One Day As A Lion EP

One Day As A Lion is a small side project created by Rage Against the Machine vocalist Zach de la Rocha and former The Mars of Volta drummer Jon Theodore. One Day As A Lion have a really unique sound as they successfully blend rap and rock together.

Their sound features heavily distorted bass and guitar and grainy rap vocals with la Rocha's distinctive aggressive style. I truly believe that no other vocalist could have made this project work. Rocha does a fantastic job. It would be unfair not to mention Theodore's fantastic drumming too. It is rare to find an album where the drummer's skill shines through so strongly. 

Wild International gets the album rolling. This track is really catchy. Great rhythm and beat and la Rocha keeps pace with the instruments delivering solid lines. 

Ocean View is probably the most different sounding song on the album. Instead of la Rocha delivering concise and sharp vocals, he takes on a flowing and drawn out style that is purposely out of tune somewhat. Theodore's drumming is still absolutely phenomenal and honestly provides the back-bone for this album.

If you really want to hear this master mind of a drummer play, simply listen to Last Letter. The opening solo of this song is so good. la Rocha hits back with some deeper vocals that are slightly recessed thanks to some tuning. As the song progresses, Theodore never misses a beat and provides a consistent rhythm that never ceases to impress. 

Next up is my favourite track, If You Fear Dying. The bass has a really moody distortion to it that sounds fantastic. I think Rocha's vocals are at their most angry on this track, delivering solid lines with attitude. 

One Day as a Lion finishes off the album with more of a psychedelic sound. Some of the guitar strings are really distorted this time around and give off a resonating tone. Rocha feels quite distant but still offers a strong vocal presence. The drums feature more of a constant beat that have varying but small changes to them. I really liked the psychedelic sound on this one. Some of the ringing could be a bit irritating but overall really solid.

I cannot stress enough how amazing Theodore's performance is on this album. His skill on the drums is absolutely stunning. Pair this with la Rocha's unique, angry style and you have one hell of an EP. My only disappointment with the album is that it wasn't long enough, with only four tracks in total.

Do yourself a favor and buy it. iTunes

Impending Doom - Baptized in Filth

Impending Doom are known for their high energy and brutal sound. They're here to remind us with their album Baptized in Filth.

Murderer opens up for the album. Man this song - so good. Its absolute head-bang gold. Riffs are amazing and really get you moving. Drumming is really heavy and features some great double bass. Pair all this with stellar vocals and this pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album.

Its really refreshing to have a band like Impending Doom play with such energy in passion and it really shows in their recordings. Each song has this great hard hitting and punchy bass to it - its almost too much to contain in my headphones. Almost.

Impending Doom lean towards doing more heavy breakdowns and really love to chug their guitars. This is not really a respectable trait in most bands as its a fairly simple technique and the formula gets boring fast. However, these guys manage to keep their songs interesting and unique, while still throwing in some trade-mark face-melting breakdowns.

Another standout song on this album is My Light Unseen. This takes a slower approach, they tone down the guitars and drums and in place use some quite epic, drawn out playing. The vocals also shine through and you can hear the passion and strength in them more than any other song on the album. I think this song shows that Impending Doom can be diverse in they music and actually succeed in doing something different.

So overall, Impending Doom are still doing what they've always done. They more or less stick to a well-worn formula, but they add their own intensity and passion that really makes them standout. Baptized in Filth is definitely rated highest of all of Impending Doom's albums and also in my favourite album list in general.

Highly recommended. Support Impending Doom at Last.fm.

Full Track List:
1. Murderer
2. For the Wicked
3. Chaos:Reborn
4. Deciever
5. Falling Away
6. Absolute Horror
7. Angry Letters to God
8. Baptized in Filth
9. My Light Unseen
10. Death. Ascension. Resurrection.

Beheading of a King - Quasar

I have mixed opinions on this album and Beheading of a King in general. A really love their breakdowns and riffs, but they have this "bi-polar" style about them. Some of their songs, especially on this album are quite stop-start and can be jarring.

To start things off, State is an eerie opener and transitions into Quasar. Quasar is a good example of BK's (Beheading of a King) style and why I don't really like their music. Everything seems a bit out of place and its all kind of mashed together with a breakdown thrown in. At one point the guitars have this power metal-esque tuning, then all of a sudden it changes into a distorted string similar to deathcore. Its mostly the same with the vocals too. The vocalist has this really great growl but often randomly dives into high-pitched singing which is OK, however it is just so out of place.

Bible Crumbles is, I think, what BK should be doing. This song is more consistent and the vocalist sticks to doing lower pitched singing (such as growling). Drumming is also top-notch and fits in really well with the powerful guitars. Overall probably my favourite song on the album.

A little further on, Reclaim this Gold is also another standout. The tuning on the guitars is absolute killer. However, towards the middle end of the song, things seem to lose focus and breaks down once again into a kind of mashed-up song. Really disappointing considering the great intro.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this album. I really don't like the style of BK. They're sort of tiring to listen to as songs seem to jump around the place. I don't have anything against metalcore, but this album is just not quite 'there'.

You can find Beheading of a King on their Last.fm page here.

Aronious - Truth in Perception

Another great album found on Bandcamp. Aronious are a great progressive metal outfit and it's easy to see why in their latest album - Truth in Perception.

Aronious have quite a unique sound. Their vocalist has a really guttural and grainy sound which mixes well with the distorted tuning on the guitars. They also have some really great riffs that are quite catchy.

The opening track - Disillusionment I - really emphasize their sound and is probably the best example of their unique vocals and tuning.

Truth in Perception is the titled track for the album and is one of the standouts. Opening with a great riff, the song hooks you almost immediately. This time vocals are little more drawn out and are not so harsh or stop-start. Its a nice change of pace from the rest of the album.

My favourite track on the album - An Oblivious Contribution - starts off with recessed riff-age that slowly creeps up on you. When the vocalist kicks in the song really picks up. Really catchy riffs and some great sounding guitars. 

 An aptly named song, Untitled finishes off the album with an unusual atmospheric sound. Its almost indescribable, but its a nice way to end a high energy album with some unusual sounding noises. You have to listen to it I guess! 

Check them out on bandcamp and give them some support.

Full Track List:

1. Disillusionment I

2. Cognitive Process

3. Disillusionment II

4. Reinstating the Constitution

5. Truth in Perception

6. An Oblivious Contribution

7. Untitled

(News) Fan Passes Away After Miss May I Show Incident

During a live show performed by Miss May I, a young man - Alberto Scott - stage dived and suffered minor head injuries. He was taken to hospital but soon passed away.

Obviously, the venue or the band are not to blame. This is a tragic incident and my condolences are with Scott's family. One thing to take away from this however is to stay safe at shows! Go and have fun, but try not to do anything that puts you or others at risk of injury.

You can read more about the incident here 

Misery Signals - Absent Light

Misery Signals are back from a five year break with their latest album Absent Light. Fuck me - this is how you make a comeback.

These guys have always had a distinct sound and this year they've refined it somewhat but mostly they continue to do what they did in '08. Which is not a disappointment.

Opening with a somber acoustic guitar riff and slowly transitioning to Schubach's growling vocals is a great start to the album. Really powerful song and possibly one of my favourites.

Second track is Luminary, which many of may of heard previously on YouTube, as it was released as a teaser. As like each song on the album, this transitions perfectly from A Glimmer of Hope. This track brings hard-hitting drums and rolling riffs all on top of some great vocals. As the second song in the album, this sets a great tone for the rest and gets me really excited to hear the rest.

Moving through each song, another standout to me is Lost Relics. The drums really shine through on this song and Morgan's skill is brought to the forefront. As to be expected, a fantastic breakdown also features on this track.

On a full listen-through of this album, it is easy to get lost as each song transitions really nicely into each other, and is not jarring or badly mixed. Perhaps one small disappointment from this album is that Misery Signals haven't really progressed their sound much in the five years they've been away. In a sense it is great for them to be back producing the same great sound, but I would have liked to see a bit more of a progression in their sound.

Ryan Morgan and Gregory Thomas continue to create really interesting riffs and weave it into each song perfectly. Kent Wren on bass subtlety provides a deep and powerful backing which supports the guitars really well. All round a fantastic album, you couldn't ask for a better comeback.

Purchase here.

Full Track List:
1. A Glimmer of Hope
2. Luminary
3. Reborn
4. Carrier
5. Shadows and Depth
6. Lost Relics
7. Two Solitudes
8. Departure
9. The Shallows
10. Uras Minor
11. Everything Will Rust

Genre Discussion + The Healing - Transcendence

Hailing from Ontario, Canada and sliding under the genre of "djent/progressive metal", The Healing  is one of my favorite bands right now. Their debut album Transcendence is a great start to these guys' music career.

The overall feel of the music is fantastic, with hard hitting drums and great distortion on the guitar. I particularly love Garant's vocals - deep and powerful. I won't go into great detail on this album because I would like to discuss something else. However, I highly recommend checking them out - Bandcamp

The main point of this post is that I would like to generate some discussion on metal genres and the seemingly infinite amount of them. I know some genres seem to get slammed continuously (nu-metal and metalcore come to mind) and this gives negative connotations to any band/music that claim to fall under these genres. Which is unfair. For the most part, sub/genres of metal serve as a fairly useful way of giving us an idea of what kind of tuning bands use, vocal style and overall musical themes they may use. But is it fair to ignore a band just because it falls under a certain genre? Do you think the amount of sub-genres is ridiculous? I'd love to hear your thoughts.