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 November release(s) to be considered for review next month please submit all materials by November 12th: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com
| ARTIST: | KOWLOON WALLED CITY |
| TITLE: | Piecework |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 8th |
| LABEL(S): | Neurot Recordings, Gilead Media |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Having had a sleepy, just kinda alright year in terms of noise rock-adjacent music the two big pick-ups of the year thus far happened to land in the first week of October, starting with Bummer‘s blank faced and dry-socketed bark fest ‘Dead Horse’ and this long awaited fourth album from Bay Area noise/sludge rock quartet Kowloon Walled City. Though it has been six years since their last record this style of music is rare enough that we can still consider their brand of slowcore-infused and pensive to a fault post-metallic noise rock at the top of its respective game. ‘Piecework’ is a quietly miserable thing to witness, a record which the unfeeling elite sector of rock journalism can’t help but praise for the dead air between spikes of action, often missing the hammer of hesitation and tempered reaction which makes it compelling experience. Slow-bobbing, existentially unfulfilled rhythms a la Worm Ouroboros are more-or-less consistent throughout the entire record with varying counts and wonky crystal-plucked clean guitar tones directing these surrealistic, shambling-slow drives towards an imposing if not too often hesitant post-doom metal meets post-hardcore at 33 RPM atmospheric. The variation is so subtle and the album so short that it’ll be hard to pick a side of the fence between overconfident variations on a theme and/or a stunningly sparing study of one very specific mood. In this sense I’d figured this sensorial limbo was likely the desired effect, I can (and do) appreciate the discomfort.
| ARTIST: | CRYSTAL COFFIN |
| TITLE: | The Starway Eternal |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | A Beast in the Field |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Crystal Coffin is a melodic black metal trio based out of Vancouver, British Colombia since 2017 and thus far their visual design and lyrical themes have centered around their own brand of (mostly) Ukrainian historical fantasy fiction. ‘The Starway Eternal’ seems to be a concept album telling the story of a scientist at Chernobyl discovering a portal to another world, which was closed behind her during the infamous meltdown at the power plant. The digital illustrations from guitarist/keyboardist Lenkyn Ostapovich are not typical fare for this kind of music and while this is not a slight for my own taste, and it fits the mumbling space-synth girded slow burn of Crystal Coffin‘s songwriting, it isn’t the best representation of the feeling and dynamic “color” of ‘The Starway Eternal’. The “melodic” side of black metal addressed here is perhaps to indicate the type of driving guitar progressions and their upturned modern melodeath push which dominate the landscape of the album, in terms of classic melodic black metal we’re far from it here apart from mid-paced double bass drumming and rasped vocals. That said fans of the more atmospheric side of bands like Wormwood and Netherbird will appreciate the subtle glow of this album almost immediately. The full listen is somewhat uneventful for my own taste but not a bad spin overall.
| ARTIST: | UPON STONE |
| TITLE: | Where Wild Sorrows Grow |
| TYPE: | EP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Creator-Destructor |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Upon Stone is a melodic death metal project from members of Vaelmyst, Vamachara, and Dead Heat which represent an interesting spectrum of modern hardcore, throwback crossover, and melodeath between ’em. This four song debut EP is notable primarily for its paper-shredding and hollowed out circa ’92 Swedish melodic death metal guitar tone which gives a strong hint of what the sub-genre was developing prior to 1994. Think of it as a bit of ‘Lunar Strain’-era In Flames aesthetics from a band that doesn’t try to avoid some of the tropes arisen from the melodic metalcore boon in the early-to-mid 2000’s. If they were a bit more lost in the moment and crafting something a markedly neoclassical in its bones-level inspiration I think I’d be fully on board with this sound. I can already imagine the band making room for dated alt-metal hooks rather than emphasizing the fine maze of riffs and austere atmosphere this sort of music does best but at the moment this EP is a solid full listen with a keenly twisted bout of nostalgia backing the experience.
| ARTIST: | STORMGREY |
| TITLE: | DNA of Chaos |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 15th |
| LABEL(S): | Great Dane Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Stormgrey is a mid-paced thrashing death metal band from Vilnius, Lithuania whom feature some of the earlier alumni from their country’s deep underground death metal sphere in the early 90’s between folks from Dissection, Conscious Rot, Anomaly and Burying Place. Though their roots run deep into the wild and largely forgotten realms of old school death metal this second full-length album from the group, ‘DNA of Chaos’, doesn’t attempt to sound naïve or anything less than polished on this fairly heavy groove-focused follow-up to their 2015 debut. Though “Poisoned Light” reprises some of the Obituary/Jungle Rot style hardcore-heavy groove which was prominent on the prior record most of this one chunks along without an abundance of mosh metal riffs. The band name sounds like a power metal group, the album art looks slightly stretched wide, and the album itself lacks the lead guitar work it needs to really stick beyond simpler groove metal influenced rhythms but I can’t say I’ve any true gripe with the listening experience. If they stuck with a bit more of the thrashed out stuff like on “Grinder For Thy Flesh” I think this record would’ve left a bigger dent in mind.
| ARTIST: | TEMPLE OF SCORN |
| TITLE: | Preliminary Mass |
| TYPE: | Demo |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 21st |
| LABEL(S): | Self-Released |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Align your death metal loving skull with Temple of Scorn quick if you’re keen to the Danish classics, these folks are responsible for some of the most iconic death metal records out of Denmark as members/ex-members of Exmortem, Invocator, Baest, Horned Almighty, and Dawn of Demise. ‘Preliminary Mass’ is a pro introduction by way of the quintet’s collective experience to start, everything about this brief set songs is calculated beyond style, which seems to have been simply set as “pure death metal” aligning with modern old school death metal updates — No doubt their plans for a full-length will have serious bidders after hearing the earth itself shorn in half by the rippling force of this demo. The mix on this thing is absolute thunder between the clean but unmercifully down-tuned clubbing of the bass and the ‘Onward to Golgotha’-esque riffing otherwise, think along the lines of Father Befouled and the first Grave Miasma album and you’re most of the way there.
| ARTIST: | SLOW CRUSH |
| TITLE: | Hush |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 22nd |
| LABEL(S): | Quiet Panic, Church Road |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Belgium-based self-described “abrasive shoegaze” quartet Slow Crush dig a bit deeper than surface level shimmer and gloomy reflections on this sophomore full-length but they haven’t quite had a breakthrough on the level of, say, recent records from Gold in terms of songcraft or hitting upon a major point of distinction. That isn’t necessarily the most interesting angle to approach ‘Hush’ from but they’re almost there as they continue to toy with influences from post-metal, darkwave, and dream pop beyond their debut ‘Aurora’ (2018); The finest example of elevation here being the soft-kicked early highlight “Swoon”. It is the unsettling corner-of-the-ear distemper of their phantom noise insertions, a rare feedback and scraping noise-lite jammed buzz around the edges, which provides something beyond the usual “pretty, pretty drugged” tonality we’re largely served here. The desolate post-rock/crescendo sidling of the guitar work on songs like “Gloom” and “Reve” tend to underserve or interrupt what makes ‘Hush’ a repeatable listen, dampening their weirder wrinkled selves with plainest pinging introspection. If the main dirges of “Hush” and “Swivel” weren’t there to provide some intimacy the middle portion the full listen might’ve been unsalvageable for my own taste but these pieces more than make up for a few lulls (“Lull” included) along the way. The exhaustive string of three six minute pieces beyond the middle portion of ‘Hush’ make for a pear-shaped listen initially but to the right ear this’ll be a blissful stretch of immersion. If Slow Crush‘d cut to the quick and edit down to the stronger resonance of songs like “Blue”, “Swoon”, “Swivel” and the title track I think there is some notable direction to take this sound beyond ‘Hush’. Taken as is, a dreamy suspension and a somewhat average ‘gazer.
| ARTIST: | IN CRUCEM AGERE |
| TITLE: | Calling the Void |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 22nd |
| LABEL(S): | Code666 |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
In Crucem Agere is a modern black metal duo from Vienna, Austria whom appear to carry some considerable influence from German black metal’s avant-garde spectrum incorporating conflicted dual guitar performances which often collapse within their own tandem operations, one guitar presenting shrill discordant fissuring and the other finding a prettier melodic or post-black rhythm to either push away from or create a clash within. This makes for some interesting performances throughout ‘Calling the Void’ but the listening experience is so impressed with its own compositional tunneling that the songs themselves only occasionally develop into something musical or, interesting at all. The title track is nigh traditional as it starts and persists with some momentum but I couldn’t help but find myself reading the riffs themselves as indeterminate, related only by way of placement and a few rock guitar tricks. “The Bicameral” mind nearly reaches a <code>-esque high with a bit of skronk and post-black shimmering but never quite breaks into that progressive next level that seems to be lurking beneath the surface, instead we get a bopping modern rock stomp at the five minute mark. Satisfying as that moment was on each listen, none of ‘Calling the Void’ begged for another run after a few moments distance.
| ARTIST: | DUST MOUNTAIN |
| TITLE: | Hymns for Wilderness |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 22nd |
| LABEL(S): | Svart Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Tampere, Finland-based quintet Dust Mountain offer psychedelic folk rock of the paganistic persuasion, side-stepping the expected “forest folk” affect for a style of heavy psych-tinged movement which is as much a sweat-drenched jam as it is a campfire-lit meeting of minds. Founded in 2016 between Toni Hietamäki (Oranssi Pazuzu) and Henna Hietamäki (Cats of Transnistria) the band also includes members of Hexvessel, Death Hawks and Vuono all of which should intrigue the soil and sky attuned among us. ‘Hymns for Wilderness’ does appear a bit dark and even somewhat sinister in tone due to its late 60’s/early 70’s influenced movement and creeping pace but this is a normal residue of exploring decidedly ancient nature worship. The gloom of Henna Hietamäki‘s vocals certainly provides some of that occult rock feeling on songs like “Margaret” but the full listen offers a broad set of moods via pace and ever-shifting instrumental tonality. “Holy Equinox” has a redemptive empyrean quality, “Village on Fire” has a bit of post-rock lilt by way of mandolin to lift its spirit, and “Apollo” encourages the listener to crane their neck towards the stars as the campfire smoke pours upward. The whole of the listening experience is eclectic, sweetly forbidden in its psychedelic crawl and there isn’t a song here I’d chuck for the sake of easier listening. The only actual criticism I’d offer is the running order, “Harvest Maiden” being an ineffective opener for Side A, missing the chance for a piece like “Apollo” to grip the imagination sooner and present us with full immersion so that the strong hook of “Under My Spell” could work its magic before “Village on Fire” truly breaks the ice. Either way, we eventually get there and the trip is potent regardless of what number comes first, third or last.
| ARTIST: | FIRST FRAGMENT |
| TITLE: | Gloire éternelle |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 29th |
| LABEL(S): | Unique Leader Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Easily one of the most accomplished and jaw-dropping shred heavy progressive death metal records out this year, the second full-length from Longueuil, Quebec-based neoclassicists First Fragment surely ups the ante beyond their 2016 debut. For this second album the vast majority of the material has been written by Phil Tougas (Chthe’ilist, ex-Zealotry, et al.) and this means ‘Gloire éternelle’ is a bit more consistent than its predecessor both in terms of overall tone of presentation and the flow of ideas. Though the record is a ripping-speed guitar album inspired by tech’d up power-thrashers and late 80’s shred guitar albums this doesn’t stop it from being at least a bit musical. The experience is, for my own taste, entirely carried by Augury bassist Dominic Lapointe whom directs the flow and runs circles around the ~72 minute length of the record. The vocal patternation is fine enough, the riffs are just alright, but most people will show up for this record because of the interplay between the two guitarists and Lapointe. By the end of “Sonata En Mi Mineur” I’d gotten the point and though there are even more impressive pieces on the later half of ‘Gloire éternelle’ a bit more editing of the somewhat redundant ~19 minute roll of “In’el” might’ve left a more profound impression.
| ARTIST: | BURIAL |
| TITLE: | Inner Gateways to the Slumbering Equilibrium at the Center of the Cosmos |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 29th |
| LABEL(S): | Everlasting Spew Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Considering my taste in death/doom metal and having plenty of time to warm up to this debut full-length from Burial you’d think ‘Inner Gateways to the Slumbering Equilibrium at the Center of the Cosmos’ would be a shoe-in for my Best of October list but after quite a few patient spins it simply hasn’t stuck. The use of HM-2 distortion isn’t a major issue, in fact the first ~18 minutes of the album impresses with its juxtaposition of punkish Swedish death metal riffs and ultra-patient Krypts-esque death/doom, if anything it recalled bands like Ascended (Finland) and Decomposed (Sweden) upon first impression and that is a very good thing. The riffs themselves are what’d lacked across the board from my perspective despite the sound design and performances being entirely on point. The atmosphere of this record is altogether substantial otherwise but once I hit upon “Dark Womb Of Outern Creation” I couldn’t help but feel like a few of these songs needed more time to bake into more profound statements. As a whole they are a band I’ll remember and this album is certainly up to par, but their songwriting/riffcraft doesn’t stand out in the crowd just yet.
| ARTIST: | INTAGLIO |
| TITLE: | II |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 29th |
| LABEL(S): | Solitude Productions, Vinyl Division |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
This second full-length from Russian atmospheric melodic death/doom metal project Intaglio comes sixteen years beyond the first, which released in 2005 just before they’d disband ’til 2019. The charm of that first album was in its sparse and desolate voicing, a shambling but warm funeral doom metal album that was certainly normative for that era of the artform. Since then they’ve reworked that album into a new version (circa 2020) which makes it a warm and heavily layered death/doom metal album. Naturally their treatment of that debut in retrospect was a hint as to what this second album would sound like, though ‘II’ notably makes use of cello on most of the more distinct pieces herein, which tend towards a mixture of “gothic” clean vocals provided in three registers. Though these performances color things a great deal and the audio/visual aspect of ‘II’ is generally impressive, the lead growls are a bit inconsistent and the production is a bit overblown to the point of being massive without much purpose nor poignance provided. This type of music most often rewards a strengthened attention span but the longer I sat with Intaglio‘s second album the less substantive its gorgeous blustering appeared beyond a few nicely built guitar tones. Don’t get me wrong, though, I didn’t necessarily shut the album off or reach a point of disgust at any point. None of its ~42 minute run resonated beyond the impressively scaled spectacle of it all and I expect some emotional or eerie connection to be presented nakedly when approaching funeral doom metal of any sort.
| ARTIST: | WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS |
| TITLE: | As Hope Valley Burns: Eulogy |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 31st |
| LABEL(S): | Electric Talon Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
This fifth album from Connecticut-based psychedelic doom metal influenced sludge band When the Deadbolt Breaks is actually the second of a two-part concept which releases before the first part (on another record label, Argonauta). This album appears to be a return to the more tumultuous sound of their earlier records which will initially feel like a relic of early 2000’s atmospheric sludge metal before that sub-genre’s organic inflection was lost for post-rock influences. A tighter rhythm section and some tighter control in the vocal department shows maturity beyond those earlier releases otherwise. That said, ‘As Hope Valley Burns: Eulogy’ doesn’t make a stunning first impression in terms of its cleaner vocals which veer between surreal off key jaw-clenching and cleaner deadpan tones when not resorting to full-throated sludge metal shouts. The decaying distortion on most of the bass guitar tracks presents itself as overkill in the mix and this spills over into the album’s lower end in a way that is less than satisfying during extended listening, this is particularly noticeable anytime they’re ringing out slow and a solo begins to rip over the top (see: “God’s Eyes”). We get a variety of interesting modes and sections from When the Deadbolt Breaks but what distinguishes one song from another here tends to be placement rather than specialized or notable moments in terms of songwriting or “hooks”. I’ll withhold final judgment ’til the other half of the experience releases in late November.
| ARTIST: | CRUZIERO |
| TITLE: | Cruziero |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 29th |
| LABEL(S): | Interstellar Smoke Records, Vertebrae, Lunar Seas Records, Cain Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
Cruziero is a stoner/doom metal quartet from Galicia (A Coruña), Spain featuring former and current members of Misty Grey, Barren Fields, and Akouphenom but none of their past resumes directly indicate the style of this self-titled debut. At ~42 minutes and four songs you can bet ‘Cruziero’ is a total jam from a band fully willing to take their time working out 3-5 minute wah-soloing, mountain climbing, and acid rocking runs as they present what is somehow still essentially a psychedelic/stoner doom metal album. Tons of reverb, plenty of guitar effects sloshing everything around, and the hypnotic and extended nature of these songs mean this debut is most impressive for its immersive qualities. One full ride through the ~13 minute standout jam “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” will easily clarify exactly what Cruziero are all about. Acid King and Witch Mountain come to mind otherwise.
| ARTIST: | COFFIN CREEP |
| TITLE: | Voids |
| TYPE: | LP |
| RELEASE DATE: | October 29th |
| LABEL(S): | Grind to Death Records |
| BUY/STREAM: | Bandcamp |
‘Voids’ is the second full-length album from Malmö, Sweden-based plain jane death metal trio Coffin Creep, busting out a circa ’92-sized chunk of Autopsy styled kicks and appearing to have some fun doing so. Mid-paced stuff, simple riffs, skank beats, clean but minimalistic production, and vocals that are growled but enunciated to the point that they are intelligible gives ‘Void’ a somewhat dull Murder Squad or Morbo-esque quality without any considerable spin upon the formula to start. Sitting with the record for a couple of hours yielded better results overall, though they could certainly do more to switch things up in terms of punkish death metal rhythms. The full listen yet meets a decent, nearly above-average standard even if ~53 minutes is far too long for a band that offers so little in terms of variety but, again, none of this was unlistenable or offensive. When I first picked up the record the cover read as if it was a split release between a band named Voids and Coffin Creep, the typeset and stylized title are a bit awkward at a glance.
https://grindtodeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/voids
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