Beats and yelling shorts, 25th June 25
Draugaskogur: Fullmoon Hypnotic Ritual
Out 25th April Profundus Records
Ethereal but energetic black metal from Serbia achieves a good balance between ambiguous mysticism and epic narrative expressions. The latent heroism of early Enslaved meets a gloomier aesthetic expressed through a haze of additional harmonies played through guitar effects that warp the tone of the instrument to the point that it blends into the background synth. These interesting aesthetic colourings decorate simple yet effectively melodic throughlines that linger in the mind via the intuitive phrasing. Drums flit neatly between fluid blast-beats and punk barrages, dictating the flow and pacing of each piece without distracting from the ambience of the overall experience. Whilst the music has a clear anchor in well articulated and repetitive, almost meditative themes, it throbs with an air of mystery and ambiguity through clever manipulation of tone and timbre, using this to enhance even the most rudimentary ideas and graduate them into something greater. In this sense ‘Fullmoon Hypnotic Ritual’ achieves what all good black metal should aspire to, which is communicating more than the sum of its parts.
Nightfall: Children of Eve
Out 2nd May on Season of Mist
Long irrelevant Greek entity returns for pointless rerun of recycled thrash riffs, sugary melodic metal fanfare, and Disneyfied gestures of mysticism. Nightfall were never the strongest of the early crop of Greek death metal next to Horrified and Septic Flesh, but what quality was present in their earlier material has since been buried in a relentlessly consistent release schedule of diminishing returns. Here we see a checklist of populist extreme metal tropes, basic riffing, obvious melodic contouring, and anthemic pandering. All predictably shoehorned into transparently poppy structures, peppered with flowery gravitas to create the veneer of a more profound experience. Despite the ire this provokes, it would be a stretch to call it surprising or even disappointing given that any vestiges of a creative spark are long dead within this artist. From that perspective it makes for an interesting companion piece to Rotting Christ’s more recent efforts to cloak the fact that their project is essentially the same, despite the more dramatic moves toward supplementing pop metal with elements of world music in the latter.
Void: Horrors of Reality
Out 5th May on Shadow Kingdom (originally released in 2023)
Corny but loveable retro thrash combines the longform whimsy of Testament with the more primal miniaturism of DBC or Sadus. A dense vanguard of riffs disguises what are highly conventional pop structures with clear anthemic choruses hitting all the familiar themes for this brand of playful nostalgia metal. Whilst the mix attempts to capture the warmth of analogue production, it comes across as a little forced in places. Some guitars solos are too low and undefined to serve any useful purpose. Despite the significant length of some of these tracks, Void appear unsure of their direction, relying on repetition or meaningless detours to flesh out the details. Despite this, ‘Horrors of Reality’ is not short on character and life. I believe the album expresses something I’ve long disregarded as a use case for music: fun. But that, not in an obnoxious or abrasive way as is so often the case with light hearted metal. There is enough substance to undergird the playfulness with some meaning despite the album’s shortcomings at the structural level.
My Dementia: Premonição: só me arrependo do que não vivi
Out 8th May on Caverna Abismal Records
Essentially boring downbeat death/doom. This album attempts to lift the emotional hysteria of depressive black metal and place it into a death metal context, thus neutering the latter of its vital energy. Riffs cycle through the same set of cliches with little variation. This is to be expected given that the aim appears to be emotional gravitas. But so lacking is this music in any sense of occasion, drama, or melancholy that it fails to convey the drab subject matter implied by the title and cover art. The result is a tedious drone of flat riffs, metronomic drums, hammy vocals, and empty emotive gestures.
Elusive God: Ambis
Out 9th May on Personal Records
Mildly eccentric traditional doom metal manifests the creeping malevolence of early Sabbath with revamped 80s heavy metalisms. Clean vocals offer a gruff folk flair, lending the otherwise cinematic poise of the music a degree of intimacy, maybe even vulnerability. As with much modern doom, the production is crystal clear and clean, with no wasted space and no heavy handed reverb. This allows us to focus on the push and pull of the swelling guitar riffs augmented by cascading drums and percussive bass. The riff palette is a basic one, but Elusive God are adept at squeezing every ounce of artistic import from even the simplest idea, relying on the rhythm section to bring what is otherwise relatively flat material to life. Guitar solos are the closest this album gets to bombast, veering neatly between melodic definition and showmanship. But zooming out reveals a remarkably glum take on what is ostensibly epic doom metal.
Pyromancer: Absolute Dominion by Fire
Out 9th May on Adirondack Black Mass
Basic, feral, old school black metal rekindles the genre’s underlying punk energy but lacks the spark required to bring this material to life. All the moving parts are there and in the correct place, along with some neat flourishes and accents to round off the, at times, painfully basic riffing. But for material this fundamental it lacks any discernible USP over and above its influences. Simple punk riffs roll by, undercut by mid-paced blast-beats and Ledney-esque vocal barrages. Light harmonic development offers important landmarks by which to navigate the peaks and troughs of the material. All packaged in demo quality production with few flourishes offered to adorn the music itself. Pyromancer do manage to convey a dark undercurrent to what is at times quite sterile material, but the effort is somewhat blunted by the repetition and lack of originality in the riff department. In this sense aficionados will appreciate the authenticity of the product if nothing else. But as ‘Absolute Dominion by Fire’ lacks any degree of flair or nuance within this somewhat tired terrain, there is little to be garnered through an intellectual appreciation for the craft.