A truly unpredictable, full-spectrum week where you can find something to match whatever mood you might be in at any given moment.
Ambush – Evil In All Dimensions
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is about as classic as metal gets, and yet it’s not fine-tuned to any specific point in history, instead showcasing a moderate breadth of stylistic traits from the 70s and 80s, both from traditional heavy metal and its chest-beating, quest-obsessed cousin power metal. The most important things to point out is that it’s really well written, and also, thankfully, totally unpretentious. On the less impressive side, it’s not what you would call boundary-pushing in the technical department, with mostly half-relaxed rhythms and epic ballad-flavored melodies. But then that’s also a big part of the charm, and even when they go full-out ballad, it’s done well. No real surprises, but it’s a committed effort that does pretty much everything right within expectations.
Highlight: “Come Angel of Night”
Before The Dawn – Cold Flare Eternal
Genre: Melodic death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
After returning post-pandemic with their first album in 11 years, Finnish melodeathers Before the Dawn have revitalized that early 2000s sound (think In Flames’ “Reroute to Remain” and “Soundtrack to Your Escape”). This is committedly melodic, with clean choruses and a fairly bright tone considering the subgenre. For anyone recognizing the style it’s sure to be a delightful shot of nostalgia, although those hoping for a good balance between hard-hitting brutality and immersive melody will find it lacking in the former of the two departments.
Bent Sea – The Dormant Ruin
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
The grind supergroup that is Bent Sea, consisting of Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth), Sven de Caluwé (Aborted) and Shane Embury (Napalm Death), present here their first actual full-length record since starting out in 2011. Considering the lineup, I suppose it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that this isn’t straight grindcore, but something slightly more experimental. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it completely unpredictable, but it certainly weaves in and out of ominous-toned death metal, extreme, dissonant prog and a touch of groove and doom. It’s a lively one for sure, particularly in the drum department, and given that it’s 20 tracks long, it’s a huge plus that they’ve managed a high level of variation, even incorporating a couple of atmospheric interludes. It’s grind where you get to use your brain a bit, and have it properly scrambled as a reward.
Highlights: “Curtailer Of Conceit” and “Sharpen The Blade”
Cult Burial – Collapse Of Pattern, Reverence Of Dust
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A British blackened death metal album of the decidedly new school, with hyperactive drums and brutal vocals competing with the mean-spirited tone and abyssal doom elements. The balance isn’t struck brilliantly, but if what you’re looking for is ominous punishment, you won’t go wrong with this one.
Crypt Monarch – Codex Pestilentia
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Costa Rican doom with a thick coating of sludgy, tar-thick stoner groove. You can easily imagine some sort of alcohol-fueled, dusk time ritual going on, and it mostly sounds like a good time. While the music is fairly predictable, the tone and atmospheric elements are on point.
Faetooth – Labyrinthine
Genre: Atmospheric doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
If dark, dreamy shoegaze working itself up into sludgy, slow-burn fury sounds like just your kind of thing, then… I suppose you already know about this band and their newest album. But or everyone else, this is an all-female atmospheric doom band from Los Angeles, here releasing their second full-length, but sounding like they’re working with a good decade’s worth of experience. Apart from a few overly long buildups and fairly predictable song structures, this is a very well-balanced experience, where the transitions between mellow and coarse feel otherworldly smooth, allowing you to properly immerse your mind into a world of blissful gloom without fear of getting jarred when the intensity builds. That being said, this is still very much a heavy doom album, just not quite approaching death levels of punishment.
Highlights: “Hole” and “Death Of Day
Falling Leaves – The Silence That Binds Us
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
An album like a walk through a dark autumn forest, with a terrible storm raging just beyond the tree line and shaking the canopy. It’s got that Finnish epic-melancholy-melodic quality, although the band is actually from Jordan (now based in Dubai). The rhythm work is a little short on finesse and I could have wanted some more dynamism to the vocals, but it’s got several strong sections and is well worth the listen for fans of atmospheric melodeath.
Gjallarhorn’s Wrath – The Silver Key
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is all dark, heavy bombast from start to finish. Like a modern death metal/deathcore band donning corpse paint and given control over an orchestra. It’s got tons of that Fleshgod Apocalypse and Septicflesh dramatic and brutal-catchy appeal, just not quite the same cleverness in terms of songwriting at this early stage, this being their debut. The rhythm sections stumbles ever so slightly now and then, but for the most part the flow is great, and it never gets dull.
Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Veteran Norwegian prog band Green Carnation are back after five years with their seventh full-length, and it’s a delightful mix of jazzy cool, doomy groove and evolved progressive black metal not totally unlike Enslaved (speaking of which, vocalist Grutle Kjellson makes an appearance on “The Slave That You Are”, and it’s pretty great). This variation is absolutely one of the album’s stronger suits, but not everything the band tries works quite as well. The melodies are mostly impactful, but don’t always harmonize perfectly with the vocals, and the rhythms feel a bit understated overall, at least outside the more intense sections. Overshadowing this however, is the obvious willingness to take chances and not getting bound to one, narrow approach. It’s just weird enough to stand out, and well thought out enough to be memorable.
Highlight: “In Your Paradise”
Jord – Emellan Träden
Genre: Atmospheric black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Wander down a path that will take you through ages past and realities that only exist in the shadowy corners of your imagination. The band confidently carries on the Swedish tradition of high quality, non-clichéd melodic extreme metal, without feeling the need to overly constrain itself with genre conventions. It’s black metal, and it’s also very much doom, but first and foremost it’s storytelling that takes on a multitude of dark shades, touching on feelings of loss, hopelessness and rage, but also resilience. It feels effortlessly epic without being the least bit silly, and serious without trying too hard. The more you listen, the deeper you sink in, the more rewarding it gets.
Highlights: “Dimma” and “Prinsessan och Hästen”
Korp – And Darker It Shall Become
Genre: Black/death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Just low-fi enough to feel properly underground, but catchy enough to get a large crowd moving, this is Swedish black metal wildly chasing thrash riff-happiness and old school death metal relentlessness. To be fair, there’s a good deal on here that the well-versed will have heard before, but the tropes aren’t overused to the point where they dominate the experience. It’s all about getting in the right mood, and then having the fury unleashed upon you. The band serves up banger after banger with just enough melodic backing to give it some depth, but for the most part preferring to keep things relatively straightforward.
Highlights: “The ritual” and “Feast upon the spineless”
Nailed To Obscurity – Generation Of The Void
Genre: Melodic/progressive death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Nailed to Obscurity keep evolving their sound, and have never sounded bigger or more ambitious than on their latest release. Stepping comfortably into Katatonia-levels of accessibility and leaning fully into Opeth- and Leprous-like progressive-mindedness, this is a many-faceted sound that doesn’t end up over-complicated. It’s steadfastly melodic throughout, with as much (if not more) clean vocals as harsh ones, and both complement their respective sections beautifully. Neither the melodic death metal nor the doom is lost, but the latter of the two is now approaching more of a tonal influence, although there are absolutely slower parts. To those who can stomach the fact that the band is edging its way out of extreme metal, although certainly not fully leaving it behind, this is a bountiful experience of engaging highs and lows with impressive technical work and obvious effort involved.
Highlights: “Clouded Frame” and “Overcast”
Nuclear Dudes – Truth Paste
Genre: Experimental grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is about as nerdy as death metal can get. Fired off at an impatient grindcore pace, it grafts synthetic beats, blurts and background melody lines onto punishing, noisy riff and drum assaults, and then goes wherever its fancy takes it. For extended sections it can come off as terribly distracted and aimless, which at times feels like a bit of a waste of the very limited runtime. But the entertainment value makes up for the most of it. It’s loaded with dorky song titles, whacky tangents and big contrasts, and therein lies the appeal. If you can appreciate this level of silliness, then you might just end up loving it.
Highlight: “Dirty 20”
Pestilential Shadows – Wretch
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Solemn, classic black metal from this long-going Australian band. Not the first place you’d be looking for black metal, perhaps, but this is solid stuff, clearly inspired by the Nordic origins, but taken in a more atmospheric, less folk-influenced direction. It’s fairly subtle, but this is a different flavor to the stuff you get out of Scandinavia, something subgenre enthusiasts/cultists will surely appreciate. The brilliant album cover caught my attention instantly, and the music matches the looks pretty spot on. I wanted it to be a bit more daring, a bit more different, but this is much more one for the purists than the casual black metal listener.
Highlight: “Where Sunlight Goes To Die”
Primal Fear – Domination
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
If all you want from a Primal Fear record is some new riffs accompanied by Ralph Scheepers’ vocals, then rejoice, because this album sounds like it’s made specifically for you. Yes it’s fun, and yes it’s epic as all hell, but it’s also quite tame, and woefully unoriginal and unengaging. Also, please get that AI-generated cover out of my face.
Ritual Mass – Cascading Misery
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Death metal emanating from the absolute murk, somewhere deep down in the bottom layer of the earth’s crust. This is all growling, steamroller-pace, crushing misery that will exercise the last shreds of hope you have in a bright future. Not for those looking to avoid death metal tropes, but then this is absolutely a niche beast.
Tallah – Primeval: Obsession // Detachment
Genre: Experimental nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
I flat out loved Tallah’s 2022 release “The Generation of Danger”, primarily for its achievement in tapping into that wild, early Slipknot energy and honing it into something both technically sharp, exploratory and distinct. What they’ve done since then is continue the exploration from a point on the outermost fringes and onwards. That’s not to say that the downtuned, rhythmic heaviness is gone, but it’s no longer the dominant element. The unpredictability on this album has been drastically turned up, and particularly the rhythm section is doing its utmost part to veer the progress off the straight path as much as possible. It’s instantly recognizable as Tallah, which is a testament to their musical vision, and I can’t not applaud their boldness in going this weird on only their third full-length release. I miss the force and relentlessness of the predecessor, but as a redefinition of style and artistic statement, it’s still a heavy hitter.
Highlights: “as fate undoes” and “A primeval detachment”
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 