A week where the melodic sneaks into every crack and recess it can find, coloring even the most extreme in shades of epic and emotion both light and dark.
Benthos – From Nothing
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
You know that point where prog gets so extremely… prog… that it invites the “experimental” label. The point where it’s barely coherent, and you can’t really decide when it’s going on tangents and when it’s on course. Yep, this album certainly falls into this category. It’s a mix of mathcore, prog rock and heavier, melodic chugging in the vein of Haken. The vocals are quite soft most of the time, which puts me off, but the playing can get quite intense and hectic.
Blood Abscission – I I
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
With a name like Blood Abscission you’d probably expect more vivid album and track naming, but no. Maybe it’s on purpose then, as a way of subverting expectations, that the tracks are simply roman numerals, with the album title/numeral as a prefix. In any case, this is a synthetic-melodic, highly atmospheric black metal project. Very importantly, it doesn’t get lost in its distant wanderings, staying on course and getting both exultant and in an uproar at times. The hoarse-roar vocals are pushed way back in the mix, as is the bass, so they’re definitely contributing but feel quite blunt and soft. The lead guitar, cymbals and synth are much more distinct, and effectively chart the course. It’s cold, dark and cynical, but not overly hostile or sharp. The melodies carry faint elements of western tunes at times, as well as a bit of epic folk and doom, but it’s all suitably delicate, and doesn’t color the whole as going in any particular of those directions. It’s very well composed, not too long at just over 41 minutes, and surprisingly engaging for something this fluid.
Highlights: “I I – I I” and “I I – V”
Cytotoxin – Biographyte
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Cytotoxin is a German, brutal-styled tech death project that themes their music around nuclear disaster, more specifically the Chernobyl catastrophe. You might think you’re in for a near-unlistenable mass of incessant bass drum pounding, sink drain vocals and spasmic-city-sized-steam-roller riffs. But while you get most of those things (the vocals are actually borderline understandable), they are served out with an insane level of control and actual bit of restraint, cramming in huge amounts of groove instead, as well as a good deal of guitar solo melody. It’s busy, yes, but manageable, and with the added dynamism, it actually hits quite hard.
Highlight: “Condemnesia”
Elvenking – Reader Of The Runes – Luna
Genre: Power/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Okay, what am I not getting here? Sure, there are some magical instrumental details going on in the interplay between electronic and acoustic, and the tiny bit of old melodeath that’s dropped in is pleasing. But it’s poorly produced, the rhythm work feels tired, and the vocals are very often off key.
Epica – Aspiral
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Any fan of Epica can be very relieved that they’re getting more of exactly what made the band great in the first place: Divine vocals, effective melodies and a good mix of symphonic and catchy, committed aggression. Production wise, it’s excellent, and it manages to be both moving and a bit of good fun, throwing in a few prog elements to keep it interesting. There’s a bit of a gap between when they really deliver in terms of songwriting and when I feel like they’re a bit stuck in second gear, falling back on tropes to fill out the experience. There’s nothing bad though, and decidedly more stuff that’s really gripping than is mediocre, so no one should be disappointed. It’s an album that kept growing on me the more I listened to it, impressing at every significant turn.
Highlights: “Fight to Survive – The Overview Effect -” and “Metanoia – A New Age Dawns Part VIII”
Ghörnt – Bluetgraf
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This Swiss band mixes the aggression and bleakness of the more ferocious side of the black metal spectrum with epic melodic leads and pounding drum work that’s sometimes straight out of brutal death metal. The vocals are appropriately husky, but would have benefited from greater range to match the lively and contrasting instrumentals. Still, an exciting, hard-hitting listen.
Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence
Genre: Atmospheric sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
I hope you’re into long, gentle buildups and big contrasts, cause that’s what this album is all about. It’s a mix of sludge, atmospheric doom and folk-like rock, with a heavy, driving low end and vocals that go all the way from soft, melodic shoegaze to rusty, roaring gutturals. It’s mildly melancholic in tone throughout, which is counteracted by snappy drum work and turns into both melodic beauty and ugly, dissonant crashes of heaviness. All in all, they do take their sweet time a tad too often, prolonging the experience beyond the strictly necessary. But it’s also very well composed, so not something you at any point really want to stop coming out of your speakers.
Highlight: “Rare Bird”
Imperishable – Swallowing The World
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
If I say “old school melodic death metal”, the well versed listener will form certain, fairly rigid expectations. A return to the “Gothenburg sound”. This is that, AND a bit more, which makes a significant difference. It’s heavily infused with Death era old school tech death as well, which means that, compared to the old Swedish classics, it’s really rather restless. It’s busy, but not overly so, and not in the modern, slightly artificial way. It’s more like taking the basic, raw, evil formula and shaking it up a bit. It feels almost hyperactive in nature, like it keeps changing its mind about which path to take, but retaining the same tone and attitude throughout. I’m not saying it’s the most meticulously planned out thing ever, and I am missing a bit of crunchy heaviness, but it’s a refreshing change and something that might open a whole new avenue for OSDM.
Highlights: “Blood to Bleed” and “Cenotaph of Dreams”
The Infernal Deceit – The True Harmful Black
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is direct, riff-centered black metal with both black ‘n’ roll playfulness and groove, a bit of speed metal energy and some death metal heft. The quality of the performances is excellent, and it’s plenty engaging. The main thing is just that it feels very familiar, like it’s walking in well established tracks.
In The Woods… – Otra
Genre: Progressive black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Take the gothic, melancholic doom of My Dying Bride, give it a boost of epic scope like that of Amorphis and some scorched, rhythmic black metal heaviness to top it off, and you’re most of the way there to the sound of this album. It’s a blend that takes some talent to pull off, which, thankfully, this band has no shortage of. It sounds bleak and mature, but never one-dimensional, and it never gets stuck in neither misery, misanthropy or contemplation for very long at a time. It feels confidently relaxed, flexing beauty, catchiness and depth like it’s second nature.
Highlights: “The Things You Shouldn’t Know” and “The Kiss And The Lie”
The Man-Eating Tree – Night Verses
Genre: Atmospheric metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Back after a 10-year gap, Finnish band The Man-Eating Tree serves up epic, atmospheric metal with a touch of symphonic grandeur. It’s melodically pleasing, smooth and easy to get lost in. But as you get closer to the end, unless you’re completely sold, you might start to feel like there’s nothing new on offer.
Putrid Offal – Obliterated Life
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Evil, evil, evil! These guys whip gory death metal into unnaturally upbeat life, like a cave-dwelling behemoth pumped full of stimulants. You get plenty of riffs and brutality with the expected impatience of grindcore. The tone is right, and it hits well most of the time, you just get the impression that it’s not all that well thought out.
Valhalore – Beyond The Stars
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
An Australian twist on the classic, semi-symphonic, highly melodic folk metal sound most often associated with the Finns. Distinctiveness is not its strong suit though. While technically it’s a well performed album, the melodies are unimaginative, and the dips into melodeath-like heaviness rather tame. It has a few highlights, and gets the job done.
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 