This is the debut album from Balsam Grove, a post-hardcore band from the US.
You’re Safe Here contains 40 minutes of material brought to us by ex-members of Caves of Glass. Whereas that mighty band played a distinct brand of multifaceted post-metal, Balsam Grove’s music is a post-hardcore mix of punk, screamo, and metalcore. Continue reading “Balsam Grove – You’re Safe Here (Review)”
This is the second album from Death Goals, a hardcore band from the UK.
A Garden of Dead Flowers is a 29-minute album full of character and personality. This is partially down to the varied and charismatic vocals – everything from shrieks to clean singing – and partially down to the music itself, which is expressive and colourful, while Continue reading “Death Goals – A Garden of Dead Flowers (Review)”
This is the second album from Danish post-metal band Kollapse.
2017’s Angst was an enjoyable slab of emotive heaviness, and Sult follows on from this with 41 minutes of new material, a new lineup, and a change in sound. Continue reading “Kollapse – Sult (Review)”
Ithaca are a metallic hardcore band from the UK and this is their debut album.
I’ll be honest, whenever I see a band described as metallic hardcore my eyes kind of glaze over as a first response. However, the promo blurb for this one intrigued me, I must confess, so I’ll reproduce it here – “Formed out of a mutual love of metallic hardcore but despair at its lack of ambition, Ithaca draw influence from everything from Southern doom to 90’s math rock as well as the untethered savagery of early Poison The Well and melodious battery of Oathbreaker.” Couple this with Continue reading “Ithaca – The Language of Injury (Review)”
Hivetower are a US metal band and this is their debut EP.
I like this, it has character. On the longer side for an EP, (31 minutes), Hivetower have produced the type of metal album that pilfers willingly from a few different scenes and styles, while still managing to have a personality of its own. Continue reading “Hivetower – Lunacy (Review)”
Vexes are a US modern/post-metal band and this is their debut album.
Although Deftones are the obvious starting point for comparative purposes, elements of The Unguided, Poison the Well, Glassjaw, and Cave In can also be heard in the band’s sound, as well as some more atypical moments in the style of, perhaps, Norma Jean, Between the Buried and Me, and Isis. Feelings of the late 90s/early 00s are strong with this band, and from my point of view that’s no bad thing at all. Continue reading “Vexes – Ancient Geometry (Review)”
Dead Ficus are a Metal band from France and this is their debut album.
Dead Ficus play a form of melodic metal/rock that features harsh vocals and some nice keyboard accompaniment.
The singer has quite a nasty bark to him, which juxtaposes nicely against the music which is melodic and atmospheric. I was actually expecting clean vocals from this band, for some reason, so I like his voice all the more for Continue reading “Dead Ficus – Rise or Fall (Review)”
Mantric are a Norwegian Progressive Metal band. This is their second album.
Mantric play modern Progressive Metal that favours a combination of atmospheric sections and more aggressive technical parts. Sometimes these parts are separated and sometimes they merge into one another.
The vocals consist of soft cleans and harsher screams. The cleans have a wistful, tender feeling to them while the screams are more Hardcore in nature. The cleaner vocals tend to, (unsurprisingly), correspond to the more atmospheric parts and the harsher ones to the more aggressive parts.
Mantric’s Metal hides a lot of complexity behind the atmospheric veneer that it cloaks itself in. I can imagine that it will be a bit hit-and-miss for a lot of people due to the rather unusual style they play, which combines a rather ethereal feeling of atmosphere with a more rugged technicality that is a strange combination in some ways.
I like its unconventional charms though, and Sin does have the feel of a special record due to this. It’s certainly not perfect and does have a few unpolished moments, but overall the odd feelings it creates remind me of a strange amalgam of Poison the Well, Enslaved and Drowningman.
Works for me. Check them out.
Atoj are from Italy. This is their latest EP and they play Hardcore.
Atoj’s music is a combination of abrasive Hardcore and 90’s Mathcore. It’s a gritty and dirty EP that showcases a band who have found a sound they’re comfortable with.
The songs are dynamic and interesting, never allowing the listener to slink into complacency, assuming that they know what the next bit will sound like.
This self-titled EP is well-recorded and even on the rare occasions when the band calm down there’s still a palpable intensity to the tracks.
They remind me of a compendium of the heavy parts of older Poison the Well, the aggressive, angular chaos of some of Zao’s work, the Hardcore know-how of Nora, a smidgen of some older bits of The Dillinger Escape Plan and the angry, non-singing parts of Letlive.
An enjoyable rage. Check them out.
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.
Wonderbox Metal 