“These guys describe their sound as “imagine if Meshuggah couldn’t count,” describing a blend of the mathy pioneers’ wonky rhythms, Will Haven’s dissonance, Crowbar’s riffs, Car Bomb and Humanity’s Last Breath’s boundary-pushing technicality.” Baby’s got back (hair).
Do you even lift, brah? If so, we have the soundtrack to your bumper plate annihilation. Grow or die at the AMG exercise vault.
“My time reviewing music by Sweden’s Humanity’s Last Breath has been a rewarding, yet frustrating experience. I liked a lot of what they did on both 2019’s Abyssal and 2021’s Välde, but the former lacked a killer focus, and the latter needed a bit of pruning. I’ve been intrigued by this band ever since the first time I heard their world-crushing track “Abyssal Mouth,” and I keep waiting for them to deliver a full album that captures that same level of energy and unbridled heaviness. As we prepared to enter into the second half of 2023, I heard a familiar, deep rumbling, a rumbling that could only foretell one thing: a new Humanity’s Last Breath album was on the way.” Fresh breath or hateitosis?
“In his mostly positive review of their 2018 debut Absentia, Kronos pointed out that Aethereus treads the middle ground between flashy tech-death and death metal’s more dissonant realms. Not much has changed in this department, but where Absentia had a tendency to feel a bit disjointed because of the band’s stylistic duality, sophomore effort Leiden cashes in on the potential inherent in Aethereus’ chosen sound palette.” Technical ecstacy.
“There’s no such thing as a truly objective review so let’s get one thing straight: I fucking adore Aborted. Their brand of pulverizing death metal appeals to me on a primitive level and I’ve followed these Belgians for years. For the most part, I have enjoyed being reduced to DNA and endorphins every few years. And it’s that time again. 2018’s TerrorVision was good but it had some issues. Or rather it had one big issue. It just seemed to ramble on too long, which, for a band with grind sensibilities, isn’t optimal. ManiaCult is the definitive younger model.” Culted nuts.
“Just about a year and a half ago, I shocked the world by covering Humanity’s Last Breath’s sophomore record, Abyssal. Djenty deathcore is not normally in my wheelhouse, but every once in a while, I get a craving for something über heavy. I really liked a lot of what I heard on Abyssal. Humanity’s Last Breath paint horrific scenes using an crushingly bleak sonic palette, and when things clicked on Abyssal, it shook the very ground. But as much as I loved most of what the band did on that record, it felt like it could have used some trimming to sharpen the impact. When I heard that followup Välde was scheduled for a February release, it immediately landed a spot on my most-anticipated albums of 2021 list.” Next to last breath.
‘Krosis is a progressive deathcore band from North Carolina, A Memoir of Free Will being their second full-length. I’m not sure what progressive really entails, as the label has been used to describe anything from the djenty chuggaboundabounboundaluggs of Structures or Volumes, to the transcendental offerings of Slice the Cake or Kardashev.” Jawbreakers.
“What is the heaviest album of all time? While you’re running off to the comments to tell me, I’m going to stay here and admit that I have no clue. I don’t even know what the heaviest album ever would sound like. It could be blazingly fast or crushingly slow, or some combination of the two. Or it could simply carry an intense emotional weight from its subject matter, but the point is, heaviness is a hard concept to define when it comes to music.” Heavy as a two-ton thing.
“During the four days of maritime metal mayhem that was 70,000 Tons of Metal earlier this month, I was lucky enough to snag an interview with Sven de Caluwé, vocalist and founding member of famed Belgian death metal band Aborted. As the mastermind behind songs about serial killers, medical deviance, and (strangely enough) even poop, Sven has led his minions through albums like 2003’s iconic Goremageddon and, most recently, 2016’s warmly received Retrogore. Jittery with fanboyism (and more than a few Fosters) Sven was kind enough to overlook my obvious amateurism to talk about the band’s past, their upcoming Devastation on the Nation tour, and even some juicy details on the new album. Strap on that cadaver apron and read on!” We said strap it on!
