Saxy S's Reviews
I was fortunate enough to get on board with VOLA right out of the gate in 2015 with their debut LP Inmazes. That was an album that displayed a new group attempting to blend the technical prowess of Djent and combine it with fairly accessible alternative metal tones and hooks that really fascinated me. Unfortunately this momentum may have been short lived, and even though the follow-up record, Applause Of A Distant Cloud and the new LP Witness are still quite solid albums, it does tend to fall into some very tired trends in modern progressive metal.
The synth work is jittery throughout the album, alternating between being very frontal and tinny on “These Black Claws” and “Head Mounted Sideways”, to being implemented quite well on “24 Light-Years” amongst the open chordal guitar accompaniment. The bass work is not revolutionary, but its presence does make the tracks feel a little more full, especially on the mid album ballad “Freak”, but on other instances, most notably “These Black Claws” once again as well as “Stone Leader Falling Down”, the bass lines seem like an afterthought and are not balanced as well with the down tuned guitars.
The hooks on this record are quite pretty, continuing a trend that VOLA have had since their debut. “Straight Lines”, “24 Light-Years” and especially “Napalm” have simple but very effective melodic motifs and are complimented well by some progressive compositions; not so much with whipping between time signatures but rather less emphasis on the strong beats in a traditional common time.
If anything I can give credit to VOLA for consistency and having a very good idea and rolling with it...and that has worked out for them up to this point. But those of us who have heard this sound before know that it is getting tiresome at this point, and VOLA are going to need to experiment further in order to maintain relevance on subsequent releases.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
The Uroboros (or as it is typically referred to in the English language as "Ouroboros") is the image of a snake swallowing its own tail as a symbol of the infinite; an object with no discernable start or end point. I think that from a completely compositional standpoint, Dir en Grey's classic 2008 album has a significant problem where it tries to swallow more than it can physically chew. This band who began as an alternative rock/metal band with elements of nu-metal decided to go off the rails with this album and create something that has influences from so many different places: thrash metal, visual kei, death metal, industrial music, and compositions that borrow a lot from progressive and avant-garde music. That alone might make one question whether or not this belongs under the alternative metal tag at all!
While there may be some elements that resemble funk and post-hardcore, this album feels nothing like any of those genre representations. They feel more like temporary passing elements on what I can only assume the band perceives as a conceptual musical journey. And it all felt so jarring to me! What it reminded me of the most was last years album I Let It In And It Took Everything by English based Loathe, even if to a lesser extent. With that album, it tried to split the difference between pummeling metalcore and Deftones-esque shoegaze. And the strangest part of all is that I enjoyed that shoegaze/alternative metal sound more than the hardcore stuff! I think Uroboros falls into a lot of the same jurisdictions for me. Songs like "Toguro" and "Bugaboo" are wonderful displays of how progressive music can be made "accessible". The later of those being quite significant since it has a riff that is almost a blatant flip of Dirt era Alice In Chains!
But the rest of it? I could care less! The album starts off on terrible footing with the extended "Vinushka", an extended wank fest with no direction. That carried into "Red Soil" and "Doukoku To Sarinu" before collecting themselves and actually creating a decent hook/groove for "Toguro". "Gaika, Chinmoku Ga Nemurukoro" is a straight up death metal song before "Dozing Green" and "Inconvenient Ideal" brings back some of that visual kei and gothic trends. If that sounds like a lot to digest...it's because it is. And while most of it is produced well, the significantly heavier stuff does have a big problem of highlighting the percussion bass drum rather than the fundamental bass parts.
I would assume that if you appreciate progressive/avant-garde music as much as I do, this constant genre swapping might not bother you as much as many others. But for those approaching this as another Dir En Grey album are going to be alarmed by the balancing act. But that still isn't going to keep me from pointing out all of the inconsistencies in both the songwriting as well as production throughout. This will certainly serve as a "find the songs you like" album for most, but the good stuff is of such top quality that it still sees Uroboros sinking further between the teeth.
Genres: Alternative Metal Avant-Garde Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2008
Where do I start when talking about The Gathering? In terms of gothic metal coming out of the mid to late 1990s, they are one of the groups frequently left behind in a slew of male fronted bands like My Dying Bride, Type O Negative and Paradise Lost. It certainly shouldn't be the case when you consider Anneke van Giersbergen is a truly magnificent voice in gothic metal, as well as the many guest appearances throughout the years in both power metal and progressive metal. And the sound of this album helped influence some of my favourite gothic/doom metal albums of all time, such as Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity with its heavy use of darkwave.
And what we end up with on Mandylion is a solid display of control. Anneke could have easily played the "I'm a woman in metal" card and gone for the bombastic, symphonic vocals of Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel that were used two years later on Enter, but rather we have a plainspoken delivery that sounds blunt and bleak, while still allowing for copious amounts of technical proficiency. And what's backing her up? A well balanced, heavily focused doom metal palette that does go heavy on the texture and atmospherics rather than hook or melody, but they are produced with convincing presence and a forward thinking bass line that prevents these sections from becoming played out and uninteresting.
In addition, the songwriting helps with memorability as well. Mandylion is one of the most forward thinking, progressive doom metal albums of the 1990s that I can recall. And yet it features some of the most infectious melodic drives of any of the great 90s doom/gothic metal albums. Anneke's plainspoken delivery makes these songs feel down to earth, as opposed to the bombast of Within Temptation. The drives are simple and match the lyrical content quite well, and many of these songs have a well constructed form making them feel well worth their extended runtimes, especially "Leaves" and "In Motion #2".
In the end, The Gathering are more of a band that I respect more than I like. I will not deny that the quality of Mandylion is very good with its great production and forward thinking songwriting, but I have heard plenty of 2000s and beyond gothic/doom metal that takes the quality of this record and expands upon it. For me, I see this more as a redemption after reviewing (and not very much liking mind you) Within Temptation's debut gothic metal album a couple of years later. I do like this sound and it can be done well. And The Gathering are one of the early influencers of a sound that I really enjoy and respect tremendously.
Genres: Gothic Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1995
Being a fan of progressive metal was a incredibly weird time during the early 2010s. As djent was beginning to be popularized by bands like Animals As Leaders, After the Burial, and Born of Osiris, I found a lot of it to be less engaging. On one hand, you ended up with highly technical music that lacked memorable structures like hooks and melody, and on the other was something that was closer resembling metalcore/deathcore, which... lacked memorable structures like hooks and melody.
I became aware of this new wave of progressive djent in 2010 after discovering what was, for the time, my new favourite band: Periphery. The key here is the record label; Sumerian Records were about to hit on all cylinders to fire out as many metalcore/deathcore and progressive djent bands that they could in a relatively short period of time. Born of Osiris had already established themselves with The New Reign and were about to take the next step in making their sound more progressive. And the end result was something of value, but could have been refined.
For starters, Born of Osiris are clearly influencing Rings of Saturn with some of the technical passages complimented by dissonant guitar leads with pinch harmonics, as well as the spatial passages on songs like "Singularity". As a result, this brand of deathcore is just as technically proficient as the kind of tech-death giants that Rings of Saturn are, while the breakdown passages split the difference between just regular metalcore breakdowns, and the sort of tonal dissonance that one expects from deathcore. Personally, I prefer the passages in which the breakdowns are complimented by some sort of synth lead that is overlaid on top of the metalcore breakdown, which is reminiscent of a band like August Burns Red. However, most of the time, the breakdown is the feature and while they can be quite heavy, they lack substance beyond "breakdown".
As I said before, the songwriting is very reminiscent of early Rings of Saturn with the technical proficiency in the guitars (as well as some percussion). And while the mixing is quite nice, it does fall into many of the same traps that Sumerian albums continuously fell into during the early 2010s. Most notably, the overabundance of guitar in the mix absolutely diminishes the bass, with the lone exception being the mini solo break on the closer "Behold". And while I feel it would be stupid to mention such a thing, given this is what all of this kind of metalcore sounds like, I cannot help but feel let down when the guitar breakdowns are a lot less bass-y than you would expect.
It all makes for a messy album that still has some good moments, but are bogged down by bad production, and my general displeasure for this type of metalcore music. The album runs far too long and does not have nearly enough memorable moments throughout the track listing to make The Discovery anything more than a blip of the radar. It's influence would be significant however, so I can at least be thankful for that.
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 2011
I was surprised by this new Spectral Lore album at first. When I listened to their collaboration with Mare Cognitum last year with Wanderers, Spectral Lore were clearly going for a more spatial and comforting style of atmospheric black metal that was complementary to Mare Cognitum’s contributions that were heavier and faster. Imagine how I felt right out of the gate with all of these heavier blast beat percussion parts and strong tremolo picking guitars.
And this is a sound that would persist throughout the rest of the album. I will admit it does feel a little safe around the start of “Apocalypse”, but it does compliment well with some solid production. The songwriting is top notch; the way in which Spectral Lore is able to craft songs that are elongated and yet still retain a strong level of interconnectivity throughout is commendable. The opener “Ατραπός” starts off with the aformentioned heavier sounds of blast beats and tremolo picking guitars, then after a short break, the tremolo picking returns with slower percussion, followed by more soaring guitar leads. This all works together to create something that works well and warrants its twelve-and-a-half minute runtime. I also like the subtle key change that takes place on “The Sorcerer Above The Clouds”.
Sonically, Spectral Lore borrows clean guitar tones straight out of the more post-metal elements of recent Tool records, the more distorted elements hit with authority, but are also restrained enough as to not hinder the excellent low end and the independence of the bass lines. Much like a Mare Cognitum album, the vocals do feel like an afterthought in the mix, as they seem to be left towards the back behind the guitar leads. When this album is at its worst is when the steady percussion starts to fall off the tracks with the rhythm and lead guitars; at points this record will start to go off kilter and the tempos won’t match up. This is most notable throughout “The Golden Armor” when even the vocals cannot find beat one.
The atmospheric closer “Terean” is a nice touch following the high intensity of six tracks that precede it. It allows for the listener to reflect on the great atmospheric black metal they just experienced and perhaps work up the strength to go another round.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
Some more black metal, this time from a group from Montreal, QC and playing into some of the more melodic traits of the genre, while still maintaining a high level of aggression and intensity throughout these six songs. And while I do find some of the melodies on this record to sound very nice, they don't vary too much from other songs throughout the rest of the album. Many of them maintain the same tempo, use the same tremolo picking patterns in the guitar (usually in the same octave as well), nonstop blast beat percussion and some solid vocals all around. Outside of a handful of moments, most notably on the closer "Diabolic Immanence", a lot of this record feels like comfortable melodic death metal; good melodic death metal mind you, just very pedestrian. I get the same feeling whenever I listen to a Mgła album. Take that for what it's worth.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
There is a lot to like coming out of this new wave of technical death metal during the 2020s. It's nice to hear that artists have finally decided to start writing full songs rather than just limited fragments half heartedly spliced together for dramatic whiplash effect. I like how bands have begun incorporating more avant-garde songwriting structures to their music as an additional layer of technical demand. And I really appreciate how much more important bass lines have become, and how independence from the chugging guitar riffs opens up the music to many more possibilities as to where it can go in the future.
And so, this new tech-death duo, Turris Eburnea, are doing what they can do to continue the legacy that has been left behind by bands like Gorguts and Dead Congregation. And I rather enjoy this sludgier, almost post-metal hybrid of extreme technical death metal that sees the band using more guitar leads and well established bass lines, complimenting the chugging rhythm guitars and moving percussion parts. Some of this album resonates in the same way as Ulcerate did last year with Stare Into Death and Be Still. So much so that I could have sworn some of the atmospheric parts of the instrumental "Syncretism Incarnate" were taken directly out of that playbook. The vocals feel a lot less developed and further alienated to the back of the mix on these songs though.
Compositions are quite solid. The opener "Unified Fields" has a unique blend of interconnectivity between its moving parts and doesn't feel like it's being overstuffed with ideas. This carries further into "Cotard Delusion" and the instrumental "Syncretism Incarnate". The closer, "Malachite Mountains" is the the closest to a traditional tech-death song this EP gets and it sounds fine with many of the elements discussed earlier. I just found it to be a little less memorable.
But overall, if I were to call this technical death metal, I feel like I would be being disingenuous. Some might see that comparison and make unfair comparisons. This is avant-garde tech death with an apparent attention to melody that should be commended. I don't know how much more of this I would have been able to tolerate, so the fact that it is a relatively short EP, it gets some bonus points for that as well.
Genres: Death Metal
Format: EP
Year: 2021
There comes a time in every musicians career where they hit a proverbial brick wall in their compositions and their fans begin to turn on them before they become a legacy act. It happened to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Anthrax, and even more so recently with a band like Mastodon. In many cases, the pivot happens when a band begins to commercialize their sound for a wider audience. Never has this been more true than the undeserved levels of vitriol that Metallica received with the self titled album from 1991 and the rest of their 90s work.
The same can be said for Dream Theater. The legendary progressive metal act is responsible for three of the genres most essential albums, even if they are not among the best in the subgenre. Following the bands great 2002 album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, the band quickly returned to the studio to record the follow-up, Train of Thought, which was released within the next calendar year! And at this point, I already had my suspicions about this album: the rollout for this album was far too short and abbreviated for it to possibly be as good (or better) than last years Six Degrees right?
Well, this is the album that led me on the path towards despising this band for quite a few years during the 2000s. As I mentioned briefly in my review for the bands 2019 album Distance Over Time, when this band became "the" progressive metal band, they stopped trying to bend the rules, and this album is exhibit A.
And here's the thing: Dream Theater were at the very least trying to fit in with the cool kids during the early 2000s, without digging into the absolute doldrums that was nu-metal at the time. But to be honest, the nu-metal elements don't even feel that significant! There might be an occasional faux rap verse on "This Dying Soul" or "Endless Sacrifice", but these are mostly in passing and only help break up the monotony that is, not just some of Dream Theater's least interesting songwriting of their careers, but also some of the most generic sounding progressive metal of the time.
This is certainly not helped by the production sounding really cheesy. Much of Mike Portnoy's drums sound thin, the guitar leads are nowhere near as memorable as the highlights from Six Degrees, and James LaBrie's vocals sound a lot less polished and generally flat throughout this record, an issue that has plagued even recent DT albums. Obviously you can't expect LaBrie to continue to sing the belting lines that existed on Images and Words as well as Awake, but even by those standards, I don't feel like their is a lot of heart going into these melodies. The album's lone saving grace is the bass work from John Myung; while the aforementioned drums feel thin, the bass does a lot of heavy lifting in carrying a lot of John Petrucci's lead guitar parts. Oh yeah, and Jordan Rudess decided to pick the absolute worst sounding synthesizers for his keyboard throughout the bands entire discography!
And where did the hooks go? "Stream of Consciousness" might have decent guitar lead as well as "This Dying Soul", but so much of this album is just not as sticky as what DT are capable of! Like who the fuck wanted to hear DT play "In the Name of God", a watered down progressive groove metal song? It feels lifeless and empty despite the fact that it is probably one of this albums least technical songs. Oh, did I mention that "Stream of Consciousness" is also a straight instrumental? Yeah, the best song on a Dream Theater album is the instrumental!
All of this is based on the assumption that Dream Theater are the quintessential progressive metal band; there is an entire branch of progressive metal that sole purpose is to try and recreate Images and Words. As the name suggests, these guys should be pushing boundaries within heavy metal music, not maintaining status quo for almost a decade. Train of Thought feels like a watered down version of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and what's even worse is that even Dream Theater knows it, so much so that they released Six Degrees again in 2005 under the pseudonym Octavarium.
And with all of that being said, I still can't call this DT's worst album. That honour belongs to Systematic Chaos from 2007, as it shows us a band that does not give a shit about their own music and created something that was formulaic and generic; quite the task for a progressive metal album! I give Train of Thought at least a little bit of credit for trying to do something creative and unique on the surface, but it is literally just surface level changes. St. Anger might be the equivalent of a musical dookie, but it is Death Magnetic that wreaks of non-effort. Let me know when DT are back to making soulful music again.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2003
Why do I get the feeling that Total Annihilation are Kreator marks? One only needs to look at the cover art for the bands 2020 album ...on Chains of Doom and they will find immediate callbacks to the great Kreator output of the 2010s (Phantom Antichrist and Gods of Violence). And then the album starts and the comparisons continue into the music itself. And I've never been opposed to worship like this, as long as the artist in question does enough to separate themselves from their influences.
Total Annihilation have a much heavier sound in general with huge riffage and pure harsh vocals instead of the hybrid vocals of Mike Petrozza. They are also not as strong songwriters as Kreator. It has its moments for sure; songs like "Dead Souls", "...On Chains of Doom" and the closer "Black Blood" are well constructed with more than enough unique ideas that keep each track interesting, as well as making the pure thrash sections more efficient. Beyond that though, I did not find that much that separated "Reborn in Flesh" from "Iron Coffin" to "Tunnelratten".
The album sounds nice. Production is fairly solid throughout even if the bass/rhythm guitar independence is lacking. Bass drum is not overproduced, guitar solos are sparse, but have a significant impact when they appear, the vocals are pummeling with force and while this is still a thrash album, the riffing is not the main focus of those tracks. The rhythm guitar does sound a little tinny at times, but the bass gives it life.
Overall, I think that ...on Chains of Doom is a respectable thrash metal album in the 2020s. It has some positive moments that make it stand out from its influences, the production is mostly solid, and the intensity is there. But beyond that, too often do I listen to this and think "Wow, this is something that Kreator would have left on the cutting room floor five years ago!" And while I'm sure this is inevitably my negative bias towards modern thrash metal, it still does not excuse the fact that I can't tell this album apart from Phantom Antichrist at least half of the time.
Genres: Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
As I sure is prominent by my listening history as well as my reviews of atmospheric black metal in the past, I am typically drawn in towards the more nature and folk inspired stylings of a Panopticon or Saor. But I was thoroughly impressed by Mare Cognitum last year when I reviewed their Wanderers collaboration with Spectral Lore, which focused more on the spatial part of the ABM tag. So I made a concerted effort to listen to more from Mare Cognitum in the future.
And what I found was some very solid atmospheric black metal, which includes this, the newest album. Much of the time I have found that most of my extreme metal preferences have been towards the slower side, allowing for the melodies to take center stage. Mare Cognitum has some technically impressive foundations, but the melodies and grooves are still heavily prominent; a feat very seldom achieved in extreme metal.
The sound of this album is very pretty as well. Even though all of these songs start with a very distorted guitar which do not sound pleasant, the bass entrance fixes the guitar mixing and the rest of these songs can proceed splendidly. The album's obvious standout is “Luminous Accretion” in the way in which the song is able to grow (subtly), the vocals and guitar leads are balanced and the stickiness of the guitar lead is not that far removed from a Saor project.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album does not have the same infectiousness. While songs like “Antaresian” and “Frozen Star Divinization” sound massive and epic, they do tend to run on a little too long, and in the case of the former, has to fade out because even Jacob Buczarski does not know how to finish it! I would say that the album’s weakest moment is “Terra Requiem”, not because it is bad; I quite enjoyed the change of pace placed right in the middle of this record, but because the return of the blast beats and change of pace during its second half do not feel rewarding or well prepared.
So while I did enjoy this quite a bit, I would be hard pressed to call this excellent. With the exception of one great track, much of this record just runs together for me. Still, this is high quality atmospheric black metal that balances the extremity with the melodic very well.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
I have never paid very much attention to bands like Architects, even if the majority of people that I know in metalcore spaces absolutely adore this band. I cannot truthfully say that anything I have heard from Architects to be abhorrent, but most of it just never stuck with me by comparison. That said, when I listened to their 2018 album Holy Hell, I was struck by how much passion was put into the music after the death of one of their integral songwriters. It really felt like this group could have written that album as a swansong and I’m not sure many of my friends would have complained.
That being said, when I heard the backlash from those same people surrounding their newest album, For Those That Wish To Exist, I was surprised to say the least. So I gave it a listen and… I don’t get it.
Oh I get where the anger comes from. For a band that has developed such a devoted fanbase, for them to go full on Bring Me The Horizon with their alternative, electronic leaning timbre that is not entirely devoid, but certainly limited metalcore roots, it would be a slap in the face to some. But as someone who was never a big fan of Architects in the first place, this is an entirely serviceable alternative metal pivot for the band, with many of the issues that similar bands have faced for decades.
Production wise, while the kick is far less prominent in the songwriting, the mixing has been blown up almost as compensation for slower moving parts. Many of the choruses on this album feel like they are about to fade out, but are followed by a typical melo-core breakdown. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first, but after the third time hearing it, it must have been added on purpose and it sounds disorienting.
While some of the songs sound decent, most notably “Giving Blood”, “Demi God” and probably “Dead Butterflies”, the lack of a bass independence from the rhythm guitar continues to infuriate me. And Sam Carter’s vocals are far less passionate than the last record as well. I guess I cannot count on the singer to have the same voice they did four/five years ago, but they still feel unpolished. Oli Sykes sounded better on That’s The Spirit and neither of these performances live up to the heights of Chester Bennington on Meteora.
On the surface, Architects are taking the steps to make their sound not only more accessible, but also sustainable. Sam Carter is not going to be able to record “Doomsday” for every song for the rest of their life. And while there may be glimmers of quality here, it is still relaxed enthusiasm from me. This is getting dangerously close to sounding like generic hard rock/heavy metal music, and I hope Architects can get off that path before it’s too late.
Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
Not being the biggest fan of this style of metalcore, let’s breeze through this one really quick: For Your Health pulls upon the brashness of Converge’s mathcore leanings while using really short song structures to create a hellacious atmosphere that closes in on you in record time. There is practically no room to breathe on this LP and plays into its benefit among its emo and hyperviolence themes. But the guitars and vocals lack presence and are cascaded beneath the drums. To be honest, when my personal favourite track is the instrumental “If Anybody Asks We’re Already Fucked”, I think it just goes to show how much of this sound I can tolerate.
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 2021
On the surface, I understand why bands like Ignited take the safe route and write music that is indebted to traditional heavy metal bands like Judas Priest and Overkill. These are legendary acts with legendary albums; Painkiller and The Years of Decay respectfully, are not just great heavy metal albums, but also some of the best albums of their respective years. And so, it becomes an easy sell for those who grew up with that music, or the younger generation who were educated on the history of metal through these iconic acts.
Steelbound is that with almost no development whatsoever. Most of this album sounds like it could have been written for a late era album by one those bands like Ironbound or Firepower. I don't understand why Ignited play this plainspoken without any development of the sound in question, in order to make it their own. Heavy metal in the most traditional sense of the word has become remarkably stagnant in the last decade, and it's albums like this that prove it.
The songwriting feel formulaic and everything involved in that songwriting is paint by numbers: Denis Lima's belting vocals, the riffing in the guitar feel played out, and the song structures follow very static verse/chorus/bridge/solo formulas. The riffs are okay, the vocals and guitar solos are impressive without becoming over-indulgent, and some of the choruses are fairly catchy. That being said, I once again hear too many similarities to a band like Judas Priest instead of a sound that takes influence and transforms it into something unqiue.
And you know what? All of that could be forgiven if the production was decent. But what we end up with is a lifeless mix in which I wonder if the bass player (Sama Benedet) even had their amplifier turned on. I'm sorry, I cannot forgive "Living in the Dark" for giving the guitar a modest lead, only to find out that there is nothing anchoring that guitar lead in place. Meanwhile, "Roaring Gears" has a rhythm guitar chugging riff that is doubled by the bass boosted kick drum, which is usually my biggest issue with death metal records! The riffs on "Steelbound" and "Ignition" feel like they have been taken right out of a groove metal handbook from fifteen years ago. And the overall tinny guitar tone just puts it over the edge for me. No amount of Rob Halford pipes will save this one!
To me, Steelbound feels like an album that was created by a bunch of dads who could never get into the new trends of traditional heavy metal. So they decided to make an album under the guise of "hey fellow dads! Are you sick of all of these new popular trends in metal? You want something that is old school?" Their description for this album on Bandcamp reads "...straightforward with captivating and powerful songs!" It's straightforward alright! To the point of unrecognizable. Even Judas Priest's worst albums never got this far. You'll be better off sticking to the OG's.
Genres: Heavy Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2019
One of my most surprising releases of 2016 was from Swedish death metal noobs An Abstract Illusion's debut album Illuminate The Path. A band who gave themselves unlimited potential right out of the gate with their blend of progressive death metal meets post-metal/doom/shoegaze. What makes this album stand out just based on those descriptors alone is its uniqueness compared to anything else I've ever heard; it makes comparison points nearly impossible. I would say the closest are bands like early Opeth and Ne Obliviscaris. The way in which this band is able to incorporate complex songwriting while still incorporating a heavily dominant melodic aspect is what you might expect from progressive metal giants. "Abode of a God", "Drop This Planet of Dust" and especially "Vakuum" are wonderful compositions that use elongated song structures and uncommon time signatures to build upon the melodic themes presented as they grow into something truly marvelous.
Like with many of my favourite acts in the blackgaze genre, the use of space and atmospheric shoegaze portions give space and genuine cool down before the death metal guttural screams and blast beats return and they genuinely hit with remarkable impact. All you have to do is listen to the incredible intro "Breathe Create Beauty" to experience this euphoria in such a short amount of time, in comparison to the rest of the album. Some of the synth tone choices I'm not the biggest fan of, and from a pure production standpoint, the drums are quite loud overall and it does take away in portions from the excellent bass lines that are flowing through this record.
I remember hearing this album for the first time and being blown away by the pure musicianship on display. Illuminate The Path sounds like an album that was written by decade long veterans in death metal; quite impressive considering this is the bands debut LP! This branch of progressive metal should not be surprising to anyone following the impressive rise of post-metal/blackgaze of the 2010s and being able to witness it used over the stylings of melodic death metal is is very cool.
Genres: Death Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2016
I was not surprised in the slightest when Animals as Leaders' name was mentioned by fellow students when I was in post-secondary school back in 2010/2011. This was a group that were about to break out in a big way during the 2010s and their blend of progressive metal meets jazz fusion, complete with complex song structures was something that not only made sense, but also fit right in with the type of jazz music that was becoming popular at the time, and would later be force-fed into the learning program in later years.
Now let me start off this review by saying this: I never really cared for Animals as Leaders self-titled debut album after albums like Weightless and The Joy of Motion were released. My initial thoughts on this album were that it was too soulless and far more interested in showing off Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes' technical proficiency rather than writing good songs that thoroughly incorporated the technical wankery. This was developed and improved upon further on later releases, in addition to far better production that doesn't sound like it was recorded through a laptop webcam microphone!
I've also never been a huge fan of Djent as a genre. Continuing down the path of technical wankery as opposed to decent songwriting, Djent is more interested in rhythmic proficiency and breakdowns. And while I do respect that to a far greater extent than wankery, it still leaves me with not a lot to talk about. Djent is very much derived from metalcore and my issues with breakdown-centric music is well documented, but Animals as Leaders were at least able to make it fit in places, which is a step up from a band like Meshuggah.
Going back to the self titled debut, many of my issues stand, but I did find it to be more enjoyable than I remember. Tunes like "On Impulse", "Behaving Badly" and "The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing" are well constructed tunes with actual melodic frameworks connecting it all together. "Behaving Badly" and "Cafo" both carry the distinction of using technical wankery as a point of reference to craft good songs that might not have a singable hook per se, but they are certainly recognizable. Unfortunately, these seem to be in the minority on this record, as "Tempting Time", "Tessitura" and "Inamorata" act more as a collaboration of multiple ideas mixed together with no sense of dynamic growth, and feel like they are here for the showmanship. This was fortunately ratified on later albums.
When I look back and I think about some of my favourite progressive metal albums: Blackwater Park, Lateralus, Portal of I, Light of Day, Day of Darkness, I think about how effortless the individual tracks sound on those albums, even though it is obvious that they are far from easy. But from a performance standpoint, the best songs on those albums always feel as if the performers are putting their heart into the music, rather than reading it off of a piece of paper. And it takes a lot of practice to get to that place! To me, Animals as Leaders has always sounded like an album which lacked soul, and was more interested in the technical proficiency in order to wow the audience. Upon revisiting this album, I can safely say that this was not entirely the case because if I didn't revisit this, I probably would have pissed a lot of people off with my score! Like with so many debut albums, this was only for the band to get their feet wet, and the more refined music would come later.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2009
Say what you will about what Entombed would become later on during the 1990s with the innovation of Death 'n' Roll, it was clear from the very beginning that death metal could be made accessible. The bands first two albums were very strong releases in the early stages of the death metal genre. Perhaps a little repetitive in comparison to many of their contemporaries at the time, but Entombed were a band with promise and direction. Songs like the title track, "Revel in Flesh", "But Life Goes On" and the closer "The Truth Beyond" showed us that you could in fact write an infectious death metal riff/hook and not have be relegated to a particular vocal line. As a result, these songs have some well established merit, allowing them to stand outside of the mosh pits where they would no doubt have served a dynamic purpose.
Sure the production does sound quite muddy at times, some of the melodic ideas are repeated throughout the album but not in a conceptual way, and the album does have its moments (i.e. "Morbid Devourment") in which the drastic whiplash effect of time changes invokes my knee-jerk reaction of over-indulgent technicality. But for an early deviation from Slayer and other adjacent thrash metal bands into the early stages of death, Entombed were on the cusp of something great, and were fortunate enough to have other Swedish bands pick up the slack when they diverged into something drastically different.
RIP L-G Petrov
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1990
It would be impossible to talk about the history of death metal without talking about the band in which the genre is practically named for. Death rewrote the death metal playbook before anyone even knew what a "death metal playbook" looked like back in 1991 and nothing was ever the same. Ever since, we have seen the death metal genre get heavier, more technical and frankly, orgasmic to those who like getting their face melted by blistering riffage and destructive vocals. And it helped pave the way for bands like Cryptopsy, Gorguts and Immolation.
But beneath all of that, there was a melodic side to death metal. Mostly hailing from Scandinavia, groups like Dark Tranquility, Edge of Sanity and At The Gates were doing things to the genre making it more accessible to a wider audience. Unfortunately, those artists and their albums are almost never given the same respect that they deserve for their contributions to the death metal genre. And this is mostly due to extreme metal having a superiority complex and how any sort of commercial success is considered "selling out" and those groups are immediately exiled from the club. It is no surprise that fanbases are becoming smaller and more niche seemingly by the day.
So why do I bring all of this up? Well I think it's important in understanding the sound that Mefitis are attempting to placate to on this album. This album is taking a lot of influence from those early death metal albums by Death and Atheist, but focusing on different aspects of the music that have never truly been explored before to create a new type of progressive death metal; one that is free from the clutches of tech death. An album that doesn't care about face melting blast beats, guttural belches and shredding guitar solos.
I have made the argument many times that technical death metal is not equivalent to progressive death metal. No one listens to Opeth's Blackwater Park or Cynic's Focus and thinks "yeah this is really good technical death metal!" And what we have here with Offscourings is a band taking us back in time to the early nineties, but with the knowledge that we have today that was unknown to us thirty years ago. This is not Tomb Mold OSDM; this is a sound that is all their own.
So what does it look like? Well for starters, it's slow. The lead guitars are not far removed from the tremolo picking you get out of a black metal album, but with plenty of that darkened flair. The riffs are seemingly not that dissimilar to an album by bands as recent as Contrarian. I was quite contempt with the lack of a prominent rhythm guitar for huge chugging rhythmic passages and allowing for an independent bass line to carry through, and while it certainly does have its moments, I do find the bass to be a little lackluster in points, most notably during some of the bridge's on songs like "Casting the Sediment". Percussion is hardly booming, and it doesn't have to be. The prominent kick drum and lesser snare may be alarming to some, but it does give it a nostalgic flare for sure.
The vocals may not sound very death metal, but Chuck Schuldiner never had a true low guttural growl during Death's best albums either. They usually persist around the mid register, but occasionally drop down on the closer "Sonstead Blight", almost as if a nod to the future of the subgenre and where death metal vocals would inevitably go in the future.
I read a review on RateYourMusic comparing Mefitis to the romantic pivot of classical music during the 19th century like Franz Liszt or Richard Wagner. But I found this to be more in line with Johannes Brahms. Brahms was a composer who was not comfortable with creating these huge, bombastic pieces that were the continuation of the late Beethoven sound of the 1810-20s. He would not be writing for twelve horns, thirteen percussion instruments and four choruses. Instead, Brahms chose to take Beethoven's "blueprint" and push romanticism with smaller ensembles, while still playing many of the new trends in classical music that were being implemented at the time. Mefitis' Offscourings is the modern equivalent of Johannes Brahms. A death metal album that is in debt to its influences, but is not concerned with the wankery of technical death metal that it spawned. It is very unlikely that this sound will persist long-term, and even less likely to pick up mainstream or underground traction. If you want some truly great progressive death metal in 2021, this is a very good place to start.
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
Here we have some atmospheric black metal from Russia. I found it mostly enjoyable, but much like with Trivium albums, it was a lot harder to enjoy than I would have liked. And it has to do with the lack of independence in the bass lines, or perhaps just poorly mixed all together. While the riffs sound super lush and warm, and the acoustic interludes like “Old Oak” provide the much needed reprieve to some, unfortunately samey black metal, the accordion passages do add some unique flavour, allowing it to stand out during the albums best moments. But because of the lack of bass, I cannot really get into the dynamic swells and hugeness of the soaring black metal passages.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
I wish that I could enjoy Asphyx more than I do. There blend of Death Doom Metal is very different from the stuff that I typically find enjoyable from bands like Swallow The Sun and My Dying Bride; where they use traditional death metal riffage and instrumentation, albeit with slower tempos, fewer thrash adjacent passages and less sweeping melodic phrases. The problem that I have with Asphyx is their consistent use of messy, DIY production and it makes them sound very amateurish. If the band could fix this up, I would have no problem vibing out to them unironically and one of the better displays of "true" Death Doom Metal.
With Necroceros, I have the sneaking suspicion that this group is in the legacy portion of their career, even if I'm not quite sure that they deserve it. I stand by with many of the other reviewers on this website claiming that Asphyx's first two albums: The Rack and Last One on Earth are not as classic as others review base websites claim them to be. They are decent and Necroceros is decent as well, but it falls flat in many of the same ways that previous efforts from this band have for me.
And it's the production, as usual, keeping me from liking this more. Buy a metronome for God's sake! The percussion on this album sounds atrocious! There are countless examples of fading in and out of time, or simply not playing the right time at all! "The Sole Cure is Death" and "Botox Implosion" both have the percussion unable to keep up with the groove during the thrash passages, while songs like "Yield or Die" see the drummer playing in a duple rhythm while the guitar riffing is in triple time. It sounds lazy and disjointed beyond comprehension, and it ruins one of the albums better riffs. I know that some listeners will tell me that this is a death metal record and this is part of the greater appeal, but not like this.
Beyond that, the vocals sound shredded. Look... Martin van Drunen is doing death metal growls into his fifties and that is super impressive, if only for the dedication to the craft. But they do not sound good at all. The raspy vocal timbre does not fit in with the rest of the bands discography, and especially those first two "classic" albums.
Asphyx are at the very least, capable of writing a decent melody and sticking with it. "Molten Black Earth" is an early album standout, while "Three Years of Famine" has the group return to longer song structures, and doing a fairly good job of building and developing themes and connecting them together. I already mentioned the guitar riff on "Yield or Die", and "The Nameless Elite" has one of the better executed Doom to Death connectors that I have heard on a record in recent memory.
What it all boils down to is another Asphyx record. Probably not a great place to step on board if you are new to this group. Go back and check out The Rack and Last One on Earth first, then if you like what you hear, make your way through the discography to Necroceros. But given what I think of those albums already, my opinion is quite jaded. I wanted to like this more.
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
The continued critical success for the duo of The Body is utterly perplexing at this point. This group has been delivering punishing drone metal at a speedy pace for the last ten years and here we have yet another new album from the group, released at the beginning of the year 2021 and I did enjoy this, although I can certainly tell that this record is not tailored for everyone.
For starters, this is not a metal album. I think that the tag of this being metal is more indicative of where the band has been; deriving many of its sounds from industrial and sludge metal. This album is far more electronic, perhaps further exemplifying the industrial tag, but fewer guitars than ever before. Chip King's absurd vocals are still present to the point of inaudibility as the rest of the instrumentals collapse around you in a blown out mix of (and this is a compliment) disgusting plunderphonics and mix clipping. Now, under most circumstances, this would be a net negative, but it is quite obvious that The Body made this album sound this way intentionally. It almost compares almost too well to an album from Lingua Ignota.
Unlike Lingua Ignota, the lyrics and themes don't take very much precedent, but they serve the same purpose. They are shredded beyond repair and feel as if you are being pulled down into the depths of Hell itself. The instrumentals are obtrusive and gross, layered in an almost ridiculous amount of feedback and wub effects and together, they create a homogenized mess that is as hard to pin down as you might expect, but it is immense and brimming with atmosphere.
Now on the downside, I have never been the biggest fan of Drone music even on its best days, so while the album is quite brisk for a drone album (around thirty-eight minutes), I still cannot deny that the constant repetition of ideas from track to track can become redundant, especially when you get to those five minute tracks like "A Pain of Knowing", "The City Is Shelled" and "Path of Failure". In addition, while I do appreciate the atmosphere that is on display, the blown out electronics in the mix is a little overwhelming for my taste. I liken it to the kind of shit you get out of a Bubblegum Bass record, but at least they have the decency to toss in a cleaner passage every once in a while.
But that would be taking away from the overall appeal of an album like this. So while The Body have found a sound that speaks to them, and they can do it without collaborators, they can make this obtrusive mix work. However, having never been a big fan of these sounds in the first place, I do have to be a little bit tentative in my recommendation. It really isn't for me, but it does sound good for what it's worth, and that's all I need to see.
Genres: Drone Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
Moonsorrow are among an elite group of artists across any genre of music that I can honestly say have shown great maturity into their later years. This group around the mid 1990s as a fairly decent pagan black metal band who occasionally delved deep into soaring song construction associated with the atmospheric side of black metal. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Moonsorrow refined their sound and gave it more progressive elements and would essentially place themselves firmly in my wheelhouse when it comes to my favourite styles of black metal. What I am basically saying is...my very unique appreciation for black metal is attributed in large part thanks to Moonsorrow.
I discovered them in 2011 with the record Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa which I view as the culmination of their sound, and one of the best albums in all of that year. Most of the general consensus among fans is that Verisäkeet is the tops, but very few people talk about V: Hävitetty. This record is a daunting one; only two tracks, but both eclipse twenty-five minute runtimes. Of course, most Moonsorrow fans should not be surprised by this since they have always engaged in ten minute plus endeavours. And with this? I feel like Hävitetty is more of an experimental project rather than one that Moonsorrow would continue down. A very good experiment mind you, but not one that I see as the pinnacle of Moonsorrow's discography.
So to start, let's talk about these song forms. The first track is actually broken up into two distinct sections: "Jäästä syntynyt / Varjojen virta" breaks right around the twelve minute mark. The first is slow and drawn out for quite some time, only truly growing into a black metal mold around the seven minute mark. The buildup is tremendous and each of the following transformations hit like a freight train! The soaring melodies in the guitar complimented by some very prominent bass allow for this track to become a true "epic"; you will not even notice where all the time has gone.
The second track, "Tuleen ajettu maa" is far more straightforward and may be seen as the lesser of the two tracks. With it being only one continuous idea, it can become repetitive if you are not listening in the right places. The main melodic passage is passed around the ensemble and is transformed through a number of different time signatures and stylistic changes; it's actually quite impressive. There are some classical composers who cannot hold onto a melodic theme for that long! And just like the opening of the first track, the gradual cool down from the massive cataclysm of sound ends the album the same way that it began and it helps bring these two separate ideas together without ever having to cross reference each other.
There are a couple of problems. First and foremost, the mixing of the percussion is quite lackluster. Most notably during any softer portions when Marko starts incorporating more lower toms and kick drum, they seem to pierce through the mix and clip over any clean guitars or synths that might be playing at the time. The only other big issue that I have is the incorporation of these folk elements. First and foremost, this is a black metal record with folk elements, rather than a unification of the two. Perhaps a little bit ironic since one of my favourite records of all time is Ashes Against the Grain, but it has been dealt with by groups such as Saor later on, and I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed.
That being said, if you want an album that has stood the test of time by combining the elements of atmospheric black metal, progressive metal and folk together, then Hävitetty might be the album for you. The sounds on display here are some of black metal's finest. This truly feels like the warm embrace of a fire while the rest of the world around you is entrenched in the coldness of winter. It might not be as mature as Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.
Genres: Folk Metal Viking Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2007
Pain of Salvation are one of progressive music's most consistent groups of the 21st century. My introduction to this group was in 2010 with Road Salt One and while I certainly have been given no reason to dislike it, it is a project that I don't return to all that much. It's a pleasant experience in which the progressive elements are prominent and robust, but it is severely lacking in connectivity.
That changed quite recently with the release of their 2017 album In the Passing Light of Day, which saw the band reach their fullest potential during the 2010s and create something that made sense given the timbre of this music, as well as each members musical proficiency.
Now why bring all of this up? Well, in going back and listening to most of Pain of Salvation's older discography, I found that not a lot of it stands out. They have always been a 6 to a 7 our of 10 in which albums had excellent moments, but failed to keep me engaged for a full album runtime. This is especially prominent when most of these albums run at least an hour.
And so, Remedy Lane is the bands most commercially successful and praised album and I understand why. The band has a sound that is heavy, but still restrained enough that it could be accepted by a progressive rock crowd as well; since I am Tool fan, this is a selling point for me. As for the music itself? Songs like "Ending Theme", "Undertow" and "Second Love" are subtle with their progressive output and can be quite beautiful, while the tunes "A Trace of Blood" and "Rope Ends" are far more direct. The interweaving of ideas on "A Trace of Blood" are composed well as the listener is allowed to engage with the themes that are on display.
It is also noticeable that Pain of Salvation have not truly evolved over the last twenty years. Many of Pain of Salvation's tried and true -isms from this album are still on display even with records today like PANTHER; three over two (or vice versa) rhythms, some awkward vocal harmonies and a very lackluster scream that just manages to creep its way in on the closing track "Beyond the Pale". They also know how to craft hooks as prominent as "Meaningless" and "Full Throttle Tribe" would become later. The songs "A Trace of Blood", and "Undertow" show what this band is capable of and that it would be possible for them to make a truly great record if they stopped writing songs like "Rope Ends" and "Chain Sling".
My final piece surrounding this album (and all of Pain of Salvation's discography for that matter) is that they paved the way, not intentionally towards Djent music. The herky-jerk nature of these rhythmic instrumentals is unmistakable by today's standards and can be heard in groups such as Animals As Leaders today. Having never been a big fan of Djent in the first place, I will admit that at least this record still has some decent songwriting capability associated with it. I assume that this record would have been received more fondly in 2002 as opposed to twenty years later. But since I can only review based on personal experience, I found Remedy Lane to be a very good progressive rock/metal album with significant cultural impact, but the impact that it did make is not my cup of tea.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2002
Power Metal is a genre that I hold in high regard given it's significance within my lifetime and my growth and appreciation of heavy metal as a whole. Considering the NWOBHM is one of my favourite era's in the entire genre, and they way that it helped pave the way for bands like Helloween and Blind Guardian to advance it to new heights is very important to me. And Blind Guardian is one of my favourite acts of all time in this genre.
Now why do I bring this all up? Well, all of those acts come from Europe. For some reason, when power metal started to become prominent in the western hemisphere, much of the appeal that fascinated me with the genre was diminished or outright gone. The bombast and intensity were reduced to fragments and most of it felt like a skeleton of a power metal song. And having been given this opportunity to explore US Power Metal in a little bit more detail than ever before, I have found very little that has changed my mind.
Of course, this brings us to Riot, New York's finest arbiters of the genre and their 1988 album ThunderSteel. And I can credit the group for at least attempting to maintain more elements from the European strain of Power Metal than their contemporaries. The vocals are powerful and have influences from Bruce Dickinson, King Diamond and Michael Kiske. And the riffs are strong as well on the tunes "Sign Of The Crimson Stone" and "Run For Your Life".
So why don't I like this more? Well, to be completely honest, it's quite simple: Riot have no identity of their own on ThunderSteel. While "Sign Of The Crimson Stone" and "Run For Your Life" are the best tunes on the record, they are also blatant flips of Van Halen's "Runnin' With The Devil" and Iron Maiden's "Two Minutes To Midnight" respectively. And outside of that, the rest of the albums just feels like a prototypical US Power Metal album once again; lacking the dynamic punch/force that the European strain can obtain without effort.
The guitar riffs are not all that impressive. They feel gutted and are only a quick tempo change away from being thrash epics. And without a significant fundamental bass line, "Fight Or Fall" and "Flight Of The Warrior" just don't go anywhere. The vocals, while technically impressive at times, falter from being too reliant on Tony Moore's low register. If we are being completely honest, these vocals are not that dissimilar to Tom Araya's vocals on Slayer's debut album from 1983; usually restrained and lacking in intensity, and only occasionally letting it all out with a howl. These vocals don't even hold a candle to Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson even today as they both approach their mid to late 60s (Halford turns 70 this August!).
Of course, it also doesn't help that the sound of this record is very uneven. Sometimes, you'll have a full, uncompressed guitar line to kick off the album ("Thundersteel"), but then "Flight Of The Warrior" will divert that tone to something that is more compressed and tinny. This compression does not help the lead guitar either as they become quite muted.
Perhaps US Power Metal is a change of pace within the Power Metal scene that I just can't comprehend. I have listened to plenty of Iced Earth, Manilla Road, Metal Church and Riot within the past year that I cannot fathom how anyone would listen to this over the European juggernauts. Maybe my upbringing has tainted my opinion on an album such as this. At least groups like Manilla Road maintained a consistent sound through their most successful albums like Mystification. This sounds forced, and trying to be too many things all at once. And with ThunderSteel being the bands first album in this style, following a five year absence, the best way I can describe Riot is "trend-hoppers".
Genres: Heavy Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1988
Allow me to bring you back, if only for a moment, to the year of 2017. I was just beginning my long, tumultuous journey into the depths of despair, death and cults with Black Metal. My original sentiment was that it was a genre just not meant for me, but their will always be exceptions and groups willing to bend the rules. One such group was Panopticon, with their marvelous blend of uniquely Americana folk music with soaring atmospheric black metal. And considering how much of a mark I have always been for folk tinged metal, this was something I had to explore further.
So a couple years into this endeavor, I discovered the English based Atmospheric Black Metal, tinkering on Blackgaze, group Fen and this album Winter in March of that year (that is important, trust me). Initial expectations were low, as this was one of those albums that lacked much of the folk tinged "epicness" that surrounded Saor and Panopticon among others. But then I kept coming back to this record, over and over again, even more so than those albums by artists previously mentioned. Let me be clear: Winter is the greatest achievement in black metal of the traditional variety; one that invokes the death, despair and suffering better than any record I can recall, all laced within the unmistakable coldness that is implied by this genre's OGs like Burzum, Mayhem and Darkthrone.
This is a complicated album to discuss. Mostly due to the fact that this is an incredibly daunting listen! For an album that contains only six tracks and clocking it at nearly eighty minutes, I can see why a lot of people, including those who are much bigger fans of black metal than me, might turn a blind eye to an album like this. But let me clear: Fen's Winter is one of the most compelling albums I have ever listened to across any genre. This album is magnificent!
For starters, Fen managed to peak my interest almost instantly with the inclusion of a seventeen minute opener "I (Pathway) that might just be the greatest display of pacing I have ever heard! The tune starts as almost a whisper before more instruments gradually fill out the mix, followed by drone chanting vocals, all in the span of about three minutes. Then the dynamics explode drastically as the black metal screeches of The Watcher enter. The theme develops further, modulating throughout numerous key centers and variations on a theme before the album creeps back down to a softer passage that borrows heavily from shoegaze. The main theme returns once again and builds as the opening did, but this time with even more ferocity than before. The way it ends and effortlessly transitions into "II (Penance)" is absolutely brilliant.
While most of the tracks on this record do follow a very similar compositional formula, there is more than enough structural differences between the tracks that make each moment feel like it belongs. And that is incredibly difficult to do on a forty minute LP; this one is almost eighty! Whether that be the painful descent into the abyss that closes out "IV (Internment)", the full frontal assault that persists on "V (Death)" and the gradual rebirth that occurs on "VI (Sight)". There is not a single moment here that is out of place, or arbitrarily thrown in to make it sound more progressive.
A similar feeling can be said about the lyrical content as well. The more listens I give this album, the more I keep thinking about the parallels between this and Agalloch's epic masterpiece The Mantle. But where that album felt like a fresh coat of snow that had just fallen and created a beautiful landscape across the countryside, Winter feels more like a freezing rain storm. While the thought of everything being covered in a layer of ice seems really cool and does create some incredible photo opportunities, most people only remember the aftermath of those photos; when the branches of the trees have all given in under the additional weight of the ice, and what you are left with is a hellscape that looks like the aftermath of a natural disaster like a tornado or a hurricane.
And the way in which Fen are able to make that come across in the music in addition to the words is spectacular. The cold is chilling on this record, as if the ice storm is concaving right on top of you. The way in which the protagonist comes to grips with their own inevitable fate is genuinely haunting in a way that I have never experienced before. The movements of this album are nearly flawless in the their execution and the emotional weight that is implied as the titles of each movement would suggest. Unlike those atmospheric black metal albums by Saor and Panopticon, this album builds into a cold rot that reminds me a little too much of the story of Ariandel in the Dark Souls franchise. However, unlike in the Dark Souls universe, this album ends with our protagonist laying themselves down at the altar of an undefiled statue as they accept their fate ("V (Death)") and are cleansed of the rot that has built within oneself throughout their lives, even before the start of this record. The post-rock section that consumes the first half of "VI (Sight)" represents the acceptance of death and the return of the blast beats, tremolo picking guitars and howled vocals is almost foreshadowing that, the cycle will resume again.
I consider myself to be a fairly harsh critic in comparison to many of my contemporaries, and even more so here on Metal Academy. So let me stress that I do not hand out perfect scores very often. These are reserved for the special albums that resonate with me in ways that are almost impossible to describe. This is the bands most ambitious album they have ever released and it paid off in spectacular fashion. The cold of the titular season is on full display on this Fen album; highlighted most of all by the depression that one gets from a season that carries on for far too long, just as this album does. But this album breeds life, probably not what the band intended, that I have not heard on a metal album since Ashes Against the Grain. This is certainly an ambitious listen and most likely too daunting for some. But I can assure you, if you are willing to take the plunge, you may be surprised by what secrets you may discover. Maybe, at the end of this journey, to return to the Dark Souls reference from before, we can finally find our cold, dark and gentle world.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2017
Despondent Moon is a solo black metal project from the U.K. who has been working on a very niche brand of atmospheric black metal. While clearly taking some lessons from Burzum in the use of softer, ambient portions and Dungeon synth interludes, this is far more in line with straightforward, ruthless black metal.
And I can already imagine that many folks who are already enamored by this brand of black metal are flocking to a record such as this one...and I wish I could be a part of them. Look, despite the fact that the black metal sections are pretty cool and have some great deviances throughout the project, not much outside of a few moments really stuck with me. And those moments were typically comparisons to other artists.
The sound and timbre of this album reminded me quite a bit of Fen, and not the progressive metal Fen, but the Winter Fen. However, Despondent Moon’s production is far too bright for this kind of black metal. The bass presence is completely missing during much of the albums louder, enforced moments (“The Howling of the Hallowed Hands”, “Apparition of the Countess Descending the Spiral Staircase”, etc.), while the vocals are so compressed in the mix that it sounds meaningless. Toss on top of that what sounds like wah effects on the vocals, and good luck understanding any of it, even for the most well developed ear to death/black metal vocals.
Some of the slower passages have an Enslaved vibe going on, especially on “Apparition of the Countess Descending the Spiral Staircase”, but the overall vibe of this album is just pure chaos. The overabundance of noise going on at any one moment does not make me feel the way the album wants me to, and the dungeon synth passages don’t make me feel release either; rather an interlude with no purpose or connectivity to the black metal songs. I can see why some would adore this kind of black metal, but it isn’t doing it for me.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2021
I have brought up the name Daughters on several occasions here on this website; in both album reviews as well as in forums. They are an industrial rock band whose 2018 album You Won't Get What You Want is by far one of the finest displays of apocalyptic imagery through noisy and alien production, and surely one of the best albums to be released in all of the 2010s. That was the feeling that I got when I listened to Shame, the newest album from this industrial metal band.
And I did enjoy this album a fair bit, I do have to admit that the messy production is both a benefit and a flaw in the overall scheme of things. For starters, Shame is a much slower moving album than You Won't Get What You Want is. The grooves that incorporate "Delco", "The Shadow of God's Hand" and "All We've Ever Wanted" are far more in tune with something doom or sludgy. While songs like "Life in Remission" and "Dispatches from the Gutter" are much more aggressive and leaning towards hardcore punk. Everything here is mixed really muddy and distorted to create an uncomfortable atmosphere; one that is brimming with pessimism and self-loathing. But the vocals are paramount to the atmosphere and they have quite a drastic change of cleanliness to them throughout the record. While "This Won't End Well" and "The Shadow of God's Hand" are pretty good, the opener "Delco", as well as "Life in Remission" don't feel as pronounced.
While this may be a part of the point with the instrumentals sounding as slapdash and rough as they do, I still feel like the vocals should have served of greater importance than they ended up doing. Meanwhile, the heavier sections that incorporate blast beats on "Life in Remission" and "I Am the Cancer" are meshed so close together that it sounds like proverbial nothing. As a result, the bass becomes lost, but I'm not sure it needs to be as fruitful and progressive as I typically like. When the distortion of the mix is so important to a record's appeal, and for it to work as well as it does here, you almost wish for it to stay in the vein more frequently, rather than returning to relatively cleaner tones during the pure punk sections.
I like this. I like this a fair bit actually. The low quality production is something that is very reminiscent of some of my favourite hardcore punk albums by Black Flag, Rites of Spring or even Hüsker Dü. But I am also aware of what hardcore punk is capable of in the 2010s and beyond, and Daughters have proven that you can have clean production and yet make it sound so alien. Uniform are close to that, and should not bow their heads with this project.
Genres: Industrial Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
Serpent Column have been experimenting in the last five years with what is possible within the realms of black metal by bringing in the relentless, unconventional nature of mathcore for a hybrid that I am not sure why more bands haven't done it yet. The percussion element is absolutely absurd, complimented by heavy tremolo picking guitars and punishing screeches from the vocals.
And here is the thing: I can see this working in some circles. Most of the early reviews for this record praise it for its unfiltered aggressiveness as well as the moshing mentality, a trait that fans of early Converge records will enjoy, even with its black metal personality. The songs are short and to the point, which for a record such as this is a very good thing. And at some moments, such as both parts of "Wars Waged in Private" as well as the following tune "Antihelical", they actually have some decent (if a little underplayed) tunes to follow.
But let's be real here, I was never going to be apart of this album's primary audience. Something about pure moshing music has never sat well with me because it gives me no reason to return to it unless I am in a mosh pit! And since concerts are on hiatus at the moment, I cannot see much of a lasting impact from this EP, or Serpent Column in general, in the not so distant future. But mosh music has its audience and for what it's worth, it is good moshing music. So have fun everyone!
Genres: Black Metal Metalcore
Format: EP
Year: 2020
Having never really cared for Katatonia, I was a little nervous about giving one of their records the fullest of my attention. This is a band that has modulated their sound considerably since the humble beginnings as a death doom metal band, spanning alternative metal, gothic metal, and even progressive metal in later years. It makes checking out a bands discography a daunting task. And if you never grew up with this group, these pivots may not resonate in the same way as they did around the albums initial release window.
Anyways, The Great Cold Distance is perhaps the culmination of the bands first major pivot from death doom metal to more accessible alternative doom. And for what it is worth, I do not think that The Great Cold Distance is a bad album. Certainly if we are comparing this to albums with similar timbres, Katatonia are far more advanced, but I feel like much of the drama is diminished.
Now the comparisons that I am making are to the specific brand of post-grunge revival that came out of the mid 2000s that included groups like Breaking Benjamin, Seether & Shinedown. Breaking Benjamin were always the closest comparison, but Katatonia's compositions and song structures are far more developed than anything from the groups mentioned previously. The typical slower tempos that are reminiscent of Swallow the Sun and (more likely) Trees of Eternity that are complimented with slow double bass percussion and complimentary guitar riffage present a more energetic side of doom metal that is commendable, especially when the vocalist follows suit. Otherwise the mismatch in timbre is unsettling, which may be part of the point.
In addition, the compositions of individual songs is very good. The modulation of ideas through time signature and rhythmic changes is pulled off with proficiency. Whether that be "Consternation" or "The Itch", they do sound quite wonderful together. But even on this record, these sounds were not going to last on their own. You can already start to hear elements of progressive/post-metal creep in during the albums closing moments; almost as if a teaser as to what the next era of Katatonia will bring. Very reminiscent of the post-metal sounds that Tool were experimenting with during the 2000s. And, once again, the mixing of these sounds is executed with precision and grandeur.
But let's talk about drama. Not so far back as Last Fair Deal Gone Down is the band allowed to let their songs resonate and reach the desired conclusion. This album feels rushed, as if some of its main ideas are not allowed to finish. And the album clocks in at a brisk fifty minutes so their would have been plenty of wiggle room to allow "Soil's Song", "The Itch" and especially the closer "Journey Through Pressure" to reach some finality. Instead, the album just....fades away; perhaps reminiscent of the band on their next great journey. If you believe that, then this album will serve you well. For me however, I see it as a cop out. Doom metal inherently implies some sense of completion, whereas this implies that this journey is just beginning. I can appreciate the diversion of expectations, but I have heard it done better.
As someone who never grew up with Katatonia, my opinions may be skewed, so take my conclusion on The Great Cold Distance with a grain of salt. For a time, Katatonia expanded the possibilities of what post-grunge could sound like and arguably did it better than any of their influences or contemporaries. But I have heard many of the sounds on display within this record done better in the years following, including from Katatonia themselves, which makes this an album that I respect, but do not love. The journey that Katatonia speaks of on this record is long and bitter, and that is okay. It's what you find at the end of your adventure that counts.
Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2006
It is extremely difficult for an artist or band to be as eclectic from the word go as Rosetta were in 2005, and not be seen as pretentious. Most artists wait until they are at least three or four records in before saying "you know what? Fuck it, let's break some rules!" The problem with Rosetta is that were not intending on breaking any rules around the time of The Galileans Satellites. In fact, the band actually seems quite contempt with hanging out with the big boys like Cult of Luna and Neurosis in the post-metal mold (or the more dubious title of "atmospheric sludge metal") in creating a heavy, claustrophobic environment that focuses on instrumental texture as opposed to riffage and solos.
And from the word go, you can tell that Rosetta are not changing any rules. In fact, I would say that The Galilean Satellites is one of post-metal's least influential of the genre's most important albums. I had only just recently listened to this record, while bands like Neurosis, ISIS, Cult of Luna, and even The Ocean Collective had already released their first LPs, and Rosetta borrows heavily from all of them. Most notably, The Ocean and Cult of Luna's intense songwriting. These grooves are pummeling and there is very little room for a breather. When you do receive a moment of reprieve, enjoy it for as long as it lasts because that cacophony of sound will be back soon.
Which brings me to a very interesting point about this record's songwriting. It is remarkably simplistic, but immensely captivating by its gargantuan forms, which allow for ideas to develop slowly and methodically. The gradual crescendo that takes place on the track "Absent" is one of the best displays of dynamic development I have ever heard on a metal album. The reason it is "simplistic" is that the main motif rarely changes. It almost reminds me of a minimalist classical piece from a Steve Reich or a John Adams, where the texture builds intensity and emotional drama.
Of course there is a catch, and that is if the tunes don't develop in a reasonable manner, they get very monotonous very quickly. "Itinerant" is the albums longest track and yet it does nothing. I think Rosetta were aware of this as well because right around the ten minute mark, you begin to hear the tune fade away ever so slowly into an ambient feedback loop with quiet sampled vocals overlayed in the mix. If this was the case, why not make the first section shorter? You would not even need to cut down the second half of the track, which would still make the triumphant return of percussion on the closer of disc 1 "Au Pays Natal" hit with dynamic force.
Since this is a metal album, I would feel inclined to stop here, but i would be remised if I didn't at least mention disc 2. This record consists of ambient/drone tracks that are incredibly synth heavy, minimal leads, and lots of distorted feedback as the closing of "Itinerant" did on the first disc. There lone vocals that appear on this disc are on "Beta Aquilae", and those are heavily distorted and compressed as well. It is kind of interesting at least to hear Rosetta use the second disc as an opportunity to flex their atmospheric muscles in a different environment than executed on disc one.
But that brings me to the elephant in the room that I can no longer ignore: The Galilean Satellites is meant to be listened to simultaneously. Both discs contain five tracks that mirror each other in duration and compliment their sister songs. And while this is a cool idea in concept, the execution is lackluster. The ambient synths and distorted feedback loops of disc two are absolutely caved in on themselves when both discs are played at the same time. Disc one is overwhelming and chaotic at its heaviest, and even during its quieter passages, whatever growth/texture that disc two added is immediately shot down. Here is a question: if disc two was so important to the narrative of The Galilean Satellites, why not just overlay disc two from the start? It might have sounded like pure audio hell, but it couldn't sound much worse than listening to two albums simultaneously!
As it stands, The Galilean Satellites is a very good, bordering on great, dose of post-metal that splits the difference very well between claustrophobic and ethereal. And the way Rosetta shows off their chops from a heavier doom/sludge side, to a more meditative ambient/drone side is commendable. But combined, these two ideas do not work together as well as the band may have initially thought. It isn't the best record in this style, and does not resonate with me personally as much as Panopticon or A Dawn to Fear do, but it does show a band using space efficiently and created a new world from it.
Genres: Sludge Metal Post-Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2005
Say what you will about Overkill, there is no denying that group are some fast learners! After what I consider a very poorly executed debut record Feel the Fire in 1985, Overkill quickly made some adjustments on their follow up LP, Taking Over, and have been releasing some very solid thrash metal for the better part of over three decades. Of course, Overkill were at their best right around the time the big four "sold out" and is best remembered for albums like The Years of Decay and Horrorscope.
First and foremost, the production of the band's subsequent records has greatly improved. I have been very critical of some well regraded thrash metal debuts in the past for focusing more on the garage jam session, DIY approach as opposed to the ruthlessness of the grooves, tempos, blistering solos and soaring vocals. With Horrorscope, Overkill give us some of the cleanest sounding thrash metal at this time, and I could see why some metal purists may scold at the idea. Rest assured. the guitar riffage on "Infections", "Blood Money", "New Machine" and "Live Young, Die Free" is still crunchy, and Blitz's vocals are refined to an extent; very few shrieks that plagued the debut, but more attention to diction and flow. I will say that the lack of a dominant bass presence is a little disappointing, mostly near the final third of the album, but there is still a low end which gives the song the needed drive.
Of course, tight production as well as an overall tighter band can only get you so far. The real challenge is in the hooks and how well does this record linger after its conclusion. Well Overkill have always had a knack for some impressive thrash metal songwriting, even as far back as the debut LP, and Horrorscope is no exception. The traditional speed metal cuts like "Blood Money" and "Live Young, Die Free" still have great foundations to build off, while "Thanx for Nothin'" and "Bare Bones" are a very good one two punch before the album takes a breather for the title track. To go along with the final two songs on the album "Nice Day...For a Funeral" and "Solitude", the album has a good variety of styles; tempos, keys, modulation, as well as overall song formats, which keeps the album fresh and never feeling too long.
To be completely honest, I do not have much else to say about Horrorscope. In terms of the thrash metal aesthetic, Overkill managed to make something that was fun, heavy, mosh worthy, and recognizable; a feat very seldom achieved in thrash metal, even today. Unfortunately, Overkill seemed to milk this routine for the next thirty years and they have done very little to innovate. And at this point, I'm not sure they need to! Overkill deserve a seat at the table with Testament as one of thrash metal's most consistent outlet's, even if the music has become rather stale in recent years. For me, I still have to go with The Years of Decay as being a slightly more polished record, but Horrorscope is no slouch.
Genres: Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1991
A lot of my close friends have lost a lot of favour with Dark Tranquillity over the past decade or so. This Swedish band has been heralded along with bands like At The Gates as being integral members of the Gothenburg melodic death metal of the 1990s. And for the most part, I agree with them. And it isn’t entirely their fault; for a band that has been together for as long as they have, it is difficult to stay relevant as what is essentially a legacy act.
I also noticed that a lot of people still really like this group through their 2010s output like 2016’s Atoma. And I expected more of the same out of Moment.
Boy was that a mistake! Dark Tranquillity have made a drastic change in their sound entering their fourth decade; one that incorporates more elements of doom than ever before. And strangely enough, I think this may be one of the band’s best albums since their classic output of the 1990s, although I have more suspicions as to how it will be treated by more traditional Dark Tranquillity fans.
For the first time in their careers, Dark Tranquillity lives up to their name and creates a very meditative project that is calming and soothing. Not a moment or instrumental feels out of place on this record. Sure there may be some odd production blemishes, mostly in the synth leads on songs like “Ego Deception”, but they do not hurt the songs appeal. The tunes stay melodic and have some sticky hooks on “Transient”, “The Dark Unbroken” and “In Truth Divided”. And, like with many other melo death bands in the Gothenburg school, instrumental wankery is miniscule and serves more as a framing device and has some soul built into them.
However, like with a lot of Gothenburg melo death albums, it does seem to get pretty pedestrian about halfway through. Songs do run together and lack much in the way of diversity fundamentally. Many tunes are structured around the same key centers and the bass and percussion elements don’t have much room to elaborate.
For as selfish as metalheads are, hoping their favourite acts will never change their sound and continue to make the same album forever, I am not sure how they will react to Dark Tranquillity making these stylistic changes on Moment. I enjoy it, and I feel like it fits their character very well, even if the record does feel pedestrian at times. It does not go toe to toe with the best of death doom metal in the past five years, but for a moment, it is quite enjoyable.
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
What do you get when you form a heavy metal supergroup consisting of members of the bands Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge and Soulfly? If you guessed a marvelous experience that combines elements of all of the members past endeavours and meshes them well into a great album...well you’ve probably come to the wrong place.
I’m not sure where to start with Reluctant Hero. The overall sound of this record is very jarring and unconventional, especially considering the rep sheet mentioned earlier. Surely someone out of this group of upper echelon names within their respective metal subgenres would have mentioned somewhere during the recording process that it needs more of Troy Sanders bass. Considering how much of this album is borrowing from more recent Mastodon output, this would be one of the more important elements to have on full display. However, Josh Wilbur did produce it so I am not surprised.
As a result, many of these songs lack groove and forward momentum; kind of a problem on a groove metal album such as this. You will be hard pressed to find any semblance of a bass line on this album outside of its two slower tunes: “From a Crowded Wound” and the title track “Reluctant Hero”. And it’s not like the guitar leads are doing anything to help. These guitar riffs sound incredibly redundant in the alternative metal vein and mostly resort to palm muted chugging and it gets tiresome very quickly. In addition, the album isn’t very expansive. As I said off the top, for a band consisting of members spanning progressive/sludge metal, mathcore, as well as groove/thrash metal, you would think this record would be a little bit more diverse in its sound. Instead, what we get is an almost mainstream accessible type of alternative metal with hints of Deftones, and a lot of retro Sepultura and Mastodon nostalgia.
I will say on the positive side that the percussion provided by Ben Koller sounds excellent, and I did really enjoy the trio of voices alternating throughout the album to keep it somewhat fresh. But in the end, Reluctant Hero is an album by a band looking to suck people in on namesake alone, and then proceeds to do nothing with it. It’s passable and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it on rock/metal radio stations, but I’ll forget it exists without it.
Genres: Alternative Metal Groove Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
The Definition of Pretentious "High Art"
On the surface, Liturgy’s conglomerate sound that comprises classical instruments, relentless black metal tremolo picking guitars and punishing blast beats, indistinguishable howling screams, and glitchy industrial tendencies sounds like an interesting concept. And I can see how and why a lot of people are flocking to Liturgy, especially following their H.A.Q.Q. LP from 2019. I’m not one of those people, and 2020 sees the band follow up that album alarmingly quickly with much of the same that turned me away from the group in the first place.
The songwriting on this record is incredibly misguided. When you are given all of these labels and are now forced to manage all of them simultaneously, the juggling task at hand is nearly impossible. Using them to create uncomfortable environments, while still making memorable music is extremely challenging. The problem with Origin of the Alimonies? There is no memorability! Hunt-Hendrix sounds like they just discovered classical music the other day, and the first piece they listened to was Karl Stockhausen’s Kreuzspiel. Having polyphony between two or more instruments with zero connectivity between the parts make the opening moments of this album abhorrent. Rather than create an unsettling melody or motif, what we end up with is more minor seconds and tritones that would make the devil himself blush. Listen to composer's like Messiaen, Bartok, or Hindemith for proof that melodic dissonance can be done well.
Honestly, when the album is at its best is during the fourteen minute tune “Apparition of the Eternal Church”. This minimalist piece actually has some recurring themes, particularly in the tremolo guitars, but the transitions in and out of those themes are well developed and create something that is somewhat memorable. And those themes are developed further by the glitchy production and acoustic instrumentals. I also didn’t mind the slow buildup into pure chaos on the song “The Fall of SIHEYMN”. At least that tune had an end goal.
The rest of the album feels like a meandering mess. Atonality does not immediately make a song/album bad. It’s how well the dissonance is used to create a claustrophobic environment and makes you want to return to that place once again. Origin of the Alimonies is the sort of avant-garde project that will wow you with its hodgepodge of sounds, but delivers nothing else of intrinsic value. And it ends up feeling more forgettable because of it.
EDIT: pronouns in the second paragraph. I was not aware that Hunt-Hendrix came out as transexual in May of 2020.
Genres: Avant-Garde Metal Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
With the rise of prominent rappers such as the late XXXTentacion, it was only a matter of time before Trap Metal became a prominent subgenre. Well, we've reached that point, and Ghostmane has been pretty popular in his niche clique.
ANIT-ICON is the sort of hardcore hip-hop that gives off the vibe of reaching edgelord status, but dig between the lines and you will find that Ghostmane is far more conscious of his place in the world and shows a very accepting form of nihilism that is hushed and relaxed than his "public face". You can hear that in the song qualities as the album shifts from heavy distortion guitar with industrial tones and vocal howling, to the more subdued sections with synths, clean singing and a more relaxed environment.
As for the album as a whole...I dig it in patches. Many of my issues with industrial metal are still intact, where the mixing of the instrumentals is all over the place. Usually it's in the industrial tinges of percussion, but you do occasionally hear overblown guitars and shredded vocals that aren't appealing to me in the slightest. When the album is trying to be more like a heavier Nine Inch Nails song circa Broken or The Downward Spiral, the songs actually coalesce well. When it goes more Marilyn Manson, you start to hear discrepancies in the mixing and it doesn't flatter the compositions at all.
And unfortunately, most of this album would rather mimic the Manson comparison. The album ends comfortably from "Hellrap" through to the album closer "Falling Down", but everything before that is disposable.
Genres: Industrial Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
This debut album from a solo performer is creating nature inspired atmospheric black metal in the vein of a Panopticon or Saor, but the music itself pays more of an influence to post-metal in the style of Agalloch. When you throw those three names together in the same sentence, my expectations should be unfathomably high. This should be epic.
But it doesn’t sound like it. Instead, I’m left wondering what happened to the guitars. Unlike the names mentioned previously, this album compresses its guitars and actively butchers the expansive sound that Aleevok is trying to pay homage to. In fact, the guitars serve very little purpose on this record other than to outline chordal progression; they almost seem like they have the role of a blackgaze album, which are typical not very melodically active.
The synthesizers are pretty weak here as well. I don’t know what preset they chose for the horns on “The Bewitching Horns”, but they sound horrible! The “wah-wah’s” are inauthentic and drastically take away from the natural feel of this album.
The best thing I can say about this record are the song structures are nice, I like some of the more acoustic sections, such as the outro “The Serenity of Steel” (although, if we are being honest, we can do away with these acoustic outros anytime now. I didn’t give Saor a free pass last year, you know I’m going to point it out here), and the singer has a pretty strong, if slightly inaudible, vocal timbre. But there is so much better in this field. I hope that Aleevok is just scratching the surface with this album and the future has more mountains than valleys.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
2020 has been one of the strangest years that most of us have ever (and most likely, WILL) ever see. In a year in which everything that we knew and loved had been taken away from us because of a novel disease, we have all had to adjust to this brand new lifestyle. And for me, part of that lifestyle has been new music. As of writing this review, I have listened to over 300 new albums that were released in the year 2020, which is the highest number I have accumulated since 2016. Part of this is due to the lockdowns; much of my time has been trapped indoors so why not listen to a new album?
I have also managed to get my number so high because of my intention of listening to albums from genres that I do not have the most experience in. Which leads us to Undeath, a Rochester based death metal band who are doing a lot of mid to late 1990s worship of bands such as Immolation. And Lesions of a Different Kind is their debut record. And while I will certainly be the first to admit that this is not my cup of tea, I can see the appeal in it and can see why it is being flocked to by so many in the underground.
So what makes Undeath stand out amongst their contemporaries? Not much actually. The compositions on this record are very slapdash and held together with silly string. The transitions that we get from brooding slam portions to the more vicious tech death side is alarming and on multiple occasions, disorienting. Not for the band fortunately as the group is able to make the transitions in synchronicity, which is welcome in my ears. It's one of the many issues from those Immolation/Cannibal Corpse records that has been resolved, but these were issues that should have been fixed years ago. Credit where it do for sure, but when the issues involve basic editing and redubbing, these are things that all records should have.
Speaking of which, let's talk briefly about production, because many of my issues from the compositions are here as well. Mid to late 90s tech death has some very poor mixing in general, but Undeath were quick to realize that and really barrel in on what sounds are important at any particular moment. The guitar is usually in the forefront yes, but the percussion sounds very good and is not plagued by over-compressed cymbals or trigger bass drum. The bass is fairly irrelevant throughout (typical for this brand of death metal), but it does exist and it does not sound like it's being left in the dust by the guitars. All in all, it is one of the better tech death records from a sonic perspective. That being said, it is still a tech death record and it does have problems. The guitars are perpetually trapped in their two lowest strings, which means that there is no bass/guitar independence. I would say that "Phantasmal Festering" and "Lord of the Grave" have the closest thing to a divergence between the two parts.
Like I said, this is not a branch of metal that I typically don't delve into all that much. Before I would look at a record like this and simply turn away. But I am welcoming of this now and I can see the appeal of this, even though I won't listen to this very much. It is a better version of that Immolation/Cannibal Corpse sound from the 90s, but it does not do much else than that. For me, Tomb Mold are changing the game. I would rather stick with that.
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
I typically avoid Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (DSBM) as most of it typically wallows in its own sadness, while being drenched in a cloud that is more representative of Funeral Doom Metal than anything "Black". That being said, I did have some previous exposure to Shining with their 2018 album X Varg Utan Flock, which was a mostly enjoyable album due to its sonic palette being more in the vein of the genre that they are usually tagged under. However, it was an album that faded from my memory, even within a year where my metal exposure was greatly limited.
So going back in time, I checked back in with this band and their 2007 classic, V . Halmstad. And I can truthfully say that I was less than impressed by this. Now in some regards, I can see this record being unique. For starters, V . Halmstad is more in line with what you might expect to hear out of the black 'n' roll scene, highlighted by later groups such as Kvelertak. The riffage is far more conventional and leaning towards hard rock as well as some doom metal from time to time. The vocals are really what make it stand out though. Niklas Kvarforth does not have the presence behind the microphone that one would expect from a black metal album. Instead, the vocals sound half baked as if he cannot even be bothered to say them. Now, this may be apart of the appeal of a DSBM record such as this; a general sense of tiredness from the anger is dependent to make you feel like the depression is weighing him down so heavy that he cannot even be bothered to get out of bed in the morning. And I can respect that attention to detail.
That being said, I would like it a lot more if it didn't sound unfinished and really cheap. Kvarforth's vocals constantly switch back and forth between a tired wail of contempt, and emphatic cries of agony, emphasized by the OOF's that you hear that are reminiscent of James Hetfield on the song "Fuel". Because these two emotions rarely make sense simultaneously, it creates a weird dichotomy throughout the entire album. It's also not helped by the instrumentals and the overall production. Overall, the instrumentals sound clean and focused and make transitions between sections of a song very well. I was thoroughly by the acoustic guitar timbre than filled out the second track on the album. Very reminiscent of some really potent death/funeral doom metal such as Swallow The Sun.
Now I realize that my underwhelming reaction to this album could be in large part due to the language barrier. As it stands, I do not know Swedish, nor will I ever learn Swedish to understand this record on a base level. But I have never been a big fan of DSBM as I mentioned at the beginning of my review. It feels wrong to listen to an album where you know the artist in question is in a state such as this; a large part as to why I cannot stand Korn albums. But with this? I just don't buy it. It just isn't personal enough for Kvarforth or myself to resonate with any of the self-loathing of nihilism.
As a whole album however, I think I would like it more if it was playing to a different audience. If it leaned towards the more nihilistic side of Doom Metal, I might have been more charitable. As a Black Metal album, it feels less developed than it should, production is not the greatest, and the stakes feel less urgent. For an album that is as close to the brink of destruction as it implies, Halmstad is very safe.
Genres: Black Metal Post-Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2007
I have made pretty clear in the past that I don't "get" math/grindcore. Coming from a background in which melodic development is essential, it really bothers me that this entire genre is devoted to play these crazy ass rhythms that are relentless as fuck, but have zero melody or compositional growth.
Now I know that some of you might hear this and say: "you're just mad because of all of the eclectic guitar tones and gross vocals". Well, not really; I've listened to enough Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Every Time I Die, and Daughters albums to know that you can have melodic songwriting that is musically dissonant and alienating. So with Gaza, I have to admit that I didn't want to review this album, because all of my requirements are missing and leave me at a huge disadvantage.
With I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die, the frameworks that we do get are incredibly simplistic. The first two tracks on the album are the closest to representing mathcore with their short song structures. But on "Hospital Fat Bags" and beyond, each song starts like a mathcore song, which goes on way too long, and transforms into a slow, brooding sludge/doom/slowcore groove that is not given enough time to develop into something truly remarkable.
It also gets incredibly tiring when the tracks on this record are painstakingly long! These mathcore passages go on for far too long, so nothing is ever given enough time to simmer and grow on me. The grooves are so frantic in changing pace and tempos, it is easy to forget everything you just listened to, especially after the extended sludge metal outros. Now part of this may be part of the process, as this album is nihilistic as all hell. And it can work; as I already mentioned, Daughters' album You Won't Get What You Want from 2018 was nihilistic, uncomfortable, and consistent. The instrumentation of this album may imply chaos, but the rapid changing of styles are more scatterbrained than anything else.
Let this review be the framework for all math/grindcore albums that I review from here on out. If a mathcore band wants to break this trend and create more melodic sounding, nihilistic shit like this like Daughters, I would be down to listen to more of that. But it seems like more and more mathcore bands are taking more influence from the stylings of early Converge and Gaza. For a certain individual, this will be your cup of tea. But it isn't for me.
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 2006
Enslaved have fallen very comfortably into the same categorization that I would include a band such as Dream Theater. That is to say that they have been very respectable progressive metal for the better part of thirty years, with some occasional standouts that will keep the group recognizable enough as industry legends. At the same time however, their approach to songwriting has become remarkably safe in recent years. After the bands pivot from atmospheric black metal to a more progressive black metal in the early 2000s, albums such as Below The Lights and Axioma Ethica Odini have kept this band relevant, but the rest of it feels very underdeveloped by comparison.
And even though I did enjoy 2017’s E, I was worried for Utgard. And my worries were fully realized within the first two tracks of this album. There really isn’t all that much to say about this record that hasn’t been said about the band's entire discography the past ten/twenty years. The music is really well produced, the compositions are quite tuneful for this brand of progressive metal, and everyone within the band plays an important role in letting these songs build in dynamics and presence.
But does anything resonate in the same way that “As Fire Swept Clean the Earth” does? Hell, does anything resonate greater than “The River's Mouth” from the last album? “Homebound’ comes the closest, while songs like “Sequence” and “Urjotun” are just slogs to get through. I was quite comfortable with the more dreamlike nature of the closer “Distant Seasons”.
At this point, I’m not sure that Enslaved needs to innovate further to stay relevant. They are legends amongst the blackened folk metal and progressive communities, and records such as Axioma Ethica Odini and RIITTIIR are legendary in my books. I can see Enslaved as a legacy act in the same way that I did with Deep Purple’s most recent album Whoosh! If you like the stuff you’ve heard already, then Utgard is more of that. Otherwise, you will have to find your progressive blackened folk metal somewhere else.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2020
I hate reviewing albums like this. I hate when I have to talk harshly about an album that I can tell is good, and has received mountains of critical acclaim, and yet I cannot remember a single thing about it. Nothing about Back to Times of Splendor resonates with me beyond my initial impression of "wow, this is a progressive metal album alright!"
When I gave Disillusion's 2019 comeback album, The Liberation, a review, I critiqued the album for being far too long for its own sake, really bad production, and a really bad tendency to resort to a death metal tone that does not flatter the group well. With Back to Times of Splendor, the band prove to me that at least two of those criticisms were later additions. This album is produced much more favourably for a progressive death metal album and the death metal portions that hindered the bands most recent album are diminished in quantity. This helps with the production as well.
Unfortunately the compositions have not improved. I've seen this album compared to Toxicity by System of a Down, but SOAD knew how to write a hook and make it stick. Disillusion meanwhile, write a hook (a decent hook mind you), then they abort it half way through as if it is a different song entirely. The structural compositions are so disjointed, especially on its second half with songs like "Back to Times of Splendor" and "The Sleep of Restless Hours". As for the overall sound, I hear less SOAD and more Arch Enemy during the heavier portions. On its own, this isn't a bad thing, but Arch Enemy songs are shorter and more focused with a melodic idea rather than progressive wankery. This album just feels like noise that goes in one ear and out the other.
I mean nothing within Back to Times of Splendor is outright infuriating or grossly offensive. But this record (and Disillusion's entire discography for that matter) has left me with almost nothing to talk about. Even as I write this, I still cannot remember what a single tack on this record sounds like. If I wanted progressive metal from the mid 2000s with a melodic death tinge, and the occasional folk/oriental flare, I would rather stick with Orphaned Land or Enslaved.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2004