THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

(Andy Synn has four more recommendations from last month which you might have overlooked)

For the most part, when putting together these “Things You May Have Missed” articles, I try to cover as varied an array of artists and albums as one possibly can when they’ve limited themselves (to preserve their own sanity) to just four records.

But, as it happens, the four records I’ve chosen to highlight here today – a succulent slab of gnarly, narcotic Sludge, a harrowing howl of soul-scarring Black Metal, a prime cut of prodigiously proggy Death Metal, and an unexpectedly ambitious (if flawed) attempt at combining the metallic and the metaphysical – all have at least two things in common.

One, they’re all from bands with one-word names and, two, they all hail from the good ol’ US of A.

DEMONSMOKE – RESIN WROUGHT

Look, as much as I love stuff on the progressive/experimental/avant-garde side of things… sometimes you just want something that goes straight for the throat, and hits you right in the gut, in unrelentingly unapologetic and unpretentious style.

And that’s exactly what you get with Resin Wrought from Californian Sludge-slingers Demonsmoke, who kick out the jams (and kick a whole lot of ass) over the course of just under thirty-two minutes of rugged, lurching riffs and massive, groaning grooves.

Wearing their influences loudly and proudly, sometimes almost like a second skin, the group channel the ghosts of Iron Monkey and Acid Bath (although, since both bands recently reformed, maybe “ghosts” isn’t the right word any more?) in waves of molasses-thick metallic distortion, with songs like ugly, ear-scraping opener “Caustic Truth” and its blues-soaked, punch-drunk companion “Earth Monkey” being equal parts abrasive and addictive (like chewing glass shards soaked in bourbon).

Sure, they’re not doing anything particularly new or innovative… but that’s clearly not the point.

After all, you can hardly judge a band for delivering exactly what they promised, which in this case is seven tracks (well, six and an unnecessary interlude) of swaggering, bass-heavy, balls-to-the-wall Sludge Metal brutality that are just as likely (especially during the thuggish, churning chuggery of “Eternal Abyss” and the doom-laden bar-fight beatdown of “Blunt Forced Trauma”) to have you banging your head and shaking your ass as they are to have you downing shots and throwing hands.

Which sounds like a pretty good time, right?

DOWNWARD – TO LURK AS FEVER

There’s been a lot of good Black Metal (and Death Metal, and Doom, and Prog, etc) released this year, that’s for sure… but the number of great releases has (as expected, really) been much, much lower.

To Lurk As Fever, however, is definitely one of them, riding a razor-edge between raw, primal intensity (especially when it comes to the anguished, throat-ripping howl of the vocals) and artful, intricate complexity (the prominent, pulsing bass work in particular adds an extra bit of subtly proggy flair to the mix) that helps it stand apart from much of the year’s Black Metal output.

From the seething scold ‘n’ scald of the aptly-named “Fever” – whose grimy, gut-roiling grooves and needling, nerve-jangling melodies are as harrowing as they are haunting – through to the final, lingering notes of cathartic closer “Agony”, Downward‘s debut album practically bleeds out of the speakers, to the point where you might want to check yourself for incriminating bloodstains after each and every listen.

And while musically/tonally it treads a similar path to the likes of Infestus, Totalselfatred, and latter-day Bethlehem, the band’s multi-instrumentalist main-man Sad-ist has explicitly stated that he didn’t want to follow in anyone else’s specific footsteps or restrict his sound and identity to the realms of “DSBM”.

Which, to be clear, is definitely a good thing, as the likes of “Ruin” – whose eerily hooky, weirdly angular riffs and lithe, limber drum work (courtesy of the project’s mysterious drummer, identified only as “P.”) really showcase the impressive technicalities of everyone involved – and the morbidly, hypnotically melodic “Marked” benefit greatly from the band’s refusal to limit themselves to the confines of any one specific sub-genre.

Penultimate eleven minute powerhouse “Spite” in particular is as thrillingly technical and viciously visceral as anything I’ve heard from the Black Metal scene (and beyond) this year, balancing a sense of abrasive anguish with a desperate, dervish-like delivery coated in a gleaming, gloaming layer of pitch-black polish (both members of the band really do deserve praise for their impressive technical talents), so my hope is that at least some of you will come away from this review infected by an urge to give To Lurk As Fever a chance.

HAXPROCESS – BEYOND WHAT EYES CAN SEE

On the surface, the fact that the second album from Floridian four-piece Haxprocess contains just four tracks, totalling just under forty-five minutes, with titles like “Where Even Stars Die” and “Sepulchral Void”, has drawn comparisons to their Colorado cousins in Blood Incantation isn’t that much of a surprise.

But it doesn’t take long (probably less than half way through the aforementioned “Where Even Stars Die”, although that’s still a solid five minutes, give or take) to realise that these comparisons are a little too easy and superficial, as Beyond What Eyes Can See is, in my opinion at least, both more overtly “technical” – displaying a sense of contorted, rhythmic heaviness (especially during “The Confines of the Flesh”) reminiscent of Immolation at their best (and it helps that the vocals of Haxprocess‘s Lothar Mallea definitely bear an uncanny resemblance to those of Ross Dolan at times) and more piercingly melodic, with some of the more skygazing and/or skyscraping solos owing a clear (and openly acknowledged) debt to The Chasm.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Haxprocess aren’t in possession of a sound and identity of their own – far from it, in fact, as the confidence with which they’ve approached these four lengthy compositions (each of which feels exactly as long as it needs to be, no more and no less) so adamantly demonstrates – it’s just that if we’re going to be making comparisons I want us to be making slightly more accurate comparisons.

And, make no mistake, each song stands strong as a coherent chapter – distinct, yet still clearly a part of the greater whole – in the overall story of the album, from the twisted, tumultuous contortions of “Where Even Stars Die” and the jagged, jarring riffage of “The Confines of the Flesh”, to the infectious, almost blackened intensity of “Thy Inner Demon Seed” and the fluid proggery and flowing technicality of “Sepulchral Void” (which bears both the fingerprints of latter-day Death on the one hand and early Beyond Creation on the other).

Is it perfect… not quite (I think the failure to capitalise on the oddly disconnected outro of “Thy Inner Demon Seed”, which really feels like it could have been built upon into an entirely different song, is a missed opportunity), but any nitpicks are pretty minor, in the grand scheme of things, and I have no doubt that history (and the expected orgy of end-of-year lists) will credit Beyond What Eyes Can See as one of the major highlights of the year in Death Metal (and beyond).

VIOGRESSION – THAUMATURGIC VEIL

I have to start off this particular review with a short apology – I originally intended to write about Thaumaturgic Veil early last month (or, at least, around the time of the album’s release) but life got in the way and I was forced to put it on the back-burner (with a promise to myself that I’d include it in this month’s edition of “Things You May Have Missed” so… promise kept, I suppose).

Now, one thing worth noting immediately (if you weren’t already aware) is the Viogression first put out their debut album 34(!) years ago, so they’ve been around the block a few times and have a fair few miles under their wheels… yet the nineteen(!) tracks – a mix of ragers, groovers, and scene-setting ambient/instrumental interludes – which make up Thaumaturgic Veil definitely drive home the fact that they aren’t the sort of band content just playing it safe or taking the easy way out.

Of course, your mileage for this will probably vary depending on your tolerance for the album’s central, pseudo-conceptual conceit which places the aforementioned interludes between each and every track, but if you don’t mind that sort of thing (or even if you actively like it) then you should find a lot to enjoy here, especially if your tastes gravitate more towards bands like Obituary, Vader, and even All Out War.

Highlights (of which there are more than a few) include the killer combo of thrashy intensity and gloomy grooves which makes up “Jinx” and the tightly coiled, thickly muscled riffage of “Renumeration” [sic], as well as the aptly punchy rhythmic attack of “Pummelled” and the brooding battering of “Superposition”… each of which showcase a slightly different aspect of the band without straying too far from their core sound.

And while the second half of the album doesn’t hit quite as hard (though it is, to be clear, just as heavy, if not quite as brutally hooky) there’s still a lot to love as the album goes on – especially the gargantuan slo-mo bone-grinder that is “Summon”, which is a major stand-out all on its own – meaning that anyone with even the slightest love of Death Metal will likely come away from this one more than happy with their purchase.