PopMatters is proud to announce its new monthly metal review, which is set to commence in September and brought to you by our resident metal beacons — Craig Hayes and Dean Brown. Independently, Craig and Dean cover a diverse range of metal for PopMatters and this new feature will run in tandem with their solo pursuits. In celebration of this, both writers have joined forces to shine a light on 20 of the best metal albums released so far this year, which they have yet to cover individually.
Gaza – No Absolutes in Human Suffering
Woe to you, oh earth and sea, Gaza is back with No Absolutes in Human Suffering, and it is a barrage of grinding mathcore and sludge set to leave you wrung out and shell-shocked. The Salt Lake City, Utah-based band is renowned for its fiery political and anti-religious tirades (see previous full-length, He Is Never Coming Back). The new album follows suit, stacked with seething diatribes. Dissonant, bruising, and apoplectic with rage, No Absolutes in Human Suffering begins with a wave of feedback on “Mostly Hair and Bones Now”, before Jon Parkin’s red-raw vocals arise, and the withering assault begins. Forty-three minutes of scornful, flailing noise follows. With Gaza administering deft, albeit ragged, doses of melody, the band exhibits far more control of its abrasiveness — which isn’t to suggest it is any less angry. But there is maturity here; stronger production and a greater use of varying tempos make for a more nuanced, responsive and effective battle plan. No Absolutes in Human Suffering reveals a band more attuned to the dominance of shifting rhythmic weaponry, and the alternation between desolate dirges and scorching surges makes for the band’s most powerful album yet. Craig Hayes
Cancer Bats – Dead Set on Living
There is something quite endearing about Toronto, Ontario’s own Cancer Bats. This gang of hardcore punks — who share an affinity for Southern rock and Iommic doom riffs — have slam-danced around the traps that snared most of their contemporaries, choosing instead to doggedly tour the world in between writing albums. Impressively, Dead Set on Living is their fourth release in eight years, and in line with their new home at Metal Blade, sees Cancer Bats ramp up the more metallic aspects of their predominately hardcore sound. The eleven tracks that comprise this cross-over album are crammed full of Scott Middleton’s pole-axing riffs and his tightly wound grooves rupture with infectious energy; often resembling the powerful, pinch-harmonic attack of Dimebag Darrell and Zakk Wylde. Bringing up the rear; a knuckle-dragging, no-frills rhythm section nails everything into place, punctuating the passionate howl of vocalist Liam Cormier—who has never sounded as animated. This time around there is no need for Cancer Bats to include an attention seeking Beastie Boys cover to create a stir; the strength of the tracks that form Dead Set On Living do enough to damage on their own to make a lasting impression. Dean Brown
Eagle Twin – The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale
Mantle-rattling riffs, hammering percussion and mythological symbolism make up Eagle Twin’s, The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale. Continuing the bloodthirsty tale established on its debut, The Unkindness of Crows, the duo takes one guitar and a drum kit to craft dense and brooding subsonic paeans. Similar in impetus to hallucinogenic traveller OM, Eagle Twin stalks comparable though much darker transcendental byways. Dreamy mutterings and roaring muscular bellows provide extremely heavy grooves to get lost in. That there are only two members has no effect on the band’s burliness. The album is bound to a serpentine, cold-blooded narrative, but boundless heat and potency are on offer. Infused with sludge, drone, doom and amp-fusing acid rock (and thick with low-end rumblings and cyclical meditative rhythms) the album toys with tension. Shuddering moments of crushing intensity are as important as sprawling atmospherics. The two-part “Ballad of Job Cain” binds thunderous throat chants, billowing riffs and driving percussion, and “Snake Hymn” and “Horn Snake Horn” exhibit skull-cracking weight. But progressive rock, blues, and a gigantic swaggering tempo ensure things never settle into a predictable pattern. A master class in minimal instrumentation set to maximum effect. CH
Grand Magus – The Hunt
Grand Magus came from doom beginnings, but over time this band has become highly skilled at crafting traditional heavy metal anthems in the same vein as Judas Priest, Manowar and Rainbow. Their songs have that chest-thumping quality that refuse to age, and any band that can summon such classic influences to create songs that resound with such might and accessibility, are a bit special. The Hunt flows perfectly from its successful predecessor Hammers of the North, with JB Christoffersson’s riffs hewn from the same Swedish granite as before. JB’s battle-worn vocals are also in fighting form and this album contains some of the best songs Magus have ever written; especially “Silver Moon”, “The Hunt” and the Viking charge of “Valhalla Rising”. The dramatic “A Son of the Last Breath” is the centrepiece of the album and an epic in the true sense of the word — a song built upon moments of medieval folk, gallant metal and JB’s innate story-telling ability. Bar this track, The Hunt contains no major surprises or stylist changes—nor is there any need for them, as Grand Magus continue to sharpen their song-writing swords; gifting their fans with another collection of thunderous tracks to throw fists in the air and spill beer to. Positively triumphant as always, Grand Magus is the purest heavy metal band of this generation. DB
Furze – Psych Minus Space Control
Furze is the long-running experimental black metal project from Norway’s Woe J. Reaper. Psych Minus Space Control is a mind-melting, metaphysical display of unrestrained eccentricity. Furze dismantles the traditions of black metal until the remaining frostiness is more likely to be found gathering on a space capsule window than exhaled atop a fjord. Prog, jazz, Krautrock, and an overpowering stench of doom all play a role on the fragmenting dementedness of Psych Minus Space Control. Cosmic dust litters the tunes, as excavations to the core of doom metal veer off into wildly different tunnels of noise. Remnants of songs exist — partial, menacing eclipses — as do hollowed-out echoes of gloom-laden artistic delirium. Heavy-lidded hedonism is blended with galaxies of tremolo riffs, and instrumental insanity. Doom and black metal shuffle forth, wrapped around the fuzz of space rock and the buzz of garage punk, and sinuous tempos almost create a semblance of structure. But the pandemonium of dissonant and disorienting avant-garde clamoring, and sparse bitter grunts, cackling laughs and opiate slurs, all ensure that compositions remain wholly abstract. Metal doesn’t get much weirder, inventive, or more thrilling. CH
Mutilation Rites and more…
Mutilation Rites – Empyrean
Mutilation Rites — with this their full-length debut for Prosthetic Records — have held a shotgun to the head of black metal while simultaneously injecting it with a hypodermic needle full of crusty thrash and derelict doom. This mongrel band hail from Brooklyn, New York and their hostile surroundings have bred some serious contempt into their sound. On Empyrean, Mutilation Rites appear to have violent contempt for everything and everyone, and their grievous assault on the senses sounds as nasty as it reads. Their grimy approach to black metal grabs you around the throat the second “A Season of Grey Rain” begins and holds on for dear life during the suffocating blackened thrash of “Fogwarning”, only to release you from their vice-like grip after the wretched ending of “Broken Axis”. Not only do Mutilation Rites have one of the best band names in recent memory, with deceitfully titled: Empyrean, they also have the most dangerous debut you are going to hear this year — or any year for that matter. DB
Inverloch – Dusk/Subside
Perhaps it’s best that Inverloch’s debut is only 22 minutes long, lest any more prove injurious to one’s mental well-being. The Melbourne, Australia-based band features two members from seminal funeral doom act disEMBOWELMENT (noted for redefining the possibilities of sonic and emotional heaviness with its ’93 album Transcendence into the Peripheral). Inverloch follows a similar bearing to disEMBOWELMENT, using crestfallen and slow-building atmospherics alongside lurching, reverb-drenched guitar and bursts of percussion to create monstrous, all-encompassing dirges. To adapt an adage, it takes great talent “to craft beauty from the stuff that makes us weep,” and the asphyxiating churns on Dusk/Subside are entrancing elegies to the pitilessness of life. Though they move forward at a sorrowful pace (inter-spliced with frantic last gasps) the effect is not solely dispiriting. Dusk/Subside is incredibly morbid, but there is light in the wretchedness. Melodies suggest the promise of post-mortem revelation, and counterpointing the shatteringly heavy doom and death metal with serene keyboards makes space for some much-needed rumination. Dusk | Subside is definitely not for the frail of heart (or mind), but it is an opportunity to immerse yourself in genuinely harrowing metal and find cathartic reward for your endurance. CH
Enthroned – Obsidium
Obsidium is the ninth full-length from Flemish black metallers Enthroned and their first for Agonia Records. Refining what was achieved on previous album Pentagrammaton — Obsidium‘s swarming instrumentation covers a gamut of tempos shifts without sacrificing any of its command. The scorching barrage of the blasting drums and thorny guitar progressions are devotedly affixed to the rigid parameters of the genre and are impressively sustained by vocalist Nornagest — who chants, evokes and exorcises his infernal decrees through a distinct, blood-curdling rasp. With Obsidium‘s emphasis squarely on the tenets of the second wave of black metal, Enthroned unambiguously demonstrate their unease with the more experimental flirtations that have begun to pervade this grim, godforsaken genre; relying instead on clearly defined production and memorable pitch-black anthems. Plagued by numerous tragedies throughout their lengthy career, Enthroned has reached a plane where they are respected but not revered. Obsidium will not alter this, but tracks such as “Horns Aflame” and “The Final Architect” smoulder with the same abstruse vitality that exists at the vile pith of bands like Marduk and Watain, and the power of these paeans alone should bring Enthroned to a greater audience. DB
The Howling Wind – Of Babalon
Of Babalon is the third full-length from black metal duo The Howling Wind. Fans of the other projects from the band’s vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Ryan Lipynsky (Unearthly Trace, Thralldom) will already be aware of his ability to conjure metal’s core malevolence. Joined by drummer Tim Call (Aldebaran), Lipynsky’s latest work is his most deep-rooted and virulent yet. A conceptual tale drawn from Aleister Crowley’s writings on the Scarlet Lady (the devil’s mistress), Of Babalon is replete with iniquitous sonic and narrative layering — clear evidence of Lipynsky’s songwriting inventiveness. Recorded by Colin Marston (Krallice, Dysrhythmia), Of Babalon draws from the classics; there’s no trace of avant-garde or post-black metal here. The gelid traditions established by acts such as Celtic Frost are shackled to a resolutely US black metal aesthetic (a fittingly venomous cover of Hellhammer’s “Horus/Aggressor” appears to underscore that orthodox spirit). Stygian guitars swirl melodically and batter dissonantly, drums pulverize, and guttural vocals chisel through the middle. Murk-ridden and syrupy mid-tempo squalls ooze with evil, miasmatic emanations–reeking of all the brimstone and ritualism required to summon a profoundly sacrilegious aura. Pitch black, and with frenzied tremolo pickings and blast beats galore, Of Babalon is a fantastic example of time-honored black metal cutting straight to the vein. CH
Ephel Duath – On Death and Cosmos
Davide Tiso — backed by a fresh label and a revitalised line-up — has managed to breathe new life into the aberrant entity known as Ephel Duath. With latest EP, On Death and Cosmos, Tiso manages to avoid all accusations of self-indulgence, with each of the three songs on display here flowing as one continuous movement, cut free of all pretentious elements. The disturbing range of emotive growls emitted by new vocalist Karyn Crisis creates a real undercurrent of malevolence and her addition to Ephel Duath, coupled with the divine versatility of Steve Di Giorgio’s twisting bass-lines — illuminating Tiso’s disfigured jazz metal riffs — has elevated Ephel Duath from sounding not unlike a Mike Patton side-project, to a definite threat. Peer closer at On Death and Cosmos‘s ever-evolving compositions and you will also see that Tiso has been mindful of disorientating the listener and has carefully disciplined each riff shift with the stylish drum work of Marco Minnemann, allowing the songs the opportunity to unfurl organically. Poetic, challenging and occasionally frightening, Ephel Duath now possess the ability to become a true force of darkness. CH
Horseback and more…
Horseback – Half Blood
Horseback exists on the peripheries of metal, where Krautrock, psychedelia, drone and dusty Americana gather to stare into the embers of a fire lit by black metal’s forbears. Half Blood is an eccentric synthesis of diffuse influences, undeniably experimental, but it is a wholly successful release — never so inharmonious or incongruent as to be unwelcoming. Dark panoramic suites come loaded with omen, and there are many evolving textures to be admired. A notable post-rock expansiveness, and the merging of warm rustic roots and cold-blooded black metal, makes for a mesmeric alchemical blend. Much like the band’s debut, Invisible Mountain, the new album’s eventide minimalism lulls, but never dulls. Rasping vocals, fuzzy guitars and open-ended twangs of heavier atmospheric rock make up the album’s first half — leading to the final, three-part “Hallucigenia”. Here, the droning thrum is spread thin, as shadowy undercurrents rise through the diaphanousness, offsetting the serenity with the presence of grimmer tidings. Like Earth, Across Tundras, or the solo work from Neurosis members Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till, Horseback drifts from a metallic trajectory, but metal’s premonitory aesthetic remains. Half Blood is exquisite, hypnotic, and certainly one of the most innovative metal releases this year. CH
Saint Vitus – Lillie F-65
It has been 17 years since Saint Vitus last released a studio album (Die Healing), and 22 years in all since a Vitus album featured the pained humanity of Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s vocals — which in metal terms — constitutes an absolute lifetime. In their absence, Saint Vitus has been canonised as one of the most hallowed acts in metal, and rightfully so. Comeback album, Lillie F-65does nothing to diminish this status. Sure, it fails to reach the morose heights of genre original Born Too Late, but such a feat was never going to be attainable. What this curt album does is remarkably revisit their much admired sound: Chandler languorously peeling off those queasy, classic Vitus riffs through that unequalled guitar tone, and Wino — whose age has finally caught up to his life-weary voice — singing with deep sentiment on “Let Them Fall”, “The Bleeding Ground”, the “After Forever”-esque: “Blessed Night”, and the chemical comedown of “Dependence”. But what is great about Lillie F-65 is that it proves no matter what has happened in their personal lives, Vitus can come together after all these years and produce something that is still both musically and lyrically relevant. There is life left in the old doom-dogs yet, that’s for sure. DB
Jess and the Ancient Ones – Jess and the Ancient Ones
Jess and the Ancient Ones is a seven-piece occult rock band from Finland. Fronted by the enigmatic Jess — who is fittingly possessed by a bewitching voice — the band favors psychedelic, hard rock and proto-metal explorations of occultism, not unlike Ghost, and The Devil’s Blood. With a three-guitar line-up, stirring riffs abound. “Twilight Witchcraft” and “13th Breath of the Zodiac” are rollicking Mephistophelean romps, drawing as much from Mercyful Fate as they do from Uriah Heep and 13th Floor Elevators. Progressive rock appears on the multifaceted epics ” Sulfur Giants” and “Come Crimson Death”, and throughout the band exhibits a wanton delight in transgressing genre. Jess and the Ancient Ones evokes a splendidly vintage supernatural atmosphere. But more impressive is the breadth of the band’s material. From the beautiful bluesy jazz of “Devil (in G minor)” to the ’70s cosmic hard rock of “Ghost Riders”, the septet imbrues its songs with layer upon layer of captivating melodies, leaving the tunes to linger long after they’re gone. Jess and the Ancient Ones is a highly impressive debut. Elegant, and smoldering with mystical energy and diabolic hooks, it conjures up sinfully seductive harmonies. CH
Ides of Gemini – Constantinople
Formed by prolific metal-scribe, J. Bennett, as a medium to convey the supernal tones of his partner: bassist/vocalist Sera Timms (Black Math Horseman), Ides of Gemini — on this their full length debut for Neurot — have dreamt up a delightfully bewitching sound. Constantinople is built upon a skeletal frame whose marrow consists of Victor Griffin riffs at their most reclusive, elements of ’90s shoe-gazing wistfulness, and the dismal atmosphere that feeds both doom and black metal. Absorbing the songs that formed their Disruption Writ EP, this record moves at a soothing, yet strangely unsettling pace; with Kelly Johnston’s minimalistic drum beats preventing the guitars and haunting vocals from fully drifting into the ether. Found within each of these petrified lullabies is a spell-bound, pop-sensibility and on the spiritual highlight: “Resurrectionists”, Timms’ wounding refrains of “When will I rise? / This body was once mine,” hits you directly in the heart and invokes a high level of emotion that few songs can attain. The fact that Ides of Gemini can harness such feeling and beguile the listener at such an early stage in their career is as remarkable as it is exciting. DB
Necrovation – Necrovation
Necrovation’s debut was a muddy buzzsaw blast of primitive Swedish death metal that strictly adhered to the tropes of the scene. It was a solid if unoriginal album, but the band’s self-titled sophomore release represents a gigantic leap in compositional acumen. Necrovation has undergone a metamorphosis, emerging as a more dexterous, ambitious creature. Gone is the murkiness that would have obscured the nimble-fingered fret-board flurries on the new album. A combination of increased melody, a razor-edged guitar tone and a fuller and icier mix adds clarity and finish to the band’s finesse — allowing for a more vivid appreciation of the greater use of shading and technicality. Standout tracks such as “Dark Lead Dead”, “New Depths”, “The Transition” and “Resurrectionist” are filled with rapidly shifting tempos, dynamic soloing and engrossing percussion. This highlights just how far the band has come from the more simplistic songwriting of its last release. The entire album is stacked with memorable, carefully paced riffs, and Necrovation sees a far smarter use of rhythm and dissonance, which adds significantly more power. Thrash, classic metal and bone-chilling doom meet the shadowy assault of death metal — an underground gem waiting to be unearthed. CH
Soen and more…
Soen – Cognitive
Drummer Martin Lopez has surfaced for the first time since his departure from Opeth to form supergroup of sorts: Soen. Lifted by the legendary finesse of bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Death/Sadus/Testament) and rounded off by two relative unknowns (guitarist Kim Platbarzdis and vocalist Joel Ekelöf), Soen’s debut offering Cognitive is highly derivative of Tool, but is redeemed by some rather acute song-writing. Ekelöf’s vocal inflections often recall Keenan, Åkerfeldt and Renkse, and his reluctance to drive his vocals to match the more raucous sections may dissuade some listeners. However, despite this and the familiarity in tone and phrasing, Ekelöf’s melodies are seductive and such comparisons slowly begin to soften once time is spent amid these often mesmeric compositions. Cognitive‘s strength lies in its merging of pensive gestures and the abundant heft, working to rousing effect on the likes of “Fraccions”, “Oscillation” and the looping, rhythmic elasticity of “Canvas”. Beneath the transparent Tool worship, Soen’s skilful song-craft confirms this band has the capacity to become a constructive concern going forward. On their next release, it will be crucial that they assert their individuality. DB
The Assembly of Light – The Assembly of Light
The Assembly of Light’s debut is an exquisite and original album that deserves as much praise as the voices within evoke. Formed in ’08 by Chrissy Wolpert, Assembly of Light is a secular all-female choir, and the 20-plus choristers sculpt eerie, otherworldly laments. The choir made a significant contribution to the success of All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood, the ’10 sophomore album from avant-doom duo The Body. The Assembly of Light features members from The Body (along with other underground metal artists) providing the foreboding musical backdrops to the choir’s evocative threnodies. Beautifully haunting voices soar over disconsolate heavy drones, counterpointed on occasion by graveled vocals and dirge like atmospherics. Piano, violin and cello appear, making for ethereal and tranquil scenes, but there is doom aplenty where filthier soundscapes, crashing percussion and more corrosive voices set a portentously apocalyptic tone. “Treelight” reaches its zenith in a display of angelic vocalizations (contrasted by an underlying crescendo of grotesque noise) and the three-part suite “Into the Woods” finishes the album gorgeously, with entrancing harmonies sans accompaniment. It may be a stretch to call The Assembly of Light metal at all, but fans of the genre will find a very familiar ambience. CH
Nile – At the Gates of Sethu
At the Gates of Sethu is another devastating addition to Nile’s sacred hive of ferocious death metal. Familiarity may be the only downside to this release, but that will be subjectively based upon what the listeners’ expectations of an elaborate death metal band are. As is with each Nile LP, the technical traits associated with the genre are paramount and are implemented with supreme expertise. The sandblasted execution of Karl Sanders riffs and his fleet-fingered, waspish lead work are thrilling to behold, as is drummer George Kollias’s attempts at pushing the boundaries of what a human being is capable of. On this album, Sanders lyrics continues to maintain PH.D levels of devotional research and keeps in line with Nile’s past thematic predilections. Nile song-writing style also revisits their history, especially the tour de force that was Annihilation of the Wicked — the eye of Horus was definitely cast back over “Lashed with the Slave Stick” when the constructing the likes of “Supreme Humanism of Megalomania” — and the album is all the better for it. Past comparisons aside, At the Gates of Sethu sees Nile savagely cut away the excess that burrowed its way into their previous two albums and confidently sacrifice this wild offering to the Gods that light up the sky. DB
High on Fire – The Art of Self Defense
Label Southern Lord follows up its recent reissue of Sleep’s Dopesmoker with another Matt Pike related jewel, in the form of High on Fire’s 2000 debut The Art of Self Defense. Remastered and sonically enhanced by Brad Boatright — whose twists and tweaks add bulk and heft — the album also contains bonus tracks from High on Fire’s first demo, and two scrappy 7-inch tunes. A weed-fuelled feedbacking incursion, with everything set on 11, The Art of Self Defense was guitarist/vocalist Pike’s farewell to the astral-lurch of Sleep, but is the tip of the spear as far as High on Fire is concerned. More devastating high-speed pummels were to follow once Pike got his Motörhead on. But for the Californian power trio (at that stage consisting of bassist George Rice and drummer Des Kensel alongside Pike) it was a crucial transitional album — setting the band’s prodigious boot-print firmly on a gigantic distortion pedal. “Bagdad”, “Blood of Zion” and the final mammoth heave of “Master of Fists” all comprise the over-driven auditory authority of bludgeoning riffs and gruff vocals for which the band is now well known. Although The Art of Self Defense is more mid-tempo than High on Fire’s later work, it is nonetheless a commanding work, well worth exploring. CH
Meshuggah – Koloss
Drawing comparisons to Obzen; Koloss consciously and consummately assimilates every facet of Meshuggah’s synapse scrambling sound into one album. Here, Meshuggah continue to re-integrate the futuristic thrash metal of their formative years, but up the ante on “The Demon’s Name Is Surveillance” and “The Hurt That Finds You First” — both of which are complex lessons in technical control at high velocity — the former frighteningly eclipsing “Bleed”. But there is a distinct difference in that the tracks that form Koloss: song-craft appears instantaneously memorable from the first listen and this achieved without sacrificing any of the band’s past polyrhythmic body-blows. Koloss further confirms that Meshuggah are just as innervating, and comfortable, when they slow down as they are when operating at hyper-speed, and this album is dominated by those heaving mechanical grooves that governed Nothing. “I am Collossus”, “Do Not Look Down” and the brilliantly titled: “Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion”, all work on this premise and are unreceptive and deceivingly simplistic in their seemingly indecipherable construct. Koloss is engineered for the future and Meshuggah, through their unyielding pursuit of originality, will prevail over every fleeting musical trend until the day we all become non-operational. DB