(Andy Synn has another handful of recommendations from last month that you may have overlooked)
I told you last time that I was going to do another edition of “Things You May Have Missed” at some point this month, and while I was delayed a little by my trip to Damnation Festival (and the subsequent festival flu that I’m currently fighting) I always… well, mostly… do what I say I’m going to.
Of course, even with another four entries – bringing the total up to eight – there’s still lots that I haven’t been able to write about, so if you get chance to check out Black Royal, Coal & Crayon, Dethroned, Detresse, Dread Witch, Litost, Minenfeld, Sneglefeber, Throes, Urarv, and Veret you should absolutely do so.
Before then, however, here’s four more releases from October that I really, really recommend you listen to when you get chance.
THE CURSE MADE FLESH – TO EACH THEIR HELL
We’ll start things off with the first of two Tech-Death focussed features in today’s article, as this is a style I feel like I’ve been neglecting a bit this year.
Of course, part of the reason for that is that while Tech-Death is hard style to perform, it’s even harder to do it in a way that actually stands out… after all, there’s only so many ways that “look how fast we can play” can be made to stand out from the crowd before the entire genre descends into a pointless pissing contest.
Thankfully The Curse Made Flesh – which features in its line-up ex-Pestilence bassist Joost van der Graaf, so you know that the bass work is absolutely on point and prominent in the album’s sound throughout – have remembered that technical skill needs to be harnessed to equally talented songwriting, otherwise it’s just pissing notes into the wind, and their debut album, To Each Their Hell, reflects this across its eleven tracks (that should, to be fair, probably be tagged as “Technical Death Metal” rather than “Tech-Death”, a subtle but important distinction reflected in the band’s more song-focussed approach).
Early highlights like “Laughter”, “Cell Fate”, and “Honour Killings”, for example, are as catchy as they are complex, its lithe, fluctuating fretwork weaving in both melody and groove (“Cell Fate” in particular slows things down just the right amount to get your heads nodding without losing the album’s established momentum, even when it dips into an unexpectedly moody and atmospheric mid-section) amidst all the tumultuous technicality, showcasing an affinity for the Cynic-inspired sound of bands like Gorod and Beyond Creation but with a more spiky, post-Pestilence twist.
I’ll grant you that things might have been trimmed down a little (I’m not sure that “Paralysis” or “Great Dying” add much to the record, although the latter at least reinforces just how good drummer Fons van Dijk is), but this is still an impressive first showing (ending on a major high note with the climactic title-track) from a band who could well be a major force in the theatre of Technical Death Metal going forwards.
HATALOM – IMMANENCE
It’s been a hot minute – over five years, in fact – since we last heard from Canadian Tech-Death crew Hatalom, but out of sight didn’t necessarily mean out of mind and I’ve been eagerly awaiting their next record for quie some time.
Like all their previous works Immanence lives or dies on the strengths of its riffs, and nothing showcases this more than the hooky technicality of “Shared Singularity”, where the band’s impressive instrumental talents are harnessed to some crisp, catchy songwriting which ensures that the music is about more than just throwing as many notes into the mix as possible.
It helps, of course, that the rest of the band are all on the same page too – the drums in particular, whether throwing in some sudden, surging bursts of blastbeats or easing off the gas to let some more subtle cymbal-work guide the pace, are shaped and structured to support the songs, rather than just trying to show off how fast they can play – so that songs like the Beneath the Massacre-esque “When Nothing Persists” and the groove-heavy “Concealed” feel like the product of a group in perfect synchronicity, and not just a collection of individual performances.
Sure, there’s still a little work needed to be done to make the band stand out more in what is, let’s admit it, a very crowded field – clear comparisons can be made to the likes of Decrepit Birth, early Fallujah (especially during the likes of “Singular Lucidity” and “Synchronicity”) and the aforementioned “Beneath the Massacre”, and there’s definitely a few moments here or there (as in “Conscient Reflections”) where things seem a little too familiar – but Hatalom still present themselves as a band worth watching (and listening to) and with the potential to deliver something truly great in the not so distant future.
HOPE COLLAPSE – AGE OF HEATHENS
Right from the start the long-awaited debut album from crusty underground Hardcore crew Hope Collapse lets you know that it’s not afraid to go for the throat, with the likes of scorching opener “Discarded By Design” and raggedly infectious “War Addiction” erring more towards the harsher and more Grind-influenced side of the Hardcore spectrum (think bands like Integrity, Man Is The Bastard, and Cult Leader) than any of the more popular (and populist) forms currently en vogue.
As nasty as the albums gets – and it certainly does, practically vomiting dissonance and disgust on “Spiritual Grifters” and spitting venom during “Always the Villain” – it’s also catchy as the flu (which I’m still suffering from) in places, with the ripping, crust-infused riffs of “Blade Walker” and the grim, grimy grooves of “A Beast Was Born” (the latter one a personal favourite of mine) being particularly likely to worm their way under your skin after only a handful of listens.
Hope Collapse aren’t afraid to get a little weird at times too – the band themselves cite Voivod as a major influence, which you can actually hear if you pay attention to the odd, off-kilter structures and warped leads of songs like “Maze” and “Buried Under Every Thought” – with the end result being an album whose abrasive amalgam of Hardcore, Grind, Mathcore, Sludge, and more feels like it has just as much potential to win them an array of new fans, from a variety of different backgrounds, as it does alienate a lot of potential listeners with just how ugly and uncompromising it is from beginning to end.
But, for me at least, that’s a big part of the album’s appeal, the fact that – for better or worse – there’s not an ounce of compromise in any of the songs.
HURAKAN – ETERNAL SCARS
It was DGR who last covered French Deathcore demons Hurakan for us – all the way back in 2022, in fact – but he’s busy right now, which means I get to take over for him and slather the band’s latest slab of breakdowns ‘n’ brutality with the necessary praise.
As our boy DGR mentioned last time, the band have been largely moving away from their slammier, blastier, more Brutal Death roots for a while, and their transition into their final, more Deathcore-focussed, form – think Chelsea Grin, Signs of the Swarm, and Impending Doom (who also just dropped a new album that I really need to check out ASAP) – has reached its apotheosis on Eternal Scars, with the chunky, chugging churn of songs like “Break Their Spine” and “Disgrace” aiming for a more crushingly concise, efficient extremity that maximises weight and impact while cutting any extraneous fat from their sound.
That’s not to say there aren’t other aspects of the album to celebrate, as their use of dark, glitch electronics and the occasional moment of moody ambience (most notably during mid-album stand-out “Eternal Scar” and colossal closer “Lilith”) adds a slightly more dynamic edge to their sound, and the occasional injection of some sudden, explosive blastbeats and/or or tightly-coiled tremolo riffage in between all the neck-wrecking rhythmic riffs and gargantuan, gut-wrenching breakdowns serves as a welcome demonstration that the group still remember that there’s more than just the one way to be heavy.
Clocking in at a lean, mean thirty-three minutes (and a handful of change), Eternal Scars is an album of both impressive brutality and impactful brevity that should, hopefuly, let the band pick up right where they left off… and, if you’re reading this boys, let me know if you’re ever looking for someone to tour with, because I think I’d have a lot of fun seeing these songs performed live night after night.