Album Reviews Archives - Page 59 of 545

WHITE STONES: “MEMORIA VIVA”

Jul 162024

(In late June Reigning Phoenix Music released a new album by the Spanish band White Stones, and today we provide our writer DGR‘s interesting review of this new work.)

Much like an immortal Heinz condiment-themed musical group, we’re forever playing catch-up.

I could never claim nor want to pontificate about the inner workings of a group or their band dynamic. These sorts of things are private for a reason and more often than not maintained that way so that a group doesn’t just become the ‘such-and-such show’ with three other musicians hanging around. You could make some solid as a rock ballpark guesses with certain groups as to who is responsible for what, but the pontification is more intellectual exercise for fun than anything that could actually have an effect.

What I will say, though, is that every time I’ve listened to White Stones, it has been both reminder and revelation of just how important bassist Martín Méndez has been to Opeth‘s sound over the years. The projects are purposefully and determinedly different from one another – White Stones having been obtuse and strange since their launch with Kuarahy back in 2020 – but it’s hard not to recognize that dude’s bass playing and transpose it over the works he’s been involved in, only to realize how fiercely creative that other group’s rhythm section has always been, with White Stones bringing it to the forefront. Continue reading »

SCARCITY – THE PROMISE OF RAIN

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Jul 162024

(Andy Synn finds a paradoxical abundance of weirdness and creativity in the new album from Scarcity)

Very occasionally someone will ask us why we don’t cover more of the bigger, more mainstream-friendly, names in Metal. And our response to this is generally two-fold.

Firstly, it’s not like those sorts of acts actually need our attention or our endorsement, since they already get more than enough of that from other, slightly less discriminatory, outlets.

Secondly… well, after a certain point they all just kind of sound the same (although you could also say that about the annual wave of OSDM revivalists?), so it just doesn’t really seem worth us expending time and effort to cover a bunch of bands – all following the same trends and writing to the same formula – who we don’t really like, just for the clicks.

That being said, there are times when a band steps up with a new twist on a classic recipe which seems so obviously destined for massive success and acclaim that we can’t help but be caught up in all the hype along with everyone else.

Scarcity, however, are not that band.

DARKNESS EVERYWHERE: “TO CONQUER ETERNAL DAMNATION”

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Jul 152024

(We present DGR‘s review of the debut album by Oakland CA-based Darkness Everywhere, which was released in May by Creator-Destructor Records. The fantastic cover art is by Adam Burke.)

It’s weird to think about how wildly melodeath-ascendant the past few years have been. It’s strange when you’re within the bubble of a nostalgia cycle and are fully aware of it, as opposed to recognizing it from the outside and approaching it more from the cultural anthropology side of things.

There are even projects dedicated to exploring different eras, which is not something you would normally ascribe to a style that saw such a glut of artists in the late ’90s and early ’00s that it almost accidentally codified into the blueprint that was then widely followed to the point of mundanity.

Yet there are projects dedicated to both the retro and modern aspects, and those who split the difference between the two. In the case of musician Ben Murray and his latest exploration of the style in Darkness Everywhere, it’s one made with a ton of influence from that late ’90s to early ’00s period in which melodeath became its own thing and the words for the genre were no longer existing as just an abbreviation of a way to describe a less sewage-obsessed form of death metal. Continue reading »

NIGHTRAGE: “REMAINS OF A DEAD WORLD”

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Jul 122024

(NCS writer DGR dives deep into the newest album by the Nightrage melodic death metal band, which was released in late May by Despotz Records.)

If you’ll indulge us for a few, there were a lot of releases that came out towards the tail end of May/beginning of June. Right about the time when we were all just returning home from floating around at fests across the country, and now I’m playing the desperate game of catch-up to write about all the stuff I was listening to while traveling from place to place.

Nightrage‘s new album Remains Of A Dead World is a genuinely interesting beast. If you’ve been following the band for its multi-decade existence then you’ll likely know that one of the unfortunate constants within the group is an ever-changing vocalist position. In fact, it wasn’t until the run of vocalist Ronnie Nyman‘s recorded works between 2015 and 2022 that Nightrage had actually had someone in the vocalist slot for more than two albums. Save for founder Marios Iliopoulos, the whole of Nightrage‘s lineup has always been on the fluid side – it just always seemed like the vocalist spot was changing out more than most.

Remains Of A Dead World, otherwise, is interesting because it was recorded with what was probably the most stable lineup of Nightrage in some time (and since the band has seen the exit of drummer George “Dino” Stamoglou, replaced by journeyman drummer Fotis Benardo), except for the vocalist slot, now occupied by newcomer Konstantinos Togas after having spent some time in that role helping the band on the live front. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HVILE I KAOS — “LOWER ORDER MANIFESTATIONS”

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Jul 112024

Full disclosure: In writing about the music of Hvile I Kaos, I run up hard against my technical limitations. It’s more than the ever-present fact that I’m self-taught and formally un-trained in writing about music of any kind, and not a musician either. In the case of Hvile I Kaos the limitations are more severe, because the principal instrument is a cello, because classical music traditions play important roles, and because esoteric studies provide much of the inspiration, and my ear and mind are even more untrained in those contexts.

A serious student of classical chamber music (and backwoods folk music) would have a far finer appreciation for the nature of the Hvile I Kaos compositions and the demands and achievements of the performances. A serious student of esoteric spiritualism, and of the invocation of demonic spirits in particular, would make far better connections between the inspirations and the music’s moods and maneuvers, which have a ritualistic conception. In my case, it may be more like serenading sheep.

Of course, these limitations and the daunting challenges that flow from them haven’t stopped me from writing about Hvile I Kaos at our site, a habit I’ve indulged off and on for nearly the last seven years (as you can see here). Sheep have feelings and I suspect are moved by serenades, but unlike sheep (for better or worse) I can attempt to express the feelings ignited by the music, which is mainly what I’ve done before and now will try to do again.

The task this time is bittersweet, because Hvile I Kaos has announced that Lower Order Manifestations, the album we’re premiering today on the eve of its July 12 release by In Vitae Manifestatio in partnership with Eisenwald and House of Inkantation, is the project’s final record. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CLACTONIAN — “DEA MADRE”

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Jul 102024

We have written frequently over the last six years about the music of the Italian band Thecodontion, whose primeval and prehistoric thematic interests have been as interesting and erudite as their guitar-less but ever-evolving formulations of death metal. And so we were highly intrigued to learn that Thecodontion vocalist G.E.F. had started a new band named Clactonian, joined by Thecodontion drummer V.P. (also in SVNTH) and Finnish musicians who include Ashen Tomb on the resume.

Like Thecodontion, the thematic interests of Clactonian are rooted in prehistory, and particularly the Paleolithic Age. The name itself is a term given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tools made by an extinct species of archaic humans who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. (You can find more about here.)

Clactonian‘s debut demo, which we’re premiering today, is entitled Dea Madre (“Mother Goddess” in Italian). It too has prehistoric connotations, because that title refers to the famous Venus of Willendorf, a small figurine discovered in 1908 that’s estimated to have been made around 29,500 years ago. As this article discusses, researchers have speculated that the figure and others like it represented an early fertility deity, perhaps… a mother goddess. The figurine’s image features in the cover art of Dea Madre, with notable modifications in keeping with the music.

But what about the music on the demo? Although you might guess that it is linked to the musical interests of Thecodontion, it instead pursues a different path, a path of early bestial black/death metal that (as G.E.F. has told us) draws strong influence from Beherit but also should appeal to fans of Archgoat, early Bathory, and some bass-driven bands like Barathrum or early Necromantia for the slower sections. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: AKLASH / PIJN / TURIN

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Jul 102024

(Andy Synn highlights three more examples of home-grown heaviness from the UK)

I was originally intending to finish and publish this particular article last week, but issues at work, combined with covering for Islander here while he was off attending Ascension Festival, meant things fell behind schedule.

I even thought I might be able to get it finished over the weekend, only to spend Friday afternoon/evening having fun axe-throwing (and then drinking) to celebrate my friend Chris’s birthday, followed by a night of beers and whiskey with (most of) the band on Saturday, and then a day spent having drinks (and doughnuts) with some of my fiancé’s friends on Sunday… so that didn’t happen either.

Still, better late than never, right? And I promise it won’t be as long until the next edition (for which I’ve already got 2 out of 3 bands confirmed).

WORMED – OMEGON

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jul 092024

(DGR dives over the event horizon of the new album from Spanish cyber-slam destroyers Wormed)

There was a sort of mad cackle that emerged from me after the first few runs of Wormed‘s newest issuance from the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

It was maybe after the third spin of Omegon that I couldn’t help but laugh, a semi-rueful one somewhere between Ralph Wiggum’s “I’m in danger!” chuckle and one that was in awe of the band somehow managing to unleash yet another disc of mind bending tempo shifts and instrumental destruction.

Honestly, what it comes down to is the question facing every writer when they’re handed a Wormed released (Omegon being my second) which is… “how in the unholy hell am I even going to describe this thing?“.

PIAH MATER – UNDER THE SHADOWOF A FOREIGN SUN

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jul 082024

(Andy Synn takes a look at the new album from Brazilian Prog-Death dynamos Piah Mater, out now)

We are, each of us, the sum total of many different things.

I am both my father and my mother, and through them their parents, grandparents, and so on, down through the years.

At the same time, I am also the totality of my choices, my experiences, and a variety of unpredictable epigenetic factors which combine to form my sense of “self”.

But we are also, all of us, more than these things.

As are Piah Mater.

WEREWOLVES – DIE FOR US

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Jul 052024

(DGR‘s been killing some brain cells with Werewolves again, whose new album is out July 12)

I’ve discussed this before, and our cohort Andy has also brought this up a few times, but the idea of listening to hundreds upon hundreds of albums a year – as if the larger the number the more impressive it is as a metric of how clever and cultured you are – has always bit at my side a little bit.

Of course, it’s worth noting that I am a fool with bad management skills, so it is therefore feasible that you could actually have listened to 3-4 times as many albums as there are days in the year – and in my younger days I too, would’ve bragged the same.

But focussing on the numbers makes things kind of ephemeral and disposable doesn’t it? As if all music were just a fleeting experiences designed only for your immediate satisfaction and nothing else.

Surely, the artist who has strived for months over songs, figuring out transitions, how to layer and arrange things, chased tones for hours, before finally settling on the specific composition being played before you deserves more than to be added as just one more point on an infinitely increasing bar on a graph?

Early in my writing I used to be proud of the fact that I was on time (or early) with many albums. But nowadays that’s less the case, as I like to deep dive into things and absorb the release for everything it has to offer.

I still do land the occasional early or on-time review but much like a baseball player slowly coming off of ‘roids, those stats are cratering and cratering hard. Everything instead finds room when the olde’ brain machine manages to turn enough cogent thought into something to discuss with you, the reader, when it comes to a new album. I care more about the discussion and experience of a release than I do the timeliness of it.

Which brings us to Die For Us… where absolutely none of this bullshit applies.

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