadowSix" is quite flat. Looks like their running out of new ways to write the same song.

Rating: 6

http://www.deluhi.com/index_pc.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

DELUHI - Mahadeva [2008.11.26]

This one has the most American quality to it to date. The guitaring is much more furious than previous albums. "Hybrid Truth" is a cross between the Melodic Thrash and Hardcore genres while "Ivory and Irony" brings the Japanese Rock into the mix. However, unlike many of their previous singles, the second track is actually good enough to listen to multiple times. Once again, it's mostly stock stuff from an American perspective, and like before, the songwriting is very well-done, catchy, and mature.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.deluhi.com/index_pc.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cephalic Carnage - Xenosapien [2007]

The brutality is still there in spades. In fact, this is a much more brutal album than Anomalies. Even farther than that, this album is better in every way. The songs are catchy, brutal, heavy, and creative. However, while they are using pretty creative riffs throughout the songs, I am missing the other kind of creativity that came in the form of the more "stoner-music" and druggy-atmospheric feel that was crammed to great effect in the earlier albums. There's hardly any of that anymore in the music. The production is the heaviest and best yet. Because of the lack of the extreme creativity that was in the older albums, I'm inclined to give it lower marks, but thanks to the increase in song quality I think it's better than Anomalies.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Juliadoll - Eternity [2007]

Heh, I've forgotten how sick of the generic Japanese rock vocals I am. However, once the first verse of "Eternity" kicks in, it's pretty catchy and almost even enjoyable despite the quite stock nature of the music. Overall, I'm happy that it's got some heavy songwriting and it's definitely catchy. They keys are well-done. However, I'm not happy about the stock nature of the vox and songwriting.

Rating: 6.5



All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Yasuharu Takanashi - Naruto Shippuuden Original Soundtrack II [2009]

The start to this sequel is much stronger than the previous one, and understandably so since the events take place in a more turbulent time in the series. Though, "Critical" makes me think of 80's Synthpop until the shakuhachi kicks in. There's two realities with this album: First, it's a direct continuation from the first OST; and second, I like the heavier songs more because they're darker and more often associated with fight scenes. The writing does feel like it's gotten a bit more aggressive than it was in the first one. There's a slightly more epic feel to the heavy songs as well. However, I have noticed a slight decrease in the emotional weight of the slow and beautiful songs. So, there is some kind of trade-off, but I still think this OST eeks out it's predecessor.

Rating: 8.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naruto#Naruto:_Shippuden

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - Omen [2010]

Whoa, style change. "Bloodbath & Beyond" kicks the album off to a much quicker thrashy start than previous albums, and with no sign of the tribal influence at all. "Rise of the Fallen" is a creatively interesting song. There are some progressive elements that manifest in a really cool guitar part towards the beginning and later riffs bring in a large Black Metal influence much to my surprise. "Great Depression" brings back the thrash and heaviness. The middle songs are filled with heavy romps and bouts of thrashing. This is even more of a return to the thrash/heavy metal roots of Sepultura. However, I'm missing the creativity that I loved in Soulfly. "Rise of the Fallen" was pretty creative, but that's the last of it besides "Soulfly VII" and the ending of "Off With Their Heads". There's no more tribal influence at all. Some of the material is pretty catchy (mostly the beginning and ending songs of the album). I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of creativity.

Rating: 7

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Tristania - Rubicon [2010]

"Year of the rat" is an extremely unimpressive beginning to the album. This album doesn't feel at all like a Tristania album. Perhaps it is the lineup changes. I definitely don't like the new female vocalist. I don't much care for her stock voice, nor do I care for her phrasing and (assumed) writing of the vocal parts. There are very few parts that feel like Tristania to me. On top of which, the songwriting feels like it's by the numbers. The songs aren't catchy. There's very little of the clean guitar parts that used to be all over the place. I just don't like the new style at all, and not only because it's different from the high standard that I'm used to with this band. This album wouldn't stand up alone if it weren't a Tristania album, so I don't see why it should stand up at all.

Rating: 3.5

http://www.tristania.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sigh - Gallows Gallery [2005]

New production quality. It's a bit more punchy and over compressed. This album is fairly uncharacteristic for Sigh with a more up-tempo and thrashy speed. It doesn't quite have the overtones of darkness that the previous albums had. The song writing has certainly taken advantage of the new tempo, though, and to great effect. However, this album doesn't really do much for me. The darkness is only displayed on two tracks, and the rest lacks the creativity of the previous albums.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Yasuharu Takanashi - Naruto Shippuuden Original Soundtrack [2007]

Naturally, this being a soundtrack, the mood is all over the place throughout the album. After getting passed the first offering of more upbeat and validating rock/ethnic Japanese fusion songs, I get a taste of the absolute beauty and melancholy that Will be spread throughout this album. The upbeat songs are a bit too happy for my taste, but they blend the rock very well with the ethnic elements. The more ominous songs go from slightly underpowered to spine-chilling and downright scary. The solemn songs are fucking incredible... absolute perfection that brings tears to my eyes. Unfortunately, the ominous songs are sparse. As the soundtrack goes on, the more upbeat and happy feeling dwindles to darkness and despair much to my liking.

Rating: 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naruto#Naruto:_Shippuden

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape [2001]

"Corpsecry - Angelfall" starts the album off more in the vein of Melodic Metal much to my dismay. The keys focus more on the electronic side of things now. I'm not really feeling the mood from this album until "Nietzschean Conspiracy" where the album finally gets quite dark and very good. "A Sunset Song" utilizes some of the creativity I was expecting and hoping for in the first two songs, but it has lost all of the darkness that Sigh had. As much as I feel that this is a weaker album than the last couple, I have to admit that the style certainly reflects and effectively captures the feel of the album's title.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Tristania - Illumination [2007]

The classical elements of the keys have been mostly replaced with Gothic Rock keys and I must admit, I really like how it sounds. This definitely feels a lot more like "classic" Gothic Metal, but with more catchiness and more of an edge to it. The songs are beautiful and dark all the way through. The production has taken a very large step up and is now much more punchy and clear. Unlike previous albums, the heavy parts with distorted guitars actually have weight to them and really feel powerful. The album is, however, slightly over-compressed. It's equally as good as WoG, but for different reasons.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.tristania.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.