THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

(Andy Synn makes his first attempt at catching up with all the killer new releases from the last month)

As you may have noticed, my posting rate has been way down this month, mostly because I was off enjoying myself – first at Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle (after which I stuck around to hang out with the rest of the NCS crew and extended family) and then at Maryland Deathfest (which, as of writing this, ended about 15 hours ago, give or take) in Baltimore.

To make up for this I plan on doing not one, not two, but three editions of “Things You May Have Missed” for May, focussing on a hefty helping of artists/albums I would have written about if I’d not been so busy (and by “busy” I mean “busy having fun”).

As usual (though not always, to be fair) I’ve tried to cover as many bases, and as many different genres (and sub-genres), as possible in each article – variety is the spice of life, after all – in the hope of not only introducing some of you to your favourite new band or record but also, possibly, pushing you a little outside of your comfort zone and getting you to check out something you wouldn’t normally listen to.

So let’s begin, shall we?

LÁSTIMA – A PAIN BLOOMED FROM MY LUNGS

One thing we love doing here at NCS – and here I am speaking for all of us, not just me – is highlighting new bands setting out to make a name for themselves in the scene, and in that regard the weeping strings, wounded screams, and whirling intensity of opener “Redux” from Lástima‘s debut album, A Pain Bloomed From My Lungs, certainly makes one hell of an impact… so let’s see if the band can sustain it?

Blending aspects of Post-Black Metal and Post-Hardcore, with an added touch of classical melody courtesy of string-smith Thuy Nguyen, much of …From My Lungs shares certain sonic similarities with both their Spanish siblings in Tenue (whose most recent album was one of my favourites of last year) and their Canadian cousins Repire, as well as the ornate orchestral extremity of So Hideous, with some of the more moody and introspective moments even erring towards Panopticon at their most sublime and subdued.

Even with all those references and comparisons, however, it’s worth pointing out that Lástima are still very much their own band (even if they’re perhaps not quite the fully finished article just yet), with tracks like “The Shallow Drowned Lose Less Than We” and the undulating Post-Black-Punk-Screamo-Core of “Al Cerro Ancón” (which, together with the aforementioned opener, make for one hell of an opening triptych) running the gamut from vivid, violin-driven melodies and limber, brooding bass lines to breath-taking blastbeats and heart-wrenching screams (interspersed with passages of crooning, clean-sung contemplation), providing an eloquent, yet also extreme, study in both contrast and contradiction.

I’ll grant you that there’s probably a few places where the songwriting could still be tightened up a little – and I’m not convinced that “Hazel Interlude” and “Espantapájaros”, or elements thereof, wouldn’t have worked better and been more fulfilling had they been fleshed out into proper tracks – but high points like “Sin Sol” (equal parts seething rage and sombre restraint, replete with some of the hookiest guitar and string work on the entire album) and captivatingly cathartic closer “Septiembre” (which, over the course of eight sonically-expansive minutes, really demonstrates both the scope and depth of the band’s sound) definitely suggest that this is definitely a band destined for bigger things down the line.

PLATON KARATAEV – NAPKÖTÖZŐ

Intricately arranged and emotionally expressive, I’ve been following the work of Hungarian progsters Platon Karataev for quite some time now… and yet it seems this is the first time I’m actually writing about them here.

Of course, the reason for this might seem obvious – their genre-blending mix of musical styles is certainly a far cry from most of the more “extreme” acts we usually cover – but considering that we’ve never truly allowed ourselves to be limited by the idea of what we “should” be covering here (as well as the fact that the group’s cinematic sound certainly has a fair bit of Ulver in it) it’s long past due that we gave their increasingly impressive output some proper attention, especially since their new album is arguably the best thing they’ve ever done.

Unlike many bands of their ilk, Platon Karataev‘s greatest strength – well, one of them, anyway – has always been their innate grasp of songcraft, one which favours a focus on fewer but more fully-realised (and refined) ideas per track over over the sprawling extravagance so often associated with the genre.

They’ve also never been one to shy away from peppering their songs with a bevy of absolutely scintillating hooks, and Napkötöző takes this element in particular to the next level, from the soaring climax to the opening title-track and the gleaming guitar and vocal melodies of “Odaér” to the gorgeous waves of gleaming sound which combine, and then collapse, to form “Nem felelhet” and the cathartic, post Post-Rock crescendos of songs such as “Fényre zárt” and “Stigma”.

But it’s not all about bright, shining hooks and beaming melodies… there’s shade to balance the light too, with the likes of “Három idő”, “Kövül” (which, to be fair, also builds to an absolutely captivating climax) and “Ki viszi?” exposing the more introverted and vulnerable side of the band’s identity, allowing the smouldering synthscapes and electro-ambient atmospherics to weave an altogether moodier, but no less magical, spell of their own.

Really, however, although the individual songs are more than strong enough to stand on their own (and there’s often a lot more going on, instrumentally speaking, than it first appears, with the clever combination of electric and acoustic, organic, and synthetic, elements often making it hard to tell where one ends and the other begins), this is the sort of album which needs (and deserves) to be experienced in full, without any breaks or distractions, as only then (in my opinion) will you really come to appreciate just how brilliant it is, through and through.

SKAPHOS – CULT OF UZURA

In a year where I’ve not found myself moved by a lot of what’s come out of the Death Metal scene – very little of it has been bad, per se, but not much of it has been great either – Skaphos‘s particular hybrid of Death and Black Metal (that by and large avoids most of the more egregious tropes of “Blackened Death Metal”) quickly managed to stand out the very first time I pushed “play” on Cult of Uzura.

Part of this is because of the band’s core sound – more Hate than Behemoth, while still owing a similarly significant debt to both Morbid Angel and Immolation as you might expect – is just so thrillingly, thunderously intense (replete with a triple-headed vocal attack of growls, screams, and snarls) that it instantly grabs your attention right from the moment that the opening title-track bursts (and blasts) into unholy life.

But perhaps even more vital to the album’s success is the way it incorporates both a looming sense of ominous, Lovecraftian atmosphere (from the sinister symphonics which crown the climax of “One Eyed Terror” to the menacing “drums in the deep” which echo throughout “The Alchemist” and the eerie, undulating undercurrents of “The Offering”) and a keen grasp of sinuous, insidious melody (married to a razor-sharp edge of biting dissonance) which at times recalls a less polished (and more Polish-ed), less pristine version of Sulphur Aeon.

Sure, there’s perhaps a little bit of fat to be trimmed here and there (less is more, after all, or so they tell me) but the highlights here absolutely shine with eldritch, inchoate energy, with several stand-out moments – such as the insidiously infectious insanity of “Mad Man and the Sea”, the writhing riff-work and rumbling bass-lines of “Abyssal Tower”, and the dizzyingly hypnotic “The Servant” – reminding me of the very best bits of the dearly-departed Svart Crown in the way they combine harrowing heaviness and haunting hookiness in equal measure.

And it’s this intricate integration of more esoteric elements – ostentatious, semi-clean chants and subtle ambient embellishments adding an extra layer of demonic depth to the album as it progresses – alongside the pure, punishing aggression of killer cuts like “Hypoxia”, “Echoes of the Drowned”, and the brutalist assault of “Skaphism” which, ultimately, has had me diving back into this one all over again each time the monstrous-yet-majestic strains of climactic closer “All Shall Be Now Itself the Sea” begin to fade.

WOUNDED TOUCH – A VIVID DEPICTION OF COLLAPSE

Michigan maulers Wounded Touch are a new name to me this year, but this – as it turns out – is not their first time at the rodeo, so I hope they (and you) will excuse me for not picking up on their previous releases (including their 2022 debut album, Americanxiety) at the time.

That being said, now is as good a time as any to get onboard, as A Vivid Depiction of Collapse successfully builds on the Mathcore-inflected Metallic Hardcore of their previous work(s) – maintaining the jarringly discordant edge but sharpening the delivery and adding even more weight to the impact of each tumultuous track – to craft what might just be their best (or, at least, most refined) record yet.

Marrying the anxious, off-kilter energy of Poison the Well to the jagged-edged grooves of Zao and the rugged riffery of early Cave In, the band obviously aren’t afraid to wear their influences loudly and proudly (some might say too proudly, at times), but when the results are this good – the opening run of “If I Could Make Your Pain My Own”, “Shield of White Roses”, “Dreams in Triage” (a personal favourite of mine), and “Choleradio” is an outright riot of scathing dischords, and kerb-stomping riffs, and neck-snapping rhythms, interspersed with occasional bouts of clean-sung crooning or unexpected bursts of savage, spasming blastbeats, and practically worth the proverbial price of admission on its own – it’s difficult to find anything to really complain about.

And while the best moments of the album (including, obviously, those I’ve just mentioned) come – in my opinion at least – when the band double-down on the more primal and powerful side of their sound (“The Damning Variable” and the visceral, venomous “Vultures Await Them, Son”, for example, are as hefty and as heavy as anything the likes of Incendiary, Candy, or Church Tongue have put out recently) I also wouldn’t want them to ever abandon the unexpectedly moody and atmospheric elements which make a song like “An Unscarred Purpose” so intensely immersive.

So I guess what I’m saying is… this is a good album, frequently a very good album, that boosts the best bits of their sound and tightens up the overall formula while still leaving Wounded Touch with room to manoeuvre, space to expand, and opportunities for further growth in the future. Which definitely makes them a band to keep an eye on, that’s for sure.