A hard-hitting week that leans heavily into the gothic and gloomy. But it’s not all sullen darkness, as a few splashes of striking color and groove make up the perfect counterbalance.
Atrocity – Okkult III
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
We start the week with some rusty-toned death metal from Germany. If you like the idea of a modernized, death-ified version of the classic Kreator sound, then you’re onto the right track here. This is half-serious devil worshipping, mildly groove infused stuff. It’s on the stale side, not going anywhere in particular, and lack the really standout riffs that might have compensated for it, but it feels solid and dependable.
Big City – Sunwind Sails
Genre: Hard rock/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Big and vibrant hard rock with a larger-than-life, classic metal approach to instrumentality. It feels colorful and uplifting, but very much like something straight out of a recipe book with very few alterations.
Celestial Scourge – Dimensions Unfurled
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A no-nonsense, utterly relentless gale of brutal death metal hurtling at your face like a meticulously concerted hailstorm of metal shrapnel. The technicality is absolute king, and there is little room for groove or melody. If you’re fine with a staccato pummeling, then good on you, if not, then this might feel a little soulless.
Dark Princess – Phoenix
Genre: Gothic/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Depending on your point of view and taste, you might find this comforting in its embrace of uncomplicated melodies, solid production and rich vocal performance. Or you might find it bland and forgettable. There is nothing abrasive about this one, save for a few instances of harsh vocals, just a slightly melancholic and solemn approach to an expansive, soaring tone.
Deiquisitor – Apotheosis
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A wave of muddled and hostile death metal that feels drawn in both a blackened and industrial direction. There is no letup here, no room for light or melodic sensibilities. At the same time, it’s not overly chaotic, and the evil tone sucks you into a dark state of mind that’ll have you shunning all that’s soft and colorful.
Dryad – The Abyssal Plain
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
How about an oily, oozing concoction of frosty black misery, gothic symphony, soul-crushing death metal and a bit of grimy sludge? It’s a lot more enjoyable than you might think. You get an overload of haunted castle atmosphere from some effective synth- and piano work, and the rest of the instruments are like flashing blades in the night. It feels a bit alien and clammy at times, but they tie it all together with some excellent rhythm work, that brings on both a black n’ roll groove and moments of ritualistic fervor.
Highlights: “Black Smoke” and “Loki’s Castle”.
Dying Light – Shallow Grave
Genre: Alternative/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2/5
A hard rock-y downer-toned piece of melo-groovy heavy metal. Lyric- and instrumental wise it’s got a ways to go before it could be considered up to snuff, but the concept isn’t necessarily a bad idea.
Gypsy Chief Goliath/End Of Age – Turned To Stone Chapter 7 (Split)
Genre: Heavy/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A stoner-groovy split with the first half leaning into doom and the other a rowdy sleaze-rock. While not utterly remarkable, it’s a good time with two bands that easily stand on their own.
Half Life – Like A Jungle
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A rather clumsily-rhythmed classic metal record with 80s style and strong AC/DC vibes from the lyrical style. It feels a bit stuck in place, although it has moments of enjoyable old-school adventure-lust.
Imperium Dekadenz – Into Sorrow Evermore
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
With an album title like “Into Sorrow Evermore”, you should have a pretty good idea of the tonal territory you’re headed for. While the vocal style is of the snarly variety and you get your customary black metal serving of crispy riffing and blast beats, this never feels hostile. Like death itself, it’s rather indifferent to tragedies and triumphs alike, and while you get a sense of the natural world taking its coarse in both grand and mundane fashion, there is no drama, no haste or bold reactions, just a cold reminder of what was and could have been. A stylistically rock solid release.
Highlights: “Forests in Gale” and “November Monument”.
Katatonia – Sky Void Of Stars
Genre: Progressive/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Welcome to a slow tour across a vast tapestry of a million shades of comforting doom and gloom. Katatonia’s newest is a masterfully mixed deep dive into confident rhythmic play, gothic melody and a variety of highs and lows flavored with solemn grandeur, thundering heaviness, dreamy contemplation and tender caresses. While bursting at the seams with atmosphere, the production allows for well defined instrumental performances, which are allowed to drive the progression. If you fall in love with the heaviness early on you might find your interest waning a bit in the more melody focused middle part, but it picks back up. A mighty demonstration of the band’s capabilities in more than just a few respects.
Highlights: “Austerity” and “Author”.
Natt – Natt
Genre: Doom/progressive metal/rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is one of those records that just lives its own life. What you get is three songs with a combined runtime of almost 45 minutes, one of which being largely ambient and all of them instrumental. Still interested? The immersion on here is fantastic – even though there is a fair amount of droning repetition, this has a comforting, hypnotic quality. And even as the tone fluctuates organically between different moods that are both dark and light in nature, the instrumentation takes on a curious, exploring quality that pulls you along, preventing you from getting lost in a directionless mire. Apply some patience, and you shall be rewarded.
Highlight: “Appell”.
Re-Buried – Repulsive Nature
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Now for some of that sandpaper-grade death metal that sounds like it’s trailing death and damnation like a cloud of dust. It’s ominous, medium aggressive, with a fine-tuned tone. There aren’t too many standout moments, but if it scratches that particular itch for you then you’ll probably be wanting more at the end. There’s not exactly a shortage of this kind of crypt-morbid death metal these days, although these guys haven’t gone overboard with the low-fi, instead opting for a meaty, full sound that still has plenty of crispy edge to it.
Slegest – Avstand
Genre: Black/doom metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
What happens when you take some Vreid-style black metal and set full sail for the sea of old school hard rock? Yep, you get something like this. This has some of that Kvelertak spunk, without going all the way rowdy. It’s plenty groovy and engaging, though it doesn’t fully knock my socks off. A little content to stay with the main riffs perhaps, but I see this being plenty energetic live.
Tidal Wave – The Lord Knows
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic rock/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A hard hitting stoner record with some classic metal leanings and a bit of chill psychedelic flavor. The progression might feel a bit syrupy at times, but the groove is just right, and the half-desert-rock-half-doomy vocal style is a nice touch. There is a decent amount of tempo variation, even within individual songs, and with a restless drum approach contrasting the subtle cool of the guitars, the music feels like it’s constantly tugging at its genre restraints.
Highlights: “End of the Line” and “By Order of the King”.
Tribunal – The Weight Of Remembrance
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Here we have some melodic doom enveloped in the sullen, lowered-gaze veil of blackened gothic. There’s a heavy atmosphere pooling around the cold, mournful instrumental work, like an inky mist. The vocals alternate between solemn clean and vehement harsh, each taking the tone in a slightly different direction. The gothic elements are toned down, only occasionally taking a turn for the grand, providing some standout moments among otherwise fairly subdued proceedings. The perfect album if you feel like getting lost in the dark for a bit.
Turbid North – The Decline
Genre: Sludge/doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
An album that feels like it’s alternating between commanding winds sweeping over barren hills, and trying to violently dismantle a stone monument with a demon-possessed sledgehammer. This is sludgy death doom where the atmosphere and aggression doesn’t try to coexist the whole time, instead giving each other space to realize their full potential. The result is a kind of two-sided experience with a strong feeling of experimentation, but with a joining tone that quells any feeling of randomness. It’s dark and really heavy, with the substance to get your mind working and the groove to get you to ball your fists.
Highlights: “Slaves” and “The Road”.
Twilight Force – At The Heart Of Wintervale
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Full-on adventure metal that’s leaving a trail of discharged crystals and spent potions in its wake. Vibrant, extremely tight, and at times endearingly weird, this reaches all the way to the core of that playful spark of childish imagination that’s the very basis of the fantasy genre, maybe even storytelling itself. This could easily just have been another cheesy, self-indulgent artificial-sounding shred fest, but every ounce of this seems carefully selected and tailored for the purpose of epic-tale-immersion, and added that all-important glint-in-the-eye that tells you not to take it too seriously.
Highlights: “At the Heart of Wintervale” and “Sunlight Knight”.
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 