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:
Morton-Horror of Daniel Wagner (93/100)
The second full-length from the Ukrainian Metallers. Steady, thumping riffing, forceful melodies, and straightforward rhythms offer a highly enjoyable series of unorthodox mid-tempo efforts. Offering a straightforward approach with the riffing to keep this one contained within a more traditional old-school framework with the thick, crunchy patterns, the use of the trinkling melodic accents that border on the electronic soundscape at times over this full-throttle attack of heavy riff-work and pounding drumming. With the extravagant story in the lyrics requiring plenty of material to work with, this can be a daunting experience, especially with some generous running times on some of the tracks that let this run on for over an hour for no real reason. Overall, though, the cohesive nature of this has a lot to really like as this one keeps itself pretty consistent in style and approach.
Bleeding (Ukr)-Infected Sanity (91/100)
The second full-length from the Ukrainian Old-School Death Metallers under the name. Thick churning grooves, steady rhythms, and pounding drums offer a mid-tempo charge with a series of straightforward old-school patterns throughout. The steady riff-work features a series of fiery patterns and rumbling rhythms that alternate nicely between churning tremolo accents and chugging grooves that keep this one dwelling in a thick, oppressive atmosphere for the most part. By focusing on the generally straightforward arrangements, the technicality that emerges in the more melodic tremolo-fueled sections offers a devastating balance to the harder-hitting and pounding sections on display with those aspects of the album featuring a traditional series of pounding arrangements and rhythms that don't really deviate much from the classics in the genre. It's the only drawback here and it's not that detrimental anyway which leaves a lot to like here.
Necrom-All Paths Are Left Here... (89/100)
The full-length debut from the Ukrainian Death Metallers. Rumbling buzzsaw grooves, thumping rhythms, and steady drum-work focus this one into a fine full-fledged display of the grinding Swedish old-school scene. The riffing whips around in semi-technical patterns that deviate nicely from tight mid-tempo chugging to sprawling thrashing tempos while keeping everything based around the ever-present and familiar buzzsaw style of the style's originators. This is usually accompanied by pounding drum-work with the occasional blasting to round out a ferocious yet contained attack in the style which is overall enjoyable on its own get is way too familiar to be much more than that. Dwelling more on those semi-technical riffs and overt melodies helps this stand out even more with the rumbling heaviness on display but it's not that much of an issue overall with this one.
Contaminated (Ukr)-Nihilvm (87/100)
The third full-length from the Ukrainian Death Metallers under the name. Rumbling mid-tempo chugging, tight rhythms, and sprawling melodies offer a generally straightforward burst of Swedish-style patterns that bring a lot of traditional elements to the forefront. Featuring steady, straightforward patterns that center on the traditional arrangements of the scene, fine rhythm-work with the tempered drumming as well as a generally unyielding format that rides the main riff at a strong mid-tempo groove throughout, there's a lot of blistering if not that dynamic material here. The majority of that is based on the melodic riffing that foreword the grinding buzzsaw style for a more grounded affair that mixed the elements together rather well when in those mid-range tempos. Dropping down into more lethargic chugging paces leaves the melodies to sprawling sections that meander aimlessly and sound ill-at-ease with the rest of the album.
Hellhate (Ukr)-Жри,Господи! (God Bless You) (91/100)
The debut full-length from the Ukrainian Black Metal project under this moniker. Vicious, swirling blasts of churning riff-work, stuttering up-tempo changes, and dynamic drumming that mixes steady beats with frantic blastbeats in short outbursts. With the riffing mainly mid-tempo and going through a pattern of mid-tempo chugging as well as swirling tremolo rhythms the overall effect is quite prominently mid-range charges that burst into faster, more violent sections quite readily. Given the shorter, compact song structures this allows for a fine amount of variety to keep the material dynamic enough to allow for the melodic sprinklings in the rhythms to stand out nicely. Graced with a thick production mix and some rather enjoyable atmospheric touches amongst the chaos to end everything on, there's so much to like here that is held down only by the formulaic approach to the style.
Shadows Ground-The Harvest of Black Diamonds (89/100)
The seventh full-length from the Ukrainian Black Metallers. Rabid tremolo riffing, frantic rhythms, and majestic keyboard melodies offer a stylish and highly impressive take on the traditional old-school scene. The approach taking those second-wave rhythms and tremolo patterns make for a strong, steady stream of thumping high-energy tracks that use the rhythms to maintain the speed and heaviness necessary while the tremolo melodies balance everything out. When it drops the high-energy efforts for mid-tempo sprawling sections that focus more on the keyboard rhythms to drive the energy forward this becomes slower and much more lethargic during the middle of the album which is obvious due to the lower speeds featured in these sections. The return to the more traditional arrangements at the end finished this consistently and features a lot to really like for the most part.
Chaoagnostic-Endless Vortex (74/100)
The first full-length from the female Ukrainian solo Black Metal act. Simplistic, bouncy rhythms augmented by lively swirling guitar-work, pounding drum patterns, and shrill, desperate vocals offers a distinctly raw, ravenous attack. While kept simple, the guitar lines are bounced between straightforward mid-tempo blasts and faster thrashing sections featuring more engaging rhythms and a more dynamic approach which offers far more to like when the material picks up speed and energy. The simplistic nature of the material keeps the arrangements short and compact as the raw energy and production value allow for a highly one-sided experience as the lack of real diversity in the arrangements becomes quite apparent the deeper into the album it gets. As well, with the raw old-school production and shrieking vocals being potentially problematic for some it does get held back somewhat.
Sidus Atrum-Spiral of Life (85/100)
The second full-length from the solo Ukrainian Blackened Death/Doom Metallers. Majestic swirling rhythms, blasting drum-work and a frantic combination of furious riffing with meandering melodic sections create a well-intentioned if somewhat scattered approach. The main setup here involves a mix between lethargic riffing patterns and plodding rhythms that produce barely audible whispers in a post-Black setting while working sections with tight blasting and tremolo melodies should provide more to like here with the influx of light and dark energy. However, the contrast feels sharper than necessary as the tracks abruptly switch from one to the other, going from light plodding introspective moments to relentless blasting throughout much cause so it comes off incredibly jarring. That's in spite of the fact that, as a whole, there's not much to dislike with the rhythms and melodies themselves which are quite well-written and performed here which raises this significantly.
And for our Classic release:
Conquest (Ukr)-Taste of Life (92/100)
The fifth and final full-length from the Ukrainian Power Metallers. Driving Speed Metal riffing, straightforward rhythms, and dynamic drum-work propel this into a more energetic effort than their last few releases combined. With the dominance of the Speed Metal arrangements hardening back to the debut which brings the traditional genre galloping drumming into the fold, this offers a highly impressive backbone to carry on the melodic keyboard accents that focus on the wintery soundscapes that had been in use since their introduction to the group. That combination offers a fantastic fueling of traditional genre speed and energy while still employing a fine melody-driven undercurrent which is utilized rather frequently throughout here. There's not much to dislike or not enjoy with this one as there's really only the ballad-heavy second half that outnumbered the more traditional tracks to be considered a drawback here.
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