Savages : "Adore Life"

Their new album opens with "the Answer"one of the lead singles that been on the web for a minute  and it rocks harder than when these gals were around last time. The guitar tone is thicker almost to the sludge point of fuzz , but rumbles with more of a "Manic Depression" meets punk drone. The chant of "if you don't love me, don't love anybody" is the main melody that works for me on this one, some of the others are not as focused as what they brought to the party on "Silence Yourself" . "Evil" brings things back to a smoother form of post-punk with a dance inducing throb. The guitar is smooth and melodious with all of the other factors playing to the strengths of their sound, climaxing at the end. This album enjoys the benefits of better production than their debut. The bass is thicker and Jenny Beth's vocals are up front and unencumbered by the mix. "Sad Person" hits a sweet spot between groove and punchy rock. The guitar still flirts with surreal layers leaving the hammer of the bass to carry the weight, but at other times the guitar takes on a much more rock feel than they had before, making this album harder than their first.
 

There is a more introspective , but not quite ballad like tenderness to the title track. The guitar carries a pulse not unlike Depeche Modes more rock moments on the verses and  rising into a more refined punk on the choruses. There is a more middle of the road swagger to "Slowing Down the World". Her raw vocals lead into "I Need Something New". The guitar throws strips of feedback over the bass line that revs the engine before this songs gets to rip onto the asphalt. They use the tension of restraint to tease that that they are going to give into to the explosion as her narrative continues.When they do kick in its coated with more noise around the rough edges to build the sonics. The song writing is more refined with experimentation handled with in the confines of a the three minute pop song. This is best spotlighted on "When in Love" that find feedback sculpted around melodies in the same four bars.The distorted bass on " Surrender " is juxtaposed against Jenny Beth's more pleading delivery and a playful guitar accent, before the sparse chorus reins the song in briefly.
 

There is a burst of punk injected more heavily into the dna of their post-punk sound on "T.I.W.Y.G" , which stands for this is what you get. According to Jenny Beth, this is what you get when you mess with love. There is a cool melodic break down at the two minute mark that I was not expecting. There is a somber drifting ambiance to "Mechanics" which they close out the album with. They hover on this simmering noise with Jenny Beth's melody breezing over the surface, though is is more of an outro rather than converging into an actual song. I gave their debut a 9, so I'll give this one a 9.5 if I ignored the last thing I could round it up to a 10 as I don't see it making it over to the iPod. I am sure this album will grow on me.

Lvcifyre : "Svn Eater"

Since it's Black history month herein the States, I'm going to try to cram in as many black metal reviews as I can for the second half of the month. Some of this will of course be more black than others, as there is blackened every sub-genre now. The line between black metal and occult death metal seems particularly fine and this is the ground the new Lvcifyre seems to tread.

This is the London based band's second full length, it's hard to tell how much of what they do as far a presentation is tongue in cheek like Venom and how seriously they take what they do. They feature the former Corpus Christi Drummer.

The album opens at more doom like pace and escalates into a more death metal direction midway though, Von comes to mind as a possible inspiration, though it's a much more well produced effort. The final minutes of the song find the band descending into the blast beats. The album relents little from there.

If you are really sensitive to the sub-genre police , then this album feels much more like a death metal album than it does black metal. Aggression seems to be the primary focus rather than creating any type of atmosphere or hypnotic melancholy. Every thing sounds like bulldozer belched up from hell, as the album chugs at high velocity. They do strike a good galloping groove here and there on songs' like "Liber Lilith".

These guys are animals in the way the attack the songs and their instruments. The guitar is dense as shit and the riffs club you with blunt force. On the title track they hit the more obtuse elements that I don't like in death metal, like the very straight forward snare hits.The growls are about as low of a gurgle as the ear will accept as a human voice. The blast sections might fools some people into thinking these guys are black metal.

By the time I get to "Fornication Waters" I am beginning to get the feeling this is too one dimensional so I am paying less attention to the ear beating and more to any hint of melody or ambiance. Sure it's heavy as hell, but that only goes so far for so long.They are pretty mired into what they do with the only other colors coming in on the interludes surrounding the guitar solos, which isn't enough of a pay off. Sure "Fyre Made Flesh" has a cool riff or two, but the rule around here is cool riffs along don't make a good song. "Nekvomanteion" changes the pace slightly and has the kind of ripping punches characteristic of "Formulas Fatal to the Flesh", but even post- Vincent Angel Worship, only works to a point.  

The album closes with the Morbid Angel tinged "Sinister Calling". While it's more grinding and brutal than anything the Tampa band touch, the more explosive guitar playing reminds me of Morbid Angel more than say Incantation, who might be considered the other band these guys draw inspiration from.This album should be brutal and punishing enough to suit even the most jaded metal heads, but if you require more than just heavy this might not be the album for you. I will go ahead and round this album up to a 6.5 , as it's impressive for the sheer punch it packs .