Bunsenburner – Reverie Review

By Dear Hollow

My relationship with Germany’s Bunsenburner grows with each release, and you could say it’s getting pretty serious, like a dark romantasy. I completely ripped third full-length Poise a new one which garnered the ire of mastermind Ben Krahl. But like any hate relationship that borders on masochistic, he saw the light and sent in follow-up Rituals – and our love blossomed. The act’s backbone lies in the fuzz and jam-sesh vibes of stoner metal, but with enough free jazz and crystalline ambiance to kill a full-grown elephant, it embraces the psychedelia in tasteful ways with instrumental prowess.

Reverie, then, is a continued honing of Bunsenburner’s seemingly scattershot influences, reflecting the pedigree of its contributors.1 While the free jazz of Rituals is certainly present, it is anchored by much-improved fuzzy stoner riffage a la Poise, owing a certain “thinking man’s jam sesh” vibe – oxymoronic or not. Reverie simply feels like a better form of Poise altogether, that the riffs are in the spotlight, but all atmospheric elements shine in enacting a psychedelic shimmer that adds to the weight and teleports it otherworldly planes. It’s the best album Bunsenburner has made, but then again, they made a song named after me. So.

Reverie’s best qualities amp the accessibility. The grooves are tighter, the songs shorter to enhance the effect, and there are still riffs I can’t get out of my head since. There are covers aboard Reverie,2 but Bunsenburner’s sound is so organic it could as easily have been original. As always, Bunsenburner has never felt lacking in its entirely instrumental approach, and with a better track formula focusing on organic movements from riff to riff, the stoner-focused track shine (“Gleam of the Goddess,” “Trigger,” “Catfight,” “Bagbak”) with a renewed urgency that hits hard and fast and doesn’t overstay its welcome, not to mention its trademark atmospheric tricks (e.g. flute in “TORO,” nintendocore synth in “Bagbak”). The jam sesh chemistry feels more palpable here, owing to a fuzz that doesn’t overwhelm and a rich rhythmic tapestry that adds to the replay factor. The album is forty-four minutes, with thirteen tracks to its name – only a handful of songs exceed the three-minute mark, which adds to the conciseness and punch.

A stark departure from Poise, Bunsenburner isn’t all ballsy riffs. Experimental moments abound, like the two part “Letting Go (softly)” and “Letting Go (hardly),” which are in essence the same song with all its melodies and motifs but one feels like a crystalline post-rock song and the other a stoner metal riff-fest. Slower chuggy passages abound that add a sludgy swampiness to the sound (“Golden Shower,” “Triskaidekaphobie”), without dragging the sound into stagnancy. Longer tracks (“Ballade Four,” “Triskaidekaphobie”) balance the two approaches in thick stoner riffs that move smoothly into gentle plucking and back again, in places feeling a tad like a more stoner-oriented Hex-era Earth. The influences of classic guitar abuse reminiscent of psychedelic Jimi Hendrix is felt throughout (“Zodiac Shit,” “Golden Shower”), while bluesy southern rock melodic sensibilities rear Gothic and mysterious heads (“Waltz, alone,” “Ballade Four”). The most obvious remnant of Rituals’ free jazz is track eight, “Dear Hollow,” a minute-long gush of wailing noise, warbling synth, and punky blastbeats – obviously and objectively the best track Bunsenburner has ever released and likely ever will.

Bunsenburner continues to hone its skills. While it sacrifices a bit of the holistic cohesion of Rituals with its more riff-centric attack, Reverie feels more a redemption arc of Poise – its pieces, however disjointed they can feel, are done with stunning clarity, organicity, and power. The grooves hit harder, the atmosphere is more complementary, and the experimental flare is palpable without sacrificing the album cohesion. Its cover’s cuddly black metal kitten is playful homage to the act’s jam-seshing chemistry, although its experimental and atmospheric elements are more than meets the ear. Next time, make the song about me a little longer for a higher score, okay? Kisses!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: January 17th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmbientMetal #Bunsenburner #DoomMetal #Earth #FearMyThoughts #FreeJazz #GermanMetal #Jan25 #JimiHendrix #LongDistanceCalling #PostRock #Reverie #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #SludgeMetal #SouthernRock #StonerMetal #Triptykon

Neaera – All is Dust Review

By Dear Hollow

I’m not gonna pretend I’m Neaera’s biggest fan, but I was nonetheless brought hurtling back to my high school self circa 2010, when I came across their 2007 album Armamentarium and bought it on iTunes for $9.99 plus tax. Never mind that Omnicide – Creation Unleashed and Forging the Eclipse were out at that time, not to mention earlier material, but tracks like “Spearheading the Spawn,” “Armamentarium,” and “The Orphaning” were just too good. Well, I guess not good enough, because I never listened to Neaera again except to revisit Armamentarium. Until now.

I’ve heard Germany’s Neaera described as “what Heaven Shall Burn should have been” like ten years ago, but I’ve never quite understood that. Imagine twelve tracks of “Endzeit” from Iconoclast with slight variations and you’ve got Neaera. It’s that fusion of melodic death metal and metalcore with a penchant for violence and riffs that characterize your favorite straight-edge divine arsonist vegans and German metalcore at large.1 Since 2004, including a hiatus between 2015 and 2018, Neaera has honed its craft: walls of down-tuned tremolo, chunky breakdowns, warlike drums, and Benjamin Hilleke’s trademark shrieks. For eighth full-length All is Dust, it’s business as usual – however you choose to interpret that.

Pulverizing riffs are the name of Neaera’s game, so if you come with expectations of complete sonic melodeath/core saturation, you will not be disappointed. Opener “Antidote to Faith” is exactly what you can expect with All is Dust, with shredding down-tuned tremolo guiding the proceedings with slight melodic edge, the drums dancing from thrash-inspired speed and blackened blastbeats, while vocals vary from trademark shrieks, heavy barks, and growls. All is Dust is markedly rawer than its predecessors, adding a nice viciousness to tracks like the bouncy “Swords Unsheathed” and a greater emphasis on breakneck chugging and wild heart-wrenching melody in “Per Aspera.” “Edifier” is perhaps the best track here, recalling the act’s history with a hurricane of blasting riffs and groovy rhythms, while follow-up “In Vain” is a tastefully morose affair – the ruin after the storm. Like much of German metalcore, breakdowns are much more of a background element that rarely capitalizes, but adds a nice bite to tracks like “Per Aspera” and “Dividers.”

The main problem, especially compared to the act’s history, is that All is Dust’s rawer production by and large does little for Neaera’s generally one-trick pony Heaven Shall Burn worship. While Armamentarium worked well in razor-sharp precision and bludgeoning hugeness, both are lost in much of the proceedings herein, as the act’s composition formula involves building upon a single riff. Tracks like “Pacifier” and “All is Dust” feel both sloppy and lame, more varied and formidable vocals largely lost in the same-sounding muck. Another casualty, track lengths fall between the four- and five-minute range, which gives further breadth to tracks like the brutal “Edifier” but feels painfully long in “Pacifier” and “Render Fear Powerless” due to lack of direction. Furthermore, while closers “Dividers” and “Into the Hollow”2 attempt the brutality and breath attempt, largely fallen short compared to “Edifier” and “In Vain.” Ultimately, Neaera’s approach has not changed a bit in seventeen years, so those looking for movement and challenge in today’s music will be sorely disappointed.

Neaera’s “don’t fix what ain’t broken” approach has worked for its eight full-lengths and nearly three decades of existence, but All is Dust becomes a chore in its monotony. Yes, the wall-of-sound riffs are still a pleasant surprise in tracks like “Swords Unsheathed” and “Edifier,” and Hilleke’s vocals are more pronounced and rich throughout, but the muddier production and weaker bombast prove difficult to overcome – robbing the album’s teeth. Armamentarium is a return listen for me nearly constantly, but for the newest incarnation of Neaera, All is Dust is by and large a dirty disappointment.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: neaera.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/neaeraofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 28th, 2024

#20 #2024 #AllIsDust #BlackenedMetalcore #Caliban #FearMyThoughts #GermanMetal #HeavenShallBurn_ #Jun24 #MachinemadeGod #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Metalcore #Neaera #Review #Reviews