Faith No More - The Real Thing [1989]

Whoa. "From Out Of Nowhere" really is a descriptive title. Way heavier guitaring. The heavy-section vocals have changed in sound drastically. Extremely focused on catchiness, but without compromising the integrity of the music. The writing is still just as kooky as ever. There's a wonderful amount of variation between the songs with some dropping into creative and beautiful ballads while others like "Surprise! You're Dead!" are more like metal songs. There's a bit more proficiency with the vocals on this one, too, with Mike performing some almost Death Metal/Black Metal vocals on one track. This is the first album that I can really get behind and enjoy over and over again. I should complain a bit about the production, but it really has a charming Hard Rock quality to it that I can live with.

Rating: 8

http://www.fnm.com/

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Faith No More - Introduce Yourself [1987]

The production quality is a direct copy of We Care A Lot. "Faster Disco" seems to slide more into the harder rock area. "Anne's Song" is one of their comical songs. Admittedly, the lyrics are quite hilarious, not edgy, but fucking funny and satirical. Whoa, IN "Chinese Arithmetic" I can hear elements of Post Rock. It also ventures more into Heavy Metal than their previous stuff. "Rn'R" definitely has a modern metal feel to it, just without the production quality and vocals. It seems like this album really starts to display the band's growth at track 4. The inclusion of a re-recorded version of "We Care A Lot" seems pointless to me. There are a few songs that flop for me, but overall it's another creative album with better songwriting.

Rating: 7

http://www.fnm.com/

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Arkhon Infaustus - Orthodoxyn [2007]

Another production change-up. The guitars feel less scooped than before and the bass drum has less low-end punch to it. The drums are a little lower in the mix as well. There's even more Doom Metal influence on this album than on "Perdition Insanabilis" and the transition between the two is very sensible and flows very well. "Magnificant Satanas" is fucking brutally awesome. The song structures are more refined. I just wish that they spent less time in the Doom style during the first half of many songs.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Arkhon Infaustus - Perdition Insanabilis [2004]

Continues on from FC but with better production quality. This album has less grinding than previous ones. It also pushes the music further into the Black Metal realm.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Arkhon Infaustus - Filth Catalyst [2003]

WHOA. Awesome grind in the first track. It's a little over-compressed, but that really adds to the power of the production. Awesome mix of blasphemous/evil riffs with the Death Metal riffs. This is great, I love it. My only nit-picking complaint is that there isn't much variation throughout the album. It also doesn't have much lasting appeal. Even so, this is a massive step up from HI.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Arkhon Infaustus - Hell Injection [2001]

NICE. Chaotic beginning! I really, honestly, didn't see it coming. Cool combination of Death Metal vox with Black Metal. Well, in the end it's not all that insanely written. Not very catchy at all. Definitely kind of bland production. However, the blasphemy definitely shines through like a lighthouse beacon. It's a good album to put on in the background.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Dragonlord - Black Wings of Destiny [2005]

I still have a hard time believing that this is the guitarist from Testament. Fucking phenomenal Black Metal album. It's easy to say that they're ripping off Dimmu a bit with the orchestra arrangements and all, but I think that they actually pull it off much better than Dimmu has. Also, the guitar work is awesome (much unlike Dimmu). Production quality is amazing… heavy, clear, and atmospheric. Perfectly suites the musical style. The clean vox are really well done on the rare occasions that they're actually used. My only complaint is that a few of the songs feel like filler. It's a goddamn shame that there hasn't been another release since this album...

Rating: 8.5

http://www.enterthedragonlord.com/

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Juliadoll - hate [2006]

All of the "oi"s are more funny than they are serious… the vocalist sounds like he's trying to be a street punk and it's fucking adorable (though, I doubt this was the intended response). This is probably appropriate since the music is pretty much straight-forward punk. The vox are a bit grating and there's really nothing much to this song… it's the same chords over and over again with boorish production.

Rating: 5



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Juliadoll - Rusty Rain [2006]

Live, huh? Nifty. Decent song. Nothing new, but good.

Rating: 6.5



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Juliadoll - U20inu ~ Holiday Shinjuku Vol.2 [2006]

Cool. Not what I was expecting with the industrial-type beginning. Good singing, catchy songwriting, good dynamics within the song, and good production.

Rating: 7



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Juka - Saint Croix [2007]

Interesting. At the very beginning I was extremely cynical, but then it gets very dynamic with a whole shitload of things happening at the same time. It's actually pretty good. However, it still feels like a Moi dix Mois song at it's heart. It's almost like he just took that formula and improved upon it. I guess that's not really a bad thing... I'm sure I'll get used to it. T2 drops down into a typical piano / vox soloist feel. The production quality is definitely punchy and forwardly aggressive. Accurate vox, if a bit stock. But, I dunno, for some reason I just feel like it's missing emotion and heart. Maybe I'll warm up to it, but for now, it get's a lower mark.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.artist-society.com/juka/pc.html

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Sigh - Scenario IV: Dread Dreams [1999]

This carries on the wild, mid to slow-paced, creative, and often off-kilter songwriting values of the previous albums. They have even briefly experimented with country on this one. The riffs and speed of the album certainly live up to the subtitle, "Dread Dreams". There are some really cool sections that make use of cute female japanese vocals (i.e. second half of "In the Mind of a Lunatic"). I wish it was used more often, though, since it blends so well. This is a bit more of a depressed album than Hail Horror Hail with a more sedated speed. I wish the production quality had gone up a bit instead of staying exactly where it was on HHH. Still, great creative effort and wonderful atmosphere.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

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Faith No More - We Care A Lot [1985]

"We Care A Lot" has an enjoyably cynical feel to it, not so sure about the actual music. "The Jungle" starts strange but then goes into what could almost be considered a Black Metal feel, turning extremely dark all of a sudden. The album finally seems to have settled into some sort of groove with "Why Do You Bother". It's got a good atmosphere to it, even though the songs aren't doing a whole lot to give me a stiffy. Even so, I can honestly say that this album doesn't sound like anything else I've heard. Props for being unique, but I hope that the later albums will have songwriting more suited to my tastes.

Rating: 6

http://www.fnm.com/

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Rotting Christ - AEALO [2010]

Very promising start. I really like the addition of the chorus. I'm not so much a fan of the new Folk influence, but it's not cliché or poorly done so I'm fine with it. It's unfortunate that much of the darkness that I loved from Sanctus Diavolus is gone because it would've been a perfect combination with the new chorus being used throughout this album. "Nekron Lahes..." is just plain annoying, though. Overall, it's good and has some cool additions, but it's lacking the power and darkness of Sanctus Diavolus.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.rotting-christ.com/

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L'eprica - florence/3rd blood & pain [2008]

Much better production than some of the other albums. More to the standards of ST. Addition of keys is welcome. Intro riff sounds like a bit of a sell-out move, but after the first verse it definitely makes sense. Second track hearkens back to ST a bit in the verses.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/leprica

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L'eprica - Ideal Taste [2008]

Whoa, not what I was expecting at all. It's basically progressive thrash metal. Definitely catchy when it get's going. The production seems to be going a bit downhill, though. The vox are a bit overpowering at some parts. It's a different style for them, but it's a nice change-up from the previous stuff… just as long as they don't stray too long.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/leprica

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L'eprica - rubble [2007]

Good beginning. Nice and calm. Drums are heavily equalized to sound like they're in the background (sounds like a drum machine, though). Pretty good overall, but definitely not their best. It lacks the catchiness of the previous stuff, but gains some atmosphere.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/leprica

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L'eprica - Agnus Dei [2006]

Nice, starts off kinda doom-metal-ish. Decent production quality. Good songwriting, though the first track is a bit predictable and cliché. Definitely has a few elements of Doom mixed with post-rock, progressive, and jazz. Damn cool stuff, but not as cool as ST.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/leprica

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L'eprica - Sephirothic Tree [2008]

I'm very impressed by the restraint from the beginning. It's as if they don't feel the need to kick in to something heavy really quickly… kinda like saying "fuck you" to everyone expecting the opposite. When it does get heavy, it still stays nice and melancholy. This single isn't going to change the earth's rotational direction or anything, but it's definitely got it's own writing style to it that really goes against convention. I can even hear some Mexican musical influence in the second track along with progressive elements. Very well written and good production. My one complaint: this CD is criminally short. I would love to hear a full-length of this. Very high marks for the masterful writing.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/leprica

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DELUHI - Surveillance [2008.03.26]

Not what I was expecting for an intro. Definitely more Metal than their later stuff. Production isn't as good, though (to be expected). Certainly more creative than their later stuff as well.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/deluhi

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