Hegemone : " We Disappear"

This band's second album came out back in May and has flown under the radar. It's woeful blackened Sludge that throbs against scathing screamed vocals . Occasionally the vocals drop down into a lower growl. There is a weird almost industrial pounding breaking down mixed with post- rock , so these guys are not afraid to step out and experiment. They have the dark sonic intensity that I am on the look out for in heavy music. Blast beats come in on the second and find the band heading in a much more black metal direction. While this was hinted at in the first song they are fully committing here. Sung vocals come in when the song slows down , but it doesn't feel like they are working off a good cop /bad cop dynamic and are well placed. The fact it remains dark and emotive certainly holds my ears.

"Raising Barrows" could fall into the black - gaze sub genre, but they don't fall into wanting to be Deafheaven when they go here. The vocals are a lower growl and when it kicks in there is more of a punch. The post rock swell does rise against something that mixes black metal with a more crusty sound. The drummer really earns his pay check when the song builds. After this song they go into something more straight forward , trading off between atmospheric sludge and black metal. After this they give you some breathing room and let the album simmer in more ambient post rock guitar. It retains a melodic quality , along with a darker brooding. When it blasts off into black metal it fades into the background until dropping down into a soulful female vocal.

Regular readers know how I feel about songs over ten minutes...I'm not crazy about them. It's not a totally deal breaker, though most bands these days drone on a blast beat for the first 8 minutes, so it is really going to depend on what they do with the next 15 mins. I can say a 15 min song will never make it over to my iPod. The first five minutes does find them shifting into a more pounding half time riff. When the song takes a more dramatic shift at the 7 :30 mark, it's not the smoothest transition as hanging on distorted synth is kinda awkward. But I have heard Agalloch do similar, so I will try to let it slide. At the ten minute mark, another five minutes is not making sense to me. Behold the end just kinda breezes past me and sounds like its par for the course when it comes to post-modern black metal or however we are choosing to label it. I will give the album an 8 because despite this over the top end that never reached it's potential I think the first song is incredible and the album is strong up until the last song.

Unreqvited ; "Disquiet"

Ok, the debut album from this black gaze band/ Lets see how long they can go without sounding like Deafheaven. Before you know you are on the third song. The post -rock element is a bigger deal here than the black metal. When they black metal comes it's in the sonic blur of blasting. While Deafheaven was not the first band to dip their toes in these waters, the way the static vocals sit in the mix almost holding their ground as the bands only metal elements bears a similar dynamic. The vocals are more anguished and depressive than what Deafheaven does. The keyboards also help to separate them from the bandwagon. Though sometimes make them indulgent and clutter up the album with atmospheric interludes.

The melody to "Maydena" is pretty thoughtful. The vocals when they do break the surface come out in the mix for so it doesn't sound like the are as far back behind the water fall of guitar they are trying to howl out from behind. The piano melodies also help give them some more identity. They hit more of a sonic sweet spot with this song, where they needed to be earlier in the album. Not that what they were doing previously was bad it was just not as lush or dynamic, which if you are a regular reader of this blog then you know those are two qualities I ask for from music.It is easy for these guys to lose their way and get consumed in the flowery piano parts, so what is the band's strength can also be their weakness if not balanced out. They take the flowers to more of an extreme on "Death" which closes out the album, while it sounds really huge when the guitars come back to add a more metal dyanmic it also takes them five minutes to get to that part. The bulk of this sounds sounds more like something from a movie soundtrack.

These guys do have a strong sense of dynamics I think on future album's it will be about finding the unhappy medium that is more metal, but retains the more symphonic side to what they do. So this si more like taking a symphonic black metal band and combining it with a atmospheric black metal band and then having them write the sound track to a movie. I'll give this an 8, as they do hit on some powerful moments and succeed at what they do , though they haven't convinced me they are a full blown metal band it sound like just a color they like to dabble in.

Old Graves : " Long Shadows"

No new ground for Old Graves, is my first thought going into the project's latest release "Long Shadows". This album sound great, there is a lot of depth in the mix, but the sounds and the sweeping manner they are being presented here are nothing new when it comes to black metal. It's not until the third song "To Die Or Bear the Burden of Death" that I am impressed. The first two songs are sonically pleasing it is not until this moment in the album that I hear something that strikes me as unique. There is a sorrowful yet soaring melody that is not encumbered by constant blast beats.

"Slave to the Boiler That Heats the Baths" splits the difference between a sound that is all this projects own and adhering to the conventions of black metal. When unfettered by expectations some beautiful sounds are captured. It is hard to say how much of the fault lies in the genre or the song it self, more often than not it pleases my ears despite itself. Half the songs are compact and powerful, with a few excursions into almost post-rock in some of it's shimmering corners.It's the more reflective moments that stray from the raging cries of agony that are this album's best.

The long and winding "Teeth Pulled From Gnashing Jaws" takes it's time. It's not a bad song, but at the same time what I am listening for are the moments that stand out from every black metal band I have heard this year. The second take on "Aethernaut" has some cool moments, but it feels more like an outro. I'll give this album an 8. It's good for what it is, but don't expect the wheel to be reinverted here. Fans of very sonic and atmospheric black metal will be won over by this one.