Deceased - Children of the Morgue (2024)

Though I don't find myself listening to their first few records as often as I'd like, Fearless Undead Machines and all of the Deceased full-lengths beyond 1997 are regular staples in my listening rotation, ESPECIALLY around Halloween season where their tales of cult horror truly resonate. Queue the King Diamond, the Samhain, early Danzig, the Rob Zombie (laugh all you want), the Cradle of Filth, a whole lotta death metal and creepier atmospheric black metal, and then Virginia's finest for me. I didn't notice a strong reaction abroad to their latest, Children of the Morgue, but I was smitten as soon as I saw the collage of creepy dolls that make up the cover art, I knew we were going to those DVD/VHS racks and pulling out all the stops, so I turned the lights down, grabbed my popcorn and pressed PLAY.

In King Fowley I trust, for good reason, because Children of the Morgue is the same classy-as-fuck blend of heavy, speed, thrash and death metal that I've been loving for nearly 30 years. It doesn't ascend to the same heights as a Supernatural Addiction or Surreal Overdose, and you could argue that it plays it safe within those already-broadened margins of their sound, but Deceased is about songwriting consistency, and blending together the right level of atmosphere complementary to the themes with the classic metal across numerous genres that inspires them. So you'll get some dim, moody acoustics, cleaner narrated vocals from King, a lot that actually makes you feel like you're actually watching an obscure horror flick ("Terrornaut", for example), and it all blends seamlessly with the riffing variety, which ranges from the more melodic and welcoming to some of the old dissonance of The 13 Frightened Souls or Blueprints.

King has shifted more comfortably into his vocal role, which still sounds as great at it has on the last 7-8 albums. This allows Amos Rifkin to dominate the kit, on which he does a great job keeping in Fowley's down to earth style, maybe packing in a little more muscle. The riffs rarely disappoint, and even the less catchy ones feel like they're coming straight out of the Deceased playbook, while the leads maintain that memorable, workmanlike authenticity. Never too flashy, but fulfilling enough, with melancholic twists to them that suit the overall attitude of the recording. Children of the Morgue is clean, but they keep the instruments just raw enough in the mix that it doesn't suffer from polish that would leech away its underground aesthetics. It's a damn good album, and I like it as much as its predecessor Ghostly White, but it just happens that they've got four albums I enjoy even more. Still, if an album this good is the 'floor' of what they're capable of for the last couple decades...well, that's why they are one of our best American metal bands going today. Integrity in spades.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/deceasedofficial/

Eternal - Cryptic Lust (2024)

Is she summoning the undead forth from their slumber? Is she some sort of banshee who is just inhabiting the same crypt? Why do these things look like skeletons but still have flesh, veins, and some musculature? Are they revenants? Ghouls? So many questions, but one that Arizona's Eternal does answer for us with their first proper full-length review is that they are one badass newer death metal band that drags some old school influences wriggling and hammering into the new age. This one heads straight back to that formative Florida sound pioneered by Death in the later 80s, and then bulks it up at the gym with mightier drumming, denser bass lines, and vocals that go over the top with that early style of Chuck Schuldiner, Martin van Drunen or John Tardy growl.

It's not a 1:1 sort of tribute by any means. Whereas a band like Gruesome is trying to emulate certain albums or eras of its influence, Eternal is just extracting that DNA from the cemetery fossils and then mutating it into their own strain. A Jurassic Park of grisly old punishment that goes hard in using some percussive force to clout the listeners. This does have its faster outbreaks, but it's more about the groove after groove, claustrophobic tightness to the rhythm section but executed with such meaty tones that you really have no prayer of finding a salad anywhere. They excel at the slower-to-mid speeds, where the bass lines are creeping and oozing along in the bottom of your ear canals, they can process these huge crush doom/death riffs in there too like in the bowels of "Torture Chapel", or a rolling sort of groove as in "Spectral Immolation" which reminds one heavily of something like "Where the Slime Live" off Morbid Angel's Domination. There's also something aesthetically Swedish threaded through this, like an added level of armor inspired by Entombed or Dismember but not copying the precise tone.

The intro and interlude are cool, the former a wash of evil organs to herald "Doorway to Tribulation", the latter a more whimsical, almost haunted saloon vibe before the title track explodes. The lead guitars do not always land for me; as frilly, spectral atmospherics they excel, but a few feel like they could have been molded into more evil yet melodic dimensions, rather than sounding a little forced and messy. The riffs can also feel a little samey across a few tracks, but every song has at least a few good ones to offer, so this is a minor flaw that will be hammered out with more experience and variety. All told, Cryptic Lust is an album I'd easily throw out there as a recommendation alongside a Necrot, Extremity, or the earlier Skeletal Remains efforts. Old school in spirit, heavier for the times, digestible but destructive death metal which helps you appreciate where it all first exhumed from thrash. Some versions of this also have a cover of "Deathcrush" by Mayhem, which fits in pretty well though they switch to a more black metal vocal for some of it and I don't know that that was necessary.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://eternalaz.bandcamp.com/album/cryptic-lust

Trog - Horrors Beyond (2024)

With a moniker like Trog, you'd probably expect knuckle dragging, primitive slam death metal, and for short bursts of Horrors Beyond, they have you covered. But in truth, this full-length debut (after a pair of EPs) from the Jersey brutes is surprisingly varied, with something to offer fans of numerous death metal niches. It's definitely rooted in the brutal death metal of the earlier 90s, with clear Cannibal Corpse parallels, but they'll also hurl an unexpected, sticky melody in your direction, or drop out of the burst of violent speed into one of those aforementioned slam grooves which seems primed for the pit. Where it can get punishing and intense, as if you were beating yourself with a brick at high speeds, there is always a solid songwriting structure which makes for a really well balanced listen.

Lots of highlights abound. "Horrors Beyond" itself has this lurching, Morbid Angel-like groove deep in the bridge where this nasty harmonies erupt alongside the vocals while the drums continue to batter along. "Ritual Corpse Division" has some clinical melodies deep in its belly which help offset the roiling double kick rhythms and evil tremolo picked rhythms that alternate into a thrashing gallop. "Eviscerate the Advanced" is highly melodic and glorious before it starts to groove out, and you can hear that bass guitar bouncing off beneath. "Interstellar Offal Dealer" is like Cannibal Corpse meets Bloodbath. The bridge of "Ontological Shock" takes you by surprise with the charging melodic death metal sequence and some synth-lines that work well to accompany it. Not only do they cover such a span of material in a great, compact 33 minute experience, but you get the impression they are only starting to tap into what full potential they have as musicians.

The rhythm tone is murky, saturated but still very clear and choppy, and I mentioned I like the springy sound of the bass, the insane drum performance, but I'd also draw attention to the vocals of Pete Colucci which cover all the bases from formidable, punctual gutturals to protracted snarls and growls. The cover makes this one look a little cheesy (in a good way), but the lyrics here are actually well thought out. They incorporate plenty of the brutal imagery to go along with the performances, but you can tell someone sat down and put some effort into them. Really, what we have here is an impressive USDM band that can hang with a whole lot of better-known peers, and while none of the individual components of this are original by any means, the way they are assembled here is a refreshing, punishing exhibition of well-sculpted carnage.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://trogdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/horrors-beyond

Enforced - A Leap Into the Dark EP (2024)

A Leap into the Dark is a brief holdover for whatever Enforced is headed towards next, but with six tracks, it's at least a little more substantial than some 7" or EP recordings are. The highlights here are the newer tracks, which have a nice punch to them. Not far removed from how the band sounded on War Remains, they've got a slightly cranked up depth of the bass presence, some good leads and riffs that are at least the quality of that full-length. "Deafening Heartbeats" is the most intense of the three, with some death/thrash in the riffing, and some cool riff progressions which work well with the splatters of wild solos. There is also a remaster of the "Casket" single from 2021, which I hadn't heard, but sounds like it belonged on Kill Grid (same year), only the production is a little more violent and booming.

This is capped off with a pair of covers from some pretty difference sources. "Deadly Intentions" is from the Obituary debut Slowly We Rot, and though Enforced do play it pretty close to the original, I found it ironic that they make it sound more like a later 90s Obituary piece, when the Floridians were themselves leaning more into the hardcore that Enforced came from. This would have fit right in on Back from the Dead, but structurally they still nail it. The other tune is the English Dogs' "The Chase in On", which comes from their 1984 EP To the Ends of the Earth. Another fun parallel since that band transformed from punk and hardcore to a more heavy/speed metal style, but Enforced take that cut and brutalize it a little more so it sounds like Doom but with Knox singing. I'd say both of the covers are fun enough to maybe incorporate into a live set, but the more forgettable aspects of this EP, buried by the consistent quality of the three new original cuts. But if you've enjoyed the two albums prior to this one, the material is probably worth throwing the band a couple bucks so they can get coffee or fill the gas tank on a tour.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://enforced.bandcamp.com/

Sarke - Endo Feight (2024)

Sarke has always had those weird, interesting album titles, but Endo Feight ("End of Eight") is either the best-planned, or most purely prophetic of them, since this would prove the last of their studio efforts and it might have been set up that way before it was even recorded. Fear not, though, this album is an absolute banger, a celebration of all that had come before it, with a few hooks of its own but largely serving to solidify their consistent track record. The lineup is still the four 'classic' guys that had been with the band the most: Nocturno Culto on the vocals, Sarke on the bass, also returning to his traditional drum role from his other bands; Steinar on the guitars and Anders on the keys.

Everything is on the table here, the structured and simplified black/thrash which is more drawn from that old Swiss school than so many of the other bands in the style which mimic your Venoms, Slayers or early German thrash records. The proggy influences here aren't always worn on the sleeves so much as they are packed into the meatier riffing progressions, but you also get a lot of those amazing synths and pianos, showing the same restraint Anders always does. These create the dramatic atmospheres the guitars themselves wouldn't be capable of in their current configurations, without ever stepping on anyone. There are some choppy tunes here with a lot of chugging, like "Death Construction", or darker, bluesy grooves as in the closer "Macabre Embrace", and they even toss us an almost pure trad black metal track with "In Total Allegiance" which only adds to the sort of ouroboros vibe of keeping their endgame consistent with their opening salvo, or in this case, their roots.

Nocturno sounds amazing, and I will truly miss his voice in this project, even though I can still experience his work in Darkthrone. But that's the weird thing about Endo Feight. I usually feel some loss when a band I love dissolves. In this case, I feel like Sarke, NC and company really explored this dimension they wanted to splice up between black, thrash, doom, 70s rock, prog, and so forth. Nothing more is owed. Or needed. The closing tolls of "Macabre Embrace" say it all. They gave us EIGHT albums that I've ranked from merely 'very good' to superb, and other than a small handful of tracks which one might relegate to the 'just okay' category, I could listen to any of these in its entirety without needing to skip anything. That's pretty high praise, and the fact that these albums are stamped with a timelessness through their blend of styles and top notch production ensures they are nothing I will ever leave behind. I salute you, gentlemen, one of the best and most consistent bands most people hand and will have never heard of. Success in all your other projects, and thank you for this amazing slew of music that I can never repay in more than praise.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (Resting in the damp ground)

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/

Blood Feast - Infinite Evolution (2024)

Blood Feast is a band I perhaps undervalued or appreciated in the past, I had mixed feelings on their first two records and Face the Fate EP, but have occasionally dived back to them and occasionally gotten a little more enjoyment than I remembered. Their first 'comeback' album, The Future State of Wicked, sort of paralleled Possessed's Revelations of Oblivion (though two years earlier, and a full decade after this band had started playing together again). It was tighter, faster, more musically engaging for me, and occasionally came across like a revival of the sound from the amazing Rigor Mortis s/t debut. With Infinite Evolution, they've shifted to the long-time guitarist Adam Tranquilli performing vocals, and he replaces his predecessor's harsher, snarled vocals with a style far more similar to Jeff Becera, more splatter sounding, maybe more crossover, more 'thrash', where the intonation is a bit edgy and filthy and sustained.

Despite the fact that it'll draw huge comparisons to that more popular band, it works for me better than the vocals on the last record. Coupled with some fast, driven, choppy guitar work, wiry leads and raging kit work from their new-ish drummer, Infinite Evolution is really entertaining, with just enough variation and riff quality to keep me heading back to its well of carnage across many spins. Yes, I won't obfuscate, this is essentially East Coast Possessed, there are a few differences in how some riffs are imagine or leads structured, but if you enjoy Seven Churches or Revelations of Oblivion, this will be like Christmas for you, because it's on such a similar course. Like that band, they also have the focus on horror film lyrics; sometimes with similar themes like demons and possession, but also dipping a little more into the gore alongside the blasphemy. It's always an appreciated combo, and as the band busts out numbers like "Ravaging the Loins of Mary", "Of Hell" and "Outbreak", I am thinking this is easily the best album of their career...

And when they try something more ambitious like "Eye of Glass", I become assured of that opinion, an epic number with cool robotic vocals in the intro. A tune like this instantly reminded me of Deceased, who also craft more elaborate horror narratives with the thrash and speed metal influences, and another band whose fans would probably LOVE this (and probably already do). I think a future Blood Feast record could kind of embrace this idea, with the longer song lengths and unique mechanics, and help distinguish themselves from their West Coast brethren, but Infinite Evolution is a banger of a listen for me regardless, and one easily recommended to fans of any of the above or really any black/thrash or death/thrash hybrid, which are myriad over the last 20 years. Smokin', evil thrash metal that honors both its cinematic and musical influences with class.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.bloodfeastlegions.com/

Chapel of Disease - Echoes of Light (2024)

I'd hate to repeat a comparison I've already made over my last couple Chapel of Disease reviews, but Echoes of Light once again walks a parallel course to Swedes Tribulation in pursuing a more accessible, moody and atmospheric sound quite farm removed from their death metal roots, while retaining the harsh vocals for their contrast value against the more ear-pleasing riffs. They had already mastered this with the last time out, and this album doesn't show quite as much a transition as that between its two predecessors, so there is a little bit of a vibe that the band were really feeling out where to go here. It's a bit shorter, still at six songs, and seems to focus on fleshing out some of same ideas while giving them some more breathing room.

None of this is 'experimental', but the way the songs are composed aren't reduced to the most basic verse chorus structures, they will fuel any melodic inkling at any time and pursue that to a glorious end, and those are honestly the better parts of this record in tunes like the titular opener or "A Death Through No Loss". The album is heavily leaning on bluesy leads, hard rock or classic heavy metal riffing patterns as well as some soothing acoustic sequences, and through all of this, the bass guitar is able to stick out more than ever, with some simpler and steadier grooves than the last record, but they really anchor all the adventurous noodling. But if you heard those calmer sections of "A Death Through No Loss" and then went back to listen through 2012's Summoning Black Gods, you wouldn't recognize the Germans as the same band. Even further, they are starting to implement some clean singing here ("Shallow Nights", "Gold/Dust") to go along with some of the bluesy, emotional moments. They don't seem too confident in that respect, however, and they wind up a little bit shoegaze, but they're not bad.

The production is glinting and clear, a little more bold than ...and As We Have Seen the Storm... and there are still lots of great guitar licks throughout, while the holdover of the harsh vocals definitely continues to make this feel like Tribulation if they had gone for a more classic hard rock basis rather than the Gothic (although a few sections here also give off that impression). All told, this one doesn't feel like a step back in vision so much, but quality for sure. The cleaner vocals don't really sell me yet, the cover art choice seems a little dull after a similar, swirly look on the last record, and I don't know that I enjoy the continued progress into lighter rock fare, perhaps because it's just not always catchy enough to justify that. On the other hand, it still has plenty of wondrous moments through the riffing, good bass, and it's not at all a chore to listen through. Growing pains, maybe, but still enjoyable.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/ChapelOfDisease

Skeletal Remains - Fragments of the Ageless (2024)

If the title doesn't sort of tip you off, the first track on Fragments of the Ageless will begin to show a new influence emanating heavily and centrally from the Skeletal Remains crew, and that is Morbid Angel, or rather a more sleek, modern, hyper-technical evolution of that band's sound circa the 90s. There are still plenty of Cannibal Corpse and Vader chops, and through a few of the picking patterns, thrashing and grooving sections I feel a little Pestilence still poke through, but this fifth record is most assuredly one that cements the band as a more brutally honed entity than their earlier records with their Death-like old school vibes. That's not to say the foundation isn't there on a few tracks, but this definitely seems like they are pushing themselves even harder than on The Entombment of Chaos, and frankly, writing better songs.

From the production to the precision this thing is their most flawless execution, and carries a good variety with it to boot. The drumming is by far the most intense it's ever been, again with that Morbid Angel influence of 'more is better', from blasting to fills there's not really a moment to catch your breath. The grooves are significantly more complex than those they've performed in the past, with busier riffing patterns and the same incessant drums that roll out below them. The vocals definitely have lost a lot of that Chuck/Martin style and follow a more David Vincent mold, another element that makes me feel like their most important influence has fully shifted over from one Florida legend to another. That said, the riffs are certainly more excellent and memorable than anything Trey has written in decades, and the leads here have the usual Skeletal Remains penchant for being catchy and well constructed, technical and flashy but never going too overboard where it sounds like self-flagellation. And the rhythm guitars are 'holy fuck' awesome in both their potency and dexterity, creating a framework with the drums that the bass can hardly penetrate, but thankfully you can still here that too cruising along.

There are a few places where they do give you some space like the sweet interlude "Ceremony of Impiety" with its evil piano and percussion sounds, or the intro to "...Evocation (The Rebirth)" with its dark acoustic twangs that erupt into some more awesome, rolling riffs, or the proggy bits in there where you can hear the bass take control, but this is still pretty soundly the most aggressive they've sounded through their career. Rather than sounding completely soulless, there are just a billion riffs in there that make my ears perk up, and the album plays out like an unholy and delicious union of Domination and Bloodthirst, which I have no major complaints about; for my money, this album is second only to Devouring Mortality in their catalogue and in many technical departments it sends that one away in an ambulance.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/SkeletalRemainsDeathMetal

Atrophy - Asylum (2024)

80s thrash metal reunions have reached the point of inevitability by now, and really over the last decade or so, but when some bands decide to give it another go, it feels like they haven't skipped a beat, where some others have attempted to modernize themselves in unflattering ways and evade the reason we heshers enjoyed them in the first place. Arizona's Atrophy, a really strong band across their first two efforts Socialized Hate and Violent by Nature, have fortunately fallen into the first of those categories, with a sound here that feels as if this album had dropped around 1992-93 as thrash declined, stubbornly loyal and aggressive to a fault. My first few spins of the record, I was impressed with the level of energy and strict adherence to their style, but the songs didn't stick out to me as much as their earlier material when I was a teenager.

That has changed in the intervening months, and it's grown on me to a degree, just because of the sheer tenacity of the material. There's not a lot separating this from the old days, largely mid-to-fast paced rhythm guitar-driven punishment with a Bay Area sound mirroring Testament and Forbidden, the one exception might be a little more of a melodic, dramatic vibe in some of the leads. Brian Zimmerman's crunchy, memorable delivery is still the central foundation upon which all this thrives, he's always had sort of a nastier, back alley Chuck Billy intonation and that has not changed, he delivers plenty of grit and his very presence keeps anything from becoming too sterile or polished. I'm also blown away that the rest of the band is all new, but they just nail the precision and playing of their predecessors. There was clearly every intention of making this as close to the source as possible, and they studied well. A few little glints of modernization can be noticed through the production, but everything from the guitar tones to the drumming style is reflective of where they left with the Roadracer discs. Hell, I think the cleaner vocal and acoustic at the very finale of "Close My Eyes" stood out all the more by it.

For me it works the best when you've got that little bit of reverb on Brian's voice, the delivery is so powerful especially when it's followed by some lead guitar that tears through the atmosphere. The lyrics are no-nonsense social and political rantings which were always at the core of the style, but not written in some reckless way, they champion the anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-war themes which are just as relevant today as four decades ago when punk and trad metal spawned this hybrid. It's all hammering, intense, and proficiently written, and really so consistent that it's difficult to pick out high or low points as there's such an even distribution over the 44 minutes. I will maintain that the choruses and riffs don't quite embed themselves into my brain as they once did, but as I listen through this it's engaging, entertaining and there are few flaws to point at. A solid reunion effort that gets back to what was important, and perhaps now that they've settled back into this they can come up with a blazing set of tunes to rival their early years. Well met, and welcome back.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/atrophyofficial

Sordide - Ainsi finit le jour (2024)

I had already run across Sordide's last record a couple years ago, but even with an expectation of their style this one started off so spiky and chaotic that it spun my head around a few times. They've got a similar dissonant approach to some of their better known peers like Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega, but in a different context where it's more like straight-ahead black metal tempered with these odd chord choices, swerving bass lines and vocals that feel pretty turbulent and organic, not only incorporating the rasps typical of the genre but some other raving barks that feel more vicious and sporadic. But what I like about this record more than its predecessor is just how much more they lean into these differential chords consistently across the material as if they're starting to adapt them into their own nasty language.

Perhaps not as much as those other bands I mentioned, or like the mighty Canadian sci-fi thrashers Voivod who pretty much wrote the book on how do to that, but there are some similarities in style, and they piss out enough unusual writing that Ainsi finit le jour compels through much of its 53 minutes. Structurally, it's got your basic variety of blasting and then some slower, grooving chords almost like Darkthrone or Hellhammer, but then they clamp on that strangeness and it becomes just left of center. The slower tunes like "Sous vivre" are murky and offsetting, while the up-beat stuff like "Banlieues Rouges" has these great guitar licks sliding all over with a freakish disposition. The bass seems much more grounded than the roiling rhythm guitars, and that helps anchor the festivities to give them an occasional 'warm' vibe despite how tormenting the chords can feel.

As a result, I think this record (like their last) can have some crossover feel to fans of weirder post hardcore bands or dissonant jazz-fused black metal stuff like Imperial Triumphant, in addition to the groups I mentioned before. But the skeleton of the music itself is much more obvious, and if you'd fused together these riffs a little differently you'd have something approximating more traditional BM. At any rate, while this isn't always that interesting, it's a solid step past Les idées blanches and if they continue to develop this uncanny atmosphere being sloshed around by the guitars they might really be onto something. Cool disc.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://sordide.bandcamp.com/

Time Lurker - Emprise (2024)

Much like Time Lurker's eponymous 2017 debut, Emprise is long on transforming atmospherics into something that smacks you straight in the face, not to say it lacks in riffing and intricacy, but these are tools used to contribute bleedingly to the material's dark, streaming vibe. Paired up with the howling, tortured vocals of Mick, which clearly follow in that Burzum vein exclusively, you've got an effort that is best experienced in full when you're seeking out something desperate and transcendent, almost like you were to filter some strain of post rock through a blasting, tremolo picking filter. I think the cover artwork selected for this couldn't be more apt, because it really just feels like your conscience is escaping your pallid corpse to realms dim and hopeless and obscure.

To be clear, there are some fairly catchy licks driving pieces like "Cavalière de feu" and "Poussière mortifère", but they both have their segues of surging spaciousness interwoven with the aggressive, forward momentum. Whether this is just hyper-riffing stretched out into the void while the drums drop out, or a dire acoustic/clean guitar intro, they've got this balance of intensity and calm almost like a yin and yang across the 34 minute runtime. One track, the titular intro, is a pure swell of ambiance with what sounds like subtle vocals and snarls shoved up against some cosmic radiance or engine-humming, and it was appreciably enigmatic and dread-inducing. But despite having a consistent conceptual feel to it, there is actually a decent level of variety to the songwriting. "Disparais, soleil" stands out for being very calm, with slower guitars that ring off into the atmosphere, ethereal female vocals hovering just on the edge of your consciousness, and some nice tribal drumming to bind it all into a trance. They also balance out the faster, cutting stuff with a lot of mid-paced or slogging moments.

The vocals are going to be an acquired taste like other bands that use them, they are very traumatic and might fool an uninitiated listener into thinking they are making some mockery of the style, but they are well implemented here and definitely give you that illusion of being stabbed somewhere out in a wintry waste until the steam rises off your leaking blood. It's not meant to be comfortable, but to convey the pain and emotion of someone lost in the esoteric pocket dimension in which this musician explores. I'm not sure I'd place this quite at the equal of the Time Lurker debut, but it's close, and there are some departments in which this exceeds it...such as emotional impact, melodic grace, and diversity. This continues to be another rich new voice to experience on the French scene with dreadful potential.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://timelurker.bandcamp.com/album/emprise

Rebel Souls - Leviathan EP (2024)

The gap between the Leviathan EP and Dawn of Depravity was a bit smaller than that between their two full-lengths, but I actually think the four tracks here show a little more of a progression for Rebel Souls. The material is not quite as intense as the prior album could often get, with the possible exception of the closer "Cognitive Warfare", but even there you're getting a tune that is more rhythmically interesting and dare I say catchier. The vocals still have that same guttural hammer to them, and the musicians are capable of exploding whenever necessary, but the writing is reined in a little and the result is awesome. I still picked up a lot of vibes from Vader, Deicide, and so forth, but you'll also here an injection of more mechanistic grooving ideas akin to modern Pestilence, not to mention some more escapist, atmospheric riffing like the shell that sparks the lead guitar in the titular opening track.

Each of these pieces felt more distinct from one another, although clearly set in the same stylistic mold. "Leviathan" is a formidable exhibition of how the band can switch between its bedrock death metal fundamentals and the hints of more progressive ideas; where "The Philanthropist" might be my favorite in their whole catalogue, a lurching juggernaut with those Pestilence dynamics I mentioned, only it's packed in with all these explosive, controlled fills and some great swap-ups to old school, evil death metal riffing. The leads likewise kickass and feel slightly more adventurous or experimental than past efforts. Another interesting cut is "Warmonger" with an intro lick that almost sounds more like swaggering heavy/groove metal with little death metal licks breaking out across the bow, but then accelerates to a much more intense level with the leads and rhythms, climaxing with this majestic harmony during the bridge. The closer has some Voivod-like dissonant chops in the verse but otherwise brings the material back around to the speed and ferocity of Dawn of Depravity. Again, some killer leads in this one, and the weird outro riff is also pretty badass.

While hindered a bit by it's shorter length of around 17 minutes, Leviathan definitely succeeds at casting a broader net than its predecessors, or rather exploring in between the gaps of their more intense writing with something inventive, progressive. There are definitely bands that took these rhythmic excursions to a much more technical extremely, say a Soreption, but rather than dizzying the listener, Rebel Souls packs just enough into the material to keep it interesting, replayable, and worth tracking down if you enjoy the very 'craft' of death metal, inspired by numerous substyles over the decades, but nonetheless forward thinking within their own trajectory.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/rebelsouls.deathmetal/

Mòr - Hear the Hour Nearing!

The cover of this record is extremely primal and evocative, several forces of nature colliding in an elemental cataclysm, and I'm happy to hear that the music actually follows through with this. Blistering black metal which manages to watch the fine line between crisp clarity and unremitting, raw ferocity, this French duo is clearly not interesting in taking any prisoners and keeps any sentimentality to a minimum as they tear and thunder their way across 44 minutes and nine tracks. Not to say they don't have a melodic side to them, in tracks like "Eden" you will hear veritable explosions of higher-picked note progressions that can invoke the Romance and melancholy of the style, and they can also perform at a more moderate, atmospheric pace as they do as they travel the "Third Path" or the percussion-free instrumental "Cave of Shadows."

The real star here is the production, especially when their blazing forward at a dizzying clip, there's just a percussive edge to the rhythm guitars and drums in tandem that really stands out. Without exception, most of my favorite moments throughout are when they are at their most agile, whether it's the scathing and dissonant, or the more dour and melodic passages like "Letter of Loss". The slower, spacious stuff does give a good counterbalance so the listener isn't drubbed into monotony, but I found that after a few moments it doesn't anything quite as thrilling on offer. But the tones remain choppy and soil-stricken, like tornados of soggy earth being whipped about a desolate plain, and they even have a nice muddy sound on some of the cleaner, lightly distorted guitars (bridge to "Letter of Loss") that fit very well. There's even a little bit of a death metal mentality to some of the riffing patterns although they never break the black metal character. Rasps are huge and atrocious and resonate out over the stormy substrate of the guitars, and the drumming is a whiplash-inducing surge.

The band is nowhere near as dissonant and unusual a something like a Blut Aus Nord, but if you can imagine that band headed in a more straightforward blasting Euro BM direction, this wouldn't be too far off the mark. Hear the Hour Nearing! lives up to its cautionary title, being a tempestuous, turbulent experience which has just enough harmonic hooks coursing through the pulsing pandemonium of its inception. A few of the slower tunes do let it down somewhat, but there are about a half dozen ragers here that will appeal to fans of black metal which might be considered a balance of 'thinking man' and 'brute', brash and explosive but never stupid.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://666mor666.bandcamp.com/album/hear-the-hour-nearing

Houle - Ciel cendre et misère noire (2024)

As a New Englander born and bred, adopted from a seaside hospital and rarely ever having lived more than a few miles away from the Atlantic, I've always felt the allure of maritime-themed metal music. A rare commodity, to be sure, but it has been done in a handful of instances, from the Golden Age 80s piracy of the great Running Wild and the decades-late goofy folk metal bands in their wake, to the more serious blend of storm and gloom that a band like France's Houle manifests. I had already commended their adherence to the theme on their eponymous 2022 EP, and with Ciel cendre et misère noire they embrace it all even more closely, an album that is dreary and partially immersed in the traditions of BM, but also has a few unique characteristics that might broaden its appeal beyond that niche.

To be honest, a lot of it is what you'd expect, fast paced and slathered in tremolo picked melodic guitars that evoke both the melancholy of a dingy seascape and the inevitable turbulence that one might face in that environment. There's a certain 'heavy metal' vibe to some of their riffing patterns in tracks like "La danse du rocher", and they also have a lot of cleaner passages with acoustic guitars and tighter, simple chugging patterns used to perforate the vocal lines, often then reverting to the more desperate, blasting rhythms. Adsagsona has a very carnal rasp about her when she's performing in the lines, but I actually found her less structured, ranted/shouting French vocals to be more confrontational and interesting, where the more standard rasp can feel a little overbearing. However, they certainly sound bloody as hell, there is no reining anything, and it's pretty sweet that she can go across such a range, even having some softer, narrative lines over a few of the more folkish moments, which are present but never in a quantity to challenge the metal dominance through the writing.

Production is a bit brighter than it might appear from looking at the album packaging, but I think that makes sense with the emphasis on the melodic guitars. The drumming is snappy and intense, the bass cruises along with its own character, and there's also a lot of folk and neo-classical vibe to some of the guitar melodies or bass lines throughout. The album is paced out and structured well, with some nice breaks where the guitars will surge like the beam of some ship cutting through a storm. I think the downside for me here is that I didn't find a lot of the material nearly as catchy as I would have wanted...the vocal personality, especially the more insane she gets, often drowns out the value of the riffs, and while they're all well played, there's nothing terribly novel or sticky about them. This is no throwaway album, mind you; it continues upon the potential of the EP, without expanding it all that far, and I also think Houle has a niche with plenty of room to develop, but I found myself more inspired by the theme than the musical content itself.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/HouleOfficiel

Corpus Diavolis - Elixiria Ekstasis (2024)

Adorned in what might be the most erotically diabolic cover artwork of the year, the fifth album from Corpus Diavolis offers another scorching on the more traditional side of European BM, never sounding quite so distinct as its avant-garde French countrymen, nor the Medieval stylings of other peers, but full-on Satanic, blasting black metal. The reliance is wholly on the sinister, ritualistic infusions, but that's not to say that this is some monotonous, overblown effort, it's meticulously plotted and padded out to offer enough variation that you'll enjoy exploring some of its longer tracks, a couple of which just scrape the 10 minute ceiling. I had already been impressed with the group's 2021 effort Apocatastase, and this one is ever more nasty sounding and effective.

That's not to say you'll come across much original, but the Frenchmen overwhelm you with components that keep the experience like a richly occult canvas that continues to sprawl out across a dungeon wall. Vocals shift in between genre rasps, snarls, tortured groans, and little passages of chanted choirs that hit at just the right time like the finale of opener "His Wine Be Death". The guitars possess the balance of tremolo picked, winding and sinister melodies, but also spiked up with little atmospherics, clean or dissonant and always conscious of expanding the sound to a higher level than just its basic rhythmic drive. The drumming is as savage as necessary for the style, charged up with lots of little fills or percussive fits that add even more of that ritual haze to the proceedings, and the bass is just present and plunky enough to fatten up the bombast, especially during the slower to mid-paced segments of the disc.

There's an advanced sense of depth and composition here in tunes like "Cyclopean Adoration" and "Menstruum Congressus" that transcends any superficial stab at the style, and if you're fond of black metal bands that go that extra mile, you'll easily find yourself lost in its orgiastic, serpentine, vaulted mysteries, like an entire forbidden night at some vile subterranean temple, caught to tape. That's not to say that it's always so strikingly memorable, but there's enough meat here musically and lyrically to appreciate and Corpus Diavolis makes for another consistent, competent and compelling pillar of its scene.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.corpusdiavolis.com/

Griffon - De Republica (2024)

I think if the last decade of this French black metal scene had arrived at any other point in the past of extreme music, it'd likely have received the due it deserved. Sure, Blut Aus Nord has really broken through with their creepy, masterful and dissonant soundscapes, and maybe Deathspell Omega prods the attention of the unwashed masses once in awhile, but there is such a richness and consistency to a lot of these bands that you wonder why there isn't a bigger stir. Whether they're meting out the Medieval style, or the post-black elements, or the even more avantgarde and gonzo extremes that a Pensées Nocturnes reaches, there are so many strong options out there to fill your earholes and deplete your wallets.

Griffon's another one, and I had enjoyed their Ὸ θεὀς ὸ βασιλεὐς from a few years back, as well as vocalist Aharon's side project A/Oratos more recently. And like those albums, there is a sense for classicism here which is most likely in the first of the three categories I listed above, with an emphasis on 19th century France forward. . This is essentially traditional European black metal, with a huge flair for magnificent melodies that can due justice to its historically-grounded lyrical themes. But De Republica, their third full-length, goes further with the integration of more symphonic components through the keys and choirs and shimmering, rousing acoustics. There's definitely a sense of folksy foundation meets orchestral grandeur which is constantly accompanying the riffs, but to their credit, it doesn't always devolve into mere chugging just to support the weight of this added instrumentation. Even where you could accuse the material of that, like the bridge to "A l'insurrection", the lurching palm mute rhythm is at least weird and goes some places you wouldn't expect with the spoken word and graceful atmosphere.

But when the band is blazing forward, as they are much of the 37 minute play length, there is a lot of strength to the guitars, whether they're bursting out into a tremolo picked pattern or a slower, more spacious and emotional pattern. The drumming is intense, the vocals capable of shifting between the genre's patented rasp and more gloomy cleans that are used for both melodic and narrative support. Even more impressive is just the ambition going into this stuff, you listen through a tune like "The Ides of March" or the slowly escalating titular closer and the band is definitely trying to expand its envelope structurally and rhythmically, to the point that it definitely has a more modern gloss to its atavistic principles. De Republica falls into that category of very well-rounded, black metal experiences which take the form seriously and never fuck around with your time. It might not always strike the most memorable riffs or vocal lines you've heard, but it's summarily driven and impressive, and gives the last album a run for its money.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/griffonblackmetal

Lucifer - V (2024)

The first few singles I had heard of Lucifer V before its release were alright, but didn't leave me quite so excited as I was for its predecessors. Turns out that was the usual smoke & mirrors of maybe a label or band members choosing material that wasn't quite the best, because nearly every other track on this album is absolutely the nut. It might lack some degree of surprise and progression that I'd felt for prior entries, and a lot of the writing here seems like it's hanging out on the plateau with Lucifer IV, but still snooping about for points of ascent, higher grounds to scale of pools of diabolic lava to dip its toes into, and in the end I've even come around to some of those advance tracks as cogs in a very consistent, grooving occult hard rock machine.

The moody "Slow Dance in a Crypt" and "At the Mortuary" were the two I had encountered, and the former has its place as something bluesier, but a little too predictable in its progressions. Still, if you're at the prom, with someone missing most of their flesh, I think this is the exact sort of song you'd hear playing in the end credits of that particular Carrie sequel, and it does have a nice twist in the end with the pianos and elevating vocal line. But when you've got so many other scorchers here like the Priest-y "Fallen Angel", or "Riding Reaper" which I could hear ending up on an old 70s Scorpions album, everything really balances out. Lucifer revels in taking the familiar and then giving it a little spin here, a chord change there that makes it freshly memorable and unique to their own legacy. A few of my favorites here are tucked away near the end like the rocking "Strange Sister", or another bluesy piece, the creeping "Nothing Left to Lose but My Life", but by this point I've listened through the whole album and don't find any compulsion to skip past anything.

Production is steller, the band pulls off one of those cleaner 70s-style atmospheres and yet it can go toe to toe with modern rock, and helps translate the darker vibes to the guitars. It's just a perfect tone for everything...organs, acoustics, drums, and especially Johanna's voice, which is still one of the best out there, she might not have the craziest range, but there's a wicked smoothness to her pitch that hangs tight even when she becomes a little more desperate and shrill, and again it adds to the sense that this is an unearthed relic. But that's not to take away from the other players here, like Nicke who's fills and thundering totally moor "Maculate Heart" so that it kicks even further ass, and the sweet guitars of Martin and Linus which knock out the harder punching chords and burn bluesy through the airbrushed muscle car nightscape this album once again created for the Swedes. Another excellent Lucifer album, I'd probably place it on par with III, I had a slightly stronger connection to IV; though at this rate I hope they can keep this up to X.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.facebook.com/luciferofficial

A/Oratos - Ecclesia Gnostica (2024)

There's something immediately classicist about French act A/Oratos (not to be confused with the Naas Alchemist project Aoratos), from the sculptured cover imagery to the almost-matching costuming, to the use of Latin and even the musical architecture on exhibit. Dealing heavily with philosophical themes, the vaulted heights and structure of the songwriting here can envelop the listener to stroll the columned halls of antiquity, and it's compositionally intelligent even where it sometimes might fail to stick in the memory. Featuring a few current or former members of countrymen and labelmates Griffon, who themselves have put out some great work in the last few years, Ecclesia Gnostica is both an esoteric and welcoming record thanks to a bold, accessible production standard and a series of peaks and valleys that manifest through its shifts between melodic black metal and acoustics.

The guitars are bright and airy, swathed in a warm but enigmatic chord selection which is often more a consonant than dissonant, tinted with melodies both pensive and nostalgic. They don't exactly embrace an 'evil' aesthetic through the instruments, but the technical performance is impressive enough, with a busy selection of riffs, and a flexible, intense drumming performance that can match every twist in the album's structure. The bass is clean-cut and audible, matching the melodic loops while standing out just enough of its own to increase the robustness. Acoustic guitar sequences are threaded seamlessly throughout bursts of blackened emotion, and there's always a little folkish undercurrent to the flow, and some subtle orchestration through keys, without dipping sandaled toes too far into that direction. Vocally, you get an abrasive rasp, sometimes overloud or monotonous, but complemented by cleaner French chants that help balance it off, almost like spoken word or narration that gives a bit of a ponderous pretense until the band then rolls your face off with a black beast surge.

It definitely feels like an 'Ancient World' spin on the Medieval black metal which is popular with some acts in the French scene...just as involved, textured, and thematically flush with its subject material. The one area Ecclesia Gnostica might lack is in having intensely catchy guitar lines, which would put it over the top...there are literally FLOODs of ideas here, it's a busy work, the component riffs always serving the central, winding aesthetic, but they aren't always molded into earworms. I think the band could better fashion some leads for another layer of atmosphere and complexity. Still, when you take this full-length debut as a whole, it's impressive, it's someone distinct from the band's peers, though I would be very quick to recommend them to fans of Griffon, Aorhlac, Sühnopfer, or especially that great new Pénitence Onirique record Nature morte which recently dropped from the same LADLO imprint this past Fall. Loads of potential, high end production values, a cool niche aesthetic and a maturity beyond their years make A/Oratos worth your time tracking down.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://aoratosmusic.bandcamp.com/