Reviews of metal albums released June 06 – June 12
Death metal strikes back with a vengeance and in several different forms, facing some competition but certainly dominating in terms of both consistent quality and volume.
Bloodhunter – Sons Of The Abandoned
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: This is basically a Spanish version of Angela Gossow-era Arch Enemy, so much so that it’s borderline plagiarism. It’s got the same kind of energy, riff tone, level of groove and snarly female harsh vocals. Its best tracks manage a great balance between virtuose, heavy metal-style melody and aggression, and make checking out the album worth it by themselves. Unfortunately, there’s an overload of fairly weak, messily written material surrounding the highlights, the band seems overly preoccupied with aesthetics, and the production (at least on streaming) is fairly underwhelming.
Fires In The Distance – Circadian Promise
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Review: Fires in the Distance have managed to earn a spot as one of my absolute favorite bands, with 2023’s “Air Not Meant for Us” firmly cementing this position, being my top album of that year. Now they’re back with a new vocalist/guitarist, but still very much the dreamy-melodic approach to their atmospherically rich, Insomnium-style death doom. New to their repertoire are sparsely-used clean vocals, which, in the face of some immediate skepticism, suit their sound very well, and are executed with fitting emotional restraint.
My main issue actually turns out to be the harsh vocals. While the addition of black metal-style screeches and Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity)-style high pitched rasps is welcome, the lack of throaty, low growls is indeed felt. And while their previous albums were by no means “effective” in pacing, I find myself missing a measure of grandeur and force this time around, both in the heavy and more serene parts. The latter of which regularly take on a slightly simplified, gothic feel that make the dips in energy more profound. All that (mostly subjective) nitpicking aside though, this is a masterfully composed album that flows beautifully, and manages bigger contrasts than its predecessors. Its emotionally potent, somber melodies mesh effortlessly with the heaviness, and are at most times completely engrossing.
Highlights: “Of Radiance and Levitation” and “Agonal Dreaming”
Fleshcrawl – Epitome Of Carnage
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Time again for me to learn about a long-going German underground extreme metal band that I’ve never heard of before. Fleshcrawl got started under its current name all the way back in 1991, and had quite the release streak leading up to 2007. Since then they’ve had a comeback album in 2019, that hasn’t been followed up until now. For those also uninitiated, this is Entombed-school crunchy death metal, the like of which fellow countrymen Endseeker are more actively championing these days.
Fleshcrawl play a musty, no-frills iteration of the sound. Any vestiges of melody are scaled back and uniformly sinister, and the band seem almost unwilling to let loose the groove, although when they do, it hits like it should. The album is full of treats for fans of both the band and the subgenre in general, but isn’t free from filler, which pushes the runtime unnecessarily to a near 48-minute duration. Also, I’m pretty suspicious of that album cover. Still, a real heavyweight of an album that’s strictly focused on what it does best.
Highlight: “Blood Dominion”
Goetia – Mortuary Cult
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: This is the untamed, unpolished, unmuffled roar of the underground right here. Goetia are a band from the US capital that play a furious, back-to-basics form of death metal powered by hardcore and grindcore spite and relentlessness. Being their debut full-length, they fire on all cylinders, and apart from the odd Sabbath-style, spooky-doom mood-setter-section, it’s a non-stop chase by the ravenous undead.
This has all the charging drum work, snarling vocals and shredding you would hope for, and more. The production makes it sound a bit like it’s all taking place inside a heavy canvas sack where the bottom’s about to fall out, but I’d almost be disappointed if it wasn’t a bit ragged. I think the whole is stronger than the individual standout moments, but it’s a heck of a statement for a debut.
Highlight: “Lanterns of the Dead”
Goreworm – Miasmic Solitude
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: This is one of those albums where the cover makes it hard to dislike even before you’ve listened to a single note (that is, unless you suffer from severe arachnophobia). What becomes immediately apparent as this monstrosity starts playing is that they’ve gone for a fairly lean production, favoring vocals and the higher pitched ends of the instrumental performances. This really highlights the precision of the band, the melodic nuances and the inventive rhythm gymnastics.
The unfortunate thing about said production is that it’s fairly uneven. At times the riffs and drums feel deeply buried in the murk, and much of the low end heft is lost, lessening the impact. Then, at later points, the punchiness returns and it feels like a proper beast again. It doesn’t have the smoothest flow, but makes up for it with distinctiveness. It’s a band that clearly want to leave a mark, and they’re certainly heading in the right direction.
Highlight: “The Enthralling Grave”
Khemmis – Khemmis
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: On their fifth full-length album Khemmis go self titled. It feels like they’re reaching for a pinnacle, without seemingly having to try too hard. That’s not to say that the band is underachieving. Quite the opposite. But while they’re being quite inclusive in combining the different aspects of their sound, they’re not in need of stretching past the comfort zone. It all appears to be thoroughly “built in” at this point.
You get heavy metal, epic doom, and a touch of stoner, death and prog, all flowing together beautifully courtesy of the band’s confident songwriting and effortlessly brilliant performances. This is simply a joy to listen to. It goes solemn, triumphant, threatening and contemplative, and it all sounds like it naturally belongs as part of the story. At times they do sound a tad too comfortable, like they’re revisiting moments of previous glory, but it’s also hard to fault the band for “sounding like themselves”. This is a band more than good enough to be headlining festivals at this point, and this album thoroughly proves it.
Highlights: “Invocation of the Dreamer” and “Gilded Chambers”
Nuclear Tomb – Epoch Inhumane
Genre: Experimental thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: This feels like the perspective of one of those early “Robocop” prototype abominations after it’s broken free and causing havoc out on the streets. What you get is a whacko strain of death thrash that you can’t for a single second hope to tell what to do. It’s gonna run it’s own race, be it backwards, down alleys, up fire escapes and crashing heedlessly through any wall or obstacle in its way. It’s a bit too directionless for my taste, but it’s also delightfully free-spirited and rebellious, with some excellent shredding stuffed in between the madness.
Highlight: “Lifeless Transformation”
Stitched Up Heart – Medusa
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: If you’re missing some big and catchy ear candy this week, why not take a bite of this? I won’t pretend I know anything about Stitched Up Heart, but on their latest album they sound (a lot) like In This Moment, but with Spiritbox djent chugs, a bit of nu metal sound effects and plenty of Lady Gaga-like pop beats and melodies. Yes, it gets pretty generic at times, but none of it’s egregious. Most importantly, it’s got loads of energy, panache and punching power.
Stormkeep – The Nocturnes Of Iswylm
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: It’s time to let out that 90s teenage fantasy nerd lusting at posters of pale skinned, tribal-tattooed, dagger-wielding goth girls. But you probably got that from the goofy album cover. The music on it, though, isn’t actually nearly as silly as I had expected. Epic and bombastically melodic, yes, but still cold and, at times, really aggressive black metal. It’s got some questionable clean singing/storytelling parts, but it adds variation, and feels like part of the vision. The fantasy black metal fanbase is a peculiar one, and I think the album’s a bit too uneven and purposefully dorky for anyone else, but there’s very clearly some talented musicianship going into it.
Highlight: “Carnal Tapestries of Nailtorn Flesh”
Tarja – Frisson Noir
Genre: Symphonic metal/rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Review: I’ve not listened much to the solo material of ex-Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, but it doesn’t take long to recognize that this is a step up in heaviness from what she seems to have settled into. It’s a big, lofty album with lots of guest performances. Sadly, while there is a decent amount of solid playing on here, the songwriting simply isn’t up to snuff. Neither, at least to my ears, is Tarja’s voice. While there’s plenty of force, she sounds tonally rigid, and damn me if she isn’t even off key on several songs (which could definitely be blamed on the mixing). Compared to some of the best symphonic metal out there, many of the tracks are plain underwhelming, and creatively it’s got nothing on the stuff of solo-career peers like Charlotte Wessels.
Thorium – Suburban Rot
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Danish death metallers Thorium are back and once again trying something slightly new. I first discovered these gents with their 2022 release “Danmark”, and, while I was probably overly enthusiastic with the score, it was a great introduction to the band, packed as it was with meaty riffs and morbid grooves. 2024’s “The Bastard” offered a slightly different guitar tone (possibly influenced by guest composer Rogga Johansson), greater atmospheric depth and more varied songwriting.
“Suburban Rot” sees the bang going for a more muted, lurking approach. It’s not lacking in rumbling riff charges, but the overall tempo is down, to the point where some of the engagement factor is lost. They make up for it with some really strong highlight tracks, and overall they strike a good balance between straightforward, old school savagery and more exploratory, doomy shifts in rhythm approach.
Highlight: “MG42”
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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