✦✦✦✧ Continuing their exploration of kitchen-sink post-deathcore, EE sacrifice cohesion for a cavalcade of endlessly tasty bits. This turns out to be a winsome choice, and a recipe for a grower of a record. As was also the case of its predecessor, the album is possibly 15 minutes too long for my attention span, but so what? See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This album marks a subtle pivot for the band, emerging from CoViD as a djentier yet still proggy version of themselves (less Textures, more TesseracT). The music still tends to groove, it shreds when it needs to, and is remarkably listenable for an album that has three longform pieces (counting the 22-minute four-part title track). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Man, Saxon just don’t give up! Their twenty-fourth studio album is guaranteed to get your fists pumping, my olds. Also, I’m a sucker for historically-themed midtempo metal, and this album that in spades, from the Battle Of Hastings to aliens in Roswell NM). Who needs to stray from the formula when you’ve got The Goods? See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Unrelenting tech death… you can really feel that Long Island rage! More than ever, this album has something old and something new for you. New vocalist Ricky Myers does a fantastic job filling Frank Mullen’s nasty shoes. There aren’t that many earwormy hooks on this album… but honestly I’m just saying that because I can’t think of anything else to criticize here. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ On this EP, Spiritbox wheel between ridiculously heavy djent and radio-friendly metalcore. The real standout track is “The Void,” in which the band successfully marries aggression and catchiness. Solid and eminently relistenable. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is BAN at their most discordant, most troubling, and ultimately most successful. Sure, their brand of avant-garde music is by now reliably atmospheric, but on this album they seem to really gotten much closer to the crawling chaos than ever before. Catchy, this is not, but I don’t think you want this nightmare fuel rattling in your head any more than the runtime requires. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Gorgeous, shreddy, and downright proggy instrumental post-metal. Think of a more exciting and interesting Intronaut (or a less obnoxious Polyphia) and you won’t be far from the mark. Stick around for the cameo from Tool’s Justin Chancellor in the closing track! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Surprisingly accessible, as far as avant-garde black metal goes. The album’s experimentation comes at you as curveballs without warning; while not every bet pays off, there are definite rewards here if you’re patient enough to receive them. Vicotnik’s vocals are a conspicuous letdown when compared to the lush production, instrumentation, and expansive songwriting. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is fucking ridiculously blistering post-grindcore that feels more like speed metal than anything else. Note that this is technically a double album, with the second half dedicated to “karaoke” versions of the 11 songs. Also note that, even doubled up, the album is less than 40 minutes long. Also also note that, even listening solely to the trve 19-minute core album will leave you exhausted. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is Tomb Mold’s most confusing work to date: a wild and uneven album, full of masterful shredding and conspicuous mistunings, jazzy interludes and unpredicted pummelings. It’s still solidly old school death metal, but proggier than ever. Imagine if Cynic went through puberty. See the rest here
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