Four of the juiciest June jams going ’round.
Ayreon – The Human Equation
by Neil Bird
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zaJlvmpLrw]
In 2004, Ayreon released what is a personal favorite album of mine; The Human Equation was a spectacle in the best way, full of emotion and passion you’d expect it would be hard to translate live. However, The Theatre Equation proved to be a near perfect rendition of the album, and the differences do not take away from the overall enjoyment. From track to track, this live release is one for the ages, featuring most of the original cast and some top tier performances by all involved. One of the best of the year easily and one that will be getting played for a long time.
Ghoulgotha – To Starve The Cross
by Nathan Hare
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9to57DD9eyw]
Ghoulgotha’s second album is one of the most unsettling things I’ve heard this year. It’s just so deliberately ugly and wrong, with its tortured, fractured riffs and start-and-stop drumming that it’s almost overwhelming, but it’s so wrong it’s right. To Starve The Cross has a level of filth and perversity to it that most death metal only dreams of and is so abrasively dissonant it leaves most black metal in the dust too. It’s a difficult listen no doubt, but it’s one of the finest death metal albums of the year.
The Schoenberg Automaton – Apus
by Joshua Bulleid
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tib4kbPN-io]
I was expecting to like the new Schoenberg Automaton record, but nobody could have prepared for the colossal slab of controlled destruction that is Apus. With this second album, the Australian-come-Canadian act have managed to boil their inherently challenging and overly technical sound in to a package that is both deceptively simplistic yet also uncompromisingly layered, along with enough aggression and brutality to take your head clean off. There’s plenty more to grab on to here than on you’re usual tech-demo-like “mathcore”/technical death metal release, and Apus just keeps on giving more with every listen.
Thrawsunblat – Metachthonia
by Alex Melzer
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIn0LptdZWQ]
To call Thrawsunblat the Canadian answer to Borknagar would not be fair, but both bands roam similar genre-defying waters. Uniting black and folk metal with progressive undertones and heavy metal, Thrawsunblat utilize elements from a myriad of influences and channel them into equally accessible and demanding songs that will instantly grip yet have plenty of longevity as well. Metachthonia is an outstanding album that any fan of quality metal should at the very least check out!
