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
Hibernaut - Ingress
Genre: Sludge Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 03-05-2023
The issue of flanderization is a real for metal in 2022. It seems that for every genre, there are only a couple images or visual identities you can pick from. For example, the cover for Hibernaut's Ingress would suggest to me that the band plays a harsh, somewhat esoteric style of Sludge akin to acts like Thou or Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean. The musical identity seems to not match the visual identity in this case, however. Hibernaut eschews the tense and often emotionally draining side of sludge in favor of midpaced grooves and an often stonery attitude. With lyrics that seem to focus on esotericism - or maybe political metaphor at times - the band doesn't seem to fit that box perfectly, either. It serves the band well to have a unique selling point of some kind.
While I am very fond of some Sludge acts, most of these are very aware of how their artistic decisions play out in album form. Swifter, more groove oriented bands usually put out shorter albums and write shorter tracks, while the bands focusing on long form tracks (and making these work) usually are more high concept and have songs that flow in a more epic manner. Hibernaut would do well with trimming both their songs and their album length. The band is talented and does play tightly, but rarely do the songs justify their song lengths that crack 7 minutes with regularity. This is a common story - Transcending Obscurity's Lurk was struggling with the same issue at the time. While Hibernaut does seem to be aware of this to some degree and while they experiment with different textures here and there, like in the opening to "Nor'Easter", the justification for over 70 minutes of material sadly just isn't quite there.
Rating: 5/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Enduring Revery - Carrier
Genre: Post Hardcore / Grunge / Sludge
Label: Independent
Release Date: 07-04-2023
Outside of Grindcore, everything Hardcore infused tends to be new and hard to describe for this old Gatorrr. But when sampling new releases occasionally something sticks in my ears and refuses to leave. Such is the case with Enduring Revery's debut album, Carrier. This album caught me with an odd mix of Post Hardcore, Grunge, Sludge and acoustic work that scratched the itch of an elusive memory. After listening a few times, moments like the contemplative electric guitar noodling in "Steep Ravine" and the overall bass friendly sound made it clear that what Heath Gibson has accomplished all by himself on this release reminds me a lot of the Swedish Post Hardcore/Progressive Metal band Burst. Just like the Swedes, Gibson has a very contemplative way of writing his progressions and they can therefore be a bit hard to predict. This is a strength that makes the music stand out. Another worthwhile thing here is a production that lifts up the tasteful bass playing and acoustic guitar, yet still leaves room for the sharper Sludge riff to sink their teeth in. At its best, Carrier makes full use of these tools to create compelling progressions and cathartic moments with heft. Highlights include an acoustic guitar riff and Sludge riff battling for space on "Steep Ravine", trilling acoustic riffs and vocal moments that could have come off the Black Album in "Fear vs. Victory" and the first-chill-village-that-later-gets-horribly-destroyed-in-a-JRPG mood developing into a Sludge section in "Lucky 13".
Unfortunately, as impressed as I am with Carrier's overall sound, there are some substantial flaws as well. The music can get too contemplative for its own good and often seems to have a hard time finding its direction (see "Contribution" and "Pale Flowers"). The acoustic sound is very atmospheric but the Metal is often much more of a sudden ingredient than a part of the whole. This is apparent when "Running From the Guilt" feels like a burst of energy in the middle of the album, but only because of the rest of the songs err on the acoustic side and are too long for their own good. When this kind of material extends past the impact of its mood the end result is that the album leaves an overall sleepy impression. I am sufficiently impressed with the work Heath Gibson has done here and reading his comment about the album on Instagram, it seems it was both a long hard road to making it happen as well as a great experience. Now do it again and improve! You have something good going here.
Rating: 6/10
I Miss You, C... - Catalina
Genre: Post-Black Metal / Shoegaze
Label: Tragedy Productions
Release Date: 07-4-2023
Bandcamp is bursting at the seams with underground one-man Black Metal projects. People love themselves a tremolo sandwich now and then and the style is simple enough to play. As such, it is not a place to look for innovation, creativity or even individuality. If you have heard any kind of Post-Black Metal before it is likely that your mind is set on whether you like it or not. Catalina certainly will not change your mind either way as its four songs over 45 minutes seem like a bare minimum effort in writing. The drums spend the majority of their time in Black Metal-mode, one rhythm pounding away in the background and adding absolutely nothing. The guitar carries a sentimentally sounding tremolo that goes up and down in scale to pretend that something is happening. This is mood music at its worst.
As if to point out how little variation there is here, the music simply stops for a few seconds in "II:A" before resuming with a distortion filter for the remaining minutes. It is a nonsensical moment that is followed by what seems like a four minute Dark Ambient interlude to start off "III: T", complete with some Noise elements. As if this has never happened, the song launches into the same pounding drum-uplifting tremolo fest as before, only trying to experiment a bit more with mid tempo shifts and a reverb laden Doom moment. The elements in this song could be a good jumping off point to developing a style for I Miss You, C... but as drawn out and random as it is here, it is not going to convince anyone. The upbeat nature of the last song cannot save this faceless album and when the most interesting part of your album is an interlude, you should be worried.
Rating: 3/10
Hasard - Malivore
Genre: Black Metal / Chamber Music
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Release Date: 12-5-2023
Springing from the rib of the odd Opera-with-growls project Les Chants Du Hasard, Hasard takes a more conventional approach of Classical infused Black Metal, as weird as that is to say. The titular musician Hasard is responsible for everything here apart from a great appearance from John Steven Morgan (of Wreche fame) on piano. This project's MO consists of playing some claustrophobic Black Metal with an urgently shifting lead guitar that is meant to poke at the nerves in the vein of Akhlys (beware looking these guys up as they are lead by a known Neo-Nazi), Musmahhu or Lorn (the Black Metal band that made Arrayed Claws, not the Electronica artist). This is a style that easily tires me out after a whole album but Malivore does sport some variety by its nature of using elements of Classical Music and the Opera that this artist is used to. Most of the time, there is something that sets each track apart from the other and this is something that saves the album from falling into the trap of becoming tremolo-and-snare-abuse Elevator Black Metal.
Already from the start, "Hypnocentrisme" starts experimenting with offsetting the typical Black Metal with a synthline in the background that pretends to offer relief while the guitar screams its unease above it. Samples of bell chimes and crackling fire shifts the mood as the song goes up and down in tempo and finishes off with Classical Music that could have fit on a Sigh album. "Vicivers" and the title track follows by injecting some bass variance to the sound, even letting the bass lead for a few moments while the buzzing guitar and drums fall to the background and "Interespace" ends things well on a track that constantly tries to up the tension and intensity to great effect. One of the main highlights for me comes in "Choral Inane", however, as I was a fan of Wreche's flawed but captivating debut. Here, Morgan's piano enters the fray and goes from using dark stabbing chords and scale runs to make the Black Metal more chaotic to providing a moment of respite in a breakdown near the end. There are a lot of ideas packed in these 44 minutes and while I enjoy most of it, I would still have liked to see more variety in the Black Metal itself. Would that work when there is so much going on in the background? That is hard to say. But I am stuck with the feeling that what is holding Hasard back from being great rather than good is that little extra where the Metal itself goes beyond mere tempo changes and works with the other influences. Still, Malivore is a claustrophobic work that is sure to please fans of this kind of thing and it seems that I, Voidhanger really is on a roll this year.
Rating: 7/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Lunar Chamber - Shambhallic Vibrations
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Release Date: 28-04-23
Lunar Chamber is a brand new band on the Progressive Death Metal scene. Comprised of members of Tómarúm and Kṣaya, they play a blend of Progressive Death Metal similar to VoidCeremony, Sweven, and Demilich. Featuring some beautiful cover art, Shambhallic Vibrations contains very dreamy, hypnotic soundscapes, similar to Sweven, that would be a good soundtrack for a trip on psychedelics. Meditative themes aside, this band relies heavily on fretless bass and tasteful guitar wank, similar to VoidCeremony (a release I enjoyed, but had its own problems), to create these hypnotic soundscapes. Vocal styles alternate between typical death growls and the occasional Demilich-ian weird vocal passages, which is a nice surprise that more bands should utilize in this particular style. Clean chants are also utilized on each song here, with them being most present in closing epic "Crystalline Blessed Light Flows…From Violet Mountains to Lunar Chambers", which is simultaneously the best and the worst song on the album, showcasing how the band succeeds and fails in their unconventional approach to songwriting. Technically speaking, the band shines. These are very competent musicians, but the main problem is how the songs are presented.
The songs are unfocused, feeling more like jam sessions than actual songs, an issue which plagued VoidCeremony’s most recent album a few weeks back. Unlike VoidCeremony (which features the modern legend Phil Tougas) I prefer this release, as the hypnotic sounds work more here than they do on that release. The other major issue here is the two interludes, which would work better if they were part of other songs here, rather than being tracks by themselves. Criticisms notwithstanding, I think there is real potential here for Lunar Chamber. I’ll be returning to this EP throughout the year, and I think they have a chance to be great on a full album, if they tighten up their songwriting by a considerable margin.
Rating: 6/10
Marxthrone - Total Dialectics
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Suck a Fuck Records
Release Date: 24-04-23
With an obvious Darkthrone parody band name and logo, and a monotonous approach to Black Metal, Marxthrone feels more like a meme than anything else. Total Dialectics is not meant to be taken as seriously as a grander leftist effort like Ashenspire's Hostile Architecture from last year. And the label clearly agrees, writing in the Bandcamp promo notes "...the much anticipated sophomore effort by leftist memelord blastbeat champions MARXTHRONE is finally unleashed". So, while Marxthrone is not a Darkthrone clone in attack, are there any real positives to find here?
The monotony breaks at sparse moments: the serviceable Post-Black Metal intro of "Clandestine Chronicles from Catalunya" relieves the endless barrage of trem-picking, and "Dialectics of Human Nature" features a decent solo. However, these two moments of reprieve do not constitute a decent or acceptable album. What this and previous album A Blaze in the Western Sky rely on is humor first, music second. The album as a whole feels like one giant gimmick in that each song has a similar structure to another, making them indistinguishable from each other apart from the samples used.
Ultimately, Total Dialectics is indeed Black Metal, but also is not good Black Metal. The lyrics themselves are pretty entertaining to read, as all lyrics about killing fascists are, but for the most part they are completely unintelligible as the vocals themselves are buried deep in the mix to make way for the endless trem-picked riffs and blastbeats. The samples, for the most part, are entertaining (especially the one present on the first song), as this shows the humor clearly present throughout the album. The promo, however, noted that the band utilizes "interesting riffs", to which I have to firmly disagree. Nothing about Total Dialectics is interesting. This album may be good for a solid laugh or two, but I can't see anyone but the most undiscerning Black Metal fan really loving this.
Rating: 4/10