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Mesmur - Chthonic (2023)
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Mesmur - Terrene (2019)
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Mesmur - S (2017)
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Mesmur - Mesmur (2014)
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Monovoth - Pleroma Mortem Est (2024)
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Doodseskader - Year Two (2024)
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Stellar Circuits - Sight to Sound (2023)
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Stellar Circuits - Ways We Haunt (2018)
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Profiler - A Digital Nowhere (2024)
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Profiler - Profiler (2022)
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Firewind - Stand United (2024)
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Firewind - Still Raging (20th Anniversary Show) (2023)
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Sonata Arctica - Clear Cold Beyond (2024)
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Judas Priest - Invincible Shield (2024)
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Judas Priest - Reflections: 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music (2021)
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Tumulation - Haunted Funeral Creations (2023)
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Skeletal Remains - Fragments of the Ageless (2024)
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Skeletal Remains - Desolate Isolation - Demo & Live (2021)
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Siege of Power - This Is Tomorrow (2023)
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Siege of Power - Warning Blast (2018)
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VAK - The Islands (2023)
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VAK - Loud Wind (2019)
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OHHMS - Rot (2023)
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OHHMS - Close (2020)
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OHHMS - Exist (2018)
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Crust - Dissolution (2023)
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Crust - Wanderers (2022)
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Ad Omega - Aphelic Ascent (2023)
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Ad Omega - Tenebris Templum (2021)
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Ad Omega - Anathema (2022)
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Suicidal Angels - Profane Prayer (2024)
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Midnight - Hellish Expectations (2024)
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Exhorder - Defectum Omnium (2024)
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Unpure - Northern Sea Madness (2021)
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Venus - Obscured Until Observed (2023)
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Limbs - Everything Under Heaven (2023)
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Paledusk - Palehell (2024)
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End Reign - The Way of All Flesh Is Decay (2023)
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Headbussa - Vengeful Mind (2023)
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Headbussa - Necessary Violence (2021)
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tdstr - FALLING (2023)
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Whalesong - Disorder (2017)
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Whalesong - Helpless (2021)
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Whalesong - Roi des Rats (2015)
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Whalesong - Filth (2011)
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Monovoth is the solo project of argentinian multi-instrumentalist, Lucas Wyssbrod, and Pleroma Mortem Est is the sophomore full-length under the banner. It is an album of instrumental funeral doom, comprising six tracks and with an overall runtime of a mere 38 minutes, which is slight indeed for a funeral doom release. In a nutshell that previous sentence sums up the issues that I personally have with this. First off, six tracks for a measly 38 minutes! The funereal and doom-laden atmospheres for top-knotch funeral doom require expansive build-up and layering with the extensive runtime being a pre-requisite for the sense of an inescapable, soul-crushing doom awaiting all of us at life's end. Secondly, instrumental funeral doom just doesn't work completely for me. With such downbeat and morbid instrumentation as that produced by top-tier funeral doom practitioners, I believe a human connection, such as the wholly human sound of vocals, is an absolute requirement in order to mitigate the hopelessness of the music and to place the human condition, as posited by the funeral doom ethos, into context.
The actual individual pieces here show a lot of potential and it is obvious that Wyssbrod is plenty familiar with the big names in the field, as he unleashes dizzyingly towering chords of immense weight interspersed with passages of self-reflective melancholy, but their brevity and lack of vocals suggests to me a series of musical ideas waiting to be worked up into full pieces and not actually an album of finished work. I really would like to hear these ideas expounded and expanded upon with a truly anguished-sounding vocalist on board because there is really some good stuff here, in seed-like form.
Much like Exodus' notorious "Force of Habit" album that I reviewed last week, Teutonic thrash metal heavyweights Kreator's sixth album "Renewal" is widely regarded as the releases that signaled the end of the band's classic period. It saw Kreator going for a fresh new sound & taking creative risks but the public seemed to shun any notion of their German heroes morphing into anything other than the band they grew up with & "Renewal" bombed pretty hard. I was just sixteen years old at the time though & lived in Sydney, Australia where I was somewhat sheltered from the wider global reception. I'd been a HUGE Kreator fan for a good three years by that stage & "Renewal" would be the second of their albums that I'd pickup at the time of release. I went into it with extremely high expectations but, although there's no doubt that "Renewal" was different to what I expected, I was open to following the band down whatever musical rabbit-hole they'd take me on. I don't recall the album being as divisive amongst the local metal community I was a part of at the time either, potentially because we were younger & less inclined to want our metal pigeon-holed into specific genres. It's been a few years since I've heard "Renewal" now so I thought I'd find out if my feelings of nostalgia were still strong enough to see the album holding up in 2024.
"Renewal" sees Kreator taking several bold moves away from the vicious thrash metal attack of the past. For starters, we see them utilizing down-tuning for the first time which was always gonna give them a different feel. The riffs are much simpler too with a stronger focus being placed on building a cold atmosphere than ripping the listeners face off. There's certainly an industrial component to a couple of the tracks but it's not as significant as some critics will have you believe. The elements of groove metal are more noticeable though as we find many of the riffs veering away from thrash altogether & taking a chunkier & more rhythmic approach. Front man Mille Petrozza's vocal delivery is very serious as he barks & spits out social commentary in a fashion that deviates from his traditional raspy tone. I'm not sure I like it as much but it does feel like he's finally grown up a little bit which is possibly something that can be said of the band as a whole as everything sounds more measured & controlled. Possibly the only element that suffers noticeably from the new approach is the guitar solos which are as theoretically incorrect as ever but sound much more incompetent in their newly exposed surroundings.
"Renewal" certainly isn't as immediate as past Kreator albums & takes a few listens to really dig its talons in. It's a darker record than we've seen from Kreator in the past with several parts even feeling doomy. There are no weak songs included in the consistent tracklisting & I ironically find the most popular number "Renewal" to be the least effective piece these days, even though (& perhaps even because) it was the very first song my old death metal band Neuropath covered back in 1993. There aren't many genuine highlight tracks though either & I feel that this fact has been instrumental in the general feeling that "Renewal" is a creative failure which is a very harsh viewpoint in my opinion. The wonderfully doomy "Karmic Wheel" is by far my favourite piece of the nine on offer & has always been an anthem for my early 90's youth.
Look, "Renewal" no doubt presents a very different Kreator to the one we'd known & loved up until that point but it was never intended to be "Coma of Souls Part II" & this is obvious in its title which should have provided a hint as to Kreator's intent. There are still plenty of thrashtastic moments for those that require them but there's also a greater focus on song-writing & a stronger social message than the past which is simply the result of the band maturing & striving for relevance in a changing musical environment. I liken "Renewal" to Sepultura's "Chaos AD" album in many ways & wouldn't be at all surprised if it had been an influence as you'll find many of the same adjustments have been made, although the Brazilian's 1993 fifth album would be infinitely more popular for one reason or another. Regardless of that, I think people are missing out on a really strong Kreator record here, mainly due to the universal impatience that sees a large portion of the listening public only giving a record a listen or two before forming their opinions on it. For me personally though, I'd take "Renewal" over a few of Kreator's more widely celebrated releases like the "Out of the Dark... Into the Light" E.P., their debut album "Endless Pain" & even their highly acclaimed third album "Terrible Certainty" these days.
The life choice that I made to listen to extreme metal for pretty much all of my teenage through adult life has been a decision that has rewarded me well in the main. I have discovered some truly astonishing bands and albums that have stayed with me to this day. Some of them took multiple visits before the beam of light finally struck me and I fully understood what was in front of me. Others were more immediate, hitting me in the face from the off and some of them (only a small number admittedly) are still socking me in the cakehole to this day. However, as I get older (I am pushing 50 after all), tastes change. Whilst, recent releases from Exhorder and Judas Priest reminded me just why I love the more high octane elements of metal, I do increasingly need something to soothe my stressed and anxious head. Quite by accident, I stumbled across OM via a playlist and was instantly drawn into the therapeutic qualities of the Californian trio.
Pilgrimage is like a balm for my soul. Full of repetition and consistently familiar structure from track-to-track, its effect was instantaneous, Whether I am working, driving, cleaning, hiking or just sat still, with Pilgrimage playing I am at peace. Truly at peace, as in zoned out of this shitshow we know as reality and somewhere else (sub-consciously at least, especially if I am driving). The Hindu mantra that is the band's name, is a perfect fit for this trance-inducing style of stoner metal. A fine example of how you can make heavy music without guitars (just a sick as fuck bass is all that you need folks), the four tracks here make for a satisfying thirty-two minutes. The rhythms are simple yet so warming without being hippy-esque that you can't help but take comfort from their soothing textures.
If you're thinking this is a yawn fest then you're wrong. Pilgrimage actually grows in intensity as the tracks roll by. Granted we never flip into full on sludge-paced metal. There's not even a threat of such violence intimated at any point here. However, this is an album that thinks out of the box and relies on the subtlety of transitions in almost sneaking proportions. After the calming opener of the title track you soon find yourself several minutes into the album, wondering where the drums came in after being lulled into a barely lucid state by that bass. This is one of the few albums in my lifetime that have provided a tactile experience. I can touch and taste every note here, inhaling its incense-laced smoke as I go headlong falling into this record over and over again.
Stygian Crown are a new one on me. They are a five-piece, Los Angeles band playing epic doom metal with twin guitars and a female vocalist, which is a combination I think works very well. Funeral for a King is the band's sophomore full-length, following four years after their self-titled debut. They take their cues from the usual sources, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus and the more recently successful acts like Smoulder and Crypt Sermon. The riffs possess a nice crunchiness in sound, being both chunkily solid and memorably melodic, with the band being unafraid to change into a quicker tempo, "Bushido" and "Beauty and Terror" being particular examples of tracks in a more traditional metal, bordering USPM, rather than doom metal style. The plodding pomposity (in a good way) of the band's titanic epic doom forerunners is the general order of the day, though and they have a solid grasp of what constitutes good epic doom, with a full sound, theatrical songwriting and powerful vocals. Singer Melissa Pinion has a strong voice and is well able to command the space, in true Messiah Marcolin or Rob Lowe style, with a soaring performance that is never threatened by the thick and meaty guitar sound, but which meets it head-on.
There are a couple of interludes in a more stripped-back style that provide a contrast to the ostentatiousness of the band's signature sound. "Let Thy Snares Be Planted" is a short instrumental piece with piano and strings in a classical style and the balladic "Blood Red Eyes", which also features piano and strings, sounds a bit like a track Tarja and Nightwish may have been at home with. All in all, this is a decent album that displays a great understanding of the epic doom genre and which is technically sound with a powerful lead vocalist. As such it is a worthy addition to the recent slew of releases in the resurgent sub-genre and whilst still punching a little below the weight of the true titans, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus and so on, with tracks like "Scourge of the Seven Hills" and "Strait of Massina" I would suggest they are heading in the right direction. Definitely worth your time if you are into the more epic side of doom metal, especially if you are a fan of female vocals in the genre.
Imagine what Fear Factory would sound like if they kept their industrial death metal sound going after Soul of a New Machine. I could practically say that about any band mixing together industrial metal and death metal, but this is for real! Flesh is Heir has the best you can find from this combination these days.
A journey through a band's discography often starts from their latest or first album. It's not usually right in the middle unless you find it out of the blue, whether it pops up or gets recommended to you. Upon discovering The Amenta via their 3rd album, my mind was blown by how perfectly the band could reinvent the industrial death metal of Fear Factory's debut. Other bands have tried it and didn't catch on, but with Flesh is Heir, you know you're in for a mind-f***ing brutal attack.
Bleak doom-ish tremolo melody opens the title track that then blasts off into deathly chaos. "Ego Ergo Sum" has more ethereal yet brutal rhythm haunting like a ghost. "Teeth" takes the industrial vibes of 3TEETH and gives it the Gojira prog-death treatment. Then things quiet down in the interlude "A Womb Tone".
"Obliterate’s Prayer" has gigantic hooks to obliterate anything in the song's path. "Sewer", at some moments, makes me think of Winds of Plague if the symphonic elements where replaced with industrial ones. "The Argument" has more Godflesh influences, particularly in the chorus. "Cell" is a slower track with spooky-a** ambience. But of course, there are still some riff bombs set to f***ing blow you apart.
There's more sorrow in the still chaotic "Disintegrate". Then "A Palimpsest" is one more ominous interlude. "Tabula Rasa" can slice through you like a razorblade in brutal hellfire. A twisted addictive way to head out! And once the chaos stops, you might just feel up to replaying these killer 45 minutes.
Barely anyone can listen to Flesh is Heir everyday, but it can be easy for me to do so. It's pure twisted rage from the deathly depths of Hell that lets you think of the bleak state of humanity. The album flows so well and even the highlights can fit well with one another. It's so heavy that you can feel it like a nuclear asteroid explosion and still live. One of the most brutal offerings in extreme industrial metal!
Favorites: "Flesh is Heir", "Teeth", "Obliterate’s Prayer", "The Argument", "Disintegrate", "Tabula Rasa"