What is Old is New, What is New is Old…
First things first…
CORRECTION: In the Tesseract review we note that Scala was only mixed in stereo. This is incorrect; it is mixed in 5.1 surround. After recording, we realized that the equipment we were using was not set up properly. Also, the 5.1 sounds awesome.
Moving on…
While out mix of bands we cover is usually pretty interesting (read: varied), I noticed something else interesting this time in said variation. The first reviewed band is newer, pushing a newer sound. The next is rocking out with a sound older than them. The third came originally started in a now-transformed scene, came back together after a split and mixed their original sound with a little influence from the new generation. The last decided to rehash an old scene from their homeland. So…how much new music are we really getting? Just chew on that for a sec…
Reviews:
Tesseract – Odyssey/Scala (Century Media)
Valkyrie – Shadows (Relapse)
Haste the Day – Coward (Solid State)
Entrails – Obliteration (Metal Blade)
First Impressions:
Cattle Decapitation – “Manufactured Extinct” taken from The Anthropocene Extinction due August 7, 2015 from Metal Blade
Tesseract – Odyssey/Scala
Valkyrie – Shadows
Haste The Day – Coward
Entrails – Obliteration
The Sideshow Podcast 
This was the first I was hearing the new Cattle Decap song. It sounds AWESOME!!!
Didn’t one of you say that you were going to review Secrets of the Sky this week? Maybe that will be next week?
As for chewing on just how much “new” music we are really getting, a case can be made that there are no original ideas anymore. What musicians do as creators/composers is simply tweak or add upon stuff that has come before. I could say that after Schoenberg introduced the music world to atonal music about 100 years ago that there really haven’t been any new compositional techniques since then. Anything since that time has just been exploring different timbre/tone. The heavily distorted electric guitar and guttural vocals are relatively new to the history of music, but the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms are not anything that hasn’t been done before. Everything that is being done is simply a remix of existing stuff: https://youtu.be/UP468k1u_Mk
I have to say…I was not actually expecting a reply to my “new” music comment. And while you’re are absolutely right (and that was an interesting video…might check out the next parts later), it is generally less obvious if you don’t look that deep. Actually, the key is really where you point out that musicians “tweak or add upon stuff that has come before.” It’s the artists that don’t tweak or add much that are the problem…like Veil of Maya last week or Entrails and Valkyrie this week. That’s not to say any of them are bad, but they probably aren’t going to have the lasting power of a band like Tesseract could (and I say “could” b/c they are still very young as a band).
And yeah, I CANNOT WAIT for the new Cattle Decap! Easily the album I am most excited for.