June is Death - Ulthar : " Providence"

It opens with a two minute burst of meaness. What is this doing different. These guys are not just stirring up the sense of nostalgia from 90s Tampa. There is a dash of black meta lto what they do , but it is not like the set out to be a blackened death metal band , things just sound how they sound. The blackness can be found in the following ways , first the vocals can take on a bit of a black metal snarl in places. The title track has the explosivness of black metal, but the technical prowess of death metal for sure. It is the clean guitar tones going into the second song that I find more impressive. This is the what do you do that is not what every death metal band does comes into play . I tried to review the new Centinex album, but it was too color by numbers death metal so I am glad this album is helping keep my interest.

They are more chaotic than your average death metal band. I know because I have already had to sort through a lot of average death metal in the first two weeks of the month. It is four song in when the album retains a sonic menace , but in terms of the story it should tell and how much it draws me into the shit storm, well the unhinged nature of what they are doing begins to play against it. "Cudgel" does find them slowing down into more powerful chugs that allow the double bass to get behind what they are doing. It is this delicate balance between using key elements of the genre, while not being slaves to them . Once again it is the spastic unhinged nature that makes it more of a sound and less of a song.

By the time we get to 'Furnace Hibernation" the ears are getting numbed out by the bulldozing riffs. If you just want sheer feral meaness, then this has it. If you want a song that has things like melodies worth repeating. Look elsewhere. Yes it is crushing, no it doesn't really take you anywhere outside of that. The pumelling does not relent on "Narcissus Drowning". Yep it is ripping fast with more of a blackened snarl, but that is about all there is to it . The last song doesn't improve on that thus the album descends into a blur of roaring blasts. This gets a 7.5 , heavy for the sake of heavy sometimes works better than others, a little too single minded for me , but if you are head banger of simple tastes it might appeal to you. Out on 20 Buck Spin.

Death is June- Lamb of God : "S/T"

These guys have always had thrash and hard core influnces.  They followed in Pantera's footsteps and wrote catchy riffs on albums like "Sacrament" to transcend many trends that came and went since their inception in 1999. Easy to lump in as metal core, but really closer to death metal than the rest of the Myspace metal bands. They just write catchier songs than your average death metal band. The first two songs work of that formula. "Reality Bath" has that more new school hook and the drums not courtesy of Arturo Cruz are not obsessed with double bass though he can pull it out as needed. They are kings of groove and fine tunely riffs. Granted their mainstream success has been due to dumbing it down for the masses which they continue to do here. "Sacrament" is the last album I was really into by these guys , but have heard them all.

Lyrically it is pseudo social non sense. Blythe has a set formula or apporaching songs going from lower death metal growls to the more Pantera like screams. By screams just that , not hitting actual notes. There is Slayer influence to a riff here and there as well. They learned from the best. Are they less death metal than Amon Amarth? Yes. More thrash for sure. Less epic. Both occupy the upper tiers of sales when it comes to mainstream metal. Put this album against the last Morbid Angel album and it doesn't seem that heavy. To a frat boy...this is heavy. They are smart song writers though. "Resurrection Man" with it's horror themes is darker and better than what we have heard up to this point. It is the best song of the album's first act.  They do not try to be more hard core when Jamey Jasta shows up for  "Poison Dream". It's more of the death tinged thrash.

Chuck Billy makes an "Appearence" on the more frantically paced "Routes". He gives the sun vocal hook on the chorus. His voice is mixed behind Blythes more growled accents. Not utilized to the best of his ability. The last two songs I had to listen to a couple of times before they sank in. The sung vocals on "Bloodshot Eyes" are well done, but the song itself is not their best. It feels like a wink in the direction of Slipknot. "On the Hook" is pretty much color by number. I think the previous album was better production wise and a bigger guitar sound and more bass would have benefitted this album. I am rounding this album down to an 8.5 , while it is well done on many levels , it feels like they are just clocking into work  rather than reflecting on their lives and putting it to music.