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Weekly rundown September 06 – 2024
A well-balanced mix of temperaments this week, lacking the heavy hitters but allowing for a sampling of different styles.
Anubis – The Unforgivable
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Al album that goes from drifting around aimlessly in gentle currents of warm melody, to running into rapids of impossible physics.
Black Sites – The Promised Land?
Genre: Heavy/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5In essence, this is chugging, slightly gritty heavy metal with a light layer of dreamy melody, that every now and then decides to break out of the conventional, and take on a bit of a David Bowie-like vibe. Harmony-wise it’s not always a bullseye, but it’s distinct.
Black Sun – Black Sun
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This has that Accept-like quality of hard rock amped-up to metal heaviness, and introducing some typical Finnish melodic affinity.
Blackstaff – The Storyteller
Genre: Doom/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A blackened doom project with the abrasiveness of sludge, it makes its home in a dark, cavernous domain of grim fantastical elements.
Blitzkrieg – Blitzkrieg
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A NWOBHM-style band that has stuck firm to its path. The production is nice and rich, highlighting all the right elements. It’s an instrumentally driven sound, with a very fitting vocal quality, so you’re left with just the right feeling.
Castle – Evil Remains
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Evil Remains plays old school doom with a riff-driven heavy-metal-style mid-tempo that’s highly headband-able. The instrumental production is just right, and paints a gritty graveyard scene, while the vocals are more debatable. For me, they’re simply too detached from the groove and melody.
God Dethroned – The Judas Paradox
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Demon-possessed death metal all the way, God Dethroned delivers a consistent package of darkly melodic, snarly heaviness. For those with the inclination to stay with it, the album offers up some solid sections of aggressive, catchy riffing and infectious hate-energy. The rest will probably be turned off by the repetitiveness of the thing.
Heinous Exsanguination – The Stench of Decaying Flesh
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This sounds like exactly the same repugnant, gurgly mass of a riff and tone base divided into sections with slightly different drum patterns to differentiate them.
Infrared – Mainfestation
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5Old school thrash that unfortunately lacks drive and coherency in their songwriting.
Killing Of A Sacred Deer – Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Genre: Deathcore/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An incredibly violent piece of grindy deathcore, like a little box with a world war compressed into it. The drums snap like gunshots, and bass beats land like detonations. If you’re into this sort of sonic punishment, it’ll beat you till you love it. If not… well… it’s less than 15 minutes long.
Misanthropia – Envy The Dead
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A band opting for an agile and sharper variant of the black/death combination, taking a few elements from the likes of Cradle of Filth, but wit no symphonic elements. Melodically, it’s a bit stumped, and has some work to do with creating a good flow, but it’s a promising start.
Mutant Blast – Soulsteeler
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Groove-centered thrash with a good crunch and a good ear for catchy riffs. But melodically it’s dry as a desert tomb.
Officium Triste – Hortus Venenum
Genre: Doom/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Let’s listen to this old tale of the forest, detailing loss and woes, the inevitable change of passing years, and old, dusty grandeur. It’s heavy, harsh doom with folk-like epic-melancholy melody that sits with you for a while after it’s played. It doesn’t do anything overly remarkable or new, but lets you sink into a world of dark, enveloping, and strangely uplifting currents.
Highlight: “Forcefield”
PeelingFlesh – The G Code
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Slamming brutal death metal with the distinct, stompy delivery and street-gritty delivery of hardcore. It’s very well produced, hitting with thunderous force and frightening precision, and creating a well-defined sonic soundscape for itself with the mixed-in samples and turntable elements.
Serotonin – Motiv
Genre: Black/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A form of sludgy black metal that seems infused with the whispers of hidden history and forgotten knowledge. It’s not a slow or particularly atmospheric piece, but it has a tonal quality, and elements of mellow, melancholic folk melody, that places it on a shelf of its own.
Highlight: “Garrote in D”
A Swarm Of The Sun – An Empire
Genre: Doom/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A small cosmos of its own, of melodies swirling in spiral patterns – from eternally slow to a churning torrent. This thing builds so well, and feels majestically cinematic in scope, whether it’s doing understated ambience or soaring waves of fully involved outbursts. It’s a soundscape to get utterly lost in, feeling like you need a lifeline in order to find your way out again.
Highlights: “Heathen” and “The Pyre”
Vestige – Janis
Genre: Avant-garde sludge/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An atmosphere-rich mix of sludge, prog, metalcore and a few other influences with clear artistic ambitions. The production wraps everything in a weird, balmy cocoon that feels a bit like everything’s been softly padded. The harshest elements still strike through, but the melody could use some more definition.
Vølus – Merciful The Dying Light
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2/5Taking blackened death metal to a near-comically harsh and simple place.
Wolfheart – Draconian Darkness
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Solidly performed Finnish melodeath with some classic, catchy grooves. On the minus side, it’s lacking real force, and does very little new.
Zeit der Dunkelheit – Die Letzten Tage
Genre: Folk/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A clearly schizophrenic mix of black metal and really rather upbeat folk. The folk goes “dance and frolic all night!” the black metal goes “I HATE YOU”. Then some seriously bombastic interlude kicks in, then some more dancing, then it slumps into bitter, doomy melancholy. It’s entertaining, but wildly inconsistent.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 30 – 2024
A week that brought out some strong opinions from me, with a couple of the biggest names in progressive and melodic extreme metal headlining.
Amiensus – Reclamation Pt. II
Genre: Progressive black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is certainly not one for the black metal purists, and not really for the prog nerds either, but for all of us in between, what’s offered is a well-balanced mix of progressive black, melodic death, and doom metal. There are style influences to be recognized in most parts of this, so it’s not truly unique, but for fans of melancholically melodic extreme metal with a dark folk vibe, there’s lots to appreciate.
Highlight: “Decaying God Child”
Anciients – Beyond The Reach Of The Sun
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Calling this straight progressive metal feels almost misleading, but so would tacking on “death”, “doom”, “folk”, or any other subgenre for that matter, even though all of the ones mentioned are present as layers in the music. Opeth is probably the closest comparison I can come up with, considering the lush, darkly mystical melody, but this also dreams of the cosmos, and every now and then goes on spirited explorations beyond the familiar and earthbound. The balance between the gentler, almost heavy/doom-esque sections and heavier, melodeath-approaching parts feels completely organic, like they’re letting each track evolve as it must. A mature and highly rewarding effort.
Highlights: “Melt The Crown” and “In The Absence Of Wisdom”
Avmakt – Satanic Inversion Of….
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5You ever get that question from non-metal people, “what’s the difference between death metal and black metal?”, and start to wonder which two tracks you could play to best showcase the divide between these two subgenres? This is the sound you want to represent black metal. A million, tiny cuts in the dark, as you flail through frigid, Scandinavian woods.
Deceased – Children Of The Morgue
Genre: Death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Not being familiar with Deceased, their “mild” variant of old school death metal might take a little getting used to, but if the sound speaks to you, then you’re getting some genuinely lively stuff here.
Dionize – Lighthouse
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This one deserves a better production. It’s a delightfully varied (for the subgenre at least), if not a bit unfocused, mix of groovy, southern-style stoner, doom, and some sludgy vocals. And it’s from New Zealand!
Ellende – Todbringerin
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Given that the messenger is an obvious, ominous representation of the netherrealm, I can’t imagine a warmer, more comforting delivery of the message of death, without shying away from any of the grim actualities involved. Ellende follow up their fantastic 2022 release “Ellenbogengesellschaft” with another gripping, impressively complete and stylistically confident masterpiece of atmospheric black metal with doom-like sensibilities. Apply a bit of patience, then sit back and let this oddly encouraging embrace of sorrow wash over you.
Highlights: “Ballade Auf Den Tod” and “Verachtung”
Erronaut – The Space Inbetween
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sure, to casually attentive ears, this is same old, same old. But it’s well produced, and introduces some modern, almost prog-melodic elements that helps separate it from its peers.
Leprous – Melodies Of Atonement
Genre: Progressive metal/rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Alright, I’m not gonna sugarcoat this: To me this sounds like Leprous making music from a monstrously inflated sense of self importance. There’s absolutely no hiding the immense talent behind this, and production wise it sounds as sublime as ever. But god damn are they taking your attention for granted, and when the intensity ramps up it’s usually surfing on rather uninspired, overly electronica-induced melodies. What’s more frustrating is how they all seem to almost comically restrain themselves for lengthy sections of time. as if they consider their maximum technical effort to be harmfully potent. There’s understated, and then there’s holding back. This will inevitably be a subjective take on the album, which is, objectively, quite solidly crafted, and those who are sold on their current sound probably won’t be disappointed.
Lee McKinney – To Those Who Know Pain
Genre: Shred/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5It’s modern, vibrant, progressive-minded shred. That’s pretty much all you need to know.
Nails – Every Bridge Burning
Genre: Grindcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a spike-covered fist down your throat of crusty riffs, detonation beats and bile-spitting vocals. It’s a sub 18-minute, eardrum-scouring blast of heavy grindcore with punk abandon, roaring hatred like an engine from hell. With such an uncompromising sound, you’re either gonna be completely locked in from start to finish, or start to find it a bit repetitive after a while, but given the short runtime that might not be until several repeat listens in.
Highlight: “Give Me The Painkiller”
Norna – Norna
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Nihilistic and dilapidated – this is the feeling of this harsh, semi-progressive doom project, like a dark incantation taking a painfully long time to utter.
Oceano – Living Chaos
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Ultra-precise, djent-percussive deathcore with a backdrop of solemn, grand melody. The clash of artificial and organic is definitely not their strong suit, but they manipulate their instruments with practices mastery, and infuse enough emotion into it to conjure some real personality.
Teeth – The Will Of Hate
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5An album that I really wanted to love, partially due to that sick album cover, but ended up falling a bit short of adoration for. Mainly because this is dissonant, hostile, otherworldly death metal, and so I should feel terrified, or at least intimidated, but in the end I wasn’t left with much more than the expected admiration for the technical prowess of the band. It’s not at all overproduced, and does not overuse its rhythmic approaches, feeling focused and disturbingly well controlled, while still retaining a veneer of that core death metal grime.
Highlight: “Apparition”
Thrown – Excessive Guilt
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hardcore with metalcore-like, synthetic backing melody, going hard on the beats and delivering some good grooves, but you can’t help but feel that most of the force comes from the production, not the performances.
To The Grave – Everyone’s A Murderer
Genre: Deathcore/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Talking about all the force coming from the production.., This is brutal deathcore almost entirely comprised of dissonant chugs and breakdowns, with some horror atmosphere thrown on top.
Vast Pyre – Vast Pyre
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5An abyss-lurking doom record with some stoner groove to the riffs, which, honestly, feels like a bit of a distraction. Personally, I feel the same about the rough, nearly spoken-word vocals, but that might be a matter of taste.
Wintersun – Time II
Genre: Symphonic folk/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fist off – be prepared that at least 16 minutes out of the 48 min 40 sec runtime of this album is purely atmosphere and acoustic transitional melody. Expected? Second then – the production is absolutely massive, and so the core sound of melodic extreme metal is cushioned almost beyond recognition in between layers and layers symphonic elements both instrumental and synthetic. No problem? Thirdly – Most of the choruses are rather repetitive and stretch out far beyond the necessary, for the purpose of soaring high as long as can be gotten away with. On par? Then enjoy the Finnish grandeur in all its… grandeur, that, when it hits right, will indeed wow you with its uncanny melodic affinity and complete dedication to the epic.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 23 – 2024
We’re out of the slump! For real, this week means business, going big on drama and sheer malevolent force.
All For Metal – Gods Of Metal
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 2/5Cheese on cheese on cheese on cheese on cheese on cheese…
Alleviate – DMNS
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavy djent crunches on top of typical metalcore rhythms, added some squeals and dual clean/harsh vocals.
Buryfication – Gallows Rise
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A morbid whirlwind of a blackened death metal project out of Finland, with some great trash riffing in the vein of Vader. Unfortunately, the production is not great, robbing it of a lot of power, and it doesn’t help that the song compositions are a little messy.
Carmeria – Tragédie D’amour
Genre: Symphonic power/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A well balanced mix of earworm melodies, vibrant guitar work and excellent vocal performances, both clean and harsh. What drags it down for me is uninspired rhythm work and too many ballads on what would already be a pretty sappy album.
Chained Saint – Blindside
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Back-to-basics, old school thrash metal in the vein of early Anthrax and Exodus. The best part of this is the energy, followed by the relative simplicity – not necessarily in the performances, but the layering of the different musical elements.
Dampf – No Angels Alive
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Bombastic, thickly produced power metal with classic, arena friendly folk metal elements. It’s got some rousing melodies and cool solo work, but keep leaning heavily on frustratingly simple rhythms and structures.
Demiser – Slave To The Scythe
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5There’s no end to the fuel being poured on this fire. Demiser delivers blackened thrash metal in that aggressively diabolical fashion, rather than going down the cold and husky tonal path. There is a tendency for the riff style and tempos to take strong cues from speed metal, which certainly keeps the motor running, but on some early tracks, this “speed racer” influence makes for a significantly less forceful output. This is, however, quickly regained, and the album finishes off very solidly.
Highlight: “Total Demise”
Fleshgod Apocalypse – Opera
Genre: Symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Welcome back to the masters of extreme drama! For their first album with a permanent, female clean vocalist, Fleshgod Apocalypse goes big on the grandeur, serving the album name well. As a result, “Opera” can feel a bit more generic for the subgenre of symphonic death metal, and the fact that they front load the album with the three single-tracks certainly helps to reinforce this feeling, at least for the first half of the listening experience. But, very importantly, the fury and technical savagery that the band is renowned for is very much still front and center, and you can’t help but be awed by the blast wave of force they deliver again and again throughout. Couple this with the fact that the songs get more playful and unpredictable from the middle on, and you’ve got the best of both the “safe” and the more exploratory.
Highlights: “Morphine Waltz” and “Pendulum”.
Generation Of Vipers – Guilt Shrine
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is sludge with the kind of vibe that makes you feel bad for being in a good mood. Using elements of doom, and progressive rhythm structures, it seems almost like the music struggles its way forward. That’s not to say that the flow is bad. It’s tied together with some excellent dark atmosphere and has a great, crunchy riff engine to keep it going.
Highlight: “Lux Inversion”
Koldbrann – Ingen Skansel
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Classic, misanthropic black metal out of Norway. It scores low on distinctiveness, but delivers enough hissing aggression, cold tremolo and pummeling double bass to win over most any black metal fan.
My Fictions – Touch Of Glass
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A downer of an emotionally laden, disharmonic metal/hardcore album. It feels like an uphill struggle on repeat – scaling a different metaphorical hill for each song.
Nile – The Underworld Awaits Us All
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Are you ready to face, quite possibly, the busiest drums in death metal? Even for technical death metal, the ferocity of this is quite intimidating, especially because Nile employs a much more raw-sounding, old-school tone than a lot of modern peers. What they do share though, is a tendency to prioritize the technical performances over memorable hooks and melodies. The result is a raging firestorm, like a darkly divine retribution, the purpose is to leave the earth a scorched wasteland.
Highlight: “To Strike With Secret Fang”
Paralydium – Universe Calls
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic, melodic prog metal that delves into a far-removed, fantastical realm where it creates a stage for itself to perform its vibrant instrumental acrobatics.
Simone Simons – Vermillion
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5On this solo album, Epica’s Simone Simons collaborates with Ayreon for a slightly restrained, yet still highly dramatic concept that involves mildly progressive instrumental work, a completely dominant focus on melody, and, naturally, ample space for vocal extravagance.
Spectral Wound – Songs Of Blood And Mire
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Layering an avalanche of punishing drums with fiendish vocals and guitar-driven melodies that seem to simultaneously lament and hurl hateful accusations towards the sky, Spectral wound have found a solid path leading out from the core of classic black metal. They manage to simultaneously sound like vicious witchcraft and youthful rebellion, which lends enough depth for the album to be both entertaining and immersive.
Highlights: “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” and “A Coin Upon the Tongue”
Within The Ruins – Phenomena II
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If there’s one thing this album succeeds in doing, it’s being playful. There’s so much going on with the effect-laden guitars and spastic drums, you can’t help but sit back and grin, while also shaking your head a bit in disbelief. What doesn’t work so well is the way this cheerful instrumental approach mixes with the (clearly meant to be) furious vocals and low-tuned, wanting-to-be-threatening riffs.
Zeal & Ardor – Greif
Genre: Avant-garde/experimental metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is an album that needs to connect to you on a personal level. Devoid of conventions, it’s not what you’d call inaccessible, but neither is it actively trying to make you stay. Doing its own thing, weaving into, out of and between metal, rock and folk, it is its own entity, hardly even throwing a glance in your direction, leaving it entirely up to you to find out if your sensibilities are going to end up matching. Some might take this as indifference, some even low-effort, but I can’t fault the artistic integrity.
Highlight: “Hide in Shade”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 16 – 2024
A compact week carrying few mighty headliners, and a lot of smaller aggressors, with hardcore getting ample representation.
Âscent – Gamma
Genre: Progressive metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5The prevailing notion I want to attribute to this album is “understated”. Not in the way that it lacks character or variation, but it prefers to take things mellow, even on tracks with names like “Party” and “Hades”.
Attractive Chaos – Tame & Conquer (EP)
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Fairly bread-and-butter sounding female fronted melodic metal. It gets into some slightly heavier, more interesting sections in the latter half, but it doesn’t fully make up for some of the more creatively barren stuff that’s on here.
Cemetery Filth – Senses of Detriment (EP)
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5You know damn well what this is. There’s no mistaking it with that name. It’s got some pretty cool, spacey solo sections to go with the… cemetery filth, and it’s not even a tonal clash. A little disorganized, but not totally clunky.
Dark Tranquillity – Endtime Signals
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s been a little while since the last DT album, but then the band hasn’t been in the habit of releasing new material frequently for quite some time. As long as this coincides with the kind of consistent quality they’ve been able to maintain, you won’t hear me complaining. On “Endtime Signals” we get them balancing their trademark solemn melodies and evergreen knack for controlled aggression better than I can seem to remember for quite some time. You still get some doom-leaning, all-mellow tracks, and in a few instances I wish they would just return to that awesome riff line they played a little earlier, rather than staying in that chorus-style limbo rhythm for the rest of the song. But it’s obvious that they keep trying to do new things, incorporating a bit of prog, a bit of groove, a bit of thrash, and are still able to masterfully tie everything together with their impeccable tonal consistency. And then throwing in some of the best solos they’ve ever done for good measure.
Highlights: “Unforgivable” and “A Bleaker Sun”.
Extinction A.D. – To The Detested
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you think the idea of mixing New York Hardcore with the rougher end of thrash and 90s groove metal (Pantera) sounds like just the ticket, then there’s no way in hell you’re not gonna dig this. It’s bursting at the seams with that bare-chested, shorts-wearing, uncontainable kind of energy, and completely unapologetic about serving up a non-stop buffet of stompy, squealy riffs. A bit one-dimensional? Sure. Are you gonna care? Absolutely not.
Highlights: “Impervious *(Unrepentant)” and “Shepherding Swine”.
Gel – Persona (EP)
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Hey, hardcore should be allowed to be catchy too. There’s no shortage of aggression and attitude on Gel’s latest EP, but it feels surprisingly orderly, almost a bit industrial , and goes straight to the point with its relentless, crusty riff parade.
Highlight: “Martyr”.
Horns & Hooves – Spectral Voyeurism (EP)
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An intriguing spin on classic raw-like black metal, infusing it with a frantic, near-psychedelic, retro-punk kind of vibe, that I’m (clearly) struggling to properly define.
Left To Suffer – Leap Of Death
Genre: Deathcore/Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly sappy-melody-oriented metalcore with a deathcore Hyde-like second personality. It’s well produced and vibrant, mixing in a lot of popular music genres. But to me it just screams trend surfing.
Starer – Waking
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Melodic, far-reaching black metal with a semi-bleak tone, like a gale across a mostly barren landscape, revealing patches of struggling vegetation among the dust and rock.
Thermality – The Final Hours
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This thing so strongly radiates 90s In Flames that I’m forced to call it slightly derivative, but at the same time I don’t want to complain about getting more of that stuff. It’s not the most mature thing you’ll hear this week, and they’ve got a bit to go on delivering lasting impressions, but it’s a solid foundation to build on.
Trench – Between Inverted Worlds
Genre: Deathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A conceptually charged, heavy and dystopian-feeling extreme metal project melding elements of deathcore, hardcore, progressive death- and industrial metal. The influences of these exist mostly in the nuances, as the album sets its own pace, stepping hard on the aggression pedal while mostly moving at a fairly moderate pace, with glimpses of bleak melody in between.
Highlight: “PATH OF PAIN”
Vile Rites – Senescence
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Very much following the vibe of its cover art, this feels like a massive, writhing entity in the oceanic deep, expressing its wrath in between the surges of the currents, in the form of doom-laden, sinister atmosphere. But when this thing goes on the hunt, it’s merciless, striking with predatorial determination. The album employs melody and dissonance in equal measure, without letting either side assert dominance, prioritizing a sort of in-between, slightly unpredictable tone.
Highlight: “Shiftless Wanderings”
Yosemite In Black – In Pursuit Of
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A fierce, rhythmically pounding hardcore album with more than a bit of grindcore energy. Both riff tone and vocal style exude hateful harshness, but the band has little interest getting into any sort of chaotic knots, instead pulsing out the brutality like a revving engine.
Highlight: “Robber Baron”
Ulvehunger – Retaliation
Genre: Black metal/black n’ roll
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Raspy, war-prepared black metal that’s not afraid to open the taps on a few groove riffs and solos. It’s cold and jagged, but not overly hostile, placing it in an area between Khold and mid-career Satyricon.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 09 – 2024
Another short week as we ride off the slump of summer, but the sake of all that’s unholy, don’t sleep on this one. Some real face melters coming your way.
Bless The Dead – We Create This
Genre: Groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A bone dry, harsh kind of southern groove metal album with some good aggression behind it. They unfortunately fall fully flat on their asses whenever approaching a melodic vocal line, but they’re also not too commonplace.
Carnivore Diprosopus – Rise Of The Insurrection
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Talk about setting the right expectations with your album art. This is a smorgasbord of excessive force, in the form of meatgrinder vocals, artillery barrage drums, and chainsaw windmill guitars. It could benefit from a richer production.
Crushuman – CrusHuman
Genre: Death/nu/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here’s a combo I didn’t think I’d hear this week – death- and nu metal. It has those beat-based rhythms, and a bit of turntable effects to go with it. Later on it kind of switches to groove, and every now and then hardcore. This genre schizophrenia is, unfortunately, the most interesting about this. The production is lackluster and uneven, the album has no less than 17 songs, several with a grindcore-style short runtime, but still. Good moments kind of get lost in the crowd.
Dark Deeds – Death Keeps
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Personally, I find that this album has one of the most uninteresting opening 5 minutes of runtime I’ve heard all year. It’s nothing but slow, low-tuned riffs and breakdown beats with some spoken-word interludes and clenched vocals. Lots of rage on here though, for those who simply wants to get fired up.
Duhkha – A Place You Can’t Come Back From
Genre: Metalcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A truly bludgeoning album mixing the deftness of metalcore with the stompiness of hardcore, and adding in some sludgy, even death metal-like low-end steamroller force for that bone crunching heaviness. There’s hardly any melody to be found, but it’s not truly dissonant either. It feels nimble, like a heavyweight fighter with good footwork and a headsman’s scowl to psyche out the opposition.
Highlight: “Echo Theft”
Earth Ship – Soar
Genre: Stoner/doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This album sounds a bit like each section of the band was given a different subgenre space to play in. You get stoner-style lead and drums, doomy riffs and bass, and sludgy vocals. It fits together perfectly fine, but the whole ends up a bit removed from the more potentially interesting extremes of either of its parts.
Fulci – Duck Face Killings
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Sometimes death metal can be allowed to be both brutal and lively, in insanely headbanging-inducing fashion. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds listening to this album to realize that this is what you’re in for, in spades. Built around an aptly tongue-in-cheek gory horror theme, you get that same entertainment factor of Dethklok at its very best, just springing from a significantly elevated level of musical craftmanship. The drums and low-end riffs deliver an industrial slaughterhouse level of precision, with a thrashy, Slayer-esque, malicious-toned, nimble lead riff line stalking like an eager axe murderer in the background. They make some tastefully weird thematic choices in connection with their cinematic inspirations (The New York Ripper by Lucio Fulci), which adds enough barbed character to embed itself in your memory.
Highlights: “Human Scalp Condition” and “Maniac Unleashed”.
HammerFall – Avenge The Fallen
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I was poised to diss this pretty hard, but, aside from its utter lack of innovation, there’s way too much good stuff going on here to simply dismiss it as a conveyor belt release. There’s actual depth to the melodies, good variation, and a genuine genre enthusiasm radiating through the whole thing. Most importantly, it’s far from so overproduced that it doesn’t sound like it’s made by actual people. And these people have a masterful knack for the accessibly epic.
In Aphelion – Reaperdawn
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The veteran-comprised black metal band that is Reaperdawn strikes once more. If you’re unfamiliar, then think Necrophobic and Nifelheim (from which two of the members hail), and you should have a pretty good idea. This is quality, plain and simple, although it does little to subvert expectations. Furious wraith riffs, icicle solos and vocals like ripping gangrenous flesh. It’s full of classic metal energy and that Swedish quality of injecting melody without affecting the heaviness.
Highlight: “Reaperdawn”.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – FLIGHT b741
Genre: Blues rock
Subjective rating: /5
Objective rating: /5Not gonna review this, cause it’s definitely not metal, but just thought I’d mention that King Gizzard has released another album. Again. It’s good. Just not metal this time.
Kurokuma – Of Amber and Sand
Genre: Doom/sludge/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5An album that wants you fully committed all the way through. It’s equal parts heavy chugging and mildly psychedelic ambience, which extends into interludes in between every full song. It does feel like a spiritual journey, but perhaps not one taken willingly. The melodies are warm and flexing – reaching out beyond the deep core of the doomy bass, to whatever might be found out there. While the rhythms move us steadily forwards through the unfamiliar landscape.
Highlight: “Death No More”
Monument Of Misanthropy – Vile Postmortem Irrumatio
Genre: Technical/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Did you dig the latest Summoning the Lich album, and wish you could get more of Aborted sooner rather than later? Well, here you go. Like with the Fulci album also released this week, this is serial killer themed, although with a real one (Ed Kemper) adorning the cover. What’s cool is that these guys manage to deliver what I found the Aborted album earlier this year to be missing – some actual depth and variation. Sure, it’s hyper tight, fast and heavy as all hell, but it knows how to get into some grooves, use different rhythms for effect, and dip into more classic death metal whenever a hit of believable malevolence is needed.
Highlights: “Vile Postmortem Irrumatio” and “How to Make a Killer”.
Mushroomhead – Call The Devil
Genre: Nu/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Mushroomhead is another nu metal golden era band that I honestly never listened to. So, going in half blind and hearing the first song, I got my hopes up for a thoroughly aggressive, groove-laden, perhaps a bit artificial-sounding industrial record with some hip-hop beats. Alas, on the next song it decided it wanted to be something else. And something else on the one after that. And so on. For those not minding a mixed bag, it might be entertaining, and it has some cool moments, but objectively, this inconsistency is highly detrimental.
Oxygen Destroyer – Guardian Of The Universe
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Fucking hell. Don’t turn your back on this one. You’ll need your complete faculties to withstand this tsunami-through-a-knife-factory merciless onslaught of blackened death thrash. If you thought that death metal can only fuse well with the more mid-tempo and groove-laden parts of thrash, you were clearly mistaken, as the guys go absolutely scorched bananas with their picks and sticks pretty much from one end to the other. The delightfully geeky Kaiju theme functions as compact sinew to hold the whole thing together, only showing up at key intersections, rather than some half-assed veil dropped over the whole thing. Through a combination of tone, vocal style and production, they’ve managed to keep the jagged dagger edge of thrash intact, instead of opting for the meat mallet blow of death metal, all the while backing it up with an atomic breath’s worth of force.
Highlights: “Shadow Of Evil” and “Eradicating The Symbiotic hive Mind Entity From Beyond The Void”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 02 – 2024
A week that’s over before you know it, but throwing some real nuggets of brutality at you as it passes.
Acid Mass – Worship
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5“To hell with everything!” seems to be the prevailing thematic notion behind this punky, slightly low-fi thrash metal record. That’s not to suggest that their performances are in any way lacking. This is speedy, high energy stuff with tons of spit-in-your-face spirit and a favorable attitude towards cool licks and solos. Definitely something to check out if you’re a riff junkie and don’t absolutely need your metal to carry that massive punch you get from a big, clean production.
Highlight: “Hell From Above”
Asenblut – Entfesselt
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is vey much like modern Amon Amarth, unfortunately at their least imaginative. Riffs and melodies are a dime a dozen, but at least it’s not over the top anthemic, and when they really try to go heavy, they mostly succeed.
Barbarian Hermit – Mean Sugar
Genre: Stoner/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5I wouldn’t go so far as to describe this as progressive, but it sort of lives in its own in-between world where slow, wandering melodies and groovy chugs are are equally natural parts of the progression.
Carnophage – Matter Of A Darker Nature
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Expect an interesting blend of different death metal subgenres on this one, and a melodic tone that subtly distinguishes it from the morbid masses. It’s definitely on the modern side, with strong elements of tech and brutal, but the production and riff tone leans towards the old school. Without getting experimental, it eagerly tries out a plethora of different approaches, which doesn’t do wonders for the flow, but keeps you guessing for what you’re gonna get next.
Convictions – The Fear Of God
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Rather typical modern metalcore of the heavy, djent-chugg-juxtaposed-by-electronic-melody-and-soft-vocals variant. Yes. I realize I’m being dismissive, but I just don’t find anything inventive here.
Gravemind – Introsphere
Genre: Metalcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Massively percussive, djent-riffed modern metalcore switching between dissonant chugs, lighter grooves and moments of mellow melody.
Mister Misery – Mister Misery
Genre: Melodic groove metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Catchy, pop-melodic, metallic hard rock that delivers some surprisingly cool grooves, whenever they let off on the anthemic pedal.
Mourners Lament – A Grey Farewell
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Not one to easily appreciate with the balmy summer afternoon sun streaming through your window, this is sullen, husky doom with some death metal knots of slow-burn vehemence, rolling through like a nearby rockslide. Perhaps a bit too sluggish for its own good, if you set aside the time, you’re in store for some solid, austere melodic sections with the feel of slowed-down old school melodeath.
A Night In Texas – Digital Apocalypse
Genre: Technical deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Apocalypse indeed. Its gist near-perfectly encapsulated by the album art, anyone even remotely familiar with tech death and deathcore will know more or less what this album is about. It’s sci-fi warfare described with as much appetite for violence as the grand, dystopian spectacle – complete with artillery-crash breakdowns and ever-changing rhythms of high-rate mechanical weapons fire. It’s at its most interesting when a little more stripped down and centered around Slipknot-like grooves, which adds much-needed character for the inevitable, brutal cacophony to build on.
Rise Of Kronos – Where The Gods Return
Genre: Death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sure, this has the surface aggression of death metal, but a lot of the main rhythms and riff lines are straight out of classic heavy metal and even rockabilly. That makes is quite accessible for a growling, thundering hate machine, which in one way is enjoyable, but also strips it of a lot of the brutal impact it probably intends to deliver.
SulfuriS – Corpus/Animus
Genre: Groove/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A kind of rough-around-the-edges groove metal project with some definitive Scandinavian melodeath-flavored moments, but not in the sense of scale or heaviness. Rather, they do their own, down to earth thing and play around with a host of different riff approaches and fairly straightforward rhythms much more reminiscent of a slightly progressive, sludgy hard rock project. It’s interesting, although technically a bit stiff.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown July 26 – 2024
This week there’s a bunch of loudmouths about – big, bombastic, world-rumblers that might take your attention for granted, and some deservedly so.
Category 7 – Category 7
Genre: Heavy/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This new supergroup has all the ingredients necessary to craft a highly enjoyable heavy/thrash record, and do indeed offer up plenty of playful drum work, suitably rusty vocals and speedy riffs. And yet, it’s about as inspired as its album artwork (included for reference). You be the judge of how much that matters.
Crave – Oblivion
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Groovy, mid-to-slow-paced heavy metal that’s pretty severely ballad prone. Also, there’s an organ. Yay, nostalgia?
Curse Upon A Prayer – The Worship: Orthoprax Satanism
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Finnish black metal that largely manages to resist the temptation of going full folk, although there’s certainly a flair of the darkly epic over this album, which is reflected in its lengthy runtime. It has a doom-like attitude to pacing, even as the tempo and intensity goes as much up as down throughout. It’s solemn, and yet still far from stone-faced, projecting an attitude of faux theatricality and ruffian aggression.
Death Racer – From Gravel To Grave
Genre: Speed/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Blackened motor racing metal? The theme certainly points in that direction, and the “speed” part of the music makes sense in that regard. Otherwise it’s a very punky, rough-edged, slightly barebones kind of experience that’s very comfortable in its niche.
Dream Evil – Metal Gods
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5What else can this be than a heavy metal appreciation album? Nope, there’s no twist. That’s exactly what it is. If you don’t care about cheesiness of the vocals or the general lack of originality, it’s a well-produced, pump-your-fist, good-energy album with some nice, ratty riffs.
Grid – The World Before Us
Genre: Experimental sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5There is a perfectly solid and hard-hitting core to this slightly artsy sludge project, and some of the more ambient tangents work very well as contrasting soundscape-builders, but largely it lacks coherence.
Imperia – Dark Paradise
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5On one side, this is well-produced, reasonably varied and some times fairly powerful symphonic metal with a strong vocal performance, and on the other it does little to stand out among its peers.
Ironflame – Kingdom Torn Asunder
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Heavy metal in the style of the NWOBHM, with modern production, speed, and slightly thrash-leaning aggression. Rhythmically it’s a bit stiff, but makes up for it with some melodically very strong solo work, and overall great both instrumental and vocal execution. If you’re keen on the sound of Judas Priest with a hit of Dio-styled fantasy, then definitely check this one out.
Krypticy – The Non-Return
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Seemingly trying to blend old school death and modern tech death, this Spanish outfit scores well on tone, but a good bit less on precision and structure.
Laceration – I Erode
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5With thrash-leaning death metal, you get certain expectations in regard to speed and precision. Laceration more than delivers on these points, without going over the top in to tech death territory. The riff is king on this album, but the bass drums are the real driving force, expertly shifting through an engaging selection of gears on the unrelenting ride forward. It’s deeply menacing, with a fitting horror-like tone, without this in any way feeling like a gimmick. An excellent blending of rage and instrumental control.
Highlights: “Excised” and “Sadistic Enthrallment”.
Mountaineer – Dawn and All That Follows
Genre: Avant-garde doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A patient, lingering and beautifully atmospheric doom(gaze) project. It can get overly soft and ethereal in parts, but also serves up crunchy, deep riffs that underlie more or less the whole experience. It’s organically varied and feels profound.
Orpheus Omega – Emberglow
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern melodic death metal out of Australia, employing elements of groove and metalcore. Although it’s got a decent amount of aggression, it’s on the accessible side, utilizing quite a few straightforward rhythms and mild-mannered, simple melodies.
Powerwolf – Wake Up The Wicked
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5All right, you know damn well what’s in store. Surprising no one, this is bombastic, extremely rhythm-bound, well-produced and well-executed power metal with a historical twist. I wish I liked this more, cause it’s obviously a ton of fun for those who do. But for me it’s simply too predictable and altogether unchallenging.
Scald – Ancient Doom Metal
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5An inviting epic doom metal album with a patiently adventurous sound which, at least to my ears, gets severely disrupted by a sub-par vocal performance.
Soulbound – obsYdian
Genre: Industrial/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly catchy, goth-tinged industrial metal with the clearly lingering remains of a past in alternative- and nu metal. It’s very well produced, but melodically it’s about as bland as they come.
Spacecorpse – Shapeshifter
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Spacey tech death that is very insistent upon its brutality, whenever it’s not taking a rhythmic reset to try and find a slightly new direction in which to project its anger. As a result, it’s not the most sure-footed thing you’ll hear this week.
Summoning The Lich – Under The Reviled Throne
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5As a big fan of their debut, “United in Chaos”, I had certain expectations for this one, and stylistically it’s very recognizable. You get relatively straightforward tech death with symphonic and brutal tendencies, as well as melodic, in a Black Dahlia Murder sort of fashion. This is heavy, heavy, heavy shit, with a constantly earth-rumbling bass drum and ultra-precise, low-toned riffs. And so, technically and tonally it’s all in order, but chunks of the album do kind of blend together under a shortage of truly standout moments.
Terra Black – All Descend
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fairly mild, old school leaning doom with a stoner-fuzz feel to the riffs. It’s sedate and slightly melancholy, but not in a deeply lamenting or overly dour kind of way, allowing in a touch of scope and dream-like atmosphere.
A Wake In Providence – I Write To You, My Darling Decay
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5A Wake in Providence returns in familiarly grand, symphonically blackened fashion, but also impressively dynamic and measured. Utilizing modern prog-like clean vocals as a contrast to the throat-rending, wet snarls that go with the deathcore thunderstorm, the album balances sincere, well-crafted and far from overly emotional melody with the apocalyptic, orchestral onslaught of controlled brutality. It’s technically strong, but not distractingly so – every part serving the greater whole of the darkly majestic experience.
Highlights: “The Maddening” and “And Through the Fog She Spoke”
Wormwitch – Wormwitch
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5I, like many others, discovered these guys through their 2019 release, Heaven That Dwells Within”, which was an eye-opening blend of black metal, epic doom and black ‘n roll that made an instant fan of me. Later, they’ve gone in a more straightforwardly harsh and aggressive direction, leaving behind some of the range that truly separated them from the dark masses. With this self titled release, a good deal of that variation comes back, but not in a way that makes it feel like they’re backtracking, and the aggression absolutely remains. The album starts off like a battering ram, firmly stating that business is meant, bursting with energy and lashing you with snarling vocals and insistent drums. Then, step by step, you start to notice layers and layers of depth, introducing restrained melody, groove and atmosphere, and by the time you’re halfway through it’s like everything relaxes a bit, without faltering in purpose. It’s a mature and resolute effort that will solidify the band’s prominence for many.
Highlights: “Draconick Sorcerous Canadian Witchknights” and “Inner War”.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown July 19 – 2024
We return in the deep of summer with a mixed, high quality bag of dark and light,
Act Of Creation – Moments To Remain
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is fierce, yet melodically tempered modern death metal that gets into some wicked thrash grooves. You get the feeling you’ve heard some of it before, perhaps on an Arch Enemy record, but it still does the trick.
Assemble The Chariots – Unyielding Night
Genre: Symphonic death metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This album feels a bit like firing a minigun into a pond, with a theatrical play going on in the background, producing a lot of rousing noise, but the impact of which not really going beyond a lot of water spray.
Axamenta – Spires
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A conceptually driven, symphonic prog metal album that utilizes melody as much as brutality to tell its rather short-lived tale. Taking on a slight gothic tone, it approaches a haunted-house-type creepy vibe, without getting silly about it.
Ceremony Of Silence – Hálios
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An assault upon your delicate senses, taking place in the murky gloom of a massive cavern, by way of dissonant, lows-favoring, raging blackened death metal. For those favoring this kind of hostile chaos in their extreme metal, it should be most welcome.
Eternal Drak – Imprisoned Souls
Genre: Heavy/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some very simple-produced, sharp-fanged blackened heavy metal. It’s got the right kind of attitude all the way, and is a joy to listen to when it really gets going.
I, Cursed – Death Holograms
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is one of those albums that will kick down your door before even thinking about knocking. It’s Finnish deathgrind with that delightfully ear-scratching buzzsaw guitar tone and a pummeling drum assault, with just the right amount of groove added.
Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of The UFOnaut
Genre: Heavy/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Groovy desert heavy metal that seeks to dazzle you with groovy stoner riffs and leathery vocals. It’s a bit uneven, but stylistically strong at its best.
Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bring on the gravel! Orange Goblin offers up another sizable load of crunched, stoner rock-powered old school doom, which sounds exactly as you hope it will, perhaps even better. There is a noticeable divide between single-material highlights and more hum-drum tracks, but it’s all very stylistically consistent and carries you through on a wave of energetic beats, rough vocals and cheeky riffs.
Patriarchs In Black – Visioning
Genre: Doom metal/stoner rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow-going, southern-styled doom and heavily groove driven rock that moves like dark syrup.
Quiescent Mantis – Here Comes the Swarm
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A young death thrash band that’s already got the tone nailed down, delivering a crunchy and speedy kick. It’s not outstanding quite yet, but carries plenty of promise, especially when they’re at their heaviest.
Sable Hills – Odyssey
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you’re of the opinion that metalcore peaked in the early 2000s, then rest assured there are still bands carrying that stylistic torch high and proud. Sable Hills is a Japanese band that clearly takes their core sound from the likes of As I Lay Dying, but they also manage to blend in more modern groove chugs as heard from Kataklysm, and energetic breakdowns in the vein of Bleed From Within. The finished result oozes visceral energy, going hard on both speed and aggression.
Highlights: “Battle Cry” and “Misfortune”.
Sarajah – Sarajah
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This thing is fairly simply built around malevolent-yet-approachable doom riffs and rock rhythms. It’s got a nice, deep hit, and a very fitting preacher-like vocal style.
Seth – La France des Maudits
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5With this, Seth has created black metal that easily needs to be descried as “magnificent”, without anyone needing to suspect it of the sin of overly melodic, synth-driven theatricality. It’s still harsh, bile-spitting, needle-sharp black metal to its core, but ushered forth by melancholically majestic, tremolo-powered melody lines and orchestral chants. It feels like the sonic memory of a grand necropolis, relaying centuries-old anger, grief and pride.
Highlights: “Insurrection” and “Et Que Vive le Diable !”
Thousand Limbs – The Aurochs
Genre:Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sullen, instrumental doom from New Zealand. Like its artwork, it’s indeed reminiscent of a walk through a grayscale landscape, although not a completely barren one.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 21 – 2024
A conflict between the unconventional and the traditional is taking form this week, as old school and trusted recipes measure their worth against the free-form and restless ways of the progressive and experimental.
Alcest – Les Chants De L’Aurore
Genre: Avant-garde/atmospheric metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5Whether you’d want to say that this album feels like a daydream, or that it’s daydream-inducing, I’d say both are accurate. Velvety, ethereal melodies, gentle instrumentation, even to some degree when the distortion kicks in, and what feels like highly organic song structures, aim to transport you to a place of benevolent memories and endless sunrises. For me personally, the tone is the big turnoff on here, landing in some indefinable gray area in between melancholy, hope and aimless contemplation. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Highlight: “L’Envol”
Ancient Entities – Echoes of Annihilation
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This falls a bit in between a few different chairs – not nailing the precision of tech death, being too “clean” and rhythm adherent for brutal or old-school, and a bit too gurgly and messy for a more general, modern style.
Anthropophagus Depravity – Demonic Paradise
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Double bass pedal madness! This is brutal death metal from Indonesia with some highly athletic drum work. There’s not much in the way of variation, but the style is pretty spot on, so if brutality’s your thing, you’ll enjoy this.
Cainites – Revenant
Genre: Gothic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5A horror/gothic themed, toned-down melodeath project. Sure, you get some nice, rhythmic chugs now and then, but for the rest it’s all about the vibes. For me it’s far too muted and stylized.
Construct Of Lethe – A Kindness Dealt In Venom
Genre: Avant-garde/atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one you’ll need to give some time to sink in, cause it can be quite hard to get a good initial grip on. The death metal core is very hard to ignore, with thundering riffs, raw howls and technical precision, but the rest is all about transporting you to a place of nightmarish abstraction. There’s not a set or specific quality to the atmospheric elements, incorporating as much ambience and instrumental contributions as synthetic elements, but the result feels unique.
Derelict – Versus Entropy
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Semi-heavy tech death that likes to play around with its rhythms. There are some really cool riff sections in here, although it’s not the most coherent stuff you’ll ever hear.
earthtone9 – In Resonance Nexus
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s so incredibly refreshing to hear a band in this genre that doesn’t sound exactly like every single one of its peers. This is heavily groove-laden alternative metal that strikes a clearly practiced and mature balance between emotionally charged “clean” parts and chugging, hardcore-esque aggression. Sure, it’s not incredibly innovative, but it’s very catchy in the best possible way, and dances around a minefield of clichés without setting off anything but a few firecrackers.
Foreign Hands – What’s Left Unsaid
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A shot of nostalgia taking you back to the very early 2000s, to the origins of metalcore as it started departing from hardcore. If you told me that this has changed much since then I’d have to insist on a thorough explanation, but it’s stylistically confident and energetic.
Horseburner – Voice Of Storms
Genre: Progresive stoner/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Like an oasis in the desert, this takes the dry character of basic stoner metal and morphs it into something far more nuanced and exotic. Even though its got a punchy heaviness, with the rough edges of sludge, and some of the deeper, moodier aspects of doom, for the most part it’s exploratory and light on its feet. This duality of a more carefree, classic prog-like side tugging on a far more grounded core works surprisingly well, which is a credit to the band’s songwriting skills.
Hyperdontia – Harvest Of Malevolence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5We’re not exactly wanting for good death metal these days, and yet, here’s some more. This is of the old school variant, mostly high tempo and energetic, and just the right amount of murkiness in the production. Because of its sort of upbeat character, despite its obvious gore-loving brutality, it really is one to put a smile on a genre fan’s face, and feels like it would be a blast live, with plenty of galloping riffs and playful solos.
Kittie – Fire
Genre: Groove metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Full disclosure, I never really listened much to Kittie in the past, so now that they’re back I had very little idea of what to expect, but I was still excited at the prospect of a veteran nu/groove metal band returning to form. And return to form they do. This feels like it pulls as much from past as it settles into the present, going heavy on the groove and accessible aggression. There is, however, a certain blandness to the songwriting that cannot be ignored, steering them dangerously far towards the more generic realms of melodic hard rock.
Kvaen – The Formless Fires
Genre: Melodic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is pretty much a showcase of all the things that makes Swedish melodic extreme metal so damn good. The ability to make something this grand and majestic sound this sharp and wicked is a special talent indeed. What you get is melodic black metal deeply steeped in Scandinavian folk, somewhere perfectly in between (and thankfully avoiding the extremes of) the haunting tribute to the stark and unforgiving forces of nature and the chest-beating battle chants of viking worship. This is done with obvious love of the actual music, pouring on awesome riffs, thundering rhythms and soaring solos.
Highlights: “The Wings of Death” and “The Ancient Gods”.
Portrait – The Host
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A huge portion of darkened heavy metal galloping towards you. It captures the spirit of the genre quite well, and should be pleasing to fans, but also sounds like a band running a bit low on tricks, and those vocals are not for everyone.
Rendezvous Point – Dream Chaser
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5With unmistakably immense talent manning all stations of this vibrant prog metal project, there is never any doubt along the way that you’re in safe hands. Reminiscent of the likes of Haken, but brighter and more inclined towards electronica, this isn’t exactly what you’d call heavy, but that’s not really the point. It’s bold, often taking the rhythms and melodic elements well outside metal’s comfort zone, and to an open-minded listener the result should feel quite liberating, and really rather fun.
Highlight: “Utopia”
Replacire – The Center That Cannot Hold
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s some tech death that’s constantly on the attack, and seemingly with the desire to catch you off guard as often as possible. There’s some brutally aggressive turns on here, but they’re never allowed to last for very long.
Seven Spires – A Fortress Called Home
Genre: Symphonic/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Seven Spires offers up a surprisingly varied experience on their latest album, trying out a number of different approaches, all within a fairly sedate, yet symphonic framework. The vocals switch switch from harsh to angelic to suit the intensity of the music, which swings by gothic, folk, power, and even doom metal. You don’t get to many points that blow you away with its forcefulness, but there’s a feeling of thematic progression throughout that lets you take part in a darkly epic story if you so choose.
Sumac – The Healer
Genre: Experimental sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 4/5Normally I would reward artistic intent and creative effort in my subjective rating, even though I don’t personally vibe with the result. But in this case I will leave that to my objective rating, because even though I can absolutely appreciate these guys’ ability to manipulate their instrumental output into something with immense character, that will be truly mesmerizing for the right listener, I get close to zero out of this. It’s highly disorganized, full of dissonant noise, progressing what feels like mere millimeters across several minutes at a time, and when the heaviness comes crashing down, it’s so utterly… joyless. All of which are obviously intentional, and as a whole this feels like a complicated set of natural events that will insidiously shape the landscape around it for the foreseeable future.
Highlight: “New Rites”
Wage War – Stigma
Genre: Metalcore/industrial
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mostly style over substance, this is loud, dance-beat metalcore with deathcore-like surges of aggression and highly pop-oriented melodic choruses.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 14 – 2024
The forces of doom and damnation have a firm grip on this week, but this is in absolutely no way a dull reign.
AmMify – Lost, Not Hiding
Genre: Cinematic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow and understated builds to epic and symphonic, but it never reaches truly spine-tingling levels.
Apes – Penitence
Genre: Hardcore/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This feels a bit like someone throwing a big, heavy, musty-smelling tarp over you, then proceeding to beat the crap out of you with a baseball bat in your near-blind and disoriented state. The vocals sound utterly hateful, like Gaahl at his most malevolent, and even though the rhythm work can get a bit repetitive, they usually lead to some ground-shaking grindcore/hardcore riffs that will get you headbanging hard.
Cadaverous Condition – Never Arrive, Never Return
Genre: Death/doom/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mostly mid-tempo death doom album that’s heavy on banger-friendly, groove-laden riffs. It’s doesn’t have the most impressive depth to it, but for simple, sullen rhythmic brutality it’s really satisfying, at least the first half.
Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5When a band is this genre confident, you’re absolutely fine with knowing pretty much what you’re gonna get. We’re gonna go on an adventure, and not a bright and benevolent one with rainbows and glittering waterfalls. This is a journey traveled in the gloom of perpetual dusk, but at a purposeful and bold pace. It’s the kind of soundscape you can’t help but visualize, and that’s the idea. Full of dark majesty, galloping riffs and organic melodies, it’s exactly the experience you’re looking for.
Highlights: “Glimmers in the Underworld” and “Heavy is the Crown of Bone”.
Dendera – Mask Of Lies
Genre: Melodic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Easily digestible modern melodic metal with a slight edge of aggression.
Downfall Of Mankind – Purgatory
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Theatrically inclined deathcore that still leans heavily into the hallmarks of the genre, with punishing breakdowns and percussive riffing. The melodic sections are not their strongest suit.
Embryonic Autopsy – Origins Of The Deformed
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal themed around the miracle that is childbirth, although “miraculous” isn’t exactly the angle they’re going for (shocker). It’s heavy and fast, with some great (guest) solos on offer. The very flat guttural vocals kind of kill some of the feeling of dynamism in the music.
Fellwarden – Legend: Forged in Defiance
Genre: Atmospheric black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dark, austere chant of ancient legends carried on a dry wind, this is atmospheric black metal mixed with epic folk melody and driving classic metal energy, without ever feeling upbeat or even particularly optimistic. The snarling vocals has a lot of force behind them, matching the sweeping quality to the music very well. The songs are long, and could probably do more within their runtime, but you never really feel like the progression gets stuck either.
Flagman – Tastes Incredible
Genre: Alternative/experimental metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hoooly… this is a trip. Think System of a Down at their whackiest and add a couple of notches. At it’s best it’s very entertaining, and actually has the whiff of some of SOAD’s greatest works, but the consistency is not quite there. Yet?
Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5EDIT: This album ended up on my list of releases for this week, when, in fact, it was released all the way back in 2014. Probably due to the 10th anniversary reissue of the album. In any case, I failed to realize. The review still stands, but obviously it will not contend for album of the week.
It’s not the easiest thing to grasp, what makes a great piece of funeral-tempo metal. I think perhaps the foremost quality it needs is presence. It doesn’t need to move fast, because you don’t dare, or are simply incapable of, ignoring or running from it. This album has that petrifying effect on you. Like an entity vast beyond comprehension, blotting out the entirety of the sky, you find yourself rooted to the ground staring up at its inconceivable, dark mass shifting in very slow pulses that send tremors through the very air. And you know that by moving you will lose any semblance of balance and simply fall limply to the ground. This thing is heavy beyond reasoning, but also carries with it gentle, entrancing melody. And somehow it’s barely over 32 minutes long. It feels a lot longer, in the best possible way.
Highlights: “Dweller on the Threshold” and “Suffering in the Eternal Void”.
Golgotha – Spreading The Wings Of Hope
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A fairly tame and muted, doom-styled melodeath album from these veterans.
Impact Approved – Way Of The Warrior
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Modern, spirited melodeath with fast riffing and an anthemic melodic quality. Not the best production, and vocals aren’t quite up to snuff.
Lucifer’s Hammer – Be and Exist
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Full-on retro metal in production, style and performances. It exudes nostalgic joy, but lacks punch, and the harmonies aren’t rock solid.
Malignancy – …Discontinued
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album simply… does… not… settle… down. Depending on your proclivity for this kind of unpredictable, ever-restless technical death metal, you will either love it or find your mind drifting off a bit as you realize there’s nothing to hold on to for more than 5 seconds at a time. In any case, you can’t deny that it does sound great, with a focused production that makes sure that every riff, squeal and drum beat hits just right. And how in sync this band has to be in order to get from A to B through this madness is nothing short of mind boggling.
Mythologik – Blood In The Sky
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern thrash metal that manages to be both heavy, precise and melodic, with a nice, sharp production. The squealy vocal style might be a bit of an acquired taste, but it works well enough for the style.
Paradise In Flames – Blindness
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Brazilian blackened death metal that goes all in on the orchestral treatment. It does feel like something that should be experienced in a grand theatre, accompanied by some form of visual storyline of epic thematic proportions. There’s not a ton f nuance underneath the surface, but the obvious splendor offers plenty to dazzle you for the duration.
Perchta – D’Muata
Genre: Folk/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A breath of fresh air in the form of this Austrian blackened folk metal project. The pagan nature of the melodies, the rite-like feel of the vocals, conjures the impression that you’ve stumbled upon an ancient, dark ritual deep in the woods. And yet it’s much bigger that what would fit in a single little clearing. It stretches out, simultaneously harsh and beautiful, across valleys, lakes and mountains alike.
Highlight: “Hebamm”
Questing Beast – Birth
Genre: Progressive/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This stuff has a lot of potential. Chugging heavy metal riffs, playful rhythms, the occasional heavy surge, plenty of groove. The vocal harmonies need some work, and the energy gets a bit lost in atmosphere and interludes, but it sounds really good when it works.
Rezn – Burden
Genre: Psychedelic doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Already back, you might think, but this album was actually recorded at the same time as their 2023 release, “Solace”, and now unleashed as a sort of second part to the experience. Having absolutely loved its twin, I am pleased to repost that this offers an equally enveloping and immersive experience, although a bleaker one. It still feels vibrant in the way that only psychedelia-tinged music can deliver, but the shoegazing qualities of doom has gotten the upper hand here. In this way it actually loses a tad of the distinctiveness I felt last time, and finds more equivalents in the current musical landscape. But let that not take anything away from the fact that this is a spellbinding album.
Highlights: “Collapse” and “Bleak Patterns”
RivetSkull – Absence Of Time
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This hearkens back to that very early Judas Priest-like heavy metal sound that just wanted to deliver tasty riffs and solos, epic melodies and a good bit of biker rock groove.
Sibiir – Undergang
Genre: Blackened hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of hardcore, sludge, thrash and black metal that pulls in slightly different directions at times, wanting to be a bit rhythmic, a bit chaotic, mostly down-to-earth but also slightly larger than life. It’s pretty cool when it all works out though.
Ulcerate – Cutting The Throat Of God
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This music has no easily definable shape, other than that of a storm, which is described mostly by what it does to everything in its path. The intensity and brutally aggressive quality to it can loosely be described as death metal, but certainly in no traditional form, as it shifts and morphs endlessly as it moves along. And somehow this doesn’t feel the least bit experimental. This is simply how it’s supposed to sound, with a very clear sense of direction, and yet it seems to find its way as it goes along. It’s dissonance and melody fighting tooth and nail in an almost impossibly concerted way, not really sounding “technical” and not letting up, as if this conflict upholds a vital balance.
Highlights: “To Flow Though Ashen Hearts” and “Transfiguration In and Out of Worlds”.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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The Metal Dispatch 