Skull Reviews - A Music Review Blog with Edge

Austrian Death Machine - I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle

2009-12-31T11:55:00.004+01:00

Hi y'all. Short post today. I just got to share a great video release with you. From Austrian Death Machine's newest album "Double Brutal", this is "I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle". A review on this album is soon to come foo´shoo. You can find their previous release "Total Brutal" on Spotify. Click here to Headbang
If you recognize the singer from somewhere you're probably right. It's Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying. Austrian Death Machine is his side-project! Anyway.. enough said! Listen, Enjoy, Mosh or do whatever.

Happy New Year! And try not blow of any body parts tonight.

Bury Your Dead - Cover Your Tracks

2009-12-30T13:02:00.009+01:00

Bury Your Dead is a hardcore band from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, formed in 2001. I found out about this band on YouTube a while ago (refer to my last post). And i listened through their newest album release "It's Nothing Personal". I liked the album as a whole but it had it's weaknesses. The beginning is brutal and all that. But somehow it feels weird. And i pin pointed the weirdness to the singer Myke Terry. Which i later found out joined BYD in 2007. His voice feels more fit for "Metal" in my book. Am i right? Anyway, curious as i always am on finding out about great music it got a hold on a album they released in 2004 "Cover Your Tracks" which features the original singer of the band Mat Bruso. And no more than 10seconds into the first track you will hear how much more fitting and hardcore his vocals is, I Shit You Not! Track 1 and 2 plows your mind like a brutal Hardcore Machine straight out of Hades. Track 4 "Eyes Wide Shut" plays around with sweet tempo changes in a great experimental kind of way. When Track 5 enters your ears i hope you are prepared for some great hardcore music, because the track "Magnolia" is just plain Great. Everything feels so spot-on perfect! Great guitars, Perfect tempo changes, superb drive with the drums and crisp, powerful vocals. This track lifts the whole album,and the placing of it as track Nr 5 feels very thought-through. I like it best when the tracks that feel strongest is in the middle of an album. It helps keeping the focus and interest up. Good job producer! (couldn't find out who produced it). Lyrically, the track "The Color Of Money" feels very strong in a Hardcore-lyrical kind of way. The whole feeling of this album is a Passion for Hardcore music. I would sure love to see these guys live soon. To sad Mat Bruso left the band though. He was a big part in making this album as great as it is.
And yes, all track names are based on Tom Cruise movies...

Skull Reviews gives "Cover Your Tracks" by Bury Your Dead
3/5

Bury Your Dead - Hurting Not Helping

2009-11-19T18:45:00.006+01:00

I found this video on YouTube last night, and i loved it! It is a track from Bury Your Dead's latest release "It's Nothing Personal". Sweet metalcore stuff with some Great clean vocals! A full review on the album will be up here soon so keep a look out for it.

Unearth - The March

2009-11-15T12:28:00.012+01:00

Unearth is a metalcore act that formed in Massachusetts 1998. If you ask me they are responsible for some of the strongest metal tunes produced from 2000 and forward. Stuff like "Zombie Autopilot", "Stings of Conscience" and "Black Hearts Now Regin" really made me realize how Thight and Powerfull a great metal tune should be. So with all these great releases behind them, can they still hold-on to that quality and genius song writing? The answer to that question is Yes! That´s the thing with this band, they never let you down. Since their epic album release 2004 "The Oncoming Storm" they put the bar up high on every aspect of how a great metal album should be. And since then they have kept that bar on the same heights for their releases. This album "The March" released 2008 begins with the track "My Will Be Done", and the intro on this track is just magnificent. It gets you straight-of, and then comes some beautiful hooks and breakdowns that makes you want to mosh in your living-room. "Grave Of Opportunity" is another track that immediately stands out. This track has a very strong chorus followed by a great breakdown that gives me goose-bumps. The album goes on in 120mph, short tracks that feels like a roundhouse-kick straight in the diaphragm. This album is a must if your into hard-hitting melodic metalcore. So is this their strongest release yet? I have to say No on that question. I can't really pin point why. But nether the less its among the top metal albums in its genre out there right now. If you never have heard Unearth before i urge you to get their "The Oncoming Storm" album from 2004. Its already a classic in my book.

Skull Reviews gives "The March" by Unearth
4/5

A Day To Remember - Homesick

2009-11-08T21:05:00.004+01:00

A Day To Remember mixes Emo/Hardcore/Metal and pulls it off very nice. Their style of music is also referred to as "pop mosh". And that description is very spot on. They mix great breakdowns and heavy riffs with "sweet" vocals. Their newest album release "Homesick" is their second release on the Victory Records lable. It's an album that feels very fresh. It kickstarts with the track "The Downfall of Us All", which is a very catchy song. It's a kind of song which i believe appeal a broad audience. And this is a feeling that saturates the whole album. Their previous album release "For Those Who Have Heart" which includes some Great tunes like "Fast Forward To 2012" and the cover of Kelly Clarkson´s smash-hit single "Since U Been Gone" feel more dirty, unprocessed and true. I´m sorry to say that they do not live up to the expectations i had on "Homesick". Sure there are some bright spots on the album, but not enough to convince me to buy it. But one thing i will admit is that some of their breakdowns is in my Top 10 list ever! So i will surely continue to follow their work closely.

Skull Reviews gives "Homesick" by A Day to Remember
3/5

August Burns Red - Constellations

2009-11-08T17:52:00.000+01:00

Powerful, Clean and Thought-through is three words that come to my mind when i listen to this third release from August Burns Red. First time i ever came across this metalcore onslaught of a band was when i heard "Your Little Suburbia Is In Ruins" from their 2005 release Thrill Seeker. At first i felt like it was just to messy and straggling. But it grew on me to the point that nowadays it's a song i always will have in my playlist. But back to my three words. Powerful, from the first track on the album to the last it is full-on attack. Clean, the production feels very clean! Everything on there has a purpose in one way or another. And in that my third word will fit in to, Thought-through. Now u say "So this is the perfect album?". NO! Why? I'll tell you... It feels like a straight highway without any hills or turns. No suprices or musically exciting extravagances. It's just to darn predictable! There is one track on the album that rise above everything else on there. And it´s the only single from the album. Im taking about the track "Meddler". But the placing of this track on the album is awful. It's track Nr 11 on a 12-track album. I had lost interest of the album long before that track came on. And when it finally got my attention again there was no more to listen to. I still think their 2007 album release Messengers is their most solid material to this date. If i would recommend one tune by August Burns Red i would say "The Truth of A Liar".

Skull Reviews gives "Constellations" by August Burns Red
3/5