As the impact of the melodeath meteor strike last week ploughs on into this one, it unearths a whole slew of gems from all across the metal spectrum.
Conan – Evidence Of Immortality
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Get ready to be CRUSHED. This feels like weight of a building on top of you, and yet the apocalyptic bass somehow doesn’t drown everything else out. There’s a nice groove to the slow, giant’s step riffs, and they manage to conjure up just enough atmosphere that the slow pacing doesn’t feel too stale or repetitive. It’s dark, wicked and damn heavy, and you should definitely give it a try with “Levitation Hoax” and “Ritual of Anonymity”.
Concrete Ties – Unrecognizable (EP)
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Straightforward, pissed and metalized hardcore with fairly average performances and a compressed production.
Dawnwalker – House Of Sand
Genre: Progressive/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
This album is impressively expressive in the amount of nuances it presents alone. It feels like a sorrowful affair, and yet there’s beauty and tenderness in equal amount to the hurt, anger and darkness. It sounds like a contemplative folk rock band that’s just started down the metal path, and yet perform with the confidence and proficiency of veterans. It’s one you put on to let your mind wander. Get a taste with “R.I.P” and “House of Sand II”.
Dragon Throne – Dawnbringer
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Mismatched vocal and musical harmony unfortunately hurts this otherwise quite competent work of speedy and gritty power metal.
Empress – Fateweaver
Genre: Symphonic/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A pretty decent semi-aggressive symph-metal offering with lots of instrumental flourishes and some off rhythms here and there. Doesn’t stand out in a big way though.
Eruption – Tellurian Rupture
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Clean and high pitched vocal’d thrash which lacks much of the harshness and ferocity that you come to expect from the subgenre, and while it’s got some decent groove it doesn’t quite make up the difference.
Five Finger Death Punch – Afterlife
Genre: Groove/heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
First off, if you’re a fan of FFDP, then you gotta be a fan of the whole package to enjoy this album – groove, brutality, poppy melody and (not so occasional) sappyness. There’s not a great deal of punch on this one, but when it hits it’s as catchy as always. Subjectively, this sounds like an industrial album in the sense that it’s just a conveyor belt delivery of more of the same, with diminishing returns.
Hammer King – Kingdemonium
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
It’s always nice to hear a power metal band that’s truly melodically competent. There are some excellent harmonies on here. Unfortunately, they lack the punch to back it up on this one.
Hive – Spiritual Poverty
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A hard hitting brick to the window, this one balances aggression and characterful noise with a certain degree of unsettling melody. The variation is not great, but there are some real stompers on here.
Holding Absence/Alpha Wolf – The Lost & The Longing (Split EP)
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Modern sounding and dualistic in the Jekyll/Hyde split in intensity – one being harch and mechanical and the other quite radio friendly pop/rock-core.
I Prevail – True Power
Genre: Metalcore/alternative hard rock
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Relying on heavy beats for sublime catchiness and sounding massive, this should definitely appeal to those lingering on the edge of metal at large. This definitely has more than just a foot planted in emo/pop, so personally I can barely stand it.
Kalah – Descent Into Human Weakness
Genre: Industrial/melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Perhaps having bitten off a little more than it can chew, this one tries to be several things at the same time. Synth-driven electronic, semi-industrial yet melodic progressive, and a little modern melodeath brutality. It sounds good in portions, but gets jarring over time.
Mass Extinction – Never-Ending Holocaust
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A cause-driven, ferocious death metal output bringing the fury of grindcore. It’s technically well executed, but one song is hardly discernible from the next.
Morbid Evils – Supernaturals
Genre: Doom/death/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A mostly great sounding death doom album that starts off amazing – blending rage, sludgy grittiness and vast, hopeless darkness. The novelty wears off after a time tough, as you realize they’ve failed to make it sound quite as massive as it should, and the songs simply get less interesting in the second half.
Orthodox – Learning To Dissolve
Genre: Groove/new wave of American metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
How about a mix of early Slipknot and Machine head, distilled through an industrial-leaning hardcore filter? Sound good? It sure is. This has much of that angry-deranged attitude you’d expect, delivered through vocals quaking with malicious indignance, riffs bending back and forth between groove and dissonance, and pickaxe-chop beats. It’s very much a stompy, breakdown-prone experience, and suitably so, which effectively brings it out of early 2000s retro into contemporary deathcore and prog-tinged, extreme metal. And yet they retain that sinister, disturbed tone and clenched-fist energy that just makes you want to fucking break something. Get fired up with “Feel it Linger” and “Cave In”.
Psychlona – Palo Verde
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Come soar on the stone(d) plane! This melodic, psych-groovy record sounds like it’s going places. It sounds optimistic, actually, but not in a silly or overly light-hearted kind of way. This was made by someone serious about their craft, and it pays off in the way that it succeeds in sounding focused and expansive at the same time.
Russian Circles – Gnosis
Genre: Atmospheric/progressive black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
A sometimes contemplative, sometimes stone-crusher heavy kind of instrumental record. Each song has a strong identity and seeks to fulfill a different purpose to the previous one, which makes for a varied and engaging listening experience. While it’s certainly dark, I wouldn’t go as far as calling it stark or bleak. There’s a certain warmth and even innocence lurking in the recesses, although the overall sound is definitely quite sober and mature. It’s the kind of black metal experience you can emerge from not seeped in melancholy or ready to light a torch. Get into it with “Conduit” and “Vlastimil”.
Soilwork – Övergivenheten
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Soilwork have been providers of steady excellence for a good while now, and this latest release isn’t gonna see them lapse. Övergivenheten continues the careful exploration and expansion of their musical range, while not messing with the classic formula. This is more melancholic than they’ve been for some time, and while still feeling grand, it’s not the soaring sense of triumph and marvel that we got last time around. There’s even a little touch of black metal here and there. However, this is very much as melodic as ever, and by no means a gloomy listening experience. The anger and harshness takes more of a supporting role on here, but still rears its roaring head whenever you feel like they might be going too soft. Take it on with “Nous Sommes la Guerre” and “Dreams of Nowhere”.
RIP David Andersson
The Sombre – Monuments Of Grief
Genre: Funeral doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A slow funeral march from start to finish, this is for when you just want to wallow in misery.
Spirit Adrift – 20 Centuries Gone (EP)
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A bite-size portion of new Spirit Adrift, with a side platter of covers. It’s good stuff.
Spite – Dedication To Flesh
Genre: Deathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If you’re looking for something fucking ballistic to get you through a heavy workout, then look no further. This is pure headbang-ability that rampaged its way out of anger management. Not particularly complex or innovative, it takes the blunt force of deathcore to further weaponize the antagonistic energy of that original Hatebreed-style metalcore. Only with slightly longer songs. Check out “Made to Please” and “The Most Ugly”.
Still / Form – From The Rot Is A Gift
Genre: Sludge metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Unnervingly dissonant, purposefully janky and unpolished, this feels like a shouted, poetic statement from a dark and dirty back alley.
Splintered Throne – The Greater Good of Man
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Nothing new to hear here, just classic hard rock-y metal with pretty cheesy lyrics.
Tomb Of Finland – Across The Barren Fields
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This thing is a riot. A morbid one, sure, but damn entertaining all the same. At the core is some classic Finnish folk-tinged melodeath, which automatically flavors everything with a certain majesty. The vocal style, guitar tone and tempo all insist that this is dark, crypt-dwelling stuff though, and somehow that split personality doesn’t feel off at all. While it might not hit it off with purists, there’s plenty to savor for the rest of us. Soaring, sinister melodies, catchy riffs and a crisp level of brutality. Jump into “Shadows of the North” and “Cursed Be the One”.
Tyrants of Chaos – Relentless Thirst for Power
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5
Weak production, uninspired composition and sub-par performances – bar a few moments there is little on here worth your time.
White Rune – Dawn Of The White Rune
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
The low-fi production might rob this album of some weight and punch, but allows the organ-like keyboards and frenetic riffs to stand out and form the basis of some standout character for this band. It offers up some crisp details, great vocal performance and varied melody.
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 