DÅÅTH: “THE DECEIVERS”

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Apr 092024
 

(Below we present Wil Cifer‘s review of the new comeback album from Atlanta-based Dååth, which will be released by Metal Blade on May 3rd.)

After a decade-long hiatus bands often return to a musical landscape that has shifted. With metal, the stakes are higher. Headbangers are like addicts who build a tolerance requiring an ever-increasing level of sonic stimulus to get the same results. This leaves musicians with the choice of either cashing in on nostalgia or trying to find their place in the new musical climate. Producer/ guitarist Eyal Levi finds a balance between the two with Dååth‘s new album. Levi might be the sole original member, but he brought long-time growling machine Sean Z along for the ride. Sean’s multitracked performance lends to this album’s massive sound. Continue reading »

ATROPHY: “ASYLUM”

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Mar 202024
 

(We present Wil Cifer‘s review of the first Atrophy album in 34 years, recently released by Massacre Records.)

Despite growing up on it in the ’80s I do not cover much thrash. Most of the new thrash bands just fetishize the sound of Combat Records bands circa 1985. While that was a pivotal time for metal, nostalgia only goes so far. Arizona thrashers Atrophy were never a household name when it came to thrash, but their 1988 album Socialized Hate was an overlooked classic. I gave the album an overdue revisiting, before diving into the band’s first album in 34 years.

The first thing that is evident here is that, at 59 years of age, sole founding member Brian Zimmerman’s voice has held up extremely well, for a vocalist who has not been all that active over the years. His delivery on this album carries the familiar narrative of their earlier work, though it seems he has spent some time thinking about what he did on those albums, as the phrasing is more nuanced.

The session players Zimmerman gathered to make this album might not be big names of thrash, but hungry players who took the opportunity and stepped up to show they were just as capable as any of the veteran thrash bands out there. Continue reading »

METH. — “SHAME”

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Feb 062024
 

(We present Wil Cifer‘s intriguing review of an album by the Chicago band meth. that was released last Friday by Prosthetic Records.)

Imagine a band that does not feel the need to adhere to any of the conventions we have heard a thousand times over from all the other bands that push the limits of heavy. Chicago’s meth. is such a band.

Less unsettling evil haunts their new album Shame than say a band like Portrayal of Guilt, who are not far removed from their sonic zip code. You can pinpoint the sub-genres they touch upon, such as the deliberate pound of dense distortion that could be called sludge. Most of their vocalist’s screams carry an anguish that is similar to what we hear from black metal vocalists. Yet unlike those bands, they do not just relegate themselves to doing it throughout the entirety of a song much less the entire album. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2023: A YEAR-END LIST FROM WIL CIFER

 LISTMANIA 2023  2 Responses »
Dec 182023
 

(This week we begin presenting year-end lists from NCS writers other than Andy Synn, who finished his NCS list week last Friday. To begin this week, here’s a year-end Top 20 list from Wil Cifer.)

Given the world’s present apocalyptic trajectory this year’s Top 20 Metal Albums list might be the last of these lists I make. The tone of my listening this year shifted in a more nihilistic direction. I listened to more death metal this year, which might have less to do with becoming acclimated to living in Tampa and more to do with celebrating death as an inevitable end to this cycle of life. Metal has always been my therapeutic outlet. Even before I was formally diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, I used Doom metal to lean into my depressive episodes. Now I am more intentional with this ritual, so there might be a decent dose of doom ahead. Continue reading »

HEALTH: “RAT WARS”

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Dec 112023
 

(Here’s Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by L.A.-based HEALTH, which was released last week by Loma Vista Recordings.)

The industrial trio HEALTH continues to make artistic noise, with a haunting melody as the focal point of even their most confrontational moments. I have been a fan of this project for some time, but this is the first time I have felt compelled to review these guys here. Rat Wars finds the band to be sonically more appropriate. They have always been metal adjacent, but this time, though they might not be flashing devil horns with their foot on the monitor, it is their heaviest work to date.

As I searched for this album online earlier in the week, I found a comment on Reddit that gave me a chuckle as it referred to this album as ‘The Downward Spiral” for people with two monitors. It’s a pretty fair assessment. The band’s full vision unfolds on this album, opening the doors for the larger metal community to embrace them. Continue reading »

HARM’S WAY: “COMMON SUFFERING”

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Sep 192023
 

(This is Wil Cifer‘s review of Common Suffering, the new album by Chicago’s Harm’s Way which will be released by Metal Blade on September 28th.)

Here is a band I was reluctant to give a chance due to the whole straight-edge thing. Given my personal beliefs and lifestyle choices, the straight-edge sub-genre feels conflicting in the same way that causes me to avoid Christian bands.

I was lured into being more open-minded thanks to King Woman’s Kristina Esfandiari guesting on the single “Undertow”. The simmering darkness and willingness to explore eerie melodies set the Chicago band apart from the tough-guy hardcore I expected from them. Thus began my descent into their fifth full-length Common Suffering.

Their second album for Metal Blade carries a great deal of crossover appeal, though from a different angle than their previous release Posthuman, and I felt inspired enough by this album to dig back into their catalog and visit that as well. Continue reading »

TIDELESS: “EYE OF WATER”

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Aug 082023
 

(On September 15th Chaos Records will release the second album by the California band Tideless, and today we’ve got Wil Cifer‘s impressions of the music to share with you.)

2023 has so far become an impressive year for death metal .Many bands continue to sharpen the blade forged in Tampa, others make conscious attempts to wander their own path. California band Tideless set themselves further apart from the status quo with their sophomore release Eye of Water.

The aggression is dialed back as they lean in a post-rock direction with a cinematic sonic scope. At just under seven minutes the opening track is the shortest song on this album, as the songs seem to require extended track lengths to lay the groundwork for the breadth of the dynamics they are building toward. Continue reading »

GODTHRYMM : “DISTORTIONS”

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Jul 262023
 

(We present Wil Cifer‘s review of Godthrymm‘s new album, which is set for release on August 18th by Profound Lore Records.)

Doom does not feel like summer music to me. The heat normally makes me want to listen to death metal. I am on the other side of the bridge from Tampa, the birthplace of classic death metal, so it’s not until the storms roll in over the bay that I am in the mood for the kind of doom this gloomy British band churns out.

Despite having ex-members of My Dying Bride and Anathema in the band they are not weighed down by trying to capture the Peaceville sound. They further separate themselves from a great deal of modern doom by chugging forward with melodic purpose rather than getting lost in the meandering around a droning sprawl of sound.

Continue reading »

CLOAK: “BLACK FLAME ETERNAL”

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May 122023
 

(What follows is Wil Cifer‘s review of Black Flame Eternal, the new album by Cloak which will be released on May 26th by Season of Mist.)

The Atlanta metal scene exists within a 9-mile radius of hipster filth pits. During my time in Atlanta I found myself woven into the fabric of this PBR-stained seediness. From that vantage point I watched Cloak claw their way past the battle vests and IPAs to become the gloomy black metal band capable of writing anthemic symphonies of shadow found on their third album Black Flame Eternal.

The praise I bestow on these guys is hard-fought, as I have warmed up to them a little more with each album, due to me being a huge Watain fan. Rather than win me over with the sonic similarities, it made me ask why should I listen to this when I own everything by both Watain and Dissection? Continue reading »

PORTRAYAL OF GUILT: “DEVIL MUSIC”

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Apr 242023
 

(Here’s Wil Cifer‘s review of Texan outfit Portrayal of Guilt‘s new album, which is out now via via Run For Cover Records.)

Uncompromising and confrontational are two words that should be used when describing artists who use heavy music as their medium. You read that right. An artist, not a band. The best-case scenario is a band of artists, but when you are talking about a project that takes the kind of sonic risks Portrayal of Guilt does, the conversation turns to an art form.

These Texans do not play by the rules of heavy music, nor do they care. They make cathartic darkness, which is why they are one of my favorite new heavy vehicles of chaos for my ears. Their new album conforms when they feel like it. They used atmosphere and jarring dissonance to paint hellish portraits of inner pain externalized. Continue reading »

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