Another great death metal week (I know, we’re getting spoiled). Did I mention that there’s a lot of death metal this week? It’s pretty great.
1349 – The Wolf and The King
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
1349 returns after 5 years with an album that seems to aspire towards the grim majesty suggested by its title and album art. In fact, there is a rumbling, meaty-riff, menacingly melodic quality to this that goes a long way towards blackened death metal. There are a few really quite advanced things going on in the rhythm and instrumental layering department, which gives this a lot of character, I just wish the low end of the guitars didn’t sound compressed all to hell (pun perhaps intended).
Highlight: “Ash of Ages”
Abramelin – Sins of the Father
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Raving, snarling death metal that carries certain similarities to fellow Australian outfit Werewolves. It’s tight and suitably brutal, but a bit lacking in character.
Bile Caster – Writhing Between Birth And Death
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
The feeling of an incomprehensively massive weight slowly, slowly crushing you into the black dust of a dark, long abandoned ruin.
Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Forget your expectations towards single tracks, this album needs to be taken as a complete journey. Blood Incantation are jumping across the cosmos on this one, raging forward on their stellar, old school-tinged brand of technical death metal, coming to the occasional near-halt in order to bask in the serenity of a particularly impressive view. This isn’t your typical weird-you-out kind of experimental effort, although conventional it certainly is not. The scope feels massive, and neither the raging brutality or the calming ambience takes anything away from it. Quite the opposite. And production wise it just sounds so damn good.
Highlights: “The Stargate [Tablet III]” and “The Message [Tablet III]”
Corpsefucking Art –Tomatized
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Brutal death metal of the morbid, non-slamming kind, with guitars that sound like a wall-to-wall array of saw blades, and a sinister low end like the hunger of a beast.
Cosmic Putrefaction – Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This album feels like the dark relative to Blood Incantation’s release this week. Cosmic and mystical in scope, this one chooses to travel where there is no light. The atmosphere feels oppressive, the production has such an ominous weight to it, and the energy of the thing feels like it’s trying to wrestle pure chaos. There’s dissonance and hostility on here, but also forces trying to establish control. A crushing and technically brilliant effort.
Highlight: “Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains”
Devenial Verdict – Blessing Of Despair
Genre: Atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
It’s been a little while since I’ve heard this good of a set of opening tracks to an album. The pacing allows for the perfect balance between immersive atmosphere and pulses of fury, which hit with the force of massive waves upon towering cliffsides. That isn’t to say that the rest of the album isn’t great, but it does transition into more of a doom-like approach, and although the dark magic of their tonal flavor shines through, it shuts down the variation a bit. Overall though, this is impressively mature and distinct.
Highlights: “Garden of Eyes” and “I Have Become the Sun”
Greenwitch – Forced Out Of Existence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A mix of OSDM and modern brutal death, resulting in a sound that seems at once both grimy and crisp. It’s got some killer beats and overall pretty decent variation.
Krosis – Infinite Circuity
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is deathcore that aims high. It’s got that space-headed kind of tone without in any way feeling psychedelic. More epic, cosmic ballad vibe, feeling polished and precise like an automaton wielding a set of surgical blades.
Livløs – The Crescent King
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Danish band Livløs (meaning “lifeless”) returns with their brand of sludgy, partly blackened, starkly-melodic death metal. Not unexpectedly, there’s a measure of progressive exploration in searching for the right rhythm, melody line and tempo to properly tell the story. As such it struggles a bit to get into a good groove, and is not the most hard-hitting of death metal releases this week, but also never feels complacent or repetitive.
Highlight: “Usurpers”
Lords Of The Trident – V.G.E.P. (EP)
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Even though I don’t really do EPs these days, I felt compelled to at least give this one a shout out, if for nothing else just to be able to share that awesome album cover. This is 80s heavy metal whipped mercilessly and gleefully into present day shape, which means it not only radiates swagger, it also sounds fucking fantastic.
Highlight: “The Ballad of Jon Milwaukee”
Mammoth Caravan – Frostbitten Galaxy
Genre: Doom/sludge/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
You mostly know what you’re in for when there’s a “mammoth” in the band name. Yes, this is fuzzy doom, but bolstered by some angry sludge, that takes pauses dipping its head into psychedelic synth ambiance.
Maul – In The Jaws Of Bereavement
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
I was all giddy about this band’s first full length, “Seraphic Punishment”, and there’s plenty to be excited about this time around as well. This is still OSDM revival to the core, with a richer, crisper production this time around, which nicely highlights the finely honed instrumental styles without losing too much of the grime. I wouldn’t say that they build on their previous effort, continuing the same formula of heavy, grinding grooves with a subtle but significant penchant for rhythmic precision. But this is certainly quality stuff all the way.
Highlights: “Spontaneous Stigmata” and “In the Jaws of Bereavement”
Temple of Dread – God of the Godless
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
How about a good mix of Obituary and Death to go with this week’s selection of excellent death metal? I thought these guys did well with last year’s “Beyond Acheron”, and they’re already back, and sounding like full-on veterans no less. This is tight and to the point, and although it’s lacking a bit of the exploratory, atmospheric vibe of the predecessor, this feels more like a coherent statement, without a shred of hesitation. It’s raw, rending death metal with a phantom-like thrash connection. Super malicious.
Highlight: “Spawn of Filth” and “Sacrificial Dawn”
Thrasher Wolf – Inside The Sickened Mind
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
No, not Powerwolf! This is Exodus, Anthrax and Kreator-inspired thrash that takes you straight back to the 80s. Great for a genre fill-up, but not innovative.
Undeath – More Insane
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Undeath takes the step up from murky grime to… less murky grime. Kidding aside, the production on this album very clearly pushes the band’s sound in a more modern, forceful direction, with some parts even carrying the vague hint of deathcore. But, purists, do not fret, somehow this sounds just as raw and old-school-centered as before, just leaning a bit further into chugging, brutal-styled rhythms and heavy groove-riff bad-assery. The effort that went into each track of this album is deeply felt, as there is not a hint of lazyness. The music is constantly on the hunt, like some undead demon bear looking to shred you into ribbons.
Highlights: “Brandish the Blade” and “Cramped Caskets (Necrology)”
Valletta – Summer
Genre: Black/heavy metal/black ‘n’ roll
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Major Tribulation vibes, but leaning less into heavy, stark, gothic theatre and more into scorched rock ‘n’ roll. It pendulums a bit back and forth between wanting to be heavy and just wanting to rock out, even getting the scent of blackened death metal at times, but always returning to the head-bopping rhythms. Melody-wise, it’s deliciously grin-sinister.
Wind Rose – Trollslayer
Genre: Power/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
For someone not familiar with the band you might have a hard time convincing then that they’re not Finnish. Or Irish. Cause it’s got all (and I mean all) the hallmarks of popularized folk music from those regions. It’s sing-along, dance-along, jump-along stuff all the way, but with a very “yes, we know it”, feelgood vibe.
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 