video review: 'ALL POSERS MUST DIE' by SEX MASTER

Well, this was fun. Not sure how many of you are going to be into it, but I'm happy I got to cover it regardless, there's definitely an audience that'd love to hear more of this.

And next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN - stay tuned!

album review: 'all posers must die' by sex master

I feel like I should be giving you all some context for this review - and while there's a part of me that wants to just say 'context is for posers' and move on, I at least have to take you back to last Saturday night, January 6, 2018. It's late, it's absolutely freezing outside, but after a long afternoon and editing, I decide to head out to one of my favourite metal bars, where lo and behold there's a tape release party for the newest project from the local duo Sex Master, released by Craniophagus Parasiticus Records.

Now a few disclaimers here: I know both Matt Black and Struan Robertson, the latter who you might recognize as the drummer from Canadian metal group AMMO - they're cool guys, and while I'd say we're more acquaintances than friends, I see them on a regular basis. I'm also acutely aware that Sex Master is a bit of a tough group to categorize: local cult metal icons and definitely talented enough to earn the acclaim they've received, but for those outside of that cult I can see some finding this a tad ridiculous, or perhaps their appeal best understood in a live setting - fitting because this new project was recorded live. And while both statements are probably true, I also need to stress that I'm still bringing my critical due diligence to bear here - after all, I wouldn't want to disparage the awesome might Sex Master by going easy on them or something. So, with all of that established, what did we get on All Posers Must Die?

video review: 'maximum overload' by dragonforce

And that'll probably end off a streak of records/videos because I'm going to have company this weekend (spoilers: Imogen Heap video might be delayed until next week or Sunday, because I'm exhausted). Still pretty pleased with how it turned out, though.

Well, regardless, it's Imogen Heap and then finally I'll talk about Ariana Grande like all of you have gone on about. Stay tuned!

album review: 'maximum overload' by dragonforce

You won't find many metal bands with a worse reputation within their own genre than DragonForce.

And really, it was inevitable the instant 'Through The Fire And The Flames' popped up as a track on Guitar Hero and DragonForce was vaulted into stardom thanks to a focus on their blazing, gratuitously fast riffs and ludicrously overblown lyrics and sound. Even though conceptually they weren't many steps away from many common topics in traditional power metal and speed metal, they were the ones who got popular and their completely sincere embrace of their material became an easy target for backlash. It didn't help matters that the more one dug into DragonForce, the less substantial and well-written the lyrics were, to the point where the speed and occasionally solid melodic progressions were the only things saving the band from being a borderline parody of itself, especially after less-than-favourable live reviews started coming in. 

Nevertheless, DragonForce continued on with Ultra Beatdown in 2008, which tried to showcase more experimentation and progressive elements and did contain some solid enough songs, but at this point the lyrics were becoming a much more noticeable problem, demonstrating less and less cohesion and elements that were starting to actively repeat themselves. After that, lead singer ZP Theart left in 2010, replaced by Marc Hudson, and they released The Power Within in 2012, which wasn't a bad record by any stretch but the more I listened to it the more I began to think the band was missing their mark. Sure, the fast-paced speed runs were impressive, but DragonForce could write some really solid well-textured melodic grooves at a slower pace, and considering the lyrics of DragonForce were always pretty much interchangeable, I didn't want to see the band become just a gimmick.

In any case, I had no high expectations with their newest album Maximum Overload, featuring new drummer Gee Anzalone after Dave Mackintosh left to pursue progressive rock projects. So what did I get?