Ah yes, December, where the metal world gradually goes into hibernation. A good few stragglers remain though, wanting to spread cheer and dread alike.
Among These Ashes – Embers Of Elysium
Genre: Power/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Speed-chugging heavy/power metal, trying to bridge the gap between the chest-beating and epic one one side and the windmill-headbanging riff-worship on the other, but falls flat melodically.
Athena XIX – Everflow Part 1: Frames Of Humanity
Genre: Melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is some good, nerdy fun right here, in the form of power metal-flirting prog metal. I think its main strength must be the band’s melodic affinity, They don’t try to go overboard with the rhythm changes, and the technical elements feel like they serve the melodies and storytelling. They use synth elements to embellish the sound by giving it a sci-fi feel, which fits together quite well with both the more aggressive riff sections and the more silly, hyperactive bass lines. In short, it feels like the band is enjoying themselves making this, rather than desperately trying to impress. There are a few tracks that don’t bring much to the table, which prolongs the time between the “hey, that’s cool!”-moments, but if you’re missing a bit of proggy brightness in your metal rotation, then jump into this one.
Highlight: “The Seed”
Catharia – Unimaginable Dreams Of Fate
Genre: Experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Listener-unfriendly blackened extreme metal (if that tells you anything at all) that goes for disharmonic tones and atmosphere, and direct lines of aggression with riffs and vocals, with few good transitions between parts, creating a broken-up flow.
Ghoulhouse – Fresh Out Of Flesh
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Here’s something to look to if you just need some more over-crunched death metal riffs in your life. This thing grinds on with no-nonsense drum beats, a horror-inspired tone and theme, near-mumbled cookie-monster-who-swallowed-a-cheese-grater vocals and just a quarry’s worth of stupidly catchy, boulder-heavy riffs. There’s nothing refined with this, nothing in “good taste”, just a couple of Swedes unapologetically dumping a truckload of old school, grindcore’d-up death metal right on top of you, and most of it fucking rips.
Highlight: “It Came From The Sewer”
Greylotus – Motherwort (EP)
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This is the kind of sound that makes me question where the line between tech death and deathcore actually runs. Not that it’s terribly important, but it does seem to blend the kind of beat-driven, wall-of-noise, melodic grandeur of bands like Lorna Shore with the “cleverer”, more insidious and erratic technicality of the likes of Obscura. The “progressive” label is slapped on here to signal some rather abrupt switches between aggression and zen atmosphere, and it bips and bops around on crazed bumblebee rhythms, but that’s not exactly uncommon in tech death to begin with. The music is flawlessly performed and exquisitely produced, with plenty of hard-hitting and melodically solid parts, that only get to live the life of a mayfly before the band hurries to the next thing. It’s certainly not free from tropes, but this long EP/short album proves that Greylotus has taken a significant step in the maturation process and is poised to compete with the very best of the subgenre.
Highlight: “Shinkansen”
Kir – L’appel du vide
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
A rock solid long-EP of Polish mostly-black-slightly-death metal. “Commanding” is the word I’d choose to describe it if I could use only one. The vocals roar out like to a horde of frenzied cultists, and they know how to dwell on just the right, sinister-toned moments, only to build back up again with rumbling beats. Naturally, there will be comparisons drawn between this and Behemoth, but Kir has found their own sound, more closely related to traditional black metal, and taken a half-step in a dark melodic direction, allowing for some absolutely chilling solo highlights, and which suits them very well. As with their fellow countrymen though, this is performed with conviction, force, and just the right amount of theatre.
Highlight: “Eter”
Neckbreakker – Within The Viscera
Genre: Death/groove metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
THIS is supposed to be a debut album? From basically a bunch of KIDS? God fucking damn, this spells well for these guys. It’s a face-pulping beating of heavily death metal augmented hardcore, and embracing the kind of furious groove you get with bands like Misery Index (of which I’m a massive fan). It’s on its feet the entire time, stomping, jumping and shuffling around to highly athletic drum work, backed by an ultra-menacing tone, and cursing vocal lines at you with an impressive variety of harsh styles. It has gallops, breakdowns, wild shredding and pure headbanging madness, and all of it has its place, sounding naturally intentional, and is performed with the precision and weight of seasoned pros.
Highlights: “Shackled To A Corpse” and “Absorption”
Panzerchrist – Maleficum, Pt. 1
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Savage, scary blackened death metal that’s like a snarling rat demon hunting you in the dark. It has all the anger it needs, and a clear idea for how to mix the cold, sinister tone of black metal with the brutal punch of death metal. They also mix it up with switches in intensity, from solemn melody and build-up beats to raging blast beats, the only downside being that some of the transitions aren’t too well thought out.
Pillar Of Light – Caldera
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Pain and misery – that’s what’s in store on this doom album, expressed through agonized, sludge-styled vocals, a touch of black metal bleakness, and long, dwelling, morose melody lines. It’s not all a slow crawl though, as it builds to a few, chugging, near-death metal crushers.
Sunlight – Son Of The Sun
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Modern, powered-up heavy metal where the riffs go tandem with vibrant synth melody lines. To the right ears, it sounds great, not too grand, yet not understated, positive but not silly, epic but not dorky.
Vosforis – Cosmic Cenotaph
Genre: Technical black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A dehumanizing, dystopian-feeling black metal project from the UK, that uses quite deliberate, precise mid-tempo rhythms and an austere atmosphere with synth elements that hint to dark futuristic visions and hopeless cosmic voyages. There is dissonance and spikes of blast beat-led intensity, but overall it’s orderly and deliberate, going easy on the drama and melody, although it’s certainly there, just more subtle. There are probably choices they could have made to achieve a more distinct expression, but it’s a solid debut album that establishes which sonic space they want to operate in.
Highlight: “Psychonaut”
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 