Month: March 2015

Death Engine – Mud (Review)

Death EngineDeath Engine are a Hardcore band from France. This is their début album.

Death Engine play their Hardcore angry, atonal, dissonant and with much diversity. One moment they’re shredding out complex noisecore and the next they’ve gone all Post-Hardcore for moments of resplendent beauty.

This variety of assault is one of the things that makes Mud such a compelling listen. The band are very talented and even though this is only their first album, (and second release overall), they have clearly honed these compositions into the finely tuned songs that they are today through hard work and passion.

There’s lots of nifty ideas present on the album, starting on the first track Medusa and right up until the final one, Negative. Death Engine obviously aren’t lacking in the creativity department.

Angular riffing and complex drumming make up the lion’s share of the songs whilst the singer works himself up into an emotive frenzy.

The production suits the band; it’s not polished and clear but gritty and real. This is the sound of a band who are alive with vibrancy and furious conviction.

It’s hard to describe the feelings that Mud raises; this is the kind of album that it’s easy to fall in love with. There’s so much on offer here that it’s literally too much to absorb in one listen. This isn’t because there’s too much thrown in just for the sake of it, rather that the band have stuffed so much quality songsmithing into these tracks that while you’re getting absorbed in a particular guitar part it’s easy to miss everything else that’s going on.

This is a veritable Tour de Force of an album and one that Death Engine should be rightly proud of.

Bloody Hell this is good.

Kjeld – Skym (Review)

KjeldKjeld are from the Netherlands and this is their début album. They play Black Metal.

This is Black Metal that’s as cold as ice and as hard as diamond. The band have a great production that carries them along. It’s a dry, cold sound that suits the delivery of the music.

Their songs promote images of a barren and inhospitable landscape, which is just like Kjeld’s sound; frosted and ageless, with slivers of melody peaking out through the ruins of long dead civilisations.

The band have a talent for these subtle melodies that seem to ooze out of the rhythm guitars like glaciers. They play fast but the atmospheres created are enduring and lasting.

The impression Kjeld give is one of permanence and durability. They seem built to weather the storms and the biting cold, steadfastly waiting for their moment to come. With the release of Skym that moment could be now.

The drums blast and the thick guitars burn cold beneath the dark majesty of the music. Harsh screams are well-placed in the mix and the singer does the genre proud.

Coming across as early Black Metal in the Scandinavian style, Kjeld have somewhat of a timeless quality to them; they manage to sound simultaneously classic and contemporary.

Skym is a really, really good album. Have a listen and let the frost creep in.