Episode 109: Not Produced by David Draiman

Refreshed and reenergized, Nick and Brian return for another week Metal goodness. This time around, there are five new releases to analyze; some came out last week, some drop this week, but they all range from solid to fantastic…in our humble opinions, that is. We also have yet a mother live review from Brian’s recent throwdown in NYC. There’s a whole lot to get to, so you should probably stop reading this and start listening to the show. Seriously…stop reading. We’re done here.

SideShow.109

Reviews: Cleanteeth – Pushing Rope (Dullest); Death Angel – The Dream Calls for Blood (Nuclear Blast); Protest the Hero – Volition (Razor & Tie); Thira – Vein I: Varying States of Decay (independent); Trivium – Vengeance Falls (Roadrunner)

Live Reviews: Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Testament, Huntress @ Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY on October 25, 2013

Protest the Hero – Volition

Trivium – Vengeance Falls

Death Angel – The Dream Calls for Blood

Cleanteeth – Pushing Rope

Thira – Vein I: Varying States of Decay

If that was the last show I ever see at Roseland Ballroom (because it is closing), then that was one hell of a sendoff. At some point during the middle of Lamb of God’s set, the whole experience became a blur. I can’t even comment about Randy’s vocals or stage banter or even what songs they played (they played 11th Hour?) because I don’t remember. I didn’t have THAT much to drink, but combine that with getting knocked down to the ground a couple of times, combined with the overall insanity of the crowd overwhelmed me to the point where I just let go and don’t quite know what happened. I felt as though I was bounced around to every square inch of the floor at Roseland during Lamb of God. I think I vaguely remember seeing Brian twice during their set, but that was it. I left the show with my elbow bleeding and woke up the next day with plenty of bruises and feeling sore all over. All that added up to a great show.

Certain parts of Vengeance Falls by Trivium sound like a heavier version of Daughtry. Specifically the chorus of “No Way To Heal.” One thing that I felt didn’t work about In Waves is that I thought the album tried to bridge the gap between the old “Metalli-core” (or Metallica-core) style of Trivium with radio rock. Vengeance Falls aims straight for radio rock. But just because it sounds like Daughtry inspired radio rock doesn’t mean I don’t like it. In fact, I like Daughtry (the first album, at least). Vengeance Falls is a better album than In Waves because it makes no bones about its desire to get played on Sirius XM radio. Vengeance Falls is most likely not going to be a classic album and it will not be on my or many others’ year end lists, nor will it win over the Trivium haters (who I never understood why they hated Trivium so much in the first place), but Vengeance Falls is a decent listen that continues Trivium’s progression and evolution as a band.

You guys like Silverchair? When Swedish melodic death was just coming in to its own in the mid-90s when bands like At The Gates and In Flames broke through, I was listening to stuff like Silverchair. Silverchair never really topped the Black Sabbath meets grunge of Frogstomp. And they were only like 16 years old when they made that album!

One comment

bobsala says:

10/27/2013 at 5:37 pm

If that was the last show I ever see at Roseland Ballroom (because it is closing), then that was one hell of a sendoff. At some point during the middle of Lamb of God’s set, the whole experience became a blur. I can’t even comment about Randy’s vocals or stage banter or even what songs they played (they played 11th Hour?) because I don’t remember. I didn’t have THAT much to drink, but combine that with getting knocked down to the ground a couple of times, combined with the overall insanity of the crowd overwhelmed me to the point where I just let go and don’t quite know what happened. I felt as though I was bounced around to every square inch of the floor at Roseland during Lamb of God. I think I vaguely remember seeing Brian twice during their set, but that was it. I left the show with my elbow bleeding and woke up the next day with plenty of bruises and feeling sore all over. All that added up to a great show.

Certain parts of Vengeance Falls by Trivium sound like a heavier version of Daughtry. Specifically the chorus of “No Way To Heal.” One thing that I felt didn’t work about In Waves is that I thought the album tried to bridge the gap between the old “Metalli-core” (or Metallica-core) style of Trivium with radio rock. Vengeance Falls aims straight for radio rock. But just because it sounds like Daughtry inspired radio rock doesn’t mean I don’t like it. In fact, I like Daughtry (the first album, at least). Vengeance Falls is a better album than In Waves because it makes no bones about its desire to get played on Sirius XM radio. Vengeance Falls is most likely not going to be a classic album and it will not be on my or many others’ year end lists, nor will it win over the Trivium haters (who I never understood why they hated Trivium so much in the first place), but Vengeance Falls is a decent listen that continues Trivium’s progression and evolution as a band.

You guys like Silverchair? When Swedish melodic death was just coming in to its own in the mid-90s when bands like At The Gates and In Flames broke through, I was listening to stuff like Silverchair. Silverchair never really topped the Black Sabbath meets grunge of Frogstomp. And they were only like 16 years old when they made that album!