CONVERGE: “THE DUSK IN US”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 062017
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer’s review of The Dusk In Us — the recently released ninth album by Converge.)

Twenty years ago a friend of mine said to me, “There is this band you would like called Converge, they are like if Sunny Day Real Estate was metal-as-fuck hardcore”. Over the course of those 20 years things have changed for the band. They got a new drummer and put out this album called Jane Doe that turned heavy music on its head. Their guitarist Kurt Ballou is now a highly sought-after producer. With their guitarist behind the mixing board for The Dusk In Us, you might expect to be hit by a wall of guitar. This is not the case. Instead you get guitars with a warm organic sound that sit back in the mix like they are just running straight into their amps. Even in the album’s more experimental moments it retains a very organic sound.

“Eye of the Quarrel” makes it pretty clear that their punk side has not gone anywhere. Bannon’s vocals are not screamed with the same emotional tumult of earlier albums. You can actually understand what he is yelling. They do return to the kind of grit I want from them on “Under Duress”. The chorus is almost sung in a throaty bellow, with the drummer throwing in angular accents and odd-timed punches. Continue reading »

GWAR: “THE BLOOD OF GODS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 052017
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by GWAR, whch will be released by Metal Blade Records on October 20.)

Their blood-drenched, cum-soaked live shows overshadowed the fact these guys had some good songs and made pretty killer albums up to, say, This Toilet Earth. They also used to be one of my favorite bands in high school, so the nostalgia runs deep. It also makes me proceed with caution knowing that they are carrying on without their lead singer Oderus Unrungus, whose human form Dave Brockie passed away in 2014. His voice fluctuated from a gruff punk-like bellow that could have come off of a Fear record to more of a growl or a croon.

I became more willing to give them a new shot when I learned that Blothar, the new singer, is the old Beefcake the Mighty taking on a new mantel. So they promoted from within. I can deal with this better than if it was some new guy they just brought in. The new sound has to grow on me even though he handled the vocals on the song “Nice Place to Park“. So his voice is not totally alien. It holds a Blackie Lawless-like edge. The songs on the new album typically carry a more straight-ahead metal feel in the vein of mid-’80s thrash, with songs like “Viking Death Machine” touching on their punk roots. Continue reading »

AMENRA: “MASS VI”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 022017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by the Belgian band Amenra, which will be released on October 20 by Neurot Recordings.)

Here is an album that reminds us distortion alone is only as heavy as the emotion being poured into the songs. This Belgium sludge band returns with another piece of despair. Gone is the Neurosis worship, which has been washed away from a more lush sound with thicker atmosphere. The emotional depth can be heard in anguished howls of the vocals. The layers of accompanying guitar have a droning sense of melody and carry an inner darkness.

The album opens with the brand of aggressive sludge you expect, with an almost hardcore-tinged anger. When this dies down the band float out into something more fragile and intimate with vocals sung in an almost androgynous Sigur Rós-like whisper, but then throw themselves back into the tormented screaming. One thing this album has going for it is the fact that the sung vocals are not used to create a MySpace Metal good cop/bad cop routine. Instead they build a dynamic in a less contrived fashion. Continue reading »

CHELSEA WOLFE: “HISS SPUN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  1 Response »
Sep 182017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Chelsea Wolfe, which will be released by Sargent House on September 22.)

With a Burzum cover early in her career Chelsea Wolfe gained a solid following in the metal community. Her brand of gloomy folk rock was dark enough to keep them listening. Gradually this darkness grew denser and began to cross over into a more metal-influenced sound on Abyss. Her newest album takes it even a step further into metal.

On her last album the bass was fuzzed enough to give it a doom-like heft. Now the guitar is assuming a more metallic role. Production-wise, this recalls her older work, in the sense that her voice is mixed with ghostly effects against the guitar. Tempo-wise, it is very much in a doom/sludge direction.

“16 Psyche” finds the guitars kicking the door down, then backing off for her to sing, then it comes back around to the verses. “Vex” summons up more intensity in the drive of the song and finds Aaron Turner’s growled vocals coming into the background toward the end of the song. Continue reading »

UFOMAMMUT: “8”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 122017
 

 

(Wil Cifer review the new album by Ufomammut, set for relase on September 22 by Neurot Recordings.)

When I am searching for doom I want something that is just Black Sabbath worship. I’ve listened to those albums for over 35 years and can pull them off the shelf at any moment to revisit as needed… So it gets me excited to hear a band like these men from from Italy who must set bongs aflame across the world with their super psyche-filled doom.

Ufomammut take you out into the cosmos with a fuzzed-out density that is obscured by clouds of trippy haze. The vocals feel more Pink Floyd-like to me than carrying any kind of an Ozzy influence. Each song takes you further into the depths of their warped rabbit hole. Continue reading »

ATRIARCH: “DEAD AS TRUTH”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jul 242017
 

 

(Wil Cifer wrote this review of the new album by Atriarch from Portland, Oregon, coming in August via Relapse Records.)

The Portland band returns with a new full-length that finds the newest incarnation of the band exploring yet another path to heavy.

The gloom is more visceral in the ritualistic pulse of “Inferno”, which opens the album. Singer Lenny Smith shouts out commanding declarations of his spiraling emotional state. Right from the first song they waste no time using an array of vocal colors, from a death rock croon to a black metal howl.

More often than not they creep along at more of a doom pace, yet the darkness they paint these songs with would appeal to fans of black metal. When they do choose to pick up the pace, they do so without using blast beats as an easy way out. Continue reading »

WIL CIFER’S TOP 10 OF 2017… SO FAR

 Listmania  5 Responses »
Jul 072017
 

 

(NCS contributor Wil Cifer has compiled this list of his 10 favorite releases from the first half of 2017.)

Where has 2017 gone? It seems like the year has passed us by in a cloud of internet hatred and bickering. So with that comes the need for heavy music. Now that we are over halfway through 2017 here’s a look at which albums have stuck with me thus far this year.

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that it doesn’t matter how much hype an album gets if the music doesn’t inspire me to listen to it more than once. Black Metal, Doom, Death Metal, and Thrash are all represented to some extent in this list. The Number One slot was determined by what Last Fm said I listened to the most. So far, only the top five still maintain their spots in my Ipod, though that is not to say I won’t go back and give the others more listens. You should give all of these albums a listen if you have yet to check them out. Continue reading »

DEATH OF KINGS: “KNEEL BEFORE NONE”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 082017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Atlanta’s Death of Kings.)

In the past I never felt the other recorded efforts by this Atlanta band were accurate representations of what they really do on stage. The vocals on previous releases often had a lower, more throaty husk to them, like old Mastodon. In other releases the guitar tone was recorded to give a false death metal density. I think anything that doesn’t properly paint these guys as a thrash band is misleading.

But with their new album we are getting what I have heard come from the monitors. The screechy vocals that sound like a more feral version of Overkill. The more razor-sharp guitar tone, one that feels more natural when it comes to the mid-paced gallop on “Sojurn”, which appeared on their 2015 demo.  The double-bass gets heavier on the chorus and muddies the mix a bit, but I think the biggest takeaway is how they have matured as songwriters, and it’s not just about finding cool riffs. Even with the tempestuous drumming, all the moving parts just seem to lock in better to tell the story. Continue reading »

RAGANA: “YOU TAKE NOTHING”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 262017
 

 

(Here’s Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by Ragana from Oakland, California.)

With the tone of recent world events providing the inspiration for their new album You Take Nothing, the Oakland two-piece have returned with a feral vision of their brand of blackened crust.

The album opens with a deliberate crunch before it turns toward placing more emphasis on atmosphere. Where they part ways with many American black metal bands is in the concise nature of their songwriting. It never feels like you have lost your place in a bloated drone of tremolo picking, and the blast beats always feel as if they are wisely implemented. Continue reading »

IDES OF GEMINI: “WOMEN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Apr 142017
 

 

(We present Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by Ides of Gemini.)

The changes on Ides of Gemini’s newest offering Women seem tailored to suit my own personal tastes, as it is a perfect blend of goth rock and metal. By goth rock I mean Siouxsie and the Banshees, 45 Grave, etc., and not the type of Hot Topic cheese that came out of Finland in the early ’00s.

Sera Timms has put down the bass to find her voice. This adds a dimension that is more colorful and energetic. While the Siouxsie influence is there. it is not just limited to that; she has a reasonable sense of who she is. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries