OKKULTOKRATI : "La Ilden Lyse"

This band from Norway has bounced back and forth from being punk to black metal throughout their career. This results in varied levels of black n roll or blackened punk. Does this make you think of Kvelertak? The difference here is more apparent on this album as these guys summon a sound that is  darker. It is also denser. This gives it more of a metal feel. This metal feel gets more of a rumble on the second song. While the rasp of the lead screamer is very feral, the lyrics do not cut through , judging from the song titles they are more than likely some kind of hodge podge occult references from people who get all of their knowledge from the lyrics of other metal songs. I can appreciate the icy mean teeth of "Loathe Forever" , but this is also when things begin to run together for me . I might just have to go back into this album with head phones in order to pick up whatever details I am missing here. At present it sounds like the wailing and gnashing of teeth accompanied by distortion. Though cranking it a little without head phones does help.

There is a more deliberate rock accent to "Freezing Vortex Death Dreamer". Think a black metal version of  AC/DC's "TNT". The rasp is not sung but easier to make out what it is trying to accomplish in terms of song structure. "Cold & Cruel" sets itself apart by being very straight forward and punk. Not my favorite of the album as it's too straight forward. The drumming is pretty boring. They throw in some interesting sounds that go beyond punk, but it's a sound not a song. There is like a new wave Motorhead feel to " Kiss of Death". The bass tone is pretty burly. The drums are better than the previous song , but not groove to them. "Mother Superior" is darker and more interesting . The vocals occupy a similar scowling place they have for the bulk of the album. The layered chaos here has more form and function. The snarling charge of "Lunatics" works better than the feral fuzz the album was in as it is more song minded .

"The Dying Grass Moon" works of one simple throb, but it is done in a more interesting manner than some of their more simplified concepts on this album. They layer it in a way that almost gives it more dynamic range. I will round this one down to an 8 as they have some interesting sounds that set them apart for you average black n roll band, but the songs are all pretty much what you hear is what you get with few surprises once they pull you into their pulsation. This album comes out on May 15th on Southern Lord.

Stygian Crown : "S/T"

The thing that gets me about singer's supposedly being classically trained is it really means they know how to correctly sing  It can range from being a Julliard grad to having a voice teach who was an opera singer. I suspect the later here. The catch with this is sometimes they can get hung up on what they learned and forget if rock n roll is about breaking the rules , then metal should be about selling those rules to the devil. Technique can drain the soul from singing if you get carried away with it .It is not until the third song that I hear soul slip through the vibrato of Melissa Pinion who sings for this California based band . On paper this should feel more like Candlemass , but instead feels more like power metal in places. There are touches where it does work off the Candlemass vibe like on "Up From the Depths" . The female vocals kinda of throw you off the trail a little, though these guys readily admit Candlemass and Bolt Thrower are their two biggest influences. The clean vocals do keep them from sounding like every other death doom band as I can hear where growls would go.

When the pace picks up into more of a gallop that would normally be death metal is where the power metal tendencies come in. The guitars ae not as happy as power metal, there are no Maiden like guitar harmonies and when the guitar modulates to get heavier the mood is more intense."Flametongue" finds the band defaulting to use the run of the mill heavy metal tropes with perhaps a little more beef behind them. It falls more solidly into power metal than what I normally listen to. The darker shift on "When Old Gods Die" is just what they needed. The effects on her voice is something that needs to happen more as it loosens up her somewhat stiff bellow. Then we are back to the normally expect metal with "Trampled Into the Earth" . It falls flat for me here as the death metal aggression is dialed back until mid way into the song leaving this just to be power metal. I begin to feel like I was tricked into reviewing a power metal album.


The last song comes in strong. It is more conventional metal but has groove to it. How ever this is a case in point to the rule hear that cool riffs alone does not a good song make. They have a cool riff they could worked off of but instead take a turn. The guitar solo here is actually pretty cool and I am not normally into that sort of thing. I will however give this album an 8. If you are into power metal it's a heavier take on that. They are good at what they do and give something a different spin here. They have a great deal of potential , would like to hear them experiment more next time around.

Head of the Demon : "Deadly Black Doom"

I wish blackened doom would have more. The results of what takes place with this Swedish band falls in line as what a more creepy version of Celtic Frost might sound like. The biggest difference from Celtic Frost being the guitar tone which is cleaner and not employing much of the more thrash like chug The first two song the vocals are barked in a coarse grunt . The opener is slower and the chords rings out , where the second song finds the riff slithering. It is an interesting take on doom as it has little to owe Sabbath. The guitars have the cold sound of black metal about them along with an eerie dissonance. The way the lyrics are spat out in the second song is not as interesting as their more novel delivery on the first. I think they are so one dimensional that hearing them executed in this fashion for more than two songs would be tiresome. The guitar uses more exotic Hungarian minor phrasing in the second song and some of the punches remind me of Mercyful Fate.

"En to Pan" sounds like if you did a mash up with the guitar more "Mother" and slapped it against "Don't Fear the Reaper".  Two great songs and I can respect this more because while music is not created within a vacuum, it's better than just ripping off one song.  The vocals are marginally more sung . The first word of the phrase song the rest kinda growled sort of thing.  They go into more of a death metal growl on "Set Sutekh". The riff to this one is more winding and hypnotic. More uptempo when it builds as what I normally think of as doom, but still pretty decent song. Perhaps not as original sounding as the first few songs. As the album progresses I do appreciate this more 60s rock guitar tone. It keeps them from sounding like every other metal band. There is a darker mood to "St. Cyprian" . There are some AC/DC like punches in the song that gives more weight to the rock influence. The vocals change again to a low baritone. They do not forsake the grunted vocal altogether.

"Voidsoul" finds it's chords picked out with more of a haunting western feel. The more distorted power chord parts when they do hit have a more rock feel to them. The drumming here is the most doom thing about this song, though the guitars are very deliberate like " Hells Bells".  I can deal with a doom band that is more influenced by AC/DC than Sabbath, not something I hear every day and I hear a lot of music every day. The vocal are back to the grunts, but they play even less of a role in the song than they did in the previous song. The more chanted sung vocal feel returns toward the end of the song. I will give this one an 8. I think the vocals are kind of the weak link, if they had been more compelling then I might be inclined to give this one more repeat listens . However I have enjoyed the time I have spent with this one . If you like black metal and looking for a different spin on doom these guys are onto something. Being released May 1st on Invictus Productions.

Apocalypse Playlist -the Punk Edition

The revolution will not be televised, it's not happening . It won't be live streamed either as that is the lullabies for the sheep. What you need if you are living life with a middle finger to politicized Pied Piper is a proper sound track. One that celebrates the collapse of society . We have already done  a metal and an industrial playlist for the apocalypse, so punk seems the next obvious choice. These are songs  from a time when anarchy was something believed in and chaos was a way of life. Punk should never be about any establishment, even if they are offering a false sense of security. Punk was about offending and non conformity, two ideals that are rare in 2020. The best it is getting here is "Fuck the government...but listen to what they say, you might get free money and paid vacation" .  I think these bands would agree that is called selling out. But hey kids these days their freedom is only worth 1,200.00. If you are not about being bought and want to celebrate this maddness then here are some songs that might help out with that.



The Dead Kennedys - "Government Flu"








Nausea- "Inherit the Wasteland"









the Plasmatics- the day of the humans is gone







Bad Religion - "Infected"







the SubHumans- "Dying World"






Discharge- Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye








the Dead Boys - "Dead and Alive"







English Dogs - Survival of the Fittest"







the Exploited- " Germs " 








Crass - " Your Already Dead" 

Witchskull ; " a Driftwood Cross"

" This Silent Place" was the first song I heard from this Australian stoner doom outfit. It has an upbeat jangle to it that reminds me more of Kyuss than the kind of Sabbath worship that normally dominates the genre. When I pressed play and got the "Children of the Grave" styled gallop that came , I was a little disappointed. This disappointment was balanced by the unique nature of the singer voice. It is possessed by a odd quivering vibrato. His voice is high and piercing yet still has balls to it. Yob's use of vocals is a fair comparison in how it counter balances the beefy pump of fuzzed out guitar., Less manically aggressive than Yob, these guys are a more straight forward affair. They do have a very sonic sound when they build momentum. The dark atmosphere to what they do tips them in more of a doom direction. There is more groove and pounding to the second song. At first listen the way it comes out of the opener made it feel like dynamic shift in the first song. After multiple listens it does hold it's own.

"Red Altar" is more deliberate and Sabbath like. It has a call response with the more gritty distorted kick. The vocals are also more emotive on this one. The guitar solos are not wasted flash but work off the melodic themes of the song. The female vocals that wail during the build up at first sounded like a Uriah Heap like falsetto to me until I listened more closely. Production wise this has a huge juggernaut wall of guitars . The gallops are very commanding. This is the band's 3rd album so they obviously know what they are going for. The moments where they ebb down from this sound into darker more melodic sections are more impressive to me. They do ride a mean chug on "  March of Winter" . The aggression versus melody margin reminds me of Only Living Witness. With songs like "Nero Order" you can hear how their influences go beyond your typical descendants of Sabbath.

The use some restraint on the title track that closes the album. This one is driven by a more 90s styled groove. I will round this one up to a 9.5, it has enough groove and dynamics to hook you in. The melodies are well constructed and I can see myself getting multiple listens from this one. If you like doom that doesn't crawl but rumbles with groove and melodies then this album is for you . Was released on Rise Above Records.

Rotten Mind : " Rat City Dog Boy"

Since Iceage cane along it's been brought to my attention that the best punk is coming out of northern Europe. This might sound like a very me thing to say, but it seems to hold weight when you give this Swedish band a spin. They first song is a fun rowdy clanging. There is a staccato bounce to the guitar. It is what I want from punk. They win you over with their energy. When they go to the well a second time with this it does not work as well. It is a good thing they can do more than punk.  To say they are just a punk band would over simplify things. They are also garage rock. They have a rambling rock side to their song writing that can be heard when they as they  hook you in when they sit down and think about how they feel. "Beat of the Street" splits the difference between thoughtful and attitude.

They bring back melody and more hints at their dark side on " I've Got No Time". This is how as a punk band you can overcome the rule of cool riffs alone does not a good song make as take the riff and make it throb so it goes something to explode out of .In comparison to the mood of the previous song even the bleak celebration yelled about on "You'll Never See Me Again" comes across as up beat. The singer actually sings as many notes as he yell and wraps the two modes of expression tightly around one another. This counter balances the moments that find them beginning to fall into the gutter of more typical forms of punk. It is when the band falls back into the tension of the shadows to summon something more like post-punk that they really shine. Of course that is what I would think given my taste for darker shades of punk.

"Negative Space" finds them in more of your everyday punk lamentation. Fun , but you have heard it all before . They get back to feeling the songs more on "Not One of You" which adds enough of a sonic touch for me while being true to what your average drunk punk would want to listen to. When the switch to the acoustic strum of  the last song, I appreciate wanting to shift the dynamic of the album , but feel they do that with more inspiration behind them on other songs. I will give this album an 8, its a fun listen. It was released on Lovely Records.

Blind to Faith : "Unstoppable War"

At the end of every year when I am making my end of the year lists I often find myself scrambling to find punk and hardcore that came out that year. Some of it comes naturally to me in the form of bands I already listen or those who garnered a large underground blog buzz over the course of the year. I always tell myself I need to give more new hard core bands a shot through out the year. I am doing this now. I have been listening to hard core since the 80s. I grew up really into bands like the Cro-mags and Agnostic Front. Hard core bands have more of a metal muscle to their sound than punk bands. Like death metal , hard core can become one dimensional when blinded by their aggression . This Belgian band is true to hard core while bringing a metal sound to the table.The first two songs of this album find the band heading toward that ground. The singer's voice might become a sticking point as he is a one trick pony. So it is up to the guitar to hold the weight of the songs. I will say I like the effects they put on the singer's voice to make it less like a taxi drive from New York is yelling at you.

 When they hit you straight on with a very simplistic Neanderthal approach to pummeling on "Fever Dreams" they begin to bore me. When the riffs accent their punches in a more hooky fashion on
"Set Yourself Free" things click in place for me. The metallic anger of "Coffin Earth" accomplishes what they set out to do, but what they set out to do was a pretty low bar in the first place. Even with hard core I want to hear a band has their own personality. Take Minor Threat, Black Flag and Murphy's Law play them all back to back and you are going to hear three very distinct personalities. "Eye For an Eye" finds the tempo shift going into the song , but once they step on the gas it begins to sound like the previous song until they go to the stompy section. The most unique thing about this band is the blown out guitar sound that gives the songs a post -apocalyptic feel. Just over a minute "Squalor" is an interlude not a song as it's just guitar.

The las song is darker and more deliberate. Two good things for hard core to have if dynamics are valued and a band seeks to thrive off more than sheet explosiveness. This also gives it more of a metal feel. I will give this album a 7. It's decent hard core if you are just hungry for something new, but the vocals get tiring and this has all been heard before.

Bythos : " the Womb of Zero"

This is not what I think of when it comes to Finnish black metal. It tends to be raw and very blast beaten. Almost punk in it's attitude. This band consists of  members hailing from some of the genre's number one offenders in this regard. These guys have played in Behexen, Sargeist and Horna. The result bears very little resemblance to any of those bands and sounds more Swedish, wit ha tangible Dissection influence present. This is a good thing as the first two songs are very melodic though still very committed to being black metal. It is not until "Sorath the Oppressor" that some of the more feral elements begin to peak out with blast beats bridging sections that are very death metal influenced. No matter what sounds of black metal you are pulling from I think this album makes a very strong argument that it doesn't matter as much as how you put them together and how much you care about writing songs.

With a song like 'Omega Dragon" the Dissection influence becomes even apparent lyrically. The vocals are more rasped. They do include a chanted choir of more sung vocals to haunt the chorus of the songs which add more dark color to the dynamic range of the album.  The production value of the album lends it self to this more melodic sound. The riffing is more nuanced on "Call of the Burning Blood" . Perhaps there has always been this quality of  musicianship and the production was always so lo-fi and raw that you could not make out what was going on . The other option is now they have matured and grown out of that more punk approach of not caring how things sound it has allowed them to realize they can play when they want to. I think the fact they are not playing in a blaze of blast beats also lends itself to having more breathing room to grow.,

More singing shows up on "Hymn to Lucifer" but it sits pretty far back into the mix. It is not until after this song that things begin to default into some of the same old same old. This is not saying it reverts to blast beats, it just feels like things you have already heard on this album and others. This is still well done it just begins to lose some of the freshness it held earlier in the album. The melodies all begin to work off of similar themes . . There is more of a eerie cold ringing to the chords of the last song. I will give this one a 9. I think fans of Finnish black metal whose tastes are maturing will enjoy this. I certainly enjoyed the listens to this I've given this one even if it doesn't make the trek to my iPod as I already have both Dissection and Watain who occupy a similar sonic space. This is being released on Terratur Possessions.

TERRATVR POSSESSIONS · BYTHOS - When Gold Turns into Lead

Funeral Leech : "Death Meditation"

The death doom keeps coming. These guys are certainly at the heavier end of the spectrum. Using density to convey the aggression of death metal while their down trodden mood casts a dismal shadow over the song, They are felt with their rumble as much as they are heard. The vocals are a low growl part funeral doom, part death metal. The pace picks up a little thanks to the guitar on the second song to give more of a death metal feel. When they lock into these chugs the guitar sounds like a rain hammering it's way through molten lava. Midway into  the second song the fact they are heavy as all hell begins to wear thin.

Things get even heavier perhaps, at this point sonically it's a lateral move. But do they get any more interesting or drive me to want repeat listens of this ? No. That is where song writing comes in . One thing I seem to constantly have to repeat is that after a song of being extremely heavy I am always forced to ask the band "But can you write a song?" The other thing I have to repeat here is "cool riffs alone does not a good song make" . There needs to me melody and dynamics. I get in some genres like say grind core melody is not big on their to do list. What makes a band like Nails work is they put every thing in the right place. But this is a different scenario than Nails altogether you say. Then take Mournful Congregation, Pulchra Morte or Loss, all very heavy bands in different ways which parallels can be draw between those bands and what is going on here. They all write songs that make you want to listen to them again. By the fourth song here things are becoming largely forgettable and mush of distortion as it begins to run together.

"Morbid Transcendence" finds them going in a more death metal direction. I ask you what makes this stand apart from other death metal ?  The answer is nothing. What  do they do here that I have not already hear Incantation do? Nothing. They begin to run out of creative gas at this point and this fades into the background after beginning to bore me. Three minutes into the song and it already seems like we have heard enough. Sure they are switching gears and going in a more doom direction, but we have already heard it.  I will give this album a 7. It starts with some strong sounds , but needs more in the way of songs. If you just want really fucking heavy this is for you. Out on Carbonized Records.

Danzig : "Sings Elvis"

On paper this sounds pretty fool proof as his persona has been the evil Elvis for years. Perhaps this album should have come earlier in his career. What I feared going into this was that much like his previous album, his voice would be weak. Since I am so familiar with these songs it makes every strained noted he just can not hit even more apparent.

" But he is 64 !" you say in his defense. First off you do not have to defend Danzig with me. I was already a fan, but his best years might now be almost a decade past us. Age doesn't fly with me as an excuse. I just reviewed the new Psychedelic Furs album and Richard Butler sounds just fine and he is only one year younger. Granted Butler is not trying to tackle Elvis. The second part of the problem is it almost sounds like karaoke as Danzig is not cranking up the kind of gritty AC/DC like guitar tones we heard back on "Lucifuge" . It's minimal reverb drenched rock a billy. The drums patter so softly they are almost not there. He must have enlisted a band of 70 year old's to back him as they are taking a nap during this session. I think you could go into any honky tonk and find the cover band playing these songs better. When it opens with "Is it So Strange" I thought , he is not able to belt this out, but perhaps his is loving this song tender. He hit the first few notes of "One Night With You" .  But the phrase " just call my name.." could have used more of a growl to it. "Been too lonely too long " is flat which is crucial to the song's swagger. This could have used more guitars as if they have been rocking out his voice could have sat back into the mix and not have been so glaring. Then things go down hill for the next two songs "Lonely Blue Boy" being the better of the two. The second time I listened to it did not make me wince as bad. "First In Line" is where his struggle become real. The kicker is this is not a live recording where he was tired from touring and winded, These are the best takes of what he could do. How bad are the worst takes ?

"Baby Let's Play House" is the best of the bunch so far. He pulls this one off. "Love Me" is one of the King's more emotive moments. I am ok with hearing effects on Danzig's voice to soften the blow .The problem is just not the higher notes, you lose him on the lower ones as his range now has shrunken to his mid range. It's not like we are asking him to sing Led Zeppelin. I could understand how that might be problematic, but how can he not sing Elvis flawlessly in the studio? I pretty much seals the deal that I will hang onto the half dozen times I have already seen him and not bother trying to catch him when bands begin playing live again. He does better with "Pocket Full of  Rainbows" but it makes me think perhaps he should have tried a Bing Crosby cover album instead. If we can not agree he was born to sing "Fever" . After all that is the song the King added some grit to . He doesn't flub it but I would say he knocks it out of the park like he should. "When It Rains It Really Pours" might have worked if the guitar did not have a shitty tinny tone.

"Always On My Mind" is not actually an Elvis. Yes, he sang it but it was originally recorded my BJ Thomas, so it no more belongs to Elvis than it does Willie Nelson or the Pet Shop Boys. Did CC Deville step in to play the solo on this one? Anyway Danzig does pretty well with it. "Loving Arms" is alright, but do I think Chris Isaak would do it better ? Yes. I can live with this version so that album begins to improve in the second half. "Like a Baby" is a silly song when you listen to the lyrics. It makes Danzig sound like he wan't to be a little. He does hit all the notes, perhaps not with the kind of power I want from him, but I can live with it. The guitar comes up some for "Girl of My Best Friend" . It's a good song and he doesn't mistreat it, so we are getting somewhere. His voice does sound like it's a little tired making me think at some point perhaps the Misfits shows he blew his voice out and that is what we have to work with. "Young and Beautiful" is a fast forward classic when it comes to Elvis songs. To Glen's credit he did not pick the hits and dug up some deep cuts and b-sides. I will round this down to a 7, it's listenable unless you are as much of an Elvis fan as you are a Danzig fan. I am ok with this not being a metal album, but the production here did not do him any favors. I know curiosity is going to make you listen to this, I hope I broke the bad news for you so now you can go into this with better expectations than I had.

the Psychedelic Furs : " Made of Rain"

Of all the bands who crept from this dark corner of the 80s the Furs were neglected by me . I always enjoyed what I heard from them and had a couple of cds , but never gave them the time I devoted to bands like the Cure or Joy Division. I do not think it was unfounded for me to think of them more on the commercial side of this. They certainly got more radio time than say Bauhaus and I would not be as quick to call them goth as I would Siouxsie or the Cure. I am pretty blown away but what I am hearing here. Richard Butler sounds great. There is way more emotion in songs like "Wrong Train" than I normally associate with them. The first two songs have swirling sonic layers that remind me of Bowie's "Outside" album, if you replaced the industrial elements with shoe gaze.

The morose heart ache of "This Will Never Be Like Love"is wonderfully glum. The drums to the more up-tempo "Ash Wednesday"  are very nuanced allowing for the vocals to coast with their haunting phrasing. There is a slight sardonic sneer to "Don't Believe" which has more drive than the previous songs. The lyrics are more pointed and sung with marginally more grit, I normally listen to metal when I am not listening to mopey 80s music , so to call it aggressive would be an overstatement, considering how high the bar is raised for aggression here. . Overall the lyrics are one of this album's strong suits. "Come All Ye Faithful" does what the previous song did better as it has more of a slinky groove and more bounce to the bass line. The dancey feel continues on "No One" which is the lead single off this album it, feels like it came from the 90s. "Tiny Hands" doesn't hold up as well against the other songs. It's more of a ballad and just less compelling.

They are back to what they do the best with "Hide the Medicine". Not is not as moody as the first half of the album, but still well written. The melodies are set perfectly against the more atmospheric guitar coloring "Turn Your Back". When they catch you up in the enthralling splendor of sound they summon the band is at their best. The more ballad like moments might still grow on me so I will round this up to a 10, since even those moments they are doing what they set out to it's just my tastes have to catch up to that.

Mark Lanegan : " Straight Songs of Sorrow"

Going into this you have to  know this is not going to be the Screaming Trees. What you might expect is something more akin to Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen given the nature of his voice. I was not expecting something so electronic and experimental. The first song sounds like he recorded the vocals and then put the music haphazardly atop it. His vocals sound pretty optimistic and not at all sorrowful. If Jim Morrison had lived I could see him putting out something similar. He has a impressive array of musicians that guest on this album they are from every genre from metal to trip hop.  Mark Morton from Lamb of Gob provides the fingerpicked acoustic guitar on "Apples From a Tree" . This comes much closer to what my expectations were. Folk music that is country inflected, you are hear traces of the grunge roots without directly acknowledging them . Morton also adds guitar to "Whiskey For the Holy Ghost". You can hear how he influenced the National on "the Game of Love" a duet with his wife Shelley.

"Ketamine" takes folk and marries it with a narcotic throb, making it the best song so far. Lanegan's voice might not be as resonate as even his guest spots with Queens of the Stoneage, but his lower registers is hinted at more here. His song writing is what makes the other oddly upbeat sounds on "Bleed All Over". Jack Bates the song of Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, plays bass on drunken gospel musing of "Church Bells, Ghosts". Then things get weird again with " Internal Hourglass Discussion". The album begins to remind me of the last one by Iggy Pop. At 55 his voice has held up better than Pop's voice did not have much range to begin with. Then we are back to a more the  organic flavor on "Stockholm City Blues". The arrangement is layered but simple.  His voice does find his more classic sound on "Skeleton Key" . This song also have a drugged out drone to it that is counterbalanced by Lanegan's vocals. Adrian Utley from Portishead provides the atmosphere on " Daylight in the Nocturnal House". John Paul Jones shows up to play mellotron on "Ballad of a Dying Rover" .  This song is cool, it might not be the album's best, but you can hear traces of late period Zeppelin in it's mood.

I  think the parts that do not sit right with me are the places where his free form vocal lines clash with the music and sound improvised. The lyrics are more like poetry being recited than sitting neatly on melodies. He does deliver the melodies I want from him on some songs so it's a mixed bag in that regard. "Burying Ground" has more of a blues soaked Americana feel to it which I think works better with his rustic voice. Greg Dulli from the Afghan Wigs and Warren Ellis join Mark on "At Zero Below" .  This one comes across darker than most of the songs on this album so it works for me. The album closes with the bleakly soulful "Eden Lost and Found" . This might not find Lanegan aging as gracefully as he could, but it does serve as a powerful testament to the mark he continues to leave on music. It is powerful enough for me to give this album a 9.

Oranssi Pazuzu : "Mestarin Kynsi"

This band from Finland continues to grow weirder and more outside of the bounds of that black metal is supposed to be . The first songs finds the vocals sounding like when King Diamond is doing the voices for the demons at the beginning of "Them" . They do drone on this angular bass groove, they do it in a manner not like that of other black metal bands where they hold a static tremolo picked riff and just hang on the atmosphere it creates. The Moog like synth sounds are layered to create a build. I am using the words black metal, but this is just a point of reference as they are just as easily called a psychedelic metal band. Really the vocals were they only thing metal about the first song and the second song coasts on some space vibes that have more in common with Radiohead than Darkthrone. Once again it's the gurgled vocals that are the prevailing metal element. That is until the three and a half minute mark when a sonic storm begins to brew. This is broken up by clanging garage rock guitar before the aliens begin to possess their instruments. This is the only explanation for what happens.

They pick up the pace into cruise control through the cosmos. I think flutes might be involved, by this point the drugs have really kicked in for them so it's hard to tell what is going on until they approach the three minute mark of the third song and it sounds like King Crimson writing a theme song for bumper cars in Hell. They do allow for an ebb and flow of dynamics, so by this point they have proven drone is not their only mode of jamming. The song disappears into thin are eight minutes in. This is not the first instance where I have heard opportunity for them to trim the fat here and there and make a ten minute song an eight minute song. To their credit for what they are doing they could have turned these songs into more of a sprawl. This is the band's fifth full length so they are well aware of what they are doing and how they want to do it.

It is not until the fourth song that things begin to get heavy in a metallic sense, though even then it is executed in a way where the sonic intensity of how they throw themselves into the building dynamic is what adds to it. The vocals take on the most overt black metal snarl. The song after this one is still aggressive but in an industrial manner rather than metal. The last song comes closer to black metal in the feral chaos invoked , though like the rest of this album it is not achieved in the conventional manner, more like something Liturgy would do. Not easily defined the sense of originality here goes along way even when in terms of song writing te work off feel rather than composition. I will give this one a 9.

Katatonia : " City Burials"

I get these Swedish gloomsters  are no longer a metal band. To some extent I am ok with that . "Viva Emptiness" is my favorite album by them. It's heavier than A Perfect Circle  , but not heavy as what is now considered metal. The first single from this album scared me. But they have not forgotten their guitars in fact they appear on the first song. The have more in common with prog rock bands like Porcupine Tree than metal. The drumming is intricate. The synths sit on equal footing as the guitar. The guitars have enough chug to them almost make you believe you can pretend they are metal. Jonas' vocals have been the focal point for a long time now. They got the most love in the studio. The guitars are layered , but the tone is not as thick as say "Night is the New Day".  The way "Behind the Blood" leads in with a guitar solo it's almost like 80s metal. By 80s metal I mean Ratt, who are not really metal. This song is fun, but I also grew up listening to Ratt as a kid. I am surprised they are ripping out as many guitar solos as they are.

They return to the more introspective and electronic side of the post "Night is the New Day" band. Not that they did not incorporate electronic sounds before then. "My Twin" is one of their best songs and it has many of these same elements, it just feels more emotive and driven where this song, does have emotion to it and Jonas' voice sounds like it's finding a few different colors , perhaps the atmosphere allows for the more minimal arrangement to drift.  They use electronics better on " The Winter of  Our Passing " , which is just a more well written song that employs more groove. The drumming to "Rein"  interesting , I like what they are doing with the subtle double bass accents , but as a song it doesn't feel as focused to me. "Vanishers" is more of a ballad with female vocals courtesy of Anni Bernhard from the Stockholm based Full of Keys. "City Glaciers" starts off with more rock swagger to the groove then the songs gets swept away without returning to that mood.

"Flicker' finds them further indulging their prog side. Midway song get's punchier in it's accents and takes on a darker feel more in line with their "Viva Emptiness" days. The guitar on this album is really showing off . The songwriting fortunately compliments it. "Lachesis" is a more subdued ballad thick on atmosphere and more minimal than the lush instrumentation that marks most of this album. "Neon Epitaph" finds the band employing the kind of sinewy riffs I do not remember them using since "the Great Cold Distance" . It has a very tightly coiled groove , but still allows for them to have enough breathing rom for the kind of ambient melodies they have been given to in the most recent albums. They wander into the more jazz inflected side of prog on the last song. This is not them going full blown Sade as Jonas stays the course doing what he does and there is enough of their more rock sensibilities to keep it grounded . I will give this album a 9.5 it might not be "Viva Emptiness" but it finds them remembering where they came from

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October Falls : " A Fall of an Epoch"

This Finnish band sets themselves apart from the bulk of the black metal bands in their country by giving it a folk slant/ All too often black folk metals means If a band doesn't sound like Bathory or Summoning , then they are only adding acoustic guitars or pan pipes as window dressing for what is just blasty mcnasty without these bells and whistles. The fist two songs are not reinventing the wheel,  the guitar melodies, are true to black metal while keeping a dark mood and melody rather than a drone of tremolo picking. They are also sparing with the blast beats. If they have employed any in the first two songs, they slipped them past me. The vocals unfortunately are more of an after thought. They are mid range screams. To clock in at ten plus minutes these songs work off a very similar progression and there are no wild shifts in the arrangement or dynamics. They have taken their time, this is the band's fifth album in 19 years. So they are not just pumping them out .

The blast beats do show up on "the Ruins of What Once Was". These smooth things out into an epic sway as the song flows on the same cold waters upon which the first two were set sail upon. At the Minute and a half mark is the first time they divert from the metal to drop in some acoustic guitar , but then they throw themselves back into raging as they were. This is done almost as if they are trying to meet some unspoken folk metal quota for acoustic to electric ratio. If they fail to meet this then a druid will come and turn them into trolls. They are angrier on " Hammering the Tide" but relax enough for another acoustic break to keep the druids at bay. They come back in with the triumphant build that feels like a more emotive version of what Summoning did. They are very good at what they do. I do not dislike what they do, but it also doesn't catch my ear. It does fade into pleasing background music. There are more shifts in the arrangement of "Hammering the Tide" , but unless you are really paying attention , it is not enough to make you look up from what you are doing and say "damn this shit is good" or bang our head.

By the time we are at "Food For the Drought" it has all begun to sound the same. If you listen to these guys all the time then you might notice the subtleties. I listen to more than my fair share of black metal and unless something really stands out from the pack, once you establish the mood is here some of this all sounds the same. What they do have going in their favor is they are able to maintain the status quo without being the lowest common denominator due to blast beats. Very well done, but all too familiar so I am giving this album a 7.5 , if you are a huge fan of this band then everything you listen to must sound the same so go head and round it up to an 8. This is being released May 30th on Purity Through Fire.

In the Company of Serpents : " Lux"

This is not our first ride with the Denver band who continues to evolve. They have an even more massive sound they slam into your ear drums with some rather punishing sludge. Sometimes they hit you with an almost thrash like speed. The things take a turn down the dark wild west on " the Chasm at the Mouth of the All". It has a cool slithering groove but until they kick into the metal at the one minute mark seems like a wild departure from what they hit you with on the first two songs. The vocals were more of a dry howl on the first two songs , then they get Nick Cave here with a low whispery baritone. The clean guitar tones are very organic. This album is very well produced all the guitar tones are dialed into the max be they fuzzed out with distortion of acoustic. This only aids in the albums dynamic range.

The bellow of  throaty vocals falls some where between a growl and singing on "Lightchild". It owes a great deal of the sound to the more groove laden moments of later Neurosis. Think "Given to the Rising". There is some rock swagger in the variations of the chug employed here. For this type of riffy metal it's very well thought out and not just pulling riffs out of their ass. They add more attack to the chugs that take on more of a gallop with "Archonic Manipulations " . The vocals are more of an after thought here. They focus is clearly on the guitar as the drum lag behind the wall of distortion hurtling at you. They use an atmospheric interlude to segue into the western strum of acoustic guitar of " Prima Materia" . This builds up into a very groove minded take on jimmy sludge.

Perhaps not as many jammed out guitar heroics as the previous album, it feels more aggressive and the songs are more focused. The more country and blues based sections feel more organic here and work in a fluid way with the songs. Not a huge departure from their past sound, it is more refined and the dynamics feel like they are going further into the direction in which they have leaned toward in the past. I will give this one a 9. It's really well done and might cross the band over into the metal mainstream as fans of bands like Mastodon, can find plenty to grab onto here. This album comes out May 15th

Alkymist : " Sanctuary"

The grim Danish masters of heaviness have returned . Things are changing , as  I remember their previous album being more sludgey. The Neurosis influence is still there, but there is more of a Celtic Frost thing going on. What sets sludge apart from doom is there tends to be more of a punk influence, where doom only has metal in it's veins . The vocals are more growled than sung , but still have a form and function in the songs rather than just being an after thought. There are bits of melodic atmosphere that further add to the darker proceedings. Sometimes these are just interludes, but these guys do not throw those into the album to show they can do it, instead the weave these elements into the actual songs. "Draugr" finds them tempo picking up a little , it has almost a more tribal driving feel to it, which brings back the Neurosis feel and by this I mean "Through Silver and Blood" era, though with less over apocalyptic leanings. This is a much more introspective album,. The vocals have more of a croak to their rasp.

On thing I noticed about the album is how the drums sit back behind the guitar, I think if they were given more heft in the mix the overall sound would have had more thunder, but this is what we are working with. I like the creepy feel leading into "Desolated Sky". The riff to this song does feel more doomy than sludge. The lyrics muse the end of the world , which in the days of Corona I can certainly appreciate these sentiments. "Astral Haze" have nonsense metal lyrics that mess with metaphors of oblivion, you know the typical thing. The bass tone is really mean and booming on this one and allows the guitar to play around in the shadows . The lumbering riffs kinda plods, but gets broken up by a guitar solo that shifts the dynamics rather than just shredding.

The last song "Warkeeper" is just an instrumental outro piece. I could have done without all the interludes and would have preferred to have had them all worked into an actual song, but I like the direction they are heading in here and will take what I can get. It is an album I can leave on and let play, yet unlike some albums I have done that with this week the songs do not all sound the same. This is not to say they are bringing in wildly different sonic colors, they are not. What they do is work wisely with the ones they are painting these songs with. I will give this a 9.5 , as it's beautifully dark and darkness is what I want from music.

Elder : "Omens"

These guys are highly talented. What they are not and this needs to be said as there always seems to be confusion when people are making their end of their year lists, is metal. There is a more ballsy Baroness like approach to the opening track of this album. I recall the vocals not having this much testosterone behind them on previous listens to their stuff. But this is there fifth album and I have only really listened to the first one. There is a jammy quality to their brand of prog rock. If you were to guess why I am not totally sold on these guys you would not need to get much further than the first five minutes of the ten minute opener to hear these guys are not particularly dark. If you know me and my tastes then you will know 88 percent of what I listen to not matter the genre falls under dark. In fact that is the mission statement of this blog to spread sonic darkness. With that said good music is good music so I am open to veins of it that are not wrecked with despair. I do not smoke pot any longer, but when I did I was much more impressed by this sort of thing. Time stands still and you do not realize you have been listening to this song for that long and your Hot Pockets are still in the microwave.

Midway into "In Procession" it feels like they are caught up on the math of the notes they are playing and the song itself is meandering a bit. If you play guitar then perhaps this kind of razzle dazzle is your thing. I like it when King Crimson is doing and I like old Minus the Bear, after that I am not impressed unless it is flowing. It begins to flow around the six and a half minute mark. At that point it's beginning to fade into the background. I think this is better executed on "Halcyon". Here most of what they do is firing on the cylinders that my ears find most pleasing.  At almost 13 minutes we still have a lot of time for the song to wander off . "Embers" finds them taking a more upbeat slant on what they have already been doing up until this point. I do like the subtle sonic build this song uses .

The album closes with "One Light Retreating" which has more groove to it. I think if I could have asked anything more from this album aside being dark it would have been for more groove. This album is not the first time I have picked up on the fact that before this band it is more likely that these guys were playing indie rock rather than 70s prog. The prog must have come once smoking weed became cool again. The good and the bad can be summed up like this . This is an album I can just leave on an let play, that's good. Not as good as when I do this I can not tell which song I am on as they all run together, so not big points on songwriting they are more jammers. I will give this album an 8.5.

Cemetery Filth : " Dominion"

Their Bandcamp page claims this is how death metal is supposed to be. Let's see if their debut album lives up to the claim. Very thrash influenced death with deep Morbid Angel like vocals. The opening track starts off with a little more color to set themselves apart once things really kick in then we are back to what thousands of other bands are doing. My goal over the course of this review is to see what sets them apart from all the other Morbid Angel impersonators. This band consists of four members who come from various states in the southeast, including Florida which was once a hot bed of death metal. The riffs are perhaps a little more technical than "Altars of Madness" yet not the steam rolling machine of "Formulas Fatal to the Flesh". The vocals take on more of a snarl on the second. The south has been pumping out some great death metal Pulchra Morte and Withered come to mind. Both of those bands have more memorable riffs. The guitar tone on the solo to "Exhumed Visions" is the best on the album yet, so production value is uneven. The bass could have more grit in it's tone and the drums could be more in your face. Instead we get a tormenting maze of guitar.

Having been around for the explosion of death metal out of  Tampa and even seen Morbid Angel on the "Blessed Are the Sick" tour I have been here done this and got the t-shirt so I am going to be more impressed by the more Slayer like chug of "Paralytic Scourge" that an entire chapel of ghoulish riffs. While I am tired of the recent deluge of death doom, I do think when these guys slow down things sound better. They do switch it up and step away from the lord of all fevers and plagues to get a little more Deicide on "Aeons in Dis". There are some riffs with more hook to them. The Deicide comparison actually comes from how the vocals are accented. They help make this the best song so far. They are not trying to throw in more notes than needed. Are they reinventing the death metal here ? Not by a long shot. Giving up their desolate ways to forge a new sound is not happening. I think at best they could shake their influences more. Their is nothing wrong with pulling from the classics I will take that over Whitechapel any day.

For every Mamaleek, there is going to be a band like this. That is what makes the truly original bands stand out. The problem is while this is not a day of suffering, by the time we get to "Churning of the Shadows" I am beginning to get bored. There were ten promos for death metal releases most from different labels before I finished my first cup of coffee. I rarely listen to any two death metal albums back to back since the genre can default to a singular minded monochrome aggression. There is a clean guitar interlude before the last song and I wish they had instead incorporated it into one of the actual songs as they need more sonic colors. The title track closes the album, while the three songs before this one ran together this song marginally sets itself apart . They pick up the speed for the verses. Some slime might live on the riffs that breaks this up a little, they need more of that . I will give this album a 7.5 , due to the ruts I have already stated that it falls into. Still they have a great deal of potential and for a debut this is better than decent. I think I was less impressed by Withered debut and they have gone on to find themselves. Another selling point for fans of death metal is ion 2020 it is sometimes hard to find other genres of metal that are pure and not touched by black metal's influence and this is 100 percent death metal almost to a fault.

Mamaleek : "Come and See"

This album was recorded live with no overdubs. This contributes to it's raw feel. I hear the words black metal being thrown around with this project and I do not hear that. Noise rock with metal intentions and math rock execution? Yes. There are blast beats, but that alone does not make black metal. Three minutes into the song it does seem they would like to go in that direction, but black metal is all about feel rather than just playing the notes. Metal is like funk you can not fake it. Do they have some intellectual frustration they are venting in their music? Yes, but that does not equate darkness which is the prime ingredient when it comes to black metal. That is not to say the live presentation they are offering here is not impressive. It marries many dissonant and interesting sounds together with aggression these parts my not have on their own. Six minutes in the vocals have a more punk howl to them. I think going with punk would put you closer to who they truly are.

Sometimes musicians are the last to know who they are . There is some great guitar playing here. I think if they had a more honest look at what they are doing and put their intention behind it then the sound would become even more focused. This however is their 7th album so if they do not know by now they intention is hide this fact from themselves. The second song leans even more toward jazz with these sludge punk outbursts raping it. I was just listening to the new compilation by Street Sects that showcased their more spastic exploits. I think the pre meditated chaos these guys are creating works better due to the very organic way they are jamming out these songs. I would like to hear Street Sects do something similar, though I do not need for them to be jazz in any way. They are both label mates on the Flenser. This project lines up with the Flenser's mission statement. They bring music that is out of the box. In fact they might have never tried to put it in a box to think out of.

The songs are not short, but even then they take them to many different places. Not much in the way of droning going on. If anything it is ADD. 'Elsewhere' kind of runs out of the previous song. It is more deliberate in it's pacing. It dawned on me during this song that the singer's voice at times reminds me of the guy from the Murder City Devils, if he was covering GG Allin. Any medication they might have taken before this session began is clearly worn off by now. Whatever they take meds for I am sure that since they are brothers it's genetic and seems to have stricken the singer worse. 'Whites of the Eyes " is yet another song that seems to emerge from this jam. Jam is certainly a better term for what they do than conventional song writing. I can hear a touch of Captain Beefheart in the way the vocals rant. 'Street Nurse ' breaks the jamming trend and comes across more like a song that stands on it's own two feet. There is a still a very feral quality to the way they brood with the groove here. If Tom Waits totally lost his mind I could hear him doing something like this on an angry drunk. The guitar builds into more of a rock swagger here. The last song takes the Neanderthal anger and sets it against simmering jazz. There is the surly anti-rock sentiment of early Swans also casting a shadow here. I will give this album an 8.5, I enjoy it, but I also enjoy all of the other influences or artists of a similar midset I mentioned throughout this review so that might make me more tolerant of some of the madness here.

Wintefylleth : "the Reckoning Dawn"

Not our first go around with this British black metal band. The first song rages at full speed and a hateful snarl just like you expect from black metal. This is not as impressive as the more mid-paced "a Hostile Fate" where you can hear more texture and melody from the guitars. This gives the vocals more of an emotional contrast. It is not the greatest song , but it takes the more traditional approach to black metal and gives it a more personal touch. That can be difficult when you think of the bestial blur you are normally hit with by the genre. They lead into "Absolved in Fire " with an acoustic guitar and strings. This is where I first notice how well produced this album is. It does build up into the more black metal blasting though a very sweeping take on it. The scathing vocals here sound par for the course. In the last few minutes of the song the gallops grows amazingly aggressive.

Things are less impressive on the title track which just sounds like black metal as usual. They are good  at it and captured all the sounds well, the problem is that I have heard that kind of thing countless times over the course of the past ten years. There is some melody thanks to the guitar , but that alone is not enough to keep my interest in a song. They speed into " A Greatness Undone". At this point it really depends on what you want from music. If you want a sound that you like and do not care if the song really stands apart from other bands with the same or similar sound, then this might be for you. It is a shame because the album really got off to a promising start. I have had albums by these guys in the past I enjoyed, but perhaps that was before I got burned out with this sort of thing. Four minutes in there is a more melodic break down. I think what I need is to hear this kind of thing worked in as a more fluid part of the song, rather than an obligatory reminders they appreciate melody. As it progresses it becomes more a question of restraint. They throw in an acoustic interlude for good measure just to double up on this but what I am wanting is still to hear this sort of thing as a working part of the song rather than window dressing for blast beats.

We are back to said blast beats on "Yielding the March Law". The vocals pattern seems to have a little more form and function than just screaming for the sake of screaming. It accents things in an almost hooky manner. The mood grows a little more ominous for the last song which finds them raging back into battle. But since it's titled "In Darkness Begotten" it would be a sad thing if it was not darker.  This is very well done, so despite falling into the rut most black metal bands do I will give this one an 8. If you were going to consider these guys a black folk metal band, then you should think again, There is still Bathory influence, and I suppose Summoning as well, just to a lesser extent in terms of atmosphere. This album comes out May 8th on Candlelight Records.

Medico Peste : "the Black Bile"

All too often we talk about orthodox black metal. As if the ritual of it is going to wildly spin the wheel of  status quo. We need to think about unorthodox black metal. Wild wolves not afraid to break the rules like this band. When you hear what this Polish band is churning out here the first though is .. This different. There is a great deal of space to the opening track, though they do not compromise much in terms of aggression. I think this helps them sound different than every other blackened death metal band. "All Too Human" stars off more straight forward metal chug, before spacing out into very sinister and dark atmosphere. Sometimes the more declarative vocal sounds more black metal along with the tremolo picked guitar. In truth they are like a darker less mainstream version of Behemoth. "Numinous Catastroph " is chaos. It is ruled by icy dissonance.

Things really go down a deeper chasm of oddity on " Were Saviors Believers? ". The angular staccato groove gives the song a new found sense of dynamics as the vocals take on a more demonically tortured croak. Midway into the album I am not sure if they are black metal or not. I prefer that over the same old blast beats again. "Skin" throws them somewhere between Deathspell Omega and Ulcerate. The drummer is more influenced by jazz than early Darkthrone.  The song itself gets a little murky despite the excellent drumming. They get more melodic on "Holy Opium" but in the creepiest way possible. The vocals  come close to singing in the same way the vocals to Entombed do at times.

The album closes with the title track. Things stay in the same black depths they have for the entirety of the album. The drums and guitar lock into a more hypnotic pattern, though it churns down a path that stays within the dynamic realms of similar waters. There are few explosive bursts, that are more jarring. The build is both melancholy as well as sonically heavier. They excel at keeping tasteful balances in what is otherwise a very abstract approach to songwriting. I will give this album a 9, it outs them solidly on the map for me, if you are into black metal that takes chances give this album a shot.

Midwife ; "Forever"

Here is an interring album by Denver based multi instrumentalist Madeline Johnston. She has more of an edge to her lyrics than the dreamy haze of the music she sings in a breathy tone over. Sonically falling somewhere between the slow core of bands like Low and the shoe gazing of the 80s. Not as dark as say Chelsea Wolfe. More like Cat Power on harder drugs. I often complain about bands having more focus on a sound than songs these days, but her sound works with the song. It's a simple drone , but catchy enough to keep my interest. There is a melancholy maze around the sentiments of keeping 2018 the fuck away from her. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" is not a Radiohead cover. It has more of a rock n roll shuffle to it. The guitar is strum with a grunge distortion not unlike many of the indie rock bands from the early 90s who were more rough around the edges than the indie rock of today.

"Vow" breezes past. It might as well have been the intro to the following song. Very minimalist arrangement. "Language" is almost to swept up in the wind of it's own atmosphere to be much of a song, yet stays pleasing to the ears . "C.R.F.W" focusing on what might be sample of a teenage reading from weird social speculation. It sounds like something William S Burroughs might have written, The kinds of tings I pondering when on a bunch of acid. Four and a half minutes later actual music begins to simmer to life. When it does come to life, it's idea of life is a droning pulse rather than creating an actual song. This is on the more experimental side of post -rock. If you smoke a ton of weed I am almost certain you will love this album.


The album closes with "S.W.I.M". This is closer to shoe gaze. A minimal programmed beat. The vocals are draped in effects that set them back into the mix. They still manage to hold melody. This melody is what makes this song work . I will round this down to an 8.5, as it could be more focused on the songs than the drone, but over all the album works for what she tried to accomplish here.  If can see the metal press giving this a nod as she throws the word metal around in describing her sound, but be forewarned if that is why you are interested , there is nothing metal about this. That's ok, there doesn't have to be just have reasonable expectations when you sit down to listen to it. Once again the Flenser proves themselves a label who delivers the goods. Different than their other artists , but she would be at home on a bill with any of her label mates.

Death Loves Veronica : "Lucid Dreams"

Music is about balance. I have to be careful when setting hard and fast rules in regards to what works for me and what does not. Normally I do not like things that are lo-fi, even when they are that way in order to create a retro 80s feel. This is not an absolute. In this case the emotive and well placed vocals are what balances the more stylistic sound they are going for out. They split the difference as they not only trying to have a sound, but the vocals help out in the songwriting department. There is even more of an electronic vibe going on with the second song. There is some guitar. It is very tinny. The passionate vocals work off accented phrasing more than the singer flexing her pipes. She doesn't have the greatest range , so it is all about where she puts what she does sing.

It takes three songs before it begins to get on my nerves. By the fourth it's the terrible Casio synth sound that makes me flinch. The vocals are really well done, but by this point the music is beginning to sound amateurish. The guitar tone certainly needs some work. If it seems like I am judging them too harshly keep in mind that what is being done here is not much different from early Zola Jesus albums, but Zola Jesus has even stronger vocals and make it work even better. Mood and attitude can still go a long way as the song "Stop" proves. The sounds are layered rather than the kind of compositional dynamics that would have been more easily executed by three people playing actual instruments in a room together. I made similar music to this in 95 in my bed room while doing a shit ton of LSD. "Every Time" finds the songwriting beginning to hit a wall with a lazy drone. If this song has a stronger bass line it might work better.

This is dark wave that I can not hear dancing to. Maybe getting high in the kitchen on a rainy day. The album's strength is the emotive notes hit by the vocals. "You Said Forever" proves this project could be something of significance if given a bigger production budget. Yet in reverse "Witch" proves that when the vocals are not shining as brightly the music might not compensate . The album runs out of gas by the time we get to " Crushed". The song is more of a sound than a solid idea for a song that goes some where. "Dreams" is darker if not THE darkest song on the album which goes a long way with me. I will round this on up to an 8 and that is being generous of me . But if you have not heard  darkness goes a long way with me .

Melkbelly : "PITH"

I was reviewing a black metal album and I decided I needed to hear something that did not sound like a dozen other bands. Is this band the most original thing I heard this year ? No, but they do take many familiar sounds and gives them their own spin. This is by all definitions indie rock. The female vocals are melodic yet indifferent. They do bring some sounds from shoe gaze, but never hypnotize you with a sonic drone. Comparatively to most shoe gaze bands this is pop. They do challenge you in places and can beat your ear drums with noise like Sonic Youth. There is some grunge influence, but nothing that conjures say Alice In Chains , think Mudhoney. This is done with catchy indie rock flair on "LCR". I can some Pixies influence on this one.

"Little Bug" is moodier in a more slacker way. I like the way the vocal melody sits on this song. The guitars can build in sonic intensity in enough places to give it more balls than you might suspect a band like this would have. "Humid Heart" finds the band returning to the well with a similar formula they used on the previous song, though perhaps a little more relaxed vibe wise. The burly bass to "Kissing Under Some Bats' gives the song a more angular feel. It's quirky, but not as catchy as the previous songs. The drumming does get more adventurous and the more droning pounding sections do come across as sonically heavy, not heavy metal. They really jam that part out. I can imagine this comes across really well live. There is a more power pop feel to "Season of the Goose". Another song where you can hear the drummer is the most talented member of this band. This is nothing for them to be ashamed of.  "Mr. Coda" does have a heavier mood to it. Production wise this one seems rawer on purpose.

"Stone Your Friends" is marginally more aggressive at it's onset, though this doesn't hook you in as much as they did earlier in the album, resulting in the feeling things are losing some steam.
"Take H20" really doesn't open any doors that have not been cracked earlier in the album. At two and a half minutes they even add a somewhat jammy feel to the second half of the song. "Flatness" ambles with a stoned casualness. I will round this album up to an 8 as I suspect what they do might have to grow on me. Things get mushy in the album's second act , but the playfulness would work well on stage.

Shabazz Palaces : "the Don of Diamond Dreams"

The 5th album from this duo finds them continuing to pick up where Butler left off in Diggable Planets.   Their sound has more sonic layers. Psychedelic hip-hop would be a fair assessment. The sluggish robotics of "Fast Learner" is  as both cosmic and narcotic, so the album cover looks like this album sounds.  There is a pop touch added by the more sung vocal of Purple Tape Nate. There is more of an ironic feel to this than if they had an artist like the Weeknd add the hook. This album requires headphones rather than computer speakers. It's not the kind of hip hop to thump in your car as the grooves are lazy and abstract. The kind of sci-fi atmosphere of this album seems fitting given the current state of the world as we ready our dystopian soundtracks. Lyrically the out look is not grim as whole aside from questioning his social status. "Wet" is the first song that tends to conform more to the typical narrative of  hip hop in 2020. Not trap, more like the coffee shop that used to be ghetto before becoming gentrified.

The jazz influence is dialed way back from the Planets. There are flourished here and there. In the 90s that was more of thing. There are lots of retro synths on " Chocolate Soufflé " .  Butler muses that his phone is really not that smart here. He continues to be clever through the album. There are a few brief interludes called portals, which for the purpose of this review beat little weight on the album as a whole. "Bad Bitch Walking" is the kind of fantasy funk not unlike that of Outkast. It rides the bass line for almost three minutes before the verse comes in. For what these guys are doing this comes across as pretty straight forward as it is not colored by all the sounds being panned in. Hip hop producers should pay attention to what is going on with this album as they are ahead of their peers in how this is mixed. There are moments like the more 808 sound of "Yoga Money" that will not sound as alien to the more mainstream hip hop listener. This is the second song where there is more of a repetitive chant rather than going right into a flow of lyrics. "Yoga Money" has sparser lyrics.

"Thanking the Girls" is more like a r&b song due to the lyrical content. The minimalist beat contributes to this feel. I like the guitar tone that opens the last song. They kinda of jam out as the song floats when it unfolds. More like the kind of soul Marvin Gaye embarked upon with "Here My Dear". I will round this up to a 9 as the album sometimes meanders. This is the sound of 2020. The best hip hop album I have heard this year. But it is only April. Like their other albums this one drops on Sub-pop.