Messa – The Spin Review

By Carcharodon

We all slow down in our old age. Our own Steel Druhm is no exception. As he closes in on his third millennium, he finds himself overwhelmed more and more often.1 And so verily it came to pass that, to help out our tiring patriarch, Dolph and I agreed to double team his beloved Italian psych-doom weirdos, Messa.2 To be fair, this is no hardship. All three of Messa’s albums to date have been absolutely killer, from the drone-doom of debut Belfry (2016), through personal fav, the post-bluesy Feast for Water (2018) to progressive opus Close (2022). To say the band is enigmatic would be something of an understatement. The quartet, which has held together without any line-up changes for over a decade, seamlessly knit together a dizzying array of styles, modulating the focus on each release. Where will the dial land on fourth outing, The Spin?

If you’re looking to place The Spin in Messa’s discography, it’s probably closest in tone to Feast for Water. However, it’s a smoother experience. Rather like using a velvetiser to make your hot chocolate. It’s still hot chocolate. But it’s thicker, richer, and, well, velvet-ier. The Spin has been velvetised in two key ways. First, Sara’s smouldering, siren-like vocals have hit a whole new level, with the power on her sustains (“Fire on the Roof” and “Void Meridian,” in particular) imbuing The Spin with such a sense of power. Secondly, guitarist Alberto has leant harder into the progressive doom of Vanishing Kids, paired with the languid blues of his solo debut (Little Albert’s Swamp King), all buried in a guitar tone that Pink Floyd would be delighted by (“Reveal” and the gorgeous back end of “Immolation”). Where Feast had a slightly roughened, old-school Trouble or Pentagram edge to its haunting, crooning vibe, Messa are now operating in bigger, more expansive—and, frankly, more expensive-sounding—territories, recalling the likes of recent Green Lung (“At Races”) and Beth Hart (“Fire on the Roof” and “Immolation”).

And yet, Messa are still unmistakably Messa. From the yawing electronica that opens The Spin on “Void Meridian,” through The Gathering-meets-psychedelic-lounge-jazz of “The Dress” to the oppressive, brooding heaviness of closer “Thicker Blood,” the constantly shifting sonic palette draws on soundscapes that are familiar from each record in the band’s back catalogue. At the same time, The Spin is more anthemic than previous albums, with almost-nailed-on song o’ the year “Fire on the Roof” leading the way, its huge, trad doom chorus a thing of beauty, while the smoky, mesmerising verses find Sara almost chanting. In fact, “Fire…” is the start of a three-track run that, for me, is pretty well the best material Messa has written, as it leads into the fragile keys and bluesy, cathartic build of “Immolation” before “The Dress” hits. It is this that sets The Spin slightly apart from previous Messa albums, which have an organic flow to them, where this latest offering feels slightly more like a collection of songs.

While The Spin does feel less like a single, flowing composition than previous Messa records, it doesn’t lack cohesion, and the massive, standout highs offer plenty of compensation for that slight loss in flow. This may be explained by the fact that, unlike Close, the band chose to record this album separately, across several locations and periods, with (apparently) a lot of rearrangement of the material to get to the finished record. Messa also focused on simplifying and stripping back the song structures, which makes them more digestible. Although there are no weak songs on The Spin, opener “Void Meridian” lacks bite and never quite hits its stride, while penultimate cut “Reveal” feels like it belongs on an earlier Messa album, particularly in its chugging middle passage. I touched above on the beautiful guitar tone that Alberto and Mark Sade have found, so thick and meaty you can practically bite into it. Apparently, the band focused on using as much original 80s equipment as possible, which could have something to do with it.

At this point, it’s becoming apparent that Messa basically can’t miss. Whatever they turn their hand to, they manage to retain their identity, while writing diverse, interesting and, most importantly, absolutely banging albums. The Spin is no exception, from the bright, propulsive energy of “At Races” to the stark beauty of “Immolation,” Messa have done it again. At a tight 43 minutes, this album races by and, when it finishes, the only reason I don’t simply start it again is that I usually want to listen to “Fire on the Roof” a couple of times first. Less challenging and more immediate than previous records, but no less beautiful for it, The Spin perhaps shows the influence of bigger label Metal Blade on the band. I hope it earns them some deserved dollar bills.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: messa.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/MESSAproject
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025

Dolphin Whisperer

My brother-in-law loves metal, and I don’t think he’d be offended if I were also to say that he’s not particularly invested in finding new metal to listen to in the modern scene. However, on one ride in the car, I had Messa’s 2022 opus Close on at a moderate volume, prompting him to investigate what exactly was enchanting his ears. After that outing, he and my sister returned to their home, another five-plus hour drive, and she sent me a text saying that they binged Messa’s discog a couple times on the way back; he was in love. You see, despite the quirks that give Messa their mystical air, the crafty Italians possess the secret to all great rock music: volume-scaling power, a unique and soaring vocal presence, and big, fat hooks. The Spin, of course, is no exception.

In that regard, Messa follows their own lineage by never delivering the same album twice. The journey from post/drone atmospherics of Belfry to the heavier occult/doom worn Feast for Water to the MENA jazz-loaded snake charming Close, each entry in their catalog serves as an ode to their inherent tendency to experiment while holding true to a base of doom weight and rock attitude. Vocalist Sara Bianchin has transformed alongside Messa’s journey too, with her earliest performances reflecting the youth of her experience in rawer mic reflections. But The Spin leans on sounds from the ’80s, and, in turn, Bianchin’s now studied attack runs recklessly through swirling and swelling layers of echo and shrill serenade. Elsewhere, chorus pedal abuse, gothy reverb, and low-end synth propulsions mark The Spin’s throwback dance in the Messa stride—Disintegration-echoing bass leads (“Void Meridian,” “At Races”) crashing against Tears for Fears brooding throbs (“The Dress,” “Thicker Blood”) running through call-and-response guitar lead explosions (every. song.). It’s easy to fall prey to the sense of nostalgia that such sounds stimulate.

However, in a sense of reverence for the past, not just a wistful longing, The Spin weaves its own home in familiar textures. Messa finds a comfort in dreamy textures indebted to foundational post-punk works—those of The Sound or Joy Division—while still injecting a metallic edge of heavyweight chord drives and aggressive rhythms (“Fire on the Roof,” “Thicker Blood”). Doom anchors the drama, as always, in slow builds and syllable stretches that crawl and lurch against Messa’s chosen palette of Roland-modulated simmers and proto-shoegaze dissonance (“Void Meridian,” “The Dress”). And, of course, Messa lives life in the fast lane switching and melding identities on a dime, with late album cut “Reveal” pairing a heavy blues twang, frantic bursts of blast beats, and Bianchin’s wailing narrative for an anachronistic detour that both upends and upholds The Spin’s playful historical lens.

As Messa’s shortest album to date, The Spin’s seven cuts go down smooth but lacking in the kind of wholeness that other works have held. On one hand, it’s easy to work in The Spin to whatever length of time allows—a quick hit or two of your favorites as you dress for the day ahead, a longer commute as the sun moves from straight in the eyes to waving from the side, a jog around the neighborhood with canine companions. Movement, or rather transience, sits at the core of Messa’s themes here after all: the chase for meaning in a strained world (“Void Meridian”), the weight of choice that can’t decide a push or pull (“Immolation”), and accepting what lurks around the corner (“Thicker Blood”). And so The Spin demands more as an encapsulation of wandering, but it’s a human quest that’s easy to indulge as you see fit.

Neither a slow-burn nor a peel out, The Spin saunters at a breathing, bustling pace that manages to hustle ahead of a growing movement gazey and hazey doom wielders. I, too find solace in genre cousins like the jazzy and equally textured Moths or the pleading missions of Slumbering Sun, but Messa continues to find ways to wield weaponized guitar heroism, fat-bottomed tones, and sultry synthesis in a way that feels true to their growing discography while reaching to new fans and new sounds. Music this powerful stands ready to inspire binge listening, tone envy, and, with any luck, another generation hopelessly addicted to six strings screaming at unadvisable volumes.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

#2025 #40 #Apr25 #BethHart #Blues #DoomJazz #DoomMetal #Eagles #GothicRock #GreenLung #HeavyMetal #ItalianMetal #JoyDivision #LittleAlbert #Messa #MetalBladeRecords #Pentagram #PinkFloyd #postPunk #PsychedelicRock #Review #Reviews #TearsForFears #TheCure #TheGathering #TheSound #TheSpin #Trouble #VanishingKids

Allegaeon – The Ossuary Lens Review

By Maddog

Allegaeon’s six albums have received tumultuous marks in these halls. After their fantastic 2010 debut Fragments of Form and Function broke the score counter, Allegaeon sank as low as a 2.0 for 2016’s Proponent for Sentience in the eyes of then-tadpole GardensTale. While their latest outing recovered to a more respectable score, Allegaeon’s techy brand of melodeath has polarized socialites and critics alike. The band excelled with their riffier onslaughts and soaring melodies, but fell for the forbidden fruit of proggy excess. The Ossuary Lens showcases a leaner, meaner Allegaeon. I won’t be listening to it in a decade, but it’s a worthy soundtrack for today.

Allegaeon have trimmed their bloat but not their ambitions. For the uninitiated, Allegaeon’s brand of death metal resembles a noodlier Arsis, with its melodicism matched only by its technicality. That said, Allegaeonites will recall that these Coloradans would rather cover Yes or Rush than classic death metal. Allegaeon’s career has sometimes descended into a vulgar display of prog, combining protracted tracks with a penchant for flamenco breaks. These proggy elements live on, as Allegaeon gallops from punchy riffs to melodic leads to clean jams and back again. However, The Ossuary Lens displays newfound restraint. At 45 minutes, this is the band’s shortest album by a full eight minutes. Allegaeon’s escapades no longer leave a salty aftertaste, and the band’s forays into other genres no longer feel like pleas for a yardstick. The Ossuary Lens preserves its identity without getting lost in its own reflection.

Accordingly, The Ossuary Lens hits across both its bigly riffs and its creative tangents. The album’s fierier cuts are a refreshing return to form, with “The Swarm” reviving Elements of the Infinite’s infectious riffcraft. As hoped, these sections still ooze technicality, as guitarists Greg Burgess and Michael Stancel dominate their fretboards even in their most explosive moments. Meanwhile, Allegaeon’s genre-bending experiments feel creative but not overwrought. Most notably, “Dark Matter Dynamics” pulls a First Fragment stunt of seamlessly transitioning between jubilant strumming (courtesy of Adrian Bellue) and formidable death metal melodies. Indeed, The Ossuary Lens hits hardest when these forces unite. For instance, “Carried by Delusion” voyages from serene melodies to Revocation worship to blackened tremolos to upbeat bass and guitar solos to downcast crunchy riffs, eviscerating both my heartstrings and my neck. The Ossuary Lens’ moderation goes a long way. Rather than clobbering the listener with decades-long Spanish guitar jams, The Ossuary Lens presents its creative side through measured four-minute tracks. Tech, prog, melody, and home sweet death metal unite into a potent concoction.

While each piece of The Ossuary Lens is impressive in isolation, the album sometimes loses my interest. One reason is its lack of climactic moments. During tracks like “Scythe” and “Wake Circling Above,” I zoned out and had to abuse the rewind button, because there weren’t enough valleys, buildups, and peaks to keep me engaged. Another reason is sequencing; while the five middle tracks from “Driftwood” through “Dark Matter Dynamics” shine, the bookends fall short. The most predictable reason is production. Despite aiming for creativity and dynamism in their songwriting, Allegaeon continues to brickwall their albums into tepid gruel. As a result, The Ossuary Lens often loses my focus despite its seemingly manageable length. Conversely, the album’s highlights show how it’s done. Most strikingly, “Driftwood” has colonized my brain with a soulful mix of melodeath and metalcore that recalls Venom Prison. With highs this high, it’s a shame that The Ossuary Lens often slips into uniformity.

Allegaeon is a relatively new band, but they inspire nostalgia. I vividly recall pimply nights with the addictive Fragments of Form and Function. I still think that “Accelerated Evolution” and “Genocide for Praise” are two of the greatest album closers of this millennium. And the iconic 2014 music video for “1.618” sealed Allegaeon’s place in my heart forever. Measured against Allegaeon’s first three albums, The Ossuary Lens falls short, hampered by its dearth of standout moments. Still, it isn’t a stinker. It still bangs; it still shreds; it still progs. Warts and all, it earns its keep.

Rating: Good
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: allegaeon.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Allegaeon
Releases Worldwide: April 4th, 2025

Iceberg

Allegaeon are something of a known quantity around here, having been nodded at by Steel, eviscerated by GardensTale, and patched up by Cherd. The Colorado crew helmed by guitarist Greg Burgess have amassed a legion of rabid followers (who are sure to raise a ruckus in the comment section) for their signature style of Gothenburg-meets-tech-death. I’ll admit to being a fan of 2016’s Proponent for Sentience, one of the first reviews I read on this site, but got lost amidst the dense material of Apoptosis and frankly didn’t even give Damnum a shot. Allegaeon’s latest LP, The Ossuary Lens, sees the return of original vocalist Ezra Haynes and a much-welcomed stripped-down runtime, two intriguing changes in my book. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been excited about an Allegaeon release, can The Ossuary Lens be the record to change that?

Allegaeon’s style of melo-tech-death needs little introduction here, but for those of you who haven’t been following the past decade’s worth of drama, I’ll provide the CliffsNotes. Sweeping, scalar guitar riffs courtesy of Burgess and Michael Stancel form the backbone of most tracks, and the dual guitars make for an indulgent offering of solos (“Driftwood,” “Wake Circling Above”). The drums here, while dripping with modern production sheen, are compelling and energetic without being overly technical, a sincere compliment for Jeff Saltzman. Allegaeon have never strayed from highlighting their bass players, and standout moments in “Chaos Theory” and “Carried by Delusion” show Brandon Michael has as much a command of melody as he does of relentless, galloping rhythms. Ezra Haynes, of Elements of the Infinite fame, comes roaring back to life on The Ossuary Lens, employing a gritty death roar alongside commendable clean vocals on “Driftwood” and “Wake Circling Above.” The performances on The Ossuary Lens are everything one would come to expect from a band nearly two decades into their career, and make for a wholly engaging listening experience.

Allegaeon albums tend to have similar issues holding them back, and the band have largely addressed them on The Ossuary Lens. First and foremost is the 45-minute runtime, a nearly 25% reduction in music from their last three records. The renewed focus on editing shines, with tracks that hit fast and get out of the way while still managing to be memorable (“The Swarm,” “Imperial”). This represents the first major improvement in The Ossuary Lens; Allegaeon have not only figured out that less is more, but they’ve also magnified the parts that work. Sing-along melodeath choruses lurk throughout the album (“Driftwood,” “Dies Irae”) but none so impactful as penultimate track “Wake Circling Above.” Clearly the best Insomnium track released this year, Allegaeon’s ode to all things Gothenburg is a monumental testament to what this band can do when they stop doing so much and let the music dictate the song’s course.

The hits don’t stop there. The Ossuary Lens takes a while to really get moving, with the first three tracks treading familiar territory. But then comes “Dies Irae,” a barnburner that incorporates the three-note musical motif for the Dies Irae text of the Requiem Mass, a nice music nerd Easter Egg that only enhances the ripping triplet-infused breakdown sitting in the song’s center. And Burgess’ requisite flamenco guitar, something sorely overused in Proponent for Sentience, is here condensed into the driving groove of “Dark Matter Dynamics,” a powerfully infectious rhythm ripped straight from a Rodrigo y Gabriela record, or the breath-before-the-plunge moments of the darkly harrowing “Carried by Delusion.” Whereas previous Allegaeon records were dense, academic affairs that required shoveling through noise and notes to discern, The Ossuary Lens presents a barebones masterclass on Allegaeon’s modus operandi.

This isn’t to say that The Ossuary Lens is infallible. Early tracks “Chaos Theory” and “Driftwood” are technically proficient, but fail to reach the emotional highs of the rest of their brethren. Final track “Scythe,” while holding some excellent verse grooves, feels underbaked after the astonishing “Wake Circling Above,” and its cropped ending leaves the album on more of a question mark than a statement. And there’s the lingering issue of the DR5 master and production, which, while not as obscene as earlier records, is still crushed and fatiguing. But overall, The Ossuary Lens represents a massively successful repositioning for the Coloradoans, making it one of my favorite spins of the year for its precision, refinement, and memorability. If Allegaeon continue on this trajectory, we may see their best work yet just over the horizon.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

#2025 #30 #35 #Allegaeon #AmericanMetal #Apr25 #Arsis #DeathMetal #FirstFragment #Insomnium #Melodeath #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBlade #MetalBladeRecords #ProgressiveDeath #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveTechnicalDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #Revocation #RodrigoYGabriela #Rush #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheOssuaryLens #VenomPrison #Yes

Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance Review

By Dear Hollow

If you’re new here, hi, I’m the sellout. I’m the man who murdered mountains and toppled empires. I’m the man who saw the standards of metal and leveled them with one swing of my hammer. I’m the fallen one, the one who dragged two other miscreants low on my scorched earth campaign in wretched defiance of the golden pantheons.1 If you’re new here, hi, I’m the guy who ranked Whitechapel. This review right here is an insult to AMG’s injury, a double take of a band whose reputation is soiled like the diaper in a millennial teenagers’ skinny jeans as his hair flaps back and forth in the moshpit before he eats shit. I’m the man who murdered mountains and toppled empires who’s back for more murderizing and toppling – because Whitechapel is back, baby.

Whitechapel has always exemplified the sellout of deathcore while also being a better version of it throughout the act’s nearly twenty-year career, flexibility ultimately providing the key to success. Contrary to the perpetual breakdowning of Suicide Silence or the complete abandonment of deathcore from Job for a Cowboy, the Knoxville collective has long relied on the charisma of frontman Phil Bozeman and a three-pronged guitar attack for its natural progressions. From clean vocals to muddy productions and beyond, Hymns in Dissonance comes at the end of a lyrically vulnerable, musically controversial era, promising the return to their bludgeoning roots. In this right, it definitely delivers.

Gone are the clean vocals and introspective lyrics of The Valley or Kin, and a return to the “loud and ouchy” steel-toed beatdowns of yore. Hymns in Dissonance does its best contemporary rendition of breakout album This is Exile, and with the lyrical return of religious criticism and murderizing, it sounds a lot like 2010’s A New Era of Corruption. Bozeman’s manic vocals guide the attack, wavering between rapid-fire lyrical sputtering and mammoth callouts, while instrumentals attack with far more vigor and fury than in its predecessor. The ebb and flow between the manic blastbeats and blazing riffs, ominous leads, and the devastating chugging weight is a well-featured asset (“A Visceral Retch,” “The Abysmal Gospel”), the one-two punches between riff-fests and thick breakdowns recalling This is Exile’s “Possession” (“Hate Cult Ritual,” “Bedlam”), with a tasteful measure of melody (“Mammoth God,” “Nothing is Coming for Any of Us”), everything about Hymns in Dissonance feels trademark Whitechapel.

Whitechapel’s return to roots, while competent and unruly, is limited by what has already been done and has difficulty establishing its next steps. The only new element is that Bozeman sports more of his mid-range fry vocals. More frustratingly, aside from the two formidably dynamic closers, no song touches the previously released singles (“Hymns in Dissonance,” “A Visceral Retch”), although a few fall short as less impactful versions of them (“Prisoner 666,” “Diabolic Slumber”). Hymns in Dissonance for its vast majority, pays homage to Whitechapel’s early career, just amps it in a way that recalls a faster A New Era of Corruption. This is why “Bedlam,” “Mammoth God,” and “Nothing is Coming for Any of Us” are the best tracks in Hymns in Dissonance, as their uses of cutthroat brutality contrasts with a natural dynamic songwriting that culminates in supremely tasteful solos and yearning chord progressions that make their ominous titles translate into tragedy rather than violence – although violence is certainly present.

Whitechapel is older and wiser but still pissed off. Hymns in Dissonance encapsulates everything about the band you loved/hated back in the mid-2000s, seeing no need to progress their sound or convince the naysayers. The album just feels like the band having fun creating the heavy deathcore songs without the gravity of its last two albums – with all the simplicity and flippancy that entails. It will not change your mind about Whitechapel, but will appeal to you if you liked it when Phil looked super possessed all the time. Hymns in Dissonance is by no means their best, but it doesn’t mean to be either. Yeah, it has its moments of bloat, unnecessariness, and chuggy cheese, but feel free to unearth those skinny jeans from the closet for the one-person mosh pit because it’s pure deathcore nostalgia.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: whitechapelmetal.bandcamp.com | whitechapelband.com | facebook.com/whitechapelband
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025

Alekhines Gun

After a pair of albums which triggered superlatives ranging from “genre-transcending” to “emotive pile of wankery”, deathcore genre stalwarts Whitechapel began teasing their fanbase with four sacred words: “Back to Our Roots.” Beginning an early promo campaign with vocalist Phil Bozeman posting pictures of debut The Somatic Defilement, and leading into interviews with band members saying they wanted “to make deathcore scary again”, expectations have been set and the mouths of their fanbase have begun foaming – if not downright frothing – in anticipation. No acoustic guitars? No clean singing? No feelings? Is this the collection of hymns to carry deathcore to the church of wider genre acceptance? Wait, why are you laughing?

Hymns in Dissonance is a feral, monolithic slab of deathcore with nary a gimmick or guest instrument or crooned note to be found. Instead, what is offered up is an excellently refined, gloriously produced offering of bone-to-jell-o inducing, shoulder dislocating, windmill-triggering goodness. There are noodly leads (“Hymns in Dissonance”), human sounding drum fills, and breakdowns that seek to savage your vertebrae without devolving into lethargy-laced, mastodon-in-tar paced plods. Though no compositional ingredient comes as a surprise – there are still monster breakdowns, unnecessary slowdowns, and occasional gurgly overdoses – it’s hard to deny the sheer mastery of the elements Whitechapel put on display in composing such a violent release.

Songwriting reigns supreme, and it is here that Hymns in Dissonance excels. From the stage-ready permanent-show-opener-made “Prisoner 666” to the flirtations with beautiful melodies in “Mammoth God”; from the full on embrace of slammy excess in “The Abysmal Gospel” to the crowd chant inciting chorus of “Hate Cult Ritual”, much of the albums individual cuts work to distinguish and divide itself from its surroundings. This allows for Whitechapel to overcome deathcore’s greatest genre struggle: making a meaningful album with flow and pacing, rather than a mere collection of throw-down, brohuaha homicidal snapshots.

The songwriting wouldn’t be as impactful if it was castrated by the middle-era of Whitechapel production. Albums like Our Endless War traded in a tone that mixed all the instruments into the same bland, homogenous pitch, robbing them of their layering. Fortunately, Hymns in Dissonance co-opts the production style of Kin/The Valley and sounds fuller and more spacious than they have since the seminal A New Era of Corruption. Closing highlight “Nothing is Coming for Any of Us” slides from one of the more cement brick severing chugs into an almost triumphant, uplifting solo, while the darker, more visceral moments and the mix allows requisite breakdowns to summon all the instruments to converge on a single tone which is assuredly down with the thickness. Bozeman continues to be a vocal benchmark for the genre, oscillating between sewage-drenched gutturals and wonderfully enunciated blackened shrieks. True, he still yowls on more than the music calls for, but an increased skill in lyrical phrasing and tonal variance at least makes for a more engaging listen, particularly in an album that might put off some with the complete excision of cleans.

Though I have not courted the core in quite some time, I’m an ardent believer that no subgenre, from stoner doom to trance-djent, is utterly devoid of artistic merit when done well. Whitechapel have heeded this call with an impeccable album whose only major “flaw” is that the playing within the confines of its bloody, tropey sandbox is a feature – not a bug. Some may decry the lack of differential instrumentation as a step backward, but when considering the album among the trajectory of the band’s body of work, they couldn’t be more incorrect. A middle finger to a scene growing increasingly reliant on orchestral coverups and mindless atonal chugs in lieu of song structure, Hymns in Dissonance is indisputable quality for a genre that tends to be rejected wholesale by purists. Now open your redblack back hymnals, and let us sing…

Rating: 3.5/5

#2025 #30 #35 #AmericanMetal #Deathcore #HymnsInDissonance #JobForACowboy #Mar25 #MetalBladeRecords #Review #Reviews #SuicideSilence #Whitechapel

Killswitch Engage – This Consequence Review

By Saunders

Back in the ye olden days of the post-millennium era, while becoming increasingly enamored with extreme metal, nor was I immune to the nü trends and buzz bands of the period. During my musical travels, I stumbled across the underrated self-titled debut from then little-known Massachusetts metalcore band Killswitch Engage. The rugged, bouncy brand of melodic metalcore had an irresistible appeal, with the Gothenburg-indebted riffs, chunky breakdowns, and charismatic scream/clean combo of vocalist Jesse Leach (Times of Grace). In 2002 and I joined the eager anticipation of the band’s now widely regarded metalcore classic, Alive or Just Breathing. Largely tapping out after this time, I have come to appreciate certain albums of the Howard Jones-era. Though inevitably tastes veered in vastly different directions, metalcore becoming a rare part of my listening rotation. Leach returned for 2013’s well-received return to form, Disarm the Descent. A couple of albums followed, which I only partially sampled, most recently being the Muppet-reviewed 2019 effort Atonement. In the veteran category and 25 years since their debut, how does ninth album This Consequence fare?

Despite the vocal trades between Leach and Jones, the KsE line-up has remained remarkably solid across their career. Adam Dutkiewicz (lead guitar), Jesse Stroetzel (rhythm guitar), bassist Mike D’Antonio and longer-serving drummer Justin Foley round out the line-up. Musically, KsE stay rigidly true to their signature formula of rousing, infectiously hooky metalcore. Time away from the studio hasn’t altered the band’s steadfast mission statement. At this point, it comes as no surprise. KsE long cultivated a formula that works, so drastic change is unrealistic, and for many, probably unwanted. Familiarity immediately kicks in with opener “Abandon Us,” as rigid, aggressive drumbeats, chugging riffs and Leach’s signature screams lead into a big, anthemic chorus. Aggressive vocal tradeoffs and chunky breakdowns wrap up a solid starter. From here Killswitch follow a similar trajectory across a tight 35-minute duration.

While the songwriting quality fluctuates, those trademark soaring hooks, shiny production values, and aggressive-clean dynamics remain effective core factors to the Killswitch experience. For casual listeners, assuming they previously dug what the band has been selling over the years, it’s easy to get hooked in. Occasionally things can feel a tad repetitive and overly reliant on the booming choruses, with the formulaic nature of the modern KsE experience lending itself to songwriting vulnerability. If the choruses don’t stick or the verses come across as too tepid or lacking edge, the quality of the writing can struggle to carry the weaker traits. When leaning into their more aggressive urges and applying as much attention to the verses as the showpiece chorus hooks, the results are more appealing. For the most part, KsE manage to get the balance right with fairly solid, if unsurprising results.

The efficient sub-three-minute burst of “Discordant Nation” highlights the effective characteristics of their sound; verses pack a punch, and the chorus hook hits the spot. Similarly potent examples of metalcore aggression and skyscraping melodic hooks arise on select earwormy cuts (‘Aftermath,” “Forever Aligned,” “Collusion”). Leach remains a force behind the mic, even though the melodrama is little much at times. “I Believe” halts momentum, its uplifting vibes, cheesy lyrics and religious overtones are jarringly sappy, coming across like a Christian rock power ballad, done metalcore style. Thankfully this is the only genuine misstep. Although the front half of the album contains some big-hitting hooks, the second half shows KsE flexing their muscles, lending the album a heavier edge. This is reflected with the spikier riffs, nifty solo and chunky attack of “Where it Dies,” the energized, blast-infused “The Fall of Us,” and sludgy, heaving hardcore stomp of “Broken Glass,” evoking the more inspired work of their early career.

The long-term unit sound tight, performances are uniformly solid, though the writing is a little too safe at times, and a rather bland production and crushed mastering do no favors. Flaws aside, This Consequence marks a solid, if unremarkable addition to the Killswitch Engage catalog. The hooks are plentifully scattered and predictably addictive, while the heavier, more urgent throes of the back half hold the album afloat from the band’s stylistic trappings. Overall, This Consequence won’t sway perspectives one way or another. It offers solid, no-frills Killswitch returns, with the aggressive turns and less overtly poppy sensibilities of the album’s second half., coupled with reliable earworm hooks, scraping a pass grade.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: Killswitchengage.com | Facebook.com/killswitchengage
Releases Worldwide: February 21st, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #KillswitchEngage #MelodicMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Metalcore #Review #Reviews #ThisConsequence #TimesOfGrace

Mantar – Post Apocalyptic Depression Review

By Saunders

German duo Mantar exploded onto the scene on 2014’s massive debut LP Death By Burning, unleashing a raw collection of doom-flecked, blackened punk-sludge anthems. Boasting a nasty streak and series of ginormous grooves and infectiously hooky riffs and songwriting, the album had a fresh appeal, featuring nods towards legendary acts, Motörhead and Melvins. An equally impressive sophomore album followed, solidifying Mantar as a dependable force as their career progressed. Despite recent efforts not quite hitting the impressive highs of their early work, Mantar remain true to the old ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ motto to solid effect. Returning with a fifth album of original material, can Post Apocalyptic Depression find Mantar raising the takes to return to the intense highs of their early work, or will they fall victim to the dreaded Law of Diminishing returns?

Mantar’s signature sound remains distinctive and easy to like. The duo’s more refined songwriting and polished modern production may have slightly compromised the nastier edge and rawer traits that proved so effective on Death By Burning and Ode to the Flame, however, the duo’s sound has certainly not lost its edge. Each song packs revved-up energy, punky attitude, and ample heft to get the blood pumping and the head bobbing in unison with Mantar’s groovy swagger and penchant for burly, surly riffs and hooky songcraft. In this respect Mantar treads similar terrain to their past couple of albums, pumping out compact, energetic ditties at a lively clip. Whereas the first couple of albums featured a darker, brooding menace and venomous edge, Post Apocalyptic Depression leans into the hard-hitting rock grooves and straightforward songwriting to warm, comforting, if less potent effect.

The raucous delivery and no-frills blueprint pay dividends for the most part, making for a punchy, compact listen. While mostly sticking to his trademark raspy snarl, Hanno’s endearing vocals possess a wickedly infectious knack for sing-along vocal hooks and accessibility that belies the seething elements and blackened touches that still frame the Mantar sound. It’s especially cool when he layers things up with a cleaner, punky snarl to offset his signature rasp. A quick burst of feedback kicks off opener “Absolute Ghost,” leading headlong into a thumping beat and typically groovy punk-sludge riff. It’s a brisk, impactful beginning, setting the tone for what follows. Amidst nods to their punkier old school roots, Post Apocalyptic Depression doesn’t bust boundaries or challenge the duo’s best work. However, it proves a heavier and slightly less polished affair than its predecessor, with a thin layer of grime to dirty up otherwise sleek modern production values.

Running at a tight 35 minutes, quality mostly strikes a consistent standard. A handful of decent but less remarkable tunes (“Morbid Vocation,” “Principle of Command” and “Two Choices of Eternity”) sit alongside more memorable counterparts, including super catchy single “Rex Perverso,” and the more ambitious, seething throes of blackened sludge brawler, “Halsgericht.” Pacing occasionally stutters but never derails momentum thanks to other cut-above gems, such as the vicious punk tones and anthemic hooks of the excellent “Dogma Down,” and walloping one-two punch of “Pit of Guilt” and dubiously titled “Church of Suck.” Later in the piece, listeners will be pleased by the uglier, genuinely blackened intensity of the rabid “Axe Death Scenario.” Hanno’s solid guitar work and punk-charged sludgy riffs still carry plenty of bite and heft. Melodic undertones and groovy textures provide some extra versatility and nuance to otherwise straight-ahead jams, further driven by Erinc’s powerhouse, no-nonsense rhythms and hard-hitting style. Production is less glossy than its predecessor but again lacks the unrefined sonic charms of their earlier material, further dulled by compressed mastering.

Over a decade removed from their punishing debut, Mantar continue delivering the dependable goods. And at this point, it’s hard to imagine them dropping a dud album anytime soon. All the key ingredients remain, the writing is as catchy as ever, and while impact may not match the might of their early work, the duo retains their fun, rollicking yet uncompromising style and infectious songcraft. On the flipside, things are getting a little too predictable over the past few albums, with the weaker, or stock standard tunes scattered amidst some genuinely top-shelf anthems compromising overall quality. Mileage will vary, but Mantar’s Post Apocalyptic Depression is another worthy and entertaining addition to the Mantar canon.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: mantarbandcamp.com | facebook.com/mantarband
Releases Worldwide: February 14th, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackenedSludge #Doom #GermanMetal #Mantar #Melvins #MetalBladeRecords #Motörhead #PostApocalypticDepression #PunkMetal #Review #Reviews #Sludge

Yer Metal Is Olde: Fates Warning – FWX

By Dolphin Whisperer

Thirty-five years ago, Fates Warning solidified their shift from torchbearers of US power metal with 1989’s Perfect Symmetry, forever moving their progressive path away from power metal and into an emotional, twisting fusion of playful and grooving tunes that no one has assembled quite the same way since. Primary songwriter and guitarist Jim Matheos has anchored the Fates Warning playbook throughout all these changes—from wizards and wailing (Night on Bröcken1 to The Spectre Within), to Rushin’ and rollin’, and to the edges of Fates Warning’s technical limits. So then, already twenty-plus years into their career at the launch of FWX, what left had Matheos and co. to explore with the Fates sound?

Leaning into similar ideas with which Matheos had already been exploring with his OSI project, FWX does touch down on organic ambience, pulsing electronic rhythms, and hypnotic guitar loops that pushed the Fates Warning boundaries into an alternative rock-inflected territory. At the turn of the ’00s, it wasn’t uncommon to hear a creeping Portis/Radiohead influence in downcast music, and from a similar timeframe you can hear this same exploration in Porcupine Tree works, Deadwing in particular, so hearing this flair in retrospect doesn’t feel too out of place. But at the time of its release, despite Fates Warning never lacking in overdriven riffs that build great songs in a wide range of progressive manners—eclectic but not particularly experimental—FWX did not land widespread critical acclaim.

The first time FWX graced my ears in full, its lack of progressive grandeur, namely in the histrionic solo department, took me aback. At the tail end of a career loaded with technical highlights and in a scene growing populated-to-bursting with descendants of the Dream Theater/Symphony X school of excess, Fates Warning built with a different kind of virtuosity—meticulous kit grooves, delayed chord loops, recursive and swelling melodies. In that lane, Matheos finds a kind of guitar-driven power that lands both more immediate in force and more playful in counterpoint layering than anything Fates Warning had produced since their landmark Parallels. The primary pattern of “Simple Human” crushes against doubling bass pulses and slinky, scattered high-frequency chord stabs; the doom-weighted drag of “Crawl” guides a laser-precise lead warble to crescendo; the high energy strum-stride of “Stranger (With a Familiar Face)”—FWX simply shouts its extremities where albums before it required a focused digestion.

But the shift from tactical flex serves twofold, with FWX riding a wave of emotion in a subdued manner, giving greater weight to its themes. Ray Alder had plenty already led his dramatic pipes to the softer identities of classic cuts like “Leave the Past Behind“2 (Parallels, 1991) or “Shelter Me” (Inside Out, 1993). Age graced Alder’s voice kindly, though, allowing him to find a lower register to inject increased doses of pathos into playful odes to depression (“Another Perfect Day”) and persistent negative thoughts (“Handful of Doubt”). Most importantly, time had also left scars enough to cap off FWX with one of Fates’ most beautiful tracks, “Wish,” where his pleading cry matches Matheos’ heartbeat-hum guitar pickings and mournful solo. In an album that already indulges in stellar songcraft, Alder’s success keeps FWX worth revisiting over and over.

As if this lineup for Fates Warning—the last of its kind as long-time drummer Mark Zonder, master of his craft, would not return for the 2013 follow-up—needed additional fuel for success, this streamlining approach yielded a timeless sound that I’ve been exploring for well over fifteen years. I’ve cried to FWX. I’ve also celebrated with FWX. I have loved and lost and loved again, watched people drift away while I blame myself or the world around me, finding solace in its dark and plaintive themes while enraptured by its dreamy and thundering soundscape. For a long time, FWX seemed like an unplanned farewell. And though Fates Warning has not officially hung up the spurs yet, “Wish” will always feel like a send-off filled not with regret but acceptance. That’s the beauty of iconic albums in our own listening history. Whether it’s what I need or what I want, spinning FWX turns any time into a time full of peak-quality tunes.

#2004 #2024 #AmericanMetal #FatesWarning #FWX #MetalBladeRecords #PorcupineTree #Portishead #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Radiohead #Rush #YerMetalIsOlde

Stuck in the Filter: July 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

After the tight lineup we cobbled together for June, July provided a similarly lean yield for our team to offer the masses. It appears that my minions responsible for scraping the channels clean have become far too efficient! That said, what we did find might be our most valuable haul yet this year.

And so, we persist. Always dedicated to bringing you the not-quite-best-but-also-still-good two months ago or so had to offer, we scour for little nuggets worth inspecting. What more could an Angry Metal Fan ask for?

Kenstrosity’s Cataclysmic Critters

A Wake in Providence // I Write to You, My Darling Decay [July 26th, 2024 – Unique Leader Records]

Staten Island symphonic deathcore collective A Wake in Providence dropped a considerable payload back in 2022 entitled Eternity. Opulent and catastrophically heavy, Eternity bathed me in rich orchestration and legitimate riffs instead of stereotypical breakdowns and unending single-chord chugfests. Needless to say, I was enamored. Follow-up I Write to You, Darling Decay represents a deathcore equivalent to Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Opera, focusing more on lyrical storytelling and implementing vocal diversification as a vehicle for character development. Perhaps not quite as sophisticated— since those meatheaded, muscular chugs of the deathcore world still crop up here and there—I Write to You still offers major hooks and delectable detailing to keep my interest piqued through a full hour of new material (“Mournful Benediction,” “Agonofinis,” title track, “The Unbound,” and “Pareidolia”). Aside from those superficial qualities, I Write to You’s real selling point is album cohesion and overall fit and finish. Like a babbling brook across the smoothest bed of sand and soil, this record flows with a fluidity rarified in the genre (check out the awesome three-song transition between “Agonofris” and “In Whispers”). Combine that with a textured and multifaceted musical progression through a grief-stricken storyline, and you have a winning formula for an engaging record that earns its epic sound.

Cell // Shattering the Rapture of the Primordial Abyss [July 12th, 2024 – Self Release]

I first encountered Canadian black metallers Cell on a little Bandcamp stroll years ago, followed shortly by a breezy and brutal beach set just before 2020’s 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise. Nobody I knew had heard of them then, but I knew they had chops. With third album Shattering the Rapture of the Primordial Abyss, they’ve proven me right and then some. Combining icy Immortalisms with the chunky buzz of old school death, major bangers “Waking of the Blazing Night,” “The Plight of Council Skaljdrum,” “Drink the Sun,” “Unification of the Last Alliance,” and “Return of Tranquility through the Desolation of Truth” represent the sharpest, hookiest, and heaviest material Cell’s put down to date. Fury and fire characterize every riff, lead, and blast on Shattering the Rapture, but it’s the uncanny sense of groove that suddenly springs from Cell’s cells that takes this record within a stone’s throw of greatness. Tightening up the overlong fragments that bloat otherwise solid tracks like “Serenity in Darkness… Evermore” and closer “Carnage from the Sky” would go along way to throwing that stone past that threshold. Until then, rest assured that Rapture of the Primordial Abyss is a ripper, worthy of your time and your spine.

Dehumanaut // Of Nightmares and Vice [July 17th, 2024 – Self Release]

Just like Cell, Dehumanaut entered my rotation thanks to a serendipitous stroll through the Bandcamp ticker. Boasting a unique blend of death metal, thrash, and bluesy bar-crawl hard rock, these Brits offer something novel to the extreme metal catalog. With sophomore effort, Of Nightmares and Vice, Dehumanaut double down on the death and blues, evoking Entombed‘s Wolverine Blues in spirit as much as in execution. With swinging tracks like “Shred this Reality,” “A Perilous Path,” “Battle Weary,” “Epiphanies,” and “Black City” deftly stepping between deathly riffs and danceable grooves, thrashier cuts such as “Reject the Knife,” “Nexus of Decline” and “A Truth Most Foul,” and “It Has a Name” feel even speedier and more rabid than usual. Aside from affording Of Nightmares and Vice oodles of dynamics in songwriting, this multifaceted and structured approach to genre-bending showcases Dehumanaut’s versatility as musicians. Everything they attempt here feels effortless and reflexive, making every transition between measure and phrase not just purposeful but also buttery-smooth (“Battle Weary”). If it weren’t for a bit of bloat across the board, oddly muffled mixing, and somewhat flat death metal growls, Of Nightmares and Vice would be in play among my top records of July. Even still, it comes close!

Saunders’ Salacious Slams

Cephalotripsy // Epigenetic Neurogenesis [July 13th, 2024 – Self-Release ]

Looking for something so stupidly heavy and obnoxiously brutal that listening could kill brain cells and incite a rampage? California’s underground warriors Cephalotripsy have you covered on long-awaited sophomore album, and follow-up to 2007’s cult and apparently well received debut, Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies. Unfamiliar with their previous output, I stumbled across this latest endeavor through a trusted recommendation, fulfilling my fix for devastatingly brutal slam death. Epigenetic Neurogenesis takes no prisoners and delivers blow after blow of steamrolling, pugnacious brutal death. Brimming with inhuman, sewer dwelling vocal eruptions of Angel Ochoa (Abominable Putridity), hammering percussion, and an onslaught of ridiculously thick, heavy riffs, exhibiting the sharp, technical skills of veteran brutal death axe wielder and long-term member Andrés Guzman. The newer members form a pummeling rhythm section driving the guttural swarm. Weighing in at a tight and efficient 32 minutes, the beatdown is relentless, though concise enough to avoid an early burn out. The songwriting doesn’t reinvent the brutal slam death wheel. However, the tight execution, dynamic tempo shifts, and memorable riffcraft elevates the material. Viscous, cranium crushing riffs and utterly devastating slams frequently deployed adds further grunt, immense weight and memorability on a set of killer tunes, including extra chunky gems “Alpha Terrestrial Polymorph,” ” Lo Tech Non Entity,” and “Excision of Self.” Nasty, crushing stuff.

Dear Hollow’s Disturbing Dump

Silvaplana // Sils Maria | Limbs of Dionysus [July 17th, 2024 – Self-Release]

Although shrouded in mystery, Silvaplana is a solo project of Alex DeMaria of Yellow Eyes and Anicon. Blackened punishment paired with atmosphere have long been the aim, but Silvaplana’s duel release finds duality: both take influence from parent releases separately. Sils Maria takes on a hyper-atmospheric, classically influenced, and dark ambient approach across six tracks and forty-one minutes, blackened blastbeats and distant shrieks hidden behind thick swaths of ambiance, organ, and piano, a relatively gentle affair that recalls the wild yet placid sounds of Yellow Eyes’ latest. Meanwhile, the two-track and also forty-one minutes of Limbs of Dionysus feeds a ritualistic fire with a scathingly raw black attack, reverb-laden growls, moans, and shrieks colliding with relentless tremolo that continuously scale minor and diminished frostbitten mountaintops with reckless abandon. Both seem entirely disparate in context to one another, but smartly they are held together by the thin thread of melodic motifs. The organ that populates Sils Maria’s tracks “II,” “IV” and “VI” are recalled in the closing remarks of “I” in Limbs of Dionysus; the ominous organ trills of the former’s “III” are warped into a blackened beast in the latter’s “II.” As Limbs of Dionysus concludes, the feedback-laden plucking feeds right into the morphing plucking populating the beginning of Sils Maria – an ouroboros of the blackened arts. Silvaplana exists on both self-indulgent and decadent ends of the blackened spectrum with Sils Maria and Limbs of Dionysus, both baffling and tantalizing in their rawness and ambiance, and otherworldly in their collaboration.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Inconspicuous Import

Quasidiploid // Deconstruction [July 1st, 2024 – Amputated Vein Records]

Do you see that cover art? Yes, it’s some sort of countess of the undead summoning the skull-kind with a horn. Would you believe then that one of the features throughout Deconstruction is its inclusion of a female trumpet player to break up the tension of a relentless, brutal technical death metal? Oh yeah, she’s also the vocalist and possesses a vicious guttural bark, shrill and penetrating squeals and hisses (the vocal intro on “Disasters and Infection Routes” is a straight Dir en grey moment), and a higher register manic collapse that features at key moments. That’s all to say that the cover lands a bit on the nose, but, in turn, the carnival crazed whiplash of Quasidiploid swings between brutal Cryptopsy riff smashing, Pat Martino jazz guitar pleasantries, Necrophagist sweep punishing, and Chuck Mangione brass crooning (“Overture”)—unhinged, unbothered, and anything but accessible. I would call it too unpolished, as Deconstruction strikes with a bit of a demo quality. But sometimes we have to ask ourselves whether what we hear is a questionably processed demo or an intentionally shredded Japanese master? In any case virtuosity reigns as provably human skin slammer Vomiken pushes a bass-loaded kick and a high-crunch kit to abusive and enthralling accelerations only to crash in on the spurt of a forlorn trumpet or flourish of a prancing guitar line (“Brutal Strafing,” “Massacre Fantasy”). Guitar lines weave about traditionally nimble sweeps to tricky meter riff crushes on a dime (“Melodies of Distorted Time and Space,” “Disasters…”). Tonal identities flip between Nile-istic, snaking melodies, flippant yet tasteful guitar heroics, and propulsive rhythm blasts whose only break is the close of a song. The definition of something olde, new, borrowed, and blue, Quasidiploid has come from far left field to provide a classics-inspired but funky fresh version of an extreme genre that thrives exactly on this kind of weird—a curiosity now, but with all the makings of something truly explosive to come.

Mark Z.’s Musings

200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures [June 28th, 2024 – Metal Blade Records]

Following a rapid rise to fame during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio death metal troupe 200 Stab Wounds thrust their Slave to the Scalpel debut onto the masses in 2021. While I was about as mixed on that one as Felagund was, their second album Manual Manic Procedures has proven these wounds cut far deeper than originally thought. The massive beefy chugs that the band have become known for are still here in full force, but now they’re paired with sharper hooks and a heightened sense of maturity. On Procedures, you’ll hear acoustic plucking, immense Bolt Thower riffing, grooves that will blow your guts out, and even some melodic death metal influence—and that’s just on the first song. The band also know when to give you a breather, be it a well-placed atmospheric instrumental (“Led to the Chamber / Liquefied”) or an extended ride on a great groovy riff (“Defiled Gestation”). With a monstrous guitar tone, plenty of killer moments, and a track flow that’s smoother than liquefied human remains sliding off a kitchen counter, these Cleveland boys have given us a record that truly feels like modern death metal coming into its own.

#200StabWounds #2024 #AWakeInProvidence #AbominablePutridity #AmericanMetal #AmputatedVeinRecords #Anicon #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #BluesRock #BoltThrower #BrutalDeathMetal #CanadianMetal #Cell #Cephalotripsy #ChuckMangione #Cryptopsy #DeathMetal #Deathcore #Deconstruction #Dehumanaut #DirEnGrey #Entombed #EpigeneticNeurogenesis #FleshgodApocalypse #HardRock #IWriteToYouMyDarlingDecay #Immortal #JapaneseMetal #Jul24 #LimbsOfDionysus #ManualManicProcedures #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Necrophagist #Nile #OfNightmaresAndVice #PatMartino #Quasiploid #RawBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #ShatteringTheRaptureOfThePrimordialAbyss #SilsMaria #Silvaplana #Slam #StuckInTheFilter #SymphonicDeathMetal #SymphonicDeathcore #SymphonicMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #ThrashMetal #UKMetal #UniqueLeaderRecords #YellowEyes

Kings of Mercia – Battle Scars Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Having already this decade released a Tuesday the Sky album, new project North Sea Echoes, and, now, the second Kings of Mercia album Battle Scars, it’s clear Fates Warning founding guitarist Jim Matheos does not wander this Earth without a load of sonic ideas. While many of his offshoots have skewed ambient or atmospheric in some regard, Kings of Mercia follows a different path. Featuring the classically AOR vocal styles of the highly-credited, little-celebrated Steve Overland (FM, Shadowman),1 Kings of Mercia aims neither for the head nor the heart, leaning instead into the hip-swaying, gentle head nodding of warm-toned Dad metal. So you ask then how they got those scars? Probably in a fight with a hammer and a shelf that concluded with all parties splayed about the floor.

As an homage to a simpler time in metal history, a lot of what Kings of Mercia puts out feels obligatory. Now, this doesn’t mean that Matheos can’t write a song—far from it. Cuts like “Eye for an Eye,” “Legend,” and “Cold” have more than enough slick riffage and sneaky modulations that they carry their weight from start to finish with little effort and high intrigue. But both confined in traditional chorus-focused rock structures and firmly in the box of 80s-minded impact, Battle Scars needs to succeed on the few elements that it handles with delicate personal twists. And in that limited scope, its chance to break away the shopping mall hits list from the likes of a bouncing Toto jam or a sultry Whitesnake burner leaves Battle Scars out the gate with a handicap.

But Matheos and co. seem to concern themselves very little with how relevant or earth-shaking Kings of Mercia will be, continuing to focus on coating Battle Scars with well-toned, snazzy refrains that frame Overland’s time-tested pipes with an unbreakable groove. As a master of warping crunchy amp character against layered, syncopated riffs, Matheos builds an amplified immediacy that opens up with each of Overland’s title-laden chorus calls (“Guns and Ammunition,” “Eye for an Eye,” “Cold”). And when slowing things down to a bluesy bounce, rhythm stalwarts Joey Vera (Fates Warning, Armored Saint) and Simon Phillips (Toto) play up simpler guitar craft with a hammering march and growling pulse (“Between Two Worlds,” “Hell ‘n’ Back”). Matheos continues too to explore looped guitar patterns and chunky industrial tones with the alt-edged “Aftermath,” lending a higher diversity to the back half. Rare is the moment on Battle Scars that displeases the ears.

For an album that strikes as immediate, Battle Scars’ biggest fault remains its lowest moment segregating a serviceable open from a promising close. Much like the criticism that ol’ Huck laid out of their debut, Kings of Mercia’s adherence to the aged inclusion of a full sap ballad returns as an offense. The titular apex of the first half pushes—shakers and crying clean guitars hitting at full sweetness—an unwelcome aura of sadness into the pleasant romp that otherwise develops throughout Battle Scars. But this downcast element, at least, gives Kings of Mercia an edge that doesn’t usually persist in the 80s worship of the modern day. With lyrical content that ranges from dissatisfaction with certain sociopolitical happenings in the world (“Guns and Ammunition”), coming to terms with aging (“Between Two Worlds”), and acknowledging the duality of life choices (“Angels & Demons”), albeit in light-hearted phrasing,2 Kings of Mercia tells stories much differently than the big hair and arena anthemics of the past.

With this grounded energy, Battle Scars escapes a potential fault in remaining too saccharine. At brightest, Kings of Mercia evades the gruel of a closing second ballad, letting “Angels & Demons” turn down the lights with a resonating acoustic guitar melody and cello duet that simmers into a riff-handed statement of triumph. The harder-hitting, more diverse B-side at large highlights the plodding similarities of Overland’s vocal patterns and the overwrought nature of King of Mercia’s softest elements. So while it’s true that Matheos can build accessible distorted rockers with a progressive flair, it’ll take more than a little high-gain ear candy with a hint of melancholy for Kings of Mercia to sail away with a fuller vote of confidence.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp
Websites: kingsofmercia.com | kingsofmercia.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: October 4th, 2024

#25 #2024 #AOR #BattleScars #FatesWarning #FM #HardRock #HeavyMetal #InternationalMetal #KingsOfMercia #MetalBladeRecords #Oct24 #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #Toto #Whitesnake

Iotunn – Kinship Review

By GardensTale

When Jón Aldará does something, we pay attention. Between Barren Earth, Hamferð and Iotunn, the Faroese friend of the blog has been involved in banger after banger after banger the last few years with no signs of slowing down. Iotunn’s Access All Worlds was my well-deserved Album of the Year in 2021 and reached third place in the aggregate list, so expectations for Kinship are through the stratosphere. Not content to repeat the same trick twice, however, the theme has shifted from the expanse of space to the expanse of the soul, to human connection and their dissolution at life’s end. But does Kinship shift into a slump or does Iotunn remain stellar in the absence of the stars?

I’ll admit I was hesitant looking at the almost 70-minute running time. Access All Worlds was plump; Kinship was looking positively girthy. But by and large the musicianship and composition quality are astronomical, surpassing its much-vaunted predecessor across most of its running time. Introductory epic “Kinship Elegiac” does start off a little unsure, but it finds its footing as it unfurls into a sumptuous banquet of majestic progressive death. By the time it arrives at its conclusion, a bombastic yet anguished reprise of the song’s opening, it’s hard to believe 14 minutes have passed. This time-dilating effect is present throughout Kinship. Every track feels like an exhilarating adventure in its own right, very different yet a vital part of the whole, and none of them feel anywhere near as long as they are because of their impeccable composition. This goes as much for barnstormers like Song of the Year candidate “Earth to Sky” as it does for the blackened thrill-ride “Twilight” or the gorgeous introspective ballad “Iridescent Way.”

The musicianship of Iotunn’s members is stunning across the board. Drummer Bjørn Andersen has a knack for playing with minor variations between bars that keep the tracks lively, but he awes when pulling out all the stops for “The Coming End” or “Earth to Sky.” Of course, Aldará catches the ear immediately with his attention-grabbing baritone wail and crunchy growls, and he puts in a few of his best performances here, with the solemn majesty of “I Feel the Night” and the opener’s heartrending conclusion a few particular highlights. But the guitars are worth the admission price on their own, with a fantastic array of imaginative riffs, trills, and licks. In lesser hands, “Mistland” would not be so effortlessly grand, the subtle shifts in harmony creating a surge to the heart. We wouldn’t have the beautiful yet aggressive cascades through the chorus of “The Coming End,” nor its intelligent riffs that play with inversing ascending and descending scales, or the epic harmonic midsection. Not to mention the solos; I declared “Waves Below” to have the solo of the year last time, but half the tracks here could qualify to the same, such as the melodic rollercoaster leading up to the finale of “Kinship Elegiac” or the shimmering tremolos of “Mistland.”

If Kinship had stuck the landing, it’d be a shoo-in for my Album of the Year. Alas, “The Anguished Ethereal” draws a shrill contrast with all that precedes it. With too much repetition and a lack of life and energy, the 11-minute track is the only one that feels longer rather than shorter. It takes half its running time to develop into something interesting, and just when it really seems to start taking flight, it ends in a dull fade-out. It’s a disappointing finale, and its drag makes the overall length of Kinship weigh heavier. Replacing the closer with the opener would be the fastest way to make a great album into a nigh-perfect one. Even the production, Iotunn’s biggest prior stumbling block, has made strides, though there’s still room for improvement there. The master has a little more breathing room and the drums sound more natural, but the mix can still feel a little crowded at busier times, and the bass is buried altogether.

The stumble on the finish may have cost Iotunn the crown, but how well Kinship holds up in spite of it is a testament to the band’s peerless songwriting and craftsmanship. It combines a deeply compelling sense of melody with fluid, progressive songwriting and an overwhelming sense of grandeur that nonetheless evades pretentiousness. The thought that there may be a Iotunn album in the future that is as brilliant as Kinship’s first hour with even better production does moisten my loins, but the present is pretty fucking great as it is.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: iotunn.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/iotunn
Releases Worldwide: October 25th, 2024

#2024 #40 #BarrenEarth #DanishMetal #Hamferð #Iotunn #Kinship #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Oct24 #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews

Master Boot Record – Hardwarez Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Anno Domini 2024. In the early months, the code-whisperer Victor Love donned his Omnissiah robes and preached the score-counter-ruining sermon Nel Nome Del Codice within the Keygen Church. Now, the world’s premier practitioner of digital blasphemy has returned in his true, glorious form: Master Boot Record. There is no digi-christ here, only The Code. MBR is poised to release update 11.0 to your pathetic operating systems. Update name: Hardwarez. This is not the beginning; MBR has long since invaded the AMG website, one virus in particular bestowing 2022’s Personal Computer the title of Record o’ the Month. No, this is not the beginning… but this will be the end. Hardwarez will not suffer your computer to survive.

The phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to few artists quite so well as MBR. For any newcomers or rubberneckers, MBR is, to put it lightly, a mix of Dragonforce-adjacent energetic riffage, the classical-minded bombast of Johann Sebastian Bach, and a chiptune videogame soundtrack. The metal is fully synthesized with programmed drums, floppy drive synth riffs, and lightning-quick keyboards. This is how it’s been for ten albums over the last eight years and how it’ll be in the future. If that sounds dismissive, it shouldn’t; MBR’s is a wholly unique sound that works extraordinarily well. However, a man cannot, or perhaps should not, be so prolific in releasing music without even surface-level changes between albums. Love has refined and then maintained the MBR sound across nearly a dozen albums, while progressively updating and experimenting with his songwriting approach, be it through epic, 15+ minute song lengths (C:/DEFRAG), adding a vocalist (Direct Memory Access), or even donning the occasional baroque harpsichord (Personal Computer). This naturally begs the question as to how Hardwarez might aim to differentiate itself…

…which it does by being heavy. Stupidly, obscenely, disgustingly heavy at times. I even spun the full MBR discography to be sure, and while a few parts in Personal Computer come close, one could confidently say that Hardwarez is some of MBR’s heaviest material to date, and it’s a blast. Opener “BIOS” boots up Hardwarez with thrashy riffs and fast soloing, while the following “MOBO” builds towards colossal, Bach-iavellian refrains full of classical grandeur. And then, “CPU” drops a riff-heavy enough to brick my computer and is a seriously strong contender for my Song o’ the Year. The heaviest songs hit all the harder because of how they’re placed within the album. Hardwarez is a masterclass in pacing, creating clear peaks and valleys spread across the 42-minute runtime. “RAM” is a joyous, 80’s-infused slab of riffs and hyperactive solos that fits snugly between the less intense “GPU” and the slick, powerful “FDD,” with the latter’s extended synth-y outro escalating beautifully into the immediately massive “HDD.” Excellent pacing like this makes it nigh impossible to grow bored, and when the album is over, you’ll already feel ready to spin it again.

In the wake of Hardwarez strongest moments, it’s easy to ruminate over nebulous missed opportunities. While MBR has historically leaned into progressive songwriting, Hardwarez is much more direct; “CASE” being the most obvious, um, case. It ends Hardwarez on a high note and features one of the best, and heaviest, riffs, but it follows a strictly repetitive ABAB structure. Compared to the more adventurously composed “RAM” and “FDD” that augment their strongest moments with build-ups and varied structure, “CASE” begins to frustrate. I want to return for the whole experience of a song, not just one (admittedly stellar) riff. Hardwarez heaviness is its strongest aspect, and, I believe, would be all the stronger were it entreated with bolder songwriting, which Love has proven ad nauseam that he is capable of. Still, this might be unfair. Hardwarez is tight as hell, extremely consistent, and endlessly replayable. It’s a clear success, and worth celebrating—but it’s Love’s own fault for proving that he can do even better.

Beyond that, “PSU” is a slight let-down with some melodically cluttered sections, but its worst sin is being surrounded by excellence, and that’s what Hardwarez provides in spades. It might not break the score counter like Keygen Church’s Nel Nome Del Codice on account of being less groundbreaking and challenging in its scope, but Hardwarez is nevertheless another essential MBR release to add to the growing pile. It’s as energetic and intoxicating as ever, and has shown that this heavier iteration of MBR is one of its best and deserves to be explored even furtheERROR—ERROR—ERROR—ERRORRRRRRRRRR

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*** STOP: 0x000000D666 (0x0000000M, 0x0000000B, 0x0000000R, 0xDSBYOE)

*** strt1.sys – Address DSBYOE base at 387440×9, DateStamp na1833nms

Beginning dump of physical memory

Physical memory dump incomplete
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There is nobody to contact for further assistance

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C:\Users\vittorio>shutdown /r

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-restart completERROR—ERROR———ERRORRRRRRR

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Rating: Very Good!!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: facebook | bandcamp | official
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

#2024 #35 #DragonForce #ElectronicMetal #Hardwarez #IndustrialMetal #ItalianMetal #KeygenChurch #MasterBootRecord #MetalBladeRecords #NelNomeDelCodice #Oct24 #PersonalComputer #Synthwave

The Black Dahlia Murder – Servitude Review

By Angry Metal Guy

The Black Dahlia Murder lost a giant on May 11th, 2022, with the death of co-founding member Trevor Strnad, who had penned the lyrics and fronted TBDM across its nine-record discography. The question of how you replace someone as well-loved and well-respected as Trevor must have been a matter of some discussion internally. The solution from the veteran melodeath outfit was to keep the job in-house. Rather than bringing in a new face, guitarist and co-founder Brian Eschbach picked up the microphone, while he was replaced by Ryan Knight—who previously slung the six-string from 2009’s Deflorate to 2015’s Abysmal. Even though I appreciated this solution, it was still difficult to press play on 2024’s tenth The Black Dahlia Murder LP, Servitude. It felt strange to know that our affable, bearded, and dad-bodded metal nerd was no longer going to be screaming at me about lycanthropy. I wondered whether I could enjoy a Strnadless TBDM record or if it would change their sound irrevocably.

You know how The Black Dahlia Murder sounds. Giving strong Gothenburgian vibes, Servitude still deals in the bounce of the Björriff (like “Panic Hysteria” or “Asserting Dominion”), but with the post-Ritual light chaos and groove that helped to transform and mature their sound (“Evening Ephemeral,” “Mammoth’s Hand”). The guitars anchor Servitude’s sound, held firm by sick riffs at breakneck speed, accented with unexpected melodies (“Servitude”), stadium solos (“Mammoth’s Hand”), Gorodian gymnastic harmonies on an Obscura vault track (“Transcosmic Blueprint”) and even 29 seconds of Opeth (“An Intermission”). While Ryan Knight and Brandon Ellis give a master class in metal guitars from neoclassical to thrash, the rhythm section of bassist Max Lavelle and drummer Alan Cassidy1 rumble and blast, driving the sound forward with an intensity that stems from Florida rather than Sweden.

Over the flurry of guitar gymnastics and blast beats, Eschbach’s growls and screams pace a familiar path. At first, my brain didn’t want to accept what it was hearing. When listened to actively, however, I recognized the lower screams and throatier gutturals. And then suddenly, Eschbach was just the vocalist; barking lightning (“Panic Hysteric,” “Evening Ephemeral”), working both his slightly condensed upper and lower ranges in the trademark style of which Trevor was master. While familiar, Eschbach’s approach to rhythm feels like a guitarist doing vocals. He works in lockstep with the groove being carried by the band to create staccato punctuations (“Transcosmic Blueprint”) and syncopated swings (“Asserting Dominion”) that make his performance stand out.2 While Trevor was freer with rhythm and expression, Eschbach’s performance is percussive and precise. The weakness in his performance can be found in the guttural vocals, which don’t reach as deeply or hit as hard. But when all is said and done, Eschbach’s performance sounds like The Black Dahlia Murder.

Servitude seems like an album written to succeed or fail based on the execution of a well-established sound. The devil is, therefore, in the details: the songwriting, the riffs, and especially the guitar solos. And in those places, The Black Dahlia Murder isn’t taking risks. The writing isn’t suddenly progressive, “Aftermath” starts in 7, but they revert to 4/4 and never change time signatures again for the rest of the album.3 There is no revitalization of Ritual‘s or Everblack‘s adventurous arrangements. Where the songs surprise is when they sound chaotic, giving Carnosus (who gives TBDM) or euro-tech and straying further from the Björriffs that propelled them to prominence (see “Evening Ephemeral,” “Utopia Black” or “Mammoth’s Hand”). And Knight and Ellis drop killer solos. “Cursed Creator” hits with shred and harmony, “Transcosmic Blueprint” gives jazz fusion, while “Evening Ephemeral” starts Servitude off on the guitar heroics that made Ryan Knight one of my favorite guitarists ever. Oddly, though, there are a couple of duds as well (“Asserting Domination” is bland, while “Servitude” is fine).

The core of The Black Dahlia Murder hasn’t changed, so the core of Servitude was going to be good. At 35 minutes of riffy, guitar-driven melodic death metal, it’s easy to surmise that The Black Dahlia Murder couldn’t fail on Servitude. And yet, there is a risk inherent to releasing a record following the tragic passing of one of the scene’s most beloved personalities. In a way, you could criticize Servitude for playing it too safe. It hits all the notes you expect it to hit with its Industry Standard Mastering Job™. The Brandon Ellis and Mark Lewis production is functionally indistinguishable from previous albums. And there’s a familiar-but-not-quite feel to certain riffs or melodies. Yet, as a whole, Servitude succeeds at both being very good—hitting extra hard on those last three tracks—and feeling like an honorable way to continue the legacy of one of melodic death metal’s premiere acts.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3s
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024

#2024 #35 #Abysmal #AtTheGates #Carnosus #DeathMetal #Deflorate #Everblack #Gorod #Melodeath #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Obscura #Opeth #Review #Reviews #Ritual #RyanKnight #Sep24 #Servitude #Slugdge #TheBlackDahliaMurder #TrevorStrnad

Satan – Songs in Crimson Review

By Steel Druhm

One of the great mysteries in life is how an 80s NWoBHM act with limited success in their heyday could become such a reliable source of righteous metal thunder 40 years later. Satan was an original member of the British metal explosion, but despite a solid debut and follow-up, greater glory eluded them. after 1987s Suspended Sentence, they folded up shop and moved on. It wasn’t until 2013 that Satan rose again with a shockingly vital and all-around badass opus called Life Sentence. It sounded like a NWoBHM product but everything was dialed to 12 and the writing and playing were razor-sharp and uber-infectious. Thus began one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Killer album after album followed, delivering exemplary retro metal with polish, class, and brass balls. 2022s Earth Infernal was one of the year’s best metal albums and it seemed Satan could do no wrong. Now comes album five of their unholy comeback campaign. Can Songs in Crimson keep their unnatural late-career resurgence going?

There’s no cause for a Satanic panic because Songs in Crimson is the same hard-rocking retro metal attack we’ve heard since 2013, though this time the band sounds more raw and rough. Slashing opener “Frantic Zero” is indeed frantic and hard-charging, bordering on early days speed metal with furious fretboard slinging and thunderous drumming. NWoHM’s hardest-working man Brian Ross roars and croons his way through the maelstrom with grace and poise and everything feels like 1983 (as it always should). There’s been a touch of Hammers of Misfortune in their sound on the last several albums, but it’s more pronounced this time, with cuts like “Era (the Day Will Come)” reeking of their handiwork. An early high point is the gobsmacking tumult of “Sacramental Rites” which sounds like Satan cross-pollinated with Hammers and Wytch Hazel1 for a rowdy monster sure to bludgeon your delicate sensibilities. The chorus hits harder than a dump truck full of concrete, and Ross is in a very high feather.

Song after song comes out to smack your arse in the dirt and Satan’s approach holds up remarkably well. Yes, it’s NWoBHM at its core but it sounds fresh and interesting rather than old and moldy. There’s a vitality and raw power to this that’s often lacking in traditional metal styles. “Turn the Tide” is a world-beating tune full of wild guitar pyrotechnics and dazzling musicianship with a chorus that sticks like Gorilla Glue. “Curse in Disguise” leans into vintage Mercyful Fate-isms while incorporating some Dave Mustaine-esque riffs for extra spice. No songs here qualify as filler or bunk, though the back end is less propulsive and sticky-addictive than the first half. “Captives” is fun but hits a bit less intensely and closer “Deadly Crimson” goes for an epic sound but doesn’t fully connect all the dots on the yarn wall. The tight 44-plus minute runtime and the refusal to let any song run into the fifth minute make for a fast-paced stream of metallic aggression that can be digested quickly with no reflux. The production is rougher than before, giving the material a live vibe and intensity that suits the band down to their cloven hooves.

As with all the late-career Satan platters, the guitars are the main attraction. Original Satan axe slingers Russ Tippins (Tanith) and Steve Ramsey (Skyclad) bring the heat relentlessly with more ace leads in any 3 songs than you get over all 65 hours of Senjutsu. They live on that bleeding edge between traditional metal and speed and throw caution to the wind in the name of MOAR. Every song has killer moments and their solos are just so damn tasty. Brian Ross is a metal legend who gave us a lovely Blitzkrieg album this month, and now he shows us how it’s done again here. The man may not be blessed with the crazy pipes of Halford or Dickinson, but he knows how to drive a metal song with commanding vocals and can still hit some shockingly high notes when needed. He’s metal royalty and imparts a classy gloss to every track. The backline is also top-notch with Graeme English (Skyclad) thumping along expertly on bass and Sean Taylor (ex-Blitzkrieg, ex-Raven) pounding away like a man half his age. This is the fountain of youth in album format.

The sounds of Satan continue to compel me and though Songs in Crimson is a slight click down from Earth Infernal, the quality is still sky-high. Every time Satan drops a killer album, I go back to their early stuff to see if I missed the signs of future greatness. Each time I find solid if not exceptional NWoBHM fare. Thus the mystery of where these last 5 albums come from. We may never know, but we should praise Satan for them. Hails and Devil horns!

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: satanuk.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialsatanpage | instagram.com/officialsatanpage
Releases Worldwide: September 13th, 2024

#2024 #35 #Blitzkrieg #EarthInfernal #HammersOfMisfortune #MetalBladeRecords #NWOBHM #Review #Reviews #Satan #Sep24 #SongsInCrimson #UKMetal #WytchHazel

Stuck in the Filter: June 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Managing this Filter is a full-time job. Or it would be if I paid anyone, or got paid myself. I doubt anyone in this godforsaken facility has seen a greenback in the last two decades.1 Nonetheless, I grabbed my clipboard and my flogger and I made my way to the lockers, where my dutiful minions await my first order of each day. It’d been a minute since we cleared out the ducts in the south wing of AMG Headquarters, so that’s where I ushered my team first. The poor souls shivered at the thought of tackling a highly neglected section of the system. But, as always, work needs doing and this is the work.

At long last, just when I started considering replacing my whole crew outright and leaving the current one for dead, they returned, battered and winded, but alive. And they brought wares! O blessed day! Without further ado, I bring you our June Filter!

Kenstrosity’s Medieval Mutton

Aklash // Reincarnation [June 20th, 2024 – Self Release]

Proving the unlikely flexibility of black metal as a medium, tales of knights, castles, and fantastical clashes of class marries with charred extremity so effortlessly that it comes at no surprise to me how UK Medieval melodic black metal troupe Aklash came to be. Kicking fourth record Reincarnation off with an incredible one-two punch, “Reincarnation” and “Communion with Ghosts,” Aklash’s melodic black metal-meets-Vulture Industries-meets-Modest Mouse-meets-Æther Realm concoction charms its way deep into my very being. These songs, burgeoning with lush compositions, incredible guitar work, and multifaceted personalities, evoke imagery of the ancient and the arcane so vividly that it often feels like traveling through time in an alternate universe of magic and mirth. The rabid “Babylon” takes this initial salvo and stabs yet another 1,200cc of pure adrenaline into my veins.2 As my neck swings and spirals with great velocity, giant mugs of mead spontaneously manifest in both fists. What is a sponge to do but imbibe? Against all odds, such infectious energy sustains into the magnificent closer “My Will Made Manifest,” making this record a wall-to-wall festival of sound. If it weren’t for a couple of frilly interludes and the teensiest spot of bloat in a couple of places, I could see Reincarnation growing into a year-end contender. In the end, it might do just that.

Thus Spoke’s Forgotten Findings

Cainites // Revenant [June 21st, 2024 – Scarlet Records]

It was once rumored across Eastern Europe that those who rebelled against the Orthodox church were cursed to become vampires after they died. Revenant, however, follows an Orthodox priest, whose induction into the class of bloodthirsty monsters happens irrespective of his religious devotion. Crafting a spooky tale with Scandinavian-inspired melodeath and flourishes of synthy blackened death, Italian duo Cainites strike a little like a less-polished Tribulation, but with bags of their personality. These guys know how to write a riff that shivers its way up your spine (“Theotokos,” “God’s Wrath,” “Redemption”) and dance around in your belly (“Darkness Awaits,” “Forgive Our Sins”), and damn, can it be catchy. Using a dueting mixture of growls and moaning cleans, choruses jam their way into your brain and don’t budge (“Vampire God,” “We Lost Our Sanctity”), amplifying the gleefully malicious bounce of the riffs with tongue-in-cheek melodrama. Solos have just enough yearning depth while staying grounded with a gritty tone, and not outstaying their welcome. The album generally treads the line well between camp and serious, discounting, perhaps, the extended spoken-word Bible recitation where God curses Cain (“Cainites”). In all, it’s a very good time and only grew on me the more I listened. One to check out for true fans of melodeath.3

Inherits the Void // Scars of Yesteryears [June 21st, 2024 – Avantgarde Music]

Scars of Yesteryears took me so much by surprise that I had to be informed by another staff member that it even existed. Having reviewed last year’s The Impending Fall of the Stars, and finding it quite an uplifting piece of melodic black metal, I was keen to see where the project had gone, musically, in the intervening time. The answer is nowhere, but that’s not entirely negative. This is still soaring (“L’effigie Du Déclin”), epic (“Scars of Yesteryear,” “L’eternelle Course Des Astres”), blistering (“Celestial Antler”), and sometimes beautiful (“The Endless Glow of Twilight”) meloblack. With lightning-fast and stormily dynamic riffing and enough of a melodic through-line to keep things going. The highs are not as high as they were on the previous record, the slower moments lacking the atmosphere and grandiosity that former work showed (though coming closest on “L’eternelle…” and “The Endless…”). However, the whole feels more consistent and steady, with the first half whizzing by on the tailwind of “Celestial Antler,” “The Orchard of Grief,” and “Ashes of Grievance”‘s bubbling energy, and the second dipping in intensity only to be saved by the final couple of tracks. Above-average, fiery meloblack, and worth taking for a spin even if it won’t be making any lists.

Dear Hollow’s Dumpster Disturbance

Bilmuri // American Motor Sports [June 28th, 2024 – Self Release]

Everyone loves easycore.4 In an alternative universe where easycore is a natural progression of pop country rather than pop/punk, it becomes an international treasure and that treasure is American Motor Sports. Of the crabcore alum of Attack Attack!,5 Johnny Franck is least likely to be featured on Octane Radio,6 as the Bilmuri project has been a means for musical exploration since his departure. Offering the most streamlined homage to the three M’s (‘Murica, memes, and the Midwest), get ready to crank your hog to ten songs of heartbreak, beer, and landscaping through arena pop country with needlessly heavy djent guitar riffs – alongside Franck’s signature insanity coursing through all the movements. From the deathcore-meets-honkytonk and sub drops of “Better Hell” and “Spinnin’ You Around,” the blaring and sexy sax solos of “2016 Cavaliers (Ohio),” “Straight Through You,” and “Drunk Enough,” the blazing fiddle of “Talkin’ 2 Ur Ghost,” to the Kevin James breakdown call out of “Emptyhanded,” Bilmuri creates an infectious blend of the safely predictable and the utterly apeshit. It features guest artists from country scenes (Dylan Marlowe, Mitchell Tenpenny) and indie pop spheres (Knox, Arizona) who all add yearning and theatricality to Franck’s already emotive performances. American Motor Sports is twenty-eight minutes of catchy melodies, scathing grooves, and tastefully tragic lyrics with a penchant for memes. We’re all supposed to hate it, but much to my assigned promos’ dismay and Steel Druhm‘s chagrin,7 I haven’t been able to listen to much else.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Maritime Musing

Houle // Ciel Cendre et Mis​è​re Noire [June 7th, 2024 – Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions]

We all know that black metal hits harder when it’s actually something else wrapped in a blackened and shrieking package. France’s Houle offers Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire as a one part Iron Maiden, one part Immortal, and two parts unstoppable siren screaming as vocalist Adsagsona shreds throat through each of the blazing numbers on this debut (minus the beer-swinging sailor intro). Her ear-stabbing cries tally high, and if it weren’t for her glottal punishments and accompanying guitarists’ breaks into tremolo melodies, tracks “Sur Les Braises de Foyer” and “Sel, Sang et Gerçures” could be instead the backdrops to something of the dark power metal world, replete with Maiden bass gallop and anthemic flair. She has a fine narrative croon too, but it’s her flagrant vocal flayings that sell the extremity of what Houle packs as ballast. With terraced guitar lines and thrashed-out drum breaks (“La Danse du Rocher,” “Mère Nocturne”), Ciel Cendre has the forward energy of battle and doesn’t let go to the very end, joining bands like Aorlhac and Passièsme in the modern melodic black metal field fit for castle raids. But as long-form closer “Née des Embruns” reinforces with calls of the ocean in its open and fade, Houle attacks from the sea. En garde!

Mark Z.’s Musings

200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures [June 28th, 2024 – Metal Blade Records]

Following a rapid rise to fame during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio death metal troupe 200 Stab Wounds thrust their Slave to the Scalpel debut onto the masses in 2021. While I was about as mixed on that one as Felagund was, their second album Manual Manic Procedures has proven these wounds cut far deeper than originally thought. The beefy chugs that the band has become known for are still here in full force, but now they’re paired with sharper hooks and a heightened sense of maturity. On Procedures, you’ll hear acoustic plucking, immense Bolt Thrower riffing, grooves that will blow your guts out, and even some melodic death metal influence—and that’s just on the first song. The band also knows when to give you a breather, be it a well-placed atmospheric instrumental (“Led to the Chamber / Liquefied”) or an extended ride on a great groovy riff (“Defiled Gestation”). With a monstrous guitar tone, plenty of killer moments, and a track flow that’s smoother than liquefied human remains, Manual Manic Procedures feels like modern death metal coming into its own.

#200StabWounds #2024 #Aklash #AmericanMetal #AmericanMotorSports #Aorlhac #Arizona #AttackAttack #AvantgardeMusic #ÆtherRealm #Beartooth #Bilmuri #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #Cainites #CielCendreEtMisèReNoire #DeathMetal #DylanMarlowe #FrenchMetal #Houle #Immortal #InheritsTheVoid #IronMaiden #ItalianMetal #Jun24 #Knox #LesActeursDeLOmbreProductions #ManualManicProcedures #MedievalBlackMetal #MelodicBlackMetal #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #MitchellTenpenny #ModestMouse #OfMiceAndMen #Passièsme #Reincarnation #Revenant #Review #Reviews #ScarletRecords #ScarsOfYesteryears #SelfRelease #StuckInTheFilter #Tribulation #UKMetal #VultureIndustries

Demiser – Slave to the Scythe Review

By Cherd

I generally avoid metal music videos. Way too often they’re overly self-serious retreads of the same spooky/angry/edgy schtick and ultimately just serve to remind you that metal bands don’t have the budget for music videos. Lyric videos are even worse, as they expose metal’s unfortunate dearth of skilled lyricists. So I was surprised when, after watching the lead video single from Demiser’s sophomore full-length Slave to the Scythe, I was left thinking “Damn. There’s a band who know who they are.” South Carolina’s leading researchers of all things infernal, Demiser present the findings of their scholarly research into the contents of Hades with the peer-reviewed case study “Hell is Full of Fire.” Like the song title and self-same chorus, the accompanying video is charmingly direct. Here’s the band playing in a garage or small club setting. Here they are drinking in a cemetery at night. Back to the band playing. Back to the cemetery, where they’ve somehow lit a grave on fire. Band playing. Someone brought a scythe to the cemetery and it’s on fire. Ope, hard to play that guitar when it’s on fire. The whole thing is lit low but warm and looks well shot for what it is.

Demiser are a metal throwback in spirit: hard drinking, fast playing, “Fuck yeah/you!” attitude. They’re a throwback in sound too, in that way only newer bands blend a bunch of throwback sounds into a sticky paste of pastiche. This is blackened thrash with a deep vein of NWOBHM combining the likes of Overkill, Motörhead, and Gorgoroth. “Feast” kicks things off with a very “Painkiller”-esque drum intro followed by sinister riffage and lightning-fast fret-work. It sets a blazing pace that rarely lets up over the next 40 minutes of vicious axe-wielding (Gravepisser, Phallomancer, and Defiler) and machine gun time-keeping (Infestor) while Demiser the Demiser holds court with his blackened shouts. Lyrical themes are mostly of the blasphemous variety, with memorable declarations of damned-ness in “Feast” (“All! Hell! Now! Opens wide!”), “Hell is Full of Fire,” and “In Nomine Baphomet,” but they do take a break from hailing Satan to talk about driving motorcycles real fast in the delightful “Carbureted Speed.”

All this results in a comfort food metal album that’s more fun than a Hell themed roller coaster with dangerously loose safety bars. I defy any metalhead, regardless of sub-genre preference, to keep their figurative pants on when the guitar solos hit in “Feast” or to keep their invisible fruit in their pockets when Demiser the Demiser declares “Hell! Is Full! Of Fire!” Slave to the Scythe is best when it keeps the gas pushed all the way to road pavement, which it does a lot, but the addition of a foot-stomping bop and some surprising melodicism elevates “Phallomancer the Phallomancer” to the position of album highlight. After the debut included the memorable “Demiser the Demiser,” the next record better give Gravepisser and Defiler their own eponymous ditties or else feelings are going to get hurt.

My issues with Slave to the Scythe are all relatively minor. When played front to back, the title track falls a little flat compared to the two rip snorters that sandwich it. As for the acoustic interlude, it’s nice enough and it adds to the 80s thrash vibe, but I quickly began skipping it after the second spin or so. The record is in no way overstuffed at a blazing 40 minutes, but final track “In Nomine Baphomet” stands out for being 8 minutes long, and it does go a bit mushy in the middle of that run time. Thankfully, these moments do little to detract from a record where even second-tier tracks like “Total Demise” or “Infernal Bust” have stank-face riffs and drive-it-like-it’s-stolen energy.

Demiser are a band who know who they are. They aren’t reinventing the wheel, but they are putting it on the front of a motorcycle and driving it recklessly. If you were a fan of their rollicking debut Through the Gate Eternal, you’ll get more of the same breakneck goodness on Slave to the Scythe. Given the talent involved here, I expect they’ll just keep churning out albums of sack-whipping blackened thrash for years to come.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: demiser.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/demiserofficial
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

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