UnhinderedbyTalent's Reviews

*The debut from Pentagram is most widely available under the re-released version “Relentless” that has a different track order. I found the original on YouTube though coz I keepz itz realz!

I have been meaning to catch up on my exploration of The Fallen clan with Pentagram’s opening offering to the world being on my challenge list. Last night I was flicking through a magazine and an interview with Mirai from the band Sigh referenced Pentagram’s debut record as “Heavy, simple and evil” and so my task for today was set. Mirai listed it as one of his five most influential albums, citing the simplicity of the riffs as being one of the key successes of the record. I would agree with this to some extent as the riffs here chart no complicated or technical patterns. Equally, the drums and bass do nothing extraordinary in the main part, but then Joe Hasselvander suddenly pulls amazing runs and fills out of thin air (Run My Course) or Martin Swaney steps in from nowhere with his charging bass line (Dying World) and suddenly this is not such a simplistic album anymore.

What works well on this record is the restraint that is showed to showcase individual performances. Whilst the riffs stick that effective level of basic ability during verses, for example, Bobby’s vocals really get to shine. His dulcet croons are given centre stage in these scenarios but then when it comes to the lead work, Victor Griffin gets the spotlight delivering brief but enchanting solos. This sharing of the limelight gives the album a real sense of cohesion and camaraderie; no individual element rides roughshod over another here folks.

There is no doubting the doom credentials on display here, the production job is light touch and the whole sound has an authentic and organically dark feel. The fuzzy edge to things gives a cruel comfort against the backdrop of Bobby’s marauding vocals. Listening to this album some near forty years after its release, it is not difficult to see why Pentagram have remained such a revered name in the doom metal scene. Simple, without being boring and clever without being complex.

Finally getting to grips with Through Silver In Blood and me literally focusing only on that one Neurosis release, revisiting it intermittently over several months if not years overall, was a rewarding experience in the long run.  However, it set the bar high for my expectations of the rest of the discography that I was destined to sample thereafter.  Enemy of the Sun found itself in my sights earlier on in 2022 and as with its successor, I have taken several months to listen to it.  Sometimes in one sitting and more often than not over two halves - both methods being rewarding in some way, shape or form.  Of course, I came at EoS from a different angle altogether than I did TSiB, having gotten over my challenges with the sound of the band I could focus instead on the immediate content in front of me.

This time around, tracks started to resonate with me much more easily, both in terms of memorability and an overall appreciation of the complex and convoluted structures that jarred their way into my head from the off.  The middle-eastern warble on Raze the Stray, for example, instantly struck a chord in me as it reflected perfectly the overall experimental direction of the album.  I find the colliding structure of Lexicon as abrasive as you would expect, but at the same time cannot fail to acknowledge the emotional turmoil that holds the chaos together so cohesively.  The horns and strings of penultimate track The Time of the Beasts show a balance of ambition, of musical exploration that still embraces the raw and now familiar to me elements of the bands core sound.  The samples that lie interspersed throughout the record are a part of the narrative that serve to elevate the turgid trajectory of the songwriting perfectly.

I think the main success of Neurosis is that they play music that appeals to me on a personal level.  That is not to say that I share (or that I can even accurately interpret) every experience they share with me on EoS or any other releases for that matter, but that the music sounds authentic and organic, from the heart.  Aside from the fact that it is well played, this music is simply an ugly truth that is shared without being forced - notwithstanding that it is not necessarily comfortable to perform.  Closing track Cleanse is probably one of my favourite tracks from the whole release.  Stripped back to a tribal but not primitive or simplistic structure this just feels so earthy and I can smell fresh air, sense humidity in the atmosphere and threat in the aether also.  It is a bold way to close an album most certainly, but it is done with a confidence that grows over the entire fifteen minutes and fifty-three seconds of its runtime.

Between 1980 and 2003, Overkill delivered twelve full lengths, three EPs and numerous splits and videos.  In a little under 25 years the band had been knocking out albums at a rate of approximately one every two years.  That is a pretty consistent level of output by any measure and one that saw the band survive the lull following the eighties heyday of thrash metal by branching out into groove metal to keep the New Jersey/New York machine rolling on.  Taking a wider view of the whole discography and it is even more remarkable that I can still find releases in there that I have never listened to and so being able to drop any release in by Overkill as a monthly clan feature is hopefully a voyage of discovery for all once we move away from the more infamous releases.

In my thread for this feature release I billed Kill Box 13 as a "post-groove metal" era album from Overkill.  This is only half true since although thrash metal plays a part here I get much more groove metal on Kill Box 13 than I do conventional thrash metal.  In fairness to Overkill, retaining that groove metal element was inevitable really.  It had seen them through three or so releases and so was obviously an embedded part of their sound by this point.  As I reflect on the last run through of the record I did, it is the groove metal that sticks in my mind even though the better parts for me are the actual thrash moments.

However, there are a couple of challenges with Kill Box 13 for me that consign the album to the "unlikely to revisit" pile.  Firstly, it is too long at ten tracks and fifty minutes in length overall.  This coupled with my second major criticism that the album is massively top heavy and almost everything after track six should have been left for a future bonus offering of previously unreleased tracks makes this album something of a damp squib for me.  Accepting that the health issues in the band may play more than a part in this release being less than optimal, I still think the content lacks that consistent quality to justify a full length release and although I have not seen anything to suggest it was rushed to meet contractual requirements or the bands simple need to start touring something again, I would not be surprised if something other than artistic integrity drove some of the choices here.

There are some truly punishing listening experiences around in the plethora of extreme metal releases that populate the blackened death metal sub-genre in particular.  Here be the home of Portal, Teitanblood and Antediluvian amongst many others, all of whom showcase an unrelenting style of music that defies structure and form and goes for the jugular track-after-track.  To be honest, even after 30+ years of listening to metal I am still not sure of the difference between the term "war metal" and the sound emitted by the likes of Diocletian and we all know how much I hate genre pedantry so feel free to shake your head in silent disgust as I refer to this primitive style of music minus any correct "it" terms.  

New Zealanders Diocletian are a tricky concept for some.  Not in the least due to the fact that the vocalist at the time of Doom Cult (V. Kusabs) has since been convicted of possession and distribution of child pornography.  Sometimes our exploration of the extreme side of music takes us to even darker places than we thought possible unfortunately.  Focussing on the music though, Doom Cult is truly an exploration of unbridled terror done with drums, bass, guitars and some ghastly vocals thrown in for good measure.  If you are looking for any semblance of production values then you are in the wrong place altogether as this has been left outside the door along with discernible vocals, structured riffs and any hope of variation.

This in fact, is probably one of the few occasions all tracks merging into one in a chaotic blur works well.  Everything does get thrown at the wall here and the fetid, gloopy mess that sticks is here for the duration, all thirty-three minutes of it.  There are some more memorable moments when the band adopt a more military style approach to their rhythms here and there but overall, to truly enjoy this record you have to be willing to let it assault you.  There might not be a lot of mastery about the attack but it does not make it any less effective.

Hailing from Texas and containing the talented Mr Israel Gaza (of Gatecreeper fame) in guitar, Judiciary fell onto my radar when I was researching crossover artists for a future playlist for The Pit.  The crossover tag can become a little bit of a dreaded gap to fill on the playlist each month and so Judiciary's brand of core focussed crossover offered something new in terms of the band having some elements of metalcore infused with the more conventional aspects of their sound.  Whilst this is not so heavy an influence to make the band lose sight of their crossover credentials, the breakdowns are incorporated well alongside the traditional catchy, bouncy rhythms that crossover can offer.

Vocalists collaborate galore on this record with Bryan Garris from Knocked Loose and Jess Nyx from Mortality Rate contributing on a couple of tracks, as well as wrestler  (and God's Hate vocalist) Nate Blauvelt making an appearance also.  I will not pretend to be familiar with any of those bands, or indeed metalcore in general, but the variation is welcome on an album that is only a shade over twenty-five minutes long.  Main band vocalist Jake Collinson is the standout performer overall with his style matching the intense riffing and motor-like rhythms perfectly.  As you would expect, the guitar work is superb also and the drums are allowed to flow in the mix with overriding the rest of the performances.

For a quick blast of something a little different, Judiciary are a neat find.  They are niche most certainly and therefore not perhaps for every Pit member's taste but I found them refreshing and rewarding in equal parts without having my world set on fire.

An internet acquaintance of mine often referred to Dark Funeral with ill-disguised disgust. He often referred to their sound as being “blasting for, blasting’s sake”. Dark Funeral have been a missing part of my black metal education for virtually the whole time I have listened to extreme metal – and that has nothing to do with my online friend’s less than positive experience of them. What little I have heard has never served to separate them as being standout from say Marduk or 1349 and so they have never been given a full listen through before the Review Draft picks this month.

Upon first listen to Where Shadows Forever Reign, I can understand the “blasting” reference described above, although I do not entirely agree with the sentiment that this is overdone in anyway. Where Shadows Forever Reign is as conventional as you could hope to hear in the black metal stratosphere. It pulls no punches and sticks to a tried and tested formula without falling into the trap of just being the same the whole way through. This is not to say that there is not a large amount of repetition on here, but the nuances are subtle enough to make this an album that rewards with each listen. I would still tout that a bit more variation would not go amiss (or at least a trim on the track listing to bring this under 40 mins overall) but what is on display here is of sound enough quality that it almost works over the album duration.

It has taken me four or five listens to fully get my head around this record, but my enjoyment has increased with each listen. The loose sense of atmospherics and dissonance, coupled with the crude melodicism makes for an interesting listen as it is not like any of these elements get fully explored or developed too far beyond those more traditional black metal elements. It is more likely they are continually flirted with and teased at. The twin guitar attack to my ears should beef things up more but this record is a real machine when it gets going still and the vocals of Erik Andreas Vingbäck are of note.

Listening to this record has piqued my interest in the band enough for me to explore more of their discography but I still think they will end up outside of my core bm listening – just as 1349 are in all honesty.

Souls of Black was (according to Chuck Billy) written and recorded in a rush to get the band on the European leg of The Clash of the Titans tour with Slayer, Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies. It sounds like it in all honesty. From the off you cannot fail to hear the scratchy sound to the guitars and the overall compression on all the production, with tinny drums and too much echo on Chuck’s vocals. Given the experience of Michael Rosen in the production chair and the late Tom Coyne covering mixing duties this is a surprising outcome but one that somehow does not entirely ruin Souls of Black.

Over repeated listens, the album has grown on me. It will never be a regular play though because (production issues aside) it is so inconsistent. This must be down to the hectic nature of the album being put together as Chuck describes, even though this is clearly a thrash metal record, it sounds rushed and that cannot be hidden by the sheer intensity of the rhythms that the band deploys. When the band are on point (Absence of Light, One Man’s Fate, Malpractice and the title track) they truly do motor at a huge rate of knots. However, the rest of the album is just filler with a smattering of promise of greater things littered largely throughout the lead work of Alex and Eric.

By comparison, Louie Clemente seems lost in the mix, occasionally bobbing his head above the squall to remind us he is there pounding away. Despite being audible he somehow lacks presence on the record. Greg’s bass is also able to be heard – if not in a muffled sense – but overall, no instrument escapes the poor production job. The most obvious element is still Chuck’s booming vocals that get enough restraint from the production to the benefit of the album overall, but they sound detached from the rest of the band’s performances, like they were over-layered as an afterthought somehow.

Not the best Testament record they have ever done but still has some enjoyable elements to remember even if they are not enough to bring me back for repeat visits.

To describe French one-man bm outfit Esoctrilihum as being industrious is quite an understatement. Since 2017, Asthâghul has released eight albums and three EPs. This level of prolific activity is hardly unheard of but is certainly not the norm. Reading a few interviews with him around the web this morning Asthâghul has a very specific mindset he exists within to allow his creative juices to flow and based on the frequency of his output he does not find it very difficult to get into the zone.

Released a little under a couple of months ago (at the time of writing this review at least), Saopth’s continues Asthâghul’s journey into the symphonic, the avant-garde and the lo-fi black metal elements of his music. I will go on record early on in this review in noting that there is a lot to take in here. As someone who is not really that interested in avant-garde metal this maybe more of an individual struggle as opposed to a more widespread challenge for any fan of the sub-genre. Fortunately, there is enough variety within Esoctrilihum’s music to retain enough of the more extreme elements that are more attractive to my palate.

I am not even going to attempt to talk about individual tracks here as that is firstly an impossible task (for me at least) and secondly would be an injustice to the whole release when viewed as a singular piece of art. I can only focus on the whole album as the consistency of the performance breeds the familiarity I need to connect with it superbly. One of the major strengths of Saopth’s forty-three plus minutes its clever use of keyboards and synthesisers. They draw an ethereal and eerie picture that is equal part dungeon synth and symphonic black metal also. They are like an icy cold hand to hold throughout the album, caressing your palm during the albums more bizarre moments whilst all the while guiding you through the maelstrom that is all the component parts of the album.

Vocally, Asthâghul adopts a rasping kind of lunacy in his style that is the perfect accompaniment to the music. Sat in the mix, well layered behind the keys and the guitars and drums they embody a real sense of struggle. There are times however when it all does get too much, where no amount of mixing and mastering prowess can balance all the elements in any sense of equilibrium and as a result sections of some tracks sound like they are damaged parts of the tape to my ears which is not a pleasant experience in all honesty. I cannot deny however that Saopth’s entertained me and although I am unlikely to have much desire to revisit this for further unpicking, there is no denying the effort and talent involved in this release.

Following my Review Draft discovery of Departure Chandelier's sophomore release, I have soon found myself venturing back through their entire discography.  Their one (and to date only) full length release holds up well both in comparison to their demo that followed this and also as a standalone release in its own right.  The familiar dungeon synth sound is strong here again, giving that sense of the tracks where it appears are being expanded and pushed to new heights of elevation.  That having been said, they also convey a more grandiose majesty than was present on the follow up release.  Dripping Papal Blood was of course a demo and so would not necessarily possess the same production values as a full length release and there is nothing polished about Antichrist Rise to Power as such, however it is a richer sounding record overall.

Again, instrumental, dungeon synth tracks, bookend the release as the open and close the album.  The funereal keys on the outro seem particularly fitting given the title of Outro (Exile on the Jagged Cliffs of Saint Helena) and what sits in between these two tracks is a selection of quite basic structures with rudimentary riffing and uncomplicated rhythms that touch on black 'n roll consistency at times.  This simple approach works really well with the minimalist dungeon synth that I already mentioned and by the end the album leaves me with a sense of ethereal calm, as if the outro track has acted as some palate cleanser.

It is hard to say to say if this ever truly could be classed as atmospheric bm (the dungeon synth certainly adds to the atmosphere) or just really well done minimalist bm that deploys a crude sense of symphonia by unconventional means.  Regardless of this, Antichrist Rise to Power is triumph nonetheless and one that scratches the conventional black metal itch whilst offering something extra at the same time.

When I first got into death metal the major appeal was that I had found something that had broken music. Not in a nonsensical kind of a way, as in I deemed it to be little more than silly noises. No, this was the loss of all traditional norms that I had grown to know about music, and I genuinely felt like I had found a new home. Morbid Angel’s debut record is probably the best example I can use to evidence the above. There is a quote in the booklet/liner notes of the of one of versions of it that I own that says, “One man’s insanity is another man’s genius and from these altars of madness the heretic rejoices in things unseen”, and I cannot thing of a better way to sum up death metal for me.

As the years have flown by, that original distortion that death metal provided me has continued to grow to the point where some albums that are tagged as being death metal sound very much to me like death metal itself has been broken now (the irony). I will not pretend to love every diversion, off-shoot, and infusion that death metal takes but provided it retains some elements of conventional death metal that I usually can cope well with most albums I come across.

Altarage are one of the few modern death metal bands that I would buy anything they release cold (I have discussed this elsewhere on here before). Whilst they do not possess a flawless discography, they represent a whole new level of horror in death metal that few can rival. Inevitably, comparisons with Portal instantly crop up which I absolutely get and have no issue with. However, in keeping with the theme of things evolving and developing, Altarage in their current guise are way ahead of Portal in terms of their ability to retain such a robust sense of structure to their brand of chaotic and squally death metal.

Endinghent is full of big riffs that go beyond the busy, stabbing style that they share with the Australian maestros. If anything, Altarage exemplify here a dialled back version of this chaos. This is an album where disorder is given structure and boundaries, still allowing it to do its work perfectly well enough but unafraid to put it on the back burner when the need for some crushing riffs is identified to firmly put the death metal stamp on things. The blackened element that I hear described around Altarage does not really ring true for me and although the odour of black is in the air it never settles at any point. Listening to this record for the first time in a while it is closer to the atmospheric death metal of Ulcerate (minus swathes of technical prowess).

Although not a release that I would consider to be their magnum opus, Endinghent is an interesting listen and an important step in the evolution of the band as they take the opportunity to apply some control to the frenzied attack that was their debut and give themselves a little breathing space before becoming an absolute tour de force on subsequent releases.

Following the feature in The North clan that featured their 2004 offering (Glory and Perdition), I picked up on Sear Bliss' follow up release after a track got featured on a clan playlist in the last couple of months.  As with their previous offering, The Arcane Odyssey immediately sang to me as a furthering of the refreshing take on melodic black metal that Sear Bliss have.  This release makes solid and consistent use of horns again - in fact I suspect there is more of them this time around - again never allowing them to dominate proceedings, still letting them swell in the space behind the rest of the instrumentation and never once leaving any hint of a doubt that you are listening to a black metal record in the first instance.

I do not often find myself enjoying back to back releases from artists and so Sear Bliss already find themselves in an elite club in my standings after just two albums.  The balance they achieve in their songs is astonishing, retaining an aggressive edge but the main takeaway are the rich and illustrious melodies that fill every track with a subtle grandiosity that shows a band in control of their own destiny, set on a path of their own choosing and revelling in the glory that they create as a tight and cohesive unit.  Tracks do not always follow a conventional format and even when you think they have ended they can continue down a different and unexpected path.

The same vibes jump out at me on this record as I got with their previous release.  The borderline cosmic elements of Darkspace, the whooshing melodicism of Drudkh and the atmospheric elements of latter day Negura Bunget.  There is also a retention of that brooding Mayhem mood sitting here as well.  It is as if Sear Bliss possess a lot more threat than you may take in upon first listen and they are happy to leave that teaser in the background to keep the listener on their toes.  Second track A Deathly Illusion deploys this near black 'n roll rhythm alongside those ever familiar horns to the point where the riffs began to hint at being just a bit seedy and dirty, giving a sense that the sleeves can get rolled up when needed in Sear Bliss.

This time around there are no interludes (an aspect that I had no issue with - for once - on Glory and Perdition) and this is a definite positive for the album.  This record flows really well, taking little risks along the way and simply working with their established sound.  It is not a safe record by any means though and still is unrepentant in its use of brass instrumentation and cleaner musical passages to cast ethereal atmospheres.  The lead work here would not be out of place on a traditional doom metal record and there are times when the record takes on such a pace to match as well.  Overall though, The Arcane Odyssey is a triumph of consistent song writing and textured layering of the elements contained therein.  This band are one of my favourite Metal Academy discoveries of 2022.

My flirtation with The Gateway clan has waned over the past year or so.  However, that having been said I think Bad Omen's latest release might just be my most played album of the year and I do still spin Niratias by Chevelle on a regular basis following its release last year.  Still, I do not now engage with much of this clan even though for a period in the late 90s and early noughties I was listening to the likes of Korn, Linkin Park and grunge acts such as AiC and Soundgarden on a daily basis.

In Sevendust I found a happy medium I guess between a record that is not shying away from being alternative but at the same time lacks any real sense of panache when it comes to song writing overall.  But let us start with a huge positive in the vocals of Lajon Witherspoon.  His cool and tuneful voice is the standout item on Animosity.  The irony being that his voice hardly evokes any sense of animosity given that it possesses a smoothness that sounds like he could roll icing out from between his vocal chords at times.  The more aggressive tracks leave me to think that he most certainly has depth in his abilities (if not necessarily able enough for me to describe that depth as range of any sort).  In keeping with the vocal performance, I find the riffs here of equal aptitude.  When they put their mind to it, Sevendust can let rip with the old six-strings whilst also weave some of those hazy nu-metal notes in there also from time to time.  These two elements alone make for some memorability without ever managing to convey much in the way of excitement or intrigue in what I am hearing.

Animosity is very much an album that I would not come back to.  After giving it more than a few listens ahead of this review I cannot say there is anything remarkable here and it really just sounds like an awful lot of other music that was floating around at the time.  The song writing can actually sound quite lazy at times with clunky structures such as Xmas Day really bringing nothing positive to the table.  As a result the album lacks completeness and suffers from the dreaded sense that this is a collection of songs as opposed to an album.

Dirty, squalid, crushing, rotten and ugly death metal here from the county of Yorkshire in the UK.  This is a celebration of old school death metal and as such brings nothing new to the table, which is fine as 15 minutes of 90's death metal is a welcome blast for any tea and biscuit break in my book.  Hailed in one article I read as being one of the "young upstarts of British death metal" it is clear that Mortuary Spawn have a healthy respect for the founding fathers of the genre and there is plenty here for the avid fan to sink their teeth into. 

Showing a keen ear for pacing and a deftness in being able to vary between sonic as well as all out riffing assaults along the way, this self-titled debut release shows a repertoire of ability that bodes well for future releases from the five piece.  Successfully generating atmosphere throughout the EP the band almost create a false visage of death/doom but possess a much more potent vibrancy to their riffs to ever stay low enough to not warrant tags beyond conventional death metal.  A solid if not remarkable debut offering but I sense there is a lot better to come here folks.

Meliah Rage are a noisy bunch.  In fact Idol Hands comes straight out of the traps in a riffing frenzy and maintains this trajectory over the eight tracks on offer.  Having somehow missed this band over their 30 year plus career I wondered initially how I had never picked up on any releases previously as at first glance they seemed to have some promise for my tastes.  Then two things became immediately apparent very quickly with Idol Hands that made me see more or less instantly why my foray into their discography will probably be limited to this one release.  Meliah Rage are to me like a poor persons version of Metal Church.  That combination of power, heavy and thrash metal that Metal Church managed to nail for at least a few releases is not as well moulded here within the ranks of Meliah Rage and as a result their blend of metal is too power metal orientated for my liking.

The vocals of Paul Souza are by far the most power metal laden element to the bands sound here.  For all the riffing that Jim Koury and Anthony Nichols manage to muster from the twin guitar attack (complete with some standard yet perfectly well-done lead work also) it is Souza's vocals that blunt the attack with their overly expressive gruffness that at times are quite comedic.  Although he can hold tone, he lacks range and his style soon becomes predictable.  Equally, drummer Stuart Dowie appears uninterested (or unable) in stretching his legs beyond some very rudimentary efforts - I mean where are the fills fella?  He just sits there following the same pattern, track after track.  I am not sure he has more than one stick in all honesty.

As I said, when I threw Idol Hands on at first it was instantly obvious they were noisy enough, unfortunately what they have to say is boring and predictable.  Lyrically they hold a level of naivety that belies their years together as the below excerpt for the terrible Sentenced to Life clearly shows:

Trapped inside your body

Locked inside your head

Dying to be someone else

Wishing you were dead

This is poor heavy metal, badly written and actively suppressing the two bits of talent that the band holds (the guitarists) within limiting and restraining structures that challenge nobody in terms of skill set.

As I further my listening in The Fallen clan I inevitably find myself with my first MDB album.  I cannot articulate why I have never ventured into MDB over the last three decades.  It is not that I recall any poor experience of one song that turned me off them although I predict that if I had heard Turn Loose the Swans back in 1993 I would not have gotten past album opener Sear Me MCMXCIII as my Pantera-adled brain would not have tolerated such a dreary number.  In so many ways TLtS is a gift that I can only appreciate with age, as it is an album that transcends a mere death/doom tag over its seven tracks and is in fact a lot to take in.

This is an album that manages to felt as well as heard.  It has tangible form and edges as well as an interesting interior to explore also.  Whether it is the destitute crooning of Aaron Stainthorpe that you feel in the very pit of your stomach or the melancholic stabbing riffs of Andrew Craighan and Calvin Robertshaw that fill your head with heaviest of dark thoughts, there is always an experience to be had with any part of TLtS.  Rick Miah more than deserves a mention also with his drumming providing a consistent and solid backdrop to whole despondent atmosphere of the album.  The drum patterns manage to sit in the space between simple percussion and expansive detail.  Never lost and never overpowering, this is one of the most balanced drum performances I have heard for some time.

Props also for the subtle use of the violin and keyboards.  Martin Powell manages to make his presence felt without turning the album into a wishy-washy, gothic affair.  The guitars, drums and vocals are genuinely allowed to shine with the keys and classical strings seeping in to support them or compliment perfectly the more down tempo moments.  The Snow in My Hand is a great example of how they violin is effectively used to introduce the song, set the tone and then hand it over to the doomier aspects of the sound.  In terms of the true death/doom content, I would argue that this is quite sparse overall and only comes into play from around the halfway point of the album.  Indeed, I would go as far as to suggest that TLtS is a real grower of an album overall in terms of staying true to its overall genre classification.  The elements of gothic and doom metal certainly dominate the first part of the album, yet when the death/doom content is displayed it does not push any of these other elements aside.  The band merely combine them as new component parts to the sound and as a result the album has a real sense of development to it.  At the same time all tracks seem somehow interconnected.  Listening to the aforementioned The Snow in My Hand you cannot help but think of album opener Sear Me MCMXCIII.  I am not aware that the album is a concept album and so I can only put this down to sheer consistency.

Building as it goes along, the release hits its peak shortly before the end of the record as the two lengthier tracks, Crown of Sympathy and the title track, truly showcase the song writing prowess of the band.  Dramatic, grandiose (trumpet fanfare) and utterly desperate, both tracks encompass the overall experience of TLtS perfectly.  I cannot pretend to have hit it off with this record from the outset and I have in fact been listening to it on and off for weeks now just to get to the point of being able to gather my thoughts for a review.  At first (as with Anathema) I did find it a little bleating at times but this issue soon dispersed over repeated listens.  Despite the experimentation, the record maintains a real death/doom ethos at its core and is one of the best records I have heard to date in my exploration of The Fallen clan.

Let’s be honest. Out of all the genres of metal, thrash metal is the one that sees little in the way of output that constitutes much excitement in the modern era. Nowadays even the progressive and or super technical offerings that stray over in to our beloved The Infinite clan here at The Metal Academy rarely raise enough furore to warrant a rating pretty much a review. As someone who spends a lot of time with The Pit clan when programming the playlists each month, it is easy to become embroiled in a battle with the algorithms of streaming services to find something that offers enough of a core representation of thrash or speed metal whilst adding something new and interesting to boot.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a band doing an established and recognisable sound well and giving a true representation of the genre in the process. However, at the end of the day there is a lot of thrash metal out there and it is easy to overlook true exceptions to the rule in such a packed and well-established genre. Enter Critical Defiance, another jolt of energy into the thrash metal corpse from the seemingly endless stream of Chilean metal bands who are unafraid to wear their 80’s influences on their sleeves and revive the sounds of old.

Take a flick through any review on MA of any of these South American revivalist acts and you will soon find high praise aplenty. This praise is not unjustified either given that in Critical Defiance’s case at least, they give an energetic and memorable performance throughout No Life Forms. Clocking in at just under half an hour, their sophomore release both sounds and feels like a thrash metal record from the heydays of the genre. With two guitarists in the ranks (a change from the debut release as I understand it – see Sonny’s review) the band present a full and complete sound that crackles with fire and energy throughout. As soon as the opening track starts, we get sight of the superb lead work within mere seconds and as such No Life Forms sets it’s stall out early.

The album flicks between all out, maniacal riffing with frenetic tempos and frantic pace swarming all over the listener and straight up memorable riffing and classic thrashing chops. The infectious nature of CD’s passion for their music is obvious on all ten tracks on offer here and they deliver that passion with the album never managing to become a draining experience for the listener. When they tone things down for some chopping punishment on our ears of a more classic variety, they reference Kreator, Morbid Saint, Sodom, and Demolition Hammer in their playing style to show some grounding in the genre’s history.

As a unit you will struggle to find many bands tighter than CD. The drummer is an absolute machine, and the audible bass is a real powerhouse in driving the band forwards also. As already referenced, the guitar work is nothing short of exceptional here and the instrumental track, Elephant (one of two instrumentals) showcases this perfectly with its climbing melodies and charging riffage. Likewise, the vocal work of Felipe Alvarado is a perfect fit for the music.  It reminds me of a more crossover style than the rest of the bands sound indicates as we are spared the high pitched shrieks as seems to be the norm on all retro-thrash records nowadays.

Despite all the positives noted above, I am not blown away by this record. Going back to my opening paragraphs, this has all been done before and although this is done well, I have plenty of this stuff already littered through out my physical and virtual library. In all honesty, even with a short run time, large parts of No Life Forms just pass me by each time I listen and that is not really the fault of anyone in the band, more a reflection of how overloaded my brain is on this stuff nowadays. Five stars for effort but not enough here still to keep this in the higher ratings overall.

The huge and rather grandiose logo for the band does no justice to the actual sound of Departure Chandelier.  Whilst there most certainly is a majesty to their sound it is a dank and drab majesty that manages to capture the core and basic elements of conventional black metal alongside dungeon synth and choral elements as well.  This four track demo from 2020 follows the success of their debut full length from the previous year which I am already getting on rotation along with their first demo from 2019 also which tracks a similar format to Dripping Papal Blood.

With an intro and outro track dedicated entirely to dungeon synth, we only have two tracks proper for DC to express their grim and grime-ridden black metal.  Thankfully, even over such a short format, they manage to impress us without seemingly breaking a sweat.  It is clear that the demo format allows for them to rely purely on the raw and slightly muffled/suppressed sound as opposed to being invested in any high level of production values.  They intelligently let the synths create atmosphere in keeping with the religious theme of the demo overall but they are also really strong with the riffs here as well.  The only element that feels a little too far removed from proceedings is the drums.  Whilst audible, they are only just so, a lot of the time they are just a "tishing" entity in the background and far more rhythm is developed from the guitar work as opposed to any real percussive input from the sticks.

Deploying a tried and tested rasping vocal style, the lyrics are sung as tortured incantations that compliment both the harsh bm on offer as well as the more atmospheric moments.  Clocking in at just over thirteen minutes, Dripping Papal Blood is memorable and departs leaving me with a real sense of closure as the minimalist synths count out the death knell of the outro track.  This has proven to be a very good find and holds much promise for me as I explore their wider discography.  I would recommend their debut demo The Black Crest of Death, The Gold Wreath of War for anyone who finds this format pleasing enough.

I have always struggled with Amon Amarth.  Notwithstanding that melodic death metal is not my thing at all, the Swedes continuous levels of praise is nothing short of baffling given that every song I hear by them sounds exactly the same.  I had spent time in the past with a couple of albums of theirs (Twilight of the Thunder God and Surtur Rising) and just got not get beyond seeing them being little more than background music.  In weighing up the options for this month's Review Draft for The Horde I clocked this, their debut full length release and had heard high praise for it being "brutal" and "glorious" so I decided to see if the band started out any better than they currently sound.

I would open the main part of my review by saying that the aspirations to be "glorious" are really obvious on Once Sent From the Golden Hall.  There is - even at this early stage in their career - an ambition to deliver songs on a grandiose and epic level and that is something I cannot help but recognise and acknowledge.  With track lengths ranging from four to eight minutes, Amon Amarth try to pack out their song writing with story telling being the main provision being utilised.  With the theatrics of the sound of a battle echoing around the middle section of the track Amon Amarth, the band make no bones about the grandiosity of their ideas and at least try to throw something different in there away from their familiar musical style.

The problem with all this ambition is that both the musicianship and the production job are of such a poor standard that the delivery of the promise is just a football field away from the planned intent.  Former Opeth drummer, Martin Lopez was part of Amon Amarth at this point in their career and considering the stature he attained with Opeth over seven albums, none of that promise is even hinted at here in 1998.  His timing is terrible and on more than one occasion he is behind the rest of the instruments and appears to be more than a tad over-eager on the hi-hats and cymbals as well.  The twin guitar attack of Hansson and Mikkonen sounds exactly the same as it does today in fairness and the only real drawback to this (aside from the fact that I hate the tone) is that they are drowned out in the main by Johan Hegg's vocals.  In fact Hegg gets by far the best treatment by the production and mixing job and his vocals really standout on here (how could they not) and for the first time I thought how more befitting they would be in a black metal act than in a melodic death metal band, but still, they are far too dominant here even if they do at times serve to hide Lopez's misgivings behind the drumkit.

In all OSFtGH is a triumph of design over content and is the final nail in the coffin for me and Amon Amarth as I doubt I will ever take any other opportunity to explore anymore of their releases since their debut just confirms that like the rest of their discography that I have experienced, Amon Amarth are simply not for me. 

The British death metal scene is littered with ugly as fuck underground acts that never seem to find the cold light of day in terms of getting picked up by any of the bigger music labels.  On a recent dm splurge I picked up on Vacuous and their brand of "caverndeath" which instantly reminded me of Grave Miasma minus some of the obvious experience that GM possesses within their ranks.  Katabasis is a riff infested beast for fans of walls of chopping and bruising death metal riffing and to be honest that is just about the extent of the offering over the twenty minutes that the band give us on this debut EP release.  

You are not going to find much in the way of variation here folks.  This is just a straight up, head off and shit down neck affair that fills the depths that it creates with a lot of the same stuff.  Sure there are slower sections that creep into existence to provide some respite from the monstrous riffing and there is argument to say that over a short format such as this, any more atmospherics would certainly suck momentum out of the Incantation-like fury that dominates the release in the main.  However, it is hard work to try and separate out individual tracks here as it stands, such is the level of consistency on show.

Although I probably will not revisit Katabasis beyond the three listens I have given it to formulate enough of an opinion to write this review, I am intrigued enough to hear what the debut full length from last month sounds like with a slightly longer run time to play with.  Although not a bad release by any means, Vacuous' debut EP feels just like a tick-box affair and as such gets appreciative nods without straying anywhere near the realm of excitement for me to give it much more than a cursory glance.

Notwithstanding that it is a non-metal release (and complete commercial sellout material to boot), Dr Feelgood was one the first vinyl records I owned.  A shopping trip with my grandparents wound up with me returning home with this and a copy of Hot in the Shade by Kiss under my arm.  How times have changed!  To pour further cold water on my extreme metal head credentials, this record still stands up to this day, some 30 years after it’s release, as being one the best examples of cock-rock that ever saw the light of day.

Dr Feelgood was brash, bold and unashamed in 1989 and it has carried that weight all the way through to 2022 as far as I am concerned.  I can recite the album track by track in my head, such was it’s infectious nature and also in no small part due to how much I have played this record over the years.  Nothing else from Vince and co has ever stuck with me and as the eighties fell into history it was this album that acted as my one time gateway album into a band whose discography has otherwise remained alien to me.  From the grandiose opening and title track, through to the catchy tropes of Kickstart My Heart and the cheesy as fuck Without You, this album just had mass appeal madness written all over it.

Sounding every bit as sleazy as that artwork suggests, Dr Feelgood delivers exactly what it says it will from the very off and rarely slips away into anything any less captivating.  Whether you view it as guilty pleasure or not (no guilt here folks) the pure nostalgia this album evokes in me is enough to get it 3 stars as a minimum, but there really is so much more than that on offer here and I continue to play this with a smile on my face some three decades after I first heard it.

Portugal has never been a country with whom I would associate having a vibrant black metal scene. A quick Google of “Portuguese black metal bands” turns up a multitude of bands who I must confess to never having heard of before. Gaerea have carved themselves a fond place in my heart over the past couple of releases, not only topping the chart of “most listened to Portuguese black metal artist” but also being my favourite modern black metal band. Whereas I have listened to and soon got tired of Mgla and Uada, Gaerea have managed to grow stronger and more intriguing over subsequent releases without having to undertake any major directional shifts.

What appeals most about these guys is their focus on intensity. Mirage is a taut affair from start to finish given its microscopic scrutiny of human emotions it has a value to it that can only be counted in hearts and minds won as it is a record that deserves more than just to be listened to. Given the great leap forwards that Gaerea undertook from Unsettling Whispers to Limbo it is refreshing to see the same happen again some two years later. Creatively, the quintet is unstoppable it seems, their prowess for appealing and contemporary black metal delivery seemingly knowing no bounds.

Limbo was an assured and consistent record; nobody can undermine the importance of a good sophomore release and Gaerea certainly were aware of this also. However, where their second album fell short of outright success (largely due to its meandering length at times) the four stars I awarded it in my review reflected the undeniable promise that it captured, promise that has come to full fruition on Mirage.

As the post metal vibes of album opener Memoir get dispersed by the shunt of cold and abrasive black metal that heralds the true arrival of the album, there is little doubt that this album brings an impact that is based entirely on its ability to immerse you in the torrid depths of its candour. As mentioned earlier, Gaerea need not rely on directional changes to make their mark on their third – and strongest – album. The best way to describe Gaerea is as being like a stab wound being repeatedly deal in the same area. There is no widening of the wound, no expansion to the length of the incision. Instead, each stab goes deeper and deeper, reaching for the vital organs, exposing more and more lifeblood.

Mirage is thus far the best thing I have heard this year and easily the best bm release of the year, but its success transcends mere personalised list rankings. Mirage is the output of a band at the top of their game. A band maturing faster than anyone who has followed them from the start really expected. Where they go next is the exciting part though.

I am going to come right out and say it. It is criminal that I have been unaware of this record for the last eight years. Given I already went in for a vinyl purchase within two weeks of hearing it for the first time, this should be evidence enough of my desire to rectify this wrong. First off, although I get the Mayhem, Abigor, Dissection and even Deathspell Omega vibes, I do think this is one of the most refreshing and unique black metal albums I have ever heard.

It flirts with the progressive elements throughout the experience without ever showing full on commitment to them in the long term. The always audible bass casts some aspersions about the progressive tendencies of the record in that I do not think that it always intends to sound progressive. Unlike with Onirik (another one of my unique favourite finds from recent years) this bass is not always climbing or expanding the ether of the music intentionally. In short, it is just well played and well placed in the arrangements and overall mix.

Of course, there is a lot more to Lvcifer Liber… than just the bass. The guitars fill the very air around them with their (again) progressive melodicism and warm Hellenic style. When combined with the passages of chant and mantras they work well together to build a lush and uncomfortable cosiness to the two short instrumental tracks that open sides A and B of the record. Early in the record it becomes clear that Thy Darkened Shade can be rhythmic machine when the tendency takes them. With an almost black ‘n roll catchiness they can move from occult driven atmospheres to infectiously memorable passages with adhesive-like qualities.

Drummer Hannes Grossman (credited only in a “guest” capacity) gives a great performance, varying between blastbeats and more measured elements he shows a real array of skills over an hour and near twenty minutes. This is not a rampant display by any means – his impact is much more subtle and considered in comparison to the rest of the instrumentation. With Semjaza handling everything else barring vocals, it is left to the mysterious The A to add a very Mayhemesque influence to the construct. I did find the vocals to be the weaker part of the machine initially, largely because they were so predictable, but they are well balanced with the cleaner mantras from Semjaza that I soon concluded that overall, they work without them necessarily needing to be on a par with everything else that is going on.

This is an album that rewards with repeated visits, subtly pushing your experience of the boundary expansion with each return listen. For me at first it just sounded like a melodic bm record with some clever parts but it is a lot more calculated than that and it has taken me seven or eight listens to truly get my head around what I have now proudly adorning the shelves of my vinyl collection.

Review Draft for The Horde this month sees me taking on Spanish death metallers Graveyard and their debut EP Into the Mausoleum which is actually just their first demo from 12 months earlier as far as I can make out.  I am genuinely unsure if this is re-recorded or even remixed in all honesty as the production job is far from top notch.  From the start there is a very Swedish vibe to the tempos on this record.  Not that it sounds particularly Swedish in terms of the crunch of that guitar as such, but you will still get those Dismember and Entombed tropes from the off with a healthy dose of Bolt Thrower for good measure also.  Certainly at this early stage in their career there is an Autopsy-like clumsiness to proceedings, suggesting that some accomplishment to the playing was yet to be realised.

At a shade under 24 minutes it is hard to come to much of a conclusion on Graveyard based on this one release.  They certainly make all the right noises for any fan of death metal to be endeared to them but with two tracks being  instrumentals and another being a cover of Death's Zombie Ritual , I would suggest this is not a fair representation of what the band no doubt have become in the fifteen years that have passed since this was released.  When they are in full flow on the four tracks that have lyrics and their own content they are capable of delivering some pretty decent if not cluttered arrangements.  The immaturity does hold them back though and that production job is not kind to the drums in particular which sound like a mere afterthought in the mix.

They have a fair crack at that Death cover but do little justice to it whilst managing to avoid massacring it overall.  Looking at their scores on future albums they notch up some decent praise over the years so it may be worth me taking a punt on a later album to see how good these guys turned out in later years but for now I shall just note Into the Mausoleum as being a solid if unremarkable start for them.

The Review Draft feature this month served its purpose well. Needless are a completely new offering to me and one that probably need a hall of judgement submission (no, I am not) as they offer an intriguing if not altogether functional slant to thrash/death/progressive metal. To start with, the band are Hungarian and although noted as being active since 2004, it was not until 2019 that they released their debut full length.

Heresy is an energetic if not jerky affair in the main. It flits from idea to idea as though alluding to a level of progression that the band are not quite capable of achieving. Time changes are not always the smoothest of transitions (and I get that they are not always supposed to be) with the sense being that things are just piled on top of one another as opposed to being arranged in a clever and challenging way.

Although it lacks finesse, the album is by no means unpleasant to listen to. I will not pretend to like all the eight tracks on here, the level of progressive influence makes the album too jarring an experience overall for me to be able to highlight individual tracks as being standout moments. That having been said the technical prowess aligns on enough occasion for sections of songs to shine (Sky Burial, for example has some memorable sections). Vocalist Ádám Forczek is consistent throughout and has an aggressive yet ultimately predictable style that does not entirely do justice to the more accomplished guitar work of Fogl Botond and Tamás Bárány by way of comparison.

I would describe this as "grown up" technical/progressive - melodic - death/thrash metal that is being done by teenagers not yet at a level of maturity that matches the ambition of the group. Album number two just dropped in 2022 I noticed during my research for this review and I would not be averse to checking that out to hear if they have polished the edges of their song writing prowess enough to really be able to shine.

I must confess to not having heard the debut album by Cirith Gorgor for a good while. A brief look at my spreadsheet where I log all my collection showed me that I had this album as a five out of five rating. SPOILER ALERT – it isn’t. This record had a bit of a cult following back on the old Terrorizer forums and I can sort of see why. The blazing Battles in the North intensity of Immortal, the relentless attack of Gorgoroth and the misanthropic attitude of Marduk all shine through on this record. Similarly, the crude sense of melody deployed by the likes of Sargeist rings around my head for most of Onwards to the Spectral Defile.

That cult status does not strike me as all that valid – certainly in 2022 anyways. Released in 1999, this album dropped long after the heyday of the bm scene and so I hear nothing that I had not heard already from any of the above-mentioned bands. Gorgoroth had peaked long before this record, Marduk lead the way in the intensity stakes as Immortal embraced the more epic aspect of bm in the very same year Cirith Gorgor released this, their debut album. The thought occurs to me that CG just arrived late to the party and wondered where everyone else had gone.

History lesson aside, is OttSD any good? Well, yes, it is. If you like a dose of 90’s scathing black metal with some melody (clumsily) applied, then this is for you. Does the scope of the ambition outweigh the ability to deliver it? Yes, it does. Is the production job a little too high value for the aesthetic they try to portray? Probably. It is still a decent enough an effort for a debut album though and I am being more than a little unkind to it by berating it in terms of historical reference alone. Enjoy this album for what it is and not when it should have been released.

I am not averse to experimentation. Indeed, some of my favourite artists enjoy such status because they can push boundaries and invent new angles and perspectives on classic sounds that I have been familiar with from as far back as my formative years in metal in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Taking a relevant geographical reference for this review Blut Aus Nord are a successful French bm band who have continually incorporated more ambient yet also industrial sounds into their once very conventional atmo-bm sound. I actively seek vinyl copies of BAN records; such is the value I attribute to them.

Spektr are just mental by way of comparison. They appear to be billed as a bm band with industrial and ambient influence when the reality is that they are a confusing mishmash of all the above that gets jazz, down-tempo and a multitude of spoken word clips and samples thrown in to boot. They constantly use this bizarre, warped guitar riff (the same one, for nine tracks – barring the intro tracks) and use a stop/start arrangement to the album structure allowing shorter transitional pieces to introduce longer tracks. This gets disorientating, even without the “piled-on” nature of the track content that runs for anything up to 11 minutes in some instances.

They have drums on here apparently. I say “apparently” because I cannot hear them half the time. They struggle to successfully find purchase in most tracks and sound completely drowned in the mix and lost altogether on many occasions. This may well have been a conscious decision; I am not suggesting that this is due to accidental production quirks. The duo who recorded this want the guitar and horrific atmospheres to take centre stage, I get that. However, unlike with MoRT from the French icons BAN, there is no dissonance for me to track throughout Cypher. Granted that riff I mentioned makes a play for the benchmark element, but it does not quite carry the same hold as the haunting dissonance that BAN conjure.

The industrial vibes are also not that strong to my ears. I mean they are there most definitely, but I am not left feeling I have endured a punishing or all that taxing journey through the usual assorted clangs, clashes, and mining detail of an outright industrial-influenced record. I think this is due to the strong bass presence that seems to mute these harsher edges somewhat. The bass seems to be the most chilled element of proceedings following a more relaxed jazz vibe, again which maybe an intentional thing but it just creates too much of an opposite for the combination to work for me.

Now, note that at no point in this review have I called out Cypher as being a bad album. In fact, if I wanted some background music it works brilliantly; this most certainly is not an album to sit and listen to with nothing else going on at the time. It is a flawed album that lacks the maturity to balance conflicting elements correctly. In order to blend elements like this successfully you would need to be much more extreme than this and as such Cypher feels like an album that is pulling me in more than one direction as a result of it not being able to define its own direction.

Reaching for YouTube to complete an album review is a sign either that the album is old or bad that nobody ever sought means to re-release it at any point. Land of Mystery falls under the old category most definitely to the point where it sounds older than it is. Whether this was a conscious effort or more because the budget was non-existent and so they had to make do with whatever they could get will probably never be known. One thing that I can state with a high level of confidence is that Black Hole could not play their instruments (I mean they can’t even keep time) and it is painful to listen to the record at certain points.

It is so painful an experience that I am breaking my rule of listening to something three times as a minimum before reviewing it because I am not sitting through this shit again. Singer Robert Measles cannot sing. Somehow still there are occasions when his vocals work, and the haunting drone of his voice compliments the aesthetic that they are trying to deliver. The rest of the time they are just awful noises that hold no real direction or structure.

Without any strong musicianship to rescue his vocals there is not much in the way of space to hide but I do still find myself looking up from what I am doing captured in some occasional moment of ethereal atmosphere that is usually instantly ruined by the band trying to play something a little too complex for their capabilities. The drums cannot be played on a real drumkit and still sound that light and ineffective, I am sure. The stringed instrument playing is all over the place and the concept of arrangements in general is shocking.

Albums like this really annoy me. They exist on little if any merit of the musicians involved and achieve some cult status from being quirky or by some fluke sounding like a much more highly regarded band from years ago. Terrible album.

Finally, I get around to Tiamat after several decades of somehow missing (or simply not remembering) them. Picking them up when firmly in their death/doom phase on Clouds I find an album that should – on paper at least – appeal to me. Hearing those gloomy riffs and b-movie horror synthesisers on opening track In A Dream certainly seems to indicate that I will enjoy this and…WAIT, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?? That voice, is that Stephen Hawking saying, “in a dream”? That can’t be planned right? The tape has gotten mixed up with an audiobook somewhere on the production line surely.

Joking aside, after a few listens at least, the odd vocal delivery of the chorus line on the opening track retains some quirky value at least. If I am honest, the whole of Clouds has some vocal challenges for me in the sense that I find Johan Edlund to be a lazy sounding vocalist. I get that he is supposed to sound full of despair and hopelessness, but I find that he just sounds like he cannot be bothered in all honesty. His vocals appear to be an afterthought on most tracks, like they somehow forgot to record them with everything else and then had to track them at the last minute.

Luckily, there are some merits to the instrumentation to note that manage to detract away from Edlund’s half-hearted efforts. The guitars have a suitably mournful tone to them, and the use of keyboards is applied well to tracks to give a real depth to that gloomy atmosphere. It is not difficult upon hearing Clouds to understand how Tiamat moved onto their more gothic climes in latter years. The melancholic elements on the record lack any grandiosity overall but certainly hark to a more emotional performance than a mere death/doom vibe.

A Caress of Stars might be the better of the tracks on offer here with its patient and enveloping growth, torturing the listener by offering no real crescendo in the end albeit that the promise of such is hinted at in the song structure. If you can cope with Edlunds vocals, then Clouds is an album that rewards you for sticking with it as it continually delivers on a dank level of comforting consistency as it slopes its way over eight tracks. The drums are really striking throughout the album and have a chunky edge to them that gives them a real strong presence in proceedings. There isn’t anything particularly standout about them in terms of technicality, they just hit the spot consistently well.

The mood of the album is its ultimate triumph. To be able to provide something – anything – to distract from those vocals is a tall order to deliver, and Tiamat thankfully could rely on their musicianship to save what would otherwise have been a real struggle for this pair of ears to get through.

For some reason I thought Liege Lord had been around for ages and churned out multiple releases. Instead, I can see they managed just three full lengths in approx. 4 years. Having started as a Judas Priest covers band (under the name Deceiver) in the early 80’s, they evolved into a speed metal (of sorts) act around 1984.

Straight out of the traps on their third and (to date) final album the six string antics of Paul Nelson and Tony Truglio are the standout section for me. They are both listed as lead guitarists which might explain the high level of energy that comes across from the off. The riffs are urgent yet varied enough to incorporate some of the more traditional heavy metal familiarity which is also obvious in the voice of Joseph Comeau who avoids the diluted sounding vocals that plagues this sub-genre so often and instead has a kind of hoarse and gruff heavy metal/more aggressive Sammy Hagar style throat.

Frank Cortese sounds like he is having an absolute blast on the drums, but I feel he is at the mercy of the mix in some regards and is a little too far back in proceedings. As a unit, there is a sense of cohesion here that makes for an entertaining album that never really gets up into the realms of being exceptional. At times they do go a bit Van Halen (Feel the Blade) with more catchy and diluted structures taking precedent. As such I do not class this as a speed metal record end to end. In fact, from pretty much the halfway point there is a real change of direction on the record. A change for the worse in my book.

This is disappointing given how well the album starts through the first four tracks. When we get snippets of this early promise returning (Rapture) it is surpassed by some below par song writing and cluttered arrangements in track. The loose references to some NWOBHM plod do nothing concrete enough to cement this release as being one that is consciously trying to show variety and it just seems to show the limitations of the band’s influences. Closing track, Fallout starts like some power ballad with the heavy blues influence on the lead work giving way to a more aggressive format which seems still to be more about being showy as opposed to exerting any real quality control.

Symphonic death-metallers Septicflesh are a hit and miss band for me across the various parts of their discography that I have heard. They occupy that space on the very outskirts of my radar whereby if they release something it will largely go unnoticed with the occasional track appearing on playlists at some point, briefly causing me to pause to listen, usually decide it is nothing new in terms of their standard grandiose arrangements that I find go nowhere in the end. All mouth and no trousers is a phrase that springs to mind whenever I am faced with a Septicflesh release.

Everybody must start somewhere of course and back in the mid-nineties the Greeks had a much more death/doom trajectory about their direction. Their second full-length Έσοπτρον (translated to Epsotron meaning “inner view/mirror”) is full of mournful melodies on the guitar with the support of melancholic keys for good measure. Both these elements drive the record forwards in a mix that leaves the drums firmly at the back of the studio and the vocals being hoarsely uttered somewhere just in front of them.

Upon first listen, Έσοπτρον sounds like virtually the same track played in the same order around nine times with the only real variance being the intro (Breaking the Inner Seal) and the medieval tropes of instrumental track, Celebration. Repeated listens – albeit slowly – dispel this notion as you come to understand that whilst subtle in nature, the nuances between tracks are there, you just must be patient in discovering them. I soon got to finding the album possessing an ethereal beauty after a handful of listens, despite there being some sections that step away from death metal (Ice Castle, which plays like some bastardised epic heavy metal track) for large portions of their run time. On their sophomore album, Septicflesh had a keen sense of dark harmony amongst their lead elements, and it is not hard to understand when listening to Έσοπτρον how this band elevated themselves into the symphonic powerhouse that we all recognise them to be nowadays.

As with Greek bm, I find the death/doom on display here to be warmer than usual, or certainly a lot softer than contemporaries of the time. Overall, despite the albums positive growth on me, the piercing tones of the lead guitar are overused and (taking into account that it is death/doom) the album lacks enough variety to make this album a standout for the sub-genre or the band overall. Those dungeon-synth moments that haunt the song structures in places are a welcome addition that add depth and atmosphere to proceedings and there is some stellar arrangements on the lead guitar front (So Clean, So Empty) to keep me focused for the whole album. An important if not outstanding release for Septicflesh.

Drama and more specifically theatrics need not always come in the form of sweeping symphonic structures or other such over-the-top gestures of majesty and grandiosity. It is possible to express the raw emotion of your art form with a fair old amount of restraint. In fact, if you get your timings correct and the flow of your music perfected then your messaging kind of takes care of itself.

Polish black metal trio (at the time of this release anyways) are not entirely living up to the literal translation of their name (means “war machine” in German) in terms of their style of black metal. This is no Marduk clone, for example. Parallels instead can be drawn with Mgla (with whom they share a drummer and a guitarist/vocalist) or Aosoth as the six songs on this album cover a fair old bit of ground from the more melodic stylings of the former couple with the more aggressive tendencies of the latter. Despite not living up to the literal meaning of their name in terms of all out velocity of the music they do bring with them the horror of war with their largely grim and relentlessly repetitive salvos of tremolos that constantly pepper the skies around them as if in mid-firefight across the darkest of no-man’s lands.

A decidedly more modern take on black metal as opposed to being more second wave focused, Enemy of Man captures that ringing use of melody span into an ever-present dissonance that heightens the senses of the listener into near perpetual anxiety. Farewell to Grace is a real marauding track in this regard, constantly molesting the ears with its serpentine-like form. The drum patterns of Asceticism and Passion are tribal and ritualistic providing a great sense of drama all by themselves.

All this ever-growing darkness makes for a great listening experience with the summoning of theatre that I referenced at the start of my review sounding largely effortless. I cannot recall many modern black metal albums that I have taken to so quickly after my initial listens. This reminds me of Behemoth without all the bullshit ceremony (and a lot less death metal of course) and just allowed the intensity of the delivery drive everything. For an album full of seven and eight minutes plus tracks, Enemy of Man never gets dull or boring as you can revel in the repetition given that its importance is so integral to the success of the record.

The combination of Darkside’s varied and consistent drumming alongside M’s marauding guitar work is a lesson in vibrant component parts being able to be played side by side without one being at the expense of the other. The vocal contributions of M. and Destroyer round off an excellent overall experience making this 2014 release one of the real overlooked gems for me.

Do not be fooled by that album artwork fellow academics.  It may look like Tribal Gaze should be classified in The Infinite clan but let me assure you that no Hall of Judgement submission is required here folks.  Tribal Gaze are death metal through and through and any thoughts of progression can get to fuck as far as The Nine Choirs is concerned.  These five Texans make catchy as shit death metal on their debut full-length which I discovered via (yep, you guessed it) Maggot Stomp records, a label that continues to churn out savage, arcane and also memorable and accessible death metal on a consistent basis.

Think of an old school reference such as Morbid Angel then add a blend of more modern reference such as Frozen Soul and you are some way to understanding the kind of death metal that Tribal Gaze play.  The riffs are infectious and cutting without ever quite catching 100% of that Swede crunch or being afraid in the albums slower moments to scrape at those sludgier riffs to boot.  Vocally they deploy a cavernous death metal gurn that reminds me of Vastum/Acephalix, all sat on a concrete foundation of percussion and a chunky yet subtly mixed bass rumble to underpin it all.

You'll soon pick up their ability to mix it up and change tempo on the head of a pin, unafraid to accentuate the groove in those riffs at the sacrifice of a bit of blasting.  Dropping in spoken word snippets and old radio music broadcast excerpts every now and again to emphasise the sarcasm behind their message, Tribal Gaze can let props do their work when they decide to do so.  Over thirty-five minutes I just do not stop moving, whether it is exercising my face with a multitude of mindlessly ugly expressions or throwing my arms, head, legs...whatever the fuck can be swung or banged.  A triumph for the simple format of death metal song writing, The Nine Choirs needs no frills and dwells not upon the fact that this most certainly been done before.  It just does what it does best and I love it.

It is not news to anyone that I loves me some nasty, blackened death metal.  I lap that fetid shit up, chomping on the meatier parts with a vigour rivalled only by my cat when she is annihilating the random fish head treats that she gorges upon each morning.  Whilst she is in the kitchen having her daily treat I am up in my lair blasting the fuck out of California's Abhorrency.  Yet another Maggot Stomp label discovery, this three piece celebrate three-years of existence with a debut full-length that is riddled with all manner of vile impurities, from sickening blastbeats to perverse, slobbering vocal exchanges that sound like the caverns of Hades themselves being expunged of their hellish phlegm, Climax of Disgusting Impurities lives up to its name for all thirty-two minutes of its run time.

Do not think it all just mindless bludgeoning here.  Abhorrency mix up the tempo and pace here to truly emphasise the horror of their existence.  Whilst that wall of noise continues to present itself in all its terrifying glory there are slower passages here that seem to prolong the torture for us all, to highlight that there is some thought and calculation behind all of this.  The palate cleanser that is track six that sounds like a palate cleanser done with Ebola is proof of the measuring of the nasty intent behind this record. Yes it is Archgoat-ugly and Portal-chaotic but there is more here to expand the impact of Climax of Disgusting Impurities.  In short, this climax keeps on going for a whole half hour.  

Austrian (largely) one-man black metal project, Anomalie incorporate a varying spectrum of atmospheric and post-black metal stylings into their sound.  With a heavy focus on dreams, spirituality, nature, urban life, emotions and social criticism you can predict that it is no Immortal clone.  Instead it has an almost gothic undertone to the modern bm take that dominates the 6 tracks (including one NiN/Jonny Cash cover - which is awful) and manages to hit some rich veins of ethereal melody along the way.  My main issue is with the vocals, they are too clean for my liking given the rather naïve and cringey lyrical skills that where on show for this debut release.  It feels like too overt an expression of emotion that is dramatic for drama's sake and I found myself hitting the skip button at least twice during the listen throughs of this.

Well Age of Taurus are early evidence that doom metal might just be for me after all.  Desperate Souls of Tortured Times is a hefty slab of epic doom metal that stretches its legs in terms of varying pace over seven tracks of lengthy yet never arduous duration.  At their best they are a psychedelic-edged doom behemoth and the standout track by far for me is the mournful and dank Walk With Me My Queen which is superbly situated in the middle of the album.  At the same time they are guilty of the odd meander as well with penultimate track Embrace the Stone not really bringing any value during its eight minute runtime despite a really promising start.

The racy Desperate Souls is an example of where the band can comfortably ditch the traditional doom metal tag and go a little more up tempo without sacrificing that looming menace that those twin guitars bring to the table.  The vocals are actually a great fit for me and I like how the bass is just as audible as everything else here.  It is albums like this that cast my recent history with heavy metal in a new light.  I have a feeling that if I had pursued this path sooner with the more epic doom metal sound then I could have tied together the two sub-genres better without now having to explore one at the expense of the other.  There is a rumbling coolness to DSoTT that sacrifices none of the youthful vigour of true heavy metal yet in fact manages to add a great level of esotericism to proceedings and although it is early on in my exploration of The Fallen clan this realisation of where my path has perhaps come to a premature end with heavy metal is certainly causing much reflection of my listening habits over the years when doom has gone largely neglected as a listening option.

There are lots of Master of Reality style structures here and this can only be a good thing in my book.  That slumbering groove to the guitars scratches a real itch for me and when in full flow this is a razor sharp unit.  I can see they underwent something of a line-up change for album number two (which is on my radar) so will be interesting to see how consistent these guys are, but with Leo Smee of Cathedral fame in the band there is an element of real promise ahead of me checking out their sophomore release, built from this solid foundation stone also.

If you hold any hope for thrash metal in 2022 then stay away from The Sick, The Dying …and The Dead. Do not take the time to listen to its half-hearted, lazily written and largely flat compositions. Pay no attention to Dave Mustaine’s lacklustre vocal delivery (seriously – I know the guy has been ill and is getting on, but the vocals here are not good, it comes to something when the best performance he puts in is on the bonus track cover of a Dead Kennedy’s song). Dedicate no effort to listen to a band that wrote proficient music such as Hangar 18 at one time but now can barely string together any level of technical prowess beyond the occasional half decent solo.

Even during their less thrashy releases such as Youthanasia they still managed to breed an energy level that took their heavy metal musings to a reasonable level of intensity to be entertaining. In returning to their thrash roots in recent years at least, Megadeth had managed to bring some of that catchiness and memorability with them. However, on album number sixteen they somehow manage to lose both catchiness and ability in absolute droves. Structures all seem to morph into messy and directionless efforts at speed metal having started every now and again with the hope of some true thrashing fury that dissipates as the band try unsuccessfully to express the range of their skills.

Look, Mustaine and Loureiro can play – we know that. However, all the widdly wankery in the world will not save this album and boy do they try. DiGiorgio might as well not be here, as with most Megadeth releases, I can barely hear the bass anyways. Verbeuren just seems to quietly sit in the corner tapping his way through the album, not making any real splash in the pool barring an occasional burst on the skins. On the extended (pain) version I had the misfortune of sitting through there is a terrible cover of a Sammy Hagar song (fucking Sammy Hagar??) that features Sammy Hagar for some reason. And this is what Megadeth have become after nearly forty years of existence? Gone are the reputable sneers at society, politics, and culture. Replaced instead by laughable cabaret turns from special guest “star” performers who should have long since given up the ghost (although the inclusion of Ice T on a track adds a little bit of credibility to an otherwise reputational disaster of a record).

Dystopia was not perfect by any means, but after Super Collider and Thirteen it offered hope for the Megadeth machine in the sense that it had a fair old selection of decent chops and felt like it was put together with some meaning. By comparison TSTDaTD is a giant step backwards that fails to capture the vitality of its predecessor let alone capitalise on it.

I feel enough has probably been said already about Electric Wizard on most internet review sites in terms of the (deserved) adulation they received for the likes of Dopethrone or Come My Fanatics. For a period, Electric Wizard seemed to be everywhere, occupying endless “What are you listening to?” or “Recent Purchases” threads on the various internet forums I frequented some ten years ago. There was a sense that they were a band who could do no wrong (although the same collective conscience on the internet all seemed to simultaneously recognise the failure that was Wizard Bloody Wizard), a group who had hit their sweet spot in the realm of occult-ridden stoner/doom metal and consistently churned out the cursed vibes to the baying masses.

After a brief break from metal back in the late noughties I returned to the scene and decided it was time to bring Electric Wizard into my world. Never having really explored any stoner/doom metal before, Black Masses was the record that almost tipped me into the world we all know here as The Fallen. I played the shit out of this record, mostly because I was flat broke and my listening choices were limited (at least until I discovered Bandcamp anyways), but also because for the first time the hazy darkness and fuzz that emanated from this record soaked me up and I simply ‘got it’. Black Masses was one of those records that just clicked with me, better then anything else that I have listened to by the band – even the mighty Dopethrone.

To this day I still find desultory comfort in the arms of Venus in Furs, still feel a nerdy coolness to the b-movie atmospherics that imbue the whole hour run time of the record; Black Masses more than makes me want to shut all my curtains in the middle of the day and watch endless Hammer Horror! Rarely moving beyond a death march plod throughout eight tracks, Electric Wizard still manage to provide consistent entertainment without breaking that much of a sweat. What sounds lacklustre or half-hearted to some is in fact evidence that EW did what they did so naturally back then that they could afford themselves a little bit of arrogance in their playing.

Who cares that Patterns of Evil is more than a tad cumbersome in its arrangement, the multitude of component parts clashing with each other at various points, when it all sounds so disturbingly relaxing at the same time? A lot of the success here for me is down to Jus Osborn’s vocals. Dialled perfectly into the mix without getting lost in the density of the instruments they act as a creepy and pained accompaniment to the music. The combination of his and his wife Liz Osborn’s leaden riffs are imperative to the sullen and hopeless aspects of Satyr IX, seeped in psychedelia and gloriously comforting in their enshrouding nature.

If finding peace in darkness and dankly lit places is your bag, then there is plenty to go at on Black Masses. It is sombre without being draining, evil without being overtly nefarious and enriching without the need for ‘nice-to-haves’ such as variety and progression to unlock it rewards.

If the album artwork was not clue enough, Abraded play butt-fuck ugly death metal in the vein of pretty much all of Maggot Stomp’s roster. Not content with the bludgeoning best of what death metal has to offer, the Cleveland based trio throw lots of grinding goodness into the mix as well. Things somehow sound clean as a whistle in some places though, despite a filthy production job that gives the requisite levels of grime you would expect, the d-beats that thump away at you brain might as well be in the same room as you when you are listening.

Grisly and vile vocals rasp over mining riffs and rumbling bass lines to give the whole experience a complete feel. At only twenty-minutes long it is over all too quickly and you feel too fetid to put it back on without showering first. Put your scruffs on, this one’s a real platter of splatter guys!  Ugly, extreme and straight to the fucking point!  Fuck yeah!

As I have commenced my exploration of The Fallen clan it seemed sensible to pass comment on this month’s feature release, especially given the high praise it has received to date. The caveat I must add here is that I have sampled Solitude Aeturnus before now and found them not entirely to my liking. I saw these guys come up as a recommendation when searching for bands like Candlemass (who remain my benchmark in doom whom I usually chart my forays from). Stylistically the comparisons are usually spot on I must admit but considering the first four Candlemass albums are my genre-defining releases, Solitude Aeturnus have a lot to live up to.

On Alone I must comment on how nu-metal I find Rob Lowe’s vocals. Not to say that this is alternative or nu-metal in anyway, but I get flashbacks to listening to the likes of Life of Agony back in the 90s. That low vocal tone looms through in the slower moments and I cannot help but think of the sound of that very different sub-genre of metal music. Whilst we are on about the vocals, I do also find them incredibly whiny on here. Now, I know that is sort of the point and they are done deliberately like this to emphasise the melancholy of the music. However, whilst I can acknowledge the fine set of pipes that Mr Lowe possesses, I do find the vocals to be a real bug bear of mine.

It is not even as if the riffs rescue proceedings entirely. Huge though they are (and with a decidedly eastern/oriental theme to them for the initial few tracks here) I find that they are too melodic for most of the record, and I do find myself longing for the more heavy and bruising style of riffs I normally associate with this type of music. Rarely during the hour-long runtime of Alone do I feel like I encounter anything monolithic in terms of a crushing wall of doom, in fact for most of the time it plays like a heavy metal record with a heavy doom metal influence. Moments such as the opening of Is There and the Black Sabbath riff that opens Tomorrows Dead do fill me with hope but are mostly just empty promises.

Although it is all done well enough, I just do not fell that the band ever get beyond a jog here and that they should be capable of more given their obvious stature in the field of doom.  Maybe with my recent departure from The Guardian clan, Alone is too near to that sound for my comfort nowadays and it would have perhaps sat better had I discovered it some years ago.  Epic though it is, this record is somehow not captivating enough overall and I almost want to like it more than I actually do.

Some albums most definitely fit into a sub-genre yet at the same time manage to express an alienation to the core sound that seems to make them seem like they do not really fit at all. I cannot think of a better example of this than Dream Death’s debut release. It most certainly has thrash elements but at the same time has a real slant on doom metal. Often listening to it like you are listening to two different bands or a band that is so torn with its influences that half want to do thrash and the other half want to do doom.

It makes for an interesting album in some regards but overall, you cannot get away from the fact that Journey Into Mystery suffers from a lack of direction. The songwriting is not particularly stellar either to boot and so there is a real sense of conflicting purposes over the eight tracks. It is not that any one element is particularly awful, more that no singular piece gets chance at a full exploration or development to its full potential. Personally (even with my fledgling doom metal ears) these guys are a better doom band than they are a thrash band. In fact, on certain tracks (The Elder Race for example) there are no thrash metal elements to my ears. Indeed, post this record saw the departure of bassist Ted Williams and the remainder of the band elected to change their name to Penance and become a doom band.

As far as I can hear, their hearts were never really into thrash at all and all Journey Into Mystery did was prove this lack of conviction made the music suffer. I hear a lot of Trouble in those riffs and at times I struggle with the vocals as I do with Trouble’s debut. The vocals here are so clumsy at times that I find myself cringing. Lines get rushed through often leaving the odd word iterated in isolation and completely out of context. Accepting that this is a debut album, the vocalist is far too forward in the mix and sounds like he is deliberately shouting over everything else which just comes off as amateurish and juvenile.

Whether it simply their own version of uptempo doom or genuine attempts into thrash metal, Dream Death are all over the place here and it really does destroy any sense of flow. The best track on here is the heavily Celtic Frost influenced Hear My Screams, it deploys a consistency (barring that awful, snatchy solo) that the rest of the album is sadly lacking. Maybe back in 1987 this would have more props but come 2022 it certainly has not aged well.