We’re doomed! This week is all about the gloom, be it fuzzy and fantastical or hooded and malignant. With a couple of jokers here and there to shake things up.
Airborn – Lizard Secrets Part Three – Utopia
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
It’s always good to be able to expand my awareness across the metal spectrum, not just of what’s the latest up-and-comers, but of the long-going, hard working troopers that have so far flown under my radar. Airborn (not to be confused with Australia’s Airbourne) are an Italian power metal band that’s been going since 1995. Their latest release definitely harkens back to bygone eras, but doesn’t feel like it’s coasting on past glories, and does surprisingly well in terms of tropes and clichés. What I will say is that it’s overly mellow, lacking the enthusiasm and vigor to go with the positive tone and fun, cyberpunk concept.
Ancient Thrones – Melancholia
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A fairly fresh prog death band that, despite the inclination for technical-minded performances, does not conform to the clean, razor-sharp and ultra-detailed sound that typically goes with it. This is slightly rough, with coarse vocals and a tone that dips to blackened depths at times. The album is a bit unevenly structured, not super well produced and not avoiding as many tropes as I would have liked. But it’s got a few stand-out songs, a good melody/brutality balance, and overall I find it a highly promising concept.
Castle Rat – The Bestiary
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
If I was to try and sum up what Castle Rat does so well within the fantasy doom genre is that they don’t make music ABOUT an imaginary realm, describing it in the role of storytellers, or poke half-ironic, half-loving fun at the concept from a meta standpoint. Their music IS the fantasy realm. Yes, it is described by distinctly doom- and heavy metal means, but the way the instrumentation and vocals are allowed to shape the dramatic progression, ebbs and flows of energy, scope and feel of this sonic world, it feels just as natural as if it was an orchestra performing the score of an epic, and sometimes, at least to me, even more vivid. The band’s proficiency at this was already proven with last year’s “Into The Realm”, but this time around the vision is bolder, richer and more unpredictable. The songs feel like chapters in a saga, each spinning their own little tale as part of a comprehensive tapestry. I could wish for even greater dramatic highs and more aggressive turns, but as a step in expanding their sound this is nothing short of excellent.
Highlights: “WIZARD” and “SIREN”
Chaoseum – Life 4 Sale
Genre: Nu metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
This is Korn meets In Flames at their most accessible, meets metalcore, and the result is obviously very, very catchy. While the sound is not the most distinct, they avoid the biggest clichés, and deliver a good mix of punchy aggression and entertaining melody. Unfortunately, the middle album is a bit of a downer, but it picks back up.
Evilcult – Triumph Of Evil
Genre: Blackened speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Charm-offensive speed metal of the corpse-paint-and-candles variant, charging at you from out of Brazil. You get a bit of that NWOBHM epic flair, and a couple of mid-tempo tracks that flirts with some atmosphere, but other than that it’s speed demon business as usual.
Gawthrop – Kuboa
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
I love how this album makes me feel, even though it’s in no way pleasant. Think buried alive in a cemetery where all the corpses start slowly tunneling their way towards you. What I will say though, is that I get my fill of this vibe from the first three songs, and then the remaining four just keeps doing more or less the same. It’s nasty, borderline death doom, raspy, rumbly stuff, where each track has one, simple job. Nothing more, nothing less.
Heretoir – Solastalgia
Genre: Blackened/progressive metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A highly introspective, moody and melodically saturated album, vaguely in the style of blackened, atmospheric metalcore (I know it’s post metal, I just object to that term in general). It feels a bit like swimming upstream in a river full of emotionally laden debris. There are rapids, but these are outweighed by the calmer sections, which slow down the experience far too much for me, especially towards the end. Love the album art though.
Igorrr – Amen
Genre: Experimental extreme metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
It’s a difficult sometimes with bands like Igorrr to decide if their music is becoming more conventional, or if you’re just getting attuned to it. I want to say that Amen, at the very least, sounds like the most coherent album I’ve listened to of his to date, and that’s not saying it feels in any way tamed, or even housetrained. The flow writhes and glitches along in typical, spasmic fashion, and, long story short, it’s a great fucking time. As suggested by the title, you’re getting a conceptual sprinkling of religious solemnity, with backing choirs and the feeling of big, high-ceiling space. What goes on in this space though, I wouldn’t qualify as particularly reverent. This is a beast of a record, with tons of aggression and extremely well-produced layers of force and finesse. Everything from the 12 second, rabid explosion “2020” to the acoustic folk interlude “Étude n°120”, and varying levels of catchy, electronically infused insanity in between, around and beyond. If you’re on board with the style, you’re in for a whole load of treats with massive replay value.
Highlights” “Headbutt” and “Mustard Mucous”
Kamra – Unending Confluence
Genre: Atmospheric black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
This one snuck up on me, then proceeded to ensnare me with its multi-limbed, malignant embrace. It’s a monumental, barely controlled series of half-dissonant, darkly atmospheric waves of unholy cacophony. And, worryingly, it makes more and more sense the longer you listen to it. You get a variety of vocal styles, from spoken-word chanting to rabid snarls, and an equally varied rhythm approach. It should probably be labeled as experimental, but you get the feeling that this is how it’s “supposed to be”, as decreed by some terrible, pagan deity. It’s got the venom and hatred of early black metal, and the bestial bloodthirst of death metal, and combines the two in fluid fashion, drawing more from the essences than the superficial techniques. An album that will fascinate and disturb you in equal measure, without going overboard with neither the level of randomness nor ugliness.
Highlights: “Of Pillars, Walls and Mutilation” and “Unlightment”
Krigsgrav – Stormcaller
Genre: Melodic black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This Texas band with the Norwegian name and fairly Scandinavian sound has been moving steadily forward under the radar since 2004, and are now on their eighth full-length. They deal in doom-paced, melodic black metal, borrowing quite a few traits from solemn, forest-dwelling melodeath. With that, this latest album is already fairly well summed up, as there isn’t a heap new going on, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound good. It’s a full, punchy sound that highlights the chunky riffs and rumbling bass, enveloping and propelling the melodies, both when they’re slowly drifting and cutting through as wailing guitar solos. It’s a little short on ideas, but generous on immersion.
Highlight: “Ghosts”
New World Depression – Abysmal Void
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Here’s an old school death metal banger out of Germany, but sounding like a stripped-down version of Obituary meets Vader. This is mostly all about the riffs, of which I wish there were even more. It’s just the kind of malevolent, driving sound that you’d expect, with a moderate and highly fitting amount of groove.
Novembers Doom – Major Arcana
Genre: Gothic/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Chicago’s Novembers Doom strike again, for the first time in six years, and so they’ve made sure to strike hard. This is still monumental, riff-heavy, gothic doom, but the tap controlling the influx of melodic extreme metal has been given a liberal yank. There is still room for closed-eyes, nihilistic serenades from atop the darkened manor staircase, but the band’s sludgy roots seem much more interested in breaking through the floorboards and tearing the place apart. The whole album feels like a statement of strong melodies, organic-but-catchy rhythms and powerful clean/harsh vocals. It’s epic and confidently bombastic, but still comfortably within the confines of melodic doom.
Highlights: “Major Arcana” and “Ravenous”
Paradise Lost – Ascension
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
You’re getting a few different iterations of Paradise lost as you make your steady way through their mammoth 17th (!) album. Not that this is some massively style-morphing thing, but it’s definitely got more to offer than just their current, signature gothic doom style. Death doom and melancholic melodeath make strong entrances, as well as more proggy goth and a bit of groove. Nick Holmes’ voice ties it all together, even as he demonstrates an impressive range to suit the different musical moods. It is long, and feels long, with the heaviest tracks being front-loaded, and mostly every song having that stare-into-the-distance feel of taking as long time as is necessary. Even so, it’s not what I would call over-indulgent. There’s plenty of purpose and contrasting moments that show the veteran band’s ability to play around with their own formula.
Highlights: “Tyrants Serenade” and “Silence Like The Grave”
Sunniva – Hypostasis
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A hostile, smoke-wreathed, lumbering sludge doom album that every now and then fools you into a false sense of security with some ethereal, floating calm, only to heap the misery back on over you my means of mountainous riffs and grating vocals.
Tithe – Communion In Anguish
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Now on their third full-length, Tithe play murky, blackened death doom, quite often (perhaps contradicting) at grindcore-level speed and ferocity. The cool part is that, even with longer, dragged out sections of scouring abuse, the whole thing wraps up at just over 35 minutes. This feels like just enough to fully appreciate the duality of this beast’s malevolent mood, which is evenly represented throughout. There’s a hunger and bitterness to it that comes through effectively both in the pained crawls and the bared-teeth stampedes. They don’t quite manage to avoid a measure of repetitiveness, but the rawness and hostility is highly convincing, and overall I’d say it’s a solid step forward for the band.
Highlight; “At The Altar Of Starving Children”
Vittra – Intense Indifference
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
In my opinion, there are few things as badass as good death thrash. And, as evidenced by this fun-loving Swedish bunch, it certainly doesn’t have to take itself all that seriously in order to achieve said bad-assery. This actually reminds me a lot more of Finnish bands like Children of Bodom, Ensiferum and Mors Principium Est when they’re in their more playful moods, but, to be fair, also fellow countrymen like Witchery. What this album basically does is patch together a Mad Max-style vehicle of melodeath muscle and thrash metal arsenal of guns and spinning blades, and then drive it with a rock ‘n’ roll upbeat and carefree attitude. As you might imagine, it’s all riffs with lots of light-hearted cool, but enough bite to leave a few marks.
Highlights: “MOFO” and “Transylvanian Buffet”
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 