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 post as soon as a decent number has accumulated. I listen to mostly metal, but I do not limit myself to any genre.
(I had to skip last weeks entry for health reasons. The few reviews that I did managed to write last week are gathered here)
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy
Genre: Progressive Thrash Metal
Label: Century Media
Year: 2022
Few bands I root as much for as Voivod while also being constantly underwhelmed. Really, I only really like 3 - 4 or Voivods discography while only loving one of them ('Dimension Hatröss'). Still, I love the visual design of Voivod; the weird, mechanical hellscape that their lyrics are set in and how Voivod manage to be quintessentially punk while being highly progressive. Voivod also can be credited withthe trend of dissonance in metal, which is obviously a double edged sword that left to both masterpieces like Gorguts 'Obscura' and a slew of uninspired imitators who think tieing notes over each other and playing tritones is rewarding harmony. Voivod are one of the few bands that brought real, unique impulses into the scene
Sadly, Voivod have since become aware that they are considered a progressive band and have dialed out a lot of what I found intriguing. 'Synchro Anarchy' appears rather flanderised and returns rather slavishly to the same ideas over and over, which it had already outlined in the opening track. Dissonant chord stabs can be found on nearly every track and the similarity in construction of these riffs becomes apparent rather quickly. I wasn´t a huge fan of 'The Wake', either, but that album seems much more varied in hindsight, with orchestral bits breaking up the monotony and more varied songwriting in general. Overall, this is far from essential Voivod and you´d fare best with revisiting 'Killing Technology', 'Dimension Hatröss' or even 'The Wake'.
Rating: 5/10.
Immolation - Acts of God
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Year: 2022
I actually could have written this review a while ago, as I had already given it multiple spins. After all, this is Immolation - a band that never excites me as much as it does their die-hard fans, but that generally always delivers. However, I got a bad case of something that turned out to not be the covid (luckily), and I ended up not enjoying any music particularly this last week. I returned to 'Acts of God', now that I feel a lot better and I have to say: Yes, this is Immolation, ye ol reliable. And yes, as so often, I am just not as excited as their most diehard fans.
What I will give Immolation is that their formula hasn´t yet been cracked as much by other bands as it has with Death or Incantation. Immolation can still dish out these abrupt transitions to mean, groovy riffs that I rarely expect with nasty, aggressive pinch harmonics thrown in. The picking on this album is so aggressive that I sometimes wonder if some of these pinch harmonics are accidental, but its not a detriment either way. The production on here is clean, maybe too clean; the drums in particular sound very loud and punchy, maybe too punchy, which highlights the usual stellar drum performance. I have very few bad things to say about Immolation, as is expected. But it remains that I have heard this exact thing from them a million times now and while I could forgive it it the album was leaner and more focused, there are 15 tracks on here, two of them being an intro and an interlude, respectively. This is a bloated album that starts to drag shortly after the midpoint and, while it always manages to draw me back in with one of those mean grooves, I am not really in a forgiving mood today - maybe also because this is not the first time they´ve done it.
Rating: 6/10.
Curta'n Wall - Crocodile Moat!!!!!!!
Genre: Raw Black Metal / Dungeon Synth
Label: Grime Stone Records
Year: 2022
Some artists chose to have different aliases to make music that is very different under each projects name. This makes sense, so fans don´t get alienated and it also enables a different image and visual identity to be attached to each project. Some artists, however, have many different projects and, somehow, all of them end up sounding alike. Abyssal Specter of Grime Stone Records is such an artist. His label, Grime Stone Records, specializes in releasing raw black metal of a particular goofy kind, highly melodic but rarely dignified and with synthesizers that sound like they´re from a banjo kazooie game.
Often, Specter used this aesthetic almost to make an ironic comment on the whole idea of raw black metal. After all, this is supposed to be grimdark, rough and underground. Combining this sound with sounds that recall garden gnomes dancing makes the two sound ideals rub against each other in a way - and that can be fun. Irony only goes so far however, and I feel like Specter thoroughly explored this idea with his main project, Old Nick. Curta'n Wall just doesn´t seem to add anything, besides being about siege warfare and castles instead of vampires. My goodwill towards this kind of irony is almost completely used up and 'Crocodile Moat!!!!!!!' just isn´t doing much for me anymore.
Rating: 4/10.
Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero
Genre: Ambient
Label: Century Media / Stargate Research Society
Year: 2022
According to Blood Incantation, it was always the intent to have the third album be a pure ambient album. Curious, however, that I cannot seem to recall them ever talk about it before this album was announced. Look: I don´t mind musicians trying new things at all, but who is really the target audience for this?
For ambientheads, this will likely seem like a very surface level attempt at a style which other people devote their lives to. On the other hand, I can´t see an album like this turn the average cargo-pants wearing Death Metaller into spaced out ambient lovers.
I really have almost no frame of reference for ambient, unfortunately. Therefore, my actual review of the album boils down to an apathetic: It´s fine. I didn´t particularly struggle to make it through the 40 minute runtime and the two suites feel distinct enough that I don´t feel like any material is outright filler with material changing always just at the right time before it gets too repetitive. Yet, I never feel quite engaged with the album and the textures feel to me like stuff that is pretty easy to get out of a synth and some reverb VST plugins. I don´t know how this album actually has been made, if it uses analogue or modular synths and what not, but nothing on here is making me curious to find out. In the end, the question remains: Who is this album for? Certainly not me.
Rating: 5/10.
Corpsegrinder - s/t
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Perseverance Media Group
Year: 2022
I was going into this album with the lowest expectations. I thought the album was merely an understandable business move: Fishers name, especially the Corpsegrinder moniker, probably exceed the popularity of his band at his point - thanks to memes and him just seeming like a very likeable, approachable guy. The cover looks a bit cheap and I had absolutely thought that this was just a cashgrab to capitalize on the mans name. Well, it might be. But if it is, it is not a half-assed cashgrab at all.
Right out of the bat I was delighted when opener 'Acid Vat' doesn´t sound much like Cannibal Corpse at all. 'Corpsegrinder' really sounds more like a metallic hardcore band doing death metal and the band lays down some satisfying, meatheaded grooves that I can´t wait to lift to. Sure, it´s all formulaic as hell - songs often start with a more aggressive riff, then the instruments cut out so Corpsegrinder can bellow some type of catchphrase - but the album seems to know this as a few different cuts are peppered throughout the album. If he intends to go touring with this, I might just get a ticket because I can just see it working incredibly well in a live setting. Sure, diminishing returns set in right about when the last track starts playing, but it just seems like the artists knew this and made it a shorter album. None of it is flashy, but I feel the material suits Corpsegrinders percussive bark perfectly. So far this is my favorite guilty pleasure of the year.
Rating: 6/10.
Allagaeon - DAMNUN
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade
Year: 2022
Tech Death as a genre descriptor is quickly becoming useless as both acts like Ulcerate or Pyrrhon can fall under this moniker, with acts like Allagaeon that border on metalcore on the other side. I am becoming increasingly hesitant to check the genre out for that very reason. Why I committed to Allagaeon, I really cannot say. In the end, while it was exactly what I expected it to be, it turned out to be more enjoyable than expected, at least. The band is at least talented, even if I can not quite get on board with what they´re doing.
What I immediately notice is the influx of clean choruses compared to their previous work. The pop energy here is strong and whenever one of these choruses hits, I get taken out of it. I assume these were chosen to provide contrast but they´re also telegraphed by a mile. Luckily, the rest of the bands material isn´t as predictable. On a technical level, this is rather pedestrian for a tech death record but some enjoyable work especially with the nylon guitars makes it somewhat interesting. Overall, the album picks up on the back half where the band decides to be more aggressive and resists the urge to plaster the poppy choruses over everything. In the end, I am just not the target demographic for it and while I didn´t hate my time with it, I will never revisit it.
Rating: 5/10.
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