This post collects the reviews posted to Instagram for the week. They cover mostly metal, but other genres might be considered. Blog exclusive reviews from other writers are featured, as well.
Scuttlegoat's Curmudgeonly Critiques
Moral Collapse - Divine Prosthetics
Genre: Progressive Death Metal / Musique Concrete
Label: Subcontinental Records
Release Date: 02-06-2023
Moral Collapse impressed me with their self-titled 2021 debut. The band's mix of classic progressive and technical Death Metal had a serious 90s flavor but at the same time posessed its own identity. On that album, the band had already flirted with some Avant-garde tendencies, including the often overused saxophone guest musician (used surprisingly potently) and noisy Musique Concrete experimentations. The album barely slipped by my Honorable Mentions that year, and I sometimes wonder if it did deserve the spot.
On Divine Prosthetics, the band doubles down on their most Avant-garde tendencies. About half of the tracks are Industrial-ised, quasi-Musique Concrete soundscapes. The guest musicians fit into these soundscapes very well, as they seem loose and improvisatory. These tracks seem more like an abstract, yet inhabitable space than they seem a concrete piece of musique and I believe this is the point. Unfortunately, I think that the way they contrast with the actual metal tracks of the album is not beneficial. The new tracks recall the favorites of old. Besides the obvious Death comparison, complete with a Bobby Koelble feature, I am mostly getting some Pestilence vibes from this, but also influences that reach further, like classic Meshuggah or some late-stage Coroner, particularly with how the tracks have an Industrial character that I cannot put into words. Despite this Industrial je-ne-sais-quoi, I just think that the way these tracks are different vastly throws off the pacing. I would love to jam Moral Collapse's metal material more and I am certain I can find a playlist to slot this into. But as this album is constructed, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.
Rating: (low) 6/10.
Infecting the Swarm – Pulsing Coalescence
Genre: Brutal Technical Death Metal
Label: Lacerated Enemy Records
Release Date: 14-04-2023
Some promo and/or blurbs are overwritten and filled to the brim with absurdly heightened praise, setting you up for an expectation that most albums could never keep (Viledriver's latest had such a blurb). Others' feature almost no information, giving you little incentive to actually pick the album up. Infecting the Swarm’s latest promo blurb falls into the latter category, giving me little information on the bands sound beyond “blasts, dissonance and brutality”. A promise like this is easily delivered on and the band does give us what they set out to do. The band claims to make music for fans of Disentomb, Defeated Sanity and Euphoric Defilement (who made a single album in 2013 and then vanished off the face of the earth and whom I have never heard before). Neither Disentomb nor Defeated Sanity comparisons apply fully. Rather, I feel the best comparison is likely Spain's Wormed, whose dissonant, almost machinelike Brutal Death Metal approaches texture in a Brutal Death Metal context similarly to how Infecting the Swarm do it.
Compared to Wormed, Infecting the Swarm are rooted more strongly in classic Brutal Death Metal. Wormed is primed to tear your face to shreds with its blistering speed, but Infecting the Swarm have that classic toe-tipping groove that survives even through the most fiddly of fretboard acrobatics. Infecting the Swarm recently moved from being a solo effort to incorporating a full band. I do not know how this album compares to previous outings, but you can tell that there is interaction between the musicians. The bass occasionally manages to play forward with slap and pops, drums manage to inject Jazz-tinged cymbal work into an otherwise brutalist drum performance. The only performance I am not quite sold on is the vocal, which are entirely comprised of a rather monotone tunnel throat. Vocal expressiveness in Brutal Death Metal goes a long way and it is often what seperates the very good from the great. While Infecting the Swarm cannot quite reach the heights of the bands they chose to compare themselves to – reaching the quality of Defeated Sanity is a tall order – I can see that they have the potential for great in them. For now, I´ll take all the very good Brutal Death I can get.
Rating: 7/10.
Sarmat - Dubious Disk
Genre: Jazz Fusion
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Release Date: 19-04-2023
Dubious Disk is a curious case of an EP. A lot of what I read in the blurb I find hard to believe and in revisiting this album multiple times, more and more surprising things came to light. At its heart, Dubious Disk is a Jazz Fusion EP, albeit one with an Extreme Metal influence. Featuring the talents of Imperial Triumphant's Steve Blanco on bass and Artificial Brain's Oleg Zalman on guitars (with the support of Cameron Carella on trumpet and Flügelhorn), the band claims the EP to be an improvisation on a theme from their upcoming full-length album. Most of the EP is comprised of the band playing the namesake theme unisono and with clearly repeating bridges and transitions that could not come up naturally in a freely improvised piece. I am not ruling out that parts of it are improvised – solos, ending licks and the likes – but I believe most of this is planned very rigorously. To make this issue even more confusing is that the repeated main theme is actually an arrangement of a theme from the original Pokemon game for Nintendo's Gameboy. I would not even call this inspired by it – the main theme of Dubious Disk is clearly the Team Rocket Hideout theme, with the same transition, bridges and linear song structure. The name “Dubious Disk” might be a hint to this, as an item named Dubious Disk exists in the Pokemon Games – a fact brought to my attention by our own Cosmic Vampire.
So, who is getting juked here? The musical quality is top notch, and if Jazz Fusion at the heavier end of the spectrum sounds like a thing you would enjoy, I don´t see why you would dismiss Sarmat. The metal influence is slight, barring an explosion of intensity in the middle and you could see a band like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever pull off similar material even in the late 70s. The musicianship is similarly high – as is to be expected from the musicians involved. The finicky rhythms and runs are filled with interesting note choices. This could just as well be considered an Avant-garde arrangement of a videogame song. Adam Neely has talked about how videogame music is becoming a new part of the Jazz Canon in a recent video. These are tunes that the Millennial generation intuitively knows, just as tin pan alley songs were ubiquitous to the Jazz Originators of the 30s and 40s. Yet, a stigma of such tunes remain. Is the origin of the theme hidden from the label, that might not take the music seriously otherwise? Is this an attempt to be more marketable to the Avant-garde metalhead, who often takes the unfortunate stance that irony equals dishonesty? Maybe even believes that such tunes could only be enjoyed ironically? Or is this just to avoid a lawsuit with a certain Japanese videogame manufacturer who is known for such reactions? Frankly, I do not know. The fact remains that Sarmat are worth your time – if this opens up more metalheads to Jazz Fusion, then I approve wholeheartedly. And getting musically bamboozled is always fun.
Rating: 7/10.
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Decipher - Arcane Paths to Resurrection
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Release Date: 21-04-23
2023 has seen a large spike in the Hellenic scene of Extreme Metal. Bands such as Thy Darkened Shade and Deviser have already released good to great albums, and others such as Varathron, Decipher and Burial Hordes have planned releases this year (with Varathron’s new one still unknown). Today, however, we will focus on Decipher’s debut Arcane Paths to Resurrection. Is this an act to watch closely or did their chants fall flat?
Decipher wastes no time in pummeling the listener with a barrage of varied riffs, ranging from the Black Metal standard of tremolo picking to almost Melodic Black Metal in sound. It is quite clear to me that this band cites fellow countrymen Varathron as an influence, as the listener can hear tinges of them and hints of Dissection buried within the six proper tracks. After a brief interlude (“Arcane Paths”) the album truly shines, with hypnotic riffs that envelop the listener in a cocoon of that classic Hellenic sound mixed with the pulsating energy of well-executed Black Metal. Album highlight “Altar of the Void” is also the longest track, at nearly nine minutes, but does not waste any of that time bringing a truly evil sounding Black Metal jam. Chants are utilized sparingly, with them being most present in “Sanctum Regnum”, to add a ritualistic flair to the album before ending the entire affair with a whispered 'Amen'. None of the songs overstay their welcome, as this is a relatively short album by Black Metal standards, making each spin easier to digest.
Unfortunately, not everything is golden. The interlude is relatively pointless, being an ambient passage with recorded vocalist M.L (who left after recording was complete) shrieking in the background of an eerie atmosphere. This is the only real complaint I have though, as this is otherwise an incredibly strong debut full length. There is a certain depth to each of the songs, and listeners will uncover something new every spin. I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears peeled on Decipher’s future, as it is quite promising.
Rating: 7/10
Sól án varma - Sól án varma
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Van Records
Release Date: 07-04-23
Sól án Varma, translated to “Sun without Radiance”, was originally a singular 70 minute commissioned piece for the Roadburn Festival back in 2018 featuring many Icelandic Black Metal scene veterans. Now, in 2023, this piece finally sees recorded form. There is a lot of different talent present here, as members hail from acts such as Misþyrming, Svartidauði (RIP), Wormlust, Árstíðir Lífsins, Carpe Noctem, and many others. Being an avid fan of this microcosm of a scene, I went into this hoping for a great album and was not disappointed in the slightest. The best way to describe this album is in three parts: the build-up (I-III), the fury (IV-IX), and the afterglow (X-XII). The build-up starts the album off quite slowly, as “I” introduces you to the different elements at play. “II” gives listeners tastes of the 3 different vocalists at play here: D.G (Misþyrming), S.V (Svartidauði), and Á.B.Z (Árstíðir Lífsins). “III” wraps up the introductions with a track that sounds straight out of an Árstíðir Lífsins album with its haunting atmosphere and whispered storytelling. The fury brings the fucking riffs, as waves upon waves of that classic Icelandic dissonance crash and flow over you for the next six songs.
All vocalists shine here, with Á.B.Z’s hypnotic chants present in the background and D.G and S.V's trademark snarls permeating the crushing atmosphere. The drummer M.S is another star of the show here, going absolutely wild particularly on the bridge between “VI” and “VII”, with the end result being one of the most impressive drum performances I have heard all year. Lastly, the afterglow ushers in the end of an era. Svartidauði called it quits at the end of 2022, and this album is the last time we will hear them on record sounding as they do. “X” and “XI” are the two final proper Black Metal tracks on the album, and the affair ends with the synth-laden “XII”, showing off H.V's (Wormlust) adeptness with synths and electronic elements. It’s a warm end to a bleak album. This is a love letter to the Icelandic microscene as a whole and I love it. I expect this album to end up in my year end list, and while I have strong doubts we will ever hear another album by this collective, it’s a proper send off to the progenitors of the microscene as a whole (Svartidauði). Phenomenal release.
Rating: (high) 8/10
Gigantic Fucking Poseur’s Galactic Gonorrhea
Metallica – 72 Seasoons
Genre: REAL MUSIC
Label: Spotify Release Date: like yesterday
AOTY anyone? so i have to confess I didne't lern about Metalllica until on Stranger Thinsg when Eddie was fighting off the bats with that killer song..."MASTER MASTER"... did you guys see that??? #teameddie LOL such a shame. Anway, i thought that song was reeeeeeally cool evne though the band i found out was REALLY old, like my PARENTS age, EW. But I thought OK -- I guess I'll give it a shoot so i did and then i found out this new album was coming out literally like TWOO DAYS ago when spotify told me! so arE you guys READY for the album of the year cuase I am! tTHIS IS REEEAL MUSIC
ID ON'T normallly like riffs but THEY HAVE RIFFS and they never stop coming, i am so happy that everything feels like the same great riffs cause i don't want to skip a single song. #playlistready AND THE GUITAR SOLOS BEST SINCE THE EDDIE SONG.i WAS listening on the bus through my speaker and some old guy tried to come up with me and temll me that he knew that song (he kept saying somethin gbaout NEVERLAND, PERV). and i said NO THIS ALBUM JUST CAME OUT TODAY NAME THREE SONGS. he couldn't!
SO yeah, there's lots of guitars (how rae there only two guitarists ?? :o it sounds like 5) and even tho their old i think they play better than machine gyun kelly or post melons. it's a bit long so idk how i'm gonna use this on tiktoks but there's a lot of tststststs sounds o mabe! (tw there's a song about suicide that's how you know it's HEAVY)) SUPORT REEL MUSICC!!
Rating: 12/10 (every song deserve a point!!!!!!1!)