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
Antropofagus - Origin
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Agonia Records
Release Date: 28-10-2022
As someone who counts brutal death metal among his favorite metal subgenres, it has been a disappointing year. I'm always on the lookout for bands who push the extreme in the silliest way possible, the year only had slim pickings with even artists I usually would champion - like Analepsy or Organectomy - leaving me relatively cold. Antropofagus have been doing brutal death for a while and they play a style that is as traditional as brutal death metal can be. While low growls dominate, there is little in the way of pig squeals or other extended vocal techniques. Yet, Antropofagus is very much worth your time as they make up for their lack of flashy nonsense with immensely solid craftsmanship.
Stylistically, Antropofagus are closest to Nile, although the lyrics make the switch from Egypt to occultism and from the mena sound to a more traditional palette. Antropofagus know how to construct a song. With their love for those bumpy and chunky speed riffs on the lowest string, the band delivers on the side of aggression for sure. At the same time, I do believe they care about the groove almost as much, if not more. If you want something to groove, it's probably best to first play something fast to make your groove riff seem more groovy in comparison. It takes Antropofagus multiple songs to get to a groove riff, but when it hits - and when it slams - it does hit like a truck. The same is true for the sparsely appearing melodic or atmospheric leads and the rare sample (mostly relegated to the single interlude). This way of constructing an album makes the album bigger than the sum of its parts and function independently from any vocal gimmick. Now, would I like it if there were vocal gimmicks? Sure. I would also like the production to highlight the higher areas of the fretboard a bit more. But for bdm in '22, we can't complain about this.
Rating: 7/10
Backxwash - HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
Genre: Industrial Rap / Horrorcore
Label: Independent
Release Date: 31-10-2022
Back when I wrote the review for Body Void's latest outing, I remarked how it is often tough to review LGBTQ-focused music as someone who just does not share the experience. After all, I cannot apply a flat bonus to the score because it deals with such themes and often, the emotional content is kind of lost on me. The best artists do express their emotions in a way that is both universal and specific. Backxwash is one of those artists. Every line in her surprisingly heavy music is filled with a certain amount of vitriol, desperation and anger. The delivery is so strong that the feeling of being alienated, of being wrong or not belonging, becomes overwhelming. Fitting for the final piece of a trilogy of her own life, exploring the earliest moments of her artistic upbringing in her native Zambia.
While this clearly is a big part of why HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING is succesful, a big part of it is the way the production produces different textures. The album is surprisingly layered and detailed, despite being so heavy and often distorted - an achievement of production, certainly. On here, the artist is further aided by a cavalcade of collaborators whose influence is often not completely clear. Some, like Pupil Slicer's feature on "NYAMA", can be felt clearly, with the dissonant chord stabs that are clearly informed by the bands own sound. Others feel more like they had a general influence on the songs sound and it is often tough to say what on the album is Backxwash and what are the collaborators. It is remarkable that Backxwash put the name of the featured artists even before the track titles - clearly the album is structured around the collaborations as much as it is the final installment of her trilogy.
Rating: 7/10
Metalligatorrr's Additional Album Assesments
Second To Sun - Nocturnal Philosophy
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 01-11-2022
Second To Sun have had quite the career, starting out as a djent band only to do a complete 180 and put out some raw black metal and eventually work in progressive elements to their sound. Because of this start as a djent band, there is an unmistakable groove to their songs that is both unique and makes them stand out in the crowded ice grim forests of people's playlists. The Walk and especially Legacy impressed me with their focus on mixing odd but inspired moments with vicious black metal. Yet as Leviathan arrived I started to get worried that keeping the pace of one album each year would make them burn out (especially as that album was uneven). Well, enter Nocturnal Philosophy, an album that comes out a whopping......two years after the last album. What Second To Sun does on this new album is something I never wanted them to do, namely follow a lot of modern black metal into static songs that rely on "atmosphere". But rather than fall on their face this band proves that the past albums haven't been in vain and that they know how to actually make the songs interesting in this format. This is done by a focus on a solid groove and strong central riffs that the songs are based around.
That's not to say that the long songs never stray from the central riff, they do have some detours that switch things up, like "North Metal Legion" 's detour into second wave riffing and mid paced and bouncy drum pattern. If there's anything to criticise here it's that the first three songs all go for the same approach and it gets to be a bit much. But when the title track arrives with its distinct bass and 80's inspired horror movie sounds the album really takes off. "Nocturnal Philosophy" alternates between a sad yet hopeful melody, buzzing tremolos and a pulsating haunted groove that always makes the danger feel like it's around the corner. This is the kind of thing I've come to expect from these creative Russians. The last two songs ratchet up the intensity to familiar levels for the band and propel you through the end of the album. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first as it doesn't quite reach the same level as the band's better material. But as I keep replaying Nocturnal Philosophy it's evident that it has staying power and that Second To Sun keep putting out albums with a clear arc. Some editing issues aside, Nocturnal Philosophy still manages to captivate.
Rating: 7/10
Disillusion - Ayam
Genre: Progressive Melodic Death Metal
Label: Prophecy Productions
Release Date: 04-11-2022
Three years ago I heard Disillusion for the first time when they released their comeback album The Liberation. It was a desperately hungry album, understandable with the 13 years that passed since they last released a full length. The Liberation captured me from the get go with a huge opening number in "Wintertide", a song that builds and crashes like a wave. Much of the album had this quality, to the point that if you weren't paying attention the whole album could sound like one single long song. But that's not to its detriment as if you stop and focus at any given moment there is a lot of small intricate detail to the songs throughout, even in the calmer moments. It was remarkable to hear melodic death metal done by a way of post metal-like songwriting and the theme of the lyrics felt like the most potent statement about unfulfilled creative dreams I had heard in a long while. I spend some time on this because the question hanging over Ayam is simply "Where do we go from here?" Disillusion could either try something completely new or try to iterate on The Liberation's sound. Ayam answers this question by not committing fully to either direction, with mixed results.
"Am Abgrund" starts out like a lesser cut from The Liberation and highlights the main problem plaguing the album - the songs creak under the weight of their length like a wooden bridge with rotted boards in the middle. This is interesting to me as they are generally shorter than the songs on the previous outing. But it's apparent that The Liberation had a lot of time and thought put behind it and worked because if nothing else, it always had momentum. The quiet moments on Ayam are just kind of there and mostly do not serve to build the songs up like last time. This makes songs like "Tormento" interesting when they are urgent and heavy but less interesting when they are not. Of the material here, "Driftwood" and "From the Embers" manages to capture what worked before albeit to diminishing returns. The rest features explosive moments that would have been at home on shorter songs that would fully lend them the punch they deserve. "Tormento" is the best example of this as, while I find its quiet moments a bit uneventful, it's still a compelling song because it gets in and does what it wants in under five minutes. There's a good 35 minute album lurking in Ayam and I think that with more time or sharper editing it would have turned out well. But as it stands, maybe it's time for Disillusion to let go of that light they found in the darkest of seas, for it seems that it's fading.
Rating: High 6/10
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