Not a promising week for me, honestly, looking at the big releases. But maybe we can claw some gems out from the shadows. Let’s get to it.
Comeback Kid – Heavy Steps
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Shit, was Comeback Kid always this heavy? Here they’ve managed to create a real genre pleaser while still sounding fresh. If you’re looking for a great blend of headbang-ability, hardcore frenzy and punk rock accessibility, then look no further. “Crossed”, featuring Joe Duplantier of Gojira, and “Shadow of Doubt” are highlights for me.
Hazemaze – Blinded by the Wicked
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This takes the “evil” sound of those original Sabbath riffs and just adds a touch more heaviness, aggression and groove. Sounds great, right? It is! This is doom leaning in to old school hard rock and heavy metal. The vocals fit the overall tone really well, and could be more pronounced. There’s some early Ghost in here too, for a bit of that slightly tongue-in-cheek occult vibe.
Kandia – Quaternary
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
I just didn’t find anything to latch on to. Check it out if you’re a big fan of the subgenre, and melodic metal in general.
Lalu – Paint The Sky
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This one only narrowly misses out on a recommendation. Excellent craftsmanship, it’s just a little too frivolous and ticks a bit too many progressive metal trope boxes.
Nepthisis – Spiral Hollow
Genre: Alternative/goth
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
It’s not that it’s not well though out, it’s just too subdued and a bit predictable for my taste.
Noisecult – Seraphic Wizard
Genre: Stoner
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Vocal quality is just a bit too iffy for me, but this has potential. Slightly more solid craftsmanship would do do it.
Pensee Nocturnes – Douce Fange
Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
The Frenchest black metal that ever Frenched. Too silly and experimental for me. Try if you like niche stuff.
SETYØURSAILS – Nightfall
Genre: Metalcore (reportedly)
Subjective rating: 0/5
Objective rating: ?/5
I give an automatic garbage rating to albums from bands using the letter “Ø” in place of “O” for simply stylistic reasons. It’s an ignorant hipster fad move from people who don’t realize that “Ø” is an actual Scandinavian letter, and correctly pronouncing it when misused like this makes your band/record/song title sound fucking ridiculous.
Sleepwulf – sunbeams curl
Genre: Psychedelic/Doom
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This one is done right for me, for being a not-so-sullen doomy record. Gets straight to it, has a clean production with medium fuzz. Not very heavy, but still a great balance between doom riffing and well-crafted folk-y melodies. The album cover itself is a huge plus. I love designs using exclusively shades of the same color.
Spitfire – Denial To Fail
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5
I think I recognize some of these riffs from the early pages of my first metal guitar lesson book…
Sunczar – Bearer of Light
Genre: Stoner/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
This has some solid Black Label Society grooves. Just a bit short on variety, originality and production value.
Tokyo Blade – Fury
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 2/5
These lyrics are about as fresh as a 2000s Steven Segal movie.
Torchbearer – Solace
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Awesome vocals, let down by slightly subdued guitars and pretty weak drums. Needs more drive and overall energy.
Truculency – The Dome Collector
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 2/5
To me this is just a mess of pig squeals and haphazard riffing with no real heaviness behind it.
Verikalpa – Tunturihauta
Genre: Blackened folk/party metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
It might be slightly blackened, but it’s still as fun as you should expect a folk metal album with a beer stein on the cover to be. If I was more into party metal I’m sure I would really dig this.
Vrsty – Welcome Home
Genre: Hardcore/pop
Subjective rating: 0.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This vocal style is unbearable to me, and the overall style way too pop oriented anyway. But I can see this converting a few mainstream music fans over to the dark side, so that’s cool I guess.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band or need to give an album another shot, do feel free to express yourself in the comments below.
The Metal Dispatch 