Tombs is an odd duck and an outfit that’s often overlooked and not nearly praised enough for constantly pushing the boundaries of their sonic palette. One moment you get straight up Post-something Metal from them then the next they’re merging Joy Division and Satyricon in interesting ways. Regardless, whatever Tombs puts out is guaranteed to be an interesting listen.
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Voyager has this timeless quality about them. With these anthems that come at listeners like sonic battering rams, Perth’s Voyager tread an uncharted area where Prog and Math Metal live in harmony with New Wave. Yep, you read that right. Think Simon LeBon fronting Meshuggah.
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This page is quickly becoming an “Oops! I did it again” of metal bands I never followed when they initially made their mark, innit? For the record, I listen to a lot, okay? Just not everything. And apparently not enough Enthroned who has crafted this dense opus of vicious beauty with Cold Black Suns which is the Belgium Black metallers’ first in almost five years.
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There is no greater satisfaction than hearing a highly anticipated album for the first time and being reassured that your faith was rightly placed as said album is better than great, maybe better than the best the band has put out and, quite possibly, best of the year. And it’s only February.
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Produced by Geordie White AKA Twiggy Ramirez, Emptiness’ latest sounds exactly like you’d think with Marilyn Manson’s right hand man behind the consoles. Not for Music is dark and menacing but still filled with lush sounds that will surround listeners with its inviting malevolence. [Read more…]
Rotting Christ, where have you been all my life??? Apparently in Greece concocting the most glorious black metal and crafting album after album of awesomeness, that’s where. [Read more…]
Hearkening back to the days when Tom Araya sounded like a veritable madman on every recording paired with the more vicious Testament albums of the late ’90’s (Think The Gathering in particular), Destroyer 666 manage to create a modern thrash classic on Wildfire without rehashing or sounding dated. [Read more…]
Cool name with an even cooler sound, France’s Lizzard deliver tenfold on “The Roots Within” off their upcoming full-length entitled Majestic. With a super dense sound that begins like Opiate/Undertow-era Tool but soon transforms into an epic Alice In Chains-style croon fest thanks to vocalist Mathieu Ricou, Lizzard is a band that’s destined to rise above the dregs. [Read more…]
Corrupt Moral Altar bring the stuff of metal nightmares on Mechanical Tides. On their debut, these UK metallers bring the frenetic intensity of Converge, the frenetic intensity of Goes Cube, the frenetic intensity of…..there’s just a lot of “frenetic intensity”, okay?
Speaking of GC, “Father Tongue” begins MT like a Goes Cube song that went berserk and flows into “Blood Harmony” with ease slowing things down considerably and focusing on Chris Reese’s brilliantly vicious voice. Next, Carcass’ Jeff Walker helps out on the crazed schizophrenia of “Die Glocke” complete with gang vocals and Tom Dring’s time changing drum mastery.
If that wasn’t enough “old school” metal for you then try “Line Check” which channels Entombed with John Cooke’s guitar capturing some of that Swedish crunch from Wolverine Blues. Reese has some of that Petrov punch in the low range but it’s his ear piercing screeches that take this one to another level.
You still want more? How about the epic slab of metal mayhem known as “Wire Mother”? At almost eight minutes long and still barely in the middle of Mechanical Tides yet, this one has it all. Time changes? Yep. Massive breakdowns? Oh yeah. Style changes? Got those. Indecipherable shrieks? What’d you say???
If you’re looking for a metal debut that really hits all that and more then Corrupt Moral Altar is a band you really need to check out. And I didn’t even touch on the second half of MT and crushers like “Closed Casket” and “Garland Greene” or the out-of-left-field “Admit Defeat” which has some full on crooning hapening. Seriously. And it’s really, really good.
Mechanical Tides is out now through Season Of Mist. Get yours here.