Tuesday's Metal Releases

Annotations of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness (Nuclear Blast)
Arsis - Starve For The Devil (Nuclear Blast)
Dark Fortress - Yiem (Century Media)
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable (Deepsend)
Dismal Lapse - Eon Fragmentation (Deepsend)
Fear Factory - Mechanized (Candlelight)
The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered (Napalm)
Killing Time - Three Steps Back (Dead City)
Lethal Saint - Lethal Saint (Pitch Black)
Marionette - Enemies (Listenable)
Meshuggah - Alive DVD (Nuclear Blast)
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR (Century Media)
Overkill - Ironbound (E1)
Shining - VI Klagopsalmer (Season Of Mist)
Stygian - Fury Rising (Mortal)
Troll - Neo Satanic Supremacy (Napalm)
Various Artists - Grind Madness At The BBC (Earache)

THOUGHTS: Wow, who knew Fear Factory was still a band?  Their blend of death metal and industrial was cool back in '93, but the music is starting to sound a little dated.  Still, Mechanized is actually a pretty fun listen.  There is something very likable about it.

Overkill's Ironbound will make any Overkill fan pleased.  There is nothing new here, but it's one of their best releases in a while.  Totally traditional, basic American thrash.  Really solid album.

My pick of the week goes to Sweden's very own Shining.  They describe their music as suicidal black metal, but they arent as cheesey as that suggests.  Shining are actually excellent musicians, who I feel have put out the best and most progressive black metal in a long time.  Even though I liked the previous album V Halmsted better, VI Klagopsalmer still pushed the band further and takes some risks.  Vocally,  Niklas Kvarforth is all over the place- singing, grunting, moaning, and almost wimpering at times.  He seems a little cleaner on this new album, but the emotion is the same.  Awesome album.  (On a sidenote, this album was released a fuck of a long time ago in Europe and the UK.  We can actually expect a new 7th album from Shining out in early April)

Here's a sampler from the album: