Poison the Well – Page 2 – Wonderbox Metal

Atoj – Atoj (Review)

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 – 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.

Bettyœtker – Barricades (Review)

Bettyœtker are from Germany and play Hardcore.

I have to say I like the cover, so that’s a good start.

The music itself is well recorded with a sound that accentuates the emotive nature of the band.

Angular riffs and chuggy, expressive guitars chop and change their way through the playing time. This would have been at home in the late 90’s/early 00’s Metallic Hardcore scene which spawned the likes of Botch, Zao, Norma Jean, Poison the Well, Nora, etc.

The songs here are wonderfully constructed and boast lots of ideas and interesting riffs to keep the listener hooked.

The singer performs with great gusto and has a voice that’s somewhere between a shout and a scream. He complements and suits the songs well and provides a warmer human side to the band; the music is emotive in its own right of course, but it has a cold, harsh edge to it that the vocals compensate for. Taken together these tracks are dangerously addictive.

This is a class EP full of the kind of meaty Hardcore Metal that’s in much shorter supply these days than it once was.

They’ve made a fan of me and I can’t wait for a full album now. Bettyœtker are here to stay.