Massen – Gentle Brutality Review

A hazard of venturing into deeper waters of dissonance and the more extreme ends of Metal is that these genres have a hard time impressing on that end as they have to balance melody and heaviness. Despite this I still enjoy melody, groove and selectively catchy material but drift away from things that mix in overt aspects of Pop melody. Bands like Massen are instantly fighting an uphill battle for my interest, then. But impressively, this Belarus duo bring some serious skill to the format. Massenive skill.

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Nuclear Power Trio – Wet Ass Plutonium Review

A big part of the DNA of your average Shred band nowadays is inspired by the “Big Dick Lick” Shredders of the 80s. The Satrianis, Gambales and Vais of the world are the usual prototypes of this sound, but even more recently, guitar nerds (myself included) have been smitten by the wave of late 70s/early 80s Japanese Fusion Guitarists, including the race car aesthetics of Cassiopeia and the more laid back attitude of faux-Brasilian Surfer Boy Masayoshi Takanaka – a favorite in the house of Goat. High Octane Sega Genesis Metal.

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Mizmor – Prosaic Review

A.L.N has until now built a fascinating tool-set of sounds with his Blackened Doom Drone project Mizmor. Albums like Cairn and Yodh stand out as unique for their ability to mix genres that one could think should be at odds with each other. Though the loss of faith has fueled these journeys, should we still place our faith in Mizmor?

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