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
Crypt Rot - An Ancient Summoning
Genre: Brutal Death Metal / Slam / Deathcore
Label: Dry Cough Records
Release Date: 11-11-2022
There is little to Slam and yet, Slam is somehow everything. I have a constant appetite for the thuggish, pounding beating that only a good Slam album can deliver and so I am often willing to put up with albums that don't quite deliver much beyond just the slams - and often, not even fully on the Slam front. Crypt Rot, whom I had initially confused with the mediocre OSDM act of the same name, luckily do deliver on both fronts. In particular, those rotten graveyard fiends remind me of Vulvodynia in that sweet spot when they had become good, but not yet started taking themselves seriously - fully with a pongy snare and constant cookie monster vocals.
Particularly on a sonic level Crypt Rot hit a similar spot. Vocalist Kyle Shaun Thomas reminds me of Duncan Bentley especially in his low growls and while he doesn't have the same level of variety to his vocals, he has a similarly engaging cadence imbued with that broish scene-Slam flair. In the instrumentals, Crypt deviate from Vulvodynia somewhat. Their material has less of a Deathcore and more of a Traditional Death Metal bent. Many of the songs dish out juicy tremolo patterns as often as they do slams. The regularly appearing melodic lead guitar has a certain amount of cheese to it which provides a good contrast to the often simplistic guitar work. Us Slamsters know that in this context, simplistic is not necessarily a slight - give me those chromatic chugs and a horribly ringing snare drum any day, and I will be happy.
Rating: 6/10
Wretched Inferno - Cacophony of Filth
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Frozen Screams Imprint
Release Date: 28-10-2022y
Some people might say it took me way too long to get to Wretched Inferno. They're right. Slam and Brutal Death Metal had a middling year, with only a few examples - like Crypt Rot, reviewed above - rising above the pack in any way. Because of that, I was maybe checked out of Brutal Death Metal more than I should have been. A band consisting of literal kids, I get certain flashbacks from Infester or similar gutter Death Metal made by toddlers. How could this album happen with musicians so young, whose other projects involve mediocre Thrash and horrible Goregrind? Where do kids like these get the time to hone their craft? Albums like these just fill me with immense jealousy.
Compared to the musicians other projects, Wretched Inferno is incredibly tightly played. But at the same time, there is a sense of naturalism to it. The drummer will sometimes not quite hit a rim shot, guitarists will hit pinch harmonics at odd spots or the vocalist will somewhat swallow his growl, but the production does nothing to hide it. On the contrary, it embraces it. What could be perceived as sloppyness is rather the energy of the performance being contained. And the performance is great, honestly. Wretched Inferno dish out a ridiculous amount of pinch harmonics. There is a lot of rhythmic variety and while the band favors tremolo sections and slams - this is Brutal Death Metal after all - they also include off kilter scale runs and more grinding sections. This is the kind of Brutal Death Metal that is rarely being made anymore.
Rating: 7/10
Chat Pile - Tenkiller Motion Picture Soundtrack
Genre: Sludge Metal / Noise / Incidental Music
Label: Independent
Release Date: 18-11-2022
I am always hesitant to review a soundtrack. A soundtrack is, on a basic level, not an album. There is no way around the fact that the music on a soundtrack album was not written with an album flow in mind but to accompany certain images on a screen. Certain decisions, like pacing and rhythm, are dictated for the individual songs as well. The scenes they accompany have a structure that the music somehow has to at least relate, if not adhere to. Tenkiller Motion Picture Soundtrack very much has these issues. Released two years after the release of the movie, the band seems to want to capitalise on their recent rise to critical darlings and would not have released this otherwise. No shade thrown - I would have done the same. But it begs the question if the release is worthwhile.
I can't say that Tenkiller is a bad experience, though. Yes, it has no narrative arc by itself and some of the songs are mere fragments if removed from the visuals they accompany, but the band seems like they bent their style to fit the movie as good as they could. Their trademark Noise Sludge is the dominant force, but the band experiments with other styles, likely to represent the rural, midwestern dread that the movie seems to be centered around. Particularly their ironic Arena Country song and the atmospheric synth work that appears serves an interesting contrast for the usual despair. I wouldn't say any of the material in their own style on this album is quite up to par with their studio album work, however. It makes me wonder if this film that apparently went mostly unnoticed at release will now have a second life - a Gummo situation, where the soundtrack is more popular than the film. A letterboxd review remarking that, despite not having seen it, it must be good because it has Chat Pile music in it makes me think so.
Rating: 5/10
Metalligatorrr's Additional Album Assesments
Chrome Ghost - House of Falling Ash
Genre: Sludge / Americana / Post-metal
Label: Seeing Red Records
Release Date: 28-10-2022
"Now that's an interesting album cover!" - I thought to myself and dove right into House of Falling Ash. Opener "Rose in Bloom" spends most of its 14 minute runtime going between something that at first sounds like Indie Rock and Post-metal builds. It's impressive, for all the wrong reasons, that the song spends most of that time stomping in the same place. While there are some good moments, I feel like the song could have accomplished more (and even kept some of the build) had it been half as long. Not deterred, I kept listening and found that the album has an interesting blend of Americana elements that bleed into the sludgy parts of the songs. The metal here is appropriately intense, with a production that allows for a good range between the soft and heavy parts. It is a nice album to have on in the background because of this and it definitely wakes you up when the Post-metal arrives. Checking it out is worth it if only due to the vibe it gives off.
But I am unimpressed by House of Falling Ash the closer I listen, as a lot of the builds are static and the music spends a lot of time in the uninspired Indie Rock mode. Metal sections will explode into view just to spend a moment repeating like they forgot what they were talking about and then they fade out. The Americana elements show up around the middle of the album and this is where it picks up a bit, with the Indie crooning transforming into contemplative guitar strumming and elongated chords. Starting with the interlude "In the Tall Grass" we are suddenly transported into a western movie with appropriately bouncy acoustic guitar. "Where Black Dogs Dream" is the strongest song on here, making good use of the aforementioned techniques with some driving percussion and the title track has some impressively heavy moments. As much as I think there are great ideas here I feel like I am witnessing a sound that isn't fully formed yet. What one finds in the gaps are misguided attempts at builds and atmosphere that makes the album severely bloated. I inevitably start comparing Chrome Ghost to other artists making this kind of music. For powerful builds, Inter Arma is a better pick and for something current that is mesmerizing yet pulls off this kind of loud/quiet writing you should look no further than Pyrithe. I hope that Chrome Ghost manage to restructure their songwriting around what works and keep developing the Americana elements since it is a shame that it falls so flat.
Rating: 4/10
Blár's Beckoning Blurbs
Sconsacrata - Paroxysms
Genre: Experimental / Thrash / Industrial / Black Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 11-11-2022
2022 has been a pretty good year for Industrial leaning metal, with heavy hitters like Hold Me Down's Powerless and Lament Cityscape's A Darker Discharge. A late entry to the party is Sconsacrata's Paroxysms, a fusion of Industrial, Black, and Thrash in a very unique and noisy package. The twists and turns between harsh pummeling aggression and beat-driven sections à la Massive Attack makes this album stand out among its contemporaries. You’re left with a warning though as per the track title "Lasciate Ogne Speranza" (abandon hope, all ye who enter) cause this is a fast 24 minute descent into hell - as the album seems to tell a story about an evil deity that ultimately consumes you.
Opening with the very short and noise-driven intro "Hatred of Music", you really get the sense of something ominous slowly approaching. It's almost impossible to describe how it sounds. My best try is, a burping mass of meat levitating inside a fog. Some people strongly dislike intros and interludes overall but I think "Hatred of Music" and "Osculum Infame" tie the record together and feel meaningful in relation to the whole. The latter meaning "kiss of shame", an expression for a ritual where a witch is kissing the Devil's anus as a greeting.
With track lengths structured like a Grind record you'd think that the format wouldn't suffer at all, but the pacing is unfortunately a little bit off during the back half. "An Hourglass" and "Forced Conversion" functions like a roadblock for the flow because of their similarities and repetitive nature. It would've been a better choice to keep them both under the 3 minute mark. The closer "Katasonics" reminds me the most of Hold Me Down's sound with its anguished vocal delivery and beat-oriented structure. It has a slower tempo though, and feels more defeated than angry, as if being so far gone that a desensitization towards hurt has made somebody into a shell of a person. But damn, the build up mid track hits really hard when the guitars start chugging again after a section of silence.
Rating: (high) 7/10
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