Abyssal — Antikatastaseis
★★★☆ This is a pretty good poor man’s Gorguts. See the rest here
First Listens With Three-Star Ratings
Ensiferum — One Man Army
★★★☆ My first though, on hearing the typical-for-folk-metal intro, was “God, I fucking hate folk metal.” And then the actual metal proceeded to kick my teeth in. It drags about two-thirds of the way through, but then the band throw a wild curveball with the disco stylings of “Two Of Spades.” See the rest here
Author & Punisher — Melk En Honing
★★★☆ This latest album from Tristan Shone is dystopian in a way that most industrial acts only give lip service to, evocative of Skinny Puppy and NIN at Trent’s most experimental. It’s also awfully heavy, and yet manages to be catchy (just not in a Taylor Swift way). It’s perhaps one track too long for my tastes, but coming from someone with a documented distaste for the terminally slow, that’s saying a lot. See the rest here
White Widows Pact — True Will
★★★☆ This is music designed to be heard at painful volume in a smoky beer-stained bar, a winning blend of grindcore and sludge. It sounds like Carcass and Entombed had a nasty baby. See the rest here
Panopticon — Autumn Eternal
★★★☆ This album is rooted in atmospheric black metal, but also evokes The Ocean, Opeth, even some 80s goth. The doom+bluegrass+folk+goth fusion here is seamless, and in a surprise twist the resultant sound comes across as more heartfelt and upbeat than one would expect. More importantly, this album is eminently listenable. See the rest here
Haunted Shores — Viscera
★★★☆ Not only is the best Periphery release of 2015 (which is saying something, considering this is technically only half of the band, working under a different name), but this is the best djentish instrumental EP since Chimp Spanner’s 2012 release All Roads Lead Here. With some editing and more of a story to tell, this could have been a four-star album. See the rest here
Gorod — A Maze of Recycled Creeds
★★★☆ Sweet, sweet technodeath. Although perhaps death jazz is more like it. This is BTBAM with less carnival, more progginess (if that’s possible), and a distinctly European sensibility. When it works, the music is stunning. That’s certainly not guaranteed on this album, and the band not infrequently careens into self-indulgence… but at least the album’s failures are always fascinating. See the rest here
Black Tongue — The Unconquerable Dark
★★★☆ This is perhaps the heaviest album I’ve heard all year. It’s also bleak, and harrowing, and nihilistically listenable. Here, the band weaves together thin tendrils of thrash and djent into their otherwise devastating slab of doomcore. This album is not the world’s easiest listen, but its power is undeniable. See the rest here
Deafheaven — New Bermuda
★★★☆ On their third album, Deafheaven turn up every conceivable figurative dial. And happily, that includes turning up The Metal. Technically, Deafhaven are as black and shoegazey as they’ve ever been. But there’s also something new here: crisp riffs occasionally bobbing on the surface. This album is also 15 minutes shorter than their last effort, which works in everyone’s favor. See the rest here
Fit For An Autopsy — Absolute Hope Absolute Hell
★★★☆ FFAA are an early candidate for Most Improved this year. Unlike their previously self-disinterested album Hellbound, this one most certainly has a plan for itself and for the listener. The opener takes a minute to get going, but that’s pretty much the only break you’re going to get. The rest is brutality, like a batshit insane cross between Gojira and Job For A Cowboy. See the rest here
