Facedowninshit is definitely not a very uplifting band. This is clear with the title of the release, NPON, which means Nothing Positive, Only Negative. This release is enough to drag you down and make you enjoy every second of it’s heavy, slow paced crusty riffs, creating a rather depressing atmosphere.
Fans of the Draconian album Arcane Rain Fell may approach The Burning Halo with a little fear. This release, as cited from the booklet, is not an official “successor” to Arcan Rain Fell, but rather a “bonus” album that shows the evolution of Draconian fromt he past up to this point. It contains three new songs in the vein of their last release, three songs off one of their unreleased demos, as well as two songs covered by bands that proved to be greatly influential for the band’s sound. This compilation of darkness is what this album brings to the table, making The Burning Halo a very important piece of “bonus material” for their fans.
One of the names you may hear a lot about lately in the folk metal style would be this band’s. Eluveitie‘s album Slania pretty much came out of nowhere and set a new standard for folk metal, as far as the meshing of styles goes. Blending folk with melodic death.
Upon starting the latest album by Carnal Forge, entitled Testify For My Victims, a single question will come to mind: What in the hell…?! This album marks the end of the glory days of Carnal Forge and ushers in a more mainstream album completely void of everything that made this band so well known over the years. Given the sound on the band’s previous album, Aren’t You Dead Yet?, it’s no shock to see the band practically changed overnight, but it’s very disheartening.
One of the staple bands in the metalcore scene has been Caliban. Given that they have had some issues as far as the line-up, as well as final recording product goes (remember the poorly meshed vocals on the album Shadow Hearts?), it’s natural that a band would change their sound as time goes on. The only problem with that theory is that Caliban has been on a rather slick slope lately, and each release has just been going down hill since The Opposite From Within.
