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Weekly rundown January 12 – 2024
Second release batch of the year is the week of EPs, apparently, with a pair of devastatingly heavy contenders leading the way.
Alluvial – Death Is But A Door (EP)
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A powerful, technically brilliant, yet not overwhelming effort that encompasses most, if not all, of the death metal style realm. It’s impressively tight, and doesn’t mess around too much with immersion-breaking tempo shifts, retaining an awesome, beefy fullness that still allows for detail and melody. A lot of the time it feels like a non-conceptual, or experimental, outcome of Whitechapel meets Rivers of Nihil.
Highlight: “Death Is But A Door”
Cariosus – Will, Until Beauty
Genre: Melodic death metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Technical, semi-melodic death metal touting all the modern bells and whistles and a few rhythm approaches out of deathcore.
Domination Campaign – A Storm Of Steel
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly rhythm-driven death metal with the directness of hardcore evident in each and every song on this album. It’s a pounding, mechanical beast that’s sure to get your blood pumping.
Drown In Sulphur – Dark Secrets Of The Soul
Genre: Blackened deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Unholy, theatrical, symphonically boosted deathcore that outputs just the right amount of force and bravado to ride the balance between heir-raising brutality and infernal melody.
Engulf – The Dying Planet Weeps
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Cold, cynical prog death with precise, accomplished instrumentation and a lean production.
Escuela Grind – Ddeeaaatthhmmeettaall
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5While there are still traces of Esquela Grind’s other stylistic traits on this EP, the overall feel definitely matches the name. It’s rhythmic, grindstone-brutality measured out in a controlled, city-leveling crush. It’s rife with hostility, yet doesn’t need to descend into chaos in order to keep the moshpit going for the entire duration.
Highlight: “Ball and Chain”
The Grandmaster – Black Sun
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Symphonic power metal with an 80s vocal style and early 2000s electronic melodies.
Infant Island – Obsidian Wreath
Genre: Experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is black metal that has dived deep into a mire of heavy, sullen emotion, and stayed for the melancholy, spiritual beauty. It’s forceful, and at times raw and chaotic, but retains that mist of condensed atmosphere throughout.
Iron Front – Hooked
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Properly grotesque, earth-shaking death metal that sounds like it’s using your house piping for percussion.
Mourning Dawn – The Foam Of Despair
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Incorporating harmonious melody and unsettling dissonance in equal measure, and neither overpoweringly so, this is a bleak, blackened doom record, like My Dying Bride but in constant physical pain.
No Terror In The Bang – Heal
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you’re comfortable with prog metal that exists as much in the realm of soothing, ethereal beauty as it does in that of soaring, rhythmic wrath, and several other places in between, then check this out. You get a mostly symphonic style that swings wildly in intensity, and takes side trips into hardcore, pop and industrial metal.
Ryujin – Ryujin
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5You don’t mind your folk metal a little silly as long as it’s also shreddy as hell? And you wouldn’t mind it not being Finnish for once? Ryujin’s got you covered. While Matt Heafy’s all over this, both production and performance wise, the style is definitely enough of a departure that there’s no point getting hung up on it. It both dips into both ballad-y power metal and roars into thrashy melodeath, which makes for delightful variation rather than anything immersion-breaking.
Splitknuckle – Breathing Through The Wound
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is white-knuckle, shaking-with-fury tension from beginning to end. It’s blunt force trauma over finesse, but the band clearly doesn’t mind working some groove into those rhythms. It’s also a solid step above your typical, super-efficient sub-30 minute affair in terms of runtime, working in enough substance and variation to keep it interesting for over 40.
Highlight: “Gutter Thoughts”.
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 05 – 2024
Let’s start the year with whatever dares to creep out from under the crumpled heap of 2023.
Axicator – ‘Til Thrash Do Us Part
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow thrash with a dark heavy metal edge and the reverb turned way up.
Almucantarat – Weightlessness
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slow going black metal with soothing, harmonious melodies and a bit of symphonic power.
Ashes of Abaddon – The Hellbringers
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Chugging thrash with some melodeath heaviness.
At the Plates – Omnivore
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Given the name and the self-proclaimed “culinary death metal” style, you might go into this expecting all kinds of silliness, but it’s in fact a solidly crafted, moderately progressive and melodic death metal album with some real standout moments.
Blistering Tree – Somewhere Within
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Mellow doom with mild stoner vibes and smoooth fuzz.
Caroozer – The Brewtal Truth
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sludgy vocals, heavy metal melodies and some psychedelic flair define this groove metal album.
Child Cemetery – Rebirthed Revived Rekilled
Genre: Death metal/goregrind
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ultra heavy, but still manageable goregrind that clearly revels in the nasty.
Darkcluster – Stellar Tomb
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Space-headed and thrashy black metal with an experimental mindset.
Forbidden Alchemy – From Within
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Intensely aggressive and heavy, this throws a lot at you at once, but does so with precision.
Fragments of Lost Memories – Yakosoku
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Riff-focused, Japanese doom slowed nearly all the way down to funeral pace.
Gray State – Under the Wheels of Progress
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A good balance of aggression and groove, as well as some proudly showcased guitar chops, prevail on this metallic hardcore record.
Haunter – Tales of the Seven Seas
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slightly groovy, rock ‘n roll-riffed traditional metal with a fantastical flair.
Insade – Human Obsession
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Crushing death metal with a light experimental edge, which serves to up the savagery.
Karnivortex – Waterwitch
Genre: Black/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Thrashy black metal with a dystopian, purposefully artificial atmosphere.
Køldbrynger – Totenblut
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Very raw, unhinged black metal that’s looking to give you nightmares.
Lair – The Hidden Shiv
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Distinctly unpleasant, crawling forward one heavy riff at a time, this is a bruiser from beyond the grave.
Massecutor – Conceptual Visions
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Retro death metal all the way, from attitude to production. Nailing the style, but not terribly memorable.
Narbeleth – A Pale Crown
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5While by no means unique in the world of traditional-leaning black metal, this one manages a very convincing balance between tragic, icy melody, and gritted-teeth contempt.
Nimetön Hauta – Pimeyteen laskee joki
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5On this Finnish atmospheric record, the black metal plays second fiddle to sweeping, lamenting melodies that feel like the forces of nature in a muted northern landscape. While certainly not far removed, the style never really crosses into folk. It’s suitably somber, but still evocative.
Highlight: “Kerran syntyneen, maaksi maatuneen”
Panzerwar – Pale Whispers of a Writhing Moon
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If pure, tradition-honoring, old-school black metal is what you’re after, this hits all the important spots.
Revisal – Curtain Call
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5An enticing mix of vivacious technicality and lofty melody, this tech death project is somewhat let down by a poor production.
Roswell Deathsquad – Welcome Home
Genre: Metalcore/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Aggressive metalcore with technical ambitions, lacking a bit in execution but smelling of potential.
Sabrum Tabal Jiin
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Grand, yet technical symphonic metal with an engaging, energetic power metal backbone and prog aspirations.
Schwarzer Engel – Träume einer Nacht
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5By-the-numbers, gothic tinged arena metal.
Shamael – Il suono di mille orchestre parte II
Genre: Funeral doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is proper funeral doom, transition between tortured, abyssal agony and ethereal nihilism.
Soggoth – Emerge
Genre: Atmospheric black/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5A slightly odd mix of thrashy death riffs and foggy black metal atmosphere.
Stac Pollaidh – The Plight of the People
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hope-withering, bleak atmospheric black metal that sounds like it’s trying to wring the life from an already dead tree.
Svdestada – Candela
Genre: Blackened hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Impressively tight and focused, this is blackened fury with a real sense of urgency, managing to sound direct and expansive simultaneously. You get seven clearly distinguishable songs that make the absolute most of their runtime.
Temporal Driver – A Treatise of Sorcery: The Definitive Guide to Mysticism in Magic
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Doom tone all the way, with nice, crunchy riffs and some fresh rock groove evenly distributed throughout.
Vessalius – A Lesson in Life (To the Stars)
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5While it doesn’t have the greatest mix, this one showcases an interesting approach to modern, symphonic folk and black metal aggression.
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 August 25 – 2023
A standout week for extreme metal, as we’ve got a plethora of stellar death-, black- and hash thrash metal released upon the world.
Asking Alexandria – Where Do We Go From Here?
Genre: Pop metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Immaculately produced, catchy and well-performed metalcore with strong pop and electronica leanings.
Asphodelus – Sculpting From Time
Genre: Avant-garde doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sullen, alternative-sounding doom draped in disharmonious tragedy.
Atoll – Human Extract
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Morbid, bloodthirsty stuff with elements of brutal death metal, but doing it in a more classic, manageable style.
Augurium – Unearthly Will
Genre: Symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Spooky-toned symphonic death metal that feels like metalcore beneath the brutal-melodic surface.
Blut Aus Nord – Disharmonium – Nahab
Genre: Black/avant-garde metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The machinations of chaos are on naked display on this one, pumping dissonant waves of oily madness through your speakers. Blut Aus Nord yet again delivers pure nightmare fuel, but with a distinct, all-enveloping gloom this time. There is no light on the horizon, only a perpetual descent into various forms of half-organic, half-industrial horror.
Highlight: “The Endless Multitude”
Celestial Sanctuary – Insatiable Thirst for Torment
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This is death metal with an old school kind of tone and production, but an evolved ferocity and sense of instrumental creativity. Whether flirting with thrash, speed, doom or melodeath, the band’s intentions for an overall sound to the album shine through as clear as day. There’s hardly a single part that sounds conventional or low effort, and you get both groove and crypt-dust brutality in spades.
Highlights: “Biomineralization (Cell Death)” and “The Lurid Glow of a Dead, Burning Body”
Colony Drop – Brace For Impact
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A cool meld of old school, rowdy thrash and punky hardcore that ignites a energetic sense of a good time.
Dethklok – Dethalbum IV
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Dethklok (aka. Brendon Small) returns with more delicious death metal ear food consisting of catchy riffs and tight drum- and solo work. It’s thoroughly enjoyable.
Exmortus – Necrophony
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Here’s a good slice of adventurous thrash with a mean, raspy edge. Virtuosic, almost neoclassical playing, lofty, classic-metal-style melodic work, and an appetite for speed boosting tasty riffs and precise drum work. The harsh vocal style fits it all quite well, contributing a whiff of tech death, but in essence this is an album for the thrash and traditional heavy metal enthusiast.
Highlights: “Oathbreaker” and “Storm of Strings”
Grand Cadaver – Deities Of Deathlike Sleep
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Mikael Stanne and his gang of (mostly) non-melodic death metallers are back with more serrated riffs and grooves, and it doesn’t disappoint. Solid, if not outstanding.
GraveRipper – Seasons Dreaming Death
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Like the grim reaper riding a Mad Max-style monster truck, this is all adrenaline-pumping, high speed, killer riffage with an aftertaste of nihilism. Sure, it’s a s aggressive and rowdy as you might expect, with all the right tonal ingredients, but also with the entertainment factor turned way up. In short: It’s killer!
Highlights: “Into the Grave” and “Resist Against the Light”.
Heimdall – Hephaestus
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you ignore the fact that a band named after a Norse deity made an album named after an ancient Greek deity, this is pretty fun and well-performed stuff.
Marc Hudson – Starbound Stories
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bright, Anime intro song-inspired (I’m pretty sure) power metal with speedy drum and synth work from the Dragonforce frontman.
Incantation – Unholy Deification
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If crushing, old school, doom-laden death metal is your thing you know that these guys have you covered. There’s both punishment and reward aplenty in the mix of dragging, abyssal heaviness and rhythmic, menacing riff work. No one part overstays its welcome, and the balance of disharmony and systematic pounding is very well realized.
Highlights: “Chalice (Vessel Consanguineous) VIII” and “Convulse (Words of Power) III”
Kallias – First Ascent
Genre: Progressive/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Highly proficient technically-driven progressive metal with a moderate tech death presence. It’s a bit unfocused, but has several really strong songs.
Knife – Heaven Into Dust
Genre: Speed/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Yet another solid release from these German speed metallers, although even if the ferocity is there most all of the way, the “speed” part is not quite as prevalent, giving way to their classic heavy metal and mid-tempo thrash side.
Lepra – Devil’s Blood in Her Tongue
Genre: Black/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A promising first full length from a band experimenting with dissonant, gothic atmosphere lashing out with black metal harshness.
Lions At The Gate – The Excuses We Cannot Make
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Delivering some early punches with heavy, nu-metal riffs, this quickly descends into pop-oriented, well-trodden, alt-rock-like territory.
MDMA – Organic
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Brutal, tight-rhythm death metal played at such a non-varied pace that it’s hard to distinguish one song from another.
Meurtrières – Ronde de Nuit
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Low-key, medieval-styled heavy metal with distinctly atonal female lyrics.
Monasteries – Ominous
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Percussive, technical, odd-rhythmed deathcore that’s mostly devoid of melody in favor of an all-out slam and breakdown factor.
Nixil – From The Wound Spilled Forth Fire
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dark, writhing black metal that reaches out from a perpetual gloom.
Noveria – The Gates Of The Underworld
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Grand, yet technical symphonic metal with an engaging, energetic power metal backbone and prog aspirations.
Orphalis – As The Ashes Settle
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mostly settling with a modern death metal pace, there’s still plenty of instrumental sidesteps, varied tone and light experimentation to earn the tech death mantle.
Shepherds Reign – Ala Mai
Genre: Heavy/groove/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Sheperds Reign strikes back with what feels like strong step in the direction of full musical maturity, mixing heavy metal melody with thrash and groove riffs, and, of course, a good dose of Polynesian traditional elements, which fits their style very well.
Sinheresy – Event Horizon
Genre: Heavy/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Catchy, well-performed symphonic metal with heavy metal and hard rock energy.
Tegmentum – Evolvement
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Tech death striking out on indiscriminate, prog-led detours into the cosmic void, delivering potent aggression, yet not quite landing a tonal or melodic cohesion.
Till The Dirt – Outside The Spiral
Genre: Death metal/grunge
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A strong influx of grunge and prog elements makes this death metal project stand out from the masses, even as it proves to be the strongest when leaning on classic rhythms and groove-oriented death riffs.
U.D.O. – Touchdown
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Whoa! I did not expect U.D.O. to sound this reinviogorated. Going in with lukewarm expectations, this proved to be a solid good time. If only the whole album could be as energetic as the title track (and have an actually decent album cover), this would be truly great.
The Unity – The Hellish Joyride
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic melodic power metal with lots of heavy metal feelgood vibes. But guys, don’t call your song “masterpiece”, unless it’s some sort of joke.
Vision Master – Sceptre
Genre: Heavy/speed metal/punk
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Powered by a distinctly punk “whatever goes” kind of attitude, this band pumps out barebones heavy metal that’s loaded with elements of speed, thrash and black metal. It’s weird and surprisingly cohesive.
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 August 18 – 2023
A bountiful week favoring more extreme or dark lean-ins to classic heavy metal.
After Earth – The Rarity Of Reason
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you enjoy the direction that In Flames and Dark Tranquillity were taking in the early 2000s, then you should pay attention. This album feels like a slight modernization of that mid-life Swedish melodeath style, without selling out to trends or toning anything down. You get ultra-heavy riffs, classic death metal vocals and lots of dark, doom-laden melody, without sacrificing the momentum.
Highlights: “Undermine My Suffocation” and “Legions”.
Blight House – Blight the Way
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A weird, abrasive, disharmonic, yet kind of laid back death metal/grindcore album with a strong horror theme.
Cales – Chants Of Steel
Genre: Melodic black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5While certainly on the track of an attractive mix of black metal sharpness and the epic scale of folk and heavy metal, the composition is a bit too messy to fully enjoy on this one.
Cyhra – The Vertigo Trigger
Genre: Pop metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5At times catchy riffs, but they let themselves get utterly bogged down with primary shool rhyme lyrics and sappy ballads.
Fall Of The Albatross – Rite
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Like free form jazz, this is technically mezmerising, but feels like too much of a jam session to get a good grip on for the average metalhead.
Godthrymm – Distortions
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Heavy and deep, with a contemplative and grand approach to melody, this is doom that conveys a wide spectrum of dark emotion.
Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This is one of those “why not both”-type albums where an eclectic combination of flavors really hits the sweet spot. Grindcore-style mad vocals, chugging thrash riffs and grooves, heavy prog rhythms, a threatening death metal tone and plenty of light-footed classic heavy metal playful melodic work. How the hell does it all fit together? Who but Horrendous knows. On top of it all, there’s an organic structure and pace to the album that makes it an experience that keeps pulling you in and demanding your attention, while dealing out the insane genius in manageable portions.
Highlights: “Ontological Mysterium” and “The Death Knell Ringeth”.
Invultation – Feral Legion
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A menacing, at times overwhelming blackened death metal album that pummels you with landslide rhythms and a pitch black tone.
Nocte Obducta – Karwoche
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Classic black metal treated with a contemplative, doom-laden atmosphere and traces of traditional folk music.
Nott – Hiraeth
Genre: Deathcore/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Hellishly heavy, unleashing all the power of modern death metal and deathcore, but slowed down to the crushing pace of a titanic atlas stone rolling across the earth an flattening all in its path.
Orbit Culture – Descent
Genre: Melodic death/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Orbit Culture have grown into a bit of a beast in the last few years, as they really hit their stride with 2020’s Nija, and the rampage continues unabated on this one. It feels a bit more refined, but you still get the same slamming riffs, rhythmic vocal delivery and dark, booming melodies. It doesn’t necessarily feel fresh, but certainly loaded with energy and confidence.
Highlight: “Alienated”.
OXX – The Primordial Blues
Genre: Experimental metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Enjoy being treated as a ragdoll in the hands of a cocaine-aided performance artist? It this album gets you, it’s not gonna let go. The rhythms are the mad intricate kind you’d expect from mathcore, but fleshed out with genuine depth, purpose and atmosphere. Adding the gut-punch of sludge brutality, the combination hits with quite unexpected potency.
Highlights: “The Song of the Rivers” and “The Hypostasis”
Ringworm – Seeing Through Fire
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rage! In copious quantities. Ringworm is back with more scorched, thrash-riffed metallic hardcore. It might just be me, but their death metal side seems to show a bit more than usual as well. It’s relentless, super aggressive, but allowing for some wicked solo work as well. If you’re looking for moshpit material, look no further. I’d book a dentist appointment for after, just in case.
Highlights: “No Solace, No Quarter, No Mercy” and “Thought Crimes”.
Sanguine Glacialis – Maladaptive Daydreaming
Genre: Symphonic gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5As grand as you might expect from symphonic gothic metal, with some real punch from heavy riffs, and bite from black metal vocal snarls.
Skálmöld- Ýdalir
Genre: Folk/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A highly successful marriage of classic heavy metal rhythms, riff styles and tempo with the epic tones and battle-ready force of Nordic folk metal. This is not one of those tavern-stompers that’s all sing-along choruses and chant-ready melodies though. The band has taken its concept seriously and poured real effort into crafting something solid that works perfectly well beyond the beer-drenched fields of summer festivals.
Highlights: “Veðurfölnir” and “Ýdalir”.
Spirit Adrift – Ghost At The Gallows
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Once the classic/doom metal meld is done right, it can invoke so much of what is great outside the extreme metal sphere. You get the heavy, yet eager riffs, dark tones creating the perfect backdrop for groovy-yet-measured solo work, and the creative space to move between solemn reveries to up-tempo, triumphant highs. All of that rings true for Spirit Adrift’s newest offering. Everything works together to create a warm, punchy sound that both rocks and tickles the mind.
Highlights: “Barn Burner” and “Siren of the South”.
Unblessed Divine – Portal To Darkness
Genre: Atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Death metal that seems to strive to break into some doomy, atmospheric realm using brute force.
Warmen – Here Are None
Genre: Power/death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you wondered where the sundered remains of Children of Bodom’s spirit might have drifted off to, the answer is here. This is all power metal melodies, catchy riffs and adventurous solos.
Worm Shepherd – The Sleeping Sun
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Deathcore doesn’t get much more grandiose than this, with a mix of towering doom, gurgling brutal death metal and slamming, dissonant riffs.
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 August 11 – 2023
Raw, inexhaustible aggression fuels the top outputs of this week, spearheading an assault that’s followed up with more heavy, yet slightly more complex, hitters.
Claret Ash – Worldtorn: Anemoia
Genre: Progressive black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A short, mixed release of dark, progressive black metal offering some good ideas with simply okay execution.
Cystic – Palace of Shadows
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Low-fi, dungeon-dwelling death metal with a real pronounced drum sound and a doom-like approach to atmosphere.
Hemina – Romancing the Ether
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Essentially a one-song album divided into 6 parts, this is dreamy, soothing, melody and synth-heavy prog for those wishing to delve deep.
Kataklysm – Goliath
Genre: Groove/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you though Kataklysm sounded unusually angry and djenty on their last record, then you ain’t heard nothing yet. From the very first song, this album sounds like a scarred, chain-wrapped fist shaking with poorly contained fury. The over-distortion does drown out a lot of the guitar tone, but not all, so the grooves remain intact, although somewhat muted. It’s not exactly what you’d call innovative, but sounds potent and purposeful, and keeps bringing the heavy every step of the way.
Highlights: “Bringer of Vengeance” and “The Redeemer”.
Kind – Close Encounters
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5With more than a hint of Stone Temple Pilots, this is southern rock-stoner with doom metal heaviness and a sense of catchy melody that isn’t utilized quite enough.
Lancer – Tempest
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Tonally strong and riff-happy classic power metal that comes up short on melodic harmony, especially in the instrumental-vocal meld.
Megaherz – In Teufels Namen
Genre: Industrial/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Coated in a crusty veneer of Neue Deutsche Härte-riffs and alternatve grittiness, this is really mostly ballad-heavy, empty-calorie party metal.
Mycorrhizae – The Great Filtration
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Slightly hypnotic, heavily muted and bass-pronounced black metal that’s surprisingly big on intensity. It borrows tones from brighter and more artsy corners of the musical spectrum, but keeps pummeling you relentlessly with staccato drumming and tremolo. And yet, it feels organic in a single-minded sort of fashion, slightly tweaking its progress at every step but always moving towards the same goal.
Highlight: “Strength in Space”.
Nox Eternus – Eternal Night
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavily muted, sinister blackened death metal that might be a bit too caught up on old school-genre convention for their own good.
The Rite – The Astral Gloom
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Doomy black metal caught somewhere in between Tribulation and Witchery, but strongly toned down.
Silverburn – Self Induced Transcendental Annihilation
Genre: Sludge metal/mathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Jagged, hardcore-powered sludge that leans into the choppy, hostile prog-style of mathcore, without touching any of the metalcore elements.
Urne – A Feast On Sorrow
Genre: Sludge/thrash metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Taking all the best parts of sludge, thrash and metalcore and joining them in something that also leaves room for band personality feels like quite a feat, and yet it has materialized in this album. At its most serious this is laden with doom- and black metal moroseness, but the meat of the thing is is engaging riffs and mature melodies. It has a little bit of everything, and yet succeeds in collecting into a coherent output.
Highlights: “Becoming the Ocean” and “The Long Goodbye/Where Do the Memories Go?”
Werewolves – My Enemies Look And Sound Like Me
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5The fourth flesh-rending, high-tempo, ultra-aggressive output from these Australian gents in as many years, putting many of their peers to shame with the consistent quality. At some point you will realize that there’s actually quite a bit of black metal sharpness in there, but as a blade in the hands of a ravenous madman, it becomes but an effective tool for the delivery of ferocious, violent punishment. You get both brutality and groove-driven riffs in heaps, proving that these guys’ appetite for morbid bad-assery isn’t close to being sated.
Highlights: “Bring To Me The Kill” and “My Enemies Look And Sound Like Me”.
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 August 04 – 2023
A shorth but sweet, death-metal leaning week that’s as faithful to the fashion of today as it is to the class of the past.
An Autumn For Crippled Children – Closure
Genre: Black metal/shoegaze
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An odd but interesting juxtaposition of depressing black metal and mildly positive indie pop/rock vibes.
Besta – Terra Em Desapego
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Fast paced, dirty and wicked death thrash with traces of grindcore.
The Crawling – All Of This For Nothing
Genre: Blackened death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Crisp and heavy death doom with a strong, nihilistic black metal influence.
Crypta – Shades Of Sorrow
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A focused and well realized vision for a distinct death metal sound prevails on Crypta’s sophomore album. It borrows a bit from thrash and groove, and some from the more aggressive types of melodeath, but not enough to call it a genre hybrid. They keep the intensity up nicely all the way through, even with some interludes, but it’s not as varied as I might have hoped for.
Highlight: “Trial of Traitors”
Dun Ringill – 150-Where The Old Gods Play-Act 1
Genre: Folk/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dark but melodic folk album slowed down to a doom tempo. Distinct, but slightly messily realized.
Eminentia Tenebris – Rise of a New Kingdom
Genre: Melodic/atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sweeping, cold, but also fervent melodic black metal.
Hallucinate – From the Bowels Of The Earth
Genre: Avant-garde death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is death metal that allows for an influx of doomy atmosphere, as well as heading into completely new, genre-unrelated territories.
Humanity’s Last Breath – Ashen
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Looming, ominous, apocalyptic deathcore that packs a lot of meat around a skeleton of fairly conventional, djent-percussive breakdown-iness. Intent listeners will find death doom, black metal and other nuances, aside from a dark, symphonic grandeur.
Highlight: “Passage”.
Icon Of Sin – Legends
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some sweet guitar solos and classic power metal feel aside, this feels a bit too much like a rehash of the more well-worn elements of traditional metal.
Körgull The Exterminator – Built To Kill
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This one loses a few points on some off-putting rhythm work, but otherwise it’s spirited and on point tonally.
Repentance – The Process Of Human Demise
Genre: Groove metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A straight, high energy pleaser of a groove-focused metalcore album, reinventing no wheels but burning plenty of rubber.
The Shredderz – The Shredderz
Genre: Shred/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Apart from awesome thrash- and heavy style shreds this is honestly pretty bland and weakly composed.
Skindred – Smile
Genre: Nu metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Wait, you’re telling me I wasn’t just magically transported back to 2005? Could’ve fooled me. Not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing.
Temple of Dread – Beyond Acheron
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is rock solid old school death metal riding a wave of classic, brutal melodeath atmosphere. Which allows for some actual guitar solos, and yes, they’re great. The songs smoothly flex up and down from mid- to high tempo, and it’s all pitched for just the right amount of menace, while still allowing for a measure of grandeur in the more doom-leaning sections. It’s a consistently enjoyable affair.
Highlights: “Asebeia” and “The Plague”.
Tumulation – Haunted Funeral Creations
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavy, ominous death doom that makes a lot of the slow, threatening tempo, but perhaps not enough.
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 July 28 – 2023
A good week for prog, although of the heavy, aggressive and groove-laden kind, and ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Alghol – Night Eternal
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Aggressive black metal with a darkly tribal twist. Not an immaculately realized concept, but still with a clear shade of originality to it.
Arch Blade – Kill The Witch
Genre: Heavy/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Heavy metal with apparent Pantera-like aspirations, but going more in the direction of Avenged Sevenfold.
Astralborne – Across The Aeons
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Strong nods to the original Gothenburg sound is no uncommon thing on melodeath records. This one takes the extra step of including an In Flames cover.
Atonement – Sadistic Invaders
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Full throttle demonic thrash that aspires to that unpolished sound of the 80s underground.
Black Sorcery – Deciphering Torment Through Malediction
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Black metal that could be characterized as noise metal just from the level of low-fi in the production.
Black Spell – Walpurgis Night
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Occult-leaning doom smothered by fuzz, crawling forward on a train of stoner groove.
Eave – Fervor
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Black metal stuck in a mire of hopelessness, utilizing typical instrumentation and a disharmonious array of atmospheric effects.
Eternal Rot – Moribound
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An album that moves with the slow and inevitable purpose of decay, spreading rot and disease as it goes. Gurgling maledictions (the vocalist sounds like an actual living corpse) and slugging out riffs like the rumble of an earthquake, this has both the brutality and morbid groove that you crave from good death doom.
Highlights: “Summoned From Moribund Delusions” and “Desecrated Guts”.
Fleshvessel – Yearning: Promethean Fate Sealed
Genre: Experimental black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Utterly unhinged, this is blackened death metal that sounds heavily influenced by surrealism, completely embracing its more disturbing side.
The Glorious Dead – Cemetery Paths
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Furious, badass death metal charging head first into the fray, taking a few, unexperienced tumbles along the way.
The Gorge – Mechanical Fiction
Genre: Progressive/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is spikes-out, heavy prog metal slamming slug roars and lethal doom riffs into your eardrums with no intention of apologizing for the damage caused. There are parts when you think they’re about to drift off into more delicate, Leprous-like territory, but the next explosion of furious drums and harsh vocals greet you around the corner instead. Awesomely technical, and yet strutting with groove, it feels like a real knuckleduster on the prog scene.
Highlights: “Beneath the Crust” and “Presence”.
Hooker Spit – Krötch Splitter
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Built on a foundation of fast, banger-friendly riffs, this project marries groove-laden thrash with old school death metal and a hint of melodeath to great effect.
James Rivera’s Metal Wave – New Wave Gone Metal
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5Whatever this is supposed to be, it sounds barely alive, and not on the mend, which is probably for the best.
Lokust – Infidel
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Technical, aggressive thrash with strong notes of metalcore.
Lowlife – Leader Of A New Generation
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5Slightly clunky, riff-meaty hardcore.
Machinations of Fate – Celestial Prophecies
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5What could very well be the beginning og a riff-happy, sinister toned, blackened melodeath band.
Marble Orchard – Building Monuments to Misery
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Dark, occult-leaning doom that has just the right atmosphere, just lacking a clear purpose and some production tweaks.
Mutoid Man – Mutants
Genre: Progressive/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5You don’t really expect heavy, psychedelic stoner given a thorough progressive treatment to sound quite like this, which just proves the band’s strong stylistic capabilities. The flavor of the thing is not crazily varied, rather a more uniform thing that ties everything together, no matter the technical direction each song takes. It’s a blend of exciting rhythms, awesome guitar grooves and an outstanding vocal performance.
Highlights: “Graveyard Love” and “Demons”.
Nuclear Power Trio – Wet Ass Plutonium
Genre: Shred/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Another instrumental shred album from the trio that’ll have any tech nerd slipping into a blissful coma.
Organ Dealer – The Weight of Being
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A lawnmower-to-the-face kind of grindcore experience, with some impressive drum work.
Panzerchrist – Last Of A Kind
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Oppressive blackened death metal that treads an over-traveled path.
Porta Nigra – Weltende
Genre: Black/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Combative, rhythmic black metal that’s filled with conviction and demonstrating a surprising amount of depth. Relentless, riff-driven assaults and harsh, blackened outbursts of hate are interspersed with doomy, atmospheric dips into contemplative melodic sections, and it all makes for a compelling whole.
Highlights: “Götterblut” and “Hora Mortis”.
Sevendust – Truth Killer
Genre: Alternative/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Clean, comfortable, with some heavy grooves and excellent vocals. All as it should be, but nothing more.
Sign Of The Swarm – Amongst The Low & Empty
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Percussive, frenetic and ridiculously aggressive, this will probably please tech death fans as much as deathcore ones.
Spellsword – Night Of The Grail
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you liked Nite’s latest album but wished they would lean more into the black metal side, then this comes as ordered. It’s got much of the same epic feel, and somehow feels even more like a long storytelling session, without getting silly or needing to resort to spoken word-sections. You get sharp vocals, tremolo and blast beats, but also catchy riffs and strong, classic heavy metal melodies.
Highlights: “Night of the Grail” and “Castle Montsalvat”.
Starer – Wind, Breeze, or Breath
Genre: Atmospheric/symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is big, symphonic-tinged black metal that never gets overly bold or outlandish, keeping it nice and tonally uniform.
The Sun’s Journey Through the Night – Worldless
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bleak black metal with gothic and atmospheric tendencies. At its best when putting the full drama on display.
TakaLaiton – Mindfection
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This one has a lot of that Alexi Laiho wildchild-energy that made COB so much fun. Makes me sad to think about it. But the music is anything but sad.
Thra – Forged in Chaotic Spew
Genre: Death/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is some corrosive-ass shit. Like a machinery running on pure sludge, clogged up with oily filth and battery acid.
Vinsta – Freiweitn
Genre: Folk/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is highly melodic and folk-infused death metal that takes a few prog twists and turns, which feels more like an instrumental flex than something that fully served the album, but it’s still quite good.
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 July 21 – 2023
This small batch week is packed with death metal both fast, filthy and clever.
Ageless Summoning – Corrupting The Entempled Plane
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Death metal seeped in abyssal atmosphere, chugging along at a doomy pace. Husky but with a full sound.
Ancestral Blood – Forgotten Myths and Legends – Chapter 1
Genre: Atmospheric/symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of approaches, this takes a classic technical approach to black metal and adds epic, sometimes somber melodies and a few electronic bells and whistles to elevate it beyond something not quite fully realised.
Johnny Booth – Moments Elsewhere
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A heavy, slick hardcore record leaning into typical metalcore-style melodic choruses but also slamming, dissonant riffing that would feel at home in any deathcore project.
Cadaver – The Age Of The Offended
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Sure, this is ragged death metal to the core, but it dons a host of different attires on top of that. The playful rhythms and sharp, choppy vocal style is reminiscent of recent Carcass, then all of a sudden they’ll fire off some raw groove not unlike Devil Driver, and on certain tracks they’re almost full out classic heavy metal with a bit of extra punching power. It’s full of surprises and keeps up the consistent quality all the way through.
Highlights: “Scum Of The Earth” and “Deadly Metal”.
Cultist – Slow Suicide
Genre: Deathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Heavy, heavy, heavy riffs. And breakdowns. If you just want to headbang through some concrete, then this will serve nicely as inspiration.
Feuerschwanz- Fegefeuer
Genre: Folk/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A serious mood booster of a folk festival anthem collection, with simplistic melodies and vocals ushered on by enthusiastic riffs.
Mizmor – Prosaic
Genre: Black/sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A deep dive into misery, this is a thoroughly bleak and negative experience, using sludge coarseness and black metal stark melancholy to push through a mire of sullen atmosphere.
Nuclear Winter – Seagrave
Genre: Melodic/industrial death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Heavy riffs and occasionally quite engaging melodies slightly let down by rudimentary rhythms.
Outer Heaven – Infinite Psychic Depths
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A kind of barebones feeling death metal output. Despite the rough edges and slightly stripped down shape of everything, this isn’t really a retro thing, working in plenty of heft in the crunchy riffs and getting good and guttural with the vocals. Everything feels very to-the-point and intentional, laying bare the purpose of every single instrument. And it works impressively well. The thing oozes menace and wicked groove.
Highlights: “Pallasite Chambers” and “Unspeakable Aura”.
Rannoch – Conflagrations
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Utilizing precise, rapid riffs with plenty of punch and a nuanced melodic approach, the only thing this progressive death metal album lacks is a few more fresh ideas.
Somnuri – Desiderium
Genre: Sludge/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Thanks in large part to the vocal style, there is a certain Soundgarden feel to this record, only far more riff-oriented, and quite a bit heavier, a bit like a less experimental Mastodon that got a good sniff of grunge and stoner. There’s a satisfying balance between heavy, driving grooves and progressive tangents, with a strong unifying tone.
Highlights: “Paramnesia” and “Flesh & Blood”.
Thunder Horse – After The Fall
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Old school doom with plenty of groove and fuzz, but a crisp production and a penchant for classic metal and hard rock riffs and solos.
Velvet Viper – Nothing Compares To Metal
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slightly clunky genre-appreciating classic metal that gets lost in the crowd.
The Zenith Passage – Datalysium
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This one will tickle your brain. and delight your inner retro cyberpunk. Conquering the urge to bombard the listener with a constant, unrestrained landslide of instrumental frenzy, this feels unusually focused and purposeful for a tech death album. The frantic guitars, although challenging to follow, are trying to lead you somewhere, rewarding you with well-realized, synth-driven melodic passages and constantly teasing you with cheeky tempo changes.
Highlights: “Divinertia II” and “Algorithmic Salvation”.
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 July 14 – 2023
This week we see a clash of light and dark, with strong forces bearing the banners of prog and retro meeting the shadowy legions of death and doom on the battlefield.
Ascend The Helix – Spiral Of Reflection
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A sound that tries to balance the dissonant aggression of djent and a dreamy, spacey atmosphere. The technique is good even as the result feels a bit hollow.
Auralayer – Thousand Petals
Genre: Progressive doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This is one of those where, halfway through the first song, you think that they can’t possibly keep up this level of fun throughout the whole thing. And yet, these guys have managed to do just that. Endless guitar shenanigans, incurably restless rhythm work, with a generous coating of vintage psychedelia. It’s not stupidly heavy, but makes up for it with that tangible thickness that you get with well-layered doom.
Highlights: “Monstrum” and “Faith To Reason”
Calligram – Position | Momentum
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A black metal album with both atmospheric and more straight up savage qualities, as it dips into deep pools of sadness as well as chugging along with the momentum of an icebreaker.
Cavern Deep – Breach
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slow, patient doom with the slight, fuzzy crackle of stoner tastefully fraying its edges.
Cel Damage – No Volume
Genre: Experimental grindcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Frantic and slightly schizophrenic grind-strength hardcore that’s intent on nailing its message to the backside of your skull by way of the front side.
Chamber – A Love To Kill For
Genre: Mathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Get ready for an onslaught of chug-loving, math-crunching metalcore with a piercing lead shrill that sounds like a hummingbird-operated dentist’s drill. The impact gets slightly diluted through repetition, but the energy lasts all the way through, and there are no unnecessary dips into momentum-killing melody.
Constant Hell – Constant Hell
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5There’s a point where brutality and rawness piles up to such a degree that it simply becomes impenetrable.
Crown Magnetar – Everything Bleeds
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Utterly percussion-oriented, dissonant deathcore that scores sky-high on technical brutality but to anyone not on the hype train can feel like a tedious train ride from one breakdown to the next.
A Dark Halo – Omnibus One
Genre: Progressive/melodic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sci-fi-tinged, heavily melodic and mildly progressive metal, it has some strong melody lines, but gets a little lost in an ocean of similar-sounding projects.
Deitus – Irreversible
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5No-fuss blackened death metal that pulls a fair bit from old school melodeath, and a small measure of Slayer-like thrash as well. This is not a deep, thoughtful or doomy affair, and even though there are parts giving into atmosphere, it’s at its most impactful when eagerly rushing into the next evil riff.
Highlights: “A Scar For Serenity” and “Straight For Your Throat”.
Desekryptor – Vortex Oblivion
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Scary, noisy death metal that rumbles up from some canyon of the damned. It’s got some nice, squealy guitar work and menacing melody work when it slows down a little.
Eleine – We Shall Remain
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Powerful, dark symphonic metal that borrows more than a little bit from Swedish melodeath. The melodies won’t exactly wow you with their originality, but they’re solidly integrated with the songs.
End Reign – The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay
Genre: Metallic hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Intensely metallic hardcore that draws from both black, death and thrash metal into an explosive and surprisingly varied start to the album, which unfortunately falters a bit from the middle onwards.
Evile – The Unknown
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Evile steps firmly on the brakes on this one, to bring you mostly mid-to-low tempo grooves with some nice wicked solos attached. I’ve seen the Black Album comparison being made for this, and it’s not unfair. I’d even go as far as bringing Load/Reload into the vibe chart.
Exsanguination – Burial Rites
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A chugging express train ride of stylistically ultra-confident, crisp old school blackened death metal. There are clear nods to the classic Swedish death metal sound, and at its best this stuff is right up there. At a 22 min 30 sec runtime you’ll want to replay it immediately, possibly several times.
Highlights: “Coffin Dweller” and “The Pleasure To End All Pleasures”.
Inhumed – Feasted Upon Like Carrion (EP)
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A rager of a brutal melodeath EP that brings to mind early Amon Amarth, but throwing out the epic storytelling in favor of bloody morbidity. There’s plenty to get excited for, as they display a surprisingly wide range of instrumental approaches, leaving perhaps a little to be desired as far as melodic coherency is concerned, but delivering big on groove and rhythmic creativity.
Highlight: “A Defiance Of Faith”.
LanzerRath – Metagalactic Domination
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Intentionally incoherent and spacey, mind-wandering black metal that still incorporates all the classic elements of a thin production, shrill screams and tremolo.
The Mighty Fall – Filmed On Location
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A high energy hardcore release jamming in plenty of spicy influences, like groove metal, noise, punk and stoner. It’s a fun and engaging listen if you’re feeling riotous.
Nuclear Remains – Dawn Of Endless Suffering
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Obscenely muted and snare-happy brutal death metal that sounds like the death of everything that was ever clean or happy.
Preacher – Blur
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Young and spritely metalcore loaded with groove tricks, fairly positively toned melodies and with the aggression dialed down to a non-abrasive, yet energizing level.
Quiet Man – The Starving Lesson
Genre: Sludge/ambient metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Trippy and contemplative for log stretches of time, like all sound fading from an expansive outside scene, then broken by surges of aggressive sludge.
Radiant Knife – Pressure
Genre: Progressive/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Take some of the more chunky guitar-happy parts of Mastodon and marry them with a more technical approach to prog, and you get the general gist of this crisp, chugging sludge record.
Scream Maker – Land Of Fire
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fresh-faced love letter to the melody-happy heavy metal of the NWOBHM era.
Tailgunner – Guns For Hire
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Tight and extremely source-aware, Tailgunner has delivered a triumph of retro-leaning heavy metal that nails everything that was impressive and joy-inducing about the best of the NWOBHM. Adventurous in a exploratory sense rather than in a cheesy sing-along way, you get solid songwriting that works on every level of musical contribution.
Highlights: “White Death” and “Rebirth”.
Vendetta – Black As Coal
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Tasty riffs and scorched grooves aside, this is rather by-the-numbers thrash with banal lyrics and stale vocals.
Voyager – Fearless In Love
Genre: Progressive/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5As a fan of predominantly extreme metal, so much of this album feels like a guilty pleasure, but the kind that you’d defend your affection for to the death. Deceivingly complex, it delivers expertly peaking waves of djent-y heaviness that are saturated with synth-backed, accessible melodies. The style of the thing is so confident and vibrant, with no heed paid to conventions but those of the band itself, with a musical maturity and sense of playfulness matching the likes of Devin Townsend.
Highlights: “Submarine” and “The Best Intentions”.
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 July 07 – 2023
With summer at its peak, it’s still the darker and heavier side of the metal spectrum that seems to reign supreme.
All For Metal – Legends
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Entirely predictable chant metal, the value of which is mostly limited to live shows.
Blackbraid – Blackbraid II
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Well-produced metal is in itself far from always a sign of quality, and, when it comes to black metal, it’s not even the norm. But in the case of Blackbraid, there would be little purpose to limiting the fidelity of the performances. Their strength lies in the nuances and the cumulative fullness of the final sound. They have not gone overboard with the use of acoustic or indigenous instruments, instead trusting in their songwriting skills and technical proficiency to simply craft undeniably outstanding black metal. It’s aggressive, with tight rhythm work, raw vocals and distinct melodies.
Highlights: “The Spirit Returns” and “A Song of Death on Winds of Dawn”.
Butcher Babies – …Til The World’s Blind
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5One half of a two-part release, this is by far the most metal oriented and comprehensive album, so I will limit my review to it. Aggressive and catchy, it’s a djent-heavy, groove-leaning energy boost.
Deathroll – Japanese Extreme Metal Art
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Stretching low-fi to the edge of tolerance, you still get a good sense of the enjoyment that went into making this shreddy, slightly experimental black metal record.
Demolizer – Post Necrotic Human
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Cheeky, speedy thrash with plenty of enjoyable shred, and although the riff work is catchy and appropriate, it does get a tad monotonous.
Eternity – Mundicide
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Classic black metal that sounds rather impatient to deliver its allocated riffs and beats, stuttering only occasionally but overall delivering solidly.
Gutslit – Carnal
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Indian brutal death metal that’s taken more than a few steps towards the technical end of the spectrum, sounding practiced, although lacking distinctive features.
Jaodae – Nest Of Veins
Genre: Experimental metal/progressive sludge
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Experimentation can be fun, especially when it’s a bit unhinged. You get a good sense of that on here, showcasing a lot of fresh ideas, yet lacking that cohesion that takes this clearly beyond an advanced jam session.
Lockjaw – Relentless
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A band that sounds mostly like a reimagining of classic metalcore with a sort of hard rock-y structure and penchant for thrashy, headbang-friendly riffs.
Lycanthropy – On The Verge Of Apocalypse
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ultra-aggressive, thrashing grindcore that mostly sounds like death metal in a blender.
Mammuthus – Imperator
Genre: Stoner rock/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This one delivers smooth, fuzzy stoner goodness with the simplicity of rock and the heaviness of doom. It’s a pleasing, laid back listen that will also raise the hairs on your arms, as you get long, melodic buildups to thunderous riff crashes. There’s also a surprising amount of tempo variation, and the vocal style shifts nicely to match the overall intensity.
Highlights: “Long Drive” and “King of the Dead”
Nuclear Dudes – Boss Blades
Genre: Industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Synth-infused industrial death metal that’s a bit too preoccupied doing its own thing to keep up any sort of coherency, but still providing a riot of an experience.
The Raven Age – Blood Omen
Genre: Heavy/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slick, radio friendly modern metal that borrows from metalcore and hard rock, sounding more mature than a lot of peers.
Serpent Corpse – Blood Sabbath
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is death metal that hasn’t washed in centuries, and forgot its manners long before even then. What stuck, though, is a love of riffs both rousing and oppressive, and an infectious punk swagger. Surprisingly varied, but don’t expect any fooling around.
Servant – Aetas Ascensus
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Technically proficient and suitably grand melodic black metal that feels oddly tamed and rounded in the corners.
Snuffed On Sight – Smoke
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Brutal death metal mixed with some street sensibilities that leans wholeheartedly into every stereotype and subgenre convention there is, but they do so with style, and it sure does slam pretty hard.
Voidmilker – Labyrinthical
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Raw, hostile and depressing black metal that hovers on the edge of the avant-garde. Considering what they’re trying to do melodically, they probably went a little far with the low-fi production.
Will Haven – VII
Genre: Hardcore/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5For being predominately a hardcore or noise rock sound boosted by pounding, industrial metal riffs with an alternative edge, this thing has a surprising amount of depth. Beyond the peaks of punishing heaviness, it dives into an abyss of dystopian, horror-tinged atmosphere that greatly increases the overall gravitas. And whether it’s trying to be black metal, doom, or metallic, slightly avant-garde hardcore, it impressively succeeds on all fronts.
Highlights:”5 of Fire” and “Wings of Mariposa”.
Winterage – Nekyia
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Symphonic metal as theatrical as this takes an immense amount of conviction to pull off, and these guys almost have it.
Withering Scorn – Prophets Of Demise– Nekyia
Genre: Heavy/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Loud, fast and fighting heavy metal pumped up on thrash and groove. It works best when they don’t hold back to focus on 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.
The Metal Dispatch 