The goat has scuttled off to Wacken this week to enjoy a plethora of great music and mud. So it falls to me, Metalligator, to tell you what to think of music this week. I'm sure your day is ruined. But who am I to argue with the usual disclaimer:
"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. Furthermore, this post contains blog-exclusive reviews of recent albums by other members of the site."
Rivers Ablaze - The Black Hole Era
Genre: Progressive Blackened Death Metal
Label: Unsigned
The latest album from Hungarian band Rivers Ablaze has been sticking around my playlist for a while now. Every time I listen to it I have several "wow, cool moment!"-reactions but then forget what the album sounds like after it fades. I think I might have cracked the code on it now but let's back up so I can get you on the same page. The 10s was a time of great experimentation in several metal genres and bands started mixing in elements of other genres into ones that had been static for a time. From this there developed a kind of mix of black and death metal that's often simply referred to as blackened death metal. While different bands have their own baking recipe for how much of the genres to use, there also exists the kind that mixes on the fly into a style that isn't recognizable as either genre. As a result it's hard to tell these bands apart because they somehow mostly sound alike.
Rivers Ablaze is one such band, but this isn't the full story. They mix blackened death with melodic moments and clean vocals. To give an example of the variety present here I will simply point to the two tracks "Perished Fountains of Life" and "Descending". The former starts off with tremolo-riffs reminiscent of symphonic black metal and leads into a death metal bridge. But then it ends up sounding like progressive melodeath in the vein of the latest Disillusion album. Meanwhile, the latter track starts by firing off some chugging Messuggah riffs and offsets it by some surprisingly emotional tremolo-riffing. In moments like these the band shines.
As much as I like those tracks the band unfortunately falls into a familiar trap. The parts never quite gel together into a complete whole despite being well executed. There are a lot of times it feels like I could be listening to any blackened death metal band and I find this to be a shame. These guys definitely have great ideas and when these come together they sound great. I'll be watching what they do next and hoping to see more of the bands character grow forth.
Rating: Strong 6/10
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ZOS - The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS
Genre: Drone/Doom Metal
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Tags like Drone and Improvisation are ones that make me walk away from a release without even listening lately. I've come to accept that I simply am not interested in the things people look for in that kind of music. Yet ZOS have caught me in a way I did not expect. Because of the recent trend of I, Voidhanger releases that clock below an hour I decided to pick up and try a few of them. Starting off with warbly synths and a mysterious melody, the title track is rudely interrupted by improvised chaos before settling down into a hypnotic rhythm. It eventually works in the mysterious theme from before in a way I'm not used to hearing from the more
free form artists that hide in the nooks of this label.
The theme that emerges across The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS is one of carefully controlled variety. It's something I don't expect from improvisation nor drone. "Volition" combines droning drums with improvised guitar playing to great effect, "On the Announcer of Great Events" is a bass driven trip-hop like droner complete with spoken word and spooky moans and lastly "Oh, Mighty Rehctaw!" sounds like Dead Can Dance decided they should make droning doom metal. What all these tracks have in common is that just as they start to stretch into monotony they instead reel me in with a new element and quickened rhythms.
The full sound of the production is also something to listen for. On the low end there are subtle sounds that I at first thought were someone slamming a door shut outside my headphones. The guitar meanwhile sounds sharp but without going into a screeching tone. It all sounds soft in a way that fits the theme without sounding inoffensive. This album will likely not be for everyone and I certainly didn't think it would be for me. But if you, like me, find yourself wishing for drone, ambient and improvisation that can also be actively listened to then I suggest you check this album out.
Rating: 7/10
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Pyrithe - Monuments to Impermanence
Genre: Sludge/Post-Metal
Label: Gilead Media
You will likely know from the first few tracks if Pyrithe is for you or not. They play a kind of sludge that focuses on slow builds a la post-metal bands like Neurosis. A better comparison might be to say that they are like SUMAC, if they didn't use so much improvisation. Yet Pyrithe set themselves apart by also focusing on a kind of song structure that just as often glides into ambience to offset the builds into intensity. I assume that this will be the deciding factor for a lot of people. The album often spends a long time on sustained moments to build pressure like in "Glioblastoma", a song aptly named after an aggressive kind of brain tumour. Other tracks like "Heaving Roots II" are almost completely free flowing in an ambient fashion.
The only traditional head-banging moment to be found here is likely "Earthen Anchors", a song that uses viciously snarled vocals to lead into some seriously infectious riffs. This brings me to the point that's both a strength and a weakness of this release. It's written as an album and as such it does an excellent job of pulling me along with moments of intensity and ethereal clarity alike. This does however mean that if you aren't paying attention the album will flow past with only a few moments standing out. I'm fine with this now but it took a few spins to wrap my head around it. Individual songs are also not likely to impress unless taken with the context of the surrounding tracks.
The production seems well done as the softer parts breathe a lot and the intense parts are felt when they arrive. Something of note is that the band often use sampled sounds like the cracking glass(?) in "Glioblastoma" and the sound of flowing water at the end of "Ekphrastik I". Supposedly, actual trash was also used as percussion in instances. Never does this feel like an gimmick though. Performances are tight for a band this young and the guest appearance from Doug Moore of Pyrrhon fame is appreciated. It might be a bit early to tell but I might be captivated enough by this blend of elements to put it on my year end list. Not bad for a debut.
Rating: 8/10
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Vanum - Legend
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Profound Lore Records
It's hard to discuss Legend without mentioning how it differs Vanum's previous record. Ageless Fire, true to its name, captured me with its trilling style of slowly developing songs moving like lava burning everything around it. Despite hearkening back to black metal greats like Bathory there was something fresh about it. Legend strikes a different path by going in a slightly more traditional metal direction and by boasting a less cutting production, which was one of AF's charms. I'm always one to applaud a band for changing course a bit after successfully releasing something great but that move comes with a lot of risk. You can be a master of one technique yet still be a beginner at others. Or, you could break parts of your work by putting them in different contexts. I find that Legend wanders this path with some unease.
The structure of the songs are still the same, slow builds with subtle changes and huge climaxing moments of emotion. The production unfortunately robs these climaxes of some of their intended impact. Increased use of synths make for a sound that drives even harder for the epic while crossing one foot over into cheese territory. Trad elements pop up here and there but never divert too hard from Vanum's sound and herein lies the problem I have with Legend. It never fully commits to this new direction, bringing it close to Ageless Fire in style and so dooms itself to always be the album I ignore to spin AF again. There's nothing truly bad about it and I enjoy the middle tracks "Frozen in Vile Illumination" and the title track. Fans of epic black metal will likely enjoy what I have outlined above more. Meanwhile I'll be trusting the leads of Ageless Fire to lead me into that fire again and again.
Rating: Strong 6/10
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