Synodic – Infinite Presence In A Violent Universe (2017) – Sent to me by a local and completely unexpected source, I have what I believe to be the debut album from this Oklahoma based duo. It’s essentially a mixture of raw melodic black metal and atmosphere, which are done equally well, thanks to magic of digital technology and human know-how. The record really does seem to hit on that whole early Darkthrone meets Krallice aspect, replete with sections in which we’ll be treated to the ebb and flow of the universe itself. Sometimes the programmed drumming can come off even more robotic thanks to some effects, which sell the atmosphere even more. It tends to melodically go into an almost Devin Townsend or Dethklok level of grandiosity, even though the raw sense of the material can make the leads often muddled within the whole of the performance. The project can also be compared to that of Mesarthim or Frozen Ocean, which are two acts that The Grim Tower have heavily praised in the past, especially during the latter’s “space exploration” era. Frontman Imber (or could that be frontwoman Imber?) has a harsh snarl that communicates the feel of ancient Scandinavian black metal and still manages to give off a kvlt vibe, even though Myrdin Cerphas’s compositions seem to take it off into another realm altogether. That probably won’t sit well with a majority of old school kvltists, but I have noticed that these kinds of people are evolving their tastes along with the emergence of new approaches in this genre of black metal. In other words, you might find something here that you might remember from Burzum’s Filosofem, one of the earliest examples of this kind of music. Cosmic black metal has been a thing for quite a while and I see Synodic merely following in the footsteps of other atmospheric black metal titans, though not simply stopping there. The first time I heard this record, I was quite amazed at just how good it was. This is definitely what raw, kvlt black metal sounds like in the modern era – just with some added bells and whistles that make this performance all the more entertaining. You can pick up a digital copy for a fair five bones, or you can… Oh, the limited edition CD versions of the record are sold out. For good reason though, the band should have had five-hundred on hand for a recording this spectacular. Hopefully they’ll pick up a label (come on guys, Synodic is the kind of band that you’ll actually want to sign!) and will be able to release the disc again for a much larger run. The Grim Tower highly recommends the amount of grandiose melodic majesty entwined within Synodic’s Infinite Presence In A Violent Universe.
(7 Tracks, 51:00)
9/10
Blues Funeral – Awakening (2017) – The fantastic sophomore effort from this Texas based progressive metal act proves that the sophomore slump doesn’t apply to everyone. According to the press release, they’re a bit Cream, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep with some Candlemass thrown in for good measure. They were essentially formed from a temporary hiatus for the band Sanctus Bellum back in 2014, but have proven themselves to be a remarkable act in their own right. As it was very difficult to tell from the Bandcamp as to who plays each instrument (and I also couldn’t discern that information from the press kit either) I will simply use generic terms as not to get anyone’s position wrong. In any case, the first thing I’m reminded of vocally would have to be a mixture between early and late nineties Faith No More. The frontman here reminds me a bit of Mike Patton, as well as some of the riffs. In particular, the title cut and “Illusions Of Reality” sound just like classic Faith No More, albeit with nearly limitless amounts of guitar shredding. The latter also carries a bit of funk with it, which is always fun. I’m also reminded a little of Living Color (who recorded more than just “Cult Of Personality” by the way) which is not something I’d expect from a sixties/seventies progressive rock act. As the disc rolls on however, we have the more traditional style of “Firedrake” which comes packed with hefty synths, jazzy rhythms and just the kind of trippy vibe that works perfect on a record of this type. Guest vocalist Kelly Cousins Adams also performs on the track, and she has a such a control of pitch and tone that she actually sounds better than the band’s frontman! Coupled with such mesmerizing synth and guitar structures, not to mention the incredible solos – this one is a real standout. But if that wasn’t good enough, than the opening leads (which seem to have a flamenco vibe) of “Casmir” only help to further pepper the listen. It also features a couple of middle-eastern inspired pieces as well as something that reminds me of 8-bit NES chiptune in the solo section. These guys seem to derive inspiration from everywhere and that’s going to make them standout in the future. When I say these are great leads folks, I really mean that. It feels a little bit like Santana, which for those of you familiar with his albums and not his pop singles; will be a breath of fresh air. I’m not saying that this man can play as well as the Latin American legend, but that he’s very close to that level of proficiency. In just these few tracks alone, Blues Funeral prove that they have the potential to be one of the hottest progressive rock acts around. Their attention to detail and ability to experiment with many different styles of playing is what will make them a real trip for guitar aficionados everywhere, or at least people who just like good music. There’s real substance here, which you don’t hear often; coupled with the fact that the album’s level of production quality shines much better than a slew of similar acts I’ve heard on various labels. I didn’t know what to expect at all from these guys, but was pleasantly surprised and nearly blown away in some sections. Definitely give “Awakening” a listen, you’ll be glad that you did.
(6 Tracks, 39:00)
8/10
Casket Robbery – The Ascension (2017) – There’s two ways that I could review this new EP release from Wisconsin’s Casket Robbery. I could go to hardcore heavy metal elitist route and consider this “too modernist” to be metal, or I could go the more accessible route and discuss the album as a rather catchy and brutal affair, quite similar to acts like Otep, Crisis and other hefty female-fronted metal outfits. The album is described as having quite a bit of chunk, which it certainly displayed, though it is absolutely littered with breakdowns and the broken-glass in the throat vocal approach from Megan Orvold. There isn’t really enough here to chew as far as the band’s direction, but it seems to be a more straightforward and less inventive style than Evolution Of Evil, which I greatly enjoyed. It seems to be classed into the brutal death metal genre, but I’m not hearing BDM as much as I’m hearing what sounds like a more death-metalized version of hardcore, albeit with some memorable riffs and a thrashier moment in album closer “Lilith.” It feels like an appetizer and doesn’t come off very memorable in itself, which worries me a little for the band’s next outing. They’ve definitely gone a more accessible route, have sold completely out of their limited edition bundles and on that note, should be attaining some level of fanbase. We could be hearing the next Otep without the use of clean vocal singing or disturbed poetry readings, but I don’t think that the mainstream industry really cares enough to lift Casket Robbery to this level. Metal as a whole is really struggling in the mainstream, and even a man who tried his very best to save the heart of rock and roll in this country has announced his entry into the world of pop and country music. A decision that I completely respect however, but it seems that the writing might very well be on the wall for the mainstream popularity of this genre. Metal is going fast underground, and accessibility will no longer be the name of the game. Radio stations will continue to play the same nineties heyday material, going much in the vein of classic rock and that guy who calls up the local radio station every Saturday night to request Whitesnake.
That being said, we do have a good sign of what accessible metal would look like these days and that can without a doubt, be found here. I don’t think that this one is anywhere near the level of quality that Evolution Of Evil had (and I just checked my old review to see that it was extremely positive for said release) but it shows that the Wisconsin quartet are not calling it quits anytime soon, and that’s great to hear. I would definitely be interested in hearing their next album, but hope that it would not suffer from quite so much of a strip down as this one has. Perhaps the fact that this EP was only released a few months after the 2016 debut, is one of the reasons why the disc wasn’t as powerful as the last – but I’m sure that Casket Robbery have much more in store and apparently they put on some very brutal shows which could help them cement a good image in the scene, entirely regardless of the current mainstream direction. Definitely give the album a listen if this sounds like something you’d be interested in.
(3 Tracks, 10:00)
7/10
Scalpel – Methods To Delusion (2017) – When Scalpel first debuted back in 2013 with Sorrow and Skin, I thought it was a decent album. It was a little bit common-fare as far as death metal was concerned, but with some interesting bells and whistles. But after that, the band just sort of fizzled out, as many others do. Unexpectedly, a new release surfaced this year from the Massachusetts quartet and its nothing short of amazing. Mark my words, whatever these guys decided to get into, it definitely benefitted them. I also noticed that the disc was closed with a purple sticker that had some weird sigil looking thing on the top of it. So whatever kind of magic that entailed, it definitely worked for them. I could tell from the album art alone, that this was going to be a vastly different experience than what I had experienced prior and it seems more like a meeting of Gorguts and 7H Target, especially in the drumming. It literally feels like drummer Chip Fay took a cue from the extremely raucous Russian BDM act and as you might expect, that level of kit abuse brought this act up from relatively decent to fucking amazing in just an album’s time. The disc itself is just thirty minutes long and features a weird little throwaway in “Interdelude” which could have been funneled into another one of the tracks later in the album, but it’s nothing to complain about. There’s enough of that Cannibal Corpse/Deicide/early Cryptopsy influenced sound to keep you going, especially with the layered vocal approach that guitarists Taylor Brennan and Manny Egbert perform rather furiously within the performance. There are also some proggy bits, which don’t really come in until the disc’s second track “Labors Of Loathing.” While these might sand down the heaviness, they’re necessary for building structure and I’d much rather hear a disc where the focus is songwriting and not just sheer brutality. This disc probably took a great deal of time to write and structure formulaically, sometimes feeling like a mathematics equation with a punch. But with that punch also comes more than a few guitar solos, which of course I appreciate.
I’ve listened to the album at least three times now, and it certainly isn’t the kind of thing that gets old fast. There are still some production issues here and there, as I feel that some of the leads and solos could be a bit louder in the mix. But what band doesn’t suffer from production issues these days? The whole of the album comes off very raw and organic, bringing with it the kind of warmth that classic death metal discs offered in the past. Also, I have to hand it to them for that rockabilly influenced solo piece on “The Woodsman Pt.II” It’s just not the kind of thing that you’d ever hear on a record of this type and I’m so glad that these guys actually jumped out of their own skins and threw the old box away to create something that really stands out on it’s own. I honestly don’t think that there is a bad track on this album, and might even call it one of the best death metal albums I’ve heard all year. Even if Methods To Delusion isn’t at the very top, I know for sure that it sits very high up there. You owe it to yourself to give this one a spin, as these guys are currently in a more proficient spot than over half of the musicians in the BDM scene right now. That includes acts signed to major labels, who are again, focused on brutality rather than songwriting. Anyone can write a loud and brutal song, but to write a song that sticks with you – that’s an art. Scalpel certainly have that going for them right now, with me anxiously wondering where they’ll be heading in the future with this new and more dynamic sound. The Grim Tower highly recommends Scalpel’s Methods To Delusion.
(10 Tracks, 29:00)
9/10
Darksworn – Rogue (2017) – Hmm… Of the many submissions I’ve gotten over the past couple of years, the history here is a bit difficult to grasp. Apparently the Oregon based musician Alan Blaisdell performed under that name for a couple of years, releasing The Epic in 2016 followed by Gravity this year. Adding to that, he changed his name to Adam Darksworn, now titles the project Darksworn and released yet another new album this year called Into The Dark Storm. But if that wasn’t crazy enough, this Buckethead of melodic death metal is about to release yet another album (which is the one I’m about to cover in this review) called Rogue. At this rate, he could release another two albums by Christmas. It’s obvious from the amount of material released already that Darksworn has a lot of time on his hands, and thankfully that time translates into some rather intriguing music. The following release I have here is a bit raw and fairly short, but the passion is there and I feel that in the future, Darksworn might be something of note. There are already some nice ideas here and there, especially considering the fact that the guy is writing all of this music by himself. He also crafted the other four or five discs that I mentioned earlier. Let’s make this a little more interesting and go with a rundown, shall we?
When the disc begins with “Merging Planets” I notice an obvious raw quality, but nice melodies. The growls seem oddly layered over the instruments, there’s a real lack of clarity there, especially when these are lapped on top of “Leviate” which contains some amazing melodies as well as a more defined sense of clarity compared to the former. It’s that raw vocal meets over-produced clean melody vibe that really rubs me wrong. Yes, you can tell that Darksworn recorded the vocals over the track after it had been recorded, same as I do – but I don’t think he mixed it in properly. What really needed to happen here, was the instruments being turned up a little more. You need to emulate the feeling of playing with a band, which is not what I’m getting here. I usually record my vocals over the tracks and then raise his mixes just enough so that I’m properly homogenized within them. The fact that the music is too low in the mix and his vocals too high really seems to be a problem. I often use an effect that raises the volume of my vocal tracks pretty high, but then I greatly lower that to about negative one or even negative four if necessary. Of course, I’m using a rather ancient program and not sure what kind of program he uses for these albums. Regardless of that, raising the volume of the main tracks might just work in his favor. I don’t need to hear the vocals as much as I need to hear the vocals AND the music. It’s very important. When mixing, it is important that every riff be heard regardless of the vocal implements in the track. I don’t want there to ever be a point where the music is inaudible over my obnoxious, egotistical ramblings.
As we move forward, the video game atmosphere of “Lost” comes into play, with MIDI tings that greatly bring me back to my teenage years of amateur game design with object programs. On a Windows 98 PC, most of your MIDI’s would come out this way. “Slow Death By Poison” has a rather interesting introduction and also features better mixing. One of the reasons that could be, is because the track is more BDM influenced and naturally louder with more of an emphasis on chunky bass. This one’s actually quite good, moving far away from the polished melodic death metal that opened the disc and leading to a style that seems to work a little better with the vocal approach. It still stumbles a little on the vocal element (where’s the passion in this?) and I’m noticing the same in “Inferior.” When Adam utilizes the vocals here, it often sounds like he’s having a bit of trouble enunciating emotion into them. It’s not that he doesn’t have the skill, but I’m just not hearing anything here that really manages to stand out as far as that level of the performance is concerned. I will say that as far as the structural compositions are concerned, they’re much better. But it sounds apathetic, which takes me out of the performance. Thank goodness for the chiptunes here and there or I might have fallen asleep! “Through Defeat” almost sounds like a Japanese approach to melodic death metal. Despite the interesting use of electronics, there’s still a bit of a rough-edge here that needed a bit more fine tuning. Even the solo is just slightly off in areas, but I’ll commend him for the effort. The man is trying to experiment, and he’s got a head full of ideas that seems to require focus. “Immortal” takes a more modern approach to the genre, but now the opposite is happening here as the vocals are a bit lower than the music itself. It’s about reaching a happy medium, which is extremely difficult to do – I’d also recommend that Adam speak a little louder. It often sounds like he’s trying to do “quiet death metal” so as not to wake up the neighbors, his wife, a kid, parents or whatever. That style never works well for albums, because it retains the same amount of muffling that wouldn’t wake up said sleeping individual, and doesn’t have the full force of bravado that such a genre must utilize. This is an aggressive genre for the most part, it should have a little more depth and emotion. I’m not feeling the approach there at all, because it feels like there’s a side-factor preventing this from being as good as it could be. As far as the last track, “Enslaved” went, there were a series of problems including the whole thing ending abruptly and several portions of vocal excess that seemed like they were not properly removed. But this could be the result of some skipping in the source material, or another foreseen error. I know that this track behaved rather strangely on my laptop and MP3 player, so I’m not sure the real issue there.
In any case, I see this as a quantity versus quality type of issue. Adam Darksworn has a great deal of ideas and reminds me of a much younger me that wanted to perform every kind of usical style that he could get his hands on. But I realized that as much as I loved that kind of stuff, it just wasn’t focused. My old Ebon Etheric “electro-metal” junk proved that. Musically, some of these songs need just a little more attention to detail as far as production goes. “Through Defeat” really needs some TLC. I think that maybe instead of trying to beat Buckethead and Merzbow at their own game as far as album releases, it may be time for Darksworn to take a look at al of his music and focus on the cuts that really need a touch up. Just last week, I trashed about two or three hours of writing and vocal work, because it didn’t fit our style. That might sound extreme, but I don’t want to put out any old album. I hope that this new wave of indie metal artists will soon come into that mentality. Since the advent of the internet, creating and releasing music has become incredibly easy to do. This is also why we’re bogged down with so many releases from every part of the world that you could ever imagine. I can’t even keep up anymore. There’s enough heavy metal and rock music bursting out of the underground, you could fill a swimming pool with it. Maybe even a body of water if it keeps going at this rate. With that much music, it becomes very difficult to tell where the talent pool is. There already are many artists out there similar to Darksworn, who have more than enough material for about six or seven albums already. The trick is to know what’s useful, what needs to be tweaked and what needs to be junked completely. Even so, I think it is still worth checking out the artist’s page and seeing what he’s made of.
(8 Tracks, 29:00)
6/10
Murder Love God – The Negative EP (2017) – Lockjaw frontman Medavon’s solo project have released a new EP that should sit very well with fans of modern Marilyn Manson. Although there are some notable differences which make it stand out quite a bit from the popular goth/industrial icon. There’s a current of blues running through the album as you’ll hear in sections of “Bipolar.” It almost has a depressive nature and seems to express that emotion pretty well. There’s a slight bit of light-heartedness to be found just before the surf-rock and blues sections become muted and die down completely. “Can’t Look Away” sounds like gothic blues rock and reminds me a great deal of The Pale Emperor even though there’s a slight upbeatness that I wouldn’t have expected. I’m also reminded just a little of some of the approaches I’ve heard from Ancient VVisdom, when they experimented with a little bit of gothic blues. Medavon also claims that trip hop is a major influence on this project, especially Tricky who was famous for about two albums and then went into the underground to continue this interesting style of music today. Hip hop music might be popular in the US today, but unfortunately most people don’t know much about trip hop music. It’s unfortunate.
The third cut here, “Firewalker” is a little bit heavier and features and almost whispered vocal approach from Medvaon. It has a bit of an atmospheric tough to it, with the electronic sections melding rather nice with the guitars and drum taps. It doesn’t thump, but it adds an added warmth where you wouldn’t expect it. I wasn’t really expecting this disc to feature a heavy track, but it’s still a bit much to say that “Firewalker” is a heavy number. As with much of the album, we get a smidgen of blues here too. In any case, it’s my favorite track on the disc. Another cut called “Cannibal” begins right after, with a continued warmth from the guitar. It comes off rather catchy, much in the hell rock style that Lockjaw is famous for. The trip hop influences are also still apparent, sounding just a bit goth – but maybe even a little like Dope in some sections. The final cut here is “The Devil’s Favorite” which ends the disc on a relatively strong note.
In the end, Murder Love God made a solid EP release and I’d definitely recommend giving it a listen. The record successfully combines Lockjaw’s familiar hell rock approach with a bit of electronic trip hop and even some blues and goth elements, which give it a sound and style that is all it’s own.
(5 Tracks, 22:00)
7/10