A good week for prog, although of the heavy, aggressive and groove-laden kind, and ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Alghol – Night Eternal
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Aggressive black metal with a darkly tribal twist. Not an immaculately realized concept, but still with a clear shade of originality to it.
Arch Blade – Kill The Witch
Genre: Heavy/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Heavy metal with apparent Pantera-like aspirations, but going more in the direction of Avenged Sevenfold.
Astralborne – Across The Aeons
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Strong nods to the original Gothenburg sound is no uncommon thing on melodeath records. This one takes the extra step of including an In Flames cover.
Atonement – Sadistic Invaders
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Full throttle demonic thrash that aspires to that unpolished sound of the 80s underground.
Black Sorcery – Deciphering Torment Through Malediction
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Black metal that could be characterized as noise metal just from the level of low-fi in the production.
Black Spell – Walpurgis Night
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Occult-leaning doom smothered by fuzz, crawling forward on a train of stoner groove.
Eave – Fervor
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Black metal stuck in a mire of hopelessness, utilizing typical instrumentation and a disharmonious array of atmospheric effects.
Eternal Rot – Moribound
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
An album that moves with the slow and inevitable purpose of decay, spreading rot and disease as it goes. Gurgling maledictions (the vocalist sounds like an actual living corpse) and slugging out riffs like the rumble of an earthquake, this has both the brutality and morbid groove that you crave from good death doom.
Highlights: “Summoned From Moribund Delusions” and “Desecrated Guts”.
Fleshvessel – Yearning: Promethean Fate Sealed
Genre: Experimental black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Utterly unhinged, this is blackened death metal that sounds heavily influenced by surrealism, completely embracing its more disturbing side.
The Glorious Dead – Cemetery Paths
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Furious, badass death metal charging head first into the fray, taking a few, unexperienced tumbles along the way.
The Gorge – Mechanical Fiction
Genre: Progressive/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This is spikes-out, heavy prog metal slamming slug roars and lethal doom riffs into your eardrums with no intention of apologizing for the damage caused. There are parts when you think they’re about to drift off into more delicate, Leprous-like territory, but the next explosion of furious drums and harsh vocals greet you around the corner instead. Awesomely technical, and yet strutting with groove, it feels like a real knuckleduster on the prog scene.
Highlights: “Beneath the Crust” and “Presence”.
Hooker Spit – Krötch Splitter
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Built on a foundation of fast, banger-friendly riffs, this project marries groove-laden thrash with old school death metal and a hint of melodeath to great effect.
James Rivera’s Metal Wave – New Wave Gone Metal
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5
Whatever this is supposed to be, it sounds barely alive, and not on the mend, which is probably for the best.
Lokust – Infidel
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Technical, aggressive thrash with strong notes of metalcore.
Lowlife – Leader Of A New Generation
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5
Slightly clunky, riff-meaty hardcore.
Machinations of Fate – Celestial Prophecies
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
What could very well be the beginning og a riff-happy, sinister toned, blackened melodeath band.
Marble Orchard – Building Monuments to Misery
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Dark, occult-leaning doom that has just the right atmosphere, just lacking a clear purpose and some production tweaks.
Mutoid Man – Mutants
Genre: Progressive/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
You don’t really expect heavy, psychedelic stoner given a thorough progressive treatment to sound quite like this, which just proves the band’s strong stylistic capabilities. The flavor of the thing is not crazily varied, rather a more uniform thing that ties everything together, no matter the technical direction each song takes. It’s a blend of exciting rhythms, awesome guitar grooves and an outstanding vocal performance.
Highlights: “Graveyard Love” and “Demons”.
Nuclear Power Trio – Wet Ass Plutonium
Genre: Shred/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Another instrumental shred album from the trio that’ll have any tech nerd slipping into a blissful coma.
Organ Dealer – The Weight of Being
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A lawnmower-to-the-face kind of grindcore experience, with some impressive drum work.
Panzerchrist – Last Of A Kind
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Oppressive blackened death metal that treads an over-traveled path.
Porta Nigra – Weltende
Genre: Black/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Combative, rhythmic black metal that’s filled with conviction and demonstrating a surprising amount of depth. Relentless, riff-driven assaults and harsh, blackened outbursts of hate are interspersed with doomy, atmospheric dips into contemplative melodic sections, and it all makes for a compelling whole.
Highlights: “Götterblut” and “Hora Mortis”.
Sevendust – Truth Killer
Genre: Alternative/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Clean, comfortable, with some heavy grooves and excellent vocals. All as it should be, but nothing more.
Sign Of The Swarm – Amongst The Low & Empty
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Percussive, frenetic and ridiculously aggressive, this will probably please tech death fans as much as deathcore ones.
Spellsword – Night Of The Grail
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
If you liked Nite’s latest album but wished they would lean more into the black metal side, then this comes as ordered. It’s got much of the same epic feel, and somehow feels even more like a long storytelling session, without getting silly or needing to resort to spoken word-sections. You get sharp vocals, tremolo and blast beats, but also catchy riffs and strong, classic heavy metal melodies.
Highlights: “Night of the Grail” and “Castle Montsalvat”.
Starer – Wind, Breeze, or Breath
Genre: Atmospheric/symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is big, symphonic-tinged black metal that never gets overly bold or outlandish, keeping it nice and tonally uniform.
The Sun’s Journey Through the Night – Worldless
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Bleak black metal with gothic and atmospheric tendencies. At its best when putting the full drama on display.
TakaLaiton – Mindfection
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This one has a lot of that Alexi Laiho wildchild-energy that made COB so much fun. Makes me sad to think about it. But the music is anything but sad.
Thra – Forged in Chaotic Spew
Genre: Death/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is some corrosive-ass shit. Like a machinery running on pure sludge, clogged up with oily filth and battery acid.
Vinsta – Freiweitn
Genre: Folk/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is highly melodic and folk-infused death metal that takes a few prog twists and turns, which feels more like an instrumental flex than something that fully served the album, but it’s still quite good.
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 