It may be true that it is nowadays rather hard to produce something entirely innovative in the heavy sludge genre, but some bands still deserve some special attention. As in the case of Palehorse, a UK band that has been around for over a decade. A major thing that sets Palehorse apart from the majority of genre bands is use of no axe guitars whatsoever, but instead they ad two four stringers..
Get ready for some really unrelentless stuff from our Swiss noise-terrorrists of Mumakil . I am not familiar with their past, but Mumakil’s album is not bad at all. Even though Flies Will Starve, their second full length on Relapse, doesn't break new ground, the excellent production and the flawless (s)kil(l)s, combined with some of the most upbeat straightforward grindcore songs make this album a highlight that should be found in every well sorted collection of extreme music.
Norway’s progressive metal band Leprous were founded back in 2001 but they still manage to surprise with new ideas on every new album. Not satisfied by just sticking to a single musical style, Leprous from Norway decide to use ingredients from such different genres like black metal, screamo, jazz, industrial and progressive rock, and put it all together into their very own sonic universe.
The cover artwork hints at postblack metal, but you can expect much more. Many tracks use a black metal frame but generally allow for many other genres. Already the ingenious opener “Stillborn motivation” where you can find next to some post rock also a few shoegaze sounds, makes you hungry for more. This high quality level is maintained throughout the album, and the songs are splendidly filled with breaks. Symphonic arrangements, dramatic passages, ambient influences and some evil metal outbursts guarantee a multi-layered listening experience.
The name should already point into the right direction. Normally I'm not responsible for writing black metal reviews because I'm not the biggest fan of this music and that’s an understatement. But From The Vastland from Iran certainly can claim to be very different from other bands in that genre.
Bloodwork from Paderborn play agrressive-paced melodic death core where technical finesse is more important than straight-forwardness. By all means it is well done, but not in a too original way, so that I can't say that I will grow too fond of this album. Yes, there's a lot of anger on Zero but the focus is so strong and narrow on that emotion that the song writing is suffering from it.
Of This and Other Worlds is a 10 track CD full of beautiful and powerful masterpieces that are performed with so much feeling and passion, the intensity of each track is so deep you wonder what was going around the time of writing and recording.
Teepee has become a label that has a gift for finding and producing some of the best psych stoner bands right at the moment. Blaak Heat Shujaa from France are one of the best, period, that I've heard yet in this genre. Musically their latest offering is still on par with the songs they've created on the previous albums though it doesn't provide any drastic change, it is quite enjoyable all the way through reminding me of the best work of Mammoth Volume, My Sleeping Karma, The Grand Astoria,…
Final Spell is the debut ep by the Salt Lake City, US band Visigoth who have been around since 2010. Nostalgic metal fans will like their mix of teutonic bombastic and US melodic power speed metal as it is also performed by Helloween, Twisted Tower Dire, Omen and Grim Reaper. Clear vocal lines, huge chorusses, an impressive rhythm section and lots of fast guitar solos are harmonizing perfectly.
This Swedish trio is yet another in a seemingly endless stream of vitage rock bands that come from Scandinavia that can play to a very high standard.
