Metal and Hip-Hop supergroup Prophets of Rage, featuring members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill has released a new video called “The Ballot Or The Bullet”. Named after Malcolm X’s famous 1964 speech about the voting rights of black Americans, the offers an excerpt of three of the band’s unreleased tracks and its recent single, ‘Heart Afire’. The band is expected to reveal details of a new album, their second, soon. Continue reading
Metal has a problem with nostalgia. As soon as the Slipknot riff that gets the energy going to start the record in opener ‘The Awakening’, everything about The Legacy of Shi (Sharptone) feels like it should have been part of a record made about 20 years ago. An amalgamation of lots of different tricks designed to garner the attention of every 90s teenage metal-head. Pantera’s groove? Check. Machine Head’s attempt at Hip-Hop? Check. An aesthetic based around eighties Shōnen manga? Ticks across the board.
For a band that lists such Nu-Metal luminaries as Rage Against The Machine and Deftones among their influences, Rise Of The Northstar don’t seem to have taken lessons from these acts to heart, lacking the fire of the former and the elegance of the latter. There are elements that aim for a more brooding, menacing atmosphere with down-tuned riffs and vocalist Vithia’s measured delivery. To his credit, he shows ample restraint on moments like ‘Kozo’ where his vocals emit genuine anger and turmoil at well-timed moments in-between these almost demonic voice effects for maximum impact. The chorus, however, is so lumbering and ham-fisted that all subtlety and intrigue goes out the window and it doesn’t feel like the intense battle with one’s inner demons (à la KoRn) that I feel was their original intention. When the vocals aren’t being heavy-handed, they’re just outright mystifying such as in the bizarre rapping throughout the whole album. The delivery somehow switches between the obvious clichés of ‘Nekketsu’ and the stunted awkwardness of ‘Here Comes The Boom’, and it’s hard to figure out which is the more unpleasant.
What this record can boast rather well is a solid production thanks in huge part to Gojira’s Joe Duplantier, and even with this record’s faults the man knows how to make a riff sound good, and there are plenty of them to like. ‘Step By Step’s’ bridge is a groovy, punky little number, ‘This Is Crossover’ is exactly what it says on the tin, and ‘All For One’ is essentially the first Slipknot record condensed into 3 minutes. The title track is arguably the album’s biggest highlight as it finally feels like Rise Of The Northstar are bringing some real weight and bounce that make for a stupidly fun track that could easily get your metal club night moving. The trouble is that it comes far too late to get the party started and could have benefitted from appearing sooner to break up the monotony of earlier tracks.
No subgenre of metal is free of the nostalgia criticism, as musicians and fans alike can often be beholden to the past. The increasing popularity of bands like Cane Hill even proves that there is still demand from sections of the metal community for some Nu-Metal bounce. It boils down to one thing; is The Legacy of Shi fun? While there is a smattering of decent moments scattered across the record, in the end it’s repetitive breakdowns and gang-vocals, grating rapping, and clichéd aesthetic makes it difficult to recommend. Whatever the legacy of Rise Of The Northstar ends up being, I can’t imagine too many will be sticking around to find out.
5.0/10
ROSS JENNER
I’ve written a few times in reviews about the current resurgence of the Nu-Metal sound that was so popular and prevalent in the mid 90’s to early 2000’s. Ultimately the genre became so over saturated and watered down it imploded with only a handful bands surviving and progressing beyond it. Looking to pick up the nu-metal ball again are Arizona’s Dropout Kings who are about to release their debut album Audiodope (Napalm Records).
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Only a few years ago, and on the back of their well-received Zion EP (Sony), Crossfaith were heralded as the next big thing, armed with a formidable live reputation and an electronica/dance heavy brand of metalcore that oozed crossover appeal. Fast forward to 2018 and the Osaka troupe haven’t quite risen to such promised heights, to the extent that a brand new album seems to have almost fallen under the radar to some – not that they have lost any edge, as Ex Machina (UNFD) is not only their most creative release to date, but their strongest since Zion.Continue reading
It’s no surprise given the current political landscape of the world, that our artists, musicians, and other creators are going to be the greatest champions for the people. It’s clear that the systems we have propped ourselves up on for decades such as government, schools, the church, brutal corporations and other institutions have failed us terribly. So, of course, Otep Shamaya and OTEP come back now with a new album to basically put everyone sucking the love out of this world on blast. Hitting ’em where it hurts verbally and bringing the heavy, Kult 45 (Napalm) is just the antidote if you’ve lost your faith about the future. Continue reading
Once in a while, the art that society needs to help it pull through collective dark times comes along right at the precise time. In another life, that album would have been a new album from a reunited Rage Against The Machine, the legendary rap-rock band. However, what we’ve got instead is the début full-length album from Prophets of Rage, the supergroup with members of Rage, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill added in for good measure. After an EP and a slew of singles telegraphing the powder keg of potential greatness to come had dropped, the full meal real deal thing is here. Forget about the quarter of the album already released, and the hype train pulling into the station. Prophets of Rage, may not save the world, but they coming out swinging, making damn sure they will try.Continue reading
When Chester Bennington died on July 20th, it sent a shockwave through the music world. Although there seems to have been a lesser number of deaths in the music world this year compared to last, they have been no less painful. The fact that he died by suicide is tragic, and should not come with any sort of stigma, or lessen his greatness and accomplishments. As a singer, musician, and icon in the rock world, in many ways, he served as the distinctive voice of the millennial generation, in a way few others have.Continue reading
With the release of their début full-length album Grow (Sumerian) in 2015, Californian’s Chon found themselves standing out from a peer group they were arguably unfairly lumped in. Perhaps due to the Sumerian Records ties, but their début saw them linked to the contemporary Tech/Metalcore scene despite their sound being more technical, but smooth jazz with little to no signs of metal whatsoever. If such pigeonholing was unfair back then, on new album Homey (Sumerian), any comparisons to the like would prove practically absurd.Continue reading
It’s a tricky thing growing up and playing music. I don’t mean “former child stars gone bad, next on TMZ”. Most bands that hit the mainstream have something catchy, visceral, and often a magic quality about their talent. The problem is that once you’ve gotten a taste of that hot hot spotlight, usually a band or artist ends up uncompromising to stay in front of it. The few that don’t ever sell out, fight an uphill battle the rest of their careers. This is the fight Linkin Park have been in since about album three, and now they are in it again on album seven in almost 20 years, One More Light (Warner Bros.)Continue reading
If you were lucky enough to catch Ho99o9 (pronounced ‘Horror’ if you’re looking at that and wondering where to start) recently on tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan or on the festival scene then you know that this is a group who are equal parts unpredictable and excellent. Excellent because whether you’d heard any of their music before or not there is absolutely no doubting that you were walking around with a “What the fuck was that!?” look plastered on your face in the immediate aftermath.Continue reading