February 2014 – Page 7 – Wonderbox Metal

Forlorn Path – Man’s Last Portrait (Review)

This is the début album from US Melodic Doom/Black/Death Metallers Forlorn Path.

For a début this is well-written, ambitious and implemented with a skill a lot of bands would envy.

Melodic and orchastrated, yet still having an intensity born of pure Metal this is more aggressive and outright better than I was expecting. From the name and album cover I thought I would be hearing a second-rate Gothic Death Metal Paradise Lost clone, but thankfully my hasty pre-judgement was incorrect, and instead we get epic, expansive, symphonic and melodic Blackened Doom of the highest quality.

At just over an hour in length a lot of passion and work has gone into this album to create a journey that you can get your teeth into.

The vocals alternate between a Black Metal rasp and an ultra-deep growl that is just a pure pleasure to experience.

The forlorn atmosphere and rich melodic melancholy combined with an more aggressive assault than a lot of bands of this genre attempt means that the album always entertains and for me is up there with recent melodic Metal greats like Amiensus.

A refreshing and surprising album; I’ve had my expectations completely surpassed and it’s an abject lesson to me that you can’t judge a band by their name or their artwork. What matters, all that matters, is what they sound like, and Forlorn Path sound very good indeed. Highly recommended.

Thalion – Dawn of Chaos (Review)

Canadian Power Metal with a liberal sprinkling of Speed Metal for good measure.

This won’t win any awards for innovation but it is highly melodic and highly infectious; the band can play, write songs and have a singer who can actually sing. What more is there to say?

Also; solos. Always important to note.

I enjoyed this album, especially as the band throw in a few more modern touches and riffs, (in To Hell and Back for example), thus showing they’re not completely bound to the rule book laid down by the likes of Helloween and Judas Priest.

With the double bass flying, the guitar licks licking (?) and the vocalist singing his heart out it’s hard not to smile and get carried away by their enthusiasm.

A very good début album, and with some small refinements to their songwriting the next one could be great. If you like Speed-influenced Power Metal this is recommended.

Dead – Idiots (Review)

Australia’s Dead are an unusual beast, consisting as they do of just a bassist and a drummer. The noise they make is somewhere between Punk and Sludge, with more variety than you might think for only having two instruments.

Starting off creepy and atmospheric; when the bass kicks in you can feel it like a physical presence.

There’s plenty going on in these songs, including vocals from multiple people, to keep things interesting.

As the bass and drums are the only instruments they are left bare and exposed for everyone to see with no opportunity to hide what’s going on behind other instruments; due to this the duo have risen to the challenge and ensured that they are always doing something interesting.

This is a dredge through the darkest recesses of forgotten filth, but in the best possible way. The minimalistic Sludge the band come up with and the variety of ideas and delivery on display is a recipe for success in my book.

Favourite Track: Murder Hollow. Creep-tastic.

Lune Kiri – Demo (Review)

Lune Kiri are a Post-Rock band from the US and this is their first release, containing 4 tracks at 35 minutes in length.

This is winding and exploratory, and pleasantly relaxed. Lune Kiri already seem to have mastered the art of mood and texture, and this EP would be really impressive if it wasn’t their first release, let alone the fact that it is.

Sometimes the meandering, wandering guitars paint a glorious picture and they sound so liquid you can almost imagine the brush sweeping them over the canvas. Other times they play heavier, murky, dirge-ridden riffs that want to suck you into their world. Stockholm contains both types in its 15 minute playing time.

My only real “complaint”, (and it’s not really a complaint), is why they called this a demo. The songs are so accomplished and the sound quality so good that this is essentially just a first EP. Apart from that head-scratcher I would advise anyone who likes bands like Red Sparowes, Pelican, Cloudkicker, etc. to immediately run to get this.

Zud – The Good, The Bad And The Damned (Review)

Zud come from the US and this is their début album full of Black Metal played purely on the band’s own terms.

After a perfunctory intro the first thing that strikes me is their use of a long, winding guitar solo. Now I like a good guitar solo anyway, but Black Metal and guitar solos are not things that are normally associated with each other, so straight away we have a pleasant surprise.

After this promising start the band continue to deliver with Old-School Black Metal mixed with Southern Rock and even a dash of 70’s Prog. The songs are played at length and with belligerence, bluster and melody.

The riffs have character and swagger, seemingly jumping out of the speakers to kick you in the shins. There is a definite Blues-y, Rock-y air to the riffs; almost feel-good Stoner Rock combined with the nihilistic core of Black Metal. The melding of the two genres comes across differently in Zud’s work to how it does in, say, Glorior Belli; while the latter have a more overt approach to mixing the styles, Zud somehow manage to make it seem a more natural choice and the combination is seamless.

The singer spits his lyrics with character and personality. His voice is a non-standard Black Metal rasp; in fitting with the out-of-the-ordinary music Zud have a vocalist that embodies the unconventional approach that they take and is the perfect mouthpiece for the band.

They’re even on to a winner with the production; it’s dirty enough to be authentic but clear enough to allow the songs to do their thing. Top marks.

Favourite Track: Skull Shaped Bell. A microcosm for the album as a whole; it combines rawkus riffing, laid-back noodling and attitude to spare.

Like the aforementioned Glorior Belli this is a band who are daring to do something different; daring to go their own way. In a cesspool of mediocrity and Darkthrone-clones they embody the unfettered spirit of Black Metal far better than many of their so-called peers. An exceptional release.

Annihilation – Against the Storm (Review)

Portuguese band Annihilation play Death Metal. This album came out a good few years ago now and judging by what happened when I pressed play it’s a sin that I’ve overlooked them for this long.

When the first track Tortured With Hate started I involuntarily exclaimed “ooooh yeaaah!” under my breath. This is the stuff that keeps me returning to Death Metal again and again and again! After the excitement of the cataclysmic opening I calmed myself and tried to listen objectively, but it was no good; the sheer wanton brutality, infectious guitar melodies and multi-layered demonic-Deicide vocals had me hooked. Bye bye reason, hello Death Metal passion.

The rest of the album doesn’t disappoint. Mechanized drum brutality and sinuous, malevolent guitars battle each other for pride of place. All the time the vocalist, who appears to be blessed with Satan’s own lungs, is giving Glen Benton a serious run for his money in the Top Growler competition that I’m sure is running somewhere in the world as we speak.

It’s not all focused brutality though; there is an evil melodic streak to the band when they want to show it. They also throw in some guitar solos; especially enjoyable are the ones that sound almost lazily played; meandering over the thick chaos of the rest of the song .

This is somewhat of an unexpected revelation; Annihilation have certainly made me a very happy bunny. Can they do the same for you?

Northern Plague – Manifesto (Review)

Northern Plague are Polish and play Blackened Death Metal.

Poland has a high quality pedigree when it comes to Death Metal, and Northern Plague do not let the side down. They play scathing Death Metal with a Blackened sheen; the vocals in particular are more Black than Death.

The guitars have a strong Death Metal focus, with some influence from the Black Metal side of things showing now and again. The song writing is exceptional and the feelings of depth of mood the band evoke is truly something. It’s a very satisfying listen. Brutal yes; but subtle also.

The musicianship all-round is top quality, and I should point out as well that there are some lovely solos and leads on this album. Exquisite.

Each song seems to slide out of some alternate reality ready to strike with a prolonged barrage of attacks. Once the target has been subdued it then slithers off back through the cracks in the world to wherever it came from.

This is an album that should be high on your list of wants for 2014.

SystemHouse33 – Depths of Despair (Review)

Indian band SystemHouse33 play a forward thinking brand of Metal.

After a typical perfunctory intro we get a nice brand of heavy modern Metal with speed, bounce and vocals that sound like they’re going to jump out of the speakers and beat you to death.

There are some good riffs on this album that take some of the best parts of modern Metal but manage to avoid all of the riff-recycling and At The Gates-pillaging that a lot of modern Metal bands end up doing. The drums underpin everything with a relentless backdrop of pounding and punchy beats.

Across the album the band use tools from the Metal, Thrash and even Death Metal toolboxes to build their sound. This is then combined with quasi-Industrial sounds and effects to spice up their music, meaning that a lot of the time there’s more going on than just the Meshuggah-heavy guitars trying to alternately flatten or slice you to death.

A diverse and effective album that is over far too quickly at only 22 minutes. The band seem to have plenty of ideas and no shortage of inspiration in how to apply them.

A quality release that promises bright things for them in the future. For a good blast of non-cliché Metal you can do a hell of a lot worse than this. Listen up.

Necrambulant – Infernal Infectious Necro-Ambulatory Pandemic (Review)

Well well. If this isn’t one of the heaviest starts to one of the heaviest songs ever. Epoch of Nihilistic Cosmic Failure has quite the opening. US band Necrambulant play Brutal Death Metal of the Slammiest Slam variety that ever did Slam. Or something. You get the idea.

The sound of this début album is absolutely huge. You can almost feel the zombies pressing into your flesh like a physical presence.

The riffs are so fat, bloated and outright heavy it’s amazing that the speakers don’t sink into the floor just by transmitting these festering, dense sounds.

The tracks are all about finding the heaviest and most brutal ways to play Death Metal, and everything else is of secondary concern. That’s not to say that all of the other elements to the songs are unimportant or poor, it’s just not the priority here. I mean, they even find ways to sound heavier than normal when going fast. Most of this album is a complete chug-fest though, and it would sound boring if it weren’t for the fact that it’s just done so well.

Slam-style Death Metal garners a healthy amount of criticism in general, for various reasons including a lack of perceived variety, etc. To me any criticism of Necrambulant is missing the point; if you can’t get on board with the sheer level of gleeful ultra-brutality they dish out then I can’t help you. All I can do is recommend that you turn the volume up enough to make your ears bleed and sit in a darkened room until the music just takes you. Once infected by their zombie-plague you’ll be bouncing around like a motherfucker with the rest of us.

Tothem – Beyond the Sea (Review)

Italian Gothic Metallers Tothem have released their début album Beyond the Sea.

This is a stirring and spirited album, with angelic female vocals layering a solid Metal base. Sometimes with this type of genre, with so much focus on the vocals, the underlying music can seem left behind a bit; the guitars especially can be left to sound quite weak. Not so for Tothem; thankfully they have kept the guitars nice and loud and pleasantly thick.

Musically we have a modern Power Metal foundation with liberal keyboards and sweeping feminine harmonies soaring over the top of everything.

If you have heard bands such as Within Temptation, Evanescence, Nightwish, et al then you know what kind of songs are on offer here. Of course it’s easy to say that we’ve heard this all before, but if you like this kind of music then that’s no barrier to enjoyment. The differentiation comes of course from the nicely heavy music and above all from the songs themselves.

This is an enjoyable album with good songs and where the music doesn’t play second-fiddle to the, (admittedly impressive), vocals. Try them out and see if they can win you over.