Album Reviews Archives - Page 173 of 562

A DGR REVIEW ARCHIVE (PART 4): DEVILS REEF, VAELMYST, DISKORD

Nov 182021

(We reach the end of DGR‘s nearly week-long collection of reviews, in which he attempted to clear out the backlog of writing about favored releases before year-end Listmania descends.)

Devils Reef – A Whisper From The Cosmos

Even though the plague-times we live in currently mean that we have a whole army of musicians who effectively haven’t been able to do anything but be trapped at home, I still find myself very intrigued by the quick turnaround on certain releases. The Frederick, Maryland based crew of Devils Reef released their album Chosen By The Sea in January of this year and then early October saw the group return with five more songs in the form of an EP, A Whisper From The Cosmos – from one terrifying unexplored depth to another, it seems, just in the opposite direction.

There’s definitely some interesting stuff happening on A Whisper From The Cosmos. It seems that in the span of time between the two releases this year Devils Reef have really leaned into their influences and drew from a well that could see them being compared to Revocation and Alkaloid almost immediately. Makes sense then, that if you have a peek at some of the recommended releases by the band on their Bandcamp page, you’ll spot both Alkaloid’s Liquid Anatomy and The Outer Ones by Revocation among others. Continue reading »

A DGR REVIEW ARCHIVE (PART 3): BE’LAKOR AND MAYSALOON

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Nov 172021

(This is the third Part of a week-long series of reviews by DGR as he tries to clear out a back-log before year-end Listmania descends.)

Be’Lakor – Coherence

Australia’s prog-death long-form masters Be’lakor are now five albums deep into their career, with their latest record – and second for Napalm Records – Coherence releasing just a few days before Halloween this year. Despite the five-year gap between Coherence and its older sibling Vessels, there’s no sign whatsoever that Be’lakor are making any attempt to change what works for them.

Since 2009’s Stone’s Reach the run-times for their albums have consistently stayed within the fifty-five minute to one-hour range. Part of the experience has been listening to how the band try to earn their time with you, because in all honesty, with the absolute flood of metal that is out these days, it’s a pretty big ask that you invest an hour of your time with one specific group.

In Be’lakor‘s case though, they’ve nearly always earned the right to do so and have proven time and time again that their ‘no part left behind’ writing style can be made to work within the confines of the prog-minded melodeath scar that the band have carved into the Earth. Continue reading »

VERTEBRA ATLANTIS – LUSTRAL PURGE IN CERULEAN BLISS

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Nov 162021

(The year may be winding down, but it’s not over yet, and there are many more gems for Andy Synn still to uncover, including this one by Vertebra Atlantis, which was recently released by I, Voidhanger Records)

There are, let’s be honest, quite a few ridiculously talented individuals in the Metal scene, a revelation which I’m sure comes as a surprise to exactly none of you.

Take Gabriele Gramaglia (aka G.G.), the mastermind behind The Clearing Path, Cosmic Putrefaction, and many other projects (several of which we’ve also covered here at NCS in the past), whose songwriting skills and instrumental abilities are, by this point at least, pretty much beyond question.

The thing is, however, that while I absolutely loved Watershed Between Earth and Firmament (and still do) nothing else that he’s done has quite affected me in the same way, even though I’ve still been able to appreciate both the sheer amount of talent and the obvious dedication to his craft he’s shown with each and every piece of work since then.

That all changed recently though, with the release of Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss, the debut album by Vertebra Atlantis.

A DGR REVIEW ARCHIVE (PART 2): ZORNHEYM AND BROKEN GLASS SANCTUARY

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Nov 162021

(This is the second Part of a week-long series of reviews by DGR as he tries to clear out a back-log before year-end Listmania descends.)

Zornheym – The Zornheim Sleep Experiment

We do love a spectacle around these here parts, and the recent release of The Zornheim Sleep Experiment is certainly one of those. The group’s second album takes us back within their concept-album universe, guiding us into the darkened halls of a comically evil mental asylum and the psychological-horror-movie events that take place within it.

The Zornheim Sleep Experiment doesn’t step too far beyond the foundation laid by the group’s previous album Where Hatred Dwells And Darkness Reigns, but instead refines it a lot, at times aiming to be a little bit more bombastic and also allowing for a multi-pronged vocal attack to get a ton of mileage out of many a folk-metal-inspired chorus and hybrid melodeath and black metal movement. Continue reading »

A DGR REVIEW ARCHIVE (PART 1): EXHUMED AND GRAND CADAVER

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Nov 152021

Exhumed

(This is the first Part of a week-long series of reviews by DGR as he tries to clear out a back-log before year-end Listmania descends.)

With year-end season quickly approaching it’s time for the final sailing of the good review ship. This time, like every year, there’s a collective of music that’s been unleashed over the past few months – and earlier, because the search for new noise never really stops – that deserves to be written about.

Whether it’s a surprise release from a larger name or a ‘why did we never follow up on this’ way down the line, this attempt to briefly review a whole smorgasbord of metal releases that emerged over the last few months is an effort to get some names out there before year-end season fully takes over the website and yours truly does the annual exercise of numbering things for my own amusement.

Throwing yourself into the heavy metal maelstrom never stops being fun – especially when you emerge from the other side with no clear idea how you’re still standing – so who knows what else we might discover in the near future. In the meantime though, here’s the first installment of a huge batch of offerings that may please the musical hordes. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Nov 122021

(Last month was so busy that Andy Synn is still trying to catch up on all the things he, and we, missed)

Look, I told you last week that I was probably going to have to do two editions of “Things You May Have Missed” in order to catch up with the many, many artists and albums which were overlooked in October… so here we are.

Truthfully though, I could really do with doing at least one more edition after this was, such was the plethora of rifftastic riches which last month gave us, but if I want to stay on top of what’s being released this month then I really can’t spend any more time looking backwards.

Thankfully the four albums I’ve chosen to feature here are more than worth me sacrificing a bit more of my previous time in order to ensure they get (some of) the attention they deserve, so let’s not waste a moment more, shall we?

MROH – XII

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Nov 102021

(Andy Synn continues his year-long love affair with the Russian Metal scene with this review of the recently-released second album from Mroh)

If there’s one thing that XII, the second album from Russian trio Mroh, can tell us it’s that it definitely is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Because, at twelve tracks and a whopping seventy-three(!) minutes in length it is most definitely far too long for its own good.

That being said, it also demonstrates that Mroh are pretty damn good at this whole “Atmospheric” Black Metal thing, and well worth getting to grips with if you have any appreciation for the more “blackened” arts… even if chances are you’re going to find the whole record a bit too much to sit through all in one go.

WHORRIFY: “WHORRIFY”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Nov 052021

(Ryan Dyer, who last appeared in our pages touting the insanity of one-man bands in China, now returns to trumpet the destructiveness of Calgary’s Whorrify.)

In the annals of Canadian metal history, according to Metal-Archives.com, there have been at least 5000 Canadian metal bands. In Calgary, specifically, there have been over 200. I often wonder what would happen if all of these band members were situated in one place, like a little island. Whorrify are the new settlers on this island arriving via surfboards, wearing Thrilla Krew threads and setting foot on this beach like they were grind messiahs. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Nov 042021

(Andy Synn returns with another round-up of albums from last month which he feels didn’t get the attention they deserve)

Well… damn.

October was so busy that I’m probably going to end up doing a second “Things You May Have Missed” column next week, simply because there’s so many albums I wanted to write about (and hopefully introduce you to) that I didn’t get chance to.

And that’s not even taking into account the fact that in the last week of the month alone saw a bunch of “big name” bands – from Mastodon (bloated but brilliant) and Be’lakor (a gloomy grower) to Ghost Bath (still searching for an identity that hasn’t been done better by other bands) and Whitechapel (continuing their “evolution” into a mid-tier mid-2000s Metalcore act), and more – releasing their eagerly anticipated new albums.

So, with all that in mind, I probably shouldn’t waste any more time with this intro and would be better off just getting stuck right in to the nitty gritty of these four, highly recommend (by me, at least) records.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEBER — “ASPIRE TO AFFLICTION”

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Nov 032021

The relatively new Swedish band Deber named one of the songs on their debut album for the title of the album itself (Aspire To Affliction) and another for themselves. By far, those are the two shortest tracks, positioned in a such a way that one of them begins the record and the other ends it. In between are three monumental songs — a trio of towering edifices, in terms of both minutes and the imposing visions they create.

We say that Deber are a relatively new band, but the members aren’t newcomers, even if they’re pursuing some new directions here. These two are DIE (in charge of strings and organ), who is a member of Anguish and Ondskapt, and HCF (who handles drums and vocals). What they’ve turned their attention to in Deber is funeral doom, drawing upon the influence of such masters as Evoken, Worship, Skepticism, and Colosseum.

As the album title suggests, they aspire to sounds of affliction, and they have achieved their aspirations, with staggering power. Continue reading »

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