This week is a case of the extreme, the artistic and the underground rising up to eclipse the towering tentpoles.
Alase – A Matter of Time
Genre: Atmospheric doom/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is prog-like doom with both aggressive and atmospheric elements that leans heavily on the vocals, the delivery of which could definitely be smoother.
Altari – Kröflueldar
Genre: Progressive/experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Here we’ve got some warm, flowing and gently experimental Icelandic black metal. Despite hoarse, lamenting vocals, this is a rather pleasant listen, as if watching a fresh stream of water finding a new path down a hillside – the goal is clear but the journey there mesmerizing in its organic unpredictability.
Highlights: “Djáknahrollur” and “Hin eine sanna”.
Archon Angel – II
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A pleasant-toned mix of power metal and classic prog metal with chugging heavy metal riffs.
Ashrain – Requiem Reloaded
Genre: Power metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
No-surprises, hard rock-rhythm power metal that’s a good, non-offensive laid-back time.
Black Orchid Empire – Tempus Veritas
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Fluid and melodic, this is prog that swims as much in hard rock waters as in metal. But when the grooves hit, they hit good and hard, and the gentler approach that led up to it ends up feeling like a natural contrast. While led by clean vocals throughout, the approach never gets too soft, and each part of the whole is chosen and performed with a compelling maturity.
Blazon Rite – Wild Rites And Ancient Songs
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Classic-beyond-classic heavy metal the like of early Rainbow, with the romantic battle spirit of Saxon.
Cave Moth – Paralytic Love
Genre: Death/noise metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Death metal in the format of mathcore, with the duration and intensity of grindcore, and the dissonant sensibilities of noise rock. Heavy shit.
Deathgrave – It’s Only Midnight
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A jagged wreckage pile of a death-tinged grindcore album, that’s big on consistently disturbing tone but small on variation.
Dødheimsgard – Black Medium Current
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Get ready for a trip. This feels like the result of ramming a tar-covered black metal wrecking ball into an artist collective to see what sticks, then melting everything down into a swirling mass that’s a hundred different shades of darkness, releasing puffs of dizzying fumes. To be fair, it’s neither as disorienting or random as this description might lead you to think, but it’s certainly far out of the ordinary, incorporating spacey, psychedelic and genre-fluid ambience as wide-reaching branches to a quite traditional black metal tree trunk. And somehow, through clever songwriting and/or infernal inspiration, it simply works.
Highlights: “Abyss Perihelion Transit” and “Det Tomme Kalde Mørke”.
From Fall To Spring – Rise
Genre: Metalcore/pop metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Heavily pop-infused, trend-oriented metalcore with a big, shiny production.
Holy Moses – Invisible Queen
Genre: Technical thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Fairly harsh, hardcore-colored thrash metal with a mildly dissonant tech-death-y approach.
Jesus Piece – …So Unknown
Genre: Sludge metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
An ominous, exceptionally hard-hitting sludge-slugger of a heavy hardcore album. The bass is wall-shaking and you can virtually feel the vocalist’s spit in your face with every throat-rending utterance. While the tone is consistent, the band has clearly experimented with rhythm to allow certain sections to truly stand out, which makes for a relatively diverse experience.
Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall – Hunt The Flame
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Soaring, ballad-prone heavy metal with a massive, glittery production.
Metallica – 72 Seasons
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
72 seasons feels like a natural, although significantly less inspired continuation of Hardwired…To Self-Destruct. It’s food for fans, with a few interesting variations, but not an overly hard hitter on the thrash metal scale.
Overkill – Scorched
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
New Overkill on the same week as Metallica? Bold. You get pretty much what you expect here as well, with good speed and aggression but less than stellar rhythm control.
Squid Pisser – My Tadpole Legion
Genre: Noise/experimental metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A bludgeoning, dissonant and disorienting cacophony of weirdness and hardcore aggression.
Vesuvian – Emergence
Genre: Symphonic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Melodic death metal pushed into the realm of fairly run-of-the-mill symphonic metal, offering some tight, groove-laden playing, but little in the way of innovation.
Wild Beyond – Wild Beyond
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Dissonant, speedy black metal with the harshness and grit of hardcore-tinged thrash.
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 