This week there’s a bunch of loudmouths about – big, bombastic, world-rumblers that might take your attention for granted, and some deservedly so.
Category 7 – Category 7
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This new supergroup has all the ingredients necessary to craft a highly enjoyable heavy/thrash record, and do indeed offer up plenty of playful drum work, suitably rusty vocals and speedy riffs. And yet, it’s about as inspired as its album artwork (included for reference). You be the judge of how much that matters.
Crave – Oblivion
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Groovy, mid-to-slow-paced heavy metal that’s pretty severely ballad prone. Also, there’s an organ. Yay, nostalgia?
Curse Upon A Prayer – The Worship: Orthoprax Satanism
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Finnish black metal that largely manages to resist the temptation of going full folk, although there’s certainly a flair of the darkly epic over this album, which is reflected in its lengthy runtime. It has a doom-like attitude to pacing, even as the tempo and intensity goes as much up as down throughout. It’s solemn, and yet still far from stone-faced, projecting an attitude of faux theatricality and ruffian aggression.
Death Racer – From Gravel To Grave
Genre: Speed/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Blackened motor racing metal? The theme certainly points in that direction, and the “speed” part of the music makes sense in that regard. Otherwise it’s a very punky, rough-edged, slightly barebones kind of experience that’s very comfortable in its niche.
Dream Evil – Metal Gods
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
What else can this be than a heavy metal appreciation album? Nope, there’s no twist. That’s exactly what it is. If you don’t care about cheesiness of the vocals or the general lack of originality, it’s a well-produced, pump-your-fist, good-energy album with some nice, ratty riffs.
Grid – The World Before Us
Genre: Experimental sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
There is a perfectly solid and hard-hitting core to this slightly artsy sludge project, and some of the more ambient tangents work very well as contrasting soundscape-builders, but largely it lacks coherence.
Imperia – Dark Paradise
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
On one side, this is well-produced, reasonably varied and some times fairly powerful symphonic metal with a strong vocal performance, and on the other it does little to stand out among its peers.
Ironflame – Kingdom Torn Asunder
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Heavy metal in the style of the NWOBHM, with modern production, speed, and slightly thrash-leaning aggression. Rhythmically it’s a bit stiff, but makes up for it with some melodically very strong solo work, and overall great both instrumental and vocal execution. If you’re keen on the sound of Judas Priest with a hit of Dio-styled fantasy, then definitely check this one out.
Krypticy – The Non-Return
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Seemingly trying to blend old school death and modern tech death, this Spanish outfit scores well on tone, but a good bit less on precision and structure.
Laceration – I Erode
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
With thrash-leaning death metal, you get certain expectations in regard to speed and precision. Laceration more than delivers on these points, without going over the top in to tech death territory. The riff is king on this album, but the bass drums are the real driving force, expertly shifting through an engaging selection of gears on the unrelenting ride forward. It’s deeply menacing, with a fitting horror-like tone, without this in any way feeling like a gimmick. An excellent blending of rage and instrumental control.
Highlights: “Excised” and “Sadistic Enthrallment”.
Mountaineer – Dawn and All That Follows
Genre: Avant-garde doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A patient, lingering and beautifully atmospheric doom(gaze) project. It can get overly soft and ethereal in parts, but also serves up crunchy, deep riffs that underlie more or less the whole experience. It’s organically varied and feels profound.
Orpheus Omega – Emberglow
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Modern melodic death metal out of Australia, employing elements of groove and metalcore. Although it’s got a decent amount of aggression, it’s on the accessible side, utilizing quite a few straightforward rhythms and mild-mannered, simple melodies.
Powerwolf – Wake Up The Wicked
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
All right, you know damn well what’s in store. Surprising no one, this is bombastic, extremely rhythm-bound, well-produced and well-executed power metal with a historical twist. I wish I liked this more, cause it’s obviously a ton of fun for those who do. But for me it’s simply too predictable and altogether unchallenging.
Scald – Ancient Doom Metal
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5
An inviting epic doom metal album with a patiently adventurous sound which, at least to my ears, gets severely disrupted by a sub-par vocal performance.
Soulbound – obsYdian
Genre: Industrial/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Highly catchy, goth-tinged industrial metal with the clearly lingering remains of a past in alternative- and nu metal. It’s very well produced, but melodically it’s about as bland as they come.
Spacecorpse – Shapeshifter
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Spacey tech death that is very insistent upon its brutality, whenever it’s not taking a rhythmic reset to try and find a slightly new direction in which to project its anger. As a result, it’s not the most sure-footed thing you’ll hear this week.
Summoning The Lich – Under The Reviled Throne
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
As a big fan of their debut, “United in Chaos”, I had certain expectations for this one, and stylistically it’s very recognizable. You get relatively straightforward tech death with symphonic and brutal tendencies, as well as melodic, in a Black Dahlia Murder sort of fashion. This is heavy, heavy, heavy shit, with a constantly earth-rumbling bass drum and ultra-precise, low-toned riffs. And so, technically and tonally it’s all in order, but chunks of the album do kind of blend together under a shortage of truly standout moments.
Terra Black – All Descend
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Fairly mild, old school leaning doom with a stoner-fuzz feel to the riffs. It’s sedate and slightly melancholy, but not in a deeply lamenting or overly dour kind of way, allowing in a touch of scope and dream-like atmosphere.
A Wake In Providence – I Write To You, My Darling Decay
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
A Wake in Providence returns in familiarly grand, symphonically blackened fashion, but also impressively dynamic and measured. Utilizing modern prog-like clean vocals as a contrast to the throat-rending, wet snarls that go with the deathcore thunderstorm, the album balances sincere, well-crafted and far from overly emotional melody with the apocalyptic, orchestral onslaught of controlled brutality. It’s technically strong, but not distractingly so – every part serving the greater whole of the darkly majestic experience.
Highlights: “The Maddening” and “And Through the Fog She Spoke”
Wormwitch – Wormwitch
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
I, like many others, discovered these guys through their 2019 release, Heaven That Dwells Within”, which was an eye-opening blend of black metal, epic doom and black ‘n roll that made an instant fan of me. Later, they’ve gone in a more straightforwardly harsh and aggressive direction, leaving behind some of the range that truly separated them from the dark masses. With this self titled release, a good deal of that variation comes back, but not in a way that makes it feel like they’re backtracking, and the aggression absolutely remains. The album starts off like a battering ram, firmly stating that business is meant, bursting with energy and lashing you with snarling vocals and insistent drums. Then, step by step, you start to notice layers and layers of depth, introducing restrained melody, groove and atmosphere, and by the time you’re halfway through it’s like everything relaxes a bit, without faltering in purpose. It’s a mature and resolute effort that will solidify the band’s prominence for many.
Highlights: “Draconick Sorcerous Canadian Witchknights” and “Inner War”.
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 