February has finished, and light is returning to the northern hemisphere, but even an influx of power metal can’t dispel the shadow dwelling beasts that cling on to the remaining darkness of winter.
Arion – The Light That Burns the Sky
Genre: Power/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Finnish majestic power metallers Arion sure aren’t holding back on their newest release. It’s bold, melodic, technical, and of course very, very catchy. To me, the more interesting tracks are bunched up towards the end, and overall the rhythms and melodic feel a bit too similar to ignore, so I wouldn’t go so far as calling it particularly creative. But it’s vibrant and fun, guitar based symphonic epicness.
Avantasia – Here Be Dragons
Genre: Power/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Claiming that Avantasia has made a highly formulaic album will probably go down as one of my least controversial statements this year, but there it is. If nothing else, it’s honest. Just look at that album cover. Yes, the rhythms are supremely uninspired, and the tone is as predictable as you get. But are there moments of pure power metal fun and silliness? Absolutely.
Brainstorm – Plague Of Rats
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
This is power metal with classic “heavy” metal riffs as predictable as it gets. Slightly forced and highly cliched lyrics, simple rhythms and dime a dozen melodies. Technically, it’s pretty decent, so if you just want “that” sound, it should do the job.
Cannibal Accident – Disgust
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This Finnish bunch know how to have fun with deathgrind. Twenty tracks give you a 35 minute playtime, and the majority are bangers. It feels very hardcore in spirit, with tongue-in-cheek political statements and letting the heavy riffs and rhythms drive the songs from start to finish. Not a lot of new is going on, but if you just want a rough, brutal mosh starter, then look no further.
Caustic Phlegm – Purulent Apocalypse
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
With that band name, it should be pretty obvious what kind of death metal you’re getting on here. Yep, it’s a fungus-riddled guts-bath. This one goes low-fi big time, sounding like a cheap copy of a cassette recording made with a toy microphone. There are some peak 80s horror synth effects on here, which fits it perfectly, but they’re all pretty similar, and so start to feel repetitive towards the end. Great riffs though.
Chemicide – Violence Prevails
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Attitude-loaded thrash with shouted lyrics and a penchant for speed-riffing. They master the subgenre perfectly, and if you’re in the right mood it will fire you right up. I do miss something original though, a bit like they’ve built the thing from a recipe.
Christ Dismembered – Ov Vampiricy
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Bile-spitting aggro-black metal all the way, with a full, blackened death metal-like production. This will serve you very well if you’re in that “fuck all that’s holy” kind of mood, but if you pay any sort of attention you will find that you’ve heard most of it before. Great energy though.
Crown Of Madness – Memories Fragmented
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is tech death of the sad and dissonant variety. Right from the get-go, you lose me at this level of dissonance and over-busy rhythm experimentation. But I can admire the density, the complexity, the well-considered tone and anguished aggression that shines through all over. Perhaps a bit too busy for its own good, considering the gloomy feel, is still manages to stand out as a particular flavor in a formula-prone subgenre.
Dead Undying – For Life For Death
Genre: Industrial/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Sure, there’s a certain portion of the metal fanbase that will dive out the window at the mere mention of something like an industrial and nu metal combo, even if I’d have tacked on the “death metal” in the description. Their loss. This album takes its tone from dark nu- and alternative metal, then adds on industrial, repetitive rhythms, ups the brutality to near-death metal heights (depths?) and sprinkles a few, dry groove metal riff sections in here and there. This is not a conceptually deep or particularly advanced album, but it hits a nerve, and seems an excellent foundation on which to build. It’s confident, dark and just different enough that it should be allowed the momentum to steamroll on doing its own thing.
Highlights: “Flow of Death”
Grave Infestation – Carnage Gathers
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If I said “old school death metal” and left it at that, you have (too) much of the information you need about this album. The tone, the guitar squeals, the musty vocals, the trodding riffs – it’s all there. To me, it’s too much same-same, but to a diehard fan of OSDM it might be just as ordered.
Havukruunu – Tavastland
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
This being a Finnish project, it’s always tempting to tack the “folk”-label on there, but the primary direction of Havukruunu is definitely black metal with an epic heavy metal alter ego. It’s never serious, but also never really silly, instead leaning into the trotting, head-held-high, shield-beating rhythms whenever the feel has been bleak and cold for long enough. But don’t get the idea that this is something along the lines of Ensiferum’s bold, melodic, extreme-metal-for-the masses. It seems to come from a place of genuine musical inspiration and appreciation, and the mood goes where it’s needed in order to tell the story. Whether that be a hailstorm of sharp aggression or solo-happy, ride-across-the-hills, high-spirit stuff. It’s a varied experience that never breaks cohesion and keeps you immersed until the last second.
Highlights: “Tavastland” and “De miseriis Fennorum”
Metaphobic – Deranged Excruciations
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
An American death metal group that will take you to a dark and oppressive place. It’s not quite blackened, but gives off the same kind of hostile, no-hope feel. It leans into disharmony and demonstrates moderate amount of technicality in order to transition fluidly from dragging to rushing rhythms. The thing it’s mostly lacking is standout moments.
Muskeg Charnel – Decomposition Part 4: Livor Mortis
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A blackened death project that will take your to a contemplative place, once you get past the barrages of bitter croaking and crushing riffs. The production lets the more visceral parts of this album down, as it’s a bit too muted and mellow. It does fit the more death-doom-leaning parts though, which are further expanded by longing, abyssal melody.
Obrij – Joseph
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Initially, this Ukrainian project presents as pure, crunchy Scandinavian death metal, and then quickly reveals a more agile, stomping, coarse hardcore side. The riffs always remain the same tone and heaviness, and there are certainly sections of pure death metal brutality. But it’s not interested in going to a macabre, beyond-reality sort of gore-obsessed place, instead taking on a stark bitterness, which charts a more nihilistic and spiteful direction. The rhythms are easy to get into, and will definitely deliver the expected dose of savagery, but can get a bit similar on a few tracks. It sure gets my blood boiling, though.
Highlights: “The Garden of Gethsemane” and “Black Echelons”
Sepulchral Curse – Crimson Moon Evocations
Genre: Death/melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Whenever the Finns decide to involve melody in whatever form of metal they’re undertaking, it’s easy to assume something extravagant, heavily folk-inspired and probably synth-based that takes the overall mood in a distinctly playful and larger-than life direction. Sepulchral Curse succeed in traveling from their earth-shaking, no-nonsense death metal core to a place where melodic guitar solos and soaring riffs can exist, without making it feel like a deviation. It’s chilly and unfriendly, but also elevates the music out of the murky depths and into the misty night sky. Not too far removed from old school melodeath, but certainly whipped into more modern day shape. It probably won’t surprise you, but it also won’t let you down.
Highlight: “The Locust Scar”
Ter Ziele – Embodiment of Death
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
There is no sun on the horizon for this blackened doom band. What shred of melody is present has been skewed in a dissonant and bleak direction, serving to construct a soundscape of misery and destructive thoughts. A bit one-dimensional, perhaps, especially with the hoarse-screaming vocals steering everything onto a harsh-anguished path, but with a talent for scope.
Vacuous – In His Blood
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
There’s a place you can go musically, that potentially works quite well for the dirtier and more fiendish spectrum of metal, where everything doesn’t have to fit together perfectly well, and this becomes part of the point. Vacuous exists in this slightly demented, slightly listener-hostile place, where the energy of the music seems to go in whatever direction it pleases. Which is more often than not some avenue of attack, bounding along underground corridors like some hungry, sewer-dwelling predator. But it does stop to pause every now and then, reflecting on the harshness of life and taking a peak above the surface. These alternating approaches take the form of doom, punk and grind/hardcore influences. They are never allowed in the driving seat for long, but add flavor, and break up the flow in an expansive way.
Highlights: “Stress Positions” and “Flesh Parade”
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 