With the days at their darkest you might expect an overload of black and grim metal, but not all so. These slow weeks around the holidays are an excellent time for untested flavors to pop their head out and be sampled.
Deathless Legacy – Mater Larvarum
Genre: Heavy/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Melodic and fairly streamlined gothic-tinged heavy metal with symphonic qualities, it’s easy to picture this band thriving live. While the arrangements can get a little plain, there are several tongue-in-cheek highlights on here that brings to mind the style of Ghost.
Gomorra – Dealer Of Souls
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
An excellent blend of thrash-speed heavy- and power metal, with some really tasty groove metal riffs thrown in here and there. The sentiment communicated, particularly through the lyrics, is fairly simple and predictable, but it’s hard not to be charmed by the old school style of piercing, slightly rusty vocal style and eager rhythms
Highlord – Freakin’ Out of Hell
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Some semi-progressive, cosmetically rowdy power metal headed your way. Instrumentally it’s quite fun, if not particularly original, but some of the vocal harmonization is just plain off.
Krilloan – Emperor Rising
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Here’s one for the D&D enthusiasts. This is properly nerdy, unapologetically epic fantasy power metal with some pretty tasty solo parts. It’ll be great live, and get you in the mood for (non-kinky) role playing at home.
Legendarium – Death’s Hand In Yours
Genre: Heavy/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Fantasy-themed heavy metal with elements of folk, black and doom. The production and performances are close to basement quality, but still outputs a captivating, mystical tone, although the vocal quality is punk-caliber, which isn’t nearly matched with the same level of roughness by the instruments, and so feels a bit jarring.
Lionheart – Welcome To The West Coast III
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Some classic LA hardcore beatdown to shake up the Christmas tranquility. The rhythm is exactly as stompy as you want it to be, and the riffs, although not as raw in tone as might be appropriate, still produce that undeniable, full-body headbanging groove on every single song. There are a bunch of guests on here – none that really take the music near the boundaries of its comfort zone – but still a welcome flavor boost. With the guitars like axe chops and vocal delivery like nail guns, you’re in for a good time.
Highlights: “DEATH COMES IN 3’S” and “AT WAR WITH THE GODS”.
Ploughshare – Ingested Burial Ground
Genre: Ambient death/noise metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
We all need a little nightmare fuel in our music from time to time. This has got spooky, droning synths and other disturbing elements churning around the soundscape, overlaying muted harsh vocals, doomy guitars and a prominent bass. The noise level is fairly high, and replaces much of the actual instrumental work. The second half is all (even more noisy) collab remixes of the first five songs, so in essence this is an EP.
Ready For Death – Ready For Death
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Postapocalyptic hardcore built around thrash metal riffing sounds like an appealing concept, and these guys have made some interesting choices with it. This is not a straightforward, mindless riff-fest, but rather an exploration of how different rhythms and techniques can push the same general tone in different directions. The production is suitably muddled, and some of the most memorable songs have a very old school feel. It’s rough and rowdy, with a slight influx of grindcore distain for melodic sensibilities, which suits the theme just fine.
Highlights: “Savior Sinner” and “Worldwide Blackout”.
Sacrilegion – From Which Nightmares Crawl
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Lightly crisped death metal with noticeable thrash sensibilities to its riffing. Once they get past the obligatory uncontrolled blast beating, you get some really quite enjoyable, crunchy guitar work infused with melodeath groove. There are, however, very few characteristic elements to distinguish it in a heavily populated subgenre.
Twisted Mind – From Slave To Prophet (EP)
Genre: Hard rock/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Vibrant, catchy hard rock-y heavy metal with an oriental flavor. There is obvious vocal and songwriting talent on display here, and although this is quite accessible stuff, it never feels superficial. The instrumental work is appropriately varied and purposeful, and doesn’t always take the path of least resistance.
Woods Of Desolation – The Falling Tide
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
This is melancholic black metal centered around some really rather gentle and dreamy atmosphere, allowing your mind to wander out over open, calm waters even as a storm of tremolo and blast beats churns in the background, just out of sight. It’s a tone that’ll kindle your sadness but keep you afloat all the way. The instrumental work is tight and beautifully mixed with the more ambient elements, keeping up the momentum without breaking the deep immersion. The hoarse-gurgly vocal style takes a little getting used to, but certainly adds character.
Highlights: “Illumination” and “The Falling Tide”.
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 