When I discovered Tomb Mold back in 2018, it was only the beginning of my discovery of old school death metal. And while I still think that Planetary Clairvoyance is a very good piece of music, it has lot a lot of favour with me in the years since. And you can probably guess at this point as to why that is: 20 Buck Spin. On the laundry lists of albums to drop in the OSDM style out of that record label, a large portion of them are very familiar and don't have nearly enough to separate them. 

However, alongside the recent VoidCeremony album earlier this year, Tomb Mold have gone hard into the progressive songwriting techniques. And this change in style has resulted in The Enduring Spirit, which gives the band a more unique sound, but unfortunately falters in places that have come to be expected in progressive metal in the present.

For Tomb Mold, their cosmic concepts to previous albums has carried over into The Enduring Spirit, and now you can hear the spatial elements, not just in the words, but also the instrumentals themselves. As "Will of Whispers" and "Servants of Possibility" both have clean guitar leads with reverb interspersed amongst the pummeling death metal. I also noticed that Tomb Mold have many more technical passages on display with its heavy use of the blast beat. I figured that these two styles would be at odds with one another and that did turn out to be the case; one moment you're being drifted away by lovely atmospheric passages, only to be bombarded with blast beats, unintelligible lyrics, and blistering guitar solo. 

On its own, this is an issue that persists throughout progressive music; where individual songs feel like two (or more) isolated ideas forced together in order to boost up those song lengths. It does not happen too often on The Enduring Spirit, but it is noticeable, especially on the album closer, "The Enduring Spirit of Calamity". The song begins as any other Tomb Mold song on the album does, before slowing down into a post-metal instrumental with a guitar solo lead instead of a vocal motif. On their own, they don't seem like bad ideas, but when hammered together, they don't feel complimentary. And serving as the albums eleven (11) minute closer kind of feels like a disappointment. Otherwise, the remaining six (6) tracks can be hit or miss, but Tomb Mold show some restraint by not allotting more time to these ideas than they would on previous albums. The record does flow smoothly and Tomb Mold do not feel as if they are running out of gas by the time "The Enduring Sprit of Calamity" arrives.

This change of direction for Tomb Mold comes with its fair share of positives, but also some net negatives as well. While the album is more diverse and unique in comparison to the wide array of OSDM acts I've heard in recent years (most of them on the 20 Buck Spin label), it also has to play into some very tired progressive metal tropes that I am not a fan of to begin with. I can see those who are more familiar with Tomb Mold's older style of death metal really enjoying this, but those looking to approach this from a purely progressive angle might find it more frustrating.

Best Songs: The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura), Will of Whispers, Servants of Possibility, Fate's Tangled Thread

San Francisco-based heavy metal legends Metal Church have been a part of my life since way back when I was in my very early teenage years with their 1989 third album “Blessing In Disguise” being my entry point to the band. My introduction came through the inclusion of opening track “Fake Healer” on a late-night underground metal radio program I used to listen to religiously while recording it for repeat listens during the coming week. That experience would lead to me exploring all three of Metal Church’s 1980’s albums during the next few months, all of which I got some level of enjoyment out of. With my life-long obsession with a more extreme brand of metal just kicking off at the time though, I’d opt not to follow Metal Church into the 1990’s & have heard very little of the eleven subsequent full-lengths they’ve released since 1989. I did enjoy the tracks I heard from their 1991 fourth record “The Human Factor” back in the day but never committed to giving the album a comprehensive review while the only other experience I’ve had with Metal Church has come through their 1981 “Red Skies” demo which I found to be decidedly average. Around seven or eight years ago though, the Metal Academy podcast saw me returning to Metal Church’s self-titled debut for an in-depth historical review & I found it to be a less consistent record than I remembered it to be although it’s highlights were nothing short of mind-blowing. I revisited 1986’s “The Dark” sophomore album only a few months ago &, once again, found it to lack the impact it had during my youth. Both are certainly entertaining records in their own right but I can’t say that I class either of them as being essential these days which leads me back to where I started with Metal Church i.e. their 1989 third full-length “Blessing In Disguise”.

Metal Church had undergone a couple of fairly major line-up changes in the three years since “The Dark” with front man David Wayne & founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof having been replaced by Heretic vocalist Mike Howe & Blind Illusion axeman John Marshall (who was famously also James Hetfield’s guitar technician). Drug addiction had gotten the better of Wayne & there are conflicting reports as to whether he quit in order to focus on his rehabilitation or was fired by the remaining band members but he’d go on to form Seattle thrash metal outfit Reverend the following year. Vanderhoof had decided to put all of his time into learning how to produce & engineer records but would remain a part of the Metal Church family in some capacity as he’d continue to contribute to the song-writing despite no longer being a full-time member of the band. Both would return as full-time members of Metal Church almost a decade later in 1998.

Metal Church’s label Elektra Records would engage producer Terry Date for the “Blessing In Disguise” sessions. Terry had produced Metal Church’s highly praised 1984 self-titled debut album & had also handled the engineering duties for “The Dark” so one would imagine that he was almost a part of the furniture by that point. He was also accumulating a pretty decent production resume that already included Fifth Angel’s self-titled & Liege Lord’s “Master Control”, both of which are considered to be minor US power metal classics these days. “Blessing In Disguise” doesn’t sound quite as good as you’d imagine it might though to be honest. Metal Church would certainly have benefited from a thicker, chunkier guitar tone & I’m not the biggest fan of the snare sound either. There’s also a fair bit of variation in sound between the various tracks which is a little bit dodgy. These production issues aren’t a deal breaker by any means but they’re worth mentioning nonetheless as I think “Blessing In Disguise” could have been a fair bit better if it was presented with a heavier aesthetic.

The tracklisting kicks off in massive style with the before-mentioned “Fake Healer” being an all-time classic of the US power metal movement in my opinion. Powerful new front man Howe makes an immediate impact & proves himself to not only be a match for Wayne but to possess a potency that Wayne would struggle to match. Howe sounds noticeably more epic & reminds me of some of the bigger voices in metal like WASP’s Blackie Lawless or Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch. In fact, I’d suggest that he’s one of my all-time favourite heavy metal singers so his acquisition can only be deemed to be positive as far as I’m concerned. Unfortunately though, the remaining eight tracks struggle to meet the same stratospheric levels as “Fake Healer” but that doesn’t stop the album from achieving a new-found consistency that was missing on either of the two previous records, both of which suffered from a couple of duds. The first two thirds of the tracklisting are particularly solid with the quality dropping a touch over the back end. Other than the prestigious opener, some of the highlights include “Badlands”, “Rest in Pieces (April 15, 1912)”, “Of Unsound Mind” & “The Spell Can’t Be Broken”.

Stylistically, “Blessing In Disguise” is the very definition of US power metal sound with the tracklisting being a combination of heavy metal, power metal, thrash metal & speed metal. Interestingly, I find the couple of faster, more thrashy tunes (“It’s A Secret” & “Cannot Tell A Lie”) to be some of the least impressive inclusions which is out of line with my taste profile. It’s worth noting though that, as with both of Metal Church’s previous albums, any attempts to tag this record as a genuine thrash or speed metal release are overly ambitious as there is far more of a classic heavy metal vibe going on here. The thrash/speed metal material represents more of a changeup than anything.

I dunno how much to put down to my preference for Howe’s vocals but I can’t help but find “Blessing In Disguise” to be my favourite Metal Church record these days. Perhaps nostalgia has played a role in that position given that it was my introduction to the band at such a young age? It’s certainly possible but I suspect not. I just think those first couple of albums suffered from some inconsistencies in quality while this one seems to have overcome that issue. If you’re into American bands like Flotsam & Jetsam, Savatage & Vicious Rumors then “Blessing In Disguise” should be essential listening.

I think it’s fair to say that my experiences with Houston-based US power metal outfit Helstar’s 1980’s releases have been a bit of a mixed bag up until now. My initial impressions of them weren’t particularly positive after reviewing their 1984 debut album “Burning Star” for the Metal Academy podcast many years ago but I can certainly see a lot more potential in them after checking out 1988’s highly regarded “A Distant Thunder” third album last month which has left me wondering whether their supposedly classic 1989 fourth album “Nosferatu” might be the one to hit a home run for me. Let’s find out.

A level of stability can only a good thing for a band that’s building towards something significant & Helstar have certainly benefited from a bit of that with “Nosferatu” not only seeing them returning with the same lineup that was so successful for them on “A Distant Thunder” but also with the same producer in Metal Blade’s prolific house engineer Bill Metoyer. Bill had built up quite the resume by that point in his career with his long list of production achievements now including the likes of Trouble’s “Psalm 9” & “The Skull”, Flotsam & Jetsam’s “No Place For Disgrace” & Sacred Reich’s “Surf Nicaragua” among many others so he’d become a significant asset for label head Brian Slagel at the time. Bill’s done a splendid job at harnessing the nuances of Helstar’s sound here too with the band possessing a potent metallic edge but also the clarity to make out every bell & whistle they throw at the listener & there are more than a few of those.

To be more specific, Helstar had always pushed a slightly more complex sound than the majority of their competition but “Nosferatu” is not only the most aggressive release they’d released to the time but it’s also by far & away the most technical & progressive. In fact, it baffles me as to why this album isn’t tagged as progressive metal because it’s clearly ambitious enough for it. Its core sound is the very essence of what the US power metal movement was all about though in that it combines a high-tempo brand of power metal & thrash metal instrumentation with a soaring, operatic & theatrical vocal performance from front man James Rivera (Destiny’s End/Malice/Vicious Rumors/Seven Witches). There’s really very little traditional heavy metal on offer so our current tag is clearly inappropriate, as is the speed metal one because the faster material is better served by the power metal tag given the vocal style & over-the-top performances.

The album is chock-filled with technical flourishes that dazzle the listener as they’re executed with both energy & precision. They can sound a bit fiddly at times though & I definitely find myself more attracted to the thrashier & slightly more simple material. Perhaps that’s got a lot to do with my aversion to the European brand of power metal because “Nosferatu” has a fair bit of crossover in that department. In fact, Rivera’s vocal performance is definitely too theatrical for my taste & represents somewhat of an obstacle for me. It’s hard to be too critical though as the album is just so unapologetically metal & the contributions of the instrumentalists are outstanding with the dual guitar attack of Andre Corbin & Larry Barragan now possessing some mean chops that enable them to pull off some searing, face-melting solos.

Much like “A Distant Thunder”, I found myself enjoying the entire tracklisting here but can’t quite seem to convince myself to reach for my higher scores. This definitely comes down to taste as much as anything as there’s very little doubt that “Nosferatu” is a quality example of its type. Most fans seem to get hot & heated over the start of the record but I find that the tracklisting doesn’t really start to hum until a particularly solid run from tracks six to nine. I think that has something to do with the A side being more power metal-heavy while the proggier & thrashier material tends to come a little later on & is more in line with my taste profile.

I have to admit that I’ve remained fairly oblivious to the vampire themes that apparently pervade the first side of “Nosferatu” which won’t surprise most of our long-term members as I rarely care much for lyrical concepts. Despite that though, the musical themes that the album is pushing are pretty impressive & I’ve found them to give me a touch more enjoyment than I’ve received from either of the earlier Helstar albums I’ve investigated to date. However, I still can’t say that I’m convinced by this particular arm of the US power metal scene as it’s simply too theatrical & over-the-top for me to fully commit to. Give this record a snarlier thrash singer & I’d likely be all-in though. That said, Agent Steel, Liege Lord & Sanctuary fans will be absolutely all over this record, particularly if they also enjoy the more progressive end of the US power metal spectrum.

Ah, this is my kind of music. I love the more folksy side of black metal. Or should I say, I still prefer my music folk and traditional then I do music considered black. Giving a black metal edge to my black metal is perfectly acceptable, and here is done really well in Windir. This is more than just an atmosphere album, there's a story they're telling and though I don't quite understand the lyrics I can tell it's a story of their ancestors or at least the folk lore stories of their region probably into Viking lore with even slight leanings into Viking metal. With most black metal I get a vibe of cold, depression, sadness, some anger, and other similar feelings. While this album has all that, there is an underlying story here instead of vague poetry sung with an emotional attachment this has generations of history put into this with their traditions to be spread and praised. Gives me more of an appreciation when listening and enjoyment. Something I will go back to, and experience again and again. Not the best album I have heard but absolutely one of the best, maybe a bit too much on the black metal side of things that in my biased opinion kept the true traditions fully coming through and realized but I can't really fault it as it still is better than almost anything in a similar aspect.

After recently rating and reviewing "Nattestid ser porten vid...", I of course noticed that Taake released this new album here in 2023. The two albums are both black metal, but this one really has a heavy metal guitar in this one, I really enjoyed the riffs here more so than in the earlier album and everything else comes off as more mature and experienced. You can tell the songwriting had more experience put into it, and I think for being almost 25 years you can hear the difference but the soul of the music is still here.