Metal charts

Review: San Francisco blackgaze auteurs Deafheaven offered a sharp left turn on 2021's Infinite Granite, which saw the band embrace a fully-fledged dream-pop sound complete with lush, gentle vocal cadences from enigmatic frontman George Clarke, known primarily for his shrieking, inhumane howls. Returning with their sixth full-length Lonely People With Power, the band seek to finally strike a balance between their equal understanding of black metal malevolence and ethereal shoegaze beauty, trading their usual penchant for small collections of lengthy, post-rock indebted ten minute plus tracks in favour of more instantaneous delivery, spread out across 12 individual pieces (their most on any project to date). Ranging from their heaviest and most straightforward black metal work on 'Magnolia', to the blackgazing familiarity of 'Doberman' to the seamless fusion of styles exuded on 'Heathen', which makes ample use of Clarke's now fully elaborated vocal range, marrying his caustic screams with fragile crooning, this is where Deafheaven have seemingly always been striving to land, it just took them a few albums of experimentation to get there.

Review: 
The nu-metal scene of the late nineties/early noughties arguably birthed no act as seminal or incomparable as the masked, nine-member Iowa collective known as Slipknot.

Their highly influential self-titled full-length debut marked the first studio appearance of now iconic vocalist and frontman, Corey Taylor, whose unkempt aggression and visceral performance would help chart a course for a group destined for exposure and acclaim far beyond their murky compositions.

With buzzsaw riffs, a claustrophobic percussive assault and Taylor's vitriolic pennings, cuts such as '(Sic)', and 'Eye Less' have maintained their integral ferocity decades on while the rap-metal frenetics of 'Spit It Out' and melodious lead single 'Wait & Bleed' have remained the high water mark for all chasms of mainstream metal to this day.

Out of print and resold at extortionate prices for years, this reissue is a vital piece of the puzzle for any fan of the nine or collector of genre staples. Don't sleep on this rare chance to lock down a twisted classic.

Review: Following on from 2021's hard left turn into dream-pop territory on Infinite Granite, San Francisco blackgaze legends in the making Deafheaven return with a work that they've always been striving towards. Their sixth full-length, Lonely People With Power, takes lessons from the saccharine shoegaze of their previous outing and injects it directly into the veins of their heaviest material since 2015's New Bermuda, culminating in a deft balancing act that finally combines vocalist George Clarke's shrieking, inhumane howls with his recently discovered crooning lilt, exuded as such on the beautiful warring of styles that is 'Heathen'. Elsewhere, 'Magnolia' provides a cataclysmic beast of proggy black metal akin to latter-day Emperor whereas 'Doberman' goes full euphoric blackened shoegaze reminiscent of 2013's breakout sophomore triumph Sunbather. Striking a unique chord between their equal and effortless understanding of black metal malevolence and the ethereality of cinematic post-rock, the album sees a notable trade off from their their usual smaller collection of lengthy, grandiose tracks that all clock in at over ten minutes a piece in favour of a more varied, yet succinct and instantaneous batch of cuts, 12 in total, marking the most that any Deafheaven project has ever offered.

Review: Originally released in 1996, October Rust would serve as the fourth full-length from gothic metal legends Type O Negative, as well as the highly anticipated follow up to their 1993 career-height Bloody Kisses. Known for its markedly less gloomy doom metal approach when compared to prior and subsequent projects, the album has grown a devout cult following due to the extensive number of unabashed ballads and compositionally accessible goth rock bangers (reliably shrouded in their own sonic malaise). Boasting the hit single 'My Girlfriend's Girlfriend' as well as their much-adored cover of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl', many could consider October Rust to be the most accessible entry point to those intimidated by the prowess, hair or jawline of the incomparable visionary Peter Steele. Now almost 30 years young, this long overdue reissue comes spread across a limited green & black marbled vinyl 2xLP pressing.

Review: The somewhat surprising return and attempt at redemption from the industrial metal shock-rocker Marilyn Manson has been a bold pill to swallow, with the once iconic provocateur seeking to avoid the many allegations and numerous controversies he has garnered over the last decade. Attending rehab and becoming fully sober over the past few years has seen dramatic weight loss, a notably more lowkey public demeanour and a newly signed record deal with Nuclear Blast (having been dropped by Loma Vista not long after 2020's We Are Chaos) turn a few heads, simultaneously cautious and curious as to the authenticity of this humble arc. With lawsuits recently thrown out, the court of public opinion appears to be the only form of due process that shall occur, leaving it to individual listeners to make up their mind as to the merit of the artist as a person. As to the art itself, One Assassination Under God: Chapter 1 is the 12th album to adorn the name Marilyn Manson, and it's his best since 2000's Holy Wood. Tapping Chelsea Wolfe collaborator/producer Tyler Bates to oversee the entire project has helped to create a generational bridge between how out of sync Manson himself had become with his own artistic strengths and audience desire, and Bates' insider knowledge as a younger fan first, collaborator second. Together they rediscover the core industrialist menace, gothic romanticism and hedonistic nihilism that kept listeners hooked after the initial shock of aesthetic would cease, but for the first time in decades, it feels earnest and earned rather than forced. Boasting Antichrist Superstar style buzzsaw synths and chug-heavy breakdowns on cuts such as 'Nod If You Understand', while the self-deprecating admission of using drugs to hide behind monstrous flaws on the gloomy balladry of 'As Sick As The Secrets Within' harks back to the most fragile moments of Mechanical Albums. Be it a cynical cashgrab or attempt to regain fan adoration, or the genuine musings of a tortured artist finally learning to face his own demons head on, there's simply no denying that this is Manson at his most potent, intimate and focused, begging the question of how different of a career trajectory and latter day output might we have had if the man had learned to look inward long before hitting the bottom.

Review: This underground post-rock classic is now available on double vinyl for the first time since 1993, with a fresh transfer by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road from the original masters. The God Machine, formed in 1990, released two albums that helped shape the post-rock and post-metal scenes. Despite glowing reviews and live shows supporting the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and My Bloody Valentine, they never gained wide recognition, often falling between indie and rock circles. Championing the band, BBC Radio 1's John Peel invited them for sessions in 1992 and 1993, cementing their place in underground music history.

Review: It's difficult to describe to those too young to have been there and to those too old to give a toss, just how rife the anticipation was for the sophomore full-length from nu-metal giants Linkin Park following on from the global success of their multi-platinum selling debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. Following what felt like an eternal three years, both shortened and lengthened by the bloated remix album Reanimation, 2003's Meteora was nothing short of lightning striking in the same place twice. Debuting at number 1 on the Billboard 200, certified 8xPlatinium and currently ranked as the 8th highest selling album of the 21st century, to call the band's second album a success seems like a very muted understatement when anthems such as 'Somewhere I Belong', 'Faint', and, 'Numb' are still some of the highest charting and most world-renowned metal singles to ever blare out across the airwaves. While musically drifting further away from their nu-metal beginnings with each subsequent project, both Meteora and its predecessor belong to a subset of genre-defining classics that appear to become more embraced and less maligned with age, as the nu-metal subgenre becomes less of a dirty word. It also goes without saying that the incomparable vocal presence of late frontman Chester Bennington as well as his vulnerable and cathartic lyricism take on a far more bleak and oppressive shade with the folly of hindsight.

Review: At the turn of the 21st century, Slipknot opted to take the newfound fame and success rewarded by their self-titled debut, and run it into the ground in, what has to be, one of the most intriguing examples of chaos and inner band turmoil lending to an integral work.

Named after their home state, 'Iowa', still remains an utterly frightening project, driven by addiction, depression, and encompassing negativity. Refusing to pursue a more accessible route regardless of the ensuing momentum around them, the collective would lash out with an extremely severe batch of material that remains challenging even by today's standards.

While the now iconic leads singles, 'My Plague' and 'Left Behind' remain embedded in the metal spectrum, deeper cuts such as the caustic 'People = Shit', nihilism rally of 'The Heretic Anthem' or the decrepit defeatism of 'Skin Ticket' offer the bleakest look into the band's psyche at their most temperamental of conditions.

The fact that frontman Corey Taylor has confessed that the 14-minute closing title-track was recorded while highly inebriated and cutting himself with a broken liquor bottle, should be all the background one could need when approaching this complex, unforgiving beast of an album.

Reissued after far too long an absence, this beautiful new rendering finally allows for a timeless endeavour to be rediscovered in all of its violent glory; rarely bridging the vast dichotomy between mainstream and extreme metal.

Review: The first album on Roadrunner Records to ever achieve Gold status in the US, 1993's Bloody Kisses marked the third full-length from alternative/industrial gothic metal legends Type O Negative. Featuring some of the band's most essential bangers like 'Christian Woman' and 'Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)', while furthering their habit of contributing peculiar cover songs to their projects with an initially smutty re-imagined rendition of Seals & Crofts' track 'Summer Breeze' (which the band were forced to re-recorded and its revised lyrics discarded due to the writers' being disgusted with Peter Steele's "distasteful" interpolations), the work has since gone on to become regarded as the quintessential album which established the core sonic and aesthetic identity of Type O Negative. This expanded CD edition features Peter Steele's (at the time controversial) trimmed down digipack version with a plethora of bonus tracks and alternate takes.

Review: Originally released in 2004, Miss Machine would serve as the revitalised sophomore effort from mathcore visionaries The Dillinger Escape Plan. Following the departure of original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis after their groundbreaking 1999 debut LP Calculating Infinity, and their collaborative Irony Is A Dead Scene EP with Faith No More/Mr. Bungle/Fantomas vocal absurdist Mike Patton, the band would enlist the hulking, feral Greg Puciato, a frontman with a far more intense shriek than his predecessor while also coming from the school of Patton's eccentric dynamism with his expansive range. The resulting work would chart an entirely new course for the collective, with Puciato retaining his presence throughout their next five full-lengths, while the newfound balancing act between dissonant, mind-melting polyrhythmic hardcore and avant-garde industrial jazz-prog, would become their future sonic playground. Yes, much of the Dillinger Escape Plan identity was carved out before Puciato's arrival, but Miss Machine is often cited as the album where all of the jagged, oddly shaped pieces finally fit into place.

Review: Long before the 13 record was even considered, it took many a false start to get Ozzy back with Black Sabbath for a proper reunion tour, which began somewhat in earnest with their two hometown shows on 4th and 5th December 1997. These performances were captured for the now iconic, aptly titled live album Reunion. Marking the first official release with the original line up since 1978's Never Say Die! and garnering the band their first ever Grammy Award in 2000 for the live rendition of 'Iron Man' taken from this collection, the work is a flawless compilation of greatest hits and fan favourite deep cuts, performed with a veteran's vigor.

Review: Yet another addition to Rhino Records’ Start Your Ear Off Right series hears a reissue of prog metal band Dream Theater’s fifth studio album and first ever concept album. A sequel to the thrillingly titled Metropolis-Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper, this record builds an intensive recollective sonic theatre out of the mosaic themes of memory and depersonalisation. Themed around the subject of a young man undergoing past life regression therapy, the record is a compelling, initially psychotic howl into the night, and yet it proves an ultimately integrative, recursive experience, adding themes of murderousness and prophetic fate.