Daniel's Reviews

Sweden’s Gorement are one of those unique cases of an extreme metal band that has built up a following very gradually over many years before finally being placed on somewhat of a pedestal by underground enthusiasts who all swear blind that they were into them back in the day. The reality is that unless you were an obsessive tape trader then you probably didn’t encounter the band until long after the year of release. There was a bit of a buzz around the tape trading scene about Gorement’s solitary full-length in the mid-1990’s & I was lucky enough to pick the album up through an Aussie trader I was involved with who was utterly infatuated with Swedish death metal, particularly of the doomier variety as we find here.

I have to say that “The Ending Quest” didn’t blow me away at the time though & it’s been fascinating to see their cool-factor gaining momentum over the years. I’ve been meaning to revisit the album for a good four or five years since I noticed it had been remastered & released by Century Media, mainly because I wanted to see if I’d been missing something back in the day. I also had a strong suspicion that “The Ending Quest” might be something that would interest our beloved Sonny given that one of my strongest memories of it was that it sat somewhere in the grey area between death metal & doom/death.

Upon review, I’d have to say that that’s a fairly accurate recollection because, despite most websites claiming Gorement to be doomy death metal in a similar way to that of bands like Autopsy & Asphyx, I’d suggest that “The Ending Quest” is actually a more genuine hybrid & worthy of a dual tagging (& clanning too if you want to get technical). Gorement combine the classic mid-paced death metal of Bolt Thrower & early Amorphis with the melodic doom/death of early Paradise Lost & Katatonia but they do it with the sort of grimy underground authenticity that appeals to an audience that was raised on crudely dubbed demo tapes. The execution is fairly sloppy & unsophisticated with the musicianship not being high on the list of priorities however those aren’t criticisms as such as those elements tend to work in with Gorement’s whole image & mystique to tell you the truth. I think it’s the contrast of the dark brutality of death metal with the catchy melodies of doom/death that gives them a unique atmosphere & appeal that’s quite rare these days & the filthy production job only further enhances that.

Front man Jimmy Karlson does a splendid job at the death growls & he may well be the highlight of “The Ending Quest” although there’s also an argument for the atmospheric guitar melodies during the doomier moments too. Unfortunately for me though, I’ve always favoured the more sophisticated American brand of death metal over the comparatively more primitive Scandinavian style & that position sees me craving a little more professionalism here. Despite quite enjoying almost the entire tracklisting, I can’t say that I find any of these tracks to really hit my sweet spot. It’s only really the noticeably weaker “Darkness Of The Dead” that I regard as being subpar with the other nine songs possessing an impressive consistency, even if the level they’re maintaining isn’t close to the top tiers. I tend to find the doomier moments to be more attractive than the up-tempo death metal riffs & I think that comes down to the band’s lack of precision as much as anything.

After giving “The Ending Quest” a few active listens in recent days I’ve reached the conclusion that not a lot has changed in regard to its appeal for me personally. It’s certainly an enjoyable listen but I can’t say that I feel like I’ll be returning to it any time soon. Is it worthy of the praise it seems to receive these days? Well… no, I don’t think it is. There was much better material being released at the time & I kinda get the feeling that it’s the albums primitive aesthetics that are as responsible for its lofty status as much as anything else. I mean, just take a look at that album cover, particularly the logo which seems to have been hand-drawn & pasted on with glue! If that’s not authentically underground & primitive then I dunno what is.

I recall being very pleasantly surprised by the 2004 debut album from German progressive metallers Disillusion when I finally got around to checking it out many years ago. I hadn’t heard all that much about it & just kinda stumbled over it a good five years after its release which left me wondering what rock it’d been hiding under for all those years. Ben didn’t hesitate in advising me that it was me that’d been hiding under a rock which is probably true but given the impression that “Back To Times Of Splendor” left on me at the time it’s a little surprising that I haven’t checked out any of the band’s subsequent releases until now, even more so after being thoroughly captivated & enthralled by this spectacular example of progressive metal music.

You see, “Ayam” is everything a prog metal fan could reasonably want from an album. The production is expansive & glistening, the musicianship is to die for & the song-writing is layered & ambitious. The melodic death metal component of Disillusion’s sound has almost completely disappeared since the debut but has been replaced by a stronger focus on melody, dynamics & atmosphere. This could be viewed as a negative by some fans but for me personally this has ended up being a positive. The instrumentation still reminds me of the less intense material from some of the premier extreme progressive metal bands like Opeth, Persefone & Ne Obliviscaris however Disillusion are a little more restrained & introspective these days. In fact, I’ve found myself making comparisons with Anathema’s more progressive works at times such is the refined sense of emotion in Disillusion’s modern sound. I simply adore the vocals of front man Andy Schmidt who sounds uncannily like Beck at times & possesses a tone that competes with Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse in terms of smoothness. Another highlight comes in the form of some wonderfully progressive guitar solos which refuse to be held back by traditional rock conventions & soar above the rest of the music with some truly angelic melodies that harness the exponent’s obviously impressive technique rather than being purely a showcase for it. Don't forget drummer Martin Schulz either cause the dude can play!

The tracklisting is without blemish with each of the eight tracks being very strong in its own right. Unlike “Back To Times Of Splendor” though, I’ve found that "Ayam" possesses a few truly transcendent tracks that enable the album to reach a higher level of adoration for me personally. Eleven minute opener “Am Abgrund” sets to tone beautifully & is probably the heaviest song included. “Longhope” is pure class too but it’s the most introspective piece of the eight that captured me to the highest degree in closing number “The Brook” which has probably ended up being the track that’s seen me tempted to push “Ayam” up into the running for my higher scores. Throw in some heavenly cover art that I can’t seem to see myself looking away from & you’ve got one of the best metal albums of 2022 & an essential release for members of The Infinite.

I quite liked Sigh when they first hit the scene back in the 1990’s but when I returned to them following my decade-long absence from the metal scene I found that they’d gone way too far with the weirdness & albums like “Scenes From Hell” & “In Somniphobia” left me nothing short of repulsed. As a result, my expectations for their twelve full-length weren’t exactly high if I’m being completely honest but I’ve been left pleasantly surprised because last year’s “Shiki” has seen them dropping their avant-garde side for the most part, instead concentrating on a beautifully produced & well-composed progressive metal sound that's full of chunky riffs, blackened vocals & well integrated references to space rock & traditional Japanese music. The recruitment of session musicians guitarist/bassist Frédéric Leclercq (Dragonforce/Kreator/Loudblast) & drummer Mike Heller (Malignancy/Fear Factory/Raven) have proven to be very positive moves but unfortunately the Japanese-language black metal vocals are somewhat of a limiting factor here as I don’t think they’re powerful or professional enough to allow “Shiki” to reach the heights it was so clearly intended for. As usual I find myself being drawn to the album’s least popular tracks more than its obvious drawcards too with the three shorter intro/interlude/change-up tracks being the parts of the tracklisting that appeal to me the most (particularly the stunning space rock piece “Kuroi kagami”) but there aren’t any weak numbers included & I found “Shiki” to be an intriguing & generally rewarding experience that's probably the best material I've heard from Sigh.

I really struggled with unusual American solo-act Effluence's 2021 debut album "Psychocephalic Spawning" as it just seemed to hold nothing of musical value so I've been very hesitant to return for another helping, despite the continuous stream of praise being heaped on them from my beloved underground death metal scene. However, the fact that Effluence's "Liquefied" E.P. is one of the top rated BDM releases of 2022 has seen me feeling that I simply had to give it a crack but unfortunately I'm now regretting that decision because this little release is right up there with the worst metal records I've ever encountered. It's essentially an attempt to make as much of a cacophony of silly noises as it's humanly possible to achieve & I've never been one that appreciated humor in my extreme metal.

The death metal component brings to mind bands like Defeated Sanity, 7.H Target & Dripping with the over the top blast-beats & super-deep, unintelligible vocals but every track might as well be the same because there aren't any themes or differences in atmosphere to grab onto. As absurd as it sounds for a death metal record, there seem to be several references to the kitchen here with the inclusion of blender sounds & the cover art & track titles being angled towards food preparation themes. I find it all so hard to tolerate to be honest & I also struggle to think of who the target demographic for a release like "Liquefied" might be. Perhaps they're not even metalheads but teenage stoners looking for a laugh? Certainly not any of our Metal Academy regulars & I'd encourage everyone to give Effluence a wide birth.

Single track E.P.'s are often found to be guilty of over-indulgence but this 25 minute piece from English death metal duo Qrixkuor has cast aside any potential for musical wankery by creating a unique & (at times) quite frightening soundscape that takes the listener through uncharted territory. The basis for Qrixkuor's sound sits in the darkest & swampiest depths of the death metal spectrum however they've managed to differentiate themselves from the crowd through the incorporation of symphonic elements in such a way that it reminds me of a horror movie soundtrack rather than any cheesy attempt at atmosphere. You see, Qrixkuor's dense wall of darkness is far more complex & possesses a lot more integrity than the vast majority of bands that are linked to the term "symphonic". The guitar & bass work is highly complex & layered, the drums are used in an almost military fashion at times & the growled vocals are as deep & cavernous as you could want. As the song structure runs its course, you'll encounter several acts that make up the overall piece but it's unquestionably the crescendo that takes place during the last 5 or 6 minutes that's the kicker here & it represents the culmination of all of the band's hard work during the build-up of the first 20 minutes or so. You'll rarely hear something more unnerving or genuinely scary.

"Zoetrope" isn't the perfect piece of art however. The drumming isn't as accomplished as it could be which is a shame because there's definitely some unfulfilled potential left here. I do feel that the piece could have been a little snappier & a little culling could have gone a long way here but it's hard to be too critical when as artist has created an horrific world that sounds like nothing you've experienced before. The purely death metal component will likely draw comparisons to the likes of Teitanblood, Portal & Antediluvian but it's presented in a way that pulls Qrixkuor away from their peers by giving them their own identity. I have to admit that I can't pick up any of the black metal influence that's seen Qrixkuor being tagged as blackened death metal on many competitor's sites. "Zoetrope" is as death metal as they come as far as I'm concerned & it comes highly recommended for devotees of the darker end of the genre.

I don't mind the latest release from prolific Swedish one-man atmospheric black metal artist Bekëth Nexëhmü. It was his second album for the year, following just two months after "De evigas gravrit" which is self-indulgent enough in itself if not for the fact that this new record is 104 minutes long which is just taking the piss, isn't it? You can expect a very raw, lo-fi production, the consistent use of tremolo-picked riffs & blast-beats & those distant, tortured Varg Vikernes style screams, kinda like a more brutal example of the cold & atmospheric sound that other solo acts like Paysage d'Hiver, Trhä & Burzum champion. There are quite a few interludes included which comprise of some post-black metal inspired pieces as well as a couple of lengthy folk guitar instrumentals. The black metal material is hit & miss for me as some of the tracks can sound a bit too consciously epic & triumphant, occasionally turning to glistening melodic riffs that remind me of blackgaze artists like Deafheaven. The brutality factor is a definite plus for me though & the quality of some of the interludes is excellent with a few of those pieces being my favourite moments on the album. Overall, this release will probably satisfy a lot of our The North members but doesn't compete with the top tier in my opinion.

I quite liked Birmingham NWOBHM outfit Quartz' 1977 self-titled debut album & also their 1980 sophomore record "Stand Up & Fight" which saw them upping the metal significantly. I'd never ventured further forwards than that in the band's discography until now but thought I'd take on the third of their more well-known releases in 1983's "Against All Odds" third album. Quartz would split up later the same year, only to reform in 2011 & they're apparently still around today & have in fact just released a brand new album. Anyway... "Against All Odds" isn't as entertaining as its older siblings with the wishy washy production job & uninspired song-writing missing the mark they'd previously reached. You can certainly expect to hear the hard rockin' brand of heavy metal that became the calling card of the NWOBHM but the tempos are sluggish & the chorus hooks are a bit lacking this time, particularly when they attempt their more accessible numbers. The best moments inevitably occur when we find Quartz channelling metal idols like Black Sabbath & Judas Priest but there are a couple too many failures overshadowing the album highlights here in my opinion. My suggestion is that you stick to the first two Quartz records if you're looking to expand your NWOBHM horizons.

The early 80’s releases from all-female London NWOBHM four-piece Girlschool have generally offered me a fair bit of appeal in the past. Their 1980 debut album “Demolition”, 1981 “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” split E.P. with Motörhead & their 1982 third album “Screaming Blue Murder” all possessed enough rock ‘n’ roll electricity to keep me entertained although I strangely found their most widely celebrated 1981 sophomore album “Hit & Run” to be a little flat in comparison. I’d never ventured any further into the band’s back-catalogue however, perhaps being scared off by the claims that they’d sold out by taking a more polished & commercially accessible direction with their subsequent albums, so it's high time that I investigated a) whether that is indeed the case & b) whether it’ll have a detrimental effect on their appeal.

The album cover certainly gives you a strong indication that Girlschool had moved on from their dirty Motörhead-inspired roots, doesn’t it? And opening track “Going Under” (the only genuine heavy metal song on the tracklisting) does nothing to turn that impression around as it sounds much more like Def Leppard’s over-produced post-NWOBHM releases than it does Girlschool’s much rawer previous albums with its use of synthesizers & meticulously harmonized backing-vocals not being the only time those tools would pop up amongst the ten tracks. It’s a catchy number though & sees the record getting off to an entertaining start. Unfortunately, the remainder of the album makes for a rocky ride with some of the tougher hard rocks songs (see the title track, “Rock Me Shock Me” & album highlight “Running For Cover”) getting me nodding my head & humming the chorus hooks while the filler tracks around them left me slightly bemused & a touch bored, particularly the god awful “High & Dry” which is nothing short of terrible. There are even a couple of songs that I’d suggest cross over into… *gulp*.. US glam metal territory which I don’t regard as a positive move & I much prefer the material that sticks to an AC/DC-style crunch over those numbers.

There can be no denying the quality of the production job here as everything sounds crisp & attractive. Perhaps that’s not a good thing with a band like Girlschool though as a big part of their appeal lay in their grimy, working-class attitude & care-free, punk-rock image. Both of those things have been cast aside with “Play Dirty” & it’s been hard not to let that fact taint my impression of a record that was clearly intended for the US market. Sadly, it’s ended up being the band’s weakest release to the time & Girlschool have apparently never managed to right the ship in all the years that have passed since as far as I can tell either. “Play Dirty” may not be awful as such but I’d nonetheless suggest that you stick to records like “Demolition” & “Scream Blue Murder” if you’re looking for a bit of danger in your hard rock music.

Yet another stunning highlight from a band that is now the clear leader of the post-sludge metal movement, “The Long Road Home" is an album that creeps up on you slowly, gradually attaching itself to your heart-strings & ever so gently increasing the tension until Cult of Luna have you strung up so tight that you feel you'll likely burst at any moment. The album starts off in fairly predictable fashion & (as Sonny spoke of in his review) you're very unlikely to be surprised by what you receive with a new Cult of Luna record however I simply cannot deny that the class & sophistication that this band possesses places them up above their peers when I experience the stunning attention to detail & compositional complexity they invariably produce.

Things only start to really get going with the glorious atmospherics of earie third track "Beyond I" but they rarely subside from that point onwards. As usual with me, it's the least popular tracks that I rate the highest with short post-rock piece "Full Moon" & closing ambient number "Beyond II" stealing the show from wonderful post-sludge epics like "An Offering to the Wild" or "Blood Upon Stone". "The Long Road Home" is perfectly suited to it's title as it's a lengthy record at 69 minutes but will continue to open up with each listen, offering increasingly greater rewards for the active listener's investment. "Somewhere Along The Highway" may still be Cult of Luna's crowning achievement however "The Long Road Home" isn't all that far behind their best work & I'd even go so far as to say that it has a slight advantage over their classic 2004 third album "Salvation" for me these days. Essential listening for post-metal fans.

This was an historical live recording of a gig from 1978 & I get the feeling it was more of a cash-grab intended to milk the band's growing popularity than anything else as the production is pretty much radio quality & the performances aren't their best either although guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke consistently gives us a whole bunch of his most electric solos. I've never been a fan of Motörhead's pre-1979 work as it's a bit too rock 'n' roll based for my liking & "What's Words Worth?" is another example of that with songs like "On Parole", "Leaving Here" & "I'm Your Witchdoctor" sounding pretty damn flat compared to the much more exciting & visceral material we'd hear from the band the following year. "Iron Horse/Born To Lose" & "White Line Fever" have always been great songs so they manage to stand out of the pack but the rest of the album is pretty uneventful to tell you the truth & is a hell of a long way short of the standard 1981's classic "No Sleep Till Hammersmith" (my favourite Motörhead record) set. It baffles me that people might think this is a metal record too. It's fucking miles away from metal in my opinion.

Ultimately "What's Words Worth?" is an inessential release for completists only. I'd take it over Motörhead's 1976 debut album release "On Parole" (released in 1979) or the 1980 "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" E.P. but that's about it for Motörhead's back catalogue to the time I'm afraid.

I recently read Ben's review of this popular sophomore album from Tokyo, Japan & wasn't surprised to see him give it a thorough panning. I guess the blackgaze meets post-hardcore tag was a little scary for me too if I'm being honest & I suspected that it might not be for me either but that hasn't ended up being the case in the end. Despite the numerous examples of non-metal genres scattered across the tracklisting (post-hardcore, screamo, downtempo, etc.), "Island" is definitely a metal record; a black metal related one to be more specific. The shoegaze component may not be as prominent as it is on some releases but there can be no denying the generally positive feel to almost all of the riffs & melodies on offer because Asunojokai seem to be a consciously working against all traditional black metal calling cards here, even though they're clearly using black metal tools such as open-string tremolo-picked chords & blast-beats. The vocal delivery sounds very similar to Emperor front man Ihsahn & is pretty effective but it's the class in the executive & production that really shine here & make it hard not to enjoy "Island". The level of musicianship is outstanding which seems to be a prerequisite for most Japanese metal these days. It's a shame that the album peters out at the end with a couple of tracks that overdo the positive vibes because the majority of the tracklisting is really pretty comparable to bands like Deafheaven or Alcest, if taking things another step further in regard to the uplifting melodies. The cover artwork is also a little bemusing given that it's so clearly making a conscious attempt to push the elitists buttons. Regardless of these flaws though, there's easily enough quality (black) metal here to keep me interested, even if a record like "Island" was never going to make a play for my best-of lists.

Last year's debut album from this Oklahoma four-piece seems to be getting major attention recently so I thought I'd see what all the fuss is about. "God's Country" is being tagged as a noise rock & sludge metal hybrid but there's a lot more going on here than that. There's certainly a strong Sonic Youth/noise rock influence present but I don't think this a rock release so I find the use of a rock subgenre as a primary tag to be a little deceptive. This is more of a metal meets hardcore thing in my opinion with the vocals being firmly planted in psychotic hardcore realms & the instrumentation being predominantly metal with post-hardcore & noise rock leanings. The thing that most listeners seem to be missing though is that the biggest influence being championed on "God's Country" would seem to be Godflesh &, as a result, I'd suggest that this is actually just as much of an industrial metal record as it is a sludge metal one, perhaps even more so. There's even a noticeable Korn influence in some of the rhythmic riffage which is done very tastefully.

All that aside, "God's Country" is also a high quality release that's worthy of a lot of the attention it's receiving. The vocals are emotion-charged & meaningful while the riffs are heavy & intense. The field recording/acappella piece "I Don't Care If I Burn" is a bit of a waste of space but the rest of the tracklisting is very consistent without ever really hinting at any genuine highlights. Fans of Godflesh & Fange should definitely check it out.

I wasn't aware of New York progressive metal outfit Moon Tooth prior to Saxy nominating "Phototroph" for The Gateway feature release status this month but it's been a pleasant surprise for me as I've found them to be a capable & classy metal outfit. I'd suggest that they're probably more of a progressive metal band than an alternative metal one & "Phototroph" might have been a slightly better fit for The Infinite but there can be no denying Moon Tooth's alternative edge, particularly in the vocals of John Carbone who sounds very much like Sevendust front man Lajon Witherspoon to me. There's a strong Mastodon influence here with many of the riff structures being quite complex but there are also some tracks that take a more accessible alternative route. I particularly enjoy the lead guitar work of Riot V axe man Nick Lee who showcases a clear Eric Johnson influence in his fluent & speedy runs. The only track I didn't enjoy was the lightweight "Carry Me Home" but this was easily compensated for by the stunning progressive metal highlight track "O My Isle" which is a couple of steps up from the rest of the material (& is apparently the least popular track on the album according to RYM). Fans of fairly melodic & accessible yet structurally ambitious metal are unlikely to be disappointed with a record like "Phototroph".

With the New Year now upon us, I’ve notice that last year’s “Moon of Foul Magics” sophomore album from mysterious Toronto extreme metal outfit Autonoesis seems to be hitting a lot of people’s end of year lists so I thought I’d better see what all the fuss is about given that their 2020 self-titled debut managed to slip past me too. The second Autonoesis record is being touted by fans as being a total riff-fest, somewhat of a tribute to the greatness of metal. Well, let’s see if all of the praise is warranted, shall we?

“Moon of Foul Magics” can be a confusing & overwhelming experience upon first listen. There’s a lot of flip-flopping between different influences & subgenres going on which makes it hard to know what to make of it until you’ve given it a couple more airings. Black metal, thrash metal, progressive metal & even a bit of death metal & Viking metal (see the Bathory inspired “Valhöll) are all represented here but if you examine the tracklisting in detail you’ll find that the record is really built on a melodic black metal platform, similar to Dissection, Sacramentum & “At The Heart Of Winter”-era Immortal (particularly in “Nihility, Endless Winter”). The thrash component is very obvious in the classic half-time Slayer/Dave Lombardo breakdowns & more technically complex Coroner/Vektor riffs but I think it’s a touch ambitious to suggest that a release like this one should sit in The Pit alongside the Metallicas, Panteras & Exciters. It would appear to me to be a much more comfortable fit for The North. The progressive component is more sporadically used & is most apparent in the Opeth style clean sections which are beautifully executed just quietly.

The guitar work is very skilfully performed with a high degree of musicality & melody being employed at all times. I can’t say that I enjoy the neoclassical slant on the solos though as I’ve always struggled a bit with that particular technique when it comes to extreme metal, particularly when there’s lots of wanky sweep picking being used like there is here. The black metal screams are fairly generic & uneventful & I can take or leave them but the real weakness in the Autonoesis sound is in the drumming which lacks ambition & sophistication, particularly when you consider how much creative license has been taken with the rest of the instrumentation. This left me wondering whether Autonoesis are really a one-man band & the more I think about it the more I feel that I might be onto something there.

I have to say that I’m a little surprised at the overwhelming acclaim that “Moon of Foul Magics” is receiving online. Perhaps it just comes down to personal taste as the more melodic side of extreme metal has never been my strong suit but I don’t find anything particularly classic here to tell you the truth. It’s certainly an enjoyable metal record with a lot to say but I tend to find it to be a little unfocused & light-weight, not to mention a bit lengthy. It’s like Autonoesis have used the album as a place to showcase how broad their taste in metal is with many songs starting in one place & ending in a drastically different one. I have time for most of the nine individual tracks (with “Crypt of Thought” being the exception) but none of them manage to quite hit my musical sweet spot. I guess I’m just not the target audience for a record like “Moon of Foul Magics”.

San Francisco blackgaze outfit Deafheaven certainly got a few people’s attention with their 2010 demo & I had a bit of time for it myself but it was their debut full-length “Roads To Judah” that really grabbed my attention, pissing off many a kvlt elitist in the process too. You see, despite their undeniable black metal aesthetics, Deafheaven somehow manage to beautifully incorporate the dreamy melodic ideas of the shoegaze genre into their riffs which on paper would seem to be a very poor fit for black metal but in practice sounds like a bit of a masterstroke. The contrast the relentless blast-beats & tortured screams offer to the shoegaze chord changes is certainly different yet I find it to be strangely soothing & somehow both uplifting & melancholic at the same time. Deafheaven went on to master that sound with their classic 2013 sophomore album “Sunbather” but their debut should not be overlooked as it’s a very solid piece of work in its own right.

“Roads To Judah” is a relatively short album by modern standards, clocking in at just 38 minutes in duration which feels appropriate at its completion. The four lengthy tracks all have merit & generally explore multiple different soundscapes within the same piece which often sees the album receiving a dual tagging of blackgaze & post-metal as a result. The blackgaze tag is certainly warranted as the majority of the record is black metal focused & the influence of shoegaze is undeniable on at least three-quarters of the tracklisting. I’d suggest that the post-metal tag is a little ambitious though. Sure, there are several post-rock inspired sections scattered across the album but the blackgaze material is much more prominent & I think that tag inherently covers a bit of post-rock influence anyway so to my ears the post-metal element is more of a secondary component. Front man George Clarke’s blackened shrieks would unquestionably get better over the coming years but he does an admirable job here, as does drummer Trevor Deschryver who blasts away with everything he’s got but would be replaced shortly afterwards by the more obviously talented Daniel Tracy before the recording of “Sunbather”. 

Despite being somewhat enamoured with the quality of the overtly blackgaze inclusions, I can’t help but find the track that showcases the least amount of shoegaze influence to be the clear highlight of the album in closer “Tunnel Of Trees” which begins with five minutes of savage black metal extremity & finishes with another five of glistening post-metal atmospherics. It’s a stunning piece of work that really sees the album finishing on a high. The rest of the tracklisting is of a consistently high quality but fails to connect with me on quite the same level, presumably due to the lack of genuine darkness in some of the chord changes & atmospherics. “Language Games” is probably the best example of that as it begins in fine fashion but loses its way a touch around the middle of the song with some lighter-weight melodic ideas. It’s very hard to fault tracks like “Violet” & “Unrequited” though as they seem to complete their mission with emphatic success, despite my tendencies towards a darker brand of extreme metal.

It’s very easy to be critical of “Roads To Judah” by being drawn into like-for-like comparison with its successor but “Sunbather” hadn’t been recorded when I first wrapped my ears around “Roads to Judah” so I wasn’t afforded that luxury until some time later & it deserves to be experienced as an isolated piece of work in its own right regardless. You know what? Fuck the elitists that brutally put this band down because they don’t deserve it. It’s all posturing bullshit as these guys know their black metal alright but they also give it their own original spin that sounds as professional as it does musical. Deafheaven can’t put a foot wrong & sit at the pinnacle of their chosen subgenre as far as I’m concerned.

I have to admit that there are some pretty big gaps in my knowledge of post-1980’s Voivod. I was always a fan of the band in the late 80’s & early 90’s but they somehow dropped off my radar to an extent with 1995’s “Negatron” & 2011’s “Warriors of Ice” live album being the only releases I’ve checked out since 1989’s highly regarded “Nothingface” album. I guess they never really sat 100% within my taste profile so I tended to stick closer to my lane for the most part, even though I generally enjoyed their material. I recently noticed that the fanfare around the Canadian progressive metal icon’s eighth studio album “The Outer Limits” seems to have slowly gained momentum over the years though, so much so that it seems to be held up as another prog classic of sorts. That’s been the catalyst for me exploring the album this week & with generally positive results.

The “Nothingface” album had seen Voivod moving away from metal to an extent with the band having adopted more of a progressive rock sound &, from what I can make out by the critical response, their 1991 seventh album “Angel Rat” took them even further away from metal realms. “The Outer Limits” sees Voivod returning to metal in the most part & sounds quite familiar (if that can ever be said of a Voivod release). The angular & unusual guitar riffs of guitarist Piggy are as potent as ever & lead proceedings with Snake’s signature vocal delivery ensuring that you’re never in any doubt as to which band you’re listening to. You see, there’s simply no one that sounds remotely like Voivod, even if they’re consciously trying to. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re a complete musical anomaly & that’s extremely rare in the modern music scene. “The Outer Limits” certainly fits into the progressive metal genre pretty comfortably though & I’d suggest that fans of that particular scene are the most likely audience for a record like this one with very little speed/thrash metal to offer those that are hanging out for a mid-80's revivial. “Le Pont Noir” & “Wrong-Way Street” see Voivod traversing the rockier prog territories of “Nothingface” while the epic seventeen minute album highlight “Jack Luminous” is a psychedelic monster that oozes of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd influence. We even find the boys attempting some alternative rock sounds that wouldn’t feel out of place alongside the Detroit elite on “The Nile Song”.

Unlike Voivod’s very strong trio of progressive albums from 1987-1989, “The Outer Limits” struggles a touch in the song-writing department. There are no weak songs included with all nine tracks being presented with class & professionalism but the hooks aren’t consistently strong enough to see the album competing with the band’s best work. In saying that though, I do slightly prefer it to Voivod’s early speed metal releases like “War & Pain”, “Rrröööaaarrr” & the “To The Death” demo. It's always refreshing to hear these Canadians taking on spacey sci-fi topics as there are few artists that have the ability to sound so alien & “The Outer Limits” is yet another example of why we need bands like Voivod in a modern metal market that’s flooded with copy cats & pretenders.

What we have here is yet another underground also-ran from the NWOBHM movement in the debut album from Cumbria-based outfit Bitches Sin. The cover art gives you the distinct impression that you'll be in for a heavily metallic experience (perhaps something similar to Satan?) but the reality is very different to that so it's a bit misleading. Bitches Sin's sound sits somewhere between hard rock & heavy metal with the production sitting a little closer to the rock side of the equation. In fact, the production is the biggest detractor here as the guitars are miles too low in the mix with the pitchy vocals booming over the top but front man Tony Tomkinson's somehow manages to make up for his technical inadequacies in sheer charisma, regularly bringing to mind the blue-collar approach of original Iron Maiden singer Paul Dianno. The lead guitar work may be a little primitive but it oozes attitude (particularly in the electricity of the lightning fast bluesy pentatonic runs) & this helps to carry the weaker material. There are a couple of very catchy songs here that somehow manage to overcome all of the flaws that are doing their damnedest to draw your affections away (see "Lady Lies" & "Looser") but at the end of the day "Predator" was always destined for the second-hand bins & the dustier back pages of NWOBHM history.

Unlike with the other Peaceville Three bands, I never checked out Paradise Lost's early demos back in the day, perhaps because their first couple of albums didn't make as big an impact on me as My Dying Bride & Anathema's did. I thought I'd rectify that omission this week through this compilation which draws together 1988's self-titled demo, 1989's "Frozen Illusion" demo & 1989's ""Plains of Desolation" live bootleg. Be warned that this is some very rough stuff as far as production & sound quality goes so it's lucky that I have a long history with tape trading. As with Paradise Lost's early albums, the performances are very primitive but Nick Holmes' vocals are excellent & he represents the focal point for the band at this point, particularly as Gregor's guitar work isn't always far enough forward in the mix or perfectly in tune.

The three releases showcase Paradise Lost's evolution from a fairly standard death metal band into one of the earliest exponents of the death doom metal subgenre. The self-titled demo & "Plains of Desolation" sit very much at the centrepoint between the two genres while "Frozen Illusion" sees them having transitioned into a genuine doom/death band & is much the better for it. You'll find a few tracks being repeated across the three releases but they're not always in the same format & have slightly different atmospheres. "Paradise Lost" & "Plains of Desolation" are very poorly recorded with the latter having the guitars sitting miles too far back in the mix but Nick somehow manages to keep things from being a complete disaster through his charismatic delivery. The drumming is particularly poor on "Plains of Desolation" too.

Thankfully though, the "Frozen Illusion" demo is really quite good with "Paradise Lost" & the title track being very entertaining & highly atmospheric examples of early death/doom. It's versions of "Paradise Lost" & "Frozen Illusion" are the clear highlights of the compilation & make it worth checking out for completists & fans of the band but I wouldn't recommend "Drown In Darkness" to casual listeners as it can be a bit of a hard slog at times, even though it certainly offers a fair bit of authentic 80's underground death metal atmosphere. Think Autopsy meets Celtic Frost & you won't be too far off the mark.

I got onboard with Italian extremists Fleshgod Apocalypse very early on as their 2009 debut album "Oracles" landed right around the time that I was returning to metal after a decade-long hiatus. I thoroughly enjoyed it's super-brutal brand of techy death metal too it has to be said but found myself struggling a little with 2010's "Mafia" E.P. (widely regarded as the band's best work) due to the cheesy neoclassical component & the excessive use of over-the-top blast beats which saw the tracks bleeding into each other. "Agony" landed the following year & saw Fleshgod Apocalypse taking the symphonics they'd hinted at previously & bringing them into the foreground to create a genuinely symphonic brutal death metal sound. Now if that sounds like a bit of a contradiction of terms then you wouldn't be entirely wrong as the orchestration definitely sounds a little out of place over what must surely be one of the most consistently brutal releases ever to grace our ears. The ultra-fast drumming of band leader Francesco Pauli is utterly mind-blowing in its execution & you'd have to suggest that there is no one that can top him in the speed & precision but there's no doubt that the individual tracks struggle to differentiate themselves from one another for much the same reasons as I mentioned previously so I kinda find myself torn given that it's Pauli's drumming that I find to be the main attraction with a record like "Agony". Ironically, it's the slower sections that work best given that the symphonic arrangements simply make for a better accompaniment when they're given more space to create atmosphere. I do find the neoclassical lead guitar work to be better integrated into the band's sound on this occasion though & the solos often work as crescendos of sorts.

At the end of the day I think a lot of extreme metal fans will appreciate "Agony" for it's novelty value more than anything else. It's an exhausting listen at times as the sheer weight of sound is relentless & it could definitely do with more dynamics. The Italians seem to hold the title in terms of brutality these days & if that's the case then Francesco Pauli may just be the central figure in the local movement given his ties with Hour of Penance who also push the limitations of human endurance to their most extreme levels. Unlike their buddies though, I can't say that I easily connect with Fleshgod Apocalypse's music on a more visceral & aggressive level as I'm not a fan of symphonics in my metal. It's lucky for them that I'm a sucker for elite level extreme metal drumming & they certainly aren't short of that.

You kinda know what you're gonna get with an Overkill record, don't you? And their twelfth album won't disappoint too many fans in that regard as you'll find the same fairly simple, well-executed thrash metal tunes with Blitz's signature snarly vocals delivery here along with the groove metal influence the band had been touting since the mid-90's. The production is great, Bobby's vocals are excellent (particularly given that he'd only recently suffered a heart attack on stage) & the shredding guitar solos are outstanding with a searing tone. There's not a lot more to say about it really. It's yet another workman-like effort that sporting a couple of clear highlights in opener "Devil by the Tail" (with it's awesome Slayer-inspired bridge section) & my personal fave "The One". It also contains a couple of flat tracks in "Damned" & ""Unholy". The rest is just kinda middling i.e. pretty enjoyable but not something that's likely to see me returning to the album in the future. "Horrorscope" will remain as the only Overkill album that I genuinely love but "Killbox 13" isn't all that far behind the band's other highly regarded records like "The Years of Decay", "Taking Over" & "Feel The Fire" in all honesty. I guess I'm just not that big an Overkill fan but I'd suggest that this was Overkill's best work in a decade from what I can remember.

For fans of Exodus, Testament & Anthrax.

Another early Japanese metal release. This one a one-off album from an obscure band from Okinawa that were never heard of again. I haven't had much time for the other early Japanese releases I've heard (Bow Wow, Nokemono, Lazy, Loudness, etc.) & this one isn't much better but I'd hazard to suggest that it was probably the best metal-related release to come out of the country to the time. Heavy Metal Army's sound sits somewhere between heavy metal & hard rock & the vocals flip-flop between English & Japanese. The guitar solos of Shinki Sugama are excellent & are a real strength but the most noteworthy component of the Heavy Metal Army sound is the strong use of keyboards which draws comparisons with Deep Purple & Rainbow when it's done well but when it's not it tends to date the material pretty badly.

The tracklisting is quite varied, as is the quality level as this is a highly inconsistent record. It's strange though that they've elected to start the album with the three weakest tracks which got me offside from the get-go. For this reason it took me a couple of listens to get myself into a headspace to appreciate the rest of the album but once I did I found some pretty interesting stuff with the stripped-back progressive rock closer "Bird of Destiny" being the clear highlight. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save "Heavy Metal Army 1" from obscurity & I can't see myself returning to it even though it definitely has its moments.

For fans of Deep Purple, Scorpions & Rainbow.

I have to admit that New York heavy/power metal legends Virgin Steele’s first couple of albums (1982’s self-titled & 1983’s “Guardians of the Flame”) did very little for me. It wasn’t until I investigated their highly regarded 1995 seventh full-length “The Marriage of Heaven & Hell Part Two” that I uncovered the true qualities that Virgin Steele have to offer but there was still a fair amount of cheese in their sound to offset the chunky power metal riffage & anthemic choruses with the symphonic elements of their sound taking me a little outside my musical comfort zone. The experience was positive overall though so I thought I’d give 1994’s “The Marriage of Heaven & Hell Part One” a crack to see how it compares.

I feel very similarly about this record in my ways as it sports most of the same character traits. The powerful metal riffage is further highlighted by a stellar production job for this style of metal with the music seemingly jumping out of the speakers & forcing your head to bang up & down. This is a very metal album in that regard it has to be said. Edward Pursino’s lead guitar work is brilliantly composed & executed & just listen to how memorable some of these choruses are! They’re tailor-made for raising your metal claws to the sky & singing along with your drunken mates thanks to some highly memorable hooks. David DeFeis’ voice is simply wonderful as he sports an enormous amount of power & emotion, not to mention the fact that he challenges Manowar’s Eric Adams in the epic stakes.

But in saying all that, the album also contains some of the same hindrances as it’s younger sibling. Despite four or five tracks hinting at classic status, none manage to pull it off in their entirety in my opinion with most containing a cheesy bridge or guitar solo section to pull things back to just a very solid level rather than allowing the song-writing to scale the heights of a genuinely transcendent one. The tracklisting is also noticeably top heavy with all of the best material residing on the A side. When Virgin Steele decide to explore their more melodic side with some more commercially accessible ballads & symphonic interludes we find them overstepping the cheese line in no uncertain terms & those tracks are inevitably the weaker moments on the record. They remind me very much of Savatage’s more self-indulgent efforts in that regard.

Overall I see “The Marriage of Heaven & Hell Part One” as another missed opportunity for Virgin Steele. All of the components are in place to make this a pinnacle of heavy metal but they somehow manage to squander that potential through their own indulgences. With a run time that exceeds 70 minutes, I have to suggest that a bit of culling could have added another half star to my rating but as it stands I’d still say that this is my new favourite Virgin Steele release as it possesses more highlight tracks & a touch less cheese than its more widely praised successor.

For fans of Jag Panzer, Omen & Manowar.

The debut album from this Madrid-based outfit is one of the earlier metal releases to come out of Spain. Zarpa's 1978 debut album "Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis" is the earliest that I'm aware of but I'd argue that "Prepárate" may have come in second (at least of the reasonably noteworthy releases out there) as I don't regard Barón Rojo's "Larga vida al rock and roll" album from earlier in 1981 to be anything more than hard rock whereas "Prepárate" has a foot in both the hard rock & heavy metal camps. Unfortunately it suffers from the same affliction as Barón Rojo's first couple of records though as I struggle with clean Spanish language vocals in my metal for some reason, especially when there's not a lot of talent behind them as we see here. The instrumentation is reasonably well done throughout & there are a few tracks that I quite enjoy (i.e. when the choruses don't kill off their chances) but none of them will see me rushing back for return visits. It's interesting that we may even have an early speed metal track on our hands here in "Pesadilla nuclear" although it's not a very good one it has to be said. At the end of the day "Prepárate" is another decent Spanish rock/metal record with solid (if uninspired) instrumental performances & fairly amateurish vocals. I'd take it over the first two Barón Rojo albums though if pushed.

For fans of Barón Rojo, Ángeles del Infierno & Saxon.

I saw this record pop up quite often while researching the early metal scene during my Metal Academy podcast preparations back in the mid-2010’s & it seems to be quite highly regarded but I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten around to checking out Luxembourg four-piece Cool Feet before now. This 1976 debut album goes for ridiculous money on the second-hand vinyl market these days but if my experience tells me anything it’s that value doesn’t necessarily equate to quality. I couldn’t imagine that “Burning Desire” was likely to break any records in regard to intensity so a long drive with the kids over the weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity to see what this obscure proto-metal outfit had to offer before heading off in a much poppier direction in the early 1990’s.

I think it’s fair to say that the poor production & mastering jobs are a definite weakness for “Burning Desire” as the guitars aren’t prominent enough & the levels of the individual tracks differ from each other. This doesn’t prevent the stronger material from making the desired impact though & I find the heavier tracks to all be very enjoyable, particularly the metallic “The Man From Marakesh” & closing hard rocker “Alone In Your Cage” which are both very solid tracks in their own right. There are really only two tracks of the eight included that I regard as fitting the criteria for metal classification though (i.e. "The Man From Marakesh" & opening title track) &, as with so many 70’s proto-metal releases, I find it to be a significant stretch to claim this album as an early metal record.

It sounds to me like Cool Feet were still trying to find their sound with “Burning Desire” as it jumps around sporadically in regard to feel & accessibility. A couple of the more traditional bluesy hard rock numbers sound pretty uneventful when placed around the more melodically expansive metal tunes but the real failing of this record comes with the two awful attempts at commercialism that reside on the B side. Cool Feet are often claimed to be Scorpions disciples & “The Fool” provides a clear indication of that & had me instantly reaching for my plagiarism card given just how close it is to the German hard rock legends' seminal “He’s A Woman – She’s A Man”. Strangely it took a day or so before I realized that “Burning Desire” was actually released a full two years before Scorpions’ “Taken By Force” album which had me wondering whether I had it completely ass about. “The Fool” is a terrible track so I find it hard to believe that Scorpions would have wanted to copy it. Perhaps "Shes A Woman - He's A Man" was an old Scorpions song that didn’t hit an album until later on? I’m not sure but one of the two bands is guilty.  The other major failure is even worse though with “Now I Know I’m Free” seeing the entire tracklisting falling on its ass. Thankfully Cool Feet were able to turn things around with a very strong ending to the album.

There are some high quality moments to be found on “Burning Desire” & I found a good half of the tracklisting to be very enjoyable. Front man Don Cardwell has a great hard rock voice & leads the band with confidence during the heavier material but unfortunately the band’s attempts at pop stardom & the generic nature of a couple of the bluesier rock tunes combine with a thin production job to derail Cool Feet’s chances of rock immortality. This is very much the sort of album where you’d be best served by adding the highlight tracks to your Spotify playlist & turfing the remainder.

For fans of Sir Lord Baltimore, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell & Scorpions.

I wasn’t familiar with Brooklyn-based retro four-piece Tanith prior to investigating this month’s The Guardians feature release but they’re hardly a household name in metal circles. A quick look at the band photos left me wondering what I was in store for as they look a little more seasoned than most bands releasing their debut albums these days while the presence on Satan guitarist Russ Tippins intrigued me as I’ve always admired his work on an album like 1983’s “Court In The Act”. Could I expect another metal-as-fuck shred-fest like that one? Well, the reality is anything but.

Tanith place their cards down on the table right from the offset with a warm & organic production job that’s much more in line with 70’s rock than it is with the modern metal model. I really like the way they’ve left plenty of room for the guitars & bass to interact with each other. It’s light-years from the dense metal production we’ve come to expect in more recent times. The dual vocal approach of Tippins & bassist Cindy Maynard is interesting too with both opting for a clean & fairly light-weight delivery that never heads into overly aggressive territory, instead sticking to melodic tones that draw to mind the greats of 1970’s progressive rock. The lead guitar work amplifies that feel further through the consistent execution of simple yet emotive guitar harmonies that showcase a strong Thin Lizzy influence. It’s not the heaviest sound you’ll find but there’s a certain magic about it nonetheless.

It’s interesting that “In Another Time” has been embraced by the metal audience as I’m not really sure it should qualify as metal to be honest. Opening track “Citadel (Galantia Pt. 1)” & “Dionysus” are close enough to metal as they certainly draw upon familiar tools but the rest of the album sits predominantly in hard rock & progressive rock territory. In fact, I’m baffled as to why most metal websites have this record tagged as a hard rock/heavy metal hybrid because the predominant subgenre is comfortably prog rock in my opinion with bands like Yes & Rush being the source of inspiration for much of the content. There’s a magical atmosphere to some of this material that’s seeped in fantasy & wonder & I can see this being a major drawcard for some metalheads. As the album title indicates, this is music from another time only it’s presented with a modern professionalism that showcases the skills of some experienced campaigners who possess a deep understanding of tone & texture.

The thing with “In Another Time” though is that I’m not sure I’m ever completely comfortable with its unintimidating & whispy nature. Apart from the clear album highlight in the gorgeous “Book Of Changes”, I’m not sure I ever find myself engaging with the album on a deeply emotional level. Despite being very well executed, the song-writing is more pleasant than it is enthralling. I very much enjoy those lovely guitar harmonies but the vocals are a little too clean-cut for my taste while the basslines conduct themselves predominantly in fairly unintimidating spaces too. The folky acoustic sections sound sweet enough but I’m not sure that I can say that they pull on my heart-strings. It probably doesn’t help that the album loses its way through the middle of the tracklisting either with both “Cassini's Deadly Plunge” & “Under The Stars” being a bit flat. I’m glad that Tanith could recover for the remainder of the album but I don’t think I ever found myself in a space where I could say that I loved most of the material.

“In Another Time” certainly sounds pretty fresh & there’s a lot to like about the guitar tone but it’s just missing a bit of danger for mine. I appreciate the sentiment but I crave a little more in the way of intensity as the musicians seem to stay very much within themselves for the most part. Give it some more dynamic vocals & this could have been another story. Perhaps even go a little further with the psychedelia. As it is though I find this to be an entertaining little record that should bring Tanith quite a bit of crossover appeal, perhaps not always from the metal market though.

For fans of Wytch Hazel, Thin Lizzy & Night.

For someone that’s built such a long & passionate history with the death metal genre, I have to say that my relationship with Swedish melodic death metal outfit Edge of Sanity has never been anywhere near as strong as that of most of my extreme metal loving peers. I first became aware of them very early on in their recording career through their 1991 debut album “Nothing But Death Remains” & continued to be kept up to date as they continued on their musical journey via an Aussie tape trading colleague of mine who was utterly obsessed with the Swedish death metal phenomenon. Edge of Sanity’s 1996 fifth full-length “Crimson” (a forty minute single track progressive affair) would obviously become their pièce de resistance & I do have some time for that particular release but I still can’t say that I regard it as anything particularly special so I think it’s fair to say that Edge of Sanity’s true value has always managed to elude me, even though I’m across pretty much their entire back-catalogue to some extent. I was reminded of this fact a couple of weeks ago while contributing to a conversation with a couple of very enthusiastic fans on Twitter & that encounter got me wondering if it might be time to take another crack at Edge of Sanity’s highly regarded 1994 fourth album “Purgatory Afterglow” as it certainly seems to have grown in stature over the years & I can’t say that I’ve listened to much from the band in the last decade or so outside of “Crimson”. This month’s The Horde feature release seemed like a good way to open up some healthy discussion with listeners who will inevitably have differing opinions too so here we are.

The production job on “Purgatory Afterglow” is full & bright which gives the album every chance to impress the listener right from the offset. It’s interesting that Bathory mastermind Quorthon’s father Börje Forsberg is credited as the executive producer & it begs the question as to whether band leader Dan Swanö took any significant learnings away from his time with Börje given the long & illustrious production career that Dan's created for himself since. The sound of the album is quintessentially Swedish as it straddles the two major strands of death metal the country is known for with the melodic death metal sound of At The Gates & Hypocrisy being offset by glimpses of the classic Dismember/Entombed crunch. The use of clean vocals seems to draw influence from gothic rock legends Sisters of Mercy in their phrasing (although admittedly nowhere near as deep) while there are several rockier beats employed across the tracklisting. We even see the band tackling an alternative metalcore sound on closer “Song of Sirens”. Despite the attempts at creative variation, I’m not sure I hear too many signs of the progressive direction that Edge of Sanity would employ in the near future although I've admittedly been known to question how progressive a record like "Crimson" really is at times.

As with so many melodic death metal records, I unfortunately find myself struggling with the more melodically inclined & accessible material included here. I’m kinda used to this with the melodeath subgenre after all these years & it’s no surprise at all that I find the most popular tracks like “Twilight” & “Black Tears” to offer the least appeal while the songs that steer closer to the conventional death metal model (see “Of Darksome Origin” or album highlight “The Sinner & the Sadness”) got my ears pricking up the most. The better melodic moments offer hints at the quality of a record like Amorphis' classic "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" album from the same year but these glimmers of hope are sadly nowhere near as consistent as the Fins were able to achieve. The length of the album seems appropriate at 44 minutes & there’s definitely enough variety on offer to see the individual songs owning their own unique character but the whole thing just seems to feel a little bit short of the final product due to a lack of focus & perhaps the subsequent existence of “Crimson” has proven that statement to be true. It doesn’t explain the significant following that “Purgatory Afterglow” seems to enjoy these days though & I have to wonder whether that would be the case if “Crimson” had never eventuated. I suspect not but then this album was always going to see me being dragged from my musical comfort zone kicking & screaming so what would I know.

For fans of Hypocrisy, At The Gates & “Tales From The Thousand Lakes”-era Amorphis.

I must admit that I’ve experienced relatively little of Atlanta alternative metal legends Sevendust for such a significant band. My only targeted effort to explore what they’re all about came at the end of 2010 when I gave their eighth full-length “Cold Day Memory” (3.5/5) a few spins & found it to be a reasonably enjoyable yet largely forgettable experience. I’ve since heard many of the band’s individual tracks due to their inclusion in the monthly The Gateway playlists but have never ventured any further so I’ve gone into this month’s feature release with an open mind & a hopeful attitude.

The first thing I noticed about Sevendust’s highly successful third album is that it contains a stronger nu metal component than I remember from “Cold Day Memory”. In fact, the record kicks off with a song that sounds noticeably similar to Korn while album highlight “Dead Set” also leans very heavily in that direction too. A large percentage of the other tracks contain nu-metal riffs or sections even though the highly melodic chorus hooks & vocals in general see “Animosity” still tending to leave the overarching impression of being an alternative metal album at its core. At the end of the day I think we have a bit of a hybrid here though with a few tracks steering away from metal altogether via some more commercially accessible alternative rock or post-grunge sounds.

As seems to be the norm for Sevendust, “Animosity” relies very heavily on the chorus hooks of front man Lejon Witherspoon & the listener’s final impressions will no doubt hang on their ability to connect with his performance. He’s a class act for the most part & can really sing but I find those hooks to be a little hit & miss. There aren’t any absolute bombs here, despite songs like “Crucified”, “Dead Set”, “Beautiful” & “Angel’s Son” all being high quality examples of their type. There are a couple of pretty flat tracks though with hit single “Praise” & album weak point “Live Again” failing to connect with me. The rest of the album is just kinda middling to be honest. It’s definitely a pleasant listen but I just don’t find it to have the hooks to offer the sort of memorability that will have me singing along to them in my head for the rest of the day. The gruffer backing vocals of guitarist Clint Lowery do offer a nice juxtaposition to Lajon's more clean cut sound though, it must be said.

Sevendust are certainly very good at what they do & I don’t think “Animosity” will disappoint too many alternative/nu metal fans but it doesn’t surprise me that they’ve never reached the same levels of popularity as the elite bands in their field. The band is very tight & everything's executed in a highly professional manner but I rarely find the song-writing to command the same level of excitement as Tool or Deftones seem to muster up quite regularly. Perhaps Sevendust are simply a little closer to the dreaded accessibility line than I'd like. In saying that, I’d probably take "Animosity" over “Cold Day Memory” (from what I can remember of that record anyway) & are glad to have conducted the exercise as there’s really very little to regret here. It’s a more than decent example of its chosen subgenre set, nothing more, nothing less.

For fans of Taproot, Staind & Adema.

I hadn’t had the pleasure of being introduced to Californian five-piece Dvvell before Sonny selected their brand new debut full-length “Quiescent” as the November feature release for our The Fallen clan but you can mark me down as being emphatically converted in a short space of time because this four-track album fits my taste profile to a tee. What we have here is a crushingly heavy & unapologetically dark piece of work that is relentless in its commitment to undiluted doom & it sounds just as good as that description sounds. That’s not to say that it’s a perfect record as there are some small challenges to overcome if you're to fully uncover the album's charms but there’s certainly enough quality here to satisfy the vast majority of the extreme doom audience.

“Quiescent” is benefitted from a thick & super-heavy production job which highlights the superbly tight rhythm section through a big bass guitar sound. The riffs invariably sit in the slow to medium-slow range & if the album has a weakness it’s definitely in its lack of variety because Dvvell define their sound very early on & stick to their guns throughout the entire hour’s duration. The Dvvell sound is really very simple to describe in all honesty. Slow riffs based entirely on open power-chords, ethereal tremolo-picked higher-register melodies that draw influence from post-rock & anguished female black metal screams… yep, that about sums it up really. So why is it so effective? I think it’s because of the execution which is absolutely top notch, particularly that of drummer Brett Weiser who is the clear highlight with his powerful metronomic performance giving the material the extra clout & precision it requires to consistently pummel the listener into submission. Brett’s kick drum hits in exact unity with every dinosauric power chord & his fills maintain my interest during the sections where the music is completely devoid of hooks. The melodies I mentioned don’t always hit exactly on the sweet spot they’re aiming for but when they do (as in the first half of closing track & album highlight “Daughter”) they can be seriously effective & I find myself hanging out for those moments while sitting through the album as a whole.

It's interesting that most websites seem to label “Quiescent” (& most albums like it) as sludge metal, often with the doom component being tagged as funeral doom metal. I struggle to find the sludge metal in this release to be honest as there’s not a lot of abrasive hardcore anger going on. Personally, I’d suggest that this release represents a strong case for the “blackened doom metal” tag as the music is clearly doom metal & the vocals just as obviously come from black metal realms rather than sludge metal aggression. The consistently slow tempos do hint at funeral doom metal at times & I find myself being reminded of England’s Moss in that regard but I don’t think the atmosphere is ever in line with the mournful slumbers that we generally expect from that particular subgenre. Instead I'd suggest that it shares more similarities with that of artists like fellow Californians Chrch or Oregon’s Hell although those bands admittedly change things up a bit more than Dvvell do.

Despite the saminess that “Quiescent” is undeniably guilty of, I simply can’t deny the appeal of an unapologetically dark & doomy release like this one, particularly when the execution is as powerful as it is here. “Quiescent” commands the listener to play it super-loud so as to become engulfed by the sheer weight of sound with the blackened vocals of Kristy Senko-Hall beckoning you to embrace the darkness.

For fans of Chrch, Hell & Moss.

It’s been fifteen months since I boldly opted to select New Jersey industrial metallers O.L.D.’s 1991 “Lo Flux Tube” sophomore album for feature release status here at the Metal Academy. I was familiar with their 1988 debut album “Old Lady Drivers” from my early tape trading days & it was essentially a fairly uneventful novelty grindcore release but their second effort saw the trio taking a succession of bold creative risks whose combined merits amounted to a unique & much more challenging avant-garde industrial metal record. It wasn’t without its faults of course but I generally enjoyed the experience & became interested to see where O.L.D. might take things from there given their undeniable passion for the obscure & unusual.

1993’s “The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak” album definitely takes things to the next logical level with the psychedelic cover artwork giving the listener a pretty accurate impression of what lies beneath. The production job is greatly improved from “Lo Flux Tube” which is a definite plus given that record’s obvious flaws in that department. This time most of the tracks are given a lot more scope to create layers of mind-bending noise with your cerebellum being tweaked by high-pitched electronic wails & bizarre dissonance with great regularity. The influence of Godflesh in the beats & bass guitar work is still plain to see but I can’t say that “The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak” is as obviously industrial as its predecessor. Some tracks definitely push that sound harder than others but to my ears there’s more in the way of avant-garde metal & experimental rock included here with the rock-to-metal ratio finishing in fairly even proportions. Voivod is also still a huge player in the O.L.D. sound & it’s hard to imagine a record like this one being created without records like “Dimension Hatross” having first existed.

Front man & former Khanate vocalist Alan Dubin’s blackened scream is consistent with his approach on “Lo Flux Tube” but don’t expect to hear much in the way of traditional metal guitar work on this album because Phantomsmasher/Khanate axeman James Plotkin uses his instrument in ways that it was never originally intended & in the process makes one hell of a feedback-drenched racket. He also goes to town on the electronics which play the role of the protagonist on most occasions. The vast majority of the album absolutely oozes of space rock style psychedelia with the use of noise being a strong feature. It’s interesting that I pick up a Kraftwerk influence in some parts too which wasn’t something I was expecting at all. Does it work? Well yeah it does if being honest but I’m not too sure I want it to if I'm being honest.

The first fifteen minutes of the record are really interesting & I found myself immediately engaged but things don’t really reach their full potential until the amazing fourth track “Peri Cynthion” & the cerebral drone of “Creyap’nilla”, both of which are genuine classics of whatever bizarre amalgamation of subgenres this fucking record might be pushing. It’s really unfortunate though that the tracklisting finishes on such a weak note with the eleven minute “Backwards Through The Greedo Compressor” being not only the longest track but also a real stinker. I can’t help but think that O.L.D. could easily have left that track out given the lengthy 66 minute duration of the album & we would all have been happier campers for it. As it is though, “The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak” seems to tamely peter out after promising so much for an audience that’s actively looking for drug-fuelled shenanigans. Thankfully I was able to see past that error in judgement because the rest of the album sees O.L.D. producing sounds that are as much art as they are music.

Once again O.L.D. have produced an intriguing & highly original record that certainly won’t be for everyone. I fully appreciate the effort the band members have gone to to come up with such a whacked-out sound & when they get all of their ducks in a row it can be pretty fucking mind-blowing. It’s too bad that they can’t hit that mark consistently enough to see me wanting to come back for return visits in the future & some of that can be put down to the terrible way they’ve elected to close the album out. If pushed I’d probably suggest that “Lo Flux Tube” is still my O.L.D. record of choice but there’s very little in it so if you liked that release then you shouldn’t hesitate to check this one out too.

For fans of Voivod, Godflesh & Disharmonic Orchestra.

New Zealand death metal trio Ulcerate have been somewhat of a mainstay at the top of my musical ladder since first discovering them through their classic sophomore album “Everything Is Fire” back in 2009. It may have taken me some time to fully come to grips with the dissonant arm of the death metal scene at the time as it still sounded fairly foreign to my old-school ears but once I’d become accustomed to the more textural sonic palate with which these artists draw from I quickly became engulfed in a journey of discovery that found me ultimately placing the niche subgenre up on one of my higher musical pedestals. Ulcerate haven’t released anything that wasn’t of a sublime quality since those initial impressions either which certainly hasn’t hurt. The more traditional brutal tech death of their 2004 “The Coming of Genocide” E.P. may not have been anything terribly flash & their 2007 debut album “Of Fracture & Failure” might well have been more of an interesting transitional release than a record to be particularly revered but ever since that time the band have been in devastating form & have destroyed a great many fragile minds in the process.

Dissonant death metal bands like Ulcerate will inevitably always be at a higher risk of sounding “samey” than bands from other genres. When you make extreme music that doesn’t conform to traditional theoretical structures or melodic sensibilities then it can often be hard to give the song-writing the unique elements required to differentiate themselves from one another. I have to admit that I’ve kinda been waiting for Ulcerate to fall over in that regard but they just never seem to even stumble. With their 2020 sixth full-length “Stare Into Death & Be Still” we find Ulcerate sticking to their tried-&-tested dissonant model but infusing it with enough melody to make it appear to be a complete contradiction of terms. The use of open strings & dissonant chords is undeniably still the root of the band’s evil however they’ve managed to make it sound almost beautiful at the same time which is really pretty remarkable. There’s plenty of variation in tempo with a number of exploratory & introspective post-sludge sections adding layers to the glorious atmosphere. In fact, the slower & more stripped back post-metal sections are inevitably my favourite parts of the album & are responsible for giving each inclusion in the tracklisting its own identity. 

The production job on “Stare Into Death & Be Still” is nothing short of splendid with the layers of dissonant guitars sounding full & lush & the drums offering plenty of clarity, power & brightness. If I had to be critical, I’d suggest that the bass guitar could have been louder in the mix but I don’t think it detracts from the overall product. The composition & execution are simply stunning with the three musicians being given the freedom to take expansive & quite intricate excursions through some of the band’s most ambitious yet strangely accessible material.

The vocals of Paul Kelland are aggressive & powerful, perhaps more so than I remember them being which is a nice contrast to some of the more stripped back material. Sole guitarist Michael Hoggard must have some major challenges on his hands when it comes to live performance as I’m honestly not sure how he could pull off the many layers of dense guitar work that are presented here. I really love the interplay between the different guitar tracks actually & find them to possess an artistic flair that’s pretty rare in extreme metal. While it may be Hoggard who ensures that Ulcerate always maintain some level of accessibility while never losing an ounce of integrity, it’s drummer Jamie Saint Merat that steals the show in no uncertain terms as he’s quite simply unparalleled in skill & creativity. Sure, he can blast 99% of the opposition away with relative ease but it’s the more subdued moments which offer him the most room to move & his cymbal work during these more atmospheric sections is nothing short of astounding. What a drummer this guy is! I’m not sure we’ve seen better in metal music to tell you the truth.

“Stare Into Death & Be Still” is yet another wonderful example of modern death from one of the absolute elite exponents of the craft. It's undoubtedly Ulcerate’s most melodic album to date but its also their most creatively advanced too. I count myself as being a big fan of the dissonant death metal sound these days but I’m not sure I’ve hear a better example of it than this one right here & that includes Ulcerate's most highly celebrated releases like "Everything Is Fire".

For fans of Gorguts, Portal & Baring Teeth.

The 1990 self-titled debut album from notorious Florida death metallers Deicide came into my life at a time when I had only recently become infatuated with the genre so it enjoyed the perfect conditions to maximize its impact on my life & I think it’s fair to say that it couldn’t have been more influential on this young metalhead. I’d certainly never heard anything so evil before but despite the utter blasphemy & devastating brutality of the music, the song-writing was some of the catchiest you’ll find in death metal which gave “Deicide” the endurance to still reside in my top ten for the genre today. So by the time the follow-up album was released in 1992 I was absolutely chomping at the bit to throw myself into it. “Legion” certainly had a hard act to follow but I was very confident that it would deliver & there's no doubt that it did to an extent.

It’s probably been over a decade since I last revisited “Legion” but I listened to it enough in my teenage years to know very well what to expect. I’ve traditionally always regarded it as a classic death metal record but have never placed it alongside the debut at the very pinnacle of the genre. This revisit was something I’d planned for some time with the intention of being able to more accurately place “Legion” within the myriad of early 90’s classics & I had a little inkling that it might not be as good as I’d once thought. I knew it’d be full-on & confronting but would it be complete enough to play with the Morbid Angels of the world? Let’s see, shall we?

The first thing I noticed upon digging my teeth into “Legion” was the messy production which is a little surprising given the involvement of Scott Burns behind the mixing desk. The rhythm guitar tone is pretty noisy which makes the whole album seem a little more chaotic than it might otherwise have appeared & this is amplified by the exhilarating opening track “Satan Spawn, The Caco-Daemon” which is completely off the hook from a structural point of view. Each song possesses a number of drastic tempo-changes with chuggy mid-paced riffage giving way to blast-beat driven annihilation & returning again quite often. The riff structures are much more technical than the debut which seems to have been a conscious decision but I’m not sure that Deicide were quite up to the task just yet as there are number of sections across the tracklisting that find the song structures falling apart. Drummer Steve Asheim is the main culprit here & (despite the fact the Steve was held up on a pedestal by most of the extreme metal scene at the time) he struggles a bit for control across the whole duration of the album. He’s certainly not helped by the production but I tend to think that he’d pushed himself a little farther than his capabilities could support at the time with some of this material.

On the positive side though, the enraged vocals of head Satanist Glen Benton sound positively demonic on “Legion” as he leads his band to Hell & back multiple times during the short 29 minute run time. The screamed backing vocals aren’t as effective but are helped by the intelligent use of delay for some cool effects at key moments. The rhythm guitar work is actually very solid & there are some ripper death metal riffs on offer with Deicide's real strength being in the mid-paced chuggers which sound genuinely evil. The highlight of the album for me though is the controlled chaos that is the lead guitar work. I’ve always loved the lead tone these boys achieved on the early Deicide albums & you won’t find a better example than the searing mid-range of these ultra-shredding efforts. In fact, I’d suggest that the solos represent the climax of many of the eight tracks included & I’m often reminded of Slayer & Morbid Angel in the way both brothers maintain their focus on face-ripping insanity rather than complementary melody.

Despite the flaws I mentioned above, there can be no denying that “Legion” slips very easily into my musical comfort zone & I don’t have to try very hard to get my jollies out of it. However the reason that it doesn’t compare all that favourably alongside the debut can be found in its consistency. None of the tracks are weak as such but I can’t deny that there are some lighter-weight sections in “Behead The Prophet (No Lord Shall Live)” & “In Hell I Burn” that see me dropping my score from the lofty heights of a good half of the album. The shorter & more focused tracks are the strongest with the unwavering brutality of “Trifixion” & “Revocate The Agitator” being the most successful in their unholy mission. There's no time for mucking around on those tracks which makes it clearer that Deicide's weaknesses generally appear when they have more time on their hands & become guilty of trying too hard to sound evil (see the unintelligent chorus from "In Hell I Burn" for example).

So, ultimately I think my suspicions that I may have overrated “Legion” were pretty accurate even though I still very much enjoyed revisiting this high quality death metal release from my youth. It’s not the classic I tried so hard to make it into back in 1992 (& I do remember really wanting it to be just quietly). It’s an over-the-top & relentless experience that will satisfy the vast majority of its audience though & shouldn’t be scoffed at by any means. It’s funny how sloppy it sounds when I listen to it today but that element also gives it an endearing quality that reminds me of a simpler time in my life when such concerns weren’t worth bothering about.

For fans of Vital Remains, Cannibal Corpse & Amon.

I have to admit that, despite the steady stream of unanimous praise that seems to be heaped on them, London supergroup Rainbow have never been my cup of tea, at least not when looking at their back catalogue holistically. Sure, their classic 1976 sophomore record “Rising” is certainly a very solid effort & I’m not denying that I get a lot of enjoyment out of it but the only other one of the band’s eight studio albums that I find much appeal in is 1982’s “Straight Between The Eyes” which is arguably Rainbow’s least popular release. This is a pretty good sign that Rainbow simply don’t play in the same playgrounds as I frequent & I’ve kinda found myself subconsciously accepting that I may never achieve the same sort of adoration that many of my metalhead peers do over the years. Recently though, I found myself in need of something to listen to while looking after my two young kids for the day & Rainbow’s 1977 “On Stage” live album popped up in my Spotify feed. For some reason I thought to myself “You know what? Everyone else seems to gush about this record. What can it hurt giving it a few spins, eh?”. So here I am…. full of high hopes & the promise to at least fill an obvious gap in my knowledge of rock/metal music history.

“On Stage” is made up of live tracks that were recorded between September & December 1976 when Rainbow were on tour in Germany & Japan so it’s not a showcase for a single performance but the best of several. Interestingly though given the timing of the shows, the tracklisting includes virtually nothing from the “Rising” album that the band were touring for at the time with only a short snippet of “Starstruck” (clearly the weakest track on “Rising” in my opinion) being represented. The majority of the record is made up of material from 1975’s “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow” debut album with the addition of a cover version of Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” (which Ritchie obviously wrote) & a sneak peak at a future classic in “Kill The King” that wouldn’t see a proper album release until 1978’ “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll” record. Most of the tracks are extended & include lengthy improvised jam sections which see the six tracks stretching out to a 64 minute run time.

The clear & organic production job is very good for a live album from that period & it does exactly what any good live production should do by giving the listener the feeling of actually being there in the audience. I could have done without the silly “Over The Rainbow” intro from the “Wizard Of Oz” but once the band kicks into gear you’ll be treated to some of the finest rock performances you’re ever likely to hear, highlighted of course by the legendary talents of Ritchie Blackmore & Ronnie James Dio. Now, let me get something else off my chest. Despite being a guitarist myself, I’ve never actually had a lot of time for Blackmore from a technical point of view. I’ve always appreciated his creativity but he seemed a little sloppy to me in comparison to some of my more favoured axemen. But here we see Ritchie confidently pulling the wool from over my eyes so that I can finally see what I’ve been missing & by George he pulls off quite the triumphant victory over my stubbornness in the process. I can very easily hear where people like Yngwie Malmsteen have cloned certain parts of his technique here & it’s hard to argue that Ritchie was ahead of his time after experiencing this record. RJD’s contribution is simply perfect as always. I don’t think there’s a musician alive that could have taken the limelight away from Ronnie as he’s a star among stars & you’re unlikely to find a better example of that than you do here.

Now a warning for all you diehard metalheads that are stuck in your ways, despite containing arguably the earliest example on power metal in opening track “Kill The King”,“On Stage” is NOT a metal record overall &, to be fair, it rarely tries to be. Contrary to popular opinion, Rainbow were never a metal band (at least not for a complete album). They were a hard rock group that contained unique elements that heavily influenced the more obviously metallic groups that followed them. Hell, a lot of the jam sections of “On Stage” aren’t even rock with Rtichie & co taking their audience into a wide array of different territories from blues right through to classical & it’s worth noting that his ambitions have ultimately produced the definitive versions of many of these songs in the process. The 15 minute version of “Catch The Rainbow” is really quite stunning & has taken one of the couple of tracks that I found enjoyment in from the debut & transformed it into an epic centrepiece that rewrites the book on melody & atmosphere. I’ve never liked “Sixteen Century Greensleeves” but this version comes a little closer to being interesting while the new packaging of closer “Still I’m Sad” has seen me paying attention for the very first time.

Perhaps a release like this one is tailor made for an old musician like myself. I'm more than open to the idea of extended improvisation, I live to hear musicians pushing themselves & succeeding & I love to see an artist take their art & give it a fresh coat of paint. Rainbow may still not quite fit into my taste profile from a stylistic point of view but boy have they pulled off an entertaining release here. It’s really pretty surprising how successful “On Stage” is when you consider that I don’t have any time for the “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow” album that most of the material is drawn from. How is it possible that they’ve not only managed to pull off an acceptable live album without drawing on any of the best material from clearly their best album in “Rising” but have actually gone one step further by forcing me to consider whether “On Stage” may just have pipped “Rising” out of the top spot for my favourite Rainbow release. Well done gents. This is a very fine performance indeed.

For fans of Deep Purple, Scorpions & Thin Lizzy.

In previous reviews I’ve been very open about the fact that, despite the brutal death metal subgenre being arguably my favourite sound in all of metal, I’ve never rated Canadian legends Cryptopsy’s supposedly classic first couple of albums as highly as almost everyone else on Earth seems to with a large portion of my issues lying with the two major drawcards in front man Lord Worm & influential drum virtuoso Flo Mounier. To be honest I just don’t think either are half as good at their craft as they’re made out to be. Hell, I didn’t even like the band’s highly regarded debut album “Blasphemy Made Flesh”. But 1998’s “Whisper Supremacy” brought with it a new & more traditional vocalist in Mike DiSalvo & also saw the band heading in a flashier & more technical direction which appealed to my taste significantly more than their supposedly genre-defining sophomore album “None So Vile”. “Whisper Supremacy” finally saw me getting onboard the Cryptopsy train with some level of confidence & I was hopeful that this revisit to Cryptopsy’s 2005 fifth album “Once Was Not” would provide further emphasis to my preference for slightly later Cryptopsy than most people are willing to admit to. Did it deliver in that regard? Well… kinda. Let’s take a look at one of the Canadian’s more underappreciated albums.

“Once Was Not” saw the return of Lord Worm to the fold after two albums with DiSalvo & I have to admit that I’ve probably taken longer than I might otherwise have to plan a revisit for that very fact alone as I’ve never been terribly enamoured with the Lord's over the top & often unintelligible death growls. He doesn’t waste any time at all in reminding as to why I’ve struggled with him over the years here either as his ranting, rabid-dog style delivery sounds pretty thin & unconvincing to my ears. In fact, he’s easily the weakest element of the album & I don’t doubt that DiSalvo’s more conventional approach to death growls played a strong role in my preference for an album like “Whisper Supremacy” over Cryptopsy’s classic releases.

Instrumentally though, we have a very well-produced, creative & artistic record on our hands here & one that I’d suggest no longer fits comfortably under the brutal death metal banner. “Once Was Not” is a highly technical effort sporting an impressively broad scope. It doesn’t always make sense mind you & can sound a little like a collection of good ideas that have been pasted together at times rather than a cohesive & fluent piece of artistic expression. I do really enjoy the jazzier moments, particularly those that feature ride cymbal work that sounds like it’s been borrowed from progressive rock or the early progressive death metal bands like Atheist or Cynic.

Extreme metal drummer extraordinaire Mounier puts in another blinding performance but he still can’t convince me that he’s the real deal here. His endurance seems to have improved over the years & his sheer velocity is no less impressive than the first time I heard him back in the early 1990's but unfortunately he’s still pretty messy with his timing as far as his ability to perfectly synchronize his kick drums & snare during the hyper-speed blast-beat sections go. He often sounds more like a possessed typewriter than a tight & clinical tech death time-keeper & it baffles me to see the consistent adoration he seems to draw at times when there are so many extreme drumming gods about these days. Perhaps it's all about his influence as he was certainly one of the first to be attempting the sort of speeds he's made his calling card throughout his career.

In saying that, it’s pretty hard to be too critical of “Once Was Not” as the tracklisting is extremely consistent with no weak tracks included among the eleven on offer. Unfortunately there aren’t any genuine standouts though & I find myself wondering if Cryptopsy have simply tried to be too clever with this record as the best parts usually come when they go in a more classic death metal direction rather than trying to be as wacky as they possibly can without breaking the death metal mold. The musicianship of Flo & Worm's counterparts is of a very high standard & it’s rare that I find myself getting bored across the relatively lengthy (for a record this extreme) 50 minute duration. The band don’t seem to be short of ideas & it’s hard to imagine that they’d fall from grace in such a dramatic fashion with their very next album when listening to this one so I’d suggest that most fans of the more brutal end of the technical death metal subgenre will find a fair bit to enjoy here. "Once Was Not" isn't as strong as "Whisper Supremacy" was by any means but I'd probably still take it over Cryptopsy's first two records nonetheless (yep I said it alright).

For fans of Lykathea Aflame, Origin & Wormed.

I’d heard quite a bit of Californian metalcore outfit Bleeding Through while preparing the monthly The Revolution playlists but had never felt the need to investigate them further upon until this point. Perhaps I’ve been put off by their associations with the more melodic side of the genre or it may be because they simply don’t seem all that likely to appeal to my taste. I’m not too sure but my commitment to the Hall of Judgement & a site with the highest level of accuracy in regard to our genre-tagging has finally brought me face to face with my very first Bleeding Through album & I’m gonna do my best to keep an open mind.

As is very much the norm with the more well-known metalcore acts, “Love Will Kill All” is a really well-produced & executed record with polished & shiny performances from all of the band members. It’s a big, in-your-face collection of short & catchy metal tunes that’s made to appeal to a particular audience. You see, while Bleeding Through certainly integrate various external influences into their sound to good effect, they also showcase all of the signature traits of the metalcore genre at the same time so fans will never find themselves feeling the slightest bit alienated. I wouldn’t describe Bleeding Through as sticking to the conventional metalcore model here but neither would I say that the album is a melodic metalcore release either. It kinda sits in the middle with the band jumping from a straight down the line aggressive tune to a more melodic one with a clean-sung chorus hook quite consistently. If anything I’d probably suggest that the melodic side wins out in the end but a dual tagging is probably the most appropriate result.

The points of difference for “Love Will Kill All” are twofold. On the one hand you have a clear melodic death metal influence with At The Gates seeming to be the obvious point of reference through the driving, up-tempo yet melodic tremolo-picked riffage. Then we also see a clear melodic black metal influence in the use of gothic symphonics & well-executed blast-beats. Cradle of Filth is undoubtedly the source of those sounds. Having never been the biggest Cradle of Filth fan, I have to admit to struggling a bit with the overly melodramatic gothicisms on offer even though they do make for something a little different which is certainly required with a record like this one. The clean choruses on the more melodic tracks remind me quite a bit of Fear Factory so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that they were somewhat of an inspiration too.

One of the problems here though is the more generic elements of Bleeding Through’s sound as they kinda overshadow their more creative ones. The breakdowns are very much the standard model for metalcore & whenever they pop up I find myself snoozing a bit. The vocals of front man Brandan Schieppati are also terribly common. I mean he sounds EXACTLY like every other metalcore vocalist in America & that’s a big detractor for me personally. There are a couple of really enjoyable tracks here though & they generally occur when Bleeding Through simply release the shackles & go for broke like they do on album highlight “Buried” or the pretty decent “Cold World”. The rest of the album seems to drift into areas of insignificance though I’m afraid, even though there’s nothing particularly terrible here either.

At the end of the day I just don’t think I’m the target audience for a record like “Love Will Kill All”. I'd imagine that it’s exactly what the band were trying to achieve & that it’s disappointed very few of their rabid fanbase but it’s simply not something that would generally appeal to me. In fact, the only reason I’ve even found myself listening to it is to assist Andi with his Hall of Judgement entry to have it removed from The Horde & in that undertaking Andi will be receiving a resounding YES vote from me as (despite the At the Gates influence) there’s absolutely no way that this is a death metal record.

For fans of Unearth, The Agonist & early Shadows Fall.

I quite enjoyed my initial experience with Portland trio Bewitcher last week. Their 2019 sophomore album “Under The Witching Cross” proved to be an infectiously fun collection of well-produced & executed speed metal with a noticeably blackened edge so I’ve come into their follow-up album (2021’s “Cursed Be Thy Kingdom”) with hope for similar rewards. Unfortunately though, despite some strong similarities with its older sibling, there are some stylistic differences between the two that leave me unable to muster the same level of enthusiasm for Bewitcher’s latest effort.

Tracks like “In The Sign Of The Goat” from “Under The Witching Cross” hinted at a black ‘n’ roll sound that never quite transpired but on “Cursed Be Thy Kingdom” we see Bewitcher fully indulging in that side of their creative ambition & that element plays the role of the protagonist across the ten tracks included. A good half of the tracklisting also utilizes the speed metal of Bewitcher’s roots but there’s more space & openness to some of these songs which sees them leaning harder towards the traditional heavy metal sound of Judas Priest than it does any velocity-addicted speed metal outfit. The vocals of front man Unholy Weaver of Shadows & Incantations (his parents might have needed TWO birth certificates to fit that one in) may not be the nastiest you’ll find but his blackened snarl is enough to push me over the edge into black ‘n’ roll territory this time whereas I felt that subgenre was more of an influence on the previous Bewitcher album. Perhaps that’s because I found much less up-tempo Motorhead worship on this one with heavy metal tracks like album highlight “Valley Of The Ravens” tending to rock as much as they roll. I’d suggest that this is likely why I find less appeal in “Cursed Be Thy Kingdom” too actually as I can’t say that I’ve ever really enjoyed that sort of thing. The inadequate cover version of Pentagram’s “Sign Of The Wolf” that closes the album out doesn’t help much either.

“Cursed Be Thy Kingdom” isn’t a bad record for what it is & I’m sure it’ll have its audience but that doesn't include me I'm afraid. I look for more adventure & danger in my music & Bewitcher's latest effort comes across as being a little unimposing & lacking in genuine depth when compared with the more substantial acts in the modern metal scene.

For fans of Midnight, Venom & Hellripper.

I’ve long regarded Los Angeles five-piece Agent Steel’s 1985 debut album “Skeptics Apocalypse” as one of the top few speed metal records I’ve ever experienced so it’s fair to say that I didn’t hesitate in considering the band’s next couple of releases for inclusion while putting together an outline of the records I’d investigate as a part of this month’s speed metal deep dive. Agent Steel’s debut kinda fell into the speed metal tag due to it being made up of tracks that belonged in either the thrash metal or heavy metal camps so speed metal seemed like a happy medium, particularly given the extra melody in the vocals & guitar lines that wouldn’t normally be associated with genuine thrash. My review of 1987’s “Unstoppable Force” sophomore album last week found that the band hadn’t diluted their commitment to velocity in the slightest & I’d describe it as a relentless assault on the senses although the production & vocal performances left a fair bit to be desired & a lot of the more aggressive material is more speed metal focused than it is thrash. Having now closed that chapter in my understanding of Agent Steel’s essential releases I’m left only to fill the gap between the two albums with 1986’s “Mad Locust Rising” E.P., a twelve-minute affair that makes full use of it’s short run time.

“Mad Locust Rising” is made up of just the four tracks with the first being an insignificant 17 second intro piece that might as well have been a part of the first proper song as it serves no purpose on its own. The opening title track however is an absolute rip-snorter & takes a super aggressive thrash metal approach that’s far more similar to Slayer & Kreator than it is to Exciter or Helstar. Even polarizing front man John Cyriis’ whiny performance seems to fit the music beautifully & I’m not sure that Agent Steel could have come up with a better opener to be honest. Why the hell this track wasn’t deemed worthy of inclusion on a proper album is anyone’s guess. Next up we get a very solid & well executed cover version of Judas Priest’s “The Ripper” which is pretty faithful to the original but adds some modern-day oomph with a delivery that’s more in line with the US power metal sound. And finally, the E.P. is closed out with another thrasher in “Let It Be Done/The Day At Guyana” which is the more complex of the three proper songs & offers some fantastic riffs, particularly the Slayer-esque outro section from “The Day At Guyana” which would become a highly praised instrumental track on the “Unstoppable Force” album.

The production job is nice & raw but possesses a wonderful energy that beautifully highlights the strengths of the consistently high quality tracklisting. The performances are all excellent too with the over the top shredding of Juan Garcia & Kurt Colfelt being a definite highlight, particularly their Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann style effort on the title track which takes an already superb track to another level altogether. It’s really very hard to fault this little E.P. & I have to say that I’m surprised that it hasn’t gained more notoriety over the years. I can only suggest that the short run time is the main reason behind that but the other may be that fans weren’t quite prepared for the onslaught of aggressive thrash as there’s not really any speed metal on offer here with thrash metal & US power metal being far more appropriate genre tags.

I have to say that “Mad Locust Rising” has torn off my face & handed it back to me in pieces in many respects. I wasn’t in any way prepared to enjoy it as much as I have & now regard it as my favourite Agent Steel record by a clear margin. Is that due to the fact that it takes a direction that’s much more in line with my personal taste profile? Well… yes it certainly is but isn’t that how we all judge the merits of our music? It certainly is for me & I’m very glad to have discovered this short but very sweet little E.P. from a very important band in the US power metal movement.

For fans of Metal Church, Lååz Rockit & Destructor.

I wasn’t acquainted with Norway’s Black Viper prior to approaching their sole full-length album as a part of this month's speed metal deep dive. I’d certainly seen their name around the traps but had never seriously considered investigating them further & had no real understanding of what they might offer me. So I guess that’s seen me go into “Hellions of Fire” with no preconceived notions on what I was likely to be presented with & it was a bit of a surprise to discover that they own quite an impressive pedigree in Norwegian metal. Bassist Christoffer Brathan played with thrash metal outfit Condor, drummer Cato Stormoen is the current skinsman for another Norwegian thrash metal staple in Deathhammer while guitarist Arild Myren Torp is a current member of wonderfully talented thrashers Nekromantheon as well as highly regarded death metallers Obliteration so given that they’ve only released the one demo & a single album in their decade-long existence thus far it would seem that Black Viper are a bit of a supergroup side project for several important figures in the local Norwegian scene. Well, if that is in fact the case then they’ve made a pretty good fist of it here as “Hellions of Fire” is a more than respectable effort.

The 48 minute album is made up of seven lengthy tracks that rarely deviate from the relentless pursuit of high velocity metal. For this reason it can appear to be a fairly imposing prospect after the first listen or two & I’d suggest that it could certainly have been shortened a bit in the interest of making for a more palatable package for the average consumer. I mean I’m not sure fun speed metal anthems really need to be over three minutes in length but here we have seven that range from four & a half minutes to an epic ten & a half minutes in duration. That’s not to say that you’ll ever get bored per se as there’s always something exciting transpiring but it can seem like a constant flurry of activity at times with the song-writing seeming to be in an awful hurry for much of the album’s run time.

The modern clarity of the production job gives these tunes added life that the band’s forefathers may not have been blessed with & it’s nice to be able to so easily identify the basslines in the mix. It has to be said that the performances of the three instrumentalists are outstanding too which shouldn’t be any surprise given their credentials. The Destruction influence that is so obvious in Arild Myren Trop’s other band Nekromantheon is just as visible here through the regular inclusion of melodic lead runs within the riffs & that element tends to keep me clear of any genuine tendency to want to reach for comparisons with thrash despite the consistently high tempos. There’s no doubt that this is the style of speed metal that the European power metal movement borrows from so regularly but there’s only really the occasional hint at that genre, particularly on the old demo track “Freedom’s Reign” which I unsurprisingly find to be one of the weaker inclusions on the album. “Quest For Power/The Fountain Of Might” sees Black Viper taking a swing at your more traditional heavy metal sound amidst all the chaos but it’s never long before you find the tremolo-picked speed metal riffage returning to the fold to have you thrashing your limbs around the bedroom again & I’d suggest that “Hellions of Fire” is one of the more pure examples of the genre you’ll find.

There’s a genuine passion to the way Black Viper go about their business as they clearly live for this shit. I’d suggest that I might not have enjoyed their 2016 “Storming With Vengeance” demo though as two of its three tracks are the ones that I don’t get as much enjoyment from here. The band’s real weakness though is in the higher register vocals of Salvador Almijo whose voice isn’t really up to the job in my opinion. He certainly has some pipes on him but he often wanders out of key & his overly flamboyant delivery definitely places a cap on how far the appeal of a record like this one can extend for me personally. Perhaps that’s more of an indicator of my musical preferences than anything else but I don’t tend to think so because I find the rest of Black Viper’s offering to be quite appealing.

I suspect that very few speed metal fans will find Black Viper’s debut album to be a disappointment. It’s a well written, produced & executed example of the genre with a more modern edge to it & it begs the question of why the band haven’t gotten around to following it up. Perhaps it really was just a side-project intended to tick an item off their bucket lists & if that was the case then I'd suggest that it’s been very successful in fulfilling that requirement. I’m just not sure that it’s enough to draw me back for regular revisits though.

For fans of Mystik, Chevalier & Agent Steel.

Tokyo-based trio Boris have been a major player in my musical world since I first discovered them upon my return to metal in the very late 2000’s. Their classic 2003 sixth album “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ proved to be quite the initiation & this earlier release (their third full-length) would be the next in a long line of wonderful records I’d experiment with over the many years since. It didn’t hit me quite as hard as “Feedbacker” did at the time but it’s fair to say that I’ve always regarded it as a high quality piece of work & a testament to Boris’ artistic ambition.

Unlike most of Boris’ releases from this period, “flood” generally isn’t claimed as a metal record as such. It usually slips into the drone & post-rock brackets but in truth it’s a collection of widely disparate ideas (none of them conventional drone in my opinion interestingly enough) with each of the four lengthy tracks taking a very different direction & possessing its own unique personality. Strangely the band elected to open with a highly unusual choice that categorically proves that the band have very few fucks to give about commercial success because the first of these four untitled tracks is pretty tough going, even for the more patient & educated musical connoisseur. It reminds me a lot of the minimalism of an artist like Steve Reich & is essentially made up of one short guitar loop that’s manipulated in a call-&-response fashion with constantly changing delay intervals seeing it trying very hard to sound & feel psychedelic however I’m sorry to say that it fails dismally in this endeavour & ultimately represents a rare failure for Boris. But fear not dear academics because this artist is an elite exponent of their craft so music of the most premium quality was inevitably just around the corner. The remaining 55 minutes of the album's run time is nothing short of spectacular with the deep psychedelic post-rock of the second piece being not only my album highlight but one of Boris’ best efforts overall. The third track is a twenty-one minute, slow-building excursion through post-rock, post-sludge metal & crushingly cerebral drone metal that easily maintains the top tier standard while the equally long final track sees things winding down for a deep, drawn-out ambient soother that has me curling myself up in the sound & letting all of the troubles in my life fade away.

As an overall package I'd suggest that the post-rock tag is as close as you're gonna get to a genre tag for an album like this one but even that broad term seems to short-change a release with such a vast scope. There are very few artists that can create something as special as Boris have achieved across tracks two through four here. Their knowledge & understanding of texture & nuance & their incredible attention to detail in relation to tone are rarely matched in the modern music scene. They almost seem like they belong in another era, perhaps the late 60’s or early 70’s. “flood” is mostly instrumental with Takeshi’s vocals being more of an accompaniment than they are any sort of protagonist. The use of repetition to put the listener into a calm, trancelike state is next level as usual which is why I find it so hard to accept the inclusion of the opening track which I’m afraid to say fails by such a margin that I’d even suggest that it's pretty pointless & even boring. Thankfully the rest of the tracklisting is strong enough to see me just about forgetting that early blip, even if it is a full fourteen minutes in duration & more than enough to test most listener’s patience.

The fact that I don’t place “flood” in my top five Boris records is hardly a major criticism. I simply hold this band up on such a high pedestal that there’s quite a traffic jam at the top of my list. Outside of the opener this is a genuinely remarkable collection of music that covers enormous ground but flows fluently from track to track with clinical professionalism. The warmth & depth in Boris’ guitar tones is always an attraction & I simply can’t get enough of the amplifier reverberation, the mature use of space & the sheer patience at times. All of these things make “flood” another rewarding release from a band like no other.

For fans of Earth, Godspeed You! Black Emperor & This Will Destroy You.

Canada’s Exciter may not have invented the speed metal sound as it was already evident in parts of earlier releases from the likes of Venom however there can be very little doubt that they were the first ones to place the majority of their focus on that style of metal along with Belgium’s Acid. Exciter’s first three albums (released between 1983-85) are still widely regarded as pivotal records in the history of the speed metal genre today & rightly so too. If you’re an old-school thrasher like myself then it’s very unlikely that you’ve managed to steer completely clear of the influence of seminal releases like 1983's “Heavy Metal Maniac” over the several decades since. People with more than a passing knowledge of the band’s later material seem to be a little less common though so perhaps it's not all that surprising that someone like myself has never heard any of Exciter’s material after 1985’s very solid “Long Live The Loud” album (which just happens to be my favourite speed metal release of all time). I have to admit that I went into 1986’s fourth album “Unveiling The Wicked” with a fair amount of trepidation though as the band’s post-1985 material isn’t exactly raved about.

Your first challenge with a record like “Unveiling The Wicked” comes in the form of the horrendous cover artwork as it’s honestly about as woeful as it gets, even by the notoriously low standards of mid-80’s speed metal. It’s so clear that the woman on the cover is really peeling some fake green rubber OFF her face rather than the other way around which leaves you wondering if SHE is really “the wicked” as opposed to the gremlin that’s intended. It all seems so low-grade that it has the effect of significantly diminishing your expectations of the songs contained within before you’ve even pressed play. Then once you do build up the courage to check out the actual music you’re immediately confronted with an empty, muted production job that sounds like the band is playing in the distance. This flawed packaging is certainly not an ideal platform for the band to wet people’s appetites with but the music doesn’t exactly set the world on fire either it has to be said.

Exciter have always had a significant heavy metal component in their sound with bands like Black Sabbath & Judas Priest playing just as strong a role in the creation of their style as Motorhead or Venom but “Unveiling The Wicked” sees that classic heavy metal influence taking the ascendency & I no longer think it’s accurate to call this record a speed metal release. It sounds far too lethargic for that but definitely isn’t helped by the flat production. We also see pockets of commercial hard rock popping up across the tracklisting & it’s hard not to suggest that there’s a been a bit of a cash-grab attempt going on here. New guitar shredder Brian McPhee shows himself to be quite talented through some quite accomplished solos & the band tries to milk that through an ill-timed shot at creating their own version of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” in the one & a half minute “Brainstorm” interlude. It unfortunately comes across as an obvious example of plagiarism & placing it as the second track on the album was clearly a bad call as the energy just kinda dies even though the track itself is one of the more interesting inclusions. Following it up with two commercially focused shockers in the dumb “Die In The Night” & the immature cheese of “(I Hate) School Rules” is even more baffling, as is the fact that the former seems to be the most highly regarded track on the album (do people not have ears any more?). Thankfully Exciter give us some reasonable quality at the end of the record with the final two tracks being clearly the best of the tracklisting (my personal favourite being the most speed metal oriented inclusion on the album in “Live Fast, Die Young”) but this does leave you asking why they’d left it all so late because the damage was already done by that point. 

I know some people will disagree with me here but I find the other major weakness to be drummer Dan Behler’s vocals. His shrieking banshee-like delivery is so repetitive & showcases a very limited range & ability which leaves me wondering why it hasn’t been so noticeable on previous records. Perhaps it’s the slower tempos & less aggressive feel of these tracks that sees Dan’s limitations being more obvious in a noticeably less violent soundscape? That does sound pretty logical but let’s be honest… Dan was never an amazing vocalist to begin with.

“Unveiling The Wicked” is easily a couple of steps down from Exciter’s first three albums & I’d suggest that it’s a far from essential release in the speed metal story, especially given that it’s actually a heavy metal record parading around in speed metal attire. It reminds me very much of fellow Canadians Anvil in its various mediocrities & I have to wonder if there's some sort of relation there given the timing & locality of the two bands. It's also hard to imagine that Exciter has a full seven albums to come after this one & that none of them are even regarded as highly as this one. I can’t say I’ll be rushing out to investigate those just quietly.

For fans of Raven, Acid & Anvil.

I first discovered Denver-based speed metal four-piece Speedwolf while selecting tracks for the monthly The Pit Spotify playlist in mid-2021 & quite enjoyed what I heard. The opening title track from their sole 2011 full-length album “Ride With Death” opened in very similar fashion to the highly influential opener from Metallica’s seminal 1983 debut album “Kill ‘Em All before burning off at high speed & it was hard not to buy into the band’s ability to simply not give a fuck. I casually pencilled Speedwolf in as a band to check out at some point & received further encouragement when their more traditional heavy metal number “Up All Night” popped up in a subsequent playlist later on that year. Would the rest of “Ride With Death” live up that potential though? Let’s take a look & find out.

Well, I was always confident that “Ride With Death” would open well with the two tracks I was already familiar with leading off in quick succession but the first thing that any reasonably well educated metalhead will discover is the blatantly obvious Motörhead worship going on as Speedwolf have clearly been guilty of placing the godfathers of filthy speed metal on a lofty pedestal. Frontman Reed Bruemmer does a stellar job at replicating Lemmy’s signature grunt but gives it his own twist which leaves him sounding a little more sinister in my opinion while (much like their idols) some of the punky open-string riffs have a little more to do with hardcore & hard rock than they do with metal. Richie Tice’s wonderful machine-gun style double kick work does an excellent job at erasing any tendency to look outside of the metal space when tagging “Ride With Death” however & his performance is one of the highlights of the Speedwolf sound as he goes about ensuring that the band sound as tight as a motherfucker throughout this 41 minute effort with workman-like efficiency.

The production job on “Ride With Death” is spot on for this style of music by effectively highlighting Speedwolf’s unbridled energy through the relentless barrage of up-tempo thrashers. There’s a consistent clarity to the album that doesn’t ever detract from the authenticity of the band’s 80’s focused sound with Tice's powerful kick-drum sound remaining the centrepiece with which the rest of the music is built around. The album is also helped by some high quality performances from the other band members who show a lot more technique & attention to detail than most of their speed metal peers which is probably the main differentiator with a band like Speedwolf. They’re very much a modern take on an old concept.

If speed metal is essentially the mid-point between thrash metal & traditional heavy metal then Speedwolf sit right bang on the line between the two & are arguably the one of the purest bands in the speed metal crowd. Their speed-freak mentality is rarely diluted too much, despite the inclusion of a few tracks that I regard as being closer to heavy metal than to genuine speed metal (see “Up All Night”, “Time To Annihilate” & “Hell & Back”). Speedwolf's  tempos are much more in line with thrash than they are with heavy metal but the use of open-string (rather than palm-muted) riffs definitely has a different timbre to thrash metal & the regular inclusion of melodic lead guitar lines also sees things being pulled back by the heavy metal crowd. Never fear thrashers, you still get your fair share of palm-muted tremolo-picking when the band decide to drop the shackles but they've adopted a mixture of both approaches here which makes it hard to pick a winner. The only obvious change-up track comes in the form of "Death Ripper" which sees Speedwolf heading into black 'n' roll territory temporarily with Bruemmer pivoting towards a blackened snarl to good effect which is a welcome addition.

This is punky & quite repetitive metal music for a working class audience & makes for the perfect soundtrack for drunken bar fights between scary looking biker types. It’s relatively simple in its conception & execution but possesses a class & professionalism that boosts it above a lot of the competition. Even though the album isn’t all that lengthy, the twelve song tracklisting does feel a bit long, mainly due to the lack of variety on offer. It’s also a bit unfortunate that Speedwolf chose to end things with the weakest track on the album in the unintelligent “Denver 666” which isn't done any favours by being positioned right after the excellent title track (the clear standout track on the album for mine). Still… I can’t deny that I had a lot of fun with “Ride With Death”. Is it enough to see me wanting to return to it regularly though? I doubt it as it just doesn’t offer enough depth for that but I can’t see it disappointing too many people either.

For fans of Motörhead, Midnight & Venom.