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.
Goatsmegma - Goat Seperatist Movement
Genre: Bestial Black / War Metal
Label: Godz Of War
War Metal, as a lot of more primitive Extreme Metal Genres, is sadly often attractive to those with extreme or fringe political views. Goatsmegma make their political agenda clear from the title alone. Goatsmegma want to reshuffle society in favor of the Goats and secede from humanity. As a Goat who lives among the humans myself, I am certainly split on the issue. Sure, there is a steep hirarchy between us and the humans. Most of us are being kept for our milk or fur and often, we don´t have a say in the manner. But I also know that this partnership has helped us evolve further. Us Goats are one of only few animals who can accurately read human emotions and communicate through our eyes. Our methods of expression have grown manifold over these years and I wouldm argue that Goatsmegma, without this partnership, would maybe not even be able to formulate the wish to secede. Evolution is often preferable to outright revolution in these cases and us Goats should seek out methods of bettering out situation without any bloodshed.
Musically, Goatsmegma is War Metal and War Metal only. A very punk inspired variety of it that still has a solid groove and resists the urge to turn it into an outright noise assault. Goatssmegma could maybe seek out some more flourishes to their sound, as a lot of it is pretty straight strumming of Power Chords with only occasional pick scrapes and a little bit of vocal variety wouldn´t hurt either. But overall, if you crave a serving of War Metal, Goatsmegma will get the trick done and you´ll also have some fun listening.
Rating: 6/10.
White Ward - False Light
Genre: Experimental/Post-Black Metal
Label: Debemur Morti
White Ward´s last full-length album, 'Love Exchange Failure', was an album I had missed until after finalising my Year End List for the Year. even though, In hindsight, it likely wouldn´t have made more than an honorable mention, it did stuck with me in a way. It had issues for me personally - I am not and never have been too enamored with heavy trem usage and a personal gripe of mine is always to use non-metal element elements without merging them with the metal - but it felt very unique as it ditched the naturalistic obsession that a lot of black metal deals with. It felt decidedly urban and it represented the coldness that many of us feel in that setting. As someone who spent most of his life in the city, I can say that it is often both fascinating and exhausting. White Ward were able to capture just this.
'False Light' manages to capture similar feelings but White Ward gets rid of some of the elements I was not sold on. There is lots of rhythmic variety and whenever tremolo makes an appearance, it seems the band consciously chose it believing it to be the most impactful decision for the specific section. But it isn´t only rhythmic variety in the metal sections that gets added. White Ward picked up more stylistic elements between those two albums, like refreshingly modern, almost Carpenter-esque synths. The added variety helps the album tremendously as it is certainly overlong at 66 minutes. I have not yet delved into the lyrical concepts of 'False Light', but I feel a story is being told musically, at least. The band must have familiarised themselves with the styles they insert into their Post Metal sound. Whereas some of the Jazz on 'Love Exchange Failure' always felt at risk of sounding a bit banal or supercficial, I feel everything on 'False Light' is part of a coherent whole, a red thread throughout the album.
Rating: high 7, low 8/10
Tomb Mold - Aperture of Body
Genre: (Progressive) Death Metal
Label: Independent
Tomb Mold are some of the Darlings of the oxymoron that is Modern Old School Death Metal. And for good reason - Tomb Mold, inspired by the finnish bands in more ways than just the usual Demilich worship, they had found a unique take on Death Metal. Sadly, for me, I thought they never quite developed and took their songs far enough. Don´t get me wrong - the basic ideas were really good and a notch above what most of their contemporaries are doing, but I always felt like the band could take their sound to bigger heights - and rise to higher levels than my honourable mentions at the end of the year. 'Aperture of Body' dropped to everyone´s surprise and wasn´t advertised in advance at all and for the first time, I feel like Tomb Mold live up to their potential.
While the synth opener 'Final Assembly of Light' is as classic of a death metal intro as it is cheesy and unnecessary, first track proper hits me with unnatural sounding, snaking counterpoint in the guitars right out of the bat. From there, Tomb Mold hit us with contrasting motifs and ideas over and over, developing the song to something extremely unique. The off-kilter rhythms still show a certain Demilich influence, but I can´t say I have heard Finndeath done like this before. The groove on this track is murderous and to make material that is this rhythmically dense and diverse groove is no easy feat. Even more surprising is the second track on the EP, 'Prestige of Rebirth'. With an unusual 70s prog influence that reminds me of Pink Floyd of all things, Tomb Mold widen their sound in ways that aren´t unlike another critical Darling, Chapel Of Disease. However, when Tomb Mold do it, the darkness never feels lost. If Tomb Mold can manage to have every song on their next full-length be this good and smartly written, we might have a modern Death Metal masterpiece on our hands.
Rating: 8/10.
TIMŌRĀTUS - My Life in a Made Metal Band
Genre: Comedy Metal / Deathcore
Label: Independent
Comedic music has a unique challenge compared to serious music. While on one hand, the material needs to be actually funny it also has to have musical staying power after the joke has exhausted it´s musical potential. The bands that manage that are few and far between but what those acts have in common is that, while they don´t necessarily take the songwriting "Seriously" in the traditional sense, there is effort, craft and thought put into the music. TIMŌRĀTUS fail on both fronts and deliver one of the most annoying records of the year.
Apparently, 'My Life in a Made Metal Band' is part two of a two part album story. The first album, 'My Life in a Made Metal Band' apparently deals with their lack of success before they made it. This recent album deals with the hypocrisy of popular metal artists, selling out, being abusive to their fans and the lazyness that can set in if a band has unquestioned success for too long. Issue is, most of these satirical observations, while certainly not untrue, are incredibly surface level at best and often miss the mark entirely. An example of this is the first of three skits where the band meets two enthusiastic fans. The audio makes it seem like this is some kind of fan expo, refusing to do the actions the fan came for because he bought the wrong ticket. Why a band that supposedly rakes in big cash would do a fan convention is beyond me. Musically, TIMŌRĀTUS have very little to offer as well. Metal archives describes them as Experimental Black/Death Metal/Deathcore
but what this album really does is the sound often referred to as trancecore. Dance and breakdown ready guitar chugs are supported by some of the ugliest synths you´ve heard all year and there are no big choruses or anything similar to be found. TIMŌRĀTUS is already one of the worst records of the year that isn´t just a shitpost.
Rating: 2/10.
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