Written By: Hell³

One release that got badly overlooked in 2014 was the debut of Portland’s Nightfell. Buried below the avalanche of notable productions that got out after its release on early February, few dug it out at the end of the year to give it a place on their lists. As a brooding piece of lightly D-beat infused Doom/Death, it’s a cunning mix of the lengthy musical background of both members. Back after little more than a year, they switched labels going from Southern Lord to 20 Buck Spin and just unloaded another crushing shipping container filled with engaging riffs and melodies named Darkness Evermore.

The drum kit is the domain of Tim Call, who has been part of notable Profound Lore bands Aldebaran and The Howling Wind, among others. With the former being a funeral doom staple, and the latter deeply entrenched into black metal chasms, his work would hardly ever be classified as one-dimensional or flat. Tom Burdette, responsible for the guitar and bass on Nightfell, has equally impressive credentials. He’s known for hardcore acts Tragedy, Warcry, and the short-lived but highly influential crust band His Hero is Gone. By now you’re probably rolling your eyes at the thought of yet another obscure sludge band wasting the time you’d better use replaying Repentless. But to pigeonhole this band is a huge mistake.

Now, track-by-track reviews are highly frowned upon here, but with only six songs constituting 42 minutes of music, with four of those minutes being a couple of interludes, it’s hard not to rave about the four remaining songs and their remarkable quality. Opener “At last” throws a bit of a curveball making the listener think they may be headed into lead-lined doom territory, building over a mournful guitar melody backed by cello, reminiscent of Pallbearer’s output. But then the throaty growl of Burdette and meaty guitar tone show lush progressive death riffing in a late-Morbus Chron style. The protracted song lengths may cause some apprehension, but the rhythmic and melodic structures are constantly shaken up by Call and Burdette. You get Mayhem-like tremulous guitars and galloping beats mixed around the solid riffing and engaging hooks that also have a strong melo-death feel on the fantastic “Cleansing.” Call doesn’t pull punches and mingles D-beats with blast-beats on “Rebirth,” while Burdette breaks it in half with an atmospheric build-up so dense it could make any Cascadian band from their native Portland blush. Closer “Collapse” provides another twist to the formula by having a Celtic, Primordial tint, with martial beat included, once again showcasing the duo’s great songwriting abilities.

There are very few nitpicks with Darkness Evermore. One would be the length. I support the idea of leaving the listener wanting for more, but without the interludes this release is barely above EP length. If the interludes were developed into proper songs it would be way more satisfying. Still, the overall record manages to set up an arching plot that can be inferred by looking at the track titles, without ever falling into concept album trappings. The second nitpick would be the production. It’s a clear step above their debut with the mix more balanced and punchy, but it’s still mastered a bit loud. That said, it’s still quite enjoyable and not very fatiguing, ensuring a lot of replay value. It definitely makes one hope the upcoming vinyl release features a more dynamic mastering.

Even if you’re not familiar with Nightfell’s previous work or the duo’s other projects, Darkness Evermore is more than enough to send you scrambling for more music from this gruesome twosome. This is one of the more notable blackened death/doom releases of the year, as narrow as that scope  may be, and I encourage you to check out last year’s The Living Ever Mourn if you haven’t already.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Websites: Nightfell.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: September 11th, 2015

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Fleshgod Apocalypse is well known in these parts for having produced a debut album that I worship and two albums since then that I don’t. Back in aught nine, the band released Oracles, which was a neoclassical death metal record unlike anything I had heard. The songs were intense, with intricate, artful, and beastly guitar work. Unfortunately, while songwriting was excellent, the drum sound on the record was a bit like reading a great Russian novel IN ALL CAPS; high art, ruined by someone’s inability to capitalize properly. 2011’s Agony was a better produced record than its predecessor in some ways, but the band undermined its own sound by moving all the interesting melodies and ‘riffing’ to the orchestras. When they returned to correct this problem on 2013’s Labyrinth, the master was so bad that all attempts to rectify earlier missteps were voided by the static of clipping master.

Twenty-sixteen sees these Italians back in action with their third Nuclear Blast release. And finally—FINALLY!—Nuclear Blast got them someone with the production chops to handle their sound. Jens Bogren helmed the mixing board for King and he does an excellent job of balancing the orchestral samples with the band’s acrobatic and brutal death metal riffing. Particularly of note as that for the first time in the band’s careers, the drums sound good.  Francesco Paoli’s drums are heavy, frantic, brutal, and blessedly well-mixed. Even more importantly, Bogren’s mix—and remember, he also produced Turisas’ last two records, both of which were loud, but well-balanced—finally manages to hit that perfect, nuanced middle ground where the sick riffing of the guitars and the interplay with the orchestras work.

King is a record that is defined by its songwriting. While every release the band has put together since Oracles has been a concept album, the total composition has never been as cohesive as King. From the introductory swells of “Marche Royale” and “In Aeternam,” it’s clear that Fleshgod Apocalypse has worked hard to make sure that each song is perfectly constructed. The amount of subtle variation—the kind one would expect of a band truly influenced by the greats of Viennese classical music—are frequently on display; the subtle time and tempo variations in “Healing through War,” the way the harpsichord, orchestra and the guitars play off each other on “The Fool”; the blend of riffy melodic death fretboard gymnastics with powerful choirs on “And the Vulture Beholds”; or the gorgeous use of Bordacchini’s voice on the moody “Syphilis.” And while I might be alone with this, I’ve loved Paolo Rossi’s clean vocals since their debut on Mafia back in 2010. Combined with the whole variety of sounds the band uses, King is far more than a neoclassical Hour of Penance; it’s a masterclass in blending death metal energy and power with sophisticated composition.

Frequent readers will know that I don’t intend to insult the band when I say that they’re developing into a death metal [Luca Turilli’s] Rhapsody [of Fire]. King is nothing less than operatic; epic, well-composed, dramatic. But each song stands on its own. While I haven’t been given lyrics or liner notes, the album sounds like a tale of woe and despotism with a story clocking in at an hour long. While most of the album is made up of chugging death metal riffs and Viennese classical-influenced riffing, the band uses a 2nd soprano (Veronica Bordacchini from unsigned In Tenebra) on “Paramour (Die Leidenschaft bringt Leiden),” “Gravity,” and “Syphilis.” At first I found the opera soprano jarring—”Paramour” isn’t an aria, exactly, but she carries the song with only a piano accompaniment—but her performance has developed into a key strength of this album to my ears. Her vocal timbre creates variation and tension in the storytelling, and she also voices correspondence between the paramour and the King in question. Voice overs? Why yes, Fleshgod and [Luca Turilli’s] Rhapsody [of Fire] do seem to share some ideas about drama and storytelling…

The old guitarist, songwriter, and producer from Iron Thrones one time told me that the goal of production is to be invisible—to get out of the way of the music. No band’s career and output has exemplified this more clearly than Fleshgod Apocalypse. King finally succeeds, allowing the listener to take the sound at face value and appreciate the deft songwriting and powerful vision behind the music. Getting Jens Bogren involved, in my opinion, was a sign that the band knows this, too. King is still heavily compressed—Bogren isn’t known for his full dynamic range masters after all—but the balance is good and it sounds good despite sacrificed fidelity.¹ I’m extremely curious to hear how the vinyl master of this record sounds, because I anticipate that the fidelity of the orchestral samples and more dynamic range with the pianos and vocals could lead to a sound which is genuinely even more powerful than King already sounds. And ultimately, in Bogren’s deft hands King shines in a way that would never have been possible if it had been produced by most anyone else. This allows the 60 minutes of operatic death metal to pummel, twist, turn, and immerse the listener. And when finally given that opening Fleshgod Apocalypse did not miss the mark.

Rating: Excellent!
DR: 6 | Media Reviewed: 256 kb/s mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast Records [USA | EU]
Websites: facebook.com/fleshgodapocalypse
Releases Worldwide: February 5th, 2016

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Brutality came along at the first death knell of a genre that has outlasted just about every musical trend that has come and gone. They released some thrashy death metal demos, one of which (Dimension Demented) I reviewed in the print version of Unchain the Underground back in 1992. They shed any sense of frivolity on their 1993 debut (which AMG Himself, calls, “a motherfucking timeless classic”), Screams of Anguish. Two solid full lengths followed but Brutality were lost in a sea of inferior bands, reaching only moderate acclaim. Rather than lick their wounds and fade into obscurity, Brutality gathered their strength and composed an album that transcends the decades they lay dormant. Sea of Ignorance is relevant in this age of worldwide barbarism and is a tooth-evicting punch to the fucking face of any person that thought extreme music couldn’t mean something again.

2016’s Brutality are a deadly, honed destructive force. A tornado of riffs, vocals, precision bass, insane blasts and double bass. To call them an old school death metal band would be to do them a great disservice as the performances are all exemplary – a band of 20 years ago likely could not play music of this caliber, yet they’re old school in that in the last 20 years, few albums this well-written have been released. This is music that appeals to the limbic system of the brain in its outright, what else? Brutality, yet it does not neglect the cerebrum, as it’s technical but never to the point of losing sight of why we are all here – the RIFF and the SONG. Seldom is any band better than they are during “48 to 52,” a perfect combination of heaviness and melody. Swirling like a black hole, sucking all light and life into the darkness, this is why we listen to death metal. To be shocked by not just the weight of the music but the beauty that only certain ears can pick from among the carnage.

“Tribute,” displays a sense of melody that puts Book Of Souls to shame and name drops not only Maiden but a handful of extreme metal songs, albums and bands as popular as Slayer and underground as the mighty Hellwitch. The band builds tension with speed then breaks down to a groove with a vocal roar that could make the uninitiated immediately shit his or herself. “Barbarically Beheaded,” as the title would imply, is topical not only in lyrical content, but the music captures the current state of the world. It’s unsettling and jarring and sits among “These Walls Shall Be Your Grave” as one of Brutality‘s best compositions. Never a band to rest upon shocking the listener with gore and gross, Brutality stand shoulders above many of their contemporaries and as they did throughout the 90’s, leave us wondering why they didn’t achieve a greater level of success. Perhaps because the words “success” and “death metal” shouldn’t be uttered in the same breath, as Earache’s partnership with Columbia Records and everything about Illud Divinum Insanus have taught us.

As if to add insult to injury of the Deicides and Cannibal Corpses that rested on their laurels in their later years, Brutality cover Bathory‘s sprawling “Shores In Flames,” a black metal anthem, and maintain all of the atmosphere of the original while somehow, bafflingly, doing so in a very death metal fashion. Long-time guitarist Jay Fernandez handles the clean vocals and does an admirable job emulating Quorthon. His soloing is tasteful and fluid, always a compliment to the songs and never showy wanking. Check the solo that closes out the aforementioned “48 to 52” for a prime example. Dual vocals from Scott Riegel and bassist Jeff Acres provide a lot of variety, the former with a deeper guttural roar and the latter with a raspier scream. To my surprise, gone is Jim Corker on the drums, who was with the band since Dimension Demented and through 2013’s Ruins of Humans EP. New blood Ruston Grosse is a percussive pugilist of prodigious proportions. To an old fuck like me, Brutality sound as vicious as they did on their debut.

If more bands recorded music like this decades ago, the genre may not have experienced a downturn, but luckily Brutality are back to breathe new life into a drawn and quartered corpse and remind us of why this music is so great. It appeals to the primal nature and challenges the listener while, at the same time, remaining barbaric enough that you could beat someone to death while listening to it. Almost 20 years after In Mourning was unleashed and essentially ignored, with Sea Of Ignorance, Brutality have taken the bar for death metal and not just set it higher, but catapulted it into the stratosphere. Death metal, ironically, is alive and not just well, but foaming at the teeth to take hold of your jugular and drink every last drop of your blood. I, for one, am happy to sacrifice my sanguine elixir to feed the beast.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Ceremonial Records
Websites: brutalitytheband.com | facebook.com/brutalitytheband
Released Worldwide: January 22nd, 2016

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Crack a beer and get comfy folks, it’s storytime. Our tale is about a brave group of Swedes who decided to storm the castle of greatness, knowing full well the dangers and hardships they’d face. The lofty standards of age-old records loved worldwide would need to be breached. Our protagonists would need to deftly maneuver within clear and defined stylistic boundaries. These Swedes go by the name Hyperion, and the tome of their triumph is called Seraphical Euphony.

Into battle Hyperion rides on a menacing black steed. In particular, the one the Grim Reaper is riding on the cover of Storm of the Light’s Bane because my oh my does this sound like Dissection’s second record. There’s also a clear influence of Emperor’s brand of tastefully symphonic “sophisticated black metal art” that shows up on their records along with the far more melodic direction Ihsahn’s The Adversary took that sound in. Given that Dissection employed a ton of melo-death elements on Storm, it makes sense that Hyperion takes the hint and brings that influence into play as well. Interestingly, The Haunted’s severely underrated The Dead Eye is the biggest melo-death influence present to my ears, which lends an extra layer of big riffs to the melodic stuff here. Watain’s finest two hours in Lawless Darkness and Sworn to the Dark make appearances too in their burlier take on Dissection, particularly noticeable in “Flagellum Dei” when things get extra chunky.

While I’m not generally one for intro tracks, “Remnants of the Fallen” is brilliant, showing Hyperion in top form right out of the gate. Like most good sad sounding metal, it’s plainly influenced by “Moonlight Sonata” and like any good intro lasts for the perfect amount of time to effectively build tension. Then, when you’re on the edge of your seat wondering what’s coming next, “Novus Ordo Seclorum” proceeds to knock you out of it with an impassioned ode to how awesome Emperor’s first three records were in the form of a collection of great riffs. After this, it’s full-bore into the Storm, and the melodic lead here is nothing short of incredible. “Moral Evasion” kicks in fully with a great catchy riff that may as well have been on The Dead Eye and toys with it to make the whole song based around that idea, which itself is derived from the excellent and shockingly cheese-free piano intro in which guitar slowly fades in and builds anticipation expertly.

As for flaws, the drums don’t sound quite as I’d like them to. They sound somewhat replaced, the snare roll in “Novus Ordo Seclorum” is a wee bit off-putting because of this, and the ride cymbal is wont to get a bit lost in the more intense passages. Also the rarely used clean vocals are good but not remarkable as they lack in range. Hyperion seems to know this, and uses that device sparingly enough that it’s still effective. There’s also a ton of acoustic and soft instrumental passages, but they’re so gorgeous and fitting that the breaks away from the black metal on a black metal record manage to become highlights in themselves. The title track does its best to sound like Prometheus mixed with The Adversary for much of its runtime and it’s a bit less dynamic because unlike most Ihsahn songs no clean vocals make an appearance, giving the song a bit less versatility in that regard.

If it wasn’t already obvious, I had to try really hard to find things I didn’t like about Hyperion’s debut. Not only is Seraphical Euphony easily one of the most traditionally beautiful black metal records I’ve ever heard, it’s wonderfully paced and consistently engaging too. Hyperion takes a risk in making music with such obvious similarities to their influences that it’s impossible not to compare them to the classics, forcing us to put them to test of incredibly high standards. It should be clear that to this reviewer, they passed with flying colours. Within five minutes of hearing Seraphical Euphony for the first time, I was completely enraptured and believed that I’d stumbled upon something truly great. When the stunning and wholly consonant lead that concludes the record on major highlight “Blood of the Ancients” faded into silence, I knew Hyperion had created something special. As the record fades out for the twenty-fifth time as I write this, I can confidently say that Seraphical Euphony will be the best record released in 2016. While this is certainly a massive victory for the lads in Hyperion, it’s a bigger victory for us listeners; we have a timeless triumph put to tape, our Sulphur Aeon for 2016, a new classic we’ll remember fondly years down the line.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Black Lion Productions
Websites: hyperion.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/hyperion
Releases Worldwide: February 4th, 2016

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diSEMBOWELMENT left quite a mark with their one-and-only album, 1993’s brilliant Transcendence into the Peripheral, before disbanding later that year. In the ensuing decades since, many doom/death hybrids have come and gone and few have come close to attaining the lofty heights ascended by the sadly-missed Australians. So, when bassist (now guitarist) Matthew Skarajew and drummer Paul Mazziotta would regroup as d.USK in 2011 playing the old classics with new members, I was excited to check out a band that I missed after they had called it a day. However, after renaming themselves Inverloch later that year with a promise of new material, I approached the concept with extreme caution. Thankfully, their 2012 EP, Dusk | Subside, was a short-but-fully-effective taste of what the band is capable of, and now we have their debut full-length, Distance | Collapsed.

Doom/death is a difficult genre to pull off effectively, as the balance of invoking an atmosphere and providing brutal heaviness and speed when necessary can be a tricky tightrope indeed. Add the importance of not lulling the listener to sleep during the proceedings, and you can easily figure out why many bands that play this hybrid have a hard time breaking through. I’m happy to report, however, that Distance | Collapsed is a success on all fronts. “Distance Collapsed (In Rubble)” wastes very little time, with Skarajew and fellow guitarist Mark Cullen crafting a bleak, shadowy blanket over Mazziotta’s blasts. Eventually, everything slows to a crawl, with Ben James growling and hissing indecipherably, creating a sense of despair and overwhelming dread. This song also has a riff similar to Metallica‘s iconic “For Whom the Bell Tolls” at 5:28, but even then, it’s slowed down and used to devastating effect. For an eight-plus minute song, it definitely did not feel that long. Not an easy thing to do, but Inverloch made it seem so effortless.

Distance | Collapsed is refreshingly varied enough to hold your attention throughout the album’s 40 minutes. You have dalliances of speed with “Lucid Delirium,” as well as devastatingly slow dirges in “From the Eventide Pool.” In highlight track, the almost twelve-minute “The Empyrean Torment,” you have both, with the first seven minutes being the most crushing riffs on the entire album. Mazziotta’s expert cymbal hits are peppered here and there, followed by blasts and tremolo riffing at 7:15 before slowing things back down to an atmospheric funeral procession from 8:52 onward, setting up for the somewhat-uplifting (yet far from happy) closer “Cataclysm of Lacuna.”

Produced by Skarajew and Joel Taylor, the sound is quite warm and full. Mazziotta’s drums thunder convincingly, and his cymbals shimmer without too much shine. The vocals cut through the pea soup-thick fog of the guitars nicely. In fact, the only fault I can find is that the guitars are so thick and chewy that new bassist Chris Jordan is a bit lost in the mix, only popping out here and there. Still, this is one beast of an album, and it’s been playing almost non-stop since I first acquired it.

2016 is shaping up to be a damn good year for doomy death metal. Between Distance | Collapsed and Vainaja‘s incoming newest, I’m quite the happy (dirge-y) camper right now. Abhor the sun, and let the funeral march commence.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: inverloch.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/InverlochOfficial
Releases Worldwide: March 4th, 2016

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Being old means you keep a lot of crap and not just what’s clogging your colon. I still have the issue of Unchain the Underground (as referenced in my last review) where I lambasted Voivod‘s Angel Rat, an album that was like a poison-tipped arrow to my heart of steel at the tender age of 16. Back then running a blog meant the grind of plunking everything out on a typewriter, cutting and pasting ads and pictures, using White Out to fix spelling errors, photocopying and stapling. That gave me more time to sit with releases than I ever get with the quick turnaround required in this digital era. Now I make a point of going back and listening to albums I reviewed long after publication to see if time and distance changed anything. A quarter of a century later and having listened to it countless times, I feel essentially the same way about Angel Rat now that my nuts have dropped below my knees as I did before they dropped at all.

Voivod went on to redeem themselves with the more adventurous The Outer Limits, Snake departed, Eric Forrest came aboard and they re-discovered their rage at the expense of finesse on Negatron, then perfected the blend of psychedelia and psychosis on Phobos – to date, one of their finest and most underrated releases. Forrest was out after a debilitating van accident, Newstead came in, the profile went up and the heaviness went down. We tragically lost Piggy, then the posthumous release of Infini was a dark but welcome bated breath of heaviness. Their first release with Chewy (Daniel Mongrain of fellow Cannucks Martyr), Target Earth, firmly re-established Voivod in their former glory. Mongrain could emulate Piggy’s style and, as a band, Voivod were able to pen music not only as challenging to listen to as their most abrasive but as, if not more, sophisticated and heavy. What I perceived as missteps in their discography (along with the tragedies they endured) were necessary for Voivod to come full circle on Post Society. At a mere 30 minutes, this EP packs as much punch as a full length, such is the strength of this material.

The title track opens with a punkish bass riff that could be off War and Pain or RRROOOAAARRR and from there they run through the finest moments of their discography with a vitality that many of the middle-era albums lacked. Voivod have more in common with timeless bands like Rush, The Police and U2 than most of their contemporaries in that each instrument is a distinct voice rather than a brute force when combined. This is most evident on “Fall,” where new bassist Rocky (Dominic Laroche) shines, playing melodic runs among and along with the riffs,  weaving in and out tastefully. This may be the most solemn and emotional Voivod have ever sounded, slowly building to an exchange between guitar and bass at just shy of the three minute mark that’s so catchy it’ll give you a cold sore. The solo is breathtaking in its beauty and virtuosity. During the closing passage of the song, Mongrain pays homage to his predecessor by mimicking the guitar part from “Sub Effect” off Nothingface, and then fills the shoes with cement by taking it into even more astral realms. His hands and chops are better than Piggy’s, but can you say he is a better guitarist than his predecessor? No more than you can say a modern death metal band like Necrophagist are better than Possessed in their prime.

Always distinct, Snake’s voice is breathtaking in the last minute of “Forever Mountain” as the band suddenly drops out and he croons, “So here we are, on the roof of the world” in a beautifully seasoned rasp. Like a metallic Kris Kristofferson, he has far from the best voice in the multiverse, but fuck damn does he know how to sing. Away, the one constant member of the band, was once a maniacal pugilist but age and experience have crafted him into an innovative yet controlled drummer and the cover art may be his best yet. In keeping with their constant vision of the future, Voivod covered Hawkwind‘s “Silver Machine” to close out the EP not in tribute to Lemmy’s passing but in advance of it. The production is dense, dark and dead on, and like that bleak cover art, captures the mood of the music perfectly.

Post Society finds Voivod in their prime after 35 years and is testament to how singularly unique they are. No other band sounds like them. None ever will. They have set the table for their next platter to be perhaps their finest and I am voraciously eager to digest it.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 8| Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: voivod.net | www.facebook.com/voivod/
Releases Worldwide: February 26th, 2016

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You’ve witnessed the scene. It’s a part of the furniture in many contemporary neo-neo-noir, ominously foreboding, condemningly pseudofuturist movies. Our heroic but morally ambiguous protagonist visits some sort of underground nightclub. People, presumably the filth of the city, dance spastically (yet provocatively) under stroboscopes, adorned by black leather and fetishized clothing. A mixture of disgust and temptation lingers while a red haze surrounds the entangled mess of bodies. It’s Hollywood’s typical portrayal of Hell on Earth, a mise-en-scène imbued with cheap symbolism. Imagine now a worthy metal accompaniment to such a spectacle in real life, deprived of all the fabricated fanciness, something that would eclipse phony visual cues and provide a truly infernal setting. Forget about the usual sonic backdrop featuring, at best, Marilyn Manson or Nine Inch Nails or, at worst, someone’s archaic idea of Detroit techno. Imagine instead, music so punishing and absurd that it makes you stagger while it replaces even the most resilient, essential hopes with an awareness of the inevitability and existential dread of a genuine Hell. Do you have it in your mind? Well, then you can feel how Alex Poole’s (Krieg, Esoterica, Chaos Moon) and D.G.’s (Misþyrming, Naðra) project Skáphe sounds. Skáphe², you see, is an unapologetically extreme attack on the senses and a source of ruthless, grueling emotional overload. And it’s beautiful.

Only half a minute of the introductory “I” sufficed to make me believe that Skáphe² might be one of the best black metal releases of the year. I write “black metal,” but in reality Skáphe transcends the boundaries of the genre and employs pronounced drone, harsh noise, and avant-garde elements to accomplish this feat. The full force of the music strikes you right away: the monolithic, impossibly dense wall of guitars, bass, and drums plows forth while standing still, leaving a burning shadow in its wake and placing an unbearable weight on your soul. As the song progresses, you find yourself dumbfounded, it’s almost too much to absorb and comprehend, but you slowly start to grasp that there are structures, layers, melodies, and grooves hidden in the scrawled sound. Delayed, dissonant guitars wail and try to escape from the abyss, while drums and bass form an incessant rumble over which tortured, demoniacal vocals echo and moan. There’s a slower section to the tune, making you believe, if for the briefest of instants, there might be salvation waiting ahead. But this faint hope is there only to be brutally taken away as you comprehend that even the “mellower” sections, devoid of pummeling blast beats, reign caustic and castigating as they drone with maniacal screeches and atonality.

Pieces “II” through “VI” all retain the same level of crushing intensity and atmosphere. “II,” while raw, shows Skáphe’s willingness to toy with diverse concepts as they craft an ingenious tune carried by an almost imperceptible melody that lurks behind the closely knit production and noise mantle. On the other hand, the longest song on the record “IV” exploits a post-metal sense of circular, aimless roaming and uses restless, sickly noises to emphasize the rage and anguish that will shortly ensue. Despite the incessant brutality of Poole’s compositional approach and because of how the cuts and performance continue to shift and mutate, creating contrasting architectures on various levels of abstraction, there is never a dull moment during this incomparable monstrosity’s 36 minutes. It’s music that hurts and burns, yet keeps you wanting.

While the self-titled début was a commendable solo effort by Poole, bringing vocalist D.G. on board enabled him to expand and distill the already towering approach, making Skáphe² a near perfect record in all aspects. Most of the instrumentarium, one can only guess, is skillfully handled by Poole himself while D.G. resorts to an array of inhuman vocalizations – shrieks, howls, moans – rather than anything resembling “singing.” It’s hard to find any faults in either’s performance as the musicianship is generally spot on. Likewise, the production is cunningly lo-fi, perfectly fitting for this music: filthy and muddled, yet revealing of all its complexities. The dynamics are utterly compressed, of course, but, trust me, you wouldn’t want it any other way.

There are times when one becomes saturated with all the music available, at just a few clicks away, and starts spiraling towards a resounding, morose “meh” attitude. Then something like Skáphe² comes along and, as a jolt of unrefined evil, revitalizes everything and everyone. I await Skáphe’s next release both with terror and exhilaration.

Rating: Excellent
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: FLAC 24-bit
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: skaphe.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: March 11th, 2016

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SIG:AR:TYR are one of the most criminally overlooked acts in the Viking/folk/black metal arena and even after three high quality albums they still seem woefully under-appreciated. Taking the best elements of Bathory’s Viking era and fusing them with influences ranging from Immortal, Falkenbach and Primordial, founder and sole member Daemonskald crafted some amazingly epical moments on unsung classics like Beyond the North Winds and 2010’s Godsaga. After a long period of hibernation and transformation, SIG:AR:TYR now re-emerge as a full-fledged band for their new treatise on all things Viking, Northen. Clocking in at over an hour, Northen is a massive saga detailing the 10th century Viking exploration of modern day Canada as the Viking age itself was drawing to a close. Imagine what Bathory could have done with Hammerheart or Twilight of the Gods if he had a talented band and vastly superior recording technology and you get an idea of what to expect here – huge odes to the ways of the Norsemen full of thunderous riffage, glorious bombast and more heroics than 10 Avengers movies. Most importantly, you get songwriting chops capable of turning these elements into something truly special. One thing’s for certain: if you aren’t strong enough to swing a war hammer now, you will be after one spin of this platter of raw Odin-meal.

Allow me to be blunt: Northen contains some of the best metal you’ll hear in 2016. It’s a protracted war march of mammoth, skull crushing riffs and tasteful, even beautiful guitar harmonies all designed to conjure images of long ships crashing through the waves manned by bearded pagan invaders brimming with Northern rage. Opener “Helluland” is the best song Bathory never wrote and features the same kind of simple, martial riffs that adorned much of Hammerheart. It will have you raising a mailed fist in defiance in the very first minute and that fist will only clench tighter as the song (and album) progresses. On top of the stirring riffs and pounding war drums, Daemonskald and new guitarist Mike Grund  interlace sweet harmonies and smoking solos that really take the band’s sound to the next level.

And all this is just setting you up to be pulverized by “Crowned,” which is a mighty contender for Song o’ the Year for it’s powerhouse energy and wicked Immortal influence. You can easily imagine Abbath crab walking to Vahalla and back as he riffs and raffs this tune out to the nine worlds. The solo break at the 4:00 minute mark is wondrous and fills my soul with a burning need to sack, pillage and gerrymander. “Runarmal” keeps the raiding party going with more Immortal-sized riffing and the kind of face-peeling solo work that could only be played atop a snow shrouded mountain during a lightning storm. It isn’t until “Markland (the Hammer Fades)” that things head toward calmer waters for a somewhat restrained plod. But even that semi-plod includes lovely acoustic plucking and dazzling fret-board wankery ripped from a Jag Panzer album before things erupt into mayhemic blast beats and berserker fury on the back-end.

The high quality never lets up either as “Skraeling” blossoms with lush acoustic work, gorgeous harmonies and enchanting leads, only to give way to the goth-rock meets Pale Folklore era Agalloch strangeness of “Krossanes” and the jittery, folksy grandeur of “Vinland.” Album closer “Last Ship Sails” is brilliantly melancholic, conveying the wistful awareness that you’re witnessing the end of an era and a whole way of life. It’s an emotional song loaded with tasteful, Borknagar-esque sweeping guitar-work and the perfect way to finish this magnum opus. I keep returning to this one and it’s easy to envision those long ships making their final voyage into a blood red sunset as the trilling riffs repeat themselves. Powerful stuff.

I was a fan of SIG:AR:TYR‘s prior works, but shifting from a one-man project to an actual band has made an enormous difference to their sound and scope. It still sounds like SIG:AR:TYR but now they’ve fully transformed into the beautiful Viking butterfly they always hinted at becoming. The step up in musicianship is apparent and the technical execution of these large-scale concepts is inspiring. The guitar-work is nothing short of stunning as Daemonskald and Mike Grund  rewrite the book on what the genre should strive for musically. Whether it’s the soothing acoustics, rampaging battle riffs or beautiful soloing, everything works perfectly and nothing feels over or underdone. Daemonskald employs his standard black metal rasp but this time forgoes the occasional clean vocals and chants. Those provided variety and dramatic effect in the past and could have played an interesting role on such a massive epic, but in the grand scheme of things that’s a minor complaint. What matters is just how shockingly accessible and consistent this hour-long collection of 7-minute songs actually is. That’s a major testament to the top-notch writing and performances the band brought to the oaken table.

Northen is a near flawless album and a musical tour de force that manages to remain faithful to the Viking metal genre while elevating it to a whole other realm. This is the Nechochwen of 2016 and a serious contender for Album o’ the Year. As immersive and cohesive an album as you’ll ever encounter, if this doesn’t earn SIG:AR:TYR their due, then there is no justice in the metal world. Don’t miss this, because the North remembers.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Hammerheart Records
Websites: sigartyr.com | sigartyr.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: April 15th, 2016

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German duo Mantar stormed the underground, cracking skulls and galloping to glory with their scorching debut album, Death by Burning in 2014. Fusing raucous black metal with spiteful sludge and doomy slogs, Mantar’s punked-up energy, fuck-the-world attitude and an abundance of primal riffs and gnarly hooks kept me gripped and hungry for more. On the back of the album Mantar deservedly scored a deal with Nuclear Blast for the anticipated release of the all important sophomore album. So with the big wigs behind them, can Mantar deliver on the considerable promise they displayed first time round? Hell fucking yes they can! Ode to the Flame doesn’t expand dramatically upon the solid groundwork of the debut, largely sticking to the blueprint that worked so well, but just like any successful follow-up to a successful debut, the duo of Hanno (vocals, guitar) and Erinc (drums, vocals) have upped the ante significantly in pretty much every department, strengthening their bruising formula and refining their skills as both songwriters and musicians.

Sounding even heavier and more intimidating than the already imposing presence they established on Death by Burning, Mantar go about their business with a confident swagger and full bodied conviction which they commit to each hefty, feedback drenched riff and earth rumbling rhythm. Mantar sure as shit know how to bring the heavy, and Ode to the Flame is one hell of a mean motherfucker boasting a dark oppressive streak, however it’s their supreme ability to mesh these raw, ugly elements with deeply penetrating vocal hooks and infectious riffs that sets them apart. When the band eventually locks into gear on opener “Carnal Rising” the buzzing, sludgy riffs could ground a herd of elephants. The song holds its own as a bludgeoning scene setter, before the excellent “Praise the Plague” gives a stronger taste of the high quality that is upheld throughout Ode to the Flame. Featuring a hard-hitting punch and groove, it’s anchored by a delightfully heavy blues-drenched doom riff which showcases Mantar’s superior riffs and catchy songwriting skills.

Mantar’s songwriting weapons of choice are relatively simple and effective, alternating between their rollicking brand of punky, blackened extreme rock and colossally heavy passages of sludgified doom. The pacing and flow of the album is more cohesive and consistent this time around, with each song carefully crafted, memorable and engaging, gripping from the outset yet revealing some surprising subtleties and melody within the band’s grim and thunderous assault. Dark, stormy and boasting great riffs and a typically biting vocal performance from Hanno, “Era Borealis” is a muscular and addictive gem, rocking an anthemic chorus and bludgeoning groove. “The Hint” takes it back a notch with excellent results, sporting an undercurrent of bleak melody and addictive hooks as Hanno’s seething rasp spouts despondent lyrics and the whole songs shakes with an imposing doom rumble. More upbeat, riff-driven gems like “Born Reversed,” “OZ” and the delightfully diseased hooks and dirgey breakdowns of “Cross the Cross” offer lively contrasts and powerhouse dynamics, as Mantar blast out charred punk-sludge juggernauts with riffs to burn. The two man wrecking ball bring the album to a crushing halt with the rugged sonic assault and muscular sludge-doom heft of “Sundowning.”

Bolstered by a fuller, meatier production, it’s amazing the sheer amount of sonic girth these dudes are able to muster, even if the end result is unfortunately brickwalled. This was a problem with the debut as well, yet somehow I find it less debilitating to the finished product than other similarly compressed recordings. The guitars sound huge and clear, full of bite and necessary heft, while Erinc’s tasteful and forceful drumming is complimented by thudding organic tones and crisp cymbals. Ode to the Flame was on a shortlist of my most anticipated albums of 2016 and after many repeat listens I’m more than satisfied with what the lads have conjured up here and in the mature fashion they have developed their sound. Aside from a less than ideal mastering job and the fact that the best songs set the bar almost impossibly high for the rest of the album, there are no obvious or glaring weak links holding things back.

Raw and bludgeoning and seething with pissed-off belligerence, Mantar still manage to write songs that are loads of catchy, rocking fun and. Ode to the Flame is a rousing success that finds the inventive duo playing out of their skins, taking their intimidating metallic hybrid to the next level and cashing in on their considerable potential to firmly cement themselves as serious power players in the worldwide metal scene.

Rating: 4.5 /5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: mantarbandcamp.com | facebook.com/mantarband
Releases Worldwide: April 15th, 2016

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Plebeian Grandstand is a name destined for immortality. Over the course of two albums – 2011’s How Hate is Hard to Define and 2014’s Lowgazers, the Tolousian group have annihilated any doubt as to their supremacy in extremity. How Hate is Hard to Define‘s distillation of noise, black metal and mathcore proved their worth as ‘the angriest band on the planet,’ but the sheer ambition of Lowgazers propelled the group somewhere further; the conspicuous revolver adorning Hate now pointed not at the temple, but away from the body. Pulling away from the hardcore aspects of the debut, Lowgazers was more blackened, brutal and unapproachable, but less volatile as well. False Highs, True Lows departs even further, a continuously difficult album from a continuously mobile band.

“Thrvst,” was a strong opener for Lowgazers, but “Mal Du Siècle,” provides Plebeian Grandstand their first chance to outdo themselves. It’s simplistic but shocking: a monastic air-raid siren crows three times, replaced by a distorted, distant retch on the fourth. “Low Empire,” immediately launches into an excrucuating assault, and it is here in a whirlwind of noise that the band’s latest inventions are unveiled. Drummer Ivo Kaltchev has become even more formidable, tirelessly blasting at the heart of a mass of sound that may well be more rhythmically complex than ever. “Nice Days Are Weak” debuted the band’s hatred for anything resembling meter on the debut, but the impossible-to-parse rhythm of “Low Empire” proves even more extreme. Like a ball of insects scrambling over itself, the band feed off of each other’s pyroclastic performances. Even the most spacious moments of “Tributes and Oblivions”  crackle with energy, as if the amplifiers know they’re not past, but between tortures.

There are other, less welcome developments, though. Most immediately, screamer Adrien Broué has moved away from the distorted and unintelligible screams of the last two releases, now delivering a gutsy rasp that still relies on sound rather than speech for its semitoics. In previous releases, Broué’s delivery was so forceful that, no matter what his lyrics might be, I felt compelled to agree with him. Now the feeling creeps in that his narration might not be so reliable. This comes alongside developments in sound largely driven by the album’s increased technicality; the songs are less memorable because their slippery writing has abolished riffs in favor of torrents of tremolo and scraped-at chords, marked by constant flow. In the moment that “Tributes and Oblivions” erupts into a frantic triplet lead around the minute mark, it’s hard to keep all of the sound in check, but the song’s cascading structure pulls inexorably forward, dragging you behind by the stapes.

But as much as Plebeian Grandstand‘s sound has changed, the intensity of their music remains, powered now by disgust rather than anger. The sludgy introduction of “Volition” burns through a damp pyre of bass feedback, taking cues from Indian and Dodecahedron, and the industrial heartbeat of “Mineral Tears” would never have fit into the angst-riddled math-crust of How Hate is Hard to Define. This album may be dense, but its diversity makes up for the squashed claustrophobia of its heaviest moments, and even the band’s uses of noise – like the sizzle and scrape behind Oculi Lac, or the relatively soothing “Mineral Tears” – are something of an enigma, serving not only as a complement, but on some occasions a respite from the dissonance and distortion of the instruments.

Much like Lowgazers, False Highs, True Lows sounds enormous, distorted, and dense, and without its myriad of desolate odes to guitar distortion like “Tame The Shapes,” it would be taxing to listen through. This production style loses some punch with the shift in sound as well; when Kaltchev turned to double bass on Lowgazers, the impact was visceral and horrifying. Here the reliance on that same technique weakens the effect. But at the same time, the guitars and bass are among the dirtiest, fullest sounding instruments this side of Sunn O))), and Simon Chaubard’s distinctive style, focused on ringing arpeggios through intense distortion, sounds more intense than ever. The rush that completes “Eros Culture” ends the album with a sickening lump in your throat.

False Highs‘ art is somehow even more rapturously overpowering than that of Lowgazers, and even more suggestive of the album’s yet deeper disgust: lips? vulvae? wounds? Confusion of the three thematically dominates False Highs, True Lows, and its overtly sexual art and overtones seep into a work dominated by pain and disgust, corroding and reshaping it. Whatever your opinion of this album, it’s hard to deny the LP’s thematic unity or this band’s commitment to the provocative. False Highs, True Lows is a truly uncomfortable and difficult album, and Plebeian Grandstand‘s most intense work yet.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Throatruiner Records
Band Websites: facebook.com/plebeiangrandstand | plebeiangrandstand.bandcamp.com | plebeian-grandstand.com
Releases Worldwide: April 29th, 2016

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Sometimes a band comes out of nowhere and takes a baseball bat to the established way of doing things. Whether that means adding banjos to black metal or incorporating 70s prog into doom/death, it can result in absolute triumph or a total grease fire. It’s those unexpected triumphs in particular that make music such a visceral and exciting medium and when a band pulls off something new and unusual, they deserve respect and admiration. Unknown Italian doomsters Messa want to be the next trend wrecker and to that end they’ve fused dark ambient weirdness and minimalist drone onto old school doom on their eye-opening debut, Belfry. And what an end! Calling their unorthodox style “Scarlet Doom,” they challenge listener’s expectations throughout the album’s 58 minute run time, and while their eccentric usage of drone and classic doom confused and baffled me at first, now I’m hard pressed to stop spinning it and soon I suspect I won’t be alone.

Things get off to a slow start with the 4-plus minutes of ominous ambient noise of opener “Alba.” It serves to set a dark, unsettling mood but the length could be off-putting to the less patient listener. However, once “Babalon” cracks forth with Sun o))) like waves of mammoth distortion, attention will be paid and anticipation will peak. When the other-worldly voice of front woman Sara wafts in, you’re past the point of no return and escape is no longer an option. Moody, emotional and powerful, this is music that stops you in your tracks and pricks up your ears so as to catch every note. Sara’s vocals are at once beautiful, somber and edgy and she channels a righteous share of raw gravitas, as does the song itself.

And the best is yet to come after the brief bass drone of “Faro” as the band drops the ginormous gobstopper “Hour of the Wolf” on an unsuspecting world. This baby has Song o’ the Year flashing all over it in pink neon lights as Sara croons seductively about being haunted by demons over soft acoustic strumming, conveying a very old timey Southern gothic vibe. It’s beautiful, eerie and hard hitting. At the 2:25 mark it unexpectedly erupts into rocked out doom like early Pentagram or Saint Vitus replete with crunching riffs and rowdy, powerhouse energy as Sara cuts loose with her amazing voice. This leads to the 10-minute journey of “Blood” where Sunn 0))) mega-distorted riffs meet a siren-like vocal performance as the song sways unsteadily between crushing doom and creepy church music akin to early Sabbath Assembly. Throw in a truly unhinged clarinet solo from Hell and you have one trippy, captivating ride. Genius.

The unusual odyssey continues through the Cirith Ungol inspired trve metal rumble of “New Horns,” and the ponderous doom with gorgeous vocal hooks and stunning riff-work of “Outermost” before winding out with the bright, airy folk of “Confess.” These magnificent set pieces are broken up by interludes of ambient drone that at first irritated me and disrupted the album’s flow, but in time I came to appreciate them as integral to the album’s overall mood and essential in conveying the rich tapestry of emotions Messa traffics in. To their credit these segments flow almost seamlessly and create suitably dramatic transitions when the doom riffs erupt from the droning nothingness.

Though Belfry is a long album, it doesn’t feel that way and has a strange ability to make you play it from start to finish. It’s just so oddly fascinating, it keeps you hooked in waiting for the next twist. The production is as off-kilter as the music with the DR scores running all over the map. The drone segments clock in at DR 5 with the exception of “Tomba” which hits a shocking DR 14. The more traditional doom numbers vary from DR 5 on “Hour of the Wolf,” “New Horns” and “Outermost” to DR 10 on “Blood” and 11 on “Confess.” The scores don’t make much difference though – the music has a rough, old fashioned charm and I can only imagine how awesome it would sound on vinyl.

From a performance perspective, this is a total team win. Sara’s vocals are amazing and embody the best aspects of Jex Thoth, Dorthia Cottrell (Windhand), Jennie Ann Smith (Avatarium) and Jamie Meyers (Sabbath Assembly). She has a more raw, unpolished style, but it works amazingly well. Alberto and Mark Sade craft some first-rate doom riffs and take their playing into many realms of weirdness along the way (the solo on “New Horns” is an LSD-drenched revelation). What’s most impressive is how memorable much of their playing is and how strongly it locks the listener in. I also appreciate the drumming of Mistyr. The man pounds those skins like a Manowar drummer, but maintains an unusual subtlety as well. The whole band is on point throughout Belfry leaving me with very little to complain about.

Hot on the heels of Arcana 13, Messa is another slobberknocking Italian doom band nobody’s heard of, but their name will be on people’s tongues soon enough. Belfry is weird, inventive, ingenious and most importantly, catchy as hell. This will be on more than one end of the year list and I strongly recommend you hear this thing post-haste. It’s pretty special.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: Varied | Format Reviewed: 160 kbps mp3
Label: Aural Music
Websites: facebook.com/messaproject
Releases Worldwide: May 06, 2016

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Haken have rapidly become one of my favorite bands in the world. Since my introduction with 2013’s The Mountain I’ve retraced their steps back through Visions and Aquarius – both slightly uneven stylistically and in terms of quality but with truly exemplary moments – and eagerly devoured their revised versions of older tracks on their 2014 EP, Restoration. I’ve seen them live twice and would be seeing them again in a month but for some pesky exams which will impact my future. It was therefore with great enthusiasm that I sat down with their fourth album Affinity. While Haken‘s core is consistent they deftly dabble in myriad other bands and genres to forge their unique identity: the only remaining questions are will there be more different sounds this time around? Would it still be brimming with progressive goodness?

The short answer is Yes to both questions. You may justifiably question the originality of a progressive band drawing on Yes – they all do. But I don’t mean Yes in the Fragile, Close to the Edge or Relayer sense. I mean Yes straight out of 1983 and 90125. The opening to the appropriately-titled “1985” screams “Owner of a Lonely Heart” through its cheery lead guitar, reverb-laden drums and bright synths. This 80s feel pervades Affinity: while not always as overt as “1985,” there’s a brilliant sense of fun and insincerity which makes them all the more lovable. The opening track “affinity.exe” bleeds in with the booping-beeping reminiscent of old-fashioned computers, which recurs at the conclusion. The lo-fi cover art looks as if it were drawn on some scrappy predecessor to Microsoft Paint. Hell, even the transition from 2:48 in “The Architect” – the record’s 15-minute epic – is pure 80s dark synthwave, the type of which is currently gushing from Blood Music’s every orifice.

Aside from “Cockroach King,” which is an entity unto itself, I view The Mountain as measured, very carefully-composed and broad in scope. That quality isn’t lost on Affinity despite its revelry. “The Architect” is huge, both musically and in duration, spanning decades and genres in unifying its whole. It has the epic orchestrations backing spacious riffs, oodles of noodles and the vocal gamut run by an increasingly varied and nuanced Ross Jennings. It’s a magnificent piece, made all the more special by it being the first time (I think?) that Haken has used harsh vocals and djenty guitars, previously beyond their range for heaviness.

As AMG noted in his review for The Mountain, the willingness to integrate poppy melodies is admirable, evocative of The Dear Hunter to me. Harmonious moments anchor the album in memorability, with sparkling vocal lines and guitar/synth harmonies which have an annoying habit of winding through my head while I’m diligently examining ambulatory constructive trusts of the home. “Earthrise” and “Bound by Gravity” are prominent examples. The former is unspeakably catchy: its leading riff is among the best I’ve heard this year, its opening vocals so bouncy and its chorus endlessly singable (“Resolve to carry on / another life awaits beyond / the horizon!”). The latter opens as a melancholic ballad and makes for a serenely peaceful listen. At both ends of Haken‘s spectrum – the proggy and the melodic – everything is executed wonderfully.

You know I said that Haken is one of my favorite bands? Well it’s in the batch behind Moonsorrow who are probably at the top of my list. So when I say that Haken released the best album this month it resonates – and when I say they released one of the best albums this year I mean it. Time will tell if it supersedes The Mountain atop their discography but the signs are very promising. Do not miss this.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: www.haken.com | www.facebook.com/haken
Releases worldwide: April 29th, 2016

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In 2014, Finnish three-headed beast Vainaja dropped a megaton bomb in the form of Kadotetut, leveling the ears of those who bore witness to their hymns, and placing themselves in a comfortable 3rd place spot on my year-end list with their mix of Celtic Frosty atmospherics and Asphyxiating tremolo doom. The story of a long-lost book of desecrations, sacrificial rites, and other blasphemous acts set to a bone-crushing doom/death backdrop, was both addictive and effective. Two years later, another tome has been unearthed, telling the backstory of preacherman and cult leader, Wilhelm. Verenvalaja (“blood caster” in Finnish) is a six-chapter scripture, further exploring the gruesome history of this three-man cult. Is the new chapter as engaging and heavy as the original, or has this cult of personality run out of ideas?

If “Risti” is any indication, Vainaja hasn’t let off the mammoth-heavy pressure one bit. Kristian’s riffs are still thick and warped, and Aukusti’s drumming is still pummeling and methodical in its approach. What has changed is the welcome addition of dynamics. There are melodies and leads peppered here-and-there, courtesy of guest guitarist Lasse Pyykkö (Hooded Menace), whose careful usage of notes evokes a feeling of dread and fear. There’s even some clean singing introduced, but rather than taking away from the heaviness of the music, they enhance the creepiness factor exponentially, giving the feeling of a choir singing the hymns of their perverse leader. Speaking of vocals, bassist Wilhelm’s guttural bellows sound even more grotesque, welcoming you to the bowels of Hell, and ensuring your stay is painful, chaotic, and permanent. In other words, all that made Kadotetut such a gruesome beast of an album has been upgraded significantly, and the additions to the formula make the end product that much more brutal, disturbed, and hideous.

There are no weak links on Verenvalaja, as each song has its purpose. The almost 11-minute standout “Usva” feels much, much shorter, thanks to some Type O Negative-esque singing (again, enhancing the weirdness factor) and an ambient middle section that fools the listener into thinking the song is over, before leveling heads once again for the final few minutes. “Kultti” features a bizarre keyboard melody about halfway into the song, giving an almost 70’s progressive vibe, until it tramples you with guttural growls, tremolo riffing, and pummeling double-bass drums at 4:37. But just like Kadotetut, Verenvalaja is an album begging to be heard from beginning to end. It’s rare for a 44-minute album to feel shorter, and more so if it’s doom metal, and yet Vainaja made it seem effortless, as I kept replaying the album once “Kehto” died out along with its death screams, and I’ve had this album for over a month. It’s just that fucking good.

Once again, Dan Swanö helmed the production, but again, there’s some welcome changes. Kadotetut‘s biggest downfall was the squashed production, seeing as how the version we received for review scored a DR rating of 4.¹ Apparently, both Swanö and Vainaja took this criticism to heart, as the original review copy of the album scored a DR average of 7. The bass is more audible without sacrificing the heft of the guitars, drums, or Wilhelm’s cavernous vocals. However, recently we were given a High Dynamic Range mix (DR 14!) of the album about a week ago. Partaking in the Dan Swanö Challenge, comparing tracks side-by-side, I can report that there are very little differences between the two versions, but they do exist. You can hear a little bit more of the effects during the ambient parts of “Usva” and “Valaja” in the higher DR version, the bass does pop a bit more, and that aforementioned tremolo part in “Kultti” has more kick to it in the higher DR version as well. Unlike Kadotetut, neither version is fatiguing which is a major step up.

I went scraping through the album with a fine-toothed comb, and other than the lack of tempo variance, Verenvalaja cements Vainaja as the real deal. As someone who straight-up loves Kadotetut, this album dwarfs it in every aspect. May has turned into a monstrous month for metal music, and Verenvalaja is leading the choir with perverse confidence and sickening conviction. Essential.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 14 | Format Reviewed: 24-bit FLAC
Label: Svart Records
Websites: vainaja.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/vainaja
Releases Worldwide: May 27th, 2016

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Circumstances have not been kind to prog-metal forefathers Fates Warning. For most of the past decade and a half, the band has been sidelined while far lesser acts have laid claim to the entire genre (oh hi, Dream Theater). The fact that Fates have released some incredibly inaccessible albums has not helped their cause, nor did their 9-year hiatus from making new music altogether. 2013’s comeback Darkness In A Different Light was a heavy, catchy and focused record, and it seemed like Fates Warning was finally back on track. The quick (by FW standards) turnaround for Theories Of Flight seems to bode well, but can the band maintain the high standards they’ve reestablished?

“From The Rooftops” initially seems like an odd choice to open the album, as it does so on a mellow, understated note. But worry not, as all this relaxation is merely a setup for one of Jim Matheos’ patented off-kilter riffs and a particularly fierce delivery from singer Ray Alder. Alder’s vocal abilities have been the subject of some consternation, but on Flight he displays more range and energy than we’ve heard from him in years. The song continues with some fancy cymbal work from drummer Bobby Jarzombek (Halford, Spastic Ink), leading into a ripping solo by lead guitarist Frank Aresti.

Once the dust clears, “Seven Stars” continues in slightly more straightforward fashion, essentially verse/chorus/verse except that said chorus is HUGE. “SOS” is at once catchy and proggy, delivering another soaring chorus from Alder before delving into a dark, keyboard-driven middle section and some stuttering double-kick work on the way out. This one gives me chills. Also worth noting is the involvement of producer/mixer Jens Bogren, of Opeth/Katatonia fame. Bogren handily makes the band’s previous album sound like little more than a glorified demo, adding both clarity and immense sonic girth.

“The Light And Shade Of Things” is the first of two extended-length tracks on this album, and somehow combines the despondent style of Fates‘ last 20-plus years with shiny choruses reminiscent of the Parallels era. Again, Alder’s voice is in top form, and I can’t help but wonder if the band’s return to regular work has inspired him to greater heights. The record continues with two surprisingly heavy numbers. “White Flag” takes a meaner approach to the band’s late-’80s gallop, while Alder rocks an almost-power metal vocal line. This song also features a guitar solo tradeoff and some stellar bass work by Joey Vera (also of Armored Saint). The chugging “Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen” veers a little too close to modern metal for my tastes, but I gotta admit that the bridge section is one of the coolest moments on the record.

Fates Warning often return to lyrical themes of nostalgia and longing for more innocent times, and the 10-minute-plus “The Ghosts Of Home” is perhaps the most point-blank expression of that emotion yet. Beginning with gentle clean guitar and an almost nursery-rhyme-esque melody from Alder, the song wastes little time morphing into something more chaotic, before finally erupting into a flurry of aggressive, technical riffs. Put bluntly, “Ghosts” is one of the most ambitious tracks Fates have ever done, weaving through a variety of musical and emotional movements with expert precision. The instrumental title track acts as a kind of postscript, ending the record with one of the shorter and stranger compositions in the FW catalog.

Fates Warning have realized that being technical and being introspective are not mutually exclusive, and have figured out how to meld both those halves into a cohesive whole. On Theories of Flight, the band’s late-’90s melancholia combines with the heaviness and technicality of their early years, with an ear to the ground for new sounds as well. After a long layoff, Fates Warning prove that Darkness was no fluke, and while Theories may be a bit less immediate than its predecessor, it’s no less stunning.

Rating: Excellent!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: InsideOut
Websites: FatesWarning.com | facebook.com/fateswarning
Releases Worldwide: July 1st, 2016

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When you think about the month of August, what does your mind conjure up? Afternoon swims in your background pool? Grilling your favorite killed prey on the barbecue with an ice-cold beer clutched in one hand? Unbearably hot heat waves? Whatever it is, I’m sure you are not thinking of one-person doom metal, and yet I am seemingly bombarded with just that this year. Earlier this month, Spirit Adrift impressed me with their (err, his) debut, and now singer/guitarist/songwriter Jayn H. Wissenberg, aka Darkher, is throwing her gauntlet into that particular ring with her debut full-length, Realms.

Many of you will dispute whether Realms can easily classify as a doom metal record, as there are also whiffs of Portishead and slight tinges of folk here. What’s not in dispute is just how well this album is put together. Plainly put, I’m having a difficult time putting Realms down long enough to write this review. After an ambient opening, “Hollow Veil” gently lulls the listener into a My Dying Bride-like crawl, with Wissenberg’s quivering voice recalling both Beth Gibbons (Portishead) and Loreena McKennitt. In fact, that latter comparison holds firm throughout Realms, as Wissenberg’s haunting voice easily matches McKennitt’s ethereal wails. With ambient guitar effects supplied by Wissenberg’s husband Martin and simple-yet-effective drumming by Shaun Taylor-Steels (Vestige of Virtue, ex-Anathema/My Dying Bride), “Hollow Veil” sets up Realms for a beautifully eerie jaunt for the next 38 minutes.

One thing to note is just how bare the songwriting is on Realms. Wissenberg paid careful attention to the songs’ construction,  allowing the songs to breathe and take lives of their own. “Moths” features just a lone acoustic guitar sparsely plucked, allowing her alluring voice to carry the song to its somber end. “The Dawn Brings A Saviour” follows the same blueprint, except this time with a fuzzed-out guitar humming and generating feedback from behind, as if to signal a soul’s flame extinquishing. Darkher coats Realms with breathtaking moments, but it’s the closing one-two punch of “Foregone” and “Lament” that lingers far after the album’s expiration. The former sensually saunters forth like a jilted lover, intensifying with Wissenberg’s wails during the second chorus and Taylor-Steels’ progressively heavier drumming towards the finale. “Lament,” in comparison, fades in with a beautiful guitar melody, soothes with Wissenberg’s voice, and builds to an emotional climax with her wails and cries fading back out, laying the album and the listener to rest. Emotional and draining, in the absolute best possible way imaginable.

Produced by Jayn Wissenberg, there is little to find fault here. My complaint is that some of the drums sound just a bit flat here and there, and there are some noticeable moments when the electric guitar sounds a little fried (“Foregone” being a prime example). Mind you, that’s the only fault I can find with this album, as Realms stuns from beginning to end. The songs don’t overstay their welcome, the run-time is perfect, and there’s not a single clunker to be found. In fact, I’m listening to “Lament” for the eighth time today as I type this. Don’t be surprised if this song ends up as my Song o’ the Year winner come year’s end.

Much like Myrkur and Sylvaine before her, Darkher staked her claim as a force to be reckoned with in doom metal. Realms, with its ethereal songwriting and emotional singing, impacted me like few other doom metal releases this year. If she continues to grow with her songwriting, I see a long, fruitful future for her. As such, Realms is a great launchpad. Color me impressed.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Prophecy Productions
Websites: darkher-uk.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/DARKHERMUSIC
Releases Worldwide: August 19th, 2016

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In light of AMG’s loving jibes at their album art, I have been commissioned to write a review for Uada‘s Devoid of Light after mentioning to him my opinion of it. Having only first heard it in July but with an April release date I had previously consigned it to Things You Might Have Missed (TYMHM) territory but AMG’s contrition dictated this delayed review. Those familiar with our regular features know that only the best of what we missed will receive a TYMHM: know, then, that Devoid of Light is one of the best black metal albums of 2016.

The first thing that struck me about Uada is that although they are categorically black metal, drawing influence from numerous sources, they’re so bright and energetic. There’s a vibrancy here which is missed entirely by so many of their blackened peers. The musicianship is enthusiastic, agile and infectious as neat ideas are incorporated throughout – I’m not supposed to be feel happy when listening to black metal but I invariably am with Devoid of Light.

“Natus Eclipsim” opens with a ripping Dissection riff, preferring groove above atmosphere and falling far closer to melodic black metal than that found in the second wave. This grooviness is maintained going forward, though the mid-paced, darker feel to the lead in the title track strongly evokes Mgła instead. By comparison, “Our Pale Departures” transitions into a furious whirlwind, blast beats and all, which can only be associated with Norway in the early 90s (see: Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone). The breakdown in “S. N. M.” makes for a great moment to head-bang and throw horns while the mini reprieve in “Black Autumn, White Spring” is almost epic in its cleaner chords. Though influences are shuffled throughout to avoid stagnation, great riffs are afforded the time to be great riffs: new melodies aren’t deployed for the sake of change and instead arrive at times which feel natural. Thus, the 10-minute closer does not feel like 10 minutes.

It’s also a boon that Devoid of Light is shockingly brief. In this day and age of cheap music production which often results in Johnny No-Name’s self-released debut double album, Uada chose to write a short and impactful collection of 5 tracks. As soon as the last is over the beginning recalls. It’s addicting in a way that’s uncommon for black metal and there’s nary a scrap of filler occupying the 34 minutes. The best tracks encircle the rest which makes for an incredibly compelling listen as, given the short length, you’re never far from the best material. “Black Autumn, White Spring” concludes the album as the longest and most expansive track, culminating with a frenzied solo. I’m not a fan of fade-to-black type endings so this injection of something new and exciting fits perfectly.

I really don’t have any criticisms musically. Even the production is good, save the industry standard dynamics. Devoid of Light sounds warm and old-school without actually languishing with low production values. Separate instruments and lines are clearly distinguished and there’s reasonably strong bass in a genre which often disregards this component. Alex over at Metal-Fi bemoaned the drums’ quietness in the mix but to me it evokes Scandy black metal very convincingly.

Devoid of Light isn’t original. It doesn’t push any boundaries and it scarcely even seems American given its plundering of European black metal. But it still feels fresh and singular. Uada are black metal re-energized and they’re so much fun to hear. Never have loving jibes been more loving.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Eisenwald
Websites: facebook.com/uada
Releases worldwide: April 8th, 2016

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One of my friends, a classicist and lover of classical music, has a few favorite metal bands he’s never heard. It’s not the music that makes him love Necrophagist or Abominable Putridity; it’s just the absurdity of their names, the contortions of language that must occur for brutality to surge forth. Unfathomable Ruination is a band he can get behind. And well he should, because it would be foolish to try to get ahead of them. Since their 2012 release of Misshapen Congenital Entropy, I’ve been keeping an ear out for the group’s masterful riffcraft, classy songwriting, and cromulitudinously embiggenified lyrical constructions. Taking pointers from Suffocation, Death, Origin and Ulcerate, the band’s sound is unfuckwithable as they come, built from the basics of death metal; guttural howls, blast beats, and an almighty storm of riffs.

Everywhere you turn, Finitude has a horn-throwing, tongue-stuck-out, smash-your-face in riff. The groove on single “Nihilistic Theorem” is more like a canyon – and it’s been raining uphill. It’s where kickass bassist Frederico Benini takes charge, delivering a set of sporadic solos before taking the melodic lead and driving the flash flood of brutality out into the comparatively calm intro of “Neutralizer.” The band end the song on that intro riff as well, because they know damn well when they hit gold. The opening and closing theme of “Neutralizer” sound like Human– era Death but meaner, and it’s an instant classic. This is the kind of song you’d expect from a band that covered “Vacant Planets” at the end of their spine-crushing debut, but the execution is just miles ahead of your imagination. Riff of the fucking year, right there.

Those songs are from the dreaded mid-album stretch, which strangely enough might be Finitude‘s strongest section. But that in no way implies that the rest of the album doesn’t stack up. From “Pestillential Affinity” to “Pervasive Despoilment” the riff flood just doesn’t dry whatsoever and there’s nary a moment of filler – the one breakdown feels like just a hint of Suffocation worship. Even the expansive eight-minute closer is just lousy with slow, twisting grooves and little melodic spasms, though its relatively linear structure could do with slightly more recall.

There is a downside to Finitude, and it’s a tough one to stomach. You see, I have about half a dozen reviews for bands that we actually got promo from and some of these are, shockingly, pretty good albums. The sad truth is, they’re just going to have to wait their goddamn turn while I listen to Finitude more or less continuously. Unfathomable Ruination hit dead center: this is what technicality and brutality are meant to create. The band don’t sidestep the massive pitfalls of the genre but cruise over them, seemingly unaware of their very existence.

And the icing on the cake? Doug Anderson’s snare. The guy is an incredible drummer, but even more remarkable is how well his kit fits into the mix. The snare is tight and aggressive but not overbearing, the kick drum sounds like a big, low, powerful kick drum, and his toms, which feature heavily in his fills pack one hell of a wallop. Honestly with a snare that sounds that good, I’m surprised he lets his stick touch anything else, but his performance here is extremely varied and matches the versatility of the band completely. The string trio of Herrera, Piazza, and Benini sound very comfortable playing off of each other, and together create an immense but not overbearing sound. This isn’t a densely contrapuntal Gorguts record, but when solos and leads break through the blasting, it’s easy to see why the band felt like one guitarist wasn’t enough. Yet I do miss how present the bass was on Misshapen Congenital Entropy.

That being said, there’s precious little I can find fault with on Finitude. The songs and riffs are even better than on the last album, the overall sound is a bit more natural, and despite the low DR I’ve been listening to the album on repeat since the first spin. Unfathomable Ruination are about as good as brutal death gets; they capture a classic death metal feel without sounding retro because they just write fucking death metal songs made of fucking death metal riffs. Finitude is the best release in the genre since Omnipresent, and might overtake even Origin‘s recent high water mark – an extreme claim, I know. But every once in a while, a talented band comes along that works hard and learns from the best. And in time, they are destined to join them.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Sevared Records
Websites: unfathomableruination.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/unfathomableruination
Releases Worldwide: August 31st, 2016

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Crack a beer and grab a seat. Today’s entertainment is a double feature from two Texas-based bands with a proclivity for taking black metal and turning it on its ugly, corpse-painted head. First up is Cara Neir, an idiosyncratic, punky duo whose hardcore-tinged blackness often lends itself to wild stylistic forays, as heard on 2013’s Portals to a Better, Dead World. On the flip side is Wildspeaker, a crustier, sludgier outfit who formed in 2013 and released debut Survey the Wreckage last year. They’re here to deliver Guilt and His Reflection, 13 tracks depicting “humanity crumbling into itself” through “the story of post-civilization sins committed when desperation overwhelms.” Foreboding stuff – but is it worth the price of admission?

For Cara’s side, the answer to that question depends on how weird the shit is you’re into. Led by multi-instrumentalist Garry Brents, these seven songs weave a quilt of off-kilter drumming, unusual-sounding chords, and oblique note sequences overlaid by vocalist Chris Francis’s throaty, wet rasp. Opener “Halo of Grey” begins almost like an Atheist song with its rapid wonky basslines and jazzy guitars, before moving into terracing riffy buildups and finishing with a spacier, cosmic sea second half. Follow-up “Clinging to My Last Bit of Sanity” introduces galloping passages joined by smooth, beady leads and bashed final tremolos, but the biggest oddball is “Ego Eats Man,” which features lo-fi bedroom singing akin to A Place to Bury Strangers, interspersed with distant delayed melodies and jangly chords like screamo act Touché Amoré.

Now I’ll be honest – if I’d read that last paragraph before hearing Guilt, I’d probably assume Cara’s songs were too heady and exhausting to be worth my time. Fortunately, they’re anything but. The slinky, distinct basslines are often more memorable than you’d expect, and the ricocheting tremolos are deceptively enjoyable. For how rhythmically disjointed everything seems on first pass, there’s a slick cohesiveness amongst the exotic time signatures and occasional blastbeats. Sure the snare sounds somewhat wooden and the drums are a tad quiet, but at the forefront, the guitar and bass still etch out a richly gothic, willowy atmosphere. As demonstrated by the low thumping plucks and xylophone hits of ambient finisher “Guilt,” this band has a true character in addition to their captivating music.

Wildspeaker’s side, on the other hand, is slightly more conventional but immensely more savage. Unlike the bass-led compositions of Cara, these six tracks are a fierce treble barrage, powered by battering drums and an abrasive guitar tone that sounds like razor blades in a blender. Vocalist Natalie complements this with a high-register, acidic rasp that recalls other similar female-led acts like Iskra, Black September, and Oathbreaker. Only fragments of the sludge from Survey remain in the form of a few creeping chugs – as a whole, this is fast and uncompromising.

Fortunately, the band still write solid riffs, offer enough room to let them be discerned, and supplement them with unusual moments knitted fascinatingly into the record’s overall framework. Take opener “Desecration Plague,” which charges from fearsome blasting into a stomping rhythm under surprisingly meaty guitar progressions. “Hunt the Weak” stands out for its harrowing ascending tremolos, “Stages of Decomposition” works upward from a morose waltzing melody, while “Sins of Desperation” morphs a skewered stoner-esque riff into a hammering D-beat assault. Yet most surprising is closer “His Reflection,” which finishes with blastbeats and major-key strumming that strongly recalls a certain shall-not-be-named pink record. But put down your Pitchforks – “Reflection” works as a powerful finish, made more poignant by its inspired writing and how different it is than everything else here.

In all, to say Guilt surprised me is an understatement. I’m used to splits featuring covers, re-recordings, or one-off experimental tracks that prove little more than a curiosity. Here, Cara Neir and Wildspeaker have crafted a joint record where each side is incredibly accomplished and has its own identity, and yet they complement each other immaculately both in mood and arrangement. Maybe the most surprising part is that the songs average only three minutes in length, and not one feels unjustly truncated for the 39-minute runtime. The only real downside is that, as of now, the only physical release of Guilt will be via cassette. But hey – for those who don’t like mp3s, this is more than worth digging out the Walkman for.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 224 kbps mp3
Label: Broken Limbs Recordings
Websites: facebook.com/caraneir | caraneir.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/wildspeaker | wildspeaker.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: September 16th, 2016

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Khemmis sat atop my list of very pleasant surprises for 2015, with their unheralded Absolution debut being one of the best doom platters of the year and one of the top metal albums overall. I assumed 2016 would see these youngsters flushed with newfound success, touring extensively and carefully prepping to battle the dreaded sophomore slump sometime in 2017. Instead they chose to come right back at us with Hunted, and I wondered if they might be rushing things. Especially when I saw the track-list consisted of but 5 songs clocking in at 44 minutes. That means fewer, much longer songs than last time, which could spell trouble even for a seasoned doom crew. It didn’t take much time with Hunted to realize such fears were unfounded. Hunted is another huge platter of mammoth riffs and emotionally gripping vocals held together by stellar writing chops and enough rock sensibility to drive the songs through your skull. Sounding anything but rushed, Hunted is a more refined, streamlined beast and though a few of the extraneous influences from the debut have been sloughed off, the end result is a kind of doom that’s so accessible and easy to digest, it almost defies genre conventions. I guess when you’ve got that “it factor,” you’ve really got it.

From the opening chords of “Above the Water” until the fading strains of the closing title track, this thing reeks of superior writing and solid musicianship. While Absolution existed in a grey area between classic doom and its uncouth stoner cousin, Hunted is clearly in the former camp, sounding more like Pallbearer and While Heaven Wept than before. There may still be a certain rock-centric vibe lingering in the riffs and builds, but the desertcore, and at times, southern-fried stoner elements are all but erased as they double down on a classic doom template. The presentation is more polished and, dare I say, classy than before, as they marry earth-shaking doom riffs with weeping melodies that share lineage with traditional doom and the Finnish school o’ sadboy led by Insomnium and Rapture. There are also strong traditional metal elements woven through the music, grounding things in the early days of doom yet maintaining a modern sheen.

“Candlelight” could easily appear on a While Heaven Wept album with its forlorn riffs and “broken soul” vocals. It’s a beautifully downtrodden piece full of emotion and weighty riffage. “Three Gates” brings the most heaviness, rumbling along on aggressive, thick-as-a-brick riffs and harsh rasps, sounding like a musical road grading machine.

Oddly, it’s the longest songs that cut the deepest, as if the band needed the extra time to allow their material to fully blossom. “Beyond the Door” is  doom fan’s dream –  from the trilling riffs that depress the spirit even as they perpetually reach toward the heavens, to the lofty vocals foretelling hope and loss simultaneously, this is what the genre is meant to be. And somehow the title track takes it even further, making its 13-plus minute runtime feel as crisp and fleeting as a top 40 radio hit. The urgent, plaintive vocals, and beautiful solos swirl and blend with Tuomas Saukkonen-esque cascading riffs and classic metal influences to form a wonderfully moving musical panorama guaranteed to impress.

The biggest downside comes via an overloud production, which while not awful, does deform some of the material’s essential beauty. The individual instruments are well mixed, but then everything gets dumped in the loudness blender and it can get muddy when you want it clear as a mountain lake. At 44 minutes, the album flies by despite the song lengths and you’ll be left wanting another 8-10 minute monster when it ends. This is also the rare album with long tracks that doesn’t scream for editing, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

The biggest departure from Absolution are the vocals, which are more soaring and emotive than before. Phil Pendergast elevates his vocal game significantly, turning in a moving performance sure to pluck at the heartstrings of even the most taciturn metal ogre. Sometimes he reminds of Scott Reagers (Saint Vitus) but with much more range and depth. The death croaks still put in a few appearances, most notably on “Three Gates,” but they seem more of an afterthought now. The guitars also feel less raw than on the debut, and with the stoner elements stripped out things sound cleaner and more elegant. Pendergast and Ben Hutcherson craft an iron skeleton of classic doom riffs then decorate the bones with flowing, ethereal harmonies that rip melancholy from the very air itself. The rock-solid rhythm section of Dan Beiers (bass) and Zach Coleman (drums) lay down a solid base upon which Phil and Ben build their church and the whole construct sounds ready for gold plating.

Khemmis was great before, but now they’re deadly. By shifting direction toward classic doom and refining their vision and writing, they’ve unleashed a musical Kraken on the doom scene. Hunted is stronger than Absolution, and somehow more accessible too. My only question is, where do they go from here? This will be a tough act to follow, folks.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kpbs mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Websites: khemmis.bandcamp.com | khemmisdoom.com
Releases Worldwide: October 21st, 2016

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There will be no encore. The hour is nigh when some lucky few will experience the last gig, the last song, the last moment of the world’s most violent performative force. And the rest will be silence – because after The Dillinger Escape Plan leave the stage, the vacuum left behind won’t fill. Few artists have ever accomplished such a monumentally intense yet far-reaching career. How many can claim to have collaborated with both Mike Patton and Jarren Benton? To have covered Justin Timberlake and be covered by string quartet Seven)Suns? After years of dizzying performances and stratospheric success, The Dillinger Escape Plan find themselves with no barrier left to break.

But the object of breaking never seems to matter much. Never known for subtle entrances, Dillinger pitch the bar off into the sun immediately with “Limerent Death,” a song that presses and beats against the walls of any room unfortunate enough to host it. “Limerent Death” makes “Prancer” look like elevator music, and puts the band’s previous spazz-outs to shame; it should end at about the 2:40 mark, but it’s such a powerful song that it bounces back from the grave, slinging its weight forward into a collapse that’s disturbing in scope. Puciato’s mangled vocal delivery warps the kitschy accelerando into a spectacle of insanity, and Weinman’s absolute trust in his talent is obvious across the album.

2013’s One of Us is the Killer was many things, but I liked to sum it up in a single name: Billy Rymer. Mind-blowing performances on tracks like “When I Lost My Bet” established his absolute dominance in technical drumming, and the detail and energy of his playing made great songs into incredible songs. Yet on Dissociation Greg Puciato gets the last chance to contribute and uses it to break new ground and top even Rymer’s performance. Puciato writes and records his vocals only after the rest of the album is essentially finished, meaning that he has a unique freedom to shape songs in ways the rest of the band can’t; yet the music is tailor made for him in the first place. When the band give him addled interludes, he responds with spoken-word ennui in “Wanting Not So Much to as To.” When given space between attacks in “Manufacturing Discontent,” he fills with a yowl that’s half blues, half hardcore. His double-tracked pop-crooning is breathtaking next to  Seven)Suns quartet’s strings and layered industrial polyrhythm on The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s final song, imploring; “Find me a way to die alone.”

Yet for all of Puciato’s considerable charisma, he’d be lost without Weinman & Co. writing the most grating and unpredictable music on the planet for him to pour over. If for some reason you were afraid that Dillinger would back off the pedal, you have nothing to fear. The guitar work in this album is some of Weinman’s best ever, whether he’s executing excruciatingly percussive speed riffing or adding subtle harmonic flourishes to more melodic riffs. Even the ballad-like “Symptom of Terminal Illness” rides a shifty odd-time line that flows between aggression and agility with impossible lightness.

With all of this experimentation on full display Dissociation proves to be The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s weirdest album by a mile. “Low Feels Blvd” transitions from “Sugar Coated Sour” to a fuzzy samba solo in the span of 100 seconds and when Puciato finally rips through the soaring, ultra-prog guitar work, it’s like he’s actually splitting Mahavishnu Orchestra in half. “Fugue” takes Ire Works-style interludes to their logical extreme, and it’s actually surprising not to hear Greg Puciato trying to scream or even rap his way through it. Dillinger are painting in colors I’ve never heard.

And isn’t that the point? Though not as uniformly aggressive and dark as One of Us Is the Killer, Dissociation is by any measure more bizarre, unprecedented, and uncomfortable than any other recording from the band. Every album from The Dillinger Escape Plan is a grower because fans are never really prepared for its novelty; but looking back, this is even more unconventional than Ire Works. “Limerent Death,” “Low Feels Blvd,” and “Dissociation” are some of the best songs not just of this year but of The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s entire oeuvre; as challenging as “43% Burnt” and “When I lost my Bet” but powerful as “Sunshine the Werewolf.”

Rather than become stagnant, stable, and predictable, The Dillinger Escape Plan chose to push boundaries in every way even after widespread popularity. Dissociation carries the trend to the very end. It’s a mighty accomplishment even among one of the most forward-thinking, intense, and excellent discographies ever. When Billy Rymer’s drumkit is dashed to the floor for the last time, soaked in sweat and I dearly hope blood, it will have not been for naught. They gave us everything we wanted – and more.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Party Smasher, Inc.
Websites: thedillingerescapeplan.org | facebook.com/thedillingerescapeplan
Releases Worldwide: October 14th, 2016

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