This small batch week is packed with death metal both fast, filthy and clever.
Ageless Summoning – Corrupting The Entempled Plane
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Death metal seeped in abyssal atmosphere, chugging along at a doomy pace. Husky but with a full sound.
Ancestral Blood – Forgotten Myths and Legends – Chapter 1
Genre: Atmospheric/symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A mix of approaches, this takes a classic technical approach to black metal and adds epic, sometimes somber melodies and a few electronic bells and whistles to elevate it beyond something not quite fully realised.
Johnny Booth – Moments Elsewhere
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A heavy, slick hardcore record leaning into typical metalcore-style melodic choruses but also slamming, dissonant riffing that would feel at home in any deathcore project.
Cadaver – The Age Of The Offended
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Sure, this is ragged death metal to the core, but it dons a host of different attires on top of that. The playful rhythms and sharp, choppy vocal style is reminiscent of recent Carcass, then all of a sudden they’ll fire off some raw groove not unlike Devil Driver, and on certain tracks they’re almost full out classic heavy metal with a bit of extra punching power. It’s full of surprises and keeps up the consistent quality all the way through.
Highlights: “Scum Of The Earth” and “Deadly Metal”.
Cultist – Slow Suicide
Genre: Deathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Heavy, heavy, heavy riffs. And breakdowns. If you just want to headbang through some concrete, then this will serve nicely as inspiration.
Feuerschwanz- Fegefeuer
Genre: Folk/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A serious mood booster of a folk festival anthem collection, with simplistic melodies and vocals ushered on by enthusiastic riffs.
Mizmor – Prosaic
Genre: Black/sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A deep dive into misery, this is a thoroughly bleak and negative experience, using sludge coarseness and black metal stark melancholy to push through a mire of sullen atmosphere.
Nuclear Winter – Seagrave
Genre: Melodic/industrial death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Heavy riffs and occasionally quite engaging melodies slightly let down by rudimentary rhythms.
Outer Heaven – Infinite Psychic Depths
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
A kind of barebones feeling death metal output. Despite the rough edges and slightly stripped down shape of everything, this isn’t really a retro thing, working in plenty of heft in the crunchy riffs and getting good and guttural with the vocals. Everything feels very to-the-point and intentional, laying bare the purpose of every single instrument. And it works impressively well. The thing oozes menace and wicked groove.
Highlights: “Pallasite Chambers” and “Unspeakable Aura”.
Rannoch – Conflagrations
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Utilizing precise, rapid riffs with plenty of punch and a nuanced melodic approach, the only thing this progressive death metal album lacks is a few more fresh ideas.
Somnuri – Desiderium
Genre: Sludge/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Thanks in large part to the vocal style, there is a certain Soundgarden feel to this record, only far more riff-oriented, and quite a bit heavier, a bit like a less experimental Mastodon that got a good sniff of grunge and stoner. There’s a satisfying balance between heavy, driving grooves and progressive tangents, with a strong unifying tone.
Highlights: “Paramnesia” and “Flesh & Blood”.
Thunder Horse – After The Fall
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Old school doom with plenty of groove and fuzz, but a crisp production and a penchant for classic metal and hard rock riffs and solos.
Velvet Viper – Nothing Compares To Metal
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Slightly clunky genre-appreciating classic metal that gets lost in the crowd.
The Zenith Passage – Datalysium
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
This one will tickle your brain. and delight your inner retro cyberpunk. Conquering the urge to bombard the listener with a constant, unrestrained landslide of instrumental frenzy, this feels unusually focused and purposeful for a tech death album. The frantic guitars, although challenging to follow, are trying to lead you somewhere, rewarding you with well-realized, synth-driven melodic passages and constantly teasing you with cheeky tempo changes.
Highlights: “Divinertia II” and “Algorithmic Salvation”.
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 