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:
Mormânt de Snagov-Exquisite Aspects of Wrath (89/100)
The fourth full-length from the Finnish Black Metallers. A series of unorthodox riffing, pounding rhythms, and fiery patterns full of the band's trademark style of sprawling mid-tempo tremolo riff-work with steady tempos, there's little that deviates from the norm here. The eerie drop into the dark, crimson-accented atmospheric patterns, heavy thumping drumming, and atonal keyboards that are normally present here alongside the generally one-note thumping rhythms and swirling guitars that make up the solid mid-tempo sections for those unorthodox melodies to bounce off of for much better effect. While easing off the speed more in favor of melodic passages which are then utilized effectively whenever the speedier sections are featured, this approach is highly effective and enjoyable if only the exaggerated running time on the closing epic didn't feel its length and drag itself out unnecessarily.
Corrupter-Descent into Madness (89/100)
The debut release from the French Death Metallers. Steady churning grooves, rumbling rhythms, and straightforward patterns allow a forceful old-school approach that's quite infectious. Offering those steady riffing patterns that evoke the sprawling, churning rhythms of the old-school scene with the tremolo-style melodies acting as melodic accents against the more prominent thrashing patterns, there's a fantastic atmosphere on display. With the more pressing focus on the churning riffs and powerful drumming giving this energy alongside the sprawling grooves for that melodic break, the atmosphere is matched equally with the variation needed to break up the straightforward approach that doesn't really attempt anything new here which is the lone downfall here as the rest of this one manages quite the fun homage to the murky Floridian and atmospheric Swedish scenes.
Basatan-Annihilation Dogma (88/100)
The debut release from the Colombian extreme metallers. Vicious churning riffing and blasting drums combine with short, compact rhythms to offer a fantastic burst of intense violence. The frenzied paces rarely let off the speed only to focus on sprawling rhythms with crimson-soaked leads that spike the Black Metal fury rather nicely against the more prominent brutality. Those efforts feature buzzing guitars and blasting drums in a sonic setup that contains plenty of Brutal Death Metal rhythms and patterns, especially with the approach to the churning riff-work and hyper-speed blasts that focus quite heavily on generating intense arrangements. As this gets mixed together incredibly well with the slower Black Metal-laced sections counterbalancing the intense tracks for a bit of variety here, this doesn't get too much really wrong overall.
Chemicide-Common Sense (93/100)
The fourth album from the Costa Rican thrashers. Tight swirling riff-work, crunchy rhythms, and blazing drumming create a ravenous high-energy burst of old-school thrashing that carries on throughout here. With the focus on tight, ravenous patterns full of semi-technical riffing, blistering drum-work and intense vocal shouts that retain a sense of ferocity that rarely lets up except to delve into sprawling mid-tempo chugging or atmospheric intros, the intensity and viciousness are retained quite prominently with the adherence to violent arrangements taking up the majority of the efforts here. None of this is unique or original with most of this one, including the slower tempos, being straight from the genre's playbook established in the 80s but the competence and energy displayed here are much bigger factors.
Balrog (It)-Gorgon (66/100)
The third full-length from the Italian Power Metallers under the name. Steady crunchy riff-work and straightforward drumming keep this one generally rumbling along at a mid-tempo realm due to the steady rhythms at play. Employing an old-school crunch to the rhythms from the US scene that's heavier and more straightforward while plodding along with sluggish tempos, for the most part, the attempts at thrashing from the dexterous drumming and speedier riffing offers a nice bit of energy to the proceedings. Since the straightforward patterns and sluggish tempos are more prevalent here, that does keep this one feeling quite lethargic for the majority of this one as the steadiness of the arrangements and only sporadic injections of energy from the old-school melodies change up the pace to bring some fire to this one. This makes it somewhat tough to get into despite a few likable moments here and there.
Navalm-Abnormalities and Deviations (91/100)
The ninth release from the Ukrainian Death Metallers. Furious raging riffs, pounding drumming and a fine mix of traditional and avant-garde rhythms created a dynamic modernized approach to the genre. When dwelling in the traditional manner, this keeps everything to churning semi-technical riffs and vicious drumming that's inherently intense and offers a lot of violent mid-tempo rhythms to keep things focused on their neck-snapping origins. The few dalliances into avant-garde territory center of sprawling rhythms with a melodic atmosphere or featuring bass-driven sections of random noodling that resembles free-form jazz with the seemingly-improvised structures. Thankfully, the traditional measures are far more prominent throughout here which means this comes off as a vicious album with several impressively-performed sections of jazz-inspired variation to stand out.
Xenotaph (Arg)-Real Steel (88/100)
The sophomore full-length from the Argentine Heavy Metallers under the name. Tough rumbling rhythms, sparkling melodic leads, and intricately-arranged riffing focus on steady patterns full of rollicking energy and loose old-school flourishes throughout. Offering simple pounding drumming and steady rhythms as a basic backbone to build off of, the riffing continuously bounces along with fiery high-energy melodic leads and crunchy mid-tempo patterns that feature blazing old-school style arrangements with the help of the period-accurate production that means even harder into the approach. The mid-tempo crunch and faster, high-energy patterns offer enough variety to also help overcome the general lack of originality found here since this does sound similar to dozens of other female-fronted bands of the era but not enough to really bother it too much compared to the energetic efforts found here.
Persecutory-Summoning the Lawless Legions (91/100)
The second full-length from the Turkish Black/Death Metallers. Fiery crimson-soaked tremolo riffing, steady rhythms, and relentless drumming create a wholly furious and diabolical soundscape with plenty of intensity throughout. The furious riffing spiced with raging tremolo-style arrangements and straightforward rhythms keep this one incredibly violent as the thumping backbone upon which those patterns are placed charge along quite well without them. Those just serve to enhance the viciousness when they're included together, and with the extra-long running times of the tracks which not only bring these elements to the forefront but also bring about scores of tempo and pattern changes to feature some variety to the mix. While there's something to be said for the tracks going on longer than necessary and may be approaching the meandering stage and could've been trimmed down, this still has a lot to like about it.
Achelous-The Icewind Chronicles (82/100)
The second full-length from the Greek Heavy Metallers. Hard-hitting riffs, plodding rhythms, and steady, pounding drums combine into a steady, simplistic pattern that focuses on a heavy rhythm section with triumphant melodies at the forefront. The steady, plodding mid-tempo patterns and accompanying rhythms section keep this one rather streamlined and simple-minded while the riffing features tough, plodding arrangements with triumphant leads and melodies spread throughout. This setup creates a straightforward approach of a heavy-if-simplistic backbone with a hard-hitting melodic centerpiece which is the primary focus here, making the few exercises into the speedier territory to kick up the energy feel rather out-of-place with the rather simplistic formula and lack of variety elsewhere here. It's still highly enjoyable as is, just with the desire that it could've gone into a higher gear at times being the only real issue.
And for our classic release:
Reencarnación (Col)-Reencarnación
The debut full-length from the Colombian black/thrashers under the name. Sloppy, discordant, and simply amateurish riffing is the hallmark here, all given a raw edge with low production values in place that really gives the whole affair a vibe of a garage-level demo recorded without professional equipment. There are no real consistent arrangements on display regardless of how badly produced it sounds, tending to alter the kind of patterns and paces here into discordant affairs with a choppy structure that starts and stops at various points throughout the tracks which makes it seem like they’re conceived right on the spot. Other forms of discordant patterns emerge through the use of obscure arrangements and segments placed here that slow the material down into a series of sprawling tempos that are just lethargic and plodding or featuring unusual instrumentation with classical violin pieces that are just out-of-place and wholly disjointed against the thrashing elsewhere. On the whole, the music here is not that good being too sloppy or amateurish to really make an impression.
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