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Weekly rundown February 21 – 2025
Extreme- and traditional metal show off some of their very best attributes this week, making it hard to determine which side has the greenest grass.
The 7th Guild – Triumviro
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Happy-glorious, anthemic power metal with operatic qualities is what you’re in store for here. Nothing is held back in terms of performances, but it sounds like they’re trying to achieve almost the exact same thing on every song.
Abduction – Existentialismus
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Thank the powers below there are black metal bands out there that are still trying to intimidate its audience. Abduction play with Behemoth-level conviction, and do also border on blackened death metal heaviness at times. The vocals are those of a heretic zealot who’s been screaming till his vocal cords are raw. There is also deep chanting and croaking to go with the rumbling low end. They keep you on your toes with the same, semi-chaotic, hateful approach for just the right amount of time before releasing into either visceral riff sections or abyssal-melodic atmosphere. The range of the total experience is perhaps not massive, but each track hits in a different way and earns its memorable status by never slacking – always trying to make the most of any given moment.
Highlights: “Blau ist die Farbe der Ewigkeit” and “A Legacy of Sores”
Fractured Insanity – Age Of Manipulation
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is “modern” death metal with a half-foot in both technical and brutal territory. It’s groove-oriented more than anything else, although the tracks rarely build into any steady, memorable highlight moments. The playing is great though, and it sounds like they’re on the verge on some pretty good ideas.
Gràb – Kremess
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Yes, the Germans also know how to make icy cold, traditional black metal, and evidently also give it a melodic dimension without completely copying Scandinavian folk vibes. That being said, when it’s at its least inventive there is little but the sheer quality of the performances that differentiates this from a hundred others of its ilk. But, thankfully, it doesn’t sound like the band is interested in being locked into conventions, and so they add moments of gentle, traditional instrumentation, a touch of the epic here and there, and, generally, despite the “dark and “blizzard in the night” soundscape, it sounds like they’ve really enjoyed making this album. Which makes it enjoyable to listen to.
Highlight: “Vom Gråb im Moos (A Weihraz-Gschicht, Kapitel Zwoa)
Killswitch Engage – This Consequence
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you’ve listened to Killswitch Engage a fair bit before, it doesn’t take many seconds into the first song of “This Consequence” before you get the vibe of the whole album. It’s going to be generally aggressive, precise, extremely groove-oriented, and anthemic-melodic in the way that KSE manages without it turning cheesy or utterly deflating the heavy drive. It’s not really a “heavy” album though. The production is too skinny – there’s lots of hits, but nothing that lands with any real force. There are lots of great moments, and some really cool tracks, but the difference between those songs that really work and those that are just okay is quite noticeable. As a fan though, I’m not disappointed, as it’s a really satisfying listen overall.
Highlight: “Discordant Nation”.
Mean Mistreater – Do Or Die
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is classic metal revival done right, at least if you’re partial to the “heavy”, riff-oriented, no-nonsense, tough guy (gal) stuff. Not the kind where the singer shrieks the lyrics in falsetto and the guitar solos last for 2 minutes (although there certainly are guitar solos). Much closer to Motörhead than Saxon, just with galloping riffs. It’s got some melody, but the tone is close to Candlemass-style doom, which serves to further the badass quality to the thing. All that being said, you need to be a fan of this particular style in order to fully enjoy it, as a lot of the lyrics and structures will seem a bit trite on a casual listen. Still, it’s consistent, confident, and stylistically it’s a bullseye, fierce female vocals included.
Highlight: “Do or Die”
Morax – The Amulet
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5“Occult” heavy metal, when done tastefully, can embody pretty much everything of what metal is about outside the “extreme” sphere. The Norwegian one-man project that is Morax does exactly this. It’s mildly blackened, with elements of doom and speed, aside from the traditional, epic heavy metal core. The rhythm varies from slow and morose to upbeat and eager, always accompanied by a very fitting melody line, the tonality of which ranges from tongue-in-cheek evil to outright tragic. The instrumental performances are darkly vivid, never complacent – playful but always serving the theme. The vocals are dirty-clean and semi-melodic, not demonstrating the greatest range, perhaps with some room to improve, or maybe it’s just a matter of taste. For me, it’s got so many engaging elements I feel like every song is a treat, and at a little over 40 minutes it certainly doesn’t run too long.
Highlights: “The Descent” and “A Thousand Names”
Nachtblut – Todschick
Genre: Gothic/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is probably one of the more inconsistent albums from a big band you’ll hear this year. The question is whether the fans will care. You get ultra-catchy heavy rock riffs, dirt-simple rhythms and a mix between anthems, dark ballads and bangers. The middle of the album is a near-complete dud, so by extracting the worthwhile stuff they might have had a pretty cool EP.
Pissgrave – Malignant Worthlessness
Genre: Death/black/war metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5The sonic equivalent to being hit in the face by a fire hose connected to a tank of offal – maggots included. To a faithful old school death metal fan, it’s not completely inaccessible, as it’s got some pretty steady rhythms and decently discernible, stupidly heavy riff sections behind the hissing vocals and noisy production. In fact, compared to a straight-up grindcore or war metal album, it’s actually pretty varied, although you gotta be willing to take in the nuances. Which is a filthy, soul-crushing undertaking, but also highly rewarding. Because once you accept that you’re probably not gonna look at your dinner the same for a while, it’s a rewarding kind of punishment that knows how to push the right buttons and ride the line between utterly extreme and fucking awesome.
Highlights: “Dissident Amputator” and “Ignomity of Putrefaction”
Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rising from the remains of Spawn of Possession, this Swedish veteran-comprised project plays dark, brutal tech death. Even with an ex-Obscura member in the mix, it never really treads the melodic path, even though there’s plenty of intricate lead guitar work. For me, the rhythms are needlessly complicated, killing the flow and simply serving to demonstrate the instrumental talent of the players. But as a concept, it will definitely find its audience, and can absolutely be built on.
Sacrifice – Volume Six
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5As comeback albums go, this is pretty high up there. Not just on a this-year basis, but on an all-time basis. It’s the first by these Canadian thrash metal greats in 16 years, but there’s certainly no cobwebs to be found on here. It’s got an aggressive, blackened edge, and radiates confident, energetic malice, in a “let’s show ’em how it’s done” kind of way. The speed is there, the galloping riffs are there, the solos are there and the snarly Obituary-like vocals are certainly there. Sure, there are blackened thrash bands that go even faster and fiercer, and there are straight thrash bands that are even more fun, but Sacrifice strikes a great balance between the two. Welcome back!
Highlights: “Missile” and “Explode”
Scour – Gold
Genre: Black metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5The achievement of this album can be compared to the effort of mounting a chainsaw as a bayonet to a rotary cannon and somehow employing it as a precision weapon. The combination of frigid-toned, razor-edge ferocity and raw brutality on here might be the best I’ve ever heard. To me, this is everything that extreme metal is about and more. The harsh vocals do the whole range from high-pitched snarls to deep roars, and does it so well it should be studied. And somehow, in between the relentless assaults of saw-toothed, ice pick-tipped riffs, there’s unsettling atmosphere, wild solos and spine-tingling melody lines. The rhythms are fast-paced and highly precise, but not in a way that actively brings to attention the technicality behind them. And yet you’re still left in awe over the effort of expelling this amount of chaotic energy in such a controlled fashion, without losing the inherent savagery. Sure, there are more “underground” sounds out there, but if that’s the thing that’s going to turn you off this album, you need to seriously broaden your horizon.
Highlights: “Infusorium” and “Coin” (and many more)
Scumripper – For A Few Fixes More
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Murky, grindy thrash from this fairly fresh Finnish gang. There’s not actually a ton of good dirty thrash out there these days, so if that’s your oddly specific jam, then you should be all over this thing. The tone is that of half-serious, morbid old school death metal mixed with punky abandon and a grindcore-like disdain for absolute control. It’s not super consistent, but it feels more like the band experimenting than some misguided attempt at forced variation or a conceptual album structure. It’s wild, it’s rough and it’s pretty damn cool.
Highlight: “Early Embittered Twilight”
Sin of God – Blood Bound
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Aggressive, modern death metal out of Hungary. It’s on the technical side, but certainly not interested in any overly nerdy instrumental escapades. Minus points for an ugly, very likely AI-generated album cover.
Traitors – Phobias
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slamming deathcore that’s all about that “DUNNNNNNNN” bass drop, hip hop beats, staccato rhythms and breakdowns.
Twins Crew – Chapter IV
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Power metal that’s like a mix of Accept and Dragonforce, which works only moderately well. The guitar work is great, but some of the rhythm transitions are messy, and overall it’s highly unoriginal.
Vultures Vengeance – Dust Age
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5An all-out retro heavy metal band that seems utterly-style obsessed. The plus side is a wave of nostalgia. My subjective take is that it sounds ridiculously clenched and fairly forced.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown February 14 – 2025
It is certainly possible to have fun with this week, but you must be willing to look for it beyond the reach of the light.
Apocalypse Orchestra – A Plague Upon Thee
Genre: Folk/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5While this presents as a straight-up folk metal project, I would strongly recommend going into it expecting epic, medieval doom, because, certainly on this latest release, that’s the prevailing flavor. Yes, it is loaded with traditional instruments (hurdy-gurdy included) and the vocals are of the “calling out to the forest from a solitary hilltop” kind, but the tempo is slow, the riffs low and fairly ponderous, and the tone on the darker side. It does, at certain times build into triumphant, near-symphonic surges, but it never gets flippant or silly. Not all the songs accomplish a great deal, but the ones that do will stick with you.
Highlight: “Saint Yersinia”
Bleeding Through – Nine
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Dark, aggressive, yet melodic and catchy. The core recipe of Bleeding Through has not changed, although it would be inaccurate to say that they sound like they did in the early 2000s. It’s tighter, more industrial, more bombastically alternative/gothic, and the production is rich and well-defined. A good amount of these tracks do little to expand on a narrow basis, but for listeners who are less interested in the nuances and just want some driving, shadowy metalcore without an overload of sappiness or a wall of djent, this will hit the good spot.
Cantu Ignis – The Fathomless Dominion
Genre: Technical/symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A “yes to all” kind of modern melodeath album, pulling from symphonic, tech and ever so slightly from spacey progressive. There’s nothing wrong with it in a superficial sense. It’s well executed, well produced, both decently heavy and vibrantly melodic, and tonally fairly consistent. The problem lies with it not taking any distinct path. It’s precise and aggressive, AND anthem-prone AND nerdy AND a bit dark AND a bit playful.
Dawn Of Solace – Affliction Vortex
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5For those not familiar with Dawn of Solace, it’s gothic doom and it’s Finnish, so you know it’s going to be melodic and you know it’s going to be epic, no matter how deep it wants to bury its head in the graveyard earth. Sure, it’s about as much fun as that album cover, but the guys understand their niche extremely well, and deliver sublimely. The album is super dynamic – both gentle and brutally heavy, with fantastic performances and melody lines that keep moving and changing, showcasing expert storytelling capability. You thing that a doom album should not be this varied – should not be this to-the-point and efficient (only one 5+ minute track on here), but it it, and it really, really works.
Highlights: “Fortress” and “Invitation”
Decline Of The I – Wilhelm
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The most consistent thing on this album must be the mood, which is solemn more or less all the way through. The rest is far more mercurial, although the prevailing expression is certainly black metal. At its core-centered peak it strikes with demonic, near-symphonic force, closing in on the brutality of blackened death metal. At other times it almost completely shuts down into unnerving chanting, hip hop beat samples, classic instrumental bits or scary atmosphere. If you’re not paying attention, you might be left thinking you’ve covered about 15 different songs, when there are in fact only 5 on the album. This exploratory approach certainly makes for an unpredictable and mentally stimulating listen, and the songwriting really is top notch. But you might be left feeling that the overall impact has been somewhat lessened from lack of focus.
Highlights: “L’Alliance Des Rats” and “Entwined Conundrum”
Klastos — Born to Ruin
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Garage rock sludge from Sweden that goes hard on the riffage. Brings to mind Horndal for sure, just as an even rougher, punkier, and a bit simpler iteration. This guys also know how to make it work melodically, and overall it goes about 50/50 on the harsh/groove balance.
Kosuke Hashida – Outrage
Genre: Grindcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Do you love grindcore’s unchecked aggression, roughness and short structure, but wish it could be a bit more generous with the groove-centric riffs? Japan’s Kosuke Hashida has you covered. This stuff is ultra direct, savagely relentless and absolutely furious, but just enough thrash instrumental control shines through to get a feeling that someone’s actually holding the reins to the mayhem. It’s not what you would call varied, but in the fast-paced grindcore world of sub-3 minute tracks it also certainly doesn’t feel repetitive. In line with the theme, it feels like an outright slaughter by means of merciless tactics and overwhelming firepower.
Highlights: “Strangulation” and “Corruption of Faith”
Lacuna Coil – Sleepless Empire
Genre: Gothic/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Time for a gothic boom. Lacuna Coil continue in their current iteration of balancing big, catchy, near-symphonic melody with powerful, industrial-like heaviness topped by harsh vocals. Christina Scabbia’s voice is still gorgeous, and they are clearly still well able to write engaging melodic structures, even if not all of it sounds equally original. It goes a bit too slow at times, not managing to match the downed tempo with a matching dip in mood, but certainly delivers on the stylized, alt-gothic soundscape that makes the band what it is, despite its evolution. It’s a rich, generous album that feels familiar in the right way.
Highlight: “The Siege”
Mantar – Post Apocalyptic Depression
Genre: Blackened punk/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you’re not in a riotous mood, don’t worry. You will be after listening to this. First up though, concerning this stage of Mantar’s stylistic journey: Some of the danger of earlier releases is missing on this album, so if you’re looking for something that still sounds underground and a bit like certain people wouldn’t want you to listen to it, you might be disappointed. “Post Apocalyptic Depression” is much more in line with the circle-pit fun of bands like Kvelertak, and for this purpose it’s crafted to near perfection. The energy on here is bottomless and highly infectious. The blackened edge is still there, but steered more in the direction of black ‘n’ roll, which is absolutely the correct choice for this sound. The vocal rasp and guitar crunch scour away the rust and grime that’s built up around your brain from from being exposed to the nonsense of the world, and the beat will get your blood pumping.
Highlights: “Halsgericht” and “Axe Death Scenario”
Mantric Momentum – Alienized
Genre: Melodic heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here’s some anthemic heavy metal that goes BIG. With powerful vocals, pounding riffs and power metal-like melody lines, it’s designed for maximum impact. It’s solid, certainly not original, but well produced, and not phoned in in terms of performances, at least.
Savage Lands – Army Of Trees
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Half metal band, half non-profit conservationist organization, Savage Lands has made this album in opposition to deforestation. It’s got a ton of guests on it, who are allowed to influence the style of the respective track they’re involved on. As for the root style of the band? Who can say. The songwriting on this album is, unfortunately, a mishmash, leaving several of the tracks indistinct and able to accomplish very little. There are some cool flavors scattered throughout though.
Volatile Ways – Perfect Dark
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dark, percussive deathcore from Australia. The harsh female vocals and and rigid, stompy rhythms take it in a Venom Prison-like death-hardcore direction, but given the beatdown bass effects, guitar tone and general riff style, it’s core style is not in question. It’s certainly not lacking bite, but apart from a couple of tracks, it’s hard to really get any nuance from this, making it kind of just a single, chugging mass.
Warlung – The Poison Touch
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Texas band Warlung successfully combines a whole bunch of related flavors on their latest release, showcasing the band’s proficiency with moderate genre fluidity, without for a moment breaking off from, or losing track of, the stoner/doom core. You are introduced to elements of classic heavy metal, psychedelic rock, blues and old school hard rock, implemented as suits the overall feel of any given track, and so amplifying groove, dreamy immersion, chillout-factor, melancholy, urgency and fun as necessary to give each song individual character. Now, I won’t say that they succeed in sounding different from any other band in the subgenre, but if you feel like too much of current heavy stoner lacks variation and true melodic affinity, then this might be just what you’re looking for.
Highlight: “Spell Speaker” and “White Light Seeker”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown February 07 – 2025
Here come the heavy hitters! The underground takes a bit of a rest this week, although not completely, to allow space for a good handful of well-established names.
-(16)- – Guides For The Misguided
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s the return of the heavy riff machine that is -(16)-, and on this one I feel like they’re stretching sludge as far towards stoner as can be achieved without actually starting to cross over. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a coarse, roaring, bone-rattling sound with a threatening tone, but damn are you getting your fill of groove on this one. Many of the riffs are Metallica-level catchy and the lead guitar gets into some seriously tantalizing escapades. The choruses are strong and at best easily memorable, sending the replay value skyrocketing. The production seems cleaner and bigger than on 2022’s “Into Dust”, which gives the album a stronger hard rock alibi, but, decisively, it never really descends/ascends into what most people would call “fun”. I would say that the overall melodic feel is much closer to doom than stoner, and the raspy harsh vocals radiate spite. Overall I don’t think it’s the most creative thing they’ve ever done, but still delivers beyond expectations.
Highlights: “After All” and “Blood Atonement Blues”
Berlial – Nourishing The Disaster To Come
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s some French black metal that, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems intent on carving out a path of its own. There are (dungeon) synth elements heavily embedded in the melody and ambience, and outside its wall-of-sound assaults of harshness, you get sections of spacey, even dreamy prog-ish rock. The overall tone is one of unease, but it’s not so permeating that it overshadows the band’s eagerness for Enslaved-like deviations into different rhythmic- and melodic territories. A few of the songs are, strictly speaking, a bit longer than I think they needed to be, but is it really a conceptual black metal record without at least one 10+ minute track? Some moments, though, are nothing short of gripping, so it’s well worth your time.
Highlight: “Ivresse de la finitude”
Dream Theater – Parasomnia
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Ah yes, in a time when we get sceptic-defying reunions such as that of Guns ‘n Roses, Rage Against the Machine, Oasis and, although briefly, Black Sabbath, Mike Portnoy rejoining Dream Theater was perhaps not the most unbelievable, but definitely one of the most welcome. A bit like Mikael Åkerfeldt reuniting with his harsh vocal technique. Anyway, about the album. Perhaps as a biproduct of the reunion, (at least that’s what I’m guessing fans will agree on), this is a very consistent album, particularly in regards to tone. As a relative outsider to Dream Theater’s discography, I’m tempted to compare the album’s spooky feel to that of a much, much smaller band, namely Doctor Smoke, particularly on their 2021 release “Dreamers And The Dead”, which I highly recommend. What “Parasomnia” is though, is heavy. Not all the way through, but certainly in moments. Aside from that however, I find myself mildly underwhelmed in terms of how “progressive” the album is. Yes, it’s definitely well-composed, melodic, brilliantly technical prog metal, but is it challenging? Exploratory? Inventive. Not really. It does sound fantastic though.
Highlights: “The Shadow Man Incident” and “Dead Asleep”
Ereb Altor – Hälsingemörker
Genre: Folk/melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Epic, yet moderately restrained blackened folk metal from Sweden. Of course, in their circles of appreciation, Ereb Altor will hardly be an unknown. This is a sound that easily pokes out of the deepest underground and unites black- and folk metal fans in front of the stage at summer festivals. A few of the songs on here are fairly run-of-the-mill, and the vocals don’t always work for me, but there is force, will, and genuine darkness hiding in the recesses.
Jinjer – Duél
Genre: Progressive/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The type of progressive approach that relies almost entirely on staccato djent-rhythms will always interest me less than those built around clever melody lines, mercurial grooves and temperamental mood swings. Both sides are strongly represented on Jinjer’s newest offering, so I guess everyone should be happy? Of course, you can’t please everyone, and if you’re already decided that this band isn’t for you, I highly doubt that “Duél” will win you over. But for me, the balance between the harshly mechanical, startlingly aggressive, jaw-droppingly dexterous and brilliantly melodic is so pleasingly struck on here that I find my enthusiasm steadily growing as well as regularly peaking throughout the duration. Sure, there is a bit of filler, and sure, it’s not a huge stylistic leap, but it delivers on so many levels.
Highlights: “Fast Draw” and “Duél”.
Noctambulist – Noctambulist II: De Droom
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Usually I’m a big fan of contrasts in music, particularly when it comes to the progressive and melodic spheres of the metal realm. Juxtaposing the ugliness of black metal with the beautiful and serene is not a new idea, and is sometimes executed to great effect, but this one is a miss in my book. Some of the melodies are simply too naïve, too good-natured, too whimsically dreamy, breaking the illusion of the black metal side being genuinely bleak. The craftmanship is still laudable though,
Obscura – A Sonication
Genre: Technical/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Setting aside the controversy surrounding this release (although it should be mentioned that two former band members have brought forth allegations of plagiarism), Obscura strikes their well-established balance between hustle-technicality, vivid melody and catchy riffs once again. Everything is in place to please fans of the band, but standing on the outside I find myself gradually losing interest as it progresses, the lingering impression being that of a recipe repeating itself again and again.
Open Kasket – Trials Of Failure
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Chug, CHUG, chug, CHUG, CHUG, on goes the chug train. This is a snapping bear-crocodile hybrid on steroids that attacks you in erratic bursts, then chomps down breakdown-style when it gets a hold of you. Which is often. Very, very often.
Pathogenic – Crowned In Corpses
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is aggressive, riff-centric tech death with a thrash streak. Razor-sharp and precise, but with a healthy dose of that Revocation-style scorching ferocity. It has a melodic side as well, closer related to melodeath than the typical tech death note assault. You get a bit of breakdown-prone deathcore as well, but nothing that leaves a defining impression. There are lots of elements throughout that bring to mind signature traits of other bands, and as a total package, the album doesn’t significantly stand out among its peers. But this could change dramatically with a more coherent sense of direction and identity. The playing is solid, enthusiastic and entertaining, with several clear highlights and lots of potential. If you care less about uniqueness, there is much to enjoy on here.
Highlight: “The New Rot”
Phrenelith – Ashen Womb
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Imagine being trapped in a gloomy cave system and this unholy cacophony of rumbling drums and monstrous growls emerges from the deep, hinting at a terrible subterranean vastness caked in filth and littered with dusty remains. The rest of the sound sort of perfectly expresses the utter dread you would feel as, no matter which direction you take, the noises keep coming closer and sounding hungrier. For those not already familiar with the band, yes, you guessed it, this is cavernous, evil old school death metal all the way. It’s so unified in style and tone that it feels like a manifest entity, hurling at you your own fear, revulsion and hate. If you’re looking for crisp, groove-laden riffs, you won’t find that here. If you’re looking for utter malice and oppressive atmosphere, look no further.
Highlights: “Lithopaedion” and “Stagnated Blood”
Saber – Lost In Flames
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Sleaze-backed heavy metal with some vigorous solo work and melodies that bring to mind 80s cult adventure films. Unfortunately, the vocals don’t harmonize too well with the instruments, and several of the choruses fall flat.
Saor – Amidst The Ruins
Genre: Atmospheric folk/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Moving away from the grandiose, vital and more urgent sound of 2022’s “Origins”, Saor returns to a more melancholic, atmospheric black metal-leaning approach. Sweeping, sorrowful, bagpipe-led melodies carry the songs across the visions of Scottish highlands that will undoubtedly form in your mind. It’s beautiful, at times purely blissful, evocative and immersive, if not a tad monotonous. That’s not to say that it doesn’t reach peaks of epic heaviness or offer rushes of snarling aggression, but comparatively these moments take a back seat. Having been exposed to the far more dynamic “Origins” I can’t help but be a bit disappointed, but that is, at least partially, a question of taste.
Highlight: “Amidst the Ruins” and “Glen of Sorrow”
Unreqvited – A Pathway To The Moon
Genre: Symphonic/ambient black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Unreqvited will immerse you in serene melody and cosmic ambience that elevates into richly produced surges of symphonic black metal force. There is a lot of emotion at play on here, and when it goes clean, it really is squeaky, silky clean. To me it’s borderline sappy, although I recognize the purpose behind it, and how it ties into the blissfully sad nature of the atmosphere. It really is gorgeous to listen to, but you do have to accept long interludes of non-progression and songs that either build very slowly, or seemingly don’t build at all.
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 January 31 – 2025
This week you can choose if you want your aggression and bitterness straight-faced, weird, expanded upon or as an afterthought.
Admire The Grim – Resist
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Imagine a blend of Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy, and you won’t be too far off this band’s sound. It’s energetic, riff- and solo-minded and not overly complicated. What they do less well is the balance between aggression and playfulness. The drums and lead guitar are on a happy-go-lucky, fun loving charge (very much in the vein of COB) from the start, while the vocals, rhythm guitar and bass tone pull in a markedly more “serious” direction, at least on repeated occasions. Aside from this, and with a bit more work on their melodies, I see this band going far.
All That Remains – Antifragile
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Classic, mid-2000s-style metalcore? Yes, at least partially. Like As I Lay Dying, these guys are sticking to their roots, but certainly not ignoring the current trends, and so it feels a bit like a facelift – the vital components are the same but outwardly it’s been upgraded to better suit modern sensibilities. The aggressive side to the music hits very hard, to the point where you can feel a magnetic pull towards an imaginary moshpit. The transitions over to the melodic bits are a bit forced, and in that department it feels fairly unimaginative. Also, a slight point deduction for that abomination of an album cover.
Confess – Destination Addiction
Genre: Groove/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I feel like every single review of this album is going to feature the band’s history, but until the novelty of it wears off I guess it’s something these guys will just have to live with. The core members of Confess escaped their home country of Iran after being persecuted and severely punished by the government for the “blasphemous” and politically charged messages in their music, and are now living in Norway, unapologetically continuing to produce harsh, death-infused groove metal with elements of thrash and hardcore. I get a bit of Kataklysm and a tad Cavalera Conspiracy, with some pummeling death metal drum work courtesy of Nile’s George Kollias. It’s mean, stark and angry, with plenty of tasty riff sections to sink your teeth into. It’s less good with variation and expanding on the core ideas of the songs, so it’s not the most distinct stuff you’ll come across. But absolutely worth your time.
Highlight: “Expedition”
Grief Ritual – Collapse
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Violence! This thing thrives on stupidly heavy, jagged breakdowns, like massive pieces of a coastal cliff edge being hurled forcefully into the ground by some irate deity. The vocals are piercing and coarse, the riffs Swedish death metal-level crunchy, and the rhythms specifically designed to have an entire room full-body-banging like they’re possessed. Personally, the recipe is a bit to rigid and repetitive, but if you’re looking for furious hardcore brutality, then this will shake your world.
Kilmara – Journey To The Sun
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Going in, my expectations were raised by the really rather excellent album art, which very much extends to the singles as well. Unfortunately, the contents do not quite match the packaging. It’s mid-tempo melodic heavy metal with cliché, power metal lyrics and simple rhythms. If you’re in the right mindset, you could still have some good fun with it, I just wish they went harder with the spacey vibe.
Lunar – Tempora Mutantur
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Did you like the latest Opeth album but wish it was markedly more unhinged? Then you might want to look into this one. The switches between clean and harsh vocals, and even the vocal style, are quite similar, as is the mildly gloomy melodic approach. But the mood changes are far more radical, and the tonal spectrum much wider. If you skip your way through, only listening to certain sections, you could be excused for mistaking it for a pure prog rock release. A different set of sections will give you vigorous progressive death metal. The balance between calm, stripped down melodic sections and all-out fury are decently done on an individual song level, but considering the full album experience it’s more uneven. Some tracks are much easier to like than others, and some will be more subject to taste. There’s a good amount of really great moments on here and there’s plenty of talent involved, so anyone who likes their metal varied should not skip this one.
Highlight: “Weakening Winter Touch”
Maceration – Serpent Devourment
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5These Danes released their first album in 1992, and didn’t follow it up until 30 years later, in 2022. Luckily, the gap was a tad shorter this time around, and the guys are still very much on form. This is old school Scandinavian death metal that leans into eldritch horror, producing a profoundly threatening, crunchy and brutal, but not particularly visceral or raw sound. It relies on tried and tested techniques and elements, delivering few surprises, but a highly consistent collection of solid, sinister death metal with about a 50/50 balance between groove and savagery. While there aren’t really any huge highlights, there’s nothing weak, and it doesn’t let up.
Highlights: “A Corrosive Heart Fell Below” and “Serpent Devourment”
Naked Whipper – Chapel Defilement
Genre: Grindcore/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5These guys get their sound just right – slightly muted, grainy riffs, trashy drums and gargle-snarl vocals. It’s obscene, blasphemous black metal with a distinctly grindcore engine. Unfortunately, even for grindcore, the songs are so damn similar that only a few moments of ambience really remind you that you’ve progressed down the track list.
Pentagram – Lightning In A Bottle
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Looking away from the history and current status of the band, let’s appreciate this release for what it is, which is a super groovy, old school hard rock-leaning classic doom album that feels chilled out, playful, well-considered, and just the right amount like it’s practicing black magic. This is not one of those records that set off with a locked-in tone, tempo and level of heaviness and religiously sticks to it for the duration. This one dips into both slow doom and rock ‘n’ roll, serves up riffs both pounding and light-hearted, and spoils you with cool solos. Sure, I could have wished for some more umph and drive, but setting aside expectations, it’s a clear subgenre highlight so far this year.
Highlights: “Thundercrest” and “In The Panic Room”
Rats Of Gommorrah – Infectious Vermin
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Semi-modern, German death metal that’s got traces of thrash, grindcore, and a bit of melodeath. It’s heavy, eager to try new things, and not taking itself too seriously. Some of the riff sections are super headbanging-friendly, but it’s got a few problems with rhythm precision and style consistency.
Selvans – Saturnalia
Genre: Avant-garde black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Welcome to the theatre of the damned. It will spook you, move you, amuse you and bewitch you, and you will likely not come out the other end with your soul still in your possession. This Italian one man project expands on a blend of black- and heavy metal with orchestration, a bit of prog rock, epic and sometimes doom-laden melody, and plenty of folk-tinged drama. While this may sound too much, it feels like it’s all part of the plan/play, perhaps allowing for just a bit of improvisation, which is handled beautifully. This is not at all a polished type of sound. It’s alive with personality, a tad of jankiness, and a love for storytelling. It’s guided by an exploratory vision that prioritizes panache, variation and an organic, “what feels right” approach to structure. In the end, it’s one for the black metal crowd, but also something I will urge prog-, classic metal and even epic doom fans to give a serious shot.
Highlights: “Il Mio Maleficio V’incalzerà!” and “Fonte dei Diavoli”
Shrieking Demons – The Festering Dwellers
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Crypt-dwelling, musty old school death metal all the way, with rusty vocals and a spot-on menacing tone. It seems like its base mood is that of a ponderous, shadow-dwelling doom creature, that will decide to chase you if you get too close. In which case it breaks out into hungry gallops, letting out chilling snarls and seductive guitar solo calls. If you’re of the mind that this kind of stuff all sounds the same, this one will certainly not change your mind, but if you’re already in favor, you’ll very likely dig it fully.
Highlight: “Abstract Hallucinating”
Skaldr – Saṃsṛ
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A Virginia, USA-based black metal band that’s more than one person for once. They incorporate epic, sorrowful, sky-gazing melodies in their otherwise fairly run-of-the-mill, snarling approach, which to my ears elevate their expression significantly. They do tend to dwell a bit on the same passages, not fully justifying some of the song runtimes, but if you, like me, find the melodies captivating, then you won\t mind sticking around.
Highlights: “Heal Me” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
Void Of Hope – Proof Of Existence
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album is a powerful surge of anguish, resounding through cold, shadowy Finnish forests. Heartbreaking, depressive melodies are delivered with force and definition – this isn’t your typical understated, low-fi atmospheric approach, but it is an album that takes its time. Ironically, you understand what it’s about thematically and tonally almost instantly, but the nuances of its mood and message must be discovered along the way. While I find myself both moved, fired up and impressed throughout, easily immersing myself in the epic misery, I won’t deny that it drags on just a bit, almost as if it’s trying to achieve a certain length to match its nature. If it speaks to you though, this won’t be a concern.
Highlight: “Proof of Existence”
Weed Demon – The Doom Scroll
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A potent mix of doom, stoner and sludge that calls upon malevolent spirits, although it might be too high to accomplish anything remarkable. The production is woolen, but letting in enough crunch and low end rumble that it makes its intended impact.
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?
Admire the Grim, albums, All That Remains, black metal, Confess, death metal, Grief Ritual, grindcore, groove metal, Lunar, Maceration, metal, metal albums out this week, new metal releases, new releases, overview, Pentagram, progressive metal, review, Selvans, Shrieking Demons, Skaldr, thrash metal, Void of Hope -
Weekly rundown January 24 – 2025
We’re getting onto the thick of it now, with massive releases competing with outstanding efforts breaking out of the underground.
Acrónica – Sociedad caníbal
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5We start the week off with some riff-happy Spanish death metal from this relatively fresh faced band. There are elements of hardcore in here, and some classic melodeath riffs every now and then, but the overall impression is closer to death thrash. It’s a bit rough still, but with some maturation this could be promising.
Atramentum – The Wrath Within
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A German death doom project that isn’t interested in getting bogged down in layers of atmosphere or trying to sound like a ponderous, decomposing cave behemoth. This is more in-your-face and visceral, with a touch of black/gothic, so in a way more like old school doom in that regard. It’s not all-out aggressive though, slowing down for extended sections of menace. It is, however, quite the chunk to get through, with no great variation to speak of, so could have needed some serious weight shedding.
Bad at Life – Bad at Life
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5The album starts as a blood-pumping mix of black and thrash metal, and adds even more death metal heft on the second song, then transitions into more or less completely straight black metal for the remainder. If not for this disappointing inconsistency, this could have been a real sledgehammer blow of a release. It’s by no means bad, just not as satisfying as it could have been.
Century – Sign of the Storm
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Century is one of those bands that sound like they practiced their skills and style for 30 years before emerging from their cave and releasing anything to the public. Their brand of doom-touched, ever so slightly sullen old school-style heavy metal seems to fit them like a chainmail glove. The crisp production, with just the right amount of vocal reverb, is completely on point – not too punchy, not too clean, and yet taking nothing away from the performances. Regardless of the fantasy-leaning, gloomy themes, and sometimes full-on doom choruses, the playing always, always takes you back to riff- and solo heaven, which feels inexplicably reassuring, like a car accelerating in perfect accord with the decreasing g-forces as it comes out of a tight bend. For me, it’s almost too consistent, nearly becoming predictable, but at a sub-38 minute runtime, this will keep fans of the style thoroughly invested for many repeat listens.
Highlights: “Sacrifice” and “Sign of the Storm”
Clear Sky Nailstorm – Problem Solved
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is heavy, angry German thrash flirting ever so slightly with hardcore, and employing a death metal-ish vocal style. As you can probably imagine, it’s a riff beast. The drums certainly keep up, although they leave a slight bit to be desired in terms of refinement. Overall, it’s not terribly inventive, and sometimes a bit clunky in its progression, but also delivers some standout, badass thrash-love moments.
Descarnado – El eterno odio de las almas desterradas
Genre: Deathcore/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5To all non-Spanish speakers out there, the title of this album translates to “The eternal hatred of banished souls”. As a listening experience, this hatred takes the shape of inexhaustible fury, as the band lays into you with gun sentry-drums and berserker-rampage-cyborg guitars, precisely flailing blades and sonically assaulting you with blurts of scrambled alert noises. As far as tech deathcore goes, it has a slight blackened edge, with beastly, deep-snarling vocals, and so tonally it matches the demonic frenzy depicted on the album cover. For those not too fond of deathcore or tech death, be warned that this album leans into pretty much all the tropes you’re guaranteed to be averse to, but it doesn’t overdo them. I found most of my favorite tracks in the bottom half of the album, and so found the overall structure a bit off, but that could definitely be a me thing.
Highlight: “Abduccion”
Digester – Grandmother
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Cranky, crusty, mid- to low tempo sludge that’s like a rags-clad skeleton screaming out the remainder of its vocal cords to rhythmic, doom-like riffs. It’s a spartan, focused sound that goes very right much of the time, although can’t quite deliver on an engaging level on all its tracks.
Disrupted – Stinking Death
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Disrupted is a Swedish band playing… classic Swedish death metal, no shocker there. Style wise they get it all right, with slightly hoarse, ripping vocals, ultra crunchy guitars and an oppressive bass end. The three singles off the album are all awesome, but the rest unfortunately come up lacking in originality and variation. On a casual listen they will easily blend together. Still, if you enjoy this sort of thing, there’s nothing on here that will repel you.
Fleshbore – Painted Paradise
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5US-based Fleshbore play meaty, mean tech death not too unlike Archspire, although not quite as obsessed with inhuman speed (although they play very, very fast). And that’s where they differ in an interesting way from a lot of other tech death acts in that the focus is more on crushing, precise heaviness and moderate melody than on breaking the record for how many notes it’s possible to cram into a single song. This thing thunders like an unending series of artificially triggered earthquakes, and although it’s certainly a distinctly modern style of death metal, it refuses to let go of the core savagery that birthed the subgenre. It’s a well-composed, well balanced, absolute beast of an album that might win over a few straight death fans to the tech side.
Highlights: “Setting Sun” and “LaPlace’s Game”
Goatlord Corp. – Temple of Serpent Whores
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Off-the-hinges aggressive black metal out of France, from a band that got started in the late 90s, and has now re-emerged with their first full-length. The album hits astoundingly hard, with a massive, mountainous low end and a demonic drive, plowing entire landmasses out of its way on its relentless march of hate. With unapologetically acerbic and warlike song titles, it manifests some of the old-school devil-may-care and rebellious attitudes of the subgenre, and supercharges its sonic expression with tons of force. Not all the tracks are as strong, but the highlights are evenly spaced, keeping you engaged throughout,
Highlight: “Slave Disciplin”
The Great Old Ones – Kadath
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5“Kadath” is not an understated or gentle atmospheric black metal experience. Taking on Lovecraftian horror, the band delivers potent and carefully constructed drama with a delicate, lingering aftertaste of unease. It is a full, rich soundscape of tragic melody and powerful natural forces that feels as steady and intentional as it is unpredictable. The production is exquisite, letting through the full spectrum of detail, honoring the band’s exemplary ability to compose organic, balanced structure that never really lets up and never becomes repetitive. The mix of harsh and gentle is executed masterfully, leaving you with a feeling of having experienced something significant and inevitable.
Highlights: “Under the Sign of Koth” and “Me, the Dreamer”
Haine – Fertile Void
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Deathcore from Malta, that leans far more in the direction of tech death than metalcore. It’s heavy and brutal, certainly a tad mechanical and precise, but utilizing the fierceness of death metal rather than the typical over-reliance on down-tuned, djent guitars and breakdowns as means to sound heavy. It’s suitably melodic, decently varied, and delivering above expectations in terms of technicality.
Highlight: “Hindrance”
Harakiri for the Sky – Scorched Earth
Genre: Avant-garde black metal/melodic hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Get ready to be enveloped by Harakiri For The Sky’s signature, emotionally laden, immersive style of significantly expanded black metal. Despite its melancholy temperament, it’s a joy to listen to, masterfully melding serene, beautiful melody with driving, heavy force and grief-stricken harshness. It’s a sound that’s practiced to perfection, taking you on a somber journey of withering flowers and anguished outrage. That being said, if you’re not completely sold on the tone and emotional weight, it can get overpowering and a tad repetitive. But for its chosen approach, it’s a solid, astoundingly well-considered release.
Highlights: “Heal Me” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
Sabhankra – Nocturnal Elegies
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A distinctly produced melodic black metal album, sharp and crisp, but in no way weak, and with harsh vocals passed through a filter seemingly to give them an 8-bit-like simplistic feel. It’s a standout feature that works well. There are elements of death metal in the mic, as well as a few thrash riffs, but aside from this, my biggest note to the band would be to get even more adventurous with the sound, as it gets a tad predictable for certain spans of the runtime.
Tormentor Tyrant – Excessive Escalation of Cruelty
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5There’s no hesitation with Tormentor Tyrant. This stuff lunges at you at every opportunity, trying to rip your face off and revel in your agony. It’s ultra-aggressive old school-leaning death metal that’s mostly short and sweet except for a couple of 4+ minute tracks, resulting in a sub-27 minute runtime, which feels spot on for this style. The album is a highly engaging mix of groove and savagery, throwing you morsels of spine-tingling riffage just long enough to get you properly hooked before they move on, keeping you itching for the next one. It’s in no way exploratory or particularly innovative, but damn does it deliver on bloodlust-inducing ferocity.
Highlights: “Cosmic Wild Hunt” and “Pit of Anguish”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
albums, Atramentum, black metal, Century, Clear Sky Nailstorm, death metal, Descarnado, Disrupted, Fleshbore, Goatlord Corp., grindcore, groove metal, Haine, Harakiri for the Sky, metal, metal albums out this week, new metal releases, new releases, overview, progressive metal, review, Sabhankra, The Great Old Ones, thrash metal, tormentor tyrant -
Weekly rundown January 17 – 2025
For once it’s a big week for thrash. Strap in, cause speed limits are about to be completely ignored.
Aeon Of Awareness – The Embracing Light Of Rarohenga
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A German melodic death metal band that for some reason have found it appropriate to theme their music around Maori mythology. Aside from the apparent lack of cultural authenticity, it is a purely superficial treatment – only extending to the lyrics and song titles (which are all performed in English and German), as there is nothing about the music that brings to mind traditional Maori elements. It’s rhythmic, crunchy, and a bit stale Swedish-styled melodeath, nothing more.
Ckraft – Uncommon Grounds
Genre: Experimental metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A jazzy, experimental metal project that’s all instrumental, and clearly honed in on something their can call entirely their own. Bendy, Gojira-like metal riffs are set to medieval music-styled melodies, progressive odd rhythms, and all of it topped with a flamboyant sax. It’s at its best when not so rhythmically strict and stuck in place.
Destabilizer – Monopoly on Violence
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5How about some Danish old school-styled thrash? The Danes know well how not to take things too seriously and prioritize fun, cutting right to the core of what makes something enjoyable. That’s exactly what this band does, and with obvious enthusiasm. It’s agile, semi aggressive, and groove-seeking, although can get a tad stale in some of the the mid-tempo sections.
Deus Sabaoth – Cycle Of Death
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Solemn black metal that sounds like it should be performed for a congregation of the damned. There is a strong presence of melancholy doom, which adds a touch of theatre to the flavor, although the raspy vocals do a good job of keeping things harsh and direct.
Grave Digger – Bone Collector
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Veteran German heavy metallers Grave Digger offers up a grim, thrash-leaning record, going for aggressive-ish groove over melody. It’s still very much old school-styled, uncomplicated and catchy stuff that’s not reinvented in any way.
Häxkapell – Om Jordens Blod Och Grepp
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Häxkapell is a relatively fresh Swedish black metal band that’s now on its second full-length release, and yes, as per the norm for promising, up-and-coming black metal outfits these days, it’s a one-man project. While not fully committed to a distinctly melodic or atmospheric sound, there are strong folk elements, foremost of which are deep, warm chants and the use of violin as an alternative to the guitar tremolo, as well as rousing, crowd-moving rhythms. The intensity sometimes dips into a mid-tempo doom-like realm, but for the most part remains harsh and bitter, if not explicitly aggressive. It’s an exceptionally well-balanced sound that melds the best aspects of pagan black metal, not unlike early Enslaved.
Highlights: “Metamorfos” and “Satan’s rötter”
Hazzerd – The 3rd Dimension
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Thrash! Unfiltered, unmodified, unpretentious, on-point thrash that takes its mission just the perfect degree seriously. This is a band that wants to achieve something more with its music than just getting heads banging. There’s social commentary in the lyrics, and real effort has gone into equipping each song with character, utilizing distinct rhythms, impressive technicality and memorable guitar licks and melody lines. Not markedly old school nor modern, it perfectly blends speed, groove, sharp precision and impatient attitude into a pure, timeless thrash extravaganza.
Highlight: “Interdimension” and “Parasitic”.
Hesperia – Fra Li Monti Sibillini
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A huge undertaking of medieval/pagan atmospheric black metal where ambience and traditional, acoustic instruments dominate the soundscape, added snarled, near-whispered lyrics for a touch of dark mysticism. Then, in chunks, it breaks out in pure, cold, sinister-toned black metal. The two parts to the experience fit well enough together, although the transitions could have been more elegantly wrought.
Necrodeath – Arimortis
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Underground Italian blackened thrash outfit Necrodeath are apparently ready to call it a career with this 14th full-length. It’s sinister, Slayer-meets-Venom-like stuff, mostly mid-to-semi-high tempo and hostile. All of it does sound a bit similar, but there are lots of cool highlights if you dig the style.
Onirophagus – Revelations from the Void
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a band that’s clearly intent on getting the best out of both the metal subgenres that they’re utilizing for their sound. While you certainly get extended sections of the typical death/doom deflated, dry-gurgled vocals on top of riffs that are like cave systems collapsing in slow motion, there’s actual variation in the vocal style (including some outraged shouting that reminded me of Nergal in Behemoth) and parts that go all-out in one direction or the other. The doom side is saturated with bitter melody, and the death metal side roars in with thundering force like a second personality that simply won’t accept whatever injustice has been done without venting the totality of its pent up rage. There are sections throughout that overstay their welcome slightly, but for the most part this is a captivating listen.
Highlight: “Landsickness”
Putrid Defecation – Tales from the Toilet
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Finnish brutal slamming nonsense about graphic, toilet-related disasters, and it’s a real good time. These are riffs and beats that actually lean into a groove and you’re mercifully spared the relentless ping-snare that usually accompanies this stuff.
Sarcator – Swarming Angels & Flies
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Sometimes you get the sense that a metal subgenre was created awaiting the day when a band comes along and discovers a way to maximize its inherent potential. I certainly get that sense with Sarcator and blackened thrash metal. The sheer anger radiating from “Swarming Angels & Flies” is like a pair of barbed fists that grab you by your battle vest and shake you mercilessly until you’re left standing in tattered rags. This is not your typical “fun” blackened thrash album. It’s a bloodthirsty, mean, calculating and deft-handed bastard that’s on a mission to sever heads and write blasphemous passages with the blood. The fact that this is only the third full-length from a very young band spells great things for their future.
Highlights: “Where the Void Begins” and “Comet of End Times”
Thy Kingdom Will Burn – The Loss And Redemption
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Metalcore-strength melodeath from Finland. It has an epic, almost doom like quality that doesn’t shine through very clearly but brings to mind Insomnium.
Tumenggung – Back On The Streets
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An Indonesian heavy metal band that’s playing it reeeal old school. Galloping riffs, peppy rhythms and high-pitched vocals are all in place. Production wise it’s perhaps overly compressed, but it’s even, consistent and charming.
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 January 03 – 2025
Welcome to 2025! We’ve got a basket of malicious-minded stuff waiting for you, ready to take you in wildly different places.
Acacia’s Temple – Elegiac Pilgrimage
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Entering a dark, fire-lit room, you’re drawn in by the near-chanted words of a dark-clad figure whose voice has everyone in the room transfixed. The voice tells a story, the contents of which, you quickly realize, you will come to wish that you didn’t hear. But it’s to late now, you can’t help but listen intently. That’s my experience of Acacia’s Temple’s debut atmospheric black metal album. It blends in elements of doom, creating a gloomy, ritual-like atmosphere with spoken-work-like vocals and chilling tremolo melodies. The production is great, if perhaps a tad too smooth, but you get the feeling it’s not meant to be an unpleasant experience. It’s more about the overall feel than delivering standout moments, and in that regard you might find yourself at the end of the album not quite having identified any individual tracks, but still feeling like you’ve been properly submerged in dark depths.
Highlight: “Unveiling romantic darkness”
Black Pegasus – Mass Omega (+ Mass Omega II: THe South Chamber)
Genre: Experimental deathcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Noise, melody, groove and crushing, rhythmic punishment. That is, in essence, what you’re in for on Black Pegasus’ first half of their double “Mass Omega” release, the second being “Mass Omega II: The South Chamber”, which is, to a certain extent, more of an ambient experience, although a very loud, hostile and horrifying one. For this review, I will concentrate on the former of the two albums. A quick, casual listen might not offer you more than breakdown-y noise terror, but there’s a lot more to unpack if you stick with it. Yes, the djent guitars and double base barrages are front and center, backed by oppressive distortion and executed with industrial rigidness, but all of a sudden you get straight-up stoner groove, metalcore-like or symphonic melody and nu metal beats. It’s not what I’d call a “wild” or “unhinged” kind of experimental project, but it goes to show how many different styles can be successfully blended given enough will and talent.
Highlights: “Holy Waters” and “Apollo’s Gait”
Enchanted Steel – Might and Magic
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A solo Polish power metal project that practically radiates fantasy nerd. While the vocals aren’t completely up to scratch (best noticed on the ballads) the tone and guitar work send your mind to a simpler, happier place.
Fermentor – Release Me
Genre: Psychedelic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album is a lot of fun if you’re in a playful mood. What you get is 17 short-runtime songs of instrumental (only guitar and drums, so they say), psychedelic/experimental death metal. It’s not exactly brutal, but it is heavy, and showcases some serious progressive groove, the like of River of Nihil and Gojira. My main issue with it is its episodic structure, where songs don’t really flow together, and so you feel like it’s “starting over” jumping something new quite often, without really having reached a climax for a lot of its tracks. But if structure is less of a concern to you, and you just want to be transported along to wherever the music takes you, there’s plenty to enjoy along the way on here.
Highlight: “Vortex”
Manic Outburst – Dead and Dying Fast
Genre: Thrash/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hoarse-shouty speed thrash that’s at its best when either going full tilt with blazing solos or leaning in to slightly lower tempo grooves. There’s not a ton on here to separate these guys from the crowd, but it’s tonally on point and suitably ferocious.
Mutagenic Host – The Diseased Machine
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5First week of 2025 and we’re already getting great old school death metal. I Like where this is headed. These lads are from London, and are clearly not optimistic about where technology is headed these days. Setting aside the theme of machine overlords though, this is mid-to-low tempo, properly crushing stuff with great low-end punch, a dark tone and truly spectacular dry-throat, roaring vocals. I had a great time all the way through, especially considering how consistent it is, although I found myself craving more focused riff sections as track highlights. It feels raw, even though there’s no unnecessary low-fi-ing to the production, but also powerful and meaty.
Highlight: “Artificial Harvest of the Obscene” and “Incomprehensible Methods of Slaughter”
Paleface Swiss – Cursed
Genre: Deathcore/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Matured into a more thoughtful, more straightforwardly deathcore, more melodically inclined band, this is not the rabid animal we met on 2022’s “Fear & Dagger”. There are certainly still instances of the early-Slipknot-Corey manic, agonized groans, and many of the riffs hit supremely hard. But bigger parts of the album feel a tad tame, like the band is settling in intead of evolving.
Highlight: “…and with hope you’ll be damned”
Patriarkh – Prophet Ilja
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If Gearea’s “Coma” has you looking for more epic evil, then turn your gaze in this direction. If you’re already familiar with Batushka’s sound, that these ex-members are very much still building on, then this will appear a more free-standing, evolved release. It’s very much still a “monastic” kind of sound, full of chants and with a tone of divine worship, although in the unholy form. Personally, I wanted the album to do a bit more, but it’s still a mighty release that feels both ambitious and highly intentional.
Highlight: “WIERSZALIN II”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown December 27 – 2024
How about some spice to rouse you from the catatonic laziness of the holidays? This last week of the year has you covered.
Acida – Blessed to Destroy
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fresh piece of Chilean melodeath that hits a lot like Angela Gossow-era Arch enemy, but with enough differences to remain their own thing. It’s a groove-oriented sound for sure, aggressive and tastefully abrasive, much more interested in firing off heavy, speedy riffs than crafting particularly memorable, melodic choruses. It’s got a few rough edges courtesy of being a debut, and it’s not the most advanced in terms of songwriting, but it’s got the right spirit – bringing in just enough elements of the old school to give it a solid, legit base from which to grow.
Highlight: “Broken Society”
Algol – The Black Sands of Madness
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Did you enjoy Satyricon’s “Volcano” and “Now, Diabolical” albums, and kind of wish they’d continued down the line of black ‘n’ roll-infused, riff-centered, not-so-conceptual black metal? Argentinian solo project Algol picks up the threads and keeps on spinning, revitalizing that spirit of catchy bitterness. While a good number of the songs on the album feel rather unambitious, in that they stick more or less to the same line from start to finish, it’s all good stuff, never losing sight of their purpose, never falling for the temptation of indulging in ambient padding to boost the runtime. It’s straight-to-the-point, un-pretentious stuff that sticks resolutely to a strong stylistic core.
Highlight: “The Black Sands of Madness”
Antumbra – Days of Future Ravaged Lands
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you’re in the mood for some melancholy to wipe that blissful Christmas joy smile off your face, here’s an atmospheric black metal album from one-man-project Antumbra out of Romania. Feelings of epic longing flow from the tremolo-led melodies, offset by agonized, raspy vocals and steady, mid-tempo rhythms. You’ll find your mind wandering along barely discernible paths in vast, misty forests, at the foot of towering, snow-capped mountains, all in complete solitude. If you’re familiar with the style, you will generally have heard it all before in several highly similar iterations, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a rewarding listen.
Highlight: “When Nothing Remains”
Black Negative Domination – Reborn in Darkness
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Despite some slightly messy rhythm work and a limiting production, this is a rough gem of a blackened heavy/death album from Germany. Snarly aggression and rumbling beats meet a sense of the epic, catchy riffs and a bit of snazzy solo work. Tonally it comes off as fairly serious, but it’s not out to get you in a bad mood – quite the opposite.
Highlight: “When I’m Gone”
Black Yet Full of Stars – Dark Wing Gospel
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Dramatic, harsh-edged symphonic metal from Italy which gives you some of the lighter sides of Fleshgod Apocalypse, and a good dose of power metal panache on top. A few progressive twists and turns come included as well, but it’s more low key. It goes both low and high, soaring on rousing bombast as well as chugging out punchy riffs followed by growled vocals. It’s got an operatic theatrical quality that’s not overdone, and which makes me imagine elaborate stage productions telling tales of bravery and tragedy.
Highlight: “Nigredo, Foulest Servant”
Empty Mirror – Deus Profanus
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A melodic, symphonic-leaning goth metal project from Greece that uses both clean female vocals as well as male harsh ones. It sounds serene and smooth, although with a good number of heavier riff sections. A bit sedate, but would be a great contrast to more brutal things.
Gravethorn – Atrocitas
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A hissing, thorns-out, US-based blackened death project that sounds just the right degree of underground for what it’s trying to achieve. The spooky tone, the over-distorted guitars, the muffled vocals, it’s all there. But it’s also fairly intense, and its death metal personality pulls it in the direction of heavy chugs and fervent, squealy solos, which are all highly welcome.
Highlight: “Barbaric War Declared”
Here and Beyond – Echoes of the Past
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Get ready to be hit by a wave of furious despair in the form of atmospheric, blackened death metal out of Nevada, USA. It screams and roars its way along on pounding drums, and lets out laments of cold, gentle melody, sometimes changing its trajectory suddenly with progressive rhythm transitions, giving a slightly erratic overall feel. While there’s an abundance of aggression, it doesn’t feel overly hostile, more like a herald of great misery that conveys its message very convincingly. Not all the songs have an equally strong identity, but in total it’s a force to be reckoned with that firmly stands its ground among its peers.
Highlight: “Invocation of the Thaumiel”
Jugular – Hymns for Our Deathbed
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is (mostly) a fun one, even though I’m not sure it’s intended to be. In spite of song titles like “Grief” and “A Hymn for Our Deathbed”, the album feels upbeat – skipping along on peppy hard rock rhythms and light, thrash-y riffs accompanied by mildly gritty vocals. My main gripe with it is the band’s proclivity for slower doom-ballads, which aren’t dark enough to land as atmospheric mood-setters, and kill the momentum created by the earlier, more energetic tracks. And so they fall in between two chairs. But if they can decide more firmly on a specific direction for their sound, I sense great promise here.
Mammon XV – Emprise
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An album that starts off as a malevolent, throat-ripping predator, attacking with intense force. Then, halfway through, it shifts to slower, longer, and more atmospheric songs, losing the previous aggression to semi-sad tones and an overall more emotion-laden approach. The quality is still there, but I personally find it to be a missed opportunity.
Shovelhead A.D. – Timeless Old
Genre: Groove/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5While we’re waiting for a potential new Pantera album, and the divisive shitstorm that will no doubt accompany it, have some of this! Shovelhead A.D. draws from that sludgy, coarse groove sound that we got on “Far Beyond Driven” and “Vulgar Display of Power”, then adds to it with some thrash ferocity and just a tad of Devil Driver melodic affinity, It’s at times significantly more brutal than Pantera and at other times gentler, offering much of the same Southern attitude, if not nearly the same level of innovation. It’s a straight banger from start to finish, just the right amount of dirty, just the right amount of instrumentally playful. Technically a bit rigid, perhaps, but they make up for it by churning out some of the most rad riffs I’ve heard all year.
Highlights: “Tormented Aggression” and “Shell Shock”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown December 20 – 2024
Second to last week of the year wants to have some rowdy fun, pouring on speed and tasty riffs, and going easy on the conceptual part.
Allfader – Call of the Void
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Northern Norway extreme metal that mixes the kind of oddball melodeath you get from Avatar with viking-folk infused black metal, for an album that will appeal to the more fun-loving part of the black/death fan base. It’s borderline epic, a bit proggy, and really catchy at times. It’s not an album that I’d say is helpful in defining the band’s style, as it’s a bit inconsistent, but quite entertaining if taken up front.
Ardeat – Apotheosis
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A spirited Italian blackened death project that has some maturing to do in terms of technical performances, but shows good promise in bridging the gap between the dark emotions of melodic black metal and pummeling modern death metal.
Becerus – Troglodyte
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Straight-for-the-throat deathgrind that’s primitive in all the right ways. It’s agile and precise, like a highly practiced axe murderer, with caveman-grunt and feral-scream vocals, and a hungry rhythm attack that rips apart its victims into appropriately sized pieces to grind down with crushing riff sections. Each track, which ranges from just over a minute to just under four, has its own menacing strategy to inflict debilitating damage, whether it be with brutal frontal assault or knife-wielding stalking, and it always achieves the kill. Not a refined or expansive thing, but a great surge of pure savagery.
Highlight: “Obfuscated by Imbecility”
Canis Dirus – By The Grace Of Death
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A maelstrom of misery pulls you into the depths of this semi-atmospheric black metal album. It’s like a struggle between a gentler, distressed spirit that spreads its woe through chants and acoustic string instruments, and one that growls its distaste directly into your ear, whipping up a tempest of anguish to go with it.
Epitaph – Path To Oblivion
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5The third full-length from this long-going Italian doom project brings the kind of crunchy, warm riffs and winking occultism that you’d expect from genre tops like Candlemass, and adds onto it with a more patient, kind of playful mystery that feels a bit like exploring an abandoned medieval castle and imagining dark deeds of the past from the crumpled remains. Some of the time it’s simply entertaining, and at its best it’s delightfully quirky – getting you lost in a slow, reverent dance of epic dreams.
Pandemic – Phantoms
Genre: Thrash/speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Here’s some Polish old school speed thrash that has a level of free-spirited enthusiasm and inventiveness about it that makes it sound like it actually took part in founding the subgenre. Next to the agile shredding and half-rough vocals there are also influxes of darker shades of metal, like black metal tremolo and a couple of sections of straight-up classic doom. But while these certainly add to the thematic of shady spiritualism, this is not an “evil”, and certainly not blackened, kind of thrash, instead leaning towards the epic and ever so slightly atmospheric, more like classic heavy metal in that regard. It doesn’t get stuck repeating ideas or instrumental approaches, managing the kind of variation that allows each song to take on a quick-to-grasp, distinct identity, and offers highlights in riffs, melodic passages, clever rhythms and vocal variations alike.
Highlight: “Santa Muerte” and “Under Gypsy’s Spell”
Revolting – Night of the Horrid
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Ghoulhouse, etc.) strikes again, this time with his Revolting project, which offers up yet more crushing, old school Swedish death metal, offering recognizable elements from his other bands, and a familiar, gory horror theme, but with a greater emphasis on melody. To the extent that I dare call this melodeath, although definitely with the grinding riffs and glass-gargling vocals front and center, which is no less than what you’d expect and hope for. It doesn’t feel extraordinarily well-considered as full albums go, more like picking up where they left off and driving the deathtrain for the next stretch of distance, but still dropping bloody god damn gems of brutal bangers along the way like it’s second nature. Gimme more, just keep on giving me more.
Highlight: “Blades Will Cut”
Subway To Sally – Post Mortem
Genre: Heavy/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The epic, arena-shaking folk metal giant that is Subway to Sally is back with a grand, yet decently varied release that includes leanings into power- and symphonic metal as well as chest-beating classic heavy metal, all with a rich production and a tone that moves between gleeful, serious and triumphant.
Tigguo Cobauc – Fountains of Anguish
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A UK black metal project that takes inspiration from folk legend and allows it to enter the music as melody and grand atmosphere, without letting it grow out of proportions. On the other hand is punky, coarse black metal that pulls it all back down to the ground and whips up the tempo. Fresh, if not thoroughly coherent.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown December 13 – 2024
First of the really short December weeks, with strong champions of both light and dark, depending on your pre-holiday mood.
The Axis Of Perdition – Apertures
Genre: Black/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This blackened industrial is all about creating an unsafe space for your mind – a labyrinth of dripping filth and shrieking metal in the sewers of some gargantuan, far-future slum city. Every other track is an interlude, which may be going a bit overboard, as even the main tracks are fairly ambience-oriented and mellow.
Caelestra – Bastion
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you needed more proof that there is beauty in darkness, heartbreak and existential philosophy, then this will provide all you’d ever need. This multifaceted UK prog project fuses symphonic grandeur with organic technicality and a healthy influx of black metal anger and bitterness. It’s one to get lost in for sure, with its tastefully synth-driven melodies pulling you deep into a vaguely sci-fi, but mostly simply expansive and serene, soundscape that tugs at your emotions in waves. Some of the melodic sensibilities feel familiar from a few different melodic extreme metal greats, bringing to mind both straight prog, Swedish melodeath and metalcore, but it’s not strictly derivative, and works very well overall. It’s not massively challenging in its intricacy, but also doesn’t feel like it ought to be, although it deals with complex subjects. Perhaps its greatest strength, then, is the way that it’s able to cut to the simpler core of its thematic emotions and concepts, and communicate them in a non-direct, engaging way.
Highlights: “Lightbringer” and “Soteria”
Illusion Force – Halfana
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Why not embrace the holiday spirit in advance with some joyous extravagance? This must be as close as power metal can get to musical theatre without tipping over (yes, I’m looking at you – bands that squeeze out 2-hour fairy tale-conceptual behemoths with half the runtime being spoken-work storytelling). The vocal style in particular sends my mind to cheerful, vibrant stage performances aimed at the whole family, and the melodies support this. But as a whole, the band wants to be much more than this. There is blistering, Dragonforce-style technicality, sections of all-out shredding, and some really creative rhythm shifts that makes you wonder what to expect around the next corner. This is the whole package, really, perhaps not quite as coherent as the stuff coming from some of their inspirations, but bold, satisfying, varied, and carrying some real, eye-opening highlight moments.
Highlight: “Hibari, Pt. 1: A Lost Cantara”
Magic Kingdom – Blaze Of Rage
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5All-out-fantasy power metal that tries to keep one foot within a more grounded NWOBHM-style classic metal sphere. On the other hand, it also flaps the algelic wings of symphonic metal, trying to take off, and so its ambitions pull it in slightly different directions, leaving it in a slightly uninteresting middle ground.
Misanthropy – The Ever-Crushing Weight Of Stagnance
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Think “so brutal it’s gone off its hinges” and you should be sufficiently prepared for this album. Chicago outfit Misanthropy take their brutal-styled tech death in a chaotically progressive direction, clearly aiming to match the thematic reflected in the song names, which paint mental images of merciless, cosmic forces and lurking, unpredictable horrors of the deep. Perhaps a bit too randomly disharmonic simply for the sake of dissonance at certain points, like a big machine glitching out and throwing stuff around, it also knows how to go directly for the throat. It’s got you in its sights the whole time, whether it’s surrounding you with distracting diversion moves or throwing itself on top of you from the top ropes. It sounds just as monstrous as it needs to, and demonstrates great songwriting skill as well as immense instrumental control.
Highlight: “A CURE FOR THE PESTILENCE”
Mörk Gryning – Fasornas Tid
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A remarkably light-on-its-feet melodic black metal album from these Swedes. The cold folk notes that the country’s melodic extreme metal is so well known for are not exactly understated on this release, saturating the experience from start to finish, but don’t get me wrong, it’s just as pleasingly dark and melancholic as it needs to be, and one of the main reasons that I will want to return to the record. The mood is just right, it’s honest about not caring to be the harshest, most misanthropic thing out there, while certainly not lacking bite. It does, however, at times feel a little passive, a little reluctant to try new things. A quality release that should please fans who aren’t looking for any surprises.
Highlight: “Black Angel”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
The Metal Dispatch 