Mastodon — Hushed And Grim
✦✦✦✧ Mellower, more expansive, but also surefooted and intriguing. This is some of Mastodon’s riskiest stuff yet, and is a rewarding buffet of their growing appetites. See the rest here
Author Archives: arse
Happy afterbirthday
Brace yourself, boys: 30 years ago today, Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious was released (first in the UK). As part of my celebration, I offer you this fawning and needlessly sesquipedalian article from The Quietus on how pivotal this album was. All hail Carcass!
Wheel — Resident Human
✦✦✦✧ If you’re impatiently waiting for the next Tool, Karnivool, and/or Porcupine Tree, listen to this and you’ll feel a whole lot better. See the rest here
Tomahawk — Tonic Immobility
✦✦✦✧ Is this even metal? No, it is not (which is a surprise, given that the group now consists of people from FNM, The Jesus Lizard, Mr Bungle, and Helmet/Battles). But it is imminently listenable, endlessly innovative, and just lots of fun. Mybe I’m just a sucker for Duane Denison’s inimitable guitar stylings propping up Mike Patton’s vocal madness. See the rest here
Gizmachi — Omega Kaleid
✦✦✦✧ I’ll confess that I completely forgot about Gizmachi, after glutting myself on their first major album on heavy rotation back in 2005. In retrospect, I think SikTh took up the space my brain had reserved for Giz. In retrospect, I should’ve just kept listening to The Imbuing and biding my time. See the rest here
RIPLG
Holy crap, guys… according to fellas in Entombed AD, LG Petrov passed away from bile duct cancer today.
https://www.facebook.com/EntombedAD/posts/284292396380726
Time to pop on Wolverine Blues…. See the rest here
Soen — Imperial
✦✦✦✧ This is an intriguing effort at accessibility, from a famously polymathic prog band who have been compared in the past to Tool, Opeth, and Leprous. While those touchstones are still discernible, Imperial finds the Swedes at last sounding more like their own thing than their influences. The only criticism I’ve got is that there’s maybe a little too much polish and sanding down of the rough edges (but that’s fairly typical of any prog band who tries to resonate with an audience, it seems). See the rest here
Asphyx — Necroceros
✦✦✧✧ I’ll be kind and call this retro Euro-style death metal. It’s not bad by any means; it’s just not particularly inspiring. I give it two out of 4 Obama-not-bads. See the rest here
Gatecreeper — An Unexpected Reality
✦✦✧✧ It is admittedly unusual to hear a band segregate their distinct influences, rather than try to meld them together. That what you’ve got here: Side A (grindy death core) vs Side B (doooooom). Both halves are competent, but I wish either side brought more originality to the mix. See the rest here
2020: The Year In Metal
Jesus fucking christ, guys. You know what kind of year this was. And if somehow you forgot what 2020 was, consider this: over the past 12 months, I have only managed to audition 52 new albums, or 1 per week. That’s something like 40% my usual workload. Do you have albums that I missed? See the rest here
