Artist: Cult Leader
Album: Nothing For Us Here
Source: http://www.slugmag.com/
Pre-listening Notes: Cult Leader is three quarters of Gaza, who put out an extraordinary album in 2012 called No Absolutes in Human Suffering. That album was brutal and punishing metal that was parts grind, sludge, and hardcore. This new band is all but the vocalist of Gaza, with the bassist moving to vocals and a new bassist coming in to fill his shoes. The Deathwish bio says metal, hardcore, punk and compares them to Converge and Coalesce. Both bands I am fond of.
Initial Reaction: It opens with feedback and distant vocals. I'm assuming this is an intro, as it is only about a minute and a half long. The vocals sound strained and seem to be pissed off about God and there being nothing for us here.
Random Thoughts: Alright, so Flightless Birds kicks in and I can see the comparisons to Coalesce, it is sort of an extension of Gaza, but still different. It's got sludgy parts, faster almost blasty parts, and the vocals are very Sean Ingramish. It reminds me a lot of Premonitions of War, as well, which makes sense because they were heavily influenced by Coalesce. The contrasting more screamy vocals that accompany the end part with the growls of the main vocalist are pretty cool. The next song, Mongrel, kicks in with the more screamy vocals over a guitar riff, reminds me a little of Trap Them, then the bass and drums kick in. The songs all seem to be of the shorter variety, in the two to three minute range. The fourth song, Indoctrinator's Deathbed is the best, so far. The closing track, comes in at six minutes long, slows things down considerably.
Final Reaction: This is something I would have eaten up in the late 90's, early 2000's. Similarly to Gaza, there are definite comparisons to the bands that blended metal and hardcore in ways that I loved a lot back in those days. However, there is just something missing from this that would send me into the realm of "gotta buy this, gotta see them, gotta buy merch". To the best of my knowledge, very few bands are playing this style these days. It's got a lot of parts that I like and I'd be interested to see where they go next. While this may have just fallen a little short of what I was hoping for, I could see a few tweaks getting this to the point of something I would get all excited for.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
Album: Nothing For Us Here
Source: http://www.slugmag.com/
Pre-listening Notes: Cult Leader is three quarters of Gaza, who put out an extraordinary album in 2012 called No Absolutes in Human Suffering. That album was brutal and punishing metal that was parts grind, sludge, and hardcore. This new band is all but the vocalist of Gaza, with the bassist moving to vocals and a new bassist coming in to fill his shoes. The Deathwish bio says metal, hardcore, punk and compares them to Converge and Coalesce. Both bands I am fond of.
Initial Reaction: It opens with feedback and distant vocals. I'm assuming this is an intro, as it is only about a minute and a half long. The vocals sound strained and seem to be pissed off about God and there being nothing for us here.
Random Thoughts: Alright, so Flightless Birds kicks in and I can see the comparisons to Coalesce, it is sort of an extension of Gaza, but still different. It's got sludgy parts, faster almost blasty parts, and the vocals are very Sean Ingramish. It reminds me a lot of Premonitions of War, as well, which makes sense because they were heavily influenced by Coalesce. The contrasting more screamy vocals that accompany the end part with the growls of the main vocalist are pretty cool. The next song, Mongrel, kicks in with the more screamy vocals over a guitar riff, reminds me a little of Trap Them, then the bass and drums kick in. The songs all seem to be of the shorter variety, in the two to three minute range. The fourth song, Indoctrinator's Deathbed is the best, so far. The closing track, comes in at six minutes long, slows things down considerably.
Final Reaction: This is something I would have eaten up in the late 90's, early 2000's. Similarly to Gaza, there are definite comparisons to the bands that blended metal and hardcore in ways that I loved a lot back in those days. However, there is just something missing from this that would send me into the realm of "gotta buy this, gotta see them, gotta buy merch". To the best of my knowledge, very few bands are playing this style these days. It's got a lot of parts that I like and I'd be interested to see where they go next. While this may have just fallen a little short of what I was hoping for, I could see a few tweaks getting this to the point of something I would get all excited for.
Final Grade: 7.0/10
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