Cortege – Capricorn (2019) – Cortege craft a weird sort of atmospheric post rock, though the post rock part of the performance doesn’t show itself right from the start. Opener “Aurora” seems to focus more on electronic soundscapes, while “The Watch” features light guitar plucks with a hint of synth melody here and there as well as a few drum taps. What begins as an experience that I would consider to be quite inorganic, soon builds into an experience that feels a bit more organic, despite the highly digital nature at the very beginning. “Aurora” almost reminds me of the beginning of “Out Of This World” where the computer taps are echoed via the in-game FMV scene (remember those?) as the portal suddenly appears to take our character into the alien world that later becomes his home. It makes sense that “The Watch” brings on the dusty desert dunes of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, while “Occultation” simply moves us into space, feeling less organic and more spatial. Oddly enough, we are thrown back into the desert with “Horizons” which I would consider to be a bit standard-fare desert rock until the chiming of bells is heard and slight reverberations can be felt in the background. The final cut and total track here seems to mix desert rock with a bit more distortion, almost bringing about a metal sense. The background synths seem to feature a bit of a horn effect, which sounds like something out of the soundtrack of some bizarre film. Like if Tarantino were on more acid than usual, and not the brown kind. That being said, I don’t really think that I was taken so much with the latter end of this performance as I was in the beginning. Again, Out Of This World (or Another World as some countries might call it) seems a great descriptor when it comes to the overall ambiance of the disc. It’s weird, but maybe just not weird enough. I hope they’ll take it a bit further than desert rock next time around, as it quickly went from intriguing to somewhere in the background. Maybe a bit like the soundtrack from the first Borderlands title. Definitely not what someone would expect from the album cover and artwork. It’s missing sand and maybe one of those cow skulls. Perhaps a tumbleweed or two.
(5 Tracks, 37:00)
6.5/10
Ogre – Thrice As Strong (2019) – If you’re ready for some classic stoner doom with a touch of blues, prog and classic heavy metal, then you’re definitely going to find it here. The disc definitely sounds a lot like Sabbath, but there’s also a hint of Deep Purple and maybe even some early Priest as well as a few other classic influences that I’m sure I’ve forgotten. It’s a bit difficult to hear the vocals, but the chorus rhythms do stand out enough to be catchy when notable, like on opener “The Future.” The most important quality here is found purely in the musicianship, making the record sound just as great without the vocals as it is with them. Thrice As Strong is a chock full of solos, many of them rock and blues influenced, which definitely can make Ogre sound like a sort of “heavy blues band.” I’d almost consider them in the same vein as Clutch or Led Zeppelin. You can definitely hear Zeppelin on songs like “Big Man” and “King Of The Wood” which clearly show who taught Ogre how to rock. If you were looking for a more modern sound, this is probably not going to suit you and that’s fine, because everyone has their taste and this will probably factor under “Your Dad’s Music” if you were born during the oughts’ or maybe even if you’re a late millennial. My father and step father both had a love for music like this, which my mother also shares; not surprisingly. I’m the son of a man who met my mother at a rock concert way back when and that’s all you need to know about my taste and ear for music. Thrice As Strong is definitely jammable and I think it is meant for that. Even if there was some kind of lyrical meaning, the record is completely buried in killer jam session-esque moments that make any serious undertakings null and void. However, I’m sure these guys put on a great live show. I think you’re going to love the disc if you’re looking for some old school stoner doom, with notable jazz, blues and psychedelic elements – just like in the old days. Definitely pick up Thrice As Strong if that sounds intriguing to you. I just wish the vocals were a bit higher in the mix as it feels like the frontman is being drowned out in a few areas. That’s a minor nitpick though and I’m sure that if you just modify an equalizer or listen to it on a different device, you’ll get a unique experience that may differ greatly from what I’ve stated here. I’ll definitely give them points for the album’s closer, “Cyber Czar” and the sounds of destruction caused by it’s illustrated cybernetic overlord.
(7 Tracks 43:00)
7/10
Orodruin – Ruins Of Eternity (2019) – If you checked out my last review for Ogre then you’ll already know what to expect here with Orodruin. I’m not quite sure how you pronounce that, so it’s a good thing that these are written reviews and not audio reviews, as some people may think we’re about to start doing. Regardless of that, Orodruin craft a type of stoner doom that while capturing a similar style of jazz and blues influence that you’d expect with the former, seem to also embody a lot of classic heavy metal and folk elements here that weren’t necessarily present on Thrice As Strong. I’d also consider the production quality to be much better and the frontman’s vocals to be a hell of a lot more powerful. This guy is so great in fact, that I felt I would mention him by name! Mike Puleo is the gentleman in question, but he also handles the drums and bass on the disc, which almost makes him a one-man band. Though that isn’t the case as there are two respective guitarists in play here, John Gallo and Nick Tydelski. I definitely say that the three of them share a great sort of chemistry and that works exceptionally well on what I would consider to be an epic themed disc, reminding me even a little of Pallbearer, which I’d say despite the nay-saying of nay-saying doom purists, is a great thing. Here, the vocals actually provide a heft to the musicianship, making Puleo more of a force than you’d even begin to imagine. I wouldn’t consider the atmosphere to be quite so sullen though, despite the fact that there is that obvious doom thump that some people always think accompanies a morose performance. “Letter Of Life’s Regret” however, might just be one of those very songs in question. I see it as a sort of outcry, where a man bears his soul before the listener just before one of a few potent guitar solos kick in to give us the sound that made heavy metal so notable in it’s very intimacy. Sure, Tony Iommi could have sued nearly all of the bands in heavy metal if he wanted to, but being the very humbled and good-natured Brit that he is, I personally think the man is just glad that something he wasn’t really sure was going to become a very big thing back in the seventies grew to become one of the largest genres in the history of music. I would also say that it has more sub-genres than any music to date, even though that is growing exponentially with the amount of zoomers coming of age and continuing the genre classification that my generation so foolishly began a couple of decades ago. And to Gen X, Orodruin would quite simply be considered “doom metal” and to the boomers “rock n’ roll.” Even so, this record is testament that even fifty years later, the genre that started it all is still kicking and sounding very much the same as it always has. That’s a rarity in itself, really. Very few artists out there stick directly to their roots and I think that’s something that the underground does very well – it allows these guys to make the kind of music they want, undisturbed by mainstream record execs looking to make a buck. I’m not sure who runs Cruz Del Sur, which is the band’s current label; but I know for sure that they don’t tell their artists to add core breakdowns and autotuned vocals. I can only hear so many grown men sound like robots at one time, you know. If they’re going to make them sound like robots, they may as well use fucking robots. But that’s a rant for another time. Simply put, Orodruin create heavy metal, doom metal, rock n’ roll or whatever else you want to call it – the way that grandma used to make. There’s something about this sound that is just timeless and unlike the current pop scene which seeks to reinvent the wheel once every few years, bands like this know that their fans would be pretty upset if they strayed too far from what works. Ruins Of Eternity simply works, which is why you can listen to it again and again without complaint. There’s just something about Orodruin’s organic sound that speaks volumes and with a near-perfect production job, the record comes off just as crisp as it should. There’s no real point in putting out a record where instruments are difficult to discern or the vocals are completely buried in the mist somewhere. In my opinion, this decision alone is what made Orodruin a standout and hopefully we’ll hear greater things to come from them in the future – but it’s pretty damn stellar and I don’t know how they’ll ever top Ruins Of Eternity. This what doom should be, so check it out.
(9 Tracks, 47:00)
9/10
Psychomancer – Shards Of The Hourglass (2019) – Among the mounds of death metal I consume on a monthly basis, Psychomancer actually have something to offer. Maybe it’s just my love for their groove riffs and slight modernisms that take the genre above the blandness of earlier iterations (come on guys, even Possessed and Death’s earliest releases didn’t put me to sleep) of the genre which are now so cut and paste that they’re making my eyes heavy and aren’t really showcasing more than the same tempo and bpm that far too many albums are reveling in these days. I think that when you judge your band based on how fast your drumming is, you’ve missed the whole goddamned point. At least Psychomancer know when to switch it up, which is why I actually liked this album. There are some commonplace technical moments here and there, but their frontman actually has enough variation and emotion behind his vocal utterances that I’m actually entertained. Oddly enough, I’m getting a Mushroomhead vibe in some instances (obviously only in reference to Xx and XIII) which makes me think of a much better Pitch Black Forecast (even Gene Hoglan couldn’t save that album) in lieu of musicianship and overall aggression. This disc is extremely aggressive and that’s what we need in this genre, I think. Everyone has become so goddamned PC, I think I read something about Devourment changing their lyrics because they might offend some woman listeners. Gentlemen, with a name like Devourment and the vore implications that I get just from hearing that name, I can’t help but laugh about this sort of thing. It makes a song like “MK-Ultra” seem even more relevant, even though my current belief there is that such a mind control exercise has evolved to the point that social media is a part of it. I’m not going to get into all that right now, but I do know that if I’m really pissed off and want to take it out on clown world in current year, I have an album where I can express that sort of emotion. Obviously, non-violently; as apparently a few gentlemen didn’t get the message and now we’re dealing with the implications of their behavior. Maybe this is the kind of music that those guys need to get out their frustration. When I was going through the abuse and torment of my teen and young adult years, I at least had music like this to get out my frustration. In any case, Shards Of The Hourglass is a refreshing slice of death metal that is harbored in just enough groove that I can relate to it on a much better level than a vast majority of bands out there. Or maybe it’s just my love for groove. The vocals are also quite audible, which is something you don’t get much in this genre. I can actually discern each word to some, if not most of these songs and that says something. Gurgling is fun, don’t get me wrong – but if you do have something to say, it’s better with a more audible level of harsh vocal. Duston Bullard achieves that pretty well, bringing in both those bass grooves and a memorable vocal performance that I’ll consider noteworthy for years to come. I’m quite pleased with this one and it’s a solid performance. Just the kind of thing I might play in the background while I’m fragging (do we still even use that term anymore?) enemies on some modern retro FPS title. They are making a comeback and most of the soundtracks utilized in those games pale pretty much to actual death metal and variants. Trust me, I know – it sounds a hell of a lot better when you’re mowing down enemies to groove-laden death, and not those deathcore breakdowns that bands keep using in meme videos. That has not and never will be death metal. Psychomancer might be more of a death-groove, but they’ve still got more merit than half of the deathcore artists clogging up the internet today. If you stayed with me to read this whole review, then Shards Of The Hourglass might just be for you. It’s got those hard-hitting grooves that I always gush about and it kind of reminds me of the good Mushroomhead albums, but without the clean vocals and the blandness that Pitch Black Forecast demonstrated.
(10 Tracks, 57:00)
8/10