After several weeks dominated by brutal and bleak releases, the sun starts to shine through in the form of some more playful and epic stuff.
Amaranthe – The Catalyst
Genre: Pop/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If you know Amaranthe, you know what you’re getting. Eurovision beats, catchy riffs, bright, electronica-infused sci-fi melodies and a dazzling mix of clean and harsh vocals.
Atoll – Inhuman Implants
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Atoll’s new offering is the kind that bridges the gap between the barbed-wire-baseball-bat blunt trauma of brutal death metal and the circular-saw-axe-blade cut of the more visceral and technical end of the subgenre spectrum. And how can you go wrong with titles like “Gay For God” and “Missionary Opposition”?
Autumnblaze – Auf zerfetzten Schwingen
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Like a lamenting sigh in the form of a cold gust of wind over the graveyard, this is gothic metal finding purpose in a sad state of affairs, with a distinct black metal tone to its riffs.
Borknagar – Fall
Genre: Progressive/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
While being sweeping, melody-centric and austere progressive metal in the vein of Katatonia at its core, Borknagar also doesn’t shy from allowing the obsidian blade of black metal cut through the veil. Fans of slow-paced, slightly doom-styled epic extreme metal will be able to fully embrace this one, while others might find its progression a bit too sedate. But the confidence that shines through the songwriting is reassuring, and every now and then you are simply taken aback by the sheer power of its melodic passages.
Highlights: “Northward” and “Unraveling”.
Vincent Crowley – Anthology Of Horror
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Horror-themed, riff-happy, dark-toned heavy metal that’s still light on its feet.
Darkest Hour – Perpetual | Terminal
Genre: Metalcore/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Every now and then I just need a shot of that classic early 2000s metalcore sound, and this one hits the spot strong and good. The style pendulums between the band’s melodeath and hardcore influences, without ever swinging out of balance. The result feels invigorated and purposeful, and will certainly scratch a deep seated itch for fans.
Decrowned – Persona Non Grata
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Catchy-riffed and solo-happy Finnish melodeath, with a slightly overproduced finish.
Desolate Tomb – Scorned By Misery
Genre: Blackened deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Highly aggressive, stark deathcore utilizing quite a lot of the subgenre’s technical tropes. It hits hard, but struggles a bit to create any sort of distinct mood.
Dust Bolt – Sound & Fury
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Peppy, anthemic thrash pulsing from a more conventional hard rock and heavy metal core. It’s groovy as heck, although, ultimately, a bit toothless.
Ektomorf – Vivid Black
Genre: Groove/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
You some times wish Slipknot would pick up where they left off with Iowa? This isn’t far from what that might be. The vocal style, rhythms and guitar tone are certainly more than a bit inspired. Where it all departs a little is the introduction of Kataklysm-style dark grooves, which contributes to modernizing the sound a tad.
Gonemage – Spell Piercings
Genre: Experimental nu metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A real mind spinner of a noisy, unhinged, blackened nu metal album, with a light sprinkling of 8-bit sound effects, because why the hell not?
Gore Machine – Macerated & Liquified
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Fans of filthy, gurgly death metal with buzzsaw riffs get exactly what they deserve on this one.
Hand Of Kalliach – Corryvreckan
Genre: Melodic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
An atmosphere-rich and technical melodeath record balancing ethereal melody with rapid, focused aggression. Most of the time these two faces speak in harmony and elevate each other, although a few times you wish that one would step back to let the other fully shine. But overall it’s a rich, varied and immersive experience full of stellar performances.
Highlights: “Fell Reigns” and “Unbroken You Remain”
Inferious – Salt Your Earth
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Straight-cut deathcore with a kind of barebones, hardcore-like style and a hint of dark groove. It’s aggressive and precise, and doesn’t have to go over the top to exude brutality.
Iron Curtain – Savage Dawn
Genre: Speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This feels like an album distilled from everything that was good about early thrash, heavy metal and hard rock. You can practically smell the burning rubber and gasoline, and see the sparks of grinding metal glinting off swinging chains. It’s piles of attitude atop tight and inspired performances, and a production that allows for every detail to shine. Savage indeed!
Highlights: “Gypsy Rocker” and “Rattlesnake”.
Job For A Cowboy – Moon Healer
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Experiencing Job For A Cowboy’s latest feels a bit like attending a masterclass. The way each musical contribution corresponds with the next seems utterly intuitive, and never trite. It’s a perfectly attuned whole, and the parts that make it up manage to shine without needing to strike out all on their own. It’s not exactly what I’d call an organic flow, but the intensity waxes and wanes in a way that grabs a hold of your attention at any moment it might wander off. Not too complex, not too flashy, just very well composed.
Highlights: “The Agony Seeping Storm” and “The Forever Rot”.
Karkosa – Estoterrorcult
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A hard-hitting blackened death album with a distinctly melodic black metal lean, seemingly trying to overwhelm you with the all-out force of its hurricane drums, hissing vocals and slamming riffs.
Morta Skuld – Creation Undone
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Morta Skuld delivers more lethal, riff-driven death metal to please fans of Cannibal Corpse-style aggressive and precise brutality. It’s a well practiced style at this point, so perhaps a tad stale, but still delivering the goods.
Nebularis – Exodus
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A short prog metal album that knows how to do spacey atmosphere, but technically it doesn’t quite hold up.
Rifforia – Axeorcism
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
You probably can’t get more on the nose than this. Riffs galore, at mid-tempo, thrash style with high pitched vocals straight out of the NWOBHM era.
Smorrah – Welcome To Your Nightmare
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Aggressive, dark-toned thrash that prefers a menacing groove over all-out speed. If you’re all about a badass riff, this’ll get your head banging.
Stiriah – Portal
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Like a downpour of needles, this stabs at you with cold, sharp riffs at a high and constant pace. There is a genre-suited atmosphere surrounding it all, although it doesn’t contain a ton of depth.
Stygian Crown – Funeral For A King
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A solid slab of doom that spins epic tales of greatness past. Traditional metal style vocals with a storytelling flair seem to command the tempo to pick up whenever it’s time to gallop to the next part of the journey. Thus, the album feels like it covers some significant ground, allowing for rousing riffage with a rumbling punch, as much as scene-setting atmosphere.
Toadliquor – Back In The Hole
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Slow, conceptual doom with the rough edges of sludge. It’s unsettling, though not really hostile, painting a picture of a system that’s slowly falling apart behind the scenes.
Toxikull – Under The Southern Light
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Mildly anthemic, let’s-have-a-good-time heavy metal with a positive, energetic attitude. You know, the kind that has to have the word “metal” in at least one of its track titles.
Traveler – Prequel to Madness
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is a band that is so in tune with their preferred branch of the metal tree that they know exactly where to stay in line and where to push things over the top, with the result setting off little fireworks of delight in your brain. Rapid where it counts, cheekily epic in tone, and impatient to flaunt its treasure trove of awesome guitar solos, this is a great example of good intentions coming to bountiful fruition.
Highlights: “Take the Wheel” and “Prequel to Madness”.
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, why not pop a comment down below?
The Metal Dispatch 