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. Furthermore, this post contains blog-exclusive reviews of recent albums by other members of the site. Mantar - Death is Forever and This Is The End
Genre: Blackened Sludge / Black and Roll
Label: Metal Blade
Mantar is one of the more unique phenomena in metal right now. A two piece, ommitting bass entirely, Mantar play a unique concoction of Sludge and Black Metal that has a distinct punk edge to it. Putting a dirty groove above else, Mantar are incredibly locked in and deliver on their groovy ambitions. Mantar´s material is simple and incredibly straightfroward. On some level this is refreshing - and I believe they probably put on a great live show - but it also makes the band very hard to describe or analyze.
There seems to be a little more variety to 'Pain is forever and this is the end' than to previous releases. Stylistically, it stays close to 'The Modern Art of Setting ablaze', maybe dialing up the atmosphere a bit in comparison to that album. Mantar manage to dish out great choruses despite fully committing to only having harsh vocals. Especially 'Hang 'Em Low (So The Rats Can Get 'Em)' has a chorus that is almost too pop oriented for material so harsh, but once again, the punk spirit manages to sell it. But also, similarly to 'Modern Art of Setting Ablaze', Mantar serve up too much of a good thing. Simple, straightforward material works best on a runtime of around 30 minutes, and while Mantar show more restraint here than on most of their albums (at 41 minutes), I still think a track or two could have been cut. Still, I look forward to them playing the festival circuit this year and hopefully catching them at Wacken, should the lineup allow so.
Rating: (high) 6/10
Antigama - Whiteout
Genre: Grindcore
Label: Selfmadegod
Context and release time can really make or break an album. We are living in a miniature golden age for grindcore right now, with Defect Designer, Knoll and of course Wormrot delivering some of the best Grind I heard in quite some while. Antigama has been a dependable act in the world of Grindcore, leaning into the Deathgrind side mostly pioneered by Napalm Death (and stylistically mainly using Napalm Death´s period as a touchstone). Their material is simple, but never quite neglects the Metal side of the equation. Many of the songs here run on maybe a little long, but overall they´re strong and specific moments, while not boundary pushing by any means, make me go into that music appreciation stankface. Some cutting might have been a nice move (as some of the songs run on longer than they have to for the style) and the experimental touch with the Saxophone only coming in on the last track seems like an afterthought.
Still, in most years (and even earlier in this year), I would have probably wholeheartedly recommended Antigama to anyone. The timing of this release is unfortunate, as I cannot help but unfathorably compare it to the three acts I mentioned earlier. The experimental side has been done better by all three of them, but even on the question of pure, unadultered riffage, Wormrot beats up Antigama. A release like this is ripe for a revisit later in the year, where the novelty factor for the stronger records has worn off a little and my appetite for Grind has grown again. Because while timing can make or break a record, we owe it to these records to reevaluate them in the pursuit of fairness.
Rating: (high) 6/10.
Defect Designer - Neanderthal
Genre: (Technical) Grindcore
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
What a time to be alive - two great Grindcore albums in a week! What a shame that Wormrot will inevitably overshadow Defect Designer's 'Neanderthal', as the album is quite good. Luckily, with Grind album lengths, I can always decide to consider it an EP it shoehorn it into my list of favorite EP´s. But even if not, Defect Designer easily hold their own against Wormrot - the styles are just fundamentally different approaches towards Grindcore. While Wormrot, certainly also fueled by their class background and home country, have a much more song oriented approach than Defect Designer, even though they certainly elevated their Workmanlike aggression to high Art.
Defect Designer play a technical version of Grindcore with a hefty sense of humor. I get the feeling that a lot of the songs are structured around the idea of taking a whacky musical concept and making it work as well as possible. The inclusion of a mouth harp certainly tells you that Defect Designer are willing to break conventions. But so are the melodic leads that often appear in the album, that recall thrash metal, power metal and the Guitar Shredderts of the 80s alike. Similarly, there is a lot of funky groove to the album with lots of syncopated start stop riffs that often play on the higher strings in unique ways. The farty fretless bass is another thing I can never get enough in extreme metal, and here it integrates into the songs perfectly without becoming self-serving. Even though I hope you guys are dilligently jamming Wormrot, don´t sleep on Defect Designer.
Rating: 7/10.
Wormrot - Hiss
Genre: Grindcore
Label: Earache Records
It finally is here, my most anticipated album of 2022. I usually try to expect nothing anymore, as a band underperforming is devastating if I have expectations, but a neutral feeling if I expect nothing. Wirh Wormrot, I just couldn´t tamper my expectations, though. The unusual cover telegraphs that the band delves further into more experiments and the long gestation time the album had tells me that it is anything but half assed. Lady Snowblood´s Meiko on the cover describes the album perfectly, an anger, a lust for revenge and yet, a distinct artfulness to the whole thing. And just like the Lady Snowblood films, the high brow and the low brow mix to make something truly memorable.
Both more straightforward and traditional grind songs and more experimental cuts can be found on the album and the interplay between those is what makes it work so well. The inclusion of a guest violinist on some tracks helps and while most of the violin inclusions are skronky violin screeches, the album ends on some of the most melodic material, with the violin included. Other cuts like the single 'If talking fails, it´s time for violence' have more of that punk spirit, with Arif going into a more hardcore oriented vocal approach. In general, Arif shows more vocal variety on 'Hiss' than ever before and the fact that he is leaving the band is a shame. Nonetheless, this is a great album to go out on. Overall, I probably prefer 'Voices' though - 'Voices' is just better paced, partly due to it´s shorter length, and overall felt like it was pushing more boundaries and like it was more of a thesis statement regarding the current Grindcore Zeitgeist. 'Hiss' is a great album and will likely appear on many Year End Lists, including mine and once again, Wormrot remains a Grind band that every metalhead should know.
Rating: 8/10
Altars - Ascetic Reflections
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Everlasting Spew
'Ascetic Refletions' is an album that I mainly anticipated because of the involvement of Brandan Sloan, who´s other project Convulsing delivered one of the more unique takes on Death Metal in a while, delivering one of the few records I would willingly call Post-Death Metal. Altars is another project of his. Looking into preceding record, 'Paramnesia', I know that I have heard it but also unfortunately remember nothing of it - which could be a bad sign. Luckily, 'Ascetic Reflections' is another subtly unique take on the Death Metal formula that at times recalls Convulsing without outright seeming like a copy.
Altars have a similar hand for creating and atmosphere without digging into the overdone bag of tricks that atmospheric bands usually employ. Most of the atmosphere comes purely from the writing and which harmony altars are able to wring out of the individual melody lines. There is enough variety to hold the album together beyond just atmosphere, though. Riffs on 'ascetic reflections' always seem unexpected in subtle ways and are way more aggressive and rhythmical than this Death Doom / Post Death framework usually allows. The often employed start/ stop tremolo riffs employed by the band seem to mostly exist in Industrial metal normally, but here they don´t seem as mechanical or cold. Throughout the rhythmic variety, the atmosphere persists and there is an abstract epic feel to the whole record.
Rating: 7/10.
Metalligator´s Additional Album Assesments
Gonmage - Master of Disgust
Genre: Black Metal / war Metal / Chiptune
Label: Independent
Fun is a complicated subject when it comes to metal. In a genre and scene where everything is supposed to be deadly serious, humor often falls flat. Enter Gonemage, or rather their latest EP Master of Disgust... While their previous post black/chiptune work haven't gotten much traction with me, the concept of combining Wario themed chiptune with war metal sounded ludicrous and so I had to try it. I'm glad I did as this is one of those rare EPs that feels like a complete work unto itself rather than a place to dump songs that didn't make the cut on the latest album.
Master of Disgust... combines its disparate parts in a way that I find unusual for chiptune-influenced metal. Instead of the usual of pushing the chiptune upfront it's used as an accent to some frankly heavy shit. As such Gonemage might be drifting towards an interesting niche that's waiting to be filled. Fans coming from the War Metal camp will likely find the chiptune to be a gimmick and thus off-putting. It also sounds a bit cleaner than a lot of the War Metal I've heard. Meanwhile chiptune lovers coming from the video game direction will find the material way too harsh. Who is this music for then?
This EPs quality simply lies in the unlikely mix between the levity of the Wario samples and chiptune with the absolutely bludgeoning War Metal. Usually humoristic works grow uninteresting with prolonged exposure but Master of Disgust... has stayed with me for the quality of its songwriting. It wrings everything you could from its concept and doesn't overstay its welcome for a second. If you, like me, simply think "Here we goooo!" as soon as hearing the words Wario an War Metal then this is for you. Now let's hope Nintendo doesn't find Gonemage.
Rating: 8/10