Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

If you like a little blood in your beer, then Skeltonwitch's blend of death and thrash ("dash"?) metal is prolly up your alley.Athenian (OH not GA) metallers Skeletonwitch are best known - to me at least - for having one of the coolest album covers of late (2007's Beyond The Permafrost) back when John Baizley's Mucha-meets-Lovecraft style was all the rage. While I was hugely drawn to the artwork (I'm a huge Alphonse Mucha fan), I knew nothing about the band until now. Some call them a thrash band, others death metal, but I think they're somewhere in between.

Either way, their sound on Forever Abomination [Prosthetic Records] is classic thrash, in terms of short, breakneck paced tunes while the lyrical themes and Chance Garnette's singing style (seemingly the lovechild of Cookie Monster and Cobra Commander) are straight out of the death metal playbook. If you ask me, the bands with the most potential in metal these days find a niche to dominate, old or new. With the old, there's a pre-established pantheon of bands with loyal followings to consider, while a new niche sound takes a while to cultivate. Skeletonwitch does a fine job with the latter, cuz they know what sort of sound they do well with and they make it happen; managing to pack a whole [old] Metallica song's worth of grit and energy into less than 3 minutes, and I say good on ya, SK.

The Bottom Line: If you like a little blood in your beer, you're probably the demographic for a band like Skeletonwitch. I get the feeling this band puts on a helluva live show, and I hope to get to see 'em one day soon.

Standout Tracks: To be honest, they all kinda sound the same. So all...or none of them?

- Genghis cranks this sort of music at work - especially when he's coding on a deadline...

Eagleheart - Dreamtherapy

Try to ignore the cheesy 80s cover/logo on this CD jacket, and get yourself ready for some killer, Bohemian power metal.It's funny how there always seems to be a place for certain types of bands. Take the Czech power metal band, Eagleheart. You might be tempted at first to dismiss their latest effort, Dreamtherapy [Scarlett Records], except that behind every sparkly synth chord, screaming chorus, neoclassical guitar solo and thundering double bass, there is an earnestness that can't be ignored.  These guys love what they do and it shows.  

The influence of bands like Stratovarius (whose song Eagleheart was no doubt the inspiration for this band) and Helloween (erstwhile guitarist Roland Grapow actually produced this album) are obvious, but there are times when you can even hear a little of Symphony X's Olympian riffage even if the band never quite steps into prog territory.

The Bottom Line: Yeah, I know: "Do we really need more power metal in the world? It's not like there's a dearth of power metal bands putting out new product every year".  But if you dig the likes of Stratovarius (and who knows where that will end up with Jörg recently announcing his departure, leaving just Kotipelto and Johansson as the oldest members), Edguy, Helloween, and others, Eagleheart is ready and willing to take up the torch for power metal. To je dobré!

Standout Tracks: Taste My Pain, Creator Of Time, Dreamtherapy, Burned By The Sun

- Genghis just knows Ragman is gonna flip for this band...

East Of The Wall - The Apologist

If you guys are down with some chunky, psychedelic tunes, this is a great band to groove to.Following in the recent (and hopefully growing) trend of technical bands that have a strong sense of melody, East Of The Wall, is a New Jersey band made up of a lot of different influences that manages to make something greater than just the sum of its parts. Their latest CD, The Apologist [Translation Loss Records], is a great example of what the next generation of progmetal can do.

Now to be clear, the metal part of their progmetal categorization is a little misleading. They're really more like a heavy The Mars Volta with less of an ethnic feel, or maybe a heavy, modern, American version of Pink Floyd. So while there's less "balls and chunk"tm to their overall sound as far as metal is concerned, the familiar dynamics, driving grooves, and instrumental exchanges are there in spades. Incidentally, this is one of those bands where the constituent members seem to be constantly involved in playing and writing music - if not in this band, then in one of the many side projects they're all involved with (like the guys in Dream Theater or Symphony X).  So you can't help but get the idea that their songwriting muscles get regular exercise, leading one to think that's a major component of the better musicians'/bands' success in the field.

Standout Tracks: The Apologist, False Build, Underachiever

The Bottom Line: Call 'em progressive stoner metal, melodic technical metal, or whatever, but either way you slice it, East Of The Wall is a band replete with great ideas and talent. Fans of this niche sub-genre should run out and get this album ricky tick.

- Genghis loves to groove and loves crazy talented musicians...

Animals As Leaders - Weightless

Think Shawn Lane playing with The Dixie Dregs and you may start to appreciate the sweet progmetal coming out of this outfit.If you're a fan of the podcast, you're probably aware of my penchant for instrumental guitar in its myriad forms. From Andy McKee to Steve Vai, I'm just a sucker for great music that stands on its own without the need for vocals or a songwriter's esoteric, lyrical musings. I also have the tendency to be drawn to the more technical stuff like Watchtower, Cynic or Spastic Ink. The strange thing is that while I am drawn to the promise of ultimate musical satisfaction (incredible talent coupled with beautiful melodicism), the two rarely go hand in hand (cough*Meshuggah*cough). This is where Animals As Leaders (AAL) comes in.

I'd only recently heard about the prodigious talent of guitarist Tosin Abasi when Ragman suggested I review AAL's latest CD, Weightless [Prosthetic Records], and what a revelation this group is. Call them instrumental progressive metal, djent, or whatever, but their music is as melodic as it is complex and that's what a lot of the so-called technical metal bands seem to forget; it's not about sheer technicality for the sake of it - you have to actually make listenable music as well. Say what you will about pop music, but the reason it's popular is the pleasing harmony of melodies that stick in your head long after those vacuous songsters have aged and gotten real jobs like the rest of us. The heart of the band is Tosin's incredible guitar playing. Armed with his custom made 8-string guitars, the self-taught, Washington, DC native is a bonafide monster with many notable influences, and there's a distinct (and welcome) Shawn Lane flavor to this latest smorgasbord of instrumental complexity. Let's hope there's more to come from this band. I'm especially looking forward to a forthcoming live DVD shot in Atlanta last July.

The Bottom Line: If you're into a heavy version of The Dixie Dregs meets Shawn Lane, you might want to check out Weightless. There's some controversy surrounding the legitimacy of the "djent" subgenre, but if the name applies to bands that sound like Animals As Leaders, I'm all for it!

Standout Tracks: Isolated Incidents, Cylindrical Sea

- Genghis isn't even looking in his guitar's direction, oh no...

Black Stone Cherry - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

Good ol' fashioned Southern rock you can't pass up. Think Alice In Chains by way of Kentucky.Whew, that's a long title to type. Black Stone Cherry's debut album was a nice breath of fresh air in 2006. And their latest effort deftly avoids the label of being a flash in the pan with more of what they've become known for; Southern hard rock that pays homage to its musical influences while still forging an identity of its own with big riffs, tasteful guitar work, and good old-fashioned charisma.

BSC's third studio album Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea rocks hard, coming off like Alice In Chains by way of Kentucky. Though, like other new bands that manage to avoid being little more than soundalikes, the boys in BSC do a great job of wearing their influences on their sleeves rather than wearing them as disguises.  So despite the obvious comparisons to bands from The Black Crowes all the way to Lynyrd Skynyrd, they've done a fine job of carving out their own unique sound over the course of their career.

Mind you it's not just all about rocking the whole way through. Tracks like Won't Let Go and In My Blood provide some dynamics with more melodic - almost ballady - respites in one of the most enjoyable albums in a long time.  And a good deal of that goes to the rich vocals of Chris Robertson, who is surely what Southern Comfort would sound like if a bottle could talk.

The Bottom Line: There are albums you listen to when you want to be impressed by this rock and roll music we all like (Van Halen, Dream Theater, et al); music that maybe makes you feel like a bit of a slacker when you hear just how amazing a person can become with dedication and practice. But then there are the albums you listen to for the pure enjoyment of the genre; great music that makes you grin from ear to ear, and sounds like it wants to buy you a beer. That's Black Stone Cherry.

- Genghis has got two zig-zags and you know he'll share...