Creeping : " Revenant"

This New Zealand bands gets quite a few things right on their new album, the most important being a clear display of songwriting that doesn't forsake the fact that they are making music in order to be heavy as nine hells. There a a few different moods to what they do and no two songs sound the same , but they are a death metal band. They throb at a slower pulse than the bulk of death metal bands , but I would not go as far as calling them doom, though that is touched upon on the instrumental "Cold Soil". I generally don't like instrumentals but they sold me on that one. "Death Knell Offering" opens this tomb up. Melodic and dark they don't throw themselves into a rushed blast beat, instead ride out a steady tempo. The vocals are growled with a lower rasp. The guitars always pulling melodies out of the cobwebs.

They do not burst in the typical blackened death metal thing into the second song "Scythes over my Grave". When it slows dissonant melody drips from the edges of the song in a manner similar to the atmosphere Ulcerate creates. "Drear" doesn't start off really veering away from the sonic pulse they have already established earlier in the album . The vocals are a little more deliberate. The tone and melody does move out from under the same monolithic dark cloud that has been rumbling over the album thus.

Overall the paint the entire album in a pretty similar shade of gray, it is never the less a very easy listen. This is the bands third album so there is still room and time for growth. I am not really compelled to go out and hunt down all their previous work, but think that for what this album is these guys accomplished what they set out to. I was hoping for a few more twists and turns. I will give this one an 8, they don't sound like any body else and if you are in the mood for something a shade heavier than doom or normally listen to death metal but find yourself in a low swing this is worth a spin. Iron Bone Head is releasing the vinyl August 28th.

The House of Capricorn : "Morning Star Rise"

This one was discovered in the ancient manner of flipping through a metal magazine in a book store one day. I wrote the name down so I would not forget, then looked them up the next day.Not unlike the days of old the description was much different than the sound I found, but I am not complaining. The new album from this New Zealand based band starts off with dark driven rock tinged storm that comes at you head on like Motorhead jamming with Sisters of Mercy. The rock elements take a more melancholic shift. They keep things just as heavy sonically as they do metal.

"Shrouded King" almost gets too rock n roll for me, the singer's voice begins to remind me a little of the dude from Primordial. with this rock element there comes with what some might consider either a dab of pretense or cheese depending on where you tastes sit. But these guys are still rock n roll in the way earlier Beast Milk was.

Doom is another label that gets thrown around in regard to this band and "Ashland" is the first song where this is hinted at. They seem proud of the fact they hail from the swamps of New Zealand, no matter what part of the world your swamp is in as the murky water colors this sometimes in a similar shade as Acid Bath. They return to a more fuzzed bass style of dark rock on "The Only Star in the Sky". It's almost like upbeat doom, in the manner the riffs are still mournful despite being pushed forward by the drums.It become undeniable there is something very 90's lurking under it all here, but fortunately it comes from my favorite corners of the 90's .

The straight forward balls to the wall and foot on the monitor brand of rock pumps on in "Ivory Crown". These black denim moments is not the band at their  most creative. While still straight forward they do more interesting things with the chords to "Watching Angels Fall". The lyrics to this song and the other while holding Satanic elements come across more seriously than say H.I.M or Ghost.

They return to a more doom heavy sound on the closing dirge "Dragon of Revelations" which at nine minutes is also the album's longest song.The arrangement to this song and many others is fairly straight forward pounding one thematic riff home until it builds into the chorus. I'll give this one a 9 and see how it grows on me , I can see my girl friend who is more forgiving about rock n roll getting more mileage out of this one than me, but it's still a pretty bad ass meeting of dark sounds with balls behind it. Keep and eye out for this one when Svart Records drops it on November 7th.                                                        

Ulcerate: "Vermis"

The New Zealand band  has come back with an  album  even darker and denser than 2011's  "Destroyers of All" It opens with a slow sludge laden drone before it bust into the more angular death metal that they are known for on the title track.

They cleared up the problem I have with the production on "Destroyers of All" which was the drums sounded so thin I wondered if they were a drum machine. They have more bass behind them and way up in the mix , which for this band is important because the insane drumming is this bands strong point.

It does however only take me til the third song to begin to get bored with the monotone growl of the vocals. The guitars do have a knack for the eerie , though their remains a certain dissonance to them that leers away from being melodic.

The band does get a lot of credit for being technical death that doesn't get hung up on the technique and devolve into wanking. "Clutching Revulsion" is so dissonant it reminds mea little of Blut Aus Nord. While they are no black metal, I'm sure fans of Deathspell Omega will also appreciate what these guys put into their craft. On "Weight of Emptiness" they use a similar color to paint this bleak bludgeoning, though they creep into the song rather than kick in the door roaring, almost to the point of dragging as the song doesn't come to life properly until the two minute mark. They defy traditional compositional structure as they are not worried with things like hooks or choruses. The catchiest riff might be to "Confronting Entropy".

 Despite it's heaviness I find this becomes a wall of white noise at times I can simply zone out to and let coat the background with its thickness while I work. Not the face peeling affair that keep you locked in a head bang. I think this is because the technical aspects of what they do works like jazz. Theres space where they are given each other to dance around in their own worlds rather than becoming one relentless machine that congeals into the riff and slaps you with it. The playing is impressive but the song writing is back to a collection of cool dark grinding sounds happening but not always making a connection.

The pace slows to a doomier dirge with a furious under current of double bass they slowly forces the rest of the song to build momentum on " The Imperious Weak" that see the band following up for more of a one two combination than they have previously on this album. This sis where the brutality your standard fan of death metal will be looking for. "Cessation" works on a similar formula. It might be a few pounds heavier on the ears. The growl on all the songs follow the same pattern while every thing else take the ebb and flow with erratic bursts and blast jumping out at you. By the end of this song there is no denying its heavy even when it breaks down into the cleaner guitar at the last minute and thirty.

The album closes with "Await Rescission" . Like the songs before it they don't change the script to much and keep all the ingredients they have been choking you with up to this point. While the sounds on this album are perfected I think the songwriting was more dialed in on "Destroyers of All". These guys are great players and talented at the game they have mastered , but it boils down in the end to songs. There are some cool dynamic dips into the gray waters of their more sullen sections but I don't feel there is anything really being said through the music than just a heavy soundscape. If you are a fan of heavy and dark music that ultimately just drives in circles then this might be for you, it well executed but lazy song writing relying to it's heaviness alone so I'll give it a 7.5.






6.7