“Crylord as a word evokes the purest of sadboi feelings—songs of scoured hearts and drowned eyes. Rest assured, Boguslaw Balcerak’s Crylord will do anything for love, but not that. Human Heredity promises nothing more than a good time, despite the band moniker’s sorrowful suggestion. Rather, their light-hearted brand of arena-ready tunes threatens to grease your day with gooey power-infused cheese.” Dairy Malmsteen.
“Supergroups are not uncommon in metal. I’m sure each of you can think of three such acts—of perhaps varying quality—in just a couple of seconds. Here are the first three that came to my mind: DOWN, Demons & Wizards and, for some reason, Them Crooked Vultures, which may not even qualify as metal. Also operating on that fuzzy edges of metal is today’s subject, Møtivatiøn. Where those previous bands are supergroups, using that term for Møtivatiøn is an insult to supergroups: the population of this record classifies it as a super conurbation.” Your life needs coaching.
“Too many bands today make progressive music for the sake of being progressive, prioritizing meandering exploration over songcraft, and this is akin to a chef filling a bowl with flavorful seasonings and serving it as a full meal. Guild of Others seem intent on dishing out hearty meals seasoned with proggy goodness, their promo even going so far as to quote prolific music critic Martin Popoff, who is supposed to have said, “Guild of Others accomplish the near impossible, and that’s make progressive metal that is accessible.” Let’s see if there is any truth to these words, or if they’re merely promospeak.” Guild to last.
“Few bands in metal have the combination of popularity and totally idiosyncratic sound that Gojira enjoys. The first time I saw the band perform, it was still playing support for Fear Factory; nowadays that’s hard to imagine, and would most likely be the other way around. On top of that, its style is instantly recognizable; mechanistic, multi-stage, palm-muted riffs full of syncopation and odd time signatures combined with complex drum fills and patterns. It’s so readily familiar, in fact, that the band have begun to sound like a flanderized version of itself, and any band taking inspiration from the Frenchies is bound to run into copycat accusations. That didn’t stop Tersivel from trying anyway.” Ape the best, ignore the rest.
“I know what you’re thinking: dark, fantastical imagery; Norse titles and lyrical themes; a spiky logo. Gates of Muspel by Karmanjaka must be the latest in Scandinavia’s bottomless sump of black metal. You’re not wrong. Muspel is a contraction of Muspelheim, the most Abrahamically hellish of the nine realms, replete with fire and destruction. Accordingly, this troupe most obviously aligns with black metal of the core metal sub-genres, advertised as for fans of Enslaved, Borknagar and Rotting Christ. These references are fitting; each boasts particularly progressive or theatrical forms of the style, and so it holds for Karmanjaka too.” Blackened Broadway.
“Pure Wrath is a one-man atmospheric black metal project from Indonesia, and it really only took that bit of information—plus the cover art you see here—to sell me on reviewing it. I also learned that Hymn to the Woeful Hearts is the third full-length release from this project started by Ryo in 2014, and that he’s using the album to tell a story. Throughout the album, he imagines a mother who survived the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66.” Innocents and Wrath.
“In the Year of Our Plague 2020, a lusty and savage dose of black/speed/thrash hit the planet with the force of a 6-megaton billy buck. I speak of Bütcher’s sophomore platter, 666 Goats Carry My Chariot. It was such a wild, unruly paean to excess that it proved nigh impossible to resist. 2022 sees a band emerge from Bütcher’s bloody Belgian backyard carrying fewer goats but much of the same speed-drenched lunacy. Schizophrenia’s Recollections of the Insane debut assaults with a thrashing, skull-bashing style of death metal sure to conjure nostalgia as it curb stomps the unwary with lightning riffs and flashy chops.” Mad Maximum.
“As any fan of death metal will attest, Immolation need no introduction. Their contorted take on riff and rhythm has informed the extreme pursuits of an entire generation. To call them influential would be to willfully undermine, not only their legacy, but the fact that their discography is almost spotless. Indeed, back in 2017 I reviewed Immolation’s tenth album, Atonement, and awarded my first ever 4.5. The record captured my attention with its assured sense of self and continues to impress to this day. Now, five years later, I am once more tasked with a brutal burden as eleventh album Acts of God prepares to dip its hand right back into that everlasting fire.” No God, one Master.
“It would be easy to pigeonhole Norna as a mindless sludge beatdown, as concussions are bound to happen in Star is Way Way is Eye. However, contrary to its concrete-thick riffs, Liljedahl’s vocals and a melodic guitar performance keep it from descending into monotony – barely. Because first and foremost, Norna is heavy as fuck. Doom-infused riffs hit like a ton of bricks with an unforgiving density that recalls acts likeSunn O))) or BIG|BRAVE, edged by Macquat’s warbling synth presence.” Is this the Way?
“Listen to this record and it might just put a baby in you. Not by the traditional means, interesting though it might be to imagine those mechanics. Instead, Arizona’s Embryonic Autopsy debut with a concept album about the experiments, designed to birth human/alien hybrids, that may or may not have been performed at Area 51. With songs like “Telekinetic Insemination” and “Craving of the Mutated Fetus,” these gentlemen have a very specific kind of breeding on the brain. The sci-fi milieu, and some elements of the music, put this offering of brutal death metal squarely in Artificial Brain territory.” Newgenics.
