(Andy Synn presents four releases from January which you might have overlooked)
It’s a new year which means… new bands!
And so, to celebrate this, here’s four debut albums from last month which I strongly urge you all to check out.
HØLLS – ILL
Let’s start things off with some expressive, immersive, Post-Metal/Post-Hardcore from France, shall we?
While the sombre, scene-setting intro of “Breathe” certainly establishes the wounded, haunted tone of the album, Ill doesn’t really kick off until the wrenching scream which opens “Last Deep Breath”, with the song diving headfirst into a cathartic conflagration of heaving riffs and booming bass lines – interspersed with passages of brooding, introverted ambience which serve as the atmospheric eye of the song’s roiling emotional storm – which at times recalls the similarly intense yet introspective sound of early Obscure Sphinx (and not just because vocalist Sandra Chatelain is also of the female persuasion).
And while the songs tend towards the longer side (with only the moodily melodic “Thorns” coming in at under five minutes, and then only just) they still possess an undeniable sense of momentum – ebbing and flowing with a sense of gloomy grace from weighty, heaving riffage to delicate, doomy minimalism to jagged, jarring intensity during tracks like “Fall Into Decay” and the shining, sharp-edged “Sick” – which makes them seem far shorter and more succinct, yet never lacking in presence or power.
Sure, the DNA of other artists – Amenra, Battle of Mice, latter-day Isis – can all still be identified without much forensic analysis on the part of the listener, but the band have also clearly put a lot of effort into putting their own stamp, and injecting a lot of their own character, into their still-developing sound, especially when it comes to the nuanced, almost noir-ish melodies which permeate second half highlight “Upsetters” (where the contrast between the lightest and darkest, calmest and harshest, sides of the band is even more pronounced and effective) and the surprisingly sinister, subtly proggy vibes of captivating closer “Endless Night”.
So expect to see and hear a lot more from HØLLS in the future, that’s all I’m saying.
SUBTERRANEAN LAVA DRAGON – THE GREAT ARCHITECT
Look, while Subterranean Lava Dragon might not be the silliest name out there (it’s probably not even in the top 1000 possibilities) it doesn’t necessarily give you the best indication of what to expect from the The Great Architect, which is both the band’s debut album and one of the best debuts of the year so far.
Featuring two members (or possibly ex-members, since the entire band have split off to do other things) of Black Crown Initiate (bassist Nick Shaw and guitarist/vocalist Ethan McKenna – the latter of whom is/was also in Minarchist with SLD frontman Connor McNamee, which this band might be an extension of), Subterranean Lava Dragon play a sumptuously progressive hybrid of Tech Death / Death Metal / Metalcore (delete as appropriate) which puts just as much emphasis on expressive emotion as it does on impressive instrumentation.
Landing somewhere between Allegaeon and The Human Abstract, songs like opulent opener “The Silent Kin” (seven and a half minutes of shamelessly proggy synths and captivating cleans married to a metallic undercurrent of twitchy, technical riffs and lithe, coiled bass lines) and the exotically heavy “A Question of Eris” (which juxtaposes some of the densest grooves and darkest growls on the album with passages of pseudo-cosmic keys and flickering electronica) showcase the band at their very best, equally capable of luring you in with their hefty hooks as they are keeping you on your toes with every clever compositional twist and turn.
And while the group’s attempt to push their sound even further on impressively ambitious closer “Bleed the Throne” does take a little longer than it should to really hit its stride, the vast majority of The Great Architect – which includes the fantastic title track (whose absolutely massive finale is one of many early highlights) and “A Dream of Drowning” (which, along with “Ov Ritual Matricide”, showcases a little more of that instantly recognisable Black Crown Initiate melodic magic) – features more than enough vibrant vocal variety and intricate instrumental intensity (the fleet-fingered bass work in particular deserves a lot of attention and praise) to potentially make Subterranean Lava Dragon major players in the years to come!
TENEBRAE – LOS DIOSES AUSENTES
Slow and sludgy, dark and doomy, but possessing a knack for a catchy groove (or two… or ten) and a love of sombre melody (notable in their sparing, but striking, use of clean vocals at key points) the debut album from Mexican trio Tenebrae sits somewhere between Yob at their doomiest and Crowbar at their moodiest and most morose.
Highlights include the opening title-track – six minutes of brooding riffs and bleak, haunting vocals (both harsh and clean), and the oppressive slow-motion grind of “Vorágine” but there’s not much in the way of low points – a few rough transitions here and there notwithstanding – to single out, as it’s clear that the band already have a fully-conceptualised and surprisingly well-realised idea of who they are who they want to be.
It’s not a wholly original sound, of course, and the overall album tends to paint with a pretty restricted palette of sombre shadows and sullen greys – with only a few moments of piercing light and poignant melody to add a welcome sense of contrast to the proceedings – but Tenebrae have clearly worked had to ensure that their debut does as much as it possibly can, within these restrictions.
This is particularly notable during the closing pairing of “Sombras” and “Cataclismo”, with the group wisely saving the very best for last in the shape of the former’s more melodically eclectic and emotionally epic approach (making it the MVP of the album in my opinion) and pure, hook-heavy riffosity, which together represent the very best of the band’s still developing sense of identity and direction.
Yes, they’re still very much dwelling within the shadow of their influences and inspirations but, on the evidence presented here, that’s not such a bad place to be!
ZÉRO ABSOLU – LA SAIGNÉE
Look, I don’t have time to fully get into all the drama regarding the Glaciation band name – suffice it to say that an ongoing feud over the name and rights ultimately led to several of the band’s members taking the material they’d written, recruiting some additional collaborators, and starting afresh as Zéro Absolu – so instead I’m just going to focus purely on the music.
The band’s debut is comprised of two artistically ambitious, mournfully atmospheric, tracks of gleaming melancholy and gloaming darkness – running to a little over twenty and a little over thirteen minutes, respectively – whose sound definitely fits in well with the similarly melodic/metallic “Post-” Black Metal approach of their label-mates in Anomalie, Agrypnie, etc.
The sheer scope and scale of their songwriting, however – incorporating both moments of introspective, ambient minimalism (which, at their most vulnerable, really do have just as much impact, in their own way, as the record at its most visceral) and lengthy passages of immersive, intricately-layered guitar work (the group’s creative combination of seething tremolo, shimmering arpeggios, chiming chords, and lambent leads makes for a rich and compelling sonic tapestry, that’s for sure) – definitely helps set them apart somewhat from their peers.
By the same token, however, the influence of early Alcest is undeniable – the captivating climax of “La Saignée” in particular is unabashed in how much it draws from the band’s Écailles de lune era – as the band clearly aren’t afraid to wear their influences or their history on their sleeve, without making them the entirety of their identity, such that the central thread of haunting melody woven through “Le Temps Détruit Tout” is married to an altogether darker and more desolate sound (including an even more bleak, yet oddly beautiful, atmosphere-focussed mid-section) which perhaps lays the groundwork for Zéro Absolu to truly come into their own some time in the future.
So keep an eye (and an ear) on these guys going forwards – they’re definitely onto something here.