Round 2! Fight!
Lo-Pan's Colossus launches into the fight first of this Round of 32, fully of swagger and bravado (as is their way). The album is as fun as ever, but your hips sway a bit when you listen to it. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, except... Years ago, when I was a wee green belt at the Metal Dojo (don't look for it; it's not there anymore), my sensei taught that to be truly heavy, you've gotta plant your feet in the ground. (This, before he threw a roundhouse and knocked me on my ass. I digress.) Triptykon's Melana Chasmata takes a few minutes to shake off its awkwardness. But then, does it ever plant its feet. With a longer but not more tedious album length, and an inexorable progression of Stygian riffs, Tom G. Warrior et al figuratively crush Lo-Pan to paste.
Tonight, who's gonna emerge unscathed, Agalloch or Soreption?