I’ll be upfront – this is far from the most content-rich week you’ll come across this year… but wait! There are a few titles that will make it more than worth your while.
Brume – Marten
Genre: Doom/folk rock/metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Here’s one to really sink into. Building very slowly through balmy, sorrow-tinged melodies, accompanied by sublime vocals, it eventually arrives at passing moments approaching metal heaviness. And while these are not unwelcome or jarring in any way, it’s definitely the journey that counts the most on this one.
Deliria – Phantasm
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Distinctly non-traditional, modern black metal with influxes of modern, acoustic folk.
Dååth – The Deceivers
Genre: Progressive/symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This is a lively one. Comfortably straddled across progressive-, symphonic- and technical death metal, and featuring a ton of guest performers, it feels like an all-guns-blazing kind of album, shaking off dust and breaking new ground at the same time. It’s distinctly modern, but not in a limiting sort of fashion. The technicality is not in your face, the rhythm gymnastics are not at all obnoxious, and the grandeur of the symphonic parts serve to elevate the melodies. Highly enjoyable from start to finish.
Highlights: “Ascension” and “With Ill Desire”.
From Dying Suns – Calamity
Genre: Progressive thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Okay, so it’s a bit messy and uneven, and the progressive part of this project doesn’t serve a ton of purpose. But when the grooves hit, they’re really on point. It’s a spritely collection of songs, lacking cohesion, but making up for it with guts. And that album cover.
Ghost On Mars – Out Of Time And Space
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If you like melodic and atmosphere-rich prog, then you should check this one out. The band uses a lot of sci-fi references in their music, although it doesn’t really sound particularly spacey.
Gothminister – Pandemonium II – Battle Of The Underworlds
Genre: Industrial/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Hey, if you really like early 2000s techno and don’t mind the anthemic, rhyme-bound vocals, Gothminister can be a really good time. The album is pretty interchangeable with earlier stuff, but it doesn’t sound tired, either.
My Silent Wake – Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
In the same vein as My Dying Bride, this is gloomy, lamenting doom with the silver lining of a soothing quality to the melodies. The intensity picks up now and then with some death metal anger, but it never flies off the handle.
Notsm – Only Death Brings Silence
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
A small metalcore project flapping its wings, deciding on a course to take. There’s both old-school and modern metalcore in here, as well as some prog exploration. It’s got some heft, but doesn’t really land anywhere.
P.O.D. – Veritas
Genre: Nu/rap metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2/5
Even though I have close to zero relationship with P.O.D., I was kind of excited for a revival of the early 2000s rap metal sound. But honestly, this album feels like the definition of the term “lackluster”. Not at one point did I feel more than a blip of infectious energy. And with lyrics like “We’re going straight to the top. Now let the whole world drop. Don’t ever play with fire cuz you might get burned! If you play with fire you’re gonna get burned!” (and no, the vocal delivery does not make up for it – if anything it makes it worse), on the opening track, you should know what you’re in for from the get-go.
Severed Angel – Skyward
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Bright and colorful symphonic metal with some playful, prog-style instrumental work. The vocal harmonies need some work though.
Terminal Nation – Echoes Of The Devil’s Den
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
So THIS is where all that energy that was missing on the new P.O.D. album went! Cause it’s certainly in no short supply on here. You know that when even the interlude is cool, you’ve got greatness in your ears (okay, the interlude is still a little long). These riffs are so fucking crunchy, and the beats so goddamn heavy, and the vocals just the peak of badassery. And it just keeps giving, and giving, and giving. It’s got a bunch of guest artists as well, who really don’t overstay their welcome, and considering the theme, I was almost surprised not to see Body Count among them. It’s a pure ripper, through and through, and almost single-handedly redeemed this whole week.
Highlights: “Merchants of Bloodshed” and “Release the Serpents”.
Thin Ice – A Matter Of Time
Genre: Hardcore/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Highly headbang-able, riff-happy hardcore, that’s got a decent amount of hard rock groove to it. You can definitely rock out to this one.
Unearthly Rites – Ecdysis
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Ungodly heavy, moldy death metal emerging from some abandoned, toxic sewer. Don’t expect to find any happiness on here, but plenty of doom-tempo riffs and squealy anti-harmony.
The Watchers – Nyctophilia
Genre: Stoner rock/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Remember the coolest riffs out of Ghost’s “Infestissumam” and “Meliora”? Their brothers and sisters all live on here, and probably outnumber them. This album is really cool when it’s sinister, but it’s also got plenty of high-spirited soul to go with it. The style is definitely groovy stoner rock, but with heavy metal riffs and solos that’s definitely worthy of your horns raised high.
Highlight: “Garden Tomb”.
Wheel – Charismatic Leaders
Genre: Progressive metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
It’s clear at this point that Finnish band Wheel have their gazes firmly fixed forward, and at a steep ascent. Their debut album, “Moving Backwards”, really stuck with me when it came out back in 2019, but I would hardly describe it as expansive. “Charismatic Leaders”, while lacking a bit of the punch, has all of that conceptual and atmospheric space that the debut was lacking. While testing your patience a bit at times, they lure you in with beautiful instrumental tones, an excellent vocal performance, and sublime melodies, then slowly build to triumphant peaks. It sounds great, and offers a huge, varied and brain-tickling soundcape to get lost in.
Highlights: “Empire” and “The Freeze”.
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 