(Andy Synn wants you to check out these four albums you may have missed in June)
There’s an unfortunate “catch-22” involved in these “things you may have missed” columns… because while they’re important as away of catching you all up on, well, things you may have missed (the clue is in the title) they also take up time and energy that might otherwise be expended on upcoming albums instead.
Of course, while we do love getting advance promos here at NCS (hint, hint) a lot of what we do (well, a lot of what DGR and I do) is finding newly and/or recently released stuff and trying to signal boost it once it’s already out in the world, and right now there’s only a handful of albums in my extensive “to do” list that haven’t actually been released yet (though I’ve got one lined up for Monday that will definitely please any fans of ultra-heavy Metallic Hardcore among you).
So maybe I shouldn’t sweat it so much… maybe we’re always going to be playing catch-up and the thing to focus on is that getting the music into the right ears is more important than getting it out there in advance.
And in that spirit, here’s four from June (with another four to follow next week) that you might not have heard yet, all of whom focus on the darkest side of the metallic spectrum in one way or another.
THE BLIND PHILOSOPHER – INNERGAZER
They say… whoever “they” are… that “everything is bigger in Texas”, and while I hope that’s not actually true (the implications are actually pretty horrifying when you think about it for more than a second) it certainly helps explain just how massive the sound of Innergazer is.
Despite being a solo-project – well, almost, as the drums on this recording were provided by one Robin Stone (Ashen Horde/Chestcrush/Somnium Nox, etc) –The Blind Philosopher still feels like a fully-fleshed out musical ensemble, where just as much effort has gone into every single aspect of the album (from the vocals to the guitars, the bass to the synths, to the over construction and composition of each track) as you’d expect from a band with multiple members all contributing their own distinctive talents and viewpoints.
From the heaving guitars, hammering drums, and hypnotic lead guitar work (the leads in particular are often a highlight of every song) of fittingly unstoppable opener “Indomitable” and the gargantuan grooves and elastic bass lines of “As the Sirens Sing”, through the colossal, crushing weight of “Downpour”, all the way to the sheer sonic excess of the album’s extravagant, eight minute closer, Innergazer displays an impressive amount of creative ambition… not to mention a clarity of vision which one might not expect from an artist named The Blind Philosopher.
And while comparisons to the likes of Behemoth, Humanity’s Last Breath, and Rivers of Nihil are certainly valid, perhaps the biggest praise I can give this album is that it frequently puts me in mind of long-time NCS favourites Lascaille’s Shroud… not identical, mind you, as the two projects are clearly distinct (both sonically and subjectively) fron one another, but in the sense of their overall quality and – where Innergazer is concerned – their future potential.
One to keep an eye on, for sure.
GOLD SPIRE – STEPS INTO SHADOW
It’s not every Metal album that has the balls to introduce both flute and saxophone to the mix before a single distorted riff appears, that’s for sure, but for Sweden’s Gold Spire that’s pretty much par for the course.
In fact it’s not until the second track (which just so happens to be the title-track) that the abum actually starts to show off its Metal side – the drums pick up, the guitars start to weave in extra layers of dissonance and distortion, and the gutturally expressive vocals breathe darker, deathlier un-life into the whole unorthodox affair – suggesting, rather strongly, that the band definitely aren’t playing by the normal set of rules.
One consequence of this is that the songs here rarely content to stay in just one sonic place – the chunky, doomy stomp which introduces “Liberation at Dawn”, for example, eventually transitions into a twitchier, more discordant approach, which in turn shifts into what is basically an almost two minute, sax-and-flute focussed jazz excursion – and different tracks often choose to emphasise different aspects of the band’s sound (compare the moody, noir-ish introspection of “The Mire, for example, with the darker, doomier crunch of “Crown of Disfigurement”) while still feeling like they’re part of the same, greater whole.
Because of this, although Gold Spire are ostensibly a Death/Doom band at their core – the grim intensity of “A Clarion Call” should be proof enough of that – my ears keep on picking out certain similarities, spiritually at least, to the likes of Code and Sigh more than anything from the deathier, doomier side of the spectrum (though, to be fair, I also hear a fair bit of latter-day In The Woods and late-90s Amorphis too) , due to the way they cleverly combine these seemingly disparate elements in a way that speaks volumes about the band’s “progressive” (as opposed to “avant-garde”, which I think implies a certain sense of deconstructionism that isn’t necessarily present here) approach to creating music.
Sure, some might occasionally perceive a slight disconnect – a gap, like the one in the artwork, between the two sides of the band – but to me the group’s ability to amalgamate all their disparate influences and inspirations (“Drag Us Under” is dark, doomy, and dissonant, but also bright, jazzy, and melodic as well) into a distinct, coherent sound has all the hallmarks of becoming a cult classic.
POLLUTED TONGUES – DEVOURED BY SNAKES
As some of you may already be aware, the core NCS crew – plus our extended family – have an annual tradition of attending Maryland Deathfest every year.
And while we’ve been doing this for quite a while now, I don’t recall having ever seen Baltimore’s own Polluted Tongues on the bill at any point… so consider this my official request that the fest organisers book the band for next year’s edition, as their face-melting, fire-breathing brand of blistering Blackened Death-Grind is something I’d really like to experience for myself in the flesh.
Until then, however, I’ll have to be satisfied with the band’s absolutely savage second album, which was released way back at the beginning of June and has been spitting venom from my speakers ever since.
If you were to combine the nastiest and gnarliest elements of Nails and No/Mas, Implore and Integrity, into one caustic brew then you just might end up with a sound not dissimilar to Polluted Tongues on Devoured By Snakes, which kicks off – and immediately kicks your teeth in – with the punishing Punk-Metal chatter and chug of “Undefeated” and then pretty much doesn’t let up (barring the occasional fleeting moment of unexpected, but not unwelcome, melody during the likes of “Possession” and “Devoured By Snakes”) until the final, hanging chord of intensely infectious, riff-heavy closer “Nameless Things”.
But for all that Devoured By Snakes is dead-set on crushing your spine and caving in your rib-cage with an almost relentless barrage of punchy d-beats, explosive blasts, and chunky, choppy riffage, there’s a surprising amount of variety and nuance on display across these nine tracks as well, from the bombastic stomp ‘n’ swagger of “Born from a Wish” and the predatory prowl and erratic intensity of “Johnny Depp Blood Fountain” to the moody blackened bite of “Possession” and the surprisingly sombre, almost Post-Metal-ish second half of the aforementioned title-track.
Hell, there’s at least a few tracks here – especially “Learn to Fall” (with its ultra-intense delivery, that always feels like it’s on the edge of coming apart, and it’s pissed-off penultimate refrain of “get the fuck up, dust yourself off“) and the maddening uber-extremity of “Cannibal” – that remind me of Dissent/Discordia era Misery Index… and, on the strength of this album, we can only hope that Polluted Tongues go on to see just as much success!
SEVEN CHAINS – SWOLLEN, IN FLUX
Six years since their last album, and ten years since their debut, Idaho iconoclasts Seven Chains recently dropped their third album, Swollen, In Flux via I, Voidhanger, pretty much out of nowhere last week, with very little fanfare in advance of its release.
That might have been a conscious choice, however, because there’s a distinct possibility that any advance warning might have terrified people too much to actually check out this ear-splitting, gut-wrenching, soul-charring slab of Black/Death Metal… so maybe you should just stop reading right now.
If you’re still with me, however, then I suppose the least I can do is try to prepare you for the horrors to come, which commence with a sinister ambient intro track, only to then scald the ears with a volatile blend of dissonance, discord, and dread, in the form of “Whence Blood No Longer Flows” – all churning, squalling, screeching guitars and complex, contorted, convulsive drumming, topped off with a grisly, bestial bellow – that firmly sets the tone, and the bar, for the rest of the record.
Comparisons to the likes of Portal, Altarage, and Teitanblood can (and should) certainly be made, but Seven Chains are also notably more “blackened” – the swirling, swarming tremolo lines laced through the likes of “Every Flame Structured…” and “Gestating Ash” are testament to that – and also more weirdly experimental, weaving in layers of eerie ambience (“Whence Blood…”) or sinister synthscapes (“Gestating Ash”) amongst all the colossal, crushing distortion, as well as giving Graves frequent opportunities to unleash some truly mind-bending shreddery that constantly flexes and fluxes in weird, irridescent patterns that can’t quite be called “melody”.
Arguably the flow of the album could be improved upon a little – two separate “Intro” tracks, one of which comes after an ambient interlude (“A Declaration of Vengeance”) makes for a somewhat disjointed listening experience (and not necessarily in a good way) – but when all the strange, shape-shifting pieces line-up (as they do during hellish, hallucinatory closer “The Earth’s Tentacular Cross”) it’s almost impossible not to be pulled in by the sheer gruesome gravity of the band’s time-warping, reality-bending sound.