Nothing Wrong with Tradition
If you are to look into it, you can find the original, archetypal style for all sub-genres of Rock and Metal (or any other genre, really). Those foundations are built upon to create new sounds, styles, and ultimately new sub-genres, but there will always be bands playing that original sound. this week, we discuss a few of those bands.
Reviews:
Royal Thunder – Wick (Spinefarm)
Craven Idol – The Shackles of Mammon (Dark Descent)
Satan’s Hallow – Satan’s Hallow
First Impressions:
River Black – “Low” from River Black out July 7th from Season of Mist
Royal Thunder – Wick
Craven Idol – The Shackles Of Mammon
Satan’s Hallow – Satan’s Hallow
The Sideshow Podcast 
I’m really not surprised that Brian didn’t like Wick by Royal Thunder. I’m more surprised that Brian actually liked their previous album Crooked Doors. Royal Thunder isn’t metal. Mlny Parsons could pass for a modern day, non-hippie, cult-going version of Janis Joplin. For me, I’d say I like Wick at least as much as I liked Crooked Doors. Crooked Doors just missed my top 20 list in 2015. Wick will most likely end up being higher in 2017 than Crooked Doors did in 2015 simply due to the fact that 2017 has been extremely light in terms of good releases so far this year.
I’ve been listening to Emperor of Sand by Mastodon a ton lately. However, I have to say this is one of Mastodon’s weaker releases. It still means it’s a 5 of an album, but where it falls in Mastodon’s catalog is towards the bottom. The reason is that the majority of songs just don’t stand out, even if I enjoy them while listening to them. If you mentioned a song by name from the album, I would recognize the name but I wouldn’t be able to place the song with the exception of “Show Yourself”, “Ancient Kingdom”, and “Jaguar God”.