Ancient Wind - The Chosen Slain

Genre: Blackened Thrash, Death Metal
Label: To The Head Records

Hailing from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, an aspiring hotbed of scathing molten metal mayhem, Ancient Wind bring the passion and the pain with their debut album, The Chosen Slain.

Here, Ancient Wind fuels a massive storm of deathened, blackened thrash with raw vocals, a hatred for all things "poser" and enough aggression to level a city. The meeting of these styles has led to the actualization of what, I believe, Feasting Amon Amarth would sound like... only a fuck-ton more thrashy and way better than I could of imagined!

Vocalist Roberto Inferno rips the mic to shreds with his battle ready roars and occasionally sounds like the man-mountain, Johan Hegg. So, no complaints here. Next, I have to mention Girth Brook's drumming. Kudos to you, sir. You managed to smoothly blend together genres that, while normally do blend well together, tend to leave lumps in the batter. Normally in a situation like this, you usually hear more of one influence than the other(s). Here, Mr. Brook manages to give equal time to three different styles.

As for the string section of Ancient Wind... fuck. Do I have to keep writing? I think you get how I feel about this band already. They fucking rule! If they were a Portland band, I'd be at their next show with a tray of my special brownies as an offering to their godliness... though, living in Colorado, they've probably had they're fair share of magical baked goods...

In summery, Ancient Wind out-metal some veterans of metal scene that are 15+ years their senior! Keep your bloodshot eyes on these guys! Easily recommended for those of you who are just straight tired of Skeletonwitch's even softening sound...

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At The Seams - In Shadows Of Giants

Genre: All Of Them
Label: Unsigned (but not for long, I'd bet...)

No risk, no reward. Know risk, know reward.

It has been my experience in these past nine years of criticising other's work (when I couldn't hope to achieve anything even remotely cool if my life depended on it) that the more you blend genres together, the farther away from "pure" or "true" metal you are, the more you seem to get hated on. Especially here in Portland, where local metalheads like their sludge metal thick, their grind filthy and their black metal BLACK! Thankfully, bands like Titarius (purveyors of the truest "blender metal"), Stonecreep and Beyond The Red Horizon (R.I.P.) and their ilk, made it their mission to buck conventional metal trends in the area and gave us all something new to wrap our heads around. Now, in 2015 (since 2012), At The Seams is here to tear the Portland metal scene apart... stitch by stitch? That doesn't sound quite right....

The album's title, In Shadows Of Giants, might be alluding to all of the influences that At The Seams pulls from. It's a veritable orgy of styles and genres slamming together and birthing a litter of blended metal tracks. One minute, there are influences of DevilDriver's groovage that run into Immortal's neck breaking, blackened speed. A little bit of Hatebreed's hardcore bounce gives way to a Sodom-level thrash attack. And so on...

Vocalist Spencer Tyler leads the charge by bouncing back and forth from a scathing black metal rasp to a formidable roar that would give Randy Blythe's tempered pipes a run for their money. Not wanting to be left behind, the tandem guitar attack co-helmed by axe swingers Edward Kilpatrick and Kevin O'Leary, slash and destroy all within reach with an arsenal of slowed 'core chugs and rippin' thrash riffs. Dan Anderson's drum work runs a similar range in speed and ferocity and never seems to lose any of it's punch due to In Shadows Of Giants mastering. The same can thankfully be said about Brian Chilson's bombastic bass brutalization, since that's a layer that so many people tend to miss out on.

I'm a little peeved at In Shadows Of Giants meager six tracks/thirty-two minute run time. But I think we all are since this shit is like crack! I might even try to worm my way out of the 'burbs and into the big city to catch a live show soon. There should be a few coming up since apparently At The Seams are already working on their second release! Paint me motherfucking excited!

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Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds

Genre: Groove Metal, Thrash
Label: Nuclear Blast

Oooookay. Here we go. This is actually my very first experience with Machine Head, which is apparently eight albums in. I've heard a bit about them over the years. Some of it was good and some of it was hilariously bad. I don't really know what "Bloodstone & Diamonds" has in store for me, so let's just jump right in...

Wow. If you like getting beat to death with "the groove", this album (and probably most of their library) is for you. I'm no stranger to groove metal and would also consider myself a fan of the genre, so I was digging it for the first two tracks. But then I hit a bit of a wall due to Rob Flynn's vocals. Dude, come on. Nobody wants to hear you hyperventilate into the mic or use your sexytime whispers as a vocal style. His shouting is serviceable, but gets old way too fast for me.

Jarred MacEachern's backing vocals on the other hand hit all of the right notes and add accents where they're needed. If anything, I think he may have been underutilized in this aspect. His bass work is also a high point, with it being every bit as driving as Dave McClain's drumming. This is a duo I'd keep together for a while if I had my druthers.

The guitar work (both Rob's rhythm and Phil Demmel's leads) are engaging and can even be innovative at times (Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones and Eyes Of The Dead come to mind). Both guitarists seem to play well off of one another and help keep that groove going in the right direction. However, after a few listens, you'll start to notice that a couple of tracks sound similar and even kind of bleed into one another.

I can tell you that I'm a pretty big fan on U.K. avant garde, instrumental outfit, The Devil and their work with soundbites taken from the news that are used in place of a vocalist. The track, Imaginal Cells is reminiscent of this style and tickles me just right on my. "Ooooh! That's different!" spot. Instrumentally, it's par for the course for "Bloodstone & Diamonds", so don't get excited for it being too different, though.

In the end, I'm left thinking that Machine Head probably has better entries in their catalog than "Bloodstone & Diamonds" (and with a few recommendations, I might find them). It's a good listen if you need something to bang your head to for a track or two, but it manages to wear out it's welcome with it's repetition and needlessly long tracks.

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