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
Ethereal Void - Gods of a Dead World
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Abstrakted Records
Release Date: 26-05-2023
I sometimes (often, even) complain about bands trying to sell their music as something it is not. A good example of this is Melodeath, which very often turns out to be the oft-maligned Metalcore - giving the child a new name is meant to get around the stigma the genre has. Similarly, bands often want to seem more progressive than they are for a few different reasons. Maybe it's the cred that comes with playing a big-brain genre like Prog or it is that, yet again, the actual genre is to be obscured. Many Progressive Metal albums turn out to be Nu Metal, Groove Metal or some similarly broish concoction nowadays and it is ironic that the musicians brain immediately goes to the genre that is often hated on for being too high brow.
In the case of Ethereal Void, I am unsure if it is a conscious attempt at hiding the genre at all. Gods of a Dead World consists of Gojira-esque Groove Metal that intermingles with some Death Metal allusions and synth or guitar lead work that never really integrates into the music quite like it should. The comparison to Gojira in particular makes me think another modern phenomenon is at play here: The word prog has lost all meaning and as soon as something makes an attempt to seem more sophisticated than it is, it can be called prog just as well. Strangely, I find this even more pretentious than endless noodling and tracks with double digit lengths - in the purest sense of the word, as in pretending to be something you are not. This is not the Ethereal Void's fault, of course. The issue remains that a genre descriptor primes a listener for what to expect, and I did not get what I expected to get. Unfortunately, I don't think Ethereal Void quite stands on their own merit, either. This type of "progressive" Groove Metal is very narrow in execution and the fact that everything the band does to make it more unique doesn't meld with it at all is a testament to that. And while I can see some Gojira fans liking this, I don't see why they'd pick it over the French original.
Rating: 4/10
Tardigrade Inferno - Arrival of a Train
Genre: Nu Metal / Dark Cabaret / Avantgarde
Label: Independent
Release Date: 17-05-2023
Combining metal with the cabaret aesthetic has been attempted a couple times now. The most famous one is probably Diablo Swing Orchestra, whose first two records remain the only examples of the style I would consider recommending without any caveats. There is lots of value in trying to lighten up metal's tone in creative ways, heavyness does not need to be grimdark or depressed all the time. I don't think many bands go far beyond the gimmick, though. A particular issue is often that, as soon as the gimmick is established, the actual metal in the brew seems to not matter anymore. Tardigrade Inferno certainly have this problem, but I wish that is where it ended.
Tardigrade Inferno slather a cabaret paint on what is basically Nu Metal. I am very generous with the Avantgarde tag above and am mainly choosing to use it because the band insists to highlight their own extravagance in the promo blurb. The riffage on this EP is almost completely straight up Nu Metal from the late 90s and you could easily switch out the singer for a rap vocalist, remove the extraneous synth work (often consisting of accordeon or carnival organ) and you'd have something that most metalheads would scoff at. Other tracks sound like bargain bin Rammstein with, again, a different vocal performance. You can tell that the singer is supposed to be the main attraction here, and the EP stands and falls with her. Her performance is certainly expressive and extravagant, but the deranged Daisy Duck performance is hard for me to take even on the short runtime of this EP. In our promo material, none of the other musicians can even be seen in the supplied pictures and in live performances, they seem to blend similarly into the background. The cynic in me would say that this is a good marketing move in an age where Eastern European, female-fronted metal has become somewhat of a selling point. The reviewer in me says that the marketability doesn't really amount to a good time.
Rating: 4/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Die Humane - The Grotesque
Genre: Industrial / Alternative Metal / Jazz
Label: Wurm Group
Release Date: 05-5-2023
From the get go, it is clear that Die Humane's debut album is something different and that a lot of work and talent has gone into it. If those tags up there did not already give it away, The Grotesque is not the usual EBM dance music mixed with Pop as you might expect. Rather, this band alternates between repetitive numbers that recalls Rob Zombie at his heaviest and slightly progressive Ambient numbers that include some 80's sounding saxophone skronk. The elements start to mix at around "Shell Shock", where the saxophone hangs around some Alternative Metal that could have belonged on a Korn album and a short emotive solo adds flavor to the repetitive rhythm around it. The vocalist's cleans comes close to sounding like Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan) in his poppier moments, especially apparent on "Epitaph". Violin and piano occasionally pops up (and even harmonica and an accordion if I am hearing it right), as can be heard in "Oblivion", a slow moving number faintly reminiscent of Alice In Chains that collapses in its last third into a dirgy Marylin Manson refrain before breaking down completely to a piano playing the song out.
The Grotesque is a puzzling album and it is rare that something gives me this much pause in comprehending the band's vision. The building blocks at times feel like trying to fit a square peg through a triangle hole as the Jazzy and Classical instrumentation hovers alongside the grinding Industrial/Alternative Metal. As intriguing as the mix ends up being, I rarely feel like it comes together as it could. There is no blueprint for this as far as I know and reaching out to create an expression this odd cannot be easy. Sitting at an hour also does not help the flow of the album as there is a lot of repetitive and slow moving material on it. As fascinatingly puzzling as this music is, and despite the obvious talent involved from musicians that have previously been in Type O Negative and Exodus, it is hard to recommend this to anyone but the most curious of listeners. Die Humane sound like they could put out a killer album if they manage to consolidate the disparate elements of their music into a coherent style. But to my ears, this is not it.
Rating: 4/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Omnikoloss - Wandering Through Concrete Valleys
Genre: Black Metal / Synthwave
Label: Unholy Conspiracy Deathwork
Release Date: 05-05-23
Oh boy. Black Metal and Synthwave. I’m sure many of you reading just threw up in your mouths a little bit, but hear me out. It can work, if you can utilize both polar opposite genres effectively to create something compelling that people want to listen to. For example, Abstract Void has released three albums blending both genres together very effectively, and I recommend people listen to them, as they're a fun, novel experience that so far has not been replicated. Enter Omnikoloss. Abstract Void, they are not. Instead of effectively blending these genres together, they tend to focus more on the Black Metal side of things in their music, sometimes having Synthwave dedicated as an afterthought and sometimes having them dominate the section. And credit where credit is due: Omnikoloss manages to include a couple notable saxophone passages that sound straight out of a White Ward album in one and the result of Igorrr crossing paths with White Ward in another. The point is, their Noir Jazz works. This cannot be said for the rest of the album.
It's quite rare for something to bore me to the point of literally falling asleep while listening to it. This album was incredibly tiring to listen to, not only because of the utterly monotonous guitar but also because of the annoying synth choices utilized in certain songs, namely "Elehat0r" (which, sidenote, is an incredibly terrible name for a song), choosing to utilize a robot narrative voice layered over a synth beat and old television commercials, with a hint of elevator music at the very end. While this is the worst song on the album, the other oddest addition is the strangely Yello-adjacent "Oh yeahhh" at the end of the nearly 15 minute opener. At the end of the day, this album is exhausting. There aren't many Blackened Synthwave projects out there, but I would recommend Abstract Void over this any day of the week. Avoid.
Rating: 3/10
Daughters of Sophia - ソフィアの娘たち (Daughters of Sophia)
Genre: Blackgaze
Label: A Sad Sadness Song
Release Date: 12-05-23
Disclaimer: This label is a subset of ATMF, which is a label that seems to have some NSBM on their roster. Use caution before buying.
Blackgaze is a hard genre of metal to write correctly. The usual formula is shrieked vocals that are rather low in the mix, an endless barrage of trem-picked riffs, blastbeats, and little to no bass presence whatsoever. In short, it's not very interesting. Daughters of Sophia have taken this approach but somehow have made it even less interesting by two factors: removing the vocals and extending the album to 80 minutes, making this hard to peg as anything other than glorified background music. Occasional melancholic passages creep up throughout, making me pay closer attention to them, but they fade as quickly as they arrive into the abyss of tepid, generic Blackgaze.
None of this music is offensively bad to listen to, it's just very uninteresting. I get what Daughters of Sophia is trying to do though, and that's to paint a picture of tragedy without words, and I can see fans of other bands in a similar vein such as Falaise, An Autumn for Crippled Children, or early Deafheaven enjoying this. My main problem with this particular approach is the lack of compelling passages in the songs. 80 minutes is a long time, and to fill it effectively a band needs to make sure that this is music worth coming back to time and again. This time around, Daughters of Sophia have not made that record. Perhaps on future releases and with a distinct trimming down on song lengths can they make that truly special Blackgaze album.
Rating: 4/10