NATHAN ANDREW

Artist: Disfiguring The Goddess

Album: Sleeper [EP]

Year Released: April 24, 2012

Genre: Brutal Death Metal/Symphonic Death Metal

Sounds like: Devourment | Meshuggah | Defeated Sanity

Cameron Argon, or some may know him as Big Chocolate has been creating music from Death Metal to Dubstep for quite some years now. Disfiguring The Goddess is a Death Metal project that Cameron has had for about 5 or more years. DTG is solely him making extreme metal music that he produces, writes, mixes, masters & records. I first got into DTG when I was in my senior year of high school, when one of my friends Angel Vasquez had one of his EP’s, Disfiguring The Goddess, in his iTunes collection. The production in my opinion was far from extravagant & really needed to be mastered better. But from the quality of the EP, the songwriting for DTG was exactly what I was looking for, just pure heavy music. DTG’s album Circle Of Nine was released last year & had the same quality as his self-titled EP, which was really disappointing & to be honest, I never gave the album a chance or a straight through listen. But a year has gone by & DTG has just released Sleeper EP a month ago. Now time for an EP review.

Sleeper

To my surprise the production quality is a bit more clear than their previous releases. Although the quality is still almost unbearable to listen to, I feel that the songwriting for the tracks are far more intelligent & my thirst for quality somehow diminishes. Cameron’s vocals are not as gutural but definitely give off a sense of brutality that their previous releases were missing. Even the electronics/synths/glitches make the song more enjoyable instead of breaking the point of the track.

Queen Kingdom

One of my favorite tracks on the EP. If you are a fan of off-time song structures or love Meshuggah, you will definitely get into this track. Vocals are disgustingly heavy & songwriting is at its best. Verses relapse over one another & blend throughout the track. Although the vocals are great somehow the mixing of the vocals don’t attract me with some of the growls being way too low.

Daughter Of Depths

The track has its moments, especially with the palm-muting breakdowns that give an utterly huge amount of tone. But Daughter Of Depths seems to lose my interest considering that the songwriting can be drawn back to the previous tracks. Things can get dull & uncreative as the song progresses. I do have to give compliments to Cameron with the electronics, that are a lot more enjoyable to listen to this time around.

Lady Epicenter

Epicenter brings back the flow of the EP with huge guitars & an awesome piano/electronic passage that blends in with the instrumentation at the beginning of the track. The track almost reminds me of Born Of Osiris with the electronics & the instrumentation. Which is absolutely not a bad thing because it gives me more of an open view on how DTG looks at songwriting.

Vines Of Aftermath

All I can say about this track is that I expected more after the previous song. Vocals seem to get more & more intense but there’s nothing much going on other than that. Electronics & instrumentation feel a little bland for the lack of experimentation. Production quality seems to bother me even more. I don’t know if that’s the way Cameron intends for listeners to hear his songs but I would definitely like to hear the instrumentation a lot less muffled than what I’ve been hearing.

Mountain

I do have to say that Sleeper has definitely showed that DTG can create some very heavy, hard-hitting Death Metal. Mountain has all of the elements from previous tracks but doesn’t repeat the same structure or make me feel like skipping. I love Meshuggah, & passages from this EP share the same energy as their material but then again production on this EP keeps me from enjoying the music as I do with Meshuggah.

Ocean Tomb

To say that this track is brutal, is an absolute understate. I had to listen to the track again & again because of the songwriting. It feels so math with odd time signatures, disgustingly huge with the chugs & vocals that sear my ears. It was a nice way to end Sleeper with this track because of the way it just blasts in your face throughout the entire song. I wish EP’s would end with the same amount of energy as Ocean Tomb does.

Sleeper EP has a lot going for it. I felt that Cameron took his time on this EP & the songwriting was a lot more enjoyable this time around. I was really turned off by the production quality & how some of the instrumentation is almost unintelligible to listen to. It could be just the way Cameron likes his music but to me it really hindered the possibility of me enjoying this thing a lot more. If DTG had just as much quality as his solo Dubstep project, Big Chocolate than I would have been really stoked on Sleeper. I can best describe Sleeper EP as bitter but sweet. I hope that this EP is just a teaser to an album later on this year so that I can hear more material. Considering that the EP only lasts 21 minutes, & with that said…

2/5

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- N/A

Artist: I, Omega

Album: The Ravenous [EP]

Year Released: May 15th, 2012

Genre: Progressive Metalcore

Sounds like:

Between The Buried & Me | Protest The Hero | I Am Abomination

I, Omega is a Los Angeles based Progressive Metalcore quintet band. Today marks the release of their official EP, The Ravenous on Bullet Tooth Records. I know just a little there is to know about this band, the only knowledge was that they had been following me on Twitter for quite a while. So I had the time to check out The Ravenous & give an honest review on their first release in their Bullet Tooth catalog. A lot of the material reflect on their possible influences like Protest The Hero & Between The Buried & Me. So much that they can be too much like their influences & listeners can be either pulled away or attracted to their material.

Butchers

The first thing that came to mind when hearing the beginning of the track was the heavily influences from Protest The Hero & Between The Buried & Me. The track is interesting enough to say the least from instrumentation to the Protest The Hero vocals that create an interesting view on this type of Metalcore. Riffs seem to come off easily enough at such a pace that it it’s not offsetting. The 2 minutes that smother the track leaves me asking for more of the same high energy musicianship.

Cannibals

Melodic syncopation is the name of the game on Cannibals that burst from the beginning of the track. There is so much going on in the track but I feel that there is something missing that I think would keep me more interested as the track flows on. Things really pick up the pace with keeping my attention when the 2:30 mark comes in with a melodic passage which any Protest The Hero fan can be happy with.

Heretics

This track has one of the best guitar instrumentals on the EP so far as I’ve been listening. Such a blend of harmonies from the leads are so captivating especially with the rhythm of the pulsating open/chugs from the second guitar. Having all these elements syncopated together is just… Epic. The chorus on this thing is just so catchy but sometimes I get sort of lost when the verse after the intro & chorus hits but everything else is just spot on. All I can say is… Bravo.

Martyrs

The intro is interesting enough with an almost Post-Hardcore passage that has everything going for it including the verse change that tries to spark up the less generic breakdown. Martyrs song structure is simple enough yet so unfamiliar. Martyrs seems to lose its touch about 40% of its time but the best part about The Ravenous EP is that the instrumentation delivers point blank & Martyrs is no exception.

The Ravenous

After listening to the track I sort of lose my interest for the EP because I feel like I just listened to a track almost similar to the rest of the EP. When bands put the progressive term in their genre, they should continue to push their songwriting to different areas in all of their songs especially the previous songs of The Ravenous EP. I was really disappointed in the track. I think I may have found the filler for The Ravenous EP.

The Ravenous EP is a good EP. There are things on this EP that keep it from breaking boundaries in Progressive Metalcore. One particular reason is that the material is almost too reminiscent of bands such as Protest The Hero (In which vocals sound strikingly similar to their vocalist). For many people who are jazzing this EP because of the similiarity to Protest The Hero is okay but in my opinion it is what makes the songwriting dull. I would like to see them draw their own influences of songwriting from different regions of I, Omega’s sound. Instrumentation is what’s going on for The Ravenous. Some of the tracks had me really interested while others seem to drown in & out of my subconciousness. I would be more than interested in seeing them live if they happen to play shows closer in the Orange County & with that said…

2.5/5

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-N/A

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Thug.

Artist: Night Verses

Album: Out Of The Sky [EP]

Released: May 15th, 2012

Genre: Post-Hardcore

Today is May 15th, 2012 & I just found out about this EP about 20 minutes ago. The Out Of The Sky is a FREE EP download for the upcoming band Night Verses. Douglas Robinson (Ex-The Sleeping vocalist) has been hard at work with his new project for a while & from their Facebook is barely about to embark on getting into the business of shows in exactly 10 days. Night Verses has had some promotion help for the EP by one of the leading indie music magazines, AP Magazine. With their help, Night Verses apparently have had download traffic problems since the release this morning & the site “officially” crashed as of this afternoon. So with that being said I will give this EP my full attention as I review Out Of The Sky with hopefully, high intentions.

From The Shadows Where I’m Low

I was really impressed with the production quality from the interesting guitar notes that reminisce Dance Gavin Dance’s experimental approach on songs. The chorus’ are nonetheless catchy with vocals that don’t completely drown out the whole part of chorus’. Integration of songwriting from very upbeat to subtle clean musicianship. The track almost hits 5 & a half minutes but doesn’t necessarily mean that the song will diminish its texture when it finishes.

To The Ends Of The Earth

Is a very groovy song. The only problem with the track is that vocals on the track are the screaming backing vocals. The whiny yet abrasive vocals help the track but in my opinion need to be heard a little bit more. The experimental instrumentation that definitely give off the DGD vibe the song loses it grasp around the 2-3 minute marker. The interesting part about the EP so far is that the chorus’ aren’t expected & are never just the same bar chords that we often hear in so many Post-Hardcore bands.

Be Happy With Yourself, I’m Staying Here In Hell

Be Happy is my favorite track on the EP. Douglas’ vocals on the chorus are prime & the way the band blasts from soft dark verses into searing chorus’ just capture my attention with much enthusiasm. Possibly the darkest song on the EP with a more optimistic feeling to the lyrics. I found myself repeating the song as soon as the song finishes.

I’ve Lost My Way Back Down

This is the last track on the EP & the most hard-hitting track. If you’re looking for a more heavy & musically driven song, then my friend I suggest that you give it a listen. I almost forgot to mention how sensual the bass tone & parts that the EP gives off, especially when the sound from all the music echoes down & all that is given are the tone of the bass & guitar that give off a great aroma. The ending of the song takes a turn for the whole EP with HUGE drums, guitar & screaming vocals. Compliments are in order after the ending.

Out Of The Sky EP has its moments. Those moments are driven with unique chorus’, humming/interesting guitar leads as well as bass leads. Although vocals are dull at moments & instrumentation follows with the same vibe but eventually break out & get into your face. Night Verses have delivered a very solid EP that can be laced with influences of later material from Armor For Sleep to Dance Gavin Dance. Post-Hardcore has changed these years & are ultimately driven with electronics/synthesizers & breakdowns that have dulled the genre in so many ways. But I feel that Night Verses has the point with their specific genre to try to branch from different areas & for that I embrace the idea with enthusiasm.

3.5/5

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