A week staring into the roaring maws of darkness, catching glimpses of vibrancy amid the varying shades of aggressive nihilism.
Aenaon – Mnemosyne
Genre: Progressive black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
It isn’t often you get to call black metal adventurous, but here you go. You get the feeling of having entered a house of madness and dark delights, and, while I personally think the saxophone is overused in experimental metal today, the sax certainly plays its part in manifesting this particular sonic space. The music is both wild, slightly unhinged and all the while very intentional. You get traditional snarly vocals and blast beats, but also hypnotic melodies and freaky acoustic interludes. It’s a trip, and one I recomment you take. Try “Psyche” and “Hysteria”.
The Antichrist Imperium – Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
A black clad melodic death metal album that doesn’t mind spending its time in the second circle of hell. There’s a bit of tech death, a bit of melodeath, and a good dash of gothic in there, but mostly this is straight up blackened death not too dissimilar to the likes of Rotting Christ. They keep up an impressive level of energy throughout, and some of the riff sections straight up rips. If you don’t mind the somewhat less bleak and more groove laden part of blackened death metal, then this is absolutely for you. Check out “Third Degree Baptism” and “Tu Verus Mundi Lucifer”.
Armed For Apocalypse – Ritual Violence
Genre: Sludge metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Ready for some hyper-aggression? These guys truly want to bring the world crashing asunder to the sound of throat-rending vocals, hacksaw riffs, stompy rhythms and breakdowns – plenty of breakdowns. This sludgy, hardcore-energy death metal enjoys both explosive outbursts and slow crawls, all the while delivering a misanthropic tone and plenty of tortured guitar squeals. Definitely one to tear something down to. Give it a go with “Full of Phlegm” and “Hourglass”.
Borealis – Illusions
Genre: Power/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Some very tight and ceremonious progressive power metal that gets a bit too dramatic and self serious for its own good. But musically it’s a pleasant and rousing listen.
Cloud Rat – Threshold
Genre: Progressive grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Off the charts aggressive and surgically precise, this is niche music that has found its target and is stabbing at it repeatedly at a formidable rpm. The sonic equivalent of being shook like a ragdoll, this is an intense listening experience that still manages to offer up distinct and unifying tones. There is bitterness in between the howled lines, but also a sense of vulnerable honesty that gives the whole thing a deservedly earnest quality.
Counterparts – A Eulogy For Those Still Here
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Get ready for some scream-till-you’re-hoarse hard metalcore. You get transitions between odd-rhythmed harsh disharmony and classic metalcore melodies, with instrumental flourishes at appropriate moments. For all its intensity and obvious talent, the band struggles a bit to leave a lasting impression this time around.
Diabology – Father Of Serpents
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
You gotta love it when the youngbloods put together something like this. Sounding more mature than it has any rights to and drawing inspiration from bands and sounds that were at their biggest before these guys were even born, the album bears the trademark of pure enthusiasm. Mixing the heavy of death metal with the straightforward attack of thrash and playing with some NWOBHM melody and showmanship, this is getting close to something that could hold its own against pretty much anyone in the genre.
Ellefson-Soto – Vacation In The Underworld
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A shreddy big-name-collab with plenty of pleasing guitar work and appropriately powerful vocals. It’s more a bob-your-head-along than a true banger though, mostly thanks to fairly uninspired rhythms.
Get The Shot – Merciless Destruction
Genre: Hardcore/deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Straight up obliteration from these Canadian heavyweights. They’ve gone a noticeable step closer to deathcore since last, which suits the temperament of their music perfectly. This is all full-body headbanging and breakdowns, and the melding of hardcore audacity with the sledgehammer impact of death metal works just as well as ever. A little bit of character has been lost in the pursuit of reinvention, but the moshpits are still gonna be legendary. Jump in with “Deathbound” and “Divination of Doom”.
Gillian Carter – Salvation Through Misery
Genre: Hardcore/screamo/noise
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Here’s some very noisy, grindcore-level-intensity screamo. It stabs at you like a dentist’s drill, but also tries to lure you in with contemplative melodies. And then it stabs at you again. There’s some cool instrumental work under all the layers, so if you’re attuned to this sort of thing, it’s probably worth your time.
Goatwhore – Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven
Genre: Death/black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
That’s right, your craving for black charred death thrash is about to be sated big time. There’s the sinister tone, the tremolo and cold guitar solos, the meaty riffs and the relentless speed. Goatwhore knows how to strike a great balance between them all, and so we get thunder and groove, butchery and blasphemy. It’s just that primal, unpretentious sound that every fan of extreme metal is drawn to – gloriously defiled to suit an unholy purpose. Get fired up to “Born of Satan’s Flesh” and “The Devil’s Warlords”.
Lamb Of God – Omens
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
The grooooove is back with a vengeance. The album hits with the force of the band slamming a collective spade in your face as a way of asking if you forgot about them. It’s Lamb of God returning to a more no-nonsense, slightly leaner and crisper sound, full of attack and unbelievable riff dexterity. There are a few hardcore elements mixed in to suit this buzzsaw-adorned-bulldozer-approach, but in the end it’s the core sound that draws you in, and it’s on great form here. Bang your head uncontrollably to “Nevermore” and “Omens”.
Languish – Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is one of those where if you love one part of it, you better love it enough to listen to it repeatedly for 25 minutes. That’s not to say that this is slow – it’s just not particularly varied. What it does have is a rock solid tone of a kind of devil-may-care, outta-my-way death metal that is somehow also fairly good natured.
Memories Of A Lost Soul – Redefining Nothingness
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A Gothenburg-inspired death metal output with progressive and symphonic tendencies, this weighs in on the aggressive side, but falls a little flat as the melodic tangents seem uninspired and not too well planned, killing whatever momentum was built up.
Midnight Rider – Beyond The Blood Red Horizon
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A nod back to the humbler origins of metal, with a distinctly non-heavy sound and toned down instrumental chops. The tone is just right for a modern throwback like this.
NeroArgento – Land of Silence
Genre: Industrial/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Sounding like pop-oriented alternative metal had a collision with dubstep, this sounds made for a early 2000s alt-rave dancefloor.
Parius – The Signal Heard Throughout Space
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A supremely nerdy and adventurous trip into progressive metal space. It’s not, as you might expect, a complete instrumental orgy. Rather, the album sticks to theme and trying to color in its concepts with interesting shifts in atmosphere and intensity.
Queensryche – Digital Noise Alliance
Genre: Heavy/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
The experience of decades definitely shines through on Digital Noise Alliance. This is tight and well coordinated, sounding like a comfortable hiccup-free production. And while there are highlights on here, as a whole it stands as fairly unremarkable in the modern prog world.
Sky Pig – It Thrives In Darkness
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Dark, crawling sludge infused with a touch of psychedelia, this is for all you out there that just can’t get enough of the grind. It gets a bit too comfortable simply existing in its space a few times, but makes up for it with some boulder heavy riff sections, accompanied by cavern ritual drums and vocals that sound either in trance or exclaiming with dark realization.
Sudden Deaf – Havoc
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Let’s be real – which traditional heavy metal sound is not improved by a touch of doomy gloom and/or stoner crunch? Havoc has both of these influxes, and the melding is everything but superficial. While there is progressive energy all throughout, the band takes the time to truly explore the melodies they bring in, allowing them to evolve organically within a suitable tonal range. This is a gem in the rough, as some rhythm control and performance precision is lost in the heat of enthusiasm, but it’s quickly forgotten at the next vibrant instrumental section. Give “Headhunter” and “Going Down” a shot.
Suspyria – The Valley Of Despair
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Modern alt-metal balancing metalcore aggression with sappy earnestness. If you can handle both sides of the coin you’ll be rewarded with some good groove and instrumental flourishes.
Teramaze – Flight Of The Wounded
Genre: Melodic prog metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is prog metal in the genre-bound sense of the word, working with power metal energy, an uplifting tone and an overall sense of wonderment underpinning highly competent instrumental performances.
Terror Cell – Caustic Light
Genre: Blackened hardcore/mathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Abrasive and sludgy mathcore in a bad mood. The band seems to have been highly fixated on the tone, which approaches the depressiveness of black metal, but even as they compensate with furious bursts of harsh intensity, the undercurrent of the music is almost at a standstill.
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 