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Weekly rundown July 19 – 2024
We return in the deep of summer with a mixed, high quality bag of dark and light,
Act Of Creation – Moments To Remain
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is fierce, yet melodically tempered modern death metal that gets into some wicked thrash grooves. You get the feeling you’ve heard some of it before, perhaps on an Arch Enemy record, but it still does the trick.
Assemble The Chariots – Unyielding Night
Genre: Symphonic death metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This album feels a bit like firing a minigun into a pond, with a theatrical play going on in the background, producing a lot of rousing noise, but the impact of which not really going beyond a lot of water spray.
Axamenta – Spires
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A conceptually driven, symphonic prog metal album that utilizes melody as much as brutality to tell its rather short-lived tale. Taking on a slight gothic tone, it approaches a haunted-house-type creepy vibe, without getting silly about it.
Ceremony Of Silence – Hálios
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An assault upon your delicate senses, taking place in the murky gloom of a massive cavern, by way of dissonant, lows-favoring, raging blackened death metal. For those favoring this kind of hostile chaos in their extreme metal, it should be most welcome.
Eternal Drak – Imprisoned Souls
Genre: Heavy/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some very simple-produced, sharp-fanged blackened heavy metal. It’s got the right kind of attitude all the way, and is a joy to listen to when it really gets going.
I, Cursed – Death Holograms
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is one of those albums that will kick down your door before even thinking about knocking. It’s Finnish deathgrind with that delightfully ear-scratching buzzsaw guitar tone and a pummeling drum assault, with just the right amount of groove added.
Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of The UFOnaut
Genre: Heavy/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Groovy desert heavy metal that seeks to dazzle you with groovy stoner riffs and leathery vocals. It’s a bit uneven, but stylistically strong at its best.
Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bring on the gravel! Orange Goblin offers up another sizable load of crunched, stoner rock-powered old school doom, which sounds exactly as you hope it will, perhaps even better. There is a noticeable divide between single-material highlights and more hum-drum tracks, but it’s all very stylistically consistent and carries you through on a wave of energetic beats, rough vocals and cheeky riffs.
Patriarchs In Black – Visioning
Genre: Doom metal/stoner rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow-going, southern-styled doom and heavily groove driven rock that moves like dark syrup.
Quiescent Mantis – Here Comes the Swarm
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A young death thrash band that’s already got the tone nailed down, delivering a crunchy and speedy kick. It’s not outstanding quite yet, but carries plenty of promise, especially when they’re at their heaviest.
Sable Hills – Odyssey
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you’re of the opinion that metalcore peaked in the early 2000s, then rest assured there are still bands carrying that stylistic torch high and proud. Sable Hills is a Japanese band that clearly takes their core sound from the likes of As I Lay Dying, but they also manage to blend in more modern groove chugs as heard from Kataklysm, and energetic breakdowns in the vein of Bleed From Within. The finished result oozes visceral energy, going hard on both speed and aggression.
Highlights: “Battle Cry” and “Misfortune”.
Sarajah – Sarajah
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This thing is fairly simply built around malevolent-yet-approachable doom riffs and rock rhythms. It’s got a nice, deep hit, and a very fitting preacher-like vocal style.
Seth – La France des Maudits
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5With this, Seth has created black metal that easily needs to be descried as “magnificent”, without anyone needing to suspect it of the sin of overly melodic, synth-driven theatricality. It’s still harsh, bile-spitting, needle-sharp black metal to its core, but ushered forth by melancholically majestic, tremolo-powered melody lines and orchestral chants. It feels like the sonic memory of a grand necropolis, relaying centuries-old anger, grief and pride.
Highlights: “Insurrection” and “Et Que Vive le Diable !”
Thousand Limbs – The Aurochs
Genre:Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Sullen, instrumental doom from New Zealand. Like its artwork, it’s indeed reminiscent of a walk through a grayscale landscape, although not a completely barren one.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 21 – 2024
A conflict between the unconventional and the traditional is taking form this week, as old school and trusted recipes measure their worth against the free-form and restless ways of the progressive and experimental.
Alcest – Les Chants De L’Aurore
Genre: Avant-garde/atmospheric metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5Whether you’d want to say that this album feels like a daydream, or that it’s daydream-inducing, I’d say both are accurate. Velvety, ethereal melodies, gentle instrumentation, even to some degree when the distortion kicks in, and what feels like highly organic song structures, aim to transport you to a place of benevolent memories and endless sunrises. For me personally, the tone is the big turnoff on here, landing in some indefinable gray area in between melancholy, hope and aimless contemplation. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Highlight: “L’Envol”
Ancient Entities – Echoes of Annihilation
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This falls a bit in between a few different chairs – not nailing the precision of tech death, being too “clean” and rhythm adherent for brutal or old-school, and a bit too gurgly and messy for a more general, modern style.
Anthropophagus Depravity – Demonic Paradise
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Double bass pedal madness! This is brutal death metal from Indonesia with some highly athletic drum work. There’s not much in the way of variation, but the style is pretty spot on, so if brutality’s your thing, you’ll enjoy this.
Cainites – Revenant
Genre: Gothic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5A horror/gothic themed, toned-down melodeath project. Sure, you get some nice, rhythmic chugs now and then, but for the rest it’s all about the vibes. For me it’s far too muted and stylized.
Construct Of Lethe – A Kindness Dealt In Venom
Genre: Avant-garde/atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one you’ll need to give some time to sink in, cause it can be quite hard to get a good initial grip on. The death metal core is very hard to ignore, with thundering riffs, raw howls and technical precision, but the rest is all about transporting you to a place of nightmarish abstraction. There’s not a set or specific quality to the atmospheric elements, incorporating as much ambience and instrumental contributions as synthetic elements, but the result feels unique.
Derelict – Versus Entropy
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Semi-heavy tech death that likes to play around with its rhythms. There are some really cool riff sections in here, although it’s not the most coherent stuff you’ll ever hear.
earthtone9 – In Resonance Nexus
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s so incredibly refreshing to hear a band in this genre that doesn’t sound exactly like every single one of its peers. This is heavily groove-laden alternative metal that strikes a clearly practiced and mature balance between emotionally charged “clean” parts and chugging, hardcore-esque aggression. Sure, it’s not incredibly innovative, but it’s very catchy in the best possible way, and dances around a minefield of clichés without setting off anything but a few firecrackers.
Foreign Hands – What’s Left Unsaid
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A shot of nostalgia taking you back to the very early 2000s, to the origins of metalcore as it started departing from hardcore. If you told me that this has changed much since then I’d have to insist on a thorough explanation, but it’s stylistically confident and energetic.
Horseburner – Voice Of Storms
Genre: Progresive stoner/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Like an oasis in the desert, this takes the dry character of basic stoner metal and morphs it into something far more nuanced and exotic. Even though its got a punchy heaviness, with the rough edges of sludge, and some of the deeper, moodier aspects of doom, for the most part it’s exploratory and light on its feet. This duality of a more carefree, classic prog-like side tugging on a far more grounded core works surprisingly well, which is a credit to the band’s songwriting skills.
Hyperdontia – Harvest Of Malevolence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5We’re not exactly wanting for good death metal these days, and yet, here’s some more. This is of the old school variant, mostly high tempo and energetic, and just the right amount of murkiness in the production. Because of its sort of upbeat character, despite its obvious gore-loving brutality, it really is one to put a smile on a genre fan’s face, and feels like it would be a blast live, with plenty of galloping riffs and playful solos.
Kittie – Fire
Genre: Groove metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Full disclosure, I never really listened much to Kittie in the past, so now that they’re back I had very little idea of what to expect, but I was still excited at the prospect of a veteran nu/groove metal band returning to form. And return to form they do. This feels like it pulls as much from past as it settles into the present, going heavy on the groove and accessible aggression. There is, however, a certain blandness to the songwriting that cannot be ignored, steering them dangerously far towards the more generic realms of melodic hard rock.
Kvaen – The Formless Fires
Genre: Melodic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is pretty much a showcase of all the things that makes Swedish melodic extreme metal so damn good. The ability to make something this grand and majestic sound this sharp and wicked is a special talent indeed. What you get is melodic black metal deeply steeped in Scandinavian folk, somewhere perfectly in between (and thankfully avoiding the extremes of) the haunting tribute to the stark and unforgiving forces of nature and the chest-beating battle chants of viking worship. This is done with obvious love of the actual music, pouring on awesome riffs, thundering rhythms and soaring solos.
Highlights: “The Wings of Death” and “The Ancient Gods”.
Portrait – The Host
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A huge portion of darkened heavy metal galloping towards you. It captures the spirit of the genre quite well, and should be pleasing to fans, but also sounds like a band running a bit low on tricks, and those vocals are not for everyone.
Rendezvous Point – Dream Chaser
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5With unmistakably immense talent manning all stations of this vibrant prog metal project, there is never any doubt along the way that you’re in safe hands. Reminiscent of the likes of Haken, but brighter and more inclined towards electronica, this isn’t exactly what you’d call heavy, but that’s not really the point. It’s bold, often taking the rhythms and melodic elements well outside metal’s comfort zone, and to an open-minded listener the result should feel quite liberating, and really rather fun.
Highlight: “Utopia”
Replacire – The Center That Cannot Hold
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s some tech death that’s constantly on the attack, and seemingly with the desire to catch you off guard as often as possible. There’s some brutally aggressive turns on here, but they’re never allowed to last for very long.
Seven Spires – A Fortress Called Home
Genre: Symphonic/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Seven Spires offers up a surprisingly varied experience on their latest album, trying out a number of different approaches, all within a fairly sedate, yet symphonic framework. The vocals switch switch from harsh to angelic to suit the intensity of the music, which swings by gothic, folk, power, and even doom metal. You don’t get to many points that blow you away with its forcefulness, but there’s a feeling of thematic progression throughout that lets you take part in a darkly epic story if you so choose.
Sumac – The Healer
Genre: Experimental sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 4/5Normally I would reward artistic intent and creative effort in my subjective rating, even though I don’t personally vibe with the result. But in this case I will leave that to my objective rating, because even though I can absolutely appreciate these guys’ ability to manipulate their instrumental output into something with immense character, that will be truly mesmerizing for the right listener, I get close to zero out of this. It’s highly disorganized, full of dissonant noise, progressing what feels like mere millimeters across several minutes at a time, and when the heaviness comes crashing down, it’s so utterly… joyless. All of which are obviously intentional, and as a whole this feels like a complicated set of natural events that will insidiously shape the landscape around it for the foreseeable future.
Highlight: “New Rites”
Wage War – Stigma
Genre: Metalcore/industrial
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mostly style over substance, this is loud, dance-beat metalcore with deathcore-like surges of aggression and highly pop-oriented melodic choruses.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 14 – 2024
The forces of doom and damnation have a firm grip on this week, but this is in absolutely no way a dull reign.
AmMify – Lost, Not Hiding
Genre: Cinematic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Slow and understated builds to epic and symphonic, but it never reaches truly spine-tingling levels.
Apes – Penitence
Genre: Hardcore/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This feels a bit like someone throwing a big, heavy, musty-smelling tarp over you, then proceeding to beat the crap out of you with a baseball bat in your near-blind and disoriented state. The vocals sound utterly hateful, like Gaahl at his most malevolent, and even though the rhythm work can get a bit repetitive, they usually lead to some ground-shaking grindcore/hardcore riffs that will get you headbanging hard.
Cadaverous Condition – Never Arrive, Never Return
Genre: Death/doom/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mostly mid-tempo death doom album that’s heavy on banger-friendly, groove-laden riffs. It’s doesn’t have the most impressive depth to it, but for simple, sullen rhythmic brutality it’s really satisfying, at least the first half.
Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5When a band is this genre confident, you’re absolutely fine with knowing pretty much what you’re gonna get. We’re gonna go on an adventure, and not a bright and benevolent one with rainbows and glittering waterfalls. This is a journey traveled in the gloom of perpetual dusk, but at a purposeful and bold pace. It’s the kind of soundscape you can’t help but visualize, and that’s the idea. Full of dark majesty, galloping riffs and organic melodies, it’s exactly the experience you’re looking for.
Highlights: “Glimmers in the Underworld” and “Heavy is the Crown of Bone”.
Dendera – Mask Of Lies
Genre: Melodic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Easily digestible modern melodic metal with a slight edge of aggression.
Downfall Of Mankind – Purgatory
Genre: Symphonic deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Theatrically inclined deathcore that still leans heavily into the hallmarks of the genre, with punishing breakdowns and percussive riffing. The melodic sections are not their strongest suit.
Embryonic Autopsy – Origins Of The Deformed
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal themed around the miracle that is childbirth, although “miraculous” isn’t exactly the angle they’re going for (shocker). It’s heavy and fast, with some great (guest) solos on offer. The very flat guttural vocals kind of kill some of the feeling of dynamism in the music.
Fellwarden – Legend: Forged in Defiance
Genre: Atmospheric black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A dark, austere chant of ancient legends carried on a dry wind, this is atmospheric black metal mixed with epic folk melody and driving classic metal energy, without ever feeling upbeat or even particularly optimistic. The snarling vocals has a lot of force behind them, matching the sweeping quality to the music very well. The songs are long, and could probably do more within their runtime, but you never really feel like the progression gets stuck either.
Flagman – Tastes Incredible
Genre: Alternative/experimental metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hoooly… this is a trip. Think System of a Down at their whackiest and add a couple of notches. At it’s best it’s very entertaining, and actually has the whiff of some of SOAD’s greatest works, but the consistency is not quite there. Yet?
Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5EDIT: This album ended up on my list of releases for this week, when, in fact, it was released all the way back in 2014. Probably due to the 10th anniversary reissue of the album. In any case, I failed to realize. The review still stands, but obviously it will not contend for album of the week.
It’s not the easiest thing to grasp, what makes a great piece of funeral-tempo metal. I think perhaps the foremost quality it needs is presence. It doesn’t need to move fast, because you don’t dare, or are simply incapable of, ignoring or running from it. This album has that petrifying effect on you. Like an entity vast beyond comprehension, blotting out the entirety of the sky, you find yourself rooted to the ground staring up at its inconceivable, dark mass shifting in very slow pulses that send tremors through the very air. And you know that by moving you will lose any semblance of balance and simply fall limply to the ground. This thing is heavy beyond reasoning, but also carries with it gentle, entrancing melody. And somehow it’s barely over 32 minutes long. It feels a lot longer, in the best possible way.
Highlights: “Dweller on the Threshold” and “Suffering in the Eternal Void”.
Golgotha – Spreading The Wings Of Hope
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A fairly tame and muted, doom-styled melodeath album from these veterans.
Impact Approved – Way Of The Warrior
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Modern, spirited melodeath with fast riffing and an anthemic melodic quality. Not the best production, and vocals aren’t quite up to snuff.
Lucifer’s Hammer – Be and Exist
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Full-on retro metal in production, style and performances. It exudes nostalgic joy, but lacks punch, and the harmonies aren’t rock solid.
Malignancy – …Discontinued
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album simply… does… not… settle… down. Depending on your proclivity for this kind of unpredictable, ever-restless technical death metal, you will either love it or find your mind drifting off a bit as you realize there’s nothing to hold on to for more than 5 seconds at a time. In any case, you can’t deny that it does sound great, with a focused production that makes sure that every riff, squeal and drum beat hits just right. And how in sync this band has to be in order to get from A to B through this madness is nothing short of mind boggling.
Mythologik – Blood In The Sky
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern thrash metal that manages to be both heavy, precise and melodic, with a nice, sharp production. The squealy vocal style might be a bit of an acquired taste, but it works well enough for the style.
Paradise In Flames – Blindness
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Brazilian blackened death metal that goes all in on the orchestral treatment. It does feel like something that should be experienced in a grand theatre, accompanied by some form of visual storyline of epic thematic proportions. There’s not a ton f nuance underneath the surface, but the obvious splendor offers plenty to dazzle you for the duration.
Perchta – D’Muata
Genre: Folk/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A breath of fresh air in the form of this Austrian blackened folk metal project. The pagan nature of the melodies, the rite-like feel of the vocals, conjures the impression that you’ve stumbled upon an ancient, dark ritual deep in the woods. And yet it’s much bigger that what would fit in a single little clearing. It stretches out, simultaneously harsh and beautiful, across valleys, lakes and mountains alike.
Highlight: “Hebamm”
Questing Beast – Birth
Genre: Progressive/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This stuff has a lot of potential. Chugging heavy metal riffs, playful rhythms, the occasional heavy surge, plenty of groove. The vocal harmonies need some work, and the energy gets a bit lost in atmosphere and interludes, but it sounds really good when it works.
Rezn – Burden
Genre: Psychedelic doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Already back, you might think, but this album was actually recorded at the same time as their 2023 release, “Solace”, and now unleashed as a sort of second part to the experience. Having absolutely loved its twin, I am pleased to repost that this offers an equally enveloping and immersive experience, although a bleaker one. It still feels vibrant in the way that only psychedelia-tinged music can deliver, but the shoegazing qualities of doom has gotten the upper hand here. In this way it actually loses a tad of the distinctiveness I felt last time, and finds more equivalents in the current musical landscape. But let that not take anything away from the fact that this is a spellbinding album.
Highlights: “Collapse” and “Bleak Patterns”
RivetSkull – Absence Of Time
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This hearkens back to that very early Judas Priest-like heavy metal sound that just wanted to deliver tasty riffs and solos, epic melodies and a good bit of biker rock groove.
Sibiir – Undergang
Genre: Blackened hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mix of hardcore, sludge, thrash and black metal that pulls in slightly different directions at times, wanting to be a bit rhythmic, a bit chaotic, mostly down-to-earth but also slightly larger than life. It’s pretty cool when it all works out though.
Ulcerate – Cutting The Throat Of God
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This music has no easily definable shape, other than that of a storm, which is described mostly by what it does to everything in its path. The intensity and brutally aggressive quality to it can loosely be described as death metal, but certainly in no traditional form, as it shifts and morphs endlessly as it moves along. And somehow this doesn’t feel the least bit experimental. This is simply how it’s supposed to sound, with a very clear sense of direction, and yet it seems to find its way as it goes along. It’s dissonance and melody fighting tooth and nail in an almost impossibly concerted way, not really sounding “technical” and not letting up, as if this conflict upholds a vital balance.
Highlights: “To Flow Though Ashen Hearts” and “Transfiguration In and Out of Worlds”.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 07 – 2024
Hardcore comes in swinging with barbed wire-wrapped fists this week, outmaneuvering a host of prog and death metal releases with its sheer brazenness, but also joining forces, to great effect.
Ad Patres – Unbreathable
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Modern death metal that’s big on groove, with a mildly brutal-styled vocal approach and precise technicality, without losing sight of the simple, satisfying riff.
Brazen Tongue – Of Crackling Embers & Sorrows Drowned
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Melodeath that gives you both thrashy agility as well as doomy sluggishness, interlayed with what appears to be intentional disharmony, which never really gets a poperly satisfying counterpoint.
Blynd – Unbeliever
Genre: Thrash/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Crisp and chugging, thrash-paced death metal with a simple, marching folk metal-like rhythm approach. It’s not the most dynamic stuff you’ll ever hear, but it’s groovy.
Candy – It’s Inside You
Genre: Hardcore/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5You gotta applaud a band that manages to make utilizing a bunch of different influences into a really good time, and not a stumbling mess. This is metallic, slamming hardcore for sure, but in here is a good bit of industrial, death and nu metal, as well as some pure electronica, all served up in a collection of mostly bite-sized songs. It’s heavy, it’s varied, it’s distinct.
Cruce Signatus – Cruce Signatus
Genre: Electronic heavy metal/darkwave
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5I’m not a particular fan of straight up darkwave, but this is a lot of fun. Modeled around classic heavy metal, with some good chugs to it, this sounds like a proper adventure. It takes a good while to build up, and might have benefited from a format featuring more and shorter songs.
Darko (US) – Starfire
Genre: Experimental deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Heavily electronica-infused, percussive deathcore with a sharply split personality dropping in and out of brutal chugs, urban ambient sounds, anthemic synth and calm, pop-leaning melodic sections. It’s entertainingly chaotic, but fairly bloated at 1hr 11min runtime.
Deathwish – The Fourth Horseman
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Up for some punky hardcore with strong rock ‘n roll vibes and some enthusiastic thrash shredding? If this description brings to mind Motörhead, then you’re on the right track, certainly if you focus on their early material. This is fast and loose stuff, but certainly not without coherence. You sense that there was very little doubt involved with this project, as it seems to exude a very “no way but forward”-attitude.
Evergrey – Theories Of Emptiness
Genre: Progressive/power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is the sound of a highly accomplished band flexing its muscles. Production wise this is on point, and the blend of mild, melodic prog and anthemic power metal done confidently and tastefully, as you would expect. Big focus on earworm-y choruses, to a dominating degree, but it does make the songs memorable.
From A Nightmare – Doom State
Genre: Groove metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5Working with some catchy beats and nice aggression, this unfortunately falls pretty flat as far as songwriting and band interplay goes.
Grand Demise Of Civilization – The Blaze Of Abaddon
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Minnesotan black metal with a darkly majestic quality to it, telling tales of forbidden castles and creatures of the night. The atmosphere is on point, as is the slightly muted production.
Hippotraktor – Stasis
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a very mature-sounding, djent-powered prog metal album. It wastes no time setting the tone for a sober, moody soundscape, and doesn’t really stray from it for the duration. But rather than feeling limited in scope, it goes on to prove just how much it can stretch and bend the nuances of its musical realm, going from nervous, testing trickles to roaring pounces, and a whole bunch of shades in between. Very solid.
Highlight: “Renegade”
Holy Mother – Rise
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fusing a kind of 80s hard rock style with some 90s electronic elements and power metal grandeur, this certainly speaks to its crowd, although it could do with some more dynamic rhythms.
Holycide – Towards Idiocracy
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Supremely shreddy thrash that’s all about those speed riffs. It could probably do with some more mid-tempo grooves, but if they’re in a hurry, then they’re in a hurry. The style is well practiced, to the point where it’s not terribly distinctive, but still rad.
Huntsmen – The Dry Land
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5I put the doom in front of the sludge in the description here, mainly due to how the pacing and mood feels overall. In the parts where the band is fully, technically engaged we are definitely talking more melodic/progressive sludge, but take a slice out of a random section of this album and you could end up with everything from ambient folk and americana to atmospheric black metal. You really have to apply patience to this one, as the buildups typically are several minutes long, but the overall vision for the album is both ambitious and expertly executed.
Highlight: “In Time, All Things”
Insect Ark – Raw Blood Singing
Genre: Atmospheric doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This feels like a sonic manifestation of dark, disturbed thoughts, working their way step by step into the abyss. It takes shape as shoegaze-y doom, not really blackened, but adding avant-garde musical elements as flavors to steer the experience in new, sometimes very temporary directions.
Intranced – Muerte Y Metal
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5No, this is not a pure “metal-appreciation” party thrash record, but a love letter to the genre it is indeed. Walking the knife’s edge of faithfully retro-styled, over an ocean of copycats surfing on past glory, this one captures the essence of its inspirations spot-on, and decides to use it for good. They sail pretty confidently into the anthemic territories where their influences would have been accused of “selling out”, but mostly this feels vibrant, creative and perfectly balanced between considered and intuitive.
Mythraeum – Oblivion Aeternam
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Leading with a dark medieval theme that unfortunately only partially comes through on the rest of the album, this is epic-tinged black metal that got the right idea concept wise, but has some work to do sharpening the band interplay.
Nightmare – Encrypted
Genre: Power/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Big, pop-oriented melodies ascend into the heavens on power metal clouds powered by thundering, modern melodeath engines. It’s really catchy, though not original at all.
Noroth – Sacrificial Solace
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Damn, this band’s album art is rad. They get 1/2 a point just for that. The music is unfortunately a bit predictable, cavernous death metal. It’s got just the right production, some really heavy rhythms and evil oozing out of its every orifice. I just wished they would allow some of those killers riffs to shine through a bit more.
Odio Deus – Spiritual Syphilis
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A heavy, threatening, death-backed album that turns progressively more into pure black metal the further in you go. Lots of good stuff on here, but the performances and mixing are fairly messy throughout.
Okular – Regenerate
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2/5This project clearly tries to be as unpredictable as possible both in its approach to rhythms and melodies, but it simply does not work out that well.
The Omnific – The Law of Augmenting Returns
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bass! No, not in the booming, floor-shaking sense, but in the sense that brings no less than a pair of the instruments to the very fore of the experience, and appoints two sets of highly acrobatic fingers to play them. It’s an instrumental record, highly technical and vibrantly synth-melodic, definitely one for the prog nerds, but if you’ve got any sense of fun and/or wonder in regards to musical performances, you’ll be greatly entertained by this.
Ordalie – Indifferent Universe
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5As cosmic black metal goes, this is certainly not the most far out there, and that might be its main problem. The black metal parts are solid, but the scope feels a bit stunted.
Sect – Plagues Upon Plagues
Genre: Hardcore/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This album feels like an exercise in delivering disgust and outrage in as considered a way as possible, without losing sight of the message or the core sensation of those underlying feelings. This is metallic hardcore taking detours into both metalcore and sludge, delivering raspy aggression, heavy gut-punches and surprisingly contemplative calmer sections.
Severe Torture – Torn From The Jaws Of Death
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The very essence of death metal haunts this album like a malign spirit, creeping into every facet of the band’s performances. Personally I feel like I’ve heard too much of this album before, but for fans of this kind of old school-leaning, no-nonsense death metal it delivers in spades.
Swelling Repulsion – Fatally Misguided
Genre: Experimental/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This one falls on the wrong side of trying to find out how unruly you can make your rhythm approach before it becomes unlistenable, but has some pretty cool, groove-leaning playing underneath.
Titan – Forced Worship
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Think Vader, but more overtly thrash-leaning, and you should have a good idea of the sound of this one. The production is quite muddled, which could, at least partially, be the point, but a crisper, crunchier sound might have brought out some welcome technical and melodic details.
Umbra Vitae – Light Of Death
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album feels like a relentless, murderous spirit constantly trying new angles of attack, striking with both lethal precision and wild abandon, leaving absolute desolation in its wake. Every part of the performances is a weapon ready to discharge as soon as one of the others let up, and yet this is not some chaotic cacophony devoid of rhyme or reason. There is crystal clear intent, and just enough restraint to allow for tense, prowling melodic sections, distracting you as the pressure builds for the next outburst.
Highlights: “Belief Is Obsolete” and “Twenty-Twenty Vision”.
Vomit The Soul – Massive Incineration
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Brutal death metal that’s got some surprisingly nifty rhythm ideas. Slightly hampered by a mix that muffles all but the vocals, this is still a massive slab of solid, thunderous riffage.
Withering Surface – Exit Plan
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is old school melodeath with a characteristically mellow melodic approach. It reminds me a lot of In Flames’ “Clayman”, in that it knows how to have fun and play around within the confines of the subgenre without feeling the need to get overly technical or progressive, and relying on the strength of its subjective style to lend it the distinction it needs in order to stand out. Some raw force, which might have given it a more powerful impact, is sacrificed in favor of a classic-metal-esque upbeat riff- and rhythm approach that carries the melodies along through every part of the songs, in a way that brings to mind the likes of Children of Bodom. It’s quirky, and just speaks to my taste in so many ways.
Highlights: “Finish What You Started” and “I Finally Lost – All Faith In Humanity”.
WyndRider – Revival
Genre: Stoner rock/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Stoner doom that sounds like it’s emanating from a hollow log. It’s got groove in truckloads, and oozes cool, but could have done more with the majority of its songs.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown May 31 – 2024
The darkness has a strong hold over this week, but the forces of light, creativity and weirdness are constantly tugging at the Reaper’s cloak.
Arhat – Secrets Of Ancient Gods
Genre: Groove/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A Ukrainian groove outfit that incorporates middle-eastern melodic elements. There is a slight mismatch between the ferocity of the vocals and the sometimes dance-friendly symphonic metal-like rhythms, but the energy is really good.
Beaten To Death – Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis
Genre: Avant-garde grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is one of those records that’s gonna run you over completely, and you just gotta sit back and let it happen. It’s hostile, but in an entertainingly bonkers way, where it seems to forget why it’s mad every now and then. It shifts from pure chaos to rhythmic chugs, to punk, hardcore and indie with a Scandinavian edge, very much in the vein of Kvelertak. Each song introduces a new flavor, which keeps it interesting, and only occasionally does it get so unhinged that it doesn’t seem like they know what they’re doing.
Highlight: “Mosh for Mika (Waddle Waddle)”
Carnwennan – Lotus
Genre: Doom/sludge
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Funeral doom in all but harshness, this is mostly a very slow burn that balances dark and gloomy atmosphere with the howling aggression of sludge. At its best it delivers peaks that truly deserve the sluggish buildups, and at its worst it delivers very little.
Cloven Hoof – Heathen Cross
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A mostly classic NWOBHM-style album that starts of very promising, with upbeat, galloping rhythms and plenty of invigorating rhythms. A bit of that gets lost along the way, with the songs sounding slightly more generic towards the end, but the entertainment factor endures.
Fight The Fight – Shah Of Time
Genre: Progressive metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Opting for a much bigger and “trendy” sound than on earlier releases, this is also far more ambitious than before in terms of atmosphere and compositions that head into progressive territory. It’s got elements of death, groove and symphonic metal, but keeps these influences reigned in to a point where they don’t become unmanageable.
Four Stroke Baron – Data Diamond
Genre: Progressive/electronic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Learning that this album was originally meant to be two EP’s with each their distinct style, I went in fearing a very disjointed experience. But, fortunately, it is not so. While it’s clear that they’ve gone out of their way to subvert expectations and take the listener out of the comfort zone, they never really lose control to the point where it’s not easily regained with a determined rhythm shift. Not every song delivers the mix of djent-like, groove-laden riffs and wild electronic melody quite as well, but the ones that do are far in the majority, and not once does this feel repetitive.
Highlights: “The Witch” and “People In My Image”
Hellbutcher – Hellbutcher
Genre: Black/speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5An album perfectly described by its cover art. This is the hordes of the underworld charging, flapping and skittering off to battle in as epic a fashion as is permittable while still giving off an air of evil. The eagerness on this project is nothing short of stunning, heaping onto you with relentless abandon a torrent of speed riffs, blistering solos and barking snarls. There’s the occasional dip in energy, but you can rest assured that they pick it back up momentarily. It’s all the elements you want out of a shred-y blast from the past, without any of the pretentiousness.
Highlights: “The Sword of Wrath” and “Possessed by the Devil’s Flames”
Lock Horns – Red Room
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A riff-driven prog album with enough of that dehumanizing mathcore style to it that the rhythm approach gets to dominate the experience. But it’s also fairly light on its feet, and using very subtle melodic elements and a good bit of groove, the music takes on a shifting personality that ensures variety.
Nightrage – Remains Of A Dead World
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Swedish melodeath that balances a modern and old school style, with obvious traces of the classic Gothenburg sound, without leaning too hard on it. The overall feel is strangely mellow, perhaps partially thanks to the lows-friendly production, but also clearly from the band dialing back the hostility, if not the heaviness, in favor of epic melody lines.
Reliqa – Secrets Of The Future
Genre: Melodic metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5With super-precise instrumentation, a talent for catchy-yet-interesting melodies and a superb vocal performance, this band’s strengths are obvious. The album, however, would benefit from being a lot leaner and more focused.
Rhapsody Of Fire – Challenge The Wind
Genre: Power/symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Combining the fantasy storytelling mastery of the likes of Blind Guardian with a bit of the classic riff happiness of Primal fear, and the vibrant instrumentality of Dragonforce, Rhapsody of Fire puts the full power of their awesome musical arsenal on full display on this album. This appeals just as much to those only interested in the music as to those also embracing the concept behind it. Its drama and theatricality is tastefully measured, but the band’s stellar performances leave no doubt that their hearts are fully in it.
Highlights: “Challenge the Wind” and “Diamond Claws”.
Saving Vice – Good Days, Dead Eyes
Genre: Melodic metalcore
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Leaning into some dark alt-metal vibes and offering some heavy, deathcore-style intensity highs, the sappy, soft melodic sections makes this completely unbearable for me.
Shrapnel – In Gravity
Genre: Alternative metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5For those of you going into this one expecting thrash, sorry, you ain’t gonna find much of that on here. Think more along the lines of guest vocalist Scott Kennedy’s band, Bleed From Within, except less heavy, more emotionally laden and varied in its stylistic influences. It’s strong, if a bit understated.
Supermodel Taxidermy – At What Cost
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Old school, blunt crossover thrash swinging at you with brass knuckles. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but the attitude and tempo is just right.
Swampbeast – Offering of Chaos, Lamenting In The Blood of Man
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5“Subtle” is not really the word you would think to use to describe this absolute abomination of an album, but there is an elusive, insidious quality to the way that the darkness seems to have crept in and permeated what would otherwise be a brutal, if somewhat progressively minded death metal album with old school leanings. Disorder and hostility has been allowed to flourish, but the core of the beast is still strong enough to tug its infernal mass in whichever direction it ultimately chooses, delivering some crushing riff breakdowns along the way.
Highlights: “Bestial Sanctuary” and “Fate Relinquished”
Thou – Umbilical
Genre: Sludge/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Abandon all hope, ye who listen to this. The core of Thou’s monumental sound is clearly sludge, but also strong elements of grunge, and a bit of doom and thrash metal. The progression through the album is pretty straightforward, but it’s all about what you’re in for along the way. A noisy veneer wraps the thundering mass of the abyssal tone like a finely meshed spider web, only to be penetrated by the sharpest rasps of the bitter vocals. The tempo feels deeply organic, ebbing and flowing like a black sea carrying you to who knows where in the dark.
Highlights: “House of Ideas” and “The Promise”.
Varices – The Undoing
Genre: Melodic death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Light-footed and groove-infused modern melodic death metal. They’re on to something here, but the songwriting is still pretty uneven.
Witherfall – Sounds Of The Forgotten
Genre: Progressive/power/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Shred before dishonor! Extremely ballad prone, the progressive rhythm tendencies and instrumental technicalities become more of a gimmick on here, and the obvious effort put in has most of its energy sucked out of it by weak, ponderous melodic sections.
Wormwood – The Star
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is the sound of death inviting you to row along the river of night and eternity. It will be a voyage of as mush serenity as a heroic struggle through the rapids, and a highly rewarding experience in total. The folk-inspired, melancholic melodies are the stars of the album, and even though they slow down the progression a tad, the dedication to, and sheer talent for, this particular style of black metal demonstrated on here is nothing short of commendable. There’s no reason why this shouldn’t find an audience among doom fans as well.
Highlight: “Stjärnfall”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown May 24 – 2024
A short ‘n sweet week as we head into summer, with both veterans, relative newcomers and underground-dwellers dishing out treats.
Boneripper – World Ablaze
Genre: Hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is pretty much exactly what you expect, and hope for, when the term “metallic hardcore” is used. It’s like some sort of rabidly destructive machine that’s glowing red-hot from being in constant use.
Dark Affliction – Five Stages Of Grief
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Black metal with a good bit of atmospheric and melodic elements, spinning a theme around the five stages of grief, although the mood of the songs don’t really seem to match the emotions they are named after.
Defects – Modern Error
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Bringing obvious technical talent to the table, this is tight, precise and measured modern metalcore. But there’s nothing truly outstanding on here.
Eregion – Non Omnis Moriar
Genre: Hardcore/modern metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5An eclectic mix of hardcore, melodeath, a bit of melodic metalcore and industrial. It’s varied, for sure, but lacks a clear direction, and at nearly 54 minutes it feels fairly bloated for this musical style.
Evildead – Toxic Grace
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Veterans Evildead have clearly made an effort to create a varied album here, and that sentiment in itself is absolutely welcome, but that doesn’t stop it from feeling fairly tired.
Moral Putrefaction – Moral Putrefaction
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A take on old school death metal from this young band out of India. When they hit the mark, it’s a thundering apocalypse with just the right amount of unease and warning in the tone, although overall it’s a little uneven.
Puya – Potencial
Genre: Experimental nu/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A clash of nu metal and traditional Latino music from, I’ll freely admit, a band that until now was unknown to me, even though they’ve been at it since the early 90s. It’s not meant to be a seamless fusion of the two musical styles, as they roughly interweave much more than blend together. But that’s kind of what makes it exciting. It’s bright and upbeat, but also thrashy and pretty darn heavy at times.
Red Handed Denial – A Journey Through Virtual Dystopia
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Not that they weren’t flirting with it on 2022’s “I’d Rather Be Asleep”, but on their latest release, Red Handed Denial seems to have taken a sharp turn towards pop-oriented accessibility. Which is not to say that it isn’t well crafted, but with two interludes and a very mellow last two songs on a 10 song album, it lacks a lot of the creative energy and urgency found on its predecessor.
Rotting Christ – Pro Xristou
Genre: Melodic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rotting Christ’s newest offering is one that requires, above all else, time and attention. A casual listen will only expose you to the slow and rather repetitive rhythms, and the broad strokes of the epic melodies, and might trick you into thinking you’ve stumbled upon a pure folk metal record. And the album does take a long time to get properly started – not really reaching a peak of intensity until about halfway through. But if you accept the slow burn, there’s a lot to grab on to on the way. The melodies really are solid, and the tone exists in an optimal place between dark grandeur and menace.
Semuta – Glacial Erratic
Genre: Progressive/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is one for the people who don’t really care where an album takes them. The rhythms are incredibly mercurial, giving you very little to hold on to but the tone and consistent vocal style.
Summoner’s Circle – Cult
Genre: Symphonic black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mixing the dark majesty of symphonic black metal with the punch and unpredictability of progressive death, this album scores high on theatricality, although the nature of the songwriting does not consistently leave a lasting impression.
Teramaze – Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace
Genre: Melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A catchy, bright and modern prog metal sound from a band that appears strongly united in purpose. Although not terribly original, the lyrics and melodies fit the feel of the album perfectly, and, although you’ll find more vibrantly varied offerings in the same tonal vein, it delivers pleasingly from start to finish.
Vale Of Pnath – Between The Worlds Of Life And Death
Genre: Symphonic/technical black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you feel that adding a symphonic quality to blackened death metal should lower it into the cavernous abyss rather than elevate it to the highest mountaintop, then this should be right up your alley. Thanks to a vicious technicality, a thunderous low end and constantly feeling like it’s on the attack, this is one of those “big” sounds that only strengthens its impact by allowing for an epic scope. It’s energetic, varied, satisfyingly melodic and theatrical, and plenty brutal.
Highlights: “Soul Offering” and “Burning light”.
Valfreya – Dawn Of Reckoning
Genre: Melodic black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A blackened folk metal album that works best when leaning into the former of the two subgenres. The upbeat tempos feel like they promise more instrumental extravagance than what is actually delivered, and the harmonies don’t always work, but there’s also plenty to enjoy.
Vredehammer – God Slayer
Genre: Death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5I’ve been a big fan of this band since I discovered their first full-length, and every release since then has continued to impress, offering an increasingly refined sound and a subtly different feel tied to a changing thematic each time around. “God Slayer” might be their most tonally epic album yet, and they’re certainly not skimping on the aggression. While there are remnants of the spooky synth that was fairly prevalent on 2020’s “Viperous”, it doesn’t take part in defining the overall sound, which is very direct and to the point. The songs aren’t all allowed to shift and evolve as much as might have suited them, but the thrash- and groove-influences on the riff style mostly make up for it in sheer, engaging ferociousness.
Highlights: “Blood of Wolves” and “Obliterator”
Vulgaris – Seat Of The Fire
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is not the kind of album where you can go in expecting quite the scorched shred of blackened speed, or the epic whimsy of classic heavy metal. It’s aggressive black metal with upbeat, mostly straightforward rhythms, a few, well-placed tempo shifts, some instrumental playfulness, and a decent dose of rock n’ roll groove. It’s not exactly melodically inclined, but takes a bit of that grand folk-inspired atmosphere from melodic death metal. It all adds up to a surprisingly engaging listen that doesn’t sound like a ton of other bands,
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown May 10 – 2024
This week is all over the place, bringing nostalgia as well as fresh surprises – predictability on one side and untamed experimentation on the other. Test your palate, how much of it will be to your taste?
Belushi Speed Ball – Stellkira
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Some real speed freak crossover thrash that’s not holding back on the silliness. But it’s also got the energy and instrumental chops in case you really want to take it seriously.
Borer – Bag Seeker
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Near-funeral doom-tempo sludge that’s got the fuzz up to 11. There are moments you can really sink into on here, but it takes forever to get there.
Crownshift – Crownshift
Genre: Melodic death/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5New Finnish supergroup Crownshift sets off with this self-titled release, which seems like an attempt to combine defining elements of their respective (former) bands (Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Wintersun). In many ways it works, producing a highly vibrant, precise and hard-hitting sound, and striking a good balance between melody and aggression. Overall though, some parts, or even whole songs, differ to such a degree that it’s hard to perceive a cohesive style.
Darkness Everywhere – To Conquer Eternal Damnation
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff, I can’t help it, and I don’t care. This is early In Flames and At the Gates brought back to life and whipped into present day shape with a crisp, full production. The main thing that differentiates this from its inspirations is the sheer precision of the instrumental performances, which makes it feel very direct and to the point, rather than fully organic. All the melody that you want is there, and the tone of everything is so specifically classic Gothenburg that it’s almost a bit over the top. It doesn’t take the style anywhere new at all, but the bliss you will feel as a fan of this sound is going to overpower any such concerns.
Highlights: “Retaliation” and “To Conquer Eternal Damnation”.
Dødsferd – Wrath
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A classic 90s style black metal record in pretty much every way but the production, which is actually quite decent. There is little to fault in thematic og technical approach, although large portions of the album end up feeling fairly interchangeable.
El Moono – The Waking Sun
Genre: Alternative/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A mood-dominated sort of prog album that seems to exist in some space just outside of reality, It both is and isn’t heavy, borrowing as much from alternative rock as it does from doom-tinged progressive metal. Perhaps a tad bit too introspective and circling at times, it’s also really exciting in parts, and is never predictable.
Freedom Call – Silver Romance
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is the very essence of power metal right here. It’s an incredibly reassuring sound, leaning far into the magical, positive and colorful, all the while making all the right moves in order to avoid the valley of clichés and cheesiness. Everything works in perfect harmony, delivering strong, uplifting melodies, subtle but expertly executed rhythm transitions and exciting instrumental feats that don’t distract from the overall experience.
Highlight: “In Quest of Love”.
The Hazytones – Wild Fever
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Mildly psychedelic stoner metal that will take you both in to the doomy gloom and the galloping plains of traditional heavy metal. Not incredibly varied, but solid.
Illusion of Fate – Portals to Kur
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Atmosphere-rich blackened death metal that doesn’t quite seamlessly meld the two subgenres, and struggles a bit with its rhythm precision.
Ivanhoe – Healed By The Sun
Genre: Melodic progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Very classic prog metal that might as well have been made in the early 2000s considering the synth elements. It’s got some good grooves, but feels a bit like a repeat.
Like Moths To Flames – The Cycles Of Trying To Cope
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Quite mature-sounding modern metalcore, that’s brimming with aggression. They do well to let the energy bleed into the softer and more emotionally charged sections, which means the experience feels powerful throughout.
Machiavellian God – Beyond The Void
Genre: Melodic/symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Fairly dark, modern melodic death metal that tries to sound epic and bleak at the same time, and only partially succeeding.
Anette Olzon – Rapture
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Anthemic symphonic metal executed pretty much exactly how you’d expect. There’s grandeur, but it’s mostly from backing effects rather than any effectively rousing melodies. It is very catchy though, thanks to its straightforward rhythms.
Paradox Rift – Ensnared
Genre: Groove/death/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This one might be a case of one too many tricks in one bag. It’s trying to be groove, tech death and progressive, and adding a fair dose of mathcore complexity on top of that. It sounds good piece by piece, but struggles a bit to get anywhere of note.
Powerman 5000 – Abandon Ship
Genre: Industrial metal/alternative hard rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Wait, what year is it again? This feels weird, like I should be downloading this to my mp3-player. They make it work though, filling it with dance beats and a metric shit ton of too-cool-for-school alt-attitude. But I can’t for the life of me figure out what it’s actually for.
Primitive Warfare – Extinction Protocol
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Hey, I’m a death metal fan all day long, but this one runs me out of the room with a bayonet while firing on full auto. It’s an incredibly harsh and hostile album, but for those that can get with the brutality, it really delivers.
Red Rot – Borders Of Mania
Genre: Experimental sludge/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A brutal and atmosphere-rich blend of “clean” sludge and death, with a hint of progressive black metal in the style of Ihsahn. It keeps impressing with expert transitions between rhythms and different levels of intensity, offering some really chunky riffs coated in a bitter tone. It could do with a bit of trimming down, but is for the most part commendably engaging considering the somewhat limited melodic range.
Highlight: “Not in Control”.
Sarcoughagus – Remnants
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fairly small serving of evil-as-can-be, oldschool brutal death metal. The tone is right where you want it, the vocals are spot on and it’s got some great riffs, but it really doesn’t bring much new to the table.
Six Feet Under – Killing For Revenge
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Let’s get it out of the way immediately – this album has a bunch of failings. It’s highly uneven, the flow is dismal, and the vocals really just aren’t up to snuff. But if you just want some banging, thrash-infused riffs and evil groove, then this should provide a solid serving.
Syk – eartHFlesh
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A forceful, well-produced blackened death metal album that’s all in on those proggy odd rhythms. But on here the rhythm shifts do serve a purpose, as they abruptly steer the intensity in new directions, and the band’s performances follow these cues perfectly. A bit monotone in its dramatically dark tone, perhaps, but the rest is varied enough to make it interesting.
Svneatr – Never Return
Genre: Black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This album gets off to an incredibly good start, with some nice and sharpened black metal atop some epic riffage in the style of Abbath, and added some heavy metal flair. Then, on the third song, it all kind of falls apart, with stumbling songwriting, misplaced dissonance and some terribly off-key clean-ish vocals. Unfortunately, it never really gets completely back on its feet, but there’s real promise here.
Unleash The Archers – Phantoma
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Time for a cosmic adventure! As is their strength, Unleash the Archers very successfully blends the epic scale and light-heartedness of power metal with a serious attitude to crafting solid melodies of a kind of cinematic quality. Some of the rhythms on here are perhaps overly accessible, but still not overused, and it all ties in to the fun, sci-fi theme. You get hints of a heavier approach in some of the more forceful peaks, and it remains just enough to invoke a shadow of gravitas that elevates the experience a good notch.
Highlights: “Blood Empress” and “Green & Glass”.
Vaticinal Rites – Cascading Memories Of Immortality
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A wicked mix of old school, jagged death metal, some thrash and modern technicality. The intentions are good, and the performances really promising, although the rhythms get really rather clunky at times, harming the flow.
Warlord – Free Spirit Soar
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Epic heavy metal with mild storytelling-prog ambitions, this is light-hearted, adventure-calling kind of stuff.
Waste – In Bloom
Genre: Deathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A short, 7-song album that still leaves absolute wreckage in its wake. It’s got all of the brutality of deathcore, with the rhythmic beatdown-approach of hardcore. All the energy and violence you could want is there, although it doesn’t have a ton more tricks up its sleeve.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown May 03 – 2024
I’ll be upfront – this is far from the most content-rich week you’ll come across this year… but wait! There are a few titles that will make it more than worth your while.
Brume – Marten
Genre: Doom/folk rock/metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Here’s one to really sink into. Building very slowly through balmy, sorrow-tinged melodies, accompanied by sublime vocals, it eventually arrives at passing moments approaching metal heaviness. And while these are not unwelcome or jarring in any way, it’s definitely the journey that counts the most on this one.
Deliria – Phantasm
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Distinctly non-traditional, modern black metal with influxes of modern, acoustic folk.
Dååth – The Deceivers
Genre: Progressive/symphonic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is a lively one. Comfortably straddled across progressive-, symphonic- and technical death metal, and featuring a ton of guest performers, it feels like an all-guns-blazing kind of album, shaking off dust and breaking new ground at the same time. It’s distinctly modern, but not in a limiting sort of fashion. The technicality is not in your face, the rhythm gymnastics are not at all obnoxious, and the grandeur of the symphonic parts serve to elevate the melodies. Highly enjoyable from start to finish.
Highlights: “Ascension” and “With Ill Desire”.
From Dying Suns – Calamity
Genre: Progressive thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Okay, so it’s a bit messy and uneven, and the progressive part of this project doesn’t serve a ton of purpose. But when the grooves hit, they’re really on point. It’s a spritely collection of songs, lacking cohesion, but making up for it with guts. And that album cover.
Ghost On Mars – Out Of Time And Space
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5If you like melodic and atmosphere-rich prog, then you should check this one out. The band uses a lot of sci-fi references in their music, although it doesn’t really sound particularly spacey.
Gothminister – Pandemonium II – Battle Of The Underworlds
Genre: Industrial/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Hey, if you really like early 2000s techno and don’t mind the anthemic, rhyme-bound vocals, Gothminister can be a really good time. The album is pretty interchangeable with earlier stuff, but it doesn’t sound tired, either.
My Silent Wake – Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5In the same vein as My Dying Bride, this is gloomy, lamenting doom with the silver lining of a soothing quality to the melodies. The intensity picks up now and then with some death metal anger, but it never flies off the handle.
Notsm – Only Death Brings Silence
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A small metalcore project flapping its wings, deciding on a course to take. There’s both old-school and modern metalcore in here, as well as some prog exploration. It’s got some heft, but doesn’t really land anywhere.
P.O.D. – Veritas
Genre: Nu/rap metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2/5Even though I have close to zero relationship with P.O.D., I was kind of excited for a revival of the early 2000s rap metal sound. But honestly, this album feels like the definition of the term “lackluster”. Not at one point did I feel more than a blip of infectious energy. And with lyrics like “We’re going straight to the top. Now let the whole world drop. Don’t ever play with fire cuz you might get burned! If you play with fire you’re gonna get burned!” (and no, the vocal delivery does not make up for it – if anything it makes it worse), on the opening track, you should know what you’re in for from the get-go.
Severed Angel – Skyward
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Bright and colorful symphonic metal with some playful, prog-style instrumental work. The vocal harmonies need some work though.
Terminal Nation – Echoes Of The Devil’s Den
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5So THIS is where all that energy that was missing on the new P.O.D. album went! Cause it’s certainly in no short supply on here. You know that when even the interlude is cool, you’ve got greatness in your ears (okay, the interlude is still a little long). These riffs are so fucking crunchy, and the beats so goddamn heavy, and the vocals just the peak of badassery. And it just keeps giving, and giving, and giving. It’s got a bunch of guest artists as well, who really don’t overstay their welcome, and considering the theme, I was almost surprised not to see Body Count among them. It’s a pure ripper, through and through, and almost single-handedly redeemed this whole week.
Highlights: “Merchants of Bloodshed” and “Release the Serpents”.
Thin Ice – A Matter Of Time
Genre: Hardcore/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly headbang-able, riff-happy hardcore, that’s got a decent amount of hard rock groove to it. You can definitely rock out to this one.
Unearthly Rites – Ecdysis
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ungodly heavy, moldy death metal emerging from some abandoned, toxic sewer. Don’t expect to find any happiness on here, but plenty of doom-tempo riffs and squealy anti-harmony.
The Watchers – Nyctophilia
Genre: Stoner rock/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Remember the coolest riffs out of Ghost’s “Infestissumam” and “Meliora”? Their brothers and sisters all live on here, and probably outnumber them. This album is really cool when it’s sinister, but it’s also got plenty of high-spirited soul to go with it. The style is definitely groovy stoner rock, but with heavy metal riffs and solos that’s definitely worthy of your horns raised high.
Highlight: “Garden Tomb”.
Wheel – Charismatic Leaders
Genre: Progressive metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s clear at this point that Finnish band Wheel have their gazes firmly fixed forward, and at a steep ascent. Their debut album, “Moving Backwards”, really stuck with me when it came out back in 2019, but I would hardly describe it as expansive. “Charismatic Leaders”, while lacking a bit of the punch, has all of that conceptual and atmospheric space that the debut was lacking. While testing your patience a bit at times, they lure you in with beautiful instrumental tones, an excellent vocal performance, and sublime melodies, then slowly build to triumphant peaks. It sounds great, and offers a huge, varied and brain-tickling soundcape to get lost in.
Highlights: “Empire” and “The Freeze”.
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 April 26 – 2024
A week for the slightly weird and unpredictable, inevitably dividing opinions, as the traditional gives way for the experimental and eccentric.
Accept – Humanoid
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Licks on licks on licks! Accept delivers another attitude-flaunting, uncomplicated heavy metal record mostly built around hard rock rhythms.
ACxDC – G.O.A.T.
Genre: Powerviolence
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Spitting bile and pounding out heavy riffs like a rain of anvils.
Amiensus – Reclamation: Part 1
Genre: Progressive black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A bold attempt at melding black metal with much softer, clean melodic prog. The musicianship is clearly very accomplished, and the album feels like a complete work, although for some the juxtaposition of styles will feel like an unwelcome clash.
Arð – Untouched By Fire
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Restrained and ponderous doom with an awe-inspiring, epic tone. Labeled as “monastic doom” it feels properly medieval, but you need patience for this one.
Barbarian Swords – Fetid
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Undead, dirt-slow black metal with the scope of epic doom. It feels like being part of an adventure in a dying, festering land. At its best it’s a snarling, hostile beast covered in venomous thorns, but it also does get fairly sluggish at times.
Baron – Beneath The Blazing Abyss
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A thunderous death doom album that’s all about apocalyptically heavy, at times hardcore-styled, rhythms and that awesome crunchy guitar tone. The tempo is suitably restrained, but never comes to a stall. I’d imagine this would work perfectly as the soundtrack to an erupting volcano.
Cypecore – Make Me Real
Genre: Metalcore/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5I remember this band from an earlier chapter in their career when they were more industrial melodeath. On this one they’ve steered well into metalcore and deathcore territory, and, while it feels impactful, it’s also robbed some identity.
Darkness – Blood On Canvas
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Old-school, gruff thrash metal that feels just as unpolished and rowdy as it should. It’s got some real tasty riffs and good tempo variation.
Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All
Genre: Black/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5Welcome to another album that makes it abundantly clear that Darkthrone is not bound by any one style, and will do pretty much whatever the hell they please at any time. The primitive riffs are definitely in place, with a crisp production highlighting the introduction of fuzz and psychedelic tone-bending. Personally, the conceptual and stylistic treatment of the album gave me very little, but it’s a solid and committed effort that will definitely find its audience.
Highlight: “The Lone Pines of the Lost Planet”
Deicide – Banished By Sin
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Deicide is definitely on the attack on this one. The tone is just the way we like it, and the punch is all there. But at the end of the album, I had already kind of forgotten what I thought about it.
Diamond Construct – Angel Killer Zero
Genre: Nu/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Highly processed, heavy-rhythm nu metal that’s all beats and mildly dissonant artificial ambience.
Disbelief – Killing Karma
Genre: Groove/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A rough-toned groove metal offering that will bring to mind Kataklysm and Devil Driver, but with some added death metal heft and sludge coarseness. The first half of the album is a blood-pumping output of rage and great riffs. The energy wanes in the second half, which makes for a slightly lackluster finish, although technically it holds up well all the way through.
Full Of Hell – Coagulated Bliss
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5As grindcore goes, I don’t suppose this should be considered particularly unhinged. Maybe a bit eccentric. On here is everything from a 56-second all-out rampage to a 6+ minute dip into crawling death doom, oppressive noise and hard rock grooves. The impressive part is that, rather than feeling disjointed, it all adds up to welcome variation that keeps you engaged throughout. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all very hostile indeed. Harsh and fairly dissonant at times, but it’s not an all-out firestorm that wears you down after half its runtime. You could almost call it progressive, but you don’t get the impression that it’s being technical just for the sake of it.
Highlights: “Transmuting Chemical Burns” and “Coagulated Bliss”.
Hacavitz – Muerte
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Murky, atmosphere-rich black metal that sounds like it’s coming through a fog as thick as soup. They’ve gone a little aboard with the echo-effects, but the riffs and tone hit the sweet spot.
Hellish Torment – Hellish Torment
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5A purposefully (I hope) helter-skelter black metal album that’s got the disorderly nature of grindcore and punk, and a bit of brutal death metal heaviness. It’s a bit of a mess.
Inter Arma – New Heaven
Genre: Experimental/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5For someone not familiar with this band, this is gonna be a difficult album to wrap one’s head around. It’s unsettling in its bleak tone and dissonant, violent attack, but in between all that it takes hard turns into territories of soulful, contemplative melody, proving that there are many facets to this band’s personality. There’s a lot of sludge in here, some black metal, a bit of doom, but none of it’s laid out in a predictable manner. A trip out of anyone’s comfort zone, for sure, and definitely in a purposeful way.
Highlight: “Desolation’s Harp”
Morgul Blade – Heavy Metal Wraiths
Genre: Heavy/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Full-on medieval fantasy from a ringwraith’s perspective. It’s got all the energy and melody of an epic heavy metal project, and added to that the sharp blade edge and dry snarls of black metal, with a rad guitar tone. The first half of the album is definitely the strongest, but there are cool moments littered across the whole thing.
Ou – 蘇醒 II: Frailty
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5A wildly creative album that feels like it’s been born in some ethereal space up in the clouds. Particularly thanks to a truly outstanding vocal performance, the music has a shifting personality, that’s never outright hostile, but also far from balmy. Being co-produced by Devin Townsend, this definitely has his signature written all over it, which in itself is a stamp of quality, but also moors the whole thing in a very specific sonic territory.
Party Cannon – Injuries Are Inevitable
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5From a purely subjective standpoint, the musical merit of this kind of stuff is pretty much completely lost on me. But if slamming brutality is your thing, there can be little doubt that you’re gonna get your fill here.
Exhumation – Master’s Personae
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A very interesting and spirited blackened death project that incorporated some speed metal and a bit of sludge, for a chaotic experience that’s bound together by creepily mystical atmosphere.
Stormborn – Zenith
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A project that combines the eager gallop of classic heavy metal with the high-reaching grandeur of power metal. At it’s best it’s epic fun, but it also har some moments where the harmony simply falls flat.
Tombstoner – Rot Stink Rip
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5The band name and album art might lead you to think that this is gonna be a heavily stoner-leaning thing, but it’s really not. What you get is mostly old-school death metal mixed with a bit of hardcore and groove. What’s abundantly clear is that these guys dig their riffs, so when this rips, it really rips.
Vesperian Sorrow – Awaken The Greylight
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A majestic, frigid storm surge of a symphonic black metal album, unfortunately a little too uneven to leave a lasting impression, but certainly forceful enough to whish you away for a while.
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 April 19 – 2024
Set aside some time. Seriously. This week is absolutely packed.
Antichrist Siege Machine – Vengeance Of Eternal Fire
Genre: Blackened death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Rarely do you hear music that so thoroughly lives up to its name. This album is nothing but fiery, hateful rage, to the degree that you start to feel sorry for the instrumental hardware that went into making this. The tone is all the way blackened death, but the intensity comes from grindcore and the angriest hardcore imaginable. If you can make it through extended waves of utter pummeling, you get rewarded with some slightly more reigned-in, ultra heavy riff sections that will make you start a pit wherever you might find yourself at the time.
Highlights: “Prey Upon Them” and “”Vanquishing Spirit”.
Ater – Somber
Genre: Progressive/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5An album that cloaks itself in the bleakness of black- and gothic metal, but plays like fairly straightforward, djent-form, modern prog.
Atræ Bilis – Aumicide
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5You gotta love technical metal that knows how to be so selectively. This is tech death that isn’t just trying to impress or overwhelm you. And it adds elements like dissonance, pauses, and tonal shifts, not just to seem progressive or stylistically up to date, but to craft music that is equally forceful and flexible. Even though this incorporates a good deal of different influences, it feels like a unified style that the whole band stands firmly behind, and the result feels both mature and highly convincing.
Highlights: “Salted In Stygia” and “Excruciate Incarnate”.
Balance Of Power – Fresh From The Abyss
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Heavy metal that sounds like a blend of modern and classic. It needs a fuller production and perhaps a bit more thought put into the lyrics.
Blaze Of Perdition – Upharsin
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is black metal that both spits bile at you and seeks to hypnotizes you with its sweeping, melancholic melodies. The production on this album is excellent, allowing for the band’s unique blend of powerful aggression and distinctly-toned atmosphere to shine through in equal measure. Each song stands as an individual statement, living in the same space as the others but fulfilling a different role.
Highlight: “Młot, miecz i bat” and “W kwiecie rozłamu”
Blazing Eternity – A Certain End Of Everything
Genre: Gothic/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mellow, dark gothic metal album that mostly travels at doom tempo. It sets aside heaviness and overt harshness for emotionally charged melodies that feels calming, even with the sadness inherent.
Dvne – Voidkind
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5If you got into Dvne with their stellar 2021 release, “Etemen Ænka”, then don’t worry, you’re in very good hands. This is prog metal meant to fill your consciousness. Not in the way that it feels overly complicated or busy, but in that it’s compelling. The album flows effortlessly between atmosphere-rich melodic sections and hard-hitting highs of intensity. The rhythm work is exceptional, but doesn’t try to shove it down your throat. Personally I found it to be an overall less engaging experience this time around, but that doesn’t mean that the band has lost any of its songwriting touch.
Highlight: “Reliquary”
Folterkammer – Weibermacht
Genre: Operatic black/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5How to make German, operatic, dominatrix-themed black metal as un-tacky as possible? Whatever the exact recipe, Foltenkammer seems to have found it. Even though the song titles and lyrics are pretty straight to the point, there is such a level of confidence, conviction and proficiency in both vocal- and instrumental delivery that any flippant attitude towards it is instantly strangled. It’s fairly dramatic as black metal goes, with a stunning vocal performance switching between snarls and pure opera, and an overall solemn tone, but the rhythms play a big role in alternating between different moods, which shows a very flexible approach to the genre that feels highly refreshing.
Highlights: “Algolagnia” and “Anno Domina”.
The Ghost Inside – Searching For Solace
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Rhythmic modern metalcore that does a great job of balancing beat-heavy aggression and emotionally charged melody, although generally shying away from riff-led grooves.
Haunted – Stare At Nothing
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Doom metal with classic female vocals and stoner-styled rhythms, but with a heavy and punchy bass end that beautifully contrasts the more serene melodies.
High on Fire – Cometh the Storm
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5One thing’s for sure, you’re gonna struggle to find meatier sludge metal than this. High On Fire’s newest instantly gets into the groove, and never skips out of it for the duration of the album. It feels music that would be able to shake a building off its foundation, like if you heard it live you would be constantly struggling not to get pushed away from the stage by the shockwaves emitted from the speakers. The rhythms on here vary just enough to keep it interesting all the way through, and every now and then the band explores some darker, more sinister moods that fit them really well.
Highlights: “Lambsbread” and “Cometh The Storm”.
In Vain – Solemn
Genre: Progressive/melodic death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A masterclass in balancing a progressive and melodic approach to modern extreme metal. The overall impression you get is that of blackened melodeath, although adhering to no real genre conventions, and neither trying to sound old-school nor being bound to tropes of the zeitgeist. It’s a fairly clean sound, rich and detailed but not overly heavy, allowing the melody to guide the flow as it swells into triumphant highs or gently trickles down the snaking path left by the vivid rhythms.
Highlights: “Season of Unrest” and “Where the Winds Meet”.
Lightworker – How The Beautiful Decay
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5An engaging meld of old school and modern metalcore, incorporating both heavy rhythms and guitar-led grooves. The melodic sections are well ingrained with the rest, although the choruses don’t quite elevate the songs as well as they should.
Maere – …And The Universe Keeps Silent
Genre: Experimental death metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Very dissonant death metal that does a good job of invoking unease and a feeling of misery, although can come off as very clunky if you don’t “get” it.
My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5No one makes doom quite like My Dying Bride, and if their style speaks to you, then this album will feel like an embrace. The folk-tinged tone defines the experience, and while not being as abjectly miserable as on some earlier work, it’s certainly austere. While lacking that expansive feeling that might have elevated the album, the rhythms do a great job of keeping it moving, so it never becomes bogged down.
Nocturna – Of Sorcery And Darkness
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Female-fronted symphonic metal with a gothic feel, some power metal galloping speed, and plenty of fun, virtuosic guitar escapades.
Oak, Ash & Thorn – Our Grief Is Thus
Genre: Folk/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you like the idea of folk-y melodic black metal going down a heavy/power metal path, then you should really check this out. You get a little bit of everything on here, and yet it doesn’t feel silly or half-hearted in any way. It’s full of life and delivers both thundering aggression as well as soaring epicness. Ever so slightly uneven in quality, perhaps, but a lot of fun.
Opium Death – Genocidal Nemesis
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2/5Not-quite-mature death metal combining melody and some hardcore savagery, suffering from a sub-par production.
Praying Mantis – Defiance
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Jazzed up, classic NWOBHM of the melodic and slightly anthemic kind. It’s got a real positive vibe over it that makes this a good time to listen to.
Satanic North – Satanic North
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s a safe bet that when the Finns try their hand at classic black metal, it’s not gonna be quite as stone-faced as with their Scandinavian cousins to the west. Satanic North jump face-first into the fray with this one, fully embracing the hallmarks of the genre, and if it wasn’t for their obvious enthusiasm, it would probably sound completely interchangeable with its influences. Instead, it’s just really engaging, full of hissing aggression, while being as serious as black metal with a sense of irony can be.
Selbst – Despondency Chord Progressions
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This album spans the realms of atmospheric and depressive black metal, as well as doom, and really only uses the minimum of what it needs from the different styles in order to craft its musical journey as intended. As you can expect, it’s a melancholy one, but not truly miserable. There is life and energy in the melodies, more than enough to grab a hold of you and force a reaction, and they get to be the guiding force of the music. The rest, while powerful in their own right, play more supporting roles, with highlights being the sweetly bitter tremolo and agonized vocals. The progression feels completely organic, and deeply arresting in the sincerity of its drama.
Highlights: “Chant of Self Confrontation” and “Stench of a Dead Spirit”.
SRD – Vragvmesiton
Genre: Black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5It’s bands like this that contribute to showcasing the versatility of black metal. You can try to pinpoint all the different elements that add to the standard sound – “is that gang vocals?” – “that almost definitely qualifies as folk” – but in the end it’s musicians making music the way they want to, and that sentiment is abundantly clear on this album. It’s a great mix of tasty tremolo, clear-cut rhythms, rusty vocals, and warm melodies.
Tomorrow’s Rain – Ovdan
Genre: Avant-garde doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a band that don’t care too much about staying in a lane. It blends the darkness of black metal with the haunting, slow torment of sullen doom, and gives it a gothic makeover. It’s a little all over the place, but scores big on atmosphere.
Uragh – Maelstrom
Genre: Groove/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5An aggressive meld of groove, prog and alternative metal that unfortunately falls a bit between all of those chairs.
Vanden Plas – The Empyrean Equation Of The Long Lost Things
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A fresh serving of highly melodic, classic prog metal from these German veterans. No new tricks, really, but great if you like to get lost in vibrant instrumental escapades and colorful atmosphere.
Verikalpa – Tuomio
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5How about some rowdy Finnish folk with Children of Bodom vibes? It’s a great, cave-dancing, accordion playing, upbeat time that also has cool riffs.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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The Metal Dispatch 