ALBUM REVIEW: Carcass, "Torn Arteries"

 By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 17/09/2021
Label: Nuclear Blast

“Torn Arteries” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Torn Arteries (4:00)
2. Dance Of Ixtab (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No. 1 In B) ADM (4:29)
3. Eleanor Rigor Mortis (4:14)
4. Under The Scalpel Blade (3:55)
5. The Devil Rides Out (5:22)
6. Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited (9:42)
7. Kelly's Meat Emporium (3:23)
8. In God We Trust (3:57)
9. Wake Up And Smell The Carcass - Caveat Emptor (4:36)
10. The Scythe's Remorseless Swing (5:20)

The Review:  

Carcass have cooked up another post-reformation full length following on from 2013's rather great “Surgical Steel”. This time around, we still have Walker and Steer at the helm(s) and as the title track kicks in, this comes out of the gate like a straight up death metal record. The sound is good, the mix is good, the song titles are good. The record was worked upon at a few separate studios. James Atkinson of Gentlemens Pistols fame did a particularly good job with the guitars at The Stationhouse studio in Leeds; crisp, cutting and weighty. How about the material?

The title track is a great start- catchy, to an extent, with some blasts, some great riffs and the usual lyrical sturm and drang you would expect. “Dance of Ixtab” is slower paced, features a cowbell and some pretty righteous rock n roll grooving. I'll admit straight away that I am a huge fan of “Heartwork”-era Carcass and that I am not a fan, really in any way, of material preceding “Necroticism”. Thus, I can venture the notion that I am a fan of death metal Carcass and not the grind incarnation. Sacrilege to some, I know.

As such, this record is a musical treat for me. It's not as extreme as “Surgical Steel” and not as melodic per se as “Heartwork”. Instead, it is a good mix of death metal- done in the Carcass style- and almost hard rock songwriting.

While there are tracks like “Eleanor Rigor Mortis” and “Under The Scalpel Blade” which sound much more accessible than you might expect from the titles, there are also some real death metal gems sprinkled throughout- and even within some of the more straightforward songs. Some of the tempos and changes are resurrected from “Heartwork” here and there, too.

As the album progresses, there is plenty of chugging riffage, plenty of neck snapping grooves and plenty of skill in making this hang together as a good collection of songs. I suppose the real question here is where Carcass fit into the current death metal landscape. The genre progressed, stagnated, and diversified in equal measure after 1993 and now, I have to say, there is only one band in the genre that sounds like this. In that regard, they are akin to Obituary from across the pond- a band in a league of one. The sound is instantly recognisable and really is different from the multitude of blast and growl merchants out there. On that basis, Carcass are in a solid position to appeal to old fans, while also having a chance of being picked out by new converts.

It would not be unkind to say that some songs stick more than others; I found that “The Devil Rides Out” did not stand out particularly, but just around the corner is an acoustic intro and a roling groove for “Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited”- there is variety here for sure, particularly as this one clocks in at over nine and a half minutes! Steer's style of riffing is also instantly familiar, which helps for memorability and accessibility.

 At ten tracks, it is not overlong and the band ring enough changes to keep the listener interested throughout. As noted, if you are not too keen on one track, then you may well like the next and so on. It's not front loaded either, “In God We Trust” recalls the riffing of “Corporeal Jigsore Quandary” and is thus a winner. It's dissimilar to “Surgical Steel”- and a lot more playful, to these ears at least.

By the time of closer “The Scythe's Remorseless Swing”, I think most listeners will have made up their minds. It's a great track and a stand out on the album. It's surprisingly accessible without going full “Swansong” and the songs overall are at least decent. Time will tell where it sits in comparison to “Heartwork” and “Surgical Steel”, but this is a solid entry into their death metal canon and there is plenty to enjoy here- not least that the band are still around and still writing quality music.

“Torn Arteries” is available HERE

Band info: facebook || linktr.ee

ALBUM REVIEW: Sylosis, "Cycle of Suffering"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/02/2020

Label: Nuclear Blast

 

“Cycle of Suffering” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Empty Prophets
2. I Sever
3. Cycle of Suffering
4. Shield
5. Calcified
6. Invidia
7. Idle Hands
8. Apex of Disdain
9. Arms Like A Noose
10. Devils In Their Eyes
11. Disintegrate
12. Abandon

The Review:

Sylosis return with this full length a full five years after the last album! It's hard to believe that the excellent “Dormant Heart” is that old, but it is. In that time, it's not strictly true to say that the metal genre has changed- things have kept moving along nicely- but do Sylosis now sound like old hat? The answer, as soon as “Empty Prophets” kicks off is a resounding “NO.”

The band, in case you have never heard them, are British and fit firmly into the modern metal genre of thrash crossed with melodic death- some synths, lots of hardcore-esque breakdowns etc. To describe them would be to say that they sit somewhere between Stampin' Ground (late era), Hatebreed, God Forbid and Lamb of God.

The playing is beyond reproach- listen to the lock-tight precision of “I Sever” for proof. Through headphones, the sound is more textured than it might first appear; there are synths throughout lots of the music here adding depth to the sound and an extra dimension. The drums are undoubtedly triggered/sound replaced- how you feel about that trait may determine your feelings towards the production generally. Certainly, this kind of clarity and quality would have been impossible for a band of Sylosis' size twenty years ago. Now, it's if not commonplace... almost expected.

With pro-tools or similar firmly in effect, the band sound machine like and incredibly powerful. There are great riffs and passages of music throughout the likes of “Cycle of Suffering” and “Shield”. It's heavy stuff- like Hatebreed rumbling with At The Gates and the more angular guitar work on “Calcified” goes some way to distinguish the band from the myriad of others who have ploughed a similar furrow. The chorus is a little clumsy, but over the course of the twelve tracks, there is more than enough fury on offer to offset any of the more cliched moments that occasionally pop up. “Invidia” is another example of a track with a rather clumsy anthemic chorus section, but I'm really splitting hairs here.

For all that there may be a few seconds of a couple of tracks that I don't care for, there are whole tracks like “Idle Hands” which are superb. “Apex of Disdain” is also a meaty example of the fact that if Machine Head had made this album instead of what they actually made last time around, then they would have been lauded as returning heroes. The moody “Arms Like A Noose” uses a good change of pace for the intro and then mutates into an album stand out; the guitar work is excellent, as is every aspect of the track. Superb stuff.

“Devils In Their Eyes” blends melody with aggression very effectively and is a fine example of the band getting the combination just right. The final two tracks see the band take a darker turn- “Disintegrate” is a riff-fest brimming with energy while on “Abandon” Sylosis spread their wings a little with clean singing, acoustic guitars, prevalent synths and a playing time of over six minutes. It's closer to Alter Bridge and Shadows Fall and it caps off a very good record in fine style.

Whether this will see Sylosis get their just desserts and climb the metal tree, I don’t know. Certainly, all the ingredients are there- from the state of the art production to the mixture of viciousness and restraint the band do nothing wrong and have turned in another excellent modern metal record. It's better than the most recent albums by any number of bands- some of whom are mentioned above. If there's any justice, you'll be seeing Sylosis in an Academy size venue near you soon.

“Cycle of Suffering” is available HERE



 Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Soilwork, “Verkligheten”

By: Elliot Paisley

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 11/01/2019

Label: Nuclear Blast

 

“Verkligheten” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Verkligheten
2. Arrival
3. Bleeder Despoiler
4. Full Moon Shoals

5. The Nurturing Glance
6. When The Universe Spoke
7. Stålfågel (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
8. The Wolves Are Back In Town
9. Witan
10. The Ageless Whisper
11. Needles And Kin (feat. Tomi Joutsen)
12. You Aquiver (feat. Dave Sheldon)

The Review:  

Soilwork are a key example of a band being in the wrong place but at the right time. Their native Helsingborg is a small town in Sweden, closer to Copenhagen, Denmark than it is to melo-death mecca Gothenburg. Forming in late 1995, they were in prime position to take the place of At The Gates, frontrunners of the scene soon to disband and join the ranks among Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. However, this ultimately failed to manifest.

The band were never held in the same esteem as their contemporaries, and the reason why is curious. Could it be geography? Were they late to the party? Nevertheless, since their inception, the band have remained outsiders.

Their influence however must not be underestimated. Perhaps more than any other melodic death metal band, they have also had a remarkably apparent influence on the boom of American metalcore in the early 2000s, with such bands as Killswitch Engage, Unearth and particularly Trivium taking direct influence and appropriating the band’s flair for juddering rhythms and electrifying melody. Their work has even infiltrated the mainstream, as commercial heavyweights such as Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet for My Valentine have taken direct influence. They may not have been the originators, but Soilwork managed to wrangle a complex and whirling form of extreme metal and given it life in the limelight, despite not entirely enjoying such commercial success themselves.

Despite this, Soilwork could never boast about their consistency. While “Natural Born Chaos”, “Figure Number Five” and “Stabbing the Drama” each helped establish them as one of the leading lights of melodic death metal, the two following albums showed Soilwork making a beeline for the mainstream. Perhaps following in the footsteps of Dark Tranquillity, who embraced clean vocals and a gothic sheen, and In Flames, who explored alternative metal like that of Deftones, Soilwork began to take from the metalcore bands they had previously influenced. Both “Sworn to a Great Divide” and “The Panic Broadcast” felt derivative rather than defiant, and there was a worry that Soilwork were to fade from former glories, much like their contemporaries.

However, 2013 saw a tremendous return to form with the ambitious double-record “The Living Infinite”. Embracing their early victories and taking that formula into exciting new territory, the 20-song set helped establish Soilwork as a great band once again and quashed all doubt of their quality. It remains as one of the finest albums in their career Soilwork in good stead for the future. This campaign was furthered with the excellent 2016 effort “The Ride Majestic”, which was a leaner, meaner release than its predecessor and was welcomed by fans and critics alike. Improving on the progress made on “The Living Infinite”, the band made what was perhaps their most effective and successful album to date.

This has put “Verkligheten” in a curious position; on one hand, the band are in a strong position, having earnt back the trust of fans with the preceding two releases, but on the other, they now have a reputation to live up to. It is a relief to report that “Verkligheten” suffers no downfall, and instead further establishes Soilwork as perhaps a sole truly reliable band in melodic death metal.

The performances on this album are absolutely superb, from the opening moments of the instrumental title track, with it’s curious slide-guitar over tribal-drums aesthetic to the glorious string-bends which close the album, the band are on astounding form. This is the first album with Bastian Thusgaard, who has inherited the drum stool following the departure of Dirk Verbeuren who has recently become the full-time drummer for Megadeth, and he proves himself with an exceptional performance. Fiery and fluid, the percussion on this album mercifully swerves the traps that often laid within this style of music of feeling contrived and repetitive. It bolsters the album along and gives it a sense of pace that allows the album to feel light on its feet while also accenting the heavier passages.

The instrumentation is well-performed and tastefully composed, but perhaps the most impressive work on this album comes from vocalist Bjorn Strid, who has continued to improve album-on-album, with “Verkligheten” perhaps being his most accomplished performance yet. In a 20+ year career, to see a vocalist (particularly in metal) continuing to improve his craft is a rare thing. His screeches are furious and his cleans serene; it’s not a new formula, but when it is done to a high standard it remains refreshing.

The guitar-work is also electrifying, with soaring Maiden lead-wails providing a superb juxtaposition to the rhythm guitar’s punishing grunt. The album’s stand-out track “Witan” is a perfect example of this, with the low-end at its heaviest and the lead work at its most heavenly. Again, it’s not an entirely original formula, but when it is done with such conviction, it is still irresistible.

However, the album isn’t flawless. Perhaps most interestingly though, the primary flaws of this album are not really the fault of the band. The production job on the album, while complimenting the sweeter, more melodic passages of the album, can’t help but make certain passages feel less savage than they ought to. It’s far cleaner than it ought to be, and this is a pandemic among these types of bands; many of them appear afraid to embrace gritty production jobs, despite the fact that they would be far improved for it.

The band are their most electrifying when they let themselves off the leash and sound positively rabid, and at times it feels as though the band are restraining themselves. Closing track “You Aquiver”, while boasting some joyous melodies, does occasionally stray too far into Final-Fantasy territory, which is far from Soilwork playing to their strengths. It’s a markedly less-heavy album than what the band have put out recently, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it does show Soilwork moving away from the sweet-spot ever so slightly.

Despite these flaws, “Verkligheten” is still a great album. Soilwork may never be as good as In Flames, Dark Tranquillity or At The Gates at their heights; even their finest works don’t match up with “Clayman”, “The Gallery” or “Slaughter Of The Soul”, but in 2019, they are certainly one of the finest commodities within this style of music. Were it not for last year’s excellent “To Drink From The Night Itself”, a superb return to form by At The Gates, it would be difficult to find a peer for Soilwork in the modern age. “Verkligheten” may not be quite as exceptional as the preceding two albums, but it does more than enough to establish their dependability over 20 years in.

“Verkligheten” is available HERE

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Darkest Hour - “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”

By: Ben Fitts

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 10/03/2017

Label: Southern Lord

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” finds an exact middle ground between the elegant melodicism of Darkest Hour’s earlier work and the feral muscle of their previous album. The mixture is sure to please nearly all fans of the band, both old and new.  The result is twelve tracks that simultaneously capture Darkest Hour at both their most tuneful and their most assailing.

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Knife in the Safe Room
2. This Is The Truth
3. Timeless Numbers
4. None Of This Is The Truth
5. The Flesh & the Flowers of Death
6. Those Who Survived
7. Another Headless Ruler of the Used
8. Widowed
9. Enter Oblivion
10. The Last of the Monuments
11. In The Name Of Us All
12. Beneath It Sleeps

The Review

Since Darkest Hour strayed from their melodeath roots in favor a more commercial metalcore sound on their self-titled, eighth album in 2014, many new fans have flocked to the band’s base. However, older fans of their melodic death metal sound have been nervously twiddling their thumbs about what this would mean for the future of Darkest Hour’s direction. That future arrives in the form of the Washington, D.C. based quintet’s ninth LP, “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”, their first original release for Goatsnake/Sunn O))) guitarist Greg Anderson’s label Southern Lord Recordings. It is also their first album to feature Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou behind the soundboard, and if the names associated with this album seem like they might be sending mixed messages about the album’s stylistic direction, that’s because they are.

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” finds an exact middle ground between the elegant melodicism of Darkest Hour’s earlier work and the feral muscle of their previous album. The mixture is sure to please nearly all fans of the band, both old and new. The vibrant, flowing guitar leads definitive of the band’s classic material reintroduce themselves on “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”, which may be partially due to the return of former guitarist Kris Norris, who, while not a full member of the band again, does perform additional guitar layering on the album. “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” also sees vocalist John Henry return to a style more closely approximating his work on early Darkest Hour, albeit a tad harsher and more martial.

These elements of Darkest Hour’s past works float atop an amalgam of their newer, metalcore influenced sound. The elements of classic melodeath that the band always impeccably recreated are set to a backdrop of vicious aggression that provide a new kind of edge to Darkest Hour that one never noticed was missing before. This is perhaps best exemplified by the album’s tenth and possible standout track, “The Last of the Monuments”, which mixes nimble guitar work, infectious melodies and ferocious attitude. “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” truly finds the best of both worlds that Darkest Hour has ventured into, removes them with a scalpel, and then slaps them onto a new musical canvas. The result is twelve tracks that simultaneously capture Darkest Hour at both their most tuneful and their most assailing.   

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” is available preorder/buy here

Band info: facebook

The Sludgelord Video Premiere - "The Smoke of Many Fires" Be'lakor

Intense, passionate and deeply moving melodic death metal from Down Under

At The Sludgelord we pride ourselves at introducing you to the very best music from the heavy metal underground.  So with superb album premieres from Battle Path and Hollow Leg earlier this week, today  melodic death metal is on the menu, in the form of Aussie’s finest purveyors of darkness, Be’lakor.   

With the band set to release their brand new album “Vessels” this Friday 24^th June, an album described as “eight songs that with satiate your hunger for progressive structures and technical prowess,” today at The Sludgelord we present their brand new lyric video for “The Smoke of Many Fires” which you can enjoy below. So if intense, passionate and deeply disquieting melodic death metal is your thing, hit play and snap your neck to this 9 minute masterclass.

Be’laktor had to say about “Vessels”and is available here

"Vessels is the product of well over a year's hard work - without doubt, it's the album that has challenged us the most. It's much richer and more textured than any of our other albums. There are parts which sound like the Be'lakor that fans know, while other sections might surprise some people. Our goal was to keep the music exciting and varied, for us as much as for anyone else. Vessels is also our first concept album, which has meant that lyrically we've really pushed ourselves this time around. We hope our fans will enjoy it as much as we do!"

“Vessels” CD//track listing:

1. Luma

2. An Ember´s Arc

3. Withering Strands

4. Roots to Sever

5. Whelm

6. A Thread Dissolves

7. Grasping Light

8. The Smoke Of Many Fires

Band info: facebook

Amorphis - ‘Under the Red Cloud’ (Album Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 4/9/2015

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

I have no doubt that if you’ve been a fan of what Amorphis has had to offer over the last ten years, you’re likely already ecstatic with ‘Under the Red Cloud’.

‘Under the Red Cloud’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. Under The Red Cloud

2. The Four Wise Ones

3. Bad Blood

4. The Skull

5. Death Of A King

6. Sacrifice

7. Dark Path

8. Enemy At The Gates

9. Tree Of Ages

10. White Night

Amorphis is:

Tomi Joutsen | Vocals

Tomi Koivusaari | Rhythm Guitar

Esa Holopainen | Lead Guitar

Niclas Etelävuori | Bass, Backing Vocals

Santeri Kallio | Keyboards

Jan Rechberger | Drums

The Review:

My reactions to Amorphis as a listener are often more complicated than simply liking or disliking one of their albums completely. Aside from ‘Karelian Isthmus’, which is a comparatively straightforward doom/death metal album, the rest of their discography has been a case of peaks and valleys within each album they’ve released. Because they’ve so often been keen on switching directions completely from song to song, there are usually a few songs I enjoy, and a few I don’t, on just about every album they’ve released.

‘Under the Red Cloud’, the band’s twelfth full length album, is a case of more of the same, if you feel the same way I do. The issues I have here are pretty similar to the issues I have going back even as far as ‘Tales from the Thousand Lakes’, an album many regard as an undebatable classic. The problem for me is that they’re excellent in the melancholic death metal aspect of their sound, but too often venture out into hokey prog/folk territory that never quite crosses the “fun” threshold. A lot of this is up to personal preference, but in my case; I prefer metal albums to have a somewhat consistent emotional tone throughout.

Where Amorphis usually loses me is in the shift in temperament from song to song or even within a song itself. “The Four Wise Ones” starts off with an excellent melodic death metal riff, but it’s not too long before the song loses steam and drops into a listless, low-key chorus. The song moves back and forth for a couple of minutes before finding itself in an extended prog-lite bridge, lead by synths and ultra-processed vocals. By this point, the song is basically lost at sea, and aimlessly adrift, praying for anything to tow it back to shore. Thankfully, the song’s final moments bring us back to where we began; back to the melodic death metal riff that seemed so promising at the beginning.

“The Four Wise Ones” is emblematic of the album as a whole in that every song has at least some moment where I’m hooked and on board one moment, and feeling befuddled and annoyed the next. I think part of my feelings about this album and Amorphis in general can be attributed to the fact that I’m just not someone who goes into a metal album wanting to hear a lot of different ideas going on at once, particularly if they’re on different ends of the emotional spectrum. I just don’t handle those abrupt changes in feeling very well. I have no doubt that if you’ve been a fan of what Amorphis has had to offer over the last ten years, you’re likely already ecstatic with ‘Under the Red Cloud’. For those of us looking in from the outside, there isn’t anything here that’s going to convince us that we’re going to get a wholly enjoyable album anytime soon.

Under the Red Cloud’ is available digitally here and a CD/LP copy here. 

FFO: Paradise Lost, Barren Earth, Katatonia, Insomnium

Band info: Facebook

Soilwork - 'The Ride Majestic' (Album Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full-length

Date Released: 28/8/2015

Label: Nuclear Blast

Soilwork find themselves in a tough position because they seem to have reached a point where they clearly enjoy creating music that represents each of their two distinct eras, and they’re more than capable of producing quality music on either side of the spectrum. The handicap this album can’t overcome is that these two eras aren’t really capable of playing nicely together

‘The Ride Majestic’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. The Ride Majestic

2. Alight In The Aftermath

3. Death In General

4. Enemies In Fidelity

5. Petrichor By Sulphur

6. The Phantom

7. The Ride Majestic (Aspire Angelic)

8. Whirl Of Pain

9. All Along Echoing Paths

10. Shining Lights

11. Father And Son, Watching The World Go Down

Soilwork is:

Björn "Speed" Strid | Vocals

Dirk Verbeuren | Drums

Markus Wibom | Bass

Sylvain Coudret | Guitar

David Andersson | Guitar

Sven Karlsson | Keyboards

The Review:

In a previous life, Soilwork was a band that made an impact in the later stages of the 90s Gothenburg death metal explosion, given rise via bands like At The Gates and In Flames.  Soilwork differentiated themselves at the time through some unique chord choices for the style and a willingness to take chances with new sounds in a melodic death metal context. Over the last fifteen years, they’ve struggled with their identity to a point that you can’t really be sure which Soilwork you’re going to get. Soilwork has flirted with returns to that previous life in the past, but they’ve generally preferred to swim in more marketable waters over the last ten-plus years. With ‘The Ride Majestic’ we’re seemingly getting both of them at once, often shifting gears with the subtlety of a lead pipe to the face. The outcome makes for a really uneven listening experience.

The general format of the songs on offer is to start with, some sort of melodic death metal section , followed by a stark shift in the verse/chorus, featuring Björn "Speed" Strid doing his finest Howard Jones impression. Then, the song concludes with some variation of these two ill-fitting halves for the remainder. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but the general feeling applies. They begin a song with something that might give lapsed fans who abandoned ship around ‘Figure Number Five’ something to sink their teeth into, only to pivot mid song into something bound to lose them altogether. The most striking example would likely be “Petrichor by Sulphur”, which soars early with nimble fretwork over a brisk thrash beat only to be harshly interrupted by a rhythmic verse that could have been on a Static-X or Drowning Pool album. For people who are fans of both styles, that’s probably something you wouldn’t bat an eye at, but for the rest of us, it’s jarring to the point that it encourages impatience with the rest of the material.

It’s worth pointing out that I’m not advocating for Soilwork to set themselves back fifteen years for the sake of becoming some Gothenburg nostalgia act. On the contrary, it feels like they’re much more interested and passionate about making mainstream metal albums than they are revisiting the past right now, and that’s fine. The problem is that with two halves they’re working on with ‘The Ride Majestic’ are likely to annoy fans of each half exclusively. Killswitch Engage fans are likely to appreciate an album like this because Killswitch Engage always dealt in both the melodic death metal element along with those metalcore choruses. Old Soilwork fans are likely to be alienated by the choruses, while fans who came into the fold in the mid 2000s are likely to be put off by blast beats and thrashy death metal riffing.

Soilwork find themselves in a tough position because they seem to have reached a point where they clearly enjoy creating music that represents each of their two distinct eras, and they’re more than capable of producing quality music on either side of the spectrum. The handicap this album can’t overcome is that these two eras aren’t really capable of playing nicely together. That makes ‘The Ride Majestic’ a spirited but stubborn attempt at a suicide mission.

You can pick up a digital copy here and a CD/LP copy here.

FFO: In Flames, Scar Symmetry, Killswitch Engage, Devildriver

Band info: Facebook | Twitter

Tribulation - 'Children of the Night' (Album Review)

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 20/04/2015

Label: Century Media Records

‘Children of the Night’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

01. Strange Gateways Beckon

02. Melancholia

03. In The Dreams Of The Dead

04. Winds

05. Själaflykt

06. The Motherhood Of God

07. Strains Of Horror

08. Holy Libations

09. Cauda Pavonis

10. Music From The Other

Tribulation are:

Johannes Andersson | Bass, Vocals

Adam Zaars | Guitars

Jonathan Hultén | Guitars

Jakob Ljungberg | Drums

Review:

Close to ten years of being an avid fan of obscure and extreme music has seen a lot of releases over a lot of genres come and go. Through these years of constant music you hear peaks and troughs, floods of mediocrity in-between. Through it all and despite all my listening, I cannot ever remember anticipating a death metal album as much as I have with Tribulation's latest release.

The Swedish four piece released 'Children of the Night' via Century Media to what must have been the overwhelming pressure of having it compared to their previous and sophomore release, the incredible 'The Formulas of Death'. That album turned death metal upside down, and in my mind redefined what the genre could be in much the same way as Atheist's 'Unquestionable Presence' did. The obvious and oft unfair question in such situations may then unfortunately be not to what extent the album lives up to expectations, but to how much it disappoints.

To be blunt, 'Children of the Night' was not what I was expecting. I don't know what I expected but it involved possibilities of extended esoteric death metal soundscapes more akin to Locrian than Mitochondrion, song writing dynamics that tossed the album about like a ship in fierce waters yet never going into zeuhl-esque flounderings. What I ultimately got was an album that sat easy on my ears, big choruses leaping from mid tempo verses. Gorgeous organ lines sat beneath crystal clear guitar tone production, solos sung more than screamed. Essentially a collection of solid and listenable songs written in a solid mature manner. Perhaps it is the seasoned extreme metal listener in me, but even the consistent and great harsh vocal delivery by Johannes Andersson does little to roughen up the palatable mix of sounds.

This barely qualifies as death metal, and even lacks the vital characteristics of melodeath, but it's clear this is exactly what the band intended (or perhaps more accurately didn't give a shit about). Other reviews seem to point towards the later parts of the album dragging on, losing the power that earlier parts exuded. I must disagree with this, with the album consistently delivering over its ten tracks, and if there is any truth to it then it merely reflects the gentle gradient on which the band chose to end.

Perhaps it isn't what this individual wanted but that is no reflection on the quality of the music, which will hit the spot for far more people than 'The-Formulas-of-Death-on-more-drugs' I wanted would. But that doesn't stop the album being somewhat of a letdown for me in some regards. It's like going to see a long lost friend you remember as a weirdo who never seemed to fit in yet radiated an incomparable sense of wisdom, and instead finding he had turned into a kinda fun guy you can have a great time with. Sure he no longer has an issue listening to you moan about your girlfriend, but in the process he lost a little of the very reason you valued him so much as a friend. 

Setting that aside, I believe 'Children of the Night' to be one of the outstanding releases of the year so far and is sure to feature prominently in end-of-year lists across the board. Perhaps this album is the band's 'Black Album' after their '...And Justice For All' in terms of stylistic shift, but I have faith in Tribulation to make their 'Load' better than the entirety of Metallica's post 1991 material combined. But then again vomiting on a mic would probably have much the same effect.

Words by: Jake Mazlum

‘Children of the Night’ is available now

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