In this post, I collect my instagram reviews for the week for albums released in 2022. All my non-2022 reviews are gathered in a monthly post. I listen to mostly metal, but I do not limit myself to any genre.
Eradication of the Unworthy Infants - Change is Good
Genre: Beatdown / Slam
Label: Independent
While I don´t want to make this a full review, I wanted to give a special shoutout to the first release I experienced during Slamuary (this hellish exercise in utter stupidity which I am doing for no possible reward or personal growth, more on it below) which I actually enjoyed without many reservations. The goofily named Eradication of the Unworthy Infants manage to keep my interest for the whole 33 minutes. The band clearly is endeared with beatdown hardcore, which stylistically is very close to slam as is, but never does the band enter the uninspired 0-1 droptune riff territory - and even if they do, they manage to make my head bop. Sure, the style has obvious diminishing returns with it being very limited in what it can express, but other than that I find very little to complain about. Not quite enough to break into the priced 7 territory yet, but a recommendation from my side, nonetheless.
Rating: (high) 6/10.
Ecryptus - Kyr'am Beskar
Genre: Deathgrind
Label: Independent / SBDC Records
I see a recurring trend where I find albums that might not really be worth talking about that much for the music that is actually on them, but that give me a hook to talk about them nonetheless. For the purpose of hitchcockian suspense, I shall attempt to describe the music of Ecryptus nonetheless. Ecryptus play a modern style of Deathgrind, heavily leaning to the death metal side of the equasion. The band seem to emphasize groove above all out noisy aggression and still knows how to occasionally have some melodic sections that contain some feeling. For this style of Deathgrind, Ecryptus are maybe a touch better than their contemporaries.
What makes 'Ky'ram Beskar' more interesting, however, is that the album is apparently Star Wars themed but tries to be somewhat sneaky about it. The lyrics mention Star Wars locale and stories from the universe (I noticeably picked up on the mention of the Wookie homeworld Kashyyyk on 'Planetary Enslavement' and the mention of the famed Mandalorian Steel Beskar in the title of the album) but the band seems to be trying to not be overtly Star Wars themed in their band name or their album cover. The album cover features an Eternal Darkness style roman skeleton Warrior that only vaguely looks Star Wars-y if you know whats going on here - or accept it as generic Science Fantasy. Cheekily, the band puts Baby Yoda to burn in a chalice of fire and puts Gina Caranos characters head on a stick - at least it looks like it. Good for the band that they found an interesting niche and and be enough of an oddity to motivate me to check it out.
Rating: 6/10.
40 Watt Sun - Perfect Light
Genre: Slowcore / Post rock
Label: Cappio Records
I´ve never talked about it here, but I consider Warnings 2006 album 'Watching from a Distance" to be a perfect ten. Sure, its not flawless - the production is far from ideal - but the flaws it has either do not matter to me or actively enhance the experience - a very taxing experience, mind you. Warning is so emotionally raw, honest and emotional that on some days, I could not listen to them without having, in the least, an extreme dip in my mood. 40 Watt Sun is the follow-up band to Warning, 'Perfect Light' being their third album. So far, I´ve struggled with 40 Watt Sun because it isn´t doom metal and the glacial pace combined with the sparse textures (read: barely any distortion) made them a taxing listen.
'Perfect Light', however, works for me, yet I can´t put my finger on why. Maybe I grew out of being a metal supremacist and am now more accepting of the musical ideas that Patrick Walker et. al. string together. 'Perfect Light' is singer-songwriter music, slowed down to a funeral pace. Heavyness isn´t the goal here and 40 Watt Sun feel more relaxes, less strained. The music is more a space to be occupied by Patrick Walkers introspective and thoughtful vocal performance. Which brings me to my second suspicion as to why 'Perfect Light' now works for me: 40 Watt Sun is more hopeful than Warning and, while the world at large considers to gently drift to apocalypse, my own life has stabilised and I have found a place to stay. I can find that emotion in 40 Watt Sun - pain is a part of life, but we can find a place to live in.
Rating: 7/10.
Foxtails - Fawn
Genre: Post Hardcore / Symphonic Screamo
Label: Skeletal Lightning
After So Hideous had unexpectedly swept me off my feet last year, I was eager to give Screamo, especially the rare symphonic kind, more of a chance. When I heard of Foxtails, I obviously jumped on it. While both bands can easily be classed as Symphonic Screamo, they couldn´t be much more different. Fawn mainly employs a violinist for their orchestral textures and their pacing is much slower, going less for a desperate push and more for a more static, inescapable sense of depression. The vocalist is also much more clean (and probably more stereotypically Screamo) and there seems to be more of a focus on the lyrics as with So Hideous, as well.
Despite the differences, I can´t really say Foxtails are bad. The music obviously is incredibly emotional and desperate. I particularly enjoy how the rhythm secion, especially the drums, manage to sell parts that are more repetitive in the guitars and violins by being very playful, active and creative. Especially the cymbal play in the drums is very enjoyable and very helpful in not making the material seem dull. What keeps me from awarding a higher score is that the violin feels like an afterthought in some spots ("we have a violin, it has to play something here") and that the texture is very static, meaning the album hones in on one specific feeling and stays with it for the whole time. I can´t say I am upset about the time I invested however and I remain curious about screamo.
Rating: 6/10.
Slamuary - the pointless Quest to listen to all January Slam
I like to set myself little listening projects and for January 2022, I decided to listen to all Slam released to bandcamp throughout the whole month. I´ll refrain from reposting the album covers, as the writeups are short and the album covers would clutter the page too much. If you crave some gore, however, feel free to head over to @scuttlegoat_reviews on Instagram and see all of them in their disgusting glory. Down Under - Down Under
Deathcore that slams a lot and while it is very good for what it is, it also still is just what it is. Also the sample density is too damn high!
Rating: 5/10
Solid Feces - Six Ton Stone
Something about this just robs me the wrong way. Its all over the top but in all the wrong ways. The snare sounds ridiculous, but not in a way that I enjoy, the vocals are off...you get the point.
Rating: 3/10
Butirat - Fashion day
Groovy Goregrind that barely slams, but grooves a lot. Vocals just silly enough and at less than ten minutes, it doesn't wear out its welcome.
Rating: 6/10
Ohio Slamboys - CHOP X DRILL X KILL
On tbe bdm side of the spectrum. A bit too long for the limited set of ideas it has and the apparent lyrical concept doesnt really track because reading along to BDM lyrics is just not a thing I do.
Rating: 5/10.
Darklurker - Broken
Very short slamming deathcore. Too obsessed with dissonant chugging breakdowns for its own good. Never manages to actually conjur the atmosphere it seemingly wants to conjure. Rating: 4/10
CVSTODIA - When Gods Lose Their Cults, They Become Demons
Despite the pretty cool title, this album is neither pretty nor cool. CVSTODIA try to meld slammy deathcore (that ends up mostly chugging and playing tied minor seconds anyway) and Full of Hell style noise freakouts - only they don´t freak. Very boring, dull and too long. Rating: 4/10
Strontium Dog - Psychomutilation
Not even five minutes long and half of it is samples which don´t seem to fit with the subject matter at all - which is about being queer, apparently? Hard to say, as its sloppy to a degree of me not knowing what the riff or the groove is supposed to be and instruments rarely lining up. Trying to be avantgarde and failing hard. Cool cover / album name, though.
Rating 3/10
Vitrectomy - Unconvincing Veracity
A bit too long. As the cover suggests, this band is mostly inspired by abominable putridity. Since Abominable Putridity have proven last year that even they can not do their own style well anymore, it would be ludicrous to assume that Vitrectomy can. And they can´t. Also, is this christian again...? I might be developing a psychosis...
Rating: 4/10.
HELLTH - HELL - EP
Worst band name award goes to...not HELLTH, but they would perform well in the contest. The music is very fitting for the name, as it sucks. Heavily processed and artificial sounding scenecore, ripe with random djent moments and quantized guitars. Bopped my head once in track 3 and felt intense shame.
Rating: 3/10.
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