SHORT REVIEWS Our first set of June 2022 releases finds us catching up with the end of last month a bit, latching onto a few black metal outliers, and enjoying a sloppy heap of gothic/post-punk. I’ve done my best to grab ahold of the most interesting stuff I come across while still presenting some decent variety here, but it boils down to what sticks or just happens to be worth writing about. If you find something you dig in the lot of ’em, go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase. The arts require your support and/or own contributions. If you’d like your music reviewed send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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Info:
ARTIST:	DRUIDS
TITLE:	Shadow Work
LABEL(S):	Pelagic Records
RELEASE DATE:	June 3rd, 2022

You’d almost have to expect some manner of charming character from a band who’d formed in a place like Pella, Iowa an tourist-friendly, well manicured place best known for the “American dream” that’d been realized by the original Dutch settlers, who’d brought their culture in droves along with, eh, now fleeting agricultural and manufacturing epicenter. That isn’t to say that ‘Shadow Work‘ or any of the four full-lengths from progressive sludge metal act Druids are atypical in the realm of post-‘Crack the Skye‘ cathartic sludge rock but that they’ve a certain sense of sentimentality in their work which is ornately expressed, anticipatory of their own atmospheric viscosity as it builds, and prone to ease the pained tension of their more alt-metal moments (“Hide”) with dreamed-up psychedelic doom spacing, jammed wheeling (“Dance of Skulls”) and a hypnotic sense of self which is not at all as typical as it’ll seem at face value. “Path to R” is going to be the big test of this ideal to start, probably not spaced enough for deeply invested psych-doom heads and perhaps not as cloyingly tuneful for the competitive realm of Mastodon-adjacent tonality yet there is a Venn diagram that -does- end up working out as the album continues to make its case. The balance of heady, chill-heavy groove and anxiety metal is just about perfect here and if you’d liked ‘Monument‘ (2019) but wanted the songcraft to take a bigger leap or two, this is it.

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Info:
ARTIST:	ELECTRIC MOUNTAIN
TITLE:	Valley Giant
LABEL(S):	Electric Valley Records
RELEASE DATE:	May 27th, 2022

Though they’ve got a fairly generic name and little to truly pull folks in at face value (well, beyond that fine-ass Adam Burke cover art) Mexico City-based stoner rock trio Electric Mountain have the goods, fuzz for miles and about ~45 minutes worth of buzzing good-time hustle within this stellar sophomore full-length. Though they’re not going for doom-level heaviness the guitar tone here yet offers an similarly huge textural element to the songcraft, riding in and out of different classic desert rock movements with a loud, sparking sound and plenty of detail-minded accoutrement to keep things interesting in terms of both songcraft and performative value. The effect is admittedly very mid-90’s in terms of stoner rock/metal tonality much of the time just… bigger. Their approach to the ride n’ roll rhythm is classic and it’ll be worth considering if you’ve heard it all before, though I will say that this is just a damned good time in terms of the more ‘traditional’ stoner rock realm with tons of jam-heavy live energy conveyed.

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Info:
ARTIST:	IATT
TITLE:	Magnum Opus
LABEL(S):	Black Lion Records
RELEASE DATE:	May 27th, 2022

The first impression that Iatt makes with their third full-length album is somewhat average ‘kitchen sink’ progressive black metal influenced extreme metal with over-produced, DSP dunked sound. Upon closer inspection it makes sense that this modern, quite melodramatic imitation of modern black/death metal comes from what’d initially been a metalcore project out of Philadelphia. Though there are some interesting rhythmic elements, accomplished musicianship, and some concerted effort to bring in violin, piano, and such to class things up a bit the vocals here are far too grating for my taste. I’d hardly made it through three full listens before ducking out on this one, finding it ambitious yet aggravating. A harsh vocal tone used for the sake of indicating style rather than any particular emotion reads as participation without any real taste applied and this ends up being the greater judgement that’d drive me away from this record — A ‘surface level’ extreme metal album which aims for accessibility, portends a grand convoluted ‘opus’, yet presents fairly rote musical ideas at a bland modern standard. Ha, so, definitely not my thing but hey, fans of Rivers of Nihil and Black Crown Initiate who’d like a bit more fiddly-dee Ihsahn (alternately, Enslaved) style eccentricity to balance out that sort of prog-death lite gig will do well to check out ‘Magnum Opus‘.

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Info:
ARTIST:	LUNAR CHALICE
TITLE:	Transcendentia: The Shadow Pilgrimage
LABEL(S):	Iron Bonehead Productions
RELEASE DATE:	June 1st, 2022

Though they’ve shown a strong bit of personality at the outset (“Calix Cum Velum”) of this fine German black metal debut Lunar Chalice resort to some fairly standard occult and/or orthodox modes within the bulk of the tracklist, a series of fairly involved 6-7 minute pieces which intensify as the record rolls on, creating a dry and droning experience with a few notable bursts of creativity along the way. Fans of earlier Balmog and some of the band members’ related projects (Malefica, Sacreligious Rite) will appreciate the use of monastic baritone vocals and middling pace to develop atmosphere and personae which is certainly not unheard of in their realm but may be enlightening for folks who don’t know where to start with nowadays German black metal. I’d especially appreciated the strong guitar tone and supplemental bass presence, the two providing an considerable spine for this album to hang upon.

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Info:
ARTIST:	HAGATHORN
TITLE:	Björndansen
LABEL(S):	Nordvis Produktion
RELEASE DATE:	June 3rd, 2022

Maine-based folk artist Hagathorn presents an interesting, if not slightly confusing prospect in his connection made between the inspiration of nature, the suggested historic farm where he lives, and distinctly Scandinavian folk music. There are such rich North American folk music traditions to work with that I’d not entirely understood the intent of this project to start, I assume the artist is either Scandinavian to some degree or, simply influenced by a faraway land and its music. Works tied to seasons, flora, and the harvest traditions of Sweden do eventually begin to make sense of their intention to hold on tight to the magic of old Nordic melodies and unique instrumentation, making for quite beautiful and always enchanting instrumental folk pieces. Though rarely virtuosic or particularly exciting all of ‘Björndansen‘ presents itself as well-stated and evocative of highly sentimental scenery. The first set of pieces set their scene but perhaps overstate it to some degree, especially when reaching into the 5-6 minute range with the pacing having been constant for a solid fifteen minutes before the jangling rouse of “Polska från Hälleforsnäs” wakes us into a larger and more present open space. The experience most often finds a sonorous, or, at least serious tonality despite a few charming pieces that crop up along the way (“Stures Schottis”), perhaps hitting a natural point of peaking resonance with closer “Hvittenland” and presents solid enough argument that this’d have to be an album for a certain mood, something for those needing a bit of uncomplicated transport to another time and place.

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Info:
ARTIST:	WRANG
TITLE:	De vaendrig
LABEL(S):	Dominance of Darkness, Tour de Garde Records
RELEASE DATE:	June 3rd, 2022

Utrecht-borne and I believe now Finland-based black metal trio Wrang have quickly graced us with a second full-length, this one largely concerned with the pronounced duality of our times as they suggest the horror of living and the natural pessimistic, ideally nihilistic, attitude resultant will inevitably be contorted by personal bouts of hope (lest ye are a sociopath, eh) pulling the purpose of every individual in various directions. It is a good place to start but the focus of the album isn’t so linear, in fact the major takeaway from spending quite a lot of time with ‘De vaendrig‘ is just how eclectic it manages to be between raw yet thoughtfully melodic pieces, brutally socked-out heaviness, and sort of Taake-esque blackened rollers which suggest both a proper modern nederlander black metal spiritus and some influence from the differently adventurous Scandinavian aspect around today. “Jachttijd” is the real point of rapturous activation to start as the larger ideal explored on the album is justified in distinct parts therein. We get folkish melodies, the rocking aplomb of post-Carpathian Forest debut black metal and various dark underground currents in various modes. There are yet several memorable songs here to pick through otherwise, my favorite being the sword-swinging rally of “Bestevaer” paired with the sort of on the same thread “Afgunst”. The drum levels could be tweaked a bit and the bass tone could be more defined for the sake of a very active performance springing about but, otherwise this has been one of the stronger, certainly most spirited black metal records I’ve heard in June thus far.

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Info:
ARTIST:	CRUCIFIER
TITLE:	Say Your Prayers [EP]
LABEL(S):	Iron Bonehead Productions
RELEASE DATE:	June 1st, 2022

Pennsylvania-borne death metal project Crucifier spent most of the 90’s looking for like-minded and compatible crew enough to pull off Cazz Grant‘s vision of what most would consider blackened death today, a brutal sound that’d been keen enough to showcase clear influences from thrash, doom, and traditional heavy metal. Once they’d hit the 2000’s they’d finally managed a record (‘Stronger Than Passing Time‘, 2003) and likely thanks to Grant‘s involvement in Grand Belial’s Key you’d start to see more folks trickling in and rediscovering their old demos and whatnot; I’d been a fan based off of what I believe was a bootleg demo compilation CD that I’d been gifted years ago but hadn’t bothered with any of their material in the 2000’s before checking this EP out. Their sound today isn’t so different beyond the vocals no longer being guttural, or Pillard-esque I guess, now landing somewhere between early Deceased‘s horror narration and the more maximal, lo-fi bludgeon of ‘Thy Sulfur Throne on High‘ (2018). Definitely strikes upon a more ‘hateful death metal grandpa’ style of garage death here with a strong tuneful quality to it which I think folks familiar with their 90’s material will approve of and see some meaningful correlation with. I’d like to see a lot more death metal captured in this way, an honest ‘live in studio’ feeling which is a thousand times more ‘old school’ USDM than most of what gets tagged as such today.

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Info:
ARTIST:	BERATOR
TITLE:	Elysian Inferno [EP]
LABEL(S):	Dark Descent Records
RELEASE DATE:	June 10th, 2022

From what I recall Berator was initially formed between folks who’d played in various Atlanta area groups before relocating to Chicago, and now feature folks whom have some fairly stacked resumes as far as Illinois black/death metal crews go. You may possibly remember I’d covered their ‘R.A.I.D.S.‘ demo tape back in 2018 wherein I’d appreciated their death metal leaning, riff-heavy style of bestial black/death metal. Their balance of ferality and coherent, commanding riffcraft is the major reason to show up for this one though I’m not sure it’d stood out for my own taste beyond an expected level of attack for this style of extreme metal. “Warlust” fires off in an energizing way, “Onslaught to Absolution” is a prime feature of their rhythm guitar cult growing, the energy and the violence is entirely there but they’re not yet hitting me with anything on the level of say, Prosanctus Inferi, in terms of compositional quality. Art direction is perfect, production is voluminous and imposing, everything clicks here just not in a standout way.

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Info:
ARTIST:	KARDASHEV
TITLE:	Liminal Rite
LABEL(S):	Metal Blade Records
RELEASE DATE:	June 11th, 2022

There was no way I could approach this album on peaceful terms. I was already dreading my time with a progressive deathcore/post-metal band touting their sound as “deathgaze”, the (not cool) version of Hell’s waiting room muzak by description alone, and the absolutely off-putting spoken word introduction to the album didn’t help first impressions. I’d nonetheless settled in and gave it a chance, finding a group capably folding progressive metal tropes with a modern atmospheric rock approach. So beyond style points, we have an hour of grief’s release to unpack in terms of the greater passage of ‘Liminal Rite‘ wherein Kardashev‘s purpose seems to be putting to rest any nagging regret and demons of the past, in this sense they’re not exactly breaking ground but they are presenting some seemingly earnest reasons to present such high melodrama music with a bit of a dark twist. The full listen and the lyrics come across self-involved at times but the intent seems to be the opposite based on what I’ve read thus far.

The subtleties, the bits pinned beneath typical run-on choruses and dry post-rock washes, are where these folks make their most compelling case for connective popular heavy rock/’metal’-adjacent music but at no point does this satisfy the textural requirements for extreme metal (from my point of view) beyond somewhat canned growling and use of double-bass drumming. The drums have an distracting quality to their sound design, a too-crisp to the point of artificial render which leaves all bass resonances to the bass guitar itself, making for a muddy displaced bass presence and altogether strangely clattering din when the extremes of Kardashev‘s sound are stretched. Fans of newer Fallujah, Disillusion and Allegaeon might potentially appreciate some of these elements but the vocals and lack of substantial riffcraft and chunky “heaviness” will still likely be an hurtle to hop. Though I could look past this not at all being my thing in the slightest, I’d not found the ‘meat’ of the songcraft to yield any particularly fascinating or memorable result.

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Info:
ARTIST:	BARON FANTÔME
TITLE:	La Nuit Fantastique [Vinyl]
LABEL(S):	Throatruiner Records
RELEASE DATE:	June 3rd, 2022

Remastered for vinyl and with updated cover art this debut from Grenoble-based gothic rock duo Baron Fantôme receives a bit of an upgrade about eight months after its CD and digital release. Formed between members of underrated black metallic noise rock/punk group Satan, black/doom project St. Barthelemy’s Temple and experimental/neofolk psychwave project Bière Noire this brand of gloomy, fairly mid-paced gothic post-punk/coldwave is relatively normal compared to their other projects in terms of style and the production is quite simple with the same general host of effects used for each piece. At ~34 minutes this steady approach does begin to overstay its welcome as the middle three songs (“Journal de Voleur” through “Les Statues Meurent Aussi”) are the longest, perhaps slowest to trudge through on each full listen. The last third of the album features the most variety and for my own taste it’d have paid off well to spread the interest around the record a bit.

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Info:
ARTIST:	NIHIL NIHIL NIHIL
TITLE:	Things Fall Apart As They Shall
LABEL(S):	Caligari Records
RELEASE DATE:	June 16th, 2022

This debut EP from Berlin-based duo Nihil Nihil Nihil (not to be confused with Berlin neofolk act Nihil Nihil) is tuneful and engaging right out the gates, having taken a definite goth rock hook-enjoyer tip rather than the usual droning revivalist post-punk. “Further Inwards” initially storms in perhaps more brusque and spurned than Rope Sect but very much in that realm of disaffected and extra-sentient musician focusing on a very simple task. Complex rhythms arise quickly and though the sophistication of these songs does rely on classic tropes their effect is appropriately intoxicating, and to the point of a very easily repeated glom of memorable songs. The bass guitar tone on “Dance the End” is fantastically foreboding, a dark and thumping presence that rattles beneath the piece as if chained but still grooving to the morbid surf rock hook that dominates the song. This’d been an easy sell for me the moment that first wipeout hit but the distraught, guitar driven movements of “Abysmal Rising” was likewise a strong pull back for more listens beyond the just fine The Chameleons cover that finishes the event off. Whereas a lot of goth-ass post-punk revival projects are fun on a whim this act appears to have some serious edge on most in terms of songcraft and just nailing a simple sometimes tortured, sometimes soulless rock song.

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Info:
ARTIST:	WĘDROWCY~TUŁACZE~ZBIEGI
TITLE:	Trzy Siostry [EP]
LABEL(S):	Devoted Art Propaganda, Malignant Voices
RELEASE DATE:	June 15th, 2022

An experimental, passionately estranged and sometimes danceable anti-art rock project which bears a certain post-punk thread wędrowcy~tułacze~zbiegi is a side gig from folks you’ll ideally recognize as members of some of the best avant-garde black metal acts out of Poland these last ten or so years (Furia, Odraza, etc.). This ‘Three Sisters‘ EP collects three songs which align in devotional and obsessive mood, reaching a peak moment of irreligious nonchalance within “Druga Siostra Jest Nimi Wszystkimi” yet finding a satisfyingly bopped electronic rock nausea on “Raz, Dwa, Trzy Siostry” and “Pierwsza Siostra”. Alien curses, drugged experiments, imaginative and limitless anti-music, however you’d like to classify it the effect of listening is surreal and especially if we consider no two records from the band are directly similar in style, they’ve simply worked from a new point of inspiration from each release since forming somewhere around ~2013. This time around the endtyme must be on their mind(s) since the clock is always running out on these pieces as a constant, and at times maddening, ticking plays us in and out of the ~20 minute EP in a disaffected state.

http://www.d-a-p.org/

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