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
Yaaroth - The Man in the Wood
Genre: Stoner Doom / Retro Prog
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Release Date: 03-03-2023
With any album in a throwback genre, a few questions ultimately arise. Why dredge out an old sound? Does it sound authentic? Does it offer something new, justifying its existence at the same time? Yaaroth's album The Man in the Wood (no plural) at least wins on a level of authenticity. The opening mellotron strings sound straight up like they're ripped from a 70s album. Even when the guitars finally hit, in the classic nonexistent transition from a pretty soundscape to distorted metal, the album is both remarkedly warm and remarkedly soft-spoken.
One could even say that the album has its own identity, that it is more than just regurgitating genre tropes. On a level of songwriting, were the additional instruments taken out, this is more in line with the second wave of Scandinavian Doom Metal. Think Reverend Bizarre playing through the throwback setup of Sir Lord Baltimore. The songs are indulgent yet never quite reach the hypnotic heights a Doom Metal band like this would need. Having a more crushing or even more fluid production could help here, but the album is ironically held back by its commitment to the organic approach, especially the vocals. I don't think Dan Bell is the worst vocalist, but his tone gets grating after a while. Any processing is kept away from his vocals for the most part, which are so direct, so upfront that the lack of editing becomes a real issue. After the album is over I really don't want to hear his voice anymore. The same goes for the album, sadly.
Rating: 4/10
Lovebites - Judgement Day
Genre: Power Metal
Label: Victor Entertainment
Release Date: 22-02-2023
If you go to the "Meet the Staff" section, you'll find that in my entry it says that my least favorite genre is "Power Metal Without Testicles". Too often do we see Power Metal that is cheese without body, only the stench. Very few power metal has actual riffs nowadays or interesting drum performances, very little shred and barely any aggression. To say it plainly: Power Metal has no balls anymore. Ironically, one of the few acts who still possess the ballsy attitude and the necessary grit is japanese all-girl Power Metal act Lovebites. With a strong Heavy Metal and Thrash influence, Lovebites put their nonexistent balls as close to the wall as they can.
Lovebites do so in forgoing a lot of the tropes that usually seem to be forced upon an all-girl band. Lovebites isn't softer than their contemporaries—they're truly heavy. There is no inclusion of overly dominant keyboards, no balladry at all, and there is never any attempt to dip into any musical theater tropes—Lovebites could not be less Disneyfied. I am not sure whether this is the bands attempt at subverting these expectations for marketing reasons, to be honest. Japanese bands have a habit of being manufactured by a board of producers and it's easy to make a case for a marketing angle with a band such as Lovebites. Ultimately, those worries are unimportant as the band sounds honest in what they do. The performance of the band is joyful and pushing, seemingly as invested in their Speed Metal riffage as they are in pseudo-neoclassical shred. The only real woes come from the production—Japanese producers make it LOUD—and the length of the album, that can feel exhausting at over 50 minutes. A band like Lovebites might just make me forget that I usually hate Power Metal.
Rating: (high) 6/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
At the Altar of the Horned God - Heart of Silence
Genre: Black Metal / World Music
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Release Date: 03-03-2023
Pounding traditional drums and a repeating chant leads Heart of Silence in a way that, at first, aroused skepticism. As a lot of the album spends time on repetitive rhythms, it seemed that At the Altar of the Horned God only had one mode. Yet the tribal nature of the music on display has a way of sinking its teeth in before hitting with simple Black Metal, favoring emotional impact over complexity. The Black Metal falls largely in the second wave-sound and gives the impression of old campfire tales being told by a way of Folk Music, only with added distortion. Rounding everything out is a, to my ears, distinct Dead Can Dance influence that rests over songs like the title track and "God is in the Rain" (the latter being a bizarre Suicide Commando cover wholly changed in impression from its EBM/Industrial original). The second half of the album starts out with this continuing Dead Can Dance influence front and center, with drums that sound like timpani (a djembe, I later learned) and a backing track that could have come from an album like Within the Realm of a Dying Sun or Dionysus.
Further adding to the odd charm of Heart of Silence is a vocalist that, when he is not croaking out Black Metal vocals, reminds me of David Gahan of Depeche Mode fame. This comparison helped me focus a lot on the Post-Punk like bass and how it interplays with the distorted guitar to give this album a character of its own. Initially it was a struggle to articulate what makes it all work for me, the building blocks being so simple. But that is just it, everything is done just so that the sum becomes greater than the parts. Unsure if it should be called a Metal album, I rather find Heart of Silence to be some distorted form of World Music that expresses itself through Metal. Sure, there is the occasional tremolo-led blast beat but it hardly seems to be the focus as a whole, and that appeals to me. I suspect it will not connect with everyone but as most of the things I, Voidhanger put out is a miss with me (though I appreciate the label's and musicians' kitchen sink approach), I am glad I found this.
Rating: 7/10
Ulthar - Helionomicon
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Release Date: 17-02-2023
Ulthar impressed me mightily with the release of Providence in 2020, an album that felt unhinged and slightly chaotic but that still kept the momentum up with plenty of ideas. Fast forward to the current year and Ulthar announces that they are releasing not one, but two follow ups to their sophomore album. I will be tackling the other one separately but first let us focus on Helionomicon, the odd duck of the two. Unlike what came before, Helionomicon consists of only two tracks that both hover around the 20 minute mark.
The song "Helionimicon" keeps intact Ulthar's NES-Metroid-tremolo-heavy style with plenty of whiplash turns into intense moments. In contrast, though, this album hones in on a rhythmic approach and constructs its two heavy songs, as you might expect, around slow builds. "Helionomicon" in particular feels like it almost entirely consists of a build around a single tremolo riff and this is an approach that gets tiresome fast. Try as it might to shift up the tempo, this song just never sounds like it knows where it is going. This is something that is absolute death to a 20 minute song, a length which already did not feel ideal for the kind of music Ulthar have created thus far.
Helionomicon features subdued moments to provide contrast, including some ambient stretches. Unsurprisingly, while these moments provide a nice space for the band to play around with the more lush production that graces these albums, nothing much comes of it. "Anthronomicon" hits differently, as the two pieces on this album has two different members of the band handling the writing. This latter song is much more aggressive and has more ups and downs compared to its sibling. The electronics in particular show some promise of what Ulthar could play around with in the future. I find myself liking different parts of the song while it thrashes back and forth trying to make sense of itself. Both from hearing the album and reading interviews, it is clear that Ulthar are experimenting freely and that is something I always appreciate. But it is hard to recommend something this dense and unfocused to anyone but their most diehard fans. I am left with the feeling that this album has a cryptic-for-being-cryptic approach meant to dress up experimentation as engaging songs, making it a swing-and-miss for me.
Rating: 5/10
Insomnium - Anno 1696
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Century Media Records
Release Date: 24-02-2023
Insomnium is a tale of two bands: one that has a unique sound they helped pioneer while exploring new wrinkles, and one that sounds like a band trying to ape their style. 2019's Heart Like A Grave featured the latter and thus disappointed me deeply after the frankly huge promise they showed for development on 2016's Winter's Gate. After a period of isolation during the pandemic, vocalist and bassist Niilo Sevänen had a new concept the band could write their album around, one based on a short story he wrote. The concept revolves around the end of the era of witch hunts, an appropriately dark theme for a metal album and the music showcases this influence well. Some of the songs, like the two openers "1969" and "White Christ" feature a Folk influence that takes form in the acoustic for the former and creeps in to the actual Metal in the latter. It recalls both early In Flames and Amorphis respectively, yet still sounds like Insomnium. Two guest performers feature on the start of the album: Sakis Tolis, who brings a contrast to "White Christ" but sticks out as a poor fit for the music, and Johanna Kurkela, who brings some good dynamics to "Godforsaken". Songs like "Godforsaken" and "The Rapids" also feature some of the heaviest material the band has put out in a good while, an ideal way for a melodic band like Insomnium to exist.
Concepts are good for Insomnium in this later stage of their career, as they make the band focus more on writing without repeating themselves. The difference is starkly on display when songs like "Lilian" show up and sound like any other Insomnium song you have heard in comparison to its siblings around it. Alas, there is one big flaw on this album that prevents me from calling it a success: the length of the songs. On repeat listens, the songs start to overstay their welcome and make it clear that this album would be much better if it was edited to make its best ideas shine through in quicker succession. The middle of the album is a particularly rough spot in this regard, with "Lilian" and "The Witch Hunter" adding very little as they spin their wheels as stock Insomnium songs. The album that I am most reminded of from the band's catalog here is 2009's Across the Dark, an album that has very high highs yet does not quite compete with their catalog at its best. And at their best Insomnium prove that there is still life in the Melodic Death Metal formula, otherwise a genre full of bands that water themselves down to reach mainstream success. A case that still holds true, but occasionally stands on shaky ground with Anno 1696.
Rating: 6/10
A double review by Blár & Alice F:
Blár's Beckoning Blurbs
moreru - l0V3L3$$R0BxT
Genre: Alternative Rock / Noise Rock / Hardcore Punk
Label: Independent
Release Date: 14-02-2023
moreru's last full length, 2022's 山田花子, managed to sound like an extremely hateful noise wall that wanted to beat the shit out of your eardrums at the same time as a nostalgic serenade. Now, the self-proclaimed "tokyo’s only true punk" band has returned this month with a new EP, l0V3L3$$R0BxT, turning the knob down slightly on the Noise and lending some space to Hyperpop beats ("LOVE LE$$ ROBOT"), a Power Metal-esque guitar solo ("自爆殺戮渋谷交差点") and uncanny vocaloid sounding effects ("川くたばる死ぬ消える川で"). You can't help but wonder if the new direction had anything to do with the fact that the band's second vocalist and noise maker DHS left the band 5 weeks before this release. The sound is still abrasive, but quite less so. The contrast of deafening Harsh Noise and melodic Punk Rock really served their previous material well.
山田花子 had a compelling auditory identity. But l0V3L3$$R0BxT is not an album, it's an EP, which naturally should lend the band a platform to experiment. All the tracks present rather differently from each other. "LOVE LE$$ ROBOT" introduces a cleaner type of vocals with very bright Post Metal guitars flying over machine gun samples. "自爆殺戮渋谷交差点" has the strongest resemblance to the older material but with a wacky guitar solo that bursts out as a climax at the end of the track, and "川くたばる死ぬ消える川で" is a shockwave of grating screams and melodic shouts that morphs into some kind of autotuned vocaloid effect. Even though the contrast in the soundscape on this EP isn't as distinct as on the previous record, moreru still possesses a striking ability to create a captivating expression with wailing guitars, crushing electronics and penetrating Screamo vocals. There's also an adolescent angst about the subject matter that is very much still present with nihilistic and nonsensical lyrics. My favorite line being "Fully automatic manure making machine" because it's an amusing way to describe the human condition.
An EP with only three short tracks is very difficult to rate, but when I imagine a full length album that leans into Hyperpop influences I get a bit worried and can't help to think "please stay true Punk". If that means staying true to a more abrasive sound or flipping off my skepticism, only moreru has the answer (both alternatives would be totally Punk). Regardless of the path they'll chose to take in the future, I'm very much looking forward to hearing moreru's next album venture.
Rating: 6/10
Alice F's Agonized Angles
moreru - l0V3L3$$R0BxT
Tokyo's Hyperpop/Noisecore/Emoviolence terrorists strike with an EP named "loveless robot" on Valentine's day without much fanfare. This is their first release without co-noisemonger Hikari, but it'd be hard to tell that he's gone just by listening. The band continue probing poppier and more melodic waters as seen on 山田花子 last year, but the Noise and Electronic elements are as prominent as ever. Sounds of explosions and severely bitcrushed howling wind penetrate the tracks, making sure you know that despite the clean vocals and relaxed drumming, this is a Noisecore release. With only three songs totalling 4:43, the EP doesn't make quite as big of an impact as 山田花子, functioning as a B-sides collection to that fantastic album. If you were craving for more after having the wind knocked out of you after last year's effort, l0V3L3$$R0BxT will satisfy you as it has satisfied me. But if you're hearing about this band for the first time or were unconvinced by 山田花子, this won't change your mind.
Score: (low) 7/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Weathered Hags
Genre: Black Metal / Thrash Metal / Speed Metal
Label: Peaceville Records
Release: 17-02-23
There’s always a certain level of expectation going into a new album from a loved band. Hellripper is one such band. I’ve loved everything James McBain has released, and, as such, hold this band to a higher standard than others. I still listen to the previous two albums (and the excellent EP Black Arts & Alchemy) quite frequently. Did I set my expectations too high and, much like Icarus, crash into the sea? Absolutely not. This album is indicative of one of the most incredible transformations between albums I’ve ever seen with only a 3 year gap to boot.
Hellripper integrate different dynamics in each of the songs, which is a welcome addition to already fun music. There is certainly a traditional Heavy Metal influence on this album, especially on the title track, which feels like an homage to Blood Fire Death era Bathory, in addition to the blackened, speedy Thrash Metal that makes up this album’s core sound. Instead of the pure blackened speed reminiscent of Motörhead/Venom on their first two albums, Hellripper has added more bits of Black Metal, and even a small dash of Death Metal, into their signature blackened speed blend to cement their most complete work to date. Having heard this album in full at least a dozen times by now, I will defend that this is their best work yet. Each song is full of fun, and there are quite a few jaw-dropping moments, especially “The Cursed Carrion Crown,” which makes me speechless after the blazingly fast solo close to the end of the song.
While McBain showcases his ever-growing songwriting skills throughout Warlocks Grim & Weathered Hags, there are a few tracks which show that it’s still the reliable Hellripper fans have come to expect: “Goat Vomit Nightmare,” “The Hissing Marshes,” and “Poison Womb (Curse of the Witch).” Even though the core songwriting approach changed, the album still sounds like Hellripper. It's not easy to make a successful follow-up by changing key elements of a previously successful sound. When Bewitcher tried it on their third album, they sounded disappointingly different, eschewing the blackened speed that defined them almost entirely. If there’s anything to complain about, it’s that I wish McBain had released this album in lieu of (the still excellent) Affair of the Poisons. The songs here are incredibly developed and showcase a bright future for this hidden, filth-encrusted gem from Scotland. If you want something fun to listen to, look no further, as it will be nearly impossible to top the unabashed fun-fest this provides. Warlocks Grim & Weathered Hags will most likely be in my top 5 of the year.
Rating: (high) 8/10