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
Lurk – Aegis
Genre: Sludge Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Release Date: 07-04-2023
Sometimes, I only remember that I liked an album but I don't remember anything beyond that. Usually, I take it as a bad sign – maybe the album was never of that high quality after all and just rose to the top of my rotation at the moment for a lack of alternatives. I suspect that Lurk's last album, Fringe, is such a case as I remember nothing about it. Still, I feel motivated to check this band whose style has evolved far too much for the influences to be identified (according to the blurb). I could not draw a 1:1 parallell to any other act, to be fair, which does speak for the bands originality. However, I would argue that the band is rooted pretty strongly in Sludge and that often enough, classic Sludge flavor pierces through the dense amalgam of sounds that the band dishes out. Despite these piercing tendencies, which are as often on the Stoner side of the Sludge Spectrum as they are on the depressed end, there is a sense of atmosphere to Lurk's sound. The band plays with distortion and the space that comes with it and I find much to like from a sonic perspective and from how the sound oscillates between more concrete, riff oriented material and material that is more driven by emotion and a pervading atmosphere.
Despite these qualities, the album does feel a bit overlong. Sludge often suffers from a pace that is all too similar and looks too little for these micro-differences in tempo. Some more driving sections to provide contrast could have probably also made the material go down smoother. The band understands contrast very well on other levels – as the aforementioned dichotomy between atmosphere and riffage shows – so it would be welcome if they incporporated it into the other aspects of their sound. With a pace this uniform, it becomes hard to divide the album and for the listener to find a structure to listen for. Similarly, a lack of structure like this will almost certainly make an album appear frontloaded, as the overly similar pace will wear on the listener. This is also the case here. The band never stops being inventive with how they approach their own sound and this is not a band half-assing their album, but by the end of it, I am ready for something else. Usually, you want the listener to want more, not less. These are areas where the band can certainly improve, despite of the positives that sets them apart from many of their contemporaries.
Rating: (low) 6/10
Viledriver – Viledriver II: The Rest Are Prey
Genre: Groove Metal / Tech Death / Mathcore
Label: CDN Records
Release Date: 31-03-2023
Whenever a label uses most of their band blurb to hype a band to hell while also throwing shade to most of the contemporary metal scene, I wonder what they believe they are achieving. The claim that Viledriver set themselves apart from “your typical brand-name arty tech metal band” by their focus on “heavy riffage – minus all the bleedily-doo fingertapping wankage made trendy by most of metal’s top acts of late” seems both petty, unnecessarily spiteful and just makes me believe that Viledriver aren't capable of any such bleedily-doos. The band does indeed mostly focus on midtempo grooves, often heavily syncopated. Similarly, the claim is made that the drumming is not “Your typical Death Metal Noise”. Indeed, Viledriver don't blast much as many others, and maybe that's what they mean by it. All these descriptions really serve very little beyond making me get annoyed and showing a certain level of uncalled-for arrogance and disdain for a style that Viledriver don't need to compare themselves to neither really compete with.
In fact, I don't quite understand why it is necessary to hone in on the technical aspect of the bands sound. The amount of syncopation certainly is somewhat of a challenge and the bands song structures remain somewhat unpredictable. Yet, the basis of the sound ultimately is thrash infused groove metal, heavily cut up and rearranged. The band shares very little stylistically with the bands they try to pick a fight with. Still, it could all amount to be somewhat pleasing from moment to moment if the vocal performance didn't end up being more annoying than anything. The Hatebreed-but-weird-style of vocals that singer Dustin Patkai settles on for most of the album gets old quick and doesn't really help the band to craft memorable vocal lines. The band compares themselves to bands like Cryptopsy and Dillinger Escape Plan. While these bands are quite different in sound, they share that the vocal performance manages to be memorable because of how extreme and varied it is. In a sound this nonlinear and this devoid of any clear repeated themes or motifs, the listener needs something to latch on to. Different vocals could really help the band. At the end of the day, I am not madly in love with a band like Archspire – let's just say the name, guys – either. But after an Archspire album has finished, I remember aspects of both the vocal and the instrumental performance. If you want to call people out, you better deliver.
Rating: (low) 5/10
Metalligatorrr's Chomping Commentaries
Angelic Desolation - Orchestrionic Abortion
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Independent
Release Date: 31-3-2023
Here is a fun game for a party: Put on "Shake the Baby" off Angelic Desolation's new album and take a shot each time the vocals or lyrics make you laugh. It takes one look at the song titles on Orchestrionic Abortion to discover that the band has a sense of humor that recalls that of a Grindcore band. A look at their Bandcamp page confirms that they indeed take inspiration from Grind as well as Thrash and Death Metal, a mix that they have opted to call "Razorgrind". I'm not quite convinced by a few of these tags as what they sound like to my ears is Brutal Death Metal with a Grindcore influence. Not quite a complete description, as the feel of the songs and the heft is what makes me place it in the Brutal Death Metal camp. What makes the band stand out a bit, however, is a Melodic Death Metal influence that creeps in on songs like "Brutus McMucus" and "Dic Tater". While it is hard to put a finger on how, certain riffs remind me of At the Gates, or bands that are inspired by them.
This is far from enough to describe this packed 30 minute album as I can hear some neoclassical riffing, slam, bass skronk, dissonance and Rock and Roll/Heavy Metal riffs. To name a few standout moments, I particularly enjoy how "Shake the Baby" snaps between morbid humor to some brutal heft and revolving riffs that lock into the drums. "Peterrordactyl Man" shows that the band make intelligent choices when picking their riffs, as when the titular crack-deprived bum in the lyrics dresses up in cardboard with several sharp appendages and goes "Flying high, in the sky, give me crack, or you will die", the riffs turn drawn out and dissonant to give the feeling that the riff is soaring above the rest of the music. In the end, I come away amused and content from the dose of heaviness that Orchestrionic Abortion offers. This band has character and some fun and playful ideas. At this time I feel like we have yet to see what their complete form is like and it will take some evolution for them to reach the same insane heights as Logistic Slaughter, of which their playful nature reminds me of.
Rating: High 6/10
Cosmo's Chaotic Curveballs
Zorn - Zorn
Genre: Black Metal / Punk / Blackened Crust
Label: Independent
Release Date: 10-03-23
Coming out of absolutely nowhere, the leather-and-spikes bedecked sleazemongers Zorn have released their debut album following a string of demos. Stylistically, Zorn sounds like a coked-out amalgamation of Devil Master and Suffering Hour with their liberal use of flanger and chorus effects. It makes for very compelling hog-cranking Blackened Punk that rips you a new one for a measly 25 minutes before departing and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Highlights include the 1-2-3 combo of the first 3 tracks and the thrashy Toxic Holocaust-ian "Nothing Left". These are all excellent examples of what Zorn does best: short, speedy punk-infused Blackened Metal. "Voices of the Past" is another highlight, starting with an eerie synth intro before exploding into blazing-fast riffs and Eric Teofilak's snarls. Most songs here are short and waste no time at all bringing riff after riff for an altogether fun experience, not unlike Hellripper from earlier this year.
If there is a weak point on the album, it’s the finale "Würm". While this song showcases the most scorching solos on the album as a whole, the largely mid-paced first half of the song doesn't have me as impressed as the rip-roaring second half. This criticism borders on nit-picking territory, though. I am very impressed with this debut from Zorn, and I'm sure fans of Blackened Punk or Speed Metal will find something to love in this album. I'm eagerly anticipating more by Zorn in the future, as they have the potential to only grow stronger from here.
Rating: (High) 7/10
Blaze of Sorrow - Vultus Fati
Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Label: Eisenwald
Release Date: 31-03-23
Originally starting off as an Atmospheric Black Metal band, Blaze of Sorrow has gone through a fairly significant change in their sound to what is now a Melodic Black Metal band, similar to the French band Aorlhac. I was a fan of their 2020 full length Absentia, so I had decent expectations coming into their new album Vultus Fati.
It’s immediately noticeable that Blaze of Sorrow has gone for a more medieval approach to their music, as classical guitar is present on quite a few of the tracks, starting with opener "Furor". But this is not the most striking difference in sound. Rather, that comes from guest viola player Eva Impellizzeri, who makes herself known in beautiful, if not sad viola playing on almost every one of the songs here. I appreciate this addition, as viola in metal is a lot less common than cello or violin, and it's nice to hear the difference. Album highlights include "Flammae", "Waldgänger" and "Ombre". "Flammae" is a ferocious Melodic Black Metal masterclass where Impellizzeri and guitarist A.S. shine. "Ombre" is similar in ferocity, starting off slow before exploding at the end with icy riffs. In contrast, "Waldgänger" is an instrumental piece that evokes images of a weary group lost in a forest sitting around a campfire playing music. The album art is another highlight—this is becoming one of my favorite Adam Burke pieces. While this album is very good—it ranks on my top 5 of the month for March—there are a few hiccups that prevent it from being great. Some of the songs lose momentum ("Eretica", "Nel vento"), and while the last track "Aura" is nice, it feels more like an interlude to another song rather than the closing of the album. That being said, I recommend this. Fans of the genre will find beauty in this bit of melancholy.
Rating: 7/10
Trans-dimensional Being of Extreme Punctuation's Time-skipping Tautologies
Grin - Black Nothingness
Genre: Stoner Doom / Psych Rock
Label: TLD Records
Release Date: 07-04-23
Stoner Doom that bangs out six fuzzy and judiciously chimed tracks before the pack on your pipe fizzles out? Unheard of! But here we are kickin' back a bowl with German husband-wife Doom duo Grin. Having both played with the groovy sludge outfit Earth Ship for many albums, these two are well versed in creating high volume, deeply barbed riffs. However, for Grin, they've kept the range of sounds even tighter, featuring just one heavily distorted bassline, one haze-blanketed incantation, and one tight and chiming kit. Grin may not play to reinvent the wheel, but they love what they do and crank out reliable mind-altering tones.
But is the twelve minutes that Black Nothingness delivers enough in a style that normally takes just as long to exit one loop enough to get even a little buzz going? Turns out, with smoke-blown riff intros ("Gatekeeper", "The Tempest of Time") heavily accented psych-infused drum leads ("Nothingness", "Talons"), even this little puff of a Stoner Doom EP can at least be enough for a hypnotic night cap. You can easily hear where, in a different setting, Grin could use "Midnight Blue Sorrow" to set the stage for wild solo hours, or perhaps the hypnotic drone of "The Tempest of Time" to run a long form brain burner. In that sense, cutting these works down to the core of what's engaging feels slightly underdeveloped; however, the restraint also feels refreshingly gratifying. So yeah, you could go and get lost in one of Grin's longer outings, but give this lighter pack a shot—it's concentrated.
Rating: 6/10