This is one of those weeks that’s like opening an abandoned storage unit – although there’s a lot of clutter, you’re likely in for a few positive surprises.
Anthem – Crimson & Jet Black
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
As you might have surmised from the band name and album title, this is classic, hard rock-y heavy metal, although with a snappy delivery and really quite decent production.
Atavistia – Cosmic Warfare
Genre: Symphonic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
If a mix of Dimmu Borgir and Keep of Kalessin, sort of in the style of Finnish melodeath, sounds like it might hit the spot, then this one’s for you. It’s grand, symphonic black metal with a slightly spacey vibe, but also enough folk elements to keep it from floating away. A snarly aggression also keeps it firmly outside the realm of power metal, although there’s plenty of melody to back up the harshness.
Highlights: “Cosmic Warfare” and “Forgotten Silence”.
Blood Star – First Sighting
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Female fronted traditional heavy metal in the style of NWOBHM, plenty of energy and Motörhead-like drum work.
Dawn Of Ouroboros – Velvet Incandescence
Genre: Progressive/melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This album swings between bleak darkness and ascending melodies, delivering raspy black metal venom as well as dreamy atmosphere and a progressive attitude to song structure.
Decipher – Arcane Paths To Resurrection
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Greek black metal with some power and aggression borrowed from death metal, and a black n’ roll kind of riff tone.
The Eating Cave – The Miscalculation
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Death metal trying to fuse modern technicality, progressive exploration and slamming brutality all in one, with modestly successful results.
EDKH – Conspirashit
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Classic, hoarse and off-the-hinges grindcore sounding like it’s throwing a wreck-the-joint-party inside your speakers.
Fall of Earth – From The Ashes
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Metalcore-infused groove with an experimental approach to structure, with apparently little heed taken to crafting working melodies.
Frenzy – Of Hoods And Masks
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Judas Priest-like, neat, classic heavy metal that partly makes up for a slight lack of energy with some sass and tasty lead guitar work.
Gyrdleah – Spellbinder
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Sinister-toned black metal with some epic, sad atmosphere, containing a few very strong songs but also a few that fail to make much on an impression.
MMXX – The Next Wave
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
An atmospherically very strong gothic doom EP laden with sadness and strong vocal performances. Unfortunately over far too quickly.
Nethermancy – Worship Evil Sacrifice
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Spooky black metal with some old school death metal chops, that’s a little too steeped in their thematic misery to deliver anything outside the expected.
Phaeton – Between Two Worlds
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Peppy instrumental prog metal with its gaze set firmly on the cosmos, and incorporating tasters of other subgenres, like classic doom, groove, thrash and even some alternative.
Portrayal Of Guilt – Devil Music (EP)
Genre: Experimental black metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Unpredictable, harsh and disturbing, (seriously) blackened hardcore for you who wants to invite some sonic disorder into your life. The last half consists of orchestral versions of the first five songs, which actually give them a completely new feel, like a demonically possessed opera. Definitely worth checking out for an alternative black metal experience.
Predatory Void – Seven Keys To The Discomfort Of Being
Genre: Hardcore/blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A successful mix of hardcore directness with the cold misanthropy of black metal and raw fury of death metal, and added, in pieces, some shoegaze-y meditative bleakness. The balance isn’t fully optimal, as you come to expect full-on fury from the first few songs, which is followed by a sharp sip in intensity, for then to pick it partly up towards the end. But the melodic and rhythm work is expertly written and performed, so you can’t help but feel like you’re hearing the birth of something great.
Smoulder – Violent Creed Of Vengeance
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
An armor-clad, sword-wielding warrior-wanderer of an epic, doom-styled heavy metal album. We travel high and low, fast and slow, into battle and the open unknown on this, and the feeling of being part of a fantastic tale never subsides. It doesn’t get silly, but also doesn’t take itself all to seriously. The bass and guitar work is brilliantly playful, and the vocals, although not always spot on, has just the right balance between commanding and theatrical.
Highlights: “The Talisman and the Blade” and “Spellforger”.
These Beasts – Cares, Wills, Wants
Genre: Experimental sludge/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A noisy and mildly dissonant sludge album with a more laid back, stoner-like intensity level.
Ulvedharr – Inferno XXXIII
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Coarse and aggressive thrash metal with a wicked and morbid feel, although quite a one-dimensional tone.
Undrask – God Emperor
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Young and technically competent melodeath, although the melodic work is less than memorable.
Wasteland Clan – The End Of Time
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
With a touch of doom and gothic rock, this is riff-oriented heavy metal with a try sound and eager drum work, but the production doesn’t do the vocals any favors.
X:VII – Lu-Cipher-Sabbatean
Genre: Industrial/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Deeply blackened electronic industrial metal that conjures images of dark rituals and the echoes of the unholy forges of hell itself resounding along massive hallways.
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 