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Weekly rundown December 06 – 2024
Ah yes, December, where the metal world gradually goes into hibernation. A good few stragglers remain though, wanting to spread cheer and dread alike.
Among These Ashes – Embers Of Elysium
Genre: Power/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Speed-chugging heavy/power metal, trying to bridge the gap between the chest-beating and epic one one side and the windmill-headbanging riff-worship on the other, but falls flat melodically.
Athena XIX – Everflow Part 1: Frames Of Humanity
Genre: Melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is some good, nerdy fun right here, in the form of power metal-flirting prog metal. I think its main strength must be the band’s melodic affinity, They don’t try to go overboard with the rhythm changes, and the technical elements feel like they serve the melodies and storytelling. They use synth elements to embellish the sound by giving it a sci-fi feel, which fits together quite well with both the more aggressive riff sections and the more silly, hyperactive bass lines. In short, it feels like the band is enjoying themselves making this, rather than desperately trying to impress. There are a few tracks that don’t bring much to the table, which prolongs the time between the “hey, that’s cool!”-moments, but if you’re missing a bit of proggy brightness in your metal rotation, then jump into this one.
Highlight: “The Seed”
Catharia – Unimaginable Dreams Of Fate
Genre: Experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Listener-unfriendly blackened extreme metal (if that tells you anything at all) that goes for disharmonic tones and atmosphere, and direct lines of aggression with riffs and vocals, with few good transitions between parts, creating a broken-up flow.
Ghoulhouse – Fresh Out Of Flesh
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s something to look to if you just need some more over-crunched death metal riffs in your life. This thing grinds on with no-nonsense drum beats, a horror-inspired tone and theme, near-mumbled cookie-monster-who-swallowed-a-cheese-grater vocals and just a quarry’s worth of stupidly catchy, boulder-heavy riffs. There’s nothing refined with this, nothing in “good taste”, just a couple of Swedes unapologetically dumping a truckload of old school, grindcore’d-up death metal right on top of you, and most of it fucking rips.
Highlight: “It Came From The Sewer”
Greylotus – Motherwort (EP)
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is the kind of sound that makes me question where the line between tech death and deathcore actually runs. Not that it’s terribly important, but it does seem to blend the kind of beat-driven, wall-of-noise, melodic grandeur of bands like Lorna Shore with the “cleverer”, more insidious and erratic technicality of the likes of Obscura. The “progressive” label is slapped on here to signal some rather abrupt switches between aggression and zen atmosphere, and it bips and bops around on crazed bumblebee rhythms, but that’s not exactly uncommon in tech death to begin with. The music is flawlessly performed and exquisitely produced, with plenty of hard-hitting and melodically solid parts, that only get to live the life of a mayfly before the band hurries to the next thing. It’s certainly not free from tropes, but this long EP/short album proves that Greylotus has taken a significant step in the maturation process and is poised to compete with the very best of the subgenre.
Highlight: “Shinkansen”
Kir – L’appel du vide
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A rock solid long-EP of Polish mostly-black-slightly-death metal. “Commanding” is the word I’d choose to describe it if I could use only one. The vocals roar out like to a horde of frenzied cultists, and they know how to dwell on just the right, sinister-toned moments, only to build back up again with rumbling beats. Naturally, there will be comparisons drawn between this and Behemoth, but Kir has found their own sound, more closely related to traditional black metal, and taken a half-step in a dark melodic direction, allowing for some absolutely chilling solo highlights, and which suits them very well. As with their fellow countrymen though, this is performed with conviction, force, and just the right amount of theatre.
Highlight: “Eter”
Neckbreakker – Within The Viscera
Genre: Death/groove metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5THIS is supposed to be a debut album? From basically a bunch of KIDS? God fucking damn, this spells well for these guys. It’s a face-pulping beating of heavily death metal augmented hardcore, and embracing the kind of furious groove you get with bands like Misery Index (of which I’m a massive fan). It’s on its feet the entire time, stomping, jumping and shuffling around to highly athletic drum work, backed by an ultra-menacing tone, and cursing vocal lines at you with an impressive variety of harsh styles. It has gallops, breakdowns, wild shredding and pure headbanging madness, and all of it has its place, sounding naturally intentional, and is performed with the precision and weight of seasoned pros.
Highlights: “Shackled To A Corpse” and “Absorption”
Panzerchrist – Maleficum, Pt. 1
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Savage, scary blackened death metal that’s like a snarling rat demon hunting you in the dark. It has all the anger it needs, and a clear idea for how to mix the cold, sinister tone of black metal with the brutal punch of death metal. They also mix it up with switches in intensity, from solemn melody and build-up beats to raging blast beats, the only downside being that some of the transitions aren’t too well thought out.
Pillar Of Light – Caldera
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Pain and misery – that’s what’s in store on this doom album, expressed through agonized, sludge-styled vocals, a touch of black metal bleakness, and long, dwelling, morose melody lines. It’s not all a slow crawl though, as it builds to a few, chugging, near-death metal crushers.
Sunlight – Son Of The Sun
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern, powered-up heavy metal where the riffs go tandem with vibrant synth melody lines. To the right ears, it sounds great, not too grand, yet not understated, positive but not silly, epic but not dorky.
Vosforis – Cosmic Cenotaph
Genre: Technical black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dehumanizing, dystopian-feeling black metal project from the UK, that uses quite deliberate, precise mid-tempo rhythms and an austere atmosphere with synth elements that hint to dark futuristic visions and hopeless cosmic voyages. There is dissonance and spikes of blast beat-led intensity, but overall it’s orderly and deliberate, going easy on the drama and melody, although it’s certainly there, just more subtle. There are probably choices they could have made to achieve a more distinct expression, but it’s a solid debut album that establishes which sonic space they want to operate in.
Highlight: “Psychonaut”
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 November 29 – 2024
Sounds like the metal world has sensed the approach of Christmas season and decided to vomit forth all its remaining blackened, nihilistic stuff as a last stand against the merrymaking.
Abysmal Death – De-liberación
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fast and dark, tech-centric, groove-happy death metal album that’s also not shy to pause for a few brutal slams and a bit of melody. The production’s fairly flat, and there’s some work to be done to cultivate a distinct sound.
Against I – Songs for the Dying
Genre: Black/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5This one’s got a black ‘n’ roll edge, and a whiff of attitude, but it’s not particularly well put together, with few song highlights and a lot of it sounding very similar.
Altar ov Asteria – Éna
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5One of the qualities of black metal is that mystery surrounding the band adds to the intrigue. It’s accepted as an artistic choice that adds a touch of the forbidden and a pinch of exclusivity to the experience, as if the implications of the music’s message are so severe that the band needs to remain anonymous for their own protection. It’s a theatrical ploy, but it works well for the genre. In this case, we are dealing with a duo of masked female musicians that produce an intense, condensed form of atmospheric black metal where the erratically changing rhythms blend into the tower of distortion from the guitars, bass and vocals. Interestingly, it grows and grows throughout the album, culminating the the last track as a grand statement, like the entire experience has been a slow, demonic metamorphosis.
Anarchÿ – Xenötech and the Cosmic Anarchÿ
Genre: Progressive/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5There’s a point where prog goes to far, which will be a subjectively defined line, but for most, this will have traversed that line by miles. Barely coherent, it’s thrash ingredients tossed around in a directionless whirlpool of unhinged rhythms.
Anarchy Zone – Satan’s Island
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Thrashed-up, NWOBHM-styled heavy metal from Denmark. You know in the first minute exactly what the album is going to sound like, and it does not deviate. Good, headbanging fun.
Antidemon – Convergence
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Straightforward, groove-oriented death metal with limited depth, and what I’m almost sure is inhaled harsh vocals. Nice for a bit of savage riffage, but it kind of drags on.
Aoidos – Oizys
Genre: Progressive/melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Yes, this album is a bit all over the place stylistically. It’s melodic, technical, atmospheric, slow, fast, traditional-leaning yet obviously fresh and modern. An uneven production makes the experience a further notch more tumultuous, but there are plenty of good ideas scattered in here. The parts that are melodic black metal with a prog twist hit in ways that few other bands deliver. One to watch.
Ass to Mouth – Enemy of the Human Race
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Grindcore-speed death metal that just heaps on crude, mid-levels of brutality without pause for a little under 22 minutes. There’s not much new, but they know how to have fun with it. The kind of heavy shit that will put you in a good mood.
Bedsore – Dreaming the Strife for Love
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5There’s going prog, and then there’s absorbing prog. These Italian gentlemen seem to have taken a mental time machine a few decades back, to the golden age of prog rock, with only vague memories remaining of a future where such a thing as extreme metal exists. The cool thing about that is that there’s no pretending. We’re going on a trip, there will be hallucinogen-inspired, animatronic fantasy creatures and epic, matte-painted landscape backgrounds galore, and that’s the end of it. At times it does sound more like a scene-setting soundtrack than a musical centerpiece, at least until the vocals and old-school tech death riffs and rhythms jump in. The album manages the feat of sounding intentional while being highly unpredictable in a non-random way that doesn’t call undue attention to the structure or technicality behind it. Learn to love the synth, don a headband and a pair of tinted sunglasses, and get carried away.
Highlight: “Realm of Eleuterillide”
Bleeders Lament – Populace Artifice
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A one-man old school death metal project out of Australia, that doesn’t shy away from catchiness. The production adds a slightly muted quality that, together with the fairly straightforward rhythms, makes the sound feel almost mellow, but it counters well with a good bass punch. It’s not jaw-dropping, so it might have limited replay value, but all the right ingredients are there for some solid, uncomplicated death metal fun.
Borehead – Vita Est Morte Est Vita
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Instrumental doom metal out of the UK, that feels like a neutral, observational exploration of different, slow-moving natural events on our planet. The riffs have a dark, heavy depth to them, but the overall tone is not overly threatening or abyssal, while certainly not bright or peppy either.
Cryptorium – Descent into Lunacy
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A newly formed Swedish death metal band that’s uncompromisingly old-school in both performances and production. This stuff sounds like a cave drill that’s started to grind itself apart as much as the rock in front of it. The vocals and drums are utterly savage, clawing and frantically digging their way through your eardrums, showing absolutely no mercy, and the riffs are like rusty sawblades lashing out with predatory viciousness at everything that comes near.
Deinonychus – Fatalist
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A black metal band that’s been going since the 90s, but has been on hiatus for much of the 2010s. This album is full-on blackened doom, booming unholy outrage through what sounds like huge stone chambers. It tends to get stuck in certain parts and patterns, which halts the progression, but the sheer weight and malevolence behind it keeps the momentum going.
Demon Bitch – Master of the Games
Genre: Heavy/speed metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Impatient, medieval-themed heavy metal with dexterous rhythm work, but also vocals that to me sound like a half-serious parody of Geddy Lee.
Denigrate – To the Goddess Unknown
Genre: Progressive gothic/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Gloomy, semi-polished, markedly gothic doom with a few noticeable Finnish melodeath elements. While more progressive than straightforward, the rhythms, and in particular the melodies, are a bit cumbersome, which gives it a somewhat unrefined feel, like they’ve taken a few creative shortcuts. But most of the riffs and solo sections sound blissfully good.
Detest the Sun – Moonspells and Everlasting Sorrow
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a great example of how black metal can feel stripped-back and focused without having to resort to a low-fi production that makes it sounds like it was recorded through a walkie-talkie on low volume. Flowing on beautifully agony-laden melodies, there’s an immense confidence radiating from this album, in how there’s no apparent exertion required from the performances in order to fill out the soundscape and propel it forward. It’s not exactly relaxed, but its creator clearly trusts in the few, hand-picked elements that are utilized, realizing them with care and measured gravitas. The experience feels short, like it doesn’t cover much ground in its roughly 30 minute runtime, as there’s a significant portion dedicated to melody-driven atmosphere. In one way this makes the album not feel fully realized, but at the same time there’s also no need for it to feel massive. Hopefully it’s a prelude to many things to come.
Highlight: “Silent Suffering”
Dewfall – Landhaskur
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5An Italian black metal project that dips into the occult and pagan without getting soaked in folk metal tropes. It feels solemn, with chants and melancholic tremolo saturating the sound, but retain a roughness thanks to wild drum flourishes, with tribal-like beats and riff sections in between, a tasteful use of traditional, acoustic instruments and a few playful solos that sound like little critters skittering up the tree trunks of the dark forest we find ourselves in. It’s both primitive and complex, and the longer you listen to it the more it starts to speak to you, like you’re being indoctrinated into its shadowy, old-god-worshipping society.
Highlight: “Fara”
Divine Incision – Cosmic Design
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Massive, slamming death metal with an industrial-like, gargantuan-sounding production. It’s brutal, yes, but also quite orderly, and not particularly varied.
Dying Grotesque – Celestial
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ultra-crunchy death metal from Ukraine, this one’s all about the pulverizing riffs. It’s quite groove-happy, bounding forward on eager rhythms, chomping down everything in its way with massive chugs. Not all of it truly holds its own, and it’s not unique in any major ways, but if you’re just looking for crushing, headbang-able brutality, look no further.
Feral Forms – Through Demonic Spell
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dirty, coarse, blackened brutal death metal, complete with ping-y snares. There is very little variation on here at all, save for in the nuances, and a fair bit of that is lost in the “coming from the next room” low-fi production. But the tone is relentlessly hostile and ominous, which is exactly as it should be.
Festergore – Constellation of Endless Blight
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Now for some ferocious New York death metal. Added a pinch of hardcore, it runs at you with boundless energy, and doesn’t mind if the way there gets a bit bumpy.
The Gates of Slumber – The Gates of Slumber
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Resurrected in 2019, this rather well-established outfit is back at spreading mock-evil doomy goodness. There’s layers upon layers of slow groove on this, with deep, full bass and moderately fuzzy riffage setting the (not exactly understated) ominous tone. But the vocals and drums make an effort not to let the thing sink into a ponderous crawl, whipping life into the proceedings at all the right moments.
Highlight: “The Plague”
Gorgon – For Those Who Stay
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Savage blackened thrash that’s definitely more about the music than the message, which means it’s entertaining. Equally tremolo- and gallop-riff-driven, it leaps and pounces ahead impatiently, but not so quick that the melodies can’t keep up. It comes up a little short on standout tracks, but manages a coherent, non-faltering whole that finishes as strong as it starts.
Grave with a View – Raw Illumination
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you like the idea of your black metal screaming furiously directly into your face, this is the kind of stuff you need. What we got here is rage-fueled Finnish misanthropy that sounds like it started off as something grand and possibly quite ponderous, and then the band performed it in a room covered with pictures of people they really don’t like very much. Even being as aggressive as it is, it doesn’t feel like a constant, tiring assault, as it rises and falls in intensity like approaching tidal waves. Interwoven are tastefully restrained, and expertly delivered, menacing melody lines. These never go anywhere even remotely nice, but add a depth that you might not have expected, and which makes it that much more memorable.
Highlight: “Wrest”
Inverted Cross – Eternal Flames of Hell
Genre: Black/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Stylistically on-point blackened speed metal from Spain with snarl-barky vocals and endlessly galloping riffs. There’s also, as you’d expect, plenty of clever guitar solos and a tongue-in-cheek thematic that involves fire, goats and black leather.
Konkhra – Sad Plight of Lucifer
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Groove-rich, thrash riffed death metal that unfortunately flows rather poorly thanks to a clumsy structure, poor rhythm transitions and a production that lacks depth.
No Kings Allowed – A New Era
Genre: Symphonic metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Dutch/Belgian modern metalcore that’s been given the symphonic treatment, which means big riffs inflating soaring melodies. There’s more aggression than you might expect, and they include aspects of deathcore, groove metal and even a bit of brutal death metal, but these are mostly fleeting, gimmicky elements.
Peace After Pain – The Deadly Rave
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Misbehaving thrash metal from Spain flush with hardcore-style gang vocals and a confrontational feel to pretty much every part of the performances. You’ll feel like you’ve heard a good deal of it before, but when they get the thrash grooves right, you’re rewarded for sticking with it.
Pestilent Hex – Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Finnish black metal band Pestilent Hex build on their well-received sound established on 2022’s “The Ashen Abhorrence”, which I liked a great deal. This time, the music is more layered, meaning you’ll have to pay more attention in order to penetrate the outer shell and sail along with the core flow. Some of the simplicity that made the riff- and tremolo-driven melody stand out on the previous album is a bit too deeply buried on this one, and you’ll have to get through chunks of fairly standard, aggressive black metal parts in order to get to it. It’s still symphonic in a doom-like, severe kind of fashion, rather than epic theatre, and sounds more mature, just not quite as engaging as on the debut.
Plaguefever – Flail of Pestilence
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Properly scorched blackened thrash metal that sounds like it’s performed by a gang of leather-clad liches. This stuff is bad to the bone, firing off sinister riffs barbed with peak-evil raspy vocals like they’ve got an endless supply. It advances on you on marching, steady rhythms that aren’t afraid to sidestep into mid-tempo black ‘n’ roll when the moment calls for some groove. It’s much more an in-your-face, hold-nothing-back experience than one that tries to build to a peak, stage by stage, but they still manage to crown most of the tracks with some memorable highlights, usually by slowing down into crushing breakdowns. While they probably could have benefitted from going a bit more wild at times, in order to further spice things up, the riff-hungry listener will be able to come out the other end absolutely stuffed.
Highlight: “340 Skulls”
Ritual Fog – But Merely Flesh
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Let’s take a slow danse macabre around the graveyard as moldy bodies claw their way out of the diseased earth all around. On their debut full-length, Ritual Fog serve up a sub-30min slab of unhurried, sinister old school death metal, which, I guess to their credit, sounds markedly longer. If you play quickly through the tracks, you’re gonna find a lot of rhythmic and tonal similarities, so it’s an album you need to let sink in a bit to be able to fully appreciate, and there’s plenty to like on here. Both when they let loose with charging drums and chopping riffs, and when they bow down into the murky depths of classic doom. I found my favorite tracks mostly on the back half, where it sounds like both the thunderous riff sections and ominous atmosphere are more distinct and get a bit more dedicated playtime. For a debut, it’s really solid, as the band seems to have hit their stride from the get-go, sounding fairly mature and confident in their style. That being said, it doesn’t stand significantly apart in the tidal wave of “new” osdm that we’re currently experiencing, but it’s a great starting point.
Highlight: “Demented Procession”
Scythrow – Blameless Severed Extremities
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5These Finnish dudes know how to please a fan of old school Scandinavian death metal. Tonally, they’re totally on point, and there’s plenty of tasty, savage riffs to devour. They also manage to sneak in a bit of dark, folk-derived melody, but only very sparingly. As a collection of bad-ass elements, it’s awesome, although there’s a bit to go to achieve solidly coherent songwriting.
Steel Inferno – Rush of Power
Genre: Speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ratty, gallop-happy speed metal from Denmark. This stuff is very far from polished, but that’s not what you want from this subgenre anyway. At its best, it’s adventurous like an epic heavy metal project should be, and at it’s worst, it’s a bit clunky. If you fall in love with their sound, you will easily forgive them these creaky joints though.
Terminal Violence – Moshocalypse
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Now for some speed-loving Spanish thrash. With high-pitched vocals and a stripped-back, guitar-centric sound that’s nearly tripping over itself trying to get to the next, galloping charge, this one aims to please, and it’s not hard to know what to expect. There aren’t a ton of highlights, but there’s also very little bad.
Tierra Santa – Un viaje épico
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you’ve never heard happy-go-lucky, epic heavy metal performed in Spanish before, I can tell you it’s incredibly refreshing. I wanted to fall in love with this album a minute into the opening track, and it was fine for a while, with plenty of retro melodies, cool riffs and engaging solos to enjoy, with lovely vocals singing about ancient legends on top. But it doesn’t take long before the magic fizzes out a bit, and it starts to feel too laid back and indistinct. Still, there are fun moments throughout if you stick with it.
Ungfell – De Ghörnt
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5From this delightfully eccentric Swiss “alpine” blackened folk metal outfit comes a statement of an album that makes its intentions clear from the first few seconds. No intro track, no interludes, no bullshit. Every song struts with creative prowess, as if attempting to outdo the previous one in level of either pure aggression, rhythmic versatility, or melodic heft. No, as far as its theme and façade goes, you’re not really supposed to take it super seriously, but allowing you to understand this up front is incredibly freeing, as you’re then set to appreciate its quirks and antics as strengths. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not silly (not even Finntroll-level silly, really), just very keen on shaking up and embellishing the formula. The great thing is that it’s done with peak taste and skill. The band takes you through roaring storms, wild midnight rituals, rowdy log cabin rock-outs, to triumphant peaks of magnificent scope.
Highlights: “Im Ruusch” and “Sturmglockä”
Vidres a la Sang – Virtut del desencís
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This sounds like a band that’s on the cusp of greatness. The way they harness melancholy melody, effortless rhythmic flourishes and gradual, dramatic build-ups, speak highly of their technical and artistic capabilities alike. What holds them back at this point is first and foremost a very limiting production/mix that puts a lid on both the finer details and the potential force of the peaks of intensity. But they do also tend to work themselves out on the fringes, dwelling on still-standing atmosphere, which can be a bit agonizing when you know what they can do once the gloves come off.
Völva – Desires Profane
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I have a weak spot for when bands are able to truly saturate their music with anger. It speaks of passion and conviction, but also simply radiates protest and outrage, refusing to ignore or stay quiet about the fucked-up, unfair, horrendous shit that goes on every day courtesy of mankind. And this satanic-feminist group from Sweden have managed exactly this. Every song feels like an exorcism of bottomless spite, expelling rasp-hissing vocal bile, crust-infused rhythms and ripping riffs with a gut-punch bass rumble pushing it all forwards like shockwaves. It’s got a bit of thrash shredding, death metal savagery, punk abandon and gothic drama, which all makes welcome contrasts to the sometimes fairly predictable black metal tone and blast beats. A holy-water-and-piss molotov cocktail of a debut.
Highlight: “Asmodeus”
Warpstormer – Warpstormer
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Lead-heavy doom sludge from the UK. It’s at its best when going all-out shouty or leaning into cool stoner groove and wicked solos, as its mid-tempo and slow parts can get a little indistinct.
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 November 22 – 2024
It’s a week of numerous contenders, where only the very few are able to hold a candle to the massive, sun-blotting release that’s headlining it.
10,000 Years – All Quiet On The Final Frontier
Genre: Stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5In the mood for some fuzz-heavy stoner with a cosmos-curious, mildly psychedelic atmosphere? “All Quiet On The Final Frontier” is not your standard groove-fest, and not a completely spaced-out cerebral thing either, but exists in a thematically conscious border world in between the two. Both the vocals and instruments have a confidently rough, garage rock-like edge to them that prevents the sound from getting too smooth or mellow, although a richer production would probably have dispelled the slight air of amateurism that they’re left with as a biproduct. For a modestly exploratory stoner record it’s refreshingly frisky, managing to balance retro-spacey ambience with ragged, honest, riffage working on top of fluid, purposeful rhythms.
Highlight: “High Noon In Sword City”
Aeon Gods – King Of Gods
Genre: Symphonic/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Super dorky symphonic power metal that goes classic with its solo- and riff-happy guitar work, and slightly strained vocal style. While the production does a fairly good job, it doesn’t reach the towering peaks you really want this to boom from, and overall it moves fairly clumsily and predictably.
Ante-inferno – Death’s Soliloquy
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Tragic, murky black metal that’s writhing in a filthy web of misery, getting nowhere but clearly displaying its wounded state of mind. A casual listen will find this a bit one-dimensional, and there are no noteworthy strides taken in terms of melody or outright variation, but as an expression of pain and outrage, it’s on-point and consistent.
Body Count – Merciless
Genre: Rap/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Violent, attitude-heavy, thrash-riffed rap metal, anyone? Yes, the base formula has not been fuddled with, and I absolutely think that Body Count are at their best when they crank up the aggression and think more powerviolence than angry hip-hop, but it’s also cool to see them branch out a little. You get a bit of groove, some odd prog, and a sprinkling of flavors courtesy of the guest vocalists that’ve been brought in, like Corpsegrinder, Max Cavalera and Howard Jones. Since they’re already not prioritizing stylistic consitency, I would have liked to see them move even further out on the fringes and embrace the extremes, but in the end that might distract from the politically charged lyrical messages, which are still a central part of their output.
Highlight: “Psychopath”
Conjonctive – Misère de Poussière
Genre: Blackened deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This band exists in a darkened space where the demonic evil of black metal has been allowed to corrupt an otherwise technically oriented death metal/deathcore inclination. It’s definitely more about style than message, but doesn’t feel tacky. It’s hostile and brutal in a slightly dissonant, non-flippant way.
Defeated Sanity – Chronicles Of Lunacy
Genre: Technical/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5This thing sounds like a year’s worth of ideas and notes compressed into roughly half an hour of runtime. It’s a condensed experience that’s certainly not straightforward in its ultra-tight drum-led rhythmic progression, but also not overly convoluted or at all directionless. It’s a city-leveling, gigantic bulldozer with a computer brain that manages the destruction down to micro-movements in order to maximize the eradication.
Highlight: “Heredity Violated”
Distant – Tsukuyomi: The Origin
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Are you ready to be enveloped by a fire tornado that’s passed through a razorblade factory and a crocodile zoo? Production-wise, it hardly gets more massive than this, and for people that actually like to make out the individual instruments, this will present as an impenetrable wall of processed sound. It’s brilliantly technical, and the monstrous fury it radiates is well controlled and perfectly measured out in ultra-precise bursts.
Goats of Doom – INRI
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Finnish black metal with a semi-melodic, semi-black ‘n’ roll approach, that’s suitably rough and muddled, but structure- and melody wise it doesn’t fit all that well together, which isn’t helped by a sub-par production.
Gutless – High Impact Violence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Primitive, gore-loving death metal, not too far removed from the style of 200 Stab Wounds. There’s a suitable amount of groove, barky vocals and highly active drums that really keeps the thing moving. Dynamically, it’s a bit one-dimensional.
Hjemsøkt – Om vinteren, på en sort trone
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ultra-traditional Norwegian black metal that sounds straight out of the early 90s. If you can’t get enough of the frozen Scandinavian forest vibes, this is exactly the tone and theme you’re looking for, but I find absolutely no fresh ideas on here.
Immortal Force – Mystic Seance Unrealities
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A blend of the two roughest corners of death and thrash, making for a ragged, rotten dive into aggressive unease. They play it a bit too fast and loose to get down something solidly coherent, but if you’re into the low-fi, cellar mosh party vibe, this is the kind of stuff that feels just as dangerous and forbidden as is suitable.
Iniquitous Savagery – Edifice Of Vicissitudes
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A wall of bass-heavy chugs, mechanical, murderous beats and gurgling vocals assault you from start to finish on this one. This is heavy, heavy, heavy shit, with no real respite, just trying to shake your brain out through your ear holes.
Kingcrown – Nova Atlantis
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Scene veterans in new getups are behind this power-pumped, NWOBHM-style old school heavy metal project. It’s pleasingly energetic, and strikes a great line between the bright and colorful and the epic-ballad-prone, riff-happy style of the likes of Saxon. The melodies and choruses are not bad, but also not terribly distinct.
Maat – From Origin to Decay
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A German blackened death metal band that brings to life a lot of that infernal grandeur that Behemoth left behind as they got more conceptual. This is pummeling, technical stuff that, also not unlike early Behemoth, leans into oriental tone and melody. It falls a little flat on some of the rhythmic transitions throughout, and the vocal range comes up a little short, but overall delivers some engaging stuff.
Múr – Múr
Genre: Progressive/atmospheric doom/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a project that’s a bit tough to nail down and label in any concise way, but you, the listener, should not let this concern you. If you like atmospheric doom, you’ll love this. If progressive black metal is more your thing, this is also very much for you. Avant-garde folk metal, not totally unlike Thy Catafalque? Yes, you will find that in here also, and in no way do these different stylistic directions clash. It’s beautiful and deep when it goes slow, delightfully weird and mind-tickling when it goes for some mid-tempo rhythm acrobatics, and spine-tingling when it decides to ball its fists and roar up at the night sky. It’s a fairly long album at nearly 55 minutes, but time fades into irrelevance as your awareness sinks below the moonlit surface of “Múr”‘s black waters. I think they can comfortably push the extreme ends of their style further for an even more dramatic result, but this is a stellar debut. These young Icelanders have a bright future ahead of them, that’s for sure.
Highlights: “Frelsari” and “Holskefla”
Ocean Grove – Oddworld
Genre: Nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5These Australian nu metallers summon the very spirit of the subgenre on this one, bringing in elements of early Linkin Park, Korn, and several other late 90s greats. It’s a fantastic nostalgia trip if you’re of the right age, and if not, it’s a great introduction in the form of a modern hybrid that brings in modern stylistic sensibilities. Unfortunately, they waver a bit in their dedication throughout, and a few of the choruses go a bit limp. But it’s still a vital, well-produced and rather fun effort.
Opeth – The Last Will & Testament
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Being someone who never followed Opeth closely, it’s still easy to point out the qualities that has made them an outstandingly influential force, not only within prog metal but for the genre as a whole. And now that the death growl is back (I’ll pretend you didn’t know already), it allows the band to return to a place of optimal balance, where this abrasively expressed element of emotion counters the more measured and delicate characteristics of Åkerfeldt’s clean vocals, and an instrumental approach that never really ventures anywhere near the realms of raw brutality. You think you hear the roaring blaze of melodeath as the, low raspy snarls build on top of the more dramatic tops of the distorted riffs, but no, this is an illusion, as the band deftly skirts along the borders of extreme prog, never crossing, and for the most part staying well clear. Gloomy, gothic drama coats the proceedings in a layer of suitably theatrical dust and smoke that keeps your mind grounded in the beautifully restrained transitions between high-energy bursts of forceful riffs, complex drum patterns and triumphant guitar solos. If you are hyper-aware of prog tropes, then you might find a few too many for your ideal liking on here, but for the most part this is a masterfully composed, thematically consistent piece of dramatic, candle-lit storytelling.
Highlights: “§5” and “§1”
Rvkkvs – Antithesis Of Prosperity
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A slightly reigned-in grindcore project that brings in elements of old school melodeath and a bit of straightforward, heavy groove metal. It’s not always in-your-face intense, but takes turns delivering face-melting ragers and more mid-tempo, riff-centered bangers. It’s rough, and with a slightly muted production, so could definitely hit a good deal harder, but it’s refreshing to hear this kind of measured branching out in such a relentlessly extreme subgenre. At just over 17 minutes, it certainly left me wanting more, and not at all like I’d been served the same basic approach on repeat.
Highlight: “Kleptomaniac”
Starwraith – Distant Shores
Genre: Symphonic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5An epically minded and on-the-cusp-of rousing melodic/symphonic death/folk album that’s, unfortunately, haltingly performed and rather shoddily produced.
Thunraz – Incineration Day
Genre: Experimental death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Pushed into some subterranean space by a severely muffling production, this is harsh, dissonant stuff that gets more dynamically limited the harsher it goes, and more interesting when it delves into cerebral atmosphere.
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 November 15 – 2024
Look not to the towering tentpoles this week, but to the sinister creative forces lurking behind the veil of the obvious, clawing their way out with fang and talon.
Apocryphal – Facing The End
Genre: Melodic/stmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This temporarily(?) Björn “Speed” Strid fronted self-labeled atmospheric death metal band has been going on and off since the early 90s, but to me does not feel dated or old-school-leaning in any particular ways. It’s mostly fast-paced and a bit irregular in its progression, clearly trying to do their own thing. Parts of it definitely work, but the songwriting is not quite solid enough to deliver a stunner.
Alkymist – UnnDerr
Genre: Doom/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Now for a slightly different doom experience. Danish band Alkymist seems not to mind being labeled, touting themselves as progressive doomers, but as for embracing the expected formula (as much as you can with a progressive variation of a subgenre), they have, in many significant ways, defied conventions. The tempo is quite high, even by classic, non-funeral doom standards. The traditional fuzz has taken on a much less natural, more synthetic crunch, which, coupled with a massive, foundation-shaking bass and steady, industrial beats, creates the sensation of an approach of something mechanical and unstoppable – a towering, electrically powered construction of dark stained metal, with groaning gears and heavy limbs articulated with hydraulic force. The vocals vary between sludgy rasps and a slightly hushed croaking, which further dehumanizes the expression a measure. The deep, oppressive tone of doom is absolutely still there, but the melodic effect is not that of instilling any sort of melancholy or sullen feeling of helplessness. Quite the opposite, it’s got more than enough groove to get some good headbanging going, and the heavy atmosphere is just the nature of the space you have to enter in order to enjoy it. Dynamically it could probably be quite a bit more daring, but on the other hand it does a great job of keeping the pace up.
Highlight: “Fire In My Eyes”
Empires Of Eden – Guardians Of Time
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A guest-heavy power metal project that brings to bear both old and new tricks, both in terms of instrumental approach and production choices. Some of it is dazzlingly virtuosic, while others more straightforward chugging. The vocals aren’t always able to keep up though.
Monolithe – Black Hole District
Genre: Doom/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A long-going doom project that has a thing about sticking to set track lengths, which, without getting too much into it, seems like a fairly forces and inorganic approach to songwriting. It’s powerful, melodically expansive and well produced, but there’s a distinct feeling of it being far longer than necessary, simply in order to serve their compulsive metric goals.
The Mosaic Window – Hemasanctum
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a black metal project that does a (not entirely even) split between standard blast beats and more primitive black ‘n’ roll rhythms, quite lively detours into groove/heavy trotting, and also a few downtempo doom crawls. Does it still sound dark and evil? Yes, but in a way like it’s thrown on the devil’s cowl on top of its denim vest. So the intent is all there, but as its affinity for other styles pull it in slightly different directions, it doesn’t quite land as hard as a more focused effort might. That being said, non-purists like me will almost certainly appreciate the variety on here, and the mosh-inducing, clawed-hand-to-the-sky, aggressive energy radiating from this thing is undeniable.
Highlight: “Turibulum”
Primal Code – Opaque Fixation
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3,5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here we have some death metal in that primal, yet very much groove-oriented fashion that you get from bands like Soulfly. This is, however, a more focused beast, going all in on the menace and sacrificing obvious melodic pursuits in favor of raw, bloodthirsty aggression that burns constantly at a threatening, mid-tempo pace. You don’t come out the other end of this feeling like you’ve traveled very far. More fleeing through the same stretch of dark woods with the demonic bear from the cover art hot on your heels.
Spider God – Possess The Devil
Genre: Melodic black metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5What the heck is this thing? It’s like a black metal band and metalcore band got into a fight, and when they separated, they somehow didn’t realize that they’d swapped some band members… with the resulting material getting partially processed through the same computer system that cranks out MASTER BOOT RECORD’s music. It’s wild, but it totally works, like some magnetic creative force has brought the best of both worlds together. For those worrying – no, there is no clean singing or sappy melodic sections on this. It’s the kind of high-energy, no-fucks-given mashups that you expect when black metal and thrash join forces. The vocals are all-out raspy, you get a few instances of classic blast beats and tremolo, but mostly groove-loving melodic stuff in the vein of Vltimas, with a heap of hardcore and metalcore riffs and rhythm styles, and just a sprinkling of that aggressive folk-punk you get from bands like Kvelertak. It does not run out of steam at any point, and the more you listen to it, the more you start to get it.
Highlights: “The Wolf” and “Starcrusher”
Starchaser – Into The Great Unknown
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5As the name would suggest, this is vibrant, cosmos-heading heavy metal. The tone is classically adventurous, with plenty of playful, melodic guitar work, but the riffs, vocals and rhythms keeps the thing firmly grounded, in a way that seems to defy the thematic purpose.
Thy Catafalque – XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Thy Catafalque is nothing if not an ambitious project. This time it’s less about finding a new niche style to integrate and more about just going big. Massive riffs, near-symphonic atmosphere and catchy rhythms have all been brought in to create a handful of real stadium shakers. But that doesn’t mean that it sounds generic. The folk elements are very much still in place, and the middle of the album goes completely non-harsh, with traditional instruments and synthetic melodies dancing in a in highly complimentary and rewarding fashion. There are moments when the band strikes into black metal, industrial, disco and electronica, and it all still very much sounds like the same band. Perhaps a bit unevenly paced and structured, it’s still a chapter of Thy Catafalque that fans of extreme prog and avant-garde metal will not want to miss.
Highlight: “Vasgyár”
Time Lurker – Emprise
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5With an effectively tone-setting, sinister intro track, this solo black metal project pulls you in to its dark domain from the get-go. It’s a place of veiled eyes, mournful whispers and ancient, ethereal forces that work up gales of blind fury. The drum work on this album does a great job of setting the mood along the tremolo-driven melodies, whether it’s a patient shuffle or a thunderous trample. Much of the vocals consist of the kind of high pitched howling that I unfortunately cannot stand, but which adds that extra stab of melancholy to the musical expression.
Toxaemia – Rejected Souls Of Kerberus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dark groove-infused, aggressive death metal project that mostly eschews the use of melody, except for some technically-minded guitar solos, but even these mostly work as the sharp, stabby end of this otherwise coarse-edged, blunt force instrument of violence.
Tzimani – I Feel Fine
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dynamically stunted (partially due to the production) heavy metal album with speedy, cool-as-fuck riffing and solo work, and some spacey atmosphere that hint at the thematic ambitions.
Veilburner – The Duality Of Decapitation And Wisdom
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5There is dark, grotesque magic at work here. Inspired by the album art, it’s easy to picture a heretical warlock performing various unspeakable rituals during the course of the album’s runtime, each with its own, unique, but similarly unfortunate outcome. The incantations are spoken as convulsive, throat-rending growls, and the malevolent, primordial energies released take the form of spasming rhythms, dissonant chugs and psychedelic melodies, each morphing dramatically with the erratic mood of the proceedings. Disorder certainly reigns overall, but that doesn’t mean that the prevailing impression you get is that of pure chaos. There’s also orderly, thrash-like, aggressively marching riff sections, serene dips into pure atmosphere, and a stylistic focus that keeps, at least each individual track, fairly coherent. Somehow, I think this band has the capacity to be even more dramatic and intentional with their artistic expression, but this seems a very important step on their journey.
Highlights: “A Shadow of a Shadow” and “Woe Ye Who Build These Crosses are Those Who Would Serve Us Death”
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 November 08 – 2024
The slowdown of the approaching Christmas season is beginning, but we’re far from out of quality releases still. This is a week for the dark and slightly eccentric.
Auriferous Flame – The Insurrectionists and The Caretakers
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This 3-track work of Greek epic black metal should, at less than 31 minutes, either be considered a short full-length or a long EP. Not that it feels incomplete, but I could easily see the experience stretching over twice the timeframe. This is the kind of sound that so vividly conjures up mental images that it feels strange not having the visuals of a full-blown theater performance to go with it. Even the production makes it feel like it’s coming from a large, elaborate stage, with ghoulish howls and moans resounding through dusty stone corridors, and the performances of the band/actors not really directed specifically at you, but aimed with the purpose of pulling the entire theatre into the same, haunted medieval setting from which they are drawing their inspiration. From a more grounded standpoint, this is crisp, atmosphere-rich black metal with a dark fantasy theme, sounding primitive in the best possible way, with plenty of conviction behind the performances, and being quite straight to the point when setting off into its stripped-down riff sections.
Highlight: “The Caretakers”
The Body – The Crying Out Of Things
Genre: Experimental/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those records that will make you question whether your speakers and/or audio card just broke down in the middle of the listen. Set to heavy, droning beats, everything is intentionally distorted in various, noisy ways, and going in unpredictable directions, from hypnotic ambience to mechanical anger. It’s all dark, all ominous, all sounding like a malevolent spirit having taken over the controls of the Matrix and making everyone’s experience of it unbearable. There are some particularly badly distorted shriek-vocals employed liberally throughout the album (fans of the band might be used to it by now) that seriously mar the experience for me personally.
The Browning – Omni
Genre: Metalcore/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you take Turmion Kätilöt’s (for those who are familiar with those crazy Finns) brand of techno metal and suck every drop of fun out of it, then pump it up with some deathcore heft and metalcore-y melodic sensibilities, then you would get this. The playing is incredibly precise and surprisingly diverse, with some mild cyberpunk-y dystopian vibes to go with it.
Codespeaker – Scavenger
Genre: Sludge/atmospheric death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Dark, mono-mood, sludge-like metal that transitions between cerebral atmosphere and death metal-like anger and brutality, just fairly sluggish, like it’s doing it all from its knees, never really managing to stand up fully.
Defences – Shadowlight
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Aside from severely unimaginative, pop-oriented melodies and straightforward, stereotypically “modern metal” rhythm and instrumental tendencies that makes my skin crawl, this is well-produced and catchy alternative metal fronted by a highly talented vocalist.
Earthburner – Permanent Dawn
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Earthburner is a so-called “supergroup” of grind/death artists from various different bands, among them Sanguisugabogg. It’s got a murky-low-fi production, but for the most part the savagery of the riffs and ragged vocals shine through. It’s one-dimensional, but uncompromisingly style-faithful.
Impellitteri – War Machine
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A guitar-driven, shred-like project that’s all groove-laden Priest-like riffs and solos, with soaring vocals going on about very un-grounded things. It’s vibrant and energetic, but struggles to get down any memorable melodies.
Make Them Suffer – Make Them Suffer
Genre: Deathcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The problem I usually have with deathcore is that I find the riff- and rhythm approach formulaic, and if there are clean melodic sections, their main purpose seems to be to boost the album’s accessibility. Make Them Suffer do not commit these sins on this self-titled release. The riffs and beats work hard to achieve infectious grooves and to get into creative patterns that give the songs actual character. The melodic sections are compelling and finely woven in among the dominant heavy fabric, and the dual harsh/clean, male/female vocal approach brings so much life to the experience. A revolution in songwriting it is not, but if you’re into heavy metalcore and alternative metal, then you should dive in head first.
Highlight: “Weaponized”
Massacre – Necrolution
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Take a look at that album cover and tell me it doesn’t seriously raise your expectations for this album. Alas, doing so would be a mistake, as myself I can testify. Sure, you’re getting a thick coating of that rowdy, grimy, old school Florida death metal, but compared to the current highlights of the genre, this stuff feels fairly complacent. There’s very little spark to this thing, and it coasts along on a sound and vibe that hasn’t really evolved in any way. Enjoyable, but not outstanding.
Molder – Catastrophic Reconfiguration
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Yuck! Slowly immerse yourself in this pit of rotting offal and listen to the surprisingly active pulse of decomposition. If you don’t need your death metal to land like an artillery barrage, but care more about sinister grooves and being left with a feeling of needing to disinfect your ears, then you’ve come to the right place. Molder have fortified themselves on the shelf of mid-tempo, thrash-infused old school death metal. It’s like watching a cult splatter film – you never really know when it’s gonna completely goof out and when it’s gonna serve up the nastiest kill you’ve ever seen. That being said, this is not a surprising album in any real way – if you liked the band’s 2022 release “Engrossed in Decay”, you’re gonna bang your head to, and involuntarily grin at, the same kind of things on here. It’s the kind of album that might fly under the radar among the heavy hitters, but will offer you the same amount of entertainment. On a superficial listen, the rhythms may seem a little repetitive, and the riffs lacking a tad of bite, but these guys get up to so many different antics throughout that you really shouldn’t allow yourself to miss.
Highlight: “Masked in Mold”
Paragon – Metalation
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Power metal with hard-hitting bass and drums, and some fairly meaty riffing, giving the album a slightly menacing streak. However, it all builds to exactly the kind of old-school, simple, trying-to-soar choruses that you expect from fairly unimaginative veterans.
Paysage D’hiver – Die Berge
Genre: Ambient black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The kind of black metal that sounds like it’s carried to you on the wind in the middle of a blizzard. It brings to mind old, dark fairy tales of malevolent creatures of the night, preying on the lost and weak in a desolate, cold landscape of long nights, and days bringing nothing but distant echoes and whispers of a hostile natural world that’s entirely beyond your control. This is a marathon of an album at 1 hr. 42 min. of runtime, with only one track lasting shorter than 10 minutes. It makes you feel extremely isolated and a bit disoriented, swept in who-knows-what direction by the constant surge of the music. It’s an experience of few, slow and nuanced changes, with the more direct, harsher black metal elements pushed way back and given the expected low-fi treatment. If you are not completely entranced by the long-form, atmospheric melodies, then large parts of this listen will feel torturously stretched and uneventful, but if you are in the mind to allow yourself to be, then this album will put you thoroughly under the spell.
Highlight: “Urgrund”
A Scar For The Wicked – Acolythus
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Meaty-riffed and appropriately speedy tech death with a slight blackened and even gothic vibe, but nothing that takes the music in any particular directions. The band knows how to get into driving grooves, and, as you’d expect, demonstrate a high degree of instrumental control. But they don’t really succeed in delivering beyond the expected.
Sólstafir – Hin Helga Kvöl
Genre: Avant-garde folk rock/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Listening to this epoch of Sólstafir can be quite bewildering if you don’t know a thing or two about what to expect. And even then you’ll likely find yourself raising your eyebrows at the stylistic wrestling match taking place on this latest full-length. There’s nothing quite like it out there, but at this point they’re clearly so comfortable with it, that it makes you comfortable with it by extension. What it is, is slightly shoegazing folk rock and fairly sullen, blackened and doomy atmosphere that’s pulled in starkly different directions with the varying rhythms, moods and sense of urgency of each song. If each of these variants wasn’t delivered with such confidence and stylistic maturity, it might all simply fall apart, and some listeners might still find it too inconsistent. But as a piece of enjoyable musical art it stands firmly as a solid achievement.
Highlights: “Hin helga kvöl” and “Vor ás”
Suidakra – Darkanakrad
Genre: Melodic death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5For those not familiar with this veteran German band, they play Celtic-themed melodic death metal. To their credit, the folk-elements don’t come through in any overt, over-used fashion, rather living as a noticeable backdrop to the rather aggressive melodeath. The rhythms on this album are very heavy handed, to the point where they feel like they’re choking the grooves an getting stuck in unnecessary patterns, hampering the progression.
Tungsten – The Grand Inferno
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This has got to be one of the simplest rhythm approaches I’ve heard all year. It sounds like they started with a metronome… and then didn’t build on it in any way. They flirt with several modern riff- and melodic styles, sounding committed to none of them. It’s big, industrial symphonic metal that has no idea how to do anything else.
Witnesses – Joy
Genre: Progressive doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5I’ll get it off my chest right away: My far and away biggest gripe with this album is the vocals. They are pushed to the very forefront of the mix, which is a bad fit, and, to my ears, simply do not harmonize well with the instrumental tone, in addition to being lacking in range. The rest of the music is a rollercoaster of intensity and rhythms, with some tender, exquisite melodies binding it all together.
Yoth Iria – Blazing Inferno
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It seems Greece is showing the way for black metal this week. Yoth Iria is a relatively new project in the rough vein of Rotting Christ, in that they play folk- and death-infused melodic black metal with an appetite for dark drama. But while Rotting Christ has traveled far beyond their black metal roots in almost all but lyrical theme, Yoth Iria exists in a sphere that’s significantly closer to this source. If I was to put it concisely, they sound like a Hellenic version of Scandinavian bands like Kvaen and Wormwood, whose sound is heavily immersed in frigid, yet expansive folk melody, while retaining a sharp edge of shadowy hostility. Rising tall on a rich production and epic-toned solos, it is far from raw, and not to be taken quite as seriously as satanic banner-bearers like Behemoth, instead poised to deliver a music-oriented, blasphemous experience with a distinct flavor. And to this end they succeed remarkably well, combining infernal riff force with soaring tremolo, majestic rhythms and piercing vocals into a concise and engaging whole.
Highlights: “We Call Upon the Elements” and “In The Tongue of Birds”
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 November 01 – 2024
No telling what you’ll get this week. This stuff is angry, sad, silly, too cool for school, old and rigid, and young and flexible. Be open to it all.
Barren – The Hanged Man
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is not the kind of doom that’s interested in taking you anywhere pleasant. In fact, it seems to revel in its prolonged use of piercingly disharmonic guitar melody and oppressive atmosphere. It’s unpolished, not very well produced, but interesting.
Bombus – Your Blood
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you can picture “rusty” metal, then you’re on the right trach for what to expect from this one. Bombus plays punk-infused, Scandi-hard rock-styled heavy metal, and on this one they’ve got a bit of a thick, dry stoner sound going. The vocals are Lemmy-like hoarse and raw, just more like the kind that’s one pointed finger away from getting some gang vocals started. Any one of these songs present great, but there’s a certain lack of energy, with several tracks feeling like they’re on a half-burn.
Brothers Of Metal – Fimbulvinter
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The Brothers (+ one Sister) of Metal want to bring you more over-the-top epic Viking power-daydreaming. There’s no point in pretending for a second that this is going to be grounded in anything but the desire to join in a collected fantasy in front of a massive stage, pumping fists, raising shields and headbanging helmets. It’s catchy, grand and surprisingly heavy at times, and fulfills its purpose with obvious enthusiasm.
Carved Memories – The Moirai
Genre: Melodic/symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5The intent is all there for this band, going all in with a demonic-fueled, aggressive take on symphonic melodeath that manages a great balance between epic and dark. Unfortunately, it suffers from a shoddy production, and has some problems with messy rhythms and a few lacking performances.
Coma Hole – Hand Of Severance
Genre: Psychedelic doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Female-led psych-doom with a healthy dose of stoner groove, this is a project that manages a very focused sound – it’s riffs, beats and vocals, and that’s all you need. It all works very well together, waving and weaving through spaced-out melodies that go on and off the road to nowhere.
Dead Icarus – Zealot
Genre: Technical metalcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The new project of former Atreyu vocalist Alex Varkatzas has landed their fist full-lenght, and it’s… nothing like Atreyu, that’s for sure. Okay, there’s a good deal of metalcore in here, and Alex’s vocals are quite recognizable, but in pretty much every other way this is a different beast. Offering speedy and playful technicality nearly on the same level as bands like Ingested, and indeed starting the record with the very deathcore-like banger “The Unconquerable”, this definitely belongs in a much heavier and instrumentally advanced camp. They back the melodic elements up with groove metal aggression and highly catchy riffing, and quickly settle into a mid-level space of heaviness, which seems to fit them very well. Overall the album’s a bit unsure where exactly it belongs, but it’s an exciting start for sure.
Highlight: “Casting Spells”
Eldingar – Lysistrata
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A voluminous black metal album out of Greece, leaning ever so slightly towards blackened death, and incorporating several full-length tracks of pure traditional folk music. It makes for a slightly jarring offset, and when the heavier songs also have long atmospheric and slow stretches, a good deal of your listeners are gonna run out of patience. It’s quite varied, but not all of it seems to have a strong purpose.
Ephialtes – Melas Oneiros
Genre: Blackened/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Enthusiastic, modern blackened melodeath with a mythical theme. After a short-ish intro it gets straight to the point and pretty much rages on unabated for the duration. It’s riff-focused, melodically driven, and with a darkly epic symphonic element to it that kicks in whenever the songs need a bit of elevation.
Everto Signum – Beastiary
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is raw black metal, not in the sense that it sounds like it was recorded via tin can telephone, but that it’s down to basics and rather primitive. It’s plenty aggressive, and with a rumbling bass end it presents as quite threatening. A few of the songs are a bit clumsily composed, but when they get into a groove and make the melody work, this stuff is top notch.
Grave Next Door – Sorry No Candy
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Low-fi, old-school stoner with rusty, menacing doom riffs. It lacks depth, and so a lot of it can feel repetitive, and the vocals, which are a bit too prominent in the mix, don’t always hit their marks.
Lifesick – Loved By None, Hated By All
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A spiked sledgehammer blow of a crunchy death metal-riffed, metallic hardcore album that’s so friggin’ heavy up front that the band seemingly has found no other way to top off each song than going into fairly standard, whole-body-banging breakdowns. If you’re more of a hardcore fan, and this is what you feel is the highlight of any song anyway, then all is good. I would have liked to se a few more creative and/or groove-oriented solutions, but that being said, this is an absolute blood-pumping nail bomb of an album. While the backbone of the music is definitely hardcore-styled, stompy rhythms, the coarse, ominously-toned nature of old school Scandinavian death metal coats everything like a layer of broken saw blades, upping the savagery tenfold.
Highlight: “Poems for My Funeral”
Mitochondrion – Vitriseptome
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album is a nightmare from beginning to end, which makes the 1hr 25min runtime seem like an intentional choice mainly for the sadistic purpose of prolonging the torture. It’s dissonant, abyssal death metal that’s a bit too fast to be considered doom, but has the same kind of feel as a cavern-dwelling, monstrous death doom project. You get plenty of noisy, disturbing atmosphere, a complete disdain for melody, and a very sparing use of coherent riffing. Personally I don’t find quite enough to connect to to fully justify the massive runtime, but if you are of the mind that death metal should be pushing the limits of acceptable discomfort and hostility towards the listener, then Mitochondrion has struck a remarkably good balance between advanced musicality and disharmony on this one.
Highlight: “The Protanthrofuge”
Nachtmystium – Blight Privilege
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is Nachtmystium’s first full-length album since reforming in 2017. Not being terribly familiar with their past work, I can’t really take into account their evolution, but will nonetheless state that “Blight Privilege” sounds like the result of a long and fruitful process of maturing. What you get is a classic black metal core steeped in sullen, milder atmosphere, with the harshness playing an equal counterpart to the contemplative, emotion-heavy melodies. A part of me wants to call it gothic, but the tone is much more earnestly bitter than superficially glum. There’s a real spring to the rhythms on here, making sure the music keeps moving forward and helping to remind us that this is a work to be enjoyed, despite the gloomy façade. For being black metal, it is easy to grasp, and highly rewarding to get properly immersed in.
Highlights: “Blind Spot” and “Predator Phoenix”
Paganizer – Flesh Requiem
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5In an alternate universe, this is possibly what Amon Amarth could have ended up sounding like. Brutal, old-school Swedish melodeath but with an undeniable penchant for battle-charge riffs and an infectious, hungry energy behind the raspy vocals. This is a band that knows very well what it wants to be. The downside being that a lot of the songs on here sound fairly similar, with very few deviations from the base formula. For a death metal fan it’s still ear candy anyway, ’cause it all sounds very good indeed.
Highlight: “Life of Decay”
Powerflo – Gorilla Warfare
Genre: Rap/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of angry, Body Count-style rap and melodic groove metal, this is anthem-prone, modern and spirited stuff. The riffs have some nice crunch to them, and some of the heavy hip-hop beats seem to want to dig down to a primal place. But mostly it’s fairly accessible, crowd-pleasing stuff.
Qaalm – Grave Impressions Of An Unbroken Arc
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Long-form sludge that goes from near-death metal heavy chugs and constricted vocals to sweeping, doom-styled melodies and dusty, mystical atmosphere. The band certainly handle the aggressive approach the best, both when it represents rage and when it gets into more straightforward grooves.
Rorschach Test – Fallen
Genre: Hardcore/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug. CHUG. CHUG. CHUG. This one’s aaaall about the chug-beats, with hardcore rhythms delivered with glass-shard-covered fists and rending deathcore vocals. A bit one-dimensional, but the rage is real, and infectious.
Tribulation – Sub Rosa In Aeturnum
Genre: Gothic rock/metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5I’ll be honest, I’m definitely one of those Tribulation fans that’s a little disappointed that this record takes a step down from gothic METAL, into rock and dark club (?) atmosphere territory. So I’ll let my subjective rating reflect this, while my objective rating represents me praising the band from my knees for their musical craftmanship, and their daring in expanding the stylistic outlet for their signature sound. This album is so damn cool, it doesn’t give a shit about being heavy. It’s goth, it’s a shadow-dweller, a vampiric life drinker, a pulse in the dark. It’s Tribulation, just in a certain mood that’s a bit different from what it was the last time you met them.
Highlights: “Tainted Skies” and “Drink the Love of God”
Vessel – The Somnifer
Genre: Atmospheric stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A stoner project that might just be a bit too careful. It gives you heavy fuzz that will vibrate your brain, and lazy, nomadic melodies that trudge along, with, or without a beat. It’s a very pleasant listen, with a smooth, warm production and a goth-like vocal style that almost surprisingly fits the tone very well.
Vola – Friend Of A Phantom
Genre: Progressive/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I get a bit of In Flames-Anders, and I’m generally happy, although that’s a fairly restrained, although front-loaded, guest appearance on this album. VOLA makes gentle, electronic prog metal that floats on fluffy atmosphere and warm, pop-oriented melodies. Putting a muzzle on the metalhead in me, my main gripe with the album is how straightforward a lot of the songs are, considering that it’s clearly a progressive effort, which makes the prog elements feel a bit tacked on. But the melodies are pure joy, like a balm for your mind.
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 October 25 – 2024
This week is a triumph of darkness, casting all else in shadow, with only the most massive of the brighter, progressive forces able to stand their ground and break through.
Black Curse – Burning In Celestial Poison
Genre: Black/death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you ever for some reason feel like blackened death metal has gotten too tame of late, then there’s this stuff for you. It’s an over-distorted, endless attack wave of demonic hornets, captured with a low-fi production, but retaining an abyssal bass rumble to properly herald the approaching doom. The grindcore aspect to the music makes for a constantly revving engine of hatred, giving off a rabid hostility even in the mid-tempo sections. Listen closely, and feel any notion of benevolence being scorched from your mind.
Highlight: “Flowers of Gethsemane”
Embrace By Dark – Extrasensory
Genre: Folk/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is not a traditional release in that it slips neatly into a specific subgenre, neither is it notably experimental. There are traits of folk, symphonic elements, some simplified melodic death metal, and a progressive attitude to rhythms. It sounds like it’s on the cusp of something, but doesn’t quite become anything more than the sum of its parts.
Fit For An Autopsy – The Nothing That Is
Genre: Deathcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The tech-melodic deathcore chug machine that is Fit For An Autopsy is back. This time they’re scaling the intensity back a bit in favor of a slightly more atmospheric and dynamically progressive approach. It hits hard as always, and effortlessly blends catchy grooves and metalcore-like harmonies in with the thundering heaviness. It’s good, but to me it doesn’t sound as distinct as on their last two releases. Even on a casual listen you’ll be able to pick up a lot of archetypal tech and djent elements, and the overall slight lack of punch is indeed felt. Still, it’s a quality release with good replay value.
Highlight: “Savior Of None/Ashes Of All”
Gaerea – Coma
Genre: Melodic/atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Further expanding their sound, beyond limits you would think impossible to transcend considering the excellent balance of 2022’s “Mirage”, Gaerea har created something stunningly expressive. It takes melodically driven, atmospheric black metal and lifts it to a plane beyond any obvious tethers to either the contemporary or the past. Even the most simple, single notes on this album seems to flow and reverberate the air from horizon to horizon, and when the full fury of the band erupts, it shoots up beyond the atmosphere and sends shockwaves through your mind. Everything feels both perfectly natural and imposingly intentional, with an unbelievably rewarding flow and dynamic range.
Highlights: “Hope Shatters” and “World Ablaze”
Ghosts Of Glaciers – Eternal
Genre: Atmospheric black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is an instrumental album, taking your down a winding stream into the gloom of the underworld, It’s a journey that involves roaring rapids as much as serene passages through vast, echoing chambers. The dark is your friend on this one, and it feels strangely uplifting.
Highlight: “Leviathan”
Gigan – Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus
Genre: Technical/psychedelic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is the kind of cosmic horror where you find yourself in an impossibly helpless situation, assailed by hostility both sentient and not from all possible angles. The band uses dissonant technicality and trippy atmosphere to describe scenarios that probably feel a bit like being sucked into a black hole – while on acid.
Haliphron – Anatomy Of Darkness
Genre: Symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5You think “symphonic death metal” and this is probably the first kind of sound your brain conjures up. It’s got the right kind of mood, and is sufficiently heavy, but there are few surprises and standouts.
Hate Angel – Extinction Ritual
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5As with the review above, this seems like the prototypical example of the melding of its two subgenres, namely black- and thrash metal. The tempos are all fast and furious, with snarly vocals and a cold tone. It’s probably great live, but a bit one-dimensional in your headphones.
Iotunn – Kinship
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Not gearing up for the epic space expedition of its predecessor, this album will still take you on an expansive journey. IOTUNN has returned with a more grounded, mature sound, with more coherent melodic sections that harmonize better with the clean vocals. The importance of which should not be understated, considering the importance of said vocals as both storytelling device and foremost tone setter. The dark-adventure melodies sounds exquisite, and the band offers up both more traditional melodeath- and folk-derived rhythmic sections as well as mercurial, progressive ones. It all adds up to a well-balanced and highly immersive experience that will tickle all the right parts of your brain.
Highlights: “Kinship Elegiac” and “The Anguished Ethereal”
Living Gate – Suffer As One
Genre: Psychedelic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is old-school-inspired death metal that sways around the place like a deeply drunk madman. It’s imposing in sonic stature, unrefined in all the right ways, and occasionally gets into a crushing groove, but mostly it’s content with moving aimlessly from one state to the next, hurling around brutality as it goes.
Loudblast – Altering Fates And Destinies
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A veteran death metal band with a crisp and dry sound, using some thrashy riffs and solos. It’s a very long album that unfortunately brings very little new to the table, and offers a fairly poor flow. It’s nice and sinister though.
Mindless Sinner – Metal Merchants
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Old-school heavy metallers offering more of what they’re good at – 80s, biker-style, epic-leaning roadster metal. The vocal harmony is so-so, but the instrumental music has that undeniable, classic charm.
Pounder – Thunderforged
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Rowdy, high-energy heavy metal with a slight thrash flair mixing classic metal themes with poorly veiled innuendos. Fun, but melodically it hardly works at all.
Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Schammasch is not what you would call a predictable band, but if you’re familiar with their work then at the very least you know you’re in for something dark and atmospheric, probably with big contrasts. On this album they sound like they’re on a journey through ancient myths. While some of their earlier material has sounded modern and technical, this is much more folk-inspired, almost relaxed in comparison, but still dramatic and bold. There is less pure, harsh black metal in here, which feels like the right choice for creating something that exists in its own, isolated universe, bringing as little attention as possible to its outside influences. A few of the melodic sections might feel slow for some, but they do supply some fitting gravitas.
Highlight: “Chrystal Waves”
Sentient Horror – In Service Of The Dead
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Crunchy, morbid death metal with no-quit energy, rampaging across the graveyard, calling up a crowd of moshing undead, no doubt. It’s heavy, grindy, but armed with thrash-like agility and a penchant for cheeky solos. Innovative is certainly not the right word, but for a fan of reinvented OSDM, it hits right in just about every single way.
Highlight: “In Service of the Dead”
The Spirit – Songs Against Humanity
Genre: Progressive black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a band that has its roots firmly lodged in the classic black metal wellspring, showcasing a real affinity for recognizing and building on the key musical aspects of the genre. The same kind of affinity that allowed bands like Emperor and Darkthrone to maintain their trademark black edge while stylistically mutating and moving in new directions. What The Spirit offers up is a mix of busy blast beats and tremolo with thundering riff sections, with a highly creative variety of transitions in between, never quite content to arrive by the same path.
Highlight: “Room 101”
Thaw – Falling Backwards
Genre: Black/noise metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Leaning so far into industrial, doomy ambience that the way back may never be found, this is avant-garde black metal with a mystical, dystopian expression, like being trapped inside a complicated, smoke-filled machine.
Devin Townsend – PowerNerd
Genre: Progressive metal/rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5So, what’s Devin gonna do this time? Rock ‘n’ roll? Well, yes. And then he’s gonna do Devin. Lots and lots of Devin. There is nothing not unmistakably Devin Townsend on this album, and that in itself is a stamp of quality, but also a note to take for the prog enthusiasts that like to be surprised. Yes, there is a notable amount of groove on here, but like a big hard rock album there’s also a strong proclivity for ballad-y, anthemic choruses, and overall melody-drenched songs, which, if you stripped back the massive production, wouldn’t hold a great amount of substance. All that being said, for what it is, and many will rightfully love it for what it is, it sounds damn fantastic and radiates aspects of the amazing personality that went into making it.
Highlight: “PowerNerd”
Turmion Katilot – Reset
Genre: Industrial/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you haven’t heard Turmion Katilot before, the rave-ready techno metal with raspy Finnish vocals is a thing to experience. On their quick follow-up to last year’s Omen X, the band leaves behind some of the heavier metal aspects in favor of more electronica-styled beats, which leaves the metalhead in me a bit disappointed. The rowdiness is very much still there though.
Waste – In Decay
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Furious djent-percussion with beat- and breakdowns aplenty. The staccato rhythms give it a rap metal vibe, just stupidly heavy.
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 October 18 – 2024
This week is a clash between the patiently familiar and the restless noisemakers, with both big names and promising newcomers contributing.
Aries Descendant – From The Ashes Of Deceit
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some very M. Shadows-like vocals on this one, that goes well to raise the roof on the more epic parts, of which there are many. The rhythms and melodies are, however, very cookie cutter.
Ashen Tomb – Ecstatic Death Reign
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5I especially like that song, “Ancient Tombs Sealed with Dead Tongues to Preserve the Hidden One Slumbering in the Bowels of the Earth”… oh, wait, and “Mummified in Cavernous Darkness”, that’s also part of the song title, just FYI. Apart from this kind of entertaining nonsense, and a cool album cover, this is classic Scandinavian death metal added a bit of modern brutal-vibes. It’s a bit lacking in personality.
Carnosus – Wormtales
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Not your typical surgical murder-robot attack of ferociously fast technicality, this is still very precise and rhythm minded death metal, but with a musty, soil-dwelling sort of oppressive atmosphere, and a somewhat Black Dahlia Murder-esque melodeath vibe. And it does all of that very well. It’s not exactly brilliantly varied, but for those wanting their tech death to remain dark and morbid, while still feeling impatient, you certainly get that here.
Highlight: “Yearnings of a Rotten Spine”
DGM – Endless
Genre: melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is classic prog metal with that familiar space-out synth tone, that has this non-traditional folk connection that comes through in its melody-focused instrumental sections. Like its consciousness flows across a serene landscape, taking it all in. It’s not at all original, but well crafted.
Damnations Domain – A World Turned Black
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal married to the sawblade chugs of grindcore. It’s not the chaotic kind that goes flat out from the get go, but rather a measured, raw pummeling that takes its time tormenting you.
Deivos – Apophenia
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dark and aggressive variant of tech death, putting on the pressure from the start and washing over you like a wave full of metal shards. It’s definitely-groove-oriented, but with a fairly monotone approach to melody that leaves the overall impression a but flat. Lots of cool instrumental stuff going on though.
Dregg – The Art Of Everything
Genre: Nu/experimental metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I’m still trying to get used to the idea of nu metal actually making a comeback, cause it’s such a dated style for me, and I don’t really mean that in a bad way. But these guys are making a case for the validity of “modern” nu metal (or nu nu metal, I guess). Although this is also fairly experimental, I suppose that’s how it should be when trying to break nu ground (sorry). A lot of it is still familiar, with a lot of the more choppy, irregular riff style being reminiscent of progressive metalcore, and some of the vocals too. There’s a bit of Sepultura-like groove metal, some hardcore, and it all adds up to a very flexible, in-your-face attack, like facing an MMA fighter whose fighting style you’re not really prepared for.
Highlight: “Butterscotch Biscuits”
Ensiferum – Winter Storm
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s time to gear up for a quest of noble vengeance in the arctic wilderness. If you’re familiar with Ensiferum, then all you really need to know is that they’re on form. For the rest of you, this is folk metal injected with equal amounts Finnish melodeath and bombastic heavy metal. As is not uncommon, they go through several different vocal styles, of which the harsher ones ironically come off as the least over-the-top and theatrical. While there are some real standouts on here, they are outnumbered, but overall it’s a real good time.
Highlight: “Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife”
Escuela Grind – Dreams On Algorithms
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album sounds like the next solid plateau for the band to land on after their half-step up with the “DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL” EP. A feeling of confidence has never been a lacking factor with their music, but this is clearly a sphere where the band is able to comfortably flex their stylistic muscles, sounding both mature and distinct. It’s meaty and brutal, perhaps more groove-oriented than chaotic-brutal, but with all of that small-stage, blood-boiling grindcore energy that you’d expect. Don’t take it the wrong way if I suggest that there’s a bit of nu metal in here as well.
Highlights: “Animus Multiform” and “Moral Injury”
Feral – To Usurp The Thrones
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This one sounds like it started out like death ‘n’ roll and then, like a tumbling ball of snow, grew significantly girthier. It’s got crusty groove for days, and packs onto it with furious vocals, highly active drums and a nice and heavy low end.
Fórn – Repercussions of the Self
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This band impressed me greatly when I came across their debut, “The Departure of Consciousness”. Like I wrote about that album, it was the sheer presence of the music that had me frozen in my seat, almost afraid to move. “Repercussions of the Self” is a different experience – less ominous, more exploratory. It doesn’t tower over you as much as slowly swirl around you, as an all-encompassing spectacle of abstract impressions. It’s still crushingly heavy, just not in the way that lays all that weight directly on top of you.
Highlight: “Regrets Abyss”
Frozen Crown – War Hearts
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Frozen Crown returns with their blend of soaring power metal and riff-happy heavy/speed metal. This time the vocals are more forward in the mix, the choruses are pronounced and there’s and overall bigger emphasis on catchiness.
Funeral – Gospel Of Bones
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavy, somber doom metal from a veteran band. Instrumentally, and atmosphere-wise, they strike a rewarding balance between abyssal heaviness and sorrow-tinged folk melody, but have made some choices regarding the rather prominent vocal style that will not be for everyone.
Grand Magus – Sunraven
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Immaculately produced, this is some of the smoothest fuzz I’ve heard in a good while. Every part of the band’s performances sounds good – from the finely aged vocals to the warm bass and guitars. it all embraces the Scandinavian Viking-folk theme like a perfectly fitting cloak. It’s not the most dynamic thing, but is still a joy to listen to.
Highlight: “Skybound”
The Hypothesis – Evolve
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some Finnish extreme-styled prog metal giving off a fairly prominent melodeath shadow. Offering plenty of instrumental acrobatics, a great harsh/melodic balance and lots of solos, the main thing missing is more deliberate song structures, which might allow the band to project a stronger identity.
Immortal Bird – Sin Querencia
Genre: Black/sludge metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is an album that I enjoy letting hurt me. This is weaponized pain and misery, attacking you in irregular waves to make sure you’re never really get used to the torment. It’s progressively structured, but it doesn’t feel like the point of the album is to be instrumentally advanced. Rending vocals and agile drums feel like spring-action levers that hurl you into a world of grating riffs and abyssal, doom-heavy bass, but with a hardcore-style tempo and ferocity, It’s also highly dynamic, keeping you on your toes as each song sounds employs a different, sinister strategy.
Highlights: “Bioluminescent Toxins” and “Ocean Endless”.
Maatkare – Rise To Power
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An all-female, mildly blackened, Ancient Egypt-themed, modern death metal outfit. It manages a good balance between brutality and dark melody, although some work remains to give it standout character.
Misanthropic Aggression – Insect Politics
Genre: Death metal/crust punk
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is raw, eardrum-scratching, up-brutal-ed crust punk that tries both simple and short, and more long-form and complex approaches. The Former works best, and the mix of the two doesn’t do wonders for the album flow, but it’s still worth giving a shot.
Mother Of Graves – The Periapt Of Absence
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Doom-tempo melodic death metal that treads the path of majestic-yet-nihilistic melancholy. For fans of epic, patiently building melodies leading into harsh-tinged grandeur, this is exactly as ordered, and delivers quality in every aspect. It feels very familiar in that regard, but some times it’s great to be served precisely the kind of flavor you were hoping for, with no messing up the formula.
Highlight: “Upon Burdened Hands”
Mystyc Blade – The Master Is Inside
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Adventurous, slightly stripped-down heavy metal with some prog ambitions. There’s a bit to go before a good flow is achieved.
Oryx – Primordial Sky
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A core of slow-roaring brutality surrounded by cushioning layers of atmosphere, that’s all enveloping and very organic in its progression. It’s ponderous for sure, but if you allow yourself to get lost, it won’t let you down for the duration.
Swallow The Sun – Shining
Genre: Doom/gothic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5With this one, Swallow the Sun has risen out of the shadows into a realm of clouds and twilight. But even as the surrounding atmosphere is softer, brighter and more pleasant, the band doesn’t really lift their gaze, insisting that the realm of sadness and longing hasn’t really been left behind. As a result the music takes on that gothic flair of almost reveling in the melancholy – wrapping itself up in it like it was a long stream of dark cloth, the other end of which is still tethered to the shadowlands. The melodies and transitions from blissful serenity to thundering doom are still just as good as on their previous album, “Moonflowers”, it’s just not as well tonally grounded this time.
Highlight: “What I Have Become”.
Veiled – SE//CT
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is the type of deathcore that doesn’t really move anywhere, instead being content to land titanic, measured blows upon the same limited area, digging an increasingly large crater. The band does deal with atmosphere quite well though, bringing the technical brutality to a dark and foreboding, almost doom-like place.
Veonity – The Final Element
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you can get behind the vocal style, there’s lots to like with this Swedish power metal project. It’s tight, fast and spits out well-structured solos left and right. Melody-wise it’s not exactly revolutionary, but it works.
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 October 11 – 2024
Some household names of weird and extreme metal delivering strongly this week, giving you a good mix of different flavors.
Cleanbreak – We Are The Fire
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A project that pays tribute to classic American heavy metal, with soaring, Dio-esque melodies and vocals. All the predictability of recycling.
Coping Method – Where Spirit Meets Bone
Genre: Metalcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Call it industrial, call it electronic – this is metalcore plugged into a techno-beat dystopian visualizer. It’s not a bad blend, and yet it doesn’t really surprise in any way. Erratic rhythms, youthful energy and soft melodies.
The Crown – Crown Of Thorns
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5On their 12th album, Swedish The Crown seems to want to be doing something a bit special, as they’ve taken the title from their original band name, “Crown of Thorns”. Not being terribly familiar with their discography, I’m not going to presume that this is some sort of retrospective style experience, but it does sound like they’ve taken more than a few cues from classic thrash and heavy metal. But this is mostly spikes-out, snarling old school extreme metal with a melodeath twin personality. Perhaps a bit too concerned with style over substance, it’s still a ripper of an album.
Highlight: “Howling at the Warfield”
Crucifiction – Will To Power
Genre: Deathcore/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5It’s almost a bit touching seeing the deathcore kids wanting to carry on the torch of depravity from the more morbid corner of death metal. While this is a bit clinical, it’s still got a touch of that gleeful mania that makes gore-obsessed extreme metal so much fun.
Doedsmaghird – Omniverse Consciousness
Genre: Experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5“Unhinged” is probably the first word that comes to mind listening to this parallel project to black metal greats Dødheimsgard. It very much feels like an experimental theater piece put on by a host of deranged, malevolent ghosts. The ambient elements and the raw black metal core do their best to choke each other out in a continuous, black-cloth-shrouded wrestling match.
Highlight: “Adrift Into Collapse”
Dragony – Hic Svnt Dracones
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Looking at the song titles on this album (The World Serpent, The Einherjar, Twilight of the Gods, etc.), you’d think you were in for an Amon Amarth compilation, or at least some classic, Tyr-like, folk metal. But no, this is very straight-to-the-point, symphonic-powered, bright and colorful power metal with little-to-no folk influx whatsoever. Go figure. More importantly, it’s brimming with positive energy and full-on commitment to the bit, with spirited drum- and guitar work, so you can’t help but have fun with it.
Highlight: “Dreamchasers”
Fupa Goddess – Fuckyourface
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Party-grindcore that sounds like it’s blown a massive hole in your speaker, to the point where the vocals are like howling draft from a crack in the wall.
Hell Is Other People – Moirae
Genre: Black metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An energy-sapping downer of an emotion-heavy black metal project built on atmospherically oriented hardcore. Because of the long song format, stretches will sound a bit repetitive, but they’ve got a real talent for subtle-yet-expansive melody.
Kozoria – The Source
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A band that can’t quite decide if they want to be Gojira or Five Finger Death Punch. There’s plenty of progressive ambition on here, but it’s mostly a superficial layer around fairly accessible melodies and simple grooves.
Master Boot Record – Hardwarez
Genre: Electronic (8-bit) metal/synthwave
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The balance has been struck once again. Metal chugs and heavy atmosphere letting loose within a framework of staccato rhythms and electronically precise melodic notes. There’s adventure-bound classic metal, soaring symphonic metal, and dark industrial metal in here, all sounding like parts to the greatest story-driven video game ever made. The melodies are so blissfully fulfilling, it’s like untying knots in your mind, and the overall variation of tonal flavor is fantastic.
Highlights: “RAM” and “HDD”
Nasty Savage – Jeopardy Room
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you think that thrash could benefit from some of that old school of Florida death metal guitar tone, then you’re in tune with this band. As thrash goes, this is quite heavy, but it never tips over into anything harsh or brutal. Plenty of tasty riffs and a few thematic antics makes this a highly enjoyable listen.
Highlight: “Brain Washer”.
Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja
Genre: Psychedelic/avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Like half-wandering, half-falling down a cave shaft while enveloped by a writhing, black cloud of living smoke, this album will take you to a place of unpleasant revelations. Pulsing, oppressive ambience swirls around echoing, serene melody and noisy elements of industrial black metal. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, progressing at a gradual pace, but it’s also anything but conventional.
Highlight: “Muuntautuja”
Sandveiss – Standing in the Fire
Genre: Heavy metal/stoner rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Now for some warm-toned, heavy stoner rock out of Quebec. This is a band that has blunted all of its extremes in the best possible way, sounding measured and well-considered, in order to deliver a satisfyingly coherent whole. That doesn’t mean you’re not getting plenty of satisfying riffs, super smooth vocals and a few rhythm- and atmosphere elements that bring to mind Mastodon. Topping it off with an affinity for memorable melodies, and you’ve got a solid all-rounder with some real personality.
Highlights: “Bleed Me Dry” and “I’ll Be Rising”
Seven Hours After Violet – Seven Hours After Violet
Genre: Metalcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A mix of chugging groove riffs, a bit of nu metal rhythms and that classic blend of direct harshness and emotional, clean melody you typically get with modern metalcore. There’s a slight touch of that System of a Down erratic energy to it, but only a touch.
Highlight: “Alive”
Vomit Forth – Terrified Of God
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Think you can handle some no-mercy, sludgy death metal? Vomit Forth puts the pedal to the metal and handcuffs you to an outside door handle. As you’re half desperately running, half-dangling along for the ride, they shout raspy abuse at you through the window and alternates pumping the gas and breaks just to maximize the injury inflicted.
Highlight: “Blood Soaked Death Dream”
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, black metal, death metal, Doedsmaghird, Dragony, grindcore, groove metal, master boot record, metal, metal albums out this week, Nasty Savage, new metal releases, new releases, Oranssi Pazuzu, overview, progressive metal, review, Sandveiss, Seven Hours After Violet, The Crown, thrash metal, vomit forth -
Weekly rundown October 04 – 2024
Another great death metal week (I know, we’re getting spoiled). Did I mention that there’s a lot of death metal this week? It’s pretty great.
1349 – The Wolf and The King
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/51349 returns after 5 years with an album that seems to aspire towards the grim majesty suggested by its title and album art. In fact, there is a rumbling, meaty-riff, menacingly melodic quality to this that goes a long way towards blackened death metal. There are a few really quite advanced things going on in the rhythm and instrumental layering department, which gives this a lot of character, I just wish the low end of the guitars didn’t sound compressed all to hell (pun perhaps intended).
Highlight: “Ash of Ages”
Abramelin – Sins of the Father
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Raving, snarling death metal that carries certain similarities to fellow Australian outfit Werewolves. It’s tight and suitably brutal, but a bit lacking in character.
Bile Caster – Writhing Between Birth And Death
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5The feeling of an incomprehensively massive weight slowly, slowly crushing you into the black dust of a dark, long abandoned ruin.
Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Forget your expectations towards single tracks, this album needs to be taken as a complete journey. Blood Incantation are jumping across the cosmos on this one, raging forward on their stellar, old school-tinged brand of technical death metal, coming to the occasional near-halt in order to bask in the serenity of a particularly impressive view. This isn’t your typical weird-you-out kind of experimental effort, although conventional it certainly is not. The scope feels massive, and neither the raging brutality or the calming ambience takes anything away from it. Quite the opposite. And production wise it just sounds so damn good.
Highlights: “The Stargate [Tablet III]” and “The Message [Tablet III]”
Corpsefucking Art –Tomatized
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal of the morbid, non-slamming kind, with guitars that sound like a wall-to-wall array of saw blades, and a sinister low end like the hunger of a beast.
Cosmic Putrefaction – Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album feels like the dark relative to Blood Incantation’s release this week. Cosmic and mystical in scope, this one chooses to travel where there is no light. The atmosphere feels oppressive, the production has such an ominous weight to it, and the energy of the thing feels like it’s trying to wrestle pure chaos. There’s dissonance and hostility on here, but also forces trying to establish control. A crushing and technically brilliant effort.
Highlight: “Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains”
Devenial Verdict – Blessing Of Despair
Genre: Atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s been a little while since I’ve heard this good of a set of opening tracks to an album. The pacing allows for the perfect balance between immersive atmosphere and pulses of fury, which hit with the force of massive waves upon towering cliffsides. That isn’t to say that the rest of the album isn’t great, but it does transition into more of a doom-like approach, and although the dark magic of their tonal flavor shines through, it shuts down the variation a bit. Overall though, this is impressively mature and distinct.
Highlights: “Garden of Eyes” and “I Have Become the Sun”
Greenwitch – Forced Out Of Existence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of OSDM and modern brutal death, resulting in a sound that seems at once both grimy and crisp. It’s got some killer beats and overall pretty decent variation.
Krosis – Infinite Circuity
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is deathcore that aims high. It’s got that space-headed kind of tone without in any way feeling psychedelic. More epic, cosmic ballad vibe, feeling polished and precise like an automaton wielding a set of surgical blades.
Livløs – The Crescent King
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Danish band Livløs (meaning “lifeless”) returns with their brand of sludgy, partly blackened, starkly-melodic death metal. Not unexpectedly, there’s a measure of progressive exploration in searching for the right rhythm, melody line and tempo to properly tell the story. As such it struggles a bit to get into a good groove, and is not the most hard-hitting of death metal releases this week, but also never feels complacent or repetitive.
Highlight: “Usurpers”
Lords Of The Trident – V.G.E.P. (EP)
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Even though I don’t really do EPs these days, I felt compelled to at least give this one a shout out, if for nothing else just to be able to share that awesome album cover. This is 80s heavy metal whipped mercilessly and gleefully into present day shape, which means it not only radiates swagger, it also sounds fucking fantastic.
Highlight: “The Ballad of Jon Milwaukee”
Mammoth Caravan – Frostbitten Galaxy
Genre: Doom/sludge/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5You mostly know what you’re in for when there’s a “mammoth” in the band name. Yes, this is fuzzy doom, but bolstered by some angry sludge, that takes pauses dipping its head into psychedelic synth ambiance.
Maul – In The Jaws Of Bereavement
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5I was all giddy about this band’s first full length, “Seraphic Punishment”, and there’s plenty to be excited about this time around as well. This is still OSDM revival to the core, with a richer, crisper production this time around, which nicely highlights the finely honed instrumental styles without losing too much of the grime. I wouldn’t say that they build on their previous effort, continuing the same formula of heavy, grinding grooves with a subtle but significant penchant for rhythmic precision. But this is certainly quality stuff all the way.
Highlights: “Spontaneous Stigmata” and “In the Jaws of Bereavement”
Temple of Dread – God of the Godless
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5How about a good mix of Obituary and Death to go with this week’s selection of excellent death metal? I thought these guys did well with last year’s “Beyond Acheron”, and they’re already back, and sounding like full-on veterans no less. This is tight and to the point, and although it’s lacking a bit of the exploratory, atmospheric vibe of the predecessor, this feels more like a coherent statement, without a shred of hesitation. It’s raw, rending death metal with a phantom-like thrash connection. Super malicious.
Highlight: “Spawn of Filth” and “Sacrificial Dawn”
Thrasher Wolf – Inside The Sickened Mind
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5No, not Powerwolf! This is Exodus, Anthrax and Kreator-inspired thrash that takes you straight back to the 80s. Great for a genre fill-up, but not innovative.
Undeath – More Insane
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Undeath takes the step up from murky grime to… less murky grime. Kidding aside, the production on this album very clearly pushes the band’s sound in a more modern, forceful direction, with some parts even carrying the vague hint of deathcore. But, purists, do not fret, somehow this sounds just as raw and old-school-centered as before, just leaning a bit further into chugging, brutal-styled rhythms and heavy groove-riff bad-assery. The effort that went into each track of this album is deeply felt, as there is not a hint of lazyness. The music is constantly on the hunt, like some undead demon bear looking to shred you into ribbons.
Highlights: “Brandish the Blade” and “Cramped Caskets (Necrology)”
Valletta – Summer
Genre: Black/heavy metal/black ‘n’ roll
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Major Tribulation vibes, but leaning less into heavy, stark, gothic theatre and more into scorched rock ‘n’ roll. It pendulums a bit back and forth between wanting to be heavy and just wanting to rock out, even getting the scent of blackened death metal at times, but always returning to the head-bopping rhythms. Melody-wise, it’s deliciously grin-sinister.
Wind Rose – Trollslayer
Genre: Power/folk metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5For someone not familiar with the band you might have a hard time convincing then that they’re not Finnish. Or Irish. Cause it’s got all (and I mean all) the hallmarks of popularized folk music from those regions. It’s sing-along, dance-along, jump-along stuff all the way, but with a very “yes, we know it”, feelgood vibe.
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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The Metal Dispatch 