Metal – Page 92 – Wonderbox Metal

Doomlord – Almas Malditas – Split (Review)

Doomlord are from Puerto Rico and play Doom Metal. This is their début release, one half of a split with King Heavy.

This is Classic Doom/Heavy Metal with a good recording and enjoyable songs. Taking cues from early Doom Metal, the band have a strong sound that emphasises the Metal part of Doom Metal and clearly enjoy what they do.

The Spanish-language vocals give the album a nice flavour and helps differentiate the band’s sound. The singer has a good voice and knows his chosen genre well.

The music is well played and the songs have some good moments to them. Tasty riffs and solos abound in these 4 tracks. Keyboards/organs add an extra dimension to the songs and are a nice touch. There a lot of well-written sections in the tracks and the band are adept at creating atmospheric parts to otherwise rocking Metal tunes.

This flies the flag high and proud for True Metal and anyone with a passing interest in the original incarnation of Doom/Heavy Metal would do well to look this up.

In Love Your Mother – The Great Ape Project (Review)

In Love Your Mother are from Switzerland. The band play short blasts of heavy Metallic Hardcore that takes parts of bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, System of a Down, Mastodon and Tool; Mathcore meets Progressive Metal.

Most of the songs here are angry and heavy but they also have a Progressive Metal edge to them so occasionally branch out into softer areas where clean vocals replace the harsher shouts; all of which is compressed into songs that are typically about the 1 or 2 minute mark, on average.

Although the album is 30 minutes long, the changeling nature of the tracks and the fact that there are 18 of them mean In Love Your Mother are a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of band. Although you could probably make a similar claim for countless Grindcore bands, the difference here is that In Love Your Mother are a much more varied proposition.

It’s an enjoyable release that benefits from a loud volume and thorough listen.

It’s heavy, it’s good, it rocks. Give them a try.

Sloths – Twenty Years (Review)

Sloths are from the US and this is their latest EP.

Sloths play a kind of Hardcore-tinged Sludge Metal that’s heavy, ugly and full of grim darkness but with shades of dawn.

There are three songs on this short EP and they are belligerent and emotive. The band show a good understanding of dynamics and the songs have more energy than the band’s name might suggest.

This is akin to some of the angular, atypical Hardcore bands out there such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Norma Jean, Coalesce, Botch, etc. only not as clean cut; Sloths are like the angry cousin that plays dirtier and cheats in every fight they have. And they fight a lot.

Low-in-the-mix, throat-shredding shouts hide behind heavy music and tough, chaotic drums. The guitars, for all the ugliness and grime of the band, have a fair few moments that can only be described as having a Post-Metal beauty to them. It’s an enticing combination and the band work this juxtaposition well without it causing clashes of any kind.

These songs are varied, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable. I’m a big fan of this kind of angular Hardcore and the fact that this is delivered through the prism of Sludge Metal just makes it all the better.

Here’s to Sloths!

Malpractice – Turning Tides (Review)

Malpractice are from Finland and play Progressive Metal. This is their fourth album.

On first listen you think, “Wow, this is really good!”, and on subsequent listens you realise that it just keeps getting better and better.

The singer has a voice that drips off the songs like liquid silk. His voice is effortlessly melodic and flawlessly delivered. Power and emotion seem to come easily to him and his voice acts as a real focal point to these energetic and emotive songs.

Malpractice have a clean, minimalistic sound that captures all of the nuances and power of the songs. The tracks are all skilfully crafted and revolve around the clear voice of the singer and the masterful rhythm guitar work.

These guitars really do provide a lot of energetic feeling to the tracks and it’s really easy to get carried along with their obvious fervour and passion. They don’t slouch in the solo/lead department either, with plenty of dazzling fretwork to capture the attention.

Reference points? Think somewhere between Threshold and Queensrÿche.

This is a very impressive album from a band who have clearly refined their art over the years. There are no missteps here and every song has something to offer. If you like catchy, well-performed Progressive Metal then you could do a lot worse than checking out this album.

This really is a stunner. Top marks.

Osmium Guillotine – Osmium Guillotine (Review)

Osmium Guillotine are from the UK and this is their début album. They play Heavy Metal.

This is 80’s style Heavy Metal with a sexy guitar sound and plenty of attitude. The production is largely apt for this kind of band, although in a feat of differentiation Osmium Guillotine have a guitar tone that’s both thicker and heavier than most bands playing this genre and it works very well for them.

The music is played with passion and obvious zeal and everyone seems to know their job well. Nice solos too.

This is Old-School Heavy Metal that manages to encapsulate quite a few different feelings from early Metal and distil them into this release. Classic Metal is a given, but Doom Metal, Proto-Thrash and NWOBHM all get a look in. There’s even a touch of Punk to things now and again.

The vocals are great, and there’s not a hint of Power Metal to be seen. I love Power Metal as much as anyone, but it’s nice to hear a band like Osmium Guillotine who are just pure Heavy Metal without the more extravagant ostentation inherent in Power Metal. The singer here has a great set of lungs and possesses the charisma to do the tunes justice.

These are a strong set of songs with plenty of hooks and choruses to keep you coming back for more. Memorable melodies and good riffs flow freely and everything feels just as it should.

Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Anthrax…if these bands float your boat then Osmium Guillotine are a logical band to check out. Along with the recent stellar release from Johnny Touch this proves once again what any real music fan already knew – True Metal isn’t dead.

Great stuff.

Neverworld – Visions of Another World (Review)

Neverworld are from the UK and this is their début album. They play Power Metal.

Visions of Another World starts with a short, atmospheric intro track before launching into their first song proper which is immediately all double bass, speedy riffs and keyboards/horns. It’s a strong opening that clearly states the intent of the band and the genre they play. Once the vocals kick in it’s cemented and you know it’s going to be a good run.

The band specialise in long songs that make the most of their many talents. The songs are colourful, rich and above all Metal. Soaring guitar melodies and omnipresent keyboards ensure that there’s never a dull moment to be had. There are also more solos than you can shake a stick at and it all sounds goooood.

The band boast a strong vocalist with a grand voice. He carries the tunes effortlessly and provides a focal point to the extravagant and showy music. He delivers a sterling performance.

This is a band that could never be mistaken for anything other than pure fucking Metal. This is epic, grandiose and pure class. The UK is not really known for Power Metal as much as the rest of Europe is, but Neverworld have created a shockingly good album that will surely see them rival the best that other countries have to offer.

If you’re a Power Metal fan you should make it your mission to snap this album up as quickly as you can.

Favourite Track: Blood and Romance. An epic song, the longest here and also features a great duet with Christina Gajny, (ex-Interlock). Fantastic stuff.

Spontane – Mojra (Review)

Spontane are from Poland and this is their second release.

It starts with a riff, and a good one at that. In fact this release is peppered with them. Riffs fall like mana from the sky and our job as good listeners is to be thankful and eat them all up quickly.

This is high-energy Melodic Metal with a healthy Hard Rock attitude and liberal use of Stoner Metal touches. The riffs come thick and fast and the melodics back this up well.

Vocals are in Polish and are shouted out with vigour and passion. The main vocals sync very well with the backing vocals and the music to create a cohesive delivery that is very well done indeed.

The band seem to have an easy talent for creating catchy, memorable songs with plenty of hooks. This is a great set of tunes and a very strong album.

The relative obscurity of the band and their Polish delivery will probably limit their international appeal somewhat, which is a real shame as this is a very good band. I see no reason why Spontane shouldn’t be primed for big things in the Metal world on the back of this release. It has attitude, style and songs; a dangerous combination.

Listen to Spontane loud and get ready to Rock out hard.

Breakdust – Baleful World (Review)

Breakdust are from France and this is their second album.

Breakdust play Thrash Metal that’s aggressive and heavy. Their style is influenced by Classic Thrash but delivered in a modern style.

The band manage to mix the old and the new together quite well, with some songs being straight ahead Thrashers, and others having some different influences, (splashes of Death Metal hints here and there, for example).

They incorporate a fair few different ideas and feelings into this release, usually quite small things amongst the Thrashings but they all make a difference. Keyboard effects and female vocals, for example.

For a basic idea think a combination of Testament and Sepultura which the band then add to to make it their own.

Vocally the singer mainly uses harsh mechanistic shouts, but variety is added to this with deeper growls and some cleaner vocals.

The music is of the heavier variety with plenty of double bass, crushing riffs and even some blast beats making an appearance.

It’s clear that the band can play well and there are some nice technical passages and good solos floating around.

This is a comprehensive album that’s been impressively put together by a coherent vision of what they want to achieve.

A very worthwhile listen – check them out.

Favourite Track: Mother Will Kill Us All. A proper Thrash Metal epic.

Colombian Necktie – Twilight Upon Us (Review)

Colombian Necktie are from the US and this is their début album.

The band have a basis in Hardcore but build elements of Sludge and Metal on top of this to create something heavy, raw and nasty. I’ve been watching this band’s development over the last few splits and EPs that they have released and it seems that with this album they’ve taken everything they’ve learned and ramped it up to the maximum.

A suitably crushing sound heralds the start of the album and it immediately draws you in. The recording is arid, focused and everything sounds both tight and loose at the same time.

Colombian Necktie have a relatively varied sound that employs bits from many different Metal subgenres and puts them to work creating this monument to Hardcore Sludge. Sludgecore, if you will. And I’m glad they did as it sounds just great.

This belongs to the same stable of bands such as Charger, Eyehategod, Enabler, Mistress, Serpent Eater, Ilsa, etc. – bands that are doing their own thing by their own rules and make a virtue out of the heavy, filthy and unclean.

For the most part Colombian Necktie’s songs are tightly compressed balls of rage. Hardcore and Sludge sensibilities combine along with the odd Stoner Rock moment to create an album with a vicious swagger and an attitude that just won’t quit. Add to this the odd synth effect, some other interesting ideas and the emotional closing track Kevin’s Song, (which is by far the longest track here), and you have an engaging and diverse album.

The singer is impressively rabid the whole time and sounds like he would be great live, which of course can be extended to the entire band.

Considering their past releases I was hoping this would be a good album but they have more than exceeded my expectations in this. I knew it would be of a certain quality but wasn’t expecting an album of this depth and nuance.

A highly recommended listen for all connoisseurs of heaviness.

Vermin Womb – Permanence (Review)

Vermin Womb are from the US and this is their début EP.

Made up of members with an impressive Extreme Metal pedigree, (Primitive Man, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire), this releases takes that collective knowledge and experience and funnels it into a veritable natural disaster’s worth of extremity and violence given form.

This is a combination of Sludge, Grind, Death Metal and pissed off Hardcore. It’s not for the faint-hearted and sounds like the end of the world is coming. It’s brutal, nasty, and very, very heavy.

The songs here combine the ferocity and general disdain of Hardcore/Grindcore with the murky evil of Sludge and the brutality of Death Metal. There’s even a Blackened edge.

Take Eyehategod, Brutal Truth and Anaal Nathrakh, mash them all up, put the remains in a blender, force feed the resultant slop into a few hapless victims and the resulting screams of pain and agony will sound a bit like Vermin Womb.

The singer is probably one of these unfortunates as it sounds like he’s been gargling liquid nightmares and is now vomiting forth the worst of his experiences.

This is impressively ugly and it takes real determination and talent to create Metal this heavy and grotesque.

Absolutely horrible music that you can’t afford to miss out on.