Sonny's Forum Replies
I still can't get on board with all the Hellripper hype. It's enjoyable enough and nothing more than that.
Fvnerals, Cirith Ungol, Katatonia and definitely Panopticon are decent picks, but I didn't much care for the Horrendous album (although it isn't exactly horrendous!) I must get round to the Ne Obliviscaris at some point as I have enjoyed their other stuff.I
A decent set of results, though, considering we have such a small pool of raters.
Had the time to get through this playlist today on my morning walk. I still have no idea of the attraction of Sunn O))) (sorry Sonny) and I listened to all 14:59 of that track. It is just not my cup of tea. Also had to skip Iron Man (those vocals) and The Gathering (a bit too rocky and again the vocals grated). I have come to the conclusion that Wino's voice actually grates on me nowadays and so I had to skip The Obsessed track also.
Thankfully there was still lots to keep me happy on the list. Standouts were Dolorian, Crowbar, Goatsnake, Godthrymm, High on Fire and Saturnalia Temple. Good work Sonny.
Thanks Vinny. Drone metal is a hard sell, with even it's most ardent followers recognising that it isn't for everyone and Sunn O))) are no exception, so no apologies required. I'm not a fan of Iron Man myself, but I feel it is incumbent upon me to showcase all aspects of the Fallen, despite my own preferences. I wasn't sold on Goatsnake either, to be honest. I have always been a fan of Wino's "cigarettes and whiskey" voice, so I have enjoyed the preview tracks from the new Saint Vitus album.
I gave Khanate an honest try but as Sonny alluded to in his review, I wasn't able to make it fully through. I would have gotten through the whole thing if I didn't run out of time at work yesterday, but I have zero interest in picking it back up or restarting it from the beginning to try and get the full experience. I can see why it would resonate with people as I saw what they were going for with the vocals, but man, really not something for me at the end of the day. So I'll refrain from rating that one, it's very far from my wheelhouse.
As we have got to know each other's tastes, I would have been very surprised if you had come out in favour of Khanate, Xephyr. They are definitely not for everyone and I would never hold it against anyone who didn't much care for them, even though I absolutely love them. Drone metal is an acquired taste at the best of times and Khanate are by no means an easy listen, even in drone circles.
February 2024
1. Mourning Dawn - "Tomber du temps" (from "The Foam of Despair", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]
2. Fires in the Distance - "Psalm of the Merciless" (from "Air Not Meant for Us", 2023) [submitted by Vinny]
3. Dolorian - "Epoch of Cyclosure" (from "Voidwards", 2006)
4. Crowbar – “My Agony” (from “Obedience Thru Suffering”, 1991) [submitted by Daniel]
5. Goatsnake - "Flower of Disease" (from "Flower of Disease", 2000)
6. Iron Man - "The Whore in Confession" (from "South of the Earth", 2013)
7. The Gathering - "On Most Surfaces" (from "Nighttime Birds", 1997)
8. Isole – “Bliss of Solitude” (from “Bliss of Solitude”, 2008) [submitted by Daniel]
9. Sunn O))) - "Defeating: Earth's Gravity" (from "The Grimmrobe Demos", 2000) [submitted by Sonny]
10. The Obsessed - "Realize a Dream" (from "Realize a Dream" single, 2024)
11. Godthrymm - "Unseen Unheard" (from "Distortions", 2023)
12. Ufomammut - "Supernova" (from "Crookhead" EP, 2023)
13. High on Fire - "10,000 Years" (from "The Art of Self Defense", 2000) [submitted by Sonny]
14. Saturnalia Temple - "Revel in Dissidence" (from "Revel in Dissidence" single, 2024)
15. My Dying Bride – “Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium (Demo)” (from “Towards The Sinister” demo, 1991) [submitted by Daniel]
16. Faetooth - "Strange Ways" (from "Remnants of the Vessel", 2022) [submitted by Vinny]
The Frozen Dawn is awesome too - it's yet another from the masterful Mariusz Lewandowski, so it kind of goes without saying!
They are all good covers, but those top two are absolute beauties.
I certainly don't think it should be excluded, it should be treated the same as any other release. I would suggest, Daniel, that if you feel so uncomfortable with your own rating, you could remove it until after the counting is done then reinstate it after. Personally I don't feel you need to - I gave it 4.5 myself after all and it is deservedly my highest rated Horde release of the year. As far as the cover goes, that is brand new artwork, is it not, and should definitely be allowed to stand as is.
As far as how it looks to outsiders. Who cares... Fuck 'em. If any of the other bands want to join up and give their own albums five stars there's nothing to stop them is there?
I would probably agree on all but Technical Ecstacy, but I don't think we need to go over that conversation again! 😉
Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi - Seventh Star
I bought this when it came out, listened to it once or twice then turned my back on it in disgust and didn't return to it... not until now anyway. I dug it out of the back of the cupboard and put it on this morning and, you know what, it ain't anything like as bad as I originally thought. Iommi's guitar playing is still top-knotch and I don't know if I've softened over the years, but I even quite enjoyed Glenn Hughes' vocals. I vaguely remember being disgusted with this, considering it no better than an effin' Foreigner album, but in fact, it is much better than that, as I guess is inevitable because no matter what, a Sabbath album will always have Tone's incomparable guitar skills on show and he is one guy who could genuinely write riffs in his sleep.
I will definitely check out Oromet before the deadline because as I always say, you can never have too much funeral doom...
And yet you apparently started the thread in order to do just that. ;)
Yet obviously nobody took any notice!!
I find it inconceivable to be talking about the best Fallen albums of 2023 when Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean's "Obsession Destruction", Convocation's "No Dawn for the Caliginous Night" and Khanate's "To Be Cruel" don't even qualify because no one has listened to them.
For sure there are a couple of things I liked about Objects Without Pain, the guitar tone is nicely pitched and best of all the drums sound amazing. I could listen to an isolated drum track of this quite happily and would prefer to over the finished thing. Unfortunately I couldn't take to it other than that. The songwriting is too spasmodic for me, it veers far too much into mathcore, djenty type territory for my preference and although I really like the tone of the album, the actual songwriting leaves me cold. But the absolute killer for me is the vocals. I would be the first to admit that I probably put too much weight onto vocals but I think I am quite tolerant of some very divisive vocalists, Silencer, Cirith Ungol, King Diamond or Demilich for example, but if I take against a singer then it is like a movie with Adam Sandler in it and no matter how good the rest of the production, it still has Adam Sandler in it! Such is the case with Demian Johnston, his vocals amount to little more than shouting at the top of his voice and just come over like some angry child berating his parents for some perceived injustice and which I find wearisome in the extreme. I don't have an issue with shouted vocals per se, but these are just irritating and off-putting to me to the degree where, by the second half of the album, my mind is wandering and I have pretty much tuned out. I seem to be a minority of one and good luck to those who derived far more enjoyment from it than I was able to muster, but this just isn't one for me I'm afraid.
2.5/5
Hi Ben, could you add norwegian tech-death crew, Sovereign and their recently released debut, "Altered Realities", please.
I agree that Hellripper is enjoyable, but lacking in what I really look for in my metal nowadays and only managed a 3.5 from me. Enforced was much more up in your face and better for it, garnering a 4.0. Demoniac was still my favourite thrasher of the year however and #4 on my yearly list behind Panopticon, Convocation & Khanate.
Hauntologist - Hollow (2024)
Released 8th January
Hauntologist are a post-black metal duo from Kraków comprising Mgła drummer, Darkside, and multi-instrumentalist, The Fall (Michał Stępień), Mgła bassist and backing vocalist for live performances. Hollow is the duo's debut full-length and seems to have been met with mixed reactions, a lot which seems to be based upon people's attitude towards Mgła and how much this does or doesn't sound like them. I don't mind Mgła at all, but I have only heard Exercises in Futility which I enjoyed, but not as much as many others did I suspect and so I'm going to buck the trend and take Hollow on it's own merit, not by it's comparison to another project.
I found this to be pretty interesting and hugely entertaining to boot, which may not be enough for some who need their world to be turned upside down by every release, but is more than enough for me. I often find post-metally BM to be a bit of a bore, to be honest, and went into this with a little bit of trepidation, but it kept me rapt pretty much throughout with some nice twists and turns, the three-quarters of an hour runtime seeming much shorter, which is always a good sign. Fast, intense passages of blasting atmospheric black metal are complemented by contemplative and melancholy airs that temper the furiousness of the black metal sections with more reflective atmospheres. There is a certain harshness to the production, coupled with The Fall's ascerbic vocals and icy-sounding tremolo guitar lines that gives the overall aesthetic an inherent frostiness. Darkside's drumming is top knotch throughout whether it's his withering blastbeats or skillful fills that are to the forefront at any one time. The faster sections aren't just composed of layers of indistinguishable tremolo riffing either, but rather The Fall focusses on producing cool and memorable riffs rather than just continuously swamping us with "atmosphere". Elsewhere there are the folky acoustic guitar and clean vocals of the title track and the gothic, post-punk vibe of Gardermoen but these sit well within the overall structure of the album and aren't at all distracting or obtrusive, giving the album a freshness of perspective. The album closes out with a gently self-reflective spoken word piece that leaves the listener slightly wrong-footed and provoking them to reconsider what they have heard during the previous three-quarters of an hour.
Overall this is a fine album of modern atmospheric black metal that draws on the tropes of post-metal and introduces influence from other, non-metal genres whilst still acknowledging the power of the riff in metal. It isn't very challenging to listen to and is, in fact, very easy on the ears, but I don't view that as an issue personally. The length is just about right and keeps things focussed with no tendency towards self-indulgence that may have blighted a lengthier runtime.
4/5
Congrats Shezma. I would look at all the Infinite challenge lists, see which is likely to appeal to you most and then go through it in chronological order. I have always found that it helps in understanding the development of a genre and possible influences if you do it that way.
Just seen that there is a live version of the album on Spotify, released in 2022:
Catching up, so I will cover the rest of the album:
"Freedom" - a hypnotic, psychedelic feeling to this one that definitely sees it sitting comfortably under the heavy psych umbrella. Zero metal.
"'Til My Death" - heavy blues rock definitely. Metal content - 0.
"The Prophet" - heavy for sure, but metal, no. Heavy psych / hard rock for me.
"Pound of Flesh" - Heavy psych, almost super-heavy acid rock. Nil metal.
"Shylock" - You know what, I'm gonna go 50/50, heavy metal / heavy psych on this one.That main riff is real Sabbathy, not unlike Symptom of the Universe.
Overall I make that 20% metal, so not really metal for our purposes - still a great record though.
Malist - Of Scorched Earth (2024)
Released 19th January
Malist is a solo project of Moscow's Ovfrost (Nick Kholodov) and isn't a project that I have followed too closely, but I did enjoy his 2020 album, To Mantle the Rising Sun, which was a well-done and enjoyable slice of melodic black metal. I have missed the two intervening albums, but here we are now with his latest, Of Scorched Earth. Whilst he is still ploughing the fertile melodic black metal furrow, there seems to be a greater influence from atmo-black that gives the tracks a more sweeping, grandiose quality. One trope in particular Ovfrost employs on multiple occasions here, is a calm, quieter core to tracks, with acoustic guitar strumming and a keyboard overlay, be it organ or piano, that acts as the still eye of the storm that contrasts with the heavy riffing and generally more frantic pace of the tracks either side of the still spot.
The songwriting indulges a fair bit of melodicism for a black metal album, yet I think it still retains enough of black metal's intensity and inherent savagery to satisfy all but the most demanding of BM kvltists. I suppose there are those who will bemoan it's clean production, pauses in intensity and melodic phrases, but there are more than enough passages where he lets himself off the leash, letting rip some frantic, black metal battery. For what it's worth, I would score this down a bit from the earlier To Mantle the Rising Sun, but it is nevertheless an interesting enough expression of riff-driven melodic and atmospheric black metal, that has it's roots planted firmly here in the modern day and not back in the savagery of the 1990s.
3.5/5
Hi Ben, I am sure you have it covered, but could you add the new Saxon album Hell, Fire and Damnation, please.
As much as I loathe the overuse of subgenres, I'm not too sure about this one to be honest. There are definitely bands who would be considered doomgaze who don't fit comfortably into the doom or drone metal genres, but are conversely too doom-like to be considered merely post-metal and, for our purposes, reside outside the Fallen. A dual tagging here of doom / drone with post-metal may be sufficient, as was the approach decided on for atmospheric sludge metal.
I wasn't overly keen on their earlier albums and I believe the Hoplites album is very techy and avant-garde, so not really one for me, but I am keeping an eye out for the Inquisition album (next Friday if I am not mistaken). What is the controversy with the one band member, Daniel, I haven't heard that one?
Oh, and there is a new Darkspace out in the middle of February that I am quite looking forward to.
Saxon - Hell, Fire and Damnation (2024)
Released 19th January
Well, this is a real trip down memory lane, I must admit. I feel a bit unfair, reducing Saxon's latest offering to a mere nostalgia trip, but for me, that is definitely what it is - and in more ways than one. I can scarce believe that it is almost 45 years since I first encountered Saxon, supporting Motörhead on their 1979 Bomber tour, when both they and me were far more fresh-faced and less battle-scarred than now with entire futures ahead of us. Well, on the evidence of Hell, Fire and Damnation, the years have been kinder to the Yorkshiremen than to me and they are still seemingly able to call upon that youthful energy with some cracking classic heavy metal riffs, shred-like guitar solos and Biff shrugging off the years, his ability to belt-out the lyrics with siren-like power seemingly undiminished by time.
I was heavily into the NWOBHM scene at the time and Saxon were a huge part of that, but as the scene waned and those young bloods from the Bay Area revolutionised the metal sound, bands like Saxon suddenly seemed old hat and unable to compete with the heightened aggression and excitement that thrash metal brought to the table. So they, like many of their contemporaries, faded from my life, the gulf between us only being made wider by my discovery of even more extreme forms of metal in later years and Saxon faded into nothing but a distant memory. At least, that is until my attention was drawn to the band's 2018 album Thunderbolt which was a shot in the arm of modern-sounding, old-school heavy metal and opened my eyes to the fact that Biff and co still had what it takes to deliver a high-powered, vibrant and, above all, relevant heavy metal album. Admittedly I haven't kept up with Saxon's releases in the meantime, so six years and one pandemic on from Thunderbolt what have we got? Well, this is a step or two down from that top-level beauty and it does have a couple of clunkers on it, Madame Guillotine being the most egregious example, it just feels flat and a bit contrived, ending up somewhat less than thrilling to my ears, but a track like There's Something in Roswell is guilty of excessive clunkiness too. The opening Brian Blessed-voiced intro didn't help either. I like Brian well enough, but he is very difficult to listen to with a straight face and it is exacerbated by the fact that he is the voice of floor cleaner ads on TV here in the UK!
That said, the title track, which is the first proper track, is a glorious slice of triumphant, fist-pumping metal that takes all the pomp and circumstance of power metal and pares it down to what is important and leaves a shimmering core that rivals the band's heyday. Elsewhere Fire and Steel and closer Supercharger fair rattle along, reminiscent of the proto speed metal of Judas Priest's Exciter or multiple tracks on Painkiller. Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice, 1066 and Witches of Salem mine the historical themes so beloved of Steve Harris and have a similat grandiose feel to some of the tracks Harris penned for Maiden's last album, Senjutsu.
I mentioned earlier that this is nostalgic for more than one reason and the lyrics to Fire and Steel are an example of it, being a paeon to the hulking , smoke- and fire-spewing steelworks of England's disappeared industrial landscape. I myself live only a handful of miles from the site where one such industrial behemoth was once sited (now the headquarters of an online gambling company) where it was such a dominating presence over the city I inhabit. Elsewhere, on Pirates of the Airwaves the rose-tinted spectacles of nostalgia are used to examine the days of pirate radio when we used to try nightly to tune our radios to the unpredictable broadcasts of Radio Luxembourg in the hope of catching some decent rock music, which was unheard of on the legal radio stations and Supercharger brings back memories of a string of high-powered motorcycles and cars I spent all my cash on in my late teens and early twenties.
So, for me, this is a solid enough slab of trad metal with some tasty riffs, cool lead work, a frontman with a distinctive and undiminished vocal delivery but it is most notable for it's ability to propel me back forty-plus years and leave me with a wide, if somewhat wistful, smile on my face.
3.5/5
A couple of days behind:
Pentagram - "Review Your Choices" - Starts off very stoner rock, but the final two-thirds has a much more metal feel to it. Borderline metal as a whole for me.
Buffalo - "Sunrise (Come My Way)" - This is a great album and has been a favourite of mine for a while. Sure this opener has some rockiness, but this feels a lot heavier than most of the band's contemporaries (Sabbath aside) and I feel there is enough in that infectious riff and the guitar soloing for it to qualify as a genuine metal track - and what a cracker it is!
Sorry Sonny. I'll exclude myself from this month.
No problem Ben.
Hi Sonny. Mourning Dawn are already on the site. I'll add their new album shortly.
Sorry Ben, I must have made an error when I searched for them.
Yeah, a great song no doubt, but definitely too bluesy to be considered metal. Doesn't sound a million miles away from Cream playing live in my opinion.
Mourning Dawn - The Foam of Despair (2024)
Released 12th February
According to RYM I have listened to over 1500 doom metal releases, so I think I can be forgiven for feeling a little jaded when approaching most new doom releases, particularly those coming out at the start of the year when, for some reason, the quality isn't always the greatest and especially by little-known acts who have been plugging away to little or no acclaim for years. Parisian four-piece, Mourning Dawn, are exactly one such act and their new album, the oddly titled The Foam of Despair, tagged as a Doom / DSBM hybrid, didn't exactly have me trembling with anticipation either. So, by the time opening track, Tomber du temps, came to an end, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself with a big stupid grin on my face as I was completely won over and enchanted by the preceeding ten minutes of downtuned bliss. Actually the original tags were a bit off the mark, The Foam of Despair is not black metal by any stretch and whilst it is rooted in doom metal it is really an album which should come under the atmospheric sludge umbrella and one which is given a freshness by pulling in additional influences from the likes of gothic and industrial metal.
That opener that so grabbed my attention has some really infectious riffing coupled with Laurent's howling vocals and a post-metal structure that plants it firmly in the atmo-sludge arena. What elevates it though, is some really nice soaring guitar soloing and spoken word interjections (an effective trope the band use several times throughout the album) that impart a melancholy air, with the cherry on the top being a reflective-sounding sax solo that closes out the track, bringing to mind some of the great work from Belgium's Messa.
Although Tomber du temps is the best track on the album, it is by no means downhill from here on in. Second track, Blue Pain, features a guest appearance by our old friend Déhà (who also mixed and mastered the album - how does he find time to sleep) who lends the track his desperate-sounding howls to provide a bit of a twist to what is otherwise a slab of Paradise Lost-inspired gothic metal. Borrowed Skin, the album's longest track, delves into the atmo-sludge playbook with a layered build to it and featuring some fine percussion work from drummer Nicolas Joyeux, the track's emotional tides rising and falling from becalmed quiet to looming and towering anguished waves, the only niggle here being the rather abrupt fade-out at the track's ending (which is also the case elsewhere with Suzerain).
Apex has a plodding chug to it that gives me an industrial metal vibe, albeit not as obviously as on closer Midnight Sun which goes full-on industrial with Nicolas Joyeux once more featuring with some imposing-sounding metallic percussion hammering away like Vulcan's Forge itself. Elsewhere Suzerain has a nice bass-heavy chugging throb with, once more, those solemn spoken word vocals and The Color of Waves is a depressive and desperate-sounding slice of post-metal atmospheric building.
The production is crisp with all the band members' contributions being readily distinguishable and allowing their inherent technical ability to shine through. However, the biggest plaudits go out to these frenchmen for their mature and interesting songwriting that encompasses multiple genres and forges them into a coherent and flowing whole, providing a compelling listen for fans of atmospheric and emotionally-charged metal and has made this my first must-hear album of 2024.
Hi Ben, could you add french black doom band Mourning Dawn and particularly their new album, The Foam of Despair.
Hey Ben, do you have anything for February's playlist as I would like to get started on it tomorrow.
No argument from me here, Daniel. Definitely hard rock through and through.
Today we're gonna start looking at a new release in the 1973 "Bias Studio Recordings" demo from Virginia doom metal pioneers Pentagram. Despite there being a strong hard rock feel to it, the opening track "Forever My Queen" is close enough to traditional doom metal in my opinion
I absolutely f---ing love this track and it has been covered by countless doom bands, so a definite trad doom tag for me.
Today's track is Pentagram's "When The Screams Come" which I'd suggest fits best under a hard rock tag even though there are once again traces of traditional doom metal:
Sounds like a transitional track to me, but which leans more to the hard rock side of things rather than the trad doom, so I would tag this one as hard rock with a trad doom secondary. Sounds like a lot of the underground hard rock / heavy psych from '71/'72 but leaning towards a heavier and harder sound.
Hi Ben, could you please add portuguese one-man project Sardonic Witchery. Thanks!
Sardonic Witchery - Barbaric Evil Power (2024)
Released 4th January
Sardonic Witchery is a solo project of Portugal's King Demogorgon (Ricardo Mota) who used to be one half of black metal duo Infernal Kingdom. After a, frankly awful, intro, King drops the hammer on some reasonable blasting black metal with riffs that sometimes fly close enough to traditional metal that they almost come over as black 'n' roll. He has quite an acerbically harsh, roaring style of singing that comes across more as angry than evil at least until Merciless Warrior of Steel when he just sounds hokey as he tries to pull off some kind of Tom G Warrior-like "death grunts".
The production of the album is good, with the bass lines being nicely presented and boosting the riffs well, although the snares are pushed forward and get a little bit annoying after a while. There's not really a whole lot more to say, this is a decent enough piece of black metal that is best when it's blasting hardest, but which is also prone to fly close to black 'n' roll grooviness with trad metal influence shining through and some inherent cheesiness. As such it treads familiar ground, albeit mostly with professional aplomb. There aren't really enough stand-out moments that will keep you wanting to respin this, with the duo of Barbaric Bastards of Mass Destruction and Horizon's End being the section that meritted most attention from me and had me wishing the quality of those two tracks was reproduced throughout the album's almost forty minutes rather than being confined to a mere ten. So, ultimately I guess, it will end up on the pile of releases of the year marked "solid if somewhat unremarkable black metal" - and I am sure it won't be the last.
3/5
Some really nice, raw-sounding shit this month Vinny, especially the first tree tracks and, of course, Darkthrone's glorious closer. Others that caught my ear were Epidemic, Droid, Diabolic Night, Torture and Legion of the Damned. Honourable mentions go to Malokarpatan, Thrashback and Witchaven. Suicidal Tendencies was really the only one I couldn't muster any enthusiasm for - I have always preferred the hardcore punk of their debut to any of their metal offerings. Nice list again Vinny, thanks mate!
Sunn O))) - The Grimmrobe Demos (2000)
Sunn O))) were formed in 1998 by Goatsnake's Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, who was looking to form a new outfit after the splitting-up of Burning Witch, their name intended as a pun on Earth's moniker as the drone pioneers were huge influences on Anderson and O'Malley. The Grimmrobe demos were released in 2000 as the band's debut release, with the duo's worship of all things Earth resulting in the album containing a track called "Dylan Carson" after the Earth mainman. The sound on Grimmrobe Demos is heavily based upon that explored by Carlson on Earth's debut, the seminal "Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version" with super-slow tempos, heavily distorted and downtuned guitar tones and feedback, all designed to present a monolithically towering sound with which to swamp the listener. Drums are entirely absent as there is no percussion required here, the tempo being so slow and crawling as to render any sort of timekeeping irelevant. Even for Sunn O))) there is little variety offered here, these are unflinchingly slow and crushing primal soundscapes, with zero evidence of the experimentation the duo were to introduce on some of their later releases. This is the music of nature, the music of tides, the music of tectonic plate movements and I imagine, in my more fanciful flights of fancy, that this is what it would sound like if you could get close enough to a star to hear those awe-inspiring cosmic furnaces burning off their plasmic fuel.
I have touched on elsewhere how busy experimental and technical metal often causes me difficulties because of the challenges I often experience with sensory overload, well Sunn O))) are a perfect antidote to that for me, these bassy and monolithically repetitive aural experiences enveloping like a comforting blanket, providing a calming and meditative experience that I don't often find elsewhere. I get it that these guys really aren't for everyone, or even most people, but they are amongst some of the best at what they do and personally I would hate to live in a world where Sunn O))) didn't exist.
4.5/5
Hi Ben, could you please add Richmond, VA. sludge/doom band Lair and particularly their new album, The Hidden Shiv?
Lair - The Hidden Shiv (2024)
Released 1st January
Richmond three-piece, Lair, are back with their sophomore, four plague-ridden years after the self-titled debut. They play bereft and pissed-off sounding sludgy doom metal that sounds very much like a band with an axe to grind about many things, but particularly the bleakness and futility of existence, so if you come into this with a sunny disposition, then don't expect to leave it feeling the same!
First off, it does plug into the post-pandemic, confused and bereaved mental space very well, giving vent to a hopelessness and desperation borne of things out of one's control as expressed in heavy, towering and slothful riffs, primitive-sounding drum beats and a vocalist who's throat-wrecking howls to the sky are the epitome of bleakness. So, if that doesn't float your boat then you are definitely looking up the wrong alley here, but for those who worship at the altar of acts like Eyehategod, Acid Bath or Toadliquor, then come on in my red-eyed friend and pull up a chair. OK, so the vocals do become a bit samey and you find yourself wishing for a change in delivery or inflection and the riffs aren't the most inventive, but this type of sludgy doom is more about the overall aesthetic than individual moments, the repetitiveness seeking to add layer upon layer of despondency upon the listener to achieve that atmosphere of alienation, desperation and anger, that anger being the prime ingredient of good sludge metal I would suggest. Even saying that, this isn't completely monolithic, with an instrumental breather in Something’s at the Door, it's gentler sound setting up the faster, almost death metal of (To Step Into) A Noose of One’s Own. Although normal service is soon resumed and they get back onto the dreary, doom-laden and sludge-filled treadmill for the final three tracks.
The Hidden Shiv is a fairly solid slab-o'-sludge that ticks a lot of the right boxes and, in all fairness, is growing on me the more I listen to it, but I wouldn't speak of it in the same tones as the earlier-mentioned sludge flag-bearers. But that said, they have come on a fair bit since I last checked them out via their 2018 EP "In Exile" and they are definitely moving in the right direction.
3.5/5
Deconsekrated - Ascension in the Altar of Condemned (2024)
Released 1st January 2024
Another quality outfit from the Chilean metal scene, death metal four-piece, Deconsekrated, have now unleashed their debut album upon the world. They aren't reinventing the wheel here, or really doing anything that hasn't been done hundreds of time before, but it is skillfully executed and full of vitality and energy, with the occasional breakdown into a more considered death doom pacing providing tempo variation. Vocalist Gûl Evokator has a harsh barking growl that gives the vocals a convincing howling abyss-demon quality that sits very well within an old-school-influenced death metal context. Alongside that there are a couple of ritualistic-sounding ambient, chanted parts in the intro, "Invocation" and the first part of the album's longest track, "Litany of the Blasphemous". Mostly though, it must be said, this is pummelling, no frills, blasphemous death metal, a style of DM that I am very much at home with and can appreciate for it's lack of pretension and focus on providing neck-wrenching blasts to inspire even the most reticent of moshpits.
The production is spot-on with the riffs sounding beefy and precise, aided by the muscular rhythm section of bassist Fides Naash and drummer Rigor Mortis (something tells me these guys may be using pseudonyms) who sounds at times like he is pounding on the inside of the listener's own skull! Guitarist Agorh Skullptor unleashes the odd short, Slayeresque solo, but nothing indulgent or ill-fitting to distract from the impending battery. There are plenty of lines to be drawn to OSDM classics like Mental Funeral, or Diabolical Conquest, but with a more modern production which may not deliver the full cavernous experience, but does sharpen up the riffs and provide a sharpness to the sound that gives it a focus away from a deathly, foetid atmosphere and more onto musical precision. The strength of chilean metal is that it shows a reverence for metal's former glories whilst unafraid to adopt a modern approach and production that ensures that the material has relevance. And so 2024 kicks off in solid style with the chilean scene showing exactly why it is growing in reputation within the metal world.
4/5
Hi Ben, could you please add chilean death metallers Deconsekrated and their debut album, Ascension In The Altar Of Condemned, which was released today.
I cannot lay any claim to being a source of much knowledge when it comes to death metal, having come to it quite late on. I turned away from metal during the nineties and was listening to hardly any, let alone the burgeoning death metal scene, at the time of the release of Neuropath's two demos in '95 and '96 that make up the contents of this compilation. Luckily for us all, we have the inside track on this release from the horse's mouth, so to speak, in the shape of Academy co-creator Daniel, lead guitarist and songwriter with the Sydney brutal DM pathfinders. From the CD liner notes and the interview with Hessian Firm, it is apparent that Daniel and vocalist Mark see the evolution between the earlier demo, Nefarious Vivisection, and the later, Desert of Excruciation, as a quantum leap in both technical and songwriting abilities. I certainly would not disagree with this assessment as the technical skills on show are obviously much improved and the songwriting has matured with an increased emphasis on technicality and complexity that is testament to the hard work and dedication that the guys put into the band during what amounts to just a few months between the recording of the two demos.
Now I don't know if Daniel and the rest of the band may consider this blasphemous, but I must sheepishly admit that I like the tracks from Nefarious Vivisection a bit more than the Desert of Excruciation material. I guess it has become apparent that I am a bit of a caveman when it comes to my taste in metal, the more technical, avant-garde, experimental stuff often leaves me cold and I would much rather have something relentlessly brutal and bludgeoning than any number of time-changes and finger-knotting guitar leads and to this end Nefarious Vivisection fills my criteria perfectly. The filthy-sounding riffs stick in my head better than the more complex stuff of the DoE tracks, Masticated Cadaver and the closer here, Rectal Palpitation, being the favourites that stick with me most. Then the clincher is the absolutely fucking brutal vocals supplied by Mark that are some of the best death metal vocals I have ever heard, rivalling Reifert, Vincent, Chuck and even Demilich's Antti Boman.
I really love digging through early metal demos and, sure, there are a lot of poorly-recorded shit out there, but sometimes you find a genuine pearl or two and I would suggest that is exactly what we have here, a rugged, uncut death metal diamond. I now have a CD copy with pride of place in my collection, nestling next to Diabolical Conquest and Altars of Madness where it belongs!
4.5/5
Cirith Ungol - Dark Parade (2023)
Cirith Ungol were originally formed in 1971 and split in 1992 after releasing a string of reasonably well-received albums. They reformed in 2015 like so many other legacy bands, but unlike a lot of those their first album after reforming, 2020's Forever Black was actually pretty good. Three years later the guys are back with another offering, having once more defied the odds and turning in a terrific album that is even better than Forever Black and stacks up pretty well against the band's '80's "classics", King of the Dead and One Foot in Hell which is good going for a band that is over fifty years old.
Dark Parade is chock full of hooky riffs that stick in the memory and give us old metalheads some decent headbanging action, often switching down gear to a more considered, almost trad doom, pacing to give our aging neck muscles some respite. The riffs aren't all there is to DP though, there is plenty of nifty and often extended soloing that should satisfy the most demanding of six-string enthusiasts, in a couple of places reminding me a bit of Blackmore's brilliant soloing during Rainbow's Stargazer, especially on second track Relentless and the later Sacrifice. The Blackmore reference isn't the only Deep Purple related influence though, the fast section of the album's epic Sailor on the Seas of Fate, with it's soaring keyboard overlay takes me back to the days of Highway Star and Burn.
Of course you can't talk about Cirith Ungol without addressing the elephant in the room that is Tim Baker's vocals, his screeching style not being to everyone's taste. Personally I have got used to him and now even view him as having a distinctive and unique style that works really well on it's own terms. But even if you aren't the biggest Baker fan, I think you would find his singing less irritating here, maybe age has mellowed his voice to a degree and rendered it less grating.
All in all this is a really good trad metal album that flaunts it's roots whilst still sounding modern and vital, which is quite a feat for a band four-fifths of whom are well into their sixties (yes even older than me). Gives me great hope that metal blood is never diluted!
4/5
My submissions for February, Vinny:
Anthrax - "Armed and Dangerous" (from "Spreading the Disease", 1985)
Frightful - "Spectral Creator" (from "Spectral Creator", 2021)
Gama Bomb - "Mask of Anarchy" (from "Bats", 2023)
Hellish - "Goddess Death" (from "The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents", 2022)
Terminalist - "Frenetic Standstill" (from "The Crisis as Condition", 2023)
Hi Ben, my suggestions for February:
Mare Cognitum - "Pyre of Ascendance" (from "An Extraconscious Lucidity", 2012)
Taake - "Et uhyre av en kniv" (from "Et hav av avstand", 2023)
Thanks, Vinny - I've just sprayed hot tea out of my nose with laughing!!!
My submissions for February, Daniel, are:
Bolt Thrower - "Cenotaph" (from "War Master", 1991)
Coffin Nail - "Trash Future" (from "Charnel Visions", 2020)
Demilich - "The Echo (Replacement)" (from "Nespithe", 1993) - on Spotify on the "20th Adversary of Emptiness" compilation
Fossilization - "The Night Spoke the Tongue of Flames" (from "Leprous Daylight", 2023)
Morbid Angel - "Pain Divine" (from "Covenant", 1993)
Nile - "Lashed to the Slave Stick" (from "Annihilation of the Wicked", 2005)
Repulsion - "Slaughter of the Innocent" (from "Horrified", 1989)
Tomb Mold - "Flesh as Armour" (from "The Enduring Spirit", 2023)
January 2024
1. Early Moods - "Last Rites" (from "Early Moods", 2022)
2. Kaunis Kuolematon - "Elävältä haudattu" (from "Mielenvalta", 2023)
3. Obscure Sphinx - "Nothing Left" (from "Epitaphs", 2016) [submitted by Vinny]
4. Cathedral - "Ebony Tears" (from "In Memoriam" demo, 1990) [submitted by Daniel]
5. Lord Vigo - "Eternal Saviour " (from "Blackborne Souls", 2017) [submitted by Morpheus Kitami]
6. Remina - "The Endless City" (from "Strata", 2022) [submitted by Ben]
7. diSEMBOWELMENT - "Extracted Nails" (from "Mourning September" demo, 1990) [submitted by Daniel]
8. Dopelord - "Evil Spell" (from "Songs for Satan", 2023) [submitted by Sonny]
9. Ocean of Grief - "Imprisoned Between Worlds" (from "Pale Existence", 2023]
10. Madvro - "We Worship" (from "We Worship", 2019)
11. Shepherd - "Stereolithic Riffalocalypse" (from "Stereolithic Riffalocalypse", 2015)
12. YDI - "Black Dust" (from "Black Dust", 1985)
13. The Angelic Process - "The Promise of Snakes" (from "Weighing Souls With Sand", 2007)
14. Hexvessel - "Ring" (from "Polar Veil", 2023) [submitted by Vinny]
15. Convocation - "Procession" (from "No Dawn for the Caliginous Night", 2023) [submitted by Ben]
16. Reverend Bizarre - "Doom Over the World" (from "II: Crush the Insects", 2005)
Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags (2023)
First off, I have to say that this is an enjoyable slab of metal but, in truth, it isn't really any more than that and I'm not sure I can get onboard with all the hype that has been behind this release. I think people are playing up the black metal content because, beyond the shrieking vocal style I don't think there is too much by way of black metal here. What it is is high-octane speed, thrash and good old heavy metal with a shit-ton of energy and vibrancy that exploits an assosciation with black metal by utilising black metal vocals, allowing an out-of-fashion musical style some relevancy within the modern metal scene.
Obviously James McBain, the sole muso behind Hellripper, is one hell of a talented guy and he can write riffs and hooks seemingly effortlessly as he glorifies fist-pumping metal hedonism, to which end his soloing is energetic and over-the-top. He certainly can't be accused of being boring or lacking ideas, but maybe therein lies the rub. It feels ocasionally like a pick'n'mix metal comp of Eighties worshipping retro-metal bands where every track works really well in isolation, but when consumed all together it becomes a bit too much. The only truly consistent factor is James' shrieking black metal vocals which do work very well in most instances.
Like I said at the start this is enjoyable stuff and I feel like a bit of a curmudgeon for saying it, but I really can't feel it enough to get me reaching for those higher scores. Maybe it just doesn't chime 100% with what I look for in my metal listening nowadays but it can't be ignored and has rightly has earned much praise for it's creator.
3.5/5