Nightrage
A New Disease is Born
Lifeforce (2007)
Allow me to preface my review with the following disclaimer: I am an avid follower of Tomas Lindberg's projects; so, due to his being the band's original screaming vocalist, I have some exposure to Nightrage in their previous albums, 2005's Descent into Chaos and 2003's Sweet Vengeance. They play a variation on the melodic Swedish death metal style popularized by Lindberg's pioneering outfit, At the Gates. Nightrage's latest album, A New Disease is Born is their first with Lindberg's replacement, Jimmie Strimmel, and their first for Lifeforce Records. The album begins (with the song "Spiral") with the usual heavy riffing and pounding drops that one might expect from such an album, the vocals (the big question mark for me) are suitably heavy and the clean vocals are a bit stronger and sure sounding, maybe because it is all handled by one vocalist as opposed to guest vocalists handling the clean vocal sections. "Death-Like Sentence" has a decent upbeat feel to the music, almost in a "rock" manner; and the vocals are arranged to enhance this sound (although, I could have done without the clean vocals in the song). There are sections of "A Condemned Club" that showcase a classical guitar … Read more
Attack in Black
Marriage
Dine Alone (2007)
There's no way around this but to say it straight: I heard the first track from Attack in Black's Marriage, … Read more
Pygmy Lush
Bitter River
Robotic Empire (2007)
Bitter River is the most bipolar release of 2007, hands down. Members of Pygmy Lush were once in groups such … Read more
Northern State
Can I Keep This Pen?
Ipecac (2007)
Can I Keep This Pen? is Northern State's third full-length album and it proves that any and all naysayers dismissing … Read more
Wu-Tang Clan
8 Diagrams
Street Records Corporation (2007)
It almost seemed like this record would never come out. It's been six years since Iron Flag and 14 since … Read more
