In this post, I collect my instagram reviews for the week for albums released in 2022. All my non-2022 reviews are gathered in a post as soon as a decent number has accumulated. I listen to mostly metal, but I do not limit myself to any genre.
Dischordia - Triptych
Genre: dissonant / avantgarde Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Whereas, a couple years ago, dissonant Death Metal was a niche genre only for insiders whose few acts would release mostly good to great material, it has since turned into a genre like many others, with specific tropes and genre standards. Sadly, this has also led to the genre becoming similarly inconsistent as many others and, to be honest, many Dissodeath albums remain rather mediocre with very little for me to talk about. Complexity does not automatically equal quality and this is as true of complex and boundary pushing harmony as it is of the technicality that technical Death Metal often gets criticized for. I have noticed the hardening of the genre tropes these last two years in ways I do not always find beneficial.
Dischordia fit very well into their respective genre and I have to access them similarly as I would other tropey genres - it will absolutely depend on execution and what spin they can put on the genre. Dischordia do have an interesting concept: Their album tries to mirror a triptych painting in style and is presented in three sections, which as far as I can tell are not individually named. The sections are clearly distinguishable through the titles at least and specific elements can only be found within those - the modernist classical excursions with additional instrumentation seem to mostly be in the first third of the album, for example. It would be tempting to review it as 3 EP´s stapled together, which would certainly make it easier to form an opinion, as I could easily tell you that the groove oriented inal third would be my favorite. Dischordia paint these images with a similar palette - The triptych concept is loose, as they break it multiple times themselves, but in the attempt, the band manages to find a good pacing and just enough unique ideas to make it a worthwhile album
Rating: 7/10.
Heriot - Profound Morality
Genre: Metallic Hardcore / Grindcore / Sludge
Label: Church Road Records
Britain, over the last few years, has developed a very nice subscene of metallic hardcore bands that are on hand hand much more brutal and heavy than what you usually associate with the term and that on the other hand incorporate lower tempos and industrial elements to great effect. Bands like Leeched or Sectioned have carved this niche that can now hopefully be inhabited by even more young and exciting acts. Heriot are one of these and frankly, they tick most of my boxes right out of the gate. Heriot has all the aforementioned elements but what makes them special is an increased awareness of contrast, as they undercut the heavyness with sections that are more atmospheric, sometimes lush and refreshingly uninterested in sounding evil or tough.
Luckily, this never devolves into the common trend of just outright playing pop music as acts like Spiritbox or Rolo Tomassi do it. 'Profound Mortality' has a good sense flow to it and the EP format further helps the band in not devolving into simple beauty and the beast stylings. In fact, the two vocalists both seem to provide harsh vocals and I feel that this is a contrast that is nicely explored as well. I will be looking out for Heriot in the future and what they can do on a full-length.
Rating: (high) 6/10
Webdriver Torso - Data Tribes
Genre: Slamming Brutal Death Metal / Cybergrind
Label: Lifeless Chasm Records
The death of Gabe Serbian has me thinking about how loose a genre cybergrind is. Very few bands sound like the originators of the Genre, The Locust, and even popular players of the style like Genghis Tron often will have a very individual interpretation of what the 'Cyber' in Cybergrind actually means. Webdriver Torso, fittingly named after the infamous performance testing channel of the same name that had blown up as an internet mystery, mix the style with Slamming Brutal Death Metal. What it amounts to is basically Slam, ripe with a pongy and often noticeably programmed drum performance that will occasonially layer digital noise and ironic excursions into things like dial up modems. It also amounts to being pretty fun.
While the Cyberelements are not the dominant force here, I do think they add just the little uniqueness that a release like this needs to it. After all (as my blursed $lamuary project has proven), there is only so much you can do with the style and only so many ways you can make it good. Webdriver Torso slam more than competently, they slam good and the occasional break into digital era harsh noise is a welcome diversion, breaking up the pace just enough. On a full-length there might be a need for more than this, but on the length of an EP, this is all I can ask for and a little more.
Rating: 6/10.
Haunter - Discarnate Ails
Genre: Progressive Black / Death Metal
Label: Profound Lore
I will fully admit it, I had no expectations for Haunter whatsoever. Haunter´s debut had been, in my opinion, fine; a solid attempt at dissonant extreme metal that had a unique identity, but who was awfully linear and lacked heft. Followup 'Discarnate Ails' trims trims the runtime in comparison to 'Sacramental Death Qualia' and seems more focused, overall. Even though a lot of the material is still purely linear, there seems to be a development to most of the songs and a red thread that the last album had been lacking. As often with these acts, knowing what the listener is expecting and what not and how to cater or subvert these expectations is key.
The ebb-and-flow within Haunter´s compositions always seem to be in service of musical storytelling. There seems to be an arc to the heavyness, the dissonance and how straightfroward parts are rhythmically, often alternating for contrast but intensifying overall over the course of the songs. This all would be meaningless of course if the material on display didn´t have intrigue by itself. This time, however, it does. Especially the dueling melodic leads that pop up every so often are just attention grabbing and memorable. For me, 'Discarnate Ails' is an improvement on every level and a very good record.
Rating: 7/10.
Vital Spirit - Still As The Night, Cold as The Wind
Genre: Melodic / Western Black Metal
Label: Hidden Tribe
I tend to often unfairly dismiss bands that try to do similar things as acts I already like. When these acts don´t live up to the standard that the original band has set, I often feel underwhelmed and rate them a little too harshly. I am fully aware of this as I go into Vital Spirit, who are one of the few bands that currently play Western Black Metal. And as it goes, all of these bands now have to live up to Wayfarer´s 'A Romance With Violence', which had combined the atmospheric interludes with black metal in a meaningful way and managed to insert the Western Flavor into the actual black metal without sorely relying on melodic clichés.
Competing biases make this a hard album for me to rate. Vital Spirit have a good thing going, overall - while their tone is a bit more standard black metal than Wayfarer (less jangly, mostly) it is still bright and slightly twangy, making it a good fit for the chosen material. Their interludes, often at the end or the beginning of songs, also ooze western flavor and both of the elements alone would probably make a pleasant, if not mindblowing experience. I do however enjoy the ebb and flow of them on this album and the interludes seem to come at the right spots to break things up. However, I don´t think the black metal that Vital Spirit play would communicate the Western flavor all too well if I didn´t already know the band to be western themed - which I think is a fair criticism. I am glad I gave Vital Spirit a chance, though - 'Still As The Night, Cold as The Wind' is a good album, even if it doesn´t quite reach the heights of 'A Romance With Violence'.
Rating: 6/10
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