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
Perky Macabre - Sweet Nothings
Genre: Goregrind
Label: Independent
Release Date: 14-10-2022
A week or two ago, I randomly decided to run through all Perky Macabre releases on bandcamp from this year. At the time, he had released 56 Goregrind EP's, most of which do not even surpass 5 minutes in length. To my horror, as of writing this review, I noticed he has released two more. I didn't pick Sweet Nothings because it matters particularly as an album within the extensive Perky Macabre discog. I chose it because of all the Perky Macabre releases this year, it was the first I could find with a relatively inoffensive cover that won't be taken down when I post to Instagram or Facebook. I had to look for a while.
Perky Macabre's music isn't really worth talking about. All songs basically consist of low chugging or slamming, mostly supported by Dbeats in the drums. Throughout all of his releases, it is evident he cares more about some than others. Particularly some of the earlier records from the year seem to have a little more care gone into them in how they were constructed. On some of the later ones, you can hear the metronome coming from his computer inbetween songs. He also has a myriad of splits with artists that are almost exclusively worse than him. He probably had to look for a while.
While Perky Macabre is not worth listening to, it is thinking about. What drives a person to doing this? Releasing album after album of completely indistinguishable music onto bandcamp. The vast majority of them has not a single supporter. He is shouting into a void but also doesn't seem to care what he is shouting - or, judging from his development, he must have at least stopped caring. What value does this have to him? Distraction? Physical Stimulus? A particularly absurd form of obsessive-compulsive neurosis? I hope Perky Macabre is alright. But I won't buy one of his EP's to find out.
Rating: 2/10
Veilburner- VLBRNR
Genre: Experimental Black / Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Release Date: 02-12-2022
Veilburner's 2021 album Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull was very close to being my AOTY at the time. The way the songs were arranged and how production and songwriting intertwined in unique ways certainly made it the most boundary pushing album of the year. Veilburner are back and it is only a little over a year later. VLBRNR sees a subtle change in approach. Songs overrall are a bit shorter, but there are 10 instead of 8 songs with a very similar runtime. The focus seems to be less on meticulously developing ideas and how they play out in a bigger scale within the songs, but on presenting the individual ideas with their individual value in mind. The first letters of the song titles spell out "Veilburner", dictating the need for there being exactly ten of them.
I must admit that I prefer the approach of Lurkers to the approach on VLBRNR. It took a while for me to appreciate what is happening on the album and to notice the benefits that the differences in tone and songwriting can bring. Where Lurkers was a more textural album and more interested in structure, VLBRNR sees them playing it looser. With this looser framework, Veilburner still manage to be strangely groovy and unusually funky for an extreme metal band. Songs like "Burning the Veil" manage to maintain these sick, syncopated grooves despite the heavy usage of reified and abstract sounds. It is an immense feat to be both so groovy, so funky and yet so atmospheric at the same time. Veilburner still feel like a weird 50s horror film - warped, disfigured but strangely improved upon by being so warped. Even when Veilburner are shooting from the hip, they still make better and more unique metal than almost all of their contemporaries - and they do so with a sense of fun that is sorely lacking from most Avant-garde Metal usually.
Rating: (high) 7/10
Hoofmark - Blood Red Lullabies
Genre: Experimental Black Metal / Country
Label: Independent
Release Date: 30-11-2022
Of all the micro trends that are popular within current underground metal, Western Black Metal is probably one of the last ones I could have predicted. The genre name makes it seem like random words were pulled from a hat, but the aesthetics meld surprisingly well. The vastness of the plains of the Old West conjures similar soundscapes as the vast Norwegian snowfields and atmospheric Country often uses similarly trebly and tinny textures. As it often goes, there aren't that many good bands within the movement. A lot of them aren't even doing much with the sound and even fewer manage to connect their Western soundscapes with the Black Metal. Hoofmark aims to be a mixture of Experimental Black Metal and Country music and is unusually willing to go lighter on Black Metal than most.
Sadly, the results aren't stellar. This isn't for a flaw in the base sound, which could potentially be interesting. The band has barely any fast tremolo sections or blastbeats. The main blackened element are the sheets of fuzzy, distorted guitars which puts the material closer to a mixture of atmospheric Country and Post-metal than actually anything Black Metal. A huge issue are the individual performances. The main offender are the vocals, whose primary mode of operations is a warbly, nasal talk singing. The vocal performance has issues with diction, cadence and rhythm and doesn't make up for it by conveying anything particularly emotional instead. When additional instrumentation comes in, it is plagued by similar issues. Take the blues harp appearing in the second song, which is supposed to be a climactic payoff to the track but comes off as being played by someone who has never done it before. Frankly, it feels like Hoofmark is chasing a sound but never finds it - be it for lack of understanding or care.
Rating: 4/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Hammers of Misfortune - Overtaker
Genre: Progressive Thrash Metal
Label: Independent (Cruz del Sur for vinyl release)
Release Date: 02-12-2022
Overtaker, true to its name, sports an aggressively overpowering sound. From the first second to the last, it uses unpredictable slithering riffs and intensity to create a chaos that is sure to repel a lot of people, whether they're used to intense thrash albums or not. As I have no experience of listening to Hammers of Misfortune nor their side project VHOL, I can only guess at what the reaction of the respective band's fans will be. I have heard that this is a big shake up in sound and pulls Hammers' sound closer to that of VHOL. What it makes me think of instead is what it would sound like if Voivod tried to make a later era Sabbath Assembly album: intense thrash using dissonant and odd leads meet a foreboding sense of doom. This comparison makes sense to me as Sabbath Assmebly's vocalist Jamie Myers provides the vocals. There was always an undertone of danger in Myers' performance with her previous band but on Overtaker she makes this overt, to great effect. From the end of words being drawn out into half growls ("Overtaker") to the drawn out wails ("Vipers Cross", "Don't Follow the Lights") to calm-during-the-storm moments ("Outside Our Minds") - she always sounds in control of the chaos around her. Myers' vocals are the fulcrum upon which the album's balance rests. I get the feeling that an album this busy would not work without the contrast her voice brings to the table.
Not to be outdone, the drums and bass work in lockstep to keep the intensity intact at all times and the lead guitar most often thrashes around like a rabid dog with Neoclassical riffs but never forgets to throw out a reprieve of melody and classic Thrash leads now and then. At times it sounds like a 70s UK Prog Rock band fighting to be heard next to a Thrash Metal band playing beside them ("Dark Brennius" is a good example of this). The mix seems to deliberately embrace the chaos and therein lies my only nitpick. The album is so intense that a slightly more dynamic production could have softened the blow a bit. My attention can wander in this succinct 43 minute album. This is not because it drags, however, and I go back and forth on whether changing it would diminish its character. Nevertheless, there's enough ideas and creativity here to keep me spinning it over and over. In a year where I have been less than impressed with the metal genre's output at large, Overtaker towers over the competition with an evil grin, ready to sink its fangs deep. And oh, how it does.
Rating: 8/10
I, of the Trees and Wind - Cry of the Forest
Genre: Dungeon Synth, Black Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 02-11-2022
I have yet to find something worthwhile in the Dungeon synth genre. While I don't listen to the genre often there's always a point to trying new things from time to time with an open mind, so here's me trying. Debuting this year, I, of the Trees and Wind knows what they're going for on Cry of the Forest as the production is soft even in its blackest moments. The curious effect this has on the guitars is that they sound closer to the fuzz you would find in Stoner Metal rather than a Raw Black Metal sound. I'm unsure if this is standard for this genre but the mix allows the synths to float above the warm buzz of the guitar, making the impact of the album fall on the pleasant and relaxing side of things. I can certainly see the appeal of music like this and it softens the blow of the usual complaint I have with black metal being too repetitive. At 37 minutes, it does not overstay its welcome either.
Some of the melodies on here are very pretty and carry a levity that makes me tempted to describe this album as Studio Ghibli Black Metal meets the grandness of Summoning. The drums punch through everything to great effect, keeping the beat going while the synths paint in grand strokes and the guitar drizzles a somber note over it all. "Of Sorrow Sadness, Mysticism & Death" has enough ups and downs with moments of intensity (for this kind of music) to keep my interest alive and "The Seer of the Ancient" has a synth tune that could feature in a Shenmue game. It's odd but works somehow. The album is bookended by two longer atmospheric tracks that spend their time on mood over songwriting and two shorter tracks that move a little more than that. Because the album is so short it never has time to get on my nerves as it would with something more drawn out. As it is, there's enough here for me to enjoy having Cry of the Forest on in the background but I suspect that the more atmospheric parts might grate a bit in the long run. The album is a good first step for this band but I don't think it could end up being one of my go to albums for a relaxed mood like Ulver's Shadows of the Sun is. I will check them out again when they come up with something new, however. A small victory.
Rating: 6/10