Kymenix | Reviews

So lately I’ve been listening to foreign music, many bands that I’ve downloaded and listened to are average or below. This band is one a different level than most Death Metal or Deathcore bands. First off they are Ukrainian, you can see their stuff and download their AMAZING album at This link here!

The band is some what progressive in the way that they attack the music head on. The rest of it is insanely heavy and brutal death metal with some elements of deathcore in it. They have really guttural vocals and some of the best pig growls I have ever heard. The guitar work is indeed great, they don’t over extend the low end with elements of mathcore in the some songs and they defiantly make the right kind of technical breakdown which I like. The most amazing part I must say is the drummer. He must be using a quadruple bass pedal to get those 64th note at or above 200 bpm. This can be heard on the song “Caligula Bow Down”.

This band doesn’t breakdown too much which is always a good thing in a music industry that seems to be living solely off of them. I guess it’s because their material is heavy enough as it is.

I know some people are skeptical of a perfect score but:

“Penguincore’s All You Deserve”

10★/10★

This is an instrumental  ”Deathcore” band from Mass. I downloaded this free album just because of the one song “Quadraxis” which I must say is the only song I like on this album. I downloaded it on the hopes it would sound similar to BIGREDROBOT as TOTALDEATHCORE said they were progressive/technical/deathcore/instrumental but I was sadly disappointed.

I’m really going to say this first:

GET THAT HIGH END SPACEY SOUNDING SHIT OUT!!

The song “Quadraxis” had it in it and I must say it breaks up the momentum of the song. The intro has this fucking awesome 8 string trem that is the shit, like fuck Carnifex’s trems or for that matter Suicide Silence’s too. This trem was awesome, it went into a harmonized riff that was really good like The Faceless and then into a Born Of Osiris sounding breakdown. Then into a good riff. That’s when it happened the shit. Spacey sounding shit. But I think the 8 string twang at the end made up for it.

They have no drummer so the songs are all programmed, which is a bit of a problem.

I can’t really say I hate it because I have an issue with the “technical” obsession that has swept the —core scene.

FUCK IT

5¼★/10★

Whaaaattt? Local band review? Fun story. I saw Awaken The Martyrs (yesterday) and was actually very impressed with the live show. My friend picked up the EP there I guess and threw in the the CD player in my car. He put it in wrong way and it got jammed in there and killed my CD player, temporary. I awoke (this morning) and started the car and the CD pop’ed out. I was like ehhh, and pushed it back in. I ended up listening to it, and again, was impressed. Usually local bands have shitty recordings and typically a shitty sound overall. However with the recent advances in technology, quality is possible.

It sounds like The Bled met Carnifex and then went to church. It sounds very punk influenced which would fit with the self proclaimed hardcore tag. They are a Christian band so there is a theme of God in their music. It works for a lot of bands, and it works for them. The vocals range from the deathcore lows and highs to the kinda punk yell that Oliver fell into in “Suicide Season”. It works for them though because they do have a punk sound. Which also lets them get away with the group chant that some deathcore bands fail miserably with.

When I head “Amazing Grace” I instantly thought, “Red Wedding”. They take a lot of elements from The Bled, whether they know it or not. Their cleans sound similar, the guitar has the same tune and even “pattern” in some songs. The breakdowns lemme tell you, are fantastic. Not at all your typical breakdown, they have more substance and variety rather then your “typical breakdown”.

As for negitives or places for improvement, I can’t really whine a lot because it is a fantastically done EP. The chant is almost a little overused but I’m not a gigantic fan of it anyways. I don’t have a problem with religion or others beliefs. I preach Atheism, they can preach God. However, I did not feel that it was pushed in your face like a MyChildrenMyBride song that I was like, okay, off, delete.

Def check them out live, they have amazing energy and aren’t a bunch of stuck up cunts. They do music to have fun I would assume from what I’ve seen. And thats how it should be done.

http://www.myspace.com/awakenthemartyrs/

“When The Bled met Carnifex”.

8.5★/10★

Animals As Leaders is a solo project of Tosin Abasi, the 8 string guitarist from Reflux (never really made it anywhere). All the songs on this album are instrumental, so Tosin takes leads instead of vocalizing which leads to some really amazing guitar work on the album. It’s reminiscent of Steve Vai with the really extensive solo work, the 8 string always reminds one of Meshuggah but the doesn’t do the usual 8 string bit sounding like Meshuggah. Tosin does actual death metal influenced riffs for it, it sounds more like Decapitated or, I’m really going out on a limb for this one, Whitechapel (new shit not the old cookie cutter deathcore shit on The Somatic Defilement).

The two notable songs that really stick out in my head are Wave of Babies which isn’t even on the album but released for free on their Myspace as a bonus track. This song really shows he can play the 8 string and not sound like Meshuggah. The other is CAFO. It takes influence from trash and some core style of metal. The intro to CAFO is a tapping riff on a seven string that is tuned to B, Eb, A, D, G, B, E. The low E string is tuned a have step down which is fucking insane. It shows that Tosin can play like a god.

I’m not mentioning the other instruments because the idea of a solo project is to thrust the solo artist into the spot light. I will say that the label Tosin is signed to does take care of supplying the other artists in the band and they are skilled enough to keep up with Tosin.

Not that it makes a difference, Tosin is Zimbabwean (he’s Black).

8.3★/10★

I see many reviews about how The Devil Wears Prada sucks and the vocals are too rough and the clean parts take away, whatever. I like music because it sounds good, the construction plans are somewhat irrelevant. Its all preference, so you Last.fm and SputnikMusic fags can gtfo. This is TDWP’s first EP that is supposed to come out later this month. But thank nonexistent god that there are leaks.

All the songs for the most part are based upon, you guessed it, zombies. The unfortunate thing is that they feel the need to really let us know by putting soundclips in. Soundclips work for Killwhitneydead, not TDWP. “Outnumbered” being one of the better songs, is the only one to pull of the soundclip thing successfully because it is at the beginning. Metalcore has a pattern that I like. I like the clean vocals, they sound nice. So what if they are the better part of the song, its a part isn’t it?

“Revive” is a good song until there is the like thirty second faggot ass soundclip at the end. “Anatomy” is the last decent song on the EP. I definately like the heavier sound that it brings when compared to “With Roots Above and Branches Below”. Not that the lower key album wasn’t good, just not as heavy. Which sends some people into a coma if its not heavy.

It’s an average EP, not good in some ways, not bad however.

http://www.myspace.com/tdwp

Graaaaaiiiinnnnnnnnnsss

5.5★/10★

If you haven’t heard “Murders come with Smiles” go listen to it because it has one of the best intro’s. I kinda left DCM because of that being their only “good” song and their vocalist not being so fantastic, or maybe it was just un-mastered.

This is what Experimental Hardcore is. It’s not going to fit one genre. The vocals and overall rhythm have improved and by being experimental it can fit into mathcore. “Risk Is My Business…And Business Is Risky” and “Shenanigans” are my favorites so far. But I just recently got them album so I might find a gem. Yeah I know it came out in 2008, but I kinda forgot about them.

Its hard to “review” but if your up for something new sorta, def check it out.

http://www.myspace.com/danceclubmassacre

Buy (Amazon)

When Dimmu met Grindcore.

7.5★/10★

The Catalyst is the new single by Linkin Park, which happens to be my favorite band of all time. NOW I must clarify it that this review is not bias because of this and you will find it is not bias as is.

The Catalyst is not what I was expecting. Linkin Park has done it again and reinvented their sound with legendary producer Rick Ruben (who has working with such bands as Slayer, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, NIN, SOAD, and Johnny Cash) into a new brand of electronic rock I would safely call it. Fans of the old Linkin Park need not listen to this, there is no rapping on it and deff. no distorted guitars like on Hybrid Theory or Meteora. The song itself is a solid song but I really don’t like it too much, it’s a little too electronic for my liking of a rock song.

I know I will listen to this song too much for the next couple of weeks until I find the full album somewhere.

“Nu-Metal is not gay.” “Are you off your fuckin’ meds?” “Ass-clown”

7.0★/10★

The electronic album released by Big Chocolate is a big twist from his usual death metal style. I guess his remix of Disengage has him out for blood in the electronic genre.

The first song, I Own The World is narcissistic to say the least saying how he owns the world and you need his permission to do anything. The music takes a lot of influence from dub-step, which I have a problem with because I fuckin’ can’t produce it! But hes Big C. so he can do whatever he wants to. I really can’t say much more than the song I like the most is King Now and that if you don’t like Trip-hop or Dub-step stay away from it. Other than that its a solid electronic album.

Big Chocolate can be seen daily at 9 AM in my toilet.

7.0★/10★

In advent of Tesseract’s recent signing to Century Media and a new album coming out soon I think it is high time to review the one release they have out. Some background info before I get started: Tesseract is a British progressive metal band who is know for there non asshole style of prog. They don’t go out and put a solo in your face like Dreamtheater.

So the nitty gritty.

Tesseract starts the Demo with a song called Concealing Fate Pt. 1 which is a great song. Starting off with their signature clean delayed guitar riffs soon to transition in to the actual heavy guitar section of the song. I really don’t want to say anymore about it but its a solid prog. metal song that actually takes influence from other genres like death metal and a little hardcore.

Deception (Pt. 2) is released on a Kerrang! bonus CD which I have and it takes up the rope where Pt. 1 leaves it, the exact same riff. Pt. 2 is as strong as Pt. 1 but has a different tone to it.

The next two are not as thrilling to me. April song is about some bitch and is rather ambient except for the bass guitar bumbling in every now and then.

Sunrise is a weird combination of rock and screaming vocals over it. Not the best.

I have to say I can’t wait to see what this band does with Century Media backing them, but I just wish they follow the crowd in England because their song Deception (Pt. 2) is very popular on local music TV in England.

FUCK DREAMTHEATER

8.2★/10★

The ginger is all technical when he reviews, so I’ll give you the “art student” like review piece by piece.

1. Wake Up
An appropriately titled first track to an album, possibly talking about the effects of hallucinogens or how blind humanity is. Ether way, the message is very simple, Wake up wake up, this is no hallucination. Has a very “break” beginning and overall flow which makes it a great headbanging track. So you can be all cool and put your arms out and pretend to be Mitch.

2. Lifted
Obviously a stoner track. Building climax/epic sounding song.
Now prepare to be surprised if you don’t know my philosophy.

3. Smoke
Not a bad intro, but meh deathcore otherwise.

4. Something Invisible
I cannot stand tracks that just jump in with “rawr rawr rawr noise”

5. No Time To Bleed
Same problem as “Something Invisible” but meh anyways.

6. Suffer
meh

7. …And Then She Bled
Would have been better without the voicetrack running in the backround.

8. Wasted
An alcohol based track. Sadly follows the speed>>breakdown>>speed pattern that a lot of deathcore does.

9. Your Creations
meh

10. Genocide
Actually a nice Start Go End short track. Flows nice and sounds nice in my ears. Ah boo. Gets a little -1-ness because the video featured Saw footage. Saw 1 was the only decent Saw movie, kthxbi.

11. Disengage
Good things come to those who wait! Besides “Wake Up” this is the other really notable track on the album. The main riff is one of the most fucking catchy things I’ve heard in a while. Follows more of a typical song pattern as in that it has a kind of chorus chunk, which is to be expected in deathcore to repeat lyrics, which isn’t necessary bad. Run on. Very catchy song nevertheless.

As for this being a “good” album I have to give it a barely passing grade. It follows the mainstream deathcore pattern and setup of songs. Buy “Wake Up”, “Lifted” and “Disengage” off iTunes or download them off Rapidshit, w/e.

http://www.suicidesilence.net

Buy (Amazon)

Painfully Average.

5.2★/10★