KRISIUN
Krisiun rule. No two ways about it. Long-running, unrelenting, consistent in quality and output, the Brazilian death metal act has made their career out of kicking ass all the time, everywhere. They’re back with a new album, dubbed Southern Storm, and, not surprisingly, it’s awesome. We’ll tell them how great they are and they’ll like it.
WOODS OF YPRES
The Canadian black metal outfit don’t rant and rave about all the nasty things they’d like to do to Jesus, preferring to tackle more worldly concerns with their lyrics and image. Their melodic sound may not be the most original in the international metal world, but they’re earnest in what they do and they’re actually willing to admit they’re human beings, so that goes a long way as well.
ICED EARTH
Also cover alums, power metal’s most pretentious act (and that is a claim to fame), Iced Earth, check in with the second installment in what’s presumed to be a trilogy of albums, Something Wicked Part II: The Crucible Of Man. The band having reunited with lauded vocalist Matt Barlow — who will no doubt soon leave the band again because guitarist John Schaffer is impossible to work with and everyone knows it — IE nerds have been waiting for this album since, well, the last one.
ENSLAVED
The legendary Norwegian progressive black metallers — and MM cover veterans! — return with Vertebrae, their first album for Nuclear Blast after jumping ship from Candlelight, and boy, have they ever upped the “prog” content. Working with producer du jour Joe Barresi, the rhythm guitars may be gone from the mix, but the critical acclaim is just starting. Expect big things, starting with this cover feature.
THE HAUNTED
One might expect the Swedish melodic thrashers might slow things down a bit by their sixth full-length album, but The Haunted show little interest in taking things easy on Versus, a record which embodies as much confrontation as the title suggests. Angry as ever, The Haunted’s long evolution continues unabated by time, or anything else, for that matter.