Reviews of metal albums released May 02 – May 08
This week doesn’t hold back for a single second, throwing both surprises, affirmations and unexpected changes your way.
Darkthrone – Pre-Historic Metal
Genre: Heavy/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: You can’t really accuse Darkthrone of not evolving their sound, because even as they seem to be mining the same primitive black metal ore as they did thirty years ago, the way they refine it is never quite the same. On the surface it might seem like we’re getting more of the same doomy, eccentric-occult proto-black metal as on 2022’s “Astral Fortress” and 2024’s “It Beckons Us All”, but just like those two were quite different in execution, so is this.
At its core it’s crunchy, riff-driven, mid-to-low tempo old school heavy metal, but with that unmistakable nihilistic tone to it. The production is suitably low-fi, but managing a more-than-decent low end heft this time around. It allows for a bit of punchy groove, while retaining the “secretly recorded in an abandoned warehouse basement” feel. It’s not quite the focused riff worship that I had hoped for given the name, and will divide the listener base on the perception of its stylistic charm, but has the band realizing what’s clearly been a very distinct vision for the album.
Highlight: “They Found One Of My Graves”
Draconian – In Somnolent Ruin
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: You can forget about cheering up for the next hour if you decide to undertake this sonic journey. On their eighth full-length, Swedish long-going band Draconian fully embrace the doom side of their sound. This is very much in the vein of My Dying Bride, only perhaps a bit less miserable, a tad more “big” and epic, and a reserve of aggressive heaviness that actually borders death doom. Dark emotions are described with melancholy, gothic beauty, very much as you would expect from a band that dress like elves at a Victorian funeral.
Shocking absolutely no one, it’s an album that likes to take its time, and for the most part it’s a sublime thing to listen to, with excellent fullness, clarity and melodic impact. But if you’ve listened a bit to this kind of stuff before, you’re gonna end up finding a lot of similarities to comparable bands. And it does drag a fair bit at times, not helped by the addition of a 2,5 minute interlude, on an album that’s already packed with atmosphere. However, the different moods and levels of intensity are blended together masterfully, making for a near-impeccable listening flow.
Highlights: “The Monochrome Blade” and “Cold Heavens”
Eradikated – Wiring Of Violence
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: Swedish thrashers Eradikated pour on all the traditional ingredients on their sophomore full-length. Versatile rhythms, banger-friendly chug sections, ripping solos and political commentary. If you’re looking for youthful energy mixed with technical precision and true genre adoration, look no further for a great time. If you apply a more critical mindset though, you’ll probably find it a bit lacking in ferocity and originality. I’d love to see them take this pleasing basis and run wild with it, discovering a more distinct voice of their own.
Highlight: “British Petroleum”
A Forest Of Stars – Stack Overflow In Corpse Pile Interface
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Review: If you’ve never come across this British vaguely-black-metal band before, then best prepare yourself for an experience unlike anything else. This is violin-accompanied, lightly surrealist, dark contemporary art theater in sonic form. At once manic and composed, you’re presented with a rhythmically stable, beautifully melodic sound that flows steadily and shifts organically, with a half-spoken, highly dramatized vocal performance that radiates unhinged conviction.
As a black metal album, it’s far from the heaviest or most aggressive. Expectations of classic, technical genre traits must be abandoned. But the misanthropic mood is certainly there, and at times you’re taken aback by the unsettling force of it, not too different from that achieved by Blut Aus Nord. It doesn’t always manage the big, majestic turns as well as the smaller, understated ones, and overall I’m missing a bit of hair-raising grandeur, which I’m sure it could accommodate. But take it for what it is, and it will transport you far, far off the overtrodden center path and into the rarely imagined.
Highlights: “Street Level Vertigo” and “Roots Circle Usurpers”.
Frozen Soul – No Place Of Warmth
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: For an album called “No Place Of Warmth”, by a band called “Frozen Soul”, this is a decidedly toasty-sounding collection of death metal. In contrast to 2023’s “Glacial Domination” the Texans have stuffed in as much low-end boom as can possibly fit, to the point where, if you’re listening through particularly bass-accentuating headphones or speakers, it might get downright distracting. This is the band consciously charting a middle way between the old and new school of death metal, with both rusty, rotting morbidity and modern slam and breakdowns.
Fortunately, it does not come off as a calculated affair, and despite the typical “new band growing fast” antics of piling on guest performers, the album is saved from the whiff of poserdom by simply being damn cool. It clocks in at just over an ideal 35 minutes runtime, and has tracks as short as 53 seconds that go just as heavy as the rest, if not more. It’s also genuinely, straightforwardly and pleasingly brutal in that caveman manner that will excuse it pretty much anything. So unless you’re allergic to anything sounding post 90s, you’ll likely dig it.
Highlights: “Invoke War” and “Eyes of Despair”
IATT – Etheric Realms Of The Night
Genre: Progressive extreme metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: 2022’s “Magnum Opus” made some waves in the prog metal community, and rightly so. But now, four years later, can the band top their self-declared masterpiece? IATT is an indulgent kind of band, hovering around the spheres of black- and death metal and going, seemingly, wherever strikes them at any given moment. This is not the kind of album where you can expect an even flow. Mood, tone and instrumental approach can shift at a moment’s notice, and only a vague sense of direction is left as a guide.
This doesn’t fall into the category of “unhinged” prog, but it’s certainly exploratory to the degree that you feel like they’re making it up as they go. For my taste it’s too broken up, feeling fragmented rather than complex. But if you’re happy to let your prog take you through a labyrinth of unexpected impressions, then this will likely be just the kind of challenge that will tickle your brain in all the right spots.
Highlights: “Somniphobia” and “Walk Amongst”
Ingested – Denigration
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: Full disclosure – my introduction to Ingested was their 2022 album “Ashes Lie Still”, and I absolutely loved it. Turns out, I loved it for pretty much all the things that the band figured “Denigration” could do without. This is a full-on return to their slamming origins, shedding pretty much any notion of melody, groove and technical complexity. Does that make it more focused? Absolutely. Does it also make them sound exactly like three dozen other, unimaginative bands in the same niche? Unfortunately, yes. It’s heavy as fuck, but not in any way that leaves a lasting impact.
Jungle Rot – Cruel Face Of War
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Alright, if for at least a single release this week you’re hoping for the reassurance of genre faithfulness and relative predictability, then Jungle Rot are your guys. Active since 1992 and now on their 12th full-length album, the band are in no hurry to reinvent the formula. Like with the war machine that’s become the album’s actual cruel face, the intention here is grim, dependable, no-prisoners destruction.
The album feels rigid, with a clear set of objectives in mind. The thrashy, Sodom-reminiscent savagery is present, but not in the driving seat. It feels well-practiced at this point, and more than a few tracks land with a fairly by-the-numbers impact. The urgency is indeed lacking. At the same time it oozes malevolent groove, and the bad-assery of its abundant mid-tempo riffs cannot be denied.
Highlight: “Apocalyptic Dawn”
Lyrre – Nothing Is Promised
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Strongly featuring the hurdy-gurdy will earn you a “medieval” trait in most people’s book, and that is certainly not to the detriment of Polish band Lyrre. Founded by ex-Eluveitie player Michalina Malisz, the band opts for an epic but fairly grounded sound, bringing to mind the perspective of a low-flying bird sweeping across misty forest landscapes.
It’s a strongly melodic kind of folk metal, but quite understated in comparison to some of the more symphonic or rowdy projects out there. At times it’s probably a bit too laid back, coasting on lazy rhythms and the effortless beauty of the vocals. But it’s also not overstated or tacky in any way, so feels a lot more genuine than most of its peers.
Highlight: “Still Human”
Panopticon – Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Minnesota’s Panopticon is back with another mammoth undertaking of atmospheric black metal that sounds like it’s been crafted solely by elements found in the arctic wilderness. “Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet” (the haunted heart) joins typical folk elements like the use of violin, rousing rhythms and vibrant melodies with the obligatory cold harshness of the subgenre, giving you both the sun-bathed clearings and shadowy forest depths of northern winter.
This is just as mystical and multifaceted as you would hope it to be. It’s not looking to challenge you with abrupt rhythm changes or huge shifts in mood, and yet it feels like it travels a vast distance, braving bitter elements as well as basking in the full marvel of a living nature. It’s long, yes, but only very rarely does it feel dragged out, and offers so much more than the typical examples of the subgenre.
Highlights: “The Great Silence, Extinct” and “A Culture of Wilderness”
Restless Spirit – Restless Spirit
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Let’s be real, the stoner/doom niche isn’t exactly one of the more innovative spheres of the metal realm. Throw on a wooly mammoth theme, crank the fuzz and set off at a lazy pace across imagined, warm-toned moonlit desert dunes while projecting psychedelic imagery, and you’ve pretty much nailed it. But the cool part of dealing with such obvious stereotypes is that defying them in only a few key areas will clearly set you apart. For Restless Spirit that means breaking through the smoke haze and delivering their groove with clarity and persistent energy.
On their fourth, self-titled release, we find them loaded with heavy metal adventurousness and melodic potency, while retaining classic doom heaviness and stoner cool, with a killer vocal performance. Effortlessly circumventing tropes, you still get an excellent balance of dynamic, even mildly complex rhythms, and straightforwardly engaging riffs. While not revolutionary in any way, it’s going all in on what makes the band both exciting and reliable.
Highlights: “The Burning Need” and “Desolation’s Wake”
Voidthrone – Dreaming Rat
Genre: Experimental black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: If you ever wondered what it would feel like to have a rat burrow its way into your brain, this might be as close as you can get to the sonic equivalent. Voidthrone is one of those bands that aim for the opposite of listener friendliness, which often results in some nightmarish form of death doom. This, however, doesn’t have anything near that kind of patience. What you get is a form of completely insane blackened death metal that would no doubt somehow manage to eat its way out of its padded cell.
There’s a raw fury to the album that’s only held back by its own, easily distracted form of madness, that has it shifting pace at a moment’s notice and jumping between dissonance, unnerving atmosphere and punishing riff assaults. On top is a vocal performance straight out of Satan’s mental ward, that moves between brutal-style gurgles, banshee shrieks, maniacal cackling and several other steps in between effortlessly. Boy have you got to be in the mood for this one, but if you are, then it might very well blow your mind.
Highlight: “I-I. Bergen” and “I-III. First Blood”
Yoth Iria – Gone With The Devil
Genre: Melodic black/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Greek melodic black metal band Yoth Iria are back and looking to make a statement. That statement being “WE WANT TO GET NOTICED!”. “Gone With The Devil” marks a significant turn from their cold, aggressive and menacingly atmospheric past into something far more (yes, I’m gonna say it) accessible. Don’t get me wrong, the vocals are still (fairly) snarly, and the guitars are still distorted, but the weight of extremity has all but evaporated. Add to that a worrying amount of filler-grade material and a full-on fantasy video game cover, and thing’s aren’t looking good.
But hold on. At its best the songwriting really is premium, and so are the performances. Yes, the danger has gone, but it’s still a darkly rousing, engrossing experience saturated with strong melody and a fair bit of heavy metal charm. I still think they can do far better in this slightly tamed-down version of themselves, but for all the new fans they are guaranteed to make, there is little doubt that they are fully able to improve.
Highlight: “The Blind Eye of Antichrist”
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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