THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

(Andy Synn has four more recommendations from June which you may or may not have overlooked)

As usual, I’d like to take some time during the intro to this edition of “Things You May Have Missed” to apologise to all the bands who I couldn’t find space for this month, especially Imipolex and Mugshot (who were this close to making the cut), Putridity, Marasme, and Varhara (although the latter three have all been lined up for future editions of The Synn Report, which assuages my guilt somewhat).

Still, I’m hopeful that the four artists/albums that I did choose to cover will more than satisfy your hunger for new music, so I hereby present a mix of Prog, Thrash, Hardcore, Black Metal, and Crust that should satiate at least some of your cravings (for a while, anyway).

BYZANTINE – HARBINGERS

As a long-time fan of West Virginia wonders Byzantine (I still regularly spin most of their albums, especially And They Shall Take Up Serpents and Oblivion Beckons, as well as both their stellar self-titled album and 2017’s The Cicada Tree), I’m either the best person to review their new album (since I’m so familiar with their sound) or the worst (since I know exactly how high they’ve set the bar previously) depending on how you look at it.

And while I can’t tell you that Harbingers (which features the welcome return of long-time guitarist Tony Rohrbough) is perfect, it’s certainly one of the most mature and self-assured records in their already impressive catalogue, and I sincerely doubt that anyone who has ever considered themselves a fan of the group, at any point in their career or in any incarnation, will find themselves disappointed.

Unsurprisingly much of album #7 continues the group’s shift towards a more overtly melodic and proggy style, counterbalancing any lingering strains of thrashiness with a stronger focus on stomping, subtly-technical grooves and soaring, gloriously infectious hooks (courtesy of the triple-vocal talents of frontman Chris Ojeda and his co-vocalists Brian Henderson and Ryan Postlethwait).

That’s not to say that the band don’t bring the noise when they need to – early highlight “Floating Chysanthema” delivers a ferocious flurry of rapid-fire rhythmic punches which contrast nicely with the song’s heroically catchy chorus, while the razor-sharp post-Metallica/post-Megadeth riffage of “Harbingers” helps make it both one of the album’s best cuts and better than 99% of what either band have done in the last decade (or more) – but you really get the sense that they’ve put a lot more focus this time around into further expanding the proggier side of their musical palette and proving that these old dogs actually are capable of learning a few new tricks.

Sure, some of the songs do drag a little, if we’re being honest – “A Place We Cannot Go” would probably benefit from a little bit of a trim, and the band definitely take the long way around to reach the epic second half of “The Unobtainable Sleep” (though it’s only really slightly sluggish, Alice In Chains-esque closer “Irene” that I reliably end up skipping) – but when you’re listening to tracks like “The Clockmaker’s Intention” and powerful-yet-proggy second-half stand-out “Kobayashi Maru” (the latter being right up there with the band’s best, in my opinion) there’s never any doubt that, twenty-five years into their career, Byzantine still have a lot left in the ol’ tank.

HEKSER – MECHANISMS OF OBSCURITY

Last time I wrote about the progressive/technical Black Metal stylings of Hekser I made reference and drew comparisons to the likes of Stargazer, Sadus, and Nocturnus as a useful guide for anyone unfamiliar with the project’s previous works.

And while those references are still valid and relevant on their fourth album – with unpredictable, non-euclidean numbers like “Black Cauldrons of Cosmic Arcana” and “Volatile Invocations To Summon The Unfathomable” taking these touchstones as a starting point and adding an even more Krallice-esque sense of blackened discordance and unsettling atmosphere to the mix – they’re no longer exhaustive (not, to be clear, that they ever were, really), as Mechanisms of Obscurity finds the Hekser sound embracing inspiration and influence from ever further afield in the weirder, wilder outer fringes of Black Metal (and Extreme Metal in general).

In addition to the post-Krallice blend of angular discordance and unsettling ambience which infuses early highlight “Macrocosmic Umbramancy” and predatory penultimate track “Voids of Non-Existence” there’s also a fair bit of Blut Aus Nord‘s psychedelia-laced strangeness and even a touch of Voivod‘s signature brand of post-humanist aesthetics to these songs – take a listen to blistering Black-Thrash brain-twister “Into the Jaws of Mass Chaos” and the avant-garde amalgam of dissonant maximalism and desolate minimalism which forms the basis of “Swallowed by Cannibalistic Aeons” for example – all of which adds to the thrillingly unorthodox and unpredictable nature of the album, from one moment to the next.

Unabashedly and unashamedly stranger – yet, as a result, also unerringly stronger – than even the most unusual examples from the band’s back-catalogue, Mechanisms of Obscurity simultaneously feels like the culmination of the project’s twisted evolution over the years and (especially during chaotic, contorted closer “Endless Cycles of Monotony Around the Sun”, which marries blistering blackened extremity and tumultuous Tech-Thrash riffage with passages of sinister atmospherics and swirling vortexes of warped pseudo-melody) perhaps the beginning of a whole new, even more uncanny, era for Hekser.

RIVAL PACK – BURN

In complete contrast to the indulgently proggy proclivities of Byzantine and the avant-garde extremity of Hekser, Netherlands-based bruisers Rival Pack offer up a lean, mean platter of all-killer, no-filler Metallic Hardcore on their debut album, Burn, which will likely (read: definitely) appeal to anyone out there who loves the heavier, thrashier side of bands like Hatebreed, Ringworm, and Born From Pain.

And while songs like intense, in-your-face opener “Facing Fire” and it’s equally hard-hitting companion “Closing In” don’t do anything to reinvent the proverbial wheel (nor do they set out to, to be clear) what they definitely do is demonstrate that Rival Pack are a band whose bite is just as potent as their bark (which, courtesy of venom-spitting vocalist – and noted backwards-cap wearer – Kevin Eijs, adds an even more confrontational and aggressive edge to the album).

As if they have something to prove – whether to themselves or to the world – the group just keep on cranking out heavy-hitter after heavy-hitter as Burn goes on, to the point that it’s very difficult to pick out specific favourites from the album’s ten tracks (clocking in collectively at just over 29 minutes) since they’re all worth listening to and all more than capable of whipping up some seriously neck-wrecking, pit-summoning, action.

That being said, if you forced me to choose, I’d probably draw your attention to the punishing Death-Thrash-Metal-Core assault of “Too Strong” (which pushes the heaviness and intensity even further into the red) and the reckless, helter-skelter gallop of “Killer in the Pool” (which builds towards an absolutely crushing crescendo), as well as the chunky chugs and surprisingly subtle melody-tinged hooks of “Free From Pain” and the churning chuggery and bone-grinding grooves of “Death and the City” (which approaches the Death/Hardcore divide bridged by the likes of Lifesick, Fuming Mouth, etc, from the ‘core side of the spectrum).

Truth be told, however, you really can’t miss with Burn – the band themselves definitely don’t miss even once, with every track hitting its mark and hitting it hard – as there’s really not an ounce of fat or wasted space to be found anywhere on the album.

UPON A FIELDS WHISPER – REJUVENATION

The last time Upon a Fields Whisper released an album, way back in June of ’22, I didn’t have time to actually write about it (though it did, of course, receive a mention in my big year-end round-up).

This time around, however, the stars have aligned such that their latest release – the aptly-named Rejuvenation, for it certainly rejuvenates the band’s sound for a new era – dropped just at the right time for me to be able to squeeze it in to this month’s edition of “Things You May Have Missed”.

Clocking in at just under thirty-seven minutes in total, the five tracks which make up the album successfully expand upon and further refine the group’s chosen blend of Black Metal and Crust – particularly in the sense of sharpening their melodic sensibilities and allowing them to stretch their songwriting skills that little bit more – without sacrificing the visceral rawness and rough, organic textures of their sound.

Opener “The Gift”, for example, is just under nine minutes of simmering atmosphere and melancholy melody that eventually bursts into life in an explosion of surging blastbeats and gloomy grooves, jagged, jarring rhythms and savage, throat-scorching vocals (interspersed with moments of moody, minimalist introspection), while “Never Say Never” (the only song on the album which comes in under the six minute mark) opts for a punkier, punchier, d-beat injected gallop that maintains an eye-opening level of furious intensity throughout.

And it’s the thrumming tension between these two sides of the band’s sonic identity – half gloomily melodic Black Metal, half grimily cathartic Crust Punk – which makes Rejuvenation such an engaging and immersive experience, with the moody (almost doomy) slow-burn of “Disembodied” (which marries simmering strength and raging emotion with moments of haunting acoustic ambience and passages of soaring lead guitar) and the Agalloch-ian atmospherics and post-Panopticon power and presence of “Extract the Decay” (which really showcases the record’s delicate dynamic between ethereal ambience and physical, palpable weight) firmly establishing Upon A Fields Whisper as a band to watch.

And if you need more evidence, just give captivating, almost ten minute long closer “Of Flesh and Wool” a listen and try not to feel your blood boiling and your heart beating in time with the primal pulse of the music!