A week headlined by massive melodeath releases, courteously allowing just enough space in the limelight for a younger cousin and a few other, more distant relatives.
A-Z – A-Z
Genre: Progressive/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A fairly low-key prog record that leans heavily in a melodic and anthemic direction, which works well for their talents. The vocals are the key focus in the mix, and the lyrics the main drive of the songs. Unfortunately, these are fairly rudimentary.
Arch Enemy – Deceivers
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Deceivers sees Arch Enemy up the viciousness slightly from their former album while still retaining a measure of its anthemic tendencies. There’s still a very strong focus on melodies and they stick to a mid-tempo pace throughout. You’re treated to a good amount of groovy riffs that get to serve as highlights rather than conform to the main melody line. While there are few surprises on here and the rhythm can get a little predictable, there’s enough character and detail to make up an abundance of memorable songs. Two of which are “Sunset Over the Empire” and “Deceiver, Deceiver”.
Aronius – Irkalla
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Complexity is the word here. This is tech death taking a step in a Meshuggah direction without fully committing. There’s enough breakdown’y vibes and haunted melody to restrain it, but that also means it lands in a kind on no man’s land in between.
Blasted Heath – Vela
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This one does a lot of things right – disguising a slightly stoner-spacey vibe within a characterful low-fi black metal veneer and spicing it up with a bit of thrash riffage. Unfortunately it feels a little unfocused, leaving it short on standout moments.
Bleed Like Mylee – Nuk Soo Kow (EP)
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Metalcore with good energy and blissfully free of sugar-sweet serenading or whining. The performances are raw and don’t all mix too well, betraying inexperience, but this is a good foundation to build on.
Boris – Heavy Rocks (2022)
Genre: Experimental stoner/industrial rock/metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
I’m not gonna pretend to even remotely understand what Boris is all about. Here we have them following up their mostly ambient, experimental W from earlier this year with some far-out stoner rock. At least there are some elements of it among the madness. Harsh industrial dissonance and electronic tangents vie for your attention, making it impossible to predict what’s gonna come next.
The Halo Effect – Days Of The Lost
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Regardless of your expectations considering the people behind this album, there’s a pleasing circularity to be appreciated here. This unmistakably sounds like a band rooted in the classic Gothenburg sound (heck, these guys were instrumental in creating that sound) but trying to approach the style of more modern bands that themselves were heavily influenced by Swedish melodeath. What you get is a kind of hybrid that should appeal to pretty much everyone except those hoping for a full-on return to the origin. You get nuggets of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames all the way throughout, but there’s no mistaking their efforts trying to forge something new. They mostly succeed, but don’t quite achieve a level of distinctiveness to allow them to stand out beyond the reach of their pedigree. By all means though, there’s plenty to love on here for melodeath fans, among which are “Days of the Lost” and “Feel What I Believe”.
Hell Fire – Reckoning
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A band fully embracing their classic influences, radiating enthusiasm and striking a fresh mix between thrash and NWOBHM. The thrash parts are mostly stronger though, and aside from a few strong melodies, their cleaner side leaves a little musical cohesion to be desired.
Moths – Space Force (EP)
Genre: Avant-garde stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is one of those where you just gotta allow yourself to be spirited along. We’re going all kinds of places. This is not jarring, and it’s not serene. It’s spacey and a little weird, but creates these vivid soundscapes that really trigger the imagination.
Nordic Union – Animalistic
Genre: Power/melodic metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Big, melodic, with a slight folk vibe. Hugely clichéd, but that’s probably not a big problem for the setting for which it’s intended.
Norma Jean – Deathrattle Sing For Me
Genre: Metal/mathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
If you’re into the less emotional, heavier and more proggy side of metalcore, then there’s plenty for you here. At its heaviest it leans into deathcore, and it manages an off-kilter approach to structure that kills predictability without being off-putting. Some of the chorus sections can get a little formulaic, but the band usually switches things up pretty quick. There’s both ample punch, melody and complexity to satisfy people looking for modern, fresh metal with depth and grit. I highly recommend you try “WWAVVE” and “Sleep Explosion”.
Of Virture – Sinner
Genre: Hardocre/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Some rousing metalcore with a bit of extra attitude here and there, but it quickly devolves into very typical, clean cut and over soft.
Sarattma – Escape Velocity
Genre: Experimental doom metal/jazz
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Quite deliberately spacey and nearly free-form, this is a trippy adventure you’re being invited onto. Relaxing is not the word for this, as the sound flutters and mutates as it sees fit. It’s cool and restless, if a little directionless.
Seventh Storm – Maledictus
Genre: Power/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
When describing metal as big, it’s easy to imagine something massively inflated and ultimately quite hollow. This album attains a soaring, epic quality without falling into that category. It has a grittiness to it, making it a tad darker than most power metal, and demonstrates actual thought having been put into the songs, awarding them different purposes. As such there is good variation on here and allocated spaces for the different musicians to shine, without this slowing things down.
Sunstorm – Brothers In Arms
Genre: Hard rock/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 2/5
I’ve next to nothing to say about this. It’s characterless, ballad-y, slow, and utterly uninventive.
Unprocessed – Gold
Genre: Pop/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
An uplifting thing, clearly comfortable in the realm of pop but also dipping its toes into more complex and instrumentally playful waters. If you can deal with the softer parts, then you have a vibrant experience ahead of you.
Wolfbrigade – Anti-Tank Dogs (EP)
Genre: Hardcore/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A short but tasty EP delivering raspy, grainy hardcore with a grindy edge and a good dose of muted groove. Not super standout, but also very little to complain about in regards to quality or entertainment value.
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 