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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.
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Weekly rundown June 30 – 2023
The fire and fury dies down a bit this week, to allow some time for reflection and new ideas to sprout, from gloomy and vibrant sources alike.
Avdagata – The Faceless One
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A burst of technical black metal that draws its melodic inspiration from east of the norm, without truly standing out beyond the instrumental performances.
Before The Dawn – Stormbringers
Genre: Melodic death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Melodeath built up with rudimentary rhythms and predictable melodies, although topped off by a not-insignificant dash of Finnish epicness.
Calico Jack – Isla de la Muerte
Genre: Power/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is Italian pirate metal with an emphasis on the folk influences. It could do with some maturing, but will definitely appeal to both the comic- and epic-loving part of the fan spectrum.
Coffin Mulch – Spectral Intercession
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rough and musty old school death metal with an undead hardcore drive that allows it to separate from the cemetery pack.
Death Ray Vision – No Mercy From Electric Eyes
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Thrashy hardcore with plenty of riff goodness that brings to mind the grittier, rock n’ roll side of Avenged Sevenfold, although consistently keeping it a step more punk. It does, however, tend towards the anthemic more than is probably healthy.
East Of The Wall – A Neutral Second
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A moody and cool progressive album with elements of sludge, a bit of doom and traces of grunge. Retro-synthetic, sometimes disharmonic melodic elements keeps it interesting beyond the expected instrumental haphazardness, and odd rhythms work as a sort of structure as the music shifts from different tonal landscapes.
Eiter – Gewalt
Genre: Grindcore/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Why not introduce a bit of groove to a blackened grindcore album? It ups the fun factor without compromising the aggression.
Grafvitnir – Into The Outer Wilderness
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Like death’s whisper on the wind, this is skeletal, snarly black metal building up to strongly realized Scandinavian folk atmosphere.
Khanate – To Be Cruel
Genre: Drone/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Screeching, spoken-word vocals intermittently interrupt this near-standstill crawl through a melting, collapsing apocalypse of a soundscape.
Melted Bodies – The Inevitable Fork Vol. 2
Genre: Experimental metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Unhinged alternative metal that mostly defies all genre conventions. Lots of energy, completely devoid of focus, and bravely exploratory.
Night Legion – Fight Or Fall
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Shred-happy power metal about… death and disaster? It sure doesn’t sound like that, more like amped up classic heavy metal.
None – Inevitable
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you’ve ever struggled with dark thoughts and a destructive mentality, this is music that will speak to you. The album title fittingly alludes to the feeling of surrender in the face of forces beyond your control, which is chillingly recreated in the melodic atmosphere on here. And there’s a sort of comfort in the recognition of this mental state that is both cathartic and unsettling. The washed out, icy guitars and hissing vocals expertly complements the rest.
Highlights: “Never Came Home” and “A Reason to Be”.
Orelisk – The Underworld Obscura
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A wailing theater of horror, this is musty black metal uncovered from the collapsed basement of a haunted house.
Raven – All Hell’s Breaking Loose
Genre: Heavy/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bringing the sensibilities of heavy metal-meets-thrash-for-the-first-time back from the 70s/80s, with all of its speedy enthusiasm (fantastic drum work on this one) and dated quirks (falsetto vocals…).
Serpent Of Old – Ensemble Under The Dark Sun
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is blackened death metal leaning into crushing doom, yet never quite content to slither about in the same space for too long, allowing prog-inspired fluctuations in the rhythm to lead the way in and out of the abyss. It’s devastatingly heavy, with a bleakness to the tone, yet pulsing with a fury that could crack bedrock.
Highlights: “Unsaturated Hunger and Esoteric Lust” and “From the Impending Dusk”.
Static Abyss – Aborted from Reality
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A batch of not-too-serious doomy death metal filth that invokes feelings of abyssal horror, but also drunken underground stop fests.
Thornafire – Leprosario Lazareto
Genre: Technical death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A rather fresh take on thrash/groove-flavored death metal, with a local flavor to the (semi)melodic approach, and some light instrumental experimentation.
Virgin Steele – The Passion Of Dionysus
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A quirkily produced, tale-telling piece of romantic, theatrical heavy metal. It’s not bombastic or cheesy, although not exactly restrained either, with a subtle progressive approach that clearly distinguishes this from most of its peers.
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 June 23 – 2023
A week showcasing the versatility of dark metal, in its ability to kick your door in, set your blood ablaze or thoroughly warp your mind.
The Anchoret – It All Began With Loneliness
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Sax-o-licious, light on its feet and not sacrificing tonal consistency for instrumental playfulness, this is an adventurous prog metal release that will brighten your day. Certain sections dip into semi-retro prog rock, so don’t expect every song to deliver the same amount of punch, but it makes for a varied and flavorful listen, from a band that sounds confident in their style, and has the obvious talent to back it up.
Highlights: “Forsaken” and “All Turns to Clay”.
Crepitation – Monstrous Eruption Of Impetuous Preposterosity
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal in its most parodic-and-I-know-it form, which means lots of vulgar fun and an absolute musical murder carnival.
Degrees Of Truth – Alchemists
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Offering up divine vocals and heavenly melodies, this is symphonic metal with enough instincts to veer off the formula that it stands out from the crowd.
High Priest – Invocation
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A cosmic-flavored take on melodic, classic doom that showcases a distinct vocal talent and the band’s proficiency for balancing eagerness and restraint for a full, engaging sound.
Jag Panzer – The Hallowed
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Solo-happy heavy metal that borrows a fair bit of flair from its more epic cousin, and takes us on a lofty journey of defiant struggle.
Krigsgrav – Fires in the Fall
Genre: Melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Take the expansive and aggressive nature of melodic black metal, replace some of the coldness with the more patient and solemn tone of doom and up the impact with some melodeath riffs, and you’re honing in on the formula behind this album. And yet the result is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. It feels grand in a grim and darkly prophetic way, and flows at an organic pace that showcases the band’s aptitude for atmosphere as much as rushes of controlled fury.
Highlights: “Shadowlands” and “In Seas of Perdition”.
Mental Cruelty – Zwielicht
Genre: Deathcore/melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Infused with theatrical grandeur and pulling out every modern deathcore trick in the book, this is a successful brutality upgrade to melodic-to symphonic black metal.
Miserere Luminis – Ordalie
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mournful melody takes front and center on this, and weaves well together with a grief-stricken, slightly atypical approach to black metal.
Perracide – Underdog
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A band that doesn’t seem sure whether they want to be thrash or death metal, as emphasis on either switches rather heavily from song to song, although they’re at their best when the two styles meld.
Persekutor – Snow Business
Genre: Heavy/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Old school heavy metal clad in black, yet still urging you to your feet with your hands in the air. The rock n’ roll is strong with this one..
Phantom Corporation – Fallout
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5While the rhythms on here are about as predictable as they come within hardcore, the drive is excellent, and you’re treated to an absolute riff galore if you stay on for the whole ride.
Pyramaze – Bloodlines
Genre: Power/pop metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Anthem-seeking, modernized power metal with Michael Bolton vibes.
Sculforge – Intergalactic Battle Tunes
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 1.5/5Less than stellar, speedy power metal thematically ripping off Warhammer 40K in ultra cringe-worthy fashion.
Seek – Kokyou De Shinu Otoko
Genre: Black metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5When you hear this level of resolve in blackened metal, you don’t need stabbing melodies or raging riffs to grab your attention. Especially the vocals emit an undeniable fervor, and the heavy, industrial drum work fully backs it up. There’s a lot of pain and anger in the violent yet nuanced atmosphere of this thing, and the level of hardcore harshness applied to it makes the message seem all the more urgent.
Soul Grinder – Filth Encrusted
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Simple thrash metal bot in terms of performance and production, offering some heavy, mid-tempo groove.
Structural – Decrowned
Genre: Melodic/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Modern, technical and sort of prog-melodic death metal that makes up for a slight lack of brutality with precision and tenacity.
Tsjuder – Helvegr
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is that traditional, 90s wave of Norwegian black metal in all but actual musical approach. Sure, it’s still been produced to sound grim and frigid, but the adherence to technical precision goes far beyond its origins. It sounds like the controlled fury of a modern army assault in the form of an orchestra, with the specific purpose of getting your blood boiling.
Highlights: “Prestehammeren” and “Surtr”.
Vexed – Negative Energy
Genre: Deathcore/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you want to get analytical about it, this sounds like djent-deathcore with the straightforward mono-aggression of hardcore, rhythm approach of hiphop-heavy nu metal and melodic sensibilities of metalcore. But don’t let all this fool you into thinking that it sounds like a mishmash. The term “nu-core” actually covers it quite well. It’s sharply honed and consistent stuff, and, unlike many of its ilk, quite mature-sounding.
Xasthur – Inevitably Dark
Genre: Experimental black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Ready for a near 2 hour journey that sounds like the grim reaper inviting you along for an acid trip? There’s a varied host of different personalities to this music – all of them doom-laden to a certain extent, and all put together it makes for a markedly disturbing whole. You get noisy black metal, dark folk and lots of ambience, most of which with a undeniably nightmarish quality to it.
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 June 16 – 2023
This is a “quality not quantity” week with a few exceptionally strong releases across the spectrum, although with a surprising emphasis on stoner.
Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Fuzz-tone to the bone. Church of Misery takes that Paranoid-era Sabbath sound, adds a bit of Lemmy-ish rusty charm and then trusts in the artistic integrity of its members to add the necessary signature character on top of that (which they certainly do). It’s bluesy, groovy, even a bit grungy, and feels 100% genuine. A stellar doom/stoner release with a killer theme (pardon the pun).
Highlights: “Beltway Sniper (John Allen Muhammad)” and “Freeway Madness Boogie (Randy Kraft)”
Creeping Death – Boundless Domain
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is death metal so crisp and sharply honed that your can practically feel it carving unimpeded through layer upon layer of flesh. It’s right on the edge, peering over the borders of thrash and groove, without really crossing over, but perhaps picking up a whiff of an influence here and there. A little more speed, a little more flair, but apart from that this is snarling, bared-teeth death metal with the killer instinct to back it up.
Highlights: “Vitrified Earth” and “Creators Turned Into Prey”.
Elder Devil – Everything Worth Loving
Genre: Hardcore/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5hardcore occasionally ramping up into deathcore and leaning partially on a black metal “everything-will-die”-mood, although seemingly lacking a good progress plan.
Fifth Angel – When Angels Kill
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A hard rock-riffing, shred-y modern heavy metal record with few ideas but solid vocals.
Frozen Land – Out Of The Dark
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Full-on power metal showing off some serious guitar chops and solid, fun songwriting, though lacking a bit of drive and consistency of quality.
Helleruin – Devils, Death And Dark Arts
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Straight black metal leaning tastefully on the melancholy tremolo, and although definitely in the “raw”-territory, not hiding the result behind a wall of low-fi noise.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
Genre: Stoner metal/progressive hard rock
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 5/5King Gizzard’s escapades can be a little confusing at times – effortlessly and deliberately steering clear of expectations and doing whatever the heck (it seems) they feel like in the moment. A new season of the year – a new Lizard Wizard. Which makes it all the more of an event when they release an album like this, with a stylistic consistency as solid as bedrock. This is stoner through and through, but with a supercharger attached, and a stunt driver behind the wheel. Some of the riffs are pure thrash metal, and it seems the band has unlocked the secret recipe to the perfect amount of prog digression. Putting this record on will feel like an event over and over and over again.
Highlights: “Gila Monster” and “Converge”.
Memorrhage – Memorrhage
Genre: Nu/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mixing hardcore, hip-hop, industrial electronica and a bit of grindcore might sound like an overload, but it’s actually surprisingly straightforward.
Methedras – Human Deception
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Thrash metal flirting with modern melodeath, and it’s aptly aggressive, although not quite landing the big, lasting punches.
Rise To The Sky – Two Years Of Grief
Genre: Melodic doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A combination of classic, funeral-like death doom and solemn, melancholy melodic sections that function a bit more as a backdrop than they probably should.
Sammath – Grebbeberg
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Violent and intense, rough-around the edges black metal, just as ordered. They certainly go at it with purpose, although it feels like something you’ll have heard before somewhere.
Saturnus – The Storm Within
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5These guys are obviously experienced in the meld of epic death doom and sweeping melodies, and if their style is something you have come to love, then this is the stuff you’ve been craving. They do take their sweet time though…
Thy Catafalque – Alföld
Genre: Avant-garde/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5For those of us who are fans of metal music that refuses to stay within set boundaries, or even those limits created by your own expectations from listening to the first few minutes of the album, Thy Catafalque know how to deliver. To my memory this is a slightly darker and more black metal-influenced than their last album, Vadak, and the start of the album leads you to thing that it’ll be heavy from start to finish. But no, further in, the atmospheric breaks become wilder, longer and more frequent, which, by contrast, makes the returns to extreme metal riffing feel all the more impactful. It’s playful, melancholy, bright, aggressive, straightforward and mysterious all at different points in time, which feels just a bit like life, really.
Highlights: “A földdel egyenlo” and “Néma vermek”.
Varmia – nie nas widzę
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A raw and aggressive take on blackened folk metal, with several elements that bring to mind bands like Behemoth. It’s not quite pitch black, with several traditional folk interludes, but also a bit heavy handed when the two styles meet.
Vile Ritual – Caverns Of Occultic Hatred
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal, cavernous, monstrous death metal that like to settle into a slow, doomy pace and a really dark mood.
Witchskull – The Serpent Tide
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A heavy, galloping stoner trot allies with a doom tone and a distinct vocal style to create something that’s both groovy and feels a bit occult.
Wooden Shadow – Eternal Land Of Wrath And Mourn
Genre: Melodic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Finnish melodic black metal that, surprising no one, has a lot of lively guitar work and a certain forest-y feeling to it, but, along those lines, also suffers a bit from lack of originality.
World Eater – An Insidious Remedy
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sinister-toned, young death metal that’s trying to achieve some of that horror factor without getting corny or retro about it along the way. It works well while lively and aggressive, but still needs a bit more work to keep the slower sections interesting.
Highlights: “Gridworm” and “Scorched Quadrant”
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.
