The shortest month of the year was not short on quality releases. There was a lot of diversity in genres, and also in geography. The top five bands this month hail from North America, Europe and Asia. Here are my choices for the best metal CDs released in February, 2007.
Conqueror is generally slow paced and even mellow at times, but still has moments of aggression. It combines beauty and angst, darkness and light, yin and yang into an album with a lot of emotional force. The songs have a doom metal vibe with slow, down tuned guitars. You'll also hear influences from the '90s shoegaze movement and some modern experimental metal and drone flourishes incorporated into the music as well.
Read the complete Jesu review.
The sound of March Of The Parasite is different than you might expect from this lineup. Instead of the standard Swedish melodic death you'll hear a dose of old school death metal mixed with grind and some modern influences. The songs can be crushing, blast beat filled attacks, but Laethora also adds plenty of really clever riffs and catchy solos to their angry barrage. They also slow it down from time to time for a little change of pace before plunging back into destruction mode.
Read the complete Laethora review.
Theogonia is dark and diverse. It has harsh and biting riffs contrasted with a layer of gothic atmosphere. They take successful elements from their previous albums and blend them together to make a new creation. The songs range from mid tempo evil dirges to high speed frenzied blasphemy. They add things like choir parts and traditional Greek instruments for even more diversity.
Read the complete Rotting Christ review.
Mnemic combines modern metal that's technical and industrial with old school grooves and melodies. The band's self labeled "fusion future metal" has elements of groups like Meshuggah, Soilwork and Fear Factory along with their own unique spin. The songs are technically complex and intense with very catchy choruses and hooks.
Read the complete Mnemic review.
Dir en grey's sound is ever evolving, and
The Marrow Of A Bone is no exception. It's diverse, ranging from intense metal with shredding guitars and tons of breakdowns to slower, almost psychedelic ballads. I like this album a little better than last year's
Withering To Death. The harder edged songs are really brutal, but no matter how aggressive the style, Dir en grey still has a lot of really catchy riffs and hooks.
Read the complete Dir en grey review.
