Hardcore, experimental, black and death metal. Yep, not a week for the faint of heart. Remember to warm up your neck.
Banks Arcade – Future Lovers
Genre: Electronic/nu metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
While this isn’t the most original stuff you’ll ever hear, I feel like they made a genuine attempt. There’s enough attitude and imagination gone into the electronic meat of the sound that it rises above the typical accessible pop-flirting metal.
Bastions – Majestic Desolation
Genre: Hardcore/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
If you’re into experiencing emotional pain vicariously, then this might very well be for you. This is sullen, yet still pretty angry hardcore that radiates inner suffering. The dark streak to their sound goes as far as dipping into black metal at times, but it never takes a full hold. There’s not a ton of variation, so expect more or less the same gist across the whole album.
Belphegor – The Devils
Genre: Symphonic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Prepare your offering, but don’t expect to receive much individual ceremony – there are thousands gathering before this dark altar. This is not the soundtrack to some basement project summoning – it’s massive. Belphegor truly masters the art of expanding their blackened death with symphonic bombast without it sounding overproduced or overly melodic. Overall you get what you wish for here, but it’s a little lacking in knockout tracks. A little too comfortable sticking to the tried and tested perhaps. Still, the quality of this band is particularly evident on tracks like “Ritus Incendium Diabolus” and “The Devils”.
Black Magnet – Body Prophecy
Genre: Industrial/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Yes, industrial metal is one of those subgenres where being bleak and energetic at the same time is not a paradox. This is very evident on here. The rhythms feel like they’ve been determined by an A.I. – they’re catchy but robotic. There’s a fair but of noise and weirdness going on in a early 2000s angsty kind of way, which is nice and nostalgic but not very original. It’s consistent, but lacks a bit of punch.
Blacktoothed – Juli
Genre: Hard rock/alt metal/electronica
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
People keep making this stuff and people keep listening to it, so in a way I can’t fault them. But understand it, I do not.
Box – Cherry Blossoms at Night
Genre: Experimental/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Hooookay… there’s no point in having any assumptions going into this one – you’re not gonna be able to predict what’s on the menu anyway. There’s a certain darkness to it all, and a couple of the tracks are actually way into black metal and even grindcore territory, but that’s definitely not the norm. It’s electronic and a bit retro groovy, it’s tribal and a bit gothic. The vocals are mostly high pitched and clean, but adapts very well to whatever is happening at any given time. Definitely try if you’re looking for something a bit weird that’s not overly harsh or dissonant.
Cara Neir – Phantasmal
Genre: Experimental grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Okay, now if you ARE looking for something weird that’s overly harsh and dissonant, then we got that right here. This album pulls off the feat of being bat shit crazy and predictable at the same time, as, after a while, the relentless grindcore aggression overpowers all the avant-garde electronic noises and atmospheric effects.
Chat Pile – God’s Country
Genre: Experimental nu/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
If you ever wondered what a massively expanded version of a Slipknot album intro track might sound like, this probably isn’t too far off. Borderline insane, agonized, spoken-word vocals, with crushing, sludgy riffs and death metal menace. Since it’s not all out extreme but varies in intensity across the album, each track is allowed an identity of its own, while still matching up masterfully with the overall theme. If you want your metal a little demented and death-doom-y but with the contemporary, social commentary-mindset of hardcore (a very specific ask, I know) then this hits the sweet spot. Check out “Why” and “Tropical Beaches, Inc.”.
Crystal Gates – Torment & Wonder: The Ways Of The Lonely Ones
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Fairly typical symphonic metal with a gothic feel and some rich, Finnish-style instrumentation.
Daidalos – The Expedition
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Epic, high energy, yet still dark and somewhat austere symphonic black metal that’s plagued by a muddled production and trying to mix a few too many melodic elements at the same time.
Eosphorus – From Fire Into Birth (EP)
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
No one quite knows how to make melodic extreme metal like the Swedes. The mixture of longing, bitter melody with Scandinavian folk elements, the brutality of death metal and rawness of thrash has proven a formula for quality material time and time again. This is no exception, and I look forward to these guys maturing their sound a bit. It’s a four song EP, so just blast the whole thing.
Funeral Chic – Roman Candle
Genre: Sludge metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Boisterous, bluesy, gritty yet carefree. A winning combination for a hard rock-level-heavy, dark and dirty entertainer of an album. There’s the essence of grindcore lurking constantly in the background, but this all about that rowdy groove. The identity of the songs are closely tied to the main riffs, but the it’s the overall tone that ties it all together. If you’re craving some of that Mötorhead rock ‘n roll attitude then you get that here in spades, just with a sludgy twist to it. Get pumped with “Satisfaction” and “Built to Love”.
Gallower – Eastern Witchcraft (EP)
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Lo-fi and shaggily executed, they still display some excellent speed skill and a talent for memorable melodies.
Haunted Horses – The Worst Has Finally Happened
Genre: Industrial/noise metal/punk
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Unsettling is a good way to describe this. Accusatory vocals, pulses of bass, distortion and interference, agitating drums. It’s dark and artificial, but definitely under control of a human need to stoke discontent.
Ithaca – They Fear Us
Genre: Progressive hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Goddamn this thing is a blast! Matching raw hardcore vocal aggression with stabbing riffs and punishing beats, they certainly deliver on the energy. But they still manage an impressive degree of variation, both in rhythm and intensity. There’s big talent here in finding melodies that work with the nature of the song, describing a different, more mellow side to the violent picture. They do slow things down towards the end, making for a rather sedate close to the album, but overall it’s a fireworks display. Jump into “The Future Says Thank You” and “Cremation Party”.
Krisiun – Mortem Solis
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Now for some neck-exercise death metal. In the same vein as bands like Vader, this is all about delivering avalanches of meaty riff after meaty riff. You won’t find huge variation on here, but the songs still have more than enough character to stand apart, allowing you to confidently pick your favorites. Mixing the evil tone and brutal gut punch power of death metal with the speed and ferocity of thrash, you have a runaway metal train. Get on it to the tune of “Serpent Messiah” and “Tomb of the Nameless”.
My Sleeping Karma – Atma
Genre: Psychedelic/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
An instrumental album dreaming away into space. It’s fairly mellow, but also gets adventurous and medium heavy at times.
Oceans – Hell Is Where The Heart Is – Part II: Longing (EP)
Genre: Metalcore/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
More expansive, massively melodic metal from these guys – nothing hugely surprising, but with the prog dialed down a bit. Going for more of a straightforward, slightly anthemic approach to their signature mix of aggression and melancholy.
Prosper Or Perish – Shroud Of Serpents
Genre: Technical/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Blisteringly fast and willing to serve up groove-laden riffs, these guys show off great technical prowess without fully crossing over into tech death territory. Yet it’s also not fully melodic enough to make a mark as melodeath, leaving the songs a bit hollow as they struggle to show off a strong identity.
Reeking Aura – Blood And Bonemeal
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Death metal with a slight progressive streak, though always returning to classic, slaughterlust, gurgling death metal. There are definitely interesting sections, but overall it’s still a little too repetitive and predictable to score the big points.
Stick To Your Guns – Spectre
Genre: Melodic hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Now for some hardcore that exists somewhere in between all out fury and the more accessible, melodic end of the spectrum, like Rise Against. There are anthemic leanings on here, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it doesn’t get too much in the way of the aggression, of which there is plenty.
Torture Killer – Dead Inside (EP)
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Catchy death metal with the dry, speedy delivery of thrash. The production feels pretty compressed, making for a fairly small and straightforward sound, but what’s there is certainly entertaining.
Triumvir Foul – Onslaught To Seraphim
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Now for some dark, chaotic death metal that sounds like it belongs in some underground sewer-chamber. This is hateful, filthy stuff that hasn’t seen the light of day in years. Don’t expect much reprieve.
Urban Primate – Desolation
Genre: Hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Lively, thrashy guitars and a good bit of groove on display here, with vocals that don’t go too far in any particular direction. It’s catchy and well produced, not too original but also not overly clichéd or soft.
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 