A week for those who think that extreme metal needs as many notes and riffs as possible, and to preferably be saturated in melody.
Abraded – Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is harsh, unyielding, merciless punishment, on the verge, I would say, of crossing into war metal. Some would probably say it’s already there. It’s deathgrind of the ferociously aggressive variant, like a frenzied gang of rabid, demon-possessed dogs let loose inside a packed mall. If it didn’t have perhaps the most annoying snare sound I think I’ve ever heard, I would give it a higher rating.
After Earth – Dark Night Of The Soul
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
I had a great time with the band’s 2023 debut album “The Rarity Of Reason”, finding it to be a sweet-spot modernization of the early 2000s melodeath sound, blending modern and more traditional elements with some ultra catchy riffing and plenty of aggressive energy. Unfortunately, perhaps in an attempt to sound grander, this album is slower, with a more solemn feel, which highlights some fairly unimaginative riffs and rhythms, and lacking the melodic playfulness to make up for it.
Amorphis – Borderland
Genre: Melodic folk/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Let me just preface this review by stating that I’m both a massive fan of melodeath in general, and a decently big fan of this band. For some reason I never took the time to properly listen to 2022’s “Halo”, so my last real reference point is 2018’s “Queen of Time”, which I loved. With all that being said, I’m struggling to find almost a single song on this album that elicits more of a reaction from me than “that’s nice, I guess”. And I insist it’s not entirely because this is a very, very soft and bright iteration of the band we’re getting on “Borderland”. I find most of the rhythms unengaging – many of them pop/rock-oriented and mid-tempo, and the melodies, while vivid, pretty and emotional, mostly remind me of stuff I’ve heard from them before. Some of the choruses are straight out of a mediocre symphonic metal album, and at that point you’ve lost me. Objectively, there’s not a lot the band is doing wrong, and for what it is, it does sound rather good, but apart from the mellow direction there’s very few surprises to be had. It’s like the embrace of an early, lightly breezy Finnish countryside summer morning.
Highlight: “Light And Shadow”
Cosmic Reaper – Bleed The Wicked, Drown The Damned
Genre: Doom/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Here’s some dark, crushing psychedelia, which I feel like I haven’t been able to dig into for quite a little while. This is absolutely doom, with noticeable traces of stoner, but the way the tone of the riffs and solos flows and swirls around the bass, being pressed forward by the drums, feels a bit like a mind-warping spiral slowly descending into the deep. It’s crunchy and solidly heavy, with a vocal style that brings to mind a blank-eyed, joyless Ozzy. Which fits the vibe of the music perfectly well. It keeps up the quality throughout, even though you feel like you’ve heard the full range of the ambitions for the album a little before it concludes.
Highlight: “Hammer”
Darkness – The Death Squad Chronicles
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A speed-loving, classic German thrash album that bounds and gallops along, serving up plenty of tasty riffs on the way. It’s to-the point, suitably coarse and aggressive, and has some decent, if not mind-blowing solos. But at over 52 minutes, being far from the most varied of thrash experiences, it could definitely do with some track trimming .
Demiurgon – Miasmatic Deathless Chamber
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
This is technical death metal, but not “tech death”, if you know what I mean. It’s being driven by some very precise, violently forceful and rhythm-focused instrumentation, but it’s also very much about the savage, malevolent feel. It attacks you like some titanic, thousand-maws-and-claws predator, but not directed by a thousand different minds. It’s fairly mono-tracked in its destructive pattern, even as it brings a number of murderous limbs to the task at once. Not outstanding among its peers in any major way, it’s still a really well crafted and impressively hard-hitting effort that I’d love to see evolve into something slightly more distinct.
Highlight: “Aspiring to Omnipotence”
Dying Wish – Flesh Stays Together
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
If you don’t mind your metalcore wearing some barbed wire fighting gloves in the shape of crunchy, chugging riffs with a bit of deathcore/death metal heaviness and aggression (think Venom Prison), but still want a good share of clean choruses, melody and jump-around hardcore rhythms, then this is your kind of band, and absolutely your kind of album. While there are elements on here that I find formulaic, particularly the predictable, staccato breakdowns, and I think that Emma Boster still needs to work a bit on her harsh vocals to bring them further away from hoarse hissing and towards actual roars (her cleans are great), this is a concise, mature and hard hitting statement of a record.
Highlights: “Revenge In Carnage” and “Moments I Regret”
Hei’An – Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
To me this feels a bit like a mix between Haken and Leprous, just less caught up with instrumental acrobatics and with an alternative metal twist. It’s vibrant and young, but with a concise, stargazing tonality and great production. There’s a bit of pop and electronica and a cinematic scope, some of it reminding me of “A Thousand Suns”-era Linkin Park, but you also get metalcore-like aggression. In the end, it’s a little bit let down by its sometimes simplistic choruses and vocal lines, as they compete with expansive atmosphere, exciting melody lines and genre-fluid rhythmic twists and turns.
Highlight: “What a Shame”
Korypheus – Gilgamesh
Genre: Progressive/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Korypheus are a young prog metal band out of Ukraine, playing an aggressive-yet catchy, riff-focused variant of the genre, bringing in elements of modern groove and metalcore. It reminds me of Fractal Universe, perhaps with a splash of Jinjer thrown in there, and a bit less conceptual and atmosphere-minded. While it’s not quite at a point yet where it stands clearly out in its own crowd, it does a lot of things right while building on familiar elements. It’s eager to play around with instrumental flourishes and different rhythm approaches, while staying on target and constantly moving forward, with an appetite for solos and a good mix of vocal styles. Perhaps not quite as mature as some other stuff you’ll hear this week, but I was left both entertained and impressed.
Highlights: “Sleeper” and “Odysseus”
Last Retch – Abject Cruelty
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
It’s been a while since a straight death metal band has scored this high on my banging-riff-o-meter. What is otherwise a perfectly murky, malevolent, mid-tempo affair with dry-gurgling vocals, almost sinking into doom on a few occasions, will on most of its tracks set off on a riff rampage that, at times, feels almost comically eager. Thanks to the tone and slightly more reigned-in drums it never really breaks character, and instead takes the best of the headbang-ability and groove from a death thrash sound and couples it with proper, cave-dwelling morbidity, It doesn’t score big on originality, but god damn is it a brutally good time.
Highlights: “Beasley Meth Merchants” and “Dissolved in Lye (Down to Rot)”
Mors Principium Est – Darkness Invisible
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
As a long-time fan, you’ll always find me thrilled at a new release from these Finns. Back with their first original album since 2020, It doesn’t take long to confirm that the band is on top form, certainly in terms of virtuoso technicality and their signature meld of vibrant, grandiose melody and ferocious riff-and-growl attack. It also doesn’t take all too long to conclude that, despite a few new flavors, it’s not what you’d call a daring effort. The familiarity factor is quite high, but, crucially, not to the point where it gets unengaging. Aside from a few tracks that do little but re-knead old glory, there are several genuinely fresh-sounding songs where different melodic and instrumental tonalities, tempos and levels of scope and aggression are utilized to great effect. I’d say that the gang is unquestionably at their best when going all-out fast and furious, but the extremes are more effectively highlighted with the use of contrasts, which is absolutely the case on this album. For people like me, who desire both more of what I’ve loved previously and attempts at branching out and evolving, this is like a personalized gift basket.
Highlights: “Beyond the Horizon” and “Of Death”
Overt Enemy – Insurrection
Genre: Thrash/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Texas thrash metal that’s piled on some groove heft and hardcore attitude. The album brings to mind Incite and Kataklysm, but doesn’t go to the same level of heaviness, preferring to stay light on its feet and almost obsessively riff-focused. It’s not great on variation, and feels a bit stiff, but it’s got loads of energy.
Paradox – Mysterium
Genre: Thrash/power/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Veteran Teutonic thrashers Paradox has one of the most inconsistent release patterns I think I’ve ever seen, but I suppose that comes with the territory of popping in and out of activity. This is their 10th full-length, and it’s also far from the most consistent thing you’ll hear this week. It tries speed, attitude, loftiness, groove and and a bit of prog, and only really succeeds at half of it. What works is cool, but the rest simply contributes to a bloated runtime.
PeelingFlesh – PF Radio 2
Genre: Brutal/slamming death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: ?/5
This is less of a review and more of a declaration of capitulation in terms of my ability to review slamming, brutal death metal. I’ll freely admit, I simply don’t get it. Take away the clip-on spoken-word soundbites, and to me this literally sounds like the same couple of tracks on repeat, just cut to slightly different lengths. I don’t dislike it, and I get that the main purpose of this is to be played live, but… there must surely be more tricks in the slammin’ tool box than this. If you’re into this band, you might as well go ahead and ignore every word I have to say about it.
Rage – A New World Rising
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
A blazing fireworks display of a fun-focused, groovy-as-hell heavy metal album from these German veterans. The melodic vocal work is hilariously stunted, the choruses straight off the assembly line, and the lyrics hopelessly clichéd, but if none of that matters to you. it’ll light a fire in you.
Revocation – New Gods, New Masters
Genre: Technical death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Following up 2022’s “Netherheaven” was always going to be tough, but then pretty much everything Revocation does sounds like they’ve set themselves some sort of high-bar, intricate challenge. On first listen of “New Gods, New Masters”, my overall impression was that they’ve overdone it, losing sight of the importance of flow, sense of direction and listenability in favor of instrumental and structural showmanship. Indeed, a lot of what goes on sounds like a kind of complex task-solving, and I must conclude that it’s not as consistent or overwhelmingly pleasing as its predecessor. But it’s not far off, and in some ways it’s more interesting – more layered, allowing you to appreciate different facets of it on each new listen. And when the groove aligns with the technical fury, it’s a beast like no other. While not mind-blowingly amazing, I still find it to be excellent, even considering this band’s sky-high standards.
Highlights: “Cronenberged” and “Dystopian Vermin”
Sundrowned – Higanbana
Genre: Atmospheric sludge metal/blackgaze
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
A gentle, atmospheric sludge/blackgaze album out of Norway that sails along on soul-nourishing, wistful melodies. The harsh vocals feel a tad forced at times, in that they whisk the surface of an otherwise pristine, harmonic pond, but work much better when the intensity builds.
Vintersorg – Vattenkrafternas Spel
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
After eight years, the blackened folk project that is Vintersorg re-emerges from the deep of the Swedish forests to deliver an hourlong insight into their world of pagan nature tales. Particularly given the distinct vocals of Andreas Hedlund, this is not a sound you easily mistake for anything else. It sets off on often peculiar rhythms and sudden transitions, and strikes an odd balance between primitive black metal riffs and epic, patiently trotting melodies complemented by mostly clean vocals that love to really draaaaag its words out. It doesn’t quite vibe with me, but it works on most levels for what it is, and fans will almost definitely enjoy it.
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 