Death is June- Décryptal "Simulacre"

 

This Canadian band upholds what seems to be the trend this year with death metal, which is a return to the cold, dark, cavernous ways of old. The opening track reminds me a little of Unleashed's first album. The vocal tones trade off a little midway in with the predominant gurgle giving way to a higher, more pained rasp. The main riff of this song buzzes with a tremolo-picked tension, though the digs in deeper with thrash-glazed grooves as the song progresses. Unlike many heavier bands who stun you with the sheer weight and magnitude of their sound, so that you forget to ask if they can write a song, these guys assure you they can. This leaves the only question for the rest of the album to follow, being how dynamic said songs will be? 

"Ombre Hantant..." is more deliberate in its darkness at first before picking up the pace to what is expected for the genre. The drummer is great, but you have to be to play death metal. There is a little more hook in the galloping riff that seems like it's the song's backbone. This shifts into a hookier chug by the end. This song that follows this descends into a more malevolent storm of sound. There is a more angular prog thrash riff that possesses things. This is the first hint of Morbid Angel influence I have detected thus far. "Dendrites" might be one of the best songs on the album as it grooves the most, making it capable of inducing headbanging. 

Like most death metal bands, groove goes further than senseless battery or uncontrolled bursts of speed; these guys generally use restraint in this regard. Sometimes the low growl of the vocals carried more intent than others, often just becoming a haunting texture. This remains their only weakness when you consider the greatest death metal bands of all have vocals that are crucial components of the overall songwriting, just as any other style of music. This leaves more responsibility on the shoulder straps of the guitars. "Zisurrfu" shows what this looks like in action, with the double bass doubling down on these efforts. Not the most original thing I have heard, but effective at what they are going for. 

The title track closes the album. This finds the drums hammering down with more determination, before they find a little more groove. The punches make it feel like slower Deicide. Though they do speed things up to try and prove this theory wrong. I will give this album an 8, it's dark, dense, and a solid slab of sound that hits you hard which is what fans of this style of death metal want and it delivers.  

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Departures " Death Touches Us From the Moment We Begin to Love"

Being that this is an emotional screamo band there are the shared dynamics with in the genre also occupied by Touche Amore, whose album "Stage Four " I also reviewed today. These guys have a less upbeat sound. The guitars ache and do not jangle along. There is an angrier grit to the screamed vocals. The guitars sound stunning. There is a great deal of depth. "Waiting" and "Broken" bleed together almost as one song. A similar thing happens with the post -rockish interlude that is "Set Adrift". "Death of Youth" has the melodic guitar carrying the weight of the song as the screamed vocal begins to sound like all the other screamed songs on this album. The band does elevate the vocals by locking in around them.

"Lost" really doesn't do much to distinguish it self from the other songs on this album. The lyrics stand out at little more on this song and give it a little more weight. "1994" finds the guitars digging deeper to provide a more expansive range of sound. They return to the more post-rock influences we have heard at other points in this album. "Memorial" really doesn't do anything that we have not heard already, at this point on this album. The song does swell up really powerfully to almost make you believe in the emotions they seem to be pouring into this.

This album works when the guitar is at it's most moving. The vocals are not as strong as those that were on the Touche Amore album, because as a whole we get the same vocal color all the way through on this album which keeps me from rounding it up past an 8.5, since vocals are one of the most important aspects of music to me. If you are a fan of these guys and prefer more scream than emo in the equation then this album might connect with you more than it did me, though I found it to be a very entertaining listen.



7.8

 

Up From the Underground : Phlefonyaar's "Kissing Carrion"

Here is an album that is ugly in all the right ways. The intro this album which saw the light of dawn back in February sets the stage to be suitably dark. This band from the UK treads a pretty spot between sludge and industrial. The distorted vocals are more shouted than screamed.The pace is still very deliberate and pounding, but picks up into a tank like roll on " Castigation on the wings of crows". One thing I like about these guys is the layers of atmosphere added to the beating they dish out on your ears. The songs have abrasive qualities, but never abrasive for the sake of just roughing up your ear drums and challenging you to keep listening. Instead it draws you further into their nightmarish post- apocalyptic landscape.There is a burlier and more straight forward hammering to " All hail the red duke of loss". They do not relent. The beatings continue until morale is improved.The melody that does surface sits oddly against the more distorted body of the song, to the point of me thinking I had another window open on my lap top that was playing. There is a more angular quality to "Wretched Thing of Blood". The vocals have more of a howl to them. The lyrics remain easy to understand in thick of the din. The more industrial elements wane some as the album progresses making this more solidly sludge, though there remains an experimental electronic ghost continuing to haunt the frayed edges of the songs.


If you lean more heavily towards sludge I think you will not be disappointed. This album proved to be a great listen I liked the first two songs that followed the intro piece the best, but appreciated the more plodding chug of the second half of the album. I'll give this one an 8.5 and look forward to hearing what the future holds for these guys. Being an old goth from way back I of course want them to help bring industrial back, but at heart this beast is more of a collision between Godflesh and Eyehategod, if you took milked all crust of  the New Orleans punk out of Mike Williams' band . But as you can tell I did not immediately reference either band in the meat of the review since they have their own thing going. Do yourself a favor and check out the album below.
  3.3