Alright, time for more muzak.
March 23rd - Praxis - Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) - Saw that Buckethead was on this, and it was five bucks on iTunes, and I had a gift card, so you can be sure as shit that I bought this. And I’m really glad I did. This album combines a lot of things into one album,most notably a fusion of funk and metal (It might be the origin of funk metal, but I can’t be sure). Buckethead’s guitar is, of course, fucking nuts, and the bass here is really great. The organ is also a great touch. This is just a really funky, eclectic and fun album. It gets me bobbing my head while also being blown away with the occasional moments of heaviness. This is definitely gonna be played pretty frequently, I can tell. 9.0/10.
March 24th - Maglor - Call of the Forest - One thing I’ve noticed in my experience with metal: If you include orchestral elements in your metal music, make sure it’s A) actual instrumentation, or B) is synthesized well enough to the point that it actually sounds like the instrument it’s supposed to be, without sounding too perfect as to seem robotic. That’s really the main problem with this album. When the strings come in, it works great, and especially when the choral segments appear (though I’m pretty sure those are real). But when the flute or bagpipes(?) come in, it sounds like the most indifferent and expressionless musician that’s ever picked up an instrument. If it wasn’t for this, this would be a pretty good (though not great) black metal album. Outside of my issue with the instrumentation, I do wish the vocals had a little more backbone (though the vocals near the end of the final track are on fucking point), but that’s not that huge an issue. 7.4/10.
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