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Weekly rundown January 03 – 2025
Welcome to 2025! We’ve got a basket of malicious-minded stuff waiting for you, ready to take you in wildly different places.
Acacia’s Temple – Elegiac Pilgrimage
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Entering a dark, fire-lit room, you’re drawn in by the near-chanted words of a dark-clad figure whose voice has everyone in the room transfixed. The voice tells a story, the contents of which, you quickly realize, you will come to wish that you didn’t hear. But it’s to late now, you can’t help but listen intently. That’s my experience of Acacia’s Temple’s debut atmospheric black metal album. It blends in elements of doom, creating a gloomy, ritual-like atmosphere with spoken-work-like vocals and chilling tremolo melodies. The production is great, if perhaps a tad too smooth, but you get the feeling it’s not meant to be an unpleasant experience. It’s more about the overall feel than delivering standout moments, and in that regard you might find yourself at the end of the album not quite having identified any individual tracks, but still feeling like you’ve been properly submerged in dark depths.
Highlight: “Unveiling romantic darkness”
Black Pegasus – Mass Omega (+ Mass Omega II: THe South Chamber)
Genre: Experimental deathcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Noise, melody, groove and crushing, rhythmic punishment. That is, in essence, what you’re in for on Black Pegasus’ first half of their double “Mass Omega” release, the second being “Mass Omega II: The South Chamber”, which is, to a certain extent, more of an ambient experience, although a very loud, hostile and horrifying one. For this review, I will concentrate on the former of the two albums. A quick, casual listen might not offer you more than breakdown-y noise terror, but there’s a lot more to unpack if you stick with it. Yes, the djent guitars and double base barrages are front and center, backed by oppressive distortion and executed with industrial rigidness, but all of a sudden you get straight-up stoner groove, metalcore-like or symphonic melody and nu metal beats. It’s not what I’d call a “wild” or “unhinged” kind of experimental project, but it goes to show how many different styles can be successfully blended given enough will and talent.
Highlights: “Holy Waters” and “Apollo’s Gait”
Enchanted Steel – Might and Magic
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A solo Polish power metal project that practically radiates fantasy nerd. While the vocals aren’t completely up to scratch (best noticed on the ballads) the tone and guitar work send your mind to a simpler, happier place.
Fermentor – Release Me
Genre: Psychedelic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album is a lot of fun if you’re in a playful mood. What you get is 17 short-runtime songs of instrumental (only guitar and drums, so they say), psychedelic/experimental death metal. It’s not exactly brutal, but it is heavy, and showcases some serious progressive groove, the like of River of Nihil and Gojira. My main issue with it is its episodic structure, where songs don’t really flow together, and so you feel like it’s “starting over” jumping something new quite often, without really having reached a climax for a lot of its tracks. But if structure is less of a concern to you, and you just want to be transported along to wherever the music takes you, there’s plenty to enjoy along the way on here.
Highlight: “Vortex”
Manic Outburst – Dead and Dying Fast
Genre: Thrash/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hoarse-shouty speed thrash that’s at its best when either going full tilt with blazing solos or leaning in to slightly lower tempo grooves. There’s not a ton on here to separate these guys from the crowd, but it’s tonally on point and suitably ferocious.
Mutagenic Host – The Diseased Machine
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5First week of 2025 and we’re already getting great old school death metal. I Like where this is headed. These lads are from London, and are clearly not optimistic about where technology is headed these days. Setting aside the theme of machine overlords though, this is mid-to-low tempo, properly crushing stuff with great low-end punch, a dark tone and truly spectacular dry-throat, roaring vocals. I had a great time all the way through, especially considering how consistent it is, although I found myself craving more focused riff sections as track highlights. It feels raw, even though there’s no unnecessary low-fi-ing to the production, but also powerful and meaty.
Highlight: “Artificial Harvest of the Obscene” and “Incomprehensible Methods of Slaughter”
Paleface Swiss – Cursed
Genre: Deathcore/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Matured into a more thoughtful, more straightforwardly deathcore, more melodically inclined band, this is not the rabid animal we met on 2022’s “Fear & Dagger”. There are certainly still instances of the early-Slipknot-Corey manic, agonized groans, and many of the riffs hit supremely hard. But bigger parts of the album feel a tad tame, like the band is settling in intead of evolving.
Highlight: “…and with hope you’ll be damned”
Patriarkh – Prophet Ilja
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If Gearea’s “Coma” has you looking for more epic evil, then turn your gaze in this direction. If you’re already familiar with Batushka’s sound, that these ex-members are very much still building on, then this will appear a more free-standing, evolved release. It’s very much still a “monastic” kind of sound, full of chants and with a tone of divine worship, although in the unholy form. Personally, I wanted the album to do a bit more, but it’s still a mighty release that feels both ambitious and highly intentional.
Highlight: “WIERSZALIN II”
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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Weekly rundown December 27 – 2024
How about some spice to rouse you from the catatonic laziness of the holidays? This last week of the year has you covered.
Acida – Blessed to Destroy
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fresh piece of Chilean melodeath that hits a lot like Angela Gossow-era Arch enemy, but with enough differences to remain their own thing. It’s a groove-oriented sound for sure, aggressive and tastefully abrasive, much more interested in firing off heavy, speedy riffs than crafting particularly memorable, melodic choruses. It’s got a few rough edges courtesy of being a debut, and it’s not the most advanced in terms of songwriting, but it’s got the right spirit – bringing in just enough elements of the old school to give it a solid, legit base from which to grow.
Highlight: “Broken Society”
Algol – The Black Sands of Madness
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Did you enjoy Satyricon’s “Volcano” and “Now, Diabolical” albums, and kind of wish they’d continued down the line of black ‘n’ roll-infused, riff-centered, not-so-conceptual black metal? Argentinian solo project Algol picks up the threads and keeps on spinning, revitalizing that spirit of catchy bitterness. While a good number of the songs on the album feel rather unambitious, in that they stick more or less to the same line from start to finish, it’s all good stuff, never losing sight of their purpose, never falling for the temptation of indulging in ambient padding to boost the runtime. It’s straight-to-the-point, un-pretentious stuff that sticks resolutely to a strong stylistic core.
Highlight: “The Black Sands of Madness”
Antumbra – Days of Future Ravaged Lands
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you’re in the mood for some melancholy to wipe that blissful Christmas joy smile off your face, here’s an atmospheric black metal album from one-man-project Antumbra out of Romania. Feelings of epic longing flow from the tremolo-led melodies, offset by agonized, raspy vocals and steady, mid-tempo rhythms. You’ll find your mind wandering along barely discernible paths in vast, misty forests, at the foot of towering, snow-capped mountains, all in complete solitude. If you’re familiar with the style, you will generally have heard it all before in several highly similar iterations, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a rewarding listen.
Highlight: “When Nothing Remains”
Black Negative Domination – Reborn in Darkness
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Despite some slightly messy rhythm work and a limiting production, this is a rough gem of a blackened heavy/death album from Germany. Snarly aggression and rumbling beats meet a sense of the epic, catchy riffs and a bit of snazzy solo work. Tonally it comes off as fairly serious, but it’s not out to get you in a bad mood – quite the opposite.
Highlight: “When I’m Gone”
Black Yet Full of Stars – Dark Wing Gospel
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Dramatic, harsh-edged symphonic metal from Italy which gives you some of the lighter sides of Fleshgod Apocalypse, and a good dose of power metal panache on top. A few progressive twists and turns come included as well, but it’s more low key. It goes both low and high, soaring on rousing bombast as well as chugging out punchy riffs followed by growled vocals. It’s got an operatic theatrical quality that’s not overdone, and which makes me imagine elaborate stage productions telling tales of bravery and tragedy.
Highlight: “Nigredo, Foulest Servant”
Empty Mirror – Deus Profanus
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A melodic, symphonic-leaning goth metal project from Greece that uses both clean female vocals as well as male harsh ones. It sounds serene and smooth, although with a good number of heavier riff sections. A bit sedate, but would be a great contrast to more brutal things.
Gravethorn – Atrocitas
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A hissing, thorns-out, US-based blackened death project that sounds just the right degree of underground for what it’s trying to achieve. The spooky tone, the over-distorted guitars, the muffled vocals, it’s all there. But it’s also fairly intense, and its death metal personality pulls it in the direction of heavy chugs and fervent, squealy solos, which are all highly welcome.
Highlight: “Barbaric War Declared”
Here and Beyond – Echoes of the Past
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Get ready to be hit by a wave of furious despair in the form of atmospheric, blackened death metal out of Nevada, USA. It screams and roars its way along on pounding drums, and lets out laments of cold, gentle melody, sometimes changing its trajectory suddenly with progressive rhythm transitions, giving a slightly erratic overall feel. While there’s an abundance of aggression, it doesn’t feel overly hostile, more like a herald of great misery that conveys its message very convincingly. Not all the songs have an equally strong identity, but in total it’s a force to be reckoned with that firmly stands its ground among its peers.
Highlight: “Invocation of the Thaumiel”
Jugular – Hymns for Our Deathbed
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is (mostly) a fun one, even though I’m not sure it’s intended to be. In spite of song titles like “Grief” and “A Hymn for Our Deathbed”, the album feels upbeat – skipping along on peppy hard rock rhythms and light, thrash-y riffs accompanied by mildly gritty vocals. My main gripe with it is the band’s proclivity for slower doom-ballads, which aren’t dark enough to land as atmospheric mood-setters, and kill the momentum created by the earlier, more energetic tracks. And so they fall in between two chairs. But if they can decide more firmly on a specific direction for their sound, I sense great promise here.
Mammon XV – Emprise
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An album that starts off as a malevolent, throat-ripping predator, attacking with intense force. Then, halfway through, it shifts to slower, longer, and more atmospheric songs, losing the previous aggression to semi-sad tones and an overall more emotion-laden approach. The quality is still there, but I personally find it to be a missed opportunity.
Shovelhead A.D. – Timeless Old
Genre: Groove/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5While we’re waiting for a potential new Pantera album, and the divisive shitstorm that will no doubt accompany it, have some of this! Shovelhead A.D. draws from that sludgy, coarse groove sound that we got on “Far Beyond Driven” and “Vulgar Display of Power”, then adds to it with some thrash ferocity and just a tad of Devil Driver melodic affinity, It’s at times significantly more brutal than Pantera and at other times gentler, offering much of the same Southern attitude, if not nearly the same level of innovation. It’s a straight banger from start to finish, just the right amount of dirty, just the right amount of instrumentally playful. Technically a bit rigid, perhaps, but they make up for it by churning out some of the most rad riffs I’ve heard all year.
Highlights: “Tormented Aggression” and “Shell Shock”
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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Weekly rundown December 20 – 2024
Second to last week of the year wants to have some rowdy fun, pouring on speed and tasty riffs, and going easy on the conceptual part.
Allfader – Call of the Void
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Northern Norway extreme metal that mixes the kind of oddball melodeath you get from Avatar with viking-folk infused black metal, for an album that will appeal to the more fun-loving part of the black/death fan base. It’s borderline epic, a bit proggy, and really catchy at times. It’s not an album that I’d say is helpful in defining the band’s style, as it’s a bit inconsistent, but quite entertaining if taken up front.
Ardeat – Apotheosis
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A spirited Italian blackened death project that has some maturing to do in terms of technical performances, but shows good promise in bridging the gap between the dark emotions of melodic black metal and pummeling modern death metal.
Becerus – Troglodyte
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Straight-for-the-throat deathgrind that’s primitive in all the right ways. It’s agile and precise, like a highly practiced axe murderer, with caveman-grunt and feral-scream vocals, and a hungry rhythm attack that rips apart its victims into appropriately sized pieces to grind down with crushing riff sections. Each track, which ranges from just over a minute to just under four, has its own menacing strategy to inflict debilitating damage, whether it be with brutal frontal assault or knife-wielding stalking, and it always achieves the kill. Not a refined or expansive thing, but a great surge of pure savagery.
Highlight: “Obfuscated by Imbecility”
Canis Dirus – By The Grace Of Death
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A maelstrom of misery pulls you into the depths of this semi-atmospheric black metal album. It’s like a struggle between a gentler, distressed spirit that spreads its woe through chants and acoustic string instruments, and one that growls its distaste directly into your ear, whipping up a tempest of anguish to go with it.
Epitaph – Path To Oblivion
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5The third full-length from this long-going Italian doom project brings the kind of crunchy, warm riffs and winking occultism that you’d expect from genre tops like Candlemass, and adds onto it with a more patient, kind of playful mystery that feels a bit like exploring an abandoned medieval castle and imagining dark deeds of the past from the crumpled remains. Some of the time it’s simply entertaining, and at its best it’s delightfully quirky – getting you lost in a slow, reverent dance of epic dreams.
Pandemic – Phantoms
Genre: Thrash/speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Here’s some Polish old school speed thrash that has a level of free-spirited enthusiasm and inventiveness about it that makes it sound like it actually took part in founding the subgenre. Next to the agile shredding and half-rough vocals there are also influxes of darker shades of metal, like black metal tremolo and a couple of sections of straight-up classic doom. But while these certainly add to the thematic of shady spiritualism, this is not an “evil”, and certainly not blackened, kind of thrash, instead leaning towards the epic and ever so slightly atmospheric, more like classic heavy metal in that regard. It doesn’t get stuck repeating ideas or instrumental approaches, managing the kind of variation that allows each song to take on a quick-to-grasp, distinct identity, and offers highlights in riffs, melodic passages, clever rhythms and vocal variations alike.
Highlight: “Santa Muerte” and “Under Gypsy’s Spell”
Revolting – Night of the Horrid
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Ghoulhouse, etc.) strikes again, this time with his Revolting project, which offers up yet more crushing, old school Swedish death metal, offering recognizable elements from his other bands, and a familiar, gory horror theme, but with a greater emphasis on melody. To the extent that I dare call this melodeath, although definitely with the grinding riffs and glass-gargling vocals front and center, which is no less than what you’d expect and hope for. It doesn’t feel extraordinarily well-considered as full albums go, more like picking up where they left off and driving the deathtrain for the next stretch of distance, but still dropping bloody god damn gems of brutal bangers along the way like it’s second nature. Gimme more, just keep on giving me more.
Highlight: “Blades Will Cut”
Subway To Sally – Post Mortem
Genre: Heavy/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The epic, arena-shaking folk metal giant that is Subway to Sally is back with a grand, yet decently varied release that includes leanings into power- and symphonic metal as well as chest-beating classic heavy metal, all with a rich production and a tone that moves between gleeful, serious and triumphant.
Tigguo Cobauc – Fountains of Anguish
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A UK black metal project that takes inspiration from folk legend and allows it to enter the music as melody and grand atmosphere, without letting it grow out of proportions. On the other hand is punky, coarse black metal that pulls it all back down to the ground and whips up the tempo. Fresh, if not thoroughly coherent.
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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Weekly rundown December 13 – 2024
First of the really short December weeks, with strong champions of both light and dark, depending on your pre-holiday mood.
The Axis Of Perdition – Apertures
Genre: Black/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This blackened industrial is all about creating an unsafe space for your mind – a labyrinth of dripping filth and shrieking metal in the sewers of some gargantuan, far-future slum city. Every other track is an interlude, which may be going a bit overboard, as even the main tracks are fairly ambience-oriented and mellow.
Caelestra – Bastion
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you needed more proof that there is beauty in darkness, heartbreak and existential philosophy, then this will provide all you’d ever need. This multifaceted UK prog project fuses symphonic grandeur with organic technicality and a healthy influx of black metal anger and bitterness. It’s one to get lost in for sure, with its tastefully synth-driven melodies pulling you deep into a vaguely sci-fi, but mostly simply expansive and serene, soundscape that tugs at your emotions in waves. Some of the melodic sensibilities feel familiar from a few different melodic extreme metal greats, bringing to mind both straight prog, Swedish melodeath and metalcore, but it’s not strictly derivative, and works very well overall. It’s not massively challenging in its intricacy, but also doesn’t feel like it ought to be, although it deals with complex subjects. Perhaps its greatest strength, then, is the way that it’s able to cut to the simpler core of its thematic emotions and concepts, and communicate them in a non-direct, engaging way.
Highlights: “Lightbringer” and “Soteria”
Illusion Force – Halfana
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Why not embrace the holiday spirit in advance with some joyous extravagance? This must be as close as power metal can get to musical theatre without tipping over (yes, I’m looking at you – bands that squeeze out 2-hour fairy tale-conceptual behemoths with half the runtime being spoken-work storytelling). The vocal style in particular sends my mind to cheerful, vibrant stage performances aimed at the whole family, and the melodies support this. But as a whole, the band wants to be much more than this. There is blistering, Dragonforce-style technicality, sections of all-out shredding, and some really creative rhythm shifts that makes you wonder what to expect around the next corner. This is the whole package, really, perhaps not quite as coherent as the stuff coming from some of their inspirations, but bold, satisfying, varied, and carrying some real, eye-opening highlight moments.
Highlight: “Hibari, Pt. 1: A Lost Cantara”
Magic Kingdom – Blaze Of Rage
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5All-out-fantasy power metal that tries to keep one foot within a more grounded NWOBHM-style classic metal sphere. On the other hand, it also flaps the algelic wings of symphonic metal, trying to take off, and so its ambitions pull it in slightly different directions, leaving it in a slightly uninteresting middle ground.
Misanthropy – The Ever-Crushing Weight Of Stagnance
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Think “so brutal it’s gone off its hinges” and you should be sufficiently prepared for this album. Chicago outfit Misanthropy take their brutal-styled tech death in a chaotically progressive direction, clearly aiming to match the thematic reflected in the song names, which paint mental images of merciless, cosmic forces and lurking, unpredictable horrors of the deep. Perhaps a bit too randomly disharmonic simply for the sake of dissonance at certain points, like a big machine glitching out and throwing stuff around, it also knows how to go directly for the throat. It’s got you in its sights the whole time, whether it’s surrounding you with distracting diversion moves or throwing itself on top of you from the top ropes. It sounds just as monstrous as it needs to, and demonstrates great songwriting skill as well as immense instrumental control.
Highlight: “A CURE FOR THE PESTILENCE”
Mörk Gryning – Fasornas Tid
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A remarkably light-on-its-feet melodic black metal album from these Swedes. The cold folk notes that the country’s melodic extreme metal is so well known for are not exactly understated on this release, saturating the experience from start to finish, but don’t get me wrong, it’s just as pleasingly dark and melancholic as it needs to be, and one of the main reasons that I will want to return to the record. The mood is just right, it’s honest about not caring to be the harshest, most misanthropic thing out there, while certainly not lacking bite. It does, however, at times feel a little passive, a little reluctant to try new things. A quality release that should please fans who aren’t looking for any surprises.
Highlight: “Black Angel”
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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Weekly rundown December 06 – 2024
Ah yes, December, where the metal world gradually goes into hibernation. A good few stragglers remain though, wanting to spread cheer and dread alike.
Among These Ashes – Embers Of Elysium
Genre: Power/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Speed-chugging heavy/power metal, trying to bridge the gap between the chest-beating and epic one one side and the windmill-headbanging riff-worship on the other, but falls flat melodically.
Athena XIX – Everflow Part 1: Frames Of Humanity
Genre: Melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is some good, nerdy fun right here, in the form of power metal-flirting prog metal. I think its main strength must be the band’s melodic affinity, They don’t try to go overboard with the rhythm changes, and the technical elements feel like they serve the melodies and storytelling. They use synth elements to embellish the sound by giving it a sci-fi feel, which fits together quite well with both the more aggressive riff sections and the more silly, hyperactive bass lines. In short, it feels like the band is enjoying themselves making this, rather than desperately trying to impress. There are a few tracks that don’t bring much to the table, which prolongs the time between the “hey, that’s cool!”-moments, but if you’re missing a bit of proggy brightness in your metal rotation, then jump into this one.
Highlight: “The Seed”
Catharia – Unimaginable Dreams Of Fate
Genre: Experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Listener-unfriendly blackened extreme metal (if that tells you anything at all) that goes for disharmonic tones and atmosphere, and direct lines of aggression with riffs and vocals, with few good transitions between parts, creating a broken-up flow.
Ghoulhouse – Fresh Out Of Flesh
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s something to look to if you just need some more over-crunched death metal riffs in your life. This thing grinds on with no-nonsense drum beats, a horror-inspired tone and theme, near-mumbled cookie-monster-who-swallowed-a-cheese-grater vocals and just a quarry’s worth of stupidly catchy, boulder-heavy riffs. There’s nothing refined with this, nothing in “good taste”, just a couple of Swedes unapologetically dumping a truckload of old school, grindcore’d-up death metal right on top of you, and most of it fucking rips.
Highlight: “It Came From The Sewer”
Greylotus – Motherwort (EP)
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is the kind of sound that makes me question where the line between tech death and deathcore actually runs. Not that it’s terribly important, but it does seem to blend the kind of beat-driven, wall-of-noise, melodic grandeur of bands like Lorna Shore with the “cleverer”, more insidious and erratic technicality of the likes of Obscura. The “progressive” label is slapped on here to signal some rather abrupt switches between aggression and zen atmosphere, and it bips and bops around on crazed bumblebee rhythms, but that’s not exactly uncommon in tech death to begin with. The music is flawlessly performed and exquisitely produced, with plenty of hard-hitting and melodically solid parts, that only get to live the life of a mayfly before the band hurries to the next thing. It’s certainly not free from tropes, but this long EP/short album proves that Greylotus has taken a significant step in the maturation process and is poised to compete with the very best of the subgenre.
Highlight: “Shinkansen”
Kir – L’appel du vide
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A rock solid long-EP of Polish mostly-black-slightly-death metal. “Commanding” is the word I’d choose to describe it if I could use only one. The vocals roar out like to a horde of frenzied cultists, and they know how to dwell on just the right, sinister-toned moments, only to build back up again with rumbling beats. Naturally, there will be comparisons drawn between this and Behemoth, but Kir has found their own sound, more closely related to traditional black metal, and taken a half-step in a dark melodic direction, allowing for some absolutely chilling solo highlights, and which suits them very well. As with their fellow countrymen though, this is performed with conviction, force, and just the right amount of theatre.
Highlight: “Eter”
Neckbreakker – Within The Viscera
Genre: Death/groove metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5THIS is supposed to be a debut album? From basically a bunch of KIDS? God fucking damn, this spells well for these guys. It’s a face-pulping beating of heavily death metal augmented hardcore, and embracing the kind of furious groove you get with bands like Misery Index (of which I’m a massive fan). It’s on its feet the entire time, stomping, jumping and shuffling around to highly athletic drum work, backed by an ultra-menacing tone, and cursing vocal lines at you with an impressive variety of harsh styles. It has gallops, breakdowns, wild shredding and pure headbanging madness, and all of it has its place, sounding naturally intentional, and is performed with the precision and weight of seasoned pros.
Highlights: “Shackled To A Corpse” and “Absorption”
Panzerchrist – Maleficum, Pt. 1
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Savage, scary blackened death metal that’s like a snarling rat demon hunting you in the dark. It has all the anger it needs, and a clear idea for how to mix the cold, sinister tone of black metal with the brutal punch of death metal. They also mix it up with switches in intensity, from solemn melody and build-up beats to raging blast beats, the only downside being that some of the transitions aren’t too well thought out.
Pillar Of Light – Caldera
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Pain and misery – that’s what’s in store on this doom album, expressed through agonized, sludge-styled vocals, a touch of black metal bleakness, and long, dwelling, morose melody lines. It’s not all a slow crawl though, as it builds to a few, chugging, near-death metal crushers.
Sunlight – Son Of The Sun
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern, powered-up heavy metal where the riffs go tandem with vibrant synth melody lines. To the right ears, it sounds great, not too grand, yet not understated, positive but not silly, epic but not dorky.
Vosforis – Cosmic Cenotaph
Genre: Technical black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dehumanizing, dystopian-feeling black metal project from the UK, that uses quite deliberate, precise mid-tempo rhythms and an austere atmosphere with synth elements that hint to dark futuristic visions and hopeless cosmic voyages. There is dissonance and spikes of blast beat-led intensity, but overall it’s orderly and deliberate, going easy on the drama and melody, although it’s certainly there, just more subtle. There are probably choices they could have made to achieve a more distinct expression, but it’s a solid debut album that establishes which sonic space they want to operate in.
Highlight: “Psychonaut”
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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Weekly rundown November 29 – 2024
Sounds like the metal world has sensed the approach of Christmas season and decided to vomit forth all its remaining blackened, nihilistic stuff as a last stand against the merrymaking.
Abysmal Death – De-liberación
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fast and dark, tech-centric, groove-happy death metal album that’s also not shy to pause for a few brutal slams and a bit of melody. The production’s fairly flat, and there’s some work to be done to cultivate a distinct sound.
Against I – Songs for the Dying
Genre: Black/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5This one’s got a black ‘n’ roll edge, and a whiff of attitude, but it’s not particularly well put together, with few song highlights and a lot of it sounding very similar.
Altar ov Asteria – Éna
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5One of the qualities of black metal is that mystery surrounding the band adds to the intrigue. It’s accepted as an artistic choice that adds a touch of the forbidden and a pinch of exclusivity to the experience, as if the implications of the music’s message are so severe that the band needs to remain anonymous for their own protection. It’s a theatrical ploy, but it works well for the genre. In this case, we are dealing with a duo of masked female musicians that produce an intense, condensed form of atmospheric black metal where the erratically changing rhythms blend into the tower of distortion from the guitars, bass and vocals. Interestingly, it grows and grows throughout the album, culminating the the last track as a grand statement, like the entire experience has been a slow, demonic metamorphosis.
Anarchÿ – Xenötech and the Cosmic Anarchÿ
Genre: Progressive/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5There’s a point where prog goes to far, which will be a subjectively defined line, but for most, this will have traversed that line by miles. Barely coherent, it’s thrash ingredients tossed around in a directionless whirlpool of unhinged rhythms.
Anarchy Zone – Satan’s Island
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Thrashed-up, NWOBHM-styled heavy metal from Denmark. You know in the first minute exactly what the album is going to sound like, and it does not deviate. Good, headbanging fun.
Antidemon – Convergence
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Straightforward, groove-oriented death metal with limited depth, and what I’m almost sure is inhaled harsh vocals. Nice for a bit of savage riffage, but it kind of drags on.
Aoidos – Oizys
Genre: Progressive/melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Yes, this album is a bit all over the place stylistically. It’s melodic, technical, atmospheric, slow, fast, traditional-leaning yet obviously fresh and modern. An uneven production makes the experience a further notch more tumultuous, but there are plenty of good ideas scattered in here. The parts that are melodic black metal with a prog twist hit in ways that few other bands deliver. One to watch.
Ass to Mouth – Enemy of the Human Race
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Grindcore-speed death metal that just heaps on crude, mid-levels of brutality without pause for a little under 22 minutes. There’s not much new, but they know how to have fun with it. The kind of heavy shit that will put you in a good mood.
Bedsore – Dreaming the Strife for Love
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5There’s going prog, and then there’s absorbing prog. These Italian gentlemen seem to have taken a mental time machine a few decades back, to the golden age of prog rock, with only vague memories remaining of a future where such a thing as extreme metal exists. The cool thing about that is that there’s no pretending. We’re going on a trip, there will be hallucinogen-inspired, animatronic fantasy creatures and epic, matte-painted landscape backgrounds galore, and that’s the end of it. At times it does sound more like a scene-setting soundtrack than a musical centerpiece, at least until the vocals and old-school tech death riffs and rhythms jump in. The album manages the feat of sounding intentional while being highly unpredictable in a non-random way that doesn’t call undue attention to the structure or technicality behind it. Learn to love the synth, don a headband and a pair of tinted sunglasses, and get carried away.
Highlight: “Realm of Eleuterillide”
Bleeders Lament – Populace Artifice
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A one-man old school death metal project out of Australia, that doesn’t shy away from catchiness. The production adds a slightly muted quality that, together with the fairly straightforward rhythms, makes the sound feel almost mellow, but it counters well with a good bass punch. It’s not jaw-dropping, so it might have limited replay value, but all the right ingredients are there for some solid, uncomplicated death metal fun.
Borehead – Vita Est Morte Est Vita
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Instrumental doom metal out of the UK, that feels like a neutral, observational exploration of different, slow-moving natural events on our planet. The riffs have a dark, heavy depth to them, but the overall tone is not overly threatening or abyssal, while certainly not bright or peppy either.
Cryptorium – Descent into Lunacy
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A newly formed Swedish death metal band that’s uncompromisingly old-school in both performances and production. This stuff sounds like a cave drill that’s started to grind itself apart as much as the rock in front of it. The vocals and drums are utterly savage, clawing and frantically digging their way through your eardrums, showing absolutely no mercy, and the riffs are like rusty sawblades lashing out with predatory viciousness at everything that comes near.
Deinonychus – Fatalist
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A black metal band that’s been going since the 90s, but has been on hiatus for much of the 2010s. This album is full-on blackened doom, booming unholy outrage through what sounds like huge stone chambers. It tends to get stuck in certain parts and patterns, which halts the progression, but the sheer weight and malevolence behind it keeps the momentum going.
Demon Bitch – Master of the Games
Genre: Heavy/speed metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Impatient, medieval-themed heavy metal with dexterous rhythm work, but also vocals that to me sound like a half-serious parody of Geddy Lee.
Denigrate – To the Goddess Unknown
Genre: Progressive gothic/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Gloomy, semi-polished, markedly gothic doom with a few noticeable Finnish melodeath elements. While more progressive than straightforward, the rhythms, and in particular the melodies, are a bit cumbersome, which gives it a somewhat unrefined feel, like they’ve taken a few creative shortcuts. But most of the riffs and solo sections sound blissfully good.
Detest the Sun – Moonspells and Everlasting Sorrow
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a great example of how black metal can feel stripped-back and focused without having to resort to a low-fi production that makes it sounds like it was recorded through a walkie-talkie on low volume. Flowing on beautifully agony-laden melodies, there’s an immense confidence radiating from this album, in how there’s no apparent exertion required from the performances in order to fill out the soundscape and propel it forward. It’s not exactly relaxed, but its creator clearly trusts in the few, hand-picked elements that are utilized, realizing them with care and measured gravitas. The experience feels short, like it doesn’t cover much ground in its roughly 30 minute runtime, as there’s a significant portion dedicated to melody-driven atmosphere. In one way this makes the album not feel fully realized, but at the same time there’s also no need for it to feel massive. Hopefully it’s a prelude to many things to come.
Highlight: “Silent Suffering”
Dewfall – Landhaskur
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5An Italian black metal project that dips into the occult and pagan without getting soaked in folk metal tropes. It feels solemn, with chants and melancholic tremolo saturating the sound, but retain a roughness thanks to wild drum flourishes, with tribal-like beats and riff sections in between, a tasteful use of traditional, acoustic instruments and a few playful solos that sound like little critters skittering up the tree trunks of the dark forest we find ourselves in. It’s both primitive and complex, and the longer you listen to it the more it starts to speak to you, like you’re being indoctrinated into its shadowy, old-god-worshipping society.
Highlight: “Fara”
Divine Incision – Cosmic Design
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Massive, slamming death metal with an industrial-like, gargantuan-sounding production. It’s brutal, yes, but also quite orderly, and not particularly varied.
Dying Grotesque – Celestial
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ultra-crunchy death metal from Ukraine, this one’s all about the pulverizing riffs. It’s quite groove-happy, bounding forward on eager rhythms, chomping down everything in its way with massive chugs. Not all of it truly holds its own, and it’s not unique in any major ways, but if you’re just looking for crushing, headbang-able brutality, look no further.
Feral Forms – Through Demonic Spell
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dirty, coarse, blackened brutal death metal, complete with ping-y snares. There is very little variation on here at all, save for in the nuances, and a fair bit of that is lost in the “coming from the next room” low-fi production. But the tone is relentlessly hostile and ominous, which is exactly as it should be.
Festergore – Constellation of Endless Blight
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Now for some ferocious New York death metal. Added a pinch of hardcore, it runs at you with boundless energy, and doesn’t mind if the way there gets a bit bumpy.
The Gates of Slumber – The Gates of Slumber
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Resurrected in 2019, this rather well-established outfit is back at spreading mock-evil doomy goodness. There’s layers upon layers of slow groove on this, with deep, full bass and moderately fuzzy riffage setting the (not exactly understated) ominous tone. But the vocals and drums make an effort not to let the thing sink into a ponderous crawl, whipping life into the proceedings at all the right moments.
Highlight: “The Plague”
Gorgon – For Those Who Stay
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Savage blackened thrash that’s definitely more about the music than the message, which means it’s entertaining. Equally tremolo- and gallop-riff-driven, it leaps and pounces ahead impatiently, but not so quick that the melodies can’t keep up. It comes up a little short on standout tracks, but manages a coherent, non-faltering whole that finishes as strong as it starts.
Grave with a View – Raw Illumination
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you like the idea of your black metal screaming furiously directly into your face, this is the kind of stuff you need. What we got here is rage-fueled Finnish misanthropy that sounds like it started off as something grand and possibly quite ponderous, and then the band performed it in a room covered with pictures of people they really don’t like very much. Even being as aggressive as it is, it doesn’t feel like a constant, tiring assault, as it rises and falls in intensity like approaching tidal waves. Interwoven are tastefully restrained, and expertly delivered, menacing melody lines. These never go anywhere even remotely nice, but add a depth that you might not have expected, and which makes it that much more memorable.
Highlight: “Wrest”
Inverted Cross – Eternal Flames of Hell
Genre: Black/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Stylistically on-point blackened speed metal from Spain with snarl-barky vocals and endlessly galloping riffs. There’s also, as you’d expect, plenty of clever guitar solos and a tongue-in-cheek thematic that involves fire, goats and black leather.
Konkhra – Sad Plight of Lucifer
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Groove-rich, thrash riffed death metal that unfortunately flows rather poorly thanks to a clumsy structure, poor rhythm transitions and a production that lacks depth.
No Kings Allowed – A New Era
Genre: Symphonic metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dutch/Belgian modern metalcore that’s been given the symphonic treatment, which means big riffs inflating soaring melodies. There’s more aggression than you might expect, and they include aspects of deathcore, groove metal and even a bit of brutal death metal, but these are mostly fleeting, gimmicky elements.
Peace After Pain – The Deadly Rave
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Misbehaving thrash metal from Spain flush with hardcore-style gang vocals and a confrontational feel to pretty much every part of the performances. You’ll feel like you’ve heard a good deal of it before, but when they get the thrash grooves right, you’re rewarded for sticking with it.
Pestilent Hex – Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Finnish black metal band Pestilent Hex build on their well-received sound established on 2022’s “The Ashen Abhorrence”, which I liked a great deal. This time, the music is more layered, meaning you’ll have to pay more attention in order to penetrate the outer shell and sail along with the core flow. Some of the simplicity that made the riff- and tremolo-driven melody stand out on the previous album is a bit too deeply buried on this one, and you’ll have to get through chunks of fairly standard, aggressive black metal parts in order to get to it. It’s still symphonic in a doom-like, severe kind of fashion, rather than epic theatre, and sounds more mature, just not quite as engaging as on the debut.
Plaguefever – Flail of Pestilence
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Properly scorched blackened thrash metal that sounds like it’s performed by a gang of leather-clad liches. This stuff is bad to the bone, firing off sinister riffs barbed with peak-evil raspy vocals like they’ve got an endless supply. It advances on you on marching, steady rhythms that aren’t afraid to sidestep into mid-tempo black ‘n’ roll when the moment calls for some groove. It’s much more an in-your-face, hold-nothing-back experience than one that tries to build to a peak, stage by stage, but they still manage to crown most of the tracks with some memorable highlights, usually by slowing down into crushing breakdowns. While they probably could have benefitted from going a bit more wild at times, in order to further spice things up, the riff-hungry listener will be able to come out the other end absolutely stuffed.
Highlight: “340 Skulls”
Ritual Fog – But Merely Flesh
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Let’s take a slow danse macabre around the graveyard as moldy bodies claw their way out of the diseased earth all around. On their debut full-length, Ritual Fog serve up a sub-30min slab of unhurried, sinister old school death metal, which, I guess to their credit, sounds markedly longer. If you play quickly through the tracks, you’re gonna find a lot of rhythmic and tonal similarities, so it’s an album you need to let sink in a bit to be able to fully appreciate, and there’s plenty to like on here. Both when they let loose with charging drums and chopping riffs, and when they bow down into the murky depths of classic doom. I found my favorite tracks mostly on the back half, where it sounds like both the thunderous riff sections and ominous atmosphere are more distinct and get a bit more dedicated playtime. For a debut, it’s really solid, as the band seems to have hit their stride from the get-go, sounding fairly mature and confident in their style. That being said, it doesn’t stand significantly apart in the tidal wave of “new” osdm that we’re currently experiencing, but it’s a great starting point.
Highlight: “Demented Procession”
Scythrow – Blameless Severed Extremities
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5These Finnish dudes know how to please a fan of old school Scandinavian death metal. Tonally, they’re totally on point, and there’s plenty of tasty, savage riffs to devour. They also manage to sneak in a bit of dark, folk-derived melody, but only very sparingly. As a collection of bad-ass elements, it’s awesome, although there’s a bit to go to achieve solidly coherent songwriting.
Steel Inferno – Rush of Power
Genre: Speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ratty, gallop-happy speed metal from Denmark. This stuff is very far from polished, but that’s not what you want from this subgenre anyway. At its best, it’s adventurous like an epic heavy metal project should be, and at it’s worst, it’s a bit clunky. If you fall in love with their sound, you will easily forgive them these creaky joints though.
Terminal Violence – Moshocalypse
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Now for some speed-loving Spanish thrash. With high-pitched vocals and a stripped-back, guitar-centric sound that’s nearly tripping over itself trying to get to the next, galloping charge, this one aims to please, and it’s not hard to know what to expect. There aren’t a ton of highlights, but there’s also very little bad.
Tierra Santa – Un viaje épico
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you’ve never heard happy-go-lucky, epic heavy metal performed in Spanish before, I can tell you it’s incredibly refreshing. I wanted to fall in love with this album a minute into the opening track, and it was fine for a while, with plenty of retro melodies, cool riffs and engaging solos to enjoy, with lovely vocals singing about ancient legends on top. But it doesn’t take long before the magic fizzes out a bit, and it starts to feel too laid back and indistinct. Still, there are fun moments throughout if you stick with it.
Ungfell – De Ghörnt
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5From this delightfully eccentric Swiss “alpine” blackened folk metal outfit comes a statement of an album that makes its intentions clear from the first few seconds. No intro track, no interludes, no bullshit. Every song struts with creative prowess, as if attempting to outdo the previous one in level of either pure aggression, rhythmic versatility, or melodic heft. No, as far as its theme and façade goes, you’re not really supposed to take it super seriously, but allowing you to understand this up front is incredibly freeing, as you’re then set to appreciate its quirks and antics as strengths. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not silly (not even Finntroll-level silly, really), just very keen on shaking up and embellishing the formula. The great thing is that it’s done with peak taste and skill. The band takes you through roaring storms, wild midnight rituals, rowdy log cabin rock-outs, to triumphant peaks of magnificent scope.
Highlights: “Im Ruusch” and “Sturmglockä”
Vidres a la Sang – Virtut del desencís
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This sounds like a band that’s on the cusp of greatness. The way they harness melancholy melody, effortless rhythmic flourishes and gradual, dramatic build-ups, speak highly of their technical and artistic capabilities alike. What holds them back at this point is first and foremost a very limiting production/mix that puts a lid on both the finer details and the potential force of the peaks of intensity. But they do also tend to work themselves out on the fringes, dwelling on still-standing atmosphere, which can be a bit agonizing when you know what they can do once the gloves come off.
Völva – Desires Profane
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I have a weak spot for when bands are able to truly saturate their music with anger. It speaks of passion and conviction, but also simply radiates protest and outrage, refusing to ignore or stay quiet about the fucked-up, unfair, horrendous shit that goes on every day courtesy of mankind. And this satanic-feminist group from Sweden have managed exactly this. Every song feels like an exorcism of bottomless spite, expelling rasp-hissing vocal bile, crust-infused rhythms and ripping riffs with a gut-punch bass rumble pushing it all forwards like shockwaves. It’s got a bit of thrash shredding, death metal savagery, punk abandon and gothic drama, which all makes welcome contrasts to the sometimes fairly predictable black metal tone and blast beats. A holy-water-and-piss molotov cocktail of a debut.
Highlight: “Asmodeus”
Warpstormer – Warpstormer
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Lead-heavy doom sludge from the UK. It’s at its best when going all-out shouty or leaning into cool stoner groove and wicked solos, as its mid-tempo and slow parts can get a little indistinct.
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?
albums, Altar Ov Asteria, Bedsore, black metal, Bleeders Lament, cryptorium, death metal, Detest The Sun, Dewfall, Dying Grotesque, Gorgon, Grave with a View, grindcore, groove metal, metal, metal albums out this week, new metal releases, new releases, overview, pestilent hex, Plaguefever, progressive metal, review, Ritual Fog, Scythrow, The Gates of Slumber, thrash metal, Tierra Santa, Ungfell, Völva, Vidres a la Sang -
Weekly rundown November 22 – 2024
It’s a week of numerous contenders, where only the very few are able to hold a candle to the massive, sun-blotting release that’s headlining it.
10,000 Years – All Quiet On The Final Frontier
Genre: Stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5In the mood for some fuzz-heavy stoner with a cosmos-curious, mildly psychedelic atmosphere? “All Quiet On The Final Frontier” is not your standard groove-fest, and not a completely spaced-out cerebral thing either, but exists in a thematically conscious border world in between the two. Both the vocals and instruments have a confidently rough, garage rock-like edge to them that prevents the sound from getting too smooth or mellow, although a richer production would probably have dispelled the slight air of amateurism that they’re left with as a biproduct. For a modestly exploratory stoner record it’s refreshingly frisky, managing to balance retro-spacey ambience with ragged, honest, riffage working on top of fluid, purposeful rhythms.
Highlight: “High Noon In Sword City”
Aeon Gods – King Of Gods
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Super dorky symphonic power metal that goes classic with its solo- and riff-happy guitar work, and slightly strained vocal style. While the production does a fairly good job, it doesn’t reach the towering peaks you really want this to boom from, and overall it moves fairly clumsily and predictably.
Ante-inferno – Death’s Soliloquy
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Tragic, murky black metal that’s writhing in a filthy web of misery, getting nowhere but clearly displaying its wounded state of mind. A casual listen will find this a bit one-dimensional, and there are no noteworthy strides taken in terms of melody or outright variation, but as an expression of pain and outrage, it’s on-point and consistent.
Body Count – Merciless
Genre: Rap/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Violent, attitude-heavy, thrash-riffed rap metal, anyone? Yes, the base formula has not been fuddled with, and I absolutely think that Body Count are at their best when they crank up the aggression and think more powerviolence than angry hip-hop, but it’s also cool to see them branch out a little. You get a bit of groove, some odd prog, and a sprinkling of flavors courtesy of the guest vocalists that’ve been brought in, like Corpsegrinder, Max Cavalera and Howard Jones. Since they’re already not prioritizing stylistic consitency, I would have liked to see them move even further out on the fringes and embrace the extremes, but in the end that might distract from the politically charged lyrical messages, which are still a central part of their output.
Highlight: “Psychopath”
Conjonctive – Misère de Poussière
Genre: Blackened deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This band exists in a darkened space where the demonic evil of black metal has been allowed to corrupt an otherwise technically oriented death metal/deathcore inclination. It’s definitely more about style than message, but doesn’t feel tacky. It’s hostile and brutal in a slightly dissonant, non-flippant way.
Defeated Sanity – Chronicles Of Lunacy
Genre: Technical/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5This thing sounds like a year’s worth of ideas and notes compressed into roughly half an hour of runtime. It’s a condensed experience that’s certainly not straightforward in its ultra-tight drum-led rhythmic progression, but also not overly convoluted or at all directionless. It’s a city-leveling, gigantic bulldozer with a computer brain that manages the destruction down to micro-movements in order to maximize the eradication.
Highlight: “Heredity Violated”
Distant – Tsukuyomi: The Origin
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Are you ready to be enveloped by a fire tornado that’s passed through a razorblade factory and a crocodile zoo? Production-wise, it hardly gets more massive than this, and for people that actually like to make out the individual instruments, this will present as an impenetrable wall of processed sound. It’s brilliantly technical, and the monstrous fury it radiates is well controlled and perfectly measured out in ultra-precise bursts.
Goats of Doom – INRI
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Finnish black metal with a semi-melodic, semi-black ‘n’ roll approach, that’s suitably rough and muddled, but structure- and melody wise it doesn’t fit all that well together, which isn’t helped by a sub-par production.
Gutless – High Impact Violence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Primitive, gore-loving death metal, not too far removed from the style of 200 Stab Wounds. There’s a suitable amount of groove, barky vocals and highly active drums that really keeps the thing moving. Dynamically, it’s a bit one-dimensional.
Hjemsøkt – Om vinteren, på en sort trone
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ultra-traditional Norwegian black metal that sounds straight out of the early 90s. If you can’t get enough of the frozen Scandinavian forest vibes, this is exactly the tone and theme you’re looking for, but I find absolutely no fresh ideas on here.
Immortal Force – Mystic Seance Unrealities
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A blend of the two roughest corners of death and thrash, making for a ragged, rotten dive into aggressive unease. They play it a bit too fast and loose to get down something solidly coherent, but if you’re into the low-fi, cellar mosh party vibe, this is the kind of stuff that feels just as dangerous and forbidden as is suitable.
Iniquitous Savagery – Edifice Of Vicissitudes
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A wall of bass-heavy chugs, mechanical, murderous beats and gurgling vocals assault you from start to finish on this one. This is heavy, heavy, heavy shit, with no real respite, just trying to shake your brain out through your ear holes.
Kingcrown – Nova Atlantis
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Scene veterans in new getups are behind this power-pumped, NWOBHM-style old school heavy metal project. It’s pleasingly energetic, and strikes a great line between the bright and colorful and the epic-ballad-prone, riff-happy style of the likes of Saxon. The melodies and choruses are not bad, but also not terribly distinct.
Maat – From Origin to Decay
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A German blackened death metal band that brings to life a lot of that infernal grandeur that Behemoth left behind as they got more conceptual. This is pummeling, technical stuff that, also not unlike early Behemoth, leans into oriental tone and melody. It falls a little flat on some of the rhythmic transitions throughout, and the vocal range comes up a little short, but overall delivers some engaging stuff.
Múr – Múr
Genre: Progressive/atmospheric doom/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a project that’s a bit tough to nail down and label in any concise way, but you, the listener, should not let this concern you. If you like atmospheric doom, you’ll love this. If progressive black metal is more your thing, this is also very much for you. Avant-garde folk metal, not totally unlike Thy Catafalque? Yes, you will find that in here also, and in no way do these different stylistic directions clash. It’s beautiful and deep when it goes slow, delightfully weird and mind-tickling when it goes for some mid-tempo rhythm acrobatics, and spine-tingling when it decides to ball its fists and roar up at the night sky. It’s a fairly long album at nearly 55 minutes, but time fades into irrelevance as your awareness sinks below the moonlit surface of “Múr”‘s black waters. I think they can comfortably push the extreme ends of their style further for an even more dramatic result, but this is a stellar debut. These young Icelanders have a bright future ahead of them, that’s for sure.
Highlights: “Frelsari” and “Holskefla”
Ocean Grove – Oddworld
Genre: Nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5These Australian nu metallers summon the very spirit of the subgenre on this one, bringing in elements of early Linkin Park, Korn, and several other late 90s greats. It’s a fantastic nostalgia trip if you’re of the right age, and if not, it’s a great introduction in the form of a modern hybrid that brings in modern stylistic sensibilities. Unfortunately, they waver a bit in their dedication throughout, and a few of the choruses go a bit limp. But it’s still a vital, well-produced and rather fun effort.
Opeth – The Last Will & Testament
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Being someone who never followed Opeth closely, it’s still easy to point out the qualities that has made them an outstandingly influential force, not only within prog metal but for the genre as a whole. And now that the death growl is back (I’ll pretend you didn’t know already), it allows the band to return to a place of optimal balance, where this abrasively expressed element of emotion counters the more measured and delicate characteristics of Åkerfeldt’s clean vocals, and an instrumental approach that never really ventures anywhere near the realms of raw brutality. You think you hear the roaring blaze of melodeath as the, low raspy snarls build on top of the more dramatic tops of the distorted riffs, but no, this is an illusion, as the band deftly skirts along the borders of extreme prog, never crossing, and for the most part staying well clear. Gloomy, gothic drama coats the proceedings in a layer of suitably theatrical dust and smoke that keeps your mind grounded in the beautifully restrained transitions between high-energy bursts of forceful riffs, complex drum patterns and triumphant guitar solos. If you are hyper-aware of prog tropes, then you might find a few too many for your ideal liking on here, but for the most part this is a masterfully composed, thematically consistent piece of dramatic, candle-lit storytelling.
Highlights: “§5” and “§1”
Rvkkvs – Antithesis Of Prosperity
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A slightly reigned-in grindcore project that brings in elements of old school melodeath and a bit of straightforward, heavy groove metal. It’s not always in-your-face intense, but takes turns delivering face-melting ragers and more mid-tempo, riff-centered bangers. It’s rough, and with a slightly muted production, so could definitely hit a good deal harder, but it’s refreshing to hear this kind of measured branching out in such a relentlessly extreme subgenre. At just over 17 minutes, it certainly left me wanting more, and not at all like I’d been served the same basic approach on repeat.
Highlight: “Kleptomaniac”
Starwraith – Distant Shores
Genre: Symphonic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5An epically minded and on-the-cusp-of rousing melodic/symphonic death/folk album that’s, unfortunately, haltingly performed and rather shoddily produced.
Thunraz – Incineration Day
Genre: Experimental death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Pushed into some subterranean space by a severely muffling production, this is harsh, dissonant stuff that gets more dynamically limited the harsher it goes, and more interesting when it delves into cerebral atmosphere.
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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Weekly rundown November 15 – 2024
Look not to the towering tentpoles this week, but to the sinister creative forces lurking behind the veil of the obvious, clawing their way out with fang and talon.
Apocryphal – Facing The End
Genre: Melodic/stmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This temporarily(?) Björn “Speed” Strid fronted self-labeled atmospheric death metal band has been going on and off since the early 90s, but to me does not feel dated or old-school-leaning in any particular ways. It’s mostly fast-paced and a bit irregular in its progression, clearly trying to do their own thing. Parts of it definitely work, but the songwriting is not quite solid enough to deliver a stunner.
Alkymist – UnnDerr
Genre: Doom/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Now for a slightly different doom experience. Danish band Alkymist seems not to mind being labeled, touting themselves as progressive doomers, but as for embracing the expected formula (as much as you can with a progressive variation of a subgenre), they have, in many significant ways, defied conventions. The tempo is quite high, even by classic, non-funeral doom standards. The traditional fuzz has taken on a much less natural, more synthetic crunch, which, coupled with a massive, foundation-shaking bass and steady, industrial beats, creates the sensation of an approach of something mechanical and unstoppable – a towering, electrically powered construction of dark stained metal, with groaning gears and heavy limbs articulated with hydraulic force. The vocals vary between sludgy rasps and a slightly hushed croaking, which further dehumanizes the expression a measure. The deep, oppressive tone of doom is absolutely still there, but the melodic effect is not that of instilling any sort of melancholy or sullen feeling of helplessness. Quite the opposite, it’s got more than enough groove to get some good headbanging going, and the heavy atmosphere is just the nature of the space you have to enter in order to enjoy it. Dynamically it could probably be quite a bit more daring, but on the other hand it does a great job of keeping the pace up.
Highlight: “Fire In My Eyes”
Empires Of Eden – Guardians Of Time
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A guest-heavy power metal project that brings to bear both old and new tricks, both in terms of instrumental approach and production choices. Some of it is dazzlingly virtuosic, while others more straightforward chugging. The vocals aren’t always able to keep up though.
Monolithe – Black Hole District
Genre: Doom/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A long-going doom project that has a thing about sticking to set track lengths, which, without getting too much into it, seems like a fairly forces and inorganic approach to songwriting. It’s powerful, melodically expansive and well produced, but there’s a distinct feeling of it being far longer than necessary, simply in order to serve their compulsive metric goals.
The Mosaic Window – Hemasanctum
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a black metal project that does a (not entirely even) split between standard blast beats and more primitive black ‘n’ roll rhythms, quite lively detours into groove/heavy trotting, and also a few downtempo doom crawls. Does it still sound dark and evil? Yes, but in a way like it’s thrown on the devil’s cowl on top of its denim vest. So the intent is all there, but as its affinity for other styles pull it in slightly different directions, it doesn’t quite land as hard as a more focused effort might. That being said, non-purists like me will almost certainly appreciate the variety on here, and the mosh-inducing, clawed-hand-to-the-sky, aggressive energy radiating from this thing is undeniable.
Highlight: “Turibulum”
Primal Code – Opaque Fixation
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3,5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here we have some death metal in that primal, yet very much groove-oriented fashion that you get from bands like Soulfly. This is, however, a more focused beast, going all in on the menace and sacrificing obvious melodic pursuits in favor of raw, bloodthirsty aggression that burns constantly at a threatening, mid-tempo pace. You don’t come out the other end of this feeling like you’ve traveled very far. More fleeing through the same stretch of dark woods with the demonic bear from the cover art hot on your heels.
Spider God – Possess The Devil
Genre: Melodic black metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5What the heck is this thing? It’s like a black metal band and metalcore band got into a fight, and when they separated, they somehow didn’t realize that they’d swapped some band members… with the resulting material getting partially processed through the same computer system that cranks out MASTER BOOT RECORD’s music. It’s wild, but it totally works, like some magnetic creative force has brought the best of both worlds together. For those worrying – no, there is no clean singing or sappy melodic sections on this. It’s the kind of high-energy, no-fucks-given mashups that you expect when black metal and thrash join forces. The vocals are all-out raspy, you get a few instances of classic blast beats and tremolo, but mostly groove-loving melodic stuff in the vein of Vltimas, with a heap of hardcore and metalcore riffs and rhythm styles, and just a sprinkling of that aggressive folk-punk you get from bands like Kvelertak. It does not run out of steam at any point, and the more you listen to it, the more you start to get it.
Highlights: “The Wolf” and “Starcrusher”
Starchaser – Into The Great Unknown
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5As the name would suggest, this is vibrant, cosmos-heading heavy metal. The tone is classically adventurous, with plenty of playful, melodic guitar work, but the riffs, vocals and rhythms keeps the thing firmly grounded, in a way that seems to defy the thematic purpose.
Thy Catafalque – XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Thy Catafalque is nothing if not an ambitious project. This time it’s less about finding a new niche style to integrate and more about just going big. Massive riffs, near-symphonic atmosphere and catchy rhythms have all been brought in to create a handful of real stadium shakers. But that doesn’t mean that it sounds generic. The folk elements are very much still in place, and the middle of the album goes completely non-harsh, with traditional instruments and synthetic melodies dancing in a in highly complimentary and rewarding fashion. There are moments when the band strikes into black metal, industrial, disco and electronica, and it all still very much sounds like the same band. Perhaps a bit unevenly paced and structured, it’s still a chapter of Thy Catafalque that fans of extreme prog and avant-garde metal will not want to miss.
Highlight: “Vasgyár”
Time Lurker – Emprise
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5With an effectively tone-setting, sinister intro track, this solo black metal project pulls you in to its dark domain from the get-go. It’s a place of veiled eyes, mournful whispers and ancient, ethereal forces that work up gales of blind fury. The drum work on this album does a great job of setting the mood along the tremolo-driven melodies, whether it’s a patient shuffle or a thunderous trample. Much of the vocals consist of the kind of high pitched howling that I unfortunately cannot stand, but which adds that extra stab of melancholy to the musical expression.
Toxaemia – Rejected Souls Of Kerberus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dark groove-infused, aggressive death metal project that mostly eschews the use of melody, except for some technically-minded guitar solos, but even these mostly work as the sharp, stabby end of this otherwise coarse-edged, blunt force instrument of violence.
Tzimani – I Feel Fine
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dynamically stunted (partially due to the production) heavy metal album with speedy, cool-as-fuck riffing and solo work, and some spacey atmosphere that hint at the thematic ambitions.
Veilburner – The Duality Of Decapitation And Wisdom
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5There is dark, grotesque magic at work here. Inspired by the album art, it’s easy to picture a heretical warlock performing various unspeakable rituals during the course of the album’s runtime, each with its own, unique, but similarly unfortunate outcome. The incantations are spoken as convulsive, throat-rending growls, and the malevolent, primordial energies released take the form of spasming rhythms, dissonant chugs and psychedelic melodies, each morphing dramatically with the erratic mood of the proceedings. Disorder certainly reigns overall, but that doesn’t mean that the prevailing impression you get is that of pure chaos. There’s also orderly, thrash-like, aggressively marching riff sections, serene dips into pure atmosphere, and a stylistic focus that keeps, at least each individual track, fairly coherent. Somehow, I think this band has the capacity to be even more dramatic and intentional with their artistic expression, but this seems a very important step on their journey.
Highlights: “A Shadow of a Shadow” and “Woe Ye Who Build These Crosses are Those Who Would Serve Us Death”
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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Weekly rundown November 08 – 2024
The slowdown of the approaching Christmas season is beginning, but we’re far from out of quality releases still. This is a week for the dark and slightly eccentric.
Auriferous Flame – The Insurrectionists and The Caretakers
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This 3-track work of Greek epic black metal should, at less than 31 minutes, either be considered a short full-length or a long EP. Not that it feels incomplete, but I could easily see the experience stretching over twice the timeframe. This is the kind of sound that so vividly conjures up mental images that it feels strange not having the visuals of a full-blown theater performance to go with it. Even the production makes it feel like it’s coming from a large, elaborate stage, with ghoulish howls and moans resounding through dusty stone corridors, and the performances of the band/actors not really directed specifically at you, but aimed with the purpose of pulling the entire theatre into the same, haunted medieval setting from which they are drawing their inspiration. From a more grounded standpoint, this is crisp, atmosphere-rich black metal with a dark fantasy theme, sounding primitive in the best possible way, with plenty of conviction behind the performances, and being quite straight to the point when setting off into its stripped-down riff sections.
Highlight: “The Caretakers”
The Body – The Crying Out Of Things
Genre: Experimental/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those records that will make you question whether your speakers and/or audio card just broke down in the middle of the listen. Set to heavy, droning beats, everything is intentionally distorted in various, noisy ways, and going in unpredictable directions, from hypnotic ambience to mechanical anger. It’s all dark, all ominous, all sounding like a malevolent spirit having taken over the controls of the Matrix and making everyone’s experience of it unbearable. There are some particularly badly distorted shriek-vocals employed liberally throughout the album (fans of the band might be used to it by now) that seriously mar the experience for me personally.
The Browning – Omni
Genre: Metalcore/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you take Turmion Kätilöt’s (for those who are familiar with those crazy Finns) brand of techno metal and suck every drop of fun out of it, then pump it up with some deathcore heft and metalcore-y melodic sensibilities, then you would get this. The playing is incredibly precise and surprisingly diverse, with some mild cyberpunk-y dystopian vibes to go with it.
Codespeaker – Scavenger
Genre: Sludge/atmospheric death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Dark, mono-mood, sludge-like metal that transitions between cerebral atmosphere and death metal-like anger and brutality, just fairly sluggish, like it’s doing it all from its knees, never really managing to stand up fully.
Defences – Shadowlight
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Aside from severely unimaginative, pop-oriented melodies and straightforward, stereotypically “modern metal” rhythm and instrumental tendencies that makes my skin crawl, this is well-produced and catchy alternative metal fronted by a highly talented vocalist.
Earthburner – Permanent Dawn
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Earthburner is a so-called “supergroup” of grind/death artists from various different bands, among them Sanguisugabogg. It’s got a murky-low-fi production, but for the most part the savagery of the riffs and ragged vocals shine through. It’s one-dimensional, but uncompromisingly style-faithful.
Impellitteri – War Machine
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A guitar-driven, shred-like project that’s all groove-laden Priest-like riffs and solos, with soaring vocals going on about very un-grounded things. It’s vibrant and energetic, but struggles to get down any memorable melodies.
Make Them Suffer – Make Them Suffer
Genre: Deathcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The problem I usually have with deathcore is that I find the riff- and rhythm approach formulaic, and if there are clean melodic sections, their main purpose seems to be to boost the album’s accessibility. Make Them Suffer do not commit these sins on this self-titled release. The riffs and beats work hard to achieve infectious grooves and to get into creative patterns that give the songs actual character. The melodic sections are compelling and finely woven in among the dominant heavy fabric, and the dual harsh/clean, male/female vocal approach brings so much life to the experience. A revolution in songwriting it is not, but if you’re into heavy metalcore and alternative metal, then you should dive in head first.
Highlight: “Weaponized”
Massacre – Necrolution
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Take a look at that album cover and tell me it doesn’t seriously raise your expectations for this album. Alas, doing so would be a mistake, as myself I can testify. Sure, you’re getting a thick coating of that rowdy, grimy, old school Florida death metal, but compared to the current highlights of the genre, this stuff feels fairly complacent. There’s very little spark to this thing, and it coasts along on a sound and vibe that hasn’t really evolved in any way. Enjoyable, but not outstanding.
Molder – Catastrophic Reconfiguration
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Yuck! Slowly immerse yourself in this pit of rotting offal and listen to the surprisingly active pulse of decomposition. If you don’t need your death metal to land like an artillery barrage, but care more about sinister grooves and being left with a feeling of needing to disinfect your ears, then you’ve come to the right place. Molder have fortified themselves on the shelf of mid-tempo, thrash-infused old school death metal. It’s like watching a cult splatter film – you never really know when it’s gonna completely goof out and when it’s gonna serve up the nastiest kill you’ve ever seen. That being said, this is not a surprising album in any real way – if you liked the band’s 2022 release “Engrossed in Decay”, you’re gonna bang your head to, and involuntarily grin at, the same kind of things on here. It’s the kind of album that might fly under the radar among the heavy hitters, but will offer you the same amount of entertainment. On a superficial listen, the rhythms may seem a little repetitive, and the riffs lacking a tad of bite, but these guys get up to so many different antics throughout that you really shouldn’t allow yourself to miss.
Highlight: “Masked in Mold”
Paragon – Metalation
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Power metal with hard-hitting bass and drums, and some fairly meaty riffing, giving the album a slightly menacing streak. However, it all builds to exactly the kind of old-school, simple, trying-to-soar choruses that you expect from fairly unimaginative veterans.
Paysage D’hiver – Die Berge
Genre: Ambient black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The kind of black metal that sounds like it’s carried to you on the wind in the middle of a blizzard. It brings to mind old, dark fairy tales of malevolent creatures of the night, preying on the lost and weak in a desolate, cold landscape of long nights, and days bringing nothing but distant echoes and whispers of a hostile natural world that’s entirely beyond your control. This is a marathon of an album at 1 hr. 42 min. of runtime, with only one track lasting shorter than 10 minutes. It makes you feel extremely isolated and a bit disoriented, swept in who-knows-what direction by the constant surge of the music. It’s an experience of few, slow and nuanced changes, with the more direct, harsher black metal elements pushed way back and given the expected low-fi treatment. If you are not completely entranced by the long-form, atmospheric melodies, then large parts of this listen will feel torturously stretched and uneventful, but if you are in the mind to allow yourself to be, then this album will put you thoroughly under the spell.
Highlight: “Urgrund”
A Scar For The Wicked – Acolythus
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Meaty-riffed and appropriately speedy tech death with a slight blackened and even gothic vibe, but nothing that takes the music in any particular directions. The band knows how to get into driving grooves, and, as you’d expect, demonstrate a high degree of instrumental control. But they don’t really succeed in delivering beyond the expected.
Sólstafir – Hin Helga Kvöl
Genre: Avant-garde folk rock/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Listening to this epoch of Sólstafir can be quite bewildering if you don’t know a thing or two about what to expect. And even then you’ll likely find yourself raising your eyebrows at the stylistic wrestling match taking place on this latest full-length. There’s nothing quite like it out there, but at this point they’re clearly so comfortable with it, that it makes you comfortable with it by extension. What it is, is slightly shoegazing folk rock and fairly sullen, blackened and doomy atmosphere that’s pulled in starkly different directions with the varying rhythms, moods and sense of urgency of each song. If each of these variants wasn’t delivered with such confidence and stylistic maturity, it might all simply fall apart, and some listeners might still find it too inconsistent. But as a piece of enjoyable musical art it stands firmly as a solid achievement.
Highlights: “Hin helga kvöl” and “Vor ás”
Suidakra – Darkanakrad
Genre: Melodic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5For those not familiar with this veteran German band, they play Celtic-themed melodic death metal. To their credit, the folk-elements don’t come through in any overt, over-used fashion, rather living as a noticeable backdrop to the rather aggressive melodeath. The rhythms on this album are very heavy handed, to the point where they feel like they’re choking the grooves an getting stuck in unnecessary patterns, hampering the progression.
Tungsten – The Grand Inferno
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This has got to be one of the simplest rhythm approaches I’ve heard all year. It sounds like they started with a metronome… and then didn’t build on it in any way. They flirt with several modern riff- and melodic styles, sounding committed to none of them. It’s big, industrial symphonic metal that has no idea how to do anything else.
Witnesses – Joy
Genre: Progressive doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5I’ll get it off my chest right away: My far and away biggest gripe with this album is the vocals. They are pushed to the very forefront of the mix, which is a bad fit, and, to my ears, simply do not harmonize well with the instrumental tone, in addition to being lacking in range. The rest of the music is a rollercoaster of intensity and rhythms, with some tender, exquisite melodies binding it all together.
Yoth Iria – Blazing Inferno
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It seems Greece is showing the way for black metal this week. Yoth Iria is a relatively new project in the rough vein of Rotting Christ, in that they play folk- and death-infused melodic black metal with an appetite for dark drama. But while Rotting Christ has traveled far beyond their black metal roots in almost all but lyrical theme, Yoth Iria exists in a sphere that’s significantly closer to this source. If I was to put it concisely, they sound like a Hellenic version of Scandinavian bands like Kvaen and Wormwood, whose sound is heavily immersed in frigid, yet expansive folk melody, while retaining a sharp edge of shadowy hostility. Rising tall on a rich production and epic-toned solos, it is far from raw, and not to be taken quite as seriously as satanic banner-bearers like Behemoth, instead poised to deliver a music-oriented, blasphemous experience with a distinct flavor. And to this end they succeed remarkably well, combining infernal riff force with soaring tremolo, majestic rhythms and piercing vocals into a concise and engaging whole.
Highlights: “We Call Upon the Elements” and “In The Tongue of Birds”
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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Weekly rundown November 01 – 2024
No telling what you’ll get this week. This stuff is angry, sad, silly, too cool for school, old and rigid, and young and flexible. Be open to it all.
Barren – The Hanged Man
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is not the kind of doom that’s interested in taking you anywhere pleasant. In fact, it seems to revel in its prolonged use of piercingly disharmonic guitar melody and oppressive atmosphere. It’s unpolished, not very well produced, but interesting.
Bombus – Your Blood
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you can picture “rusty” metal, then you’re on the right trach for what to expect from this one. Bombus plays punk-infused, Scandi-hard rock-styled heavy metal, and on this one they’ve got a bit of a thick, dry stoner sound going. The vocals are Lemmy-like hoarse and raw, just more like the kind that’s one pointed finger away from getting some gang vocals started. Any one of these songs present great, but there’s a certain lack of energy, with several tracks feeling like they’re on a half-burn.
Brothers Of Metal – Fimbulvinter
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The Brothers (+ one Sister) of Metal want to bring you more over-the-top epic Viking power-daydreaming. There’s no point in pretending for a second that this is going to be grounded in anything but the desire to join in a collected fantasy in front of a massive stage, pumping fists, raising shields and headbanging helmets. It’s catchy, grand and surprisingly heavy at times, and fulfills its purpose with obvious enthusiasm.
Carved Memories – The Moirai
Genre: Melodic/symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5The intent is all there for this band, going all in with a demonic-fueled, aggressive take on symphonic melodeath that manages a great balance between epic and dark. Unfortunately, it suffers from a shoddy production, and has some problems with messy rhythms and a few lacking performances.
Coma Hole – Hand Of Severance
Genre: Psychedelic doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Female-led psych-doom with a healthy dose of stoner groove, this is a project that manages a very focused sound – it’s riffs, beats and vocals, and that’s all you need. It all works very well together, waving and weaving through spaced-out melodies that go on and off the road to nowhere.
Dead Icarus – Zealot
Genre: Technical metalcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The new project of former Atreyu vocalist Alex Varkatzas has landed their fist full-lenght, and it’s… nothing like Atreyu, that’s for sure. Okay, there’s a good deal of metalcore in here, and Alex’s vocals are quite recognizable, but in pretty much every other way this is a different beast. Offering speedy and playful technicality nearly on the same level as bands like Ingested, and indeed starting the record with the very deathcore-like banger “The Unconquerable”, this definitely belongs in a much heavier and instrumentally advanced camp. They back the melodic elements up with groove metal aggression and highly catchy riffing, and quickly settle into a mid-level space of heaviness, which seems to fit them very well. Overall the album’s a bit unsure where exactly it belongs, but it’s an exciting start for sure.
Highlight: “Casting Spells”
Eldingar – Lysistrata
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A voluminous black metal album out of Greece, leaning ever so slightly towards blackened death, and incorporating several full-length tracks of pure traditional folk music. It makes for a slightly jarring offset, and when the heavier songs also have long atmospheric and slow stretches, a good deal of your listeners are gonna run out of patience. It’s quite varied, but not all of it seems to have a strong purpose.
Ephialtes – Melas Oneiros
Genre: Blackened/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Enthusiastic, modern blackened melodeath with a mythical theme. After a short-ish intro it gets straight to the point and pretty much rages on unabated for the duration. It’s riff-focused, melodically driven, and with a darkly epic symphonic element to it that kicks in whenever the songs need a bit of elevation.
Everto Signum – Beastiary
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is raw black metal, not in the sense that it sounds like it was recorded via tin can telephone, but that it’s down to basics and rather primitive. It’s plenty aggressive, and with a rumbling bass end it presents as quite threatening. A few of the songs are a bit clumsily composed, but when they get into a groove and make the melody work, this stuff is top notch.
Grave Next Door – Sorry No Candy
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Low-fi, old-school stoner with rusty, menacing doom riffs. It lacks depth, and so a lot of it can feel repetitive, and the vocals, which are a bit too prominent in the mix, don’t always hit their marks.
Lifesick – Loved By None, Hated By All
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A spiked sledgehammer blow of a crunchy death metal-riffed, metallic hardcore album that’s so friggin’ heavy up front that the band seemingly has found no other way to top off each song than going into fairly standard, whole-body-banging breakdowns. If you’re more of a hardcore fan, and this is what you feel is the highlight of any song anyway, then all is good. I would have liked to se a few more creative and/or groove-oriented solutions, but that being said, this is an absolute blood-pumping nail bomb of an album. While the backbone of the music is definitely hardcore-styled, stompy rhythms, the coarse, ominously-toned nature of old school Scandinavian death metal coats everything like a layer of broken saw blades, upping the savagery tenfold.
Highlight: “Poems for My Funeral”
Mitochondrion – Vitriseptome
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album is a nightmare from beginning to end, which makes the 1hr 25min runtime seem like an intentional choice mainly for the sadistic purpose of prolonging the torture. It’s dissonant, abyssal death metal that’s a bit too fast to be considered doom, but has the same kind of feel as a cavern-dwelling, monstrous death doom project. You get plenty of noisy, disturbing atmosphere, a complete disdain for melody, and a very sparing use of coherent riffing. Personally I don’t find quite enough to connect to to fully justify the massive runtime, but if you are of the mind that death metal should be pushing the limits of acceptable discomfort and hostility towards the listener, then Mitochondrion has struck a remarkably good balance between advanced musicality and disharmony on this one.
Highlight: “The Protanthrofuge”
Nachtmystium – Blight Privilege
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is Nachtmystium’s first full-length album since reforming in 2017. Not being terribly familiar with their past work, I can’t really take into account their evolution, but will nonetheless state that “Blight Privilege” sounds like the result of a long and fruitful process of maturing. What you get is a classic black metal core steeped in sullen, milder atmosphere, with the harshness playing an equal counterpart to the contemplative, emotion-heavy melodies. A part of me wants to call it gothic, but the tone is much more earnestly bitter than superficially glum. There’s a real spring to the rhythms on here, making sure the music keeps moving forward and helping to remind us that this is a work to be enjoyed, despite the gloomy façade. For being black metal, it is easy to grasp, and highly rewarding to get properly immersed in.
Highlights: “Blind Spot” and “Predator Phoenix”
Paganizer – Flesh Requiem
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5In an alternate universe, this is possibly what Amon Amarth could have ended up sounding like. Brutal, old-school Swedish melodeath but with an undeniable penchant for battle-charge riffs and an infectious, hungry energy behind the raspy vocals. This is a band that knows very well what it wants to be. The downside being that a lot of the songs on here sound fairly similar, with very few deviations from the base formula. For a death metal fan it’s still ear candy anyway, ’cause it all sounds very good indeed.
Highlight: “Life of Decay”
Powerflo – Gorilla Warfare
Genre: Rap/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of angry, Body Count-style rap and melodic groove metal, this is anthem-prone, modern and spirited stuff. The riffs have some nice crunch to them, and some of the heavy hip-hop beats seem to want to dig down to a primal place. But mostly it’s fairly accessible, crowd-pleasing stuff.
Qaalm – Grave Impressions Of An Unbroken Arc
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Long-form sludge that goes from near-death metal heavy chugs and constricted vocals to sweeping, doom-styled melodies and dusty, mystical atmosphere. The band certainly handle the aggressive approach the best, both when it represents rage and when it gets into more straightforward grooves.
Rorschach Test – Fallen
Genre: Hardcore/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug. CHUG. CHUG. CHUG. This one’s aaaall about the chug-beats, with hardcore rhythms delivered with glass-shard-covered fists and rending deathcore vocals. A bit one-dimensional, but the rage is real, and infectious.
Tribulation – Sub Rosa In Aeturnum
Genre: Gothic rock/metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5I’ll be honest, I’m definitely one of those Tribulation fans that’s a little disappointed that this record takes a step down from gothic METAL, into rock and dark club (?) atmosphere territory. So I’ll let my subjective rating reflect this, while my objective rating represents me praising the band from my knees for their musical craftmanship, and their daring in expanding the stylistic outlet for their signature sound. This album is so damn cool, it doesn’t give a shit about being heavy. It’s goth, it’s a shadow-dweller, a vampiric life drinker, a pulse in the dark. It’s Tribulation, just in a certain mood that’s a bit different from what it was the last time you met them.
Highlights: “Tainted Skies” and “Drink the Love of God”
Vessel – The Somnifer
Genre: Atmospheric stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A stoner project that might just be a bit too careful. It gives you heavy fuzz that will vibrate your brain, and lazy, nomadic melodies that trudge along, with, or without a beat. It’s a very pleasant listen, with a smooth, warm production and a goth-like vocal style that almost surprisingly fits the tone very well.
Vola – Friend Of A Phantom
Genre: Progressive/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I get a bit of In Flames-Anders, and I’m generally happy, although that’s a fairly restrained, although front-loaded, guest appearance on this album. VOLA makes gentle, electronic prog metal that floats on fluffy atmosphere and warm, pop-oriented melodies. Putting a muzzle on the metalhead in me, my main gripe with the album is how straightforward a lot of the songs are, considering that it’s clearly a progressive effort, which makes the prog elements feel a bit tacked on. But the melodies are pure joy, like a balm for your mind.
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?
