Sonny's Forum Replies

Despite it's progressive tendencies, I would say the tech-death aspect is crucial to the album's identity and is at least as important as the progressive component, if not more so. Hence, I voted "yes".

My only previous experience of Kat was their previous album to this, 1988's "Oddech wymarłych światów" of which I was no great fan. In all honesty, Bastard has done very little to improve that situation. It just sounds oddly sloppy for an album that purports to be a technical-leaning release. I am not the world's biggest tech-thrash fan at the best of times, but this didn't chime with me at all. The riffs aren't engaging enough to appeal on a visceral level and the technical aspect feels forced and, well, just not that special. The pacing seems plodding at best and the soloing felt flat and uninspiring. Add to this the awful clean vocals that are occasionally employed for some reason and I just found myself getting irritated with the whole thing.

2.5/5

I have a deep connection with Bolt Thrower that goes back to the earliest days of them appearing on John Peel's late night radio show which saw them becoming the only death metal band I got into prior to departing from metaldom at the beginning of the nineties. Despite the criticisms levelled against them, such as them producing the same album over and over, I have never bought into this view and think they are one of the most consistent bands in metal and have never produced a bad album. Anyway, here's my review:

Despite making a massive contribution to the birth of metal, the UK hasn't been overly blessed with important acts in the more extreme sub-genres. There were, of course, the twin grindcore godfathers, Napalm Death and Carcass and a few notables in the doom metal arena, but otherwise it has been the US and Europe that have led the way since the early 1980s. The sole exception and lone british banner fluttering among the death metal hordes, was Coventry's Bolt Thrower. War Master was the Midlanders' third album, following the rough and ready, crust and grind-influenced debut, In Battle There Is No Law! and it's much more professional sounding follow-up, Realm of Chaos, which had heralded a direction-change with the band moving into more conventional death metal territory. War Master saw Bolt Thrower heading further in that direction, ditching the grind element altogether in favour of a slower, mid-tempo, more cavernous sound that has more in common with Autopsy than fellow Brits like Carcass.

I must be honest at this point and admit that, for me, Realm of Chaos marks the band's highpoint, striking a perfect balance between the crusty grind of the debut and their later, conventional death metal sound, but that doesn't mean that War Master is any great drop-off in quality, in fact, quite the opposite as it is still one hell of a great record. The riffs on War Master are fantastic, possessing an inherent level of brutality, whilst still exhibiting a degree of melodicism which renders them instantly memorable. The songwriting is very good, and although most of the riffs stay within the mid-tempo range, the band don't shy away from either slowing down further to hulking, death doom pacing, or putting their foot down and letting rip. Karl Willetts has a great death metal growl, almost stripping paint as he barks out the lyrics which deal almost exclusively with the terrors of war, that puts him near the top of my list of favourite death metal vocalists. Production-wise War Master is a step up from Realm of Chaos with a chunkier, more bass-heavy sound that allows Jo Bench's four-string performance to shine and which is more conducive to this type of slower-paced, war-ridden death metal.

The solos are mostly of the brief, squealing style favoured by many death metal stalwarts since they were introduced by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman back in the day and whilst they are perfectly functional and fit well within the song structures, they aren't on anything like the same level as the riffs. Despite seeing criticism of it elsewhere, I actually really like Andy Whale's drumming on here as it has tons of energy and some nice touches, such as the military tattoo-like beats at the end of Afterlife.

War Master saw Bolt Thrower finally getting near to a sound they were striving for and, as a result, they have often been accused of regurgitating the same material over and over again for the rest of their career, which is a bit harsh and personally I think is bullshit. When a band has hit on what they see as a signature sound, however, I am sure there is a temptation to plough the same furrow again on subsequent releases, and although BT never strayed far from the template they established on War Master, such is the quality of their material that only the most demanding or churlish of death metal fans could complain at the results. Evidently, this is a full-throated roar of challenge from a band in full command of their abilities, producing one of the best albums of their career and spearheading the British fightback against the scandinavian and american death metal hordes.

4.5/5

I have CD copies of both those splits and they are both amazing. I really love this very early Enslaved sound and Vikinglr Veldi is my favourite album of theirs. As you rightly say, Daniel, despite their young ages it was evident from the very off that Enslaved were a cut above most other black metal acts, especially technically and songwriting-wise. They were also savvy enough never to get caught up in the criminality associated with that very early norwegian scene and didn't seem to court much by way of controversy. A truly class act from the very beginning.

Evilfeast is a solo project of Polish multi-instrumentalist Jakub Grzywacz, who goes by the pseudonym of GrimSpirit. The project has been going since 1996, when it was then known as Darkfeast (changing name in '98) so he has some credibility as a relatively early adopter of the atmospheric black metal creed and not just some random bandwagon-jumper. So, I thought I hadn't listened to Evilfeast before and when it was pointed out that indeed I had (thanks, Daniel!), I still had no great recollection of the event. Not exactly a ringing endorsement I think you will agree. However, it says more about my insatiable appetite for listening to more and more unfamiliar metal albums and a resulting lack of retention of any but the most excellent (or utterly terrible), than it does about the quality of the release in question. This is because Elegies of the Stellar Wind is, in fact, a pretty decent slab of black metal with a pronounced symphonic element influenced by none less than the mighty Emperor, I would suggest. Although the keyboards are fundamental to the album's sound, it still feels like it sits more within the sphere of atmospheric rather than symphonic black metal because, although the synth sound can be traced back to Ihsahn & co, it isn't as bombastic as the Black Wizards, but rather it feels like it is heralding the majesty of the natural world rather than the machinations and achievements of powerful men.

The black metal component is generally of the uptempo, quite savage-sounding, thinly-produced type that harks back to a previous black metal age and doesn't contain the lushness of more recent atmospheric black metal efforts, but that feels no less effective for it. I must admit I like it's quite raw black metal stylings, whilst the keyboards are incorporated effectively and even though they have a significant presence they still work well in tandem with the riffing. It never really attains the hypnotic transcendence that the absolute top-tier atmospheric black metal releases achieve and, in truth, it probably feels a little more down-to-earth as a result, but whilst these ham-fisted attempts at describing Evilfeast's sound make it feel like it won't work, it absolutely does, it's just that it's not exactly what you would necessarily expect.

I'm gonna stick with my old RYM score of 4/5

Gave this another couple of playthroughs on this morning's walk and my position on it hasn't really changed. I still feel it leans towards the lighter and more melodic end of the death doom spectrum, with nods to the gothic tendencies of My Dying Bride and their ilk, whereas I prefer the more crushing, cavernous end occupied by the likes of Coffins, Cianide or Evoken. There isn't anything inherently wrong with it and it is competently put together with a high standard of songwriting and musicianship. The problem I have is that it just doesn't really resonate with me or move me inside and whilst I can often appreciate the quality of a recording, if it doesn't engage me on an emotional level or provide a metaphorical gut-punch, then it will always be lacking in my book.

I did actually find myself digging on final track "A Wanderer's Star" more than I remember having done previously, but mostly Fallout just washed over me. I wouldn't necessarily turn it off if it was on, but I would be unlikely to actively seek it out. I will have to stick with my original 3/5 rating, I'm afraid. Sorry Ben.

I hadn't listened to this before today, but it has been on my "to do" list for a while, so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. There are thrash and groove elements present for sure, but I don't think they are pervasive enough to appeal especially to Pit members who aren't also into industrial metal. So that's a "yes" from me.

The Death influence is unmistakeable, so a big yes from me.

Gave this a couple of blasts this morning and a) this is an album I haven't paid nearly enough attention to over the years and b) it contains hardly any thrash apart from the odd Slayeresque solo. I would say it owes it's existence more to Discharge than Slayer. Voted "Yes".

I don't recall ever thinking that "Weighing Souls With Sand" felt doomy to be honest Sonny. I always felt that it fit the description for post-metal & that it didn't belong in The Fallen which was the reason for my Hall of Judgement entry. The doomgaze subgenre seems like another pointless RYM sub-division to me. 

I don't know exactly what it is about this record, but I still think it more likely to gain fans in The Fallen than The Infinite. A fair bit of it sounds in the same ballpark as Nadja and Jesu to me, even though it isn't drone metal. Maybe it's the heavy distortion and cavern-like sound that does it, I'm not sure.

I agree that "Weighing Souls With Sand" isn't drone metal and I agree with the post-metal claims for the album and I have voted "yes" because of this, but it still sounds like an album more likely to find fans in The Fallen than The Infinite to me.

I notice that it is now #1 in the genre chart for RYM's new Doomgaze sub-genre. What do you think of "doomgaze" as a genre? Does it cover the ground for an album such as this that, whilst technically falling within the post-metal remit, still sounds like a Fallen release?

Condolences to both of you on your recent losses. Sad times.

Skeletal Remains - Fragments of the Ageless (2024)

I am unfamiliar with californian death metallers, Skeletal Remains, but a quick glance at the ratings for their five albums on RYM reveals that they must be quite a consistent band, certainly in respect to their recorded output. The opening track is titled "Relentless Appetite" and you'd better have one for brutal-sounding, aggressive old-school death metal worship because that is what you get here, unapologetic and unrelenting, in-your-face death metal, torn straight from '90's Florida and dropped onto the opposite coast thirty years later.

There is little subtlety or innovation here, but I found myself swept along on a tidal wave of relentlessly pummelling riffs with no time (or inclination) to ponder anything deeper than just hanging on for the ride. Chris Monroy's vocals are of the excoriating, sand-blasting kind, the solos are energetic and chaotic and drummer Pierce Williams is a busy man behind the kit, all of which contribute to the dynamism and sensation of being actively propelled through the album rather than being a passive spectator. It is the riffs that are king here, however, and they come thick and fast in a dizzying maelstrom of thundering power, boosted by a meaty production that gives them an unstoppable forward momentum.

Skeletal Remains are obviously influenced by the older death metal stalwarts and are equally obviously uninterested in the modern tendency in death metal towards pushing the envelope ever further with greater technicality, dissonance or whatever is flavour of the season, but instead their only desire seems to be to lay down brutal riffs that promote the lost art of headbanging, rather than the modern obsession with chin-stroking artisitic micro-analysis. It may not be the most artistically demanding, but this is exactly my kind of death metal - aggressive, thick-sounding, heavy as fuck, no-nonsense, unpretentious old-school worship that will leave you with a stiff neck and a feeling of having had a good forty-five minute workout.

4/5

US War Metallers Antichrist Siege Machine have a new album out on 19th April.

Preview track "Vanquishing Spirit" sounds great:

A short trailer for Darkthrone's "It Beckons Us All". The track featured on the trailer sounds awesome. I'm stoked for this one!!

Ufomammut have their tenth album due for release on 17th May.

New track "Leeched" is pretty damn good, so should be another terrific album from the Italians.

Hi Ben. Could you add Uganda's Vale of Amonition please?

Yeah, I would probably tag it as soft rock, but AOR is a good call, although I associate that more with the Eighties.

I considered going with soft rock but then noticed that it's a subgenre of pop rock which doesn't seem quite right in this situation.

Priest were certainly capable of writing pop tunes - Take on the World, United and Take These Chains were all stabs at making a dent in the UK pop charts.

I had this on in the car a couple of days ago and the first thing that came to my mind was speed metal. I had always considered Exciter off Stained Class as the first example of speed metal and hadn't thought of it in relation to this before then.

Etoile Filante - Mare tranquillitatis (2024)

Well, this is a bit of a strange one, I must say. Mare tranquillitatis is an album of synth-heavy cosmic black metal, so your first question I would imagine is "So what is so unusual about that?" The strangeness comes from both the sound of the synths, which is of a vintage, 1970's type, typically employed by the likes of Hawkwind on their late Seventies and early Eighties albums and the prominence of said synths in the mix. In fact, for significant portions of the album, the black metal component seems to be acting in support of the synths rather than vice-versa. Yet, somehow the band make this work far better than I would have expected, even though I found it to be a little distracting at times.

The black metal component is reasonable enough, if not exactly earth-shattering, with a decent quota of fiery blasting and the vocals possessing the requisite distant-sounding banshee shrieks which we all expect as a minimum from our atmospheric black metal. But then, where your usual atmo-black album fills out the atmosphere with an additional layer using often quite reedy and thin-sounding synths, Etoile Filante go a whole other way and dollop on the retro-sounding synths in a way that often pushes them as the focus of the tracks. What I personally found especially distracting by this though, is how the synths often brought to mind other songs and set my attention wandering away from the matter at hand. For example, there is a point midway through the opener where the synths sound just like parts of the Queen soundtrack for the Flash Gordon movie and, similarly during the next track, Fragments de Poseidonis - d'après Atlantide de Clark Ashton Smith, they felt identical to the mid-section of Hawkwind's Damnation Alley from their 1977 Quark, Strangeness and Charm album, all of which pulled me out of the current listening experience. Of course, I accept that this is a personal problem and most likely won't be experienced by other listeners and the issue doesn't really arise outside of the first two tracks. Either way, the resultant album has an atmosphere I have not encountered too often in a black metal context. I find most cosmic black metal seeks to convey the frigid coldness of interstellar space and the awe-inspiring effect of sources of unbelievable energy such as stars and black holes within this frozen environment, whereas Etoile Filante seem to be taking a warmer, more human-centric view as expressed by the synth-work, which more evokes man-made environments such as starships or orbitals. The final couple of tracks, "Naufragés de l'océan d'onyx" and "Le vent des éternels" strike a much better balance between synths and black metal and, for me, are the best two tracks on the album and this is the main reason I leave the album in a positive frame of mind, I suspect.

I'm not saying it is by any means, but my main worry with Mare tranquillitatis is that, in the crowded black metal world, the untypical synthwork is a "gimmick" to enable it to stand out from the slew of black metal releases destined to hit our shelves and streaming platforms in 2024. It's certainly got me talking about it for one anyway. I hope this isn't the case and the guys are all-in with this from a purely artisitic viewpoint because even though it sometimes doesn't work entirely, it is still an interesting listen throughout.

3.5/5

Hi Ben, could you add the new Etoile Filante album, Mare tranquillitatis, please?

Yeah, I would probably tag it as soft rock, but AOR is a good call, although I associate that more with the Eighties.

I definitely concur with your heavy metal tagging for Starbreaker.

Stygian Crown - Funeral for a King (2024)

Stygian Crown are a new one on me. They are a five-piece, Los Angeles band playing epic doom metal with twin guitars and a female vocalist, which is a combination I think works very well. Funeral for a King is the band's sophomore full-length, following four years after their self-titled debut. They take their cues from the usual sources, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus and the more recently successful acts like Smoulder and Crypt Sermon. The riffs possess a nice crunchiness in sound, being both chunkily solid and memorably melodic, with the band being unafraid to change into a quicker tempo, "Bushido" and "Beauty and Terror" being particular examples of tracks in a more traditional metal, bordering USPM, rather than doom metal style. The plodding pomposity (in a good way) of the band's titanic epic doom forerunners is the general order of the day, though and they have a solid grasp of what constitutes good epic doom, with a full sound, theatrical songwriting and powerful vocals. Singer Melissa Pinion has a strong voice and is well able to command the space, in true Messiah Marcolin or Rob Lowe style, with a soaring performance that is never threatened by the thick and meaty guitar sound, but which meets it head-on.

There are a couple of interludes in a more stripped-back style that provide a contrast to the ostentatiousness of the band's signature sound. "Let Thy Snares Be Planted" is a short instrumental piece with piano and strings in a classical style and the balladic "Blood Red Eyes", which also features piano and strings, sounds a bit like a track Tarja and Nightwish may have been at home with. All in all, this is a decent album that displays a great understanding of the epic doom genre and which is technically sound with a powerful lead vocalist. As such it is a worthy addition to the recent slew of releases in the resurgent sub-genre and whilst still punching a little below the weight of the true titans, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus and so on, with tracks like "Scourge of the Seven Hills" and "Strait of Massina" I would suggest they are heading in the right direction. Definitely worth your time if you are into the more epic side of doom metal, especially if you are a fan of female vocals in the genre.

4/5

I would have been very surprised to see a Joan Baez cover tagged as metal. Still, stranger things have happened!

Ulcerate are one of those names I see around that are held in very high regards in certain circles, yet who I always run a bit scared of due to their reputation for technicality and dissonance. I see that I rated their "The Destroyers of All" album with a 3.5 about three years ago, but don't remember much about it if I'm being honest, so I may have to give them another go and a new album may be as good a reason as any.

I checked out Rush's 1975 third album "Caress of Steel" this morning & found no trace of metal. It's a progressive hard rock record.

i think it's pretty safe to say that Rush, great band that they were, have never made a metal record. 

NEW DARKTHRONE ANNOUNCED

Titled "It Beckons Us All" it is due for release on 26th April.

Tracklist:

01. Howling Primitive Colonies

02. Eon 3

03. Black Dawn Affiliation

04. And In That Moment I Knew The Answer

05. The Bird People Of Nordland

06. The Heavy Hand

07. The Lone Pines Of The Lost Planet

I've posted this here, because I don't know which clan it will sit in. As Nocturno Culto reportedly says "I have no idea what genre we are, and have really not cared much about it, but I know for sure it's metal."

And that's good enough for me.

Thanks Andi. I'll put them on my list for checking out.

My Top 10 releases for February 2024:

1.Darkspace - Dark Space -II [Atmospheric Black Metal / Drone Metal / Industrial Metal]

2. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos [Death / Funeral Doom Metal]

3. Necrowretch - "Swords of Dajjal" [Black Metal]

4. Contaminated - "Celebratory Beheading" [Death Metal]

5. Fange - Perdition [Industrial Metal / Sludge Metal]

6. The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow [Stoner / Traditional Doom Metal]

7. Obsidian Tongue - The Stone Heart EP [Atmospheric Black Metal]

8. Monovoth - Pleroma Mortem Est [Funeral Doom Metal]

9. Unaussprechlichen Kulten - Häxan Sabaoth [Death Metal]

10. Morbid Saint - Swallowed by Hell [Thrash Metal]

An update to my Top 10 January 2024  releases:

1. Mourning Dawn  - "The Foam of Despair" [Atmospheric Sludge Metal]

2. Departure Chandelier - Satan Soldier of Fortune [Black Metal]

3. Hauntologist - "Hollow" [Atmospheric Black Metal / Post-metal]

4. Narbeleth - "A Pale Crown" [Black Metal]

5. Sovereign - "Altered Realities" [Technical Thrash / Death Metal]

6. Deconsekrated - "Ascension in the Altar of Condemned EP" [Death Metal]

7. Drown in Sulphur - Dark Secrets of the Soul [Deathcore]

8. Inquisition - "Veneration of Medieval Mysticism and Cosmological Violence" [Black Metal]

9. Malist - "Of Scorched Earth" [Black Metal]

10. Lair - "The Hidden Shiv" [Sludge / Doom Metal]

Saxon and Sepulcher drop out.

Monovoth - Pleroma Mortem Est (2024)

Monovoth is the solo project of argentinian multi-instrumentalist, Lucas Wyssbrod, and Pleroma Mortem Est is the sophomore full-length under the banner. It is an album of instrumental funeral doom, comprising six tracks and with an overall runtime of a mere 38 minutes, which is slight indeed for a funeral doom release. In a nutshell that previous sentence sums up the issues that I personally have with this. First off, six tracks for a measly 38 minutes! The funereal and doom-laden atmospheres for top-knotch funeral doom require  expansive build-up and layering with the extensive runtime being a pre-requisite for the sense of an inescapable, soul-crushing doom awaiting all of us at life's end. Secondly, instrumental funeral doom just doesn't work completely for me. With such downbeat and morbid instrumentation as that produced by top-tier funeral doom practitioners, I believe a human connection, such as the wholly human sound of vocals, is an absolute requirement in order to mitigate the hopelessness of the music and to place the human condition, as posited by the funeral doom ethos, into context.

The actual individual pieces here show a lot of potential and it is obvious that Wyssbrod is plenty familiar with the big names in the field, as he unleashes dizzyingly towering chords of immense weight interspersed with passages of self-reflective melancholy, but their brevity and lack of vocals suggests to me a series of musical ideas waiting to be worked up into full pieces and not actually an album of finished work. I really would like to hear these ideas expounded and expanded upon with a truly anguished-sounding vocalist on board because there is really some good stuff here, in seed-like form.

3.5/5

Hi Ben. Yes, sorry it's me again! Could you add argentinian funeral doom act Monovoth please?

Drown in Sulphur - Dark Secrets of the Soul (2024)

Deathcore and I are not the most comfortable of bedfellows, I could count the number of the sub-genre's albums I have heard on the fingers of one hand and I have actually enjoyed even less than that. So I went into Dark Secrets of the Soul expecting little and knowing the sum total of fuck all about the band. Turns out they are an italian, corpse-paint wearing, four-piece and Dark Secrets of the Soul is their sophomore full-length, following 2021's Sulphur Cvlt.

Well, I will just kill off any suspense and say it straight out up front - actually this isn't half bad at all. I know, right. What the hell is up with me? Well it appears that I might actually be a secret deathcore fan and I didn't even know it myself! I think where deathcore wins over other core-related subgenres is within the vocal department, which is where I notoriously struggle when faced with conventional metalcore releases. I don't especially dislike metalcore instrumentally, but the vocals often irritate me intensely, so the inherently more grizzled and guttural vocal requirements of a death metal sub-genre tones down the "screechiness" (for want of a better word) I struggle with so much in metalcore and results in something much more palatable to my ears. Another trick the band have up their sleeves is that they have included a perceptible influence from symphonic black metal, with synths imparting a sense of pomp and circumstance and mitigating some of the harsher elements of the metalcore aspect of the band's sound. Eclipse of the Sun of Eden, for example, has a really noticeable black metal influence from bands like Anorexia Nervosa or Dimmu Borgir that complements their deathly metalcore sound so well.

The band aren't afraid to change gear away from metalcore aggressiveness either with the balladic Lotus, which features the album's best guitar solo, sounding like the second part of Slipknot's "Vermilion" in places including the clean vocals. I'm no expert, but I reckon that despite all these variations from standard deathcore, there is still more than enough of that melodic hyper-aggression present to please the regulars whilst the other influences help to differentiate Drown in Sulphur from the pack and may even draw in newer listeners to the genre, like myself. I like the fact that italian metal bands in general are unafraid to take chances with their music and, for me, in this case, it has paid off big time.

4/5

Edit: I have just read Andi's review and learnt that, indeed, blackened deathcore is a thing, so I will have to check this phenomenon out further. Any further recommendations would be greatly appreciated as this album has intrigued me greatly.

Could you add the new Saturnalia Temple album, Paradigm Call, please Ben?

Will you be submitting anything for April, Ben?

Exhorder - Defectum Omnium (2024) [Sonny's take]

Exhorder, as all good thrash heads know, dropped the highly-regarded Slaughter in the Vatican way back in 1990, followed it up with The Law in '92 and then seemingly dropped off the face of the planet altogether. These two albums, however, lead to Exhorder, for better or for worse, being credited with inventing groove metal. As the band were big mates with Pantera, then this isn't too much of a stretch, although Exhorder's Kyle Thomas is quoted as saying that Pantera deserve all the praise for popularising the form as they worked much harder than his band. Now, in all honesty, I am not the biggest fan of groove metal and only a handful of albums have garnered any decent scores from me with Pantera in particular failing to resonate. So when Exhorder released the groove metal-oriented Mourn the Southern Skies upon their return in 2019 I wasn't particularly impressed, although there were plenty of commentators who took against it even more than myself, cursing it for not being Slaughter in the Vatican.

So here we are five years further down the road and Kyle Thomas and the guys are back with their post-return sophomore, Defectum Omnium, and this time they have long-time Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien on board. Now I don't know if I am just in a particularly good mood at the minute, or if this is a genuine improvement, possibly because of Pat's involvement, but actually this isn't half bad. A genuine energy and enthusiasm seems to ooze from every pore of this release, lighting a fire under the band and allowing them to turn in one of those late career successes that a select few bands are fortunate enough to produce. The album still sits nearer the groove end of the equation, but the riffs are so cool that their inherent grooviness in no way detracts from how absolutely badass they are, aided by a thick guitar tone that highlights their power.

There is also some decent variation in pacing with the surfeit of fast-paced aggressiveness countered by some slower, ominously hulking sections that preface even more fist-to-the-jaw sonic violence. The band are also unafraid to drop in a really catchy groove now and then, "Divide and Conquer" and "Taken by Flames" could both easily be released as singles, such is the catchiness of either track. Look, groove metal is never going to be a genre I salivate over and Defectum Omnium is probably not going to be in my top twenty albums of 2024, but respect where it is due, this has given me far more than I ever expected going into it and it's bloody-red-meat grooves have had me happily nodding along throughout the several listens I have given this so far. Although I absolutely agree that it could do with a little trimming, it is definitely an album I can see me slamming on when I feel that a bit of no-nonsense metal riffing and memorable hooks might lighten up my day.

4/5

Spectral Voice - Sparagmos (2024)

Spectral Voice consists of three of the members of Blood Incantation plus drummer Eli Wendler of Black Curse. The three alternate issuing material with the prog-death wunderkinds, meaning that it has been a full seven years since their previous release, the debut Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, was unleashed.

New album, Sparagmos, continues very much in the vein of the debut with an atmospheric approach to death doom that is derived by incorporating significant influence from funeral doom and atmospheric sludge metal. Containing only four tracks, three of which weigh in around the twelve-minute mark, Spectral Vein declare their intention not to be rushed in their song composition. Indeed, the focus isn't really on riffs or any kind of headbanging material, but rather on the building of doleful and ominous atmospheres designed to elicit an emptional response and impart a melancholy uneasiness in the listener. Of course, there are times when all the steady atmosphere building reaches a climax and then the band shift gear and drop into full-on deathly riff and blasting rhythms mode, dropping the hammer on moments of brutally devastating death metal riffage.

Vocals are provided by Wendler and he handles these duties exceedingly well, with a nice range of styles from gutteral growls to harsher-sounding, sludge-derived howls of fury which feed into the atmosphere-building of the chiming guitar chords and deep-rooted, booming basswork. The production gives the four tracks a nicely foetid and putrid sheen with an echoing, cavernous sound that has served death doom metal so well for the past thirty-five years and which has become the requisite for a certain species of death metal.

Overall, I think this is an album that is worth expending a bit of effort to get to know. Initially I wasn't especially impressed and didn't think that the tracks always held together so well, even though on paper I should be all over this. However, I am now on my sixth or seventh playthrough and the album has started to make much more sense, with the sometimes unsettlingly ominous and funereal atmospheres being the whole point and the contrast of the blasting riffs when they arrive feeling quite hard-earned and so much more rewarding as a result. I now consider myself won over bt Sparagmos' deathly charms.

4/5

You know what, Ben, on reflection it actually contains little to no metal, so ignore my request please. In fact I am going to RYM now to downvote  drone metal.

Interesting list this month, Ben. My first question has got to be "did Daniel really suggest the Equilibrium track?!" I mean, I quite dug it too, surprisingly (it felt very cinematic), but it seems most unlike him.

Some really good stuff on there - I've been praising the Necrowretch album already this month, so that was a great start. Praise the Plague and Sworn then backed that up brilliantly and things were off to a great start. Elsewhere Departure Chandelier and Naglfar were also big hits with me. Some misses were Theophonos (too noisy) and Farsot (too twee) and Bròn are a band I have never got along with, so the war metal of Revenge was well placed as an emetic to remove that bloated feeling I had after Bròn. Final mention is one of my own picks with Paysage d'Hiver. I really wanted to suggest Winter from the same album, but we have had that before. Eintritt in die Sphaeren... is a damn good backup to fall back on though, ain't it?

Good work, my friend and thanks for keeping it interesting.

Hi Vinny, my suggestions for April:

Agressor - "Bloody Corpse" (from "Neverending Destiny", 1990)
Celtic Frost - "The Usurper" (from "To Mega Therion", 1985)
Epidemic - " Insanity Plea" (from "Decameron", 1992)
Municipal Waste - "Waste 'Em All" (from "Waste 'Em All", 2003)
Mutilator - "Brigade of Hate" (from "Immortal Force", 1987)
Sabbat (JPN) - "Satanasword" (from "Karmagmassacre", 2003)
Toxic Holocaust - "War Is Hell" (from "Evil Never Dies", 2003)
Vektor - "Pteropticon" (from "Terminal Redux", 2016)

Hi Daniel, my suggestions for April:

Behemoth - "Here and Beyond" (from "Zos Kia Cultus", 2002)
Cephalic Carnage - "Zuno Gyakusastsu" (from "Lucid Interval", 2002)
Contaminated - "Cosmic Shit Show" (from "Celebratory Beheading", 2024)
Incantation - "Blasphemy" (from "Blasphemy", 2002)
Malevolent Creation - "The Will to Kill" (from "The Will to Kill", 2002)
Verminous - "Salvation by Extermination" (from "Impious Sacrilege", 2003)
Unaussprechlichen Kulten - "Die teufelsbucher" (from "Häxan Sabaoth", 2024)

5th April looks like a good day for us doom and stoner doom fans with new albums from Friends of Hell (God Damned You to Hell), Acid Mammoth (Supersonic Megafauna Collision), Temple of the Fuzz Witch (Apotheosis) and Destroyer of Light (Degradation Years).

Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call

Released 1st March on Listenable Records

Saturnalia Temple are a swedish doom metal trio led by guitarist / vocalist and founding member Tommy Eriksson and featuring a revolving door of bassists and drummers, the most recent of whom, bassist Gottfrid Åhman and drummer Pelle Åhman were long-time members of In Solitude (Pelle as vocalist). The band play a real fundamentalist style of doom metal which uses simple and repetetive, highly distorted stoner doom riffs taken straight from the Wino playbook, bolstered by a forceful bass presence which deliver a strong hypnotic effect upon the listener. The hypnotic riffs are usually accompanied at some point during each track by psych-tinged guitar solos of varying lengths which very much feeds in to a trippy, stoner atmosphere and which should really be accompanied by huge clouds of sweet-smelling herb smoke. All is not hippy-trippy love all round though as Tommy's vocals are derived from black metal tradition with a harsh, cracked, croaking style that is completely at odds with the hypnotic feeling derived from the instrumentation.

And that really is all there is to Paradigm Call. This is not sophisticated stuff, if you want convoluted songwriting, technical showmanship or musical experimentation then look elsewhere because this is for people who know exactly what ST are about and want to partake of that particular bong hit. Everything except the solos is real basic stuff, the production is quite raw and the band's intent to mesmerise the listener into a blissed-out state is obvious from the get-go. I'm all in with this and love the album's effect of blanketing the listener in huge waves of sound, which I find exceedingly relaxing. My only real bugbear is with the numerous fade-outs, a trope I am never a big fan of, much preferring bands to end their tracks properly, but overall it's a big thumbs-up from me.

4/5

I haven't listened to Locrian before, so will have to check this one out.

Obsidian Tongue - The Stone Heart EP (2024)

Released 2nd February (self-released)

I've been a follower of Obsidian Tongue for a decade or so now and am a big fan of their epic atmospheric black metal. The band is made up of multi-instrumentalist Brian Hayter and Raymond Capizzo who is drummer with Falls of Rauros and is Austin Lunn's live drummer with Panopticon. The Stone Heart is a three-track, twenty-minute EP and is their first release since 2020's Volume III.

The band play lush atmospheric black metal that utilises both cleans and harsh, blackened vocals. There has been a post-metal aspect of build-up and release creeping into their sound since their more straightforward early couple of albums and this works exceedingly well as a songwriting decision with more textural variation within tracks. Nowhere is this better illustrated than on the EP's main event, the almost nine-minute second track, Winter Child, which has become an instant favourite.

The title track opener begins in a gothic-like, almost gentle post-punk style with clean vocals before bursting into full-on black metal blast-a-thon with Hayter reverting to the ragged, full-throated shrieks he delivers so well. The sound is filled out with the addition of fairly subtle keyboard work that is well-placed without ever threatening to overwhelm or drag the track into symphonic cheesiness. The aforementioned Winter Child begins in similar vein to the title track, except that the clean-sung opening section has more of a viking metal feel to it and extends for half the track length. However when the duo drop the hammer on this one at midpoint it really cooks and sweeps away all before it in a wave of black metal fury. It possesses the kind of scope of a mid-era Enslaved track, although the duo still have a bit of a way to go to emulate the Norwegian Kings! The EP closes out with a nice enough, if somewhat superfluous, three-minute instrumental piece which would probably sound really good worked into a full song.

Here's hoping that The Stone Heart is merely a place-keeper and that a full-length in similar vein is in the offing without us having to wait another four years.

4/5

Hi Ben, please add the new Obsidian Tongue EP, "The Stone Heart". Thanks in advance.

Here are few of my hidden gems guys:

The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir" (2013) Industrial death metal from Sydney, Australia

Glorior Belli - "Meet Us at the Southern Sign" (2009) French black metal

Gnaw Their Tongues - "Abyss of Longing Throats" (2015) Industrial black metal/noise from Suriname

I checked out the Glorior Belli album this morning and there is indeed plenty to like about it. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was too restrained, almost as if they were holding back and there were times when I was hoping they would just cut loose and let it rip, but it never really happened. Still, the guitar tone and vocals were great and all the requisite black metal atmosphere was all present and correct. But I so desperately wanted to hear a bit of all-out black metal blasting from them, because I think it would sound awesome, particularly as a climax to a couple of the slower, more atmosphere-focussed tracks.

I've never got round to this one, but if the music is as atmospheric as the cover then it should be a treat.

Interestingly, RYM tells me that you rated this release back in December 2017 Sonny. Must have left a deep impression. ;)

To be honest, Daniel, 2017 might as well have been 20 years ago for all that has happened since. But, yes you are probably right, if it was that great I am sure I would have remembered it, or at least remember having heard it. That said, I gave it four stars so it must have appealed on some level. I'm actually really looking forward to checking it out (again) now.

After a slow start getting the melodic stuff and the cybergrind out of the way, things picked up quickly and from track 5 onwards things looked much better with the filthy sound of Cryptworm leading the way. I have never listened to Anal Cunt before, mainly because I always thought they were supposed to be a bit of a joke band, but I actually quite liked this track, so never say never. Excellent stuff from Deicide, Disbelief, Plague of the Fallen and, of course, Neuropath. Good stuff too from Terrorizer, Mongrel, Horrifier, Nihilist and Napalm Death, so plenty of ammunition for further delving into The Horde's archives. The last two, like the first four, left me a bit cold, but overall this was another sterling playlist, so thanks for this, Daniel.