Reviews of metal albums released April 11 – April 17
It’s a week for fresh and emerging bands that still manage to sound like they’ve spent a lifetime on the scene.
(From last, last week) Bragging Rights – A Comedy Divine
Genre: Progressive sludge/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: I’ve a shoutout to make from a couple of weeks back that I was too disorganized to review in time for its actual release date. Continuing steady on the same trajectory as last year’s “Carpe Jugulum”, this is early Gojira (although I’ll insist I can hear some “Magma”- and “Fortitude”-stuff in there this time) style dark prog metal that’s sludge-d, and also kind of doom-ed, down to an even, crushing pace propelled by balled-fist anger.
My main critique is that there’s not a lot of development going on from start to finish in many of the songs, so you’re locked in to the same kind of mood and rhythm for fairly long stretches. But it’s also full of hard hitting moments, especially in the second half, so well worth checking out if my initial description intrigued you.
Doodswens – Doodswens
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: The sophomore release by three-piece Dutch black metal band Doodswens (death wish) takes you to a place where suffering is both expected and accepted. That’s not saying that it’s the sort of black metal that’s physically painful to listen to, but it invokes the feelings of being trapped in the darkness, addressing the different shades of agony that is your only companion.
The album deals with this through expressing wrath, bitterness and anguish through both vocals and instruments, delivering both full-on aggression with wicked riff assaults and more restrained, slow burn stewing. Compelling stuff that I hope can keep evolving into something even more distinct.
Highlight: “Driven by Death”
Draken – Here Be Draken
Genre: Stoner metal/rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Here’s some genre bending stoner metal from Norway. Saying that you’re in for a bit of a trip and a truly diverse experience should be taken as me saying it’s really exciting and unconventional within reason, and not as a suggestion that this is some incoherent super-proggy whack-job.
The trio that is Draken utilize tons of spritely desert groove, some sludge and hardcore aggression, a bit of psychedelic and doom mood-altering, and plenty of heavy rock get-up-and-go-ness. The variety is great, and the creative effort both inspiring and engaging. The flow through the album becomes a bit tumultuous, as you get pulled in quite a few different directions, but at least to me that’s a big part of its charm.
Highlights: “Jólablót” and “Of Demise and Men”
Infestuous – Unfathomable Mutagenic Abominations
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Imagine the head-spider from “The Thing” on cocaine and flitting rabidly around biting and snarling at people while foaming copiously at the mouth, and that you’re watching it all played back at 3x speed. That pretty much sums up this brutal-style tech death debut album from Infestuous.
The duo behind the madness are usually preoccupied in The Black Dahlia Murder and Doctor Smoke, so you know there’s some talent involved, which becomes evident anyway if you just play the album. There are traces of melody and quite a few really clever rhythm transitions that took me by surprise, elevating it well beyond a randomly chaotic gore slinger. There’s definitely room for a lot more personality, but this is a solid starting point.
Highlight: “Palace of Rot”
The Last Ten Seconds Of Life – The Dead Ones
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: The latest from these deathcore stompers is monumentally heavy, as you would expect, but judging by the way it moves I’d say that far from all of this heaviness is attained though muscle growth. It feels lumbering, dragging its boated mass along and occasionally rolling down a hill, as gravity would be the only thing capable of speeding it up. It’s pretty rad when it does, although painfully predictable rest of the time.
The Moon And The Nightspirit – Seed of the Formless
Genre: Melodic folk/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: A gothic-tinged, mildly progressive and silkily melodic kind of sound that exists vaguely inside a doom realm, but demonstrates too much flexibility and verve to be tied down to any one subgenre. There are dark trickles of black metal every now and then, but the vocals are mostly serenely beautiful, hovering between sadness and hopefulness. They do best in the middle of the extremes of aggression and solemnity, where the passion rolls steadily like waves and currents.
It fizzes out a bit towards the end, but there’s a good amount of energy further back, in between the calmer sections. Definitely one to get lost in.
Highlight: “Astromorphosis”
Ordh – Blind In Abyssal Realms
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Progressive death is an exciting niche these days, as it attracts a lot of really creative talent, and can surf on the wave of the massive OSDM resurgence. It’s challenging both for the artists and the listeners, but the guys in Ordh seem to have got it right from the start. Not that they’re newbie musicians or anything, but the formula for this swirling vortex of chugging riffs, semi-dissonant melody and atmospheric doom feels like it must have taken quite a bit of consideration to nail down.
At its best it builds organically to spine chilling highs, delivering both savagery and complex technicality with a warm yet space-y kind of vibe holding it all together. Other times it gets quite lost going on curious tangents, and at the end I’m actually left wishing for a more bone-jarring impact. Still, mighty impressive stuff.
Highlights: “Apis Bull” and “Blind in Abyssal Realms”
Pilori – Sans Adieu
Genre: Black metal/hardcore/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Pilori is a French mostly black metal project that uses hardcore and grindcore ferocity to spice things up, with a bit of death heft to add to the impact. They strike an appealing balance between catchy, aggressive riffage and hooded atmospheric skulking in the shadows. A few of the songs feel a bit too similar, and overall I could have wished for bigger contrasts and more intensity, but it’s nonetheless a hard hitting and coherent album.
Highlight: “Lèse Majesté”
Reeking Aura – On The Promise Of The Moon
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Reeking Aura’s brand of death metal isn’t progressive to the same degree that this week’s Ordh release is, but like a mycelium network it’s spread out beyond the controllable confines of the core subgenre and established connections with its neighbors. There’s a strong influx of insidious-toned melodeath, a bit of atmosphere and, to counter it, a good deal of brutal-style rhythm work and old school technicality. They weave it all together into a truly compelling whole that’s frankly unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, adding new layers and showing new sides of themselves pretty much every step of the way.
Although the vocals are, overall, quite versatile, they are also my main issue with the album, as the predominant style is the kind of unintelligible kitchen sink gurgle that could be fine poetry or a toad burping for all you know. I’ll likely never get the appeal, but that’s a personal problem. Even if you’re of the same opinion, you shouldn’t let it stop you from checking this out, as you’ll be missing out on a whole heap of excellence.
Highlights: “What Only Worms Witness” and “Sifting for Fungal Inheritance (A Mildewy, Acrid Mulch”
Sabiendas – Puppeteer Of Doom
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: Straight up, nasty death metal from these Germans, delighting in the subgenre’s most classic thematic realm of visceral horror. What you’re in for is a steady parade of headbanger-friendly riffs, pummeling drums and serrated vocals. The menace is ever-present, the energy level is just right, and the balance between savagery and groove works very well. Production wise it lacks a bit of edge and force, and creatively it’s no revelation. Just good ‘ol ear candy for the morbidly inclined.
Highlight: “Freak of Nature”
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 