The Batlord

Until recently I'd only ever heard The Red Chord's awesome debut, so this is a bit surprising. I'd expected a similar sound, perhaps with some sort of progression, since that's usually the way with good bands playing extreme metal. This album, however, is quite the departure. Much of the death metal influence has been dropped, and almost all the grindcore, to say nothing of the lack of tech death complexity and tempo changes.

Clients is actually a regression to the mid-paced, beatdown metalcore of the late 90s. It's a bit updated, but if you told me this came out in 1998 I wouldn't bat an eye. I imagine this album would have been polarizing when it came out, with some embracing the more streamlined, accessible sound, while those expecting The Red Chord to continue as they had before would have balked. I myself am torn. I love this kind of metalcore, but I've also heard it a million times already, and while this is some kickass ****, I was one of those hoping that this would be the next step in the band smashing the boundaries of hardcore and death metal.

So I like this, but I don't love it yet, though with time I imagine it'll continue to grow on me. It's relatively clean production will likely keep it from being able to compete with Arkangel or Disembodied, but this sound is already too ingrained in my bones for me to dismiss this album.

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The Batlord

I was gonna do this semi-chronologically, but **** it. I'll just post whatever I feel like.

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The Batlord

And here we have the grand poobahs of everything that is awful and kinda good about deathcore. Everyone knows these guys and every metal fan has heard them so it's almost pointless to go in depth about their sound, but it's still worth mentioning that even though Suicide Silence are the ultimate stereotype of breakdown-core, they aren't all bad.

I've listened to bits and pieces of their discography and could give a **** for the most part, but this album is one that I still come back to, even if only for a couple songs at a time. Yes, they only really have the one song that they've milked for their entire career, but in small doses that is actually kind of a kickass song. On other albums, it's too mediocre for me to care, but on their debut The Cleansing it is in full force and shows off a band who have zero talent at anything except being intense. And boy are they surprisingly intense.

I think there are basically two things that make me vaguely dig this album but nothing else they've ever produced: the energy and the production. They were still a new band who I assume were still riding high on their initial inspirations and still thought they were the bestest baddest band on the scene and still believed they had potential for bigger and better things (erroneously), so their delivery of their one song is full of all the bile and ferocity that is required of an extreme metal band. Their production is also not so mindlessly downtuned and muddy as so many other ****ty bands. I don't know if this is because they had their own ideas of how they should sound or just didn't have the money to produce anything particularly polished, and so ended up with actual abrasiveness and treble.

Their other two aces in the hole I suppose is that they had breakdowns that were in fact heavy, and a vocalist that, while totally generic, ****ing ripped. His death metal growls and screams may not have been quite top shelf, but he used his tools with all the energy and charisma of any better singer.

I don't generally need to listen to this album that much, and usually not for very long, but I do still listen to it on occasion. So, if you don't know much about deathcore and need a crash course in everything that it is and isn't, then you could do way worse than The Cleansing. Just don't expect the moon.

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The Batlord

I think it’s evidence how quickly deathcore bores the **** out of me that I keep forgetting to post reviews for Deathcore Month, even though these reviews have been pre-written and are sitting in a folder on my computer. I must put in minimal effort to keep this going and I can still barely be bothered. Anyways...

Heard of these dudes, but never listened to them. They're certainly ****ing intense. I'm also used to a level of restraint in even the most brutal deathcore bands, but these guys sound just plain chaotic. They come across as just as much of a deathgrind band as a death-metal-meets-beatdown-hardcore one: blinding blast beat sections become mid-paced breakdowns, with some surprisingly melodic solos thrown in to really make this album more varied than 90% of their peers. I can see where Despised Icon got much of their inspiration (though they clearly watered the formula down for mass consumption).

This isn't good for deathcore, this is just good. And miles away from any stereotypes.

Alright, about halfway through and I'm kind of fading. There's a lot of what sounds to me like tech death, and I can only listen to so much technical death metal before my attention span starts to revolt and refuses to differentiate one song from another. Maybe the band actually is repetitive and I’m just now noticing, but either way all the songs sound the same and this album is starting to outstay its welcome.

To be honest, if this were just a death metal album I think I would have dismissed it much earlier, as I would have recognized it for the technical death metal album that it was, and not been "pleasantly surprised" at it not sounding like stereotypical deathcore. The constant changes in tempo and whatnot were fun at first, but now they're just exhausting and boring.

I'd honestly rather be listening to Bring Me the Horizon. Thank god Despised Icon watered this down for mass consumption.

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The Batlord

I still got a bunch of deathcore reviews ready that I'm too lazy to post, but I've decided to take a break to lazily rate every Led Zeppelin song. I've been on the fence as to whether I like, am okay with, or actually kind of dislike Led Zeppelin for years now, so this should finally decide it.

Edit: I realize that this is only Led Zeppelin's first four albums, but I'm sick and ****ing tired of listening to Led Zeppelin and their first four albums are kind of the definitive experience or something, so I'm just gonna split this into two entries cause I wanna listen to absolutely anything else right now. Kinda sorta **** Led Zeppelin.






1. Good Times Bad Times - Non-****ty
2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Non-****ty
3. You Shook Me - ****ty
4. Dazed and Confused - ****ty
5. Your Time Is to Come - ****ty
6. Black Mountain Side - ****ty
7. Communication Breakdown - Non-****ty
8. I Can't Quit You Baby - ****ty
9. How Many More Times - ****ty






1. Whole Lotta Love - Non-****ty
2. What Is and What Should Never Be - ****ty
3. The Lemon Song - ****ty
4. Thank You - ****ty
5. Heartbreaker - Non-****ty
6. Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) - Non-****ty
7. Ramble On - Non-****ty
8. Moby Dick - ****ty
9. Bring It on Home - Non-****ty






1. Immigrant Song - Non-****ty
2. Friends - Non-****ty
3. Celebration Day - Non-****ty
4. Since I've Been Loving You - ****ty
5. Out on the Tiles - Non-****ty
6. Gallows Pole - ****ty
7. Tangerine - ****ty
8. That's the Way - Non-****ty
9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp - Non-****ty
10. Hats Off to (Roy) Harper - ****ty






1. Black Dog - Non-****ty
2. Rock and Roll - Non-****ty
3. The Battle of Evermore - Not ****ty
4. Stairway to Heaven - Not ****ty
5. Misty Mountain Hop - Not ****ty
6. Four Sticks - ****ty
7. Going to California - Not ****ty
8. When the Levee Breaks - Non-****ty

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Frownland

RIP credibility.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

The Batlord

There are so many Zeppelin songs I could have dug if they hadn't had so much wank. They are a brilliant rock band, but they are god awful at anything else. Every second I listened to them pretend to have any talent at blues or folk was pure torture and I want that time back. And every second of instrumental bull**** I want back x2.

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Frownland

TFW rock, especially Led Zeppelin's brand of rock, is literally just an extension of blues.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

The Batlord

But when they try to do actual white dude blues, it's just the worst thing ever. Except for their attempts at folk. Maybe. They should really have a gun put to their head to prevent them from doing anything that isn't riff oriented rock tbh.

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Frownland

You ever considered that maybe this is why you think they suck at blues? Because white dude blues is generally lame as ****?

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.