Schammasch are a Black Metal band from Switzerland. This is their third album.
Here we have a bold, monster of a release; divided into three parts, each lasting about 35 minutes, the entire body of work clocks in at a massive 105 minutes in length.
Schammasch play forward-thinking music that’s rooted in Black Metal, but also visits other styles such as Doom, Post-Black Metal and Progressive Metal.
This is the third album from Israeli melodic/progressive Black Metallers Winterhorde.
Winterhorde use melodic Black Metal as a base to launch their epic brand of music from. On this base, they build firm structures of progressive Metal and symphonic/orchestral enhancements, all of which work together to produce Maestro, an Extreme Metal extravaganza.
If you combine elements of Black Metal with bands like Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar, Vintersorg, Arcturus and Nevermore, you’ll have a good idea of where Winterhorde are coming from. Continue reading “Winterhorde – Maestro (Review)”
Synthetic are a Metal band from the UK and this is their début album.
This is modern melodic Metal that features a EuroMetal style with aspects of Scandinavian melodeth. There’s a bit more depth involved to these songs than you might expect from the description, however, as the band also incorporate elements of classic and progressive Metal, allowing them to stand out from the pack a bit more than the average proponent of this type of music. Continue reading “Synthetic – Here Lies the Truth (Review)”
Between the Buried and Me are a progressive Extreme Metal band from the US. This is their seventh album.
If you haven’t encountered Between the Buried and Me before then you’re in for a treat. They’re one of the best examples of a band individualising what they do, and what they do is progressive Extreme Technical Metal. It’s a bit of a mouthful but it’s hard to describe this band in simple terms. Over the course of their career they’ve pretty much done it all, and over time they’re only getting more ambitious with their releases.
As with anything like this though, it’s not for everyone. If you favour music that has traditional song structures and predictable layouts, then move quietly along. If, however, you like the idea of listening to a band that can effortlessly combine the type of stuff you’d hear from bands like Queen, Deicide, Dream Theatre and The Dillinger Escape Plan, while simultaneously remaining entirely their own entity, then make sure you check this out.
This latest album is as ambitious and grandiose as always, more so in many respects. Piano and keyboards probably feature even more heavily than previously and add to the progressive structures in innumerable ways.
The singer uses both clean vocals and growls, although there seems to be a trend developing now that shows him using his clean vocals more and more. This is reflected in the music too, as the band use blast beats more sparingly than they used too as well. It may be less extreme than some of their other work, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any more accessible for the average listener. After all, there are more ways to be extreme than just playing fast.
The music is flawlessly delivered and the level of musicianship on Coma Ecliptic is staggeringly high; this is a band who know how to work their instruments. The compositions are long and involved, as usual, although the average track length is slightly shorter than some of their previous work.
Eschewing anything close to standard song structures, Between the Buried and Me are all about the song sections and how these holistically fit together. There’s a lot to take in over these 69 minutes and the album certainly requires multiple spins to give up its secrets.
All of the songs have their own personality, as you would imagine, and it’s easy to differentiate between them. They’ve always been a highly textured and nuanced band, and this only seems to be becoming more pronounced over time.
Anyone into challenging music that successfully mixes progressive music with extremity, heaviness and quirkiness should definitely check this out.
This is the début EP from French Progressive Metal band Gargantua.
Gargantua play Progressive Metal that combines some quite eclectic influences to produce a 26 minute calling card that shows off what they can do quite effectively.
To give you a flavour of their style, imagine a mix of The Meads of Asphodel, Sigh, The Black Dahlia Murder and Akercocke, among others. It’s essentially a form of melodic Death Metal with added folk, avant-garde and progressive influences, allowing the band a freedom to experiment and be playful with their influences.
The keyboard and accordion aspect of their sound is quirky and endearing. While not as completely over-the-top as some of the stuff that Sigh get up to, this part of their sound can still be demanding and attention-seeking.
The more aggressive Metal that lays the foundation of their music is tempered by their other influences so that the majority of the riffs have a lot of other stuff going on; the avant-garde and more-emotive aspects of their style are never too far away.
Thrash Metal-esque shouted growls, barely-holding-it-together screams, progressive cleans, operatic choral parts, emotive theatrics; there’s a plethora of different styles employed on Avant-Propos via four of the various band members.
A very promising first release. While not perfect, it shows a creative band willing and able to push boundaries to achieve the sound they want. With a few tweaks here and there to tighten the songwriting up, they could become quite a fearsome proposition in the future.
Check them out.
This is the second album from Canadian Progressive Death Metal band Bushwhacker.
Bushwhacker are an interesting proposition, combining, as they do, both Black and Death Metal as well as elements of Thrash, Sludge and psychedelia into their Extreme Metal sound.
The production is strong and the playing tight. The band have a sound that’s heavy, aggressive and dark, although not without its moments of subtlety and nuance. Harshness and melody combine, with textured riffs and thoughtful aggression leading the way. There’s plenty of leads and solos to get your teeth into and at 48 minutes in length it provides a lot of content and ideas.
The songs are well-written, with good pacing and dynamics. The band have a clear talent for this kind of thing and their confidence and ambition comes out in the strong music.
These are nicely varied songs, working as a whole to provide an album that’s a full listening experience. It’s obvious that a lot of work has gone into making this music what it is, and the end result is a really enjoyable Progressive Death Metal journey, complete with more than enough influences from other camps to make Bushwhacker an interesting and enticing proposition.
The vocals are largely screamed, with an old-school Thrash influence to them in places. They seem to skid, slide and slice over the surface of the lively guitars.
In a sea of samey-sounding bands, Bushwhacker stick out like a sore thumb with their fresh-sounding take on Extreme Metal.
I heartily recommend this album.
Boss Keloid are a Sludge Metal band from the UK. This is their second album.
Boss Keloid’s Sludge fuses Metal, Doom, Stoner and even Progressive Metal and Grunge into its tar-like embrace, offering the listener 59 minutes of compelling riffage.
With a huge, massive sound, Boss Keloid bring the heaviness with ease. The songs are chock-full of tasty riffs and the kind of guitars that can knock you over if played at full volume.
The Stoner-esque vocals sound really good, adding an extra level of colour and richness to already textured music. The singer has commanding presence, great personality and charisma, all of which are clearly felt through his voice.
The songs themselves are very satisfying, all the more so due to the decent amount of variety and interest that the album has. With almost an hour of music it would be easy to lose momentum or have some dull moments, but the incorporation of the various Metal sub-genres into the mix makes for a very endearing and engaging album.
Unlike some bands that use multiple styles as parts of their musical recipe, Boss Keloid don’t move from one easily identified sub-genre in one section to another; the band mix all of these elements into the songs together, holistically making the most of these influences to the betterment of the songs and the album as a whole.
Each track is recognisable as its own beast with its own identity, and pretty much every track has elements of the wider pool of influences mixed in.
An extremely impressive album. Herb Your Enthusiasm is a keeper.
For fans of Conan, Electric Wizard, Mammoth Storm, Orange Goblin, Down, etc.
This is the sixth album from US Progressive Metallers Redemption.
Redemption’s Progressive Metal is melodic, song-oriented music that features keyboards, a raft of high-profile guests and a The Who cover. Importantly, it also has some extremely well-composed pieces of music that are Metal enough to have kick and progressive enough to take the listener on a journey.
This album has a very bright, strong sound, allowing the band’s music to shine and stand uninhibited on its own merits. It sounds good.
The band are clearly all well-versed in their chosen instruments, but one of the reasons I like Redemption is that for the most part they don’t let all of the technical, ostentatious playing get in the way of the song itself; this is paramount, more than anything else really. As such, this is an album full of catchy, memorable tunes that have the extra advantage of added depth due to the exploratory avenues that are opened up by virtue of being a Progressive Metal band.
There’s a mix of song-oriented tracks that are largely straightforward Metal songs, combined with a few where the band really let their progressive side shine; this is particularly demonstrated on the final track At Day’s End.
A vocalist with a great range and capable of delivering a sterling performance is required for music like this, and this is what they have.
At 76 minutes in length there’s a lot of music here to absorb, but it’s worth the time as Redemption have created a compelling and engaging listen.
This is the second album from Indian Extreme Metal band Demonstealer.
This is a very ambitious album. Across 9 tracks the band deliver 57 minutes of music that straddles Death, Black, Thrash, Progressive and Atmospheric Metal to deliver an epic journey.
Recognisably Death Metal at their core, Demonstealer skilfully incorporate the above-mentioned aspects into their sound so that we have something that the likes of Nile, Behemoth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Septic Flesh, Opeth and other such envelope-pushing bands should be proud of.
This Burden Is Mine hops between genres with ease. One moment it might be all blasting and mayhem, while the next it may be soft, reflective and shamelessly progressive. And then you have the atmospheric, symphonic elements, where the keyboards get to shine and the emotive side of the band is ramped up to full capacity. The band also have a melodic flair that adds a lot to the tracks, with plenty of tasty leads and solos thrown into the mix.
Pure Death Metal growls are accentuated with a more varied delivery of screams, shouts, clean and semi-clean vocals, professionally done and perfectly judged. You’d easily think this album had more than one singer, rather than just one very talented vocalist.
Although this album is extremely diverse and varied, it carries a holistic cohesiveness with it that speaks of the quality songwriting and talent that the band are capable of. This Burden Is Mine is extremely impressive and a rich, evocative listen.
Well well. Albums like this don’t come along that often. This should be embraced and celebrated by all Metal fans as the tour de force that it is.
Essential.
Neverworld are a Power Metal band from the UK. This is their second album.
This is the follow-up to their hugely enjoyable début album Visions of Another World.
Neverworld play their Metal full of leads, solos and lashings of rich melody. The band haven’t lost any of their ability to play, that’s for sure. This is definitely an album for people who enjoy solos, but I like that the technical playing is channelled into the needs of the songs too.
Keyboards add extra atmosphere where needed, but these are never overpowering or overly ostentatious; they do what is required of them, do it well, and don’t stick around unnecessarily.
Atmospheric, catchy, memorable, rocking, progressive – all of these words can be used to describe various parts of these songs and there’s enough quality content to keep the listener engaged.
It’s a pleasure to hear the singer’s voice once more. He remains in possession of a grand and powerful voice, one that’s equal to the task of keeping up with the equally grand and powerful music. He even seems to be developing a slight theatrical bent to his voice in a couple of places.
The songs are varied enough to warrant over an hour of playing time, yet remain cohesive enough to flow nicely and not sound all-over-the-place when it comes to album pacing.
The return of Neverworld is a pleasure to witness.
Wonderbox Metal 