Strangeweather : "S/t"

My bud Sean at Cvlt Nation was on the right path when he called this album perfect. This is Portland based bands first release as a four-piece. At times they play a dark hearted Neo-folk with an Appalachian breeze blowing through the melody. The members switch off vocals resulting in  bringing  wide range of moodiness to the gloom not unlike Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, these kids just don't engage in the gymnastics and instead weave a dirge like mourning to melodies each instrument and voice embraces while adding another swathe of gray to the sonic tapestry. This is not to say they are not capable of weaving intricate webs of angular beauty as they do on "Dear Disaster" it's just not on the Mr. Bungle level,nor would that sort of thing really work with mood being established here.The Sleepy Time comparison is only a stab defining one element at some points I can hear a little Rasputina at others Murder By Death, namely the "Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them " album.

The vocal blend on "All the Prisons part 2" confirms they have really created something unique here. At times the lyrics carry the indignant unease of post- punk, but the sound track they are set upon has the elegance that I'm always bitching about as being the x-factor that all these wanna be goth bands don't get. This gives them more emotional weight and at times makes them heavy in feeling rather than metal. At other times the lyrics have a romantic disillusionment. The two female singers are particularly stunning on "Dear Disaster".

The cello driven "Midnight Sun" strips away the multi layered sound that has prevailed thus far on the album. There is more of a rock feel to "Two of Pentacles".The vocal performance is one of the albums most impassioned.The guitar snakes along with a hunger that gives it an almost metal aggressiveness. The sequel to this song is a little more on the ethereal side.It should come as no surprise that I am going to go ahead and slap a 10 on this one. This album will appeal to a wide margin, fans of Amanda Palmer,Chelsea Wolfe, Rasputina, Sleepytime, as well as Agalloch's more chill moments will all find something to sink their teeth into. One of the rare album that achieves this kinda of dark beauty with depth the their songs. The first song I played for my girlfriend was "All Prisons part 2" and she thought it was just more of the droning drug music I like, so you have to listen to this as a whole work to really get the full effect or have been involved with heavy narcotic use for a period of more than five years. Do not play while operating heavy machinery.

A Forest of Stars : "Beware the Sword You Can Not See"

If I would have made a most anticipated list for metal this would have been on a top 10. These guys are re-embracing their black metal roots after going in a more prog direction on the last one. The folk elements are also still intact. The female vocals that come in half way into the first song add to this element of their sound. This album is heavier in sound alone. The first song is like running into a wall. There is an Arcturus like melodrama to the cleaner male vocals, that provide a narrative or a weather report as a cold front was moving it when they recorded this one. Midway into the second song you have been with so many things it's hard to digest. There are blast beats and mournful string melodies which are the primary components along with the maniacally theatrical vocals. Not unlike a band such as Mr. Bungle, you are having so much thrown at you, until you begin to wonder if there is a good song buried beneath it all or is this is distract you from the fact there is not. It will take multiple listens for me to figure that out in regards to this album.

I like the fact this album seem darker than the previous releases. They ringing and clanging of their brand of black metal here is as sonic as it is metal, which is a majick phrase around these parts. They lock in like the gentlemen they claim to be and deliver some elegant punches, not far removed to the type of class Enslaved hammers into their songs. Some of the songs do tend to bleed together, sometimes this is due to the narrative style of the vocals rambling on and other cases it could almost be argued these are less songs and more movements. It's the very folk prog in the middle of "Virtus Sol Invicta" that helps add personality when they start moving into more Opeth territory. Sometimes the progressive elements lays so much on top of the grooves that they get a little lost in the cluster of guitar coming at you strummed and chugged, a more grandiose than ritualistic manner. The first half of the album closes with the bizarre "Proboscis" . The recorded some instruments forward and some backwards , you haven't heard anything like this before.


The second half of the album is broken down into a six part epic.  The first part is "Mindslide" which is one of the moments where they remind me of the Gathering , not just because of the female vocals but because how they are used. psychedelic gets tossed around like a bong at a Phish show, but these guys have really tuned in and dropped out by the time they wind their way to "Have you got a Light " which has shades of Pink Floyd's  Obscured by Clouds " to it.The rougher vocals sometimes seem like they need to catch their breath in the odd cookie monster manner they roar at you.They come across as more effect when set against the strum of clean guitar. It goes back into female vocals these remind me a little more of Carla from Sleepytime, though it rips into a much more metal section that sways between being a more folk inflected flavor. The more growled vocals still maintain that poetic narrative voice rather than giving into their dark side.They catch a pretty good groove on"An Automaton Adrift" , which builds up into the more black metal minded "Lowly Worm" that flows into it like it is just the build up of the same song , and in some ways it is as one is part four the part five.


The closing song has more in common with the Gathering than what you might traditionally expect from this band. While this is done is a more much straight ahead rock manner, listening to this song you never feel like this was done in order to gain radio airplay.This one took a lot of listens for me to get a handle on almost a week of them. But I am going to give it a 9.5 , only because sometimes the dramatic narrative of the male vocals grates on me at times , keeping it from being a perfect ten.

Leviathan : "Scar Sighted"

This is much more death metal than I thought Wrest was going to give me going into this. This is a much different album than "True Traitor True Whore" , but the samples and ambiance wandering into the latter moments of the song begin to win me over. Granted on "True Traitor True Whore" he was going through a dark time that reflected in his art after being charged of raping his then girl friend with a tattoo gun. Since that died down he has married and put out another album with Twilight, which I was less than impressed with.

"Dawn Vibration" is certainly getting their it's more black metal, but it feels like the last Blut Aus Nord to me in terms of being dialed in when we know he can do more. There is a bleak industrial ambiance to the stormy lashing that "Gardens of Corprolite". There's a little more bleakness, melody and depth on "Wicked Fields of Calm" which is the first song on the album that really connects with me. The middle break section of the song is pretty amazing, with a great bass tone. The clean vocals on "Within Thrall" work well, the first riff while it rips is a little Symphony X for me. The more dissonant descent it takes it a much better turn of events. The verse riff sounds a little like Nachtmystium, in the hateful way it pounds. Judd must have rubbed off on him a little.

The more death metal feel returns on "A Veil is Lifted", but is twisted around with a disco-beat and some murky ambiance. It works , not the most compelling song on the album, but it gets the job done. Of course I am going to love the funereal doom creep to the title track. The blasts it builds into are understandable and well earned. "All Tongues Toward" summons more atmosphere as the drums start with a militant pound. The song then rips into blasting black metal with gruggling death metal vocals alternating with the black metal screams. The closing song is a mixed of crazed howls, slow pounds and buzzing black metal guitars.

This is better than the bulk of black metal coming out in terms of sounds and dynamics, do I think Wrest has done better? Yes. For what this is it works I'll give it a 8.5, some moments really wowed me others didn't if you are a huge fan of his round it up to a 9 if you are easier to please than me.

Gristnam : "release2"

The days continues to get gritty for me as I find this New Orleans band scraping up some grime ridden death metal/ death-core. As long as the pig-squealing doesn't start I can hang with this.  These guys are the drummer and screamer from Haarp. I can't say I'm thrilled when the first two songs run together. "cells" does much more to stand on it's own to angry feet, it's also where I can begin to here their self professed grind core coming in. The screamer yells out slaughter you with axes, is the only thing I can make out. There is more of an explosion to "riding home" that has the growler wondering if you were smiling and exclaiming that sometimes you lie and sometimes you laugh. The find some pretty brutal chugs to accompany the lyrics that are now a pretty scathing condemnation of some one shooting up. Unlike Tribunal who I reviewed earlier today, I'm going to take a stab in the dark that these guys aren't straight edge, but like most people who live in New Orleans have had some band experiences with junkies.

The metallic spasms really come to a head on "Wallow' which ends with the line "until I piss upon your casket". Whats with it with New Orleans that creates such great lyrics, first Acid Bath now these guys, and many bands in-between. I guess it't the cross section of tourists , junkies and college hipsters riding their bikes that brings out this level of anger. They wrap things up with the savage yet one dimensional "Oak Tunnel" that falls somewhere near a sludge ridden middle road for these guys as "riding home" is most likely the albums most intense moment and hard to really out heavy or surpass in terms of sonic disdain. 'Wallow" is a blur of raging blasts and grind, so where were they suppose to go from there?  This is not a band that I was expecting their lyrics to be one of their strengths as you normally can not make out what is being screamed at you. This is not the case here. So it ends with a song that strikes me slightly as filler.

I'm going to round this up to an 8, as I enjoyed this album much more than I thought I would going into this. Is it something that I am going to feel the need to wear out in the future? Probaly not, though when I was a angry young teenager this would have been most welcome. But that is not where I am at though I am pretty pissed at the IRS, for hiding my refund for reasons still unknown, as I got exempted from Obamacare, but I will piss on their casket.




release2 by Gristnam

Tribunal : "Watch You Suffer"

Sorting through some of the band's Cvlt Nation assigned to me . One of them is this German band who dishes out a fairly straight forward mix of nastiness. It meets at that cross roads band metal metal bands that weren't spraying their hair up in the 80's came to. It is a junction where you ask where thrash begins and hard-core punk ends. These guys however were spawned after Entombed who made similar inquiries in regards to death metal. Now the terms d-beat and crust get thrown in the dialogue. My first thought when I first heard this was how I need to down load myself another copy of Entombed's "Wolverine Blues" album. It killed that tape when it came out so I have zero guilt in hunting for that torrent.

The common question I ask bands that are this heavy comes after they have seized my attention  with first song. The question is now what? You have volume, density and a cool guitar tone, but can you write a song? Do you have dynamics? Or are you a one trick pony. This is an ep so it makes the band's job easier.  Like jack hammer sex how long can you keep up that intensity? And does that approach hit the spot or numb you out? The vocals seem to stick with one distorted bark. They adhere to a straight ahead punk beat for the two songs that follow the opener. "Waste of Life" is a quickie at under two minutes. So fans of Nails , will appreciate these guys economic approach to song writing.

The assault they hit you with is so focused on their primary method of punishment until it took a few listens to distinguish the exact songs. These guys have meaty riff's , but are vegan. They have a pretty dope guitar sound, but they are straight edge. I could see these guys being a part of that Victory Records scene from the 90's. I suppose you might hear more Integrity in their sound than Earth Crisis or Snap Case. They also claim to be god-free, which I can under stand the angle they are coming from wanting to be devoid of all crutches. I like some gods, all of Odin's Posse,  the ancient ones as well as other cultural symbols of darkness, but I also want to devour one of those Little Ceaser bacon wrapped pizza's so Tribunal and I can agree to differ. But they don't come across like the are preaching their platform to me.

When it gets down to music "Rotting From Within" is like a meaner b-section to "Waste of Life". The drumming is a little boring, but they do hook into some pretty convincing chugs. I can say in a time where every band is trying to be blackened something, it's refreshing to hear a band that is content just doing what they do. The phrase "chaos reigns" from the Lars Von Tier movie "Anti- Christ" while a nice sentiment to exclaim is starting to get a little over used. When It crops  in "Your God Was Never There", it's one of the few barks that my ears keyed in on.

I'll give these guys a 7, but you might round them up if Entombed styled bands is your thing, even more so if Entombed influenced hardcore bands are your thing. For me I've got a hear like a grave yard they are dying to get it.

Ufomammut: "Ecate"

This is the Italian doom trio's seventh album since forming in 1999. They play a thick stony brand of doom somewhere between Yob and Zoroaster. The ten minute opener is almost an instrumental as the vocals are thrown way behind the guitars , then the faint whispering of vocals enters in the songs final three minutes. They find some interesting sounds and seem to be off to a pretty good start here. The riffs are pretty basic and droning, their signature move seems to be distracting you from this fact by swirling some sonic surrealism around your ears. They raise the rumble on the bellowing trudge of "Plouton". The build momentum until they have sped past the boundaries of doom and are in more sludge country, which truth be told is what this felt like from the get go.

"Chaosecret" breaks down into a lingering crawl with samples dripping off of it's monolithic lumber. slow boiling the vocals take their place in the back of your hallucinating mind. One again their formula proves to be build things up in the final three minutes and lead you on for the first seven. The vocals almost industrial like. Distant and distorted the fall between being shouted through a machine and sung. "Temple" finds the band dragging the thick slabs of fuzzed out distortion through the post- apocalyptic landscape they seem to be wandering in. The song hits a groove that it speeds up and plays around with, but five minutes into it I found myself drifting away from the song. They do add some accents and punches in the  final three minutes but at that point it feels like too little to late. Though I do like the industrial feeling of the production.

"Revelation" is just a spacey interlude that sets you up for the tense and winding riff of "Daemons". This tight palm muted affair has a similar attack that Tool or Kyuss might employ. the more the song progresses I an hear that it's "Opiate" era Tool I am referring to most likely "Piece of Me". It might be the most conventional song on the album , but it is also the most infectious and you can't help but bang your head to it a little.I am a little split on this as I am torn between lack of originality and sound so I'll leave it up to you as to which is more important. If originality is the most important factor then around this down to a 7.5, if the overall sound is and you don't care where you might have heard it before then give it an 8.

Enslaved: "In Times"

I was getting scared by their last album that the band was heading into an Opeth direction and beginning to go down a proggy road that would never see a blast beat again. I am here to report, the black metal is back...at least to a greater extent than in recent years and more so on the first song than the bulk of the album.  Does this mean the clean vocals are taking a back seat? No. It's a better balance. This is the band's 13th album, putting them three behind Iron Maiden. So they know what to do and how to do it. Musically they can as capable as any band out there. After their sixth album they were beginning to grow beyond the confines of black metal. The folky viking elements are still in the mix.

"Thurisaz Dreaming" prove the band is capable of giving you the best of both world. Progressive and black metal, tied up with a viking bow. They get blasty but introduce dark guitar melodies sweeping in behind it. The clean vocals even strike out with a little more balls to them reaching out of the smooth dead pan Larsen normally sings in. With the keyboardist exploring a wider scope of melodies as the vocals take the spot light this go around.   This stands true for both ends of the spectrum with Kjellson's growls expanding in power and depth.

"Building With Fire" finds the band almost taking more of a rock n roll pacing. A very deliberate mid-pace with clean vocals coasting over it. There was a time when I would have preferred this approach to the snarling vocals . They come in , but the music doesn't get any heavier. Though it might have been predictable if it had. The bass comes through in the jammy break down puts the finishing touches on it in my book.

Yes, the title track does get back into the more Opeth like place and feels less like black metal, though it is still well played and heavy.Six and a half mins in it even drifts into a clean Pink Floyd like part. Here Larsen's vocals really excel. This experimentation does what experimentation should do and takes them out of the formulaic feeling. the good cop bad cop vocal trade off can create.The stomp of the closing "Daylight" epic and invigorated with a viking metal feel. The two vocals styles give a call an response, with the cleans taking more of a  heavily harmonized backing role. It drops down into a post- rock minimal strum. This builds more like a Hum song.The solo gets to play with modes they don't normally dip into which works for me despite it not being metal.

I think they have hit one of the better balances between their more classic sound and the progressive angle they have been going for . I'll go ahead and around this up to a 10. We will see how inspired the songs prove to be after repeat listens. They have always been one of my favorite black metal bands. Killer musicians, I was a little torn with the almost commercial "Building with Fire', but the fact they use such restraint says something.