Remember last week when Kyle raved about Russian Circles and was going to make us review it this week? Well, that doesn’t happen. Why? Well, mostly because Carmen Sandiego Kyle is missing again and your two hosts with perfect attendance didn’t think it made sense to discuss the album without out him. So, we just do our usual thing, reviewing new releases. And what a smorgasbord of releases we have this week. On one end of the heavy spectrum, we have new Sevendust…a band Nick and Brian have been watching/following since before high school, back in Nu-Metal’s heyday. On the other end, we have Nails’ latest album, which, as you will hear, just kinda destroys everything it touches (so to speak) and probably shouldn’t even be mentioned to most Sevendust fans. In the middle (quite literally, actually) we have a brand new Still Remains single that we are very excited to play for you. So, it’s diverse, which we like…and if you don’t, there is always the chapter skips. You’re welcome.
Reviews: Kvelertak – Meir (Roadrunner); Nails – Abandon All Life (Southern Lord); Reign Supreme – Sky Burial (Mediaskare); Sevendust – Black Out The Sun (7Bros)
Preview: Still Remains – “Checkmate”
Kvelertak – Meir
Sevendust – Black Out The Sun
Nails – Abandon All Life
Reign Supreme – Sky Burial
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
Still Remains – “Checkmate”
The Sideshow Podcast 
Yeah, I was really surprised that it cost that much for the digital version! Should be less….but, I promise, if you liked that one song – it’s worth your money.
I kinda agree with you on Meir. I think I just need to divorce myself from the first one a little more and give this one a few more listens. As I mentioned in the beginning of my review, I really think if we had more than a few days with it before our review I would have been a bit more favorable. Also, I totally expected Brian to give it a four at least, so I figured it would average out to a 3.5. Apparently, he likes to keep me on my toes!
-n
Yes I do. ha ha
I agree though…I needed to be more separated. The band did grow some, and is growing, but it was not really to a place I wanted them to go. I don’t think it’s a bad album by any means, and it is catchy, but it did not leave an an impression on me like the first one did.
Once the summer comes and driving to the beach with this blasting out my windows, I am sure it will be 4-level. lol
I am guessing that you may have recorded this episode mid-week last week so I would probably think that if I had only listened to Meir for 2 days I might not have known what to make of it yet. On the one hand, I realize that you want to stay current with new releases in your reviews, but on the other hand no one is making you review an album mere days after it is released. In some cases I’m sure the music benefits from further listening. Hell, I still haven’t figured out if that Intronaut album is any good yet because it is so long and complex. Nails, on the other hand, took one listen to know that this is good stuff!
Oh, and BTW it kind of stinks that despite Abandon All Life by Nails being only 15 minutes long Amazon still charges $9.49 for it. That’s like $1.50 per minute.
We actually had the Kvelertak album since the Friday before. But, either way, you’re right that we could spend more time with these albums. However, unless we switch to a bi-weekly show, it’s not gonna help too much to sit on them.
That being said, while maybe the album deserves more of a 4, it still didn’t stroke me the same way the debut did and like I said in the review, I didn’t like that they focused more on the Rock stuff as opposed to the other aspects. it’s albums like this that I wish we did .5’s in out ratings. Oh well…
Also, if I have to listen to an album for weeks to decide if I like it, then I know I am making myself like it. Intronaut is long and complex, and it may take weeks to hear everything. But if I can’t decide on an album after a few spins, I am either impartial or am making myself try to like it. That’s not to say my opinion won’t change (as we have seen before) but there has to be some sort of more immediate reaction to the music.
So in one week you reviewed two albums produced by Kurt Ballou?
The new Kvelertak is one of the rare instances that I have actually listened to the album before hearing your review of it. I have to disagree with you guys on this one. Only a 3? Even from Brian? I think it’s better than that. I think that expectations certainly have a lot to do with the reception of any highly anticipated album and Meir is no exception. Their first album came out of nowhere and was a surprise hit. My feeling is that if Meir had been their first album it would still be a surprise hit. Does Meir lack some of the intensity and energy of their debut? Just slightly, but not enough to take away from the sense of fun that the band brings to the music. To me it also shows growth as indicated by the longer drawn out instrumental passages at the end of the songs on the second half of the album, which I like. And then that last song, Kvelertak, has the potential to be their signature song not just because of the name but because it is so damn catchy. It sounds like the best AC/DC song in the last 20 years. But because of those longer songs, I’ll grant you that they could have cut a couple of songs from the middle of the album and Meir would be no worse for it, but that’s not really a big deal in my opinion. Overall Meir is one of the top releases of the year so far even if that isn’t saying much because I haven’t been impressed by much yet this year.
I think Guitar World magazine needs to do a feature on Nails so they can ask Nails what kind of gear they use. That guitar tone is crushingly heavy!