The various listens I had over the previous week, first staying up-to-date on current releases before going through the ages to listen to an older release.
First up is the newer releases:
Vitrectomy-Unconvincing Veracity (79/100)
The full-length debut from the Indonesian slammers. Swirling, mid-tempo chugging blasts of slam-style riffing, furious breakdowns, and stellar razorwire patterns against full-on blasting drum-work. The short, tight structures and compact running lengths keep this one settled in stuttering mid-tempo ranges, for the most part, shifting from one chugging slam to a full-scale breakdown and back only to shift up the variety with a dash of razorwire riff-work that repeats the process over again. While this effectively creates a pummeling, suffocating atmosphere there’s very little that stands out about the arrangements due to the incessant attack that keeps repeating and never really does anything that unique in its arrangements. Since that’s also due to the constricted nature of the arrangements, it’s not much of an issue but still presents itself as one.
Stangarigel-Na Severe Srdca (93/100)
The first release from the prolific Slovakian musician under the newfound Atmospheric Black Metal project. Majestic, swirling atmospheric tremolo riffing fueling a series of luscious folk-inspired rhythms with simple drumming and a straightforward structure overall. The riffing comes off between the droning naturalistic arrangements that offer constant repetitions of the same patterns of switching up into mix-tempo variations that introduce native instruments and rhythms together. This meshes incredibly well with those droning atmospheric patterns to bring a fine melodic flair against the steady charge elsewhere, generally leaving this one quite fulfilling except for several odd keyboard inclusions that serve as jarring counters to the more prevalent nature-driven material given by the rest of the album.
Burning (Neth)-Scourge of Humanity (85/100)
The second full-length from the Dutch Traditional Metal outfit. Rollicking, energetic rhythms, and steady, rumbling bass-lines charge this one forth in rather kinetic gallops, this maintains a fun old-school Trad Metal style. Buffering up against a steady mid-tempo crunchy chug which slows down the tempo quite nicely with the triumphant melodies getting worked out quite well in the riffing, the overall approach is straightforward and to the point mostly. The melodic twin-guitar work, harmonious gang-vocals, and steady drumming keep this one mainly on-point as well with the refined rhythms and short, compact arrangements offering a generally one-note affair that is an adequate enough if not a standout style in the genre.
Midnite Hellion-Kingdom Immortal (68/100)
The second full-length from the New Jersey-based throwback metallers. Steady, toughened riffing, simple drum-work, and ultra-unimpressive rhythms blare away at a simple note with few variations taken throughout here. Graced with sporadic bursts of kinetic riffing and drum-work, the majority of the album flounders in a wash of unimpressive mid-tempo chugging and rhythm washes that aren't that interesting or memorable. As well, the generally short, compact structures and one-note performances that are merely adequate at best without being flashy or technical only serve this one worse by highlighting the generic vocals that are flat and monotone throughout which hardly gives life to anything here. As it stands, this is competent if overall listless in the end.
Needless-The Cosmic Cauldron (83/100)
The second full-length from the Hungarian extreme metal unit. A strong series of tight, solid riffing carrying through frantic up-tempo thrashing rhythms, frantic blastbeats maintaining a more traditional Death Metal atmosphere, and hoarse barking that completes the extreme metal trifecta. The varied tempo shifts from the rabid Thrash patterns to tight mid-tempo chugging and steady groove-based rhythms with steady drum-work and straightforward melodies offer a solid general framework to work off of, and with the somewhat violent atmosphere generated when it picks up the energy, this becomes quite enjoyable. This does end up running out of steam in the second half, relying on formulaic blasting arrangements, tremolo riff-work, or utterly uninspired melodies that feel overused and overdone in the genre which standout here more than any part of the album. It’s not enough to completely lower this but does enough to bring it down slightly.
Pyrexia-Gravitas Maximus (86/100)
The sixth full-length from the New York Brutal Death Metal legends. Tight, pummeling grooves chugging along at frantic tempos, furious drumming blasting away with abandon or dropping down into a solid churning groove for the numerous breakdowns, and rattling basslines offer a thick, suffocating atmosphere for the majority of the work here. Either working mainly in tight, mid-tempo chugging patterns or kinetic, vicious blasts of intense thrashing riff-work that generates a rather intense atmosphere alongside the frenzied arrangements which offer quite a lot of short, compact structures. Given the brutality on display and the general dirty setup that’s inherently old-school sounding despite the modernized sound, only the brevity and briefness of the whole thing is the main downfall.
Abyssus (Greece)-Death Revival (94/100)
The sophomore release from the Greek throwback Death Metal effort. An utterly relentless burst of old-school thrashing riffing, simple structures, and melodic chugging that slows the pace to a crawl away from the frantic patterns. The rattling speed and intense paces on display here are full of simple Speed Metal thrashings laced with steady drum-work and a series of clanking bass-lines that manage to keep this up-tempo enough to offer a counterbalance to the slower chugging patterns that being the speed down. The inclusion of sprawling, churning riff-work and simple patterns to offer up a sense of variety do little to deter those speed-drenched patterns and the dirty atmosphere present. A preference to drape everything in a rollicking production that saps a lot of the weighty rhythms in favor of offering unyielding speed keeps this one quite lighter than it should but is such a minor point compared to the rest of the furious styles here that it becomes a contactor quite easily.
Destillat-Under Black Horizons (90/100)
The debut full-length from the German Black/Death metallers. Sweeping, majestic tremolo rhythms and frantic, blasting drumming fury propel this one along at thunderous tempos which focus on the speed in the arrangements that offer large sections of tight rumbling rhythms and frantic arrangements for the most part. Stuffed with these high-energy rhythms and blasting patterns as a framework, the melodies injected into this from the rampaging tremolo riffing that enhances the old-school tone and savagery quite nicely. With the album’s old-school flair for mixing together melody and aggression while keeping the darker rhythms intact, the few slipups involving underwhelming riff-work or the odd piano inclusion which are somewhat underwhelming at points, these minor drawbacks don’t serve as too big of drawback compared to the rest of the material present.
Hegeroth-Sacra Doctrina (93/100)
The fourth album from the Polish Melodic Black Metal veterans. Vicious, swirling blasts of melodic tremolo riffing, tight drumming and a generally one-note approach keep this one settled on galloping up-tempo patterns that fuel all manner of old-school rhythms throughout here. The crimson-burned riff-work is finely-tuned and packs a punch with a flurry of aggressive rhythms and solid tempo changes from mid-tempo sprawling, tight chugging, and faster gallops accompanied by furious blasting that carry across tremolo-soaked melodic accents throughout that offer tight, controlled bursts of fury within. The harmonious guitar rhythms and explosive performances keep the energy up with the old-school vibe present here which doesn't make this the most original work out there but it still manages to entertain for the most part.
Septem-Pseudonica (84/100)
The third full-length from the Italian retro metallers. Steady, classy Traditional Metal riffing, a spicy flavoring of melodic leads and a pounding rhythm section propel this one along at a fine, toughened mid-tempo pace for the most part. Keeping this one generally confined to that mid-tempo style allows the speedier outbursts to stand out somewhat against the steady guitar riffing and drum-work that focus on the straightforward riffing patterns rather than bringing in tons of variety or excess in the tracks which makes these thrasher segments appear more prominently as the counterbalance to the more traditional rhythms. This causes some lackluster arrangements and plodding sequences to appear throughout the albums’ second half, especially with the ill-advised ballad that’s utterly lifeless and a meandering epic, but overall it’s still enjoyable enough.
And for our classic release:
Rage-Reign of Fear (83/100)
The first true full-length for the newly-christened Rage. While initially appearing to belong to the German thrash scene that mimiced the Bay Area material, the band here goes for more of a Power Metal approach found in the high-pitched screams and near-falsetto wails in the vocals which are melodic and memorable. Aside from the vocals, the most obvious difference here is the guitars which are more reminiscent of NWOBHM-style Heavy Metal but amped up to a much faster pace and sense of urgency. With those elements molded onto a framework of speed-metal riffing without the intricacies found in Thrash, that allows the band to come off more of an equal mixture of Power and Thrash than would be expected of participants in the genre. This makes for an album full of power metal and thrashing speed metal mixed together into a coherent, competent whole that’s vastly underrated in their catalog and remains enjoyable throughout if only stumbling somewhat with a more straightforward metal approach in the second half that stick out like sore thumbs.
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