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
Vexing - Grand Reproach
Genre: Progressive Sludge / Death Metal
Label: Ordovician Records
Release Date: 26-05-2023
Sometimes the reason why a band doesn't pull off their sound is out in the open. It can be mixing woes, over- or undercommitting or just a lack of songwriting proficiency that leads to a lackluster album. These cases are easy to review, as the reviewer can easily pass them off as an objective truth. It is harder to objectify my thoughts and feelings on an album when the band does everything right and still doesn't quite stick the landing. Vexing are such a case. Whereas other bands use dissonance as a shield and an excuse to become overly textural and muddy, Vexing incorporate it into their style in quite interesting ways. They do it so much that I am tempted to claim that Grand Reproach is not much of a Sludge Metal album at all, but that is probably splitting hairs.
The way Vexing deals with dissonance is to use them as both melodic leads and harmonic enhancements. Vexing's chords are often enhanced with additional intervals and the band can explore higher registers without losing too much of the driving groove. This groove is a remnant of the band's Sludge roots, if nothing else, and is a guiding structure to the band's sound. When the band does indulge in tieing the notes over a chord over each other and just presenting us with a texture for a moment, the bass and drums remain locked in and they often carry the groove between disparate sections. In general, I appreciate how aware Vexing are of their rhythmic impact. The drums can often transform repeats of sections and make them feel fresh, so that the songs develop at all times. But, again, I can't fully put into words why Vexing's music doesn't quite click for me. I recognise talent and commitment, a distinct style and a creative drive and yet, I cannot bring myself to go higher in score. Even moreso than usual, I recommend giving the album a spin and coming to your own conclusions.
Rating: 6/10
Inferion - Inequity
Genre: Melodic Blackened Death Metal
Label: Horror Pain Gore Death
Release Date: 19-05-2023
The rare "untextured blood fountain on an archival image" genre of album cover is severely underrated. Something about the abstract violence of it and the clever use of collage just appeals to me. The band pretty much signals that, while they're extreme and a rough bunch, they have something to say and aren't completely braindead about how they're saying it. The band certainly makes it clear that they want to appear as extreme, considering that the promo blurb considers this album to be their most extreme material yet. Everything is relative of course and what this tells me is that their debut record - which I have not heard - must have been even more approachable.
Inequity is surprisingly marketable for being on Horror Pain Gore Death, which is one of the best named labels for how well it usually projects which type of metal will be on the label. Inferion do not fit at all, with how consistently mid-paced and decipherable the album is. If you took Amon Amarth but dialed up the groove and made it only ever-so-slightly blackened, you'd have a pretty good approximation of how Inferion sound. I would not say Amon Amarth are fantastic, but at their best (now at least 20 years ago) they had the ability to craft memorable songs from very simple material. Inferion doesn't have the same grasp on how to craft memorable melody lines, so their trem picked melodies fall flat. Similarly, the vocalist doesn't have the quality of a Johann Hegg, who has great phrasing and lots of body to his growl, even if his range is severely limited. I think Inferion particularly fail because they want to seem like something they are not. They are not embracing of the simple structures, not going too hard on memorability and they don't have the emotional profundity to make up for it. As so often, Inferion could be better if they focused on what they do best and did not try to be something they are not.
Rating: 5/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite
Genre: Melodic Black Metal / Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 12-5-23
Coming in as a new fan of Cattle Decapitation, my set of expectations are different than long time fans. I heard Death Atlas at release, promptly shrugged it off as a bland effort at Extreme Metal and went on with my year. Hearing the preview tracks for Terrasite, though, set me looking for what are considered some of their better albums and thus I found, and was taken with, The Anthropocene Extinction and Monolith of Inhumanity. So with one complete dud and two compelling albums in tow, my expectations for the new album were set to cautiously optimistic. At first, it seems that Terrasite delivers. The intense sound and great vocal attack is intact, as well as some of the immensely misanthropic and nasal cleans that precede whiplash moments into extremity. But as I have spun the album a few times, flaws start to float to the surface of the slaughterhouse waste bucket.
Bookends "Terrasitic Adaptation" and "Just Another Body" dwell on the unsuccessful Black Metal influence that made Death Atlas a chore to sit through. With the drums and vocals being particularly active, the guitar spends its time on uninteresting tremolo riffs and these songs build without any good payoff. This plodding style creeps into some of the Death Metal-forward songs as well, where the songs set all aside save plodding extremity that connects poorly to what follows (see "The Insignificants"). In addition to this, a lot of the writing seem focused on making room for cleanly sung refrains that at times sound like 90's Pop or RnB in their cadence. Moments like in "...and the World Will Go on Without You" and "Just Another Body" are an odd fit for a band like this and looks like a cynical attempt to appeal to fans of the more melodic genres of Metal. I cannot say that it is all bad, however, as the songs picked for the singles are quite good and remind me of what pulled me in to albums like Anthropocene and Monolith in the first place. "Scourge of the Offspring" plays around with some light syncopation, throws in a slam and actually pulls off a worthwhile cleanly sung moment. "A Photic Doom" focuses on varied drum rhythms and adds a colorful solo above a slam, finishing off the song in a neat crescendo. I walk away from Terrasite thinking that it is fine but that it spends a lot of its already lengthy runtime chasing ideas that do not come together as well as they could.
Rating: 6/10
The Ocean - Holocene
Genre: Progressive Metal / Post Metal
Label: Pelagic Records
Release Date: 19-5-2023
Even in my days of constantly being on the hunt for Progressive Metal bands in the 10's, I have always had trouble getting what others see in The Ocean. At their best they have some compelling riffs and builds to crescendos like the Post Metal tag suggests, but I have always found them lacking on an overall songwriting- and album-level. Of course, since Post Metal is very hit and miss in my book, sometimes being very mood based in the vein of Atmospheric Black Metal, this might not be such a coincidence. I dwell on this point because in its entirety, Holocene is a very sedate album that sees this flaw amplified. This is apparent at first when you consider that the album does not get going with any kind of Metal until past its midpoint in "Subboreal" (there are brief moments in "Preboreal" and "Sea of Reeds" but they only last a few seconds). This in itself does not have to be a flaw but what is there instead fails to impress. The album has a Trip-Hop feel to it at times, with a synthetic drum rhythm building for a few minutes in some tracks, that I wish the band would have explored better.
That the album is low on harsh moments really is not the problem I have with the album, rather it is how the elements in the tracks are used that makes this album sleep inducing. The Trip-Hop influence is left to sit by itself, not developing in any significant way. The Metal parts similarly show up for contrasts and builds that go nowhere. It makes most of the songs on Holocene sound like song stubs, waiting to be developed into actual The Ocean songs. This lack of development is felt severely across most of the longer tracks that stretch past the 8 minute mark. The only real interesting moments in this album comes with the two penultimate tracks. "Unconformities" features a guest vocal performance by singer-songwriter Karin Park that comes off as a Lykke Li song in its vocal cadence and melody, before the song builds up and down with some Metal. Unfortunately, apart from an inspired ending, it goes nowhere as the different parts of the track do not come together. The best song on here is "Parabiosis", as it plays around with a poppy vocal hook, the Trip-Hop elements, something that sounds like a trumpet and features a well done solo that adds some much needed color next to it. In the end most of these songs feel wandering and unsure of what to do and it is dismaying to see this band release an album so nondescript, even if I was never a big fan.
Rating: 4/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Óreiða - The Eternal
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Debemur Morti Productions
Release Date: 12-05-23
While this band is from Iceland, their style is more akin to acts such as Hope Drone or Paysage d'Hiver than any other Black Metal band from their native scene. I would lean further into the Paysage d'Hiver comparison given that Óreiða's 5 songs are meant to be a soundscape of one walking through a forest at night. That's right, The Eternal has no vocals, just instrumentals. This is not a detriment, though, as unlike Daughters of Sophia, Óreiða manages to keep a sense of brevity with their largely similar-sounding music. Is this music particularly interesting? No, but more on that in a bit.
The Eternal is a much more digestible version of Im Wald. Both acts (Óreiða and Paysage) utilize warm synth with icy guitar to convey their experiences. The Eternal has more of a discernible route with its journey, exuding a clear beginning ("The Path"), a midpoint ("The Climb"), and a return home ("The Eternal"). That being said, the songs are very one-dimensional. It's not hard to revisit this album, given that it's a crisp 35 minutes, but it's hard to find any real reason to come back to this unless you're a big fan of instrumental Atmospheric Black Metal. At the end of the day, I don't mind this album, but it also doesn't really have much going for it besides being a good soundtrack to a cozy fireside book reading or a walk in the woods. I doubt any but the most fervent Paysage d'Hiver fans would return to this album regularly.
Rating: 5/10
Haunt - Golden Arm
Genre: Traditional Heavy Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 05-05-23
The Trad Revival period of the 2010s has sparked a renewed interest in all things Traditional Heavy Metal: the 80s throwback, the Maiden or Priest-like approaches, and the general aesthetic. Not just new bands like Enforcer or Century have taken up arms with this approach, but underrated olde acts such as Satan and Angel Witch have risen from the catacombs to strike again in the past decade. Enter Haunt, easily the most prolific band in the Trad scene. Releasing at least one album a year (or 3, in 2020) since 2017, these retro-rockers return with their ninth studio album Golden Arm. How does this fare in comparison to the other plentiful amounts of Trad around?
Golden Arm is Haunt's best album to date. They've nailed the sound here, and anthems such as "Save Yourself" and "Fight the Good Fight" are veritable time machines disguised as songs, taking the listener back to when long hair, shredding guitars, and a general love for all things Metal was the order of the day. That being said, Haunt is very similar to an act like Esoctrilihum in that they seem compelled to release at least one new album every single year instead of letting things cook, which is the fate of many studio artists. Another issue that's impossible to overlook is that each song is very similar sounding. There seems to be a recurring theme among Haunt albums where maybe 2 out of the usual 8 songs present are really solid tunes, but the other 6 or so are utterly forgettable. Haunt could easily get past this issue if they decide to wait another year or so between albums, or make a more noticeable attempt to not churn out similar sounding material every time. While Golden Arm is Haunt's best album, it's also very safe, as are all of their other albums. It's easy to come back for re-listens, given how short it is, but the novelty wears off after the first couple rotations. I'd much rather listen to bands like Enforcer or Satan if I want a fix of Traditional revivalism, but Haunt is an acceptable appetizer, nothing more. There's potential for them to release a great album, but it will require slowing down a little and writing better music.
Rating: 5/10
Trans-dimensional Being of Extreme Punctuation's Time-skipping Tautologies
EABS meets Jaubi - In Search of a Better Tomorrow
Genre: Modern Jazz
Label: Astigmatic Records
Release Date: 12-05-23
Not too long ago EABS pianist and bandleader Marek "Latarnik" Pędziwiatr guested with Jaubi for their 2021 debut Nafs at Peace. And now, with the number of performers on In Search of a Better Tomorrow far exceeding that prior collision, this international crew looks to spread the good word of Jazz through the guise of their united regional tongues. The Poland-based EABS, has explored sounds in their discography ranging from Classical interpretations (Slavic Spirits) to space Jazz flights (Discipline of Sun Ra) to Hip Hop derived amalgamations of it all (2061). The Pakistan-centered Jaubi, on the other hand, leans largely on native instruments and modalities (like ragas and devotionals) to flash their Jazz fingers—recognizably Coltrane but with a distinct worldly flair.
Experimental, jamming, and wisely restrained, Latarnik guides the deeply stylized wiles of the junior Jaubi through his closet of keys, synths, and other noise machines. It helps too that the pair share a love of Hip Hop rhythms, which makes up the backbone of groovier mid-album cuts "Strange Love" and "People in Between". Consequently, this mutual expansion lends a smart use to EABS woodwind maestro Olaf Węgier, whose prowess with the bass clarinet sputters and snorts as the star, even affording him a snakey solo bit—not that any one performer doesn't get a solo. In Search of Tomorrow, true to the noodling nature of spiritual Jazz, lets every instrument shine, whether it be the tabla and sarangi that Jaubi bring ("Whispers”, “Madhuvanti") or the trumpets and saxes that EABS bring ("Judgement Day", "Sun"). Truthfully, it can feel overwhelming with as much solo work that this collaboration offers, and the ballad-driven trio of "Raise Your Hearts, Drop Your Guns", "Tomorrow", and "Madhuvanti" goes a long way in keeping things smooth.
Countries may divide them, but Jazz threatens to host them as one happy family. In Search of a Better Tomorrow is two bands at play, so even when it drags a bit (and it definitely does drag on longer compositions), it's still light-hearted and enjoyable. EABS meets Jaubi, at the very least, has proven that a long distance relationship benefits from heavy solo play.
Rating: (High) 6/10