Metal – Page 487 – Wonderbox Metal

Yidhra – Cult of Bathory (Review)

This is the latest EP from US Doom Metal band Yidhra.

This is Classic/Traditional Doom Metal played with passion and mystique.

The singer has a leaden presence that adds weight and charisma to the band’s delivery; his voice is darker, deeper and thicker than is usually the norm for a lot of bands of this type, and it adds volumes to the music.

The songs are well-written examples of the style that have both a modern and a timeless edge to them. They’re also gritty and earthy without losing a certain lustre.

It’s easy to enjoy these tracks and the 27 minutes on this EP pass quite pleasantly with a companionable and personable flow. The riffs and melodies the band employ are familiar without sounding stale or over-used, and the drums have got a delicious sound to them that makes them very satisfying indeed.

Each of these songs have their own personality and distinctive style, all within the overarching framework of Doom Metal, of course.

Mephorash – 1557 – Rites of Nullification (Review)

This is the third album by Swedish Black Metallers Mephorash.

Throughout the four extended tracks on this release Mephorash demonstrate their approach to elite, sophisticated Black Metal art. Theirs is Black Metal that conjures effective atmospheres without neglecting the rest of the music; the band have both heaviness and bite to them when they need it.

Managing to create music that’s both resplendent and uplifting as well as drenched in the occult and mysterious is no mean feat, but this album manages to juxtapose those two aspects of Black Metal quite nicely.

The band fuse the style’s core delivery with influences from Atmospheric/Post-Black Metal to create a contemporary spin on the genre that nonetheless has all of the essential elements in place to produce something both recognisable and special.

Featuring all kinds of additional enhancements, (keyboards, choral singing, guest vocalists), that work well within the music to add layers of depth to it, these songs are strong exemplars of the style of Black Metal that bands like Watain/Deathspell Omega pioneered so well.

There’s a vibrant unlife pulsing through these songs and they bristle with dark energy. It’s a joy to hear and the strong production allows them the space to do what they do unfettered.

Mephorash have created something really impressive with this album and I know I’ll be listening to it and trying to unravel its dark secrets for some time to come.

Interview with Novallo

Novallo’s latest EP – Novallo II – is something a little bit different and a breath of fresh air. Let’s dive right in and find out some more about them…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

Gino Bambino – Guitars, engineering/production
Sam Gitiban – Vocals
Nick Salvatore – Percussion
Brandon Johnson – Bass

Give us a bit of background to Novallo

We’ve all grown up and lived in Columbus, OH for most of our lives. Novallo began in its raw form about 10 years ago, when Gino and Brandon would just jam. Nick joined shortly thereafter (having already been close friends with Brandon), and around ’07 we found Sam through Myspace classifieds. From the onset, there was a desire to transcend our immediate surroundings. This meant dabbling in world music initially. Anything we do is always a little off kilter in some way – and we’re very okay with that; that’s character, redefining a sound, making something new… sometimes you need a mutation to evolve!

3. What are your influences?

Tool
Michael Jackson
A Perfect Circle
Judas Priest
Rob Dougan
Juno Reactor
System of a Down
Stone Temple Pilots
Jane’s Addiction
Nirvana
Soundgarden
Foo Fighters
Portishead
Radiohead
Alice in Chains
Faith No More
Skrillex
Kimbra
Imogen Heap
Rage Against the Machine
Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy VII)
John Williams
Hans Zimmer
Paul Antonio Ortiz
Audioslave

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

Brandon – Jaco Pastorius, Frank Sinatra, & Chimp Spanner
Nick – The Ink Spots, Ella Fitzgerald, & Stone Temple Pilots
Sam – Any Stone Temple Pilots album – in its entirety.
Gino – Kimbra, Marbin and Rage Against the Machine

Give us a bit of background to Novallo II – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?

Novallo II touches on concepts such as flight/levitation, death/suicide, rebellion, awakening, altered states of consciousness, energy, otherworldly entities, and more. There is a strong sense of immediacy, wherever you look, carrying you from beginning to end. There are extremes, e.g. from small to large – from the cracks in the floor, to a theoretically cyclical Universe, and everything in between. Our favourite artistic inspirations have created worlds where you can just sit, or run, or glide, and absorb your surroundings – we aim to achieve something like this.

How do you go about writing your songs?

As our engineer/producer, Gino often conceives/writes and records the music almost simultaneously (or closely in tandem). The rest of us listen, provide feedback, and go about forming the accompanying percussion, bass, and vocal/lyrical parts – usually on our own time. Everything then gets refined & rearranged more and more, as we familiarize ourselves with the song, its sonic tendencies, and its underlying message/concept. In this way, there are cooperative, live moments of creation, coupled with the undeniable power of individual explorations of each song.

How did the recording process go?

Well, it went on, and on, for awhile! Keep in mind, we are completely self-produced, so if things go wrong (and they always do) we have to pick up the pieces, with only our own resources to pull from. There were many setbacks in that time, from failed hard drives/computers, to (much more importantly) lost loved ones – these were devastating events. In that time, as a whole, we still made giant leaps, from recording capability to finding new sounds and a new direction. All of this was done in the same basement we’ve been marinating in since high school – not necessarily a bad thing… we think.

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

All of us seem to be partial to “Give Gravity a Choice”, which is a very welcome departure from the rowdy sounds we’ve been churning out for years. It recognizes the need for balance, from soft to heavy, light to dark. For these and many other reasons, it just feels more real, in a way… especially considering the conceptual content.

What does the future hold for Novallo?

In writing music, we want to continue the melding of genres, in a way that is interesting, yet powerful and simple. After years, we feel that we’ve finally hit our stride, and found our style – which, as Bruce Lee described best, strives to achieve “the style of no style”. We just want to continue growing, writing well, and honing our skills for live shows – which should echo the vibe of the music as much as possible, i.e. via a dedicated setting/ambiance.

Villainy – Villainy II: Dim (Review)

Villainy are from the Netherlands and this, (as the name would suggest), is their second album. They play Metal.

Their début album was enjoyable Thrash Metal with a few added elements of styles like Crust, Black Metal and Celtic-Frost-esque Metal to make things more interesting than your average Thrash band. It demonstrated a group who were not content to be mediocre and were striving the be different.

Well, on Villainy II: Dim they’ve progressed even further. This new album is more ambitious than the first and their Thrash Metal core is further enhanced by Doom and Black Metal influences, more so than the first.

The songs have a lot of ideas, depth and real potential for lasting impact. Featuring a surprising amount of variety over the 12 tracks, this is well-written Metal that doesn’t allow the listener’s attention to wane or wander.

Albums like this are a complete package, and by that I mean it’s a very holistic release with every song having its own identity, but still snugly fitting together as a whole.

The charisma and character of the singer has been brought further to the fore, and he sounds more confident and proficient than ever. Backed up by music that’s also more self-assured and expansive, this release is very impressive.

A strong, beefy guitar sound adds to the band’s delivery and the songs sound vibrant and fresh. Even though there’s a definite whiff of the Old-School about Villainy they have managed to produce an album that still sounds contemporary and relevant.

There’s over an hour of music on this release and no filler in sight. It’s always pleasing to see tangible progress in a band’s development and Villainy II: Dim is an impressively realised transition from what they were to what they are now becoming. Only time will tell where this will lead them.

This one’s a must.

Disquiet – The Condemnation (Review)

This is the second album from Dutch Melodic Thrash/Death Metal band Disquiet.

Disquiet play a heavy and aggressive brand of Thrash Metal with a nice Death Metal edge to it that means the band keep things dark and intense.

With plenty of jagged riffs and Metal leads, this is an album that it’s easy to feel at home with.

The singer varies his delivery between growls, shouts and what I’ll call almost-sung vocals – they’re almost sung, but not quite. Yeah, yeah, it may not be a very fancy description, but it suffices, and the end result is an added emotive edge to the vocals when there needs to be one without going full-blown into Metalcore-style cleans, for the most part.

I really like the production on this album and the thickness of the guitars. Everything else sounds top-drawer too and overall The Condemnation sounds quite immense.

If this album gets some good exposure I can see it doing very well indeed. It has the right combination of underground brutality and integrity combined with a songwriting skill that should ideally see them reaching a larger audience than a lot of their peers.

Recommended.

Manipulation – Ecstasy (Review)

Manipulation are a Polish Death Metal band and this is their third album.

Manipulation play muscular Modern Death Metal with plenty of attack and some interesting twists to the standard formula.

Blast beats and chugging mid-paced carnage are the order of the day, but the band also throw in some unexpected atmospheric moments throughout, via the inclusion of melodic guitars, subtle keyboards, choral-like cleans, etc.

Add to this experimentalism some ultra-modern riffs and Deathcore influences and you have 44 minutes of engaging Extreme Metal, the likes of which Poland always seems to do so well.

The songs are well-written and, as mentioned previously, Manipulation aren’t afraid to experiment or try new things, which is great to hear. This edge of Progressive Metal is buried within their core sound, but really does add to their delivery. When these elements mix with blasting extremity or heavy grooves it all comes together very nicely indeed.

The vocalist has a passionate and dynamic growl that fits the music well, giving them the Death Metal anchoring they need as well as enough variety to move beyond this and into more emphatic territories.

Energetic brutality with a playful spin on the genre; this is really, really impressive.

Highly recommended.

For fans of Thy Art Is Murder, Aborted, All Shall Perish, Cryptopsy, Gorod, Molotov Solution, Whitechapel, etc.

Against the Plagues – Purified Through Devastation (Review)

Against the Plagues are a US Death Metal band and this is their third album.

Featuring a crushing and professional sound, Against the Plagues play Death Metal mixed with lashings of Melodic Black Metal.

Deep growls and higher screams are the singer’s weapons of choice, with both sounding feral and full of hatred.

The band manage to take the savagery of Death Metal and infuse it with the melodic poison of Black Metal’s dark soul. This mixture means that Purified Through Devastation contains a good deal of catchy and memorable content. It’s not all blasting and brutality, (although they’re quite adept at that too), and these songs have quite a bit of atmosphere when they want to. Think a combination of Immolation, Morbid Angel and The Kennedy Veil crossed with Dimmu Borgir.

The muscular sound backs up the innate strength of the songs and subtle keyboards add a nuanced juxtaposition against the bare brutality of the drums and aggressive riffs. Mood and feeling is created with melodic workouts and the band can get quite martial and epic in scope on occasion.

It’s a modern take on Blackened Death Metal that sees the band highlighting the glossier, state-of-the-art side of both genres, resulting in a well-polished album that is also very well crafted. The band clearly know what they do and do it well. As Extreme Metal goes in 2015, this is a definite winner in my book.

This is an album that spits venom and fire, one that I’m more than happy to visit again and again. I suggest you do too.

Moaning Silence – A World Afraid of Light (Review)

This is the début album from Greek Gothic/Atmospheric Metal band Moaning Silence.

Featuring the kind of sound that was making big waves late 90s/early 00s, Moaning Silence play it well and I haven’t heard too much like this of late.

Combining the drawn-out Gothic sorrow of My Dying Bride with elements of Anathema’s approach, Moaning Silence have created an album that pays homage to the emotive, expressive side of Metal. There’s also an Anathema cover included for good measure.

Both male and female vocals appear, with the male vocalist’s voice having a quality to it that’s somewhere between the singers of My Dying Bride and Sentenced, while the female singer has a liquid, silken quality to her voice that is quite enticing.

This kind of style has been done to death, of course, so whether you enjoy what Moaning Silence have to offer depends on where your saturation point is for this kind of thing. I’ve pretty much reached mine, but I can still appreciate that Moaning Silence do what they do well, and there are some nice ideas on this release that show a lot of promise for the future. In fact, I enjoy them at their most when they’re relaxing a bit and letting the atmosphere flow naturally, as in tracks like The Last Days of December, (which is also notable for its lovely guitar solo and Classic Rock vibe).

As a début album, there’s still a lot of work to do for the band; I think they need to find their own style a bit more and also tighten up both the writing and the sound. Having said that though, there’s still a lot to enjoy on A World Afraid of Light, and I do like that this isn’t the ostentatious, flashy, overly-commercial brand of Gothic Metal either; this is a more earthy, honest interpretation of the original style that birthed a thousand Lacuna Coils.

So, give them a listen and see what you think.

Favourite Track: On Fragile Wings. Just a damn good song.

A Dream of Poe – An Infinity Emerged (Review)

A Dream of Poe are from Portugal and play Doom Metal. This is their second album.

This is Traditional Doom Metal that’s rich of texture and hue, laced with a subtle Gothic influence and plenty of majestic melodies; think My Dying Bride-esque.

The singer has a charismatic voice with just the right amount of drama added to the performance. He adds a lot of colour and flavour to the tracks and acts as a focal point for the misery-drenched music.

The songs are long, drawn-out explorations of beauty and tragedy, coming across as chapters in an epic tale of loss and woe.

Subtle keyboards underscore the emotive themes while the guitars provide a bedrock for the evocative atmospheres to attach themselves to. The songs are slow, moody and full of dark feelings.

Each track takes its time to get where it’s going and there’s no impetus to make things hurry along; this is a very good thing as the relaxing pace of the music is quite hypnotic and it’s easy to just switch off and absorb this album.

This is 56 minutes of quality Metal. Highly recommended.

He Comes Later – Adam: The Decay (Review)

He Comes Later are an Italian Deathcore band and this is their second EP.

After a relatively epic intro track, the first song, Beneath My Skin, sets the tone for the EP and He Comes Later reveal themselves to be Deathcore with some extras that you don’t normally find in this style.

They have the requisite blasting drums and groove-heavy guitars that work with the deep growls and higher screams. There’s lots of uplifting parts too, as well as melodic leads to add texture. There’s also a lot more going on here as well.

The songs have some interesting ideas on them, such as the inclusion of clean vocals and orchestral/keyboard elements on some of the tracks. It adds an extra layer of interest and helps keep the attention. Deathcore is a sub-genre that very easily gets stale, fast, but He Comes Later have enough ideas to keep things sounding stimulating and relatively fresh. I also like that they incorporate a decent amount of speed and blasting, as too much Deathcore tends to stay in mid-paced, groove-heavy territory.

The band have quite an accomplished sound on Adam: The Decay and largely seem to know what they’re doing with the material. There are some good riffs on here and enough dynamics and energy to keep things interesting.

Well, I’ve enjoyed this more than I expected too; some nice Deathcore with plenty of bite and enough elements enhanced by other influences to make this a meaty and tasty release.

It will be very interesting to see how this band develop from here and what they do with their first full-length release. I’m hoping that they develop their more experimental and atmospheric side, while keeping their core brutality; if they can do this then their début album will be very good indeed.

For the moment though there’s still 27 minutes of music on this, which is more than enough to keep us occupied for the moment. Time to give it another listen, I feel.