Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light

Fates Warning is a band that's been around for lots of years. They've released great albums in the past and, thankfully, after a long silence they've released Darkness in a Different Light, demonstrating again that they're an excellent progressive metal.

The best thing in the album is that every song is memorable. The riffs are dark and heavy but perfectly balanced with clean melodic guitar lines. Acoustic guitars are used wisely. Also, Fates Warning manages to create progressive metal that is concise and to the point. Even the fourteen minute closing track feels like it has been well trimmed. 

The album opens with One Thousand Fires, hands down one of the highlights of an incredibly solid album. Other, personal, highlights include Into the Black and the epic Yet It Moves. But every song here is excellent.

I can't say that it's their best album. I don't want to get into that kind of argument but I'll certainly say that this is my favourite Fates Warning album by a mile. An outstanding metal album that I can't get enough of.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Covenant - Leaving Babylon (2013)

Originating from Sweden, Covenant have been around since the early 90s. Leaving Babylon is their eighth album and despite its ups and downs there's certainly a lot to like here.

The album opens with the title track Leaving Babylon, which is a repetitive and hypnotic song. It's a decent song that walks you into the album and acts as an intro.

The second track, Prime Movers, leaves the introduction behind and suddenly the album comes to live. From then on, the album has its ups and downs but generally delivers excellent beats and melodies. 

Prime Movers and Four Our Time are great examples of simple, hypnotic and fascinating future-pop. There's a little harshness to the beats but a very gentle and mellow side to the music that creates a perfect balance to the songs. 

But the two standout songs of the album are Ignorance and Bliss and Last Dance. Both of them are really powerful songs that manage to combine classic and retro synth sounds with very solid future-pop beats. Both tracks are perfectly crafted and memorable; the kind of song that I can't get enough of and I know I'll be coming back for again and again.

Overall, this is a very uneven album with some decent tracks, some good tracks and some of the best electronic music this year.

Rating: Good Vibrations

Alter Bridge - Fortress (2013)

Fortress is darker and heavier than their previous efforts but still remains true to the Alter Bridge sound. The band has released good albums before and, although I'm sure some will not agree, this time they've nailed a perfect album. 

There isn't much to say about it. This is a perfect hard rock, heavy metal album. Powerful riffs, memorable choruses, excellent guitar solos and outstanding vocals that show a big and emotive range. The songs tap into the classic style of the genre whilst still sounding contemporary and new. In many ways it feels like the band knew they had nothing else to prove and couldn't care less about conforming to musical styles; alternative rock, hard rock, metal, whatever!

The only criticism (if that) is that the album is too consistently good and no songs stand out. In fact, Cry of Achilles is such an incredible song that nothing else tops it. The album doesn't get better but it doesn't get worse either. Every single song here is a killer. My highlights would include, Cry of Achilles, Addicted to Pain (see the video below), Calm the Fire, Cry a River and Fortress.

This is an album that I can't stop listening to and I know I'll come back to again and again; an absolute delight.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Dream Theater - Dream Theater (2013)

Dream Theater are making a statement with the new album. This is a new beginning. After Mike Portnoy's departure, this is their second album with guitarist John Petrucci as a producer and the band are keen to demonstrate they're moving forward.

Overall the songs are more mid-tempo and melodic. No songs really stand out (though The Enemy Inside - see the video below - has some great riffs), in that sense the album is really cohesive and flows well. I should note the last song in the album though, a twenty minute plus song that is absolutely beautiful and stunning.

The musicianship is top notch as you would expect from the band and it's great to see that new drummer Mangini has really settled well into the band. He sounds great. Petrucci's production is flawless, the sound is clean and it's really well mastered with every instrument clear in the mix.

Overall, this is an incredibly solid album in an already outstanding discography. 

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Placebo - Loud Like Love (2013)

Placebo's seventh album will probably not make new fans and may disappoint some old fans but the album is refreshingly good, updating the band's sound, heading into a new direction, whilst remaining true to Placebo. The band has matured, it has softened but there's plenty to like here.

Album opener Loud Like Love is classic Placebo and it's a brilliant and catchy song. Too Many Friends is a beautiful piece of pop-rock music. Other songs worth mentioning are A Million Little Pieces, Begin the End and album closing Bosco. But the best song in the album must be Hold on to Me. Stuck towards the middle of the album, it shows the more introspective and mellow sound of the band and it's a resounding success; beautiful and uplifting. 

Overall, this is a solid effort from Placebo. Some songs offer more of the same and the feeling that you've heard this before but better creeps in. It must be said though that the album have no fillers. No song is a waste. I can't see myself fast forwarding any track, not now and not in the future.

Best of all though, the songs mentioned above are real standouts and point to a new direction; a band that is at its best when it gets introspective with a more mature, mellow, gentle and uplifting sound.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Ministry - From Beer to Eternity (2013)

Ministry are back again. The band seems to have more false endings than Peter Jackson's The Return of the King, but with an album like this, you will hear no complaint for me. From Beer to Eternity is quite simply the most varied album Jourgensen has put together under the Ministry name and it's superb.

The opening track Hail to His Majesty (Peasants) paves the way for what's to come. This is a more experimental Ministry that's not afraid to mix lots of elements in one song. Overall the album has a dirty sound, with dark sleaze grooves, electronica, incursions into reggae/dub and the pounding guitars that have become their trademark. 

It's hard to pick songs as the songs are very varied and this is an incredibly solid album. My personal favourites are, the Filth Pig era sounding Permawar, the angry brutal Fairly Unbalanced (a kick in the balls directed to Fox News) with The Horror as a dub-like epilogue, the surprising Lesson Unlearned and the two epics at the end (Thanx But No Thanx and Change of Luck) which make use of reggae and middle eastern sounds. 

Mike Scaccia, a long time guitarist for Ministry and according to Jourgensen the driving force behind the sessions that became this album, died three days after the recording sessions were done. It was left to Jourgensen to cobble the sessions together into a presentable form. I have to say that Mike Scaccia would be proud, this is Ministry at its best, unexpected, experimental, hard hitting and dirty.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks (2013)

Trent Reznor decided to resurrect NIN and Hesitation Marks is the result. Some fans may not be pleased by the new direction but it stays true to the NIN sound and at the same time goes in a completely new direction for the band.

The sound is decidedly electronic more than it has ever been since... well, since NIN's first album Pretty Hate Machine. The anger and abrasive heavy guitars are mostly gone here. 

This is NIN at its most dressed down, lean and minimalist. Of course, there's still plenty of complexity in the songs and layers of sounds and beats, but in general this is a very lean and often pop oriented album. Having said that, all the NIN trademarks are still present and the atmosphere is still oppressive.

This is a bold new direction for NIN and Hesitation Marks is an incredibly beautiful album, whether it's the incredibly addictive Copy of A, the dark and heavy beats of Came Back Haunted, the upbeat and poppy sounding Satellite, the album offers plenty of textures and colours, with one great song after the other.

But as usual with NIN, Hesitation Marks is more than a collection of great songs, it's a coherent and cohesive album that is as fascinating as some of the best work Reznor has done across the years.

Rating: Heavy Rotation