Veil Of Maya — Mother
✦✦✧✧ This is my frontrunner for the most ChatGPT djent album of the year. See the rest here
Category: First Listens
Zulu — A New Tomorrow
✦✦✦✧ Body Count meets Sick Of It All meets latter-day Childish Gambino. II feel that shit! Also, for lots of reasons, this might be the sexiest metal album I review all year. Just listen to it; it’s 15 tracks in under 30 minutes. See the rest here
Liturgy — 93696
✦✧✧✧ Oh great. More Brooklyn black metal Boris nonsense, only with even less listenability and more of their hellshrieking and unintelligible chaos. Good thing they made it a double album. I warned them last time that they were flirting with a one-star review. And here we are. See the rest here
Winger — Seven
✦✦✦✧ This is actually pretty good! Kip frankly sounds better than ever. And the rest of the band are a murderer’s row of musicianship. That said, the band now find themselves exactly where they’ve always been: just outside every envelope we’d assumed contained them. Not quite Kix, not quite Dokken, not quite King’s X, not quite Queensrÿche… but somehow evocative of all of them. See the rest here
Enforced — War Remains
✦✦✦✧ This is what it would’ve sounded like if Slayer had pivoted to thrash in 1987.
What are you waiting for? Get in the pit, hessians! No mercy!! See the rest here
Vintersea — Woven Into Ashes
✦✦✦✧ A stunningly beautiful and powerful album that defies genre boundaries. The band’s unique blend of melodic black metal, progressive metal, and post-rock creates a sound that is as haunting and uplifting as it is unpredictable. Avienne Low’s vocals are a standout, soaring over the complex instrumentals with grace and power. See the rest here
In Flames — Foregone
✦✦✦✧ One of In Flames’ better late-stage albums. This feels like a return to the Gothenburg melodeath form that this band helped define. The back half of the album does wear out its welcome a bit, though. See the rest here
Full Of Hell/Primitive Man — Suffocating Hallucination
✦✧✧✧ WHAT? HUH? FUCK, THEY’RE JUST SO LOUD! WAZZAT? YEAH, TWO BANDS THAT LOVE NOISE! …WHY? WHO KNOWS! Oh, good. Now they sound a little like The Jesus Lizard. Maybe that’s OH SHIT LOUD AGAIN! See the rest here
Tribulation — Hamartia
✦✦✧✧ The band’s trademark blend of black metal and gothic rock is still present, but it feels more than ever like an underpowered version of Ghost. See the rest here
Jesus Piece — …So Unknown
✦✦✦✧ Jesus Piece’s sophomore album is a blistering, uncompromising, and yet groovy metalcore assault on the senses. This is also a powerful and challenging exploration of addiction, depression, and self-doubt. And don’t let the 28-minute runtime fool you: this is a big meal, so plan accordingly. See the rest here
