SHORT REVIEWS… collects upcoming releases from the forthcoming month and pursues each one in a paragraph (or two) format. An exercise in inclusivity, this’ll largely speak to records that were able to “sell” me on a second or third look beyond previews. The major goal here is to aid readers/listeners in making their own informed decisions and to discover releases I would otherwise likely not cover, or, have time to cover. Please note that a I’ve left out the “Best of the Month” worthy items because I plan to do full-sized longform reviews for them. Weekly reviews will persist otherwise. If you’d like your upcoming October release to be considered for review this month please submit all materials by October 15th: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com
| ARTIST: | ABSTRACTER |
| TITLE: | Abominion |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 1st |
| LABEL(S): | Sentient Ruin |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Rather than plainly visualize the erosion of post-apocalyptic earth Oakland, California-based blackened death/doom metal quartet Abstracter have grown to embody both the landscape and the abrasive ash-filled skies of true endtyme within their four full-length run since forming in 2010. ‘Abominion’ is that much more of a deeper push into the band’s own style of dissonant black/death metal influenced bestial extreme doom metal sound — Still alight with the atmospheric death metal distemper of ‘Cinereous Incarnate‘ but this time around we’re inarguably served a doomed, slow-killing result. To aid the realization of an even more extreme sound they’ve once again re-staffed the rhythm section, this time with members of Ulthar and Mefitic which makes for an album that is substantially different than the previous while still similar in tone and purpose. Shapeless resonances, gradually revealed industrial visions, and countless layers of swelling guitar thunder ensure ‘Abominion’ persists like an unthinkable alien machine grinding out an obsidian crater. The listening experience is punishing to say the least but sure to impress fans of extreme doom metal and dissonant black and death metal. I’d enjoyed this album just as much as the previous and as such, didn’t find much to really bring to the conversation other than an appreciation for their focus on black/doom tonality.
| ARTIST: | ENSLAVED |
| TITLE: | Caravans to the Outer Worlds |
| TYPE: | EP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 1st |
| LABEL(S): | Nuclear Blast |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
90’s black metal legends, 2000’s prog-black innovators, and 2010’s and beyond progressive metal band Enslaved haven’t attached any particular messaging to these four new tracks, most of which seem to be tracks cut from the ‘Utgard’ (2020) sessions. The main event here is the fiery title track, a piece which should recall the post-‘Isa’ era of the band followed by a song which acts as a sequel to “Ruun” titled “Ruun II – The Epitaph”. As with all Enslaved releases there are plenty of obvious redeeming qualities here but it is the smaller touches which ultimately immerse, such as the distorted organ buzzing beneath the latter mentioned piece. Each of those two songs are given some breathing room by two intermezzo tracks which act as natural buffers to differentiate. Though I am not sure if these pieces are meant to be an addendum to the ‘Utgard’ sessions or a hint of what is coming up for Enslaved the listening experience has been pleasant enough.
| ARTIST: | SCHAVOT |
| TITLE: | Galgenbrok |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 1st |
| LABEL(S): | Void Wanderer Productions, War Productions |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Purposed with a specific invocation of the most spirited columns of 90’s black metal the self-directed enthusiasm of Netherlands-based musician Floris (Asgrauw, Meslamtaea, Sagenland) serves to endear the listener with an nostalgic event which cannot help but bear his own deep fingerprints down its well-molded spine. Schavot is an ode in the truest sense, a celebration of favored classicist forms and resonances stirred directly from the weaver’s own codons with joy rather than nihilistic lament and because of this ‘Galgenbrok’ is inspired and exuberant even within the deepest groove at its darkest turn. Denoting early Emperor, Obtained Enslavement, Ulver as primal forces of inspiration means there is some danger we’ll be served the sort of music that’d gummed up black metal towards the wrong side of Hell back in the late 90’s but Floris‘ own sense for melodic directives ensures a steady stream of rhythm guitar movement engages the listener at all times. This means there is no room for the symphonic black metal circus one might expect from those references and likewise the razor cut attack of ’92-’96 black metal isn’t quite there either, leaving a pleasantly brutal yet palatably beauteous tonal balance to level the experience. Nostalgia provides us a point of detachment from the classics when presented in such a professional manner, those old works were flawed and unbalanced fragments of youth’s deepest hatred, naturalism, and high fantasy whereas a record like ‘Galgenbrok’ is a warmly traditional spot to dwell. Otherwise, a fine work as expected and probably my favorite record from the artist since ‘Gronspech’.
| ARTIST: | NECROTICGOREBEAST |
| TITLE: | Human Deviance Galore |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 1st |
| LABEL(S): | Comatose Music |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Quebecois slamming brutal death metal quartet Necroticgorebeast initially read as the sort of group chasing the biggest, most modern slam spectacle possible just for the sake of it, raising Hell as much as brutal death can without busting at the seams and mutating too far. As I dug into the pit of ‘Human Deviance Galore’ a bit more it dawned on me that the Kraanium and Visceral Bleeding-esque pyrotechnics I’d noted up front are largely relegated to the beefed production values, the heart of this record is actually pretty classic brutal death metal in form and function. Sure, the slams are there and the vocalist has incredible inhale technique but the riffs and songcraft itself are basic in the most satisfying, readable sense. For all the bellowing and machine-gunned beatings served here the grooves lain from song to song on ‘Human Deviance Galore’ never amount to nails on a chalkboard kid noize or tech gimmickry and as a result I’d end up listening to this record far more than I’d initially expected. A solid album to enjoy now, a band to watch out for in the future.
| ARTIST: | TEMPTER’S SACRAMENT |
| TITLE: | Temptation Steel Scourge |
| TYPE: | EP [Cassette] |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 1st |
| LABEL(S): | Invictus Productions |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Evil thrash metal duo Tempter’s Sacrament return a year after the terrifying glint of their ‘Putrid Triumph’ demo tape with this official debut release, a quick ~15 minute blast of three riffing monstrosities and a cover of Morbid Angel‘s “Unholy Blasphemies”. Militant and somewhat Teutonic thrash metal infused riffing drives this intense, high-energy bolt of what I’d consider death metal destruction. Think along the lines of 80’s death metal in general, consider the hardened reap of bands like Vomitor and even a bit of early Brazilian extremism within their deathly attack. This is the perfect way to introduce a band to the world, a pure and relentless riff attack.
| ARTIST: | TRIVIUM |
| TITLE: | In the Court of the Dragon |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Roadrunner Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Website |
Having long ago found their own sweet spot between then-emergent melodic metalcore rhythms and influences from power metal, groove metal, and technical death metal Orlando, Florida-based alternative metal band Trivium deserve some credit for retaining a large mainstream following through notably consistent output, which now spans over twenty years and ten albums, ‘In the Court of the Dragon’ being the tenth. The legacy of this band is largely written by very young, often curiously frustrated fans who’ve clearly discovered heavy music through thier discography (see: Metal-Archives reviews) but this level of needling over the details is hardly warranted. The short version is basically vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy took a little under a decade to reach a proficient level of clean-sung vocal and their music has emphasized fairly rote alternative metal hooks ever since, often presenting them with the bombast of power metal but owing more to the shared space between groups like Disturbed and guitar tones with some fealty to 90’s groove metal and its evolution in the hands of bands like Machine Head. Throw in a bit of the anthemic nature of Arch Enemy and you’re more or less there.
This is, of course, not at all of any interest to me in the slightest beyond some light implementation of melodic death metal riffs which are typically machined together with simple syncopated chug riffs and sluggish grooves. Vocal arrangements are entirely standard for my own taste and rarely take interest in the vast world of harmonization for the sake of creating accessible hooks; Shouts are effective yet dryly presented as the chug riffs which punctuate and obliterate any manner of coloration available to the ear. As far as accessible heavy music is considered, this is still a lesser evil from folks who have reached a high professional standard. What I hear as a listener pushing through all ten of their records is a band quickly realizing what they’d needed to do to keep Trivium as a profession and eventually losing interest in the “art” of extreme music for the sake of salable popular music. This is fine, and ‘In the Court of the Dragon’ is entirely listenable, yet the experience lands soulless and a bit bored with itself.
| ARTIST: | CREEPING DEATH |
| TITLE: | The Edge of Existence |
| TYPE: | EP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | eOne Heavy |
| BUY/STREAM: | Store |
North Texas death metal quintet Creeping Death have been at it for some years now, building their gig into a touring workhorse with a reputation for hardcore influenced 90’s death metal sounds. Though they are undeniably a solid live band they’ve long been inoffensive and generic in terms of songwriting and riffcraft. This persists with ‘The Edge of Existence’ an EP with six solid enough 3-5 minute ‘old school’ death metal influenced songs which bumble along at a basic standard. A shift away from the bombast of 90’s hardcore breaks (excepting the impressive “Doused in Flames”) means we’re largely served a dry plate of meat-and-potatoes death metal. I’m not about to complain about that, these folks are meeting a strong enough standard to appreciate, but the whole jam leaves me indifferent and unenthused. If you are a huge Jungle Rot, Gatecreeper, and Genocide Pact fan I’m sure there is enough mid-paced charm here to get your fix otherwise.
| ARTIST: | PAYDRETZ |
| TITLE: | Chroniques de L’insurrection |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Antiq Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Store |
Paydretz is a western France-based black/folk metal project from members of Wÿntër Ärvń, Belenos and Véhémence which focuses intently upon narration of late 18th century French counter-revolutionary wars (War in the Vendée, Chouannerie) hence the title “Chronicles of the Insurrection’. In terms of romanticized “heroic” theme the pro-Royalist perspective is compelling if only for the seemingly sympathetic, tragedian depiction of lost uprisings. In terms of black/folk metal ‘Chroniques de L’insurrection’ is a ~70 minute opus which intends a thorough depiction of wartime through fluid scenes steeped in the emotional register available to the sub-genre, ensuring both triumphant intentions and (to some degree) the raw obliteration of war. To reach this level of expressivity a broad range of epic guitar melodies is the major tool available but flutes, pianos, spoken pieces, choral work and plenty of hurdy-gurdy keep things freshened as we move from place to place, clash to clash. Much as I enjoyed the melodic core of the experience, which reads as pagan black metal to my ear in general, the elaborate narrative of the album and its reliance on sampled sounds of battle left me a bit frustrated with the constant interruption of war noise. I’ll definitely need to read up in more detail on each of the counter-revolutionary movements described but I’m not sure the music itself has convinced me to join the mindset of their cause just yet.
| ARTIST: | THE OMNIFIC |
| TITLE: | Escapades |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Wild Thing Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
If you love virtuosic bass guitar playing as much as I do this debut full-length from Australian progressive instrumental music trio The Omnific is sure captivate with its oddly ethereal atmosphere and richly toned, note-heavy dual bass interplay. Two bassists, one drummer, and no vocalist but plenty of keyboard/synth blustering around certain pieces the major focus of ‘Escapades’ throughout its ~50 minute run is of course to showcase technique but the end result is largely exciting for its bluntly plunked-out textural variance. Once we’ve kicked past the first couple of opening numbers, set in this sort of “guitar show” mode of performative progressive metal popping off showcase the spaced and weirding funk of the album begins to blossom on “The Labyrinth Chronicles”. Here we meet face to face with the reality that the central melodic definition of these pieces is going to be keyboard shaped and bass refined with the most bombastic, thrilling runs on the album reserved for peripheral, tangential moments. My favorite piece of the lot “Fountainhead” truly achieves a percussive heaviness largely lacking in the overall listen, never fully setting aside the easy progged-out post-music heft of ‘Escapades’ but giving us the hard funk of it as a strong centerpiece. Although I do think they’ve gilded the experience to an unnecessary degree and left it all a bit overlong I’d still found myself returning to this album quite often for the ethereal atmospheric values and, I suppose the sport involved in determining the work separation between the two bassists.
| ARTIST: | SHY, LOW |
| TITLE: | Snake Behind the Sun |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Pelagic Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Another instrumental record but this one is quite different, this latest full-length from from Richmond, Virginia’s Shy, Low transitions between crescendo heavy post-rock highs and harder edged post-metal extremes with impressive ease. Never truly destructive but often nearing the point of late 2000’s Minsk heaviness, ‘Snake Behind the Sun’ is ideally targeted by folks with some love for cinematic instrumental rock music, giant-sized post-hardcore movements and the ethereal headspace of modern forms. It isn’t necessarily my jam but I found myself appreciating their ability to find worthwhile contrast between loud and heavy post-metal buzz and softer, easier lain post-rock moments. “Fata Morgana” and especially “Fulgurations” did the best job of highlighting this dynamic for my own taste. Not the most memorable album out this month but a listening experience bolstered enough by a few tracks to warrant some notable mention.
| ARTIST: | BLOOD RED THRONE |
| TITLE: | Imperial Congregation |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Nuclear Blast |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
A death metal institution in the Kristiansand, Norway area since the late 90’s, the groove metal influenced brutality of Blood Red Throne was considered both modern and novel in the early 2000’s as an moshable alternative to the increasingly sterile and abrasive landscape of post-millennium death metal. Their sound has long offered a haven for folks who are between worlds, holding both the interest of those who’d grown up with the mid-90’s death metal standards and groove metal’s communal post-thrash machismo headspace (Pantera, Meshuggah, etc.) Think of their ten full-lengths as an early alternative to the direction bands like Decapitated would take later on, plenty of groove but still meeting a balls-out brutal death standard. These days their sound appears nostalgic for the early releases from the group, emphasizing the chug-heavy guitar riff focus and brutally precise drumming beyond some very late 90’s grooves. I get that consistency sells and these guys have done a fantastic job developing their sound/style over the years but Blood Red Throne sound like they haven’t budged an inch since ‘Monument of Death’ in 2001 and I’d found it hard to sit through a tenth time around. Excellent bass guitar tone, brilliant and brutal drumming, and I guess just another record from these guys on my part.
| ARTIST: | DESALMADO |
| TITLE: | Mass Mental Devolution |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Gruesome Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
São Paulo, Brazil-based grindcore quartet Desalmado formed in the early 2000’s and definitely sound like it, bursting with the energy of post-Roadrunner Records Napalm Death and spiked with a sort of classic 90’s hardcore/early 2000’s dark hardcore storm n’ shout otherwise. For a fifth full-length within a nearly twenty year span these guys sound truly confident in their destructive capabilities on ‘Mass Mental Devolution’, the performances are far from timid or indecisive as Desalmado attack each groove and grind head on, sounding at their best within bulbous hardcore pieces such as “Unity”. Oppressive, furious, and initially very motivating stuff but as I spun through the full listen a few times the vocals began to grate upon the experience for my taste and without any real hooks or major riffs guiding the experience it’d all blown by without leaving too much of a dent.
| ARTIST: | THE BREATHING PROCESS |
| TITLE: | Labyrinthian |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Unique Leader Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Symphonic blackened deathcore sextet The Breathing Process are nothing if not persistent having been around since the “MySpace was a thing” days of the early 2000’s, eventually rising to a high standard towards the late 2000’s and awkwardly transitioning into the 2010’s with mixed reactions to their second album, ‘Odyssey (Un)Dead’. Most of the band’s line-up was replaced during a nearly decade long hiatus and by 2018 their comeback record, ‘Samsara’, was met by a public far more interested in their admixture of symphonic black metal influences and metalcore influenced death metal. The biggest change between then and now is probably new vocalist Chris Rabideau and a deeper focus on the outsized symphonic/orchestral elements they’ve become known for. Though ‘Labyrinthian’ is nowhere near as sophisticated as say, Fleshgod Apocalypse (or Mordant Rapture for that matter) their use of symphonic arrangements has become the most effective point of interest over the years, and with some impressive variety expressed from song to song. The unfortunate thing is well, the aesthetic of this record is dog-ugly if we consider the cheap photoshop effect applied to the cover art. For an impressive fourth album with such sophisticated innards to reveal ‘Labyrinthian’ reads a bit like a cheap early 2000’s metalcore record when taken at face value.
| ARTIST: | PUTREVORE |
| TITLE: | Miasmal Monstrosity |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 5th |
| LABEL(S): | Xtreem Music |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Formed in the mid-2000’s between Dave Rotten (Xtreem Music, Avulsed, Famishgod) and Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Revolting) with the shared intent on early brutal death metal extremity Putrevore‘s output has been fairly consistent beyond their second full-length ‘Macabre Kingdom’ in 2012. There are no major surprises here on this fourth album beyond some bolder performances from Rotten and altogether bigger, faster, louder increments of change. Fans of Avulsed will appreciate the style here, drawing basic forms and tonal extremes from bands like Rottrevore and Infester to some degree. Johansson‘s compositions are almost universally generic but a nonetheless effective conduit for the outsized vomited charisma of Rotten, whom stands out in an immense way here through impossibly low growls and smart use of multi-layered recording to create an imposing and frankly pretty exciting death metal. If every song here were as on fire as “Terrible End of the Conjurer” and “With Tentacles Adorned” this’d be one of my favorites this month, otherwise there are too many throwaway riffs to hold my attention this time around.
| ARTIST: | SOREEYES |
| TITLE: | Sleep Waves |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Morbid and Miserable Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Not to be confused with pop rock band Sore Eyes this Toledo, Ohio-based solo post-rock/blackgaze project more or less takes us where that sub-genre mashup naturally would, shoegaze song structures often stretched to atmospheric black metal sized cinema. Some semblance of crossover between dark metal and goth rock guitar work renders a few of these pieces an indistinct sentimental tonality, namely “Dead Before Living”, but the experience as a whole doesn’t necessarily justify the lo-fi black metal attunement; As it were, the result is an album from an artist whom is just about on the verge of simply making generic shoegaze/depressive rock with some manner of modern and/or aggressive rhythmic notion. The experience does get more interesting than that, though, as we proceed into the noise of the title track (“Sleep Waves”) in closure and imagine a more experimental, late 80’s Sonic Youth adjacent meander pushing the maudlin affect of Soreeyes out of their shell a bit. Though ‘Sleep Waves’ does little for me I am interested to see what comes next.
| ARTIST: | DEIMLER |
| TITLE: | A Thousand Suns |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Xtreem Music |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
You’ll remember Spanish death metal band Deimler from last year’s ‘Year Zero’ EP, which we’d covered a bit late via Awakening Records, as well as vocalist/guitarist Pako Deimler‘s station in death/doom metal band Famishgod whom released one of the best albums of last month. If you’ve enjoyed the sonic excess of Putrevore nearby but generally prefer the Finnish/Swedish realm of death metal beyond 1991 ‘A Thousand Suns’ should prove somewhat impressive. Eerie guitar melodies, ear-to-ear vocal excess, and a big off-kilter buzzsaw guitar tone lead the charge which should catch the ears of post-millennium Fleshcrawl and Unleashed fans in terms of riffs. The vocals essentially swallow the nuance of the guitar arrangements here and there isn’t much to begin with in terms of memorable riff or lead work for my own taste. The mix of guttural vocals and surprising hits of semi-melodic solos don’t manage enough heavy lifting for it all to work but there are a few pieces that are spectacular all the same, especially the broken movements of “Nebuchadnezzar”. Not an amazing album but still a loud, brutal good time.
| ARTIST: | BOUND IN FEAR |
| TITLE: | Penance |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Unique Leader Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Exactly how much more extreme can beatdown hardcore get? Surrey, England-based crew Bound in Fear are intent on pushing the limits of the form on this second full-length album, taking the severe aplomb and cold machinery of modern deathcore excess and hammering 3-5 minute beatdown tracks to shape ‘Penance‘ into an unearthly crater of hardcore muscle. Although this effect relies heavily on planet-shattering sound design to deliver, there is no shortage of awe-inspiring hammering going on here and sure, this is a bit oddly gratifying from my point of view — Being old enough to have seen beatdown-core develop prior to the late 90’s and deathcore find its definition in the early 2000’s. I can’t think of a single record I’ve come across slated for release this month that’d shaken loose as much wax from my ears; The sheer punching weight of ‘Penance’ transcends any deathcore boredom on my part by sheer spectacle and the otherwordly “ghostly machine” atmosphere of the record actually adds to the experience. Did they need more than 35 minutes of it chunking around for the album to feel well-stated enough? Probably not, but this one holds up well enough for a ~40 minute run.
| ARTIST: | HATE |
| TITLE: | Rugia |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Metal Blade Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Hate are one of the more memorable death metal bands to have arisen from the Warsaw underground in the early 90’s, having released a string of ‘old school’ anti-Christian brutal death records heavily influenced by Deicide in the late 90’s. With 2005’s ‘Anaclasis: A Haunting Gospel of Malice & Hatred’ they’d arguably found the pathway beyond Behemoth‘s ‘Demigod’ before the band did themselves, incorporating a theatrical black/death metal style which wasn’t so flatly bound to brutal death metal drumming. I discovered the band via ‘Cain’s Way’ (2002) and fell off of their output around ‘Solarflesh: A Gospel of Radiant Divinity’ (2013) as after several line-up changes the original style of the band was long, long gone beyond the often doubled/layered dual vocal style of founding member Sinner. Since ‘Rugia’ is the twelfth album from the artist and features a new line-up we can assume one of two paths have arisen: Pronounced ‘signature’ consistency dependent on the composing artist, or, a sea-change due to dynamics enacted between new membership.
In this case we are still getting variations on what was first seeded back in 2005. In fact I would suggest ‘Rugia’ is a direct follow-up to 2019’s ‘Auric Gates of Veles’ which of course tied directly into the previous record. In this sense missing a few of Hate‘s releases in the past may prove a refreshing return to their sound or give the sensation of having missed out on a few chapters of their legacy. In my own experience I’ve found some great enjoyment in returning to their last decade’s worth of work and getting the bigger picture of Hate‘s progression, which is admittedly steadfast in vision but allowed some oddly colored moments along the way. There are more than a few moments on ‘Rugia’ which’ve proven memorable in the span of several spins, “Awakening the Gods Within” being the most obvious hook and the energetic bluster of “The Wolf Queen”. If you’ve similarly cycled out of your interest in this band over the years, I’d suggest this may be the album to revive some latent interest.
| ARTIST: | SWARM OF SPHERES |
| TITLE: | Brother, Take Five |
| TYPE: | EP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | No Why Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Sludge rock/stoner metal trio Swarm of Spheres hail from Ottawa, Ontario and basically haven’t done shit with this band since 2013 or so when their last EP released. ‘Brother, Take Five’ is proof they’ve still got songs, still jam and are probably better off having taken an extended break. What do they sound like, then? A less shouty, more groovy 90’s -16-, the self-titled Karp album, and how about Hydra Head-era Cavity with a bit more of a stoner rock jam in mind. The combo of “A Heart of Gold & A Face Like Ray Liotta” and “Life is Kyfe” is the sweet spot for my own taste, when they’re rumblin’ on at a good clip the energy is infectious and when things ease into muddier territory later on in the EP I’d found myself skipping back around for the shot in the arm stuff.
| ARTIST: | DYNATRON |
| TITLE: | Origins |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Blood Music |
| BUY/STREAM: | Store |
Hitting his stride within a slickly layered mix of semi-organic cinematic orchestration on this third full-length ‘Origins’ finds Dynatron aka Jeppe Hasseriis injecting his own restless soul into the machine, reimagining synthwave-adjacent music as more than head bopping retro 80’s synth boosted epics. Involved in the Danish death metal scene since the late 90’s within his underrated group Usipian, as well as studio engineering/graphic design work in the years since, it should come as no surprise that this expressive-yet-nostalgic side of the artist has been massively popular by comparison. Out of context with Dynatron‘s established style ‘Origins’ is decidedly ethereal, a walking-paced exploratory experience which (like ‘Aeternus’ before it) sidesteps technicolor horror and aggressive, heartbeat-raising movement for the sake of painting a more introspective picture for the listener. As we reach for “The Portal” during the first third of the album the album takes a slight refrain before becoming fully anchored in the romanticism of reverb-heavy 80’s drum-machine beats. We aren’t running towards a new world but discovering it via a trail of asteroids preceding descent, arriving at a floating pace without having to vibe check for a moment of it. ‘Origins’ is instantly inviting and warmly resonant from the first piece though I figure the slow dance of it all might demand more chill than the average elektro thump-head is looking for. The admixture of 80’s synth glossiness and introspective purposing makes for an odd jewel to palm for my own taste, one which I’ve enjoyed more with each listen.
| ARTIST: | SHE SAID DESTROY |
| TITLE: | Succession |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Mas-Kina Recordings |
| BUY/STREAM: | Store |
Despite the triggers you’re getting from the album art, nope, this isn’t an emo record or an alternative metal record I’ve reviewed against my better judgement but instead a somewhat random “comeback” album from a notoriously difficult to classify Norwegian progressive death metal band who’d released two obscure albums back in the late 2000’s. The easiest way to describe ‘Succession’ is basically an expanded take on what they were doing in 2012 with the ‘Bleeding Fiction’ EP which bends from darker dissonant movement to angular post-hardcore chops and labyrinthine post-metal. The effect is still a modern, avant-garde form of progressive shout metal. My favorite parts go a bit Sigh to some degree, such as the breaks in “Sharpening the Blade”, but I’d found most of the album challenging and unevenly expressive, chopping into entirely separate emotional tirades for the sake of creating contrast which landed somewhat flat for my own taste.
| ARTIST: | PHANTOM FIRE |
| TITLE: | The Bust of Beelzebub |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 22nd |
| LABEL(S): | Edged Circle Productions |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Phantom Fire is a black/speed metalpunk duo out of Norway featuring members of stoner metal band Kraków and Gaahls Wyrd whom bring a sort of restless, fuzzed take on what I see as early Voivod and first wave black metal influenced craft without the brutish riffs of party-hard beginners circa the early 80’s. This debut full-length stands in somewhat notable contrast to the style of their debut single “Return of the Goat” which I suppose appeared as more of a typical black/speed metal agent. Distant, a bit weird, and only just holding it all together with an understated sort of charisma all their own, I don’t think this record will catch on for most folks ’til they’ve had a couple of runs through to soak in its fairly quick half hour set; The major highlights for my own taste were “Feed on Fire”, “Sweet Jezebel” and opener “Return of the Goat”. The only truly weak moments in the mix involved slow-building yet inconsequential interludes largely limited to “Pihsrow” and most of “The Ninth Gate”. The listening experience is a bit unevenly paced but the songs that just go hard and go for it end up making the full listen more than worthwhile.
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