In This Moment Improve New Sound After Their Worst Album

In This Moment's last record, 2012's Blood was critically acclaimed and won over new and old fans alike. I however find that album to be overrated and miss the older records like 2007's Beautiful Tragedy or 2010's A Star-Crossed Wasteland which was in my opinion their opus. The metalcore influence that was present on all of their first three albums. Maria Brink and crew claimed to have found their identity on this industrial metal mishap. While Blood had a few great songs ("Adrenalize," "Whore") it lacked the spark of their first three albums.
When the band announced their album Black Widow and posted on social media about "finding their sound" I was a bit skeptical. However when the band released the album's first single, "Sick Like Me," in September I was impressed. The single was heavy and melodic and mixed in everything that In This Moment had done successfully in the past.
The rest of the album is a step up from Blood. The title track is a dance oriented track that has an intro discussing black widow spiders. The song is a sexy anthem that is heavy and catchy and great. Second single "Big Bad Wolf" is by far the heaviest song on the album. On the song Brink wrestles her inner demons resulting in aggression but also infectious music. "Bones" is a more melodic song that deals with the aftermath of a breakup. Brink sings about not being able to move on from a past love. The song is melodic in the verses and then gets very metal on the hook. "Bloody Creature Poster Girls" is about as close to Lana Del Rey while "Natural Burn Sinner" is a gay anthem about loving yourself. Think "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga or "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk gone metal.
The album's best song is "Sex Metal Barbie." This hip hop inspired anthem is a big middle finger to the haters and bloggers who say that Brink isn't metal enough because she's a woman. Brink is the topic of many a negative comment by people stating that the band are bad and the only reason their famous is because Brink is attractive.
"I heard I don't belong in this scene/ Sexy metal Barbie/ Homicidal queen," Bring sings during the chorus.
While most of the songs are amazing there are a few moments where the band fall short of greatness. "Into the Darkness" is a creepy and downright weird interlude with uncomfortable spoke words by Brink and a man. "Sexual Hallucination" which features Brent Smith of Shinedown is a boring, slow moving ballad that doesn't really go anywhere.
Other than those few mishaps, Black Widow is a great record. It isn't In This Moment's best work but it is better than Blood and that says a lot. This album has helped me regain love of one of my favorite bands. If they keep along these lines they'll get many new fans and have a lot of success.

 

Five Finger Death Punch Release Their Best Album

It's been a while but I'm finally back to posting! Five Finger Death Punch released their fourth record ,The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1, last month and it's their best album.
The metal titans have always made good albums filled with aggressive, fast-paced metal songs. However, on their fourth offering, Five Finger Death Punch take that to a new level. From angry anthems like "Watch You Bleed," Burn MF" and lead single "Lift Me Up" which features Rob Halford from Judas Priest to the albums lone slower song "Wrong Side of Heaven," the band tackle these songs with prowess.
From the aggressive screams and beautifully sung cleans of front man Ivan Moody to the harsh guitars and banging drums of the rest of the band, the sound is perfect on this record.
The two best songs on the album would have to be "Anywhere But Here," the duet version with In This Moment singer Maria Brink and "Mama Said Knock You Out," a bad ass, hard rocking cover of LL Cool J's hit which features Tech N9ne.
While songs like "I.M. Sin" and "Dot Your Eyes" are perfect anthems for an angry rampage, the lone bad song is "Diary of a Deadman," a strange spoken word, hot mess of a song.
The disc features three bonus songs which are versions of album cuts with guest vocalists. There is the duet version of "Anywhere But Here" which far surpasses the original and "I.M. Sin" which features Max Cavalera, vocalist for Soulfly. The latter doesn't do anything differently for the song. However the third bonus track "Dot Your Eyes" with Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed is gives the song a new spunk.
As if this record wasn't good enough, Five Finger Death Punch plan to release The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2 later this year.

In This Moment losing too much blood

Metalcore band In This Moment launched their career in 2007 and released three phenomenal albums. With the release of their latest record, Blood, last month the band took a huge step backwards. While several of the songs rank up there with the band's best, this album has some huge problems.
The main problem being that for some reason frontwoman Maria Brink finds the need to do a shitty Otep impression on "Whore" and the single "Blood." Brink doesn't have the screaming chops that Otep Shamaya, frontwoman for Otep has and while these songs are great they aren't as good as the band's older music.
Another issue with this album is the fact that Brink has become lazy in her lyrics. "Shut up, shut up, shut up/Shut up, shut up shut up/Shut up, shut up, shut up/You're gonna listen to what I say this time," Brink screams during the chorus of the catchy yet stupid "You're Gonna Listen." While it's a fun song to listen to the lyrics simply take away from what could have been greatness. The music of the song is similar to their older albums but the lyrics are just ridiculous.
Another song that isn't good is "Burn." It's clunky and tries to hard to be heavy and deep but the lyrics are just silly. "Set me on fire and watch me burn," Brink screams dramatically during the chorus. This song is just silly and Brink seems to be a drama queen.
There are some great moments on Blood. "Whore" features Otep styled rapped verses and a screamed chorus. Brink's clean vocals in the pre-chorus sound heavenly and beautiful. This song is different from other In This Moment songs but it's great. Another highlight on the album is "From The Ashes." From the chugging guitars and gorgeously sung vocals, this song is a winner. It almost sounds like it could have been written for their second album The Dream. "Beast Within" starts out slow with Brink doing spoken word verses before singing the pre-chorus and singing and screaming in the chorus.
Blood has a few great ballads. While the album closer "11:11" is boring slow songs such as "Scarlett" and "The Blood Legion" are gorgeous while mixing in some heavier influences on the second halves of each song.
The best song on this album is by far "Adrenalize," a sexed up rocker featuring Brink seductively singing the verses and screaming the choruses. The song also features a breakdown similar to their Beautiful Tragedy and A Star-Crossed Wasteland albums. The song is a great reminder of what In This Moment have been and hopefully what they will become. The song sound like if Lady Gaga started a metal band, which is not a bad thing.
The album all in all sounds like if Korn didn't suck and were fronted by a woman. While this album is still great, it falls short of topping the masterpiece that was their last album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland. Hopefully the band will stop trying to be something they're not.