#thingsyoumighthavemissed2023 — Public Fediverse posts

The EP, Split and Single Post Part 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By El Cuervo

Long albums are fraught with perils: the wasted potential of pre-release singles or powerful openers; repetition as a band feels obliged to fill more time than they have ideas; inconsistent quality as some songs clearly supersede others; and the sheer fucking expanse of music being too much for a listener. They’re such risky business that I’d counsel against even bothering.

By contrast? I’d advise you either create or consume short-form releases. They’re among my favorite things in the world1. They convey their meaning expeditiously, prioritize quality over quantity and are far more economically viable for the artist2. Grindcore acts learned this over 30 years ago and who am I to deny the immense popularity and evident commercial viability of grindcore? As if all this wasn’t enough, bands that favor EPs, splits, singles and collaborations are also more sexually desirable. Don’t question the science; just open wide and accommodate the following releases. –El Cuervo

This is part 2. Part 1 is here.

Blood Incantation // Luminescent Bridge – As much as I enjoy synth-based ambient music, Timewave Zero was a little too slow to represent more to me than a mere curiosity in Blood Incantation’s story. Luminescent Bridge is a more harmonious fusion of the band’s warped death metal and spacey, synth aspirations, a 19-minute EP bridging what was previously quite a wide gap. What results is the thinking man’s death metal; less fist-pumping and compulsive than previous albums, but just as thought-provoking and technically mesmerizing. What helps most is that the lilting interludes and synth elements are more purposeful and form the connecting tissue between the death metal aspects. The band constitutes an unmissable modern metal band with both elements in their sound. –El Cuervo

Shadowrunner // Ocean of Time – Rebirth and Oblivion – Shadowrunner are low-key the best post-The Midnight retrowave act. All of their singles and EPs to date – note, no full-length album – offer essential listening for lovers of all things synth, sax, and nostalgia. The Ocean of Time duo represents a strange choose-your-own-adventure take on music, levering the same opening four songs but closing with four different ones. While I question this marketing gimmick, I absolutely cannot question the quality of the new music available here. Rebirth is warm and welcoming, while Oblivion balances this with crisper tones and marginally darker themes. Two sides of the same coin, the pair constitute the best synth-based music of 2023. –El Cuervo

Wreathe // The Land Is Not An Idle God – If your group contains members of Fall of Efrafa, Morrow, and Arboricidio, you can expect some amazing d-beatened, passionate emokrust, and Wreathe’s debut EP The Land Is Not An Idle God definitely fits that bill gloriously. Based on vocalist Alex CF’s own grimoire, The Book of Venym; An Egalitarian Demonology, The Land Is Not An Idle God seethes with defiant energy and heartfelt passion, with “Enemy of All Reason” pummeling ruthlessly while “The Stumps Are Graves of the Land” channels the forlorn-yet-hopeful energy of Morrow’s best moments. If you’re at all a fan of any of the aforementioned bands and you somehow don’t pick this up… the fuck’s wrong with you?! –Grymm

Dream Unending/Worm // Starpath – The collaboration I believed only existed in my wildest fantasies. While Dream Unending wears their heart on their sleeve with soaring, ethereal melodies, Worm’s allure comes rising out of spooky, clamorous aggression. Yet the contributions of both are—literally—resonant with otherworldly grace, with Justin DeTore (DU)’s low bellows echoing over layers of cymbals and ascending guitar, and Phantom Slaughter (Worm)’s vicious rasps bouncing off spidery riffs and ominous drums. And when Worm’s blackened death metamorphoses into ascendant, glittering soloing, it’s easy to see how well these two artists compliment one another. Each, in the songs allocated to them, shows the impressive reach of their own individual style, and goes just a bit further than before. “So Many Chances” sees DU extensively using clean vocals, for instance, while “Ravenblood” includes what is probably Worm’s slickest and most beautiful solo. Absolutely unmissable for fans of either, let alone both. –Thus Spoke

Dragoncorpse // The Drakketh Saga – Power metal meets deathcore. We’ve seen this before with Shadow of Intent, but we haven’t seen it the way Dragoncorpse do it. These Aussies’ first foray into two genres that seem antithetical to each other results in one of the most fun and whimsical deathcore experiences I had this year. Granted, this idea is still in its infancy and hence lacks cohesion in songwriting, and is rife with way too many expositional interludes. But between the awesome vocal variety and cool songwriting, I find it hard to care about the disjointed nature of the journey. The choruses are huge, the riffs and breakdowns heavy, and the story epic. “To the Sky” and “UNDYING” in particular are huge successes, testaments to the potential Dragoncorpse’s style holds. Flawed though it might be, it’s worth taking notice of this EP as the promise of something new and exciting for the future of hybridized extreme metal. –Kenstrosity

Spider God // The Faith Trilogy – To avoid another bout of ire from the public, I won’t talk about Spider God’s expanded catalog of black metal pop covers, even though it is a literal metric ton of silly, raw fun—including several covers of famous ad jingles, of all things! No, instead I’m going to talk about The Faith Trilogy, a collected work that includes all three of Spider God’s original EP trilogy based on Ingmar Bergman’s trilogy of the same name. While this material is not new, having been recorded between October and December of 2020, this newly unified compilation still represents everything that I love about Spider God’s original material. Delightful melodies, hooky songwriting, and an entertaining contrast between blackened rawness and jubilant, poppy performances. Nobody sounds like Spider God, and that’s a great thing. Don’t believe me? Just check out “Still No Words,” “Fight the Raging Storm,” “The Echo-God,” “Blood and Water,” “Horrible Forces,” “Strangers and Tears,” and “Embrace Despair.” –Kenstrosity

The Ember, The Ash // Venerate / Abnegate – A side project from 鬼, the creative mind behind Unreqvited, past efforts from The Ember, The Ash simply have not clicked with me. It was unexpected, therefore, that a death metal EP, sounding slightly clinical, even synthetic, in tone, replete with stuttering synth notes and heavily distorted guitars, and vox, should be the thing that finally works for me. But work it does. Concussive and thunderous, but (particularly on “Abnegate”) carrying a grand, semi-symphonic note driven by the synth work, it’s both brutal and beautiful. And it’s perhaps through that lens that I really hear the EP’s roots, anchored in the gorgeous post-black of Unreqvited’s Mosaic I: L’amour et l’ardeur, but now transformed into a snarling, riffing DM beast. –Carcharodon

Mortual // Evil Incarnation – Writhing, festering, booming, this disgusting Costa Rican death metal outing erupts the senses with overwhelming filth and unrelenting riffcraft. Mortual harkens back to a time when metal of this knuckle-scraping attitude reeked of frenetic thrash riffs and piercing whammy bombs—envision the Golgothan clamor of early Incantation trapped under the festering bed of the rainforest floor. Mortual abuses every microphone in the room to capture their hideously toned guitar drags and cavern-creaking kicks. Snarling, wide-cast tremolo rip and hammer-cast tom roll command heads to whip and bodies to flail. Succumbing low-end heft only for hideous solos (“Sadistic Obsession,” “Dimensional Chaos”) and half-time gut-punches led by murderous ride (“Morbid Thoughts,” “Master of Possession”), Evil Incarnation refuses to release you from the underbelly of its decay-imbued roars. In their own words, Mortual seeks to find through their amplified sermons the “ecstasy of death.” While I might still be standing, this loin-stirring EP has brought me, at least, to la petite mort. –Dolphin Whisperer

Spiritbox // The Fear of Fear – After the mainstream success of first full-length Eternal Blue and its singles “Holy Roller” and “Circle With Me,” Courtney LaPlante and company release an EP that sharpens the edges of their blurry debut. Heavier songs, catchier choruses, more guitar acrobatics, and LaPlante’s honed harsh vocal attack, incorporating growls alongside her already formidable pipes. Spiritbox immediately hits like a bomb with the frantic and mathy “Cellar Door,” a brutality further explored in “Angel Eyes.” Reconciling the heaviness and the ethereal quality, runaway singles “Jaded” and “The Void,” and closer “Ultraviolet” recall the act’s first two EP’s in dreamy guitar melodies and sultry choruses braced against brutal djent verses. Centerpiece “Too Close / Too Late” features LaPlante at her most vulnerable and charismatic, yearning lyrics taking front and center alongside a crescendo of a track. I don’t say this often, but with Spiritbox’s unique blend of ethereality and djenty brutality, The Fear of Fear is earning the Spotify fame in a spotlight surrounded by the Sleep Tokens and Knocked Looses of the world. –Dear Hollow

The Callous Daoboys // God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys – No one caught the feature-long joke in my TYMHM of The Callous Daoboys‘ Celebrity Therapist, and you bastards should be ashamed. Like, Nachos BellGrande ashamed. Here’s its fucking follow-up. God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys is the Atlanta six-piece’s first semi-self-titled offering, and God smiles ’cause it slays. “Pushing the Pink Envelope” and “Waco Jesus” are the carbon-dated slices of mania you expect from your favorite mathcore slayqueens, chunkier and heavier in its riffs but willing to snap your fingers snap your neck (not with Prong though, Steel Druhm) with whiplash, jerking you off from catchy choruses to panic chords to electronic beats to bone-crushing off-kilter chugs to salsa breakdowns (???) to piano trills – somehow conjuring the ghost of the memeworthy Iwrestledabearonce while sounding more cohesive. Closer “Designer Shroud of Turin” is where you take a hard left at Atlanta. Jazz, flamenco, and wildly intense electronics (courtesy of Netherlands DJ pulses.) infect the brutality and offers a new direction entirely. Go figure out my joke, then listen to this bad boy. No more Taco Bell for you. –Dear Hollow

#2023 #BlogPost #BloodIncantation #Dragoncorpse #DreamUnending #Mortual #Shadowrunner #SpiderGod #theAsh #TheEmber #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Worm #Wreathe

Dear Hollow’s Mathcore Madness [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

Y’all ready to skronk? Cuz it’s ’bout to get skronky. I had a realization about midway this year that all I was doing was contributing mathcore releases to Kenstrocity‘s Stuck in the Filter pieces. So instead of painting myself as a one-trick pony who can only do math three times a month, I decided to reveal my cards as a mathcore sellout by the end of 2023. I have been given an incurably bad taste this year, and a spotlight under which I stand alone while commenters and colleagues alike chuck tomatoes and copies of Mercyful Fate’s Dead Again and Saxon’s Rock the Nations at me (saying, and I quote, “get some culture, you sellout”). See, when the inimitable Kronos left, he took with him the taste for the mathy skronk. I suppose Dolphin Whisperer has some math love built into him, but we’re too busy squabbling over details most of the time.1

Thus, I have compiled a list of some mathcore releases you might, uh, tolerate! Because I have filtered and expressed opinions over acts like See You Next Tuesday, Sleepsculptor, Soulkeeper, and Squid Pisser (I’m not sure why I picked all mathcore acts that start with S, but here we are) you can go find ’em yourself if you’re soooo upset why I didn’t include them. Without further ado, let’s get skronky (another S!).

Better Lovers // God Made Me an Animal – Look, I get it’s an EP, but when your band consists of the instrumental section of the defunct Every Time I Die, the guitarist of Fit for an Autopsy and End, and the vocalist of the legendary The Dillinger Escape Plan, we can make some exceptions. Charisma and sleaze drip through the southern-fried leads of these four songs, while Greg Puciato’s unmistakably charismatic vocals rip across, formidable cleans gracing melodic noodling with a catchiness that contrasts with the dense groove. Speaking of the groove, they hit at just the right moments, recalling I Am Hollywood-era He is Legend in “Sacrificial Participant,” while punk speed graces “30 Under 13” with a franticness, while the riff in the title track is absolutely mammoth. Quite the lineup, and while the sound is what you’d largely expect from its ranks, the five-piece makes its debut EP just damn good mathcore.

Chamber // A Love to Kill For – Nashville’s Chamber enters the fray with a sound that weaponizes mathcore for maximum punishment, a tad like Frontierer meeting late-era The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza in a knife-fight behind the old Kmart: down-tuned thuggishness, chunky and bruising rhythms, noodly riffs, and squealing leads.2 Vocalist Jacob Lilly offers a vicious performance, his roars and fry vocals dripping with vitriol, while the cutthroat axework collapses and crushes around him, and drummer Taylor Carpenter hits the kit balancing rock-solid anchoring and pure mania. A Love to Kill For is a relentless metalcore attack barbed with hardcore punk, mathcore, and hints of deathcore: carefully calculated, intensely brutish, and worth every concussion Chamber can muster.

Euclid C Finder // The Mirror, My Weapon, I Love You – A balanced affair unafraid of the noisemaking, Baltimore’s Euclid C Finder (presumably named after the Fallout weapon) releases a grind-tinged math attack of viciousness and oddity in equal measure. Nineteen minutes of wonky rhythms, blasting percussion, manic dissonance, panic chords aplenty, and insane vocals greet the ears with the subtlety of a five-car pileup. It would be easy to dismiss The Mirror… as just another Dillinger– or Converge– worshiper, but then the groove hits. The trio balances its treble trouble with a chunky hit of downtuned intensity and gruff barks that gives respite to the million-miles-per-hour of noodly technicality. It’s a toothy and intense affair that never takes itself too seriously (i.e. “Jonathan Davis 10000 BC”) and never overstays its welcome.

Telos // Delude – What makes Copenhagen’s Telos unique is its blackened and noisy take on mathcore. Or, if you please, a mathy take on blackened hardcore – whatever floats your boat. A bit like if Hexis (with whom they released a split this year) and Botch had a scary-looking baby. Misanthropy oozes from every orifice and hostile noise fills negative space, ominous leads and dissonant plucking wearing haunting grooves into the brain. Tracks like “Bastion,” “I’ve Been Gone for So Long,” and “As Atlas Stumbled” are full-on assaults of intense proportions, while the more subdued ritualism and atmosphere in “I Accept / I Receive” and “Throne” show the depths of Telos’ lurching and rumbling depravity. Fans of mathcore and blackened hardcore would do well to do a headlong dive into this particular abyss.

Thin // Dusk – Mathcore gone grind. Reveling in tight descending patterns of insanity, with a fearlessness of skull-caving death metal, New York City’s Thin will beat you senseless with every weapon in its arsenal. A wall of noisy noodling, panic chords, and squalid feedback is erected with every attack, collapsing for death metal-inspired weight and dissonant plucking throughout that feels like homage to this year’s Asystole. Screamo orientation fuels the fire and brevity is the name of the game, but toss in formidable performances from all forces involved, with howling screeches giving way to gravelly gurgles, groovy riffs giving way to frantic tremolo, and the rhythm section cutting through the darkness. As the cheery acoustic strums of closer “Mangrove” sound in final respite, Thin revels in its sonic and lyrical pairing of nostalgia and trauma – a dark night of the soul.

Dead Soma // Pathos – A more rhythmic and atmospherically spidery but nonetheless viciously punishing take on mathcore. Best described as Loathe covering Converge songs, the sepia-toned and mysterious Deftones influence is unmistakable, but Sweden’s Dead Soma is unafraid to embrace the intensity. Hinting upon djent not unlike countrymen Vildhjarta and weighty rhythms like Car Bomb, the grooves are palpable and punishing, guided by the dead hands of electronic glitches and pinch harmonics and dragged by manic barks and screeches. Chino Moreno-esque whispery cleans and subdued mumbles add to the glitching and warm synthwork in the more laid-back tracks, which add further dynamic to the relentlessly fat riffs and mathy noodling (see: “Life and Limb” to “Error Blemish”). Warmly atmospheric, it carries a vintage tone by the vocals and synth, but is ultimately uncompromising in its brutality.

MouthBreather // Self-Tape – This one is less mathcore by sound and more by name. The Boston collective’s debut LP I’m Sorry Mr. Salesman (another filter cleaning I contributed to) was Coalesce-meets-Converge-core through and through in a groovy take on mathcore, but after a come-to-metalcore-Jesus moment they go straight for the jugular with a nu-infested, groove-infected -core sound for Self-Tape. The viciousness is front and center, with aggression and fury spewing from every chug and growl, with its storied mathcore history offering its energetic bite. Now featuring more deathcore weight and nu-metal influence to slam into your sorry-ass ears alongside the ghosts of Christmas skronk, Self-Tape reflects a descent into madness through its very reasonable twenty-three minutes of film references. Maybe you’ll think it’s just metalcore with no mathcore in sight, and you’d be right, but (a) that’s why it’s at the end of this piece and (b) your head will be bobbing so hard you won’t care.

#2023 #ALoveToKillFor #AmericanMetal #Asystole #BetterLovers #BlackenedHardcore #Botch #CarBomb #Chamber #Coalesce #Converge #DanishMetal #DeadSoma #Deathcore #Deftones #Delude #Dusk #End #EuclidCFinder #EveryTimeIDie #FitForAnAutopsy #Frontierer #Gideon #GodMadeMeAnAnimal #Grindcore #HardcorePunk #HeIsLegend #Hexis #Loathe #Mathcore #Metalcore #NuMetal #Pathos #SwedishMetal #Telos #TheAcaciaStrain #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheMirrorMyWeaponILoveYou #TheTonyDanzaTapdanceExtravaganza #Thin #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Vildhjarta

The EP, Split and Single Post Part 1 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By El Cuervo

Long albums are fraught with perils: the wasted potential of pre-release singles or powerful openers; repetition as a band feels obliged to fill more time than they have ideas; inconsistent quality as some songs clearly supercede others; and the sheer fucking expanse of music being too much for a listener. They’re such risky business that I’d counsel against even bothering.

By contrast? I’d advise you either create or consume short-form releases. They’re among my favorite things in the world1. They convey their meaning expeditiously, prioritize quality over quantity and are far more economically viable for the artist2. Grindcore acts learned this over 30 years ago and who am I to deny the immense popularity and evident commercial viability of grindcore? As if all this wasn’t enough, bands that favor EPs, splits, singles and collaborations are also more sexually desirable. Don’t question the science; just open wide and accommodate the following releases. –El Cuervo

Asidhara // Echoes of the Ancients – There’s little that’s complicated about the pleasure I derive from Echoes of the Ancients by Asidhara. Riffs. Riffs. More riffs. Within 2023, these 4 tracks contain a concentration of top-drawer guitars bettered only by new the new Sylosis record. 20 minutes of straightforward thrash in April was exactly the headbanging salvo I required when compared with a March characterized by reviews of proggy material. I would compare these Welshmen to Power Trip due to the razor-sharp leads, energized vocal attack and crossover sensibilities. It’s a metallic tour de force and one you’d be idiotic to miss if you like guitar music. –El Cuervo

fromjoy // fromjoy – Few releases from 2023 delighted me as much as fromjoy’s self-titled EP. It represents 26 minutes of a shockingly vital fusion between grindcore, breakcore and vaporwave. No other band comes close for genre-bending ingenuity and cathartic insanity. I love each form of their sound, from the wretched, chaotic grind on “Accela,” to the gurgling, stomping breakdowns on “Docility,” to the dancing trip-hop on “Eros,” all the way through to the massive closing duo “Helios” and “Icarus.” The first of these fuses smooth saxophones and sexy synths with brutal breakcore, while the latter levers clean singing over vaporwave synths before closing the release with emotionally charged roars over fat riffs. These 5 minutes are worth the price of entry alone, but what comes before is so compelling that you’ll not want to stop listening. fromjoy and fromjoy are both essential. –El Cuervo

Glyph // When the World Was Young – I was probably predestined to enjoy the output of brand-spanking-new power metal band Glyph, because I’ve loved at least one album that each member has been a part of at one time or another. Comprising the vocal talents of R.A. Voltaire (Ravenous), the axe-wielding of Rob Steinway (ex-Skelator, Greyhawk), the low-end rumble of Darin Wall (ex-Skelator, Greyhawk), and the keyboard wizardry of Jeff Black (Gatekeeper), Glyph specializes in over-the-top power metal that should please fans of Rhapsody, Sabaton, and Gloryhammer. This demo sports three tracks of distinct styles and moods, nicely showcasing the band’s abilities and giving us a good idea of what to expect from future releases. When you take into consideration the music and the band’s social media output, it’s apparent that this project is meant to be fun, and I’m already smiling thinking about a Glyph full-length release. –Holdeneye

Strigoi // Bathed in a Black Sun – Because nobody got enough of Strigoi’s vampiric take on doom-tinged death metal from last year’s monstrous Viscera,3 Gregor Mackintosh and company are back with a brisk, brutal five-song, fourteen-minute EP chock full of heavy riffs and, in most cases, ludicrous speed. No really, “Beautiful Stigmata” says more in its scant 42 seconds than most songs of greater lengths. Besides the title track, all the other four songs were extras from the Viscera sessions, but don’t think this isn’t essential. In fact, besides the menacing “A Spear of Perfect Grief,” the songs on display are more than happy to rip your head clean off. –Grymm

Insomnium // Songs of the Dusk – What 2021 EP Argent Moon was to Heart Like a Grave, Songs of the Dusk is to Anno 1696. Specifically, it’s far superior to the respective most recent full-length release. Only three songs and twenty-odd minutes long, it nonetheless makes an impression through Insomnium’s own brand of dreamy, ballady melodeath. Those key changing, soaring choruses (“Flowers of the Night,” “Song of the Dusk”), and impassioned, flighty surges of dancing riffery (“Stained in Red”). Songs of the Dusk also leans heavily into atmosphere in ways not seen since Shadows of the Dying Sun at least, with glossy riffs fading in gracefully (“Song of the Dusk”), mournful, echoing tones backing up key refrains to give them a deep and shadowy presence (“Flowers of the Night”), and echoing clear guitar and piano over stripped-back synth. It never gets particularly lively, but fans of the band’s doomier, dreamier side will be very happy. –Thus Spoke

Vampire Squid // Plasmic – The previous three Vampire Squid outings all represent delightfully weird, skronky, mathy deathcore. Unreasonably heavy chugs, proggy song construction, and whimsical FX combine with Andrew Virrueta’s disgusting voKILLs to form submerged horrors unlike any other in the metalsphere. Then, Plasmic dropped in February and changed everything. Essentially Vampire Squid’s interpretation of brutal death metal with a slam kink, Plasmic is an inky pool of primordial slime for whatever this band is planning on unleashing next (“Cosmic Seepage,” “Wormholes Collide”). Stomps abound, enhanced by a wonderful pong snare, extra-filthy gurgles, and stripped-down, straightforward songwriting that reeks of Bolt Thrower (“Lurking Mystic”). If you’ve got fourteen minutes to spare, and I know that you do, dive deep into Vampire Squid’s horrific undersea world with Plasmic.4 –TheKenWord

Kanonenfieber // U-Bootsmann – At this juncture, it’s really not worth me pretending that I am anything other than an avowed Kanonenfieber fanboy. However, despite that, I assure you that the latest EP from German creator, Noise, is well worth your time and modest investment. In instantly recognizable form—from the practically trademarked orange cover art, through to the rasping roar of the dual-tracked vocals—the two tracks relate the tale of the crew of a First World War German u-boot, as they surge forth on their first mission (“Kampf und Sturm”), to their watery grave in an iron tube (“Die Havarie”). As with previous Kanonenfieber releases, there is something hopelessly mournful about the arc of the story told, from its initial, almost anthemic stomping blackened death on the first track, searing tremolos leading the charge, to an exhausted, fatalistic melo-black sound on the second. The production is excellent as ever, as is the use of samples, including the sonar pings and spoken word passages, which, whether original or not5, add a now-familiar feeling of authenticity to the piece. –Carcharodon

Grub Nap // God Pile – A clanging kit, a squealing guitar, two voices yelping, yowling in asynchronous pain—these values string-slinger Dan Barter (Dvne) and stick-abuser Steve Myles (Groak) hold true with Grub Nap. Though Barter’s name carries a refined yet trudging sludge weight, his fat tone knob guides lurching, hissing Melvins-edged grooves through Myles’ bare, rattling boned kit-tensity. Ever the elegant riff machine, the snaking refrains of tracks like “Closerer” and “Wire Mother” slink about with the snappy play that you might hear in a more loaded Deadguy tune. But more importantly, Barter’s hypnotizing, gain-soaked strums land in concerted attack with each full snare snap, each mechanically resonating crash, each strained throat cry (“Sticky Back Uranium,” “Tin Banshee”) to maintain a violent, marching fullness that understates its two-man nature. God Pile’s six-song, fifteen-minute run will test your neck-bobbing endurance—repeat sets recommended for maximum vibe gains and/or quick catharsis. –Dolphin Whisperer

Haru Nemuri // INSAINT – I know what you’re thinking. Doesn’t Haru Nemuri make that weird, art rap, pop-punk-y, pseudo-J-Idol music suited for matcha latte enjoyers?6 Yes, 2022’s SHUNKA RYOUGEN pulled an extended mess in too many directions despite a few entertaining ideas. INSAINT, however, leans on the straightforwardness of punk and low-frills post-hardcore, albeit colored by the bounce of J-pop and bright-guitar punk acts like 9mm Parabellum Bullet. It’s not a dig to say that the anthemic build of “Destruction Sisters” or the chime-assisted drive of “Flee from the Sanctuary” could find a home in hopeful, comedic, coming-of-age anime. Still, trickier rhythm cuts “I Refuse” and “Inferno” contain a pop-informed, brooding attitude akin to Nemuri’s other work. But framed in the context of this rock band arrangement—minimal synth accompaniment across INSAINT—Nemuri’s many vocal identities instead weave and exchange placement to balance the weight leading up to the furious-kick closer “No Pain, No Gain Is Shit.” If you need rapid-delivery, life-affirming injection to float your work day, consider a little INSAINT in your membrane. –Dolphin Whisperer

Celeste // Epilogue(s) – The French collective has made some of the most caustic and filthy music since their first album Nihiliste(s) in 2004, and the progression towards the more blackened furor of 2022’s Infidele(s) has been a natural one, translating that densely challenging filth and venomous vocals into strangulation by barbed wire rather than beaten by a rusty hammer. Follow-up EP Epilogue(s) acknowledges its predecessor but also takes its own course completely, Celeste offering three tracks that maintain the scathing quality while also dwelling in pummeling meditation with the two tracks while also tossing in their first cleanly and heart-wrenchingly sung, and in English, track “With idle hands.” Celeste kicks open the door of possibilities with this release, refusing to pigeonhole themselves into the caustic filth with which we are familiar – showing a glimpse of humanity beneath the grime. –Dear Hollow

#2023 #Asidhara #BlogPost #fromjoy #Glyph #GrubNap #HaruNemuri #Insomnium #Kanonenfieber #Strigoi #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VampireSquid #Worm #Wreathe

Aphotic – Abyssgazer [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dolphin Whisperer

Evil. No matter what flowery progressive, flamboyantly triumphant path metal may weave, a large part of what attracted many of us, and a large part of what inspires creators, rests in distilling evil into dark vibrations, wallowing wails, and crooked melodies. Previously in this mindset, Italy’s Nicolò Brambilla (voice, synths1) and Giovanni Piazza (guitars) have presented this energy with cosmic funeral doom act Fuoco Fatuo, and contrastingly with the bursting and churning riffcraft of Brambilla’s 90s-inspired death metal troupe Ekpyrosis. Aphotic,2 born of this grime-crusted pedigree, swings with a ritualistic fervor from ripping blast to reverb-drenched howl to conjure the unique, reeking atmosphere that pervades Abyssgazer. Evil lurks in every phrase.

As such, Abyssgazer presents as the kind of echoing incantation that must ring through ears from first to last note. No mere synthesis of the acts who fed Aphotic into existence, this sometimes blackened, sometimes funeral doom-weighted, always death metal assembly expresses itself in a peerless manner. The cavernous kick pummels that split air to render space for discordant guitar screeches recall the thunderous energy of a lurching Immolation. The breakaways into bouncing rhythms with layered and resonant vocal chants recall the anthemic black metal of Rotting Christ, albeit with a bend toward the psychedelic. The hypnotic kit hammering and looped lead melodies exist as a twisted Godflesh instance manifested as a death metal sacrifice. In hands less mindful, and in engineering fine-tuned by Esoteric’s Greg Chandler—a mind of similar persuasion but much longer in phrasing—Abyssgazer could have flown off its experimental rails.

Instead, disarmingly so, Abyssgazer flows naturally from idea to idea, with each long-form statement having a strong central identity. A trio of world-building breaths intersperse the heaviest moments: “Endzeit I,” a slow percussive build before a shattering blast beat open; “Endzeit II,” an eerie, reverberating acoustic segue before an even squirmier post-informed eruption; “Endzeit III,” a menacing synth-scraping the hisses toward the punishing conclusion. As contemporaries to Bölzer and Tongues, Aphotic finds its death metal rooting not in loud, chunky chords but rather in snaking progressions that rumble through low-end tremolo drills (“Spectral Degredation,” “Depths Call Depths”) and whip with phasing arpeggio force (“Cosmivore,” “Chasmous”). Nothing summons the dark lord like a lumbering, hazy legato.

On early listens, though, equally due to loaded layers of ambient electronic and modulated metal elements, Abyssgazer may struggle to brand its choices into memory. It’s the journey that forms first: the brutalist bashing that kicks off the descent (“Spectral Degradation”), the bellow and choir that won’t stop ringing (“Deathward and Beyond,” “Horizonless”), the summoning dirge that announces collapse (“Chasmous”). The swinging riffs and recursive melodies stitch these points together (“Cosmivore,” “Abyssgazer”). Until a martial spirit reveals itself along the path (“Cosmivore,” “Horizonless”). Everything always moves forward.

Abyssgazer reads less like a grand novel and more like a short story, ultimately. Its tools well worn and non-gratuitous, the time that elapses over this debut’s course never feels overstayed. Aphotic has the power to warp time in their meticulous and death-carved hands. So as exciting as Abyssgazer lands, and much, in the same way, it lures the listener along, the next step along this band’s career promises even more.

Tracks to Check Out: “Spectral Degradation,” “Depths Call Depths,” “Chasmous”3

#2023 #Abyssgazer #Aphotic #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Bedsore #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Bolzer #DeathMetal #Ekpyrosis #Esoteric #FuocoFatuo #Godflesh #ItalianMetal #NuclearWinterRecords #PostDeathMetal #RottingChrist #SentientRuinLaboratories #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Tongues

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Saunders

It wouldn’t be Things You Might Have Missed season without some controversy. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, prolific, chameleon-like alchemists King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard have garnered a powerful cult following since forming in 2010. Incredibly during that time, they released a scarcely believable 25 LPs. My own experience with the band is limited in comparison to their exhausting, hyperactive output. Sure, I’ve heard songs here and there and enjoyed the odd isolated jam, however, perhaps due to the overwhelming body of work, and skepticism over the quantity vs quality ratio, I have never given a full LP of theirs a good shake. That changed with their 24th LP, the ludicrously titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, which dropped upon the masses in June 2023.

Boasting a penchant for pushing genre boundaries and work rates to the limit, channeling a strong progressive and psychedelic rock flair, amidst a myriad of other influences and styles from album to album, the reason for appearing on these hallowed pages, is for the second time in their career King Gizzard channeled their metal urges. In 2019 they released the well-received Infest the Rat’s Nest. Naturally, there will be pre-conceived doubts from listeners as to whether a largely non-metal band has any business releasing a credible, fully-fledged metal album. Well, King Gizzard could seemingly give two fucks what the masses think. And I would encourage those with this line of thinking to at least give PetroDragonic Apocalypse a decent shake, as it is a hugely fun and entertaining platter performed with genuine metal attitude and conviction, all executed within the adventurous, kaleidoscopic realms in which King Gizzard gleefully reside.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is an odd collective with restless ambitions and musical talent to burn. Across seven tracks and 48 weighty minutes, King Gizzard bring their own unique flair and creativity to a set of hard-rocking, driving metal anthems. PetroDragonic Apocalypse’ possesses a scorched desert, Mad Max-style vibe, as King Gizzard weave threads of red dirt-speckled thrash, biker metal grunt and punky Motörhead attitude, all filtered through their distinctive and bizzarro progressive and psychedelic-washed lens. Middle Eastern-tinged melodies, tribal percussion, revved-up riffs and propulsive energy drive epic opener “Motor Spirit,” kicking the album into top gear. The crunchy thrash and punk-infused thrust of “Supercell,” and acid dipped Motörhead charge of “Converge” follow, setting the album’s bar high, with momentum largely maintained. Other bangers drop mid-album, such as the fantastical charms and hopelessly infectious hooks of “Gila Monster,” before the band wig out hard across two nearly 10-minute, hard-hitting and experimental jams to close things out.

It doesn’t always work, some self-indulgent bloat and repetition presents, but the pros far outweigh the cons, and the songwriting is never less than interesting. In the end, the nature of the band, strange vibes and tongue-in-cheek elements will likely divide metalheads. I had initial doubts but left with a smile on my face and scrambling back for more with the music being too damn fun, addictive and wickedly inventive to resist. PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation is well worth a crack for the curious or skeptical, it just might win you over.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Supercell,” “Converge,” Gila Monster,” “Witchcraft”

#AustralianMetal #BikerMetal #DawnOfEternalNightAnAnnihilationOfPlanetEarthAndTheBeginningOfMercilessDamnation #KingGizzardTheLizardWizard #Motörhead #PetroDragonicApocalypseOr #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #ThrashMetal

Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light Volume 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Doom_et_Al

Crow Black Sky’s second album, Sidereal Light Volume 1, caught my eye in 2018 for several reasons. Firstly, it received a well-deserved 4.0 on this here blog. Secondly, it came from a band located in my home (and favorite city in the whole world), Cape Town, South Africa. For those unaware, extreme metal is a tough sell in Africa. No established scene, no radio support, few venues, and conservative crowds. Any metal band from Africa faces an uphill battle from the get-go, which makes it all the more astonishing how many cool bands South Africa produces. Crow Black Sky are no exception, and Sidereal Light Volume 1 was notable for how it melded black metal with a progressive sensibility on an outright operatic template. It felt massive and exciting, and I couldn’t wait for the implied Volume 2…

… Which then passed me by entirely. Maybe it was the long wait time, maybe the lack of label support, or maybe gremlins in the promo sump. Regardless, it flitted by without turning my head (and many others) and that’s a real shame because Sidereal Light Volume 2 deserved to enter many more earholes than it did. Including yours.

For those unfamiliar, Crow Black Sky play epic, atmospheric black metal in the vein of Mare Cognitum or Spectral Lore. There is plenty of blackgaze, some post-metal, but a progressive and highly operatic streak is what separates the band from contemporaries. The band underwent major line-up alterations before Sidereal Light Volume 1, and those changes were immediately apparent on the album, which was very different from debut, Pantheion. More changes occurred before Volume 2 with a new bassist, guitarist, and drummer. Often, this spells trouble. But while Volume 2 is different from Volume 1, it feels like the spiritual successor, not an entirely new beast. It’s also fucking rad.

The biggest change is Crow Black Sky’s continual development towards a more progressive, vibrant sound. The blackened elements still predominate, but there are many moments of major keys and uplifting melodies, which can initially be jarring. Opener, “The Blinding Might of Creation” begins so triumphantly, it is initially confusing. Where is the gentle prelude? The pointless 2-minute intro of chanted words? The frosty tremolos? Instead, we have warm hues, major keys and shimmering synths. It reminded me of Countless Skies’ 2020 gem, Glow. Crow Black Sky have no interest in limiting themselves, and Volume 2 sounds glorious and expansive precisely because it jettisons our notions of genre conventions. The album is a trip through the cosmos, with each of the 4 songs building upon the previous one.

Yes, I could have done with another song or two. Yes, I think the band has lost a tiny bit of bite in its embrace of melody. These are nitpicks in a stellar album that often sounds truly cosmic. More importantly, Crow Black Sky don’t sound like anyone else out there right now. It is rare for a band to combine common elements and make them sound unique. This makes the fact that so few heard this collection a real travesty. Crow Black Sky are onto something here, but they need a nudge and support. Put your headphones on, relax, and let them transport to you the stars.*

*Then pay them for their album, get them a record label, convince them to tour, and make sure it’s not 5 years until Vol 3.

Tracks to Check Out: There are only 4. Listen to all of them.

#2023 #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #CountlessSkies #CrowBlackSky #IndependentRelease #MareCognitum #SouthAfricanMetal #SpectralLore #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Begravement – Horrific Illusions Beckon [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Saunders

Amidst the slew of mighty fine death metal releases in 2023, there were some killer debuts and plenty of albums well worth your attention, even if they didn’t feature heavily, or at all, during another epic Listurnalia campaign. One such album was the debut LP from up-and-coming Minnesota death dealers Begravement and their potential packed Horrific Illusions Beckon album. And though it didn’t quite crack my own end-of-year list, I certainly spent lots of time jamming Horrific Illusions Beckon. In a crowded modern death metal field Begravement’s lively formula features the distinct stench of the classic Florida death metal scene from yesteryear, coupled with forward-thinking arrangements, progressive flourishes and an aggressive, thrashy bent. In what we hope will be an equally robust year of death metal in 2024, let’s explore the exciting depths and twists of Horrific Illusions Beckon.

Begravement offer a busy, multifaceted sound that touches on numerous styles and influences within the broader death genre. Creating a colorful, technical and wildly adventurous offering that nonetheless doesn’t forget to have fun, Begravement unleash an abundance of fiery, headbangabale riffs and furious thrashy death salvos. There are knotty technical and proggy nods to Death and Atheist, the gnarled thrashy precision of Vader and The Chasm, and hints of modern trailblazers Horrendous. Throw in the prominent thrash influence, experimental touches and hints of smooth melodeath elements and you are left with a memorable and versatile package. Whether exploring more progressive, complex and adventurous pastures (“Valley of Everlasting Darkness,” “Intergalactic Espionage,” epic closer ‘Return to Planet Earth”), ripping, though bouncier melodic territories (“Anaphylaxis” and “Scarabs Beneath the Flesh”) or straight up proggy, death ragers (“A Horrific Illusion,” “Desecration of the Meek”), Begravement execute swiftly and thrust their rabidly aggressive stylings to the forefront.

Musically the four-piece are an accomplished bunch, collectively flexing their instrumental muscles, without letting shit get too cutsie or self-indulgent. Ezra Blumenfeld (also on vocals) and Owen Hiber share a deep appreciation for death metal’s long and varied history, slamming out a dexterous mix of slash-and-burn death-thrash riffs, striking melodic leads, and brooding, progressive turns and explorations. Grady Westling attacks his kit with feisty energy, comfortably shifting modes of speed and rhythm with the ever-shifting dynamics of the music, while extra praise is warranted for the skillfully performed melodic counterpoint of Matt Schrampfer’s fretless bass. Blumenfeld handles lead vocals, with his mid-ranged, well-enunciated and deceptively dynamic rasps and growls fitting the vibe well, though I occasionally crave a little more guttural heft.

All this impressive musicianship would count for little without decent songs, and thankfully Begravement do not disappoint in the songwriting department. This is a collection of finely crafted and diverse compositions, though at 54 minutes there is some bloat present, indicating a future need to perhaps tighten up on the editing front. Overall, for all the many positive traits, strengths and potential packed into Begravement’s debut, the pleasing takeaway is that this is early days and the prospect of Begravement improving and building on the sturdy frameworks and foundations they have created here stirs up excitement for where they head next. In the meantime, Horrific Illusions Beckon is an extremely accomplished, borderline great album for an exciting death metal act on the rise. A little more refinement of their songwriting abilities and tighter editing will hopefully see Begravement reap greater rewards on their next album.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Anaphylaxis,” “Valley of Everlasting Darkness,” “Intergalactic Espionage”.

#AmericanMetal #Atheist #Begravement #Death #DeathMetal #Horrendous #HorrificIllusionsBeckon #OldSchoolDeathMetal #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #TheChasm #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Vader

Subsignal – A Poetry of Rain [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Subsignal, the German progressive metal/rock outfit that rose from the ashes of Sieges Even, has gradually evolved from “a band I quite like” into “a core tenet of my musical identity,” and it pains me that they’ve never been covered on this site. Granted, even at their heaviest, Subsignal’s style of progressive metal leans toward gentleness, but they’re still no less heavy than some other groups featured on AMG. I hoped that after all this time their newest opus might get a full review, and I was crestfallen that we never received their promo. I guess sometimes you’ve just gotta be the change you want to see in the world, and so it brings me genuine joy and catharsis to finally give Subsignal a spot on Angry Metal Guy with their excellent A Poetry of Rain.

Primary songwriter and guitarist Markus Steffen has woven an unusual, wet melancholy into Subsignal’s usual gentle prog. “Sliver (The Sheltered Garden)” hints at an ever-present gloom with eerily distant guitars and precise drumwork, while the burgeoning warmth of the keyboards in “Marigold” and “A Wound is a Place to Let the Light In” dispels the darkness. It’s worth noting that the careful restraint in Steffen’s songwriting makes A Poetry of Rain Subsignal’s most understated album to date, but no less impactful. Every song is a concise, individual experience that never overstays its welcome, allowing the album’s heart of soft sadness to always shine through. Steffen knows exactly when to let the energy rise or fall, until the music culminates in the sublime “The Last of its Kind,” a near-perfect apex of the album’s emotions whose final chorus (and killer saxophone solo) has cemented the song as one of my favorite Subsignal tracks.

It’s difficult to exaggerate how much A Poetry of Rain benefits from the irreplaceable vocals of Arno Menses. He is inseparable from Subsignal’s identity and appeal, and even if the music doesn’t resonate with you, I’d wager that Menses’ performance will move you all the same. His is that rare voice that sounds effortless in whatever he sings, be it during the powerful zenith of “The Last of its Kind” or in the solemnity of “A Room on the Edge of Forever.” A Poetry of Rain continues Subsignal’s liberal use of layered vocals with Menses’s voice mixed into those of the other members, and it sounds as excellent as ever. Some of the album’s best moments come from Menses singing atop the layered voices in “Impasse” and “Embers Part II: Water Wings.” Subsignal is full of talented musicians who are excellent at what they do, yet Menses’ masterwork pipes stand far above the rest.

The melancholy of A Poetry of Rain makes it an atypical Subsignal experience and a peculiar entry point to the band’s discography, but who cares? A Poetry of Rain still has everything that has always made Subsignal such an incredible band: poignant emotional clarity, subtle and skillful musicianship, and an unbeatable vocal performance from one of the best singers. I hope to one day be able to give them a full review, but even in this shorter format, it’s enough, and it’s everything. Please check this out, and then devour their whole catalog. And then do it again.

Tracks to Check Out: “Sliver (The Sheltered Garden),” “Embers Part II: Water Wings,” “Melancolia One,” “The Last of its Kind,” “A Room on the Edge of Forever”

#2023 #APoetryOfRain #GentleArtOfMusic #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Sep23 #SiegesEven #Subsignal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM

Cherd’s Raw Black Metal Muster [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Cherd

There are two types of people in this world: those who appreciate raw black metal, and those who live fulfilling lives with friends and careers and family who speak to them at holiday gatherings. Since the advent of Bandcamp, the kvltest of all metal genres has become infinitely more accessible. Every year I wade through acres of tape hiss and tinny treble, looking for the half dozen or so raw black releases that rise above the buzzing tangle of cobwebs to rarified, putrid air. The following represent a cross-section of the seemingly infinite number of corpse-painted weirdos in basements the world over making music with no hope of even the smallest commercial success. This is for the fans, like me, as well as the curious. And if anyone in the comments says “This would be pretty good if the production wasn’t so shitty,” I swear I’ll slap on some messy black and white makeup, put bullet belts across my chest, find where your parents live, show up at their door and tell them we need references for the child we’re adopting together and not to worry about fulfilling other grandparent duties because we plan on selling the child to a Baphomet cult so we can buy drugs. The shitty production is the point.

Fugitive Wizard // Ultima Magus Chapters I, II, III, & IV – It would be fair to say that Fugitive Wizard is a (somewhat) more serious Old Nick, at least musically. The rollicking black metal is a bit more straight forward and the keyboards are a lot less goofy, but they’re kindred spirits. Indeed, Fugitive Wizard was one of the earliest non-Abysmal Specter bands on Grime Stone Records, though they seem to have parted ways. The four Ultima Magus EPs released in 2023 are identical in format to their previous Extorris Magus cycle, with each chapter consisting of two raw black metal tracks and an experimental synth interlude. Ultima Magus Chapter I is a slow start, but the stretch beginning with “Path of Druids” on II and ending with the stirring black metal anthem “Crimsonfrost Red Winter” on III is the band’s best work to date. The interludes can be described as “Brian Eno does dungeon synth” and all four are lovely.

Grave Pilgrim // The Bigotry of Purpose – If you read my raw black metal piece from last year, you’ll know that Grave Pilgrim was one of my favorite discoveries of 2022. They’re the only band to repeat on this year’s list, as full-length The Bigotry of Purpose expands on what I liked about the Molten Hands Reach West EP. They continue to hone a uniquely American take on black metal, with ramshackle riffs and guitar tones that veer into both rockabilly and classic rock territory, as displayed on the infectious “Prometheus Weeps.” Then, there’s that “old soul” character I noted before, this time embodied by the inclusion of “The Silver Swan,” an adaptation of 17th-century English composer Orlando Gibbons’ madrigal, as well as the remarkable guest vocals by a woman identified only as SD. Landing somewhere between opera and 19th-century parlor singing, SD lends a haunting and, frankly eyebrow-raising counterpoint/compliment to the songs “Rhiannon’s Wake” and “The Bigotry of Purpose.”

Jesum Christum // Svag Total – Longtime readers of this site may be familiar with the work of Jesum Christum’s sole member Adam Kjær Nielsen. As the drummer for Denmark’s Slægt, he’s been reviewed three times here, all quite favorably. Thanks to Italian label Canti Eretici quickly becoming one of my favorites for raw black metal, I discovered his highly melodic, atmospheric debut Svag Total. There’s a forlorn, almost cinematic sweep to the riffs that match the classical painting and etching that grace the cover art, but a nasty edge comes out here and there, especially on closing track “Herkser.” Nielsen is obviously in an exploratory phase, as he followed this up with an entirely choral 13-minute track sung in Latin and Hebrew, as well as released similar black metal in 2023 under the moniker Shrug. I hope it all coalesces into something cohesive, but even if it doesn’t this is a fine piece of raw, fiery melodicism.

Mycorrhizae // The Great Filtration – When I first stumbled upon this fungus-themed black metal duo, I knew there was a Minneapolis connection, but I didn’t realize it was the landing place of False drummer Travis Minnick after the ugly breakup of that band. Here he handles all instruments under the pseudonym Collector, along with vocalist Forager. Turns out his talents may have been wasted on drumming, because if Mycorrhizae’s debut full-length The Great Filtration was a breakfast cereal, it would be called OOPS! All Riffs, and your parents wouldn’t buy it for you because it would rot your teeth. And maybe turn you into one of those clickers from The Last of Us. Each tightly wound song runs through riff progressions like a brush fire while Forager shrieks about mycelial networks. If this is humanity’s future, I for one welcome our mushroom overlords.

Trhä // lhum’adsejja – No one, and I mean NO ONE, put out more music in 2023 than Mexico City-born, Texas-based Damián Antón Ojeda, also known as Trhä. Between 11 splits, five EPs and three full-lengths (I’m not even counting Ojeda’s other bands or solo projects), Trhä put out a wide spectrum of raw black metal and post-black experimentation, with all lyrics and titles in conlangs (made up languages) of their own invention. Some releases are sickly sweet and black-gaze-y, some icy and aggressive, all are at least interesting, many good, some very good. I listened to a solid two-thirds of Trhä’s output this year and settled on full-length lhum’adsejja as my favorite. It contains their catchiest riff craft in songs like “ovhen” and “dlhevuqshja dlhumër bem” as well as the sprawling experimental album closer “dosuar Qámrë ëlh,” which cleverly exploits the surprisingly short distance between programmed drum blast beats and EDM styles like drum’n’bass. If you want to dig deeper into Trhä’s mind-numbing 2023 output, I’d also recommend this EP and this split.

Ushangvagush // Pestmo’qon – After my oopsie-daisy in last year’s piece, I’ve become a bit more discerning about which indigenous raw black projects to promote, and Boston’s Ushangvagush appears to be well worth one’s time. A one-man Mi’kmaq wrecking ball of seething riffs and post-rock deconstruction, “D” turns his attention on sophomore full-length Pestmo’qon (“hunger” or “starvation”) to an ever-growing theme among metal bands: climate/ecological despair. The record consists of two 20-plus minute cuts that form a single piece. Part one is all barely contained rage and roiling, muscular riffs, like trying to hold a boa constrictor in a pillowcase. Part two lets some of the complex natural beauty we’re indiscriminately destroying shine through in gentler, eerier soundscapes. This isn’t a very hopeful record. The things being grieved are technically still around, but un-savable.

Vampiric Coffin // Give Your Blood to the Night & The Last Drop – As per usual, I found a lot of this year’s Grime Stone Records releases enjoyable, adding a fair number to my Bandcamp collection. Curta’n Wall made my official top ten list, but Vampiric Coffin also deserves recognition. Between two EPs totaling 12 songs and a blazing 22 minutes, this Mississippi-based project by one Count Jeffery the Vampire wraps one buzzing, infectious riff after another in cob-webby production raw enough to please any lo-fi-o-phile. Black metal is the core, but there’s loads of thrash and punk influence as well with just a sprinkling of synth here and there. The songs are highly repeatable, which is great considering they’re all about two minutes long.

#AmericanMetal #BigBovineProductions #BlackMetal #CantiEreticiRecords #DanishMetal #DeathPrayerRecords #FugitiveWizard #GravePilgrim #GrimeStoneRecords #JesumChristum #MexicanMetal #Mycorrhizae #RawBlackMetal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Trhä #Ushangvagush #VampiricCoffin #VigorReconstruct #WergildRecords

Dear Hollow’s Prava Kollektiv Collection [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

Look, I get this shit is niche. Like real fuckin’ niche. Cherd of Doom‘s excellent Black Metal Muster from 2022 enabled a new generation of us black metal wanderers to flip off the doom and prog aficionados, emerge from our corpsepainted closets, and shriek in indecipherable tones until that Methodist church down the street burned to the ground. Here we are, praising black metal twice in one year, and it doesn’t get much better than the enigmatic Prava Kollektiv, an enigmatic and anonymous congregation based probably in Russia or Slavic states, whose releases are unleashed, often simultaneously, in conjunction with Amor Fati Records and Fallen Empire Records. It is known that its five bands share members, and as you may have guessed, they all share the black metal tag. It is unknown, however, what thread courses through all the releases, as themes of the void, consciousness, the cosmos, and other abstract concepts plague the sound and lyrics. What is more important is that the Prava Kollektiv is an unfuckwithable and unmissable collection of blackened tunes, with 2023 offering their most formidable array yet. Without further ado, let’s get kvlt.

Arkhtinn // 三​度​目​の​災​害 – The Prava Kollektiv’s flagship act is perhaps one of the more traditional of the bunch, conjuring the isolation of ice-crusted stars through its use of raw black and ambiance. The release of 三​度​目​の​災​害 also coincides with Arkhtinn’s ten-year anniversary. Reconciling both the iciness and star-borne darkness of Wintherr’s projects, Arkhtinn’s “third disaster” (in Japanese) proves far from it. Through its two tracks and forty-four-minute runtime, you will feel smothered by darkness then exposed to the vacuum in the course of every ebb and flow of the cosmic winds of tracks “一番” and “二番,” shifting from lonely ambiance to blasting raw black intensity fused with symphonic and crystalline ambiance that recalls Emperor or Vordven. As evident in the 2020 split Astrophobia with and in contrast to Starless Domain, Arkhtinn is also here unafraid to embrace a scathing quality that spits in the face of modern atmoblack’s stereotypical warmth. 三​度​目​の​災​害 is atmospheric and otherworldly, but uncompromisingly punishing work from the act that proves its mettle again and again.

Voidsphere // To Infect | To Inflict – Like Wintherr’s Darkspace to his Paysage d’Hiver, Voidsphere dwells in vicious and suffocating darkness, while Arkhtinn largely concerns itself with isolation and frigidity. You will see the tricks of swelling synth and ambiance, but the claustrophobic ambivalence of noise saturates empty space and adds a weight all its own in Voidsphere’s sixth full-length. The act’s forty-three-minute dive into darkness is less an experiment but a sharpening of craft, as the riffs are stronger and the honed melodies are less a reprieve to the punishment but a last scream cut short. As its name suggests, “To Infect” is far more creeping and subtle while “To Inflict” offers a no-holds-barred assault of blackened intensity. What the void-worshipers have long done above shoulders better than their counterparts is conjure the claustrophobia and darkness of its source material and the colossal quality of its artwork. It has long felt that Voidsphere is hurtling toward some grand and earth-shattering conclusion, and we should all tremble to ponder it.

Mahr // Odium – The denser and darker sibling of the Prava Kollektiv, Mahr separates itself by incorporating a more deathened and industrial take on second-wave worship. Odium is a furious offering, as its hate-themed title indicates, grinding and relentless throughout its forty-minute beatdown. Even its moments of placidity balance the onslaught with scorched earth ambient compositions that survey the wreckage, basking in obsidian tones and subtle industrial electronic beats. “Infames” offers a slowly unraveling structure, layer after layer being stripped across its blastbeats and thick tremolo, culminating in the central riff: suddenly death metal clarity punches through the blackened murk in a downtuned skull-crushing riff paired with death metal vocals that drags the entire industrial black palette to hell and back. Mahr dials the dread up in “Maledicti” with a nearly impenetrable fog of sound that makes the vicious attack even more devastating. Odium finds Mahr distinguishing itself from the Prava Kollektiv’s more household acts with a relentlessly bleak and brutally unforgiving attack.

Hwwauoch // Under the Gaze of Dissolution – While Voidsphere conjures the weight of the void and Mahr channels hate, Hwwauoch’s dissonant and fluid-structure has always felt like a twisted and perverse image of Freud’s unconscious “id.” The dissonance conjured from the act’s catalog has always hinted at something beyond simple menace of or even unknowable hugeness: they play the music of distorted consciousness and humans made in God’s corrupted image. What their fourth full-length constitutes, however, is a radical departure from the dense impenetrability of Hwwauoch’s catalog. They brighten vocals and scathing melody into something resembling free jazz, but into a crippled and limping image unlike the decadence of Imperial Triumphant. A rare semblance of humanity in a chunky riff or tangible vocal appears beneath the howls (i.e. “Voluntary Trepanation”), but across its six-track acid trip they stumble through wonky compositions, complete with jazzy basslines, tortured layers of vocals, wonky ambiance, and dissonant punk riffs. Hwwauoch accomplishes an album that stands out due to its shining clarity and the ultimate descent into insanity.

Pharmakeia // Maenadic Ecstasy – While the tricks don’t necessarily feel earthshaking, the Prava Kollektiv’s newest addition manages to sound the most traditionally “kvlt” while still reveling in devastating density. No frills black metal with no reprieve from the scathing tremolo and blastbeats, there is an undeniable rawness here that recalls the borderline noise of Upir or even Portal’s twisted guitar tone. However, in the refusal to succumb to atmoblack tropes, the breaks in the chaos are more like the raised fist between blows. There’s undeniable psychedelia and otherworldliness woven into Pharmakeia’s approach, which fits them neatly among the Prava Kollektiv’s ranks, while its sparsely used clean baritone adds a haunting liturgical weight. It adheres to the second-wave worship most consistently, that although “Execration” features a sliding riff, “Furore” and “Lunacy” offer viciously chunky riffs, and “Zeal” kicks you in the face with a synth passage, it never feels as if it departs from black metal’s roots. Perhaps the only Prava Kollektiv offering that strays from the “atmospheric black metal” tag, don’t let its youth fool you: Pharmakeia is worth all the pain it inflicts.

#2023 #AmorFatiProductions #Arkhtinn #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #Darkspace #DissonantBlackMetal #Emperor #ExperimentalBlackMetal #FallenEmpireRecords #Hwwauoch #ImperialTriumphant #IndustrialBlackMetal #Mahr #PaysageDHiver #Pharmakeia #Portal #PravaKollektiv #StarlessDomain #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM #Upir #Voidsphere #Vordven

Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze – The Fractal Ouroboros [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

Last we encountered Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze, they dwelt in relative obscurity, creating a dark marriage of ritualistic atmospheric black metal and unabashed social platforms – anti-fascist and anti-capitalist – in the Colorado trio’s debut Offerings of Flesh and Gold. The trio has since sharpened and solidified their stance, that the act exists “as a knife pointed to the throat of any who seek to maintain oppressive systems of white supremacy and fascism that continue to fester in our societies.” Lyrics are layered with the occult, furthermore enhancing the obscure sound they proffer. Pulsing percussion, patient ambiance, thunderous doom, and cathartic explosions of vicious black metal are all fed through the jaws of ritualism in sophomore effort The Fractal Ouroboros – even more so than its predecessor.

Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze manages to create a mammoth hour-and-fifteen length that takes its precious time before crushing your soul with calculated second-wave intensity. The swell and lull of its atmosphere has its time and place, thus lending The Fractal Ouroboros its immense but supremely organic feel, each track moving fluidly among its influences and giving each track a unique identity to fuse into the tapestry of the album’s pitch-black palette and atmosphere – dark and unholy places constructed under godlike suns. Tracks like opener “Trophy,” “Suffocate O Earthen Lungs; They Now Lungs of Ash,” and closer “Ekstasis, Enstasis, and The Fractal Ouroboros” feature pummeling black metal passages, sinister atmosphere, and minimalist passages of plucking and thunderous percussion, giving climax and violence to the dense ambiance.

Because the album takes its time at well over an hour, the atmosphere must be front and center. Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze does not disappoint in this regard, weaponizing an array of synth tricks to concoct such a relentlessly dark aura throughout. “A History of Cages and Broken Bones” and “Our Overt Apocalypse” are mammoth tracks of jolting doom and scathing tremolo that crash through the thick ambiance, while fiery vocals guide the movements. The quiet climaxes of “Annihilation” and “Liberation Ritual” showcase the stolen weight of the darkness, dwelling heavy and dense smoke-filled atmosphere, existential dread coursing through every fiber of the slow-burning movements. The ambient swell of the latter transitions neatly into the shamanistic drumming of the latter, constructing a darkened tabernacle that feels more authentic and human, a whisper, than its explosive tendencies.

While Offerings of Flesh and Gold was an immensely promising offering, Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze becomes another beast entirely with The Fractal Ouroboros. The trio previously dwelt in dark atmospheres, pulsing percussion, and second-wave expressions – a powerful but relatively predictable album of atmospheric black metal. However, tracks like “Suffocate O Earthen Lungs; They Now Lungs of Ash” and “Annihilation” blindside listeners with an animalistic ferocity and shimmering fury that contrasts with the tidy spiritual trademark of shamanism that pervaded their last album. While its message is anything but obscure, the dichotomy of its activism and its maddening take on black metal ensures that inequality and injustice will not be left unpunished. Had The Fractal Ouroboros been given an earlier release date, it would have listed everywhere, because it cements Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze as one of the most dangerous acts in contemporary black metal.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Suffocate O Earthen Lungs; They Now Lungs of Ash,” “Annihilation,” “A History of Cages and Broken Bones”

#2023 #BullOfApisBullOfBronze #Dec23 #FiadhProductions #TheFractalOuroboros #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VitaDetestabilisRecords

Fvnerals – Let the Earth be Silent [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Thus Spoke

While many within the genre drift towards the floaty, gazey, and even anodyne, my favorite kind of post-metal is the dark kind. Post-metal that uses resonant ambience, deep atmosphere, and echoing vocals to create a powerful, weighty sense of foreboding. So it was that back in February, Fvnerals, whose path and mine had not yet crossed, made me sit up and notice them. It seems that in the past, Fvnerals played it a little softer, and safer, with a mellower bent. But this time they’ve plumbed the depths of horror and melancholy. Coming somewhere between the nightmarish ominousness of Vous Autres and the brooding sulkiness of Darkher, Fvnerals pitched their approach just right to suck me in. And probably you too.

Let the Earth Be Silent is the perfect title. This album commands total attention—everything else must fade away as it totally envelops you. With calamitous bass drum branding a pattern into the mist (“Ashen Era,” “Annihilation,” “Yearning”); cymbals crashing into a void of ringing sound (“Barren”); moaning, haunting vocals rising and fading away; low, core-shaking riffs shuddering; and foghorn chords bending into the feedback (“Ashen Era,” “For Horror Eats the Light”), this thing is truly massive. Mood music in a particularly pure form, while its seven tracks are cleanly separated by silence, they feel simultaneously interwoven into a dark dream sequence—or perhaps that should be “nightmare sequence.” There’s a certain attitude that precipitates turning on Let the Earth Be Silent, and I found myself sinking into that attitude more and more as the year progressed. Drawn back in by its darkness.

Two main threads run through Let the Earth Be Silent: dread and lamentation. On the side of dread come the stretches of ever-increasing tension, as a ritualistic heartbeat ever so slightly increases the pulse (“Descent,” “Yearning”); wavering dissonant drone grows layers of muffled tremolo and eerie singing (“Ashen Era,” “For Horror Eats the Light,” “Barren”), or sharp exhales punctuate crescendoing horn and softly shuffling percussion (“Rite”). The low rumbles of bass, and deep atmospheres, infused with sinister minor melody and soft suggestions of riffery (“Annihilation,” “Barren”) create a goosebump-inducing aura of fear too, one that follows you across the record. But equally as penetrating are the mournful, multi-tracked female vocals, harmonizing as they rise and softly fade. These are the lament. While consistently affecting in their often-wordless cries of falling grace, they are particularly haunting on “Descent” and “Barren.” Songs will ramp up the anxiety, see eerie repetitious vocalizations ring over and over; stretch velvety post-metal ambience across ominous pauses, then with crashes of chords and percussion, the dam will break, and powerful poignant ululations will careen upwards out of the murk (“Ashen Era,” “Descent,” “Yearning”). Or they whisper and moan, layer over layer, and break out in pathetic, delicate refrains (“For Horror Eats the Light,” “Yearning”). And it’s beautiful.

As an incredibly atmospherically-centered post-metal album, you really do have to be in the right headspace to get everything you’re meant to out of it. While some tracks struck me immediately and indelibly (“Descent,” “Barren”), it was only when I gave it the full attention it deserves that it opened up and swallowed me whole. However, swallow me it absolutely did.

Tracks to check out: ”Descent,” “For Horror Eats the Light,” “Yearning,” “Barren”

#2023 #DarkAmbient #Fvnerals #LetTheEarthBeSilent #PostMetal #ProphecyProductions #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VousAutres

The Howling Void – Into Darkness Ever More Profound [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Itchymenace

I never fancied myself much of a doom guy. I’ve enjoyed the talents of bands like UN, Bell Witch, and Mournful Congregation, but they’re rarely high in my musical rotation. On a whim, I bought the entire Funere Records digital catalog on a Bandcamp Friday back in the spring. As I worked my way through the titles, Into Darkness Ever More Profound was the album I kept returning to. It was catchy, contagious, and mellow enough to not be distracting at work, yet still had plenty of depth to explore through repeated listens. Flash forward to December: I didn’t realize how many times I’d listened to it and how much it had grown on me until it was time to think about compiling a top 10 list. Throughout 2023, this record proved to be a most reliable and enjoyable standby. It fits a variety of moods and each spin yielded new discoveries.

Within the first notes, the opening title track lovingly sets the stage for everything that follows. The simple, melancholy melody is both bittersweet and uplifting. There’s a quiet sadness at the surface but a celebration of deeper things below. Harmonized guitars and staggered drumbeats lead you on an inward journey while the airy keyboards and soft piano provide the gentle breeze that holds the space between. There’s a soundtrack-like quality to the mix but it’s much more purpose-driven, like a trusted hand leading you down a dark path. Over the next 45 minutes, you travel through a primarily instrumental landscape of somber melodies and slowly unfolding compositions.

Listening to Into Darkness Ever More Profound is like having a late-night visit with an old friend, perhaps with a few drinks. There’s a warmth, comfort, and familiarity that allow you to lower your guard, become vulnerable, and tap into deeper emotions. It breezes past the small talk and opens into more challenging conversations. The music speaks to fleeting hopes, heartbreaking tragedies, and the fatigue that life brings. At the same time, there is a sense of heroism beneath it all in the form of small bursts of melody. Passages like the final moments of “Impenetrable Gloom” seem to say “You survived another day. Let’s celebrate.” My own 2023 had its difficulties and this album helped me pull through those challenges.

The Howling Void is a one-man project from San Antonio Texas. Into Darkness Ever More Profound is their seventh album and first in four years. I haven’t delved deeply into the rest of the catalog, but the prevailing sound is atmospheric funeral doom. There are flirtations with more folksy elements and instrumentation, but the vibe is always slow and introspective. For fans of melodic black metal and quality doom, I highly recommend checking out this release and showing its composer some love.

Tracks to Check Out: All of them! There are only four.

#2023 #DoomMetal #FuneralDoom #FunereRecords #IntoDarknessEverMoreProfound #MelodicMetal #TheHowlingVoid #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Victory Over the Sun – Dance You Monster to My Soft Song! [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

Victory Over the Sun is a project of the Portland-based multi-instrumentalist Vivian Tylińska who, along with Jute Gyte’s Adam Kalmbach and Kostnatění’s D.L., represents the diversity and power of the unorthodox take of microtonal black metal. You’ll find Tylińska is more inspired by Liturgy than Darkthrone, touches upon Kayo Dot more than Mayhem, actualizing a more triumphant and avant-garde take on black metal – although her more blackened passages are nothing short of vicious. As loose and freeform as jazz and as organic and fluid as classical, fourth full-length Dance You Monster to My Soft Song! balances the razor’s edge between traditional and otherworldly, exploring the niches and crevices in each crooked composition.

Victory Over the Sun is not inspired by the status quo, as Tylińska’s aim is not to warp listeners back to the glory days of black metal – she’s just a “girl who makes noise.” Microtonal black metal has found itself more and more a vessel for the queer and members of LGBTQIA+ to express self-discovery and identity. Victory Over the Sun is no different, the work of a trans woman offering a further intellectual layer with each theme steeped in the futurist art and music of the early 20th century. Utilizing a blend of dense and shimmering, movements are founded upon a motif that reoccurs throughout each track, revisited intensity and hypnotic repetition. Opener “Thorn Woos the Wound” is the best example, a nearly seventeen-minute foray into shimmering atmospherics and triumphant chord progressions alongside blastbeats and plods, as well as Tylińska’s blackened screech. “Madeline Becoming Judy” and “The Gold of Having Nothing” offer a similar aura, simple plucking and drumbeats collapsing into blastbeats and raw tremolo, to return to its off-kilter rhythms and a patiently sprawling wall of uncanny valley melody, motifs taking on a burning, searing quality.

You will certainly find your share of brutality, particularly in the shortest track “WHEEL” and closer “Black Heralds.” The former is an absolute mammoth of a track, a work of contrast due to the most optimistic lyrics of the album colliding with the most sinister riff, a crawling beast with more similarity to Portal than to Mayhem – hypnotic and funereal, otherworldly and vicious. Meanwhile, “Black Heralds” features a weighty riff to complement the darker plucking that saturates it, a smooth crescendo from ominous dripping plucking and hollow synths to a massive riff that feels like something out of Sunn O)))’s Black One. The album progression in this way maneuvers between the more exploratory songwriting and its darker conclusions, reflecting the pessimism of its lyrics (a poem by Cesar Vallejo).

Dance You Monster to My Soft Song! is an album that requires much to unpack. Every movement is intentional, with repetition used to searing proportions and melody thoughtful and patient rather than attaining to some “trve kvlt” standard. Victory Over the Sun not only stands as a landmark for LGBTQIA+ representation in a masculine-dominated style of music, but sets the bar for the burgeoning style of microtonal black metal. It’s exploratory in the best ways while ensuring that the experience of this strange type of music is not lost in the lushness – shimmering but punishing. Balancing more triumphant passages with an underworldly darkness, both undergirded by reckless and fearless songwriting, Dance You Monster to My Soft Song! is one of the best albums of the year, comfortably settling Tylińska and Victory Over the Sun – more than just the product of a “girl who makes noise” – into the upper echelon of experimental black metal.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Thorn Woos the Wound,” “WHEEL,” and “Black Heralds”

#2023 #Apr23 #DanceYouMonsterToMySoftSong_ #Darkthrone #JuteGyte #KayoDot #Kostnatění #Liturgy #Mayhem #Portal #SelfRelease #SunnO_ #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VictoryOverTheSun

Kalmah – Kalmah [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Maddog

I’ve seen surprisingly little hype about Kalmah’s self-titled album. It hasn’t popped up on mainstream end-of-year lists. Even melodeath addict Wvrm and promo bin overlord Steel didn’t hear about it until after it came out. Alongside bands like Children of Bodom, Kalmah held the reins of Finnish melodic death metal in the early 2000s. Blending blistering melodic riffs with prominent synths, Kalmah defined their sound twenty years ago and has reveled in it ever since. Emerging five years after Palo, Kalmah’s self-titled shows them doing what they do best. It doesn’t redefine melodeath, but it’s exactly what you’d want from a new Kalmah record: consistent, memorable, and exhilarating.

Kalmah is a scorcher from start to finish. Kalmah has always been a master of fiery riffcraft, and they show no signs of slowing down. From the melodic acrobatics of “Veil of Sin” to the straightforward death metal of “Taken before Given,” Kalmah is a shot of adrenaline. The synth leads, a staple of Finnish melodeath, are prominent enough to add depth but subdued enough to avoid sounding cheesy. On the other hand, the softer clean sections add variety without compromising catchiness, like on the emotive closer “Drifting in a Dream.” Kalmah deftly merges these elements into a satisfying whole; “Taken before Given,” for example, hopscotches among simple death metal riffs, a ferocious chorus, infectious shouted vocals, and a flailing guitar solo, nailing them all. No song here is a laggard, as Kalmah grabs my attention and refuses to let go.

While Kalmah shines throughout its 44 minutes, its climaxes take things to another level. The choruses are a spectacle, with “No Words Sad Enough” tugging at your heart before “Home Sweet Hell” sends you into a frenzy. Meteoric melodies appear from nowhere to break and enter your skull, like the explosive midsection of “Tons of Chaos.” Kalmah plays you like a puppet on tracks like “Veil of Sin,” by providing brief breathers before re-escalating into pandemonium. These climaxes are both thrilling in their own right and a testament to Kalmah’s songwriting prowess. The record’s peaks and valleys make it feel like a dynamic experience where novelty is always right around the corner. While Kalmah is solid throughout, its high points make it even more irresistible.

Kalmah is a complete package. It’s a constant page-turner, from the gripping opening of “Haunted by Guilt” to the somber keys of “Drifting in a Dream.” Despite staying within Kalmah’s comfort zone, it ranges from take-no-prisoners death metal to elegiac ballads without losing steam. Its climaxes are both ferocious fun in isolation and a roller coaster in aggregate. Even the cover art, courtesy of Niklas Sundin (Mitochondrial Sun, ex-Dark Tranquillity), is stunning on first glance and rewarding to revisit.1 It’s not worth being a snob about music this powerful. Leave your hang-ups at the door, dive in headfirst, and bask in melodeath glory.

Tracks to Check Out: “Haunted by Guilt,” “Tons of Chaos,” “Taken before Given”

#2023 #ChildrenOfBodom #DeathMetal #FinnishMetal #Kalmah #MelodicDeathMetal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM

World’s End Girlfriend – Resistance & The Blessing [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dolphin Whisperer

For those unfamiliar, World’s End Girlfriend has been producing a unique brand of cinematic music rooted in classical composition, post-rock sound palette, glitchy and warped electronics since 2000’s debut Ending Story—very much a stepping stone on this long and forlorn path. Though there’s plenty to enjoy in this Japanese one-man exploration, it was 2007’s Hurtbreak Wonderland that first took my breath away and signaled a string of increasingly wide-viewed, somberly-toned albums that cemented me as a WEG die-hard. Having released only in spurts and singles since 2016’s Last Waltz, Resistance & The Blessing functions as a reinterpreted collection of those smaller works in the grand context of an epic that details the heart-breaking cycle of love, loss, and memory. What a tale it is.

Sometimes your words come back to haunt you, and often sooner than you realize. Kind of like when you ask whether something can go wrong in a given situation. Or when you lambast a one-hundred twenty-four album of unearned epic proportions but end up falling deeply in love with a one-hundred forty-five-minute experimental electronic album that showcases a career’s worth of ideas and a lifetime’s worth of heartache. But I already knew that I was in love with World’s End Girlfriend before I hit play, that’s the way insanity works. And the more I listen to Resistance, the less I feel that any of it is out of place.

True to the nature of a work that looks back at an artist’s past as much as toward the future, long-time enjoyers of WEG will find little details that earmark already striking moments with a stronger sense of purpose. Opening on “unPrologue Birthday Resistance” plays on this most directly by taking a familiar piece from Hurtbreak Wonderland (“Birthday Resistance”) and fizzling it with scratchy obstructions and hard skips, as if a broken cycle threatens to turn again. And in closing it does, with the same melody picking back up, giving way to an ominous sample of a child’s birthday song, and then instead of fizzling out in wild guitar feedback like the Hurtbreak original, “unEpilogue JUBILEE” tumbles up a rising synth clamor that breaks away to what sounds like a heartbeat, amplified and cut away for a short and sweet goodbye message. Songs like “MEGURI” and “RENDERING THE TWO SOULS,”1 originally lacked context as statements of unwanted departure and frantic longing, but in their new respective positions (and with slight re-workings) can give movement to the fragments of emotion that surround them.

Despite the other nature of an album of this magnitude—it’s significant length—each movement of this piece has a powerful and entertaining identity. If you’ve a taste for the whimsy and naiveté of bright love, the initial swing up to “IN THE NAME OF LOVE” will waltz you between triumph and smile alike. If your dreams place you in a world inhabited by vocaloid choirs and reimagining the Edward Scissorhands ice dance in a tunnel of neon lights, the one-two flaying of “Reincarnation No.9”2 and “RENDERING THE TWO SOULS” will twirl you a fanciful landscape. “Blue/0/ +9” might be the best R&B ballad I’ve heard in ages, complete with a tasteful Isley Brothers-kissed, fuzz-filled solo wail. The “Black Box” duo, featuring Japanese footwork specialist CRZKNY, shakes the floor in a way that only hellish EBM can. And, if you make it this far, the final movement from the delicate “himitsu” through the dutiful but frightening rendition of “Ave Maria” leading up to “SEE YOU AGAIN” may cause a tear or twenty to drip from your weary and wondering eyes.

It’s entirely possible that Resistance & The Blessing is a masterpiece. It’s equally possible that it didn’t have to be this much all at once. However, when the heart bleeds with this kind of passion, the only proper reflection rests in staring at the sanguine pool and letting it be what it is. We only know snippets of what has occurred throughout World’s End Girlfriend’s life to release an album full of so much pain, catharsis, hope, and adoration. If Katsuhiko Maeda, the man behind the mask, could ever sit down and explain what each moment means to him, I’m sure words wouldn’t be enough. I’ll be listening to this one for a long time to see if I can get even that close.

Tracks to Check Out: Haha… All of them?3

#2023 #AvantGarde #Cinematic #CRZKNY #DannyElfman #Electronic #ExperimentalElectronic #Glitch #Industrial #ModernClassical #Noise #NonMetal #PostRock #Sep23 #SoundCollage #ThingsYouMayHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VirginBabylonRecords #WorldSEndGirlfriend

Krigsgrav – Fires in the Fall [Things You Might Have Missed Missed 2023]

By Doom_et_Al

Sometimes, first time’s a charm. Sometimes, third time. And sometimes, perseverance is rewarded and it’s the seventh. Such is the case with Dallas, Texas-based band, Krigsgrav. Operating quietly in the shadows since 2004, Krigsgrav have been producing atmospheric black metal that has, over time, become more deathly, more potent, more melodic. Now, with Fires in the Fall, they add a sprinkle of doom, and suddenly, everything clicks into place. Like smoke billowing into the air, Krigsgrav fill the sky, and you would be a fool to ignore their latest effort.

While Krigsgrav’s influences are clear, what separates the band is how beautifully those are combined to form a unique experience. Play a few songs for a few different metalheads and ask them what they’ve just listened to, and you’ll hear everything from “melodic death” to “atmospheric doom.” Krigsgrav take the blueprints of everyone from Agalloch, to Paradise Lost, and combine them into a whole that is epic, massive and catchy. The addition of doom lends the material weight that previous efforts have lacked. Songs like, “When I’m Gone, Let the Wolves Come,” and “The World We Leave Behind” are epic and fast, but become simply gigantic when things slow down, and beefy, burly riffs take over. Adding something so different to the mix was a risk, but one that has handsomely paid off.

The other impressive aspect of Fires in the Fall is how seamlessly the elements are chewing-gummed together. Songs will shift from furious black, to melodic death, to heavy doom, all within a few minutes (check out the crazily impressive “The Black Oak”), and it sounds natural and progressive. This eclectic shift, combined with a robust and clean production, results in an album that absolutely flies by. At 53 minutes, it is on the longer side, but trust me, you will barely notice.

With Fires in the Fall, Krigsgrav have stepped out of the shadows and created something potent and fierce, finding an aesthetic uniquely theirs. There’s a reason it was released in the North American Summer—the sound here is fiery. Think Vanum’s Ageless Fire or Kvaen’s The Funeral Pyre. It is also, weirdly, with it’s melodicism, an excellent companion piece to Fires in the Distance’s Air Not Meant for Us. Krigsgrav have come out of nowhere and created an album that people would just not shut up about. That sort of longevity among metalheads is rare and should be reason enough for you to take notice. I know you have probably finalized your end-of-year list, but if you haven’t at least considered Fires in the Fall, then, I’m afraid, it’s incomplete. This one burns hot.

Tracks to Check Out: “An Everflowing Vessel,” “The Black Oak,” “Journeyman”

#2023 #Agalloch #AtmophericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #FiresInTheFall #Krigsgrav #ParadiseLost #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Massen – Gentle Brutality [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Kenstrosity

If you know me—and most of you should by now—you know that I love bands who fearlessly combine multiple genres into one pot. I want to be blown away by their exploratory vigor, dismissing all pretense of genre loyalty with gusto. Give me something that challenges my advanced ability to categorize and compartmentalize, and you are likely to garner an instant fan. Enter Massen, a Belarusian/German Frankenstein monster who unleashed one of the best records of the year, Gentle Brutality. ENERGY SYSTEM.

Imagine, if you would, what would happen if you smashed together Anaal Nathrakh‘s grindy, hooky extremity with Harm’s Way‘s and Dyscarnate‘s chunkiness, then dressed the result in a warm Silent Stream of Godless Elegy coat. That is essentially what Massen sound like, and let me tell you, it’s brilliant. Of all the things you could merge into one sound, this is one concoction I never expected. Yet, Gentle Brutality is pure magic, brutally heavy and unrelenting while simultaneously exuding a violin-led beauty that lures its audience towards the next indelible hook with unstoppable momentum. ENERGY SYSTEM.

Gentle Brutality’s immensity reveals itself early on in its forty-two minute runtime, with “Energy System” representing possibly the best opening track of 2023. Its ridiculously catchy verses and swaggering riffs are somehow overshadowed by the song’s bridge, featuring eponymous lyrics that I’ve been singing to myself every day, multiple times a day, for four months straight (so far). Then, I have the immense mid-album highlight “Askoma (Sorethroat),” which guarantees several fractures of my vertebrae in ten seconds or less, pounding skulls with the kind of groove that only diagnosed sociopaths have the emotional immunity to resist. Just when I think they can’t inject any more razor sharp hooks into Gentle Brutality, Massen shove another throbbing slab of grinding groove into my face with closer “Our Melody is Not Dead,” wrapping up the record with a resounding bang and leaving me wanting another round. ENERGY SYSTEM.

Immensity notwithstanding, Massen’s musicianship across the board are truly what make Gentle Brutality special. Stealing the show almost every time she features, vocalist and violinist Kara brings power and majesty into every second she gets the spotlight, transforming even the grindiest of Massen’s material into a jig-worthy romp brimming with vitality and emotion (“Corps de Ballet,” “Disgusted,” “Askoma (Sorethroat)”). That’s not to shortchange Alex “Aleerma” numerous contributions as primary death vocalist, guitarist, drummer, keyboardist and bassist. His monstrous roars characterize many of this record’s biggest hooks, and his and fellow guitarists Karymon’s and Eugene’s riffs, leads, and solos provide a palpable sense of force to each of Gentle Brutality’s eight tracks (but especially “Disgusted,” “Askoma (Sorethroat),” “Throwing the Stones,” and “Our Melody is Not Dead”). Even the softer quasi-ballad “Together Alone” succeeds as a result of this group’s collaborative efforts, giving me an excellent bit of belting to practice in the car. ENERGY SYSTEM.

Simply put, Massen are a relentless, unstoppable machine, seemingly incapable of putting a bad song on record. Gentle Brutality proves that beyond a shadow of doubt. No other record in 2023 sounds like it, and few reach the same standard of quality. Gentle Brutality is irresistible, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. ENERGY SYSTEM!

Tracks to Check Out: “ENERGY SYSTEM,” “Askoma (Sore Throat),” “Disgusted,” “Throwing the Stones”

#2023 #AnaalNathrakh #ApostasyRecords #BelarusianMetal #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #Deathgrind #Dyscarnate #GentleBrutality #GermanMetal #Grind #Grindcore #Hardcore #HarmSWay #Massen #MelodicBlackMetal #MelodicDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SilentStreamOfGodlessElegy #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Kruelty – Untopia [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Saunders

It may be a common thing to bitch about, but fast-paced modern lifestyles and an endless stream of metal releases dropping every week make it an impossible task to catch on to every worthwhile album that may fit snuggly into your wheelhouse. Trawling through a stack of overlooked gems from 2023, I stumbled across the impressive sophomore album from Japan’s Kruelty. In another bumper year for death metal enthusiasts, Kruelty channel classic Swedeath vibes from yesteryear, done Japanese style, armed with a healthy hardcore and doom kick. The Tokyo quartet formed in 2017, recording a lengthy string of short-form releases before arriving at their 2019 debut LP, A Dying Truth. Now with a solid number of years under their belt as a unit, Kruelty unleashed a power-packed second LP way back in March 2023. And if you happened to miss it initially, as I did, I am here to rectify the oversight and introduce you to the formidable slab of solid school death, entitled Untopia.

Kruelty plow and grind their way through seven meaty cuts across a tight and filler-free thirty-seven minutes, freeing the beast and leaving nothing in the tank. “Unknown Nightmare” kicks things off with eerie samples and chants, giving way to a thunderous assault of caveman clubbing grooves, violently catchy d-beat rhythms, filthy death meets hardcore riffs, and thick, throaty roars. Simple on the surface, the ironclad strength of the writing, diverse delivery, and catchy pummel keep the listener firmly locked in. Dueling vocals, including crazed higher-pitched shrieks and anguished screams to complement the predominant deeper growls, add more fuel to the bloody rampage. The song-to-song consistency and quality are impressively maintained throughout the album’s duration, each cut bringing its own character, memorable riffs, and churning grooves to the table. In the end, it’s the solid, passionate performances, tight, efficiently brutal execution, and uncomplicated, memorable songwriting that lifts Kruelty’s Untopia above the pack.

Kruelty’s crusty, mighty dealings possess the far-reaching appeal to attract old school Swedish death aficionados, into the likes of Grave and Entombed, along with listeners who get their kicks from the battle-hardened grooves and crushing weight of Bolt Thrower, or contemporaries such as Gatecreeper and Warcrab. Whatever your deathly poison of choice, Kruelty caters to a wide audience. The varied tempos, top-notch riffs, and loose, unhinged vibe elevate well-constructed songs dripping with atmosphere and loaded with potent hooks, killer riffs and headbangable moments. Highlights include the riffy, skull-cracking heft and doom-encrusted weight of “Burn the System,” grinding, swaggering crush of ‘Reincarnation,” and the more frantic, deadly assault of “Maze of Suffering,” but it’s all good stuff. “Harder Than Before” is another strong cut that brings the beef, doomy-death crush and crusty hardcore attitude in spades.

There is some serious heft and a rough, endearing garage charm to the production, especially the drums. As such the whole package carries a sizable weight and raw organic edge, without sacrificing crisp clarity. Amidst a quality selection of varied death metal platters in 2023, Kruelty’s Untopia is a top-shelf platter not to be underestimated and is well worth the time and energy to tap into their gnarly old school death meets hardcore/death-doom formula.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Maze of Suffering,” “Burn the System,” “Reincarnation”

#BoltThrower #DeathMetal #Entombed #Gatecreeper #Grave #Hardcore #JapaneseMetal #Kruelty #OldSchoolDeathMetal #ProfoundLore #Review #Reviews #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Untopia #Warcrab

Burden of Ymir – Heorot [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Twelve

Joe Caswell, of Ontario, Canada, is having quite the year; his newest band, Swamp Fiend, released their debut full-length this year, and both of his solo projects, Drowstorm and Burden of Ymir, put out new releases within two weeks of each other. It would be understandable if these solo releases were only fine; it would be impressive if they were decent. But instead, they’re actually good, and Burden of Ymir’s Heorot in particular stands as a shining example of folky black metal, playing with a level of quality that would make you think it’s the only thing Caswell had worked on all year. For fans of black metal, fans of folk metal, and those who understand that the accordion is the most metal of all the instruments, Heorot is here for you.

But first, a fun fact: up until 10 minutes ago, when I downloaded the image you see over there for this article, I thought the cover image for Heorot was this image—the cover image for Burden of Ymir’s debut, Jötnar. At no point did I question this, because the image fits! Impressive, Norse, and huge—that’s this album in a nutshell. Whether in the chanted cleans that augment the snarls (with special effect on “Recounting on the Seas”), the always-welcome accordion (seriously, try getting “Monsters of the Lake” out of your head—not easy!), or the generally adventurous guitar tremolos (on basically every song), Heorot is an album that is filled with adventurous, exciting, Viking metal. Despite my earlier description of the music as “Norse,” the actual subject matter is Old English—Beowulf, to be precise. You can feel the presence of a unifying theme throughout; the album feels like an adventure, a quest, a noble table, and is a treat to listen to through its full forty-three-minute runtime.

Of course, it helps that the songwriting is terrific. Burden of Ymir knows how to write hooks, whether vocally, through guitars, or via folky additions. You’ve got the short-and-sweet songs, like “Revenge Found in the Night,” which put the black metal on full blast, including dramatic shifts in tone that keep the song fresh. In a similar vein, “Monsters of the Lake” is a phenomenal folk metal tune, taking one super-catchy lead and running with it, with accordion and guitar lead both. These songs are quick, heavy, and fun. On the other side of the album are “Recounting on the Seas” and “The Ninth Hour Approaches,” both of which demonstrate that Caswell can kill a longer song too—the level of storytelling and musical variance on display keeps either song from overstaying their welcome, and I appreciate in particular the mid-pace tempo of the latter song. All throughout Heorot, the songwriting is sharp, making for a thoroughly enjoyable record.

The colder it gets outside, the more I like Heorot. This is an album that, like its actual, correct cover image, embodies a wintry spirit and an adventurous style—something I’ve felt was sorely missing this year! So if you did miss out on the sophomore full-length from Burden of Ymir, this is your call to change that. Heorot is an adventure I you probably don’t want to miss out on. I’m certainly glad I didn’t.

Tracks to Check Out: “Monsters of the Lake,” “Threat of Fire,” “The Great Mead Hall”

#2023 #BlackMetal #BurdenOfYmir #CanadianMetal #Drowstorm #FlowingDownward #FolkMetal #Review #Reviews #SwampFiend #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Johnny Booth – Moments Elsewhere [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

The phrase “metalcore” strikes fear in the hearts of the most hardened metal fans.1 Breakdowns and faux badassery collide in the most listenable shit this side of the pond. New York DIY metalcore abusers in Johnny Booth know this. While yes, there are breakdowns, one-liners, and enough technical wankery to make a Converge fan drool, every element is weaponized to the full extent to accomplish an unhinged and vicious quality (“loud and ouchy” in the words of inimitable Dolphin Whisperer) that recalls acts like Knocked Loose, Sworn In, and Frontierer – without committing to either cumbersome down-tempo hardcore or headache-inducing mathcore. Encapsulating just enough reprieve from the devastating pummel, through a tasteful sprinkling of jazzy keys, skronky electronics, and subdued cleans, third full-length Moments Elsewhere’s weight is through its expertly dynamic writing.

Contrary to the squeaky-clean stereotype of modern metalcore, Johnny Booth embraces weight and filth through its self-released aesthetic. Guided by Andrew Herman’s desperate fry vocals and soothed by his croons, the true stars of Moments Elsewhere are guitarists Adam Halpern and Ryan Strong and their impressive repertoire. While rooted in the chunky chug-happy metalcore template, nearly every moment feels like it might fly off the rails or is enhanced by impressive dynamic songwriting. In perhaps the best example this dynamic, “Only By Name” starts off with a rather unassuming and harmless wonky Dillinger-esque riff that guides the proceedings before cascading into a devastating riff that slides like a semi-truck on ice. Even the cleanly sung tracks like “Why Becomes How” and interlude “The Mirror” inject their respectively subdued approaches with both scathing melody and vocal harmonies or earworms and enough heft to move the album along. More balanced tracks like “Collapse in the Key of Fireworks” and “The Ladder” are tasteful in their fusions of melody, skonk, and catchy choruses. Bassist Steve DiModugno contributes technical fills and noodles to “Bright Future” and a jazzy runs in “The Mirror,” and drummer Adam Ingoglia is a rock-solid anchor throughout, constructing intricate rhythms while derailing them across the board.

This dynamic allows tracks to gather enough for the punishing storm, and breakdowns are realized to their fullest potential and never overstay their welcome. In easy highlight “Full Tilt” an opening distorted cheery sample and a later passage of a trip-hop beat offer respite, only to tread the path of Loathe with an absolutely stellar buildup and utterly satisfying closing breakdown.2 “Why Becomes How” is immediately followed up by the no-holds-barred hardcore-infused “Ring Light Altar” and the somehow heavier “Gatekeeper”3 and the unhinged “No Comply” whose morphing math-inflected riffs add a jolt of viciousness. Closer “Modern Dialogue” features a tasteful range of guitar tricks that align perfectly with the percussion, adding grueling punishment and dynamic across the board.

What makes Moments Elsewhere is its nearly untouchable range of tracks – only the mathy Risecore caricature “Bright Future” is a bit of a weak link in its lack of tangible weight. Don’t let the “metalcore” tag scare you: Johnny Booth offers some of the most punishing tracks of the year. Amplified by a smart inclusion of dynamics and homage to influences that avoid mimicry, it somehow feels heavier than could possibly offered when the atmospheric passages implode into skull-crushing weight. Contending with 2023’s heavy hitters Sylosis, MouthBreather, and The Acacia Strain is no easy feat, and they do so on their own terms in a handcrafted album with a unique sound – one of 2023’s best.

Tracks to Check Out: “Full Tilt,” “Only By Name,” “No Comply,” and “Modern Dialogue”

#AmericanMetal #Converge #Frontierer #Hardcore #JohnnyBooth #KnockedLoose #Loathe #Mathcore #Metalcore #Mouthbreather #SelfRelease #SwornIn #Sybreed #Sylosis #TheAcaciaStrain #TheDillingerEscapePlan #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM

The Crawling – All of This for Nothing [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Steel Druhm

U.K. doom-death act The Crawling had some decent to solid releases in the past, their doom-death style both familiar and comforting, but they never really blew me away. They’d been quiet since 2018’s Wolves and the Hideous White, but they roared back in a big way in August with their third 3rd album, All of This for Nothing. Taking their blend of influences ranging from Novembers Doom, Bolt Thrower, and My Dying Bride and pushing the envelope hard, they created what is their most expansive and entertaining album thus far. And it’s such an engaging release because it so adroitly marries big hooks with dark moods and heavy atmospheres while making their style come across as something reasonably new and refreshing. Not an easy trick to pull off these days, but The Crawling manage it and in the process make All of This for Nothing a standout moment in 2023.

Early on in opener “March of the Worm” it becomes clear The Crawling have stumbled onto something. The song moves through familiar territories fluctuating between doom, death and sludge, playing with moods and tempos to craft a strange beast of a song that keeps you attentive and alert. The shifting moods are handled very well and the ebb and flow is great. The material gets deeper and more engrossing as the album unspools, with “Another Vulture” sounding very Bolt Thrower-esque with a blackened doom overlay that keeps blowing off, exposing the chugging death metal core in all its horrid glory. “Thy Nazarene” wanders off into Moonspell and Heavenwood territory with side quests to raid Paradise Lost and it has a weird hypnotic aura to it that gets under your brain skin. The cleanly sung segment is especially biting and reminds me of the material on Heavenwood’s The Tarot of the Bohemians Part I.

Bigger still is the mega-bleak, grim but oddly uplifting “Bound to the Negative” which swills deeply from the Peaceville Three era while conjuring some uber-mournful Saint Vitus-friendly doom leads that chill the soul before segueing into OSDM chugs and thuggery. It’s an 8-plus minute song that doesn’t feel long at all and keeps you on your toes throughout. Another big high point comes with closer “Sparrow,” which sounds like November Doom borrowing from Katatonia and Swallow the Sun. It’s heavy as fook but oddly beautiful and hypnotic.

Andy Clarke knocks it out of the park with a huge collection of massive doom riffs, mournful trilling, and crushing death chugs. The guy is all over this thing and it’s hard to believe there isn’t another axe involved. Clarke and Stuart Rainey do a great job trading vocals, mixing nasty death roars, blackened cackling, and occasional clean bits to maximum effect. Clarke’s death vocals often sit between Paul Kuhr and Nick Holmes and provide a meaty heaviness to the material. Also well worth mentioning is the slick, nuanced drumming by Gary Beattie. He effortlessly bridges the gaps between the different genres the band dabbles in, keeping everything cocked and locked. The Crawling evolved into a much more dangerous act here and this thing is a relentless grower. Give it a chance to burrow into your overloaded music centers. You won’t be sorry.

Tracks to Check Out: “Thy Nazarene,” “Bound to the Negative,” “Sparrow”

#2023 #AllOfThisForNothing #BoltThrower #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Heavenwood #MyDyingBride #NovembersDoom #TheCrawling #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Triumpher – Storming the Walls [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Kenstrosity

As a sponge, I am not usually picky about what music I absorb. I often find my way to liking anything if it clicks the right boxes. For some reason, though, I’m pickiest about traditional heavy metal, both classic and modern. I rarely like anything that falls under the stock “heavy” umbrella, instead preferring things that are hybridized with other, more extreme fare. Luckily for me, Triumpher are here to help raise my sword to full might with their immense, astoundingly compelling debut Storming the Walls, released in March of this year.

If you want hair on your chest, you want to listen to bands like Greece’s Triumpher. Heeding the same warrior’s call as trad metal legends Manowar, Triumpher use a blackened, Bütchered blade to slay their enemies and conquer lands. A light Gothic touch further endarkens these epic battle anthems to form a fiery record chock full of fist-pumping riffs, unholy Judas Priest-esque vocal acrobatics, blackened tremolos, and dramatic baritone choirs. Most songs take on a marching beat, but the occasional freakout, shred, and blast affords Storming the Walls a greater sense of peril that threatens its audience with summary destruction. These are tunes for the mighty, for those in search of wictory and wengeance!

Opening suite “Journey/Europa Victrix” introduces its audience to Triumpher’s extensive arsenal of steel. Rasping wails give in to a bombastic, blood-boiling war cry that would motivate even the most cowardly peasant to the field of battle. Muscular riffery follows as “The Thunderer” and “Storming the Walls” usher in an exciting assortment of gallops, trem-picked melodies, hooky verse and chorus work, and stomping beats. In Storming the Walls’ midsection, songwriting dynamics reign supreme as highlights “I Wake the Dragon (Promachos)” and “Esoteric Church of Dagon” rip and roar with all of the unchecked fury of an enraged draGONE. Swerving between epic arena fanfare and vicious blackened speed, these songs expand this record’s scope and scale to continental proportions. Numbers like the gothic, yet thrashy “Divus De Mortuus” and the thoroughly doom and black metal-inspired “Epitaphios” carry the album’s immense momentum straight into closer “The Blazing Circle.” Yet another album highlight, this closer holds what might very well be the most memorable send-off for a heavy metal album all year. Its infectious chorus is sure to light a fire in your soul, a fire that calls to that replay button with unfettered lust.

More important than the strength of this album’s individual parts is their sum. While arguably a bit overlong at fifty-three minutes, Storming the Walls takes its heavy metal heritage and elevates its with a unique voice while maintaining a cohesive character throughout the entire runtime. Furthermore, excellent transitions both inside and between songs make this record a joy to spin from front to back in a single sitting. That’s really the best way to experience the album, so intimately tied are its various components.

Triumpher’s concept and musical core stand out amongst a crowd of stock trad worship acts, thanks to remarkably well-conceived writing and disarming execution. Rare is the debut record as compelling as this, but there’s no denying Storming the Walls’ POWERS. If you missed it, remedy your ignorance with haste.

Tracks to Check Out: ”The Thunderer,” “Mediterranean Wrath,” “I Wake the Dragon (Promachos),” “The Blazing Circle”

#2023 #BlackMetal #Bütcher #EpicMetal #HeavyMetal #JudasPriest #Manowar #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #StormingTheWalls #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TradMetal #TraditionalMetal #Triumpher

Legendry – Time Immortal Wept [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Holdeneye

If you’re like me, the RPG is your favorite genre of game to play. But also like me, perhaps, you may have a tendency to get overwhelmed by the huge amount of distracting side quests that pop up. Of course, these ancillary activities are meant to enrich our enjoyment of the game, and, ideally, that’s exactly how they should be viewed. But I just can’t help sometimes feeling obligated to clear my character’s journal before moving forward in the game’s main quest. This tendency towards distraction carries over into my real life as well. At the time of this writing, it is December 14, and my main quest is undoubtedly to compile and finish my Top Ten(ish) of 2023. In fact, that’s exactly what I sat down to do when I opened my laptop. But wouldn’t you know it, an uncompleted side quest stares mockingly from my journal: ‘Write TYMHM for Great Traditional Metal Releases in 2023.’ How can I resist such a tempting diversion?

I had every opportunity to grab the promo for Time Immortal Wept, the fourth full-length release from Pittsburgh’s Legendry. Unfortunately, I was slated to cover two other albums for that release week, neither of which I actually completed. But for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been spinning this delicious morsel of Manilla Road-meets-prog/psych-rock, and it has been worming its way into my mind relentlessly. These guys have a timeless sound, as evidenced by the fantastic single, and first proper track, “Sigil Strider.” An enormous bass line from Arcane Hammer (AKA Andy Ramage, ex-Argus) undergirds a fantastic driving rhythm as vocalist Vidarr’s classic vocals begin our quest.

I’m generally not one to partake of things that are dripping with psychedelia, but I guess my love for this album doesn’t really break that tradition. Time Immortal Wept has just enough psych-rock influence to paint its traditional metal material with a sense of whimsy. In addition to vocals, Vidarr handles a host of other instrumental duties. His guitar work is exemplary, but he also plays mandolin, mellotron, piccolo bass, Hammond organ, etc., many of which can be heard on the Pink Floyd-ish “The Prophecy,” a track that never seems to stop adding embellishments to its rather straightforward rock/metal base. This is the kind of stuff that would really annoy me 99 out of 100 times, but when Legendry does it, it just simply works. The closing title track is another example of the band using a plethora of musical ideas to produce a 12-minute standout that deserves every ounce of the oft-overused descriptor of ‘epic.’

It’s always satisfying when a side quest nicely dovetails into the main quest, and I think that may have just happened here. I thought I had my list all sorted out, but these Legendry warriors have infiltrated my keep at the eleventh hour, casting doubt upon all that I thought I knew. Time Immortal Wept is an incredible journey, and it only gets better the longer I let its wiles work upon me.

Tracks to Check Out: “Sigil Strider,” “The Prophecy,” “Chariots of Bedlam,” “Time Immortal Wept,” but listen to the whole thing, Silly!

#AmericanMetal #HeavyMetal #NoRemorseRecords #ProgressiveRock #PsychedelicRock #Review #Reviews #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Theophonos – Nightmare Visions [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Maddog

Nightmare Visions is a blackened grindcore debut from Michigan’s Theophonos, the brainchild of Jimmy Hamzey (Serpent Column). If that genre label sounds unappetizing, don’t let that deter you. Theophonos took every hard rock and metal song released since 1967, crammed them all into a woodchipper, and assembled the mangled output into a blackened 30-minute hydra. Miraculously, it works. Whether you like black metal, grindcore, old-school hard rock, speed metal, or death metal, Nightmare Visions has something for you. Beauty, dissonance, and anger coalesce into the most creative record I heard this year.

The “blackened grind” label is a Trojan horse; a fearsome army lurks inside. War metal riffs evoke Concrete Winds with their frenzied rhythms and their chromatic structure, while dissonance and slow melodies build an ominous atmosphere. Unexpected forays into subgenres like drone (“Lost One”) round out Nightmare Visions’ lightspeed tour of extreme metal. But the most exhilarating sections are Theophonos’ digressions into old-school heavy metal. Nightmare Visions’ headbanging riffs recall Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” (“Thousand Imaginary Swords”), Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” (“Go On to Your Gallows”), and Iron Maiden’s “Wrathchild” (“Of Days Past”), with a blackened veneer that sounds distinctly like Theophonos. The album races among its sonic experiments at a grindcore pace, but gives each one enough space to shine, making it a pleasure for grind lovers and haters alike.

Every measure of Nightmare Visions flows perfectly into the next. “Nightmare Visionary” opens with slow chugging, but drops breadcrumbs of speed to lead you into a war metal trap. Later on, the instant when the song’s fury collapses back into a slow sinister melody is a highlight of 2023. Theophonos’ disparate styles often join forces, like the way the serene guitar solo on “Of Days Past” transforms its backing melody into a black metal assault. Throughout Nightmare Visions, the rhythmic gymnastics of the drums and bass help fuse contrasting sections (“Lost One”). Meanwhile, the callbacks between songs reward repeated listens, like when the calm “At Rest in Turbulence” resurrects a descending melody from the vicious “Lost One.” The album’s impeccable flow makes every twist and turn unforgettable, despite the daunting volume of ideas on display.

Nightmare Visions is painstakingly composed, but it doesn’t come off as a mere technical exercise. The black metal riffs are good old-fashioned fun, making the album a pleasure even in my brain-dead moments (“Maps of the Future”). On the other hand, closer “Of Days Past” makes me want to both reminisce and flip over a table, through its blend of sorrowful melodies and extremity. Upbeat melodies make occasional cameo appearances amidst chaos, a haunting technique that reminds me of 2022’s Ultha. I could go on and on. In short, Theophonos’ mastery of climaxes, variety, and transitions drags me to hell, to heaven, and back again.

Writing this piece feels like describing an orchid to a Martian. No matter how exhaustively I describe the petals, the diversity of Orchidaceae, or the beauty of a bloom, it wouldn’t do justice to the experience of seeing one firsthand. So yes, Nightmare Visions is black metal, grindcore, hard rock, death metal, The Velvet Underground, and more; it’s evocative, angry, hypnotic, unsettling, and fun; it’s concise but expansive; it’s chaotic but meticulously written; it is, as Wvrm said of Æther Realm’s Tarot, “all that metal can be”; it might be my favorite record of 2023. But most of all, it’s indescribable. Just listen for yourself.

Tracks to Check Out: “Lost One,” “Nightmare Visionary,” “Of Days Past”

#AmericanMetal #AvantGardeBlackMetal #BlackMetal #ConcreteWinds #DeathMetal #Grind #Grindcore #HardRock #HeavyMetal #IronMaiden #LedZeppelin #Motörhead #NightmareVisions #SerpentColumn #TheVelvetUnderground #Theophonos #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TraditionalMetal #TYMHM #Ultha #WarMetal

Lunar Chamber – Shambhallic Vibrations [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By El Cuervo

If you were to describe “things that are up El Cuervo’s tree,” progressive death metal with Buddhist themes running for only 30 minutes would be quite high up. Such was the promise of Shamhallic Vibrations by Lunar Chamber. Fortunately, the quality matched – even exceeded – my expectations. I had thought this was a full-length but it was only as I was preparing this article that I noticed it is pitched as an EP. Given its place on my AotY list and a longer-than-Reign in Blood duration, I was only too happy to prepare a proper write-up.

“Spirit Body and the Seeing Self” is a good place to start. It exemplifies the core Lunar Chamber sound. An acoustic opening gives way to a brutal beatdown with slamming leads, gurgled vocals and blast beats. Its riffs are intricate but powerful. The songs wraps progressive technicality, slamming drop-shifts and blackened drumming into singular passages that are unfailingly cohesive. Lunar Chamber are clever but not precocious, self-indulgent but not masturbatory. They remember that technicality should be a tool, not a purpose; a reality that an entire sub-genre of death metal somehow forgets.

Shambhallic Vibrations is consummately engrossing, principally through its dynamism and variety. While the aforementioned track demonstrates the band’s core skillset, “Interlude (Ancient Sage)” demonstrates their synthy prowess and the mammoth closer called “III. Crystalline Blessed Light Flows… from Violet Mountains into Lunar Chambers” takes things into new and weirder territory. Its opening is spacy and contemplative, but this gives way to a beefy doom metal passage. The slowness, despondency and chanted vocal hook pair with the progressive death metal for a compelling finale. Lunar Chamber build natural transitions and musical trinkets into their sound, framing and balancing the heavy material. The insane instrumentation, varied vocals and bold melodies ensure that it’s impossible to be bored by this release.

All this may sound messy, but these 30 minutes are arranged such that it’s exciting but not chaotic. I ordinarily dislike detached introductions and interludes, especially those titled as such. But unlike most, those here aren’t gratuitous. The introduction is a 90-second microcosm of the synth-heavy, progressive death metal you’ll experience across the release. And the interlude is a quiet breather but surprisingly complex in its own way, featuring a number of inter-weaving guitar and synth lines. It’s technical without being loud or heavy. These briefer tracks, and then the huge closer, only emphasize that every part of Shambhallic Vibrations is thoughtfully-arranged.

Lunar Chamber can proudly boast a type of death metal that’s shockingly inventive, varied and addictive. Even as an EP, it won a spot on my end-of-year list with little difficulty. You’d be a fool to miss this as a fan of progressive or death metal.

Tracks to Check Out: “Spirit Body and the Seeing Self,” “III. Crystalline Blessed Light Flows… from Violet Mountains into Lunar Chambers”

#2023 #LunarChamber #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ShambhallicVibrations #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

The Night Eternal – Fatale [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Steel Druhm

Sometimes we get a promo and for whatever reason, it languishes in the sump unloved and unexplored, and later on we find out we missed a real gem and feel collective shame. Other times we just don’t get the promo at all. The latter was the issue with Fatale, the sophomore outing by German goth/heavy/occult metal act The Night Eternal. This was really a shame as it’s easily one of the best metal albums of the year and features an irresistible blend of Mercyful Fate, To Die For, Unto Others, and Ghost. Had we received it, I would have lavished a massive score upon it and spent the rest of the year singing its praises to any and all who would listen. This was not to be, but fortunately, I was able to discover it on my own and give it the attention the album deserves.

If pressed to give a fast and dirty description of what the listener is in for on Fatale, I’d point to the sadly defunct Swedish act In Solitude, as the sound and style here are very similar, and opener “In Tartarus” is a top-notch rocker that recalls them quite intensely. That “Mercyful Fate as Goth rock” sound is just so hooky and engaging, and Ricardo Baum’s vocals are perfect for the style, completely sucking you into the album’s dark mood as the music rocks your socks down to the graveyard. Baum sits at the crossroads of a youthful King Diamond, To Die For’s Jarno Perätalo, and Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis, which is a helluva good place to be. And can the man ever sell a song? “Prince of Darkness” is a first-rate metal anthem that grabs you fast and refuses to let go, and “We Praise Death” is one of the best songs of the year. This one will leave track marks on your grey matter.

There are no weak moments to be found on Fatale and the album as a whole has a great flow and a collection of high-level tracks that will make you hit replay immediately. Just as I manage to escape the thrall of one cut, the next one becomes my new obsession. Getting away from this thing is like trying to extricate yourself from some eldritch tentacle monster that got into a Gorilla Glue factory, and to say this has been on steady rotation in the House ov Steel would be a ridiculous understatement. Try to spin “Run With the Wolves” just once, I dare you. Or try to give short shrift to closer “Between the Worlds” and see how that works out for you.

It’s very easy to focus on Baum’s excellent vocals, but much credit must be given to the guitar work by Rob Richter and Henry Kaseberg. They ground their playing in Goth and trad metal and frequently dot the songs with sweet hooks and slick hooks. They bring a righteous old school charm and flair to every cut, parking the sound in the 80s while somehow making olden tricks sound like fresh dogs. It’s the songwriting that truly brings Fatale home, however. These cats know how to craft a killer tune and punch it directly into your memory centers where it promptly establishes permanent residence. This is a List Killer and it will get to you. You’ve been warned.

Tracks to Check Out: “In Tartarus,” “We Praise Death,” “Between the Worlds”

#2023 #Amorphis #Fatale #Ghost #GothicRock #HeavyMetal #IdleHands #InSolitude #MercyfulFate #TheNightEternal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #ToDieFor #UntoOthers #VanRecords

Sworn – A Journey Told Through Fire [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Carcharodon

Hailing from Bergen, Norway, Sworn have been toiling away in relative anonymity since 2005. Two early, and frankly unremarkable, records were followed by a nine-year gap before the release of 2018’s very good, Dark Stars and Eternity. Melodic black metal with a ton of atmosphere, and sounding more Finnish than Norwegian for much of its run, the album was only really hampered by a slightly questionable mix. There is no question, however, that it represented a real step up in quality for the quartet when compared to their first two outings. Scroll forward to July this year and, still unsigned, Sworn dropped their fourth LP, A Journey Told through Fire.

It’s best to simply ignore the (predictably) cringe-inducing, but thankfully brief, spoken word passage that opens the record on what is otherwise one of the album’s best cuts, the epic “A Godless Domain.” Drummer Tom Ian Klungland sets a furious, propulsive tempo for much of the album, driving it forward in a relentless fashion that reminded me of Vorga. The melodic tremolos from guitarists Goran Hope and Christoffer Kjørsvik recall Necrophobic and Mistur as they swirl and soar but it’s the synths and strings that are introduced as quiet introspective passages, that really elevate what Sworn do. Handled by Kjørsvik, who also plays bass and seems to be the principal songwriter, the synths lend an almost symphonic note in places (back third of “A Godless Domain” and the middle sections of “Grand Eclipse”), giving A Journey Told through Fire a sense of grandeur that I associate more with doom than melodic black metal.

Meanwhile, other parts of the album, like the middle sections of the desperately mournful “Calamity Sea,” see some noodling that has a distinctly power metal feel, before an Insomnium-esque lead drops. Indeed, the Insomnium vibes are strong on “Monumental” also, as some of the earlier pace of A Journey Told through Fire is stripped out, allowing Sworn to indulge themselves a little. In other places, Cult of a Dying Sun-era Uada notes bleed into the guitars, as well as the pacing, particularly on “Visions of Fire” and the title track. Throughout, Max Wilson’s throat-shredding rasps offer up a harsher side to the record, which otherwise has an air of sweet melancholia to much of it. Clocking in at just under 50 minutes, the album is tightly written and beautifully paced, shifting up and down through the gears at will. Pummelling in places, dropping down into somber quasi-doom-death mode in others (back third of the title track), Sworn show themselves to have a deft touch for switching things up at just the right moment.

The guitars have a great sorrowful tone to them, while the issues with the mix on Dark Stars and Eternity, which saw the drums swallowing the guitars, have been fixed. By contrast, A Journey Told through Fire feels rich and, for all its pensive notes, vibrant, while its sound envelops you, making for a surprisingly easy listen. The trajectory from Dark Stars … to A Journey Told through Fire is extremely promising, suggesting the band has found its songwriting groove. Easily the best material of Sworn’s almost 20-year career, I hope this is the record that may finally see them start to get some recognition. I also hope we don’t have to wait another five-plus years for the next entry.

Tracks to Check Out: ”A Godless Domain,” “Monumental” and “A Journey Told through Fire.”

#2023 #AJourneyToldThroughFire #BlackMetal #CultOfADyingSun #DarkStarsAndEternity #Insomnium #MelodicBlackMetal #Mistur #Necrophobic #NorwegianBlackMetal #NorwegianMetal #SelfRelease #Sworn #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM #Uada #Vorga

Malokarpatan – Vertumnus Caesar [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dr. A.N. Grier

I don’t know about the rest of you, but work has been a fucking bear this year. Since starting tenish years ago, 2023 might be my lowest contribution to the site. It also caused me to miss a lot of great records I was looking forward to. Thank the sweet metal lord that we have TYMHM. And this one is special. Since 2017, Malokarpatan has been a mainstay on Grier‘s top ten lists, and this year is no different. Never one to settle for a particular style or deliver an album structured like its predecessor, Vertumnus Caesar finds the band continuing to push boundaries and deliver even more riffs and mindfuckery. And, as always, it’s difficult to say if it’s better than another in their catalog. It exists as a succession of the others without being a sequel. It’s just there, and I’m here for it.

Like Nordkarpatenland, the album kicks off with a strange, yet soothing instrumental to set the mood. Then, “Kočár Postupuje Temnomodrými Dálavami na Juhozápad” bursts forth in galloping fury. Though not in a traditional sense. That’s not how Malokarpatan rolls. With rasping vocals slathering the ether, the riffs gallop along in Iron Maiden fashion. As the song progresses, the intensity increases. The drums hammer a trench in the ground as the tight, pinched Mercyful Fate guitar play chases you down it. Then, it all falls away. Prayer ensues, engulfed in haunting harpsichord. Then, the guitar solos are unleashed—tearing through the sky like bloodthirsty bats. Like so many of the band’s songs, there are no rules. Yet, even with all the chaotic shifts, it’s still a pleasing, complete song.

The follow-up track, “Vertumnus Caesar,” tips the previous song on its head and dumps out a hard-hitting black metal piece. But, again, there’s nothing that truly identifies the songwriting as black metal. After toying with some blackened riffage, old-school trad metal grooves and wails away. Like its predecessor, it eventually abandons it in favor of a key-riddled outro. Now that you have a taste of what to expect, “Maharal a Golem” arrives to crush all expectations. It kicks off with a crushing, second-wave black metal attack, leveraging some haunting, cathedral chants. Then, it transitions into a weird, industrial passage that somehow keeps the mood while completely changing it. When the original riffage resurfaces, the vicious vocals lead a face-ripping charge to the song’s conclusion.

I could go on forever about Vertumnus Caesar but the final two highlights have to be “Panstvo Salamandrov Jest v Kavernách Zeme” and “I Hle, Tak Zachádza Imperiálna Hviezda.” The first track is a six-and-a-half-minute journey through multiple Malokarpatan landscapes. While it’s rooted in heavy metal attributes, it explores so many nooks and crannies. Beginning with slick, intricate guitar work, the song explores a haunted cathedral before taking a walk through a majestic forest where fairies play flutes. Then, it ends with a rumbling drum outro that is so out of place it works. But the closer takes everything experienced on the instrumental and goes even further. After a painstakingly slow build, the song gets moving with some old-school gallops before exploring some upbeat, folky characteristics (is that cowbell I hear?). Then, it begins to slow, wrapping itself in a majestic blanket of key atmospheres, growing in strength until everything goes quiet. In its place, a calmness overcomes you, slowing your heart rate until you quietly fall asleep.

Tracks to Check Out: All of them

#2023 #BlackMetal #HeavyMetal #InvictusProductions #IronMaiden #Malokarpatan #MercyfulFate #SlovakianMetal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VertumnusCaesar

Owlbear – Chaos to the Realm [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Holdeneye

A buddy and I have been playing Baldur’s Gate 3 online together since shortly after the game’s release, and because we both have busy lives, we’ve made very little progress. For character selection, we didn’t veer too far outside of our real-life personalities; I opted for the straight-laced, goody-two-shoes paladin, and he went for the curious and adaptable sorcerer who specializes in chaos magic. I won’t give any spoilers, but early on in our game, we came across a couple of owlbears, and our handling of the interaction resulted in my character falling from grace and being henceforth known as an oathbreaker. Given my tender conscience, I was devastated by this development, and I subsequently went in search of a way to restore my honor. For a start, I felt that the least I could do would be to bring some attention to Owlbear, a Boston-based band that specializes in D&D-themed traditional heavy metal. Hopefully, I can redeem myself.

Eldritch Elitist first brought Owlbear to my attention by mentioning the band in the AMG back channels, and it was a tip that I forgot almost immediately. Fortunately, I rediscovered the band independently after being drawn by the name and the album artwork. When I started the album, my heart was immediately set ablaze by “Fiend of Fire,” Chaos to the Realm’s fantastic opener and one of the finest trad-metal tracks you’ll hear all year. The track has plenty of Maiden melody and gallop to complement the band’s Visigoth-ish traditional style, and I’ve been waking up with the infectious chorus running through my brain sporadically for months now.

Chaos to the Realm is pure fun thanks to some strong songwriting and great performances. Vocalist Katy Scary has an incredible voice for the style, the rhythm guitar work from Jeff Taft is top tier (even if a couple of his solos fall a bit flat—one of my minor issues with the record), and Leona Hayward (ex-Skelator, ex-Project: Roenwolfe, Transgressive) keeps managing to bring her strong bass presence to projects that I enjoy. It all comes together on tracks like “Steel at My Side,” a fantastic galloping anthem that never fails to transport me to some far-off battlefield where Steel Druhm and I frolic and giggle together as we cut down our foes.1 A couple of mid-paced songs (“Tyrant’s Fall (The Death of the Sorcerer King)” and “Iuz the Old”) appear to give some welcome contrast, and the total package is extremely enjoyable.

When it comes to the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, 2023 has been an incredibly strong year. I’ve only managed to cover a tiny fraction of the quality trad-metal releases from the year, but I feel better knowing that I’ve at least somewhat redeemed myself concerning owlbears. Chaos to the Realm is one of the most fun albums I encountered all year, and I will certainly be watching Owlbear’s career with great interest.

Tracks to Check Out: “Fiend of Fire,” “Bastard Sons,” “Steel at My Side,” “Fall on Your Blade”

#AmericanMetal #ChaosToTheRealm #HeavyMetal #IronMaiden #Owlbear #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Visigoth