Mother of Graves : "the Light That Keeps Us"

 

This death doom band continues to be consistent; in fact, they might have pulled out their hookiest batch of riffs yet for this album. This says something, as their 2022 album made the top 10 Doom Albums of the Year list, putting them in the top tier when it comes to this style.  Dan Swano on the first track should tell you where they're headed, and they are not satisfied with just sounding like melodic European death metal from the 90s; the gloom of the Peaceville bands is all over the first few songs.

 The title track is the first song that really builds momentum, andd even then it's pretty melodic. Though I had to give it another listen, as the first time through it just kind of drifted by. It grew on me with another listen, though it might not be as memorable as the first couple of songs. The guitar melodies stood out and hinted an Iron Maiden influence lurking in their past. They get heavier on "Even Tide Angel". The tight chug of guitars is more aggressively locked in, and it is a more dynamic song than the title track making it more memorable.

 "The Silent Weight of the Stars" highlights what great riff-crafters they are. The growled vocals are articulated and purposeful, showing they are serious about writing songs. Granted, if you are familar with their past work, this is not a surprise, but they are keeping the quality up for sure. The guitars are really well produced; I normally like them dirtier, but this works for what they are doing. "A Moonlit Tryst" is more death-focused in its intentions, reminding me of old Opeth. The guitars chugging, lurking behind the more melodic passage, is very effective. 

They pour on the most speed in the middle. The last song is doomy and dynamic; the vocals feel a little more obligatory, but it might need to grow on me. In fact, this album sounds better with additional listens that allow it to simmer and sink in. I will give this one a 9.5. Profound Lore should be very proud of these guys and give them as much of a push as they would give their biggest sellers. Drops October 16th  

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Krallice : "Scour Order"

This band's 2022 album earned a 9, which is impressive considering how their angular math rock takes on black metal had begun to dull on me over time. Yet this album dials back the math and puts songwriting and nuance back in focus, rather than letting a technical labyrinth of buzzing riffs take center stage. This is not to say some of the more adventurous sonic trademarks of the band are not still in place, but the vocals sit differently in the songs, the drumming is more deliberate, and everything has more organic space in the mix. Things had almsot become clinically sterile with them, so the changes made lure me back into what they are doing here. Granted, six minutes into the eight-minute opener makes me wonder how long they can jam on this, but somehow they make it work without boring me.

There is a more racing, thrashy feel to  "Grievous Corrector". The vocals return to their older, more death metal howl. The higher tempo makes things feel like a busy blur of ringing notes, rather than riffs you are following. Lots of accents fall out of the corners of this arrangement. The melodic passages work best for me, though thi si clearly hipster metal. The patter of blast beats runs under the chors that are allowed to breathe in the storm of guitar they unleash. There is more aggressive metal crunch to "Kill the Guardian," a more traditonal metal songtitle for sure, and the pounding riffs accent this fact. The vocals are more shouted than growled. At seven and a half minutes, they leave me unsure how they are going to keep this going for another five minutes when I am two and a half into the song. The anser is shifting guitar tension while keeping the tempo brisk. 

They slow things down going into "Unceasing Path," though it is clear once again that their intention are more in line with being a technical death metal band than a progressive black metal band. The drums revert to the pitter-patter of blast beats. There is something creepy about this song's angular nature. Palm-muted picking once again creates the tension.  We are back to the more familiar buzz of blast beats on "Living Useless Ritual," which should find them doing something more interesting as the song progresses in order to keep my interest.  The second half of the album finds them cruising along in a high-speed jam that runs together but is still somewhat effective. 

The 13-minute title track closes out the album. The first mintues seem like they are trying to get their bearings and figure out where to go. The direction turns out to be in your more typical blasty mcnasty black metal tremolo picking drone. There are some darker dissonant undertones sburied in this din, but there should be for black metal, and this might be the only actual black metal song on this album, as it is the only one with sinister vibes. At four minutes in, I am uncertain if this warrants nine more minutes of said vibes. There is a hypnotic amabient break down that does not last that long before swelling back up into the more typical black metal. At the eight and a half minute mark, a guitar melody emerges over the slow throb. I will give this one a 9, putting it on par with the last album I heard from them. I respect what is being done here, but overall it is not dark enough for my tastes, and feels more like hipster death metal, but there is still an audience for this, and they deliver it well. It drops September 8th on Profound Lore. 

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Lockstep : "I Know What I Saw"

 

This Nashville-based band nails the shoegaze sound, which is apparent from all the key elements being in place. The reverb warble of guitars and the breathy coo of the vocals, but just dialing in a sound is no feat, so how are their songs? This is the question that really matters. The first two songs show they are not afraid of their distortion pedals, but it's the indie rock groover mixed with a narcotic pulse on "Tilt of the World" that sells me on what they are doing. This album does sound great through headphones, so they have taken great care in capturing these songs in the studio. 

They back off into a dreamier haze with "Soft Gauze of Time," and they bring in a dynamic shift and very deliberately chug up some power chords to contrast how the song opened. The guitar players have a decent sense of melody and carry the weight when the vocals get lost in the mix. I think the whispery vocals will get old for me before the guitar tones. They are smart to keep the songs all under the four and a half minute mark, rather than sprawling everything out into a drone. 

"Dog in the House of Plenty' is nap-inducing even with the sonic heft of the bass and the guitars' more feed back biting tones. For fans of shoegaze, we have to not just settle for what we have heard done before, as this is what separates quality from quantity. Thankfully, they give things more space with the bass line to "Half Measures". It is a little darker and does not rely on drifting in the same clouds. There is a slight angular swagger in the verse riff. 

They are going in a heavier direction with "Solvent Sound", it is a subtle shift, but it works, as the drums give more of a punch in their accents. The syncopation the bass line creates works well and gives the guitar more room.. They jam out the fade-out ending of this one. The last song, "Return" is the first one that actually legit rocks out. By rock out, it's in a doomy way. I will give this album a 9, as they carve their own place out in this genre that is becoming overcrowded in 2026, but they earn a spot. Dropping July 24th on Profound Lore. 

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GODTHRYMM : "Projections"

 This band's last album cracked the top 5 doom albums of 2023. They have always been solid, so hopes are high for this one. It starts off with the kind of commanding chug you want from metal, with the vocals carrying both grit and brooding, while still capable of the more melodic soaring vocals that bands like Solitude Aeternus and Trouble have employed.  Two of these guys hail from My Dying Bride, yet they are not digging into that brand of dark sorrow and doing their own thing, putting more of an epic-metal foot forward.

"Truth In My Own" falls more along the lines of traditional than doom, though it's a darker take on traditional metal. The trade-off with the female vocals adds a chilling layer of atmosphere to the otherwise powerful, double-bass-driven charge. "The Sun Never Fell" is more along the lines of what you expect from doom, with its more mournful tone. The vocals are more melodic and solemn. It wanders into some sonic spaces that bring Palbearer to mind. The doomy vibes carry over into "Endure My Skin."This is coupled with a deeper sense of languid melody. The use of harsher vocals works well here as they are not expected.

"Jewels" is the most accessible thing I've heard from them, with a more rock n roll feel on the verses. This is contrasted with the heavier direction of the last song, which is still not so oppressive that the vocals don't have room to soar as needed. Her vocals are more hypnotic n this one to juxtapose the hammering intensity of the drums. All the pieces fell in line perfectly for them here, as it is well-balanced, making this the band's best effort to date. I will give it a 10. Out May 29th on Profound Lore.

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PISSGRAVE : "Malignant Worthlessness"

 These guys have to be the most extreme band on Profound Lore. This completes a trilogy they started back in 2-15, but the lyrics are snarled in such a way that they are like cutting your years with broken glass, so there is no way to make them out, just a fine layer of hatred draped over the intense thrashing blast. There is more songwriting employed here than in the one-minute spasm of screaming grind-core dishes out, though that would be the genre most fitting unless you want to call this grind thrash. It is hard to believe that there is more nuance on the opening track than what happens on "Three Degrees of Darkness". 

The solos are certainly Slayer-influenced, and they are more metal guys than they are punk, which further distances them from your typical grindcore band. The title track is more like vicious death metal, but with more feral vocals that are more pained than the typical death metal gutturals. Riff-wise wise they have certainly heard a few Cannibal Corpse albums. There is an even more frenzied attack on your ears on "Heaping Pile of Electrified Gore".  They are more deliberate with "Dissident Amputator."  The vocals hold a little more purpose, but not by much. It feels more malicious and darker in its intentions. 

This album is produced like a great deal of early death metal. "Interment Orgy" is violent but almost too much so that it sacrifices the nuance it did possess. They continue down a beserk, lacerating path after this one, but rein it in enough so that the thrashing riffs come through to keep the song. together."Lamentation of Weeping Wounds" slows down the needed fraction for it to find its hook. The vocals are spewed in a manner that sounds like Gullom being disemboweled. The last song reminds me of the first Deicide album. This is heavy as fuck, but since it's rooted in metal still remembers to cram it into an actual song 90 percent of the time, which is why this album is getting a 9. If death metal no longer seems heavy give this album a spin. 

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Evoken : "Mendacium"

 It's been 7 years since New Jersey's doom masters blessed us with an album. The same lineup played on "Atra Mors" is all that matters to me,as they deliver something even darker and more dismal here. There is a great deal of space in the mix. Everything echoes out into it. This does not find the sound converging in lush layers, but isolated, which sonically captures a lonelier mood. Great guitar works rip out from things that are driven by the slow funeral doom march.  "Luads" moves with more of a metal groove before coming to an atmospheric standstill. 

This makes me wonder what artists are talking about when they feel sub-genres are limiting, as funeral doom is something very specific, yet they are creating something very different within it.s gates. The difference between greatness and mediocrity lies there. It's a ten-minute song that does not feel like a ten-minute song, which is the way to do ten-minute songs."Terce" has more of a Type O Negative vibe, in how the ambiance echoes out with a beautiful melancholy, the vocals keeping things rooted in this band's heavier nature that has a gradual build. 

They unfold another 10-minute epic with "Sext", which sails in on a cold ocean of synth chords, painting a similarly sparse sonic landscape to set the stage for the song. There are lots of whispered breathy vocals to contrast the growls on this album; this is another more dramatic gothy moment. It takes three minutes for this to be unfurled. At the first minute mark, the drums kick in to get things moving. Things get equally creepy and depressive as the tension builds with the guitar melodies. The drumming simmer below the shifting haze of sound bubbling. It is a more surreal affair than what we have previously heard from this band. 

"None" comes alive with the shadows painted by the subtle guitar melodies. The only more classic doom band you can trace these guys back to is My Dying Bride. The slow sail from the underworlds that is captured here does not follow the dictates of conventional songwriting,as melodies slowly slide out from the darkwater, and their sound passes through. This album could have come from the 90s, as it captures that area of metal. Darkly romantic sound colliding with vampiric grandeur.  "Vesoer" allows the keyboards to set a stage similar to what happened on "Sext: Though here it simply serves as the intro to "Compline," which digs into the spectral trudge right from the start. They shift into an almost blackened death metal riff two minutes into this song, which might draw comparisons to Incantation, as the band proves themselves willing to dive into any dynamic shift that might convey the darkness. Then they sailed back out into ghostly waters before converging back into the more stormy Nordic riff. Overall, this album is different but the same brand of gloom you want these guys to deliver, and they do. I will give it a 10 without a doubt, one of the most compelling doom albums you have heard in some time.  The album drops on October 17th on Profound Lore 

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INNUMERABLE FORMS : " Pain Effulgence '

This dark death doom band features members of Power Trip, Mammoth Grinder, Iron Lung, and a litany of underground metal acts. They have mastered a dark and oppressive sound, but once I am in the second song, I find myself faced with the question, Can these guys write a song. Just because they are from bands with a name, does that mean they were the songwriters for that band, or did they just show up and play their parts as required? There is no answer found in the second song, as they are trying to solidify a depressive mood. 

"Blotted Inside" finds that even after slowing down, they are a death metal band at heart. The low, heavily affected guttural nature of the vocals works at either tempo, though it feels more resonant in the more depressive drone they lock into. Melodic guitar lines flow around the steady pulse of darkness. "Dissonant Drift" is truth in advertising as the gurgle of the vocals bubbles under the atmosphere of trudge of doom. The pace is picking up into a more deliberate stomp by the end. Then they hammer back at you, going into " Ressentiment," it is punctuated by atmospheric fills of guitar, but largely moves like death metal until the guitar solo takes over. 

By "Overwhelming Subjection," things are starting to run together as the uniform sounds collide.  Guitar melodies can help to differentiate things if you are giving a close neough listen. This can be heard as 'Pain Effulgence." Everything sounds heavy and the guitar tone is as miserable as you want it to be, but it do get mired into a sound where the best moments of a band like My Dying Bride, who pulls this sort of mood off with more grace, or even a funeral band like Voken might be a fairer comparison., has more layers, these guys are just playing guitar well with little story to tell.  For that reason I am going to give this album an 8, excellent execution with not much to say, but for some fans of this genre, that is what they are looking for.Out on Porfound Lore 

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Blood Monolith : "The Calling of Fire"

Not unlike Nails, the band Shelby Lermo hails from this band plays a grinding style of death metal that is high on the intensity, though more guttural and blasting than the hardcore attack of Nails. This band also features members of Undeath and Genocidal Pact. At opening bands' most melodic moments, it carries a Slayer-like throb. "The Owl in Daylight" has a more thrashing groove that hooks you in before they go hurtling into a dizzying display of hyper-aggression. There is some thought put into the songwriting, though their intention is to steamroll you with the sheer weight of their sound that hits like a sonic predator. 

I can always appreciate a good Conan reference, so the title "Prayer to Crom" stands out, though it is largely just a blathering blast of dense riffs of the most brutal order. Midway into things slows to a more deliberate punch, but it does not really grab me. The occasional sample between songs provides a modest amount of atmosphere. The difference between what is being done here and what made the golden age of American death metal so endearing is that bands like Morbid Angel and Deicide had hooky songs. Even early Cannibal is not as brutal as it seems when compared to today's more grindcore flavor assaults on your ears. 

The battery this album descends into at best comes closer to when Deicide stormed your eardrums back in the 90s, though without any regard for anything but sheer speed and intensity, which shifts into more of a gallop in a few places for "Cleansing". At the beginning of "Slaughter Garden," it seems like there might be more hope for even a more nuanced death metal riff that holds some thrash in its veins, but alas, they give in to a storm of sound that overcomes them and the listener.  When there is a more deliberate touch toward the end of this song, it's too little, too late. There is a little Morbid Angel in the DNA of the last song as it finds more a mechanical grind. The vocal stay at the same low gurgled growl as they have for the entire album. I will give this one a 7, as they are heavy as hell, but not much in the wya of consistent songwriting.It drops May 16th on Profound Lore.  

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Ancient Death : "Ego Dissolution"

 This is the debut album from this adventurous death metal featuring guitarist Jerry Witunsky is a more recent addition to  Atheist. It's progressive, but perhaps not as technical and shreddy as Atheist. The songwriting is dynamic as they take you on a journey ripe with guitar melody without compromising the grit. It's not until halfway into the title track that opens the album that they go into a blasting speed, and this gives way to a head-banging groove. There are guitar solos that work with the songs rather than becoming a focal point. They put head-banging riffs to the forefront. There is the chaos of early Morbid Angel on "Breaking the Barriers of Hope". When the verses form the riffs gain some swagger and the mood shifts. 

While people made a bug stink over the last Blood Incantation album, and it was good, these guys are taking away the Pink Floyd parts and jamming out over the cool 80s death metal sections that really slapped. "Breathe Transcend" Is more melodic and technical than the first two songs, though here technical does not mean a bunch of notes crammed into each measure as much as it means how they shift seamlessly from riff to riff. "Journey to the Inner Soul" slithers with groove. Their bassist Jasmine Alexander is very tasteful when it comes to holding things down. She is not trying to compete with the guitar's place in the song.

" Journey to the Inner Soul" is a moody instrumental. Jasmine continues to provide sparse accents of clean singing on "Echo Chambers Within the Dismal Mind" which is an otherwise more feral expression of aggression until things get trippier of the more atmospheric bridge leading into the guitar solo. Her sung refrain returns and this song finds her singing playing a larger role. She uses a re-tone that is a higher alto, to create a more original use of this formula. "Unspoken Oath" is driven by a hookier groove that reminds me of a riff King Diamond might use. 

"Violet Light Decays" ends the album with a darker creeping. It works at more of a throb rather than the kind of break-neck chugs that powered most of the album. When it gains momentum it races with a tremlo picked speed. Not the album's hookiest song, but one of their strengths as a band is that they do not settle with writing two songs that sound the same, so this checks out with that kind of work ethic. At the end of the day, this album serves as an excellent introduction to all the sides of this and is full of hooky headbanging riffs. I will give it a 9.5, if you are a fan of 90s-sounding death metal that thinks out of the box this band is for you. Drops April 18th on Profound Lore.

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The Infinity Ring : "Ataraxia"

 

The violin is the most important instrument on this album. It helps keep this band from sounding like a Swans tribute band. The soft baritone chant of the vocals draws perhaps too much inspiration from Micheal Gira. I do like how this band allows the opening track to simmer. The slow build pays off and their execution of post-rock is impressive. This is their second full-length album. Without going back and listening to it, I do not remember what their 2023 album sounds like. I gave it a 9, but this must have been due to the execution of the sounds that created it as I never listened to it again after the day I reviewed it. The second song feels like it is a jammed-out progression being drawn out from the opening track. I think what I liked the most was the familiarity of the dark sounds, after all, they collaborated with Jarboe being recording their debut album.

"Elysium" works best off the more choral passages of vocals, though even on the verses a more Nick Cave-like approach is taken. I really like this song so it is obvious they can write a damn fine song when they are not wandering around sniffing their own atmosphere. "Hymn" starts off with more of a hypnotic creep to its droning groove, but when it reaches a climax the ringing guitar tones feel like they were sampled from "Love of Life". 'Revenge" works off a similar slow burn as the bulk of the songs have thus far, the vocals in a more spoken whisper with the hesitant strum of the guitar.  I like the lyrics but I would like to hear more of who this guy is, even Micheal Gira himself uses different vocal colors, and we are just getting the one style Cameron Moretti has nailed. 

They go into "The Drum" with an even more minimalist approach. They build off this into some with more sonic heft, before ebbing back down to the whispered vocals we have already heard in ample supply on this album. The violin needs to be a more dominant presence as it adds a bit of the Appalachian Hills to "The Window" which is what this band needs, anything that helps set themselves apart from Swans. This sounds like something Charles Manson might dig if he was tripping on acid. I like the piano melody on the last song, but the song does not really go anywhere we have not already heard them visit on this album. I will give this album an 8 as I feel the have more potential here they already have proven themselves capable of these sound and this would have been the album to prove they are not a Swans tribute band.Drops on Profound Lore.  

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Mother of Graves : "The Periapt Of Absence

 This band's 2022 album reached the number 5 spot in our Top  10 Doom Albums for that year. So expectations are high. They continue to retain a balance of death metal grit with the mournful melodic nature of doom, perhaps this time around leaning more in the direction of doom. The second song finds them raging into a more death-metal feel. Piano parts are sprinkled about, and midway into the song, it finds more solid footing with the deliberate drumming that makes the vocalist's job easier. As far as the arrangement and production go things are more ambitious this time around, though it does tend to streamline their sound more neatly into what you expect from melodic death metal. 

This middle ground they reached does not do any favors for songs that do not use dramatic dynamic shifts, as heard on "The Scarlet Threnody" which coasts on a steady doom beat. "Apparition" is a step further in the doom direction with more melodic work. It's the best song so far, as when the pace picks up it retains a steady flow that has both drive and melody. The title track is effective as it finds enough hook and heaviness in the riffs to ground it as the harmonie parts haunt the verses. "As the Earth Fell Silent' is darker though there is more chaos to the weird trippy arrangement, which balances everything out as this song helps them escape for the more middle-of-the-road feel and embrace their darker identity. When the song builds it does so in a more sonic manner. 

They still care greatly about songwriting, which gives them a head up over most bands. There is some dynamic depth to "Upon Burdened Hands". The melodic guitar wanders in a way that is not as creative or catchy as the previous song, but it still works well enough. The last song carries a very purposeful creep to it's dreary pulse. It took a couple listens for it to grow on me. This album is great but I do not think it hits the same way as "Where the Shadows Adorn", perhaps this has more to do with the production, it's still really great so much so I will give it a 9. It drops October 18th on Profound Lore. 

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Nocturnus AD : "Unicursal"

Mike Browning from Morbid Angel returns with his other class band Nocturnus, now Nocturnus AD. I had to go back and listen to "The Key" again to see if I was just not remembering things right or if something was weirdly different. Things are weirdly different as "the Key" sounds just like I remembered it. By the song "Mesolithic" it sounds like the same band, the first couple of songs just take some getting used to as Browning is not getting any younger so his approach to things might have changed. His snarls are more spoken than not. While it helps him to narrate this HP Lovecraft-like yarn he is continuing with this album, it does create an odd cadence at times. It reminds me of Coroner to some extent. I am never sure about the drummer being the lead vocalist. 

The synths are similar to the sounds heard on "The Key" so that works for me. I know it sounds like I am pretending "Paradox" was not released. I gave "Paradox" a 9, but it's not the album they are going to be measured against. It is interesting going back to read that review, as I mentioned many of the same things I am noticing with the sound on this album The vocals really are the only glaring weak spot the rest of the music compensates for. Things are more progressive and less angular on this album. "Mission Malkuth" finds the vocal style more spoken, though this makes the lyrics stand out there is not a great deal of grit to it. The riffs are pretty awesome and balance it out like a more acrobatic version of Morbid Angel, though the album does not hold the same kind of crunchy production of a Morbid Angel album, leaving things to sound like a thrash version of Pestilence at times. 

"Yesod..." finds more of a death metal groove forming as the pace picks. Portals are a huge theme on this album. Which is fine with me, works as well as Satanic themes for me, and could be interchangeable. At times, even occult themes are thrown in with the sci-fi which is on brand for this project. The riffs really improve here. "Hod the Stellar Light" is yet another song referencing the Tree of Life, and finds Browning's drumming excelling. Though I have always thought Pete Sandoval was best for Morbid Angel. There is a more Morbid Angel-like mood at the onset of this song, though the cosmic ambiance does take over in places. The delivery of the vocals might find him spitting the lyrics out in the most awkward manner yet, but the music continues to compensate. 

"Netzah the Fire of Victory"  might slow down into a cool doomier riff, by the time we get to the song I can not shake the thought that Browning should have just stuck to drumming and gotten someone who could have growled the lyrics, which would have better served the songs. Yeah I know he has always been the vocalist for this band, but if you can't cut it, oh, well. `The instrumental outro works well enough for what it is, and that is perhaps for the best as the vocals had gotten on my nerves.  Due to the vocals, I will round this down to an 8.5, I recognize that I am picky about vocals and do not see them as a thought but my primary focus and I factored that in when taking things into consideration regarding this album, I have always felt these guys were the most underrated death metal band out of Tampa, but his delivery makes it hardly death metal this time around. The album drops May 17th thanks to Profound Lore and you can make up your own mind about it then. 

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Apparition : "Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State"

The sophomore effort from the Los Angeles Death Metal is going to be a trial by fire for this band, as they have to establish themselves as more than just deviants who are out to torture your eardrums under the guise of a death metal band. On the opening track, they sound like they are making more of an effort to write memorable riffs, well at least riffs more memorable than those on the first album. They are also making more of an effort to have the doomier sections try to create a more compelling mood. In the second song they show their weaknesses are not much different than other death metal bands when they let their aggression get the best of them and just pour on the speed. However, they are prudent enough to use more restraint than most and rein things back for a dense sludge-caked chug. 

They are dark but do not try to be evil, aside from the normal metal imagery for this sort of thing. They display a knack on this album for keeping the riffs flowing. The blast beats are sparse and staggered on the second song. The more brutal onslaughts do not last long enough to dull your ears before they ebb into something more melodic or grooving. At times they are even more experimental in how they bring this together. The drummer is clearly the most talented member of this band, though they are skilled at dialing in a mean as fuck guitar tone. Production wise they certainly nailed the sound they were trying to capture. This album is cold and oppressive yet organic in the sounds, even with the wretched overdrive coating things. "Paradoxysm" does not have a great deal of atmosphere, but the little it does have is made to work well. Not the album's strongest song, but it's not that bad either. The vocals typically stay in the low guttural place, venturing up for a scream every now and then. 

"Eexcruiating Regue in Roeoccuring Torment" is the tug of war the drummer wages inside of himself regarding what side of the death-doom equation he wants to sit in. More often than not he falls on the death metal side. But this wrestling match makes things more interesting than if you were just being hit with blast beats. With this song, it makes it less focused and harder to establish a baseline from which dynamics might flourish. I know some fans of Death Metal are really just after the most brutal, band, and while they might not captured the title of most brutal I think they are heavy enough for those who lean toward the more extreme side of the genre to still be able to enjoy them.

There is one track that is just ambient noise, it is pretty much just the intro for the last song, that finds itself locked into a more traditional death metal mode, before pouring on the speed.  There are not many head-banging grooves, sometimes things throb in a way you can nod your head to. The more melodic section in it is cool, but I wish they had worked more of this sort of thing into this album, to make it stand apart from their peers. Most of it is guitar noodling, but it helps break things up. I will give this album an 8, it's dark and intense in a way that feels natural and not like they are pretending to be something they are not. Profound Lore is releasing this one. 

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Wayfarer : "American Gothic"

 

This is a band that has gotten progressively better with each album. Their last album took the number 2 spot in the best black metal albums of 2020. After a great deal of fanfare and a Western-tinged throb of guitar, they get into their more black metal side, which going into this album I was going to be not surprised if they abandoned that entirely. They still hold plenty of snarls, though lean into a more deliberate double bass attack rather than adhering to the blast-beaten formula of black metal. They waste no time lurching into their dark and dusty brand of black metal on the second song. The title of the song "The Cattle Thief' shows they are straying from the typical hymns of darkness to telling tales of grim Americana and the desperation that unfolding in the Wild West. Two songs in and I am already feeling that this is going to be a more metallic album than the last one. Melodic singing does creep in toward the end of the song. 

"Reaper on the Oil Fields" finds the sung vocals behind a distorted filter mixed behind the clang of guitars. I love how the darkness is allowed to simmer. "To Enter My House Justified" still carries the haunted western sound but couple with the epic rage of Immortal. "A High Plains Eulogy" is much more melodic than the previous songs. It features sung vocals as the focus. The overall feel of the creeping riff is darker. "Black Plumes Over God's Country" is more straightforward, though not fast-paced, and employs clean guitars where the chorus would be. They take the road less traveled in this regard by slowing down, then speeding up thanks to the double bass, coming out of this section.  There is a cool guitar solo that adds to the mood rather than dazzle with shredding. 

The last song "Final Constellation" is another song that features sung vocals as the focal point. It has the ringing western feel to the guitars but flows with a hypnotic shoe gaze-like pulse to create something that is very original sounding. This unexpected return to a more straightforward metal album that is still colored by the Western influence comes together in a beautifully dark manner, and shows how they have matured,. I will give this one a 10. This album drops October 27th on Profound Lore. 

KRIEG : "Ruiner"

It's been 9 years since this band's last full length album. It seems they are continuing forward in a darker direction, that bears more icy weight than if they just hit you with a bunch of blast beats. Not that those sections are not there. They just have more counter points to work off of. Right off the bat I am more impressed with this than anything I have heard from them previous so let's see if they can maintain this level of writing. They are joined this time around by the former bassist for Woe, who is helping out with guitars on this one. The vocals dip into a lower growl for "Fragments of Nothing". Charges ahead with a more straight forward riff that is draped in creeping melancholy from the atmospheric layering of the guitars. 

"Red Rooms" has a darker throb to it. I appreciate the efforts of the guitars to bring melody into the equation. The scowl of the vocals remains a constant sonic texture, with not articulation allowing you to decipher the lyrics. This song hypnotically lulls you so I had to listen to the song three times to absorb it fully and find where it separates from the song after it. 'Solitarily a Future Renounced" basks in a tremolo buzz. While the white noise of this has a soothing lull, not unlike older Darkthrone, it does not carry a wide range of dynamics.  The movements of the song are dictated by the drummer and when he decides to flood you with double bass. 

The blur of racing blackness sets in with "Manifested Ritual Horror". The tempo shifts marginally under this storm, but mainly smacks you with the wall of sound. "No Gardens Grow Here" is more deliberate , thus making it more effective musically than some of the more rushed passages in previous songs.  There is a melancholy nuance that extends the emotional reach of their sound. When things do blast off , it is dynamically more balanced. They dig into a more serious anger with " An Execution in the Kingdom of Ideas". From that title I am going to assume it's about cancelling their Disney Plus account.  At seven minutes the last song is the longest. The screams are well supported , as the vocals shift to a clean moan, that is more spoken than sung. I like the morose mood it plays around. When it rages back to life the scathing torture of vocal chords works well. Things are broken up with the theatrics of a ringing bell. They push their sound forward , but managed to write songs, I will give this one a 9.It drops October 15th on Profound Lore 

GODTHRYMM : "Distortions"

UK doomsters Godthrymm as back with their dark and gritty vision of metal. It's vision that is true to the classic while not gazing into the stagnation of retro obsessions. Unless we are talking about the 90s as this would have fit well into the doom that was coming out then. They feels like they are chugging forward rather than meandering in droning sprawl. The opening track is eleven and a half minutes, but it flows really well with the dynamic ebb and flow , even into more reflective passages that do not slow it down. Despite having ex-members of My Dying Bride and Anathema, the are not weighed down in the Peaceville sound as heavily as you might expect. 

On "Devils" they hit you with a commanding riff that feels like Metallica's more purposeful and darker moments. Then brings things back to a shadow shrouded gloom on "Echoes" , there is more melodic nuance with this song, though it might need to grow on me a little. "Obsess and Regress" finds keyboardist Catherine Glencross taking the mic. While she does not have a voice that conveys the heaviness of discontent that can be heard in the throaty baritone of  her husband Hamish. I think having her take the lead on the verses was smart on their part as adds another sonic color to break things up. The lyrics to this song are perhaps the most thoughtful so far as well. 

"Unseen Unheard" gets to the point with a very deliberate stomp. While it is not the heaviest doom riff you are going to hear this year. It is a very well written song, that does not find them painting your ears with the same colors. The vocal nuance of backing away from the bellowing bluster is another smart move, as too many metal band these days tap into a cool sound, but that is their one trick for the entirety of their album which gets old by the song. When they uses a harder drill Sargent like vocal it's not as compelling, but not a deal breaker. "Follow Me" is the first song that latches onto a more hypnotic throb and finds it . Four minutes in an I am unsure how it is going to be dragged out for another eight minutes. The answer is to bring in Aaron Stainthorpe and let him pontificate with some poetry. Catherine also lends her voice in a more effective manner by providing a more ethereal juxtaposition. 

Speaking of ethereal the last song finds the band pushing forward beyond what you have heard from them in that direction. The Gathering . It is a wide left turn from what this album has been doing up until this point, and an odd note to end the album on. However that does not mean it is not effective. It is also admirable that they are willing to take these kinds of chances and try stepping outside the confines of metal. I will give this album a 9.5, as it is an improvement over what they were already doing well and places them in the upper tier of doom bands today. This drops August 18th on Profound Lore Records.

 

The Infinity Ring : "Nemesis & Nativity"

 Swans are one of my favorite bands so when I come across a band that is clearly influenced them it puts me at an odd crossroads. I own all the Swans albums so the need for a tribute band is non-existent. The other side is I do like the familiarity of the sounds, which touch on the darkness I love Swans for invoking. I think things work best when this band leans into sounds that make them not sound like Swans like the more Nick Cave grit to the croon of "Temptress". This sets them apart more but does have the bleak ambiance that is shared ground with Swans. 

"the Valley" has a hypnotic lure to the chords that ring out into the ether. The vocals are low baritone but sit further back in the mix to create more of a trippy lullaby and draw less attention to themselves. "Tiferet II" is more brooding but balanced out by well layered melodies. There is also more of a rock n roll vibe coming from the guitars, that bring more of a Pink Floyd feel to things, which is a welcomed dimension. The guitar tones on this album are really dialed in as evident in the reverbed-out guitars on "Gift of Life". The hushed vocals on this one sound like someone asked Iggy Pop to sound more like Nick Cave. They pack more of a sonic punch with "Lazarus Millennium Sun". This does bring back Swans comparisons, that they managed to doge the past few songs. It works off more of drone but is still very powerful and effective.

There is a similar clamor going on with "Wax & Oil' but it does not work as well as the kind of sonic beating they dished out on the previous song. It is not a dud, but given their track record, more melody might have hooked me in more. They continue the sonic beatings until morale improves. I like how they use samples here even though it does point a finger at them being a Swans tribute act. Anatomy of a Habit's new album also borrowed heavily from Swans, but I think it is done much better here. The last song is more solemn, with a hushed darkness cast over it. They reach a better balance of being their own band with this sound. I will round this down to a 9, which still means it's an awesome album, it goes to show if you are going to pay tribute to a band it has to be one I love and then you have to go about it the right way. This is being released on Profound Lore  

Death is June- Reeking Aura : "Blood and Bonemeal"

 

This band is comprised of long-time vets of the New York death metal scene, from bands like Artificial Brain and Buckshot Facelift. Normally I prefer the more deliberate pacing when it comes to metal rather than being lost in a blur of distortion, but the pace of the opening track works better than where they go on the second song. However, it seems as if they are trying to find the middle ground as they take things to more of an extreme speed wise on "See the Size of a Spider's Eye" as it seems a little rushed in its fury. 

There is never a hard and fast rule of what is going to work with these guys as when they lay back and lets thing groove more with "Harvesting the Hatchet" it works just fine. I do not think they have bad sound; they just need to rein it in to what is the most effective. It is weird how they are being marketed as more of a death doom band when gore grind and grind core are elements that I hear more of from them. The vocals are a low Cannibal Corpse gurgle that makes the lyrics impossible to make out. This approach also causes a more uniform sound across the board.  There is a cool riff they wind up on with "A Vegetative Mush..." but the rule around here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. 

"Pyramid Shaped Plow" typically goes for brutality more often than not. but finds them in some grimy groove here and there balancing out the sonic range of the song. The second part of the song which must be "the Caretaker" half works off clean guitars. A guitar solo is pretty much the center piece, and it might have been more interesting if this was what they broke into at the middle of the song rather than just being tagged on at the end. They are cool sounds to create, but how much good is it if it is an idea, you cannot organically work into the song? The last song "Grublust" finds the passing between the two dynamics, fast and slower grind. It is ok, but nothing new. I will give this album an 8, as they are doing it well for what they are going for. Sure, some fine tuning in the song writing department, but if you want just heavy fucking death metal that is brutal, this is done with more interesting dynamics in place than what most bands do these days.   It drops July 28th on Profound Lore. 

Death is June - Hissing : " Hypervirulence Architecture"

Seattle based Hissing churns out a violent brand of dissonant death metal but manage to throw in a few head banging riffs amid the chaos. They are so heavy when the first song hits you that you are unsure how their skills as actual songwriters are. The first song ends with noisy rough edges of feedback squealing out to add to the sonic abrasion. The second song starts with a murky barrage of blasting. If you told me these guys all also played in punk bands, I would not be surprised. The vocals are a low growl and mixed behind the guitars which is one aspect of their sound that works. Some of the faster sections feel rushed. The guitars are more of a static distortion than hearing any note with clarity in the grit. When I was younger, I would have dug this more, but really did not know better. 

"Operant Extinction" is more of the same. Fast drumming and growls that seem more obligatory than providing any kind of narrative. Even the riffs seem more sidetracked by being a force of intensity than a song. At over ten minutes it is hard to hear at the four-minute mark where they plan on taking this spastic outburst for another six minutes. normally these guys keep thing compact around the four-minute mark, some of this due to the speed they attack things with. They shift gears into a more sonic pounding but return to variation of what they have already done up to this point. The is a more of a sonic heaviness in place than just the slamming of guitar into your ears. this is also a little more angular and less of a straightforward assault. They kind of drone on this until going into more of a mathy chaos. The last minute is also more sonic which helps.

After the ten-minute sparling epic there is an industrial tinged interlude before getting back into the actual songs. "Intrusion" is at least as brutal in the beating it gives you as previous songs. They way the song breaks down in the final two minutes might be the most interesting part of the song as things have more room to breathe. From the onset of it's explosion "Identical to Hunger" has a plan of attack similar to the other songs on this album. In some ways it sounds like it could be even more feral if not for the very deliberate punches it drops into. This does sound less rushed and more intentional which is a step in the right direction. When the y step onto the speed it feels like a step backwards. "Meltdown" is more of the same. A very similar expand and contract as the previous song. Three minutes into the song and things break down to the crusty sludged out bass line. They way the song fades out into noise sums up where it stand in being more about sounds or a song. I will give this one a 7.5, it is comings out on Profound Lore/.  

 

Luminous Vault : " Animate the Emptiness"

 This is not merely just another sludged out metal band working in industrial, nor is it industrial revivalist fare, which comes across as having less balls to it than what goes down here. There is more of a metallic feel thanks to the more blatant death metal rasp of the song. The first song proved that the drum machines were not going to be weak, and they would not just be playing against the monochrome dynamics of a preset drum pattern. Yes there is a sonic of Ministry to the second song. "Divine Transduction" finds them at more of a Meshuggah like place in terms of how the riffs move. The vocals are not as commanding or aggressive.  There is more focus on the riff here. While most bands become more into a sound than songs, these guys keep a balance. 

"Regeneration" might use more sonics and melody with the guitars that occupy most the the song, but how things fall into place overall seem less thought out. Even though it is more overt metal in it's attack something can be said from the intention driving the crunch of "Earth Daemon"/ It is powerful and effective. With metal there is this fine line between something new and not over thinking it. "Embryonic" is just and atmospheric interlude comprised from synth sounds, that is basically a intro for the last song. 

They wrap things up with "Ancient North". There is a great deal more melody in the thicker atmosphere leading into the song. The vocals stay at more of a dry rasp. Overall the vocals are kind of their weak link here, but on a song like this they are the one thing anchoring into a more aggressive place. I think it was not until this song that I could hear the almost progressive touch of musicality that underlies what they do. This album is very impressive as it does not jump on any bands wagons , these guys are doing their own thing for sure.I will give this album a 9, it drops May 20th on Profound Lore.