Bastard Sapling:"Instinct is Forever"

The Virginia band is back and this time slightly less black, but no less hard hitting.They hint more heavily at grind core and death metal on this one, though not to say this exercise in aggression is devoid of moods other than scathing. "Subterranean Rivers of Blood" is a flurry of blasty mc nasty, sometimes there need for speed blurs into death metal, though this one is much closer to the black side.

 The rumbling bass of "Opal Chamber' starts off slowing things down and the song rebels against it going into more of a sweeping black metal like pulse.They catch a galloping groove here as the chords find more ambiance. This ambiance is taken even further on the clean guitar based interlude called "Elder". This gives way to a more rock n rollish "Killer in Us All" that finds it's black metal wings soon enough. They build into some powerful groove that beat you down head banging.

They display how their song writing has matured on "Splintering Ouroboros" , with weird dissonant clean break down that step up the dynamic level of the band. The vocals are largely one sided in their snarl, that stays mid range.The drummer is by far the star of this show, but with this kind of metal, should it be any other way?  The songs are more concise on this one with the longest winded being the ten minute " Lantern at the End of Time", that also features weird layered clean vocals at the beginning over an otherwise thrash like charge, this is a totally unexpected move...so sorry no spoiler alert. The song takes another dynamic twist at the three minute mark with another step into clean vocals over strummed guitar, to create a rather Pink Floyd like feeling.

"Every Life Thrown to the Eclipse" launches off as a brutal sonic fist fuck. This is one of the albums heaviest starting points, though some of the songs do get more intense as they progress. The thrash vibe haunts the double bass. The vocals also get a little more fiendish in their more Immortal like rasp.The album closes out with the slightly more mournful "Forbidden Sorrow" , which has more darkness and texture in it's gallop.It does fall back slightly on some of the more conventional methods to approach black metal.

It's evident these guys have stepped up their game. I like the broader range of sounds , this is how metal should be done. I'll give it a 9.5, some of the falling back into the blast is what keeps it from being a perfect album, but hey 10 is flawless and never ending listen, so it's a lot to aim for. This is the best album you might fail to check out this year.

   

Decades/Failures : "002"

Right in time for Valentines I caught this new album by this dark synth act from Richmond VA. It takes the darkness of Joy Division and couples it with New Order's more dance oriented side. It is certainly cold and murky enough to suit the new wave of hipsters getting into goth, but jaded old purveyors of the scene should be able to appreciate the mood as well.

" I ( Never)  Wanted to Believe" , finds the color spectrum of their sound expanding. It doesn't stray far from the depressive side of the dance floor. This is fine by me. The vocals stay pretty close to the Ian Curtis monotone baritone.

"City Streets" finds things taking on a nastier edm that borders on club goth. This is an even darker turn for the band. The title track develops a more creeping vocal that stalks the more Daft Punk like synths that sound to have landed from the land of Blade Runner. The vocals remain plaintive in their dismal croon. The sense of dynamics circles some where around a surreal pulse. They veer close towards some of the synthier industrial moments even a slight Romeo Void element under coating a song like " Gentle Forces". It's impressive things continue to grow increasingly dark through out this album.

The oppressive electro cloud lifts on "Tell Me How". The vocals bury themselves in the mix, you can tell their in a voice chanting something, but it steers the song out of becoming synth pop. Things take a more dystopian turn when the album closes with " Everything Went Black". IN some ways this has a ballad feel to it ,as the song sways at a much slower bpm than most of the album until it begins to build before the two minute mark. I'm feeling generous so I'll round this up to a 9 out of 10, we shall see if this grows on me. The vocal can lean towards monotonous, and limit the dynamics slightly , but for the mood it's pretty perfect.    

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