The second to last week of the year is a mini serving of proggy and experimental delicacies – some melodic, some dark, some outright nuts.
The Alpha Incident – Sundowner (EP)
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
When you find a release of progressive metal as varied as this, that doesn’t sound like something the band made up as they went, you better pay attention. Even as they weave in and out of styles and levels of intensity, it never ends up feeling like an extended jam session. You get the aggressiveness of the likes of Periphery, but also more conventional melodic death/groove styles. And in between are more atmospheric, lyric-focused parts that stretches the tone as far as it will go without breaking the overall coherence. An impressive display of creativity and musicianship.
Brandon Cambridge – Celestial Quest II: Prophecy of the Nova Queen
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A progressive dive into retro-spacey realms. It sounds like it was made in the 80s/90s, but with an obvious nostalgia towards digital sonic experiences of that time added on to it. It’s all instrumental, and not the tightest stuff you’ll ever hear, but there are some genuinely exciting heavy/doom-influenced moments in there that might be worth waiting for.
The Crippler – I’m Just Gonna Let Myself In
Genre: Grindcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A gory, slasher-themed ride powered by saw-toothed riffs. It punches you in the gut like grindcore is supposed to, then lures you back into striking distance with some tasty thrash groove. The craftmanship is a little slap-dash, but if the roughness floats your boat, then you’re in for some good fun.
Liv Moon – Our Stories
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Some mildly progressive symphonic metal with a pronounced use of violin. It takes a few twists and turns and displays some real instrumental talent, but for the most part is traditional enough that it might be the soundtrack to an anime.
Order Of Nosferat – Vampiric Wrath Unleashed
Genre: Black/noise metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is semi-melodic black metal given a synthetic, distorting treatment, to make it sound like it’s coming out of blown-out speakers with an ambient synth theme playing in the background. It kind of gets you in the mood for some dark video game fantasy, which this is the sonic equivalent to.
Rågbröder – Dadfluencer
Genre: Experimental death/black metal/punk
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is an insane album of super short songs that are rowdy to the bone and completely unbound to any one genre. For the most part is sounds like a pissed-off mix of death and black metal, but built on punk simplicity and with elements of ska, rock ‘n roll, grindcore, etc. It’s energetic, and the ambient/atmospheric elements they throw in there never last long enough to kill the momentum. It’s a spicy, kind of silly thriller to wake you up on a holiday morning.
Highlights: “Åord (Ja bara säger)” and “Konsumindre”
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 