✦✦✦✧ Mein gott… this is some furious, nasty, grindy techdeath! The riffs come fast and furious, are really interesting and unique, and at times could even be described as “catchy.” Fans of Carcass, Archspire, and Gorguts will love this; anyone else will be too scared to complain. Ya gotta hear this at least once, and I do mean all the way through, but don’t think the 33-minute runtime means an easy listen. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is The Acacia Strain’s Catch Thirty-Three. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Punchy and radio-friendly prog metal? Yes please! This is Soen sounding more than ever before like Porcupine Tree (or unlike Tool). The previous comparisons to Leprous still hold firm, only this music has more swagger. Interesting and fun! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ As tempting as it is to pigeonhole this album as post-mathcore, there’s clearly more going on here, with the band toying with listenability, hooks, and expectations. Don’t be surprised to hear synthwave cozying up to moments of shred, industrial, or even prog… there ain’t a dull moment on this one, folks, so strap in and enjoy this unique ride. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I haven’t been this justifiably excited about a TesseracT album since Altered State. This is the band at their darkest yet. The two stars here are bassist Amos Williams and vocalist Daniel Tompkins, turning in a career-best performance in a career full of great performances.
Criticisms: the album, and most of the songs, are possibly 10-15% too long. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This absolutely shreds, which one would expect, being that this band is, what, 75% The Faceless by now? Tech death bona fides aside, this music finds itself at times in the unfortunate uncanny valley between Unpredictable Metal Mayhem… and Just Goofy. This is territory best ceded permanently to Protest The Hero. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ The good news is that this album is a clear progression from 2015’s Epistemology, more cohesive, anthemic, and self-assured. It’s a barnburner of a symphonic black metal album, one where musicianship (largely that of Obsidian, naturally) is showcased in a way not normally heard in this genre. The bad news isn’t all that bad: this album is maybe one track longer than it needs to be. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Who needs subtlety when you’re flinging jackhammers like these fuckers are? They do have a penchant for digital frippery that borders on the nü-metal, but with heaviness this remorseless, I’ll allow a bit of digression. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is at least more fun and interesting than Metallica’s 72 Seasons, if we’re comparing 80s acts with “metal” in their names. Newcomer Marc Lopes does a pretty solid and entertaining job with the vocals. Otherwise, there’s both enough vintage thrash here to satisfy old school MC fans, as well as something a bit different for the band: a sound that’s more modern, aggressive, and epic. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I’m not going to go into the topic of whether this is truly American indigenous black metal, something that my research indicates may be a point of contention. What I will say, though, is that this album is epic and evocative. The folk appropriations here are tasteful and balanced, not quite as in-your-face as Bloodywood or The Hu, and the overall sound owes as much to influences like Opeth and Wolves In The Throne Room as to any Native American musical traditions. See the rest here
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