✦✦✦✧ An intriguing debut album of progressive blackened death metal that is more surefooted than it has any right to be. Think latter-day Gorguts cross-pollinated with Fredrik Thordendal’s “Sol Niger Within.” It’s pervasively dark, ambitiously imaginative, and hugely atmospheric (in a way that feels more earned than you typically get from black metal bands these days). See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ If you’ve ever listened to this band over the past 37 years, this album will not come as any great surprise. I wouldn’t even call it re-thrash, but that’s part of the band and album’s strength. The riffage and shredding are top-notch, although the songwriting only approaches greatness here and there. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This debut album from tech death supergroup Flub (featuring members of Alterbeast, Rivers Of Nihil, and Vale Of Pnath) manages to tick every box your expectations may already have, while still hewing far from their more traditional roots. There’s an added lightheartedness that works well enough. Is this the perfect union of technicality and accessibility? See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A perfectly adequate and fun hardcore+ album, halfway between Converge and Slayer. It pairs well with an impromptu demolition derby, or anywhere that physical damage reigns supreme. Weird, however, that virtually every track feels a minute too long. But maybe that’s just because it all caves my chest in. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ At its best, the music here is a perfect fusion of folk and metal, not merely folk-inspired metal or vice versa. Of course, an hourlong 16-track album all but guarantees that some songs don’t hit that ideal. Still, if you have to listen to folk metal, I recommend you listen to this one above most others. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is Rammstein at their most accessible. This is also Rammstein at their most serious and sinister. Don’t talk; just get in the car. See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ “Vintage” is right; this album feels stuck in time, comprised of a lot of ill-fitting parts. The slop-like production only makes things worse, but the bigger problem is a poor sense of pacing, seemingly in service of mood but actually the album’s biggest enemy. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Circle pitttttt! And yet, the latest album from Denver grindcore purveyors COTV is more of a grower than a shower, especially when compared with the band’s catalog. It’s an enjoyable ride, and I especially like the moments of sludgy innovation and a noticeable deference to mood. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ (See yesterday’s firstie on the companion album “War.”)
If you really liked “War” but wished it was less metal and more hard rock, this album is for you. Otherwise, this album is most certainly not for you. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Demon Hunter seem to be cribbing a page from Opeth’s playbook, releasing two albums this year which are thematically linked but sonically different. (We’ll have our first-listen feedback on the companion album, “Peace,” tomorrow.) Beyond that, this is fairly uninspiring, unless you’re a huge Stone Sour fan. See the rest here
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