A week where chaos is let loose and allowed to reign – spawning a whole host of punishing, experimental, cross-genre, out-of-control releases. It’s pretty great.
Align The Tide – Hollow
Genre: Deathcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
An attempt to merge the bludgeoning brutality of deathcore with the more exploratory and groove oriented side of metalcore. It partially succeeds, but reveals some shortcomings in composition and performances when you start to listen actively, and doesn’t stand out as the most fresh.
Anthea – Tales Untold
Genre: Gothic/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
High-ceiling, melodic and fairly anthemic goth metal with power metal-level polish.
Apeiron Bound – Multiplicity
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Ambitious in its fusion of complex instrumental performances, big melodies and classic high-pitched vocals, this is a work that will find it hard to reach beyond its very contained prog sphere.
Becoming The Archetype – Children Of The Great Extinction
Genre: Progressive metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Weaving groove-laden and beat-driven brutality with a genuinely adventurous approach to song progression, this stands out as a fresh and high-energy highlight of dark prog. There’s a fair bit of metalcore melody, but, luckily, next to nothing of the soft earnestness that might have come with it. It’s sort of breakdown-prone, but not in a mindless way – boosting the heavy riffs with enough tone to provide a distinct flavor. Give it a shot with “The Remnant” and “The Curse”.
Blood Of Indigo – Dawn Of The Shaded World
Genre: Gothic/symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Perhaps misguidedly opening with a 14 minute orchestral instrumental track, this is actually grandiose, gothic black metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir. The production leaves some depth to be desired, but this should still entertain fans of melodic dark metal.
Brymir – Voices In The Sky
Genre: Symphonic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Who needs power metal when death metal can be this melodic and rousing? Although containing plenty of kick-ass riffage, this definitely appeals to those looking for symphonic grandeur and majestic folk tunes in their metal, more so than straight up melodeath fans. Sure, there is a bit of a thematic clash between the playful instrumentation and some of the more serious-leaning melodies and vocal performances, but overall it’s a highly engaging and entertaining experience that’ll have you playing air guitar with your drinking horn. Get in on it with “Herald of Aegir” and “Borderland”.
Child Of Caesar – Spirit & Liberation
Genre: Gothic metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A throwback to gritty, alternative 90’s goth metal with a bit of hard rock and hardcore punch. It’s stylistically confident and delivers as promised, offering up dark melody, a whiff of catchiness and just the right amount of gloom.
Cyborg Octopus – Between The Light and Air
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Blending Avatar-like antics, tech death complexity and much more, plus the typical proggy disregard for your expectations, this is quite the colorful album. While the energy stays sky-high throughout, and the performances remain recognizable, most everything else changes from song to song, ushering you along on a zig-zagging joyride. Once committed to a style though, they stay on point, making this feel much less experimental than simply adventurous.
Death Scythe – Killing For Pleasure Forever
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
This Mexican piece of melodeath has some eager and playful instrumentation and a tone reminiscent of some of the Finnish greats of the subgenre, but sluggish and some times hobbling progressions hold it back.
Drag Me Out – Demons Away
Genre: Technical metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Some electronica-tinged, catchy and at times quite intense metalcore that contains far too much sap for my taste, but should please any fan of this modern take on the subgenre.
Dreadnought – The Endless
Genre: Progressive doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is all about tone – if it flicks a switch for you then you’ll probably be left mesmerized. If it doesn’t then you’ll likely get stuck on one or several of the quirks that present themselves throughout. Don’t get me wrong, the experimentation and boldness on here is laudable, but the avant-garde disharmony of the vocals and prevailing lack of direction can make this a lagging experience. On the other hand, there are several sections on here that are simply stunning in their respective beauty, power and/or scope.
Dynazty – Final Advent
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
With song titles like “Natural Born Killer” and “All the Devils are Here”, you might expect something rather dark and vicious. Quite the opposite, this is straight out of Eurovision – arena ready, melodic power metal. Certainly not bad for what it is.
Eaten By Sharks – Eradication
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Shark metal. How did we ever manage without it? Jokes partly aside, this is some fairly frivolous semi-technical death metal in the vein of such bands as Werewolves. It’s certainly entertaining, although perhaps lacking some of the absolute bangers that would have it chomping down on its peers.
Edenbridge – Shangri-La
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Got time for a 2 hour album? Take it easy, it’s actually only half that long, but includes instrumental versions of all the tracks. This is warm symphonic metal that can be best described as a pleasant experience. What it isn’t, is particularly characterful.
Epoch Of Chirality – Nucleosynthesis
Genre: Progressive/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Metal…in…spaaaace! This is some pretty zany, instrumental stuff that also isn’t completely devoid of grit. Some of the heavier sections deliver plenty of power, and if you don’t mind drifting along on a rocket ride of highly competent musical performances, then suit up.
Grave Digger – Symbol Of Eternity
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Thematically confident and solidly performed, this is nonetheless rather formulaic, epic heavy metal. A touch of grit goes well with the concept of medieval warfare, and if you’re already a fan I suspect you know exactly what you’re in for.
Hierophant – Death Siege
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Let a thundering surge of pitch-black and malicious death metal crash over you. The hoarse vocals provide a deathly contrast to the ominous and some times rather chaotic brutality of the instrumentation, and fuses the black/death approach in a confident manner. There is little other than shadowy evil to be found on here, but also enough instrumental variation to make it an engaging listen from start to finish. Jump into “Crypt of Existence” and “Death Siege”.
Intent – Exile
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Ready for a frantic thrashing? This is straightforward and highly groovy thrash metal with some of the most enthusiastic drumming you’ll ever hear. Most of the time they’re in such a hell of a hurry that’s it’s almost overwhelming – pelting you with an infernal hailstorm of riffs, licks and beats. The vocals are suitably raspy and laden with attitude, which adds to the ferocity. Sure, it’s no reinvention of the genre, and you might find the occasional creaky joint in the song compositions, but who cares when you’re in for such a rush (plus an awesome album cover)? Set it off with “Victims of Conquest” and “Time”.
Lacrimas Profundere – How To Shroud Yourself With Night
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
As big and bold as can reasonably fit under a lace-framed funeral shroud, this is fairly aggressive goth metal verging on cinematic in scope. Mixing in a fair bit of melodeath and heavy doom, they punch beyond the subgenre’s usual crowd, but a lot of the rather straightforward vocal sections might land as a little unengaging to some.
Machine Head – Øf KingdØm And CrØwn
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 0/5
Objective rating: 4/5
First of all, I automatically give a subjective ”0” rating to albums using the letter “Ø” in place of “O” for no apparent reason other than style. It’s an ignorant fad move from people who don’t realize or care that “Ø” is an actual Scandinavian letter, and correctly pronouncing it when misused like this makes your band/album/song title sound fucking ridiculous.
Phew. With that out of the way – on to the music. Machine head are back with some properly scorched, thrashy groove metal. At its best it’s genuinely raw, unpolished and bursting with attitude, stirring something deep inside you with undeniably catchy riffs and well composed, haunting melodic sections. At its worst it’s a bit complacent in its conceptually driven progression and marred by overly anthemic sections, but it luckily doesn’t overpower the overall experience. Get a taste with ”CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE” and ”BLØØDSHØT” (man, it damn near physically hurts to write the song titles like that, and I will more than likely not buy this album for that reason alone.)
Manifest – The Sinking
Genre: Experimental groove metal/punk
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Beyond the (probably intentionally) awful production, this is a chaotic and vibratingly angry record where you get the distinct impression that the band is doing exactly what they feel like.
Might – Abyss
Genre: Doom metal/shoegaze
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
While not entirely metal, this mood-drenched and utterly doom-laden record certainly has its heavy tracks, and offers some interesting contrasts – from spoken-word near standstills to groovy hard rock riffage. While a bit more consistency might make for a more coherent experience, there’s plenty to love if you’re in the mood for gloom and sadness.
Red Rot – Mal de Vivre
Genre: Experimental death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
An album that sounds like a violent step-by-step process of exorcising personal demons. You never quite know where each of the short-lived songs on here will take you, be it into lamentation or blistering fury. It’s music that weighs heavily on your mind to the point of exhaustion, but if you summon the mental fortitude to persevere, there’s definitely a catharsis to be had. Start with “Dysmorphia” and “Conversation with the Demon”.
Santa Cruz – The Return Of The Kings
Genre: Glam/thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A fairly contradicting mix of glam and thrash, with the tempo and general charisma of classic heavy metal, which is kind of neither here nor there.
Sigh – Shiki
Genre: Avant-garde/melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Rarely does an album that tries to do as many different things as this one does succeed at anything but completely overwhelm the listener. What keeps “Shiki” coherent is the band’s confidence in their signature black metal sound and style, which grounds everything else. Even as each song can feel like a living, breathing thing – losing and gaining energy and having its mood fluctuate naturally – it’s always the same beast at its core. It ranges from pure black metal dipping into melodic death metal to complete zen, and the transitions between feel very organic. There’s so much wild melody, emotion and obvious appetite for exploration on here that experiencing it is nothing short of inspiring. Give “Mayonaka No Kaii” and “Shoujahitsumetsu” a try.
Stitched Up – Jupiter Jazz and the Suicide Cult
Genre: Sludge/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is a kind of down-in-the dirt, caveman, street-hardened yet still pretty slick kind of hybrid that could probably benefit from leaning harder in one particular direction. There’s a bit of groove, medium amounts of attitude, and a very straightforward approach to rhythm.
Syryn – Heads or Tails
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Here we have some fresh NWOBHM-leaning, female-fronted heavy metal. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a classic sounds, cause they do try to make it their own thing, but lack of maturity becomes evident in slightly disharmonious performances and unimpressive compositions.
Thoughtcrimes – Altered Pasts
Genre: Experimental metalcore/mathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5
An album where the chaos is very much expected and welcomed. The twists and turns on here feel like a glitching automaton, which proves the artists’ mastery of this kind of erratic performance. There’s room for mood though, and it’s all pretty glum. Don’t think for a moment though that they don’t know how to bring the intensity. Personally I think they go too far in their extremes – too dull and morose in the slow parts and too all-out frantic in the aggressive parts – making for an uneven experience. But fans of the genre will probably love it all the more for this exact reason.
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 