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Weekly rundown August 16 – 2024
A compact week carrying few mighty headliners, and a lot of smaller aggressors, with hardcore getting ample representation.
Âscent – Gamma
Genre: Progressive metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5The prevailing notion I want to attribute to this album is “understated”. Not in the way that it lacks character or variation, but it prefers to take things mellow, even on tracks with names like “Party” and “Hades”.
Attractive Chaos – Tame & Conquer (EP)
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Fairly bread-and-butter sounding female fronted melodic metal. It gets into some slightly heavier, more interesting sections in the latter half, but it doesn’t fully make up for some of the more creatively barren stuff that’s on here.
Cemetery Filth – Senses of Detriment (EP)
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5You know damn well what this is. There’s no mistaking it with that name. It’s got some pretty cool, spacey solo sections to go with the… cemetery filth, and it’s not even a tonal clash. A little disorganized, but not totally clunky.
Dark Tranquillity – Endtime Signals
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s been a little while since the last DT album, but then the band hasn’t been in the habit of releasing new material frequently for quite some time. As long as this coincides with the kind of consistent quality they’ve been able to maintain, you won’t hear me complaining. On “Endtime Signals” we get them balancing their trademark solemn melodies and evergreen knack for controlled aggression better than I can seem to remember for quite some time. You still get some doom-leaning, all-mellow tracks, and in a few instances I wish they would just return to that awesome riff line they played a little earlier, rather than staying in that chorus-style limbo rhythm for the rest of the song. But it’s obvious that they keep trying to do new things, incorporating a bit of prog, a bit of groove, a bit of thrash, and are still able to masterfully tie everything together with their impeccable tonal consistency. And then throwing in some of the best solos they’ve ever done for good measure.
Highlights: “Unforgivable” and “A Bleaker Sun”.
Extinction A.D. – To The Detested
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you think the idea of mixing New York Hardcore with the rougher end of thrash and 90s groove metal (Pantera) sounds like just the ticket, then there’s no way in hell you’re not gonna dig this. It’s bursting at the seams with that bare-chested, shorts-wearing, uncontainable kind of energy, and completely unapologetic about serving up a non-stop buffet of stompy, squealy riffs. A bit one-dimensional? Sure. Are you gonna care? Absolutely not.
Highlights: “Impervious *(Unrepentant)” and “Shepherding Swine”.
Gel – Persona (EP)
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Hey, hardcore should be allowed to be catchy too. There’s no shortage of aggression and attitude on Gel’s latest EP, but it feels surprisingly orderly, almost a bit industrial , and goes straight to the point with its relentless, crusty riff parade.
Highlight: “Martyr”.
Horns & Hooves – Spectral Voyeurism (EP)
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An intriguing spin on classic raw-like black metal, infusing it with a frantic, near-psychedelic, retro-punk kind of vibe, that I’m (clearly) struggling to properly define.
Left To Suffer – Leap Of Death
Genre: Deathcore/Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly sappy-melody-oriented metalcore with a deathcore Hyde-like second personality. It’s well produced and vibrant, mixing in a lot of popular music genres. But to me it just screams trend surfing.
Starer – Waking
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Melodic, far-reaching black metal with a semi-bleak tone, like a gale across a mostly barren landscape, revealing patches of struggling vegetation among the dust and rock.
Thermality – The Final Hours
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This thing so strongly radiates 90s In Flames that I’m forced to call it slightly derivative, but at the same time I don’t want to complain about getting more of that stuff. It’s not the most mature thing you’ll hear this week, and they’ve got a bit to go on delivering lasting impressions, but it’s a solid foundation to build on.
Trench – Between Inverted Worlds
Genre: Deathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A conceptually charged, heavy and dystopian-feeling extreme metal project melding elements of deathcore, hardcore, progressive death- and industrial metal. The influences of these exist mostly in the nuances, as the album sets its own pace, stepping hard on the aggression pedal while mostly moving at a fairly moderate pace, with glimpses of bleak melody in between.
Highlight: “PATH OF PAIN”
Vile Rites – Senescence
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Very much following the vibe of its cover art, this feels like a massive, writhing entity in the oceanic deep, expressing its wrath in between the surges of the currents, in the form of doom-laden, sinister atmosphere. But when this thing goes on the hunt, it’s merciless, striking with predatorial determination. The album employs melody and dissonance in equal measure, without letting either side assert dominance, prioritizing a sort of in-between, slightly unpredictable tone.
Highlight: “Shiftless Wanderings”
Yosemite In Black – In Pursuit Of
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A fierce, rhythmically pounding hardcore album with more than a bit of grindcore energy. Both riff tone and vocal style exude hateful harshness, but the band has little interest getting into any sort of chaotic knots, instead pulsing out the brutality like a revving engine.
Highlight: “Robber Baron”
Ulvehunger – Retaliation
Genre: Black metal/black n’ roll
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Raspy, war-prepared black metal that’s not afraid to open the taps on a few groove riffs and solos. It’s cold and jagged, but not overly hostile, placing it in an area between Khold and mid-career Satyricon.
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 August 09 – 2024
Another short week as we ride off the slump of summer, but the sake of all that’s unholy, don’t sleep on this one. Some real face melters coming your way.
Bless The Dead – We Create This
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A bone dry, harsh kind of southern groove metal album with some good aggression behind it. They unfortunately fall fully flat on their asses whenever approaching a melodic vocal line, but they’re also not too commonplace.
Carnivore Diprosopus – Rise Of The Insurrection
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Talk about setting the right expectations with your album art. This is a smorgasbord of excessive force, in the form of meatgrinder vocals, artillery barrage drums, and chainsaw windmill guitars. It could benefit from a richer production.
Crushuman – CrusHuman
Genre: Death/nu/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here’s a combo I didn’t think I’d hear this week – death- and nu metal. It has those beat-based rhythms, and a bit of turntable effects to go with it. Later on it kind of switches to groove, and every now and then hardcore. This genre schizophrenia is, unfortunately, the most interesting about this. The production is lackluster and uneven, the album has no less than 17 songs, several with a grindcore-style short runtime, but still. Good moments kind of get lost in the crowd.
Dark Deeds – Death Keeps
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Personally, I find that this album has one of the most uninteresting opening 5 minutes of runtime I’ve heard all year. It’s nothing but slow, low-tuned riffs and breakdown beats with some spoken-word interludes and clenched vocals. Lots of rage on here though, for those who simply wants to get fired up.
Duhkha – A Place You Can’t Come Back From
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A truly bludgeoning album mixing the deftness of metalcore with the stompiness of hardcore, and adding in some sludgy, even death metal-like low-end steamroller force for that bone crunching heaviness. There’s hardly any melody to be found, but it’s not truly dissonant either. It feels nimble, like a heavyweight fighter with good footwork and a headsman’s scowl to psyche out the opposition.
Highlight: “Echo Theft”
Earth Ship – Soar
Genre: Stoner/doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This album sounds a bit like each section of the band was given a different subgenre space to play in. You get stoner-style lead and drums, doomy riffs and bass, and sludgy vocals. It fits together perfectly fine, but the whole ends up a bit removed from the more potentially interesting extremes of either of its parts.
Fulci – Duck Face Killings
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Sometimes death metal can be allowed to be both brutal and lively, in insanely headbanging-inducing fashion. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds listening to this album to realize that this is what you’re in for, in spades. Built around an aptly tongue-in-cheek gory horror theme, you get that same entertainment factor of Dethklok at its very best, just springing from a significantly elevated level of musical craftmanship. The drums and low-end riffs deliver an industrial slaughterhouse level of precision, with a thrashy, Slayer-esque, malicious-toned, nimble lead riff line stalking like an eager axe murderer in the background. They make some tastefully weird thematic choices in connection with their cinematic inspirations (The New York Ripper by Lucio Fulci), which adds enough barbed character to embed itself in your memory.
Highlights: “Human Scalp Condition” and “Maniac Unleashed”.
HammerFall – Avenge The Fallen
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I was poised to diss this pretty hard, but, aside from its utter lack of innovation, there’s way too much good stuff going on here to simply dismiss it as a conveyor belt release. There’s actual depth to the melodies, good variation, and a genuine genre enthusiasm radiating through the whole thing. Most importantly, it’s far from so overproduced that it doesn’t sound like it’s made by actual people. And these people have a masterful knack for the accessibly epic.
In Aphelion – Reaperdawn
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The veteran-comprised black metal band that is Reaperdawn strikes once more. If you’re unfamiliar, then think Necrophobic and Nifelheim (from which two of the members hail), and you should have a pretty good idea. This is quality, plain and simple, although it does little to subvert expectations. Furious wraith riffs, icicle solos and vocals like ripping gangrenous flesh. It’s full of classic metal energy and that Swedish quality of injecting melody without affecting the heaviness.
Highlight: “Reaperdawn”.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – FLIGHT b741
Genre: Blues rock
Subjective rating: /5
Objective rating: /5Not gonna review this, cause it’s definitely not metal, but just thought I’d mention that King Gizzard has released another album. Again. It’s good. Just not metal this time.
Kurokuma – Of Amber and Sand
Genre: Doom/sludge/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5An album that wants you fully committed all the way through. It’s equal parts heavy chugging and mildly psychedelic ambience, which extends into interludes in between every full song. It does feel like a spiritual journey, but perhaps not one taken willingly. The melodies are warm and flexing – reaching out beyond the deep core of the doomy bass, to whatever might be found out there. While the rhythms move us steadily forwards through the unfamiliar landscape.
Highlight: “Death No More”
Monument Of Misanthropy – Vile Postmortem Irrumatio
Genre: Technical/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Did you dig the latest Summoning the Lich album, and wish you could get more of Aborted sooner rather than later? Well, here you go. Like with the Fulci album also released this week, this is serial killer themed, although with a real one (Ed Kemper) adorning the cover. What’s cool is that these guys manage to deliver what I found the Aborted album earlier this year to be missing – some actual depth and variation. Sure, it’s hyper tight, fast and heavy as all hell, but it knows how to get into some grooves, use different rhythms for effect, and dip into more classic death metal whenever a hit of believable malevolence is needed.
Highlights: “Vile Postmortem Irrumatio” and “How to Make a Killer”.
Mushroomhead – Call The Devil
Genre: Nu/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Mushroomhead is another nu metal golden era band that I honestly never listened to. So, going in half blind and hearing the first song, I got my hopes up for a thoroughly aggressive, groove-laden, perhaps a bit artificial-sounding industrial record with some hip-hop beats. Alas, on the next song it decided it wanted to be something else. And something else on the one after that. And so on. For those not minding a mixed bag, it might be entertaining, and it has some cool moments, but objectively, this inconsistency is highly detrimental.
Oxygen Destroyer – Guardian Of The Universe
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Fucking hell. Don’t turn your back on this one. You’ll need your complete faculties to withstand this tsunami-through-a-knife-factory merciless onslaught of blackened death thrash. If you thought that death metal can only fuse well with the more mid-tempo and groove-laden parts of thrash, you were clearly mistaken, as the guys go absolutely scorched bananas with their picks and sticks pretty much from one end to the other. The delightfully geeky Kaiju theme functions as compact sinew to hold the whole thing together, only showing up at key intersections, rather than some half-assed veil dropped over the whole thing. Through a combination of tone, vocal style and production, they’ve managed to keep the jagged dagger edge of thrash intact, instead of opting for the meat mallet blow of death metal, all the while backing it up with an atomic breath’s worth of force.
Highlights: “Shadow Of Evil” and “Eradicating The Symbiotic hive Mind Entity From Beyond The Void”
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 August 02 – 2024
A week that’s over before you know it, but throwing some real nuggets of brutality at you as it passes.
Acid Mass – Worship
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5“To hell with everything!” seems to be the prevailing thematic notion behind this punky, slightly low-fi thrash metal record. That’s not to suggest that their performances are in any way lacking. This is speedy, high energy stuff with tons of spit-in-your-face spirit and a favorable attitude towards cool licks and solos. Definitely something to check out if you’re a riff junkie and don’t absolutely need your metal to carry that massive punch you get from a big, clean production.
Highlight: “Hell From Above”
Asenblut – Entfesselt
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is vey much like modern Amon Amarth, unfortunately at their least imaginative. Riffs and melodies are a dime a dozen, but at least it’s not over the top anthemic, and when they really try to go heavy, they mostly succeed.
Barbarian Hermit – Mean Sugar
Genre: Stoner/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5I wouldn’t go so far as to describe this as progressive, but it sort of lives in its own in-between world where slow, wandering melodies and groovy chugs are are equally natural parts of the progression.
Carnophage – Matter Of A Darker Nature
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Expect an interesting blend of different death metal subgenres on this one, and a melodic tone that subtly distinguishes it from the morbid masses. It’s definitely on the modern side, with strong elements of tech and brutal, but the production and riff tone leans towards the old school. Without getting experimental, it eagerly tries out a plethora of different approaches, which doesn’t do wonders for the flow, but keeps you guessing for what you’re gonna get next.
Convictions – The Fear Of God
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Rather typical modern metalcore of the heavy, djent-chugg-juxtaposed-by-electronic-melody-and-soft-vocals variant. Yes. I realize I’m being dismissive, but I just don’t find anything inventive here.
Gravemind – Introsphere
Genre: Metalcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Massively percussive, djent-riffed modern metalcore switching between dissonant chugs, lighter grooves and moments of mellow melody.
Mister Misery – Mister Misery
Genre: Melodic groove metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Catchy, pop-melodic, metallic hard rock that delivers some surprisingly cool grooves, whenever they let off on the anthemic pedal.
Mourners Lament – A Grey Farewell
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Not one to easily appreciate with the balmy summer afternoon sun streaming through your window, this is sullen, husky doom with some death metal knots of slow-burn vehemence, rolling through like a nearby rockslide. Perhaps a bit too sluggish for its own good, if you set aside the time, you’re in store for some solid, austere melodic sections with the feel of slowed-down old school melodeath.
A Night In Texas – Digital Apocalypse
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Apocalypse indeed. Its gist near-perfectly encapsulated by the album art, anyone even remotely familiar with tech death and deathcore will know more or less what this album is about. It’s sci-fi warfare described with as much appetite for violence as the grand, dystopian spectacle – complete with artillery-crash breakdowns and ever-changing rhythms of high-rate mechanical weapons fire. It’s at its most interesting when a little more stripped down and centered around Slipknot-like grooves, which adds much-needed character for the inevitable, brutal cacophony to build on.
Rise Of Kronos – Where The Gods Return
Genre: Death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sure, this has the surface aggression of death metal, but a lot of the main rhythms and riff lines are straight out of classic heavy metal and even rockabilly. That makes is quite accessible for a growling, thundering hate machine, which in one way is enjoyable, but also strips it of a lot of the brutal impact it probably intends to deliver.
SulfuriS – Corpus/Animus
Genre: Groove/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A kind of rough-around-the-edges groove metal project with some definitive Scandinavian melodeath-flavored moments, but not in the sense of scale or heaviness. Rather, they do their own, down to earth thing and play around with a host of different riff approaches and fairly straightforward rhythms much more reminiscent of a slightly progressive, sludgy hard rock project. It’s interesting, although technically a bit stiff.
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 July 26 – 2024
This week there’s a bunch of loudmouths about – big, bombastic, world-rumblers that might take your attention for granted, and some deservedly so.
Category 7 – Category 7
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This new supergroup has all the ingredients necessary to craft a highly enjoyable heavy/thrash record, and do indeed offer up plenty of playful drum work, suitably rusty vocals and speedy riffs. And yet, it’s about as inspired as its album artwork (included for reference). You be the judge of how much that matters.
Crave – Oblivion
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Groovy, mid-to-slow-paced heavy metal that’s pretty severely ballad prone. Also, there’s an organ. Yay, nostalgia?
Curse Upon A Prayer – The Worship: Orthoprax Satanism
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Finnish black metal that largely manages to resist the temptation of going full folk, although there’s certainly a flair of the darkly epic over this album, which is reflected in its lengthy runtime. It has a doom-like attitude to pacing, even as the tempo and intensity goes as much up as down throughout. It’s solemn, and yet still far from stone-faced, projecting an attitude of faux theatricality and ruffian aggression.
Death Racer – From Gravel To Grave
Genre: Speed/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Blackened motor racing metal? The theme certainly points in that direction, and the “speed” part of the music makes sense in that regard. Otherwise it’s a very punky, rough-edged, slightly barebones kind of experience that’s very comfortable in its niche.
Dream Evil – Metal Gods
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5What else can this be than a heavy metal appreciation album? Nope, there’s no twist. That’s exactly what it is. If you don’t care about cheesiness of the vocals or the general lack of originality, it’s a well-produced, pump-your-fist, good-energy album with some nice, ratty riffs.
Grid – The World Before Us
Genre: Experimental sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5There is a perfectly solid and hard-hitting core to this slightly artsy sludge project, and some of the more ambient tangents work very well as contrasting soundscape-builders, but largely it lacks coherence.
Imperia – Dark Paradise
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5On one side, this is well-produced, reasonably varied and some times fairly powerful symphonic metal with a strong vocal performance, and on the other it does little to stand out among its peers.
Ironflame – Kingdom Torn Asunder
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Heavy metal in the style of the NWOBHM, with modern production, speed, and slightly thrash-leaning aggression. Rhythmically it’s a bit stiff, but makes up for it with some melodically very strong solo work, and overall great both instrumental and vocal execution. If you’re keen on the sound of Judas Priest with a hit of Dio-styled fantasy, then definitely check this one out.
Krypticy – The Non-Return
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Seemingly trying to blend old school death and modern tech death, this Spanish outfit scores well on tone, but a good bit less on precision and structure.
Laceration – I Erode
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5With thrash-leaning death metal, you get certain expectations in regard to speed and precision. Laceration more than delivers on these points, without going over the top in to tech death territory. The riff is king on this album, but the bass drums are the real driving force, expertly shifting through an engaging selection of gears on the unrelenting ride forward. It’s deeply menacing, with a fitting horror-like tone, without this in any way feeling like a gimmick. An excellent blending of rage and instrumental control.
Highlights: “Excised” and “Sadistic Enthrallment”.
Mountaineer – Dawn and All That Follows
Genre: Avant-garde doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A patient, lingering and beautifully atmospheric doom(gaze) project. It can get overly soft and ethereal in parts, but also serves up crunchy, deep riffs that underlie more or less the whole experience. It’s organically varied and feels profound.
Orpheus Omega – Emberglow
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern melodic death metal out of Australia, employing elements of groove and metalcore. Although it’s got a decent amount of aggression, it’s on the accessible side, utilizing quite a few straightforward rhythms and mild-mannered, simple melodies.
Powerwolf – Wake Up The Wicked
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5All right, you know damn well what’s in store. Surprising no one, this is bombastic, extremely rhythm-bound, well-produced and well-executed power metal with a historical twist. I wish I liked this more, cause it’s obviously a ton of fun for those who do. But for me it’s simply too predictable and altogether unchallenging.
Scald – Ancient Doom Metal
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5An inviting epic doom metal album with a patiently adventurous sound which, at least to my ears, gets severely disrupted by a sub-par vocal performance.
Soulbound – obsYdian
Genre: Industrial/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly catchy, goth-tinged industrial metal with the clearly lingering remains of a past in alternative- and nu metal. It’s very well produced, but melodically it’s about as bland as they come.
Spacecorpse – Shapeshifter
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Spacey tech death that is very insistent upon its brutality, whenever it’s not taking a rhythmic reset to try and find a slightly new direction in which to project its anger. As a result, it’s not the most sure-footed thing you’ll hear this week.
Summoning The Lich – Under The Reviled Throne
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5As a big fan of their debut, “United in Chaos”, I had certain expectations for this one, and stylistically it’s very recognizable. You get relatively straightforward tech death with symphonic and brutal tendencies, as well as melodic, in a Black Dahlia Murder sort of fashion. This is heavy, heavy, heavy shit, with a constantly earth-rumbling bass drum and ultra-precise, low-toned riffs. And so, technically and tonally it’s all in order, but chunks of the album do kind of blend together under a shortage of truly standout moments.
Terra Black – All Descend
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fairly mild, old school leaning doom with a stoner-fuzz feel to the riffs. It’s sedate and slightly melancholy, but not in a deeply lamenting or overly dour kind of way, allowing in a touch of scope and dream-like atmosphere.
A Wake In Providence – I Write To You, My Darling Decay
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A Wake in Providence returns in familiarly grand, symphonically blackened fashion, but also impressively dynamic and measured. Utilizing modern prog-like clean vocals as a contrast to the throat-rending, wet snarls that go with the deathcore thunderstorm, the album balances sincere, well-crafted and far from overly emotional melody with the apocalyptic, orchestral onslaught of controlled brutality. It’s technically strong, but not distractingly so – every part serving the greater whole of the darkly majestic experience.
Highlights: “The Maddening” and “And Through the Fog She Spoke”
Wormwitch – Wormwitch
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5I, like many others, discovered these guys through their 2019 release, Heaven That Dwells Within”, which was an eye-opening blend of black metal, epic doom and black ‘n roll that made an instant fan of me. Later, they’ve gone in a more straightforwardly harsh and aggressive direction, leaving behind some of the range that truly separated them from the dark masses. With this self titled release, a good deal of that variation comes back, but not in a way that makes it feel like they’re backtracking, and the aggression absolutely remains. The album starts off like a battering ram, firmly stating that business is meant, bursting with energy and lashing you with snarling vocals and insistent drums. Then, step by step, you start to notice layers and layers of depth, introducing restrained melody, groove and atmosphere, and by the time you’re halfway through it’s like everything relaxes a bit, without faltering in purpose. It’s a mature and resolute effort that will solidify the band’s prominence for many.
Highlights: “Draconick Sorcerous Canadian Witchknights” and “Inner War”.
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 July 19 – 2024
We return in the deep of summer with a mixed, high quality bag of dark and light,
Act Of Creation – Moments To Remain
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is fierce, yet melodically tempered modern death metal that gets into some wicked thrash grooves. You get the feeling you’ve heard some of it before, perhaps on an Arch Enemy record, but it still does the trick.
Assemble The Chariots – Unyielding Night
Genre: Symphonic death metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This album feels a bit like firing a minigun into a pond, with a theatrical play going on in the background, producing a lot of rousing noise, but the impact of which not really going beyond a lot of water spray.
Axamenta – Spires
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A conceptually driven, symphonic prog metal album that utilizes melody as much as brutality to tell its rather short-lived tale. Taking on a slight gothic tone, it approaches a haunted-house-type creepy vibe, without getting silly about it.
Ceremony Of Silence – Hálios
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An assault upon your delicate senses, taking place in the murky gloom of a massive cavern, by way of dissonant, lows-favoring, raging blackened death metal. For those favoring this kind of hostile chaos in their extreme metal, it should be most welcome.
Eternal Drak – Imprisoned Souls
Genre: Heavy/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some very simple-produced, sharp-fanged blackened heavy metal. It’s got the right kind of attitude all the way, and is a joy to listen to when it really gets going.
I, Cursed – Death Holograms
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is one of those albums that will kick down your door before even thinking about knocking. It’s Finnish deathgrind with that delightfully ear-scratching buzzsaw guitar tone and a pummeling drum assault, with just the right amount of groove added.
Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of The UFOnaut
Genre: Heavy/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Groovy desert heavy metal that seeks to dazzle you with groovy stoner riffs and leathery vocals. It’s a bit uneven, but stylistically strong at its best.
Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bring on the gravel! Orange Goblin offers up another sizable load of crunched, stoner rock-powered old school doom, which sounds exactly as you hope it will, perhaps even better. There is a noticeable divide between single-material highlights and more hum-drum tracks, but it’s all very stylistically consistent and carries you through on a wave of energetic beats, rough vocals and cheeky riffs.
Patriarchs In Black – Visioning
Genre: Doom metal/stoner rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow-going, southern-styled doom and heavily groove driven rock that moves like dark syrup.
Quiescent Mantis – Here Comes the Swarm
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A young death thrash band that’s already got the tone nailed down, delivering a crunchy and speedy kick. It’s not outstanding quite yet, but carries plenty of promise, especially when they’re at their heaviest.
Sable Hills – Odyssey
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you’re of the opinion that metalcore peaked in the early 2000s, then rest assured there are still bands carrying that stylistic torch high and proud. Sable Hills is a Japanese band that clearly takes their core sound from the likes of As I Lay Dying, but they also manage to blend in more modern groove chugs as heard from Kataklysm, and energetic breakdowns in the vein of Bleed From Within. The finished result oozes visceral energy, going hard on both speed and aggression.
Highlights: “Battle Cry” and “Misfortune”.
Sarajah – Sarajah
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This thing is fairly simply built around malevolent-yet-approachable doom riffs and rock rhythms. It’s got a nice, deep hit, and a very fitting preacher-like vocal style.
Seth – La France des Maudits
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5With this, Seth has created black metal that easily needs to be descried as “magnificent”, without anyone needing to suspect it of the sin of overly melodic, synth-driven theatricality. It’s still harsh, bile-spitting, needle-sharp black metal to its core, but ushered forth by melancholically majestic, tremolo-powered melody lines and orchestral chants. It feels like the sonic memory of a grand necropolis, relaying centuries-old anger, grief and pride.
Highlights: “Insurrection” and “Et Que Vive le Diable !”
Thousand Limbs – The Aurochs
Genre:Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sullen, instrumental doom from New Zealand. Like its artwork, it’s indeed reminiscent of a walk through a grayscale landscape, although not a completely barren one.
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 June 21 – 2024
A conflict between the unconventional and the traditional is taking form this week, as old school and trusted recipes measure their worth against the free-form and restless ways of the progressive and experimental.
Alcest – Les Chants De L’Aurore
Genre: Avant-garde/atmospheric metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5Whether you’d want to say that this album feels like a daydream, or that it’s daydream-inducing, I’d say both are accurate. Velvety, ethereal melodies, gentle instrumentation, even to some degree when the distortion kicks in, and what feels like highly organic song structures, aim to transport you to a place of benevolent memories and endless sunrises. For me personally, the tone is the big turnoff on here, landing in some indefinable gray area in between melancholy, hope and aimless contemplation. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Highlight: “L’Envol”
Ancient Entities – Echoes of Annihilation
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This falls a bit in between a few different chairs – not nailing the precision of tech death, being too “clean” and rhythm adherent for brutal or old-school, and a bit too gurgly and messy for a more general, modern style.
Anthropophagus Depravity – Demonic Paradise
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Double bass pedal madness! This is brutal death metal from Indonesia with some highly athletic drum work. There’s not much in the way of variation, but the style is pretty spot on, so if brutality’s your thing, you’ll enjoy this.
Cainites – Revenant
Genre: Gothic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5A horror/gothic themed, toned-down melodeath project. Sure, you get some nice, rhythmic chugs now and then, but for the rest it’s all about the vibes. For me it’s far too muted and stylized.
Construct Of Lethe – A Kindness Dealt In Venom
Genre: Avant-garde/atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one you’ll need to give some time to sink in, cause it can be quite hard to get a good initial grip on. The death metal core is very hard to ignore, with thundering riffs, raw howls and technical precision, but the rest is all about transporting you to a place of nightmarish abstraction. There’s not a set or specific quality to the atmospheric elements, incorporating as much ambience and instrumental contributions as synthetic elements, but the result feels unique.
Derelict – Versus Entropy
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Semi-heavy tech death that likes to play around with its rhythms. There are some really cool riff sections in here, although it’s not the most coherent stuff you’ll ever hear.
earthtone9 – In Resonance Nexus
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s so incredibly refreshing to hear a band in this genre that doesn’t sound exactly like every single one of its peers. This is heavily groove-laden alternative metal that strikes a clearly practiced and mature balance between emotionally charged “clean” parts and chugging, hardcore-esque aggression. Sure, it’s not incredibly innovative, but it’s very catchy in the best possible way, and dances around a minefield of clichés without setting off anything but a few firecrackers.
Foreign Hands – What’s Left Unsaid
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A shot of nostalgia taking you back to the very early 2000s, to the origins of metalcore as it started departing from hardcore. If you told me that this has changed much since then I’d have to insist on a thorough explanation, but it’s stylistically confident and energetic.
Horseburner – Voice Of Storms
Genre: Progresive stoner/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Like an oasis in the desert, this takes the dry character of basic stoner metal and morphs it into something far more nuanced and exotic. Even though its got a punchy heaviness, with the rough edges of sludge, and some of the deeper, moodier aspects of doom, for the most part it’s exploratory and light on its feet. This duality of a more carefree, classic prog-like side tugging on a far more grounded core works surprisingly well, which is a credit to the band’s songwriting skills.
Hyperdontia – Harvest Of Malevolence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5We’re not exactly wanting for good death metal these days, and yet, here’s some more. This is of the old school variant, mostly high tempo and energetic, and just the right amount of murkiness in the production. Because of its sort of upbeat character, despite its obvious gore-loving brutality, it really is one to put a smile on a genre fan’s face, and feels like it would be a blast live, with plenty of galloping riffs and playful solos.
Kittie – Fire
Genre: Groove metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Full disclosure, I never really listened much to Kittie in the past, so now that they’re back I had very little idea of what to expect, but I was still excited at the prospect of a veteran nu/groove metal band returning to form. And return to form they do. This feels like it pulls as much from past as it settles into the present, going heavy on the groove and accessible aggression. There is, however, a certain blandness to the songwriting that cannot be ignored, steering them dangerously far towards the more generic realms of melodic hard rock.
Kvaen – The Formless Fires
Genre: Melodic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is pretty much a showcase of all the things that makes Swedish melodic extreme metal so damn good. The ability to make something this grand and majestic sound this sharp and wicked is a special talent indeed. What you get is melodic black metal deeply steeped in Scandinavian folk, somewhere perfectly in between (and thankfully avoiding the extremes of) the haunting tribute to the stark and unforgiving forces of nature and the chest-beating battle chants of viking worship. This is done with obvious love of the actual music, pouring on awesome riffs, thundering rhythms and soaring solos.
Highlights: “The Wings of Death” and “The Ancient Gods”.
Portrait – The Host
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A huge portion of darkened heavy metal galloping towards you. It captures the spirit of the genre quite well, and should be pleasing to fans, but also sounds like a band running a bit low on tricks, and those vocals are not for everyone.
Rendezvous Point – Dream Chaser
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5With unmistakably immense talent manning all stations of this vibrant prog metal project, there is never any doubt along the way that you’re in safe hands. Reminiscent of the likes of Haken, but brighter and more inclined towards electronica, this isn’t exactly what you’d call heavy, but that’s not really the point. It’s bold, often taking the rhythms and melodic elements well outside metal’s comfort zone, and to an open-minded listener the result should feel quite liberating, and really rather fun.
Highlight: “Utopia”
Replacire – The Center That Cannot Hold
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s some tech death that’s constantly on the attack, and seemingly with the desire to catch you off guard as often as possible. There’s some brutally aggressive turns on here, but they’re never allowed to last for very long.
Seven Spires – A Fortress Called Home
Genre: Symphonic/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Seven Spires offers up a surprisingly varied experience on their latest album, trying out a number of different approaches, all within a fairly sedate, yet symphonic framework. The vocals switch switch from harsh to angelic to suit the intensity of the music, which swings by gothic, folk, power, and even doom metal. You don’t get to many points that blow you away with its forcefulness, but there’s a feeling of thematic progression throughout that lets you take part in a darkly epic story if you so choose.
Sumac – The Healer
Genre: Experimental sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 4/5Normally I would reward artistic intent and creative effort in my subjective rating, even though I don’t personally vibe with the result. But in this case I will leave that to my objective rating, because even though I can absolutely appreciate these guys’ ability to manipulate their instrumental output into something with immense character, that will be truly mesmerizing for the right listener, I get close to zero out of this. It’s highly disorganized, full of dissonant noise, progressing what feels like mere millimeters across several minutes at a time, and when the heaviness comes crashing down, it’s so utterly… joyless. All of which are obviously intentional, and as a whole this feels like a complicated set of natural events that will insidiously shape the landscape around it for the foreseeable future.
Highlight: “New Rites”
Wage War – Stigma
Genre: Metalcore/industrial
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mostly style over substance, this is loud, dance-beat metalcore with deathcore-like surges of aggression and highly pop-oriented melodic choruses.
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 June 14 – 2024
The forces of doom and damnation have a firm grip on this week, but this is in absolutely no way a dull reign.
AmMify – Lost, Not Hiding
Genre: Cinematic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow and understated builds to epic and symphonic, but it never reaches truly spine-tingling levels.
Apes – Penitence
Genre: Hardcore/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This feels a bit like someone throwing a big, heavy, musty-smelling tarp over you, then proceeding to beat the crap out of you with a baseball bat in your near-blind and disoriented state. The vocals sound utterly hateful, like Gaahl at his most malevolent, and even though the rhythm work can get a bit repetitive, they usually lead to some ground-shaking grindcore/hardcore riffs that will get you headbanging hard.
Cadaverous Condition – Never Arrive, Never Return
Genre: Death/doom/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mostly mid-tempo death doom album that’s heavy on banger-friendly, groove-laden riffs. It’s doesn’t have the most impressive depth to it, but for simple, sullen rhythmic brutality it’s really satisfying, at least the first half.
Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5When a band is this genre confident, you’re absolutely fine with knowing pretty much what you’re gonna get. We’re gonna go on an adventure, and not a bright and benevolent one with rainbows and glittering waterfalls. This is a journey traveled in the gloom of perpetual dusk, but at a purposeful and bold pace. It’s the kind of soundscape you can’t help but visualize, and that’s the idea. Full of dark majesty, galloping riffs and organic melodies, it’s exactly the experience you’re looking for.
Highlights: “Glimmers in the Underworld” and “Heavy is the Crown of Bone”.
Dendera – Mask Of Lies
Genre: Melodic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Easily digestible modern melodic metal with a slight edge of aggression.
Downfall Of Mankind – Purgatory
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Theatrically inclined deathcore that still leans heavily into the hallmarks of the genre, with punishing breakdowns and percussive riffing. The melodic sections are not their strongest suit.
Embryonic Autopsy – Origins Of The Deformed
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal themed around the miracle that is childbirth, although “miraculous” isn’t exactly the angle they’re going for (shocker). It’s heavy and fast, with some great (guest) solos on offer. The very flat guttural vocals kind of kill some of the feeling of dynamism in the music.
Fellwarden – Legend: Forged in Defiance
Genre: Atmospheric black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dark, austere chant of ancient legends carried on a dry wind, this is atmospheric black metal mixed with epic folk melody and driving classic metal energy, without ever feeling upbeat or even particularly optimistic. The snarling vocals has a lot of force behind them, matching the sweeping quality to the music very well. The songs are long, and could probably do more within their runtime, but you never really feel like the progression gets stuck either.
Flagman – Tastes Incredible
Genre: Alternative/experimental metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hoooly… this is a trip. Think System of a Down at their whackiest and add a couple of notches. At it’s best it’s very entertaining, and actually has the whiff of some of SOAD’s greatest works, but the consistency is not quite there. Yet?
Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5EDIT: This album ended up on my list of releases for this week, when, in fact, it was released all the way back in 2014. Probably due to the 10th anniversary reissue of the album. In any case, I failed to realize. The review still stands, but obviously it will not contend for album of the week.
It’s not the easiest thing to grasp, what makes a great piece of funeral-tempo metal. I think perhaps the foremost quality it needs is presence. It doesn’t need to move fast, because you don’t dare, or are simply incapable of, ignoring or running from it. This album has that petrifying effect on you. Like an entity vast beyond comprehension, blotting out the entirety of the sky, you find yourself rooted to the ground staring up at its inconceivable, dark mass shifting in very slow pulses that send tremors through the very air. And you know that by moving you will lose any semblance of balance and simply fall limply to the ground. This thing is heavy beyond reasoning, but also carries with it gentle, entrancing melody. And somehow it’s barely over 32 minutes long. It feels a lot longer, in the best possible way.
Highlights: “Dweller on the Threshold” and “Suffering in the Eternal Void”.
Golgotha – Spreading The Wings Of Hope
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A fairly tame and muted, doom-styled melodeath album from these veterans.
Impact Approved – Way Of The Warrior
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Modern, spirited melodeath with fast riffing and an anthemic melodic quality. Not the best production, and vocals aren’t quite up to snuff.
Lucifer’s Hammer – Be and Exist
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Full-on retro metal in production, style and performances. It exudes nostalgic joy, but lacks punch, and the harmonies aren’t rock solid.
Malignancy – …Discontinued
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album simply… does… not… settle… down. Depending on your proclivity for this kind of unpredictable, ever-restless technical death metal, you will either love it or find your mind drifting off a bit as you realize there’s nothing to hold on to for more than 5 seconds at a time. In any case, you can’t deny that it does sound great, with a focused production that makes sure that every riff, squeal and drum beat hits just right. And how in sync this band has to be in order to get from A to B through this madness is nothing short of mind boggling.
Mythologik – Blood In The Sky
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern thrash metal that manages to be both heavy, precise and melodic, with a nice, sharp production. The squealy vocal style might be a bit of an acquired taste, but it works well enough for the style.
Paradise In Flames – Blindness
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Brazilian blackened death metal that goes all in on the orchestral treatment. It does feel like something that should be experienced in a grand theatre, accompanied by some form of visual storyline of epic thematic proportions. There’s not a ton f nuance underneath the surface, but the obvious splendor offers plenty to dazzle you for the duration.
Perchta – D’Muata
Genre: Folk/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A breath of fresh air in the form of this Austrian blackened folk metal project. The pagan nature of the melodies, the rite-like feel of the vocals, conjures the impression that you’ve stumbled upon an ancient, dark ritual deep in the woods. And yet it’s much bigger that what would fit in a single little clearing. It stretches out, simultaneously harsh and beautiful, across valleys, lakes and mountains alike.
Highlight: “Hebamm”
Questing Beast – Birth
Genre: Progressive/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This stuff has a lot of potential. Chugging heavy metal riffs, playful rhythms, the occasional heavy surge, plenty of groove. The vocal harmonies need some work, and the energy gets a bit lost in atmosphere and interludes, but it sounds really good when it works.
Rezn – Burden
Genre: Psychedelic doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Already back, you might think, but this album was actually recorded at the same time as their 2023 release, “Solace”, and now unleashed as a sort of second part to the experience. Having absolutely loved its twin, I am pleased to repost that this offers an equally enveloping and immersive experience, although a bleaker one. It still feels vibrant in the way that only psychedelia-tinged music can deliver, but the shoegazing qualities of doom has gotten the upper hand here. In this way it actually loses a tad of the distinctiveness I felt last time, and finds more equivalents in the current musical landscape. But let that not take anything away from the fact that this is a spellbinding album.
Highlights: “Collapse” and “Bleak Patterns”
RivetSkull – Absence Of Time
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This hearkens back to that very early Judas Priest-like heavy metal sound that just wanted to deliver tasty riffs and solos, epic melodies and a good bit of biker rock groove.
Sibiir – Undergang
Genre: Blackened hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of hardcore, sludge, thrash and black metal that pulls in slightly different directions at times, wanting to be a bit rhythmic, a bit chaotic, mostly down-to-earth but also slightly larger than life. It’s pretty cool when it all works out though.
Ulcerate – Cutting The Throat Of God
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This music has no easily definable shape, other than that of a storm, which is described mostly by what it does to everything in its path. The intensity and brutally aggressive quality to it can loosely be described as death metal, but certainly in no traditional form, as it shifts and morphs endlessly as it moves along. And somehow this doesn’t feel the least bit experimental. This is simply how it’s supposed to sound, with a very clear sense of direction, and yet it seems to find its way as it goes along. It’s dissonance and melody fighting tooth and nail in an almost impossibly concerted way, not really sounding “technical” and not letting up, as if this conflict upholds a vital balance.
Highlights: “To Flow Though Ashen Hearts” and “Transfiguration In and Out of Worlds”.
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 June 07 – 2024
Hardcore comes in swinging with barbed wire-wrapped fists this week, outmaneuvering a host of prog and death metal releases with its sheer brazenness, but also joining forces, to great effect.
Ad Patres – Unbreathable
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern death metal that’s big on groove, with a mildly brutal-styled vocal approach and precise technicality, without losing sight of the simple, satisfying riff.
Brazen Tongue – Of Crackling Embers & Sorrows Drowned
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Melodeath that gives you both thrashy agility as well as doomy sluggishness, interlayed with what appears to be intentional disharmony, which never really gets a poperly satisfying counterpoint.
Blynd – Unbeliever
Genre: Thrash/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Crisp and chugging, thrash-paced death metal with a simple, marching folk metal-like rhythm approach. It’s not the most dynamic stuff you’ll ever hear, but it’s groovy.
Candy – It’s Inside You
Genre: Hardcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5You gotta applaud a band that manages to make utilizing a bunch of different influences into a really good time, and not a stumbling mess. This is metallic, slamming hardcore for sure, but in here is a good bit of industrial, death and nu metal, as well as some pure electronica, all served up in a collection of mostly bite-sized songs. It’s heavy, it’s varied, it’s distinct.
Cruce Signatus – Cruce Signatus
Genre: Electronic heavy metal/darkwave
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5I’m not a particular fan of straight up darkwave, but this is a lot of fun. Modeled around classic heavy metal, with some good chugs to it, this sounds like a proper adventure. It takes a good while to build up, and might have benefited from a format featuring more and shorter songs.
Darko (US) – Starfire
Genre: Experimental deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavily electronica-infused, percussive deathcore with a sharply split personality dropping in and out of brutal chugs, urban ambient sounds, anthemic synth and calm, pop-leaning melodic sections. It’s entertainingly chaotic, but fairly bloated at 1hr 11min runtime.
Deathwish – The Fourth Horseman
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Up for some punky hardcore with strong rock ‘n roll vibes and some enthusiastic thrash shredding? If this description brings to mind Motörhead, then you’re on the right track, certainly if you focus on their early material. This is fast and loose stuff, but certainly not without coherence. You sense that there was very little doubt involved with this project, as it seems to exude a very “no way but forward”-attitude.
Evergrey – Theories Of Emptiness
Genre: Progressive/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is the sound of a highly accomplished band flexing its muscles. Production wise this is on point, and the blend of mild, melodic prog and anthemic power metal done confidently and tastefully, as you would expect. Big focus on earworm-y choruses, to a dominating degree, but it does make the songs memorable.
From A Nightmare – Doom State
Genre: Groove metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5Working with some catchy beats and nice aggression, this unfortunately falls pretty flat as far as songwriting and band interplay goes.
Grand Demise Of Civilization – The Blaze Of Abaddon
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Minnesotan black metal with a darkly majestic quality to it, telling tales of forbidden castles and creatures of the night. The atmosphere is on point, as is the slightly muted production.
Hippotraktor – Stasis
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a very mature-sounding, djent-powered prog metal album. It wastes no time setting the tone for a sober, moody soundscape, and doesn’t really stray from it for the duration. But rather than feeling limited in scope, it goes on to prove just how much it can stretch and bend the nuances of its musical realm, going from nervous, testing trickles to roaring pounces, and a whole bunch of shades in between. Very solid.
Highlight: “Renegade”
Holy Mother – Rise
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fusing a kind of 80s hard rock style with some 90s electronic elements and power metal grandeur, this certainly speaks to its crowd, although it could do with some more dynamic rhythms.
Holycide – Towards Idiocracy
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Supremely shreddy thrash that’s all about those speed riffs. It could probably do with some more mid-tempo grooves, but if they’re in a hurry, then they’re in a hurry. The style is well practiced, to the point where it’s not terribly distinctive, but still rad.
Huntsmen – The Dry Land
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5I put the doom in front of the sludge in the description here, mainly due to how the pacing and mood feels overall. In the parts where the band is fully, technically engaged we are definitely talking more melodic/progressive sludge, but take a slice out of a random section of this album and you could end up with everything from ambient folk and americana to atmospheric black metal. You really have to apply patience to this one, as the buildups typically are several minutes long, but the overall vision for the album is both ambitious and expertly executed.
Highlight: “In Time, All Things”
Insect Ark – Raw Blood Singing
Genre: Atmospheric doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This feels like a sonic manifestation of dark, disturbed thoughts, working their way step by step into the abyss. It takes shape as shoegaze-y doom, not really blackened, but adding avant-garde musical elements as flavors to steer the experience in new, sometimes very temporary directions.
Intranced – Muerte Y Metal
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5No, this is not a pure “metal-appreciation” party thrash record, but a love letter to the genre it is indeed. Walking the knife’s edge of faithfully retro-styled, over an ocean of copycats surfing on past glory, this one captures the essence of its inspirations spot-on, and decides to use it for good. They sail pretty confidently into the anthemic territories where their influences would have been accused of “selling out”, but mostly this feels vibrant, creative and perfectly balanced between considered and intuitive.
Mythraeum – Oblivion Aeternam
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Leading with a dark medieval theme that unfortunately only partially comes through on the rest of the album, this is epic-tinged black metal that got the right idea concept wise, but has some work to do sharpening the band interplay.
Nightmare – Encrypted
Genre: Power/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Big, pop-oriented melodies ascend into the heavens on power metal clouds powered by thundering, modern melodeath engines. It’s really catchy, though not original at all.
Noroth – Sacrificial Solace
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Damn, this band’s album art is rad. They get 1/2 a point just for that. The music is unfortunately a bit predictable, cavernous death metal. It’s got just the right production, some really heavy rhythms and evil oozing out of its every orifice. I just wished they would allow some of those killers riffs to shine through a bit more.
Odio Deus – Spiritual Syphilis
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A heavy, threatening, death-backed album that turns progressively more into pure black metal the further in you go. Lots of good stuff on here, but the performances and mixing are fairly messy throughout.
Okular – Regenerate
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2/5This project clearly tries to be as unpredictable as possible both in its approach to rhythms and melodies, but it simply does not work out that well.
The Omnific – The Law of Augmenting Returns
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bass! No, not in the booming, floor-shaking sense, but in the sense that brings no less than a pair of the instruments to the very fore of the experience, and appoints two sets of highly acrobatic fingers to play them. It’s an instrumental record, highly technical and vibrantly synth-melodic, definitely one for the prog nerds, but if you’ve got any sense of fun and/or wonder in regards to musical performances, you’ll be greatly entertained by this.
Ordalie – Indifferent Universe
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5As cosmic black metal goes, this is certainly not the most far out there, and that might be its main problem. The black metal parts are solid, but the scope feels a bit stunted.
Sect – Plagues Upon Plagues
Genre: Hardcore/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album feels like an exercise in delivering disgust and outrage in as considered a way as possible, without losing sight of the message or the core sensation of those underlying feelings. This is metallic hardcore taking detours into both metalcore and sludge, delivering raspy aggression, heavy gut-punches and surprisingly contemplative calmer sections.
Severe Torture – Torn From The Jaws Of Death
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The very essence of death metal haunts this album like a malign spirit, creeping into every facet of the band’s performances. Personally I feel like I’ve heard too much of this album before, but for fans of this kind of old school-leaning, no-nonsense death metal it delivers in spades.
Swelling Repulsion – Fatally Misguided
Genre: Experimental/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This one falls on the wrong side of trying to find out how unruly you can make your rhythm approach before it becomes unlistenable, but has some pretty cool, groove-leaning playing underneath.
Titan – Forced Worship
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Think Vader, but more overtly thrash-leaning, and you should have a good idea of the sound of this one. The production is quite muddled, which could, at least partially, be the point, but a crisper, crunchier sound might have brought out some welcome technical and melodic details.
Umbra Vitae – Light Of Death
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album feels like a relentless, murderous spirit constantly trying new angles of attack, striking with both lethal precision and wild abandon, leaving absolute desolation in its wake. Every part of the performances is a weapon ready to discharge as soon as one of the others let up, and yet this is not some chaotic cacophony devoid of rhyme or reason. There is crystal clear intent, and just enough restraint to allow for tense, prowling melodic sections, distracting you as the pressure builds for the next outburst.
Highlights: “Belief Is Obsolete” and “Twenty-Twenty Vision”.
Vomit The Soul – Massive Incineration
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal that’s got some surprisingly nifty rhythm ideas. Slightly hampered by a mix that muffles all but the vocals, this is still a massive slab of solid, thunderous riffage.
Withering Surface – Exit Plan
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is old school melodeath with a characteristically mellow melodic approach. It reminds me a lot of In Flames’ “Clayman”, in that it knows how to have fun and play around within the confines of the subgenre without feeling the need to get overly technical or progressive, and relying on the strength of its subjective style to lend it the distinction it needs in order to stand out. Some raw force, which might have given it a more powerful impact, is sacrificed in favor of a classic-metal-esque upbeat riff- and rhythm approach that carries the melodies along through every part of the songs, in a way that brings to mind the likes of Children of Bodom. It’s quirky, and just speaks to my taste in so many ways.
Highlights: “Finish What You Started” and “I Finally Lost – All Faith In Humanity”.
WyndRider – Revival
Genre: Stoner rock/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Stoner doom that sounds like it’s emanating from a hollow log. It’s got groove in truckloads, and oozes cool, but could have done more with the majority of its songs.
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 May 31 – 2024
The darkness has a strong hold over this week, but the forces of light, creativity and weirdness are constantly tugging at the Reaper’s cloak.
Arhat – Secrets Of Ancient Gods
Genre: Groove/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A Ukrainian groove outfit that incorporates middle-eastern melodic elements. There is a slight mismatch between the ferocity of the vocals and the sometimes dance-friendly symphonic metal-like rhythms, but the energy is really good.
Beaten To Death – Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis
Genre: Avant-garde grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those records that’s gonna run you over completely, and you just gotta sit back and let it happen. It’s hostile, but in an entertainingly bonkers way, where it seems to forget why it’s mad every now and then. It shifts from pure chaos to rhythmic chugs, to punk, hardcore and indie with a Scandinavian edge, very much in the vein of Kvelertak. Each song introduces a new flavor, which keeps it interesting, and only occasionally does it get so unhinged that it doesn’t seem like they know what they’re doing.
Highlight: “Mosh for Mika (Waddle Waddle)”
Carnwennan – Lotus
Genre: Doom/sludge
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Funeral doom in all but harshness, this is mostly a very slow burn that balances dark and gloomy atmosphere with the howling aggression of sludge. At its best it delivers peaks that truly deserve the sluggish buildups, and at its worst it delivers very little.
Cloven Hoof – Heathen Cross
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A mostly classic NWOBHM-style album that starts of very promising, with upbeat, galloping rhythms and plenty of invigorating rhythms. A bit of that gets lost along the way, with the songs sounding slightly more generic towards the end, but the entertainment factor endures.
Fight The Fight – Shah Of Time
Genre: Progressive metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Opting for a much bigger and “trendy” sound than on earlier releases, this is also far more ambitious than before in terms of atmosphere and compositions that head into progressive territory. It’s got elements of death, groove and symphonic metal, but keeps these influences reigned in to a point where they don’t become unmanageable.
Four Stroke Baron – Data Diamond
Genre: Progressive/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Learning that this album was originally meant to be two EP’s with each their distinct style, I went in fearing a very disjointed experience. But, fortunately, it is not so. While it’s clear that they’ve gone out of their way to subvert expectations and take the listener out of the comfort zone, they never really lose control to the point where it’s not easily regained with a determined rhythm shift. Not every song delivers the mix of djent-like, groove-laden riffs and wild electronic melody quite as well, but the ones that do are far in the majority, and not once does this feel repetitive.
Highlights: “The Witch” and “People In My Image”
Hellbutcher – Hellbutcher
Genre: Black/speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5An album perfectly described by its cover art. This is the hordes of the underworld charging, flapping and skittering off to battle in as epic a fashion as is permittable while still giving off an air of evil. The eagerness on this project is nothing short of stunning, heaping onto you with relentless abandon a torrent of speed riffs, blistering solos and barking snarls. There’s the occasional dip in energy, but you can rest assured that they pick it back up momentarily. It’s all the elements you want out of a shred-y blast from the past, without any of the pretentiousness.
Highlights: “The Sword of Wrath” and “Possessed by the Devil’s Flames”
Lock Horns – Red Room
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A riff-driven prog album with enough of that dehumanizing mathcore style to it that the rhythm approach gets to dominate the experience. But it’s also fairly light on its feet, and using very subtle melodic elements and a good bit of groove, the music takes on a shifting personality that ensures variety.
Nightrage – Remains Of A Dead World
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Swedish melodeath that balances a modern and old school style, with obvious traces of the classic Gothenburg sound, without leaning too hard on it. The overall feel is strangely mellow, perhaps partially thanks to the lows-friendly production, but also clearly from the band dialing back the hostility, if not the heaviness, in favor of epic melody lines.
Reliqa – Secrets Of The Future
Genre: Melodic metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5With super-precise instrumentation, a talent for catchy-yet-interesting melodies and a superb vocal performance, this band’s strengths are obvious. The album, however, would benefit from being a lot leaner and more focused.
Rhapsody Of Fire – Challenge The Wind
Genre: Power/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Combining the fantasy storytelling mastery of the likes of Blind Guardian with a bit of the classic riff happiness of Primal fear, and the vibrant instrumentality of Dragonforce, Rhapsody of Fire puts the full power of their awesome musical arsenal on full display on this album. This appeals just as much to those only interested in the music as to those also embracing the concept behind it. Its drama and theatricality is tastefully measured, but the band’s stellar performances leave no doubt that their hearts are fully in it.
Highlights: “Challenge the Wind” and “Diamond Claws”.
Saving Vice – Good Days, Dead Eyes
Genre: Melodic metalcore
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Leaning into some dark alt-metal vibes and offering some heavy, deathcore-style intensity highs, the sappy, soft melodic sections makes this completely unbearable for me.
Shrapnel – In Gravity
Genre: Alternative metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5For those of you going into this one expecting thrash, sorry, you ain’t gonna find much of that on here. Think more along the lines of guest vocalist Scott Kennedy’s band, Bleed From Within, except less heavy, more emotionally laden and varied in its stylistic influences. It’s strong, if a bit understated.
Supermodel Taxidermy – At What Cost
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Old school, blunt crossover thrash swinging at you with brass knuckles. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but the attitude and tempo is just right.
Swampbeast – Offering of Chaos, Lamenting In The Blood of Man
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5“Subtle” is not really the word you would think to use to describe this absolute abomination of an album, but there is an elusive, insidious quality to the way that the darkness seems to have crept in and permeated what would otherwise be a brutal, if somewhat progressively minded death metal album with old school leanings. Disorder and hostility has been allowed to flourish, but the core of the beast is still strong enough to tug its infernal mass in whichever direction it ultimately chooses, delivering some crushing riff breakdowns along the way.
Highlights: “Bestial Sanctuary” and “Fate Relinquished”
Thou – Umbilical
Genre: Sludge/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Abandon all hope, ye who listen to this. The core of Thou’s monumental sound is clearly sludge, but also strong elements of grunge, and a bit of doom and thrash metal. The progression through the album is pretty straightforward, but it’s all about what you’re in for along the way. A noisy veneer wraps the thundering mass of the abyssal tone like a finely meshed spider web, only to be penetrated by the sharpest rasps of the bitter vocals. The tempo feels deeply organic, ebbing and flowing like a black sea carrying you to who knows where in the dark.
Highlights: “House of Ideas” and “The Promise”.
Varices – The Undoing
Genre: Melodic death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Light-footed and groove-infused modern melodic death metal. They’re on to something here, but the songwriting is still pretty uneven.
Witherfall – Sounds Of The Forgotten
Genre: Progressive/power/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Shred before dishonor! Extremely ballad prone, the progressive rhythm tendencies and instrumental technicalities become more of a gimmick on here, and the obvious effort put in has most of its energy sucked out of it by weak, ponderous melodic sections.
Wormwood – The Star
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is the sound of death inviting you to row along the river of night and eternity. It will be a voyage of as mush serenity as a heroic struggle through the rapids, and a highly rewarding experience in total. The folk-inspired, melancholic melodies are the stars of the album, and even though they slow down the progression a tad, the dedication to, and sheer talent for, this particular style of black metal demonstrated on here is nothing short of commendable. There’s no reason why this shouldn’t find an audience among doom fans as well.
Highlight: “Stjärnfall”
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 May 24 – 2024
A short ‘n sweet week as we head into summer, with both veterans, relative newcomers and underground-dwellers dishing out treats.
Boneripper – World Ablaze
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is pretty much exactly what you expect, and hope for, when the term “metallic hardcore” is used. It’s like some sort of rabidly destructive machine that’s glowing red-hot from being in constant use.
Dark Affliction – Five Stages Of Grief
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Black metal with a good bit of atmospheric and melodic elements, spinning a theme around the five stages of grief, although the mood of the songs don’t really seem to match the emotions they are named after.
Defects – Modern Error
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Bringing obvious technical talent to the table, this is tight, precise and measured modern metalcore. But there’s nothing truly outstanding on here.
Eregion – Non Omnis Moriar
Genre: Hardcore/modern metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5An eclectic mix of hardcore, melodeath, a bit of melodic metalcore and industrial. It’s varied, for sure, but lacks a clear direction, and at nearly 54 minutes it feels fairly bloated for this musical style.
Evildead – Toxic Grace
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Veterans Evildead have clearly made an effort to create a varied album here, and that sentiment in itself is absolutely welcome, but that doesn’t stop it from feeling fairly tired.
Moral Putrefaction – Moral Putrefaction
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A take on old school death metal from this young band out of India. When they hit the mark, it’s a thundering apocalypse with just the right amount of unease and warning in the tone, although overall it’s a little uneven.
Puya – Potencial
Genre: Experimental nu/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A clash of nu metal and traditional Latino music from, I’ll freely admit, a band that until now was unknown to me, even though they’ve been at it since the early 90s. It’s not meant to be a seamless fusion of the two musical styles, as they roughly interweave much more than blend together. But that’s kind of what makes it exciting. It’s bright and upbeat, but also thrashy and pretty darn heavy at times.
Red Handed Denial – A Journey Through Virtual Dystopia
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Not that they weren’t flirting with it on 2022’s “I’d Rather Be Asleep”, but on their latest release, Red Handed Denial seems to have taken a sharp turn towards pop-oriented accessibility. Which is not to say that it isn’t well crafted, but with two interludes and a very mellow last two songs on a 10 song album, it lacks a lot of the creative energy and urgency found on its predecessor.
Rotting Christ – Pro Xristou
Genre: Melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rotting Christ’s newest offering is one that requires, above all else, time and attention. A casual listen will only expose you to the slow and rather repetitive rhythms, and the broad strokes of the epic melodies, and might trick you into thinking you’ve stumbled upon a pure folk metal record. And the album does take a long time to get properly started – not really reaching a peak of intensity until about halfway through. But if you accept the slow burn, there’s a lot to grab on to on the way. The melodies really are solid, and the tone exists in an optimal place between dark grandeur and menace.
Semuta – Glacial Erratic
Genre: Progressive/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is one for the people who don’t really care where an album takes them. The rhythms are incredibly mercurial, giving you very little to hold on to but the tone and consistent vocal style.
Summoner’s Circle – Cult
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mixing the dark majesty of symphonic black metal with the punch and unpredictability of progressive death, this album scores high on theatricality, although the nature of the songwriting does not consistently leave a lasting impression.
Teramaze – Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace
Genre: Melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A catchy, bright and modern prog metal sound from a band that appears strongly united in purpose. Although not terribly original, the lyrics and melodies fit the feel of the album perfectly, and, although you’ll find more vibrantly varied offerings in the same tonal vein, it delivers pleasingly from start to finish.
Vale Of Pnath – Between The Worlds Of Life And Death
Genre: Symphonic/technical black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you feel that adding a symphonic quality to blackened death metal should lower it into the cavernous abyss rather than elevate it to the highest mountaintop, then this should be right up your alley. Thanks to a vicious technicality, a thunderous low end and constantly feeling like it’s on the attack, this is one of those “big” sounds that only strengthens its impact by allowing for an epic scope. It’s energetic, varied, satisfyingly melodic and theatrical, and plenty brutal.
Highlights: “Soul Offering” and “Burning light”.
Valfreya – Dawn Of Reckoning
Genre: Melodic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A blackened folk metal album that works best when leaning into the former of the two subgenres. The upbeat tempos feel like they promise more instrumental extravagance than what is actually delivered, and the harmonies don’t always work, but there’s also plenty to enjoy.
Vredehammer – God Slayer
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5I’ve been a big fan of this band since I discovered their first full-length, and every release since then has continued to impress, offering an increasingly refined sound and a subtly different feel tied to a changing thematic each time around. “God Slayer” might be their most tonally epic album yet, and they’re certainly not skimping on the aggression. While there are remnants of the spooky synth that was fairly prevalent on 2020’s “Viperous”, it doesn’t take part in defining the overall sound, which is very direct and to the point. The songs aren’t all allowed to shift and evolve as much as might have suited them, but the thrash- and groove-influences on the riff style mostly make up for it in sheer, engaging ferociousness.
Highlights: “Blood of Wolves” and “Obliterator”
Vulgaris – Seat Of The Fire
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is not the kind of album where you can go in expecting quite the scorched shred of blackened speed, or the epic whimsy of classic heavy metal. It’s aggressive black metal with upbeat, mostly straightforward rhythms, a few, well-placed tempo shifts, some instrumental playfulness, and a decent dose of rock n’ roll groove. It’s not exactly melodically inclined, but takes a bit of that grand folk-inspired atmosphere from melodic death metal. It all adds up to a surprisingly engaging listen that doesn’t sound like a ton of other bands,
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?
