NAPALM RECORDS: 1st Quarter 2011 Releases
On February 15th, 2011, Victory Records released three new albums. Personally, I enjoy some of Victory Record's releases, such as those by Darkest Hour, Pathology, and even Atreyu as well as the last Dr. Acula release. One thing I noticed with them, however, is that the label seems to be looking more towards signing bands that seem to sound like jocks playing Hardcore, and in a sense it works for the label, but I appreciate when they sign bands that sound like they aren't the front line of the Highschool Football team. And, with that, there's a number of good albums that do make their way from Victory Records throughout each year that I do really enjoy. So far, the label has only offered up these three releases for the edgier side of music, as well as the new Farewell to Freeway album back in January, which you can read my review of in the Review section of this site.
Considering the three CDs came out at the same time, I wanted to personally spend time with them all in one sitting, sort of make a night of it. Unfortunately, due to how busy I've been, I hadn't had the time since they sent the Haulix invites to me to grab the CDs, and they just sat here for a while as I tackled other albums trying to play catch up. I do want to offer an appology for being a day late with these, but I didn't want to rush them and put them on-line and give the readers a false sense of what to expect and regret it later, that's not how I run this site, and I never let myself do that. So, when I sat down and looked at the line-up, I'll admit, I was kind of excited about these three, moreso for the new The Warriors CD since I've heard so much about them, but honestly never had the chance to check them out before since I don't download things illegally, and I never really had the money to pick up a random Punk/Hardcore album, focusing more on Metal releases then anything and finding new bands.
But, it's going to be a long night, and hopefully a fun one, cause it kinda feels like a Victory Records night to me.
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| Dr. Acula: Slander |
Dr. Acula was always a butt in many jokes for myself and my friends to make. I couldn't stand them for many reasons, and you can see why in my review of their album Below Me. It always bothered me as well that they took their band name from a script of one of the funniest episodes of Scrubs and put out what I feel was such horrid music. However, after Social Event of the Century, I was impressed by the band. I found myself liking many of those songs and actually coming back to that promo to hear them for a good while after the review, so I was anxious to tear into Slander. At first I didn't like it, but I gave it a few songs, and it really proved me wrong. I was excited to hear the rest of the album and was really surprised with how well it all turned out and the ending of the album being so different and catchy. I may order this one for my collection even, and I definitely can't wait to hear their follow-up to this release.
-> Read the review here.
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| Emmure: Speaker of the Dead |
Out of the three CDs, this was the one I didn't want to review. I spent more time with this CD for review then the others, but that's not because I went into this not liking Emmure, which I never really did, but for more personal reasons and jealousy due to my having an idea for a song that was nothing but a breakdown when I worked with a friend in a Metalcore band called Bleeding Perfection, so hearing Emmure always angered me that I wasn't able to work on this idea. Could have made it big, but shit happens and you move on. I was afraid I'd be partial. But, god help me, this was just hard to review! It wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectacular. So many negative aspects were countered by positive. Honestly I wanted to give it a lower score because of it being good and that was literally it, but there were enough positive aspects to give it a higher score. On a personal level I didn't get much enjoyment out of it, but for what it is, it's entertaining, and yes, I'd come back to it on a rainy night and kick back to a few songs here and there. I wasn't surprised, but at the same time I wasn't let down.
-> Read the review here.
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| The Warriors: See How You Are |
You know, going into this I kept thinking to myself "Wow, such a simple title...this can't be good" and, sadly, I was right. I enjoy Hardcore as much as the next person. I've owned releases from Parkway Drive and even saw them live and was blown away by their performance, as well as owned two Death Before Dishonor CDs (or one, I can't really remember) and enjoyed it. So when I read in the attached bio the vocalist guested on a Parkway Drive CD and saw a Death Before Dishonor shirt on one of 'em, I got excited. I was pumped to hear this album. I really wanted to get into it, and at first I did, but by the fourth track I was hitting my head off the desk asking any deity that would listen why it had to be so damned repetitive, slow and boring. Of the three CDs, this was the one I was dying to hear the most, but of course, it ended up letting me down terribly, and as much as I wanted to give it a higher score, but with all it's faults I just couldn't leaving this to be the way I ended my Victory Records night.
-> Read the review here.
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| Serenity: Death & Legacy |
Out of the five albums Napalm is releasing this quarter [1st quarter 2011], this is the album to buy. While Serenity doesn't necessarily bring in some major unique elements to the Symphonic Power Metal style, this album is beautiful on many levels, and very well done. The band shows some great evolution from their previous albums, and the concept the band uses here, while slightly flawed, really works well throughout the album. All of this worked together to make it the label's best for the quarter, as well as easily one of the best 2011 has to offer so far. I can honestly see this one having a nod for album of the year as well. It's a well composed album, and is a release that any Metal fan should check out.
-> Read the review here.
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| Visions of Atlantis: Delta |
Sadly, this album is easily the worst of the group, and one of the worst I've heard this year. I was a fan of the band around the time of Cast Away, having imported the album just to have it as a digipack forum. But, eventually I realized how bad it was, and since then the material has just been the same. It's nothing impressive and clearly aimed to a commercialized sound, which isn't bad, but when you force your talent to hide and you restrain yourselves to make it happen, it's just frustrating to listen to, as well as is simply painful.
-> Read the review here.
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These releases don't necessarily play towards the style preferences of fans, but more have to do with the quality of the material the band's play. Each album shows some differences in each band, but Visions of Atlantis has only changed vocally with a different female singer, as everything that holds it back rears it's head again, and even worse. But, while this "Power Metal" act is easily the worst of the line-up, the best of them all is the latest Serenity album, and it's mostly due to the fantastic amount of beauty that the group incorporates into the release. It becomes pretty clear which one is the better of the five, and which is the worst, but for more information on these releases and what make's them tick, be sure to read my reviews on them.
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