Five Finger Death Punch-Got Your Six ©2015 Prospect Park Records
Another good release if you like more modern sounding metal. It's pretty much everything fans of the band have come to expect. The music is on par with previous albums. You get the aggressive angry sound with flashes of melody in places. The band generally display a lot of attitude throughout their music and this album is no exception. The album is not lacking in quantity either. Basically fourteen tracks with a semi hidden track at the end. Good flow, and overall a pretty uniform listen. This is definitely going to go over well with the band's fans, and maybe grab some new fans along the way.
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Haunted By Destiny-Aria For An Angel ©2015 Doolittle Group
Somewhere between Unsun and maybe Amaranthe you might find Haunted by Destiny. This is a good record. I am a big fan of female fronted rock, but I also tend to be a bit picky when it comes to vocal styles. I like this vocalist. As mentioned she reminds me of Aya quite a bit. Musically the band to me sounds a bit more mainstream than Unsun thus why I mentioned Amaranthe. It's a good spot to be in musically as this band really is a clone of neither. Their songs are good and overall the album offers a good listen start to finish. If you like it heavier with female vocal work, this one is good!
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Slayer-Repentless ©2015 Nuclear Blast Records
First album since the passing of Jeff Hanneman that now features Gary Holt on guitars. Still sounds like a Slayer record, but if you really listen you can hear the subtle differences with Holt taking over that slot and adding his influence to the music. The album starts out fairly explosive with speed being the key, but things take a bit of a slowdown as the record progresses. Not that anything this band does could be considered very melodic, but it doesn't get to crazy like the title track tempo-wise. It's a decent record and I'm glad the band pushed on . It may not be up to the early stuff, but still worthy of your time.
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Zierler-ESC ©2015 Vanity Music Group
This album will take some focus to digest. There is quite a bit going on here. Progressive influences, a lot of energy, and not lacking for technical proficency. Upon my first listen, I decided to just absorb and roll with what came and after finishing the album I came to the realization that this is a work of art. It may not appeal to everybody, but it will definitely find its audience. It's hard to really compare Zierler to others out there. Just know, that it has a heavy feel overall with a good dose of atmosphere. Give it a spin or two to fully digest and you will probably figure it out as I did, and come away rewarded!
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Shinedown-Threat To Survival ©2015 Atlantic Records
Seems the fans are a bit restless with this record. The band decided to change their sound a bit apparently, but in my opinion, this is very much a Shinedown record. This took a couple of listens to figure out for me, but at this point, the more I hear it the more I like it. There is a definite mainstream sensibility to this record. The band has done some of this before with other albums. Where things differ a bit one would look to tracks such as 'Cut the Cord' or 'It All Adds Up'. Definitely sounds a little out of the norm for this band, but still has a very cool groove. Give it a listen or two and decide for yourself!
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