Let’s start the year with whatever dares to creep out from under the crumpled heap of 2023.
Axicator – ‘Til Thrash Do Us Part
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Slow thrash with a dark heavy metal edge and the reverb turned way up.
Almucantarat – Weightlessness
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Slow going black metal with soothing, harmonious melodies and a bit of symphonic power.
Ashes of Abaddon – The Hellbringers
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Chugging thrash with some melodeath heaviness.
At the Plates – Omnivore
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Given the name and the self-proclaimed “culinary death metal” style, you might go into this expecting all kinds of silliness, but it’s in fact a solidly crafted, moderately progressive and melodic death metal album with some real standout moments.
Blistering Tree – Somewhere Within
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Mellow doom with mild stoner vibes and smoooth fuzz.
Caroozer – The Brewtal Truth
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Sludgy vocals, heavy metal melodies and some psychedelic flair define this groove metal album.
Child Cemetery – Rebirthed Revived Rekilled
Genre: Death metal/goregrind
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Ultra heavy, but still manageable goregrind that clearly revels in the nasty.
Darkcluster – Stellar Tomb
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Space-headed and thrashy black metal with an experimental mindset.
Forbidden Alchemy – From Within
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Intensely aggressive and heavy, this throws a lot at you at once, but does so with precision.
Fragments of Lost Memories – Yakosoku
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Riff-focused, Japanese doom slowed nearly all the way down to funeral pace.
Gray State – Under the Wheels of Progress
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A good balance of aggression and groove, as well as some proudly showcased guitar chops, prevail on this metallic hardcore record.
Haunter – Tales of the Seven Seas
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Slightly groovy, rock ‘n roll-riffed traditional metal with a fantastical flair.
Insade – Human Obsession
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Crushing death metal with a light experimental edge, which serves to up the savagery.
Karnivortex – Waterwitch
Genre: Black/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Thrashy black metal with a dystopian, purposefully artificial atmosphere.
Køldbrynger – Totenblut
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Very raw, unhinged black metal that’s looking to give you nightmares.
Lair – The Hidden Shiv
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Distinctly unpleasant, crawling forward one heavy riff at a time, this is a bruiser from beyond the grave.
Massecutor – Conceptual Visions
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Retro death metal all the way, from attitude to production. Nailing the style, but not terribly memorable.
Narbeleth – A Pale Crown
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
While by no means unique in the world of traditional-leaning black metal, this one manages a very convincing balance between tragic, icy melody, and gritted-teeth contempt.
Nimetön Hauta – Pimeyteen laskee joki
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
On this Finnish atmospheric record, the black metal plays second fiddle to sweeping, lamenting melodies that feel like the forces of nature in a muted northern landscape. While certainly not far removed, the style never really crosses into folk. It’s suitably somber, but still evocative.
Highlight: “Kerran syntyneen, maaksi maatuneen”
Panzerwar – Pale Whispers of a Writhing Moon
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If pure, tradition-honoring, old-school black metal is what you’re after, this hits all the important spots.
Revisal – Curtain Call
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
An enticing mix of vivacious technicality and lofty melody, this tech death project is somewhat let down by a poor production.
Roswell Deathsquad – Welcome Home
Genre: Metalcore/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Aggressive metalcore with technical ambitions, lacking a bit in execution but smelling of potential.
Sabrum Tabal Jiin
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Grand, yet technical symphonic metal with an engaging, energetic power metal backbone and prog aspirations.
Schwarzer Engel – Träume einer Nacht
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5
By-the-numbers, gothic tinged arena metal.
Shamael – Il suono di mille orchestre parte II
Genre: Funeral doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is proper funeral doom, transition between tortured, abyssal agony and ethereal nihilism.
Soggoth – Emerge
Genre: Atmospheric black/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5
A slightly odd mix of thrashy death riffs and foggy black metal atmosphere.
Stac Pollaidh – The Plight of the People
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Hope-withering, bleak atmospheric black metal that sounds like it’s trying to wring the life from an already dead tree.
Svdestada – Candela
Genre: Blackened hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Impressively tight and focused, this is blackened fury with a real sense of urgency, managing to sound direct and expansive simultaneously. You get seven clearly distinguishable songs that make the absolute most of their runtime.
Temporal Driver – A Treatise of Sorcery: The Definitive Guide to Mysticism in Magic
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Doom tone all the way, with nice, crunchy riffs and some fresh rock groove evenly distributed throughout.
Vessalius – A Lesson in Life (To the Stars)
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
While it doesn’t have the greatest mix, this one showcases an interesting approach to modern, symphonic folk and black metal aggression.
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 