Heavy Hitters

Killswitch Engage, Church of Misery, The Mars Volta

This week I decided to amp things up a bit by reviewing some harder-edged music than what I’ve been listening to, of late. As luck would have it, I happen to have access to the new Killswitch Engage, the new Church of Misery and the new album from The Mars Volta.

Killswitch Engage: Killswitch Engage (2009)

Not to be confused with their self-titled 2000 album, their self-titled 2009 album is brand new.  All the elements we’ve come to know and love from KsE are back: Howard Jones delivers the same melodic roaring vocals and harmonic choruses we’ve come to recognize at the core of their sound, along with the fervent, complex and manic guitar work that we’ve come to expect from the band.

However, ‘Killswitch Engage (2009)’ isn’t as hard and heavy as their previous releases.  While still rough and raw, the music nevertheless feels toned down.  Songs like “Starting Over” have lyrical content that, taken wholly on their own, would seem more at home on an Evanescence or My Chemical Romance album and they get very touchy-feely with some of their lyrics, though they try to butch it up under the screams and roars and manic Metal guitars and drums.

Howard gets a little experimental with his vocals on some of the tracks, such as on “The Return”.  The result of the experiment sounds very much like an early 2000s nu-Metal/Hard Rock album; something like Papa Roach or Linkin Park would have put out back in the day.  A lot of it ends up sounding like it’s designed to be played live in a large stadium or outdoor venue.

Overall, this album is a bit of a low point for Killswitch Engage; it’s good but not great, hard, but not their hardest, and most of all, far from their best.

Killswitch Engage: Killswitch Engage (2009)

Roadrunner

Steve’s Rating: 7/10

Church of Misery: Houses Of The Unholy

Much more intriguing is the latest from Tokyo’ Doom Metal/Acid Rock fusion act, Church of Misery.  This band is obsessed with American mass murderers and serial killers, and their lyrical content often reflects this.

‘Houses Of The Unholy’ is no exception, and each of the 7 tracks are about a different madman.  They often use audio samples from news reports or documentaries about their subjects to heighten the mood of each song.  Their music is well orchestrated, following traditional symphonic Metal styling.  When combined with the audio samples, electronic distortion, long instrumental breaks and the roaring, melodic vocals of returning original vocalist Yoshiaki Negishi, you get a sound set apart from most of the Metal Fold.  The last year or so has seen an increasing uniformity in Metal music, and so when I have the chance to hear something that doesn’t sound like everything else out there, it really is refreshing.

Multiple murder is a subject that lends itself well to the Metal genre.  The topic is handled masterfully by Church of Misery.  They set tone on each piece with a perfect blend of the right amount of audio sampling and precision guitar licks.  While it is easy to see how profiling the lives of serial killers could become pedantic, Church of Misery manage to keep their story-songs interesting, skilfully avoiding the traps of cliché and banality, demonstrating that they are not just a gimmick band.

If this album is, for you as it was for me, your first introduction to Church of Misery, it will not disappoint.  ‘Houses Of The Unholy’ is the type of Metal album that typifies everything that makes the genre great.

Church of Misery: Houses Of The Unholy

Rise Against

Steve’s Rating: 9/10

The Mars Volta: Octahedron

One of the best Rock acts out there today is, without a doubt, The Mars Volta.  It was my good fortune to talk with The Mars Volta’s vocalist, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, back in 2008 when he and bandmate Omar Rodriguez-Lopez stopped over in Montreal on their way to New York.

As research for the interviews, I listened to their previous three albums, and afterwards, I got to hear their then-forthcoming ‘The Bedlam in Goliath’.  You can find both my interview with Cedric and the review of ‘Bedlam’ in CONFRONT Magazine’s archives; to easily access these type in Mars Volta in our search engine on the main page.

The Mars Volta is a highly experimental Progressive Hard Rock group, crafting mathematically complex, multilayered music more akin to free-form Jazz Fusion than Rock or Metal.  Their avant-garde style has been toned down somewhat on ‘Octahedron’, their latest release.  They’ve switched from Universal to Warner, and I can’t help but wonder if that doesn’t have something to do with the subtle change in their sound.

Diehard fans need not worry that the Mars Volta have gone commercial; nor have they changed their overall sound in any drastic way.  The music is still edgy, eerie, disjointed, brooding and grimly pensive.  The lyrical imagery is still as clever and as sharp as ever.

The sound is more low-key on ‘Octahedron’, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala has qualified it as their “Acoustic” album, despite the fact that ‘Octahedron’ is far from being “unplugged”.  The album opens with “Since We’ve Been Wrong”, one of the early releases prior to the album launch.  The song is eerie, pensive, and reminiscent to me of the more down-tempo songs from ‘Bedlam’.

One of my favourites on the new album has to be “Teflon” both for the lyrics and Cedric’s vocals, and the complex, ever-changing music that is held together by the ordered drums that permeate from the background.  It’s just one brilliant song out of the eight brilliant pieces that make up the album.  And as much as I loved ‘Bedlam’, I think that ‘Octahedron’ is my favourite of their works, to date.

Now it must be said that the toning-down of the edgy experimentalism that has always been the hallmark of The Mars Volta is noticeable.  However, it also makes this album slightly more accessible, therefore, to the public at large.  The Mars Volta have not sold out, they have not gone commercial.  Rest assured that this album’s softer sides will not detract from the listening experience—and maybe your friends will finally understand why you like The Mars Volta so much.

The Mars Volta: Octahedron

Warner

Steve’s Rating: 9/10