Noxious-Timbre

Self-produced
2009

Noxious hail from South Carolina and formed back in 2004. From looking at the cover I was expecting prog-metal or prog-rock of some sort. There are a few touches or progressive sprinkled throughout. However this album took me back to about 1993 or 94. The grunge influence is heavy on the entire disc. The obvious sources are and Alice in chains and Soundgarden. However this isn't the thick, heavy side of grunge. Instead it is the gentler side with slow passages, subtle build-ups and vocals that gradually grow in intensity. There are some light touches of Zeppelin and say late 70's Rush as well. Noxious manage to keep a firm grip on everything that is going on. They never give away too much too soon as they have a fair knack sustaining some energy throughout the entire song. The biggest drawback for me was simply that the majority of the songs sounded very similar. The pace was largely the same, the guitar sound was repeated many times over and before the album was done I was just hoping they would do something different. Anything different would have helped the severe lack of variety that set in about half-way into the disc. If you like this style then the lack of variety may not bother you, but I found my enthusiasm sinking towards the end of "Timbre".

http://www.myspace.com/noxioussc

Sepultura-A-Lex

SPV
2009



Twenty-five years into the game and Sepultura are still forging ahead. During that time span they have certainly gone through their share of line-up changes. They have also gone through numerous musical approaches with mostly positive results. The new release is based around “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess. That's the novel, not Stanley Kubrick’s film). The album consists of 18 songs with a whopping running time of over 60 minutes. Each song is a only couple of minutes long. In many ways the songs feel more like chapters and the structure is often loose at best. They reached out and pulled in elements of thrash, hardcore and a few brief tribal type rhythms. So basically it's comprised of styles that they have done in the past. Yet the arrangements are ferocious and focused enough to really have an impact. Despite the sometimes rough feel, "A-Lex" undoubtedly works as a whole. There is much to take in due to the amount of songs and different styles, but all of the parts are important. They tend to sacrifice melodies for aggression and that does limit them. Still they certainly keep everything rolling along except for a few slightly dull moments towards the middle of the album. Cavalera-less Sepultura may be, but that doesn't take aways from the fact that this album still caries on the dark, heavy and intriguing style of music that this band has come to be known for.