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Weekly rundown March 22 – 2024
Death metal moves in from all fronts to dominate the week, going both high and low, and filling in the vanguard as well as the core of the advance.
Aberration – Refracture
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dissonant, bleak and hostile death doom that feels like the inevitable advance of the collected darkness of the world.
Altar of Betelgeuze – Echoes
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some Finnish doom with brutal vocals, and leaning into wooly heaviness rather than epic melody. It seems to pick up a bit as it goes along, as if it lacks the patience to stick with the traditional, sluggish approach. You get a bit of clean vocals as well, which is nice for variety, but is as of yet not among the band’s foremost strengths.
Apparition – Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s your weekly dose of cavernous, old-school-leaning, doom-infused death metal. To me it’s a bit too similar to others of its ilk, of which you’re not exactly spoiled for choice these days. But they’re clearly invested in their sound, and there are traces of exploration on here, suggesting that there’s still parts of this murky cave system to be revealed.
Atrexial – The Serpent Abomination
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A black metal album in all but force, this rolls over you like an all-enveloping storm cloud. Once you’re in, the experience feels more or less the same throughout, with a few glimmers of light piercing through in the form of acoustic, longing melody.
Avralize – Freaks
Genre: Metalcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A distinctly modern metalcore album doing a good job of balancing harsh, djent-y brutality with am industrial-electronica feel and melodic clean choruses. It’s a bit too pop-oriented and lacking intensity in the middle chunk of the album for my taste, but it does have some outstanding highlights.
Brodequin – Harbinger Of Woe
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Ignoring the fact that the first few seconds of drum-n’-riff pummeling on each song on here sound close to interchangeable, this is a beast of a non-stop-force, riff-centric death metal album. It’s extremely rhythmic, almost industrial in this regard, but still flows well, partially thanks to a solid bass end. The vocals are distinctly deep-guttural, which I personally more monotonous than anything else, but objectively it’s an interesting offset to the instrumental ferociousness.
Highlights: “Theresiana” and “Suffocation In Ash”.
Civerous – Maze Envy
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This is one that I didn’t see coming. At first it feels like you’re in for a rather typical death-doom sound with some atmospheric elements, but the band gradually tears apart your expectations by way of repeated sledgehammer blows. The unnerving backing melody transports you to a place of terrifying revelations, and the progressive rhythm approach keeps you guessing for what’s about to happen next. It doesn’t have the strongest first third, but it’s still massively impressive how the experience only keeps building in excellence the further in you get. It’s thunderous, contemplative, classic and unpredictable all at once.
Highlights: “Geryon (The Plummet)” and “Labyrinth Charm”.
Critical Defiance – The Search Won’t Fall…
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dirty, primitively produced thrash with loads of aggression and some classic heavy metal swagger.
Deception – Daenacteh
Genre: Symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Deception has come a long way as a band, and leaning into the symphonic end of the death metal spectrum clearly suits them very well. While not exactly complicated, the technicality on “Daenacteh” is absolutely pronounced, and expertly executed. There’s purpose radiating from both vocal and instrumental delivery, and they’ve clearly strived to craft something that’s not instantly label-friendly. A vibrant and varied experience with a forceful impact.
Highlights: “Iblis’ Mistress” and “Be Headed On Your Way”.
Fall Of Serenity – Open Wide, O Hell
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A darkened melodic death metal album out of Germany. They’ve got an experienced, crisp sound going on, with easy-to-follow riff paths and strong melodic elements. The rhythm transitions aren’t the most organic, but they make up for it with tasteful amounts of groove.
Furor Gallico – Future To Come
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Setting aside thoughts on the slightly odd concept of an Italian band doing Celtic folk, this delivers pretty much what you’d expect, mixing lots of traditional instrumental work with a clean/harsh approach that feels very familiar.
Hamferð – Men Guðs hond er sterk
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This is doom metal that rolls like a temperamental weather system over land and sea alike. Where a lot of funeral-leaning doom bands push the melody into the fringes of their sound, on this one it very much feels like the driving force. As it should be, because it’s clearly very well considered and mature, like an aged spirit. While you get strong elements of black- and death metal on here to up the drama, the clean vocals get to be star of the show, without the result feeling any less heavy or dark. Most impressively, even as it mostly embraces the slow burn tempo of doom, overall it feels like a collection of individually realized experiences, rather than a single long one all blended together.
Highlights: “Ábær” and “Marrusorg”.
Hammer King – König und Kaiser
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Hammer King is one of those bands that does the into-glorious-battle, anthemic metal approach really quite well. There’s just enough aggression in the riffs and playfulness in the melody to keep it engaging, song after song, even as there’s no big surprises on the way.
Hashtronaut – No Return
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A surprisingly atmospheric stoner album, with a dark twist to the tone, and enough fuzz to make weed plants start growing from your ears.
Hideous Divinity – Unextinct
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5What’s this, tech death with some actual room for atmosphere? In fact, parts of this album slows so much down you could even consider it doom. And yet, when the drums get going, there’s no mercy to be had. There’s a part of me that wishes the slower, more conceptually focused parts meshed better with the all-out instrumental assaults, but there’s no denying that this mixed approach makes the album feel a lot more dynamic, and the ominous, horror-themed tone ties it all together.
Highlights: “Mysterium Tremendum” and “The Numinous One”.
Inner Whiteout – Bottom Seeker
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5It’s not often you find a metalcore record where your biggest note is more melody, please. I feel like this one bridges the gap between classic and modern metalcore quite well, and they’re on the cusp of something really engaging.
Keygen Church – Nel Nome Del Codice
Genre: Electronic/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those sounds that is clearly metal, even as the instrumental approach suggests otherwise. The “riffs” are of the synthetic “8-bit”-kind, the drums feel just about as artificial, and the only vocals are those of a backing choir. And yet the tone and musical intent is straight out of a dark, classic doom project, with a symphonic, “church of less-than-holy-saints” cloak thrown on top. It’s quite fun.
Khold – Du Dømmes Til Død
Genre: Black metal/black n’ roll
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Is it really time for another Khold record already? Feels like only a few months ago that we got “Svartsyn”, which I enjoyed a great deal. If you know the band’s style, then you won’t skip a beat heading into this one, although the black n’ roll approach is particularly pronounced on here, to the point where the black metal seems content to have seeped into the cracks of the framework.
Leaves’ Eyes – Myths Of Fate
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Epic, Norse mythology-themed melody draped across simple rhythms and inflated by a symphonic production.
Mastiff – Deprecipice
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Massively heavy sludge with a death metal-like tone to to the riffs, and hardcore rhythms. It’s dark, sometimes quite noisy stuff, that just wants to crush your spirits.
Omnivide – A Tale Of Fire
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A proggy new tech death outfit that lands on the slightly milder and melodic end of the extreme metal spectrum. It’s clear they have a bunch of ideas for incorporating playful instrumentality, and lots of it works well, but the overall cohesion leaves a bit to be desired.
Perpetua – Resurgence
Genre: Melodic death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A slightly metalcore-leaning, groove-oriented young melodeath band, very much in the same vein as their fellow countrymen in Bleed From Within. There are traces of Gojira and Sylosis as well, although a bit more maturing remains before they have a clear identity of their own.
Take & Take – Disillusion
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5An unfortunately highly uneven prog release showcasing a laudable appetite for variety and a fun approach to technicality, but also bringing to light some shortcomings as far as vocals and songwriting go.
Thornbridge – Daydream Illusion
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fairly by-the-numbers power metal, but every now and then some real genre joy shines through and the band delivers some seriously feelgood melody.
Unshine – Karn Of Burnings
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A Finnish doom-like folk metal band with a great sounding production and a mild psychedelic tinge to their sound that works very well, although the whole thing is brought low by simplistic rhythm work and stagnant melodies.
The Wizards – The Exit Garden
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those albums that manage the feat of combining the comfort of familiarity with the fun of creativity. You get cheeky, traditional metal instrumental work padded down by a seriously wooly doom-toned finish, and melodies that dream of the next great adventure, even as they strive to finish the one that they’re currently on.
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 March 15 – 2024
A week of trying different approaches – the straightforward, the off-kilter, the innovative and the reinventive. You decide which suits you best.
Aardvark – Tough Love
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic, scuffed-knuckle heavy metal that’s got a bit of punk, and a bit of darkness to it, but mostly a pretty faithful retro piece.
Aborted – Vault Of Horrors
Genre: Deathcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5With the instrumental intensity, penchant for breakdowns and grandiose production all being dominant factors on Aborted’s latest effort, you could almost consider them a pure deathcore band at this point. In any case, they do not let off on the gas on this one. It’s massive chugs, roaring vocals and apocalyptic drums all the way. For those wishing a significant conceptual, or at least tonal lean into horror, you might be slightly disappointed, unless your idea of horror is a sentient, mobile, building-sized meatgrinder unleashed on a busy city street.
Armagh – Exclamation Point
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This feels, at least tonally, like a black/heavy metal mashup, yet with a fairly pronounced psychedelic side as well. But with clean vocals and a prog rock-y melodic tendency, this is something a bit out of the ordinary,
Armagh – Exclamation Point
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Sharp and aggressive thrash metal that sounds like it’s trying to spook you. Its rhythm transitions are not the smoothest, but it’s got a wicked tone and delivers when it’s on the attack.
Brat – Social Grace
Genre: Grindcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A high-energy, yet surprisingly controlled, groove-oriented grindcore debut record. With a sub-21 minute runtime, it’s over before you know it, and, like a well-measured hit of chili spice, leaves you going “Whoa, that stings! Can I have some more of that?”. Apart from its obvious heaviness it plays a lot like hardcore, and the visceral quality of the production almost makes you feel like you’re in a small room with the band performing the music live.
Highlights: “Hesitation wound” and “Human Offense”.
Defect Designer – Chitin
Genre: Experimental death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Steering into the experimental end of your subgenre can result in breaking new musical ground and creating something truly unique. The question you still gotta ask is what kind of listening experience you want to leave at the end. When it’s as bonkers as this, very much in the vein of experimental jazz, the reception is obviously going to be divisive, but the dedication is still admirable. And that album art is just awesome.
DragonForce – Warp Speed Warriors
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Dragonforce offers up some real feelgood-toned power metal that feels conceptual, but doesn’t really feel obviously so. The playing is, as usual, insanely fast and very fun, although the mid-part of the album leaves a bit of a gap in the intensity that slightly deflates the experience overall.
Hadit – Metaphysical Engines Approaching The Event Horizon
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A very bleak, yet still punishingly heavy death doom record, that seems to abhor melody. The result is a distinctly monotone sound, that still manages to produce a bleak, enveloping atmosphere.
Leather Lung – Graveside Grin
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Is there such a thing as too much groove? Leather Lung certainly dares to test the limits, cooking up a heavy, syrupy soundscape made up of fuzzy riffs, raspy, coarse vocals and bad habits.
Lords Of Black – Mechanics Of Predacity
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic power metal backed up by more traditional “leather metal”, slightly rougher style guitar work. It sounds epic in scope, although tonally it doesn’t quite stay on target throughout.
Lutharo – Chasing Euphoria
Genre: Symphonic/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Melodic, symphonic heavy metal jazzed up with harsh vocals and energetic instrumental work. There are lots of tasty parts sprinkled throughout as goodies, although the melodic parts that tie it all together could have used some more work.
Malsten – The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill
Genre: Atmospheric doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Doom metal that paints a subtly nuanced, abstract picture of misty mystery. Not quite enough happens on the album to call it truly engaging, but it has some very solid sections.
Nastergal – The Untold War
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Pedal-to-the-metal black metal that hits you like a hailstorm of pins and needles, to the point where the sharpness of the production can be a tad distracting. Virtuosic playing has clearly been a priority, and it brings some moments of maliciously toned melody that suits the overalls style quite well. Not quite outstanding, but strong for a debut full-length.
Necrophobic – In The Twilight Grey
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Necrophobic is one of those bands that has such an in-your-face style that it’s almost hard to get it wrong for those who know what they’re expecting. Still, the band has clearly made an effort with this one, as is evident in the vigorous onslaught of violent darkness that awaits the listener. As is customary, you get that classic metal-style penchant for a bit of melodic guitar work, but the tone is as sinister as always – maybe even a tad colder than usual – and the vocals and drums sound like they’re trying to attack you from a multitude of different angles.
Highlight: “”Clavis Inferni”.
Prisoner – Putrid | Obsolete
Genre: Industrial/doom metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5How about an album that combines the darkest sides of industrial- and doom metal, gives it a brain-scratching noise workover and fuels its attack with the inconsistent fury of a deathgrind/punk combo? While not the most varied or conceptually satisfying, it’s heavy as fuck and deeply unsettling in just the right way.
Shock Withdrawal – The Dismal Advance
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A band that very effectively layers an insanely aggressive grindcore assault with death metal heft. You get some meaty riffs, hyperactive drums, and non-stop energy for about 21 minutes of runtime.
Stress Angel – Punished by Nemesis
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Echo-y, thrash-paced death metal with a distinctly first-wave-of-black-metal chaotic and “ugly” sound. Apart from the style, it’s not the most distinct thing you’ll hear, but satisfying in its own right.
Throne of Exile – The Endless Sky
Genre: Avant-garde/progressive extreme metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5How heavily can you offset a highly aggressive and brutally heavy, technically progressive metal base with tonally opposing, avant-garde tangents, before your stylistic concept simply breaks apart? For many listeners, this album will be well past that point. But the insanely precise instrumentality is impressive.
UdÅd – UdÅd
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s an interesting thought, taking the concept of black metal back to a point beyond the subgenre’s birth, and imagining what that’d sound like. In some alternate universe, this might be it, although there are unmistakable elements in here tying it to that established proto-sound of the early 90s. The album feels almost naïve in its raw simplicity, with a distinctly “damaged” production, but is so strongly grounded in haunting, folk-derived melody and thematically on-point songwriting that there’s no reason not to take it seriously.
Highlight: “Bakenfor Urskogens Utkant”.
Vltimas – EPIC
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Leaving behind some of the complexity of their 2019 debut “Something Wicked Marches In”, Vltimas returns with the same core sound, blending black, death and a bit of thrash metal into a potent concoction of “best of”- like sounds. The output is effortlessly grandiose on this one, almost operatic in scope, and more melodic than I had expected. This is not the blackened death metal you go to for the most “evil” sound, but it also in no way feels overblown or flippant, delivering solid variety, plenty of punch and a highly convincing delivery.
Highlights: “Scorcher” and “Exercitus Irae”.
Weston Super Maim – See You Tomorrow Baby
Genre: Mathcore/deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A band that perhaps imagines itself as a bit more off-kilter than it practically is, what it gives us is fairly complex and deathcore-level heaviness with a bit of daydream-y melodic atmosphere. It works best when you can tell the band is trying to be conceptually nuts, rather than technically so.
Whom Gods Destroy – Insanium
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A new prog supergroup that clearly tries a conceptually slightly darker approach, which in itself is refreshing, but it’s still so filled to the brim with prog instrumental show-off-y abandon that everyone but diehard fans should tire rather quickly.
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 March 08 – 2024
Prepare for some knockout punches this week, both from the ragged vanguard, the well-entrenched core and the devious shadows.
4BanneD – Sanatorium
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Irate and murky death thrash with a straightforward, hardcore-like thematic and rhythm approach.
Alterium – Of War And Flames
Genre: Power/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Power metal with an epic thematic scope, although slightly let down by a lack of drama and force in both performances and production.
Apogean – Cyberstrictive
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Some beefy-riffed, spacey-toned tech death for you. And while it’s certainly no slouch, it’s not the type that tries to beat instrumental speed records. The rhythms shift tempo and character quite regularly, but are fairly easy to follow. and lets you get into short-lived grooves. Melodically it’s more about creating a mood than actually going somewhere, but the overall sound feels big, like it’s trying to reach up into the atmosphere and beyond.
Arthouse Fatso – Sycophantic Seizures: A Double Feature
Genre: Experimental grindcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A bonkers thrash/death-riffed, conceptual grindcore affair that, even with 16 tracks, clocks in at less than 25 minutes. You get the feeling that the band’s messing with you from start to finish. Like, giving a 3-second track a 20+ word title, kind of messing with you.
Cell Press – Cages
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A sludge record that’s shaken all the feelgood out of a smooth stoner metal sensibility, and kept only the shell, infusing it with a chaotic, slightly nihilistic and punk-like approach.
Domain – Life’s Cold Grasp
Genre: Hardcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Coarse and forceful metallic hardcore that sets out to shake the earth with its punishing, rhythmic riff-and-drums assault.
Early Moods – A Sinner’s Past
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5More slightly pepped-up old-school doom from Early Moods. While not quite reaching the same groove-fueled highs of their self-titled 2022-effort, it offers a slower, more sinister overall mood, and a very convincing nostalgic trip.
Ecclesia – Ecclesia Militans
Genre: Heavy/power/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Time for a monastic, slow-burn party! This is grandiose, medium-to-slow, power-esque heavy metal with some hard-hitting riffs and a doom-like mood. Liberally employing chants and church organs, they fully embrace a holy-order thematic. While a bit heavy-handed, it’s certainly a good time, with some great vocals and lots of catchy grooves.
Exhorder – Defectum Omnium
Genre: Thrash/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5On their latest release, thrash/groove veterans Exhorder feel solidly in sync as a band, mixing speedy thrash with early Pantera-style grooves for a very consistent and confident sound. The production works very well, and both vocals and instrumental output are engaging. Overall there could be more highlights, but there are also very few, if any, weak moments.
Grayscale Season – Feel Something New
Genre: Metalcore/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Slamming with the power of deathcore and balancing it with its softer, melodic side quite proficiently, this album feels sincere and coherent.
Grey Skies Fallen – Molded By Broken Hands
Genre: Heavy/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Working with an interesting blend of heavy, death, gothic and doom metal, the result is predictably dark and fairly eclectic, feeling coarse and aggressive, yet still fairly light on its feet.
Houwitser – Sentinel Beast
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Speedy death metal with a dampened sound and an emphasis on clever rhythm shenanigans.
Isenordal – Requiem For Eirene
Genre: Doom/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Combining abyssal funeral doom with folk melodies and traditional instruments, this isn’t a thoroughly mire-treading experience, lifting the atmosphere out of the depths.
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Be it anthems, groove-fueled chug-alongs, power ballads or cheeky speedsters, it feels downright invigorating to be able to say, hand on heart, that no-one does classic metal quite like Judas Priest. When a band as defining as this can continue to push the envelope 50 years on, it’s a massive, radiant stamp of health for the whole genre. Rob’s voice sounds beyond belief good on here, and the instrumental performances somehow manage to be both tight, playful, stylistically faithful and just the right level of unpredictable, all at once. The production has been tweaked to perfection, and while I personally could have wished for some more high-tempo tracks, not once does this sound complacent.
Highlights: “The Serpent and the King” and “Trial by Fire”.
Kelevra – Onieric
Genre: Groove/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Rage-fueled, slightly odd-rhythmed groove metal. Sometimes the tempo shifts feel a bit stumble-y, but the riffs hit hard.
Kill The Lights – Death Melodies
Genre: Thrash metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Groove-filled, energetic thrash riffs offset with jarringly unoriginal, soft melodic choruses.
Merrimack – Of Grace And Gravity
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Thoroughly bitter and bitingly cold black metal that alternates between spitting curses at you and sweeping off on doomy atmospheric tangents. The sound is clean and forceful, allowing the musicianship to the fore.
Midnight – Hellish Expectations
Genre: Heavy/black metal/punk
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Expectations are indeed hellishly …low? for Midnight’s latest release, and as for delivering on the promise of a no-nonsense, stylistically rock solid scamper of a blackened heavy metal record, no one should be disappointed. It does feel like you have to wait a bit for the party to get started nice and proper, with the rhythmic approach getting a bit monotonous throughout the first half of the record, but you still can’t help but grin at the glorious abandon of the vocal delivery and naughty, naughty guitar work.
Mutilated by Zombies – Scenes from the Afterlife
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is death metal that can’t quite decide if it wants to writhe around in the freshly unearthed grave or design an intricate layout for the entire cemetery. It has some moments, but neither side gets to properly shine.
Myrath – Karma
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Bombastic power metal with a middle eastern flair and some very mild progressive tendencies. They show off some excellent instrumental skills through a great production, but there’s very little originality or joy to be found in the songwriting.
Skeletal Remains – Fragments Of The Ageless
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Don’t take this the wrong way, but a part of me wonders why we even need tech death when “regular” death metal can be as tight, fast and relentless as this. Skeletal Remains are back in excellent form on this one, and, as you might expect, constantly on the attack. The riffs are ripping, the drum work punishing, and the bass like a pulsing tremor below it all. Not much in the way of surprises, but who even cares when it’s this solid.
Highlights: “Void of Despair” and “Cybernetic Harvest”.
Slimelord – Chytridiomycosis Relinquished
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5I don’t imagine there’s many people out there who won’t find this album sonically repulsive. Not in a straighforward, “this is in bad taste”, disgusting kind of repulsive, but in the way that the cacophony of unpleasant sounds that swirl around your eardrums clearly aren’t meant to be enjoyed, in the strictest sense of the word. And yet, if you’re the right type of listener, you’ll feel the hooks of this beast’s many tendrils finding purchase in recesses of your mind that you hardly knew existed. And suddenly, you just get it. It is thundering, chaotic, multidimensional, and yet there’s a solid core in there, somewhere, for you to grab onto if you just dive deep enough into the madness.
Highlights: “Gut-Brain Axis” and “Tidal Slaughtermarsh”.
Sonata Arctica – Clear Cold Beyond
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Sonata Arctica are back doing what they do best, which is dazzle you with shiny guitar work like a generous sprinkling of crystals borne aloft on winds of mystical and ever so slightly whimsical Finnish-style epic melody.
Speedkiller – Inferno
Genre: Black/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Thoroughly blackened speed metal that nails the tone and tempo you expect from it. Aside from some tasty solos and eventually getting over how impressive that picking speed is, it does get a tad monotonous.
Vicinity – VIII
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A vibrant prog metal album that dazzles with impressive vocal delivery and adventurous guitar work. The rhythm transitions are not perfect, and the melodies, while beautifully harmonious, don’t really travel. But it’s expansive and pleasing to the ears.
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 March 01 – 2024
This is a fun and colorful week, where thrash, industrial, power, psychedelic doom, and melodic extreme metal are just a few of the flavors on offer.
Azell – Death Control
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Oppressive, aggressive sludge rolling over you with the sedate tempo of patient doom. It’s stylistically strong and consistent, but probably won’t surprise you at any point.
Clarion Void – Failure In Repetition
Genre: Progressive sludge/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A conceptual album that takes the misanthropy of black metal and layers it delicately over the rough edges of sludge. It’s dark, but not relentless or immovable. It feels alive, almost curious, as it cautiously explored a shifting landscape at varying levels of boldness.
Clouds Taste Satanic – 79 A.E.
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Clouds Taste Satanic are already back with more long-form, mildly psychedelic, instrumental doom for you to sink your consciousness into. Like with last year’s “Tales of Demonic Possession”, this feels like passively taking part on a multidimensional journey, experiencing the wonders of passing objects and phenomena from the safety of a stable, sheltered platform. A bit of patience is required, but you’ll be rewarded with an experience that’s soothing and stimulating at the same time.
Highlight: “Collision”.
Defocus – There Is A Place For Me On Earth
Genre: Metalcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Serious and technically sharpened djent-based metalcore that takes on a detached, industrial mood. Melodically it’s a bit soulless, but the whole thing feels like the successful product of a very purposeful overall composition.
Devastator – Conjurers Of Cruelty
Genre: Black/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Blackened speed/thrash metal led by forceful and commanding vocals and a tight rhythm section. It’s very much on theme, although doesn’t stand out particularly well among its peers.
Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5As long as you accept that the instrumental part of “The Mandrake Project” is in essence an atmosphere-generating, toned-down vehicle for the vocalized storytelling, you can start to appreciate what it’s really all about. Dickinson shows off the full and ever impressive range of his vocals, matching the overall mood perfectly, which actually shifts quite a lot throughout, making for a surprisingly eclectic experience.
Highlight: “Mistress of Mercy”
Fathomless Ritual – Hymns For The Lesser Gods
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those “wait, what?” kind of experiences where, just as you think you have the band’s style nailed down, you discover a different side to the music buried beneath layers of murk, Thickly blanketed with gutter-style vocals and an edge-dampening production you get some surprisingly groove-centric rhythms, and a restless and adventurous progression.
Firewind – Stand United
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Time for some old-school, shreddy power metal built around pure riff happiness. This is like a goodie bag of strong and entertaining performances crafted into a solid selection of individually outstanding tracks.
Hands Of Goro – Hands Of Goro
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5An intentionally messy and structurally inconsistent, rebellious traditional metal elements that, in a way, brings together the bitter rivals of NWOBHM and punk, without the result being just Motörhead. It’s instrumentally playful, with some rock n’ roll grooves, but in an impulsive way that all but eliminates predictability.
Messiah – Christus Hypercubus
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you like your metal raw and crispy at the same time, get yourself a generous helping of this. Messiah serve up tonally and thematically blackened death thrash that prioritizes speed and ferocity over heaviness, resulting in a dressed-down and direct approach that really suits the band’s style. It’s not the album with the most individual standout moments, but while clearly having a very established idea of how they should sound, the band dares to attach from a multitude of angles, keeping it interesting throughout.
Highlights: “Soul Observatory” and “Christus Hypercubus”
Ministry – Hopiumforthemasses
Genre: Industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Ministry’s latest is a driving album that utilizes a relatively uniform, carefully cultivated sound, free from too many bells and whistles. Most importantly, it’s very clearly still protest music, with each track standing proudly up for or against something. The stylistic confidence of the music very successfully bolsters th
at of the projected attitude, and there’s a strength and urgency behind the compositions and delivery that grabs a hold of you and pulls you in.
Highlights: “Aryan Embarrassment” and “New Religion”
Negative Prayer – Self // Wound
Genre: Death metal/punk
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Busy, dark and heavy death metal with the haphazard energy and disregard of punk strongly infused into its rhythm section.
Northern Genocide – The Point of No Return
Genre: Melodic death/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Perhaps a bit heavy handed, fans of melodic Finnish death- and symphonic metal should not disregard the entertainment factor of the massive pile-up of playful musical and electronic contributions on this album.
Saturnalia Temple – Revel In Dissidence
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavy, raspy fuzz spelling doom and darkness as it rolls in over the land like ponderous storm clouds.
Suicidal Angels – Profane Prayer
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5The guys in Suicidal Angels speak thrash with such a fluency that you’d think they did a degree in it. It’s a pure. old-school-leaning experience that feels both practiced and natural. It’s not the wild speed and enthusiasm of a fresh band, nor the conceptual or slightly experimental approach of veterans looking to shake up their sound. But it’s aggressive, tonally on point, and energetic. Most of all, it’s satisfying.
Suldusk – Anthesis
Genre: Folk/blackgaze
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The majority of the album is dreamy, serene melody wrapped in folk atmosphere, with the bitter bite of melancholic black metal elegantly woven in to lend an edge to the dramatic highs.
Surgical Strike – 24/7 Hate
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Thrash metal that’s all speedy riffs and solos, and quite proficiently so, but lacking a bit in substance, which adds to the risk of feeling slightly repetitive.
Volcandra – The Way Of Ancients
Genre: Melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Volcandra first got my attention with their 2022 EP “Border World”, partially because of its Half-Life reference, but certainly also because of the quality of the music. This time they’re back with a full-length themed around another one of my all-time favorite video game franchises, namely Diablo. The band does the melodic/aggressive balance in a way that brings to mind Black Dahlia Murder, although with a clear shift towards epic black metal. It’s technically sharp, refreshingly free from symphonic elements, and does the fantasy concept without needing to resort to whimsy.
Highlights: “Fouled Sanctity” and “Seven Tombs”.
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 February 23 – 2024
After several weeks dominated by brutal and bleak releases, the sun starts to shine through in the form of some more playful and epic stuff.
Amaranthe – The Catalyst
Genre: Pop/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you know Amaranthe, you know what you’re getting. Eurovision beats, catchy riffs, bright, electronica-infused sci-fi melodies and a dazzling mix of clean and harsh vocals.
Atoll – Inhuman Implants
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Atoll’s new offering is the kind that bridges the gap between the barbed-wire-baseball-bat blunt trauma of brutal death metal and the circular-saw-axe-blade cut of the more visceral and technical end of the subgenre spectrum. And how can you go wrong with titles like “Gay For God” and “Missionary Opposition”?
Autumnblaze – Auf zerfetzten Schwingen
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Like a lamenting sigh in the form of a cold gust of wind over the graveyard, this is gothic metal finding purpose in a sad state of affairs, with a distinct black metal tone to its riffs.
Borknagar – Fall
Genre: Progressive/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5While being sweeping, melody-centric and austere progressive metal in the vein of Katatonia at its core, Borknagar also doesn’t shy from allowing the obsidian blade of black metal cut through the veil. Fans of slow-paced, slightly doom-styled epic extreme metal will be able to fully embrace this one, while others might find its progression a bit too sedate. But the confidence that shines through the songwriting is reassuring, and every now and then you are simply taken aback by the sheer power of its melodic passages.
Highlights: “Northward” and “Unraveling”.
Vincent Crowley – Anthology Of Horror
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Horror-themed, riff-happy, dark-toned heavy metal that’s still light on its feet.
Darkest Hour – Perpetual | Terminal
Genre: Metalcore/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Every now and then I just need a shot of that classic early 2000s metalcore sound, and this one hits the spot strong and good. The style pendulums between the band’s melodeath and hardcore influences, without ever swinging out of balance. The result feels invigorated and purposeful, and will certainly scratch a deep seated itch for fans.
Decrowned – Persona Non Grata
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Catchy-riffed and solo-happy Finnish melodeath, with a slightly overproduced finish.
Desolate Tomb – Scorned By Misery
Genre: Blackened deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly aggressive, stark deathcore utilizing quite a lot of the subgenre’s technical tropes. It hits hard, but struggles a bit to create any sort of distinct mood.
Dust Bolt – Sound & Fury
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Peppy, anthemic thrash pulsing from a more conventional hard rock and heavy metal core. It’s groovy as heck, although, ultimately, a bit toothless.
Ektomorf – Vivid Black
Genre: Groove/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5You some times wish Slipknot would pick up where they left off with Iowa? This isn’t far from what that might be. The vocal style, rhythms and guitar tone are certainly more than a bit inspired. Where it all departs a little is the introduction of Kataklysm-style dark grooves, which contributes to modernizing the sound a tad.
Gonemage – Spell Piercings
Genre: Experimental nu metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A real mind spinner of a noisy, unhinged, blackened nu metal album, with a light sprinkling of 8-bit sound effects, because why the hell not?
Gore Machine – Macerated & Liquified
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fans of filthy, gurgly death metal with buzzsaw riffs get exactly what they deserve on this one.
Hand Of Kalliach – Corryvreckan
Genre: Melodic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An atmosphere-rich and technical melodeath record balancing ethereal melody with rapid, focused aggression. Most of the time these two faces speak in harmony and elevate each other, although a few times you wish that one would step back to let the other fully shine. But overall it’s a rich, varied and immersive experience full of stellar performances.
Highlights: “Fell Reigns” and “Unbroken You Remain”
Inferious – Salt Your Earth
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Straight-cut deathcore with a kind of barebones, hardcore-like style and a hint of dark groove. It’s aggressive and precise, and doesn’t have to go over the top to exude brutality.
Iron Curtain – Savage Dawn
Genre: Speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This feels like an album distilled from everything that was good about early thrash, heavy metal and hard rock. You can practically smell the burning rubber and gasoline, and see the sparks of grinding metal glinting off swinging chains. It’s piles of attitude atop tight and inspired performances, and a production that allows for every detail to shine. Savage indeed!
Highlights: “Gypsy Rocker” and “Rattlesnake”.
Job For A Cowboy – Moon Healer
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Experiencing Job For A Cowboy’s latest feels a bit like attending a masterclass. The way each musical contribution corresponds with the next seems utterly intuitive, and never trite. It’s a perfectly attuned whole, and the parts that make it up manage to shine without needing to strike out all on their own. It’s not exactly what I’d call an organic flow, but the intensity waxes and wanes in a way that grabs a hold of your attention at any moment it might wander off. Not too complex, not too flashy, just very well composed.
Highlights: “The Agony Seeping Storm” and “The Forever Rot”.
Karkosa – Estoterrorcult
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A hard-hitting blackened death album with a distinctly melodic black metal lean, seemingly trying to overwhelm you with the all-out force of its hurricane drums, hissing vocals and slamming riffs.
Morta Skuld – Creation Undone
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Morta Skuld delivers more lethal, riff-driven death metal to please fans of Cannibal Corpse-style aggressive and precise brutality. It’s a well practiced style at this point, so perhaps a tad stale, but still delivering the goods.
Nebularis – Exodus
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A short prog metal album that knows how to do spacey atmosphere, but technically it doesn’t quite hold up.
Rifforia – Axeorcism
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5You probably can’t get more on the nose than this. Riffs galore, at mid-tempo, thrash style with high pitched vocals straight out of the NWOBHM era.
Smorrah – Welcome To Your Nightmare
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Aggressive, dark-toned thrash that prefers a menacing groove over all-out speed. If you’re all about a badass riff, this’ll get your head banging.
Stiriah – Portal
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Like a downpour of needles, this stabs at you with cold, sharp riffs at a high and constant pace. There is a genre-suited atmosphere surrounding it all, although it doesn’t contain a ton of depth.
Stygian Crown – Funeral For A King
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A solid slab of doom that spins epic tales of greatness past. Traditional metal style vocals with a storytelling flair seem to command the tempo to pick up whenever it’s time to gallop to the next part of the journey. Thus, the album feels like it covers some significant ground, allowing for rousing riffage with a rumbling punch, as much as scene-setting atmosphere.
Toadliquor – Back In The Hole
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Slow, conceptual doom with the rough edges of sludge. It’s unsettling, though not really hostile, painting a picture of a system that’s slowly falling apart behind the scenes.
Toxikull – Under The Southern Light
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mildly anthemic, let’s-have-a-good-time heavy metal with a positive, energetic attitude. You know, the kind that has to have the word “metal” in at least one of its track titles.
Traveler – Prequel to Madness
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a band that is so in tune with their preferred branch of the metal tree that they know exactly where to stay in line and where to push things over the top, with the result setting off little fireworks of delight in your brain. Rapid where it counts, cheekily epic in tone, and impatient to flaunt its treasure trove of awesome guitar solos, this is a great example of good intentions coming to bountiful fruition.
Highlights: “Take the Wheel” and “Prequel to Madness”.
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 February 16 – 2024
A week dominated by black- and doom metal, but not necessarily the kind that makes you want to crawl into a dark hole and hide from the world.
Acrid Death – Abominable Presence Of Blight
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s some death metal with that über-crunchy guitar tone that I can’t get enough of. It sounds beefy as heck and, even though it could definitely go heavier on the grooves, it’s a raging thunderclap of an album.
Bloom – Maybe In Another Life
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Emotionally charged metalcore that, despite a clear presence of cleaner, melodic songs, also knows to go harsh and heavy without it feeling like a gimmick. Not terribly memorable, but several of the melodies hit quite well.
Cercenatory – GoreSphere
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Even though this sounds more or less like one continuous song, in the way that there’s little discernable variation in rhythm and tone, if you like what you’re hearing, there’s no reason not to keep the party going, right?
Darkspace – Dark Space – II
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Consisting of a single, 47 minute track, this isn’t the easiest album to speed review, but even as the usual black metal harshness gets muffled by a wall of darkly synthetic ambience, the core sensibility is there, and makes a mark.
Durbin – Screaming Steel
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5While Halford-esque vocals and tasty guitar solos certainly set the right kind of tone, this is much more an exercise in mimicking past glory than actually reviving it.
Elettra Storm – Powerlords
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This one cuts straight to the core of what makes power metal a unique and viable subgenre, and basks in it. While not really approaching anything original, you get distinct vocals and tech-happy guitars, making for an altogether fun experience.
Eternal Storm – A Giant Bound to Fall
Genre: Progressive/melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An album that sounds ambitious in all the right ways – expansive, varied and technically competent, and yet the mixture of elements from black-, death-, and prog metal takes the form of a stationary maelstrom rather than a flowing current.
Far Beyond – The End Of My Road
Genre: Heavy/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Epic and darkly adventurous, this sounds like the meeting of traditional metal and Finnish melodeath. A little uneven, it still definitely gets you in the right mood.
Farsot – Life Promises Death
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Mildly progressive, moderately avant-garde, but riff-driven, modern black metal at its heart, this album has a clear direction in mind, but deftly navigates a changing landscape as it goes. Its realm is one of smog and sorrow, and yet it dares to dream beyond all this every now and then. It sounds mature and practiced, and at the same time light on its feet, which is an admirable thing to pull off.
Highlights: “Nausea” and “Chimera”.
Griffon – De Republica
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dramatic and forceful gale of a conceptual black metal album. Borrowing more than a few elements from deathcore, this isn’t quite the album for entering a grimly medieval state of mind, but it’s also far from tacky, remaining tastefully dark and on theme throughout.
Ihsahn – Ihsahn
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Ever industrious, here Ihsahn gives us an album that sounds like the product of years, even decades of reflection. Retaining a delicate but defining black metal edge, this plays like a highly ambitious theatrical play, very much driven by the musical flow, rather than any momentum-killing ambient- or spoken-word sections. It feels grand, allowing orchestral elements to elevate it to lofty heights, but never dominate, and never dictate the next, genre-bending turn of events.
Highlights: “TWICE BORN” and “PILGRIMAGE TO OBLIVION”.
Illumishade – Another Side Of You
Genre: Symphonic/modern heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Centered around accessible melodies and lyrics, you get a rich production with a vibrant use of modern instrumentation, with several highlights slightly drowning among more forgettable material.
In Autumn – What’s Done Is Done
Genre: Avant-garde doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Doom metal that sounds a bit torn between wanting to float in an ocean of genre-fluid atmosphere and rocking out with a mix of stoner, hardcore and blackened death metal .
Leah – The Glory And The Fallen
Genre: Symphonic/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is wholly uncomplicated, epic symphonic metal with a folk flair. The melodies are clean and soothing, just not terribly original.
The Obsessed – Gilded Sorrow
Genre: Stoner/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Striking out from a core of groovy stoner, this is a mid-tempo, relaxed affair that still has a generous scoop of attitude.
Pestilength – Solar Clorex
Genre: Experimental doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This sounds like some horribly mutated, spliced-together, unholy form of life painfully flailing, crawling, charging and stumbling its way around the labyrinthine underground realm in which it was birthed, blind to the chaotic and darkly vivid spectacle that’s going on around it. This is experimental death doom that doesn’t just want to scare you or make your head spin, but take you to a place of grim wonder that you never knew you wanted to visit.
Highlights: “Occlusive” and “Verbalist Aphonee”
Ponte Del Diavolo – Fire Blades From The Tomb
Genre: Doom/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is old school doom metal with a distinctly occult expression, utilizing select black metal elements to sharpen the musical blade edge. Combining a bewitching vocal style with a rhythmic instrumental progression, a threatening tone and alluringly sinister melodies, this hits the sweet spot for combining pleasing subgenre conventions with bucket loads of character.
Highlights: “Covenant” and “Nocturnal Veil”
Praise The Plague – Suffocating In The Current Of Time
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Combining a relatively straightforward black metal approach with a cavernous, deep backing atmosphere, verging on death doom, you get a dark and unsettling sound, that manages to be both jagged, melancholy and brutally heavy.
Profiler – A Digital Nowhere
Genre: Nu-metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Well-produced, metalcore-tinged nu-metal with elements of djent, a bittersweet disposition, and several nods to pioneers of the subgenre like Linkin Park.
Sujin – Save Our Souls
Genre: Melodic death metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An eager and technically proficient young band with a penchant for speedy grooves. It’s fresh and suitably heavy, although a bit messy in places.
Thy Shining Curse – Theurgia
Genre: Symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Grandiose and aggressive symphonic death metal that’s unfortunately let down by a murky production, a choppy mix, and a few questionable songwriting decisions.
UKC – Coming Out – Love & Hate Diaries
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A personal and melodically varied musical effort with elements of black-, doom- and folk metal, that never quite gets into a good rhythmical flow.
Vanir – Epitome
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Vanir is back with more rousing, heading-to-battle melodeath in the vein of Amon Amarth. It hits the spot well if you’ve got a craving for this brand of melodic brutality, but breaks virtually no new ground whatsoever.
Volucrine – ETNA
Genre: Metalcore/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5An odd combination of deathcore-style modern melodeath with a groovy hardrock approach, dipping into pop-oriented melodic sections, with transitions between the different styles that work rather poorly,
Witchorious – Witchorious
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is classic, stoner-leaning doom metal that foregoes the fuzz and chronic sluggishness, and gets creative with its rhythm work. There’s elements of punk and hard rock, but with the big, crunchy riff at the top of the priority list, and a pleasing tonal consistency.
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 February 09 – 2024
This week some of the core elements of what makes metal great today – brutality, aggression, thematic confidence, stylistic refinement and innovation – gets into a fight over which one is more essential.
Alfahanne – Vår tid är nu
Genre: Black ‘n roll
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Should you feel like jumping excitedly up and down, or simply nod your head nonchalantly while staring into the floor? This is blackened rock that swings a bit back and forth between groove and nihilism.
All This Filth – Will Tomorrow Be Better?
Genre: Groove metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Vicious, rhythmic groove metal that mostly forgoes melody to deliver tight riffs and hardcore aggression.
Chapel Of Disease – Echoes Of Light
Genre: Progressive/black metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is one of those albums that makes more and more sense the longer you listen to it. The juxtaposition of harsh, Tribulation-style vocals and optimistic, progressive hard rock can feel a bit off-putting at first, but it doesn’t take long before you naturally accept it as a deliberate style choice. It lends an edge to the otherwise fairly gentle, adventurous grooves, and matches the more intense sections very well. The compositions feel organic, and each track has plenty of character.
Highlight: “Selenophile”.
Contaminated – Celebratory Beheading
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Chaotic and hostile death metal with a speed demon drummer. Check it out if you like your death metal dirty and violent.
F.K.Ü. – The Horror And The Metal
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This one’s just a real good thrashing time. Precise, mid-tempo, mischievous and very headbanging-friendly. The songs are structured to get the most effect out of those tasty riffs, the production is crisp and punchy, and the vocal delivery matches the rhythms perfectly. Horns up!
Gurney – The Creeper (EP)
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An ominous, ponderous beast of a death doom record with elements of sludge and stoner.
Hulder – Verses In Oath
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Hulder’s latest offering is one of those records where it takes you mere seconds to realize that you’re onto pure quality (at least once you get past the intro). Here’s something for fans of most of the black metal spectrum. It’s grim, subtly yet distinctly melodic, controlled even at its most aggressive, with a light haze of mystical atmosphere. Its strength lies in the details, of which there are more than enough to mark it out as something special.
Highlights: “Hearken The End” and “Veil of Penitence”.
Infected Rain – Time
Genre: Nu metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Infected Rain are back with their attention-catching mix of nu metal grooves and clean, melodic choruses, blending in a few, mildly dissonant djent sections here and there to maintain a sharp edge. TIME delivers admirably, but doesn’t quite take off.
In Vain – Back To Nowhere
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A light-on-its-feet heavy metal album that scores big on fun and enthusiasm, weighing up for a non-negligible lack of originality.
The Last Ten Seconds Of Life – No Name Graves
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A super stompy, slamming deathcore record, which is right along the lines of what you’d expect from this band. Clenched-teeth aggression flares through on every level, from the beats to the brutal vocal delivery. If this is the kind of thing that gets you fired up you should grab this and jump straight into a heavy gym session.
Highlights: “Broken Glass Incantation” and “Feel My Fangs in You”
Morbid Saint – Swallowed By Hell
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Speed! Scorching the ground as it sets off, cutting through the air like a razor and radiating devilishly irreverent glee, this hits all the marks for an adrenaline-fueled thrash record. While the style feels old-school, it doesn’t shy away from a punchy, modern production, while stile retaining a cracked-leather, nail studded hide of raw, youthful aggression.
Highlights: “Burn Pit” and “Killer Instinct”.
Petrification – Sever Sacred Light
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Musty, subterranean death metal that works its way in and out of heavy, rhythmic grooves like a massive machine that hasn’t stopped running for centuries. It’s brutal, but not overly hostile, delivering crunchy riffs and guitar squeals aplenty.
Romuvos – Spirits
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Pagan, Baltic folk metal with a strong focus on mystical atmosphere and traditional instruments. Great if you’re looking for a non-Scandinavian folk mood, although the metal parts are fairly straightforward.
Spectral Voice – Sparagmos
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5A nightmarish death doom record that clings to you like clawed, skeletal fingers in the pitch black depths of oily quicksand. And, as the intensity builds, it takes the form of a hulking, cadaverous beast stalking you blindly through a dark, dead forest. There’s nothing even approaching hopeful or light-hearted on this record, its four, monumental tracks dropping onto you like the collapsing walls of a massive cave, promising to trap you, helpless against the lurking horrors of the deep.
Highlights: “Sinew Censer” and “Be Cadaver”.
Spiritual Deception – Semitae Mentis
Genre: Technical/atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Tech death exploding with grandiose, dramatic atmosphere, eager to set off its fireworks display of brutal, tight instrumentality, not thinking overly hard about where they’re headed.
Where Oceans Burn – The Faces We Portray
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern, mildly prog-infused metalcore that pendulums between technical harshness and pop-styled melody.
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, do feel free to express yourself in the comments section below.
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Weekly rundown February 02 – 2024
The first week of February sees a battle being fought between life-hungry prog and bitter, shadow-dwelling black metal, bringing you some of the best of both worlds.
Bipolar Architecture – Metaphysicize
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dark progressive album that feels like it’s balancing between modern, near-industrial rigidness and floating melancholy seeping in from the realm of atmospheric black metal. The mix works a lot better than it sounds like it should.
Corpsevore – Feed The Plague
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Barebones death metal infused with grindcore’s ferocity and utter lack of patience. It’s raw, slightly clunky, and utterly relentless.
Deadyellow – What Was Left of Them
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is black metal heavily steeped in introspective, mellow melodies, and taken to a warmer tone than is generally the norm.
Dwarrowdelf – The Fallen Leaves
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An epic, triumphant experience tempered by its stern-toned black metal framework. Instead of over-relying on dreamy atmosphere, the energy level is kept high throughout, and you get a sense of the same melodic playfulness that exits in melodic death metal.
Enterprise Earth – Death: An Anthology
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A hammering of brutal percussion and breakdowns, with varying levels of semi-melodic, technical playing in between. There is an attempt to showcase distinctly different approaches to the songwriting on each song, which makes for decent variety, but also a slightly disjointed experience overall.
Graywitch – Children Of Gods
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Epic, larger-than life classic metal that might scratch an itch if you miss the late 70s.
Hasturian Vigil – Unveiling The Brac’thal
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here’s a band that hopes to get the most out of both nihilistic black metal and spritely heavy metal, but only partially succeeding in getting the two to meld.
Hollow Woods – Like Twisted Bones Of Fallen Giants
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A bleak and outraged black metal album in the traditional early 90s style, although with an influx of darkly poetic, lamenting chants and lingering melodies.
KMFDM – Let Go
Genre: Industrial/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A major nostalgia trip diving headlong into what feels like the early rave scene, although this album has a story to tell. It ebbs and flows and morphs into different flavors as it goes along.
Meanstreak – Blood Moon (EP)
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dark-toned heavy metal EP that hovers on the edge of doom, gothic and power metal. It’s got heavy, chugging riffs, soaring vocals, cheeky solos and sections of ponderous, patient slow burn. The songwriting could be a notch or two tighter, but overall this is very interesting and shows a lot of promise.
meth. – Shame
Genre: Noise/experimental metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This sounds like a hardcore band that’s gone absolutely apeshit from being stuck in a noise torture room for too long and is fighting with all their might to get out. There’s absolutely nothing pleasant about this record, and it actively gnaws at your sense of mental equilibrium.
Mind Conflict – Temple Of God
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is very much mostly a old school-ish death metal album with pounding riffs and a threatening tone, but for extended sections it will also shift gears into much more agile, metallic hardcore rhythms. Some of the heft does seep out at the same time, but it keeps the album lively and slightly unpredictable.
Necrowretch – Swords Of Dajjal
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is blackened death metal that doesn’t care for a single second about being understatedly evil . It’s a bile-spitting inferno with a demonic rhythm section, where the emphasis is very much on the black metal the entire way. It’s aggressively rousing, large in scope without feeling grandiose, and doesn’t let up. You know you’re in for it when the LAST song is called “Total Obliteration”.
Highlights: “Numidian Knowledge” and “The Fifth Door”.
Persefone – Lingua Ignota: Part I (EP)
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Here Persephone drops a medium length EP, partly to introduce their new vocalist, but also, of course, to delight fans of aggressive-yet-melodic prog. The balance between melodeath force and emotion-laden harmony is expertly struck on this one, and even though it’s far from experimental, it’s also feels free from an adherence to tropes. An experience that leaves you wanting more.
Highlights: “Lingua Ignota” and One Word”.
Perveration – Putrefaction Of Infinite
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Wanna feel like there’s a perpetually-propelled, flesh-eating bouncing ball loose inside your head?
Solbrud – IIII
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An ambitious, far-reaching journey of a doomy, atmospheric black metal album. It goes both very gentle and very harsh, and certainly has the space to transition between the two, but the blend still doesn’t feel entirely natural.
Stages Of Decomposition – Raptures Of Psychopathy
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5An absolutely unhinged brutal death metal album raging down a low-fi path of clicking drums and hoarse-gurgly vocals.
Transit Method – Othervoid
Genre: Progressive/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A traditional metal-modeled prog album that oozes stylistic confidence. Light on its feet, it effortlessly shifts tempo and mood without disrupting the flow. There are traces of a slightly milder, prog rock mindset throughout, but rather than rob the songs of heft, it keeps proceedings explorative and playful. Some of the riffs on here are on the verge of iconic, but the band never bothers to dwell on them for long, instead prioritizing variety.
Highlights: “Frostbite” and “Psychometry”.
Utopia – Shame
Genre: Mathcore/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is not album that was in any way shaped to be manageable. Combining the constantly shape-shifting unpredictability of mathcore and clinical-yet-brutal technicality of tech death, it’s a sound that constantly demands your attention.
Vægtløs – Aftryk
Genre: Black metal/shoegaze
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A thoroughly sad experience, this mostly forgoes the bleak, hopeless nihilism of typical black metal and infuses its melancholy soundscape with heart-rending emotion, Desperation interweaves with anger, hurt, longing and grim acceptance, making for a profound statement about wading through life’s strongest currents of adversity.
Highlight: “Tag dit knuste hjerte og lav det til kunst”
Wandering Oak – Resilience
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Speedy, adventurous black metal that’s a bit too preoccupied with chasing impressive and pleasing instrumental flourishes to pay quite the necessary attention to song structure.
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, do feel free to express yourself in the comments section below.
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Weekly rundown January 26 – 2024
A beefy week to mark the end of January, where progressive and technical extreme metal leads the way. We’re in the thick of it now.
Almost Dead – Destruction Is All We Know
Genre: Groove metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Aggressive, street-hardened groove metal with a thrash directness and some melodeath-leaning melodic sections.
Any Given Day – Limitless
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slick and well-produced modern metalcore with nods to Killswitch Engage and some good punch in those riffs.
Blood Red Throne – Nonagon
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The Norwegian death metallers of Blood Red Throne are back with another ripping riff fest of a heavily groove-leaning record. This time the production is more crisp, and they’ve employed a few tricks from up the sleeve of modern brutal death metal. It feels slightly less organic in that regard, but the blood-boiling rage and all-out headbang-ability is very much still there.
Highlight: “Blade Eulogy”
Byron – Chapter II: The Lotus Covenant
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Doom-toned traditional metal out of Finland, boasting some tasty solos and all round good-sullen vibes.
Caligula’s Horse – Charcoal Grace
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5With the first major prog metal release of the year, Caligula’s Horse bring an expansive and varied soundscape with their signature gentle tone. Certain sections throughout do feel fairly recognizable, and you’re in for several dips in intensity to go on mild-mannered tangents. Whether or not you’re into this, you also get songs that are so unbelievably well crafted from start to finish that you’re left shaking your head in disbelief.
Carnal Savagery – Into The Abysmal Void
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Nasty, oldschool Swedish death metal-sounding stuff that treks along the graveyard doing its own thing.
Cognizance – Phantazein
Genre: Technical/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A tech death outfit that’s come a long way towards establishing a distinct sound within a realm of music where technical proficiency tends to overwhelm other concerns. The instrumental playfulness marries well with the emphasis on groove-laden melody, and while it could have benefited from a couple more notches of drive and forcefulness, it makes for a thoroughly enjoyable listen.
Highlight: “Shadowgraph”
Command – Resver
Genre: Heavy/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A low-fi traditional metal album that leans far into the gloom of gothic and black metal, achieving some of the tragic tone that works so well for Tribulation.
Corax B.M. – Pagana
Genre: Black/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Uncharacteristically well-produced black metal that manages an aura of hopelessness without stripping its sound of all other emotion.
Cosmic Void – Subterranean Rivers
Genre: Doom/black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Earthy, tranquil and ponderous blackened doom metal.
Dipygus – Dipygus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Death metal creeping out of the crypt to grind out its dusty curses to the world.
Dissimulator – Lower Form Resistance
Genre: Technical thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A speedy, aggressive death thrash extravaganza that’s at its best when sticking to dazzling technicality, and not experimenting with spacey progressive variations.
Drowned – Procul His
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Real ominous, doom-laden death metal that feels as unstoppable and rumbly as an earthquake, without the need for exaggerated brutality.
Exocrine – Legend
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Following up their excellent “The Hybrid Suns” from 2022, Exocrine are back to prove that they’re still very much a force to be reckoned with in the tech death realm. Yet again this seems to be an attempt to push the envelope for how many notes it is possible to put out without completely overwhelming the listener, and yet again they succeed in not pushing it too far. Some fun, progressive twists and turns also provide a nice respite every now and then.
Highlights: “Legend” and “By The Light Of The Pyre”
Hiraes – Dormant
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hiraes plays modern, fairly anthemic melodeath very much in the vein of current Arch Enemy, so if you’re into that style, then you’ll dig this. And vice versa.
Hyloxalus – Make Me The Heart Of The Black Hole
Genre: Progressive/power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Offering a refreshing blend of styles, this album feels like a result of the band successfully exploring both what they know and what they like. Operatic vocals lead a solemn-yet-energetic power metal foray into uncharted territory, shifting into different stylistic shapes along the way.
The Infernal Sea – Hellfenlic
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5In the mood for some snarly, in-your-face, slightly tongue in cheek black metal in the vein of witchery? These guys employ a few more classic black metal bells and whistles compared to their Swedish peers, which removes it slightly more from the realm of black ‘n roll, allowing for a deeper, unholy immersion. They strike a remarkably good balance between nihilistic harshness and groove-laden aggression, mostly abstaining from influxes of folk-tinged atmosphere.
Highlights: “Bastard of The East” and “Messenger of God”.
Jenner – Prove Them Wrong
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5An all-female, Serbian heavy metal band that know how to spice tings up with thrashy groove and speed.
Kalt Vindur – Magna Mater
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Heavy, full-bodied black metal that rolls over you like dark tidal waves. The feel is clearly non-Scandinavian, which is a welcome change, and while borrowing many stylistic traits from the like of Behemoth, they very much manage an expression of their own.
Knoll – As Spoken
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Like an incredibly violent nightmare, this album seeks to utterly overwhelm you with hostility and powerful rushes of unease. As relentless as a mad god of the abyss set on tearing our world apart, it leaves you with a feeling of powerlessness, like being crushed into submission by an immense weight.
Luciferian Rites – Oath Of Midnight Ashes
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Cult-y, haunted black metal with howling vocals and a purposefully muddled mix.
Manticora – Mycelium
Genre: Power/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Grandiose, progressive power metal that manages both an epic traditional metal approach as well as more heavy, aggressive symphonic outbursts.
Mega Colossus – Showdown
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Fun, uncomplicated heavy metal for the pure enjoyment of classic riffing and solos.
Metalite – Expedition One
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slightly spacey, electronica-driven, anthemic power metal that will sound massive live.
Olhava – Sacrifice
Genre: Atmospheric black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you like atmosphere, you’re getting an overload of it on this near-hour and a half long album. The rhythm patterns and melodies stretch out, giving the effect of dwelling on the same thoughts and emotions.
Rhun – Conveyance in Death
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A black metal album that employs stark, dissonant bleakness, marching riffs and cold melodies in equal measure to achieve a varied, distinct expression.
Rituals of the Dead Hand – The Wretched and the Vile
Genre: Doom/black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A lead-heavy, doom-paced, blackened death metal album that seems towering in stature.
Stone Horns – Chimaira
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Young and energetic groove metal with some room for maturation as far as songwriting goes.
Stuporous – Asylum’s Lament
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Black metal layered into calm, haunting melodies, where the jarring juxtaposition often feels like a madman’s lament.
Tanin’iver – Dark Evils Desecrate
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Energetic blackened death metal boasting an assortment of strong riffs, although losing some force through the mix.
Vipassi – Lightless
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5As far as modern, technical, instrumental prog metal goes, this is more or less what you’d expect it to sound like, which isn’t to say that it’s not very well made. It feels experimental in an explorative way, and manages the contrast between serene melody and rushes of aggression well.
Vitriol – Suffer & Become
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Vitriol’s latest beast of a progressive death record feels like the unrelenting forces of growth and decay in nature, scaled- and sped up to cataclysmic proportions and unleashed upon the world. Dazzlingly technical and astonishingly forceful, it takes a listener well versed in modern extreme metal to manage the sonic onslaught, but however long it takes for you to grasp onto the details of the controlled chaos, it will be so very worth it. Examples of such a complete package of infernal complexity, raw groove, relentless energy and utter fury are few and far between.
Highlights: “Shame and its Afterbirth” and “Flood of Predation”.
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, do feel free to express yourself in the comments section below.
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Weekly rundown January 19 – 2024
This week gets right in your face to let you know that January means business. Just, wow. Some excellent stuff heading your way.
A/Oratos – Ecclesia Gnostica
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Black metal with a solemn, serious mood and classical melodies. Nothing that particularly stands out, but it’s consistently engaging and suitably dramatic.
Abhoria – Depths
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This one reminds me of Satyricon when they’re at their most angry. Take away some of the black ‘n roll and add a bit of death brutality, and you’re not far off.
Andracca – To Bare The Weight Of Death
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Properly tremolo-driven, murky-production, classic black metal that leans into the tragic guitar tone. It feels ominously mighty at times, but lacks a bit of punch.
Boundless Chaos – Sinister Upheaval
Genre: Blackened thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5How about a slice of blood-dripping, charred, perfectly unpolished thrash that brings the malicious tone of Slayer and slightly unhinged laughing-cadaver-in-your-face attitude of early death metal? The drum and riff work on here is absolutely killer, the vocals sound like ripping dry sinew and you get plenty of enthusiastic solos,
Highlights: “Guillotine” and “Kromer’s Whistle”.
Dark Oath – Ages Of Man
Genre: Symphonic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5On this record, Dark Oath shows you how to let massively epic and rousing, symphonically driven melodies dominate the songwriting without the result being a towering mound of cheese and silliness. The emotion in the tone is thoroughly cinematic, and so if you feel like being swept away by a wave of mythological drama, you should dive into this one.
Highlight: “Bronze I”
Disconnected Souls – Fragments Of Consciousness
Genre: Electronic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mildly disjointed, stylistically ambivalent electronic-driven metal conjuring up a variety of sonic landscapes.
Final Coil – The World We Ineherited
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Oddly dystopian and bleak-feeling prog metal, despite a warm tone and emphasis on ambient, soothing instrumental sections.
Horrorgraphy – A Knight’s Tale
Genre: Symphonic goth/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Darkly theatrical, almost like a gothic opera, but lacking a bit of the flair and stylistic confidence.
Kontact – Full Contact
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s not often I hear a traditional metal project going this spacey and psychedelic without it crossing fully into prog, but here we are. I feels like the band is playing a bit with your expectations, all the while staying firmly within a well defined style realm. Although the tone and vocal style hover on the border of entertaining weirdness, the rhythms and solos counter it, keeping you grounded with their classic timelessness. A bit like early Ghost, really.
Highlights: “Heavy Leather” and “(Return of the) Astral Vampire”.
Lord Dying – Clandestine Transcendence
Genre: Progressive sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album feels like being guided through a dark, turbulent dream by a steady, comforting hand and an omniscient narrator. Balmy bass and gentle, folk-y guitars meet rushes of charging drums, rasping snarls and abyssal riffs, only to straighten out into steadily marching, groove-tinged classic metal sections with a warm, doomy undertone. This is a band with a lot of ideas on their mind, and the ones they were able to cover on here feel expertly realised.
Highlights: “I AM NOTHING I AM EVERYTHING” and “Final Push into the Sun”.
Master – Saints Dispelled
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is classic death metal somewhat reminiscent of Obituary, although spiced up with some lively, at times Motörhead-esque drum work and cheeky thrash riffs. While the instrumental approach is thoroughly old-school, the production is crisp and full, delivering the up-to-no-good tone in a suitably direct fashion.
Highlight: “Find Your Life”.
Ribspreader – Reap Humanity
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Apocalyptic meatgrinder-metal that churns the earth at mid- to low pace, without taking any unexpected turns along the way.
Resin Tomb – Cerebral Purgatory
Genre: Death/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5As a herald of hell’s arrival, this is a violent assault on your eardrums. The band calls it dissonant death metal, which it is to a certain point, but not more than adding an extra layer of hostility to the tone of it all, which is otherwise dark and fairly slow.
The Rods – Rattle The Cage
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Classic, 80s style, fairly arena friendly heavy metal.
Saxon – Hell, Fire And Damnation
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5While you certainly shouldn’t expect any surprises as far as style is concerned, the NWOBHM veterans have delivered an impressively vital and solidly put together album this time. Inventive? No. Well considered and entertaining? Absolutely.
Scarlet Anger – Martyr
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Aggressive, solo happy thrash metal with a Teutonic feel. While it’s got some really tasty riffs, the lack of flow in each song keeps it from being truly engaging.
Sgàile – Traverse the Bealach
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Scottish progressive metal with layers and layers of folk-tinged atmosphere. There’s plenty of heavy riffs and force throughout, but the overall approach still feels more relaxed, and the tone is like an uplifting rush of wind.
Sovereign – Altered Realities
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is extreme metal that makes a point of being challenging to the listener. It’s harsh, at times dissonant and chaotic, with a distinctly old school production, full of speedy thrash riffs and thundering death metal drums.
Upon Stone – Dead Mother Moon
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A fleeting look at the album cover might lead you to believe that this is an epic, slightly silly traditional metal record, but behind the façade lurks a really rather aggressive beast of an old school melodeath banger. There’s plenty on here that brings classic At the Gates to mind, with slow, darkly majestic melodies seeping through the jagged riffs like the cold, ghostly essence of past greatness.
Highlight: “Paradise Failed”
Vemod – The Deepening
Genre: Atmospheric/progressive black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Sometimes a work of music just touches you on a deep level, and it happens much quicker than you think should be possible for something that builds as slowly as this. The sweeping, haunting melodies on “The Deepening” feel as inevitable as the earth’s rotation, and the unmistakable black metal instrumental elements are pushed back to a level where they’re not oppressive, yet still very much defines the stylistic realm in which this album exists. Elements of dark, progressive rock bring nuanced flavor to certain sections along the way, without disturbing the overall flow. If you let this one in, it is sure to linger for a while.
Highlights: “Der guder dør” and “Inn i lysande natt”
Wasp Mother – Digital Pollution (EP)
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Slightly unhinged and lightly humorous grindcore that’s still, at least tonally, a tunnel drill to the eardrums (in a good way). It’s got a very creative progress, and gets a lot done in under 10 minutes.
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, do feel free to express yourself in the comments section below.
The Metal Dispatch 