Reviews of metal albums released August 22 – August 28
When it rains it fucking pours. Summer is officially over and the releases are seemingly dropping from the sky in alarming numbers. Let’s feast!
Apocælypse – Fænix
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 0/5
Objective rating: 1.5/5
Review: Just taking the opportunity to throw some shade at this absolute turd of an album. Aside from some tasty solos, this is a highlights reel of worn-out ideas, poor vocals, weak melodies, unimaginative rhythms and AI slop. And on top of that I’m easily giving them a “0” subjective rating for the ignorant, nonsensical use of the Scandinavian letter “Æ”, making their band (and album) name sound like it’s being bleated by a sheep.
Black Spikes – Ydos
Genre: Alternative/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: A bit of theatricality and panache will go a long way to grab you some attention in the metal world, but if you want to keep it you better have the musical chops to follow it up. This isn’t an issue for Lithuanian band Black Spikes. They combine the alternative-style allure of In This Moment with the modern technical aggression of bands like Jinjer, and expand upon it with electronica and hip-hop-elements, effectively courting the industrial and nu metal crowd simultaneously.
The music is highly melodically inclined and certainly on the accessible side, but not nearly to the degree where it feels dumbed down or too streamlined (although underground purists will probably disagree with that last statement). They play around with rhythm shifts and breakdowns without getting progressive or djent-y tunnel vision. They’re as much a visual spectacle as they’re an explosion of energy and trend-conscious flavor, and anyone not taking themselves or the genre too seriously should absolutely check it out.
Highlight: “AUREA”
Exumer – Death Mask Messiah
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Exumer are one of the lesser-known OG-ish teutonic thrash bands, getting started in 1985, going on hiatus for most of the 90s and 2000s, then returning with a vengeance in the 2010s. This is their first full-length in seven years, so has the absence produced rust or hunger? In my opinion, it’s a bit of both.
“Death Mask Messiah” is the least pretentious thing I’ve heard in a good while. After a few seconds sharpening its axe it sets off burning rubber, and doesn’t stop until there’s no more asphalt to scorch. It’s lean, groove-heavy and eager. The barking vocals match the steadfast, driving rhythms perfectly. the lyrics are surprisingly well-considered and the fun factor is substantial. In terms of memorability though, it has much less to offer. A lot of the songs feel same-ish and written simply for the love of the style, which is fine, but has the album steering well clear of greatness.
Highlight: “Allocated Savagery”
Flotsam And Jetsam – Rats In The Temple
Genre: Power/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: These guys obviously have a solid fanbase, and it’s not too difficult to see why. They’re faithful to their own style, and they continue to be able to inject genuine effort and energy into the music. It’s not what you’d call fresh, but much like with old school death metal and classic black metal, that’s not what the target audience wants. My personal issues remain the tired lyrical content, the heavy-handed rhythm changes and the general feeling of “heard it before”. There’s plenty of cool riffs and solos to sate your craving, but for every mildly interesting turn, there one that just seems to be running in circles.
Highlight: “Harvesting The Hate”
Gorod – The Ember Gone
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Need a break from the relentless tech death drag race (as in “who’s fastest”, not “who’s most fabulous”) but still want your socks knocked off by the musicianship? You know Gorod has you covered. While the French band’s 2023 release “The Orb” was an excellent showcase of their capabilities, I didn’t find that it helped them stand out too much in the subgenre. It was fast, aggressive, precise, varied, although a bit “textbook prog” at times. With “The Ember Gone”, that’s changed.
Their eighth full-length is still complex, and still plenty angry at times, but the melodic and atmospheric scope had been upped, and it sounds bigger and richer. Not in a polished, superficial way, but in a way that allows subtleties to make as much of an impact as the crashing, roaring extremes. The album goes through clean buildups, interludes and instrumentals as well as riff fests and brain twisters, bringing to mind some of the most mature material of bands like Gojira and Trivium. It might be a tad too restrained, even tame, for some, but I find that the melodies really connect with me, and the effect of the technical savagery, as a contrast to the rest, is a lasting one.
Highlights: “Remains” and “Devise”
Kamelot – Dark Asylum
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: Going into an album called “Dark Asylum”, you’d normally expect some doom and gloom, but one look at the band name and/or the album cover and you quickly realize that’s not gonna be the case. Sure, there’s a bit of a gothic flair, but that’s certainly not out of the realm for Kamelot. No, this is big, rousing, dramatic and big-production-theatrical symphonic metal very much like you’ve come to expect it. That’s not to say that it’s completely run-of the-mill. A few of the melodies are actually quite gripping, there are moments as glororious as you could possibly hope for, and most of the guest performances truly suit the tracks and leave a distinct flavor. The problem is that for every mature, solid highlight there’s a bland, Eurovision mid-table contender or anesthetic-level clean ballad to go with it.
Highlight: “Ashen World”
Mastodon – Marrow Deep
Genre: Progressive sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Review: With the loss of Brent Hinds, it wouldn’t feel unnatural for “Marrow Deep” to follow in the gloomy footsteps of 2021’s “Hushed and Grim”, but as with 2009’s “Crack the Skye”, going solemn and understated is not the way that the band has chosen to deal with grief this time around. While I wouldn’t go so far as to use words like “majestic” or “fun”, the album is bursting at the seams with creative energy.
While there are many aspects of the band’s multifaceted style at play, I feel confident in stating that this is the sludgiest and heaviest I’ve heard them in a good while. There’s real anger in the vocals, the drums are at times truly ferocious, and the riffs bite and tear like a hungry predator. Even the calmer, atmospheric tracks eventually build to crashing peaks. All this is not to say that the guys have made “just” a straightforward ripper though. The flow shifts often and unpredictably, opening the melodic taps at opportune moments. The mood moves on its own plane, transitioning slowly and subtly throughout the runtime. It’s a rich and layered experience that keeps offering new impressions till the last second.
Highlights: “Your Ghost Again” and “In The Ruins”
Mindwork – Adrift
Genre: Progressive extreme metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: If this week’s Mastodon release feels too grounded for you, then let this Czech project whish you away into dimensions unimagined. Mindwork play technical, semi-aggressive prog with traces of death, black, thrash and groove. I hear some Ihsahn in there, but this is even less focused than his solo project shenanigans.
When it all comes together, it really hits well, combining precise harshness with satisfying heaviness and oddball, spacey melody. I don’t count the clean vocals as one of its strengths, some of the lyrics are a bit typical, and overall it’s a bit too much “prog for prog’s sake” for me, but that will almost certainly be less of an issue for a more in-tune audience.
Highlight: “Breach the Cosmos”
Miscreance – Reminiscence
Genre: Progressive/experimental thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: This is one of those albums that proves the usefulness of my subjective/objective rating split. Miscreance know how to run wild within and beyond the realms of progressive death thrash. This hearkens back to early, unhinged tech death, both in terms of tone, vocal style, production and instrument use. Listening is like being yanked in a dozen different directions while watching a kaleidoscopic visualizer in VR-goggles. The style is nailed down and the precision scary.
Subjectively though, I find this to be nigh on unlistenable. Half the time I feel like the progression is inspired by a toddler hitting random notes on a piano, then ever so slightly cleaned up, added some wild thrashing and ridiculous hoarse-howling, fat-tongue vocals. In the end, this caters to a very specific audience, that will no doubt love it. I am more than happy to abstain.
Highlight: “Oracle’s Rift”
Ninth Realm – Damnation’s Veil
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: In short terms, this album feels like being skewered on the spiky shoulder pads of the knight on the cover and torn along on a ferocious gallop through battlefields, blizzards and monstrous duels. This is death thrash of the magnificently pissed off variant, set in a dark fantasy realm and added elements of hardcore and melodic black metal.
The vocals are like absurdly coarse sandpaper, to scour away accumulated bullshit coating the walls of your mind. The riffs are like mechanical, serrated scythe strikes, and you get peppered with speed-style solos. The drums are so eager that they actually feel like they’re stumbling over themselves at times. The performances certainly aren’t squeaky clean, but in a way it would feel wrong if they were, and the production is perfectly rough for the style. You get the furious fun of thrash, the lethality of death metal, and just enough conceptual depth to make it memorable.
Highlights: “Cohorts of the Abyss” and “All Hail Treachery”
Russian Circles – Nine
Genre: Progressive sludge/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: There’s a lot of great prog-but-not-JUST-prog coming out this week, and Russian Circles don’t want to be left out of the party. The slightly washed-out sound and most of the blast beats of 2022’s Gnosis have gone, so those looking for strong black metal influences will be disappointed this time around. There are still traces of blackening on the album, and overall it’s not exactly what you’d call cheerful. But this is a more expansive album, flexing its force not just in terms of riffing heaviness (though there’s plenty of that), but in its contrasts, powerful melody lines and strategic, deadly accurate rhythm work.
For those unfamiliar with the band, this is an instrumental, progressive project combining gentle atmosphere with sludgy heft and coarseness. Tonally it stays fairly solemn, but touches on sadness and pessimism as well as hopefulness and elation. For such a relatively short album, which is a welcome change in this subgenre, I find that it moves perhaps a little too patiently through some of the second half, but I wouldn’t really want them to take any of it out either.
Highlights: “Empath” and “Borehole”
Static Abyss – The Dying Hunt
Genre: Death/doom metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: This is one of those albums that can’t make up its damn mind, but it’s (mostly) to the benefit of you, the listener. On it, old school, ragged death metal wrestles with its other personalities to keep some sort of equilibrium between raging hardcore and cosmic, dread-inducing doom. But judging by how both sides are strongly prevalent throughout, also within individual songs, it’s somewhat of a losing fight.
The cool thing is that, thanks to the grimy tone, rusty vocals and groove-heavy riff breaks, it’s all somehow brought together. Sure, it’s a bit mad and disorganized, to the point where you wonder if it’s occasionally repeating itself because it forgot what it was doing five minutes ago, but if you like the slightly bonkers, carefree and style-experimenting side to death metal, that still feels faithful to the subgenre’s origins. then I think you’ll have a great time with this.
Highlight: “The Dying Hunt” and “Sinew Leech”
Sunscorched – Blood of the Badlands
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: When I first got the gist of what this album’s concept was gonna be, I immediately suspected superficiality and gimmickry. Atmospheric black metal with an American old west theme? News flash: banjo playing in black metal has already been done. But my delight was great when I found the concept to be well considered and executed.
The album feels a bit like a tale of misery, toil, existentialism and horror, told in the hot blackness of the prairie night, with only the vast starry canvas above as illumination, and the smoke of the burned out campfire still stinging your nostrils. It sounds a bit crap production wise, most of which I expect is on purpose, but other than that, the less I say about it further the better. Saddle up and give it a ride.
Highlight: “Stranger’s Land”
Triosphere – Oceans Above, Stars Below
Genre: Power/melodic prog metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: I had a chance to see Triosphere at a festival this summer, in their home town of Trondheim, Norway, no less, but I prioritized a different stage. Listening to their fourth full-length, which brings a twelve-year release drought to an end, I firmly regret giving them a miss. On it is a seamless and vibrant mix of power-, prog-, heavy- and thrash metal, spearheaded by a stellar, truly forceful vocal performance.
The album goes big on drama, but doesn’t leave the planet surface behind like 99% of all power metal bands. It’s all properly guitar based, with epic and thrashy riffs abound, and even more jaw-dropping solos. The rhythm work isn’t exactly challenging, but impressively technical, and still plenty fluid enough not to interrupt the flow. They don’t quite stand as much out from the crowd on every single track, but there’s a generous handful of highlights, and whether it goes for fun, exultation, awe or simply pleasantness, it succeeds at pretty much everything.
Highlights: “Of Tyrants” and “Orpheus’ Bane”
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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