(Andy Synn serves up three more examples of high-quality British beef for your ears)
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating all the same… the UK Metal scene is as vital and as vibrant and as varied right now as it’s ever been.
And one of the reasons this particular column exists is to help highlight that variety – and today’s post is particularly diverse in its stylistic scope – beyond the borders of this green and pleasant (though currently quite wet) land.
Obviously I can’t cover everything that issues from these shores every year – for one thing, there’s some albums that I just don’t want or feel the need to cover – but hopefully I can help out at least a few of my fellows by exposing their music to a more international audience.
So, without further ado, let’s get to it… shall we?
CRYPTIC SHIFT – OVERSPACE & SUPERTIME
In a world where it seems like anyone who’s anyone is spending more time trying to appease the algorithm and piggyback on the success of others than forge their own path, it’s good to know there are bands like Cryptic Shift out there who – rather than play it safe by playing to the cheap seats – have the confidence to bet on themselves and double-down on what made them so musically unique and creatively ambitious in the first place.
Oh, maybe “unique” is perhaps pushing it a little too far – if you were to tell your friends that Overspace & Supertime is “perfect for fans of bands like Blood Incantation and Haxprocess” you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, but you definitely wouldn’t be telling the whole story (especially since the band’s long-gestating second album finds them embracing their Voivod and Watchtower influences just as much, if not even more, than their Martyr and Nocturnus ones this time around) – but “ambitious? Oh, it’s definitely that.
After all, you’re unlikely to hear many other albums this year featuring not one, but two, tracks clocking in at over 20 minutes (one coming very close to breaking the 30 minute mark), where even the “shorter” cuts (none less than 9 minutes) are still composed of multiple “movements”… and even less likely to hear any that are simultaneously this complex (not just in terms of their eye-opening technicality, but also in terms of their shape-shifting, time-warping songwriting), this catchy – opener “Cryogenically Frozen”, for example, is absolutely packed with killer riffs (and just wait until you get past the half-way point of the gargantuan “Stratocumulus Evergaol”) – this heavy (both “Hyperspace Topography” and “Hexagonal Eyes”, the latter being arguably the album’s best cut, bring some seriously chunky, blast-driven intensity to the party) and this proggy (both the lead and bass guitar work frequently go above and beyond) all at the same time.
Is it perhaps a little too long for its own good? Maybe. Could it (or should it) possibly have been broken up and released as two separate discs? Possibly (the first two tracks total just under 39 minutes, and the last three just over 40, making for a pretty neat divide if you look at it that way). But does any of that ultimately change how much outlandish, excessive, OTT fun this album is? Not really.
Because, let’s face it, Cryptic Shift don’t write music for the “less is more” crowd… they write for themselves and for all the people out there who, like them, want to see just how far they can push the boundaries before they break (while still laying down some face-melting riffage along the way)!
GOOD TIGER – THE MOST NEGATIVE DAY OF THE YEAR
In stark contrast to the previous album – which is absolutely going to expand the band’s fan-base, albeit mostly among the weirdos and prog-lovers (i.e. us) – the new album from Good Tiger has all the tools necessary to make it a monster crossover hit.
I’ll grant you, it might be a little too morose and moody for most mainstream ears – the dreamy title-track probably sums it up best when it says “I’ve had black days, but this has to be my worst” (although, ironically, this may be the band’s best work, even if fans of their earlier, more Post-Hardcore-influenced sound will probably disagree) – but the fusion of ear-worm technicality (especially from guest drummer Matt Halpern), poppy-but-melancholy melody (“Sweet Decay”), and pure, unadulterated hookiness (don’t be surprised if many of these riffs and choruses get stuck in your head for days afterwards) makes this an album impossible to ignore.
Reminiscent of the brighter, more energetic side of acts like Agent Fresco, Thank You Scientist, and Leprous (the latter comparison being further reinforced by Matt Halpern’s MVP-worthy performance behind the kit), songs like “Square Breath” and “The Thief of Joy” bring to mind words like “effervescent”, “electrifying”, and “emotional” (vocalist Elliot Coleman in particular pours every ounce of his soul into every track), anchored by sublime, soaring chorus refrains that might be easy on the ear but also tug hard on your heartstrings.
And while there’s also no shortage of impressively intricate guitar work – “When Death First Appeared”, for example, balances subtle technicality and sombre melody in equal measure, while late-album highlight “Pink Clouds Pink Trees” is all aching, arepggiated note patterns and captivating chord progressions – it’s often the album’s combination of organic energy and indulgent electronics (a song like “Beehive” being a prime example of how this interplay elevates the band’s songwriting) that really stands out to me.
Sure, it might sometimes go a little too far for some of our readers – “Blissful Indifference” (which, despite its title, is unlikely to leave you indifferent one way or another) in particular feels like like it might appeal more to fans of, say, The Weeknd than fans of the band’s previous incarnation as The Safety Fire – but The Most Negative Day of the Year is, like Overspace & Superime above, an album made first and foremost to satisfy its creators… and you’ve got to imagine that they must be very satisfied with what they’ve created!
SIDIOUS – MALEFIC NECROPOLIS
As some of you may know already, the UK Black Metal scene has been in rude health for a good long while now… hell, just look at how successful events like Reaper Fest and Fortress Festival (the latter of which has just announced a new spin-off event) have been at raising the profile of many of our home-grown bands (as well as attracting more and bigger international acts every year).
And while the years have taught me that not every band in “the scene” quite deserves the (sometimes excessive) praise they receive, we’ve been following Sidious for long enough – beginning with their very first EP, as a matter of fact – to be confident in saying that they’ve more than earned their position as one of the UK’s premiere blastronauts.
Picking up pretty seamlessly from where 2022’s Blackest Insurrection left off, Malefic Necropolis is a concise thirty-five-minutes-and-change (and would be a little shorter without the over-long intro to “Shears of Atropos”) that features some of the strongest, tightest songwriting of the group’s career (a far cry from the pseudo-symphonic excesses of some of their earlier material) as well as a bevy of cool-as-fuck riffs pretty much guaranteed to get your pitch black heart pumping a little bit faster (especially during the likes of “Vortext of Boundless Unlight” and powerful penultimate highlight “Sanguineous Art”).
Speaking of highlights… while Malefic Necropolis isn’t reinventing the Black Metal wheel – nor, might I add, is it trying to – it’s got more than its fair share of stand-out tracks and moments (with, interestingly enough, the prominent, pulsing bass work often being a highlight in its own right), from the scorching “Rotborn Terror” (with its wicked, Watain-esque lead-refrain, and more varied and visceral vocals) and the cruelly catchy chorus refrain of “Cosmossuary” (which might even capture the attention of some Kanonenfieber fans if Sidious are lucky) to the swaggering grooves of “Crows Atop the Gallows” (which features some of that nifty melodic bass work I mentioned earlier) and the focussed melodic power of Necrophobic-esque closer “Bloodlust Command Infinite”.
It’s the aforementioned “Sanguineous Art” – with its rippling blastbeats, raging riffs, and stunning mid-song solo – however, which really stands out the most to me, so if you only have time to check out one track from this album… make it that one, and then thank me later!