![Vindicator – Communal Decay [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/vindicator_communal-decay.jpg.webp)
“For my money, Vindicator was always underrated re-thrash, notwithstanding my concern about their collective understanding of monetary policy. Nearly 10 years later, the brothers Stown (Vic on guitars and vox and Jesse on drums) have reunited to bring us a new slab of post-Bay Area re-thrash called Communal Decay. What ensues is not surprising, but it’s teeming with old school riffing and features a short and sweet 31-minute runtime.” Did you miss it? We sure as hell did.
October was a four-record month. And yet there’s still plenty of room to complain in the comments section because, damn, it was a good month.
“Misanthur was listed as “trance ambient noise” in the cold boundaries of the promo dump and just plain black metal on other sites. Truthfully, both are true. What this Polish duo offers is a hyper-atmospheric breed of black metal with heavy electronic and industrial flourishes, not unlike a blackened version of C R O W N’s latest, The End of All Things.” Kitchen sink-core.
“With plenty of death metal nowadays being extremely technical and polished for the sake of technicality and polish – or perhaps for YouTube playthroughs people can show their friends to “prove” that metal is “serious music” – it’s nice to have bands like Quebec’s Outre-Tombe around to push in the opposite direction. No, the consistently killer French-Canadian crew haven’t devolved into Hellhammer levels of un-technicality – awesome as that would probably be – but they have been getting filthier with each release.” Tomb caper.
“Though one could say Bathory were the pioneers of the sound, Helheim grabbed it up and ran with it. And they’ve been doing it for thirty fucking years. And, since their debut full-length in 1995, they really are one of the most prolific bands in all metal. That’s why in my ‘short’ time at AMG, I’ve reviewed them as many times as I have. It also means, for those new to the band, you have a lot of catching up to do. But don’t fret, no matter where you begin in the discography, you’re going to find something you like. See, Helheim doesn’t write bad albums. Some are solid and some are infuckingcredible. The only question we have to ask ourselves is where this year’s WoduridaR fits in the mix.” Enjoy of deep catalog.
“There’s a Goldilocks Zone for musical complexity. If it’s too complicated, say, skronky dissodeath with lots of time changes, a certain segment of metal fans will feel like listening to it is work. They’ll deride it for being pretentious. Some will question, jokingly or not, if they’re smart enough to understand it. On the other side of the spectrum, certain folks will equate that with boring if it’s too simple. They may consider it too easy; low effort. Oddly, no one seems to wonder if they’re smart enough to understand what makes minimal music good.” Clever brutality.
“Infamous satirical news site The Onion has a particularly infamous article that is re-run every time there is a mass shooting in the USA. No, I’m not here to make a political statement; the point of the article in question is to comment on the repetitive nature of the occurrence. I’m just wondering whether I should make such a generic, re-runnable review for the glut of stoner doom bands that all sound exactly the same. You know the type: they don’t know whether they want to be Black Sabbath, Sleep or Kyuss, always add “psychedelic” to their self-description for no reason, and bury their lack of variation and originality by playing louder and adding more fuzz. Jointhugger play stoner doom; can they break the cycle?” Stone cold.
“Three Monolord reviews, and three 3.0 scores. The epitome of “good.” In fact, when I jotted down all the metadata for this album I also penciled in “3.0 of course” for my rating placeholder. I mean, what are the odds the score goes up or down? Actually, here on Your Time to Shine, the Swedish doom trio’s fifth album, there’s a good chance of that score coming untracked, at least if they continue down the less-fuzz, more-doom path they started down with No Comfort. As mentioned two years ago, the band seemed to be evolving into a “fuzzier version of Pallbearer.” Rabbit don’t come easy.
“In a stunning display of journalistic talent, I actually still agree with the 3.5 I awarded to Be’lakor for their last record all the way back in 2016. Vessels was a solid successor to what distinguished gentlemen regard as one of the best one-two punches of melodic death metal: Stone’s Reach and Of Breath and Bone. It was an accomplished musical development from these records, though not a real development in quality. The 5-year gap since this is an especially long time in a world of 3-year album cycles, so does this indicate another assured step? A return to form?” Form and emptiness.
“In the last decade, a cadre of death metal bands have stretched the limits of evil sound, using their technical skills to explore uncommon harmonic territories and bizarre anti-melody. First Fragment are not one of them. First Fragment are giant show-offs who stretch the limits of shred and use their technical skills to combine neoclassical melody with flamenco and swing, and I love them for it.” 19 pieces of flair.
