ALBUM REVIEW: Warbringer - “Woe To The Vanquished”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 31/03/2017

Label: Napalm Records

Simply put, all the ingredients of the good side of thrash are here: big riffs, great production, soaring leads and aggressive vocals. It's a beast of a sound and the band will keep fans of Exodus, Testament, Death Angel et al happy all year. If you want some thrash, this one comes recommended.

“Woe To The Vanquished” CD//DD//LP track  listing:

1 Silhouettes

2 Woe to the Vanquished

3 Remain Violent

4 Shellfire

5 Descending Blade

6 Spectral Asylum

7 Divinity of Flesh

8 When the Guns Fell Silent

The Review

Warbringer return after their slick 2013 tour de force of “IV: Empires Collapse”, with this more extreme and gnarly effort. Bay area thrash is on the table here; this is for fans of Exodus and Death Angel.

There are blasts as well as thrash pacing (the title track), leads that sound very much out of Alex Skolnick's play book and an overwhelming feeling that you have heard this type of thing before... but that doesn't mean that you don't want to hear it again! Highlights are plentiful; the title track, “Remain Violent”, “Divinity of Flesh”...There is even an epic album closer in the shape of “When The Guns Fell Silent”.

As noted above, this is not as slick and, well, 'album-like' as its predecessor, but it is a feral collection of thrash songs played in the modern style, with every reference point harking back to the glory days of 1985-1990. It's violent and fun, that's for sure, whether it has the sticking power of “IV…” remains to be judged over time.

Simply put, all the ingredients of the good side of thrash are here: big riffs, great production, soaring leads and aggressive vocals. It's a beast of a sound and the band will keep fans of Exodus, Testament, Death Angel et al happy all year. If you want some thrash, this one comes recommended.

“Woe To The Vanquished” is available everywhere now



FFO: Exodus, Death Angel, Testament, Havok

Band info: facebook



TRACK PREMIERE: London's Row of Ashes debut "Mass Strandings"

Since its birth, underground label Third I Rex have debuted releases by some of the most incredible artists worldwide and the time has come to unveil the name of one of their new acts.

Featuring musicians from bands such as Sonance, Wild Dogs Winter, Executive Distraction Tasks and with the mesmerising vocals of Eliza Gregory, who has been performing in the past with Necro Deathmort, Ladyscraper, and Pleura, Third I Rex will release the debut full length by ROW OF ASHES,”Let The Long Night Fade" which will undoubtedly be a highlight from the UK’s extreme music scene this year!

“Let The Long Night Fade” shares a tense atmosphere which all vary dramatically in dynamics. Owing as much to a Phil Spectre-style wall of undulating, apocalyptic-noise channelled through stack amps, as to the emotional honesty of T.S. Eliot’s “Wasteland”, it could be the sonic equivalent of helplessly watching a storm develop, destroy everything around you, and finally, assessing the devastation once it has passed.

It would be usual to expect a singular modus operandi from a band who are predominantly seasoned in the heavier and less mainstream end of the musical spectrum, drawing from and playing in Death Metal, Grind, Sludge and Hardcore outfits for the majority of their careers (a rough roll call of projects you can see next to each member’s name). Yet there’s more to RoA album than the traditions attributed to these genres, as there are influences called upon way outside of their musical origins making for a highly creative milieu, and the results near-defy categorisation.

Recorded in Bristol by Joe Garcia at the infamous "Joe's Garage Studios" (Sonance, Husk, Vails, Rose Kemp, and many others), this eight tracks behemoth is going to bring fresh air to the European post-whatever scene! With the album set to hit the streets in September as a co release with The Braves Records, keep taps on the Third I Rex facebook page (here) for more news, but for now you can check the exclusive track entitled “Mass Strandings” below.  

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Kollapse - "Angst"

By: Jay Hampshire

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 19/05/2017

Label: Wooaaargh

 

“Angst” see’s Kollapse unafraid to mix their influences, and their musicianship and talent sees them more than capable of pulling this off.

“Angst” CS//DD//LP listing

1). Void (04:36)

2. Death Of A Monotheist (02:06)

3. Gueules Cassées (06:42)

4. Till Holle (05:11)

5. Blinding Light (03:19)

6. Nesting (06:17

7. Abandon (06:02)

The Review:

Denmark’s Kollapse confound and impress in equal measure with their latest full length, “Angst”. A shifting gauntlet of bared influence and canny execution, it’s a strange blend of the eerily familiar and being kept on your toes. “Void” kicks things off with a scything tremolo drive worthy of black metal, descending into frantic blastbeats before meshing back together into a cleaner, more meditative section, swinging again into slowly stuttering chords and shimmering cymbals. “Death Of A Monotheist” is a short, sharp blast of uptempo hardcore stomp, burning itself out fast.

“Gueules Cassées” is a multi-layered rager, frustrated screams echoing late-era Breach in tone, steadily descending riffs boring down amid constantly changeable drums. Softer guitars jangle over smooth bass, a slower flow, evocative and moody, before atonal guitars needle in, living up to the album’s title. “Til Holle” bristles with predatory grooves and droning guitar lines, arguably the least fully fleshed out offering here. “Blinding Light” sees choked guitars and restrained drums contrasted with throaty, bellowed vocals, the crashing waves of post-metal chords and processional pace sounding like the end of a song rather than the start.

“Nesting” sweeps in with tremolo before turning the corner into a driving, righteous post-punk groove, blooming into layers of lighter, sorrowful guitar, piling up into an Isis-ian crescendo. Closer “Abandon” scratches and scrapes with a manic drive before bursting into a rushing melee of pacey punk ire, slowing into lumbering chords and layered screams. There’s lots of space, but rarely any silence or negative air.

“Angst” see’s Kollapse unafraid to mix their influences, and their musicianship and talent sees them more than capable of pulling this off. Perhaps the biggest flaw with their sound is their need to err ever on the side of drama. Each song here has a section (and many have a backbone solely comprised of one) that pushes upwards and outwards, hinged on the wide scope and crescendo of post rock. While it’s undeniably enjoyable to behold, it seems to suck the power out of these uplifting, soaring moments. While probably more affecting live, it leaves you wondering about a loss of impact. If everything’s a crescendo, surely nothing is?

“Angst” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM PREMIERE: Toronto's Deity deliver chaotic, aggressive and masterful self titled debut album

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines Deity as ‘Godhead; the Supreme Being; a fabulous god or goddess; a divinity.’  That definition needs to be amended to include DEITY the band; who melds old-school metal through a thoroughly unique intense influence of their own into music that is godlike and divine! 
 

Inspired by Suffocation, Emperor, Death, Slayer and Immortal and describing their music as ‘relentless, powerful, intriguing, honest and revitalizing’, DEITY has produced a truly special album, combining the fantastic progressive instrumentals of Metallica and Iced Earth with crushing metal anthems.
 

With the completion of DEITY's self-titled album, the extreme duo, Danny and John are looking forward to taking their sound to live stages in Toronto, Montreal and more in both those cities provinces and beyond. Watch this pair, because DEITY are a band that deserve to break out of the studio into the live arena! Guitarist/vocalist Danny Alessandro had the following to say about the album

“This album has been a long time in the making and we are very proud of what we've created. From start to finish we want to take the listener on a journey of different emotions and feeling. As fans of metal we wanted to create something the listener could play over several times without losing interest. Something with a timeless feeling, and we feel like we've achieved this. Chaotic, aggressive and melodic are the best words to describe this self titled release.  We hope the metal community digs the album cheers!!!”

With the album set to hit the streets on Friday 2^nd June, you can check out the album in all its brutal splendour below.  For more info about this release as it becomes available, like and follow DEITY via facebook below.

Band info: Facebook || Instagram

ALBUM REVIEW: Anthesis - "The Age of Self"

By: Mark Tremblay

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 09/06/2017

Label: Ancient Temple Recordings |

Hibernation Release

 

This listeners favorite moments of the record consist of riffs, and this record is full of them. Perhaps the most devastating are at the end of “Shattering Into a Sea of Light”; a brain-melter that the listener is never able to fully wrap their head around.

“The Age of Self” CD//CS//DD//LP track lasting:

1. The Path to Enlightenment
2. False Content
3. Where's the Dignity?
4. Empty Vessels
5. Reunion
6. Pension Teeth
7. Abscent
8. Decay.Disgust
9. Shattered Into a Sea of Light
10. Silence is Solace
11. The Following

The Review:

The east coast sludge/grindcore titans return with “The Age of Self”, their first full length album in seven years. In that time between full lengths, the band has released a series of EP’s and splits that has morphed their sound from technical death metal, to a dirtier sounding style of sludge. The album opens with “Path to Enlightenment”; a filthy Eyehategod worship track that sets the tone for the album to come. The album rotates between a myriad of genres; the death metal/grindcore blasts of “False Content” and “Where’s the Dignity”, the sludgy “Empty Vessels” and “Reunion”, and the Cursed style hardcore of “Pension Teeth”. The album book marks well with “The Following”; a black metal tinged sludge track that plays off the same theme as the opening. This album, unlike many this year, feels like a complete work in of itself.

The albums best moments come through by the mixing and mastering of guitarist/ vocalist Scott Miller. All of the instrumentation is blended together seamlessly, and the most impactful moments of the record are able to shine through as needed. This listeners favorite moments consist of riffs, and this record is full of them. Perhaps the most devastating are at the end of “Shattering Into a Sea of Light”; a brain-melter that the listener is never able to fully wrap their head around.

All round then, if you enjoy sludge metal with a wide range of contrast, this album is for you. Pick up the record June 9th.

“The Age of Self” is available digitally to preorder/buy here, cassette here and CD//LP here

FFO: Today is the Day, Unsane, KEN mode, The Chariot,

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: The Ruins of Beverast - "Exuvia"

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 05/05/2017

Label: Ván Records

 

“Von Meilenwald has created a terrible, tremendous and frightening invocation of blight and the invincible progress of erosion and disintegration. More than its component parts, an album to haunt the dreams of Lovecraft and Ligotti alike. Recommended without reservation.”

“Exuvia” CD//DD track listing:

1). Exuvia (15:27)
2. Surtur Barbaar Maritime (08:51)
3. Maere (On a Stillbirth's Tomb) (11:22)
4. The Pythia's Pale Wolves (14:34)
5. Towards Malakia (09:39)
6. Takitum Tootem! (Trance) (07:45)

The Review:

There is potential in corruption; there is creation in collapse. The Ruins of Beverast have built both brilliance and darkness amid the rubble of fallen stereotypes, and have generated horrific life within the cadavers of decaying subgenres for the last 14 years. For Alexander von Meilenwald, devolution, atavism, degradation of boundaries and borders represent always the opportunity for evolution, a cacogenic alternate genesis that reanimates what was once sterile with septic potential. Impurity and corruption are, of course, a running theme. The Shrine is Unlocked: from “Rain upon the Impure” and “Foulest Semen” to “Blood Vaults”, which invokes the tainting influence of the maleficar, rot signifies potency and possibility, an anti-hermetic immanence of putrefaction. The world we choose to not see, the world of the defiled, is Enchanted by Gravemould, as it were. Alexander von Meilenwald has time and again acted as ethnographer par excellence of this corruption as well as its agent and catalyst. His latest effort, “Exuvia”, both follows this teleology and transcends almost through a weird autophagic turn, sloughing off some of the worn Beverast motifs and arising anew; a corpse worm, a rotting phoenix.

What is “Exuvia”? An exuvia is the cast-off outer skin of certain insects after moulting. It is excess, it is waste, it is the left-behind. It is the carapace more often than not of carrion insects, those necrophagous creatures that speed the process of decomposition. Von Meilenwald harnesses this necrophagic power of the discarded in his own compositions to move beyond the symphonic corruption of “Blood Vaults” to what amounts to a fugue of deterioration: it picks up elements from across all his works, infuses them with shamanic chants to reassemble and reanimate a musical body that is both uncanny and weird. Uncanny in that it resonates with terrible familiarity. Weird in that it is alien, twisted and novel. From the fires of “Surtur Barbaar Maritime” to a song of stillbirth, from the attenuation of malakia to the unspeaking totem, Von Meilenwald has created a terrible, tremendous and frightening invocation of blight and the invincible progress of erosion and disintegration. More than its component parts, an album to haunt the dreams of Lovecraft and Ligotti alike. Recommended without reservation.

“Exuvia” is available here

FFO: Batushka, Bolzer, Elysian Blaze, Blut aus Nord

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

RIFF REWIND (29/5/2013): The Moth Gatherer - "A Bright Celestial Light"

The Moth Gatherer was founded in Stockholm in 2009 by Victor Wegeborn and Alex Stjernfeldt. They started The Moth Gatherer as a sort of therapy, a way to deal with the loss of people they loved and the hole it left behind. The Moth Gatherer was a way for Alex and Victor to move on.

During 2009 and 2010 they explored their sound, and in mid 2010 they began recording what was to become their debut ”A Bright Celestial Light”. It contains 5 songs and 45 minute play time.

About the name”The Moth Gatherer” Alex commented in an interview:”We went through some personal tragedies and felt like we were lost in darkness and we fumbled towards a source of light, just like moths. So the name The Moth Gatherer felt kind of fitting for us.”

In April 2013 they released their debut "A Bright Celestial Light" through Agonia Records to critical acclaim. Many reviewers praising The Moth Gatherer’s ever evolving sound and atmospheric approach to song writing.  The debut was mentioned in several "best of 2013"-lists, among Metal Mouth, Close-Up Magazine, Hellbound etc.  In late 2013, Svante Karlsson joined the band to complete the line-up and to bring a sonic groove to the drums. 2014 was a year of a small tour and one off shows, while 2015 marked their first festival appearance at Devilstone Open Air. On November 27th, 2015, their second album "The Earth Is The Sky" was released. 

Today we’re rewinding back 4 years to the day, with a review of The Moth Gatherer’s phenomenal debut “"A Bright Celestial Light"”. So join us, as we continue on our quest to trawl through The Sludgelord archives to present the best albums you may have missed.  So if you overlooked this band/album, be sure to remedy your error by checking out our review and the record is streaming in full below. 

By: Matt Fitton

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 16/04/2013

Label: Agonia Records

For a first time offering this is some overwhelmingly good output. Huge riffs explode into existence but it retains a progressive base that it works from. This album is heavier than planets bouncing off each other.

“A Bright Celestial Light” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). The Water That We All Come To Need

2). Intervention

3). A Road Gravel And Skulls

4). The Womb, The Woe, The Woman

5). A Falling Deity

The Review:

If I had a fiver for every time somebody told me about some amazing new post / progressive / experimental band from Sweden I would be a very rich man. That being said, check out this awesome new Swedish band...

The Moth Gatherer are from Sweden, home to many cool bands of their ilk. They deal in the aforementioned sounds and sub-genres, but the real meat and potatoes of it is that they're really quite badass. They weave textures into their music that stay with you long after it concludes, and that way of thinking is written all over their debut album 'A Bright Celestial Light'. It can also be heavy in spades, which automatically earns them major kudos around these here parts.

The first slice of gold on offer is 'The Water That We All Come to Need'. It eases into life with some beautiful acoustic guitar strumming and a light, yet pounding beat in the background. Then it turns its head and really brings the beef. Huge riffs explode into existence but it retains a progressive base that it works from. Really impressive stuff. Heavier than planets bouncing off each other.

'Intervention' is a noisier affair from the start, but still paced out with some melodic loveliness. The tranquil moments on this record are always like the eye of a storm though, and they set you up consistently for some crushing and cavernous low-end monster sounds. Those calming parts are glorious and rightfully earn their place. The vocals are also right up there in the mix, like they're reaching for the stars from the depths.

'The Womb, The Woe, The Woman' has some terrific droning riffs that increase in impact and effect when they are twinned with the serenity that is peppered throughout the track, and indeed the entire record. I imagine it's somewhat like the feeling that a nomadic tribesman must get when he stares at the night sky to guide him. You could be in the middle of nowhere and yet still feel connected to something. This music is just like that, and this track is powerful just like that. The piano toward the halfway mark is pure icing on the cake, right before the whole thing takes a HUGE left turn into hell and becomes heavier than the Earth's core. Mag-fucking-nificent.

For a first time offering from a group that isn't really a group (there's only TWO of them involved) this is some overwhelmingly good output. This is for the real music lovers, of both the grit and the peace, and you NEED this in your life. I heartily recommend that you check the band and this record out. You won't be disappointed.

Band info: Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Longhouse - "II: Vanishing"

By: Andre Almaraz

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 14/04/2017

Label: Independent

The tone, mix and mood of the album is one of darkness, menace and depression. “II: Vanishing” will terrify your consciousness and haunt your soul into painful contortions

“II: Vanishing” DD track listing:

1). Hunter’s Moon

2). Vanishing

3). Blood and Stone

4). No Name, No Marker

5). The Vigil

The Review:

Longhouse is a three piece doom outfit from Ottawa, Canada. On April 14th of 2017 they released an album of five new songs which is titled “II: Vanishing.” Here is my review of said album….The opening track, “Hunter’s Moon,” creeps in like a thief in the night who is determined to steal your reason for existence. Eerie guitar swells and fades arouse your senses before the whole band joins in to bombard your ears with an extremely grim dirge of epic proportions. The first six minutes of the song are completely instrumental because they need to be in order to put you in the proper state of mind and set you up for the death blow as the vocals finally kick in to terrify your consciousness and haunt your soul into painful contortions for the closing two minutes of the song.

Second track, “Vanishing,” comes in like a rabid lioness on the hunt. Its raw energy and strategic prowess, attack with vengeful aggression right from the opening blast. The heaviness and groove are the driving force that grabs you immediately and does not let up its grip for over six minutes until the very last note is played. This song is the highlight of the album for me, with the opener being a close second. Third track, “Blood and Stone” sounds exactly like its title. It is grimy, slimy, barbaric, and ugly. Some nice guitar soloing elevate the song to the next level which the preceding groove and harmony had already come close to achieving on their own. 

Fourth track, “No Name, No marker,” is another nonstop drive fest. As with the previous track, this one has all the groove and harmony but with a noticeably more melancholic delivery. The end of the song breaks into an intoxicatingly heavy chug riff which eventually fades us off into the netherworld. With the final track of the album, “The Vigil,” the band pulls out its secret weapon; the game changer that are the clean vocals. The sombre beginning breaks into a quintessential classic metal riff in which the clean vocals immediately jump out of the speakers at you completely unexpectedly. Throughout the song we get a great mix of clean and gruff vocals without ever using either one in excess. This is a truly remarkable feat of a perfect combination that very few bands in the history of heavy metal have been able to pull off in my opinion, yet Longhouse seems to be able to execute this very task with minimal effort and I think it was a stroke of genius to wait until the last song of the album in which to do it.

I really enjoyed listening to this album. It feels to be the perfect length and displays a good amount of musicianship, especially with the guitars. The soloing and overlaying of harmonies are exquisite throughout the entire album. The tone of mix and mood of the album are above all dark and brooding, depressing, and bolstered with a straightforward and ever driving rhythm section. I can detect hints of bands like Pallbearer, High On Fire, and even some Type O Negative, all mixed together with an abundance of the vast Canadian outback which I was more than happy to stir well and swallow down, and I am very much looking forward to hearing what this band does next.

“II: Vanishing” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

RIFF REWIND (26/05/2013): Northumbria - "The Silver Forest"

Toronto based ambient metal duo Northumbria were formed in 2011 by former... Holoscene members Jim Field and Dorian Williamson. Using only guitar and bass mega amplified and recorded live, Northumbria create a wall of improvised drones that take the listener on a sonic journey through a dystopian landscape. 

With seven releases to their name in the last 6 years, today we’re rewinding back 4 years to the day, with a review of Northumbria’s second release “The Silver Forest”. So join us, as we continue on our quest to trawl through The Sludgelord archives to present the best albums you may have missed.  So if you overlooked this band/album, be sure to remedy your error by checking out our review and the record is streaming in full below. 

By: Matt Fitton

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 17/05/2013

Label: Independent

These movements of music blend  seamlessly within each other and are hauntingly potent. Subtle fades, stirring melodic parts, and sometimes a heartbreaking weight. All of this creates real emotions, and real responses, from this very real music. The very best drone is often light as a feather, but in soulful terms heavy as hell.

“The Silver Forest” track listing:

1). Motion of Clouds

2). The Sun Also Rises

3). Silver Forest

The Review:

Based in Toronto, Northumbria are an ambient drone duo that records live and only uses bass and guitar to weave their lush brand of sonic tapestry. They make music of desolation, serenity and great beauty, completely amplified (quite literally) to the nines. They've also just made a new piece of music available, the extremely impressive 'The Silver Forest'.

I was discussing this with my editor earlier, and we both touched upon the fact that what we love about drone is the innate ability that the true masters of the craft have to transport a listener to a place of complete solitude. And that is exactly what this new offering manages to accomplish in spades.

'The Silver Forest' is very much escapist music. Sounds to attempt introspection from, to search within yourself and your surroundings. Human contact and complexity is all very well and good, but we all need to slow not just ourselves, but our minds down sometimes too. Maybe to a pace of a long past way of life, or thinking. Northumbria construct soundscapes that will genuinely help you on that voyage.

The piece is composed as just one track, but listed in three distinct parts: 'Motion of Clouds', followed by 'The Sun Also Rises', and concluding with 'Silver Forest'. All blend seamlessly within each other and are hauntingly potent. Subtle fades, stirring melodic parts, and sometimes a heartbreaking weight. All of this creates real emotions, and real responses, from this very real music. The very best drone is often light as a feather, but in soulful terms heavy as hell.

Before this review I was completely unaware of Northumbria, but they have been covered on the blog before. Please delve back in time and discover those articles, as I have, and treat yourself to some incredible experiences. And check out 'The Silver Forest' right now, and ease your mind for just a moment. Let Northumbria move you somewhere else, somewhere desolate, somewhere calm and yet euphoric.

“The Silver Forest” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Space Witch - "Arcanum"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 09/06/2017

Label: Hevisike Records

The band still sound like a collaboration between Bongripper, Hawkwind and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to create the ultimate sci-fi B-movie soundtrack, but  this latest release sees them develop their cosmic barrage further out into the void., they showcase a leaner, meaner Space Witch that still push the boundaries of heaviness but with a more streamlined attack.

“Arcanum” CD//CS//DD//LP track listing:

1. Cosmonoid

2. Astro Genocide

3. Hex Solaris

4. Battle Hag

The Review:

Stoke on Trent intergalactic voyagers Space Witch make a welcome return with new album “Arcanum”. Thankfully, the band still sound like a collaboration between Bongripper, Hawkwind and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to create the ultimate sci-fi B-movie soundtrack. This latest release sees them develop their cosmic barrage further out into the void.

“Cosmonoid” and “Battle Hag” are colossal slabs of super-dense riffage that follow the mind-expanding template of the band’s stellar 2014 debut LP. Even though both tracks clock in somewhere around the fifteen minute mark, they showcase a leaner, meaner Space Witch that still push the boundaries of heaviness but with a more streamlined attack. 

The two shorter tracks here, “Astro Genocide” and “Hex Solaris”, are the most surprising and give hints of where the band may head in future. The former begins in familiar spaced-out doom territory but takes a left turn into the unknown with an unexpected shift into a pummelling up-tempo groove. The shocks come thick and fast from here as the band introduce vocals for the first time. The musical backing begins to negotiate off-kilter riffs before launching into a furious blastbeat fuelled finale. All this makes for an exhilarating ride that shows that Space Witch are just as effective, if not more so, when condensing their massive ambitions into structures approaching normal song length.

“Hex Solaris” initially wrong-foots the listener with snatches of jazz before a huge lumbering riff destroys the quiet. The booming vocals are present right from the start here and feel better integrated then their surprise appearance late into “Astro Genocide”. This track best demonstrates the progress the band has made in expanding its sonic spectrum without diluting its immense power.

“Arcanum” is a firm step forward by Space Witch. Nowhere in the galaxy is safe from these riffs.

“Arcanum” will be available to preorder/buy here

Band info: Facebook || Bandcamp