Lord Mantis — Death Mask
★☆☆☆ This album flirts with being interesting. See the rest here
Category: First Listens
Svarttjern — Ultimatum Necrophilia
★★☆☆ Slightly more interesting than just by-the-numbers black metal, but this still manages to not come across as surprising or inventive. It falls somewhere between Burzum and Dethklok somehow. See the rest here
Winterstorm — Cathyron
★☆☆☆ This is expertly done… I suppose. I mean, it’s got everything I’d expect from Bavarian power metal: galloping riffs, synth pads at all times, and anthemic and awkward vocals that are a bit too conspicuous in the mix. It’s all a little tired for me. But if you like this sort of thing, well, check this album out. See the rest here
Winger — Better Days Comin’
★★☆☆ This is an oddly satisfying album. It never strays far from its bun-shaking hair metal roots, but it comes atcha by way of a surefooted technicality and progressiveness a la King’s X. This is a must-hear (especially the stand-out track “Tin Soldier”), but probably just once. See the rest here
Cormorant — Earth Diver
★★★☆ It’s like someone took some of the best parts of Opeth, Mastodon, The Ocean, Isis, and Enslaved, put it in some rusted out machinery, and extruded out a nasty but delicious paste. See the rest here
I Killed The Prom Queen — Beloved
★★☆☆ Very well done mathcore that yet somehow fails to inspire. You’ll nod your head, but kinda because you just have to, ya know? Nice interesting and “brutal” breakdowns, though, so there’s that. See the rest here
Pyrrhon — The Mother Of Virtues
★★☆☆ This is pretty much Gorguts by way of The Melvins or Fantômas. If you’re into that sort of thing. It’s expertly done, but there’s no way I can do anything other than hold on to the dash for a whiteknuckled ride that is impossible to remember as soon as it’s over. See the rest here
Triptykon — Melana Chasmata
★★★★ This, finally, may be the perfect doom metal album. The production is a masterwork of fine balancing acts, giving us a sound that is as convincingly menacing as it is lush and layered. The guitars and bass dutifully cut without mercy. Even the vocals, the genre’s typical Achilles’ heel, give just enough bite without tipping into amateurishness (as they so often do). See the rest here
Within Temptation — Hydra
★☆☆☆ I’m always impressed by how American the English sounds when spoken or sung by a Dutchperson, and that just lends authenticity to the evanescence of this whole album. This is very well-executed schlock. See the rest here
Raubtier — Pansargryning
★☆☆☆ You kinda have to give a band props that sings in Swedish and starts off an album with a song titled “Dieselrök.” That said, this particular brand of industrial melodeath is just too noisey and awkward to really get into. The whole thing feels familiar, but clumsily so. Imagine going to a black market music store, and finding a Rammstein CD… only, it actually says Ramnstine. See the rest here
