In these uncertain times, one thing most of us look forward too is new music. So, it’s your old boy Waldo getting my feathered tail off of the perch to tell you all about some new releases. This time around, it’s a little slow, but now is that time that we do what we can, right?
Progressive metal (and that’s not death metal) act Green Carnation is dusting themselves off for their first record in 15 years, which seems like a long time since they’ve been around for 30 years. I’m going to start off by saying that progressive metal isn’t really my thing, but I’m going to give this thing a fair shake. Leaves of Yesteryear IS progressive metal… that’s for sure. My gut instinct is to just hate on this immediately, but it’s actually pretty good for what it is. This isn’t just guitar wankery with weird time signatures thrown in, this is deeper and pretty insightful. While most of this type of thing wants to make me fly the coop, this actually draws me in, for as much as this type of thing can. There are a couple snags here, a re-recording of an older track and a Black Sabbath cover kinda leave this a little flat. All in all, I’m pleasantly surprised, even if this doesn’t have that much teeth. 6 Fucking Pecks.
Denver’s Havok Are back at it with V on Century Media. This thrash outfit has been kicking it around for a while and this being their 5th release (duh,) they kinda break the “thrash rule” where a band’s 4-5th thrash record is pretty bland. This is not. This is pretty aggressive and drives forward at all times. I do gotta say that although I’m enjoying this, the overall sound of this leaves me a little flat. The production is WAY too clean and the drums are very click-y, which is disappointing as if this had a more “natural” sound, this listener would be way more into it. This is a much needed shot in the arm of thrash metal though, so although I’m not stoked on the production, this is still a good record. 7 Fucking Pecks.
Napalm Records is back at it again with Sojourner (what a wack ass name) with Premonitions. Although I 99.9% don’t like stuff on this label, this is just passable to me. This is atmospheric black metal, and although it’s well crafted, it just gets kind of boring. The production here is slick, and the riffs aren’t bad. There are some Evanescence type female vocals which pop in here and there, which makes this lame. I dunno, it’s kinda hard for me to hate on this, but it’s not cool. I’m going to give this a solid 6 Fucking Pecks, as it’s not great, but doesn’t suck.
Until next time… Waldo out!
