SHORT BUT SWEET: FRAMEWORK — “WHERE WE DIVIDE”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Nov 012017
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new EP by Framework from New Jersey and New York.)

Melodic death metal is a genre that’s arguably an endangered species as a stand-alone style. It started as something very distinct and apart from the rest of metal for sure, and some of the greatest metal ever made was recorded by bands operating under that label and with those stylistic leanings. However, I think it can be argued that the style has basically been devoured by the rest of metal.

More extreme bands began incorporating more melody into their music, and the melodic death bands who took notice of this started incorporating more extreme elements into their own music. This musical adaptation that’s happened, especially in the last ten years, make it worth asking if we should even be using the genre descriptor any more.

I reviewed Framework’s excellent record A World Distorted here at NCS previously, an impressive debut that incorporated all the best aspects of ’90‘s/early 2000s heavier melodic death metal in the spirit of At The Gates, Soilwork, Nightrage, etc. Framework have been underground for a good while since then, now three years removed from A World Distorted. And now I understand why, as the band have been busy re-tooling their sound, making that adaptation I spoke of earlier. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TENGGER CAVALRY, AETHERIAN, OUTER HEAVEN, DYPHTÊ, FRAMEWORK, DREAMSHIFT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Oct 162017
 

 

You may have noticed that my posts have been scarce over the last few days — nothing at all over the weekend (Andy’s Best of British kept us from going dark altogether) and only one post on Friday and one on Thursday. The reason is that last Thursday my employer hosted its annual retreat, which was in Montana this year.

As usual, it has a very good time. But between the travel, the work-related meetings, the staying up late while getting hammered with co-workers, and the watching of some playoff baseball, NCS temporarily fell far down the ladder of my life. I wasn’t even been able to keep up with our e-mail traffic or my usual daily searching through statuses of friends, bands, and labels on Facebook.

Needless to say, I’m way behind. So what I’m doing here is collecting some music I actually had planned to post last Thursday, but ran out of time before leaving Seattle — though I have added two more songs I became aware of since then. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: FRAMEWORK AND FOREVER DAWN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jan 262014
 

I went to an annual party last night with co-workers, friends of theirs, and friends of mine. It’s a celebration of the life of Robert Burns on his birthday. He would be 255 years old if he were still around. I feel 255 years old this morning. I blame the amber bead.

As has become traditional, this morning I’m going to a “hangover-cure, southern-fried” feedbag at a friend’s house, attended by whoever else besides me survived last night’s blowout. There will be hair of the dog, in addition to a mess of high-calorie comfort food, none of which will cure my hangover — but misery loves company.

All of this is by way of excusing the fact that I don’t have a big mess of comfort metal to serve you today. But I hate to let a day go by without something new, and thanks to my NCS comrades, I have two somethings to throw up here on the site before I go ineffectually attempt to cure my hangover.

Did I just say throw up? A Freudian slip. Continue reading »

FRAMEWORK: “A WORLD DISTORTED”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 142014
 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the debut album by a New Jersey band named Framework.)

Framework (formerly known as Exorbitance) are the kind of band you listen to if you miss that fast as fuck thrash-based style of melodic death metal you got from bands like Carnal Forge, The Absence, or the most obvious culprit, At The Gates.  Their debut under the Framework name, A World Distorted, is a fucking amazing record, showcasing these blood-hungry Americans’ ability to craft melodic death metal that retains the militancy and commitment to crafting brutal, yet epic songs that give you whiplash.

It’s very rare that you find a band playing just straight-up, no-nonsense melodic death metal this well and writing an album THIS good that doesn’t feel at all like a rehash, even if the influences are worn on their sleeves.  A World Distorted is frankly one of the best debuts from a melodic death metal band I’ve heard in YEARS.

The music is all about killer riffs, captivating melodies that make you want to charge into battle in slow motion, and those delicious old school Lindberg-esque snarls.  Guitarists Andrew Pevny and Devin DeCicco and bassist Chris DeBenedetto know their shit, and they know it so well that they sound like they were around during the inception of the Gothenburg scene itself.  Vocalist Glenn Ferguson sounds like he’s straight from the mid-nineties and drummer James Applegate is an insanely tight, precise, and brutalizing drummer to listen to.  These guys really bring back that Gothenburg vibe while retaining the developments by American counterparts like The Black Dahlia Murder and The Absence. Continue reading »