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
Obituary - Dying of Everything
Genre: Death / Groove Metal
Label: Relapse Records
Release Date: 13-01-2022
Thesis: Obituary is the favorite Death Metal band of people who don't listen to a lot of it and don't actually like it that much. Don't get me wrong, Cause of Death certainly is a respectable album. But Obituary shifted so decidedly to Groove and Pseudo-Sludge inflictions at the first possible moment that I have to doubt if they were ever really all that interested in Death Metal to begin with. Before you get upset, consider how the band even tried to ride the Nu Metal train somewhat with the ironically titled Back from the Dead and that only when the Oldschool Death Metal revival happened did the band shift back to what could actually be called Death Metal.
Death Metal is not the end all be all of course and it would be perfectly fine if the band had a knack for the Groove Metal they now actually play. The issue is that they really don't. Part of this is John Tardy's extremely limited range. Again, I know some people somehow believe John Tardy to be one of classic Death Metals greatest vocalists, but he really is the epitome of a one track pony. Every word is delivered the same, with the same tone, on the same hoarse note with the slight overtones and never really going all that low. Tardy cannot adjust to a different style and when a track like "Without a Conscience" attempts something like a deathened up Crowbar sound, he cannot bring the necessary expression - not that he could bring much aggression, either. The lack of aggression or groove is a general issue. Many of the songs could either use some more creative drumming to hit on the grooves, be played a little faster to be more aggressive or at least use a guitar tone that has some more character and ideally distortion. Obituary are the definition of a 5/10 band. If anyone could explain to me why I should care, I would be thankful.
Rating: 5/10
Emerald Lord - Attaining the Supreme
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 08-01-2022
An album cover can signal many things. In the case of Death Metal, whenever I see an album cover referencing Indian mysticism or Buddhism in particular, I expect Tech Death. For some reason, a lot of bands have become really attached to the idea of a contrast between outward extremity and the discipline of inner calm that supposedly comes with these types of mythologies. Sadly, a lot of them don't actually sound that esoteric or mystical when it comes down to it.
Emerald Lord is not a particularly techy affair, although the material certainly sounds like some of it is tricky to play. Emerald Lord are a solo project as far as I can tell and it seems like the artist is actually invested in Vedism and the connected philosophy. Beyond the lyrics, this luckily also infects the music. The base sound reminds me of the classic New York bands - especially Immolation - but also Polish acts like Vader or Hate. The artist enriches it with ethereal lead guitar and synths every so often, pushing the extremity into a more abstract realm. The melodic framework also seems like it has a continental East Asian influence. I have seen bands like Sutrah attempt similar ideas, but again, that was technical Death Metal. A classic Death Metal band to fuse those sounds into their album is rarer and it works really well on Attaining the Supreme. Emerald Lord are less a meditating psychic and more a tank carrying a shrine into battle, a slow moving heavy object that will nonetheless crush everything in its way. In the pursuit of enlightenment, of course.
Rating: 7/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Iravu - A Fate Worse Than Home
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Fiadh Productions
Release Date: 06-1-2023
Ah yes, Atmospheric Black Metal - Challenger of attention spans worldwide. The genre often lives on epic sounding melodies that develop very little behind the obscuring production. One-man band Iravu already escapes this trap somewhat by keeping the debut short at a surprising 34 minutes, one of the shortest Black Metal albums I have seen in a while. As the fantastic album cover might already have given away, Iravu has a grand, spacious sound that deals heavily in emotion. The title track shows this off from the start with its fiery tremolo riffs, Post Rock stillness and dramatic leads. At 8 minutes it flies by surprisingly quick and is paced well enough with a production that makes the transitions in the song pronounced. One of the guitars sit pretty low in the production and marks a near constant haze that another guitar will often erupt from with shimmering leads and solos. It works better than I am used to hearing in this genre. A Heavy Metal influence is regularly implied until the B-side tracks that also sport some Thrash Metal riffs, making A Fate Worse Than Home somewhat varied as it progresses.
So far, so good. This is still Atmospheric Black Metal, however, and a problem rears its head in that the album can be a bit repetitive in some instances. This is especially noticeable in that I often find my attention wandering between the Doom Metal grind of "The Creature" and the ambient & drums of "Reflection". It is an odd way to structure the album but I think I can understand the choice to do it this way as when the thrashier tracks arrive their impact is felt. "Fear and Lead" is the track that demonstrate some real potential as Iravu alternates Thrash Metal with Folk inspired leads and even some Death Metal transitions. It is a song that is greater than the sum of its parts and recalls some of the better Melodic Black Metal that I have heard. I am still undecided on the downtime between the proper tracks on this release but in all, it is a decent Black Metal debut that I will be returning to a few times to see if it grows on me.
Rating: High 6/10
Kollaps\e - Phantom Centre
Genre: Post Metal
Label: Trepanation Recordings
Release Date: 13-1-2023
Mimicking an established band with an iconic sound can be a way to learn when starting out or a way to find one's own identity in the choices you make that differ from what is already established. This latter case rarely happens and what we often get instead is what Kollaps\e present on their debut album, Phantom Centre. This is simply a roundabout way for me to say that this band really seems to love Cult of Luna. As one of the highly regarded modern Post Metal acts, Cult of Luna have honed their sound over a long time, building massive movements in songs that rely on momentum and subtle changes. The success of this kind of music mostly lies in how well it is felt both in production and song structure. What Kollaps\e seem to be attempting on their debut is a more accessible Cult of Luna that makes shorter songs (this album is about half as long as the albums of their inspiration's works), some instrumental atmosphere and some more active riffing. At their best, they manage to make their sharp turns of contrast felt but the production seems to have a low end that does not support this style enough.
At the worst, this album really feels like unfinished sketches of songs because they write in their inspiration's language despite not adhering to their grammar. Accessible Post Metal with succinct song lengths is a good idea that should be explored more but going so far as to almost quote one of the bigger bands that do not even work this way seems like a set-up for failure. Adding to that, what's missing here is the intricate drumming of Thomas Hedlund, that always keeps the slower parts of Cult of Luna's movements interesting. I hope that this is indeed a learning experience, as unless Kollaps\e find something that is their own to drive their songs there is no reason to recommend listening to them above or next to their idols.
Rating: 4/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya
Genre: Progressive / Technical Black Metal
Release Date: 10-01-23
Disclaimer: Don't buy from the label, World Terror Committee
Ritualistic Black Metal. An instant turn-on for some, an instant "eww, gross" from others. For me, it's one of my favorite aspects of what Black Metal can be. Unfortunately, it had a bit of a rough go last year, with albums ranging from disappointing (Gevurah) to boring (Verberis) to borderline unlistenable (Dødsengel). Luckily, the temple of Thy Darkened Shade has opened its doors once again (after 8 years of nothing save for some splits) with the second part of the grand trilogy Liber Lvcifer. For the uninitiated, Thy Darkened Shade, hailing from Greece, started off as any other second-wave inspired band with their debut Eternvs Mos, Nex Ritvs. Quickly they folded an increasing technicality to their sound on Khem Sedjet, the first part of a new trilogy and an important step to developing the clean yet icy sound I associate with the band. I’m glad to say Mahapralaya, an album for which I held high hopes, is a worthy followup to its predecessor.
Right off the gate, Thy Darkened Shade leans heavily into the choral aspect of their work, with "Luciftias" sounding like the opening hymn to a Satanic mass. Clean chants resound throughout the album displaying more bombast immediately than before. This immediacy is also aided by a trimmed runtime—76 minutes down to Mahapralaya's 61—that 76 minutes really was way too long. Along with the symphonics which add an eschatological feel to Mahapralaya, vocalist The A (dumb dumb black metal name) utilizes many different vocal styles, coming off like the priest of a dark congregation. My only complaint is that there are parts of the album that feel bloated ("Sathanastasis" and "Qelippot Epiphany", the longest songs that stay fairly mid-paced throughout) and it can detract from the listening experience as a whole. But there are so many musical highlights throughout: Hannes Grossmann's killer fills, multi-instrumentalist Semjaza's wanky but tasteful leads, and riff-forward adventures into the abyss ("Veneration for the Fireborn King"). As such, I very much enjoy this album, and can see it growing on me throughout the year. Hopefully we don't have to wait 8 more years until the grand conclusion to the trilogy.
Rating: 7/10
As is tradition on The Goat Review, every January Scuttlegoat commits to listening to every album with the Slam tag released to bandcamp in January. This tradition has been going for one (1) year.
Dementia Fight Club - Senile Showdown
Genre: Groovy Goregrind
Release Date: 08-01-2022
Dementia Fight Club falls into the "A bit too [X]" range. A bit too uneventful. A bit too muddy of a guitar tone. A bit too committed to its comedic concept. A bit too sample heavy. The comedic concept is a bit too unfunny. You could continue this list for a while and it would most likely be true. Overall, the main issue is the lack of groove, however. Have dumb as fuck vocals and lots of groove and you can sell anything to me. Dementia Fight Club don't have either.
Rating: 4/10
Massacred - The Devil's Awakening
Genre: Brutal Deathgrind
Release Date: 05-01-2022
We don't see as much Mortician worship during Slamuary as one would think. This is certainly it, with the ridiculous drums, the straightforward riffage and the bass tone that will make catholic schoolgirls have a miscarriage. The album is entertaining enough in the usual "so bad it's good" way and scores bonus points for being Evil Dead themed - I am sure Will Rahmer would appreciate this, too.
Rating: 5/10
Ron Whitehead & Frédéric Iriarte - The Sound Between Sounds by poet Ron Whitehead and composer Frédéric Iriarte
Genre: Experimental Outlaw Poetry Readings with Bad Electronic Loops
Release Date: 07-01-2022
The definition of Slamuary is as follows: Every album that releases in January and has a Slam tag shall be considered. Usually, I skip albums that are clearly not actually Slam, but, during a momentary spike in stupidity, I considered this rule cheating and decided that I had to listen to Ron Whitehead & Frédéric Iriarte's The Sound Between Sounds by poet Ron Whitehead and composer Frédéric Iriarte. Whitehead considers himself an outlaw poet, delivering his poetry in a nasal, annoying voice fitting of a Grima Wormtongue type character in a cheap fantasy film. His poetry, strangely, doesn't rhyme, doesn't seem to have a particular cadence at all or follow any meter and is heavily populated with quotes of better writers that Whitehead idolizes - if I wanted to hear Hunter S. Thompson quotes, I could just as well pick up an audiobook. The relation between his own writing and the chosen quotes is nebulous at best, so even as a collage his poetry fails spectacularly. The music isn't much better. Iriarte employs very simple synth textures and looping guitars most of the time. Often, a noodling electric guitar will be in the background. As the harmony never moves, there isn't anything to noodle over either. The Sound between Sounds is the rare case of being utterly static and also horribly annoying.
Rating: 1/10
Gröndr - Jizzus is Cum
Genre: Goregrind / Slam
Release Date: 06-01-2022
If you can't tell by the hilarious title: This is the Goregrind leaning, shitpost-oriented type of Slam release. I will admit that I got some miniscule amusement out of the samples chosen and despite the horrendously crunchy guitar tone, the album isn't that bad to listen to. It is still hard to not feel like I wasted 10 minutes of my life listening to Gröndr, however.
Rating: 3/10
Big Chef - * FREE!! * iPhone 4 Giveaway (click here to win free iPhone 4)
Genre: Slam
Release Date: 07-01-2022
Big Chef has made some funny stuff in the past. I remember his album that had the Snare drum switched with samples of ducks, puppies, cats and the Roblox Oof sound somewhat fondly - if only because it was kinda funny and benefitted an animal shelter. * FREE!! * iPhone 4 Giveaway (click here to win free iPhone 4) is his newest attempt to make wholesome shitpost Slam. Since it opens with over an hour of a Vaporwave loop, there is nothing that the album could do afterwards to get a positive score. What comes after is a decent shitpost, but I still regret having this experience.
Rating: 3/10
Urosepsis - Exploratory Autopsy
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Release Date: 11-01-2022
Ah yes, the first Texas Death Metal release of the year. Can anyone just explain to me what exactly the Texas Death Metal style encompasses, though? Often, it seems to be Brutal Death Metal leaning towards the traditional side. Urosepsis is competent at what they do and maybe do a couple too many of the straightforward riffs with runs on the low E-String. I would have appreciated some more interplay and contrast with groove and different tempos. But if the nebulously named Texas Death Metal is your jam, give it a whirl.
Rating: 5/10
Necrosis Consumption - Demo '23
Genre: Slam / Cybergrind
Release Date: 12-01-2023
A guitar tone so crunchy and indecipherable, the artist likely turned the cab off during recording, songs that just randomly end, a bass that sounds programmed and the horrible, Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force vocals make it a tough listen that not even a so-bad-it's-good snare and the sounds of a woman being mauled to death can make up for it.
Rating: 2/10
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