Woah, We’re Half Way There
Ya know…I don’t really have anything to add this week. We have a pretty full show for you, and a lot of good tunes, so just get listening and come back to chat with us in the comments.
Reviews:
Tribulation – Down Below (Century Media)
Dead Empires – Designed to Disappear (Silent Pendulum)
Burrows – Cimmerian Circuit
Live Review:
An Evening with Machine Head at Playstation Theater in New York, NY on February 9, 2018
Maryland
Perihelion
Tribulation – Down Below
Dead Empires – Designed To Disappear
Burrows – Cimmerian Circuit
BANDS ACROSS AMERICA:
Perihelion
The Sideshow Podcast 
Here’s something I realized about Down Below by Tribulation that could explain why you guys might not like it as much as some of the metal critics: it is not heavy. When you actually listen to the guitar tone, it has a very classic rock feel to it. Tribulation’s vocals and atmosphere seemed to me at first to make this music a little heavier than it is. But the guitars themselves do not have the weight or downtuning that is so prevalent in modern metal. I was curious to know what gear they use to get their guitar tone so I looked it up. It looks like they are just using Gibsons (a Les Paul and an ES) through Marshall amps with little to no pedals. That’s certainly a classic 70s setup if there ever was one.
Another thing I like about Down Below by Tribulation is that I haven’t gotten tired of it. I’ve listened to it a lot over the past 3 weeks and I have not yet grown tired of it. That’s always a good sign of an album for me. I have a feeling I’ll be mentioning this album again in December even though I don’t think it is a 10 out of 10.
One album that I am close to giving a 10 out of 10 on is Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs by Orphaned Land. I am loving this album. There’s a little bit of every type of progressive power metal in this album: there’s some Between The Buried And Me, Opeth, Epica, and Blind Guardian (since the lead singer guests on one song). But the kicker is the middle eastern influence. I know there is some metal that has what can be called “tinges” of middle eastern flavor. But these guys being from Israel really bring it to the forefront. I would not have expected that I would like that, but Orphaned Land make it work. The song “Yedidi” has absolutely nothing metal about it because it is straight up Hebrew music, but not only does it work in the context of this album, I actually find myself enjoying the song on it’s own. I really have no background or experience with that type of music but Orphaned Land have introduced me to a new style of music and have expanded my boundaries of what metal can be, which I have to say is something that gets harder and harder to do as I listen to more and more metal over the years.
Instead of Bands Across America it sounds like you should just do Bands Across Connecticut.