Extreme prog metal is having a strong week, maneuvering deftly in between a handful of heavyweights and outshining most of them.
Avulsed – Phoenix Cryptobiosis
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Spanish death metal veterans Avulsed are back with more grimy, morbid stuff after a nine year gap. There are still absolutely elements of the old school in their style, although it’s mostly isolated to the non-technical side of the music. It sounds like the kind of stuff delivered to the audience with a face-downwards glare, and the slightly muted vocals are earthy and dry-gurgly. But it’s not a slow, creeping thing. The drums especially take hungry charges at you, and it’s all fairly precise and well-produced. I get my fill about two thirds in, as there’s little new under the sun, but if this is you thing, then it shouldn’t disappoint.
Balance Breach – Save Our Souls
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Some Finnish modern Metalcore for you. They strike a good balance between aggression, angst and mild sadness, even though you get portions of the album that are more dedicated to one than the other. It’s not overly technical and rigid, which is a big plus as far as I’m concerned, although I’ll definitely not go so far as calling it playful. The clean vocal parts aren’t the strongest, but they are also in the minority, and a good few of the melodies are genuinely memorable.
Christian Mistress – Children Of The Earth
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Ten years have passed since their last album, and Christian Mistress returns sounding hungry and vital. And retro, let’s not forget retro. The style for each song sounds very determined from the start, like they’re gonna run the course as if on train tracks, but they break it up with playful instrumental flourishes. The guitar solos in particular are downright delicious. The vocals add a light layer of doom and gloom upon an otherwise fairly straightforward rock ‘n’ roll-based classic metal core, and greatly help making the overall sound distinct. They go intentionally off-key at certain points, which really isn’t for me, but it fits, and becomes less noticeable the longer you listen to it. A strong, if not superbly outstanding release on the thriving classic metal revival scene.
Highlight: “City of Gold”
Cryptosis – Celestial Death
Genre: Progressive thrash/extreme metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Among several other bands returning from a bit of a full-length drought this week, Cryptosis’ four year gap is on the trivial side. And with this kind of a result, I’d say the wait is more than worth it. The band’s style is vaguely technical, progressive thrash metal with a lot of attention spent on atmosphere, but also drawing heavily from an extreme wellspring somewhere between death- and black metal. The latter of the two is particularly well-represented on “Celestial Death”, with plenty of tremolo, and an overall chilly tone to the melodies. It’s the kind of progressive approach that isn’t exhausting in its complexity, rather being preoccupied with moving the style in different directions away from the core, precisely so that you can’t accurately label it, and instead accept it as something genuinely unique. The album strikes me as exceptionally well-considered, where the overall feel leaves a stronger mark than any individual highlights, of which I’d say there are only a few. But they’re there, and the rest is still very high quality.
Highlights: “Reign of Infinite” and “In Between Realities”
Dawn Of Ouroboros – Bioluminescence
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Trying to nail down a concise label for this, outside simply “progressive”, is a bit of a fool’s errand, as it doesn’t lean steadily enough in any one direction for that to be defining. There is black harshness, death heaviness, metalcore versatility and melodic styles from everything from doom to dream pop. It’s also got a very jazz-like approach to certain structures. As you can probably gather, this is an album of big contrasts and a restless, near-experimental progression. It never feels random, but it’s definitely unpredictable, and if you are not a fan of any one of the stylistic influences, chances are you simply won’t like the album in total. It’s markedly technical, but doesn’t get hung up on its own cleverness. It’s simply too impatient for that. The vocals range from mild whispers to raspy roars, and deliver solidly in every style. All in all it’s a rich and daring release that demands quite a bit of its listener, and rewards in equal measure.
Highlights: “Nebulae” and “Poseidon’s Hymn”
Deathless Legacy – Damnatio Aeterna
Genre: Heavy/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A theatrical band from Italy? Whaaat? Joking aside, this is catchy, fairly inventive heavy metal with am “unholy” symphonic edge. The production is big, and the rhythms easy to get into, meant for massive crowd engagement. They avoid the biggest clichés, and sound like they actually care about their songwriting.
Destruction – Birth Of Malice
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Let’s just say it outright, if you have certain expectations of what to get from a new Destruction record, you’re getting just that on here – no more, no less. Solo-happy, evil-classic-metal with tons, and tons, and tons of badass thrash riffs. But, if you’re expecting a band pushing the envelope, you will most likely end up disappointed. The last half of the album in particular is overloaded with mid-tempo trotters that go nowhere in particular, and you end up of just waiting for the guitar solo. That being said, there are a couple of real bangers on here that make the whole thing worth it by themselves, and overall it’s by no means a drag to get through.
Highlight: “Scumbag Human Race”
Frogg – Eclipse
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Who doesn’t want to like a frog-fronted progressive death metal project? Just look at that album cover! Unfortunately, at least for my sensibilities, this is far too random and hung up on complex rhythms, and an utterly frantic, disharmonic note delivery to make any sort of coherent sense. What is left, then, is the admiration for the wild abandon behind this thing’s creation, and for fans of dissonant extreme metal this delivers big on technicality, sci-fi vibes and all out weirdness.
The Gift Is A Curse – Heir
Genre: Black/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Insidious-sounding stuff from these Swedish shadow dwellers. Like being caught in some forbidden, hooded proceedings and screamed at from the dark void beyond sight. Some of it is aggressive and violent, while several passages take on a far more sedate, doomy tempo, stretching out the agony. The feel of the thing is just as dark and bitter as you would hope, but for me it’s a bit lacking in overall detail and pure force.
Highlights: “No Sun, Nor Moon”
Impurity – The Eternal Sleep
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A Swedish bunch diving head first into the country’s old school death metal traditions and nailing the sound right out of the gate. Once they get going, it’s an all guns blazing kind of affair, with racing drums and ripping riffs almost stumbling over each other in their eagerness. There’s a bit of jankiness, with the performances feeling fairly raw, but if you, like me, absolutely dig this kind of stuff, then you’ll forgive them for it in a heartbeat and probably find that it actually suits the style rather well. It sounds like it comes from a place of being perfectly in tune with the subgenre. It’s not terribly inventive, but makes up for it with good tempo variation, some tasteful horror atmosphere and restrained folk-derived melody, and a couple of instrumental tracks that don’t overstay their welcome.
Highlight: “Ancient Remains” and “Life of Horrors”
K L P S – K L P S
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
K L P S (previously Kollaps\e) delivers harsh, heavy sludge on their self-titled release, going dark places but not letting the gloom and bitterness sink in and poison the very core of the music. There’s a contemplative, cautiously constructive quality to the restrained melodies that play in the more mellow sections of the album. It’s still fairly doomy and a tad melancholy, but it feels like a vital piece to let you know that the thing hasn’t fully surrendered to bleakness. The tempo varies, but seems most comfortable at mid- to low speed, where it’s all about the message, and the outbursts of aggression are more like a way to vent negativity. It’s an album you need to take your time with, and not one that will give you energy, but it can surely be quite cathartic.
Highlight: “UNDERTOW”
Pyres – Yun
Genre: Progressive sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A melodic, progressive sludge outfit that does a couple of things really well. When they’re in the mood to speed up, they really deliver – serving up heavy riffs galore and topping it with spot-on rusty vocals. And the mellow melodic work is nothing short of serene, and easy to get lost in. However, the stretched out doomy parts, of which there are several, get a bit too complacent, and so I find myself getting impatient more than once.
Sadist – Something To Pierce
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This is one to jump on if you want your death metal to challenge you, but are tired of the surgical technicality of the modern stuff. Sadist plays it murky and whacky, and doesn’t go overboard with the complexity. It’s not exactly melodic, but there’s groove, and there’s spacey atmosphere. You won’t find any harsh dissonance on here, but that doesn’t mean it’s not aggressive. It’s an easily distracted kind of sound that constantly goes on tangents, be it alternating rhythms or portions of ambience, as if it can’t really settle on what it deems the most interesting approach for that given moment. The good thing is that it all somehow fits really well together, and doesn’t feel like simply a way to show off their instrumental skills. It’s coherent, fun and old-school heavy.
Highlights: “The Best Part is the Brain” and “Deprived”
Scalpture – Landkrieg
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
German death metal that leans towards the old school, but doesn’t quite let go of the present. It has a doomy tendency to slow thing down and dwell, and a hardcore/metalcore like preference for beat-heavy rhythms and laying lead guitar melodies over riff sections. It’s heavy for sure, but there’s potential for more groove, and going more all-out.
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea
Genre: Metalcore/djent/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Let it be said – I was a big fan of Spiritbox’s debut album. For me it balanced the mix of melodic altenative- and industrial metal with metalcore perfectly, giving near every song a distinct feel. To me, most of that is lost on the follow-up, in favor of waves upon waves of aggressive djent, and clean melody that for the most part bypasses alt-vibes and goes straight to pop. Yes, it’s heavier than the predecessor, and yes, it might be more refined and focused, but to me it has lost too much of what made the band’s sound unique.
Whitechapel – Hymns In Dissonance
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
On their ninth full-length, deathcore greats Whitechapel lets go of of the ambitious concept approach that largely defined their last two releases and returns to utter devotion at the altar of pure fucking heaviness. And what excellent devotees they are. This stuff will shake your brain into a paste of submissive appreciation that they’ll knead into a ball and throw repeatedly into the wall. They manage, at least for parts of the album, to maintain a pretty decent connection to death metal, and not just the slamming, brutal variant. It feels like a genuine nod to the bloodthirsty core of the subgenre, while not letting off on the relentless energy output. Yes, there are stomps and breakdowns, but it’s just one of many tools, and not at all overused. There’s tons of groove, and an impressive range of tempos, vocal styles and riff tones. Did I mention it’s unbelievably goddamn heavy?
Highlights: “Hymns in Dissonance” and “Hate Cult Ritual”
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 