A rather meager week in terms of volume, but one that makes up for it with the weight of its heavy hitters. Better brace yourself – they’re pretty hostile.
The Bearer – Chained To A Tree
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This one’s brimming with go-nuts-energy. I can vividly imagine the broken teeth on the floor of the moshpits. This is a kind of blackened hardcore, with some cold tremolo and a taste of the occult in the theme. Mostly, though, it’s chaotic, dissonant and uncompromising.
Between The Killings – Reflection Of Murder (EP)
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
We’ve got some brutal death metal here leaning heavily on the morbid. The vocals are, as you expect, incomprehensible and the drums ping-y. The whole thing feels to be without much purpose, just a collection of heavy riffs wrapped in a disturbing tone.
Blood Command – Praise Armageddonism
Genre: Punk/hardcore/pop
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A record bursting with enthusiasm and immature spite. There is, however, more than enough maturity demonstrated in their composing skills and grasp of their stylistic direction. It’s catchy, raucous and just a bit experimental. Jump in if you like punky hard rock and the lighter side of hardcore.
Conjurer – Páthos
Genre: Experimental sludge/black metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
This is one of those where, while listening to it, you can’t help but feel that there’s something terribly wrong with the world. It channels a darkness that feels familiar – not something imagined or superficial. And the anger it radiates seems to be rooted in anguish. Needless to day, this is not going to put you in a good mood, but it will almost certainly move you. The transitions from brutality to tranquility are chillingly well executed, and despite keeping a fairly slow pace you rarely feel like they’re stalling. Give “It Dwells” and “Basilisk” a try.
Downfall – Behind The Curtain
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is some quick, down ‘n dirty hardcore built on raw riffs and rusty vocals. The production lets them down a bit, but the attitude shines through.
Existence Dysphoria – Minus Negative
Genre: Progressive sludge/doom
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Heavy and unyielding as a bulldozer and abyssal in tone, this one will crush you into submission. It plays around with just enough groove to make it a rewarding listen, but be prepared for a ponderous pace and fairly repetitive rhythms.
Goatriders – Traveler
Genre: Progressive/experimental hard/stoner rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This one’s far out. The players seem to be doing pretty much what they want throughout the album with little to no coordination or guidance. It’s disharmonic and spacey. Some might find it meditative, but for me it’s too directionless.
Haunt – Windows Of Your Heart
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Retro through the roof. These guys nail the tone on capturing that old school heavy metal spirit. It’s tight, fast and just a bit gloomy. There’s plenty to love, but – and this might just be me – is it too much, or wrong, to ask that the vocals harmonize with the melodies? And while there’s no question of technical skill, I find myself missing the enthusiasm on this one.
Randy Holden – Population III
Genre: Avant-garde/psychedelic/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If you’re type of person that find yourself spellbound by an exploratory guitar backed up by a bit of atmosphere, then this is for you. This one goes places – trippy places to be sure – but it’s pleasant and fairly immersive all the way through. The tone is nice and nostalgic and the whole thing feels liberatingly carefree.
Horizon Ignited – Towards The Dying Lands
Genre: Melodic death metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Let’s just get one thing out of the way to start. This is NOT for fans of that original Gothenburg melodeath sound. This is far more modern and accessible. I kind of want to describe it as contemporary In Flames meets Believe era Disturbed, which has its pros and cons. Lots of good melody, great solos and catchy riffs. My biggest reservations are a lack of energy in the rhythm section and not too strong performances in the clean side of the vocals.
Hulder – The Eternal Fanfare (EP)
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Finally, some black metal that attacks the low-fi approach in an interesting way – dishing it out where it has the right effect and largely making sure not to overuse it. There’s such an intimate control over that “genuine” sound demonstrated here – knowing just which elements to tweak – a riff here, a tremolo shred there, a tasteful reverb to the vocals, a certain tone to the melodies. The result is something that sounds like a love letter to the musical highlights of the genre while sacrificing none of the depth of a proper production. Have at it with “Sylvan Awakening” and “A Perilous Journey”.
Kings Never Die – The Good Times And The Bad (EP)
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Some rousing, rowdy hardcore here. Lots of gang vocals, energetic rhythms and frantic riffing. It sounds just right and don’t descend into punk rock clichés. It’s fairly simple and straightforward and designed to get you out of your seat.
Massacre – Mythos (EP)
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Straight up, horror infused death metal on the menu. It sounds brilliantly spooky, but that still comes second in line to the absolute riff fest that’s allowed to dominate. It’s heavy, it’s crunchy and it’s angry. There’s not a lot more to ask for. Jump into “Behind the Serpent’s Curse” and “The Dunwich Horror”, and by that point you’re already halfway through, so just keep going.
Mexicoma – Kalpa
Genre: Hard rock/stoner
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A punchy stoner record with a hard rock kind of mentality to rhythm and lyrical content, but with a rough, groove-sludgy edge. Unfortunately they run out of steam about mid-album before picking it back up towards the end.
Municipal Waste – Electrified Brain
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
For all of you who are keen on thrash keeping that youthful protest attitude alive and well in the music, rejoice! This one goes from brawl to brawl like it’ can’t get enough, and doesn’t pull punches – shredding like their lives depended on it. Which is great, but they also don’t switch up their fight moves much, relying on repetition and momentum to win the day (shall we call it button mashing?). If victory by any means is fine by you, and you reward tenaciousness over innovation, then you’ve got your fighter right here.
Orthodox – Proceed
Genre: Avant-garde sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If you listen really carefully you can hear the odd vocal line down below that avalanche of fuzz. This one feels almost mechanical in its approach, like a rhythmically churning machine. Or some organic hybrid. It’s not easy listening, that’s for sure.
Greg Puciato – Mirrorcell
Genre: Alternative/experimental metal/grunge
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Alright, here we’ve got an artist channeling a wealth of influences into one churning maelstrom mixing them all up inside his own bay of sensibility. Greg’s got one of the strongest signatures in heavy music today, both when it comes to vocal character and composing, and it’s all on show here. It’s trying a whole bunch of different directions out for size, but pulls them all together with a distinct ribbon of flavor. Alright, enough with the metaphors – it’s sometimes heavy, sometimes melodic in a soulful, slightly pained way, and always expressive. In the end this is going to be a very subjective experience, but whether it moves you or not there’s still plenty to objectively marvel at here.
Saint Asonia – Introvert (EP)
Genre: Hard Rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Like you might expect from the caliber of these musicians here, this sounds great. Vocal prowess, instrumental tone, richness of detail – it’s all there. As far as the actual compositions go, that’s a whole different story. And your opinion on this EP is going to depend entirely on whether you care about this or not.
Derek Sherinian – Vortex
Genre: Progressive metal/shred
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Let the keyboard shredding commence. If you like to listen to what is essentially an instrument master’s (and friends’) jam session dressed up and given vague purpose, then this is for you. It’s wild, a bit bluesy, and mostly really fun.
Shinedown – Planet Zero
Genre: (Hard) rock
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A slightly rough-edged rock album built around a pop-sensible core and then bloated to the breaking point with largely pointless interludes and single-focus soft anthems. But then this obviously wasn’t made for me.
Swim or Drown – Torment (EP)
Genre: Hardcore/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A dirty and straightforward medium portion of hardcore that delivers on aggression and that raw, primitive riffing that gets you moving in front of the stage.
Thirteen Goats – Servants of the Outer Dark
Genre: Blackened death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3/5
These guys hit a sweet spot with this one as far as I’m concerned. It sounds like they’re having fun playing with the subgenre, eager to get the sound right and less concerned with establishing a good flow or song structure. And I as the listener am having fun right along with them. It’s noisy, dastardly-evil and full of infectious energy. Sure, some of the song section transitions are about as graceful as Satan’s pet on rollerblades, but they usually lead to some great headbanging. Try “Return to Ruin” and “Vacuum-Induced Head Explosion”.
Tragos – Radix Mendosus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A work of death metal that has a touch of epic tragedy to it. Unfortunately, it’s severely let down by poor production and some really odd choices in regards to melody, meaning it exists on a half-plane between melodic and dissonant.
Tuscoma – Gu-cci
Genre: Black/experimental metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
I feel like this is the musical equivalent to spending a prolonged amount of time next to a loud fire alarm. It’s unsettling all they way through and, while having no real rhythmic or melodic handles to settle on, keeps demanding your attention. If that’s the experience you’re looking for, then this is absolutely quality stuff. It’s conceptually strong and tonally consistent.
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 section below.
The Metal Dispatch 