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
Slumbering Sun - The Ever-Living Fire
Genre: Doom Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 24-02-2023
Many people do not connect with Doom Metal and even those that do are often in stark disagreement about which bands are good and why. Especially Doom that preys on an emotional connection with the listener can often be hit-and-miss and be very much dependent on the individual listener. It is hard to make this connection come about and sometimes, it just won't happen. It always helps when the band has more to offer than just raw emotion - talented musicians playing tight songs that go beyond the bare minimum of what the genre demands. Slumbering Sun are an act that both connects with me emotionally and are incredibly tight musically.
Slumbering Sun feels both rather modern and very oldschool. The standout vocal performance is clearly inspired by the classic nasal Doom vocalist a lá Ozzy or Pagan Altar's Terry Jones. It reeks of feeling, melancholy and mourning but contrary to many classic Doom vocalists, Slumbering Sun's vocals do have the technique and the tight writing to not be an acquired taste. The music similarly bridges the classic with the modern. The inspiration is clearly classic 70s Doom Metal and I would even claim they deliberately reach for a Doom Sound that predates the Stoner genre qualifier. In addition, the band lets Shoegaze, Post Metal and slight Prog or even Americana undertones invade classic Doom. It leads to a fluid style where new elements trade with the old and where each song, despite their length, can justify their length with ease. A favorite moment are the synths in the back half of "Dream Snake", accompanied by some of the most soulful vocals I have heard in Doom Metal, almost reaching the heights of Patrick Walker. The band has the necessary restraint in their songs to make big emotional payoffs like this work. In the end, when the sadness and the tension finally passes, accompanied by some of the cheesiest "na na na" singing an album could have, the band even earns that much. Slumbering Sun prove again and again that catharsis is attainable, but hard work is necessary.
Rating: 8/10
Contrarian - Sage of Shekhinah
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Willowtip Records
Release Date: 17-03-2023
Contrarian have a lot going for them. The band plays a style very clearly inspired by the underrated Progressive Death Metal heroes of the 90s - mostly Atheist, with a dash of Cynic - and has in the past employed Death Metal royalty with George Kollias on the drums. On 2020's Only Time Will Tell, Kollias had been replaced by Bryce Butler, member of Shadow of Intent, who is talented in its own right. Since then, Butler has been replaced by similarly talented Alex Cohen. Frequent shifts in a position is sometimes a sign of a position not being valued enough in a band. I don't quite think this is true here, of course. However, it did signal somewhat of a shift in quality, if not in style. I got the feeling that Kollias had an input in the songwriting - he sang too - and that he used Contrarian to explore a more fluid, jazzy playing style that his main outlet cannot support. Ever since, Contrarian had been lacking that element. If this is because my hunch about Kollias being a driving force is correct or if this is simply a simultaneous development I cannot say for certain.
Sage of Shekhinah is the second outing without Kollias and ironically sees an increased influence of MENA Sounds, even going so far as to open on an extended shredding section on what I believe might be an oud. This track would not be out of place on one of Sanders' Saurian albums. Ironically yet again, the track has similar issues as Sanders latest outing, focusing too much on out of place shred instead of a ritualistic atmosphere. Sadly, the band doesn't manage to play as tightly either. In general, the band has the issue that it is too easy to compare them to other bands which they just cannot compete with. Big chunks of the album, especially the first proper track, sound like later Death material. While the band is unable to keep their MENA influence going, they don't manage to write songs that would be worth being on a Death album, either. The bands experimentation with more jazzy, modulated textures a lá Atheist is similarly fruitless. I understand that building your own identity is hard, and I don't necessarily believe that imitation this blatant is a dishonest expression of the bands identities. But ultimately, the band set themselves up to be only the 6th to 7th best band down the line for this specific style. If a new driving force like Kollias could be found, maybe the bands exploration of an old style could be more fruitful.
Rating: 5/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Gorod - The Orb
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 10-03-2023
Riffs are in their essence circular, a series of chords repeated over the course of a piece of music to make it feel more coherent or to carry a theme. On The Orb, Gorod ask themselves the scientific question of "What if the riffs were even MOAR circular?", maybe even spherical? It is a simple idea that rests over their new songs and an interesting theme to base an album around. The riffs themselves seem constructed to lock into each other as well as they can, building up momentum in their repetition akin to how a discus thrower would spin a few times before launching the disc as far as possible. It is in this same way that the songs on The Orb build up momentum before speeding up and launching into somewhat unexpected yet tasteful turns. Standout track "Breeding Silence" exemplifies this well with a series of riffs that build up speed for half of its runtime before launching into a beautifully chosen neoclassical riff. It is such a simple idea but it is done in good taste.
Of course, Gorod only use simple song structures here but are technically impressive as ever within them. This album falls more in the vein of the melodic side of the Technical Death Metal spectrum and while the performances are great, it does not spend as much time dwelling on virtuosity as most other bands in the genre do. The opening track gives you less than a second to get ready before smashing your face in, an occasional intensity that mixes well with Gorod's intent on this succinct 38 minute album. The only place I find them getting a bit indulgent is in "Savitri", a song with a calmer Prog-like breakdown that briefly pauses the intense action before resuming the orb induced bludgeoning. Yet the only misstep I can really find on here is the title track, where the band takes a detour into a more -core led direction reminiscent of the latter era Gojira sound. It is an odd moment that feels like a bad fit for the rest of the material. Otherwise, The Orb can at times feel a bit too smooth and stick too slavishly to its theme without any rougher edges that might set the songs apart a bit better. This is still a minor fault that will not diminish the fact that Gorod have crafted one of the most enjoyably repeatable albums of the year so far, with enough going for it to capture its listeners in its sphere.
Rating: 7/10
Downfall of Gaia - Silhouettes of Disgust
Genre: Post Metal / Black Metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 17-03-2023
A dramatic sound is often a given in genres that rely on atmosphere and long builds to make the music sound grand and epic. Post Metal and Black Metal certainly fall under this umbrella and bands that have a finger in both realms, like Downfall of Gaia, even more so. The constant risk is that such music can often trip into melodrama, that cheaply tries to grab your attention by the sheer urgency it is screaming at you. This was my experience listening to Ethic of Radical Finitude in 2019, its aspirations of grandness already apparent in the name, and Silhouettes of Disgust finds me even less impressed than the previous outing. This is not to say that I do not think this mix of genres can work but Downfall of Gaia constantly undercut each of their influences' best aspects by mixing them in bewildering ways. Just as the ferocious, yet coloring-within-the-lines, Black Metal builds momentum the songs will suddenly shift into atmospheric Post Metal that just wanders off into the mist and leaves me on the pavement wondering what happened.
The album's Post Metal fares no better as the writing is less imaginative than it was on Ethic of Radical Finitude. The atmospheric parts seem to be there just for the sake of contrast, a movement that tells no story. Still, there are ideas here that intrigue, like the Post Punk/Goth melody that opens "Bodies as Driftwood", the more straight and menacing Black Metal riffing of "The Whir of Flies" or the great start-stop mechanical riff section that opens "Final Vows". Yet Downfall of Gaia seem terminally unable to commit to their most interesting ideas and discard what character the songs could have had in favor of chasing genre tropes. This album makes me think I was being harsh on Ethic of Radical Finitude as despite the awful spoken word section it featured, the songs seemed much more put together with attention paid to how they flow. Silhouettes of Disgust feels in comparison like the impression I get from the picture on its cover: like a photo that failed to capture its subject properly, immediately discarded for the ones that got it right.
Rating: 4/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Drowstorm - Jubokko
Genre: Dissonant Black Metal
Label: Pest Productions
Release Date: 28-02-23
Black Metal as a genre is at this point so oversaturated with mediocrity that it's incredibly difficult to find a new band worth your time. And for good reason, as each week while going through the Metal Archives to decide what new albums I'll listen to, way too many are lifeless, forgettable Black Metal. Imagine my surprise when picking up Drowstorm at random and thinking it's really good. The solo project of Joe Caswell (also of Burden of Ymir, Olim, and a few other projects), Drowstorm plays a blend of knotty, dissonant Black Metal, akin to bands like Aeviterne or Veilburner. The key thing about Drowstorm that sets it apart from other dissonant Black Metal bands is the fact that at no times does the music feature the same problem that plagues many other bands of this particular style: being dissonant for the sake of being dissonant. At parts, Caswell abandons the dissonance almost entirely for a more melodic, almost melancholic sounding approach, such as on the song "Death Roots." It's this level of diversity in the music that keeps this album staying interesting throughout its short half an hour runtime. But when Drowstorm elects to go all-in on the dissonance aspects, the result is suffocating in the best possible way. "Tributary" and "Woe to a Lonely Planet," the bookends of the album, exemplify this harrowingly chaotic quality.
That being said, I do think there is a point of criticism that needs to be doled out: at times it feels like Caswell doesn't know whether to stick with dissonance or melodicism and instead haphazardly switches from one style of playing to another with no real reason to. This is most present in "Scavenger of Decay," the weak link on this album. It's not a bad song by any means at all, but I feel it does (at least for now) prevent the album from truly reaching greatness as I know it can. If this song was more tightly written, it would be much better than it is now. As it stands, I really enjoy this album. It's the first dissonant metal album that has stuck with me this year and I will continue to revisit throughout the year. This is not an immediate album. It's a patient grower that yields more rewards with successive listens, and I predict it will grow on me throughout the rest of the year.
Rating: 7/10
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