✦✦✧✧ I was going to come right out and heap praise on Bruce’s vocals, but honestly everyone sounds great here. Not a single member of the band are phoning it in. That said, 80 minutes is a big investment in an album that doesn’t offer many iconic moments or hooks. Also, is it a concept album about board games? See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Torn Arteries is fun enough, and yet it feels like a slight step downward from the more entertaining 2020 EP Despicable. All the elements you’d hope for are here: the dual vocals of Bill Steer and Jeff Walker, the deft guitars and rumbling bass, the clever riff salad. But there’s a laidbackness to the whole album, a simmer that never quite progresses to a full boil. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is an ambitious yet ultimately upsetting album. I generally admire bands who make a practice of blending disparate styles together, although in retrospect the unspoken aim is usually for some kind of cohesion. Here, it feels more like self-indulgent whiplash for abuse’s sake, like a meaner Mr. Bungle. The music defies the listener to settle into any particular mood. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Finnish folk beerhall music at its finest, which touches of extreme and power metal. The lack of any English lyrics may be a drawback, but I’ve enjoyed plenty of American metal that was equally as indecipherable. Why this album is an hour long is beyond me, though. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I’ll be kind and call this retro Euro-style death metal. It’s not bad by any means; it’s just not particularly inspiring. I give it two out of 4 Obama-not-bads. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ It is admittedly unusual to hear a band segregate their distinct influences, rather than try to meld them together. That what you’ve got here: Side A (grindy death core) vs Side B (doooooom). Both halves are competent, but I wish either side brought more originality to the mix. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ These guys totally remind me of Thought Industry. Oh man, I fucking miss Thought Industry. Did I ever tell y’all they TI was my first ever fan mail exchange? True story. Anyway, enjoy this super-interesting piece of art noise. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Not quite as devastating as the band’s 2018 debut Shrine, but hardly an example of a sophomore slump, either. The band continue to serve up steaming heaps of nasty, noisy sludge, a la Old Man Gloom but with less meandering. The edge is smoothed over a little since last time, but this is a quibble; Yoshira are still heavy and fascinating and worth the listen! See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ How do Napalm Death make politically aware grindcore sound so ferocious yet so catchy?! These songs, mostly penned by bassist Shane Embury, lean more experimental and unpredictable than we’ve been getting from ND lately, which is great news. And great noise. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is as ridiculously heavy a noisescape as anything else PM have put out, with a slightly more pronounced focus on song structure than their previous album Caustic (and mercifully less than twice the running time). But it’s still a bit of a one-trick diversion of an album, and definitely not something you’ll ever hear on any radio request line. See the rest here
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