MESARTHIM: “THE DEGENERATE ERA”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 182020
 

 

(Andy Synn combines two reviews in this post, one each for the latest two releases by the Australian band Mesarthim.)

If you want to upset a wide swathe of the Metal and Metal-adjacent public, just play them something by Atmo-Black Trance duo Mesarthim.

Too spacey and synth-driven for most of the Black Metal scene, too upbeat and dancey for the Dungeon Synth crowd, and too abrasive for the Synthwave crew, the duo’s (incredibly prolific) output has proven to be exceptionally divisive over the years, even as it has also attracted an incredibly dedicated fanbase who can’t seem to get enough of the band’s signature blend of bleeps, bloops, and blasts.

That being said, I know I’m not the only one who felt like the group’s most recent works – most notably 2018’s Coma Wall EP and last year’s Ghost Condensate album – didn’t quite achieve the same sense of balance and equilibirum between the various disparate elements of their sound (although not for lack of trying) which helped define the band’s earlier works.

Which makes the recent surprise release of The Degenerate Era, the fifth full-length Mesarthim album in five years, an opportunity to reset and reassess things… for both the band and their fans. Continue reading »

LAST WEEK TODAY: DEATH BY STEREO / FACELESS BURIAL / IMHA TARIKAT / KRALLICE

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Aug 132020
 


Krallice

 

(Andy Synn wrote the following compilation of reviews.)

It seems to me that, over the years, the constant cascade of new albums has swollen into a never-ending, unrelenting, flood, to the point where it often feels like we’re almost drowning in new releases.

The only way to cope, I’ve found, is to simply accept that you’re not going to be able to cover everything. There’s just not enough hours in the day to properly preview, review, analyse, and criticise, all of it, especially if you also want to try and maintain some general standards of quality and insight (which, let’s be honest, isn’t necessarily a concern for everyone…).

That being said, a bit of catch-up coverage never goes amiss, which is why I’m dedicating today’s article to four artists who each dropped their newest record – in one case with little prior warning – last Friday. Continue reading »

PERFECITIZEN: “HUMANIPULATION”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 122020
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio‘s review of the new album by the Czech band Perfecitizen, which was released on August 1st.)

It is time to write about a project that has been dear to me since I became a fan through the release of their 2011 demo. The band is Perfecitizen, formed after the demise of Alienation Mental (a band whose music I also loved).  In 2013 they released their debut album Through, a 33-minute blaster that to this day is among my favorite debuts from a brutal/grindcore band, showcasing a great level of musicianship from start to finish.

Two years later they released their sophomore effort Corten, which was a natural continuation of their first effort. The only gripe I had was how short it was, but the music was amazing and proved that the guys involved are great musicians who execute their vision with precision.  They continued to be independent, doing everything themselves (as they have continued to do) which is something I admire — and props to them for doing so (and other bands that do the same). Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH 2020: BULL ELEPHANT / INGESTED / LUNA’S CALL

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 112020
 


Luna’s Call

(Here we have another 2020 edition of Andy Synn‘s series of reviews focusing on music coming out of the UK, with another three albums on the table today.)

This year may have been a real motherfucker in many, many ways, but the music coming out of the UK has, arguably, never been better.

As a matter of fact, my shortlist for my “Critical Top Ten” currently includes three, possibly four, UK bands who’ve raised the bar for themselves, and the rest of the scene, with their latest records… one of whom I’m featuring here today.

So, without further ado, here are three artists/albums who represent the very best of British, two of which will be released this Friday, the other you’ll have to wait until the end of the month to hear in full! Continue reading »

UADA: “DJINN”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Aug 112020
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by Portland’s UADA. The album will be released by Eisenwald on September 25th. Kris Verwimp created the cover art.)

After falling for an exchange in the comments on a Facebook post comparing this album to the likes of Alkaline Trio and New Model Army, my dark heart was sparked to check it out. Yes, this album might be more melodic than what I remember this Portland band doing before, but you can put away the cloves as it is still very solidly black metal.

I think the misunderstood excitement of my Facebook friends was based on them becoming content with lazy bands who stick close to the pack, doing little to set themselves apart as individuals. Ironic, considering black metal is the outsider genre. On this album UADA expand their sonic arsenal with new tones to create some cool, powerful metal riffs. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NUG — “ALTER EGO”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Aug 102020
 

 

Nug’s new album Alter Ego, which we’re premiering today, is a dimorphic creature, a union of beauty and the beast. This Ukrainian band’s formulation of progressive and post-metal is capable of both transporting your head into sunlit clouds and also clubbing them through the pavement and deep into the mantle below. You could also think of their hybrid of obliteration and wonder, of pile-driving destruction and head-swirling dreams, as the workings of a wondrous machine that constantly morphs — from an earth-ruining demolition device into a spaceship venturing through head-spinning wormholes to reveal astonishing vistas of vast, blazing nebulae.

These extremes of sound — which are soft and loud, breathtakingly intense and sublimely mesmerizing, bewildering and brazen — might seem to occupy distant and opposing points on an axis, but Nug fold the axis in on itself, not merely juxtaposing the extremes but laying them on top of each other with gripping and exhilarating consequences. Continue reading »

DECARABION: “BASTARD SON OF DIVINITY”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Aug 072020
 

 

(We present Vonlughlio’s review of the new album by the Colombian band Decarabion, which is out now on Unmatched Brutality Records.)

Hope all you readers are well and, as always, I’m wishing all the best to all. As you probably already know, yours truly is a big fan of Brutal Death Metal (duh!). I was having a conversation the other day with a friend (Abhay) for his upcoming podcast in which we discuss the genre and other different scenes I love.  One of the subjects was the Colombian scene and how many great bands have come from that country to give us such great BDM.

This time around I would like to talk about the debut album Bastard Son of Divinity by the Colombian newcomers Decarabion, which was released on August 4 via Unmatched Brutality Records. Before saying anything else, this is a great representation as to why I love Colombian BDM. This record crushes from the moment you press play until the end. Continue reading »

TERMINAL NATION: “HOLOCENE EXTINCTION”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Aug 062020
 

 

(On August 7th 20 Buck Spin will release a new album by Arknasas heavyweights Terminal Nation, and in anticipation of that calamitous event Andy Synn wrote this review.)

I don’t know how things are where you are right now, dear reader, but here in the UK people are finding lots of different ways to cope with the uncertainty and upheaval caused by this goddamned pandemic.

Personally I’ve been lucky enough to be able to ride things out (so far at least) with relatively little disruption, and right now my plan is simply to go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

In the meantime I’ve been alternatively amusing/tormenting myself by speculating what bands, and what tours, I’d most like to see when normal service finally resumes (whenever the that might be).

One line-up which I think would really bring the house down (possibly quite literally) would be if someone could pull together a triple-header of Misery Index (headlining), Xibalba (main support), and Terminal Nation, especially since the latter’s new album, Holocene Extinction, seems like it was purpose-built to deliver the sort of in-your-face impact that can only truly be appreciated live. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): EXITIUM SUI – “THE SINISTER BUSINESS OF SELLING HOPE”

 Album Reviews, Interviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 052020
 

 

(Andy Synn introduces our premiere stream of a new EP by Exitium Sui, the solo project of ex-Deadspace frontman Chris Gebauer, and presents an interview of him as well.)

Exitium Sui may be a relatively new name, but if you’ve been paying attention to this site over the last several months you’ll no doubt have spotted our coverage of the band’s debut EP, Nuclear Sundown, as well as our preview of “Eviscerate My Withered Soul”, the first song from their upcoming album, Ad Personam (which I’ve heard in full, and it’s a suffocatingly dense and doom-laden slab of grim, blackened filth, make no mistake).

Today we’re bringing you an exclusive stream of The Sinister Business of Selling Hope, which finds the band’s sound pivoting away from the more doom-inflected approach of their first EP in favour of something more closely related to the pulsating blackened belligerence of Leviathan or Blut Aus Nord.

That’s not to say that these four tracks are a total departure from what has gone before – in fact, when the full album is released you’ll likely gain a much better appreciation of  …Selling Hope’s role in the band’s overall development – but suffice it to say that those looking for some seriously oppressive, shockingly aggressive, and crushingly claustrophobic Black Metal will do well to check this one out at the earliest opportunity.

So, please, read on for a full stream of the entire EP accompanied by a short but illluminating interview with band mastermind ES. Continue reading »

SELBST: “RELATOS DE ANGUSTIA”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Aug 042020
 

 

(Andy Synn wrote the following review of the new album by Selbst, a band that originated in Venezuela and is now based in Chile. The album will be released on August 7th by Debemur Morti Productions.)

For a while now I’ve been trying to put into words precisely what the difference is between Death Metal and Black Metal.

Oh, I know there are lots of physical, practical differences between the two genres (despite what some people might think) but I’ve often struggled to express what I feel is the fundamental difference which separates and defines the two.

The best way I can think to put it is this – if Death Metal is comparable to another form of art, it would be sculpture. It’s all hammer and tongs, chisel and awl, structure and form. It’s about making a plan, holding it in your mind’s eye, and then beating things into shape, chipping away at the excess, to forge something with real, tangible physicality.

Black Metal though… Black Metal is more abstract. It’s about letting whatever’s inside you (for better or worse) pour out onto the canvas in wild, expressive strokes and lurid, hypnotic patterns.

That’s not to say there isn’t a clear sense of vision behind it – there often is – but this willingness to just cut loose and see what flows out is, in my opinion at least, what makes the genre so utterly visceral, so unexpectedly versatile and, every so often, so breathtakingly vulnerable.

And it’s also what makes Relatos de Angustia one of the best Black Metal albums of the year. Continue reading »

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