Reviews – Page 550 – Wonderbox Metal

Cold Blue Mountain – Old Blood (Review)

Cold Blue Mountain are from the US and this is their second Sludge/Doom album.

This is expressive and expansive Sludge that combines elements of Doom and Post-Metal with scything screams and heavy atmospheres.

Moments of Post-Metal timidity and fragility combine with the wall-of-guitars approach of Sludge and the outright slow and heavy assault of Doom.

The result is Old Blood which reeks of despair and an almost tangible sense of lost hope. This is the soundtrack to broken dreams and wasted potential.

Of course, that doesn’t apply to the band themselves though as they have huge potential and see it realised across these 5 tracks.

The immense riffs combine with the caustic screaming to create fields of heaviness the likes of which most bands will never see.

Old Blood is a dark affair, powered by pain and driven by angst. It’s emotionally charged and the band don’t let up the mood for a minute. Whether it’s heavy or light, fast or slow, Cold Blue Mountain are here to remind you of the things you wish you didn’t know and the things you wish you hadn’t done. But there’s no catharsis, only regret.

Take the time out of your day to contemplate the horrors of existence. Take the time out of your day to listen to Old Blood.

Manes – Be All End All (Review)

Manes are from Norway and this is their fourth album.

Following on from their last release Teeth, Toes and Other Trinkets, which was an anthology, this is the first new Manes album in seven years.

Manes play a beguiling blend of artistic Rock, Darkwave Trip Hop, Avant Garde and 80’s-style Pop. It’s subtle, charming, disarming and insidious.

These songs have a laid back quality to them that’s almost detached from the actual music; as if something has been created by the music that hovers just out of view yet its effects can be felt by a lasting aura of deceptive comfort and false familiarity. This lends the songs a certain flavour of the otherworldly and the different.

There is a low-key catchiness to the tracks as well. Again, it’s a subtle affair, as even though the songs obviously contain hooks the first time you listen to them, it takes multiple listens for them to fully work their magic. Such is the nature of all great albums that have true longevity and depth.

There is so much to experience here. Manes create across a vast canvas using a rich palette of colours. There’s a lot that’s easily missed on first glance and only after taking it in for a good amount of time can you really appreciate what they have done here.

The singer’s captivating vocals are on strong form and the bleak-yet-uplifting-yet-not melodies that he uses complement the instruments perfectly adding layers of emotion to already emotive and layered songs.

This is music for dark nights and even darker activities. This is music that drips with soul and is ethereal in nature.

Fans of bands such as Arcturus, Ulver, Lethe, Dødheimsgard, Green Carnation, In The Woods…, etc. will lap this up, and with good reason.

It’s time to enter the world of Manes.

Heroes of Vallentor – The Warriors Path Part I (Review)

This is the début of Heroes of Vallentor. They’re from Sweden and play epic, heroic Heavy Metal.

It’s starts with an intro to end all intros, one that’s so full of heroic themes and fantasy imagery that it’s quite staggering.

When the music itself starts it’s no let down as it’s just as theatrical and heroic as I was hoping for. This is big, bold and brash Metal that owes as much to Manowar and Conan, (not the band though), as it does to European Epic Power Metal.

However; although the Power Metal aspect of Heroes of Vallentor’s sound is there, it’s not that large compared to the gritty and unpolished Heavy Metal that makes up the main part of their music. This is real Metal made my men who carry swords and axes to the supermarket.

The music is solid and played well. Leads and solos come and go and the riffs are Metal to the core. There are some catchy moments and lots of hooks to ensnare the unwary.

Each of the songs has clearly had a lot of thought put into it with the music the backdrop for the epic saga the band are spinning. The musicians attack their muse with passion as the tale unfolds.

The sound is warm and satisfying; gritty and raw but well-rounded and full nonetheless.

The singer tends to alternate between rough cleans and histrionic wailing. It does the job and ticks all of the right buttons for this kind of music.

At 56 minutes in length this is a long album, but if you’re in the mood for bravado and epic, heroism then these are the men for you.

It’s a very rough and ready album and certainly won’t appeal to everyone as this is a very niche form of music really. I can’t help but find it endearing however, and if you aren’t completely adverse to this kind of thing I suggest you check them out and make your own mind up.

H5N1 – A Time of No Tomorrows (Review)

H5N1 are from Canada and play Death Metal with an Industrial feel and an apocalyptic vibe.

The album artwork is a bit disturbing and atypical, and H5N1’s music follows suit.

This is apocalyptic and gloomy as Hell. They have a dirty sound that conjures images of toxic smoke clouds and vast factories mechanising the art of death.

Theirs is almost a Black Metal sound in the sense that it’s quite underground and raw, but instead of a typical Black Metal offering it’s filled with barbed Death Metal and brutal, guttural vocals.

A Time of No Tomorrows strays even further from the normal Death Metal sound by employing occasional keyboards to provide sinister punctuation to the tracks, as well as the fact that the band employ a dual bass assault that keeps things both heavy and filthy.

H5N1 have done something quite admirable in that they have taken the standard Death Metal template and made it their own. This is not a band that you can easily provide comparisons with other bands for. Most comparisons sharing a similar creative mindspace will probably come from the Black Metal genre rather than the Death Metal one, as this kind of lo-fi, evil music tends to be more Black Metal’s thing. Even Ævangelist who could be a provisional reference point are only marginally suitable as H5N1 have much more of a sterile, cold, industrial evil to them than the direction that Ævangelist have chosen.

H5N1 have created a noxious, pernicious album that is a good listen in its own right but heralds even better things to come in the future from this band I feel. Definitely ones to keep an eye on.

Give them a listen and see what you think.

Burn the Army – The Tide to Sink the Summit (Review)

Burn the Army are from the US and play Post-Metal. This is their début EP.

At just under 31 minutes in length this is a good-sized introduction to this new band. Taking their cues from bands like Isis, Burn the Army offer 4 tracks of well thought out Post-Metal in the familiar style.

Burn the Army are adept at contrasting passages of beauty against sections of much heavier anger. It’s the classic Post-Metal heavy/light, build/release scenario and the band pull it off like the naturals they are. On the whole though, Burn the Army have produced a much more varied album than just this.

The vocals are rich and varied, with the standard shouting for this style of Post-Metal being accentuated by more melodic voices that allow for a deeper exploration of concepts than purely angry barks.

The band are competent musicians and pour their passion into crafting precise riffs and emotive guitar work. There are even some quality dynamics and guitar widdling that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Mastodon album and some higher-energy bits that have a modern Hardcore feel akin to mid-period Poison the Well.

The combination of the carefully crafted music and the impressive vocals mean that The Tide to Sink the Summit has a lot more longevity and appeal than even the standard Post-Metal band and for just a mere début release this is a very accomplished set of tracks.

So, a band that combines Isis, Mastodon and Poison the Well? Sign me up!

If the band can continue to refine their songwriting formula for the future then I have high hopes for their first album, as this shows a great amount of promise.

One to look out for.

Today is the Day – Animal Mother (Review)

Today is the Day are from the US and this is their tenth album.

A new Today is the Day album is always a bit of an event and it’s always interesting to hear what they come up with because you’re never quite sure what it’s going to sound like. The only thing you can be sure of, or course, is that it’s going to be nasty.

Animal Mother is no exception. It is, however, probably their most complete and well-rounded album to date. Animal Mother combines elements of all of their previous albums to either a greater or lesser extent, from the psycho aggression of Kiss the Pig, to the Sludge heaven of In the Eyes of God with even a touch of the experimental harshness of Sadness Will Prevail.

This is further enhanced by acoustic and melodic flourishes that act as bridges between the more usual caustic noises and abrasive sounds that the band create.

The songwriting as a whole is dynamic and complex. Today is the Day have never shied away from unusual rhythms, sounds, etc. but Animal Mother takes this willingness to experiment and explore and manages to shape it into a cohesive package without ever losing its edge.

The production is solid and tight, and similar to the album as a whole it’s a lot fuller than Today is the Day normally sound. This allows all of the songs to really impact on the listener with full force.

Their singer sounds as venomous as always, although his performance is more varied as well. His is a unique, piercing roar and this is complemented with other vocalisations that allow for nuance of delivery.

To me this album sounds like the culmination of everything the band have been building towards over the decades. It sounds utterly complete and very, very good. The creative energies have been focused just right and the resulting heavy nastiness is without peer.

I’ve been a fan of this band since 1999 and this is the album they’ve always threatened to make. A dark revelation and an apocalyptic realisation of intent.

Essential listening for any Extreme Metal fan. Get this now.

Anaal Nathrakh – Desideratum (Review)

Anaal Nathrakh are from the UK and this is their 8th album. They play Black Metal.

Even since they first crawled out of Hell well over a decade ago Anaal Nathrakh have been a fixture of UK Metal for me. Their début album The Codex Necro was, and is, a case study in malevolent, grim Black Metal writ large and hateful.

Since their raw but powerful Black Metal origins their style has changed over the years; still scathing Black Metal but with elements of Extreme Metal and with added heroic and very catchy cleans thrown in.

And this is how we find them on Desideratum. The cleans are still buried under fields of filth and the screamed vocals are still sharp enough to slice fingers off. The intensity is real and the rage is palpable. The singer’s voice continues to be one of Extreme Metal’s best and his performance on Desideratum is stunning.

The songs are always catchier than you would expect for a band like this and even the most extreme blasting sections remain memorable. It’s always been a gift of the band that they are able to unleash such acerbic, raging songs that nonetheless remain full of hooks and enough Blackened melodies to give you whiplash.

Anaal Nathrakh have always had a vaguely Industrial feel to some of their work, sometimes coming across as an aural portrait of urban decay. On Desideratum this is more apparent than ever and adds a further layer of darkened potentiality to their sound.

When they’re not going full out hyperblast there’s even, (whisper it), a slight Djent slant to the odd riff here and there this time. It shouldn’t work but it does.

Eight albums in and Anaal Nathrakh continue to impress. The songs are strong and their apocalypse is coming ever closer. And do you know one of the best things about this band? They don’t particularly sound like anyone else. In 2014 this is a major achievement.

Another triumph from this Blackened jewel in the crown of UK Metal. Desideratum is desideratum indeed.

Beaver – Cold Hands (Review)

Beaver are from Poland and play Hardcore.

This short 15 minute EP features 6 tracks of emotive Hardcore with Screamo-style vocals.

The Screamo style is not for everyone, of course, but here the vocals are ably performed and don’t cross the line into annoying as they can sometimes do with similar bands. They’re occasionally backed up with more traditional Hardcore gang vocals, although these are rare.

The songs are simple tunes that are written with maximal emotive power in mind rather than heaviness. It works well and the short songs manage to be sugar sweet whilst retaining a bit of bite.

I haven’t heard anything in this style for quite a while so I felt quite nostalgic listening to this release.

Have a listen.

Dawnbringer – Night of the Hammer (Review)

This is US band Dawnbringer’s seventh album. They play Heavy Metal.

Night of the Hammer has a strong 70’s vibe and mixes Heavy Metal with a good dose of ancient Doom to create something that’s drenched in the past yet remains potent today.

The brittle-sounding production lends the proceedings a proto-Blackened aura and enhances the feelings of authenticity and sheer audiophile-esque pleasure that this record gives off.

The important thing about a band like this is the quality of the songwriting and Dawnbringer are not found wanting in this regard. These are simple songs that are all the more powerful and effective for it.

Each track is stripped-back Heavy Metal as raw and emotive as when the genre was born. The rocking riffs and solid drums breathe life into the songs. The bass provides a firm bedrock for the band to build on and the solos and leads add colour. The odd Black Metal influence raises its head, mainly on Not Your Right, and strangely only sounds a little out of place.

The band play upbeat, downbeat and all kinds of mid-paced riffs in-between. The songs have plenty of darker moments but Dawnbringer are not afraid to sound chirpier on occasion also. True, it never reaches Power Metal levels of happiness or Folk’s sometime’s jauntiness, but they can certainly sound brighter than a lot of Metal when the need arises. Xiphias is a great example of this.

The music and exceptional vocals definitely have a 70’s vibe but the album also transcends this to have a certain timeless quality about it.

This is a most enjoyable album when you want a Classic Metal sound that harkens back to the time when Metal was born.

Torch Runner – Endless Nothing (Review)

This is the second album from US Grinders Torch Runner.

Their début album Committed to the Ground was a very enjoyable release containing some extremely harsh and abrasive Grindcore. I’m very pleased to say that on Endless Nothing the band have kept up the intensity levels and this new release is just as acerbic as the first.

They show off once again that they may be committed to extremity but it’s not all about the blast, (although there’s still plenty of that). They know how to use dynamics and slow proceedings down when necessary to create heavier atmospheres before ramping up the intensity once more and going in for the kill.

The guitars seem to have a bit of a Swedish Death Metal tone going on, which is interesting to hear when combined with the infections high-energy riffs. The songs explode out of the speakers and alternate between sheer scything hate-filled blasts and bouncier groove-laden sections that threaten to level the house.

With this kind of ultra-violent Grind there’s nothing to not like really. It’s as if Napalm Death released a short covers album of all of the most extreme Converge songs whilst playing with a Swedish Death Metal sound and dragging the At The Gates singer in to do some high-pitched screaming.

You know Converge’s cover of Wolverine Blues? Like that, only Grindcore.

In other words, this is a great release and should you be privileged enough to hear it you’ll be instantly hooked.