#MutualAidRequest

UPDATE - Call both Seattle City Atty and King County!

King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion

PHONE: 206-477-1200

EMAIL: prosecuting.attorney@kingcounty.gov

Seattle City Attorney Ann Davidson

206-684-8200

#Seattle #PNW #SPD #AnnDavidson #May24 #LeesaManion

May 24

This day in history:

• 1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
• 1981 – Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.
• 1982 – Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.
• 2019 – Twenty-two students die in a fire in Surat (India).

Births:

• 1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 15 BC – Germanicus, Roman general (d. 19)
• 1990 – Joey Logano, American race car driver

Deaths:

• 2006 – Henry Bumstead, American art director and production designer (b. 1915)
• 1792 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1718)
• 2012 – Klaas Carel Faber, Dutch-German SS officer (b. 1922)

Holidays:

• Lubiri Memorial Day (Buganda)
• *Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian Calendar) and its related observance:*
• Bermuda Day (Bermuda), celebrated on the nearest weekday if May 24 falls on the weekend.

Random Article of the day:

Mitosis

'It's terrorism' — Russia launches one of the heaviest strikes on Kyiv during full-scale war

https://kyivindependent.com/explosions-reported-in-kyiv-amid-russian-drone-attack/

#WarOfAggression #Europa #Ukraine #May24 #army #terrorism #Kyiv #war #Russia #WarCriminal #occupiers #defenders
#перемогаYкраїни

Russia-Ukraine war: Frontline update as of May 24

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-ukraine-war-frontline-update-as-of-1748066976.html

#WarOfAggression #Europa #Ukraine #May24 #army #update #Frontline #war #Russia #WarCriminal #occupiers #defenders
#перемогаYкраїни

There go the fireworks. #VictoriaDay #May24

My kid’s bedtime is 8:30pm but it’s still too bright outside to play with sparklers.

Guess we’re staying up til 10 tonight 😩

#victoriaday #may24 #toronto #parenting #dadlife

Why do so many Canadians still celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria? Ten spurious facts that will help.

https://markarayner.com/ten-spurious-facts-about-victoria-day/

#humor #humour #satire #history #canada #canadian #victoriaday #may24

Haven't heard fireworks yet this weekend. Thank you to the cold rainy weather for that : -)
#ottawa
#may24

#SaveTheDate Join with us on Saturday, #May24 10AM-12PM for our ALL LINCOLN Community-wide, #PorchPickUp #FOODandFUNDS Drive – May’s FOOD FOR ALL. – Funds donations online at http://villageofhopeniagara.org/donate
All May Funds #Donations will be #MATCHED by an anonymous local donor.

#FWakeMay24 #May24 #FWakeYear2023 #FWakeY2023 /\

#FWakeGOP #FWakeRedBlue /\ #FWakeBudLight
#FWakeDisney #FWakeTarget #FWakeTargetCorp /\

Stuck in the Filter: May 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

I thought the onset of summer would mean a total solar beatdown. Instead, it’s brought the rain. Absolutely chucking down rain. But, if you thought that bad weather leads to mercy from me, you’re dead wrong. In fact, I pushed my minions even harder to dredge up as many waterlogged nuggets of notable ore from our perpetually overtaxed filtration system.

And so, as my “staff,” who are definitely paid (don’t look into it) dry off in the industrial-grade wind tunnel, allow me to introduce May’s Filter entries for a public I truly don’t care about at all (don’t look into it). BEHOLD!

Iceberg’s Divisive Defenstrations

Cobra The Impaler // Karma Collision [May 24th, 2024 – Listenable Records]

Belgium’s Cobra The Impaler bill themselves as carrying the torch of classic-era Mastodon, a band hitting so many spectrums of metal comparing one’s music to theirs is a much safer bet than not. Led by primary songwriter and ex-Aborted guitarist Tace DC, the band sit somewhere in the murky grey between progressive and technical modern metal. The aforementioned Mastodon worship is strong here—especially in opener “Magnetic Hex”—although the crystal clean production by Jens Borgren really prevents the use of the term “sludge.” Elsewhere there are prog-metal moments of Virus/Vector-era Haken (“Karma Collision,” “The Fountain”) and some of the relentless, drums-in-front compositions of Gojira (“Karma Collision,” “The Assassins of the Vision”). Vocalist Manuel Remmerie’s also has his work cut out for him, delivering plenty of admirable cleans in both high and low registers alongside full-throated screams and somewhat less effective pitched growls. The instrumental performances here are top-notch, professional in the verse/chorus sections, and continuously—sometimes outstandingly—creative in the free-form bridges. There is some tightening to be done with the accessibility of the choruses—they fall flat against the superior instrumental sections— but there are moments of brilliance and a ton of potential in this five-piece.

Capstan // The Mosaic [May 24th, 2024 – Fearless Records]

Anyone who’s plugged into the post-hardcore scene should know that Florida’s Capstan transcend the—rightfully deserved—vitriol thrown at the style. I don’t think any Fearless band has ever been reviewed here, but Capstan’s latest opus The Mosaic deserves a shoutout to whomever hasn’t run screaming from these halls. Led by vocalist Anthony DeMario—sure to be a divisive figure with his unapologetic pop punk cleans—the band has continuously augmented their Warped-core sound with the mathy guitar noodlings of Chon or Polyphia, and an impressive triple vocalist attack for thick, elaborate harmonies. This album, clocking in at over an hour, doesn’t pull any punches, showcasing trip-hop, breakdown-laced numbers (“Bete Noire”), full throated anthems about self-loathing and heartbreak (“Misery Scene”) and even lighter, crooning ballads (“What Can I Say”). Synergy and professionalism are where the band shine; everything has is slickly produced and the performances—especially those vocals—are whip-smart. Plenty of editing could have been done, but you can tell how much fun the band is having. Anyone with a passing interest or nostalgia for 2000’s post-hardcore should check this out. Plus their drummer plays with traditional grip, and watching a jazz guy slam out breakdowns is pretty rad in my book.

GardensTale’s Dose of Decay

Strychnos // Armageddon Patronage [May 17th, 2024 – Dark Descent Records]

I don’t always check out albums that set the comment section and/or Discord abuzz, but when I do, it rarely results in anything less than interesting. Case in point, the bottomless evil of Strychnos, a Danish outfit that struggled to get off the ground in the early 00’s, eked out a single EP in the 10’s, and suddenly started shitting out heaving platters of malicious black/death since the pandemic. Armageddon Patronage is the second full-length off their new production line, and it brings every horseman along for its deadly ride. War is embodied by the lethal double feature that starts the charge, with swelling riffs battering the unjust to fertilizer. The unflinching and unfeeling brutality of Famine seethes from “Choking Salvation,” and out the beaks of “Pale Black Birds” pours Pestilence with slavering enthusiasm. Frontman Martin Leth Anderson, who also handles bass for Undergang, employs a bellowing growl that encapsulates hopelessness and suffering, and the excellent, malevolent riffs usher an effective aura of utter destruction. Death, however, comes not at the end, but during the doom-laden centerpiece, the despondent “Endless Void Dimension” with its atmospheric Gregorian chanting. I have no qualms becoming a patron to this spiteful chunk of armageddon.

Dear Hollow’s Shtanky Shwamp of Shrieks

Saidan // Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity [May 24th, 2024 – Self-Released]

Saidan do things a little differently. The Nashville duo’s themes rooted in Japanese folklore and the formidable and mysterious yokai in particular, combined with a relentlessly riffy and punk-driven tour-de-force of black metal proportions are always food for thought in the act’s brief and formidable history. Seamlessly transitioning between punk chord progressions and bouncy drums to blastbeats and kvlt tremolo to groovy riffs and rhythms, anchored by Splatterpvnk’s ripping vocals, it never shies away from punishment. However, interwoven with this assault is a distinctly melodic undercurrent that brightens the progressions and gives purpose and a sense of fun – a hyper-melodic black metal act would be jealous. You won’t be able to shake the grooves of “Desecration of a Lustful Illusion,” the symphonic black intensity of “Genocidal Bloodfiend” and “Veins of the Wicked” hit you like a cyclone, and the classic thrash solos and anime-theme-song vibe of “Sick Abducted Purity,” “Visual Kill,” and “Switchblade Paradise” are guaranteed to get your head banging – plus, the interlude “seraphic lullaby” and instrumental closer “suffer” ain’t half bad. Visual Kill is like if Powerglove wrote a black metal album that you could actually take seriously, backed up with the technicality, songwriting chops, and sheer unbridled energy to make it work.

Parfaxitas // Weaver of the Black Moon [May 31st, 2024 – Terratur Possessions]

The minds behind Parfaxitas should need little introduction, although the moniker will likely not ring any bells. Representing three separate scenes and their respective contributions to black metal lore, two American stringsmen from acts Merihem, Suffering Hour, and Manetherean, Icelandic drummer B.E. from Almyrkvi, Sinmara, Slidhr, and Wormlust, and Norwegian vocalist K.R. From Whoredom Rife collide. Weaver of the Black Moon combines the blueprint of second-wave Norwegian black with the obsidian dissonance of Icelandic, and the experimental edge of American acts, making it a tour-de-force of both vicious sound and tortured atmosphere. Dissonance rains down like acid, a backdrop, and shroud of otherworldly sounds that shimmer and crunch in ways that recall both the winding passages of Suffering Hour and the psychedelic rawness of Wormlust simultaneously. Hammered by vicious blastbeats and guided by tortured barks, the guitar and meandering fluid bass guide listeners from untouchable intensity (“Thou Shalt Worship No Other”) to haunting and hypnotic atmosphere (“Ravens of Dispersion”) – stealing the show. Parfaxitas features a whole lot of firepower, culminating in epic closer “Fields of Nightmares,” a crescendo of punishing and otherworldly proportions.

Aseitas // Eden Trough [May 30th, 2024 – Total Dissonance Worship]

After Aseitas’ formidable 2020 album False Peace, which narrowly missed my AOTY’s, the Portland trio is back with another album – which could easily be classified as an EP in its tidy thirty-minute runtime. Eden Trough condenses the lofty and decadent ambition of its predecessor for an album devoted to complete takedown in winding riffs, punishing death metal, and ravaging vocals. From the thick and punishing signature shifts of “Libertine Captor” and “Alabaster Bones,” complete with shifting riffs and a liminal sense of melody, to the more droning and haunting “Break the Neck of Every Beautiful Thing,” to the epic and cosmic psychedelia of ten-minute centerpiece “Tiamat,” Aseitas’ shows its tantalizing and gradual progression to an echelon of indispensable in the world of dissonant death. Offering influences of convulsive mathcore, mammoth post-metal, and unhinged yet intensely calculated technicality, Eden Trough is a must-listen for the long-time fan, as well as proffering a snapshot to the curious of what makes Aseitas so special to begin with.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Progalicious Ponderings

Azure // Fym [May 23rd, 2024 – Self Release]

Are you way into high fantasy and exuberant, progressive albums that reflect that sentiment? If so, look no further than Azure’s third opus, Fym, which over its runtime recounts the tales of a mystical fox’s journey in a frightening and whimsical world. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about an album with such a storybook concept.1 But between Chris Sampson’s vocal navigations that ring as hyper-tenor and dolphin-like (“The Lavender Fox”)2 as they do sullen and heart-wrenching (“Kingdom of Ice and Light,” “Moonrise”), and Galen Stapley’s mystical fretboard wizardry that marries funk chords, soundtrack melodies, and dance-able shred, Azure packs too much sunshine in their prog for me to ignore. And at almost eighty minutes, they pack a lot of it too. However, each run through Fym’s pages finds a new rumbling bass bounce to propel a hop, a new vocal run to twirl my tongue (with notes that I couldn’t possibly hit), or a synthfully sinful refrain to stain my brain matter with happy juice—”The Azdinist // Den of Dawns” or “Agentic State” unite these ideas best—it’s truly a hard album to put down. Combining just about every era of Genesis with the acrobatics of Dream Theater, the play and ambition of the earliest of Pain of Salvation theatrics, and healthy dose of modern bastardizations (check the autotune/pitchshifting on “Doppelgänger”), Azure has made a mighty statement with Fym that I’m still digesting. And with as many inventive synth patches, harmonic vocal layers, and cinematic builds as this rainbow dose of prog pushes, it’ll be quite some time before I’ve made up my mind about it all. So I’ll continue in pieces. Or all at once. Whatever time allows because Fym is just that much fun.

PreHistoric Animals // Finding Love in Strange Places [May 16th, 2024 – Dutch Music Works]

And here we are with, what’s that, another prog concept album? This one’s a little less terrestrial though, featuring healthy infusions of a futuristic space drama and heavy-hitting synthwave doots and bounces. Over the course of their past couple works, PreHistoric Animals has found an ease in comfortable exploration with their King’s X-like tendency to grip with a barbed verse melody or chorus explosion, layered tastefully with harmonic vocal accompaniment and groove-heavy riffs. But, despite that comparison, it’s clear from the opening synth pulse of “The City of My Dreams” and “Living in a World of Bliss” that an electronic and hooky identity that’s caught between Toto and Yes imbues the edges of refrains that stick like honey to vocalist Stefan Altzar’s easy-on-the-ears narrative. Finding Love in Strange Places can get bogged down a touch in its word-driven nature, though, especially on the various interludes and certain longer tracks like “Unbreakable” and “Nothing Has Changed but Everything Is Different.” None of that fluff ever truly interrupts Finding Love’s heartbeat rhythms, which hold a steady if highly syncopated simplicity and form a hi-hat charming vessel that keeps the head nodding in progressive pomp. Oh, and it helps that guitarists Altzar and Daniel Magdic (ex-Pain of Salvation) have studied the slow-burn solo nature of greats like David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Brian May (Queen), with tasteful legato and searing ascensions aiding in earned crescendo at Finding Love’s best moments (“Living in a World of Bliss,” “The Secret of Goodness”). Having reliably churned out confident and catchy works every other years since 2018, PreHistoric Animals fly relatively low in the flock of modern prog, but these space-bound Swedes have earned a likely lifelong aquatic fan at this stage of their growing career. Give Love a chance!

Matrass // Cathedrals [May 17th, 2024 – La Tangente Label]

And, last but not least from my assortment, Matrass hails from France to bring you Cathedrals, which is… yes, you guessed it, another prog concept album! If you’re worried about another album of the synthtastic and 80s prog-themed variety, though, don’t fret about what Matrass brings to the table. Playing closer to post than progressive waters, Cathedrals flitters about dreamy, lounge jazz guitar passages before crushing down with Cult of Luna riffs and Tesseract-inspired, low-end atmospherics. But most important to the groove and cinematic lilt that defines Cathedrals is the methods by which vocalist Clémentine Browne navigates jangling verses with gentle croons and accented, rhythmic spoken word before frying down with screeching and hissing fervor against heavy chord crushes. That talent for establishing and reinforcing mood lands idiosyncratic in the realm of post acts, so her exact methods may not fit the bill for all fans of the rise-and-fall aesthetic the genre offers. And though Matrass remains largely iterative of this mood through its hour-long run, it’s that successful idea of atmosphere that allows peak tracks “Shreds,” “Adrift” (which features Browne on saxophone instead), and “Cathedrals” to conjure such powerful and drifting thoughts in my head. And when you’re in its valleys? Matrass still maintains a textural backdrop that spells high potential for this young act.

Saunders’ Sulfuric Stash

Desolus // System Shock [March 10th, 2024 – Hells Headbangers]

Who’s up for some explosive, throwback thrashy goodness? Although hailing from the States, Desolus take plenty of inspiration from classic German trash titans Kreator, Destruction and Sodom. Throw in classic Dark Angel vibes, a heavy, modern edge and crunchy production job, and the band’s debut System Shock ticks all the boxes for a thrashing great time. This shit is seriously jacked with unhinged, old-school aggression, spitfire riffs and stampeding percussion propelling the album’s ten speed-driven assaults. An utterly deranged, ’80s underground-inspired vocal performance adds further steel-plated authenticity to a retro-minded sound that manages to sound fresh and inspired. Aside from rare moments of slower melodic nuance on the otherwise blistering “Sea of Fire,” and the aptly titled “Interlude” providing a handy breather, Desolus crank speed and intensity to the max, rarely breaking from their relentless stride. The opening one-two salvo of “System Shock” and bonkers lunacy of “From Man to Machine” set a savage tone and gritty platform from which Desolus launch assault after assault of high-octane thrash mania. “Cures of the Technomancer” is an absolute riff beast with groove and speed for days, while “The Invasion Begins” deftly puts you in a false sense of bouncy melodic security before jamming the afterburners into a typically ferocious attack. Exuberant, nasty stuff.

Terminal Nation // Echoes of the Devil’s Den [May 3rd, 2024 – 20 Buck Spin]

The second album from Pittsburgh bruisers Terminal Nation hits with sledgehammer force, obliterating any semblance of subtlety in favor of an extra beefy, in-your-face hybrid of death metal and hardcore. Echoes of the Devil’s Den features a searing, politically charged and seriously pissed-off bite. High-profile guest vocal slots seamlessly blend into the vicious attack, including strong turns from Integrity‘s Dwid Hellion (“Release the Serpents”), Killswitch Engage‘s Jesse Leach (“Merchants of Bloodshed”) and Nails frontman Todd Jones. Jones features on “Written by the Victor,” a vicious tune that harnesses thick, neck-wrecking grooves and punishing, doom-laden death grooves. The album’s hardcore influence and political slant may turn off certain listeners, but those who don’t mind some hardcore in their death stew should find plenty to like here. The gritty, muscular exterior features nods to Bolt Thrower and All Shall Perish, while the weighty, mid-paced crush, chunky riffs and breakdowns are balanced by tasteful melodic counterpoints and livelier bursts of speed (“Dying Alive”). Not all works; the provocative, anti-police song “No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)” musically has its moments; however, the heavy-handed lyrical approach sticks out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, Echoes of the Devil’s Den swings and slugs you more often than it misses.

Steel Druhm’s Sewer Tarts

The Troops of Doom // A Mass to the Grotesque [May 31, 2024 – Alma Mater Records]

For their sophomore outing, Brazilian death-thrashers The Troops of Doom took their vintage Sepultura-esque sound and juiced it up considerably from what we heard on 2022s Antichrist Reborn. A Mass to the Grotesque still sounds a bunch like classic Sepultura but it’s much more refined, developed and expanded in scope. Yet it’s still a frenzied, thrashing assault full of lyrics about evil, demons, and all things anti-Christian. It sounds like something that should have dropped in as the 80s thrash wave started mutating into proto-death, and that is a beloved era of music for yours Steely. Songs like “Chapels of the Unholy” and “Dawn of Mephisto” sit right on the bleeding edge of thrash and early death, with Slayer-tastic riffs colliding with early examples of death grooves. What makes this so entertaining is how the band reaches outside of the Sepultura homage bubble to drag in new elements to expand their sound. Some songs feel slightly progressive (“Denied Divinity”) while elsewhere they shoehorn epic doom into the massive “Psalm 7:8 – God of Bizarre.” The straight-up riffbeasts are my favorites though, with “The Imposter King” being a big, fat, sweaty highlight. While these cats are always going to get compared to classic Sepultura, they made real efforts here to stake out their own identity. This is a wild, testosterone-fueled ride featuring the maximum allowable Satan, and I support that.

#20BuckSpin #2024 #AMassToTheGrotesque #Aborted #AllShallPerish #AlmaMaterRecords #Almyrkvi #AmericanMetal #ArmageddonPatronage #Aseitas #Azure #BelgianMetal #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #Capstan #Cathedrals #CHON #CobraTheImpaler #CultOfLuna #DanishMetal #DarkAngel #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Desolus #Destruction #DissonantDeathMetal #DreamTheater #DutchMusicWorks #EchoesOfTheDevilSDen #EdenTrough #FearlessRecords #FindingLoveInStrangePlaces #FrenchMetal #Fym #Genesis #GermanMetal #Gojira #Haken #Hardcore #HellsHeadbangers #Integrity #InternationalMetal #KarmaCollision #KillswitchEngage #KingsX #Kreator #LaTangenteLabel #ListenableRecords #Manetherean #Mastodon #Matrass #May24 #MelodicBlackMetal #Merihem #Nails #PainOfSalvation #Parfaxitas #PinkFloyd #Polyphia #PostHardcore #Powerglove #PreHistoricAnimals #ProgressiveMetal #Punk #Queen #Review #Reviews #Saidan #SelfReleased #Sinmara #Slidhr #Sodom #Strychnos #SufferingHour #SwedishMetal #SystemShock #TechnicalDeathMetal #TechnicalMetal #TerminalNation #TerraturPossessions #TesseracT #TheMosaic #TheTroopsOfDoom #TotalDissonanceWorship #UKMetal #Undergang #USMetal #VisualKillTheBlossomingOfPsychoticDepravity #WeaverOfTheBlackMoon #WhoredomeRife #Wormlust #Yes

Locusts and Honey – Teach Me to Live That I Dread the Grave As Little As My Bed Review

By Dear Hollow

Although professing the inclusion of funeral doom, black metal, and dark ambient, Teach Me to Live That I Dread the Grave As Little As My Bed is a gentle album. Locusts and Honey gently ebbs and flows along well-defined lines of expectations set by patiently unwinding epics like Bell Witch’s Mirror Reaper and Black Boned Angel’s The End in devastating, torturously slow and mammoth riffs, colossal percussion, and vocals from Hell. However, like these albums, there is a core of light, a glimmer of humanity that shines through the vicious and viscous. Locusts and Honey takes inspiration from the well-preserved sacrificial bog bodies of Denmark and Ireland – the macabre – and finds lessons of a life well lived – the light.

UK duo Locusts and Honey is comprised of instrumentalist Tomás Robertson of black metal acts Gergesenes, Nargothrond, and Urne Buriall, and vocalist Stephen Murray of sludge metal quartet Hooden. While influence from black and sludge can be felt, Locusts and Honey blurs the lines between funeral doom and drone in its debut, mountainous dirges pushed to a crackling breaking point, not unlike the noise in BIG|BRAVE’s latest meditation. While rooted in 90s doom styles in Corrupted, Winter, and Esoteric, black metal’s trademark rawness in acts like Darkthrone or Strid offers a scathing overtone to the slow-motion beatdown, depicting cinematic landscapes of dark ambient artists or composers like William Basinski and Henryk Górecki. While Teach Me to Live That I May Dread the Grave As Little As My Bed is far from perfect in its top-heavy design and noisy drone impenetrability, its meditative and melodic qualities make it a promising listen.

It may feel counterintuitive to praise a drone/funeral doom album for its brevity, but Locusts and Honey clocks in just over twenty-eight minutes for their debut.1 Described as one song broken into six movements, the centerpiece is its second “Leathern Cord,” whose mountainous waves greet lamenting melodies that inject a burning tension with a patience that makes its twelve-minute runtime satisfying and evocative. Meanwhile, “Beauty and Atrocity” and “Confraternities of the Cord” embrace peaceful melodies alongside sprawling dense atmospherics, while closer “Damnation of Memoriae” serves as a final look back at the dead in its dark ambient emphasis and diminished chord progression. “Traitor to Love” is the closest to a black metal attack, its dense drone giving a convincing caricature of black metal tremolo picking and blastbeats. Murray’s formidable vocals range from sinister shrieks to hellish growls, shining in “Leathern Cord” and “Traitor to Love,” although the guitar remains the focus throughout. Like any good drone record, Locusts and Honey focuses on utter saturation and poignant evocation, although the effective incorporation of gentle melody is noteworthy.

Although the album is billed as a single song, its movements feel a bit uneven. Although bookended by ambient pieces, Locusts and Honey’s use of “Leathern Cord” as the album climax puts every following track in its shadow. Intro “Surfeit of Lampreys” does a fine albeit brief job of building the suspense, but “Confraternities of the Cord” reiterates its motifs in a slightly more melodic fashion in a significantly shorter runtime – begging the question as to why it’s considered distinct from the main event. While “Beauty and Atrocity” is a better and more honed version of the melodic and “Traitor to Love” maintains its own more blackened identity, each track following “Leathern Cord” never quite lives up. Because of the drone tag, like BIG|BRAVE’s A Chaos of Flowers, the guitar tone that Robertson utilizes is absolutely noisy and inaccessible, and its effectiveness depends on the listener, as it regularly drowns out Murray’s otherwise vicious vocal performance.

Locusts and Honey’s wordsy debut blessedly lets the music do the talking for the dead. Surprisingly more positive than its source material suggests, its dual emphasis on mammoth riffs and tense melody inject more memorable moments than much of contemporary drone/funeral doom offerings. While it remains top-heavy with easy highlight “Leathern Cord” right out of the gates, it nonetheless offers complete and absurdly heavy saturation in ways sure to satisfy. While obscenely devastating and as dark as you expect, Teach Me to Live That I Dread the Grave as Little as My Bed incorporates melody and gentleness in a concise package that hints at greatness to come.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hypaethral Records
Website: locustsandhoney.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 24th, 2024

#2024 #30 #AmbientNoise #BellWitch #BigBrave #BlackBonedAngel #BlackMetal #Corrupted #DarkAmbient #Darkthrone #DroneMetal #Esoteric #FuneralDoomMetal #Gergesenes #HenrykGórecki #Hooden #HypaethralRecords #LocustsAndHoney #May24 #Nargothrond #Noise #Review #Reviews #Strid #TeachMeToLiveThatIDreadTheGraveAsLittleAsMyBed #UKMetal #UrneBuriall #WilliamBasinski #Winter

Look to Windward – The Last Scattering Surface Review

By sentynel

One of the greatest feelings as a reviewer is rolling the dice on a completely unknown band and discovering they’re amazing. But you have to play to win, and I totally failed to pick up any reviews by bands I didn’t already know last year. I resolved to do better this year. There’s no magic formula I’ve found to identifying great promos, so I tend to skim the promo submissions queue and wait for things to catch my eye for whatever reason. Look to Windward immediately stood out. Prog with a name that might be an Iain M Banks reference?1 Perfect. And they’ve been around as a studio collaboration since 2009 and this is their third album, so they ought to have found their groove.

The Last Scattering Surface pretty much immediately hits a lot of prog staples. The songwriting is varied, with changeable moods, complex song structure, and a multi-track movement. The riffs recall, say, Haken in their rhythms and chunkiness (“Why Ask?,” “The Condition”). The use of paired male and female vocals meanwhile reminds me of Anathema, particularly in the way they trade phrases or segments (“Relic,” “Earth Overture”). There are several different vocalists on the album, and this and the writing also bring shades of Ayreon at times too (“Dance of the Futile”). There are references to older prog as well, in the synths on “Dance of the Futile” or the guitar solo in “Theia Arrived One Fateful Day.” These things are tropes for a reason and generally work well.

The problem with tropes, though, is the lingering sense of déjà vu that pervades the entire album. While I never get the sense that a particular section is directly lifted from another band, I spend a significant proportion of it with that itch of “ooh this really reminds me of something” that I can’t quite put my finger on. I also find that the writing doesn’t ever quite deliver emotional impact. Consequently, I find myself zoning out on The Last Scattering Surface a lot. It’s rarely as ear-wormy or even memorable. Even the more interesting bits don’t stick as well as they should (“Why Ask?”). Many sections of the album slip by with nary a mark left—I still couldn’t tell you a thing about tracks like “River Mercury” or “Spin.”

Many of the highlights are down to vocalist Emily Rice, who has a great voice and stylistic range and elevates everything she appears on. “Theia Arrived One Fateful Day” is a particularly strong example. The guitar work is always strong technically, and there are some great riffs here (“The Condition,” “Dance of the Futile”). It also sounds good, especially for something self-produced, with a nice DR9 master and plenty of space for all the moving parts. On the downside, there are occasional issues with the male vocals. There’s moments that are slightly charmingly rough-and-ready in a way that again reminds me of some early prog (“Why Ask?”), but also some moments where they just sound a little strained (“Relic,” other bits of “Why Ask?”). And the programmed drums are… there.

Despite its issues, there’s a lot to like on The Last Scattering Surface. Its best moments find talented musicians playing interesting music, with a good balance of the weird, the complex and the poppy. There are strong foundations and flashes of greatness, and perhaps with a clearer vision it could hit those more consistently. But in hewing too close to prog tradition, Look to Windward lose their own voice and my attention, and that’s a shame.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: FLAC
Label: Self-Released
Websites: looktowindwardmusic.com | looktowindward.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#25 #2024 #Anathema #Ayreon #Haken #LookToWindward #May24 #NewZealandMetal #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #TheLastScatteringSurface

Black Wound – Warping Structure Review

By Cherd

Editors Note: After this review was written, it was discovered this album has been available digitally since at least July, 2023. Double check your promos, kids.

Death metal has always been about ugliness, but after 40 years of refinement and cross-pollination with other genres, a lot of death metal is less stained cargo shorts and tattered t-shirts and more black-tie formal, or at least business casual. Sometimes you just want it dirty. Filthy fucking vile. Really icky poopy. For times like this, Stockholm, Sweden’s Black Wound have you covered. In a thick film of grime. Only active since 2021, Warping Structure is the band’s debut full-length of clattering, dread-inducing death doom. Melody infused Swedeath this is not. In fact, the band have coined the word “wardoom” to describe their foul excretions. Will it make you want to take up arms against enemy and friend alike? Let’s plumb these loathsome depths and hope the air down there is breathable.

To call this caverncore would be an understatement. This is the music of a human sub-species who pushed deeper into caves as our own ancestors began constructing shelters with primitive tools. Over the generations, they lost their hair along with any memory of the sun. Their eyes turned to black orbs just visible beneath layers of translucent skin. They ride giant salamanders into battle and their dead are encased in slow trickling stalagmites. The feral croaks and death rumbles of vocalist William Kaloczy reverberate through damp walled tunnels while the buzzing crunch of his bass holds the low end to the floor. When guitarist Daniel Lysatchov isn’t bludgeoning you with abysmal doom chugs (“Dread,” “Vermin Firstborn”) or peeling your flesh with tremolo blades (“Rag,” “Trench Blast”), he lets the squall and squeal of barely controlled feedback fill the dark corners of every song. Ritualistic pounding and clear, sharp cymbal strikes courtesy of Gustaf Magnusson round out the relentless din.

The best way to take Warping Structure is as a whole. For almost exactly 40 minutes, let your head slip under the muck so only bubbles slapping the coagulated surface mark your location, because this atmosphere is all-encompassing. If you’re looking for contemporaries of the sound, Spectral Voice or Fossilization come to mind, but Black Wound have their own unpalatable flavor. They’re looser than either of those, which is part of the charm if you’re willing to let it be. Even in its densest moments, Warping Structure gives you aural perches, guide stars to get you through the murk, like the warped riff late in “Dread,” the sudden slowdowns in “Trench Blast,” the outstanding use of a Lord of the Rings sample in “Rag,” or the shriek/squeals Kaloczy lets loose during “Sworn” and “Vermin Firstborn.” The brutal title track even has a central riff that could be construed as melody, if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s all very ugly, but much more subtle and rewarding than can be gleaned from just one or two spins.

Warping Structure is an example of a band knowing what it wants to do and doing that thing to exactly the amount they aimed for, so it’s hard to find fault. That said, this is almost certainly something most people won’t want to reach for often, even if they enjoy it while it’s playing. Its looseness and its echoey—although surprisingly legible—production job make this a niche release to anyone not really into ooga booga shit. It’s an act of will to suspend whatever you think you want out of the listening experience and instead give yourself over to the clangor, but for those who can, whether easily or reluctantly, a meticulously built atmosphere awaits. In some ways, this is the death metal equivalent to raw black metal, and you know how I feel about that.

If you love death metal but tire of the sheen found on the tech- or prog- varieties, even a lot of OSDM these days, or if you just miss the days of trading death metal demo tapes, Black Wound has all the grime. It’s the most fun you can have over a mile underground, so pack your headlamp and your repelling gear. And some weapons.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Chaos Records
Website: blackwound1.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024 or awhile ago

#2024 #35 #BlackWound #ChaosRecords #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #Fossilization #May24 #Review #Reviews #SpectralVoice #SwedishMetal #WarpingStructure

Árstíðir lífsins – Aldrlok Review

By Twelve

Árstíðir lífsins seem to not believe much in fanfare. Since I discovered the Icelandic/German group via their very good fourth full-length Saga á tveim tungum I: Vápn ok viðr, I never learn about their releases until AFTER they show up. The followup to Saga I never reached the Angry Metal Promo Sump, and their most recent release, the enjoyable Hermalausaz, arrived quietly at the end of last year. Now they’re back with Aldrlok (“Death [of an age]”), their sixth full-length release, which follows the band’s familiar vein of mountainous black metal adorned with gorgeous folk passages and lyrics sung in Old Norse-Icelandic. It’s a super-potent combo, and these guys have the smarts to back up their premise, so how does that translate into eighty-three minutes of music?

Compared with recent releases, Aldrlok is familiar territory. This time around, the riffs feel heavier (“Stormr, hvítundit grand gundar gjálfrs”) and the orchestrations are more elaborate (“Er faðir kulda ok myrkrs hopar fyrir endalausum vegi Ránar”), creating a strong melodic black metal feel for the album. Of course, it’s as folky as ever, in that Old Norse sort of way that Árstíðir lífsins excel at. Marsél, credited as ever as the band’s storyteller, provides deep, intoning singing, guttural narrations (to superb effect on “Nú er lengstu miskunndir dalreyðar ná hátindi”), and vicious black metal rasps, while frequent acoustic and orchestral passages break up the black metal assaults provided by Stefán (guitars and bass) and Árni (percussion and string instruments) (both of whom also provide vocals). The sound is elaborate, dense, and well done. Aldrlok is the sound of a band that knows exactly what they are doing.

This also means that the strongest and coolest element of Aldrlok is the storytelling. The album tells a tale semi-mythological fiction, taking place in Iceland around 1040, during a period of societal upheaval, and borrows material from Skaldic and Eddic poetry. Through their music, Árstíðir lífsins transport the listener back in time. The album opener, “Hvítir hjǫrvar Heimdalls aldraðra fjallgylða,” takes the listener on a journey, opening slowly with deep chants that make way for passages of solemn vocal melody that evoke a great tale about to begin. When the black metal arrives, it does so climactically, being built up to grandiosity by a band that is more than happy to take its time. From here, the song—and indeed, the album—does a great job of balancing black metal, melody, and folk. “Nauð greyprs élreka” does the best job of striking this balance. A band with a keyboardist could certainly mimic the style, but Aldrlok asks: “why do with a keyboard what you could do with your own voices?” Suitably, the close of the song, where massive black metal riffing gives way to solemn, near-reverent chanting, is one of the best moments, not only on this album but on any Árstíðir lífsins release to date.

Of course, some will be put off by the lengths of both the individual songs on Aldrlok and the length of the whole. Nine songs covering eighty-three minutes is a lot of music. I do wish the mix and production favored the metal elements more, as they tend to be muted. I’m sure it’s a stylistic choice, but it’s hard not to think that more prominence for the drumming and a touch less distortion on the guitars could net a really heavy album in the vein of a contemporary like Mistur. On the other hand, the grand length of the album contributes to its “Norse epic” feel, emulating the poetry it’s based on. The long songs that often flow into one another create the feeling of a mythology told in two parts (“Nú er lengstu miskunndir dalreyðar ná hátindi” breaks up the album expertly, and is a terrific dark folk song), and while it is a lot to take in all at once, there aren’t any actual weak spots on Aldrlok.

Árstíðir lífsins are consistently releasing interesting, well-researched, and very good black metal. I would argue that Aldrlok is their strongest yet, but it will be very familiar to you if you’re a fan of their recent work. It takes you back into the past in a way that most art struggles to do, and continues to fill a unique space in the world of metal. It demands a certain mood, but if you’re in it, this album will bring you back in time.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Ván Records
Websites: arstidirlifsins.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/arstidirlifsins
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#2024 #35 #Aldrlok #ArstidirLifsins #BlackMetal #FolkMetal #GermanMetal #IcelandicMetal #May24 #Mistur #Review #Reviews #VanRecords

Adversarial – Solitude with the Eternal Review

By Dear Hollow

I guess I’m one of two Adversarial fans here at AMG, because I’ve name-dropped them in scattered reviews, while Angry Metal Guy himself made a 224-word TYMHM back in 2010 for the act’s debut All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, then slyly name-dropping them in a 2019 ROTM post compared to Musmahhu. The point is, Adversarial is apparently obscure. While sporting a style not unlike the dense n’ dissonant stylings of Antediluvian and Mitochondrion, the melodic dissonant template has always reminded me of Ulcerate; the difference is the absolutely apeshit blast-happy approach to punishment. After nine long years, we are hit with third full-length Solitude with the Eternal, and it embraces the duality, a double-edged sword, of dissonance and punishment.

Time has not worn Toronto’s Adversarial, as Solitude will attest. Punishment is still priority number one, as 2010’s All Idols… and 2015’s Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism firmly established – blastbeats and shredding riffs are in no short supply. The trio of raging guitarist/vocalist C.S. and thunderous bassist M.M., romping atop the galloping doomsday horse of drummer E.K., shred and gurgle like there’s no tomorrow. Despite its cutthroat intensity, Solitude with the Eternal manages to avoid war metal unhingedness while remaining just on this side of sane, guiding its compositions with a “Janus-faced” and “dual-tongued” attack, a pendulum swinging between sharp and slithering, gazing upon horrific truths while revering its macabre beauty. Ultimately, while nothing terribly groundbreaking, Adversarial makes the nine-year wait worth it in its more dynamic songwriting weaponized in this dichotomy for maximum darkness.

Solitude with the Eternal is a bit of Angelcorpse songs covered by Antediluvian and Tetragrammacide, while somehow avoiding the crawling crassness of the former and the DR0 eardrum decimation of the latter. Balancing thick and grimy riffs with a stinging dissonance that shines like a blast of shattered glass, tracks like “Beware the Howling Darkness on Thine Left Shoulder,” “Merging Within the Destroyer,” and “Fanes at the Engur” are relentless assaults guided by C.S.’s absolutely devastating bellows and subterranean shredding with simple yet effective dissonant overlays, while “Hatred Kiln of Vengeance” and “Endless Maze of Blackened Dominion” feel like Evangelion-era Behemoth on crack, guitar harmonics balancing tones blasphemous and regal in equal measure. Bass is blessedly present, shining amid the blinding melodies in “Beware the Howling Darkness…” and “Fanes of the Engur.” Drums have always been Adversarial’s main spotlight, a sharp pong dominating tracks in All Idols Fall Before the Hammer and a mammoth thud in Death, Endless Nothing…; Solitude with the Eternal sports a much more palatable in-between, effectively cutting through the murk while not testing listeners’ mettle.

While spending most of its time blasting, Adversarial’s textures still shine. “Witness to the Eternal Light” features an atmospheric wind-torn ambient motif amid the blasting with a more dissonant palette, which sets the tone for the centerpieces “Death is an Advisor in the Woods of the Devil” and “Crushed Into the Kingdom of Darkness.” These two tracks feel like the eye of the storm, focusing more heavily on dense atmospherics and stinging melody, injecting a powerful sense of purpose to the pummeling that surrounds it; the former deals in far more prominent guitar melodies, while the latter paints its dense riffs in broad strokes through slower tempos against the backdrop of night. Because of this setup, the album feels a bit like a journey through a heretical hurricane, giving further weight to the album’s second act. Adversarial’s more meditative songwriting shines here.

Of course, this is not to say that Solitude with the Eternal is perfect. It’s obnoxiously loud, riddled with tempo abuse, and C.S.’s saturated vocals can often drown out the instrumentals, questioning momentum – ultimately requiring multiple listens to discern every murky movement and burning lead. However, Adversarial’s unhinged attack that avoids war metal decadence is addictive, and its more nuanced textures give the third full-length a mysterious and sinister quality only hinted at in the band’s catalog. It may not make lists, but it remains a pummeling return from an act that feels like they’re just getting started.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: facebook.com/AdversarialOfficial
Released Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#2024 #35 #Adversarial #Angelcorpse #Antediluvian #Behemoth #BlackenedDeathMetal #CanadianMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #May24 #Mitochondrion #Review #Reviews #SolitudeWithTheEternal #Tetragrammacide #Ulcerate #WarMetal

Ulvik – Last Rites | Dire Omens Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Last Rites | Dire Omens. Interesting album title, that. Last rites signify mourning and gentle acceptance, while dire omens suggest malevolence, a promise of death yet to come. Likely by design, these contrasting themes directly apply to the kind of neofolk and atmospheric black metal that Canadian duo Ulvik peddles, as the sad beauty of their folk music inevitably succumbs to a more pronounced black metal malevolence. Hailing from the endless pine trees of Canada’s westernmost territory British Columbia, Ulvik invites you to immerse yourself in their rural melancholy with their fourth opus, Last Rites | Dire Omens.

Ulvik’s atmospheric black/folk manifests in ways both familiar and unfamiliar for the genre. The implementation of acoustic guitars and strings reminds one of bands like Nechochwen and Panopticon, while the emotional tone wouldn’t feel out of place alongside the prairie-doom-isms of Altars of Grief. The metal, on the other hand, challenges the atmoblack label. Opener “Through False Dust” may initially give the impression of a traditionally atmospheric approach with distant, chilly tremolos, but the guitars quickly gain an uncharacteristic urgency as the album progresses. Last Rites | Dire Omens won’t allow you to drift into pleasant listlessness as you might elsewhere; many of the album’s deep, at times almost chugging riffs have a blunt force to them that demands your attention, while the vocalist’s emotive shrieks and all the wailing layers of guitars veer more into post-black metal territory. But while I typically associate emotions like sorrow or grief with the peaks of typical post-black metal, when Ulvik is at their heaviest in a track like “Sown on Earth,” I hear only anger.

Much of what works about Last Rites | Dire Omens lies in the simple appeal of Ulvik’s soundscape. Within the greater pantheon of folky atmoblack bands, Ulvik’s folk elements are some of the best I’ve heard. They bring to life the album’s bleak atmosphere while simultaneously underlining it with beauty; the heavier songs open with densely layered strings that have real grit to them, while the acoustic guitars are softer, offering a comforting reprieve. The acoustic interludes, which could’ve just been unremarkable asides, become genuine album highlights in Ulvik’s hands. This evocative, expressive dark folk pairs nicely with the metal’s bluntness and serves as an effective foil to the folk’s subtleties. After the gradual build of miserable strings and anguished spoken words in “Sown on Earth,” that aforementioned anger in the song’s crushing verse cuts all the deeper. That same bluntness did initially make the eight-minute “Glass & Scythe” feel tedious, but I’ve grown fond of its variations-on-a-theme approach to a simple, satisfying motif, for within this simplicity lies an emotional clarity that is thus enabled to shine through.

For most of the album’s duration, few issues stood out as terribly damning. The folk instruments are sorely missed within “Life & Death Are One”‘s repetitive avant-garde dissonance, and the first interlude, “Woven Into Threads,” is placed too early as the third song, but nevertheless, the album was overall an easy recommend. Emphasis on was, because the closing duo of songs changed matters for the worse. “The Pallid Mask” mirrors the increasing violence of the spoken words from “Sown on Earth,” but the speaker’s forceful delivery isn’t as believable and the song crawls to an insultingly short payoff that’s negligible in comparison. “Yesterday & Years Ago” has a more concrete, satisfying melancholy to it, but toothlessly meanders into yet more overlong spoken words without ever hitting its stride. Perhaps these songs might not offend as much were they spread out, but together they end the album on an extremely dour note that I’ve begun avoiding altogether on repeat listens. Each song builds towards a resolution that either disappoints or never even arrives, and in so doing rob the album as a whole of the resolution it deserved.

Perhaps the final word on this album isn’t as positive as I’d like, but I’m glad I found Ulvik. There’s a lot to like about the evocative dark folk and emotionally charged atmoblack that Ulvik brings to the table, and there are plenty of moments in Last Rites | Dire Omens that demonstrate why Ulvik is worth your time if this type of music appeals to you like it does to me. What a shame, then, that this album stumbles so hard at the finish line. There exists a differently organized or edited version of this album that I’d have gladly rated higher, but when an album ends on consecutive songs that so utterly miss the mark, it can’t be ignored.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
Label: Avantgarde Music
Websites: bandcamp | facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 24, 2024

#25 #2024 #AltarsOfGrief #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AvantgardeMusic #BlackMetal #CanadianMetal #LastRitesDireOmens #May24 #Nechochwen #Neofolk #Panopticon #PostBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #Ulvik

Hellbutcher – Hellbutcher Review

By GardensTale

In the 90’s, Nifelheim was a significant player in the burgeoning Swedish black metal scene, keeping a torch lit for the old school thrash-led sound. The band was founded by two brothers, who employed the stage names Tyrant and Hellbutcher, with the latter taking vocal and frontman duty. Though Nifelheim’s on apparently permanent hiatus, Hellbutcher hasn’t been so idle, recently lending his talents to Friends of Hell and cruising around with Dead Kosmonaut a few years ago. But it’s clear the man is tired of messing around. His new band is eponymous, the logo looks like a logical continuation of Nifelheim’s, and the clown car of highly talented and respected musicians could be called a supergroup if it weren’t so laser-focused on the frontman. Necrophiliac of Mordant on guitars, Eld of Gaahl’s Wyrd, Aeternus and others on bass, long time Unleashed member and Dead Kosmonaut buddy Fredrik Folkare on guitars, and none other than Martin Axenrot1 (Bloodbath, Opeth, Witchery and others) behind the kit. But supergroups have a way of disappointing; does Hellbutcher avoid the curse by not calling itself one?

And how! Hellbutcher and friends have crafted an absolute spitfire of an album, a black-thrash masterclass that puts a brick on the gas pedal of the Devil’s personal hellfire-powered chariot. Once the heroic intro of “The Sword of Wrath” finishes, a cavalcade of sharp riffs bursts forth like an unleashed pack of wolves with rocket boosters strapped to their backs, and they remain hungry and fuelled for the entire runtime of Hellbutcher. Hellbutcher leads the charge, of course, and his raw, raspy scream strikes the perfect balance between evil and demented yet coherent and intelligible. The Axe does what the Axe does best; beating an incredibly diverse array of playstyles out of his kit, with dynamics and precision to spare, whether it’s straight blasting or flitting from rolls to gallops to triplets. The superb bass gets far more room than your average black metal band is willing to offer, and the guitar duo weaves an ongoing tapestry of kickass riffs.

Two things stand out from Hellbutcher. One, the band is clearly having an absolute blast. The sense of fun is infectious, from the theatrical camp of the vocals to the out of control riff-fests. “Perdition” changes its pacing with alarming irregularity and “Hordes of the Horned God” sounds like Maiden possessed by demons, both exemplifying the ‘fuck it, let’s ball’ attitude. And two, this line-up sounds tighter than most bands with a half-dozen albums under their belt. All the musicians here being long-time professionals, a number of whom have played together before, is of course a big boon. But as any sports fan who’s seen a team of all-stars falter on the field knows, synergy can be a fickle bitch.

The electrifying wild energy of the front half doesn’t quite make it into the back, however. It loses a bit of the unpredictability, especially on “Death’s Rider” and “Possessed by the Devil’s Flames.” The latter even re-uses the chorus structure of the superior “Perdition,” furthering the nagging ‘yes, it’s great, but.’ Don’t get me wrong; even the back half sounds vastly superior to most black thrash acts today. “Satan’s Power” is a rollercoaster that draws from across the entire metal spectrum, and despite the predictability, I love the black ‘n roll rhythms of “Death’s Rider.” The production is spot-on as well, sporting a warm yet vicious master and excellent mix.

Hellbutcher’s Hellbutcher has created a gobsmacking debut with Hellbutcher. Melodic, dynamic, snappy, lean and mean, this is what classic black thrash is supposed to sound like. It’s a rambunctious ride of gleeful, campy evil that seems to prioritize fun above all else, yet is every bit as tight as a high-strung tech death album. If you feel disappointed at the score below, know that this was right up to the edge of the big four-oh, held back only by a slight watering down in the second half, and I might still regret it later. Either way, I certainly cannot wait for what Hellbutcher and his pals get up to for Hellbutcher 2: The Butchering.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: hellbutcherband.bandcamp.com | hellbutcher.com | facebook.com/hellbutcherband
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#2024 #35 #Aeternus #BlackMetal #Bloodbath #DeadKosmonaut #FriendsOfHell #GaahlsWYRD #Hellbutcher #IronMaiden #May24 #MetalBladeRecords #Mordant #Nifelheim #Opeth #Review #Reviews #SwedishMetal #ThrashMetal #Unleashed #Witchery

Wormwood – The Star Review

By Dear Hollow

Swedish melodic black metal act Wormwood has a complicated history, and it all comes down to this. A string of albums have been hit or miss, as highlighted by the gone-but-unforgotten Akerblogger: 2017’s debut Ghostlands – Wounds from a Bleeding Land was a 4.0midable meloblack offering that balanced hooks and viciousness, while a follow-up trilogy installments one and two in concept albums 2019’s Nattarvet and 2021’s Arkivet have largely fallen short, respectively reflecting famine and extinction’s inevitability. The Star represents a culmination for the five-piece, as the biblical star Wormwood wipes out a good chunk of humanity by poisoning the oceans and freshwater in the Book of Revelation. Will the Swedes capitalize upon their potential in the final and most climactic installment of their trilogy?

Reflecting the star crashing into the ocean, The Star represents the end of the world, hinted at by famine and devastation in previous installments. While vocals are scathing and sinister affairs fitting its apocalyptic theme, instrumentals balance lushness with drive, as big guitar plods offer the stars and powerful drums ensure fluid movement while crystalline synth floats atop. Ubiquitously pleasant but never quite reaching anything further, Wormwood’s fourth full-length is a confused album in its sanguine, rather stagnant representation of humanity’s extinction.

The best of The Star revolves around solid use of motifs. “Liminal” and “Galactic Blood” are perhaps the best examples of this, plodding guitar riffs providing the backbone while the synth takes the place of the leads, while nearly Gothenburg noodling gains precedent over the former. The best track here is “Thousand Doorless Rooms,” which utilizes this motif-based songwriting with some teeth to give a mysterious but heart-wrenching feel. This dynamic is further explored in closer “Ro,” whose heavy metal soloing and vicious vocals take Wormwood to their brink in a relatively climactic closer. In a surprising turn of events, clean vocals are a highlight here, gentle and subtle amid the waves of melody, and tracks like “Stjärnfall,” “A Distant Glow,” and “Ro” are benefited by their inclusion. The drums are a commanding element, cutting through the sound regularly, blastbeats elevating “Suffer Existence.” The spacious mix is forgiving, allowing a nearly airy and organic feel to the proceedings, and giving further emphasis to Wormwood’s more vicious elements: drums and shrieks.

The Star is always pleasant but hardly innovative, which calls into question its length and inconsistency. Even the best tracks like “Liminal” or “Thousand Doorless Rooms” can cut back at least a couple minutes, while “Suffer Existence” and “A Distant Glow” feel nearly unending. Wormwood also throws a curveball in the form of “Suffer Existence,” whose suddenly uneasy melody, relatively spooky atmosphere, and appearance of blastbeats make it feel like a last-minute inclusion – the weird folky fiddle in the middle of it certainly does not help much either. And while “Ro” features some neat little tricks that add to its more energetic conclusion, the album feels tonally stagnant as a whole, no real growth or movement occurring across tracks and some songs simply existing as better than others. Finally, although a complete nitpick, the meloblack stylistic choices are a bit of a conundrum, as lushness and harmonics don’t seem to jive entirely with the apocalyptic theme Wormwood encapsulates – there is very little punishment to be found on The Star, aside from the slightly more energetic but wholly inconsistent “Suffer Existence.”

The Star is ubiquitously pleasant. Melodic harmonic guitars clash with sinister vocals and powerful drums in a “how-to” manual for melodic black metal. If you’re a fan of Sacramentum, Old Man’s Child, or Dawn, you might find something to love with Wormwood. However, given how tonally stagnant yet strangely inconsistent The Star is, it’s better relegated to background music instead of front-row seats to humanity’s destruction. Given how confusing this is, it’s easy to wonder if Ghostlands was a fluke. The Star is competent, Wormwood’s blend of guitar leads and chilly synths providing a tasteful approach, but does it accurately represent the bombast and explosiveness of the great star ushering in an age of extinction? No, it does not.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Black Lodge Records
Websites: wormwood-official.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/WormwoodSWE
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#20 #2024 #BlackLodgeRecords #BlackMetal #Dawn #May24 #MelodicBlackMetal #OldManSChild #Review #Reviews #Sacramentum #SwedishMetal #TheStar #Wormwood

Rope Sect – Estrangement Review

By GardensTale

The road of metal is wide and its shoulders are nebulous. Whenever we stray the AMG vehicle off this road for a gander at the related and adjacent, it’s always with good reason, be it previous tenures of band members, genres closely tied to metal, or a suspected appeal to the same market. The stats page shows that non-metal things score quite consistently above average, so you can be assured that when we tred on our own rulebook, you won’t be disappointed. Which brings us to Rope Sect, an anonymous band that plays despondent goth rock in the vein of Bauhaus, yet got itself signed to a label known primarily for death and black metal. Though only existing next door to our chosen obsession, The Great Flood won a lot of hearts back in 2020, including mine. How will Estrangement hold up?

On a scale of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ to ‘standing still is going backwards,’ Rope Sect skews in favor of the former. The evolution from The Great Flood to Estrangement is a study in details; songwriting slightly more consistent, guitars dropping the amount of jangle from 8 to 6, a beat per minute that get lost along the way. Most of the remainder is a direct continuation of the predecessor. The somber vocals intone with such dead-eyed despondency they almost approach sprechsgesang, the guitars draw a perfect balance between memorable hooks and ominous atmosphere, and the compositions are uniformly clean and concise. Rope Sect knows its trade inside out, and there is something to be said for sticking to what you’re best at when the results are this good.

All the small things do add up to a different experience, though. Estrangement smooths out the rougher edges of The Great Flood, scooching from metallic post-punk into less abrasive rock territory. If radio hadn’t turned into a cesspool of mumble rap and TikTok soundbites, some of these tracks would not be out of place there. And it’s hard not to feel like something got lost in the transition. A sense of danger, perhaps. The feeling that no one is entirely in control of the ship, and the foreboding dark sea harbors sharp rocks under the surface. That dark pull is not completely gone on Estrangement, but it has lessened and decreased the distinctive character of the band with it. Only closer “Rope of the Mundane Love” resurrects this feeling, thanks to an aggressively ominous bass-forward riffing style and Peter Steele-type vocals in the verses.

Though the frame is less enticing, the picture within remains very well drawn. From the lilting vocal lines of opener “Revel in Disguise” to the way “Nefelibatas” builds into its melancholy, and from the high energy hypnotism of “L’Appel Du Vide” to the infectious hopelessness of “Massenmensch,” Rope Sect has crafted a sleek tribute to disconnection with nary a minute of fat across its entire runtime. There’s not a weak song among the bunch, and the final portion is the strongest, with the aforementioned dark closer ending on a high after its perfectly depressing predecessor “Hindsight Bias” brings you to your lowest. If not the most engaging or unique album of the year, Estrangement is surely one of the most listenable ones, gliding down as smooth as the silk that lines the coffin.

It took me some time to make up my mind about Estrangement. Its low-friction nature and memorable, hook-filled songwriting make it easy to absorb, and Rope Sect’s jaded nature is largely intact. Yet I find myself wanting a bit more friction at times, something that sets the album apart from the background. The production exemplifies this as well; it’s warm, and rich, with a balanced mix and smooth tones on the strings, but it is overpolished as well, which cost the album character and impact. I still like Estrangement quite a bit, and I will return to it when I need my sadness quote filled without taking a belt sander to the brain. I just won’t reach for it when I truly want to engage with an album; for that, Rope Sect’s prior material remains a better option.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Iron Bonehead
Websites: ropesect.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/theropesect
Releases Worldwide: May 17th, 2024

#2024 #30 #Bauhaus #Estrangement #GermanMetal #GothicRock #IronBonehead #May24 #Review #Reviews #RopeSect #TypeONegative