Saxy S's Reviews
This is the best version of Ihsahn I've heard in a long time. The old symphonic elements of Emperor have returned with a feverous intent and craft this new collection of songs into some remarkable ways. It feels like more than ever that Ihsahn is comfortable with his own voice and the occasional clean vocal passage is really well done. I've never had a problem with the number of guest vocalists that have appeared on these albums in the past, but something about this one just feels more complete. The record does an even better job than 2010's After of being a well crafted story and passing it on to the listener without too much down time or wasted space. The record can get a little derivative during the second half and its extended runtimes, but the quasi-black metal hits with grit and emotion. Not since After have I been so high on an Ihsahn album and quite comfortably fills a symphonic void that has been missing in Ihsahn's music since the final Emperor album.
Best Songs: THE PROMETHEAN SPARK, PILGRIMAGE TO OBLIVION, A TAST OF THE AMBROSIA, BLOOD TRAILS TO LOVE, AT THE HEART OF ALL THINGS BROKEN
Genres: Progressive Metal Symphonic Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
The novelty of this project is not lost on me.
Slower is a supergroup of sorts, consisting of many members of well established stoner/sludge metal bands through the 2000s, including Monolord, Fu Manchu and Year of the Cobra. Together they come together and ask the question that was surely on every metalheads mind: what would Slayer sound like if they were doom metal?
The answer is fascinating, but not without flaws. Given that the early Slayer albums (the most popular records) are very sloppy/muddy in their execution, it makes perfect sense to give them some sludge. However, the debut from Slower presents one major flaw: four of the five tracks are from post-Reign in Blood era Slayer. These albums were far cleaner and the idea of muddying them up seems a little out of left field in my honest opinion. The title track from South of Heaven does sound good, especially the iconic opening riff. While the three Seasons in the Abyss covers ("War Ensemble", "Blood Red" and "Dead Skin Mask") highlight just how groovy those songs really were before. And that just leaves "The Antichrist", which might serve as the albums outlier, but the production shows it indebtedness to those early Slayer albums.
It's rather difficult to review these since they aren't the bands ideas and are instead just covering songs that are staples within the metal community. I don't think it's bad per se, but the song selection is grossly mishandled. Slower should have given its listener something that felt closer to the "Slayer aesthetic" of messy production and shredding guitars. Instead, this record feels much closer to those classic, post-Reign in Blood albums that I really like, but likely don't represent the Slayer experience. And the songs do lose their charm because of that.
Best Songs: South of Heaven, The Antichrist
Genres: Sludge Metal Stoner Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
I often find myself being too harsh towards releases under the "technical" banner due to a number of structural issues that keep me from enjoying them subjectively. Now I know that this is part of the point since no one has the exact same tastes in music styles, but I'd like to be more open towards technical music going forward and rate them based on what they are, rather than what I want them to be.
And so Dissimulator have come along to glowing praise and I feel like most of it is well deserved. As the thorough, audible assault that Lower Form Resistance is, I have to commend this albums songwriting prowess. It has been a really long time since I heard stylistic whips and tempo jolts pulled off as smoothly as these ones before. Technical music has a sporadic feel to it (like mathcore) most of the time, which makes it nearly impossible to latch on to the main theme or idea that a song is constructing itself around. And while Lower Form Resistance still does have enough of that, something about these interjections feel well thought out and connected with integrity.
The compositions themselves are mostly adequate. To be honest, I found parts of this debut to be quite pedestrian in the way they were presented. Such as "Cybermorphism/Mainframe" starting off with a clean guitar intro, before inevitably resorting back to the same technical death/thrash timbre and performance that we've heard countless times throughout the record. It does not really give the record a lot of time for breathing or regeneration following a long stretch of continuous moshing. However, because the structures of these tunes are so well enforced, I tend to forget that there hasn't been a calmer interlude, which tells me that I'm having a lot of fun being chased down by these riffs relentlessly for over forty (40) minutes.
By association, the instrumentals are not very diverse, but they don't have to be. The bass is not the most upfront, but it can be heard providing some foundation behind the guitar riffing, which is fierce. The percussion is extremely well performed and frankly carry this albums intensity. The first time Lower Form Resistance brought in the modulated vocals a la Cynic's Focus was really cool and matched the literal technical nature of this album. These guys are clearly influenced by fellow Quebec tech-thrashers Voivod, and these vocals interjections felt like something that should have always been there. However, I felt them becoming less impactful the more they were used, which is a little bit disappointing. But they are not nearly as bad as the unfiltered clean singing during "Automoil & Robotoil"; the monotone delivery does not help with keeping the albums intensity up and do not highlight the bands strengths. Otherwise, the harsh vocals are a little choppy, but impactful.
Overall I enjoyed Lower Form Resistance a lot actually. The technical aspect is both figurative and literal; where the album production sounds almost synthetic with its pin-point precision. The performances, while certainly not innovative, are backed up by some of the best compositions I've heard on a technical album in a very long time. The album is produced like gold, and the only aspects that really bugged me were the vocals, which are already sparse as it is on this record. A solid find if I do say so myself, and would be a great recommendation if you frequent bands like Voivod, Revocation or Cryptic Shift.
Best Songs: Warped, Outer Phase, Hyperline Underflow
Genres: Death Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
Avant-garde music is not a style that I actively seek out. I want to like it, but more often than not I find myself trapped in a endless display of loud noises for their own sake. I have experimented in the past and there are of course exceptions, but music written for its own sake it not really something that resonates well with me.
I discovered Hoplites [Ὁπλίτης] due to a featured release recommendation last year and found myself very perplexed by the outcome. Trothisomeni (Τρωθησομένη) is an album that combined elements of black metal, death metal, technical thrash and brutal metalcore/mathcore. It came together in a full formed mess that somehow still had foundations that could have made it work if the songwriting was not so herky-jerky in its execution. Well, much like with King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Ὁπλίτης work at an uncomfortably fast pace. Τρωθησομένη was the first of three albums this solo act released last year and 2024 has another release not even two (2) full weeks into the year.
And yet, Paramainomeni (Παραμαινομένη) is somehow the best version of Ὁπλίτης that I've heard. This time Ὁπλίτης are only presenting six (6) new tracks to engage with, but this time we can see some huge girth. The longest record in the discography so far contains three (3) tracks that exceed ten minutes in length. While the remainder hover between six-and-a-half and nine minutes. And I could tell before listening that my bias towards avant-garde music and Ὁπλίτης as a whole was peaking out. But as I listened to Παραμαινομένη I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. With these extended runtimes, the songs on this album have a bit more of a minimalistic flare to them, so individual ideas are given time to marinate and resonate with the listener, presenting a strange sense of familiarity and comfort. This is until the next drastic change of style takes place and the cycle repeats itself. But the reason they work so much better here than anywhere else has to do with the connectivity of these phrases together to form a whole.
It is not perfect mind you; the metalcore/mathcore influence that persists throughout the albums runtime is quite insufferable given the thick chunk of the bass drum and guitar chugging. It becomes extremely unsettling when they take on djent inspiration on "Ἡ τῶν λυσσημάτων ἄγγελος". And, as I previously mentioned, the production can be quite lousy at times. The compositions may be solid, but the guitar timbre is mechanical and overstated. The dissonance of the scraping and saxophone solos feels like a executive choice to alienate this style of music from the general public, and my estimation is that it will work.
Which is a shame because when it comes to how I wish more avant-garde acts would create harmonic dissonance, Παραμαινομένη is the way I would have imagined it. It might be a longer album than most familiar with Ὁπλίτης will be comfortable with, but it shows that they have what it takes to make gripping music, regardless of style.
Best Songs: Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεὰ παραμαινομένη ἐμοῦ..., Παραδειγματιζομένη μουσική, Συμμιαινόμεναι Διονύσῳ Ἐλευθέριῳ
Genres: Avant-Garde Metal Black Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
This is an album with a concept that is not doomed from the start. I am a sucker for music that takes inspiration from oriental folk music and even if the music does not work out, I tend to be more favourable to those records. Take my review of 2022's Bloodywood album for reference. Ryujin are a Hokkaido based power metal/melodic death metal band who are quite liberal in their usage of native Japanese instruments beyond the standard heavy metal instrumental timbre of guitars, bass, and percussion. And this self titled debut is pretty solid; I really enjoy the additional percussion that is added to drive these songs forward from time to time. I would have liked to possibly hear some acoustic passages throughout the record to accent some of the softer sounding string instruments that are present. But the constant sheathing of a katana is a sound I could have used without; it was okay the first couple of times, but after a while it just felt like Ryujin were adding it to remind listeners that they are a Japanese power metal band and it loses its grandeur.
I feel like Ryujin took full advantage of their partnership with Matt Heafy because these songs are well constructed with solid forms, great memorability and just enough metal wankery to keep the elitists in check. However, the production of the record feels very thin as parts of this record do not pop with authority as you might expect. It does allow for some very good bass presence, but it does not feel like this epic tale of mythology and folklore without some chunky low end. It would have been beneficial to recruit some of the Trivium producers to assist with that, or even just copy that powerful sound of a band such as Avantasia. I did enjoy this record and would recommend to someone looking for a different, heavier take on power metal with some obvious oriental flare, but a little refinement, especially in the production keep this from being an unconditional recommendation.
Best Songs: Dragon, Fly Free, Kunnecup, Scream of the Dragon, Saigo No Hoshi
Genres: Death Metal Power Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
This is a debut record of a very traditional progressive metal slab and takes a lot of its influence from giants like Dream Theater and more recently Haken. And Nospūn are really good at paying homage to their idols within progressive metal. The album is incredibly well performed, the song compositions/structures are given a lot of detail as to not make any of the tracks here (including the fifteen minute "Within the Realm of Possibility") feel extended for their own sake, and the production is top notch. I can hear each instrument with the utmost clarity, including the bass, and some of the tracks even have a decent melodic hook to anchor them down, including "The Death of Simpson" and "Back, Yet Forward".
But the record is marred by two major faults. The first is quite obvious: Nospūn do not really have much of an identity of their own at the moment. I am willing to be a little bit more forgiving in this regard since this is the bands debut album, and it's disingenuous of me to expect the band to rock the progressive metal world, in the same way that Black Sabbath did back in the 1970s. However, the other big issue has to do with this god awful synthesizer that persists throughout the entire record. When it isn't there, or not at the forefront of the track, Opus can sound really good, but "Dance With Me!" and "4D Printing" sound brutal as the keyboards rival even the most nasally pop-punk vocalists with their irritation.
It's a solid debut, but I hope that Nospūn will take notes for a follow-up and carve their own identity within the world of progressive metal. Otherwise, they are likely to flounder just like so many others before them.
Best Songs: The Death of Simpson, Earwyrm, ...And Then There Was One, Back, Yet Forward
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Infant Island are a band that have been tracking well within the screamo world for a number of years now, but in early 2024, the band released their third studio album, Obsidian Wreath and I get to experience this band first hand and what they might have to offer.
And I do appreciate the effort that Infant island are presenting here on this album. This album is certainly post-metal in its instrumental palette as song structures and compositions are very minimalistic in nature. The record does not contain that much development through the individual tracks in regards to motivic development, but that doesn't really need to happen, since the melodic leads are so compact that they start to become infectious. This is especially so for the albums heavier songs, like "Unrelenting" and "Clawing, Still".
Obsidian Wreath had the potential to be a gorgeous album, but was thwarted by an early 2000s Converge production quality. This record sounds ridiculously muddy during its louder portions, with the kick drum actively disorienting the mix, and given the amount of double kick pedal that's on display here, it turns into a big problem. Some of the softer, post-rock sections during the records second half sound pretty and give the listener a nice reprieve before the next blackgaze assault commences. Overall, I think that I could forgive some of the production choices since it does have some of that grindcore and black metal influence interspersed sheepishly throughout the project.
What I cannot forgive are these vocals. For a record that is supposedly very dense and filled with heavy socio-political commentary on "[the] climate catastrophe, the acceleration of capitalist extractive exploitation, the apathy towards social health which has emerged from recent mass death, and an endless stream of other ongoing crises too numerable to be named," (quoted from the albums Bandcamp page), Obsidian Wreath seems quite contempt with hiding these words in the very back of the mix. By comparison, Spanish Love Songs manage to invoke the same themes and influences over a pop-punk/heartland rock sound during their last two albums, and those vocals were not only more direct, but also right at the forefront; you could not escape them even if you wanted to. Perhaps a more fitting example for Metal Academy, Ashenspire's 2022 record Hostile Architecture was far more moving with its up front and center vocal performance. Once I accepted this, I found Obsidian Wreath to be more enjoyable when the vocals served as a instrumental embellishment, rather than them saying anything of value.
But that defeats the purpose of Infant Island writing these lyrics in the first place. Unreqvited present the exact same type of post-metal/blackgaze as Infant Island does, but with better production, and vocals that act as an instrument. And on that presumption alone, it's clear to see why I don't like this record as much as I want to. The melodic ideas are fine and I can forgive the bad production, but hiding vocals like this kneecaps this records emotional weight and leaves it feeling like either missed potential, or cocky, pretentious prog kids who want to deconstruct what makes a good song, and leaving an empty shell behind.
Best Songs: Clawing, Still, Amaranthine, Unrelenting
Genres: Post-Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
"Hi, kids! Do you like violence? Wanna see me stick nine-inch nails through each one of my eyelids?" Oh, sorry about that, I just got confused by some Eminem lyrics. I could have sworn they were the opening words of Cancer Christ's debut album God Is Violence.
Anyways, my initial thoughts on this debut record were certainly of lowered expectations. When I found it on another music reviewing website, its genres were listed as crossover thrash and grindcore. I was speculative that these two styles had no business being included simultaneously on the same album, since one implies accessibility, while the other does the exact opposite. Overall, the record feels a lot closer to your crossover thrash record from bands like Enforced or Power Trip, but the grindcore comes through in the songwriting being abortive at best, and care free at worst.
Over time, I came to accept that this kind of album is not meant to be taken seriously. There is a lot of vulgarity here and plenty of gruesome violent imagery, and it does not feel like it contains any deeper socio-political messaging. And I think part of that comes from the frankly absurd rumours I've heard about this bands live shows and the wacky antics that are played on stage. If you compare this to bands such as Suicide Silence and their last album, SS are meant to be taken dead seriously and the humor found was unintentional. Whereas Cancer Christ are clearly laughing at themselves the whole time.
Although I've never accepted the argument of "it goes harder in a live setting" as a legitimate one. If the music of God Is Violence is so slapdash and unfinished, then why the hell would I ever want to see it performed in a live setting? Because I might get a rained on by a balloon full of piss, blood or other bodily fluids during the show? It is an interesting concept; one that I'm not fully opposed to, but the execution needs to be far more pronounced and cared for if it is to have any lasting effect.
Best Songs: God Hates Cops, Bring Back the Guillotine, Satan is a Bitch, Make Them All Dead
Genres: Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2024
This debut album from Columbus' Rejoice is the kind of crossover punk that metalcore was founded upon. Nothing found within All of Heaven's Luck sounds like it would fit within today's modern definition of the term "metalcore", but it still has that aggression and beatdown aesthetic to it that calling it anything other than metalcore may be a disservice. There are a lot of influences from early hardcore punk bands here, most notably Black Flag and Hüsker Dü, while the truly metalcore sound comes from the half time breakdowns and its blunt, knuckle sandwich to the face lyrics.
While the album does have some good melodic leads throughout, it struggles to find a foothold during the first few tracks. The record get slightly better following "Crawling Through Agony", just in time for the record to end! That's another thing this record borrows from punk: the song/album length. This record doesn't even eclipse twenty (20) minutes, which unfortunately leaves the strong second half feeling unfinished. Nevertheless, on an individual song perspective, the albums second half is really good and shoes off a side of punk/metalcore that I wish was explored more in the 2020s.
Best Songs: Malevolent Deities, Burnt By Dusk, Temple Of The Worm
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 2024
Objects Without Pain is an album that I appreciate more than I outright love. For starters, I did go into this record with some pretty lowered expectations after hearing the first couple of tracks. Something about the timbre of this record was sending my neurons into a frenzy as they reminded me of a Chat Pile album God's Country from a couple of years ago. The vocals of Demian Johnston had this cold, almost alienating flavour to them that would have been difficult to stomach, like that Chat Pile album, but ended up salvaging itself thanks in part to this records atmosphere.
A lot of sludge metal is supposed to be concaving in nature and Objects Without Pain does so with some really good production. A lot of newer sludge bands like the sound of layering upon layering the record with recordings and doubled recordings to emphasize the thrashier side that sludge metal is built from. But here, the guitars are actually quite small, which highlights some very intense percussion. The slower pace sections are intense and highlight some of this bands hardcore/metalcore influences like Knocked Loose.
But the vocals are still the tick in the back of my noggin' so there is no use in hiding it. Thankfully, the production on the vocals is far better than that of Chat Pile, but I still find them less than favourable. The delivery of almost sounding like out protagonist is about to break down and cry at any moment is a sound that I find gets tiring the longer it goes on for. And sure, I've mentioned names in the past that can do it well (Jordan Dreyer, Dylan Slocum, Kristin Hayter), but on this? I think the intensity of the instrumentals really does a disservice to the vocals. If this was, say, a progressive metal/post-metal album, I might have considered it an expressive decision, but with this, I consider it another one of those artsy "subverting expectations', by combining two styles that don't fit well together.
Fortunately for Objects Without Pain, this is not a full blown sludge metal album. The hardcore punk/thrash influence does give the album some much needed variety and these vocals do fare better as the record changes styles. Some of the songs do run on for too long, especially that closer, "Thrown Against The Waves", but even they never felt like boring doom metal songs that refuse to develop or progress. I still enjoy the record and would recommend it to sludge metal enthusiasts, but just be prepared for a uncomfortable listening experience.
Best Songs: Trap Feeding, Spill Into The Aisle, Old Words Worn Thin
Genres: Sludge Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
2023 was a bit of a change when it came to the music that I listened to. Following my exit out of some of the more toxic review circles in 2022, I found that in 2023, I was going to pay more attention to the mainstream and what got popular there as opposed to what some bald man in plaid on the internet thinks, and then have all of those viewers dogplie it to the top (or bottom) of the RateYourMusic charts. As a result, 2023 saw a considerable jump in terms of albums in the Revolution clan. My favourite of the bunch (Dying Wish's Symptoms of Survival) played right into my tastes as it combined mid 2000s metalcore with a slight modern twist.
The key is that Dying Wish are playing to a certain audience that is in on the nostalgia. xNOMADx on the other hand, are making a very different style of melodic metalcore. If you can think of the emo-hardcore/sasscore of recent bands like So Hideous and SeeYouSpaceCowboy and throw in what I can only describe as La Dispute poetic vocal delivery, you'll likely have a good idea as to the kind of metalcore you're getting here. And it actually works really well. Most melo-hardcore bands of the past think that in order to fit into the "melodic" tag requires clean singing, but xNOMADx prove that is not the case. Most, if not all, of the melodic leads on this record are provided by a lead guitar while the harsh vocals are quite moving in their delivery.
The compositions of these five (well, only four I guess since "12.29 (Ahiarmiut)" is more of an intro) are top notch in terms of quality of performance and production. Bass is thorough and the percussion does not feel trigger happy during the breakdowns. If there is one thing to criticize here, it would have to be the breakdowns themselves. They feel very simplistic and on a couple of instances, I knew that I had heard these exact same rhythm of notes somewhere else before in the past.
Like I said, melodic metalcore takes two forms; the nostalgic style of the mid 2000s, and the modern, progressive style. xNOMADx are comfortably playing into the latter and I think it sounds great. Can't wait to hear what this band has to offer in 2024 and beyond.
Best Songs: On Skylines of Embers, The Punishment, Hand That Hold Me Hold Nothing
Genres: Metalcore
Format: EP
Year: 2023
I find myself in a bit of an unusual position when it comes to this Australian brutal death metal band. Neuropath are absolutely a band that I would typically never give much attention to given its genre style. But this album is special as it is a collection of 1990s demos from Metal Academy's own Daniel. And I feel like I owe it to myself, Daniel, and the rest of the Metal Academy faithful to express, in some regards, my thoughts on a handful of the recordings that would eventually become the forum that we have here today.
One can immediately tell that At Damnation's Core is heavily inspired by the brutal death of the early 1990s, including Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse. And that shines through almost instantly with the sporadic tempo changes. This is certainly a personal issue for me, but seems to run rampant (even today) within this subgenre of death metal so I'll let it slide. The other major issue that I have with this is the Cookie Monster vocals. Again, this type of death metal is littered with it (i.e. Cryptopsy's None So Vile), but it really diminishes the value of the words that are being said, no matter how inconsequential they might be.
But beyond these structural issues that persist throughout this style of music, turns out that At Damnation's Core has some solid fundamentals. This album has some deceptively tuneful songs on here and does not feel like those main melodic hooks/motifs are getting rushed out the door as quickly as possible in favour of a completely new motif. I thought that some of the solo inclusions were well thought out and were not simply tossed in to every single song on the record to show off the guitar players virtuosity. Many of the solos also sounded like they were meant to say something and compliment the rest of the instrumental and vocal parts, especially near the end of the album.
Overall, I thought that At Damnation's Core was a pretty solid album, even if I am not the target audience for this style of death metal. I have been playing around with brutal death metal recently and having picked up on some common trends throughout the music, I can comfortably say where I think this record does good things and where it doesn't. I believe that the runtime plays very well to its advantage since some of the more herky-jerky compositions do not get as long to marinate outside of the individual track's runtime.
Best Songs: My Bleeding Mortality, Masticated Cadaver, Rectal Pulpation
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Compilation
Year: 2023
Look, I've enjoyed Panopticon for a long time now. Austin Lunn is a master songwriter when it comes to combining folk/americana with the ethereal sounds of atmospheric black metal, while purposefully giving them a hard left political tilt, almost as a gigantic middle finger to the political right who run rampant in the black metal spheres, especially in regards to Nazi Socialist black metal.
So I was happy to see a new Panopticon album come across my review desk this year. I was very happy with the last album ...And Again Into The Light and could not wait to hear what was coming next. But I felt confused and even a little isolated from The Rime of Memory. This record was, to be completely honest, an absolute bore at times to get through. The record has just six (6) songs, but each has a runtime that comfortably exceeds ten minutes. And if you know anything about atmospheric black metal, it likes to take its time. And Panopticon are taking their time here; an excruciatingly long amount of time. The Rime of Memory is an album that takes influence from drone metal by having a stylistic idea that goes underdeveloped for nearly ten minutes on the opening track. It takes the opening track almost half of its runtime before you even hear the sound of an electric guitar.
This is not a bad thing on its own; I like when bands take their time and let their songs naturally grow and I like how Austin makes the listener wait for that huge black metal release of sound. But Panopticon have proven before that this style of songwriting works a lot better when the compositions have something to say. Panopticon know how to say a lot in a short amount of time, but here, it seems like they are contempt with saying very little and then meandering the rest of the way.
My first thought after finishing The Rime of Memory and discovering this revelation was; "how is this any different than Fen's 2017 album Winter?" And since I don't need an excuse to listen to that record again, I went back and realized that the songwriting on that record was a lot more dense; songs flowed in and out of motifs and ideas regularly, and when Fen were meandering on a single motif for an extended period of time, they kept them interesting through dynamic swelling, harmonic variety and a great concept. The Rime of Memory has only one of those three.
The thing is, Panopticon have done the environmentalist theme before, so hearing it done again, under less precise circumstances is troubling. This will be one of those records that will be adored by the critics, but on a personal level, I have next to no use for it. It still has the charm of a Panopticon record sonically and conceptually, but from a populist perspective, this falls flat in many different ways.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
I don't know what it is about Earthside, but I have not been able to fully get into them despite many attempts at the 2015 album A Dream In Static. They are certainly well versed in their craft and know damn well how to make long songs that sound epic and all sorts of similar descriptors. But on Let the Truth Speak, Earthside are just going full balls to the wall with their pretentious progressive tendencies. It's impossible to call Let the Truth Speak a bad album, but something about it just does not sit well with me. Perhaps its the songwriting, which sits somewhere between technical progressive metal and atmospheric post-metal. Maybe it's the compositions, which are too self-indulgent for their own sake, and far too frequently.
Even still, the complexity of the forms and the way in which the album modulates between styles is impressive. It calls upon a very diverse cast of feature artists to play large roles. Most notably, Larry Braggs on "The Lesser Evil", which can be best described as a progressive jazz/funk rock opus with a heavy incorporation of strings and horn instruments. It may be the most unique song you hear all year, and I respect the hell out of that. But the album is way too long and does not do nearly enough to warrant it, and so much of this records "payoffs" feel less like a euphoric release and rather a "thank god they finally did something!" There is genuine quality here, no doubt about it. However, I won't deny that I was sonically exhausted when Let the Truth Speak was over.
Best Songs: We Who Lament, The Lesser Evil, Let The Truth Speak
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
This is very impressive technical death/thrash metal that isn't ashamed to share a thoughtful melodic side. It reminds me compositionally of what you might expect out of a band like Allegaeon, but with the heavier technical elements that make it sound more sonically like Vektor or Revocation. The albums individual songs are relatively short for this type of metal, which is beneficial for its replayable factor. I will say that that the vocals are likely the least developed part of the record as they don't really reach the same potential. I'm not asking for Xoth to have clean singing in their music, but a little bit more variety in the delivery would have been nice, and no I don't mean the half spoken/half screamed vocals that sporadically appear because they don't fit the intensity at all; almost makes it feel closer to pretentious art rock, which I've been blissfully ignoring these last two years. If you can forgive the sonic discrepancies, then Exogalactic is a very interesting and close to great technical metal album whose greatest asset is the melodic songwriting. If technical metal sounded more like this, I would likely enjoy it more.
Best Songs: Manuscripts of Madness, The Parasitic Orchestra, Sporecraft Zero, Battlesphere
Genres: Death Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
I haven't listened to In This Moment in years and if the bands recent outing, Godmode is any indicator, it does not seem like I have missed much in the years since The Dream. The band have migrated out of the melodic metalcore sphere and fully embraced their mainstream rock/metal stripes. Maria Brink is far more expressive on this album than on the last album Mother, however, despite this more drastic change in timbre toward industrial, Maria is not able to fully embrace that wilder side of her delivery because the songs themselves are pretty lazily put together.
Speaking of lazy, this production is horrible! The albums main promo single "The Purge" feels like it should explode into a massive chorus or breakdown, but instead, Maria's timbre flip-flops from hushed whispers to harsh screaming, only for the flaccid electronic percussion and weak synths to return as if this huge buildup didn't just happen. The guitars sound really tinny and compressed, while any bass presence is thoroughly gutted throughout the album. The kicker for me was the Spencer Charnas feature on "Damaged" where the two vocalist build up to this huge climax and where you would expect a release, the guitar re-entry is muted and any sense of payoff is thwarted within seconds.
Which is kind of a shame because the record does have some okay melodic ideas. They aren't as flushed out as The Dream was, but "Army of Me", "Everything Starts and Ends With You" and "I Would Die For You" can be deceptively tuneful. On the other hand, the constant vocal swapping during the verses on "The Purge" sound really stupid and neuter the actual buildup/breakdown of that songs chorus even more so than the production on its own.
I don't think that the industrial and electronic elements sound bad, but their incorporation feels muted because In This Moment has laid a very weak foundation for this newer sound. Something tells me that if Godmode was remastered with less compression, it would be a lot better. This bands attempts at going mainstream is a bit of a Beautiful Tragedy because it relinquishes the bands personality and leaves them as a empty shell. All they have left is Maria's vocals and this production is not emphasizing her strengths.
Best Songs: Army of Me, Everything Starts and Ends With You
Genres: Alternative Metal Industrial Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
The atmosphere on À l'aube will be the true selling point as to whether or not you enjoy this. Something about its slow, brooding tempo reminds me a lot of doom or sludge metal, but the dynamics feel painstakingly reserved which I do not hear very often in the more direct styles of those two genres. This record uses space very well, since most of its most intense moments only appear for a short while before returning back to its very comfortable, whimsical post-rock/metal style. The record does feel like it's saying a lot over just five songs (5) and just under forty minutes (40), but it was difficult for me to remember what it was trying to say afterward. Something about the timbre of this album feels almost too comfortable. Nothing surrounding À l'aube really snaps me out of the sway that I found myself in while listening to it. As a result, the record turns into background noise after a while. Perhaps the vocals might be your spark, but when they are introduced on the opening track, their sporadic usage throughout the rest of the record was less surprising. All things considered, this album is pleasant enough and a welcome detour from the pummeling death and black metal that I have been going through recently, but compared to other post-metal bands like Holy Fawn or Dreadnought, it's lacking in something, and I can't quite put my finger on it.
Best Songs: Il sera déjà trop tard, Prêchant la mauvaise nouvelle, Nous sommes disparus
Genres: Post-Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
It took me the entire albums release weekend before I could muster how I felt about the newest album from Portland metalcore band Dying Wish. And it's because I found the record more conflicting than I did at first. I really enjoyed my initial playthrough of Symptoms of Survival, thanks in large part to a very well done mastering job. Nothing on the record becomes overwhelming and it pushes some excellent hardcore vocals from Emma Boster to the front. The clean singing could have been incorporated a little bit more frequently in my opinion, but the sparseness makes them feel that much more comforting when they do arrive.
The album starts off very strong with its very clear influences to the great melo-hardcore bands of the mid 2000s, but eventually it transforms and the compositions become more sporadic and not as well implemented, almost as if it was starting to take influence from another 2000s metalcore band: Converge. But that's not even the best part! Halfway through the album, "Paved in Sorrow" takes on this post-hardcore ballad that would not feel out of place on a Svalbard album!
And yet, the album still flows remarkably well. Even if I'm not the biggest fan of the herky-jerky performance styles of early Converge, Symptoms of Survival is an album that maintains an identity and shows that they can keep that identity intact even through the albums emotional roller coaster. A pleasant surprise for sure and one that should be considered by anyone familiar with 2000s metalcore.
Best Songs: Symptoms of Survival, Starved, Path To Your Grave, Hell's Final Blessing, Lost In The Fall
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 2023
I was quite surprised to say the very least when I saw the glorious amounts of praise that reviewers were giving to the newest Suffocation album; their first in nearly six (6) years. This New York based tech-death outlet are considered one of the finest in the circle and helped to brutalize death metal far beyond its earliest iterations. But this new record, Hymns From the Apocrypha is the first to not feature longtime vocalist Frank Mullen. That honor now belongs to Ricky Myers and upon first listen I was not impressed. The new vocal timbre is incredibly overplayed and emotionally dull. The guttural howls are instantly forgettable and would fare more positively if they actually grew into something instead of being played in a safe, monotonous tone.
Okay, so the vocals on a tech-death album don't sound great, so what? No one is listening to Suffocation for their nuanced political positions. How does the music compare? Well honestly, not much better. Suffocation have always had top notch performances and pin point production on their previous records and even though I've never liked this side of death metal, I could always respect Suffocation for that. But, on Hymns From the Apocrypha, we have gotten to the point where this band could release anything and they would expect listeners to eat it up based on namesake alone. This record is littered from top to bottom with levelling issues and peaking in the mix. Anytime the guitars drop out for a brief period of time, and all that's left is a held guttural or on rare occasions, a bass break, the return with the percussion always sounds bloated and the mix blows up. I seriously wonder how many times this had to go through post-production and no one thought to question these atrocious transitions. And this happens several times! And on an album that is as brutal as this, with so much cacophonous noise happening continuously for over forty (40) minutes, the breaks become that much more noticeable, with the release afterwards becoming more painful each time.
When Suffocation are playing at that high octane level, Hymns From the Apocrypha sounds fine I guess. The guitar solos are a nice divergence away from the constant tremolo guitar picking and allows for some harmony to exist between the rhythm guitar and bass. Otherwise, the bass is only a formality as it just doubles the rhythm guitar with the amplifier at the lowest possible volume. And, despite the mixing, Suffocation are still keen performers and the heaviness is performed with a lot of detail and precision. But polishing a turd does not make it less of a turd. I wanted to give the new Suffocation album a chance because I've never clicked with this group before and a new album with lots of critical acclaim seemed like a good a place as any. But, even with my limited knowledge of brutal death metal, I can tell that this record is not great. Perhaps this is more solidification that Suffocation are not a band for me since they are now firmly in the "legacy band" territory. But even by those standards, I'm not sure they are deserving of that title.
Best Songs: Perpetual Deception, Seraphim Enslavement
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Spiritbox wax never going to be iwrestledabearonce. Hell, even IWABO wasn't IWABO by the time Courtney LaPlante and Mike Stringer joined the group for 2015's Hail Mary. So in a way, watching Spiritbox go from progressive metal from the debut EP with songs like "The Mara Effect" and transform into this more pop centric sound isn't surprising.
When I listened to Eternal Blue, I did enjoy the direction the band was taking, but also felt far too much like a grab bag of modern metalcore trends rather than sounding like Spiritbox. And on this new album, I can confidently say that nothing has changed.
This little EP comes packaged with three decent made for radio alternative metalcore songs with "The Void", "Ultraviolet" and "Too Close / Too Late", two heavy bangers that will please the breakdown reaction video makers with "Cellar Door" and "Angel Eyes". And then there is "Jaded", which is the kind of hybrid that "Circle With Me" wishes it could be; a very solid track and likely the best on the EP.
As individual songs, I do think that The Fear of Fear is pretty good. Every song feels like a completed idea and Spiritbox know their sound and creative limits so as to not detract from the EP's strengths. As a whole however, Spiritbox are still stuck in creative limbo trying to appeal to as wide a audience as possible with as many differing timbres and styles that honestly don't fit as well together as I would have liked.
This can be extremely dangerous for a band since it can spread their audience quite thin. I think that on an EP like The Fear of Fear is one of the best places to play around with this because of the length, as opposed to a full length LP. But, since Spiritbox are doing this again following the debut full length, maybe this is the residual mist being left behind from the IWABO days that Spiritbox wants to maintain. And I'm not sure it's going to work the best for them in the future.
Best Songs: Jaded, Cellar Door, Ultraviolet
Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
With The Surface being my first exploration of Beartooth's music, I can't say that I was very excited about he thought. I had heard the name Beartooth thrown around in popular hardcore/metalcore circles, but they never really interested me all that much, likely due to the fact that I was head, neck and probably arms deep in a progressive wormhole at the time, and the thought of some very barebones, mosh-y hardcore music was not near the top of mind.
Well it's 2023 and Beartooth are still relatively popular. So much so that the band has cleaned up their sound and gone full radio friendly with their hardcore sound. The mixing of this record contains almost no reverb effects, which does come with its own drawbacks. Primarily, the whiplash dynamic change during the pre-chorus of "What's Killing You". On the positive, the promotional singles "Sunshine!" and "Riptide" are mostly solid and I did enjoy the title track as well.
Unfortunately this album is remarkably stale. Despite the more accessible nature of it, The Surface still feels like a very barebones and sanitized record. This is one of the more egregious examples of a metalcore band not willing to develop their sound beyond what made them popular many years ago. I cannot even say that it feels transitory because the slower, emotional tracks near this albums end are familiar to metalcore fans, as both Sleep Token and Bad Omens have tried this before to more positive results. The album claims to be more optimistic, but there is still a considerable amount of vocal whining and complaining, which at this point in metalcore, has not just become boring, but annoying.
The Surface exists. If you like Beartooth, then there is no reason why you would not enjoy this assortment of meat and potatoes metalcore. But even the metalcore circles I frequent hold this album out at a distance for its more pop tendencies. We're just hoping this band will dig a little deeper.
Best Songs: Sunshine!, What Are You Waiting For
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Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Rock music was at a turning point during the 1970s thanks in large part to the massive contributions to the genre by a quartet of blokes from Liverpool. Most people remember the Beatles in one of two ways; either as the pop rock group selling out arenas around the world to a swathe of young people, or as the psychedelic band responsible for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a record consider by music historians/critics as one of the most important albums of all time. For the purpose of this review, we are going to focus on that psychedelic side of The Beatles, specifically, the song "Helter Skelter" from the 1968 self-titled album (or the White Album). It is a marvel to hear the band responsible for such radio friendly pop rock songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would make a tune as ruckus as this and have it be received as well as it did.
It is sometimes considered one of the first examples of a hard rock song, alongside the Kinks "You Really Got Me". Beyond 1968, their came into prominence a lot of artists looking to replicate the more aggressive side of The Beatles late work instead of the more radio friendly soft rock. And one of those bands was Deep Purple. In Rock is the bands third studio record and a real proto-metal album. The heavily distorted guitars and driving percussion are nearly unmistakable from the heavy metal formula that developed with Black Sabbath around the same time as this album. However, unlike Black Sabbath, Deep Purple have an obvious affection to the jam band style with lots of extended guitar and organ solos while not being super dark or oppressive; it is much closer to that of Led Zeppelin's sound that would come later. You could even make the claim that Deep Purple were digging deeper into the wormhole of psychedelic music than even the Beatles themselves.
And the results are phenomenal. I have always enjoyed the mixing and the execution on In Rock and listening to it again was no exception. The use of complimentary song styles and song lengths works wonders for this record as "Speed King" and "Into the Fire" are gigantic soundscapes with great choruses and hooks, while the longer tracks, especially "Child in Time", are calm and wind the listener back up into a frenzy; the joint guitar/organ solo halfway through "Child in Time" is so well implemented, before the band drops the tempo and dynamics right back down to where they were at the beginning of the track and then do it all over again! It's a literal clinic in long song structure and it's gone over the heads of way too many later progressive rock/metal bands who would much rather follow the Dream Theater approach of being quirky for its own sake and that's never worked for me.
Actually, parroting off of the point, it's amazing how much more recent metal music does take influence from Deep Purple In Rock. For starters (and likely the most direct influence) is the drum fill that concludes "Flight of the Rat", which is just the exact same outro solo on Judas Priest's "Painkiller". Or the slower, almost doom metal riff on "Into the Fire" that you might have misinterpreted if it wasn't for Ian Gillian's higher vocal timbre and wails. Deep Purple In Rock is an experimental album that keeps itself grounded and proves to be a remarkably influential album as well. It understands the rules of 1960s hard rock and then mutates them in ways beyond comprehension at the time. And that mutation would lead the band further on down the road to Machine Head, which is one of my favourite albums of all time. I wish more bands understood this today.
Best Songs: Speed King, Child in Time, Flight of the Rat, Into the Fire, Hard Lovin' Man
Genres: Non-Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1970
I'm in a weird place when it comes to industrial music. I was recently introduced to the world of electronic body music [EBM] and while I could (and probably should) enjoy the heavier side of that genre present in aggrotech, I find myself more at comfort with the futurepop and alternative pop sounds instead. As a result, my explorations of the metal side of industrial music has been a complete blind spot (once again) in 2023.
So when I received my copy of EndEx by industrial band 3TEETH, I had to hinder my expectations since it was in a style that I have been struggling with for quite some time. So what did we get out of EndEx?
While the tracks featuring Mick Gordon are certainly produced much better than the solo tracks "Xenogenesis" and "Plutonomicon", they are also the songs with the least happening in them. The guitar has a lot more punch and gravitas when Mick is present, and typically also have more memorable melodic ideas and phrases. Tracks like "Higher Than Death" on the other hand sound like made for radio industrial metal, as the glitchy production is swamped in favour of power chords and Breaking Benjamin vocal hook.
EndEx is quite a diverse listen in its timbre. The record certainly has its fair share of aggressive moments like "Paralyze" and "ALI3N", but the record ends with the slower "Drift", which has more of a futurepop sound with less guitars and distorted vocals. And regardless of the quality of the bands cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears, I was impressed by how 3TEETH were able to take fundamental chord progression, turn it minor without changing the main vocal motif and make the song their own, rather than a straight cover with no thought or unique traits.
When it was over, I respected 3TEETH, but I did not love EndEx. Some of the songs here are just catchy enough to bring me back for more, but the disconnect between the solo tracks and those featuring Mick Gordon make for a divisive full playthrough. Still, some of these tracks will make for a nice detour from my typical industrial listening.
Best Songs: Acme Death Machine, Merchant of the Void, ALI3N, Paralyze (feat. Ho99o9)
Genres: Industrial Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
A new album from Thy Art Is Murder and, perhaps surprisingly, another album that does not include CJ McMahon. That statement may contain more layers than anticipated because the replacement (Tyler Miller or Aversions Crown) was revealed as this albums principal vocalist a single day before the albums release. CJ's vocals were recorded and was promptly kicked out for making controversial statements.
The other reason why it might be surprising has to do with Miller filling in admirably with a vocal timbre that very similar to the former vocalist. At first, you might not even notice that this isn't CJ McMahon's vocals at all. I would go so far as to say that Miller's vocals are superior to that of CJ's with an increased focus on dynamic range. Already we're off to a great start. Until you actually listen to Godlike and realize that it's yet another Thy Art Is Murder album. Nothing about this record demands the attention of the listener as it comfortably falls into a groove without much semblance of growth. The lead in to the breakdowns on "Lesson In Pain" sound identical to "Reign of Darkness" from ten years ago and the breakdowns themselves don't fair much better. Sure, The Aggression Sessions that TAIM did earlier this year alongside Fit For An Autopsy may have given the band a little bit of a rub as "Destroyer of Dreams" and "Corrosion" have elements similar to Fit For An Autopsy, minus the more progressive songwriting, but it's hard to differentiate this from the bands other LPs. Their is only so much that these "melodic deathcore" bands can do before their sound becomes stale without going full-on progressive metal; hell the same thing can be said for its parent genre, melodic death metal. I'll give Godlike a pass for not being a complete technical abomination. When it comes to modern deathcore, you could always do a hell of a lot worse than Thy Art Is Murder.
Best Songs: Join Me In Armageddon, Destroyer Of Dreams, Lesson In Pain, Corrosion
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Nu metal gets a bad reputation from a lot of people and you know what....those people are probably right. I often feel like one of those "born in the wrong generation" kids who grew up with nu metal throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, but into my adult years find myself staying far away from nu metal with very few instances to the contrary.
So I was quite worried upon hearing Code Orange's new album The Above for the first time. Gone are many of the bands more traditional metalcore traits of Forever and Underneath as they continue to embrace more industrial techniques. And the result is a mixed bag. I will not go so far as to call The Above bad, but Code Orange sound like they are in a creative rut and are trying anything possible in hopes of reclaiming that "it" factor.
This album turned out to be a frustrating listen as it ping-pong'd between a heavier sound (closer to Tallah), and industrial metal circa Static-X. The Billy Corgan featured track, "Take Shape" even has a few ambient passages that reminded me of an early Nine Inch Nails. And as I found myself initially not feeling comfortable with the more pop friendly tunes, they actually turned out to be a lot better than the heavier rumps of "Never Fall Apart" and "The Game". Maybe it was the vocal timbre, perhaps it was the smoother incorporation of the glitchy percussion.
When the album's at its best, it has some pretty good choruses, while Eric and Reba's dual vocals provide songs with a sense of dialogue. When The Above is at its weakest, the glitchy percussion takes over and the harsh vocals are delivered with a childish flare. Overall, this new direction for Code Orange is not what I expected when I listened to Underneath, and the result leaves me feeling confused more often than not.
Best Songs: Take Shape (feat. Billy Corgan), Mirror, I Fly, Splinter the Soul, Snapshot
Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
The first two tracks off of Almost Human left me with a false sense of security as they certainly felt closer to a melodically driven form of death metal that I really did enjoy. That security was thwarted with "Spine Shatter High-Velocity Impact" as the slamming, brutal death metal that Wormhole really are and while it did leave a negative impression at first, as the album continued, I came to realize just how solid these songs were. Good ideas with some semblance of connectivity between the different sections. The pummeling death metal was intense and mixed very well. The vocals are the biggest turn off for me as they are performed with Cookie Monster aesthetic and leave me with a typical feeling of "well these clearly did not need to be here!". The album ends with a phenomenal return to the more melodic side with "The Grand Oscillation" and saves the record from feeling like a relentless assault of noise. The album runs remarkably short as well to its benefit. A great find and a welcome addition to my very small brutal death metal collection.
Best Songs: System Erase, Elysiism, Almost Human, The Grand Oscillation
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Another piece of Canadian thrash metal to indulge in and this time we are diving back into the world of Megadeth wannabes. Right out of the gate, I'm less than impressed. Trample the Weak, Devour the Dead is a full on thrash metal assault with very little room to breathe or any sort of direction. Pretty much the entire record falls into a very simple formula of ideas whose order of appearance is fully dependent on the corresponding tracks. These motifs are performed relatively well, but without any sense of direction, these eight (8) songs can get pretty repetitive quickly. I for one, was excited when I heard the softer guitars begin "Grinding the Blade" as I was expecting something closer to "A Tout le Monde", however once the intro had run its course, the track reverts back to the same tired thrash beat that we've already heard plenty of times before. In addition, the strong opening "Trial by Combat" is not matched again in its punchiness and memorability for the rest of the album, instead opting for more of the riffage for maximum adrenaline. As a whole, this album feels like wasted potential and can comfortably go into the bin of nostalgic thrash bands that I have no interest in exploring further.
Best Songs: Trial by Combat, Bones of the Slain, Death and Decay
Genres: Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
When I discovered Tomb Mold back in 2018, it was only the beginning of my discovery of old school death metal. And while I still think that Planetary Clairvoyance is a very good piece of music, it has lot a lot of favour with me in the years since. And you can probably guess at this point as to why that is: 20 Buck Spin. On the laundry lists of albums to drop in the OSDM style out of that record label, a large portion of them are very familiar and don't have nearly enough to separate them.
However, alongside the recent VoidCeremony album earlier this year, Tomb Mold have gone hard into the progressive songwriting techniques. And this change in style has resulted in The Enduring Spirit, which gives the band a more unique sound, but unfortunately falters in places that have come to be expected in progressive metal in the present.
For Tomb Mold, their cosmic concepts to previous albums has carried over into The Enduring Spirit, and now you can hear the spatial elements, not just in the words, but also the instrumentals themselves. As "Will of Whispers" and "Servants of Possibility" both have clean guitar leads with reverb interspersed amongst the pummeling death metal. I also noticed that Tomb Mold have many more technical passages on display with its heavy use of the blast beat. I figured that these two styles would be at odds with one another and that did turn out to be the case; one moment you're being drifted away by lovely atmospheric passages, only to be bombarded with blast beats, unintelligible lyrics, and blistering guitar solo.
On its own, this is an issue that persists throughout progressive music; where individual songs feel like two (or more) isolated ideas forced together in order to boost up those song lengths. It does not happen too often on The Enduring Spirit, but it is noticeable, especially on the album closer, "The Enduring Spirit of Calamity". The song begins as any other Tomb Mold song on the album does, before slowing down into a post-metal instrumental with a guitar solo lead instead of a vocal motif. On their own, they don't seem like bad ideas, but when hammered together, they don't feel complimentary. And serving as the albums eleven (11) minute closer kind of feels like a disappointment. Otherwise, the remaining six (6) tracks can be hit or miss, but Tomb Mold show some restraint by not allotting more time to these ideas than they would on previous albums. The record does flow smoothly and Tomb Mold do not feel as if they are running out of gas by the time "The Enduring Sprit of Calamity" arrives.
This change of direction for Tomb Mold comes with its fair share of positives, but also some net negatives as well. While the album is more diverse and unique in comparison to the wide array of OSDM acts I've heard in recent years (most of them on the 20 Buck Spin label), it also has to play into some very tired progressive metal tropes that I am not a fan of to begin with. I can see those who are more familiar with Tomb Mold's older style of death metal really enjoying this, but those looking to approach this from a purely progressive angle might find it more frustrating.
Best Songs: The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura), Will of Whispers, Servants of Possibility, Fate's Tangled Thread
Genres: Death Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
I've been listening to progressive metal for quite a long time and it's becoming more and more frustrating to hear the modern djentification of the genre. Not because it's bad per se, but rather because of how poorly it's presented. Most modern djent acts use the exact same bad compositional and engineering mistakes that are littered throughout metalcore. So it's kind of nice to hear an album that doesn't sound like its was mixed from the inside of the percussionist's bass drum. War of Being is a expertly produced album that still maintains the exact tropes that one would expect out of djent-y metalcore. The record's performance is precise and punchy and TesseracT have done plenty of experimentation to differentiate it from other, more comfortable acts like Veil of Maya. The compositions are well crafted; it does fall a little flat at times, especially in the lyrical content as well as the title track that feels like its running on just a tad longer than it should. But "Natural Disaster" is one of TesseracT's best performances, and "The Grey" and "Legion" are superb as well. As it stands, War of Being will likely turn out to be 2023's best "conventional" djent album, even though that might not mean much coming from me. Take that for what it's worth.
Best Songs: Natural Disaster, The Grey, Legion, Sirens, Sacrifice
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
The first full length album from Baroness since 2019, and the first to not feature colours in the album title. That should be enough to alert longtime fans of this group that this will be a bit of a departure from the bands familiar stoner rock/metal sound.
Well, calling STONE a dramatic departure might be a bit of an exaggeration. The heavier aspects of Red and Blue albums have returned instead of the more tranquil Purple album, and many of the mixing issues that I had with Gold & Grey have all but disappeared. It makes STONE into a very nice record that feels comfortable, but also unique in certain places.
However these unique aspects are not necessarily for the best. I can immediately think of the unbroken trifecta of tracks "Beneath the Rose", "Choir" and "The Dirge" in its presentation. "Beneath the Rose" has its own problems with the way the galloping guitar riff is mixed, but "Choir" feels like a half formed idea, while "The Dirge" acts more as an interlude than anything useful to the previous two acts.
The rest of the performances are usually well done. I really enjoy the multi-vocal layerings on "Last Word", "Shine" and the closer "Bloom", the guitar work, while spotty, is very tasteful and acts independently from the bass, while the percussion is quietly robust and impactful. Normally when you hear technical percussion (especially on heavier metal albums), it can sound flat-footed and the blockiness of the kick and snare drums distracts from the important melodic songwriting, but Baroness do not have that problem here. The only real issue is the albums structure. The songs "Anodyne" and "Bloom" are both very good, but these shorter tracks cannot compare to the records longer, jam-esque songs like "Last Word" and "Shine".
STONE almost feels transitory, but I'm not sure if that was Baroness' intention. It's a mixture of all things Baroness throughout their Colours album saga; refining the lesser aspects of the double albums (Yellow & Green and Gold & Grey) with the more direct Red and Blue albums. It's a formula that should work, but I don't think I enjoy STONE as much as Baroness' best.
Best Songs: Last Word, Anodyne, Shine, Under the Wheel
Genres: Progressive Metal Stoner Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
None So Conflicted
Did we really need a return of Cryptopsy? I don't ever remember hearing much clammer for a comeback from this band in the same way that I have for other metal bands in recent years. Once a staple in the world of brutal death metal, Cryptopsy starting showing signs of weakness at the turn of the century, but continued to pump out very forgettable death metal albums until the bands self titled album in 2012.
So it's been over a decade and with that kind of layover you would think Cryptopsy might try try something different with their newest album, As Gomorrah Burns. Well here's the thing: they didn't. Even by my very low standards when it comes to brutal death metal, I can sense that this is an inferior quality record and was not worth wasting an iconic name such as Cryptopsy by association.
It's really painful to hear "Godless Deceiver" and "In Abeyance" and wonder why the mixing on this record is so lousy, even though the band has been given a 2020s coat of paint. The guitar riffing is so damn muddy and much of the percussion work is exactly the same. Now maybe some listeners won't mind as much since even the earliest Cryptopsy albums were very sloppy, almost like first draft performances, but when the chugging guitar riffs clip the mix, it sounds even more amateur than normal.
If their is one thing that As Gomorrah Burns does have going for it, it's the vocals. Those always turned out to be the least enjoyable part of None So Vile since it generally turned into an inaudible mess. Here, they are performed with some diction and syllables can be recognized without having to consult a lyric book. Even still, they don't have a lot of variety in their execution so they once again turn into background noise; not a huge deal since Cryptopsy are not known for their intelligent lyrical genius. This means the instrumentals have to do some heavier lifting, which comes with its own set of problems.
I know my mileage with brutal death metal is limited, but even I know what Cryptopsy is and what they have become. As Gomorrah Burns turned out to be a very weak addition to the bands late catalogue and doesn't even have Dying Fetus' cleaner performances to help it out. I mean, maybe if you like the more punk aesthetic of hardcore, brutal death metal, you might get a kick out of this, but you can do way better than Cryptopsy in 2023.
Best Songs: Lascivious Undivine, Flayed The Swine
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
It's like a Ron Jarzombek album, but intended to be taken dead seriously. The album has character and tells a story, but the fragmented song structure kneecaps any sort of momentum or growth.
Genres: Avant-Garde Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Yeah I know: cue the whole "Brutal Death Metal ain't my thing" monologue that I've spewed many times on this website, but I'm always open to exploring outside of my comfort zone. Perhaps it is not the smartest idea for me to begin my exploration of this subgenre with a band as complicated as Dying Fetus. The bands 2012 album Reign Supreme is currently featured in one of the Horde clan challenges and are widely regarded as one of modern metal's best example's of the subgenre.
And certainly following the bands previous studio album, Wrong One to Fuck With, the band are much more technical with their song structures rather than employing blistering tempos for an entire album. They seem to have pulled back on the relentlessness here (as if the more modest album title was not enough of a hint), and it does give the album a little bit of extra life...not much, but it's a start.
Because of its more tech-death leanings, Make Them Beg for Death is a much cleaner album than any previous Dying Fetus album I've ever heard (which isn't much mind you). Every note being played by the guitars and percussion is accented with precision and purpose. It almost makes the album feels mechanical at times; perhaps part of the point. I thought the reason it was called "technical" death metal is because it did not sound like a human could play it with such precision. Bands like Allegaeon have this occur a lot, but where those two bands differ is in the songwriting. While Allegaeon use tech-death to compliment melodic leads, Dying Fetus only have the tech-death precision.
I would imagine for some, the cleaner production would be a major turn-off for the more true death metal fans. On the other hand, this quasi pivot towards tech-death/progressive metal might not be received well either, since the record's relentless nature leaves very little room to breather either for the listener, or the performers. I see myself comfortably falling into the latter of those two descriptors. The cleaner mix is an interesting choice and does make for a more enjoyable listen than other Dying Fetus albums, but my progressive background leaves me feeling like I'm being suffocated. Perhaps that the point, but the result might not be the same as what the band intended.
Best Songs: Feast Of Ashes, Unbridled Fury, Raised In Victory/Razed In Defeat
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
20 Buck Spin has become a record label that I tend to explore with mild trepidation. While I cannot deny that they consistently distribute solid modern metal bands with an old school approach, much of it has started to become stale. Many of the labels death metal records have very similar tropes to them that cannot be overlooked and it does make much of their recent output a lot less interesting than if I was listening to it for the first time. Case in point, VoidCeremony. While much further towards the technical side of death metal than a band like Tomb Mold, something about the production of the record cannot help but make some very clear parallels.
Perhaps it comes through in the compositions, which are typically well done, but also rely heavily on played out death metal tropes; such as guitar pinch harmonics, whiplash tempo/style changes and Cookie Monster vocals. These are not necessarily bad on their own, but when put together, they give Threads of Unknowing a sense of comfort and familiarity that I don't think VoidCeremony would want. The album does have a heavy emphasis on bass leads instead of simply doubling the guitar riffs, which I certainly approve of. If there is anything that will make this album stand out in comparison to its label companions, it will be this. Having a technical death metal band such as VoidCeremony incorporate Ne Obliviscaris type polyphony into their music is a welcome treat. The closing track is also quite interesting as well. Even though it does suffer a bit from tempo/style whiplash, VoidCeremony have done a good job of creating a progressive metal epic that stays the course feels like a completed idea instead of a fragmented piecemeal.
Of course these bass lines would not as focal to the album as it is if the production was lousy. And while the guitars do have some great chunk to them, they never feel overpowering. In fact, I would say that the main guitar riffing is almost secondary to the bass lines. The band does find room to fit in a couple of blistering guitar solos throughout the album as well and they do a great job of peaking a listeners interest by having that drastic change in timbre without losing any of the song/album momentum. The vocals are... well they are very gargled and take a lot of pointers from Tomb Mold and Tzompantli in that regard. These vocals just do not interest me and are the aspect that I think most casual listeners will pick up directly as a "20 Buck Spin trope".
Threads of Unknowing is not a bad record, but I think it could have been more than what its trying to be. In the vein of progressive death metal, VoidCeremony have chops and decent influences to draw from, but in terms of its execution, it lacks character. This is by no fault of their own in my opinion, but perhaps VoidCeremony would benefit from digging into their progressive influence more; I could see this band taking a solid page out of In Mourning's playbook and do something really special. For now, keep this band on your radar if you like any style of progressive death metal.
Best Songs: Writhing in the Facade of Time, Abyssic Knowledge Bequeathed, Entropic Reflections Continuum
Genres: Death Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
I have not listened to a lot of Asking Alexandria. Even during my adolescent years when metalcore was dominating the Warped Tour scene, Asking Alexandria was one of those bands that I could never enjoy. And it's hard for me to figure out why because the electro-core was unique for a time and can't really be pinned down as being derivative. But the songwriting was rather lousy and this band have been unable to do anything about it in an over decade long career.
Where Do We Go From Here? is the first AA album I've heard since 2016's The Black and the first one since that record to return back to the groups electro-core roots. And the results are once again, mixed at best.
This record sounds really muddy all around; from the djent like guitars to the huge sounding snare drum, nothing sounds like it was mixed with a purpose. Many of the vocal melodies are drowned out by a wall of sound. Only the tracks "Let Go" and the closing title track have a noticeable dynamic swell to them that compliments the mix.
I should say that these aren't the only cases of dynamic swell on this album. The only problem is that both "Psycho" and "Let The Dead Take Me" both use electronic trap percussion instead of a fatter groove and it kills the momentum in your most derivative 'verse/chorus' of Imagine Dragons syndrome. Some might wonder why a band like Sleep Token can get a pass while AA gets the critical treatment. So what it all boils down to was the songwriting; trap percussion works with Sleep Token because of how it is incorporated into certain songs. On this record by comparison, they have no connection to the more metal sounding choruses.
Not gonna lie, Where Do We Go From Here? sounds like elevator music. It's something that you notice when its playing, but will immediately forget about as soon as you reach your floor. So... pass I guess? What album was I listening to again?
Best Songs: Let Go, Nothing Left, Holding On To Something More
Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Refreshingly Brütal
I didn't realize until I was presented with Dethalbum IV how long it has been since Metalocalypse went off the air. I still have fond memories of the show and alongside video games like Brütal Legend, opened up my world of heavy metal music during my final years of high school.
Then out of nowhere, Brendon Small announced one final hurrah for Metalocalypse, which would include a new soundtrack, which includes some of Dethklok's most brutal death metal of their career.
I know a lot of metal fans today who could not get into Dethklok back in the day because of how corny it was. Well Dethalbum IV is the closest to straightforward melodic death metal than the band has ever sounded. Tracks such as "SOS", "Bloodbath" and "Aortic Desecration" have huge choruses and instrumental backdrops, while never stepping too far outside of the melo-death formula that Dethklok are known for. It still has its cornier moments for sure; the revving up of a lawnmower on the opener "Gardener of Violence" and the closer "Murmaider III" with its slower pace and shout interjections, but they feel fewer and farther between than ever before.
The percussion sounds great and the snare drum provides a big punch as to why these songs hit with authority. Normally the power of the snare drum is overwhelming, but here it seems to be mixed very well, not to mention the very subtle double bass drum that keeps intensity high throughout most of the records runtime.
The record runs short and that works to Dethablum IV's benefit, as nothing feels like filler. Every track serves a purpose and it never feels like songs are stepping beyond the boundaries of their runtime; every song is unique. Even lesser cuts like "DEADFACE" have their own presence in the construction of this album and I really appreciated this. It would be easy for a soundtrack album to mindlessly chug along, but that is far from the case here.
Dethalbum IV sends Dethklok and Metalocalypse off on a high note and proves to me more than anything else that Brendon Small cares very much about the music he makes. What's more important though is that I now have Brendon's name on a list for names to watch out for in the future. And that's pretty brutal.
Best Songs: Aortic Desecration, Mutilation on a Saturday Night, Bloodbath, I am the Beast, SOS
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
I came into a new Katakalysm record with low expectations and I'm happy to say that they were painstakingly met because Goliath is incredibly average. Katakalysm's claim to fame on this record is the down tuned guitars, which almost make it sound like it's about to transform into a deathcore style breakdown at any second. And while it does provide the new album with an interesting sound; one that I find to becoming less common in the more straightforward death metal scene, but somehow does not translate well here. There are plenty of moments where the production sounds rushed and sloppy, which might have been forgivable if the record was closer to conventional death or even deathgrind, but this is melodic death and it just sounds like a giant blob. Toss on top of that some very poor mixing and performance execution and Goliath feels more like a time waster than anything of value in modern death metal.
Best Songs: Die as a King, The Redeemer, From the Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
Horrendous are a band that I have struggled with throughout their career. Starting off as a mostly pedestrian OSDM band, the bands 2018 album, Idol, added many more progressive elements and transformed itself into something closer to technical death metal, but not in the traditional sense of the phrase. And while I could sense a real quality in the performances, I still couldn't get into it as much of that album felt elongated for its own sake, instead of as an avenue to tell a complex story.
We've had to wait five years to hear how the band would follow up and what we ended up with was certainly more refined Horrendous, and I sound that I emphatically enjoy more than anything the band has done to this point. It's worth pointing out that every track on Ontological Mysterium has its own identity and tells a story, typically in a shorter amount of time than previously. I really enjoy the compositions of "Neon Leviathan" and "Preterition Hymn", while the title track and "Cult of Shaad'oah" impress with a very unique heavier side of the band, which definitely leans closer to technical thrash than death metal.
"Chrysopoeia" might be Horrendous' most ambitious track to date since it is the one that is closest to a progressive metal opus and for the most part, the band does a very good job of it, but given how this group is able to make other tracks work in a shorter amount of time really diminishes the opener's impact. Although, props to the band for making the longest track on the album the opener (besides "The Blaze", which is more of an intro). That allows for the progressive pivot to be front and center instead of waiting until the very end, which I appreciate for the full albums construction.
I will say, the production on Ontological Mysterium is great and enforced by some excellent structural compositions. I feel like the percussion might be the biggest turn-off for some of the OSDM fans out there, but the minimal work is not that bad. The guitar riffs can be infectious and are ususally complimented by some great sounding harsh vocals and thrash-y guitar solos. But of course, I could not go any farther without the bass and it is full of energy. The three part polyphony of the bass and two guitar players allow these songs to feel alive without becoming overindulgent by having way too many things happening all at once.
But the biggest thing for me in the runtime, which was sort of mentioned earlier. There are still some longer tracks on this record, including the seven minute opener, but Horrendous have refined their songs to an alarming degree and they feel rewarding to listen to. Horrendous really stepped their game up here and made one of the best albums of their career.
Best Songs: Neon Leviathan, Preterition Hymn, Cult of Shaad'oah, Ontological Mysterium
Genres: Death Metal Progressive Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
It's hard to imagine the vast array of new (extreme) metal bands incorporating jazz fusion elements into their music. If it was of the progressive variety of music that would make sense in terms of pushing boundaries and, y'know the very act of being "progressive". But when it comes through in technical death metal as it has in the past with Cynic and Gorguts, and more recently with Imperial Triumphant, it leaves me more confused. How is it possible that a genre known for its improvisation draw parallels to a genre whose claim to fame is extreme technical proficiency and fully composed songs?
Now that does not make any of the previously mentioned groups bad; far from it. Which is why I was fascinated and intrigued by the debut record from New Yorkers Sarmat with Determined To Strike. And while the direction of the album is unique and really tries to double down on the jazz fusion elements where Imperial Triumphant have moved away from in recent years, the production of Determined To Strike is pretty lousy and leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth and ears.
For starters, this record has a far stronger emphasis on the brass instrumentals with the trumpet, and my initial comparison for this record was a heavier version of Thank You Scientist. But that came to halt quickly after I heard the muddy mixing, which does everything in its power to make this record as loud and abrasive as possible. For fans of technical death metal, I can't see this as a big issue. But for others, its quite hard to tell what the hell is going on most of the time. In addition, the record refuses to outline a melodic phrase or motif in any of its six songs so I'm stuck trying to appreciate an album that is more about style than earworms. Together, they deteriorate an albums replay value since the only thing that Sarmat have going for them is their sound.
This isn't an album that I have much to say about, even though it feels like I should. This feels more like a passion project than anything worth more than a glancing blow. I reckon the thought process for this record was the same for the new Dragoncorpse album: two genres that aren't known to stick, come together for a jarring, but interesting little endeavor. Unlike Dragoncorpse however, Sarmat have less than stellar production that does not highlight this albums real strengths.
Best Songs: Arsenal of Tyranny, Landform
Genres: Avant-Garde Metal Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023
It's not very often that my nightcap album for the week warrants an album review, but I believe that Dragoncorpse are worthy of the exception. The Australian based band peaked my interest early by combining two genres that do not belong together: power metal and deathcore... is what I would say if I wasn't keeping a keen ear to the ground.
For those who have been paying attention to the modern scene will already know that symphonic deathcore is hot on the presses. The obvious starting point has to be Lorna Shore, considering they are one of heavy metal's biggest bands at the moment, but let's not forget about Shadow of Intent and Mental Cruelty. Dragoncorpse seems to be the next logical step in the progression towards accessorizing deathcore to a wider audience, by way of symphonic instrumentation, gigantic vocal choruses and "bro0tal" breakdowns.
And y'know what? I can see the appeal for a band such as this. Forget about the fact that these are just power/symphonic metal songs with the occasional blast beat and heavy breakdown interspersed, the merging of the two styles works much better than I could have ever anticipated. For every oppressive Lorna Shore breakdown that feels inconsequential to the three/four minutes of death metal assault that preceded it, Dragoncorpse litter their breakdowns with tiny callbacks to earlier in the track, whether that be a continued symphonic focus, or in the case of "Terror Eternal" the dual vocals of Mardy Leith's growls and Jesse Lindskog's high screams/wails.
The album does run a little bit short as the concept does revolve around its cringy interludes, which are simply symphonic orchestration combined with guttural vocal poetry. The vocals sound like Alex Terrible and don't evoke any reaction beyond just how out of place they sound. Otherwise, the hardest part to comes to terms with is how little it does with its supposed hybrid status. This sounds like a power metal album through and through and the deathcore influence is only icing.
Beyond all of that, I find it hard to believe that anyone would actually listen to this in their respective clans. The power metal crowd will likely find the death metal influence overwhelming, meanwhile the deathcore kids will never touch something like this because of its clean singing and cheesy and quasi-uplifting stature. It certainly is a fascinating listen, but I worry that Dragoncorpse will shift one way or the other and will eventually just turn into a generic symphonic metal band with power or deathcore elements.
Best Songs: Blood And Stones, From The Sky, UNDYING
Genres: Metalcore Power Metal
Format: Album
Year: 2023