Review: Chevelle - Hats Off To The Bull; Score: 4 / 5

10 years and 5 albums later, Chevelle have perfected a sound they can call their own and created an album that puts them safely at the top of the Hard Rock genre.

Chevelle is a band that has consistently been putting out great records and constantly been pushing its boundaries of sound and song-writing. In my opinion, Chevelle has never made a bad album. Every album from their first album Point #1, when they were just teenagers, they've constantly pushed the envelope and have just written some of the most amazing songs ever. Songs both filled with emotion and at times ferocity of the heaviest metal songs you've heard. And due to this reason, Chevelle has a rather good standing within the Metal community.

 With Hats Off To The Bull, they've used the sound they perfected with Sci-Fi Crimes and have written amazing songs reminiscent of both the power and emotion of the Wonder What's Next and This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In) era, along with the high production value and sound quality of Vena Sera and Sci-Fi Crimes era.

The album starts off with the heavy groove-laden 'Face To The Floor'. Chevelle have never written a song as groovy as this one. I use the term "groovy" not like the 70's disco-era, but rather as how the djent scene use it. The opener is a good upbeat song that serves as a reminder that Chevelle knows how to write catchy songs with memorable riffs such as 'The Clincher' from the album This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In).

The next few songs do not go along the same lines as the opener, where the band dwells into more morose songs such as 'Same Old Trip', 'Ruse' and the Bernie Madoff inspired track 'The Meddler'. 'Ruse' is very emotional and is one of the stand-out tracks of the album along with 'The Meddler'.

After going through such emotional "Chevelle-ish" songs we go into 'Piñata'. Another upbeat song with one of the best solos Chevelle has ever written, but is very similar to a solo I heard by another huge band, Queens Of The Stone Age.

From 'Piñata', we come to the most powerful songs Chevelle has ever written since 'Closure' from the Wonder What's Next album, 'Envy'. This track is one of my favorite tracks off the album and is just the most powerful and emotional song I've heard in a very long time. This song truly shows off Pete Loeffler's ability to write amazing lyrics, such as my favorite verse, "I may not win the race/ I may not reach the top/ Or I may not live your way/ Doesn't mean I'm stuck here". And when this is sung with Pete's angelic voice, which could make a grown man cry, it just completely drives the nail in. This track is also the first time I've ever seen Chevelle use a string arrangement to complement their songs, but its a perfect addition for the track. The song is actually rather uplifting if you read the lyrics, but its hard to say when they create such a morose atmosphere with the haunting drums, the strings and Pete's pain-filled voice. 

After 'Envy' completely destroys your self-esteem, we go off to the track which shares the same name of the album 'Hats Off To The Bull'. Its a very upbeat and catchy song that Chevelle knows how to do very well. The next are 'Arise', which is also a very uplifting song, and 'Revenge' which is another amazing emotional song which Chevelle writes well.

The next track 'Prima Donna' is the token acoustic track that Chevelle always have in their album. Though its not their best acoustic track (their best is actually 'Bend The Bracket' from This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In), but this is no doubt a good acoustic track.

'Clones', the last track off the album is a good closer. It ends the album in an upbeat yet provocative manner, asking us to stand up and change the way we live and not be clones.

This is an amazing album, and Chevelle have truly out-done themselves by writing some of their best songs they've written for this album. The album flows well and is a treat to listen to. But the only fault I could find was that after the 1st half of the album, the songs could not hold my attention, and after 'Envy' I sort of just drifted off. The 2nd half is not as memorable as the 1st half and they seemed uninspired. But nonetheless, this is truly a great album worthy as an addition to Chevelle's already amazing track record. And like I mentioned earlier, Chevelle has never made a bad album, and this album is testament to that.

Review: Uneven Structure - Februus. Score: 4.5 / 5

2 years in the making, Uneven Structure's album "Februus" is everything I expected and more. Its mind-bending prog-metal is the perfect balance between heavy djent, beautiful clean guitars and lush soundscapes.

The best part about Uneven Structure's new album is that they have successfully carved themselves a niche in the over-crowded djent scene. With a large number of djent-bands popping up every now and then, this album comes as a breath of fresh air. They're snippet released on youtube, formerly named as "Februus Extract", almost more than a year ago, was a sneak-peek into what they were working on. Not only did that video make "Februus" one of my most anticipated albums of the year, but it came as a ray of hope in an already crowded djent movement.

I can understand why they are often compared with djent stalwarts, "TesseracT" because of how similar their guitar tones (clean and distorted) and melodic parts sound like, but they have an entirely different thing going for them. Uneven Structure's focus is more on utilizing heavy palm-muted riffage to complement their beautiful post-rockish soundscapes that they paint. The heavy riffage only helps to create a build up to crushing crescendos, rather than TesseracT's approach of groove-laden song structures complemented with melodic and clean guitar parts. Also, TesseracT does not rely on atmosphere like Uneven Structure, where atmosphere is the main element of the band.

But enough about the band, on to the actual review of the album.

The album is actually structured in 3 parts. With the 1st segment being 'Awaken', 'Frost' and 'Hail', these tracks follow a single musical concept, till we go to the first interlude, 'Exmersion'. From here 'Buds', 'Awe' and 'Quittance' are the 2nd segment which follow a similar musical concept, till comes the second interlude 'Limbo'. After that, 'Plentitude' and 'Finale' bring the album to climactic close.

The album starts off with 'Awaken'. The band's 1st ever music-video (a beautiful visual treat in itself), which I understand why they would choose it to be their début single. Its the most straight-forward song off the album and gives you a glimpse of what the entire album has in store for you.

From 'Awaken' it goes off to 'Frost'. The youtube snippet I mentioned earlier? That was actually 'Frost', and its my personal favourite off the album. There's just something about the part at 2:31 that makes me go all wind-mill. The first time I heard the youtube track, I instantly knew the potential in it, and I loved every moment of it. It has everything. Crushing djent, heavy groove-laden riffage, soft post-rockish atmosphere, clean guitar melodies and an awesome end to an amazing song.

Just before you realize 'Frost' is over, 'Hail' kicks in... hard.

After the heavy barrage of 'Hail' you're given a moment to catch your breath with 'Exmersion'. The band shows off their ability to create a soothing atmosphere with ambient music, which is really what you need after going through such complex tracks like 'Awaken', 'Frost' and 'Hail'.

With 'Exmersion' fading off into the silence the band brings us slowly back into the djent with 'Buds'. From here on, its more heavy music with 'Awe' and 'Quittance' which might be one of the heaviest tracks off the album, till we literally go into 'Limbo'. A track so heavy with atmosphere, you could cut it with a knife.

'Limbo' is the last time you'll get a chance to catch your breath, till we move into the last segment of the album, 'Plentitude' and 'Finale'. Here, the band shows off how it can completely grab you and take you through a musical journey and create one of the most climactic endings I've heard in a very long time. You won't be wrong to assume that both 'Plentitude' and 'Finale' are actually one complete song, because it obviously seemed that way to me when I heard it. 'Finale' sounds like its the outro to 'Plentitude'. The same musical progression continues from 'Plentitude' into 'Finale' which then eventually fades out to end the album.

The entire album is so flawlessly seamed together, its hard to tell when one track ends and the other starts. A feat almost impossible to pull off, but Uneven Structure do it effortlessly. The continuity of the album from one track to the other is perfect, which makes it feel as if the entire album was supposed to be heard in one go.

There is also a 2nd CD that comes along with the album containing 3 tracks, which all together are almost half an hour long. They're entirely ambient tracks, which would not seem out of place as a movie or video-game score. It sort of reminded me of the soundtrack to Limbo, but then again, I couldn't tell the difference between one ambient track to the next. That's why I don't have much to say about this CD. I honestly, couldn't tell the difference between any of the 3 tracks. It seems the mastermind behind Uneven Structure, Iggy, is a huge ambient-head. Having an ambient side-project, "worC", its no wonder he would include something like this on "Februus". But then again, I'm not complaining because that's a genre I'm not at all familiar with.

If you want, you can skip the 2nd CD, but I think you should still give it a chance. Its not really my cup of tea, but I rather enjoyed a few parts of it.

Overall, this is an awesome album! Probably the most amazing album I've heard since "The Ocean - Precambrian" (that album was a total mind-job, by the way). But "Februus" is such an amazingly, well structured album that you can't help but listen all the way through. The layer upon layer of textures creates such a thick atmosphere that you'll be lost in the fuzz of guitars and at times the cooing of the vocalist. That is, till his screams (bundled with the heavy djent) comes back to wake you up again.

This album is a must listen for any metal-head who likes to dabble in the progressive side of music. And if anything "post" is your thing, then you'll completely love this album.