Category: Melodic Death Metal

Pronostic-An Atomic Decision Album Review 10/10

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Pronostic

An Atomic Decision

Alexandre Lauzon – Guitars and High Vocals
Charles Pilotte – Guitars and Low Vocals
Mathieu “La Vie” Laurence – 6-String bass
Nicholas “Le Fou” Wells – Drums & Percussion

 

  1. Intro

This is a pretty badass intro track, this is something you would get from a movie’s opening credits. Very operatic, and orchestral, really  keeping things mysterious at first, you have an orchestra playing, a chorus singing, and the strings. All this builds up and really kicks the album off in the right direction

 

  1. An Atomic Decision

That intro track and then playing right into this song, is epic. They lock down a groove early, with some technical metal style brutality. The first thirty seconds of this song really set the bar high, the drums are surgically precise, and the guitars are shredding some tight riffs. Much like the title tracks name within the first sixty seconds you will be blown away. The guitar solo just after the two minute mark is great, these guys are bringing some deliberate talent and creativity to the table here. If this track doesn’t make you an instant fan I don’t know what will, this is track number one, out of ten and they are preparing to decimate the masses with their killer sound.

 

  1. Useless Wait

Yet another kick ass introduction coming from the guitars and drums, it has some old school flavor in the opening rhythm, and then it’s blasting drums and whirlwind guitars together really setting up a concrete groove. This song is very extraordinary, and I am now looking forward to seeing these guys on the road at some point. They hit us with a cool guitar solo halfway through the song, and bring it down melodically for a moment. Setting the drums up to showcase his talents of not just a drummer shackled to double bass and blast beats, the guy clearly knows a thing or two about skilled percussion delivery.

 

  1. Pay To See The Day

This song does not hold back any level of intensity, they come in fast and hard with this song. The song is a perfect example of a reason to headbang, I am pretty sure if you were involved in a conversation, and this song came on. You would stop what you were doing and head bang. The rhythm is solid, and the groove is contagious, the melodic guitar riffs add another element to this brilliant contribution to the album. Right at the 1:50 minute mark, they set things up for a solo, and the driving force increases. The 3:03 minute mark we get some volume swells from the guitars similar to older Opeth, executed  nothing less than perfect.  This is a solid song, you will want to hit the repeat button on this one for certain.

 

  1. Tormented Soul

This song has a solid setup in the beginning with a great high energy tempo right around the 150 BPM area, with plenty of blasts and driving guitar riffs to give it that rapid metal assault feel that you will be experiencing. This is a great track, I am loving every little transition they go through, shit I have listened to this song three times just now. These guys are killing it with their brand of metal. Elements of progressive metal, technical metal melodic metal and death metal blended together to create a stellar listening experience.

 

  1. Derived Conscience

I like this introduction with the simple drum beat, then a guitar riff, another simple beat followed by sick drum fill and this continues for just about twenty seconds before the song shows us its true form.   These guitarists are great, they know when to keep it simple, and they know when to deliver an impressive shred fest. They take it you to a point of slowed down aggression for a moment only to bring you right back up to the previous tempo with guitar solos and sick drums. The thirty seconds of this song will blow you away, this album is worth the buy based on just the songs I have heard so far. The next five could be a raccoon digging through metal trash cans and the album will still be worth the money hands down.

 

  1. Menstrumental

This is a cool melodic instrumental with heavy bass presence, and slick guitar lines. No drums for the first half but builds right up to give it some more flavor. This is an awesome instrumental as far as I am concerned.

 

  1. Bécik

!!!!!!!   This has a cool guitar and drum introduction and then the vocals kick in and this is probably going to be my favorite track off the album. Holy shit, the transition is seamless at the 1:02 minute mark. This song will melt faces, and cause pits to erupt with extreme results. This song, is fresh, its explosive, and it’s going to blow your speakers because you will have this song cranked as loud as it can go.

 

  1. What Plagues Us

The vocals on this track are great, they have that certain shadow effect to them, they are harsh, but hold back a little giving them some dimension. The guitars are killer in this song, and the transition that takes place at the 2:05 mark has some flavor to them. This song will having you feverishly waiting for the last second to clock out so you can hit the back button and hear the whole song again.

 

  1. Reality

I like the groove that they lock in right as the song begins, and those guitar squeals at the end of a riff. This song like every previous track is setting the bar high at the beginning and like a machine it is just powering through the process, and just plowing through anything and everything that will oppose it. The guitars have several sections of some old school riffs that you could hear coming from progressive and power metal bands. They just set up a driving rhythm and continue to maintain a groove that you will be locked into and lose your mind to the infectious sounds coming from the band.

 

  1. Passing Towards The Afterlife

All I am going to do is leave this blank, because you know, that based on what I have said of all the other tracks, that Pronostic is not going to fail to deliver a great melodic, technical metal song. The track is up to you as a listener to decide, you already know that ten tracks are amazing and worth the buy. I actually recommend to buy the album, because this may be the first you hear of this band, but won’t be the last.

 

This album was so impressive, I was blown away. There wasn’t a single minute aspect of any song I did not like. This album gets a 10/10 from me, because the sound quality is great. The changes are seamless and at times mind blowing, the band members all have some great talent, and showcase their talents well at the right times with their respective instruments. I am an instant fan, and will be looking forward to more of what Pronostic has to offer. For fans of Necrophagist, Neuraxis, Allegeon, Beyond The Creation, Obscura, and At the Gates just to name a few.

Check them out on Facebook Click Here \m/

Order the album  by clicking HERE \m/

 

All music and lyrics written and recorded by Pronostic 
 Produced by Pronostic and Chris Donaldson 
 Engineered by Chris Donaldson and Marco Frechette 
 Recorded, mixed and mastered at The Grid Studio 
 Intro produced by Ludovik Daoust 
 Artwork by Colin Marks at Rain Song Desing

-Badger \m/
http://www.badgersmetalbreakdown.com

 

My interview with Jim Gregory of Solium Fatalis

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I recently had the chance to review Solium Fatalis’s sophomore album, and was pleasantly surprised with not only the lineup, but the songs were great. I wanted to reach out and talk to Jim Gregory guitarist and song writer for Solium Fatalis, and Neuronic Saw. I managed to get him on the phone and talk to him about Solium and find out where they are right now.

 

 

 

So I am on the phone with Jim Gregory from Solium Fatalis, What was your inspiration for the last album “The Undying season”?

Jim-Well mostly my military career, some of it touches on politics and stuff like that but a lot of it had to do with the things I saw while I was deployed in the desert and various places. Real life shit.

So that album got released about 9 months ago, are there still any physical copies left.

Jim-Yea actually there are about fifty out of the five hundred that we pressed. I still have more of the first album.

So you have both of them up on Bandcamp, has that been a great resource for you to be selling the albums in digital format?

Jim-So we have a full outlets, we don’t actually sell a lot on bandcamp, I don’t really even know why. I know other bands sell on bandcamp and it works out very well, but we haven’t had a lot of success. It’s being sold on our website, Amazon, iTunes, Google play, CD baby and the record label site. I mean you can go on your Xbox and get it.

So who does the writing for the albums?

Jim-I do all of it, the thing is I write all the songs by myself, and I have already written a few songs for this new album. I wrote 20 songs for the last album. And don’t get me wrong, I can go to Oli or Flo and get their input but for the most part I do all the writing.

So for the most part it sounds like the melody and rhythm are there, and you can go to Flo or Oli and get their opinion.

Jim- Yeah, I mean we know where Flo comes from but Oli was also in Neuraxis, and they were a killer band. Underrated in my opinion but a great metal band.

How did you end up getting involved with Jeff on vocals?

Jim-So I will do my best to give you the short version of the story, haha I’m not great with brevity. I could talk metal with you all night

Hahaha and we have,

Jim-Yea I could totally bullshit with you and talk metal for hours, you’re a cool dude and I love the website and your format for reviews. So I had four vocalists for the first album, and I had them all from one point to another and they would not get back to me, or stop talking. But Jeff would come in to the studio, because he and Ehren have been friends since I think they were kids so I said I think my vocalist is going to quit and I think I might need to ask you to do it. And he said ok I’ll do it. So when we did the second album, I knew exactly how he was going to sound, and what I had to work with, and I knew Flo and Oli can really do whatever they want. These guys could do this stuff in their sleep ha-ha so that’s why Seasons comes off far more focused.

So it was the right place and the right time

Jim-Yea he is a wicked cool guy all the guys are great, they don’t have any egos, they are really cool and great

 

So you are working on new material, are we going to see the same line up as on The Undying Season?

Jim-Yea totally they are all doing it, ha-ha I just talked to Oli the other day and he asked if he was slated to be doing the 3rd album and I was like uh yea dude. You know I am a fan of this music, and I hate seeing lineup change. So yea we are going to stick with the original line up, well the lineup for the second album. The first was based on necessity, and then the second basically came together. Especially when I was at the grid and Christian Donaldson said” hey would you like to use Flo?” and I was like uhhh yea!” and I asked about bass players, and Chris said “well you can use Forest from Beyond Creation, or you can use Oli” and I felt Forest is a great player, but I just dint think he would fit perfectly, and Oli was a fan of extreme metal so I felt  he was the one.

So you are working on new material,

Jim-We have three songs written so far, I wrote a new song every one to two days

So the rumor is that this is going to be a concept album, is this is true that you are doing a tribute album to the proclaimers?

Jim-Hahahahaha WTF, hahahahahahahaha no, I mean yea  it is a concept album, I have eleven tracks slated, and I do have a working title, but it is about mankind. It’s not going to be like the first and second album, I mean you will hear it and know its Solium Fatalis. So when I came up with the concept of the third album, I wanted to tell a story. I think empires die, you know I think somebody could hit the big red button and blow the whole world population up, wiped out. The world will continue, but it won’t be the world that you and I know. A lot of this is based on the world that I have seen, and being in a combat zone, and what people are really like as humans.

So is there anything you want the people to know about the undying season, or the new material

Jim-Well when it comes to The Undying Season, there is more to it than you realize, but the new music is going to be conceptual, complex esoteric, poetic, artistic and heavy!

So there you have it, Solium Fatalis is working on new material, and the line up will be the same. For those of you who don’t know much about this band let me give you the run down.

Jim Gregory is an experienced guitar player, who has served in the U.S armed forces, and loves metal.
Ehren Hill is the other guitarist for Solium Fatalis. He comes from Excrecor where he plays guitars and keyboards, and he runs things over at Iron Hill studios in New Hampshire.

Jeff Demarco does the vocals for Solium as well as for Excrecor.

Flo Mounier is a (legendary) name you should be familiar with, he is an original member of a pioneering  extreme/technical metal band Cryptopsy, he has been blowing peoples minds with his percussion skills for the past twenty years, and has been in various other projects including Digital Doomzday.

Olivier Pinard is the bassist for a few metal bands  including Cryptopsy, he has played with Neuraxis, and Akurion.

 

SO when you look at that line up its a no brainer that Solium Fatalis is a band you should familiarize yourself with.

 

To give you  a taste of what each member brings to the table  here are videos  of each member in action.

 

Jeff- Vocals

 

Ehren- Guitars

 

Oli- BAss

Flo-Drums

 

Jim- Guitars

 

 

Check them out on FACEBOOK

Follow them on TWITTER

get both  albums on Bandcamp

and don’t forget to go over to http://galyrecords.bigcartel.com/ and get some merch \m/

 

 

-Badger \m/
http://www.badgersmetalbreakdown.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vehemence- Forward Without Motion Album Review 8/10

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Vehemence

Forward Without Motion

2015

Nathan Gearhart- Vocals
Bjorn Dannov- Guitar
Mark Kozuback- Bass
Andy Schroeder- Drums
Kyle Moeller- Guitar

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  1. I Don’t Want To Look Inside

This long awaited album kicks things off with this song, and the beginning has a nice harmonized guitar riff for a few bars, and then sets up a nice driving rhythm with the guitars and drums for a few bars. They play a few more bars with the same riff and drums kicks it up a notch with the use of blasts. When the first verse begins we get to hear Nathan’s vocals, they have matured into a blend of lows and highs that give you a more refined style of delivery. The song has a great groove to it, which you can move to, very enjoyable really, not to mention the guitar solo around the 2:54 minute position giving you another taste of the harmonizing effects of having quality guitarists. The riff that they play coming out of the solo section is an example of that classic Vehemence guitar style. Right around the 5:08 minute mark, they give us a little bridge to breakdown section where the guitars deliver a menacing guitar riff and the drums roll into some rapid blasting to give you an energetic head banging moment that will surely get bodies moving.

  1. Imagining The Loss

This song has a nice feel to it, a medium tempo and a solid rhythm for the verses, Andy’s drums have a crisp sound to them, and he goes from double bass to blasts seamlessly. This song sounds like they are picking right up from “Helping The World To See” as if there was no time in between these two albums. The song has a solid groove and we get to see that melodic almost lamenting style that we have heard from Vehemence’s previous albums. They hit us with a cool little guitar solo around the 3:00 minute mark. At 3:45 the song goes through a transition with a riff that builds up to open up the last verse of the song. The song ends with a perpetuating guitar riff that fits perfectly and ends by abruptly stopping.

  1. Murdered By The Earth

Love the beginning guitar riff, this song has a solid mid-tempo feel to it, and a groove you can really get into and the vocals really lock that groove in. The highs for the first section and the lows for another bar. Then we hear a little melodic transition going into the next verse. Out of that verse we get some blast beats that set up another few bars of vocal delivery by Nathan. When he hits us with the low growling vocals the song goes through a change with a slightly different feel. However it ultimately leads right back to that solid rhythm with the two guitars playing harmonically. A guitar solo is generously gifted to the listeners and you can’t help but feel the soul put into the guitar solos, it makes you feel like this song comes from down deep inside. At 8:24 minutes long they really give you everything they have for this one. The way the guitars switch to the acoustic and continue to play and fade out makes this song one that must be amazing to see live.

  1. Jim The Prophet

An interesting and dark guitar introduction by the guitars and drums start this track off, then the vocals come in and the song just sticks with that, gloom filled evil sound. This is not your typical fast paced death metal song. There are moments at times that do have the speed picking and blast beats for example the 2:05 minute mark we get some mixed vocals, speed picking guitar riffs, and blast beats getting you into the head banging mood. Then at the 2:40 minute mark the song changes into something else with a solid groove. It seems like every 45-60 seconds the song gets heavier, and heavier to the point you may want to reevaluate your physical status if you think you are going to be in a pit during this song. At the 4:45 minute mark we get a short little rollout into a steady punishing rhythm and sounds clips from what seems to be audio from Jonestown to finish the song off.

  1. In The Shadows WE Dwell

This song tears into you right out of the gate with Nathans growl, and the guitar riffs layered over the drums. The first verse is cool with Nathan giving some highs, and then we get a lonely guitar riff that sets up the next section that has a ripping groove you can’t deny the movement you will undoubtedly be succumbing to. That is until you get to the 1:30 minute mark where Andy is delivering the blast beats like a champion. The next verse is a little more high energy and has a good tempo for a few bars that changes dramatically to a slower pace and low guttural vocals. This particular section builds up to a great segment of fast picking harmonizing guitars and a driving rhythm. It slowly egresses to a single guitar playing a riff that eventually fades out.

  1. A Dark Figure In The Distance

This song begins with a riff you wouldn’t normally expect from a metal band, it is a light melodic guitar riff with Andy following on the hi hat with a complimenting beat. We continue to hear that guitar riff through the first verse. Rollin gout of the first verse we get a unique rhythm playing out with some vocal effects for a few bars. At 4:04 we get hit with the guitar solo section at this moment I really feel like Bjorn and Kyle have better chemistry than former member Chavez. It just honestly feels like these two build off of each other and are on the same wave length or page.

  1. It’s All My Fault

This song begins with a little drum solo intro and “boom” hits you with Nathans vocals right away. Delivering highs and lows with ease going from one bar of highs to another bar of lows. This song has a good tempo and a beat you can head bang to. The song hits us with these little sections like the one at the 1:25 minute mark that has a sinister feel and builds up to the blast beat riddled verse, and then out to double bass rolling guitar shredding chorus. This song has such a solid groove to it you will not stop head banging moving moshing tapping your foot, you will be entranced by this song with good reason.

  1. She Fucks Like She’s Alive

This song begins with a great rhythm coming from the guitars and Andy does a great job adding dimension to the song. He is exploring the use of playing patterns on his hi hat, and doing little drums fills here and there. His style of using blast beats and double bass filled death metal drumming really makes this song one that you can get into. The dual guitars harmonizing often and really complimenting each other while keeping the song interesting with a solid rhythm. Around the 4:30 minute mark the song slows down and gives us a slow melodic lamenting guitar melody that plays out for the rest of the song and fades out on a cymbal roll from Andy.

  1. There’s So Many Reasons To Give Up On Religion

Blast beats and a mean guitar riff start this particular song for the first fifteen seconds and then Nathan joins in with his vocals for what seems like a pre verse section to get things warmed up. The verse we hear Nathan giving his classic style of vocals that are reminiscent of both of their previous albums. Around the 2:55 minute section the song takes a darker approach for a few bars and then gifts us generously with a guitar solo and then some speed picking going into a faster tempo section. This half of the song will get you moving and head banging if you weren’t already. The guys seem to be building up from one section to the next maintaining a good groove and hitting us with heavy sections and blast beats high energy sections that eventually ends the song.

This album is great, it’s a good mix where you can hear elements from the previous two albums but also the way they have matured is very evident. That have matured in their sound and have a more focused attack with their delivery. Musically their brand of metal seems like it is picking right up from their last album. For fans like myself we have been waiting what seems like forever for this album, but if you didn’t know it would seem like they only had a few years between helping the world to see and this album. They didn’t miss a beat, they didn’t lose anything. They are making great music and delivering their blend of melodic death metal unlike anyone else out on the game. This album is a solid 8/10 and I certainly hope they keep this line up and make more music in the near future, I know I am not the only one to say this but I am glad Vehemence is back at it.

To give you a taste here is a video for Murdered By The Earth

Heres the video \m/

Check them out on Facebook

Also check out their bandcamp page to listen, and order Forward Without Motion HERE \m/

-Badger \m/
http://www.badgersmetalbreakdown.com