Psychonaut – World Maker Review

By Kenstrosity

Over the course of the last five years and change, my estimation of Belgian three-piece Psychonaut has only increased. Where I unfortunately missed out on Violate Consensus Reality for review duties, I didn’t let it slip outside of my listening rotation—certainly not after such an impressive debut, Unfold the God Man. I underrated that outing, citing bloat as the main drawback. Little did I consider that Psychonaut’s music often needs much more time than we’re given as our standard reviewing window to fully bloom. The psychedelic proggy post-metal purveyors boast a thoughtful and deeply layered songwriting approach that can’t be captured by a casual spin or three. Hence why I asked for World Maker, the trio’s third opus, early.

This proved to be a wise choice, as World Maker once again showcases the kind of writing that expands with a seemingly infinite upper limit over the course of time and attention. Less immediate than Violate Consensus Reality and less intimidating than Unfold the God Man, World Maker plucks the ripest fruit from each endeavor to formulate a rich and tantalizing concoction worthy of peddling alongside household names like The Ocean, Pink Floyd, and even Tool. World Maker is in some ways more intense (“Endless Currents”), and in others more relaxed (“…Everything Else is Just the Weather”), and all-around more psychedelic than what I’ve heard from Psychonaut before. Yet, it wholly retains Psychonaut’s uncanny knack for organic, almost primal rhythms, fluid transitions, and captivating phrases that achieves comparable success with or without vocals (“Origins”).

What sets World Maker apart from either of its predecessors is refinement in songwriting. Their base formula remains intact, but the methods with which Psychonaut compose and perform these latest arrangements ooze sophistication and finesse. Epic tracks like “And You Came with Searing Light” and “Stargazer,” in particular, showcase some of Psychonaut’s strongest and most satisfying writing to date. Exploring a wide gamut of textures, tones and tempos, these long-form journeys balance the power of the riff utilized on “You Are the Sky…” and “Endless Erosion” with the introspective post-metal lightness illuminated on “…Everything Else is Just the Weather” and “All in Time.” Generous and varied application of this strategy album-wide affords Psychonaut’s impeccably detailed compositions ample room for natural transformations between the monstrous and the gentle. This, in turn, allows World Maker to feel alive, to grow and evolve with every passing minute, and each subsequent spin.

As such, World Maker takes time and commitment to fully appreciate. It moves with such grace that its hour-long 1 runtime shrinks dramatically before me; that much became evident almost immediately. At the same time, it’s a dense and complex work that unfolds across multiple dimensions more rapidly than any one explorer can keep step. Perhaps this is a reflection of the circumstances surrounding its creation. With guitarist/vocalist Stefan de Graef’s entry into new fatherhood to devastating news of his father’s and bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels’ father’s advanced cancer diagnoses, a newfound focus on the here and now illuminates the emotional shades that help define and color World Maker’s deeply affecting compositions. Trading off bright glimmers of hope with the looming shadow of grief, and simultaneously carrying the weight of everything that falls between, informs every moment of World Maker. This makes it a much more personal record than its predecessors. Moreover, Psychonaut curated an inviting, vulnerable space so that I might join in their joys and their sorrows through this work, creating a special kind of intimacy that is a privilege to share.

Even for those who lack the context in their own lives yet to fully identify with the stories and messages explored here, World Maker will likely have a substantial impact. It is a record that demands not just your full attention, but also your recurring presence. A single spin, or even three, is wholly insufficient to chart in totality what Psychonaut attempts to communicate here. These are songs meant to somehow, in some way, encapsulate the breadth of life and all of the lessons it teaches, the pains it inflicts, and the exhilaration it inspires. In my opinion, Psychonaut achieved a difficult, delicate balance within that astounding spectrum. All you need to see it for yourself is an open heart and a little time.

Rating: Great!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Pelagic Records
Websites: psychonautband.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/psychonautband
Releases Worldwide: October 24th, 2025

#2025 #40 #BelgianMetal #Oct25 #PelagicRecords #PinkFloyd #PostMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #Psychonaut #Review #Reviews #TheOcean #Tool #WorldMaker

Insomniac – Om Moksha Ritam Review

By Samguineous Maximus

The terms “psychedelic” and “post-metal” are usually enough for me to approach any new release with caution—not because those genres lack excellent music, but because they’re so often associated with overlong, unfocused songs. For every Cult of Luna or Oranssi Pazuzu, there are fifty bands peddling overlong, riffless dirges that mistake “atmosphere” for actual songwriting. Atlanta supergroup Insomniac has arrived with their debut record Om Moksha Ritam, with the ominous self-designation of “post-doom.” The title, loosely translated from Sanskrit as “Liberation through merging with the Universal Rhythm,”1 foregrounds its ambitions as a concept album designed to “guide listeners through an aural and spiritual journey across multiple extreme environments.” Have Insomniac crafted a narrative listening experience that successfully conveys its metaphysical aspirations? Or is their debut the “post-doom” equivalent of a bad trip?

On Om Moksha Ritam, Insomniac manages to craft a sound that is immediately recognizable yet distinctly their own. They merge the progressive psychedelia of Elder with the layered, textural approach of REZN, all filtered through the Southern-gothic tinge of fellow Georgians Baroness. The result is a body of songs that draw equally from the contemplative exploration of ’70s prog, Americana-dipped blues rock, and the anthemic heft of post-metal’s sludgier, power-chord-driven moments. What makes this combination work is not just the intuitive chemistry of the instrumentalists, but the commanding presence of vocalist Van Bassman. Each track is surprisingly vocal-driven, and Bassman conjures a sound somewhere between a bluesier Dax Riggs and a John Baizley who’s actually capable of singing. His baritone sits front and center for much of Om Moksha Ritam, often accompanied by vocal layers and effects, creating a kaleidoscopic swirl that amplifies the ebb and flow of the music as it moves between peaks and valleys.

It helps that Om Moksha Ritam’s tracklist is dynamic and well-paced, with each of its 7 songs offering subtle differentiation on Insomniac’s core formula. Much of this can be attributed to the interplay between guitarists Alex Avedissian and Mike Morris,2 whose willingness to balance acoustic and effects-laden electric timbres gives the record a versatile and interesting palette. The guitars ferry the songs between quiet reflection and crushing grandeur. Whether it’s weaving intricate folky arpeggios together with tripped-out leads (“Desert”), harmonizing across doomy atmospheres (“Mountain”) or using post-rock tremolos to punctuate a well-earned climax (“Meditation), the guitar work on Om Moksha Ritam is consistently engaging and varied. Of course, this would be for naught without a strong rhythm section, but Insomniac has that as well. Drummer Amos Rifkin brings a loose, delicate touch to softer tracks like “Sea” and “Forest,” but escalates with thunderous weight when the music demands greater intensity. Meanwhile, bassist Juan Garcia provides a warm, full-bodied tone that both supports and embellishes the melodic core, keeping the songs anchored amid the dense layering of guitars and vocals, which is important on a track like the expansive and sprawling “Snow and Ice.”

Only a few minor inconsistencies keep Om Moksha Ritam from reaching the apex of Insomniac’s sound. The B-side leans away from emphatic “Hell yes” moments in favor of slower, navel-gazing jams. These tracks reward repeat listens but aren’t as immediately gripping. Closer “Awakening” falls just shy of the monumental highs of the opening salvo, with a climactic chorus that doesn’t land as powerfully as it could. For the most part, the record sounds fantastic and balances its many intricate layers, though there are moments (the refrains of “Mountain” and “Sea”) where Bassman’s voice overpowers the rest of the band in a psychedelic spiral. These issues don’t detract too heavily from the record’s overall impact, but they are worth noting.

Om Moksha Ritam takes you on a hallucinogenic trek across the desert, riffs shimmering like heat mirages, the atmosphere thick enough to choke a camel. Insomniac has delivered an album that takes listeners on a true musical journey, drenched in smoke-filled vibes, yet immediately rewarding. Their unique, psychedelic strain of “post-doom” metal blends familiar elements from beloved bands into something greater than the sum of its parts. If Insomniac invite me on another spiritual vision quest through the wastelands of sound, I’ll happily lace up my sandals, pack my water skin, and follow them straight into the void.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Blues Funeral Recording
Websites: insomniacvibes.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/insomniacatl
Releases Worldwide: September 1st, 2025

#2025 #35 #AmeircanMetal #Baroness #BluesFuneralRecording #BluesRock #CultOfLuna #DoomMetal #Elder #Insomniac #OmMokshaRitam #OranssiPazuzu #PostRock #PostMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #PsychedelicRock #Review #Reviews #REZN #Sep25

#PostMetal #AtmosphericSludge #PostMetal #SludgeDoom #Sludge #ChaoticHardcore #Sludge #ProgressiveMetal #AlternativeMetal #PsychedelicMetal #SludgeHardcore #PostRock #ExtremeSludge #ExperimentalPostMetal #AtmosphericSludge #Drone #ExperimentalDoom #ChaoticHardcoreSludge #Prog #Alternative

Pyhä Kuilu
by #Entheomorphosis
https://entheomorphosis.bandcamp.com/album/pyh-kuilu

#DoomMetal #DroneMetal #AtmosphericSludgeMetal #PsychedelicMetal

🌑 Make it psychedelic 🛸

#countdown
#spainispsychedelic
#spainismusic

#greengoat #AlternativeMetal #AlternativeMusic #UndergroundMusic #doommetal #stonerdoom #psychedelic #psychrock #psychedelicrock #psychedelicmetal #b3d #AtmosphericMusic

SALAMAN ISKU – Le Voyage Nocturne
#BitumeProds #Experimental #Grunge #Metal #MetalPsychédélique #Punk #Rock #folkmetal #psychedelicmetal #France
CC BY-NC-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike)
https://bitumeprods.bandcamp.com/album/le-voyage-nocturne

Veilburner – The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom Review

By Kenstrosity

Asheville, North Carolina’s motto, for the whole time I’d lived there, is “Stay Weird.” For the most part, we Ashevillians take that to heart. So, too, it seems, do Pennsylvania’s weird blackened death duo Veilburner. A studio project well regarded for their unorthodox songwriting style, Veilburner’s discography represents a masterclass on making weird and freaky music remarkably accessible without sacrificing grit or grime. The pinnacle of that exercise, Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull, saw Veilburner at their zenith, handily securing a top spot on my Albums o’ the Year in 2021. Follow-up VLBRNR fell shy of performing the same feat, and yet it still earned high marks. Consequently, I’ve come to rely on this duo for a good time, every time. Seventh in an unbroken streak of high-caliber strangeness, The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom perpetuates Veilburner’s stalwart reliability.

No longer bound by the same thematic thread that strung A Sire to the Ghouls of Lunacy and Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull together, VLBRNR and Duality freely explore new concepts and concoctions. For Duality, Veilburner chose to expound on the mystical qualities and cultural significance of the number seven. Gimmicky? Arguably, but seven happens to be my favorite number, so I’m locked in like Monica Geller in “The One with Phoebe’s Uterus.” Seven songs. Seven minutes per song. DR score of seven. Numerous other compositional/lyrical nods to our whole number of the day. Veilburner committed, and it shows not just in their concrete cohesion of tones, textures, and themes. Duality contains an otherworldly, eerie, and distinctly ethereal character (even when compared to previous efforts); a laminar flow that allows forty-nine minutes of oddball blackened death to travel through a mere mortal’s nervous system like tea through a perfectly rendered clay kettle; and an infallible set of creative performances from Mephisto Deleterio (instruments) and Chrisom Infernium (vocals) that constitutes something just a bit different, but still unmistakably Veilburner.

Duality adeptly rebalances Veilburner’s two main draws, then accentuates them with subtle, but creative, adaptations to the format they’ve perfected over the course of their career. Opener “Tem Ohp Ab in Mysticum” isn’t particularly representative of those adaptations—however, listeners need not wait long before things get twisty. Standouts like “III Visions of Hex-Shaped Hiss, Behead the Howling Spirit” and “The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom Pt. II” showcase a newfound emphasis on the psychedelic. Using this as the basis to form kaleidoscopic, yet hellish, atmospheres, Veilburner conjure up wild and writhing synths, bendy guitar leads, and staggering percussive rhythms. In concert, these tweaked elements coalesce into twisted visages of an alien nature that are at once terrifyingly tangible and invitingly incorporeal. No doubt, Chrisom Infernium’s scathing, psychotic rasps placed atop a rhythm that only occasionally aligns with the surrounding instrumentation strengthens the sensory power of this effect. Meanwhile, Veilburner penned some of their strongest hooks and most aggressive tempos to ground the aforementioned psychedelics. “The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom Pt. I,” and album highlights “Shadow of a Shadow” and “Woe Ye’ Who Build These Crosses… Are Those Who Will Serve Us Death,” each embody the Hyde to Duality’s Jekyll, boasting extremely memorable riffs and motifs, grotesquely shimmering solo work, and, in the latter’s case, a downright thrashy energy that recalls old school Metallica if they hailed from the seventh circle of hell.

It’s unfortunate that Duality’s bookends are its weakest links. While the opener and closer fit extremely well within the context of the album and serve with a purpose innumerable bands struggle to capture, they lack zest on their own. “Tem Ohp…” is by-the-numbers Veilburner fare, which is a fine standard to hold as a starting point. However, Veilburner are not known for laurel-resting, and to hear, for the first time, material that could be transplanted on any of their last three records without much conflict gives me slight pause. Closer “V.I.I.,” on the other hand, veers a touch too far into experimental territory. Psychedelic and quasi-tribal in tone, but droning in nature, this closing act lives and dies by the percussive variety provided by the immensely talented Mephisto Deleterio. This alone prevents the song from falling into a repetitive pattern of admittedly sticky hooks and intriguing choral elements. Even so, “V.I.I.” prematurely saps momentum from Duality’s final moments.

These are mere quibbles, of course. Duality remains a unique, and exceedingly cool, record in the rich metallic tapestry that represents 2024. It would have to grow strongly from here—in an unrealistically short period of time—to reach the same list-topping glory as did Lurkers. Nonetheless, listeners can rest assured that Duality reinforces Veilburner’s reputation for reliability and creativity in an extremely challenging field. To those who would disagree, I say, “off with their heads!”

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: veilburner.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/veilburner
Releases Worldwide: November 15th, 2024

#2024 #35 #AmericanMetal #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #Metallica #Nov24 #ProgressiveBlackMetal #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #Review #Reviews #TheDualityOfDecapitationAndWisdom #TranscendingObscurityRecords #Veilburner

Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja Review

By Twelve

You know how some people really don’t like the word “moist?” There’s an explicable-yet-incomprehensible element to it that makes people uncomfortable; an “I don’t get it, but I get it” element to the feeling that most everyone can follow, if not relate to. In that sense, it’s an excellent metaphor for Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu and the psychedelic, avant-garde black metal they’ve been crafting since 2009. I previously reviewed Mestarin kynsi, their fifth full-length release, in 2020 and had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the music; it was dense, unforgiving, and unpredictable, an album I both liked and disliked. While I think I put together a decent review at the time, I really had a hard time expressing that feeling. Over four years later, Oranssi Pazuzu return with Muuntautuja, a new challenge for my ears and mind. Do I like it? Do I understand it? Does it even matter?

Respectively, the answers are yes, I think so, and probably—while Oranssi Pazuzu remain as enigmatic as ever on Muuntautuja, the music is both darker and more straightforward, and as a result slightly less challenging than it’s been in the past. Mind you, the metal is still absolutely worthy of its album art, and it takes a whole lot of spins to even start to recall which song is which. Frantic drumming, manic guitar work, and incomprehensible vocals are accented with samples, symphonic elements, and “clean” intoning that give Oranssi Pazuzu a surprising amount of flexibility, leading to notable variance across Muuntautuja’s seven tracks. The title track, for instance, takes on an almost prog-like approach, opening with distorted, drumming and a sample that persists throughout the song. For a while, it hangs out in this mid-paced territory, all drums, synths, and vocals, before exploding into a lo-fi extravaganza of distorted shrieks, crushing riffs, and an oddball lead that evokes danger, anxiety, and tension. It never “fully” becomes black metal, but it is undeniably Oranssi Pazuzu.

In case my repeated use of “distortion” didn’t make it clear, the production on Muuntautuja is suffocating. Fuzz adorns every moment of every song, and no player is spared its wrath. What would normally be something I dislike works very well in this case, because the songs sound very good in dense, dark places. “Voitelu” is perhaps the best example, a song that sounds like it’s trying to give you claustrophobia. It is perhaps the most black metal of the bunch; its relentless insanity is broken only by the sudden introduction of haunting, ringing piano that gives it a faint essence of horror. It is followed by “Hautatuuli,” a false sense of safety that gives the bass a rare minute to shine before introducing haunting whispers that segue to a massive, creeping black metal crescendo that leans heavily on keys to give it a similarly horror-like motif. All of these tense, angry, “scary” moments are heavily benefitted by the all-consuming production style.

One drawback to this style, however, is that it doesn’t favor long songs as well as Oranssi Pazuzu have pulled off in the past. In particular, “Ikikäärme” struggles under its own weight, with lengthy piano, arpeggio, and, yes, suffocating black metal sections that all seem to take up more time than they need to. Here, the samples start to grate, and, rather than building tension, the lengthy creeping buildups just add to the song’s length. In a similar vein, closer “Vierivä usva” is essentially an atmospheric track that, despite its neat retro synths and terrific keyboard use, accomplishes very little over its five-minute runtime. With these two songs alone making up a full third of the album, Muuntautuja feels longer and more bloated than it needs to, despite a fairly succinct forty-two-minute runtime. I couldn’t say I think any songs are weak, but I do believe there is an over-reliance on atmosphere in the back half of the album.

To my ears, Muuntautuja is a notable improvement over Mestarin kynsi and a good example of how distortion, avant-garde songwriting, and elements of horror can make for strong, cathartic music. Nothing Oranssi Pazuzu does is predictable, but their ability to harness tension and imbue anguish into their compositions is a bright light in the dense, unending marsh that is Muuntautuja. I was skeptical, but Oranssi Pazuzu has convinced me there’s more to this style than I think. I will inevitably be drawn back for more.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Websites: oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/pages/Oranssi-pazuzu/58437793552
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

#2024 #30 #AvantGardeMetal #BlackMetal #FinnishMetal #Muuntautuja #NuclearBlastRecords #Oct24 #OranssiPazuzu #PsychedelicMetal #Review #Reviews

#OranssiPazuzu #Muuntautuja
https://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/album/muuntautuja

#metal #psychedelicmetal #psychedelic #blackmetal #doommetal

Moose Cult – Book of the Machines Review

By Kenstrosity

UK progressive heavy/doom metal troupe Moose Cult should sound familiar to fans of the blog. Featuring members of Bull Elephant, Conglaciation, Monsterworks, The Anchoret, and Thūn, Moose Cult constitute a new installment in the Eat Lead and Die canon of artists that we’ve covered over the last decade. This project focuses on generalized environmental issues and human folly, justifying somewhat the band’s self-assigned moniker of “Envirometal.” While that does a poor job of illustrating what it is that Moose Cult plays beyond the scope of lyrical theme and content, sophomore record Book of the Machines won’t puzzle listeners nearly as much as the bespoke genre tag might.

Moose Cult’s closest living relative in the metalverse is very clearly Bull Elephant. Wild combinations of gritty heavy metal, aggressive doom, progressive metal and a touch of the extreme characterize Book of the Machines’ thirty-eight minutes. Gruff vocals reminiscent of Boss Keloid fused with Bütcher passionately deliver lyrics that tackle a wide array of uniquely human quandaries. Meanwhile, lurching guitars and pounding skins—along with an impressive variety of different blast beat variations—provide the muscle to move that kind of potentially weighty messaging. Moose Cult aren’t the first band to concern themselves with environmental matters, but their more vague, generalized approach to that theme differs greatly from the more story-driven, niche nature of Bull Elephant’s material. Whether that is a boon or a detractor is up for debate. However, I maintain that using a near-carbon copy of Bull Elephant’s blueprint to unleash a shotgun blast against human greed and mankind’s disregard for the environment, rather than crafting a more distinct sound to enact a focused attack on a specific environmental issue, works against Moose Cult’s favor.

Book of the Machines’ greatest fumble extends beyond plagiarism of sister projects’ style and application. A more damning lack of memorable songwriting leaves me with little of consequence to hold on to after the record concludes. Enjoyable and entertaining in the moment, stronger cuts like “Erewhon,” “Curse of Creation,” “Earth(l)ing,” and “Book of the Machines” do offer small nuggets worth preserving. “Curse of Creation” in particular features a beautiful, psychedelic ambience in its midsection that immerses me in vivid, kaleidoscopic light, only to bring me crashing back down to a ruined Earth a minute later. Highly effective puts it mildly. However, these moments aren’t strong enough to carry any song on its own, let alone an entire album filled with solid lyrical ideas that never got the development they deserved. Across Book of the Machines’ runtime, passages shift and shimmy with an arbitrary sort of movement that jostles arrangements enough to destabilize them. Put another way, this record is not a smooth one, and consequently feels disjointed and unsteady.

Despite its awkward songwriting and flimsy messaging, Book of the Machines holds potential. Throat singing embellishments and fantastic soloing help elevate tracks like “Gateway to Evolving Thought” and “Headless Cult” almost enough to establish a trademark sound for the band. Closer “Book of the Machines” accomplishes a similar feat, albeit with a completely different approach that evokes a more extreme variant of Killing Joke. If Moose Cult buckles down and unifies these more differentiated elements into a unique, but cohesive, palette that better stands on its own, all the better for future efforts. On the other hand, Moose Cult nailed the production with Book of the Machines. Rich, warm, textured, and dynamic, this record blooms with vibrant color and its varying instrumentation strikes an ideal clarity that deftly avoids an over-polished sheen.

Overall, I am disappointed with Moose Cult so far. I am a longtime fan of Bull Elephant and have heard good things about several of these artists’ other projects, but this record isn’t what it could’ve been. Between the sparse substance behind its theme and the plagiaristic nature of its musical content, Book of the Machines offers a substandard proof of concept that makes it difficult to buy in. Without focusing its message and finding a unique—or at least more creative—voice with which to express it, this record fails to make an impact. Therefore, I recommend passing on it, hanging tight, and waiting to hear where Moose Cult go from here.

Rating: Disappointing.
DR: 11 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Eat Lead and Die Music
Website: moosecult.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: September 6th, 2024

#20 #2024 #BookOfTheMachines #BossKeloid #BullElephant #Bütcher #Conglaciation #DoomMetal #EatLeadAndDieMusic #HeavyMetal #KillingJoke #Monsterworks #MooseCult #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #TheAnchoret #Thūn #UKMetal

Vile Rites – Senescence Review

By Iceberg

I don’t often reach for OSDM revival promos, a genre I feel has been discovered, explored, conquered, and overrun. Fate had other things in mind for me, it seems when I found Vile Rites’ proper debut Senescence. Drawn to its label of “progressive death metal,” imagine my surprise when I found a sea of neo-OSDM lurking beneath. The Santa Rosa trio dipped their toes in the scene with 2022’s EP The Ageless and spent their time touring that record to perfect their coming-out opus, Senescence. As a member of the AMG Inc. Hydro Homies™, I’m duty-bound to snag any aquatic cover. So with Senescence in my icy grasp, I eagerly let the sounds of “Only Silence Follows” wash over me.

Vile Rites’ ability to seamlessly blend OSDM influences into their signature sound shows wisdom beyond the band’s years. You’ll find the foundational elements of Floridian Death Metal–Morbid Angel and Death chainsaw riffs and blistering backbeats–especially in the warm-up routine of opener “Only Silence Follows.” But as the album progresses Vile Rites stretch the edges of the music, toying with odd-time signature passages and whiplash tempo shifts that remind me of the proggier moments of Gorguts, or a less frenetic Faceless Burial (“Senescence,” “Shiftless Wanderings”). The trio is a favored format for this style of death metal, and Vile Rites use their limited lineup skillfully. Skinsman Aerie Johnson wears the OSDM and prog hats equally well, straddling the line somewhere between Richard Christie and Between The Buried And Me’s Blake Richardson. Bandleader, guitarist, and vocalist Alex Miletich excels on all three fronts, delivering a pleasantly discernible death roar, alongside notable solos that form the center of nearly every track here. Stephen Coon’s bass performance is magnificent, taking the lead on melodies as often as supporting the harmonic structure. The album’s eerie, watery quality is due in no small part to the work of a bass guitar tone drenched in springy reverb and muted blues.

The straightforward death metal material on Senescence is quite good, but the stranger Vile Rites gets, the better they get. Take, for instance, the recurring theremin-like synth waves, emerging from the inky blackness, threatening to overwhelm, before disappearing once again (“Only Silence Follows,” “Transcendent Putrefaction”). Or the lengthy middle section of “Transcendent Putrefaction” that suspends both momentum and harmony and just when it seems you’ve lost your way in the song, Johnson drops in on a swinging, shuffle groove that would be wildly out of place in lesser hands. Even the interlude, ever the albatross of albums, knows just how long to last with its gentle picked guitar and synths swirling amidst a summer storm (“Ephemeral Reverie of Eroded Dreams”). The band—along with that elegant cover, mysterious and melancholy—use atmosphere and smart, inventive riffcraft to drag the listener down, and the end result is impressive.

The more I listened to Senescence, the harder it was to find faults in its design. Longform closer “Banished To Solitude (Adrift On The Infinite Waves)” has plenty of high moments, from a nasty decelerator of a riff in it’s opening, to a menacing build-up just before the final chorus, and dueling bass and guitar solos to round out the album. I could nitpick and say that the outro drags on just a bit too long, and that the buildup, absolutely loaded with potential energy, meets its release just a few bars too early, but I’m really splitting hairs here. The one point I will level at the band is that I can’t help but feel that they’re hovering right on the precipice of a stellar album, but haven’t quite found it. This is a nebulous criticism that’s hard to quantify, but while everything is executed near-perfectly in these six tracks, very little left me awestruck, and I think Vile Rites has the tools to do just that.

Vile Rites have produced a debut album that comes so close to swatting the counter it hurts. Loaded with mind-bending stanky riffs, soaring solos, and glistening proggy diversions, Senescence is a must-listen for all fans of the OSDM revival movement. I think Vile Rites will find their path forward in the riches of “Banished To Solitude…” and a continued incursion into stranger, wilder sound worlds. Keep your eyes fixated on the movements of these Santa Rosa boys, a leviathan may be lurking in their future.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Carbonized Records
Websites: vilerites.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/VileRites
Releases Worldwide: August 16th, 2024

#2024 #35 #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #BetweenTheBuriedAndMe #BlackenedDeathMetal #CarbonizedRecords #Death #DeathMetal #FacelessBurial #Gorguts #MorbidAngel #ProgressiveDeathMetal #PsychedelicMetal #Review #Reviews #Senescence #VileRites

The new Opeth single makes it seems like the band is on their way back to making their music a bit harder again. https://song.link/s/1wkWkXCdHR4nGViHA3I9Yc #psychedelicMetal #HammondOrgan #deathMetal

I’m all for it!

Surrealistic Surprise – Краснопёрая анаконда
#Experimental #acidrock #ambient #avantgarde #drone #fusion #jazzfusion #jazzcore #noise #posthardcore #psychedelicmetal #psychedelicrock #sludge #stonerrock #surrealcore #Saratov
CC BY-NC-ND (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives)
https://boilyourangel.bandcamp.com/album/--20

Haunted Plasma – I Review

By Thus Spoke

There was something about Haunted Plasma’s debut, I, that just drew me in. Partly that art, which literally draws one’s eye inward towards its centre, a square of bright, unnatural light, the exit from a tunnel of clouds of similarly strange hue. Partly also its constituents—a trio of members from Oranssi Pazuzu, K-X-P, and Aavikko, plus guest vocalists—and blurb, promising music that would play upon the genres of krautrock, techno, and more, for a psychedelic and novel twist on electronica. This is not metal. But in its unusual, genre-defying progressiveness, it could be said to embody the spirit of the genre’s avant-garde offshoots, refusing to remain precisely one thing. It doesn’t really matter what you call it; what matters is how it feels to listen to. And I provides one with a lot to say in that regard.

Across five movements, I shapeshifts through a series of interpretations, within and between cuts. Moody electro-rock (“Reverse Engineer,”), gaze-y ambience (“Echoes”), synthwave techno (“Machines Like Us”), almost-noise, krautrock (“Haunted Plasma”). Not post-metal or post-rock, but post-everything, with an ethereal unreality to every passage, a dreamlike quality that’s discomfiting and pleasantly vibey in equal measure. It turns out that the album’s artwork is not the only vaguely mesmerising thing about it, as no matter how upbeat, groovy, or sinister it becomes, it remains hypnotically easy to listen to, and difficult to ignore despite its pretensions to fade into a soundscape of your new normal, at the extremes of its structurelessness. If there is a true common thread, its this sense of being inside I; as though one has stepped through the bizarre orange portal and is free-falling, carelessly, through whatever exists on the other side.

Through gracefully subtle evolution, Haunted Plasma pull in the listener irrecoverably. Each song builds layers of noise, synth, vocals, guitars. Ringing, distorted refrains blur the lines between physical and synthetic instrumentation, just as the echo of a once prominent voice, or note makes indistinct the true leader of the piece, and heightens tension to a anticipatory hum. Opener “Reverse Engineer” entices with a gradually manifesting canvas of enigmatic droning, ringing, mournful notes, and the ever-more assertive voice of Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, Grave Pleasures), rising to the oddly affecting “tell us what we want//give us what want” and falling back on the repeated threat of “technology of power.” This layered slow-burn is in an incredible way to set the stage for what follows, immersing its audience in its obscure, moody world of vibrating suspense, bleeding with eerie groove. This expectation is met in full. “Machines Like Us” smashes any idea of continued slow, stalking smokiness in favour of a spiralling voyage of glittering synths, flickering like light from every direction. “Echoes” is almost painfully pure, ethereally shoegazey beside its more violent, effortlessly efficient partner “Spectral Embrace,” but the two nonetheless belong to the same realm. The latter reflects, in the most “metal” vocal performance of barbed, dissonantly-pitching vocals, paired with an uncomfortably irresistible drum pattern, that bubble up in “Machines Like Us” and “Haunted Plasma”, just as “Echoes” echoes the endlessly shrouded pulse of the opener, and which emanates from every second of every song.

It is because I is just that compelling that it becomes difficult to find meaningful criticism—so easy is it to fall into its weird, pacifying embrace. Closer, “Haunted Plasma,” at just under thirteen minutes, is a behemoth that like its brothers builds until it’s an undulating series of circling noise, strange female vocals (Ringer Manner of The Hearing), and clipped, buzzing guitar lines, each a part of the tapestry, so slick it happens as much behind your back as in front of your ears and eyes. And I can’t decide whether it’s genius or not, to end what is not a very long album with a fully instrumental track that is so long, and yet, so confidently executed and just as immersive as anything that came before. Part of me wants to think I just don’t “get it,” while just as big a part feels just a little nonplussed. Disappointed that the finale fully gave in to the freeform non-conformity, and almost fizzles away in its eventual whistling synths, rather than going out with a bang. But maybe this was the only way I could end.

Whatever my feelings, or as the promo blurb puts it, “[w]hether you want to give in […] or not,” Haunted Plasma have created something that I couldn’t ignore even if I wanted to. Drawing me back incessantly, I had better be what it implies, the first of many expressions from the avant-garde trio. Because they’re haunting me now; and I kind of love it.

Rating: Great
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Svart Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Released Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#2024 #40 #ElectroRock #HauntedPlasma #I #Krautrock #May24 #NotMetal #PsychedelicMetal #Review #Reviews #SvartRecords

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
ORANSSI PAZUZU Stays Weird With New Single "Muuntautuja"
This band does not miss.

https://metalinjection.net/video/oranssi-pazuzu-stays-weird-with-new-single-muuntautuja

#OranssiPazuzu #NewSingle #Muuntautuja #PsychedelicMetal #FinnishBand #Electronica #BlackMetal

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
The Weekly Injection: New Releases From NECROT, TÝR, CASTLE RAT & More Out Today 4/12
Plus releases from Benighted, Eidola, Heavy Temple, Northlane, and Spit On Your Grave.

https://metalinjection.net/upcoming-releases/heavy-new-releases/the-weekly-injection-new-releases-from-necrot-tyr-castle-rat-more-out-today-4-12

#WeeklyInjection #NewReleases #Necrot #Ekbom #Benighted #CastleRat #Eidola #HeavyTemple #Northlane #SpitOnYourGrave #Tyr #BattleBallads #FolkMetal #DeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #AlternativeMetal #ProgressiveMetalCore #PostHardcore #StonerMetal #PsychedelicMetal

Iterum Nata – From The Infinite Light Review

By Iceberg

Another week, another genre mashup for Iceberg, the frozen fringe-dweller. After a disappointing—and apparently controversial—dive into more straightforward waters, I was excited to spy the black/neofolk/prog tag on the newest release from Finnish one-man band Iterum Nata. Jesse Heikkinen spent some time with countrymen and fellow genre-blenders Hexvessel before striking out on his own, and this will mark his fifth solo release. After reading the heady concept of “…the birth of Darkness and Death” and eyeing a paparazzi picture of Dear Hollow on his lunch break, I hoped to find something new and untamed in From The Infinite Light. But whether or not Heikkennen can deliver on his patchwork of styles remains to be seen.

Those of you familiar with Hexvessel will have a good idea of the jumping-off point of Iterum Nata’s sound. There’s a strong element of psychedelic folk here, albeit darker and moodier than Heikkinen’s previous outfit: “Nights in White Satin” is a good reference. Much of the album is driven by acoustic guitar—standard and 12-string—and Heikkinen’s vocal styling reminds me of Roger Waters at times, Nick Cave at others. Iterum Nata augment their acoustic core with bookends of black metal (“This Gleaming Eternity,” “The Crown of All”) and a surprisingly deep bench of auxiliary instruments. Except the spoken word voice overs and some guest spots on “A Darkness Within,” it seems Heikkinen is responsible for the totality of the performances, and his work is solid enough to convince me I’m listening to a group as opposed to a one-man band.

From The Infinite Light’s greatest strength is its ability to transport the listener into the dark, nightmarish forest of Heikkinen’s imagination, and to do it in the fewest steps possible. “Overture Limitless Light” opens the curtain on a deranged vaudevillian troupe, reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s orchestral output, and is the best example of Heikkinen’s use of strange and unnerving colors. There’s a tendency to subvert expectations with chord progressions and melodies, shifting notes or chords ever so slightly, or changing to an unexpected key, giving the music an uneasy, slithering quality (“A Manifested Nightmare,” “Ambrosia,” “The Drifter”). “Ambrosia” is an album highlight, a simple minimalist ballad built around a gorgeous descending melody featuring a single lowered pitch that stuck with me long after I had passed through it. While I found the narrative a bit difficult to follow, there is a palpable sense of momentum here, with the black metal tracks acting as beginning and end, sentinels of dissonance guarding the gates of the mystical woodlands through which our hero journeys. The final track is particularly unhinged, with Heikinnen throwing everything at his drum and guitar performances. It comes a little off the rails, but within context the insanity is effective and a fitting close to the record.

As enchanting as From The Infinite Light is, there is still room for improvement. Heikinnen’s previous effort Trench of Loneliness was almost exclusively psych-folk, so the inclusion of black metal at all is relatively new, but I think it can be integrated further still. While there’s a structural argument to be made for confining the trems and blasts to the open and close, the center of the album sags due to the homogeneity of instrumentation, tempo and atmosphere. And as beautiful as I found the mix in its support of a kaleidoscope of instruments, I thought the vocals were often muddied in the back-center of the soundscape; more clarity would be helpful for a narrative album with all-clean vocals. That being said, after multiple focused listens I found myself straining for more criticism, a credit to Heikinnen’s deft use of trimmed resources to craft his record. Simplicity of material is often a double-edged blade for one-man acts, but it’s resulted in a complexity of expression for Iterum Nata that reveals maturity and skill.

I feel my final score may undersell From The Infinite Light, though that’s not my intention. Iterum Nata clearly made a strong step forward from their previous record, but the takeaway from my time with this album was that the best is yet to come. Heikinnen is well-positioned to continue his one-man metal act—I think of The Reticent in the same regard—but I’d like for him to push even further past the safety of psychedelic folk and into newer, darker, heavier, more alien sound worlds. Fans of folk or atmospheric metal will find much to like here; Iterum Nata has woven a delicate tapestry of darkness and light, well worth the price of admission.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Nordvis Produktion | Bandcamp
Websites: facebook.com | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 15, 2024

#2024 #30 #AtmosphericBlackMetal #DannyElfman #FinnishMetal #FolkMetal #FromTheInfiniteLight #Hexvessel #IterumNata #Mar24 #NickCave #NordvisProduktion #PinkFloyd #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #Review #Reviews #TheReticent

Stuck in the Filter: January’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

March is but a few days away (at the time of writing), so, naturally, we at AMG and Sons feel it’s finally time to leave 2023 behind. Entering 2024 with a fresh vat of anger juice to fuel our findings, we trudge through the thin metal walls of our ever-taxed filtration system. And boy howdy did we get lucky this month!

January’s Filter is stuffed to the gills with great options, sure to find a home in the arms of one of you despicable rascals lovely readers. If there was ever a Filter stocked enough to feed an entire readership in one fell swoop, it’s this one. Now, go! Feast!

Kenstrosity’s Scuzzy Slags

Dark Oath // Ages of Man [January 18th, 2024 – Self Release]

Portuguese symphonic, melodic death metal five-piece1 Dark Oath quietly dropped its sophomore effort Ages of Man to an unsuspecting public midway through January. After a whopping eight years since their debut When Fire Engulfs the Earth released, surely expectations for fans run high. As for me, this is my first foray, and this follow-up is nothing short of striking. Immediately recalling Aephanemer’s excellent Prokopton and Aether’s In Embers, riffs aren’t Ages of Man’s focus. Rather, epic guitar licks and leads command the charge with a cavalcade of orchestral layers forming an army of triumphant melodies and counterpoint just behind (“Gold I” and “Gold II”). Prominently featured and wonderfully effective, acoustic plucking from what sounds like a bouzouki evokes the magnificence and reverent tones of Gorgon’s Elegy, creating another core character for this epic journey that deepens the experience further (“Silver I,” “Bronze I,” “Bronze II”). While I occasionally pine for more engaging, groovy riffs to provide greater dynamics than the chugging gallops utilized instead, there’s no denying that Dark Oath’s infectious melodies and danceable rhythms punch far above the weight of forty-two minutes of lush, epic material (“Silver II,” “Heroic I,” “Iron”). At the end of the day, if you wanna go on cinematic adventures in the near future, queue up Ages of Man. It will be your guide.

Rhûn // Conveyance in Death [January 26th, 2024 – I.K. Productions]

Falls of Rauros’ founding member Aaron Charles, known for his emotive and vicious howls and creative guitar work, established solo act Rhûn back in 2021. Over the past year, a set of singles hinted at what debut full-length Conveyance in Death might hold for the Portland, Maine multi-instrumentalist. Now that it’s unleashed upon the world, this record proves to be a compelling amalgam of atmospheric black metal, post-black, and death metal. Opener “Morningstar” showcases all of these facets with aplomb, shifting from crushing riffs to a gorgeous trem-based ascension in the final third. Further down the line, Song o’ the Year contender “Bone Ornament” suitably shatters my bones with its awesome main riff, swaggering groove, and vicarious pacing. Other interesting forays into multifaceted modality and doom-laden marches help define the darker “Tomb of Andesite” and “Citadels in Ruins.” At a tight thirty-seven minutes of quality material, there’s little here that needs editing, although some lengthier passages in “Howl of Gleaming Swords” and closer “Night’s Glacial Passing” could stand a thirty-second trim here or there. Nonetheless, this is a strong launch for the fledgling project, and I can’t wait to hear how Aaron develops it in the future.

Niemaracz // The Tales of the Dense Forest [January 31st, 2024 – Self Release]

Hailing from Almaty, Kazakhstan, uber-obscure stoner doom black metal band Niemaracz doesn’t even have a date of establishment listed on Metallum. Pulling from fuzzy doom metal, languid stoner rock, folk-tinged heavy metal, and witchy black metal, debut record The Tales of the Dense Forest ushers in a sound I can’t say I’ve ever heard before. Icy and warm, rich and sharp, relaxed and blistering, these sprawling soundscapes challenge every preconception I held for not one, but four distinct styles. Yet, coming in at just under thirty minutes, this record marries them all as fluidly as a babbling brook glides over stone. With the immersive opener, “The Experiment,” Niemaracz’s high-fantasy fueled melodies and classic riffs impress with their uncanny synchronicity, while the fuzzy and warm production deepens the music’s cohesion. Album highlight, “The Faithful Horse,” manages to blend classic Iron Maiden gallops with the sort of furious black metal I’d sooner expect from Emperor, all wrapped up in stoned fuzz, and it’s fascinating. Sometimes, the clean baritones are far too forward in the mix, throwing that delicate balance of tones and textures way off. Thankfully, the consistently entertaining and novel songwriting makes it all worthwhile (“The Secret of Longevity”). Go check them out, and give their lone Bandcamp supporter a new friend!

Tales From the Garden

Slift // Ilion [January 19th, 2024 – Sub Pop Records]

I am going to preface this glowing recommendation by saying that this fucking behemoth is far too long. It’s nigh-on 80 minutes of dense, twisting, and very French psychedelic madness, and the brain can only contain so much of that for so long. The reason I am posting it here anyway is that it is really good dense twisting French psychedelic madness. Slift became an underground darling after 2020’s Ummon, which got them enough acclaim to be Artist in Residence at the 2022 edition of Roadburn, where I first became acquainted with the Toulouse formation. Ilion is a feverish album, a chase through winding soundscapes that always change but never end, layers of vocals and synths passing in and out of view, the hefty riffs hammering your back and Frenchmen hollering at you from behind. Slift has been getting heavier with each release and now firmly finds itself in sludge territory. The phenomenal drums are the tone, the pace, and the foundation here, a colossal presence even if their sound isn’t massive per se. They remind most of the climactic sequences Dvne so excels at, a bludgeoning dynamic shuffle that feels like getting caught in an avalanche, but retaining their old-school jam-band roots. Thankfully there’s enough variation to mitigate the bloat a bit, from left-field saxophone intermissions to more mid-paced material like the excellent atmospheric doom of “Weavers’ Weft.” Ilion is a deep, deep well, but a richly rewarding one for fans of heavy psych.

Carcharodon’s Fanged Fancies

Ὁπλίτης // Παραμαινομένη [January 12th, 2024 – Self-released]

At this point, I am almost relieved that the Chinese black metal-making machine known as Ὁπλίτης (Hoplites, for those of us not well versed in Ancient Greek) resolutely continues to not send us promo. Such is his level of productivity and, crucially, consistency, that I fear I would spend a fair chunk of my time just writing >3.0 reviews for his various projects (Vitriolic Sage being another good one). A case in point, his latest offering, Ὁπλίτης, is another absolute banger. Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η actually offers something slightly different from previous outings. While still very much playing in the almost clinically harsh black metal space, there is a more present and more vicious bass groove to this (fifth track “Συμμιαινόμεναι Διονύσῳ Ἐλευθέριῳ”), as well as, more surprisingly, a lot of freeform jazz elements. Screaming sax and trumpets are a big component, particularly in the first half of the record, giving the whole a feeling of White Ward and John Zorn having a particularly raucous threesome with Vredehammer. There is nothing tender about what’s happening though; it’s furious, pummelling, experimental… at least one of which is a thing that a threesome should be. A punishing, relentless listen, with unexpected twists, Ὁπλίτης has once again cranked out a fascinating record, and in record time.

Infant Island // Obsidian Wreath [January 12th, 2024 – Secret Voice]

Infant Island is new to me but, apparently, not to all—I’ve seen a fair bit of buzz around these guys—and Obsidian Wreath is the Virginians’ third record. Probably best tagged as blackened screamo, this record has contradictory feelings of warmth and utterly despairing rage. The band themselves cite Panopticon and Deafheaven as influences. I can hear both in their sound, the melodic complexity of the former, and the atmospheric wall-of-sound style of the latter. However, there are a few other things going on in the mix, with something of the frantic, chaotic precision of Pupil Slicer (“Fulfilled”), as well as the haunted and melodic deathgaze of Kardashev (“Amaranthine” and “Kindling”). Guitarists Alexander Rudenshiold and Winston Givler create such a dense morass of sound, that it often feels like there are more than two guitar lines in play, while Kyle Guerra’s bass adds something faintly grindcore-esque to the mix. All five members are credited with the vocals, which are throat-shredding and packed with pain, mourning, and frustration. Obsidian Wreath is a brutal, percussive listen, that feels like it’s tearing open your ears so that it can scream directly into your brain. At the same time, dark and unsettling electronica and arrangements (“Found Hand”) play a part in lulling the battered listener, preparing you for the next assault, as does the mix, which is surprisingly rich for all the pummelling. Although Infant Island is a screamo band, they reach with confidence into other genres for inspiration, making for a much more interesting proposition.

Thus Spoke’s Reviled Ramblings

Cognizance // Phantazein [January 26th, 2024 – Willowtip]

As most of them are from Leeds, I would have expected Cognizance to know that the objectively correct, British spelling is Cognisance, actually.2 But what the Loiners3 might lack in grammatical precision, they more than makeup for in musical style. Finessing their brand of tech-death, which falls somewhere between The Faceless and Allegaeon, Phantazein realizes the convergence of grooviness, melodic catchiness, and technicality with panache. Stomping, neck-snapping, and irresistibly foot-tapping rhythms tumble over one another with precise eagerness (“Ceremonial Vigour,” “Futureless Horizon,” “The Towering Monument”). Punchy, satisfyingly urgent melodies lead the way in chunky, groovy guitar dances (“A Brain Dead Memoir,” “Shock Heuristics,” “Shadowgraph”). With the exception of the (unnecessary) echoing interlude “Alferov,” this thing wrestles and roils its way into and around your general head area. It’s snappy, slick, and smooth. Phantazein (I think) comes from the Greek meaning “to appear,” as in, to seem a certain way. It seems to me, at least, that Phantazein is a banger.

Resin Tomb // Cerebral Purgatory [January 19th, 2024 – Transcending Obscurity Records]

Having stolen this from Ferox‘s rightful hands due to his punishing work schedule, I find myself, not for the first, or the last time this year I’m sure, singing the praises of a Transcending Obscurity release. But Cerebral Purgatory deserves praise in its own right. Punishingly heavy, yet remarkably listenable, it sees Resin Tomb filter grindy percussive assaults and dissonant death metal through a hard/grind-core medium. Barking screams breaking across ringing, tremolo-ing descending scales and tempos from charge to crushing, headbanging groove. Clanging, twanging guitar beats aggressive and menacing patterns (“Flesh Brick,” “Scalded,” “Putrescence”). Sometimes, this makes for pleasingly slick, melancholic melodies, that play out with stalking grace (title track, “Human Confetti,” “Concrete Crypt”). Other times, relentless blastbeating or chonky bass chugging provides the background for the axe’s more dissonant angularity (“Dysphoria,” “Purge Fluid,” “Flesh Brick”). Like “a more hardcore-y Nightmarer,”4 or perhaps even an extreme metal Knocked Loose mixed with Nothingness. Seriously, just listen to it.

Mystikus Hugebeards’s Stupendous Scrolls

Albion // Lakesongs of Elbid [January 27th, 2024 – Self-Release]

I’ve been on a folk metal streak of late, yet I’ve struggled to find something that really gripped me the way I wanted. Thus did fate decree that some watery tart hangin’ about in ponds would lob a sword at me in the form of Lakesongs of Elbid, the debut album by the British folk band Albion. This album transposes Celtic folklore into lush, lightly proggy folk metal in the vein of Big Big Train, and is written like the music you hear in your head when you picture a grand quest to Camelot or the Isles of Avalon. “Arthurian Overture” begins the journey in earnest, the music cresting triumphant, orchestral hills and striding through valleys of flute passages, all to the rhythmic footsteps of the guitars. From there, Lakesongs of Elbid explores a wide array of musical locales that can range from direct, determined metal riffs (“Finding Avalon”), traces of British tavern rock (“Barret’s Privateers,” “Silvaplana Rock”), or somber, acoustic folk (“Camlann”). The quest is spearheaded by Joe Parrish-James, whose vocals effortlessly merge the buttery smooth cadence of a seasoned storyteller with a youthful yearning for adventure. That idea of adventure is the beating heart of Lakesongs of Elbid; I can think of a few bands that so easily transport the listener to a new world of vibrant color and sound. Adventurous, enchanting, tons of fun, and extraordinarily British.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Slippery Sermon

Cancer Christ // God Is Violence [January 5th, 2024 – Seeing Red Records]

HAIL CHRIST! HAIL CHRIST!! DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT? DO YOU SEE IT?? IT’S AT THE END OF A TUNNEL FILLED WITH RAPISTS, SATANISTS, PEOPLE WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN GOD’S LOVE. “SATAN IS A BITCH.” SEE THE LIGHT. SEE JESUS CHRIST. JESUS KNOWS THE WORLD CAN BE A BETTER PLACE. JESUS KNOWS THE WORLD NEEDS RIFFS. JESUS KNOWS THE WORLD DOESN’T NEED COPS. “GOD HATES COPS.” THEY STAND IN THE WAY OF GOD’S POWER. HUBRIS! JESUS KNOWS THAT WE’RE ALL BETTER DEAD THAN ALIVE. JESUS CAN KILL US ALL JUST FINE HE DOESN’T NEED COPS. DID YOU HEAR? DID YOU HEAR JESUS’ WORD?? WE NEED TO “BRING BACK THE GUILLOTINE” — WE NEED TO CIRCLE PIT AROUND THE SINNERS AND CHOP THEIR HEADS OFF. CHOP THEIR HEADS OFF!! THE ONLY WAY THEY’LL SEE GOD’S LOVE IS IF THEY’RE DEAD. DO YOU HEAR THE SCREECHING? THAT HIGH-PITCHED SQUIRMING? THAT THRASHY RHYTHMIC PULSE? THAT’S THE ONLY WAY WE’LL GET THESE SINNERS WHO HAVE BEEN “BAPTIZED IN PISS AND SHIT.” HAIL CHRIST! HAIL CHRIST!! WE HAVE SKANKS (BEATS)! WE HAVE MENTAL BREAKDOWNS! “JESUS GOT A BIG OL’ COCK” TOO! IF YOU DESIRE SALVATION YOU’LL WORSHIP CHRIST IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU. SPREAD JESUS’ LOVE LIKE HE’S SPREAD HIS SEED ACROSS THE WORLD. CANCER CHRIST HAS LAID THE PATH BEFORE YOU. DON’T LISTEN TO LESSER GOSPELS EVEN IF THEY SOUND SIMILAR. DEAD KENNEDYS ARE OLD BUT NOT AS OLD AS HIS WISDOM. CHILD BITE HAS NO CLUE OF THE PATH OF GOD. TRAP THEM DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO BUILD A CROSS LET ALONE HOW TO NAIL JESUS SINNERS TO ONE. COVER YOURSELF IN “THE BLOOD OF JESUS” TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THESE DIRECTIONLESS GOSPELS WHO KNOW NOTHING OF THE LOVE OF GOD. FILL YOUR LIFE WITH MEANING. FILL YOUR LIFE WITH JESUS’ CUM. “GOD BLESS THE RAPISTS.” GOD IS THRASH. GOD IS NOISE. GOD IS LOVE. GOD IS VIOLENCE. HAIL CHRIST!!! HAIL!!!! CHRIST!!!!!5

Dear Hollow’s Magnanimous Muddle

Her Last Sight // Picture Perfect [January 19th, 2024 – Liron Avital Productions / Self-Released]

You see metalcore, you run? Well run, bitch, run. Cuz Her Last Sight is bringing back the 2000s metalcore that made Hot Topic-obsessed millennials go absolutely bananas. Being that this was my well-trod path to the harsher realities of metal’s more textured offerings, I was all for giving Picture Perfect after seeing the Israelis’ incredibly accomplished guitarist Ofek Asulin’s insane licks on TikTok. While completely acknowledging that this bad boy is not going to change your mind on metalcore, Picture Perfect is core nostalgia through and through. Parkway Drive’s fist-pumping brutality collides with As I Lay Dying’s wild technicality, fed through the riff-happy arpeggio machines of Killswitch Engage or Trivium with clean choruses and heart-wrenching melodies straight outta In Hearts Wake or The Amity Affliction. Breakdowns and wild riffs dominate tracks like “In Dying Light,” “Horizons,” and “R.I.P.”, while the soaring choruses of “Paralyzed,” “Careless,” and “Heart // Mind” remain seared in the mind. While the too-loud and frail clean vocals are too often a weak link, the album is overlong, and the sparse electronic trip-hop influence feels largely unnecessary, the formidable technicality and solid songwriting grant Her Last Sight a relatively guilt-free nostalgia trip with Picture Perfect.

Hyloxalus // Make Me the Heart of the Black Hole [January 26th, 2024 – Self-Release]

For those of you who have read my reviews before, you know how much I am not a power metal guy. I reviewed Moonlight Haze twice to make myself more marketable when I first joined these halls, but it is far and away not my cup of tea. Thus, I was cautiously intrigued by the “dark power metal” tag of the Edmonton trio Hyloxalus. How this translates is that we are graced with the powerful operatic vocals of Nina Laderoute while instrumentalists Danial “AniMal” Devost and Mike Bell offer a noisy and relentless thrash riff-forwardness that feels both kickass and cold. Channeling Nightwish’s weirder and heavier moments, the trio rockets its sound to the cosmos, where we’re granted sounds expansive, exploratory, and epic (“Undead in Ward 6,” “Sailors Underneath the Waves”), while unforgiving coldness and isolation are constant reminders of the darkness (“He Dies in the Swamp,” “Severed from the Reborn Sun”). Don’t get me wrong, Hyloxalus is far from perfect in a tinny production and wonky mixing, while slower tracks like “Dream Chasm” and “Beyond the Soil” get bogged down by sluggish tempos. However, Make Me the Heart of the Black Hole is a ton of fun from a young band with a unique and weirdass sound that may just capture your heart.

#Aephanemer #Aether #AgesOfMan #Albion #AmericanMetal #AsILayDying #AustralianMetal #BigBigTrain #CancerChrist #CerebralPurgatory #ChildBite #ChineseMetal #Cognizance #ConveyanceInDeath #DarkOath #DeadKennedys #Deafheaven #DeathMetal #DissonantBlackMetal #DoomMetal #Dvne #Emperor #FallsOfRauros #FolkMetal #FrenchMetal #GodIsViolence #Gorgon #Grindcore #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #HerLastSight #Hoplites #Hyolaxus #IKProductions #Ilion #InHeartsWake #InfantIsland #IronMaiden #JohnZorn #Kardashev #KazakhstaniMetal #KillswitchEngage #KnockedLoose #LakesongsOfElbid #LironAvitalProductions #MakeMeTheHeartOfTheBlackHole #MelodicBlackMetal #MelodicDeathMetal #Metalcore #MoonlightHaze #Niemaracz #Nightmarer #Nightwish #Nothingness #ObsidianWreath #Panopticon #ParkwayDrive #Phantazein #PicturePerfect #PortugueseMetal #PowerMetal #ProgressiveBlackMetal #ProgressiveMetal #PsychedelicMetal #PupilSlicer #ResinTomb #Review #Reviews #Rhûn #Screamo #SecretVoids #SeeingRedRecords #SelfRelease #Slift #Sludge #StonerDoom #StonerMetal #StuckInTheFilter #SubPopRecords #SymphonicMetal #SymphonicPowerMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheAmityAffliction #TheTalesOfTheDeepForest #TranscendingObscurityRecords #TrapThem #Trivium #UKMetal #VitriolicSage #Vredehammer #WhiteWard #WillowtipRecords #Ὁπλίτης #Παραμαινομένη

LA doom band Sloth bring out their self-titled debut long-player, the perfect soundtrack for the holidays. Review of the soundtrack and the movie at FFMB, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/12/27/sloth-sloth-the-swamp-2023/ #LA #LosAngeles #Sloth #TheSwampRecords #stoner #stonerrock #stonermetal #desertrock #psychedelicrock #psychedelicmetal #California

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalSucks
Review: Mortuary Drape’s Black Mirror is a Bewitching Journey
The legends have returned and continue to slay: “Die upon your grave!”

https://www.metalsucks.net/2023/11/02/review-mortuary-drapes-black-mirror-is-a-bewitching-journey/

#MortuaryDrapes #BlackMirror #MusicReview #DoomMetal #ExtremeMetal #PsychedelicMetal #SludgeMetal #AtmosphericMetal #Pentagram #Candlemass #BewitchingJourney