Bosse de Nage : "Further Still"

The opener starts off with a frantic blasting chaos that sounds like the drums were being tossed down a flight of stairs. Then it smooths out into a more deliberate pounding. The vocals are screamed but in more of a punk manner. There is nothing black gazey about this album it's more like hard core with a touch of black metal. Keeping with punk song writing the songs are short and to the point rather than sprawling ten minute drones. The vocals remind me of some of Converges more coherent moments. The first actual lyric that catches my ear is something about debasement. But if you have read my work with Cvlt Nation this should not be a surprise. "Crux" does little to change my mind about the conclusions the first two songs brought me to though I like the more dynamic trade off of tension. It hits me like more of a hard core trick than black metal. So from this point on in the review I am going to avoid referring to black metal altogether.

"Listless" opens up more sweeping sonics before things get nasty again. This going to be the hard core record that all the hard core kids are going to sleep on.The bass tone on this album is generally on point and I like the fact that it strays from the typical metal tone, which I guess it should since this is a hard core album. "My Shroud" really high lights this fact with it's atmosphere. When their drummer isn't throwing his kit down the stairs he really kills it. Though they begin to get mired into the speed of things. They don't let up on "Sword Swallower". There a few pounding accents and I'm waiting for a breakdown.Sure it's mean, but I know these guys can do more as song writers. "Vestiges" picks up pretty much where the previous song leaves off.  Two minutes thankfully there is some trade off and the bass holds things down.

They go from fast to faster as they close the album with the uber intense "A Faraway Place". It works just off the merit it's so in your face, which is a lot for an album that is so aggressive and driven. This album doesn't take as many chances as "All Fours", but it's about par for the course in that regard when it comes to hard core. I'll give it a 7.5 as it's a little one dimensional, but if I went into the album expecting hard core then I might have rounded it up to an 8.

Slothrust :"the Pact"

Woah... these guys have come along a way. This is a much smoother and polished effort right off the bat with a stab at pop injected. Gone is the grunge rawness. It does get kicked up later in the first song, but the hooky alternative rock going on here is much different than my first taste of the band. I would not call it selling out. It's a refining that could open them up to a bigger audience, it's a natural progression I suppose as I could never find their last album. "Peach"reminds me of Hole slightly, and the entire tone of the album production wise in terms of guitar tone makes me think of Placebo, though more organic and less synthesized. "Planetarium" has more a punk kick to it that doesn't feel like them to me. The moodier more ballad like "Walk Away" is lyrically interesting. It also allows us to really hear her cut loose with her vocals , not in a diva like display but from an emotive place.

The album is highly diverse in terms of it's dynamic range going into an acoustic strum on "Birthday Cake". This builds into some thing would have been common place on alternative rock radio in the 90s. Think the Breeders. With the horns and the jangle of the guitar it's almost ska until things break down for the verse. At this point it feels a little too upbeat for me. Despite it's title "the Haunting" strums along in a pleasant way that Juliana Hatfeild would be proud of . There is a similar strum to "New Red Pants" , but I think there is more to this song. The bass player gets down and they threaten to rock out. I like the drumming on "Fever Doggs" it reminds me of the Police. They do remember their distortion pedals on this song. Heading into the two minute mark there is a metallic riff that is pretty cool.

"On My Mind" is another ballad that allows her room to really sing. She does her sing song talk through most of the songs. Which gives their sound a certain attitude , but I prefer the moments where she really sings. I had to listen to "Some Kind of Cowgirl" twice to really absorb it. I like vocal layering. There is more of a tenderness to her voice. It clears up any doubts in regard to her singing . It might be the albums most dynamically rich song. This is contrasted by them closing with the acoustic "Travel Bug", which reminds me of "Blackbird" . It is going to take some getting used to the change of sounds here. I will give this album a 9, as it's well done and hits the marks they set out to hit.

Cultes Des Ghoules : "Sinister"

The fourth album from the Polish black metal band finds , an almost more Urfaust sound . The vocals are more sung in a resonate bellow on the first song , than howled or screamed manically. They continue to get darker , though perhaps no heavier. It all drones off of one central riff. There is more of a metallic chug to "Woods of Power". It does descend into more of a old Mayhem like take on black metal. It's pretty rough around the edges with a crazed honesty, yet sounds more like traditional black metal than I am used to hearing from these guys. The guitars utter out melodies that get a little buried in the din. "Day of Joy" has more determined and deliberate pound to the accents of it's attack. In some ways it comes across as a more musically fulfilling song. I  think it follows more traditional metal rules while the crazed vocals are the coat of chaos to distract you from this fact.

The production is a double edged sword here. While I might benefit the songs to have taken more time in the process, the roughness does give it more black metal cred. So they can't win either way on it. I think some of these songs that clock in at over the ten minute mark could stand to have some fat trimmed in the compositions. "the Serenity of Nothing" starts off more angry and smooths out for the chant that is layered over it in what could be the first verse if you were going to attempt to hold these guys to song structure. The song does ebb back into something that reminds me of Alice Cooper's "Black Juju".

They pick up the pace to close the album with "Where the Rainbow Ends" which is the least black metal song title ever. But that is fine with me. It starts off pretty run of the mill black metal, so much so that I hope I don't have to go thru a full 12 minutes of it. Then it slows into more of a gallop. It is still very Mayhem, more so when the vocals try to sing more than snarl. The guitar unexpectedly drops out and things get interesting. They go off into something angular and proggy, proving they can really play before blasting back. Things ebb back down, so they are making an attempt to justify the 12 minute mark. I will give this album a 9, though I doubt it's something I will get many spins from. It's a mature effort on their part and finds a balance between making fans of true black metal happy as their grim souls can be, without getting stale and embracing experimentation.

This album is released Sept 23rd on Hells Headbangers.

Deicide : "Overtures of Blasphemy"

The band's 12th album, finds guitarist Mark English from Monstrosity on board. His solos have a less chaotic feel and bring a more classic metal feel to the table. Benton has stayed true to what the band does, so much so that I have felt like I didn't need anything past "Once Upon the Cross", but I am giving this a shot as I have heard some stuff in-between that was pretty decent. The first three albums hit you with a steam roller intensity where they are chugging at you like a machine. That might not be the case here, but they are very efficient.There is more melody in the riffs as they are not giving you 39 lashes with them. Any problem I could have here is a problem I would have with death metal as a whole, it can be one dimensional aggression. This causes many of the songs to sound the same when they get more entrenched in speed.

The bass seems to be lower in the mix and Benton is not double tracking his vocals with the higher more demonic one which I think helped define their sound. This caused songs like "Crawled From the Shadows" to sound more like everything that has come after them. When the songs take on more of a thrashing feel, they grab me a little more with the relentlessness of "Seal the Tomb Below". The punchy vocals give it more of a hooky feel. "All That is Evil" doesn't capture this as well, though the syncopated march driving it does keep it from sounding like everything else. There is a Slayer feel to "Excommunicated". End the end the song blurs into the others. There is more intricate guitar work going into "Anointed in Blood" than I can really recall hearing from the band before. While its chug will give fans of death metal , what they want, someone like me who goes into with the mind set all metal is equal and want to hear song writing, gets a little boring.

The punch of  "Crucified Soul Salvation"  recalls more of their earlier days than anything thus far. The vocals have more purpose and are not just grunts as an after thought , but a working part of the song.  "Defying the Sacred" highlights the new more melodic side of the band, that would appeal more to fans of post At The Gates death metal. Then they revert back to a more meat and potatoes style of death metal. There is a angrier attack to "Flesh , Power , Dominion", that I think is done more effectively with the more accented "Destined to Blasphemy" If there was ever a debate over who is the best death metal band Deicide or Morbid Angel? This album doesn't touch Morbid Angel's last one in terms of blending musicality with brutality. I'll give this an 8 as it gets the job done, but doesn't touch the first three albums.

Emma Ruth Rundle : "On Dark Horses"

I try not review albums on days I am really suicidal. Normally when I am in that state I have lost interest in all things...even music. This time I was more anchored by certain things, but when I tried to listen to this album it did not grab me like " Marked For Death". It's not as dark and it's more of a straight up rock album. There are some surreal parts even in the trippy section of the opener. At times it makes me think of Jimi Hendrix playing country music. In other words Dave Navarro. There is a lose jazzy jam quality. The vocals to "Control" are a little moodier. I am open to her expanding her sound as I certainly didn't want her just to re-hash "Marked For Death". The dreamy swirl is still a thing even when she gets louder. So I like the second song better than the first which at least means this album is heading in the right direction.

That western undertone I detected is brought to the spot light on the title track. This is closer to "Marked for Death" so of course I like that though it's her ripping off herself. There is some roughly mixed over driven grunge flavored guitar on this one. Id we are using the totality of Nirvana to define grunge then this album is more grunge than indie rock so far. The moody western thing continues , but with a more introspective mood for "Races". I am glad I went back a re-visited this album in a saner state of mind. The drums give a little more pound to the dreamy desert that is "Dead Set Eyes". The vocals coast over the guitar really well. .The guitar solos on this album are really well done , they are more of texture thing more than any shredding.

It's cool to hear the male vocals layered around her's on " Light Song" , it has a more ominous feel to it. There are more sonic colors on this album than "Marked For Death". It's really well produced and they obtained some incredible guitar tones. "Apathy on the Indiana Border" also recalls some of the more longing moods she captured on "Marked For Death". Though they are slightly co-dependent I do like the lyrics to this song. There is a sleepy quality to "You Don't Have to Cry". The guitar is wandering in one direction and her vocals are going in the other. When it gets to the chorus it has more of a country feel. I'll go ahead and round this album up to a 10 and see how it grows on me.

Pale Waves : " My Mind Makes Noises"

I've been collecting singles from the band leading up to this album. So I've been looking forward to it. While I've  described this band to friends as a mix of Taylor Swift with the Cure. The opener is pretty bubble gum, but well done for what it. You don't get to hear the meat of what they do until "There's a Honey". The hook in the chorus is subtle, but I've woken up at 4 AM with it in my head as I stumble to the bathroom. It's songs like this one that have provided a soundtrack to my summer and navigating the first feelings of new relationships. There is a unhinged vulnerability to her lyrics that resonates with me. The title track has lyrics I can really relate to in regards to where anxiety and neurosis mixes with the initial burst of chemicals that comes with fluttering stomachs. Heather's voice alone can induce some fluttering, as since this is an album review I'l just letting the pictures do the talking in regards to her other key selling points.


"Came in Close" is a more upbeat dance song. I feel pretty positive when I hear it, though it is moments likes these that puts them very close to Chrvches zip code. "Loveless Girl" is moodier though with pop slick production. Like many of these songs the strength lies in the honesty of the lyrical narrative, which makes what would other wise sound like smart pop, even sharper.  There are hints of the 80s, one of the biggest influences seems to be Cyndi Lauper. "Drive" shows how Heather can throw her voice around as needed. The guitar is often mixed against the synths pretty closely so until there is distortion on them like in this song it can be hard to make out where they begin and keyboards end. Production wise the album is immaculate it one of the best vocal mixes I have heard since Taylor Swift's album. "When Did I Lose It All" goes into a chorus that makes me think of if the Cocteau Twins were a pop band instead of ethereal elf songs. This might be the strongest song that was not a single.

"She" is an atmospheric ballad that has a teenage jealousy to it that I don't relate to as much. There is an actual guitar solo on this one. "One More Time" is a bouncy break up song. It's anthem like chorus doesn't work as well for me as the verses. "Television Romance" is one of the more 80s sounding singles, but it's also a great fucking song. The guitar riffs sound like Prince while her voice has a quirk that really works. "Red" is more guitar driven that the bulk of the album, and proves the band does have a more organic side. Lyrically it could be a Tay Tay b-side, it's also the first song where she admits to being a vixen. The guitar is what really brings this one home and sets them apart from radio pop. "Kiss" might be my favorite song from these guys, though the lyrics factor into this. "Black" is another love gone wrong song. It's her voice that really sells it though more guitar in the verses doesn't hurt anything. It gets stripped way down to an acoustic guitar on "Karl". It's raw vulnerability that really sells this song. This band proves Brit pop doesn't have to have anything to do with the Beatles. I'll round this one up to a 10.

Deadbird : "III-The Forest Within the Tree"

Music plays a large role in my mental health for better of for worse. Sometimes it can allow me to fig deeper into depression, but when I am crawling out of my skin anxious I need to be brought down a little, funeral doom is the best for this, but I am still waiting on the new Evoken so this band out of Arkansas is going to have to do.  The vocals have a grungey Alice In Chains feel. The guitars are very much legit doom when they kick in. Very layered with clean strums thrown into the chords. While the first shade of vocals we get on this album are cleanly sung they do have grit to them rather than trying to make the melodies soar over the music. The second song might build into a "Children of the Grave" chug , but these guys are not simply Sabbath worshipers despite being a doom band. The howling of screamed vocals comes in midway into the second song.

They ride the lumbering drone of "Heyday" in a more Sleep like manner with it's monolithic fuzz. It does ebb down into a more melodic section. They roar back with more of a bull dozing sludge feel on " Alexandria" . It is a much more straight forward song . The bass leads into the instrumental "11:34", a cool idea that could have been worked into an actual song. The more brooding beginnings of "Brought Low" remind me of something Dax Riggs might have done. It has a slow dark simmer. It was beginning to become my favorite song on the album , until the howling vocals made it feel like they took the easy out dynamically. The clean vocals do return for the chorus and things stay relatively dark.  I think aside from pulling from the box of stock metal dynamics it might still be the albums best song.

There are some pretty powerful moments in the chug attack of " Bone & Ash". It is to the point and in your face. It even accelerates into a more punk fueled brand of sludge. I'll give this album a 9 and see how it sit with Me. The darker moments are really great, some of the more straight up sludge parts, just sound like you would expect that sort of thing to sound, though less Neurosis. The harsher vocals add to things and give a wider depth that Pallbearer doesn't venture into in terms of the range of heaviness, though Pallbearer has these guys in terms of melodies and the comparison is really due in part to the Arkansas connection, what makes those people love doom I do not know.