SHORT REVIEWS Our second crack at a handful of January 2022 releases find us knee-deep in some of the more anticipated and hyped releases of the month alongside some true outliers. In terms of January releases not included here, I’ve reserved ~20 albums which I’ll a closer look and listen in upcoming long-form reviews. If you find something you love in the lot of ’em, go tell the band on social media and support them. If you’d like your music reviewed send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com [Only 2022 releases at this point, please.]

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Info:
ARTIST:	DESCENT
TITLE:	Order of Chaos
LABEL(S):	Redefining Darkness Records, Caligari Records, Brilliant Emperor Records
RELEASE DATE:	January 14th, 2022

If you’re up for one big fuckin’ bonking HM-2 sizzling hardcore influenced n’ blackened death metal record this month make sure it is this second gig from Brisbane’s toughest five-man crew Descent. ‘Order of Chaos‘ is a record intent on sweating the poison out by way of even more hi-fi chug mayhem than their already outraged 2018 debut and, I guess I wouldn’t be on board if there wasn’t an electrifying over the top sensibility pushing things away from the mud of that first record. The full half hour balances the heft of classic extremes without relying too much on guitar tone for results, thanks to really fine work from the Ballou/Boatright conspiracy amping things up, and generally landing a punch with each hit while still going somewhere with it. The rotten anxiety of late 90’s/early 2000’s grind-speed hardcore provides the soul inside the extreme metal machine here, so, if you’re not up for a certain darker shade of pit metal lunging it may not be your thing. I’d found just enough old adrenaline and new-school outrage in these eight songs that it all amounted to a great time.

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Info:
ARTIST:	PYMATHON
TITLE:	Entangled Stench
LABEL(S):	Akti Records
RELEASE DATE:	January 3rd, 2022

‘Entangled Stench‘ is the third demo from Turku, Finland-based improvisational thrash metal influenced noise quartet Pymathon. I suppose detangling that sub-genre description is fittingly as complex as the music itself but the general point of interest is perhaps that the connection made between what I’d consider improvised noise punk and the wiry ex-hardcore precision of thrash metal. This concoction will likely always lean more towards the ear of the experimental noise listener by virtue of said ear being trained towards the obnoxious hiss of experimental harsh music, a virtuous degradation reserved only for they who’d accept intentionally broken or fluid release from forms. It’ll be a rude scolding for the speed metal puritan ear and a brutally harsh dissention for all else, much in the same way Oksennus have been in the death metal world. I personally love this idea and appreciate the rotten, scrawling pessimism presented by ‘Entangled Stench‘ though I will ultimately lean a bit conservative in the sense that this idea might carry some extra personal weight if Pymathon went at least a little bit corporate rock and composed at least a third of the album; This will either go a long way towards stronger emphasis on the violent unleash of the improvised sections or, it might trivialize the expressive channel of the undertaking as a whole. As is, the layers of noise atop improvised drum and guitar interplay are the major voice of the project, if we can except the actual vocal leadership on several of these most lucid thrash metal moments, and this translates to me as something akin to the analog scraping horror of Discharge‘s ‘Why?‘, nuked-out in the best possible way. I’m hooked on the idea, the aesthetic and now I guess I just need a few riffs that kill to make it all stick.

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Info:
ARTIST:	POWER PALADIN
TITLE:	With the Magic of Windfyre Steel
LABEL(S):	Atomic Fire Records
RELEASE DATE:	January 7th, 2022

As the more recently incorporated Atomic Fire Records continues to reel in more of Nuclear Blast‘s bigger legacy acts Reykjavík-based power metal sextet Power Paladin offer a decidedly fresh wall of faces on this long in-the-works debut full-length sure to please the Blind Guardian and Helloween-level crowd. ‘With the Magic of Windfyre Steel‘ is surely inspired, beautifully polished and exuberant in its kicking uplift thanks to their taste for ever-soaring melodicism and plenty of not-so hidden bits of fun, such as the theme from The Legend of Zelda featuring as a major part of “Righteous Fury” as they lead into the song’s shred send-off (and did anyone else not see the WWE logo in theirs?). Beyond a few straight up fun moments this is a fairly serious and fully professional modern power metal album with a great sense of its own agility, especially when it comes to vocalist Atli Guðlaugsson whom essentially carries the first half of the album with a high standard. It isn’t until the more aggressive side of the band begins to show, around “Dark Crystal”, that we begin to realize this band intends to meet a certain standard and not push into their own just yet. It is a tough bar to meet and they’ve done so fantastically, but the ‘hook’ of the greater experience fades a bit as Side B grasps at straws figuring out where to go next. Symphonic, neoclassical, and even a touch NWOTHM on “Creatures of the Night” it seems they’re brilliant musicians who could feasibly do anything power-shred related but this doesn’t do much to keep the euphoria of the first half swimming in my head. It all feels great and sounds brilliant, that’ll be the bottom line for most power metal maniacs I know.

https://music.atomicfire-records.com/windfyre

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Info:
ARTIST:	SILENT LEGES INTER ARMA
TITLE:	Ad Plures Ire
LABEL(S):	Band’s BigCartel Shop
RELEASE DATE:	January 14th, 2022

Rostock-borne and always self-directed black metal band Silent Leges Inter Arma return after a decade with their follow-up to a well-received Eisenwald-released self-titled debut, showing some incredible mutation towards maturity and profound presence on ‘Ad Plures Ire‘. It won’t pay any clear dividends to approach this record with more than a notion of what German black metal modernism might entail though I wouldn’t be surprised if a fan of Porta Nigra or Kankar instantly understood the broad-minded high value of expression that this band likewise works with despite their sound being markedly different. Movements herein embrace the tenets of black metal craft but flow at an eased rate, using the momentum of phrase to deliver the cold truth of existence rather than forceful juvenilia to create songs of fluid statement. Black metal with a bit of poetic grace (see: “To Last Forever – Reprise”) and technical acumen applied to a certain level of professionalism typically aims for commercial success but in this case the band remains quietly independent, I cannot help but feel the need to respect the artist and champion this record as a result.

Without any real dependence on the nakedly enraged scourging sounds of the 90’s or dried up post-music tropes Silent Leges Inter Arma take admirable stand apart from the masses. I’d found this release had much to divulge within its intellectual discourse, expressing some wisened compositional hand for melody after such a long gap between works. “The End of the Way” is a fine example of how these unfurling scrolls are read in commanding reveal, with scrambling guitar technique and downward thundering production values creating a dark pool of resonance that is inarguably immersive and pleasantly set beyond the thuggish norms of today. The second half of the album reaches a remarkably meditative high as “To Last Forever”, its piano driven reprise, and especially “Descent to Hell” engage a tragic thread that verges on dark progressivity as it foams ashore. The care taken to create such an easy-flowing purgation beyond Silent Leges Inter Arma‘s debut has paid well in a stunning and decidedly professional experience which I absolutely recommend. Though I’ll give it a bit more time to ferment in mind I don’t think any further paragraphs will bear more than my own excited sputum — I will however suggest that this is one of the best black metal releases of January.

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Info:
ARTIST:	FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY
TITLE:	Oh What the Future Holds
LABEL(S):	Nuclear Blast
RELEASE DATE:	January 14th, 2022

New Jersey deathcore sextet Fit For An Autopsy are one of those bands I’ve definitely seen live over the last ten years by way of their support gigs with various tech-death bands still willing to swing through the pacific northwest but I’m not necessarily familiar or keen enough with the sub-genre to give proper evaluation. In wheeling through their sixth full-length after a few selections from each of their five previous records it is clear they’ve embraced some elements of alternative metal, modern melodic death metal, and some tech-death by proxy; All of which extend their interest beyond the screaming and slamming beginnings of the group back in the early 2010’s. The listening experience from my perspective shifts between miserable atmospherics, mechanical asphyxiation, and almost Deftones-esque dissociation (see: “Two Towers”) depending on the song. I suppose the virtue to be found here is that none of this appears blatantly dumbed-down for the younger/mass audience as most of the rhythms here have some finesse or convoluted percussive quality to admire. ‘Oh What the Future Holds‘ garners the same sort of “I get it, but it isn’t my jam.” response I’ve given since the early 2000’s metalcore boon pushed me out of the chug-chugga pit, but this one isn’t so one-dimensional and seems to aggress upon the listener with some thoughtful intent. I’ll pick it up at the end of the month and see how it hits.

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Info:
ARTIST:	WORM SHEPHERD
TITLE:	Ritual Hymns
LABEL(S):	Unique Leader Records
RELEASE DATE:	January 14th, 2022

Massachusetts-entrenched blackened deathcore crew Worm Shepherd pull off some serious strides into modern black metal theatrics and tech-death enormity on this fine second full-length, wherein they seem more decisive in terms of concept and ready to breach a few of the boundaries their debut ‘In the Wake ov Sol‘ (2020) had outlined. Even if you’re not into the megalithic production values and wild range of vocal techniques featured across the span of ‘Ritual Hymns‘ it’ll be hard not to appreciate the pacing of this record as the usual thousand-BPM rip of their peers is side-stepped for something less anxietous (see: “The Ravens Keep”) and more often. This is still more or less along the lines of ambitious modern groups like Shadow of Intent and Signs of the Swarm in terms of patternation, a sort of ‘progressive’ take on deathcore that isn’t afraid to liberally feature slam’s hardcorish spectacle, but the additional aesthetic elements of big-budget black metal groups (symphonic placement, rasped vocals, mechanical double-bass drumming) help Worm Shepherd stand out in the sea of plain-riffed and overworked deathcore composition. An excellent step up from their debut.

Info:
ARTIST:	CHAOS PERVERSION
TITLE:	Petrified Against the Emanation [EP]
LABEL(S):	Sentient Ruin
RELEASE DATE:	January 21st, 2022

Chaos Perversion is a relatively new cavernous and bestial black/death metal duo largely performed by musician Flauros U. (Black Chaos Perversion, Svadhisthana) with Daniel Hermosilla (Cenotafio) on vocals. This second EP from the band is actually, as far as I can tell, a remaster of their 2019 EP ‘Entangled by the Roots of Death‘ with a new title and new cover art for these 10″ vinyl and cassette versions. Fans of Grave Miasma and Wrathprayer will appreciate the torturous golgothan atmospherics and strong death metal affected riffing throughout the full listen, which extends to about ~20 minutes and flows together naturally. A short but enjoyable listen with an appreciable sense of wandering movement.

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Info:
ARTIST:	AGE OF APOCALYPSE
TITLE:	Grim Wisdom
LABEL(S):	Closed Casket Activities
RELEASE DATE:	January 21st, 2022

New York’s Age of Apocalypse have managed to strike with some great precision a well-protected spot of nostalgia I’ve got for the emotional release of early Life of Agony, the metallic bounding of late 90’s hardcore and its verge upon post-hardcore’s still developing alternative rock hooks. That isn’t to say that they aren’t hard as nails (the The Pit/Audiosiege mix/master helps) or that this stuff is derivative but that their vocalist can carry a seriously alienated tune and still manage to avoid too-obvious commercial rock tropes. Get this guy in front of a decent doom metal band ASAP. They do lose me a bit on “Begging the Reaper” but the full listen is generally cathartic, energizing and easy to pick up for a quick boost now and then. Even if you’ve nothing to do with hardcore/heavy rock nostalgia for a very specific niche fans of Twisting Tongues will likely appreciate ‘Grim Wisdom’ within seconds of the first song.

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Info:
ARTIST:	SALO
TITLE:	From Melmac With Hate
LABEL(S):	Bigoût Records
RELEASE DATE:	January 21st, 2022

French rock trio Salo present a very determined form of garage punk-sped noise rock full of spiraling out of control guitar theatrics, broken tones and drugged rhythms on this debut full-length. If modern noise rock is often too dystopian and dissonant for your taste I think the energetic movement that stretches across ‘From Melmac With Hate‘ should inspire without losing too much of the angular crawl one would expect from a certain action-rocked classification. The press notes mention Thee Oh Sees alongside Metz and I think this is apt enough ’til we start to hit songs like “Tasmanian Tiger (for Nikita)” where the pace slows out of the usual effects-laden jangle and has just enough garage psych flair to feel like something beyond the norm. The usual criticisms apply here in terms of noise rock/garage punk affected records, I could use a bit more variety in both tone and pace as I don’t think this would betray the feeling of the record too drastically.

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Info:
ARTIST:	TORMENTOR TYRANT
TITLE:	Tormentor Tyrant [EP]
LABEL(S):	Everlasting Spew Records
RELEASE DATE:	January 28th, 2022

Finnish death/thrash metal trio Tormentor Tyrant have a lot of great things going for them right out of the gate with this self-titled debut EP. For starters their lyrics appear to imply an ongoing original narrative, they’ve got riffs, and the quality of this recording is entirely professional with a bit of their own brutal-yet-organic timbre in mind. Formed between members of Cataleptic, Solothus and Corpsessed circa 2020 I get the feeling this was a matter of someone having a grip of murder riffs in hand and quickly finding interest amongst friends. That isn’t to say this is a slapdash EP but that ‘Tormentor Tyrant‘ comes together in finest brutal form beyond what you’d expect for a project that is around a year old. Fans of early Deathchain (a la ‘Deathrash Assault‘) and earlier Voidhanger should get this one right off the bat.

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