Reviews of metal albums released October 25 – October 31
This is a wild week, pulling from all kind of influences and taking you to weird, wonderful and terrifying places.
Aephanemer – Utopie
Genre: Symphonic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Mash up Children of Bodom, Finntroll, Arch Enemy, Yngwie Malmsteen, and perhaps a bit of An Abstract Illusion for a touch of that towering solemnity, and you should at least be approaching an accurate impression of what to expect from this band. It’s the lofty yet playful neoclassical style that the shred monsters of the 80s championed, and bands like COB took into the realm of extreme metal, now revived with aggressive melodeath fervor and a flair of prog death complexity. Added some distinctly Finnish-sounding folk melody and a touch of thrash riffing, this scores sky high on both distinction, vibrancy and richness, without sacrificing too much heaviness. The two-parter title track finish is a bit on the slow side, and tonally I think they could have aimed for even greater contrasts, but it’s plenty dramatic, and good for dozens of repeat listens.
Highlights: “La Règle du Jeu” and “Le Cimetière Marin”
Avatar – Don’t Go In The Forest
Genre: Alternative/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Still doing their thing, rarely repeating tricks and never playing it predictable or safe, Avatar steadily forges on, and kindly allows us a slice of their current state. And it’s as entertaining and baffling as ever. Pulling from freaky alternative, stadium rock, industrial, classic heavy and aggressive groove with traces of Slipknot, among many others, the number of traits and influences is too long to keep listing. It’s got punchy tracks, but overall aggression has been scaled back for the sake of variation and an interesting album progression. Not as conceptual as “Feathers & Flesh” or “Avatar Country”, it still has a fairly coherent mood that’s distinct enough to clearly differentiate it from earlier releases. Not landing with quite the same impact as last time around on 2023’s “Dance Devil Dance”, it’s more endearingly weird, and feels like stronger storytelling. Like all Avatar albums it grows on you, and finishes about as strong as it starts.
Highlights: “In The Airwaves” and “Abduction Song”
Believe In Nothing – Rot
Genre: Blackened sludge/noise metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Get ready to go to a bad place, where no amount of happy thoughts can shake the steadily increasing discomfort. It creeps, it lunges, it scratches, screams and cowers, like a wounded animal slowly dying. It’s got the coarse, aggressive bulk of sludge with a blackened, doomy mood and an inclination for unpleasant noise. A bit uneven in production, and feeling a bit static in parts, it builds to chilling highs of violence that will leave you craving the warm embrace of the sun.
Highlight: “Fist Full Of Worms”
Burned In Effigy – Tyrannus Aeternum
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: These guys had an excellent debut in 2022 with “Rex Mortem”, laying the foundations for a melodeath sound mixing Black Dahlia Murder with At the Gates, and taking it in a tastefully restrained neoclassical direction. This latest album picks up where the last one left off, and keeps pushing the instrumentation in a slightly more technical and progressive direction. It’s a delight to listen to for a melodic extreme metal fan, although not quite as memorable as its predecessor.
Highlights: “Befouled Benefaction” and “Wage of Exile”
Cemican – U k ‘u’ uk’ankil Mayakaaj
Genre: Folk/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: An explosion of Aztec folk flavor riding on massive groove- and melodic death metal, somewhat in the vein of Sepultura. There are traces of thrash and power metal as well, and they’ve got some light prog tendencies. It’s really cool as a concept and delivers plenty of ear candy, although technically it’s a bit messy, and the songwriting and production somewhat uneven. It doesn’t stand strong as a cohesive statement, but offers an energetic and fairly varied taste of the band’s distinct style.
Highlights: “KUKULKÁN WAKAH CHAN”
Despised Icon – Shadow Work
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Review: Back after six years, Montreal’s Despised Icon make the wait plenty worth it. “Shadow Work” is an instant ambush assault of charging drums and demolishing guitars, rounded off with gut-punch grooves and a touch of bitter-sweet melody. The band’s hardcore influences are strongly represented throughout, and you also get a bit of slam and modern death metal, as if it wasn’t brutal enough already. There are a bunch of highlight tracks on this, standing strong as massive stone pillars, each bristling with furious energy and expressing it in a slightly different, yet equally punishing and impressive way. It’ll leave your brain rattled and senses overloaded.
Highlights: “Death Of An Artist” and “The Apparition”
Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: On their third full-length, Nashville’s Howling Giant pull you into a harmonious, isolated world of understated wonders, and take you exploring in leaps and bounds as well as gentle treks. This is a gorgeous sounding album that will have you delighting in the classic, tasteful instrumentation as well as the enveloping atmosphere. There is a mild prog-ness to the rhythms, but nothing distracting or overly complicated, and a warm, doom-like patience to the progression. This will effortlessly capture your attention and likely leave you wanting more as it rounds off.
Highlights: “Beholder I: Downfall” and “Hunter’s Mark”
One Of Nine – Dawn Of The Iron Shadow
Genre: Melodic/atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Tolkien-themed, epic black metal sums this up pretty well, but doesn’t quite prepare you for the scope of it. The album’s feel is incredibly cohesive, even as both sadness, anger and contemplation are projected, and also invited from the listener. The instrumentation is very traditional, and not this project’s biggest draw, but the lofty, longing, majestic atmosphere and melody truly fleshes out the sound and conjures images of the rich fantasy setting that it’s based in.
Highlight: “Quest of the Silmaril”
Outlaw – Opus Mortis
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Brazilian band Outlaw follow up their excellent 2023 release “Reaching Beyond Assiah” with an equally solid effort in their fourth full-length. This is black metal that dares to dream, and even though these dreams drip with melancholy, it’s not the venomous nor overly nihilistic kind we so often get from Northern Europe. There are just enough hints of a grand vision to make you sense the deeper dimensions of the sound. It sounds earnest and serious, and sells it by staying relatively modest, while delivering rock solid performances based on carefully considered songwriting.
Highlight: “Those Who Breathe Fire” and “A Million Midnights”
Primitive Man – Observance
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: The sound of being buried alive, trapped inside a massive industrial drill that’s digging deeper and deeper into the earthy blackness. There is no salvation, no silver lining, only mounting pressure and despair. At its best, it offers grating, frightening texture to the mostly funeral-paced descent, but there is also droning noise and repetitive patterns that seem like attempts to drive you mad. It’s a very specific sort of misery that fans of this kind of nihilistic punishment will no doubt appreciate greatly.
Highlights: “Seer” and “Devotion”
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?
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