HURON — Mary Celeste (review)

HURON — Mary Celeste album cover Album · 2011 · Groove Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Metal in metal out...

Genre: groove metal

While I love groove metal - especially, groove thrash metal, my general impression is that, apart from Pantera, Invocator, Adrenaline Mob and a couple of other acts, a lot of groove metal acts are terribly unoriginal and often, to varying extents, sound like Pantera rip-offs.

Fortunately, while the Pantera influence is quite obvious (especially in the vocals which sound like something in between Phil Anselmo and are more Russell Allen or Apollo Papathanasio (mostly on the Anselmo side, though), while not quite in the same league as the above-mentioned artists, Huron have their own sound and do not come across as mere Pantera rip-offs.

The album starts out with a slow and heavy doom section, and, for a moment, I thought I was in for a slab of doom metal; however, the track soon morphed into an uptempo thrash metal track with lots of southern groove and street attitude, and this pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album. What I particularly like about this release is that Huron combine the groove of southern metal with more traditional uptempo trash metal, and there are also elements which are reminiscent of death metal every now and then. It is this blend of impressions that makes Huron stand out to me as being a quite original groove metal act at the end of the day.

While I think that this is a fine album overall, I do have some reservations. One is that I think that the vocals could be a little less Anselmo and a little more Palmer. Also, the drums sound very hollow and mechanical at times - this has nothing with the drumming itself to do, I think, but is a matter of production. When it all comes down, I think that the problem is a matter of the drums being to pristine and clean-sounding in comparison with the sound of the other instrumentation, which actually has some raw and dirty qualities to it.

Overall, "Mary Celeste" is, not a flawless, but a quite solid groove metal release which reminds us that groove metal can be original, and that you can draw on thrash metal and southern metal without having to sound like a Pantera clone. If you like your metal thrashy and groovy, give this album a listen.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed