Author Archives: arse

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Omnium Gatherum — Origin

✦✦✧✧ This is a slightly groovier and more midtempo offering from these melodeath stalwarts, a refinement that suits the band quite nicely. OG have always made a virtue of cleanliness and polish, and this album is no exception, but what is new is a greater sense of laidback self-possession. The album is also a great showcase of the band’s maturity, cohesion, and evolution, which is all the more impressive when you consider that it’s the debut of a brand new rhythm section.

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At The Gates — The Nightmare Of Being

✦✦✧✧ The good news: Jonas Björler’s songwriting is interesting and ambitious without losing the main thread of their ethos. Coupled with their customary crisp production, this album sounds like ATG has been listening to a lot of Opeth lately.

The bad news: what is up with Tomas Lindberg’s vocals? Also, this album is maybe 5 or 10 minutes too long.

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Summoning The Lich — United In Chaos

✦✦✦✧ This is a fun and blisteringly shreddy album, landing somewhere between techdeath and melodeath. It’s also catchy and infectious, not just here or there but throughout the entire album. And rather than rely on gimmicky attempts to out-heavy the next band, this quarter focuses on fundamentals like technical prowess and strong songwriting.

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Obscura — A Valediction

✦✦✦✧ This is more like it! The album feels a bit more selective in its excesses than its predecessor Diluvium, which only serves to make the riffs and leads all the more special and memorable. It’s great to hear guitarist Christian Münzner’s energy and skill in this, his return to the band, as it is for bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling as well.

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Quicksand — Distant Populations

✦✦✦✧ While this is the first full-length featuring the post-hardcore legends as a trio minus Tom Capone, Quicksand’s trademark street-fight swagger is still all over the album. The broodier and more midtempo side of the band takes greater prominence here, but that’s been coming for a long time now (I’d say it was always here).

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Rivers of Nihil — The Work

✦✦✧✧ Ambitious and genre-defying, for good and for ill. RON are continuing their evolution from techdeath into full-on progressive high-concept auteurs. Without an outside editorial voice to help them keep focus, the resulting album feels uneven when taken as a whole. There are stellar moments here and there, and then there are moments that aren’t bad, but certainly feel like a setup to something else.

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Converge — Bloodmoon: I

✦✦✦✧ This is Converge (with Chelsea Wolfe and Stephen Brodsky) at their most brooding and contemplative. Not sure if that’s what anyone wanted from them, but that’s what they did with their pandemic; how about you? Shit talking aside, I really like this album, but if you think you’re getting “Axe To Fall II” here, you’re going to have a bad time.

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