Vortize: Desde Bajo Tierra
Out 15th September on Selvajaria Records
Irrepressibly bouncy speed metal prepares the ground for rich melodic integration articulated via a classicist NWOBHM attack meshed to folk flourishes. Impassioned metal crooning served on the high end below falsetto, anthemic hooks, Spanish guitar solos, galloping percussive attacks of bracing thunder. All would be entirely ridiculous Disney fodder were it not for the fact that this album is so well crafted. Compositionally speaking, it evinces an internal logic that is near flawless. The tracks are frontloaded with density, as an array of riffs and ideas blitz past the listener in near sensory overload. But as the music evolves, nuance is achieved through repetition, as accessible but multilayered refrains accumulate ancillary material, counterpoint, harmony, rhythmic accents, resulting in near trancelike waves of rich musical information. According to the metrics of good taste, even by the liberal standards of classic metal, Vortize do everything wrong. Brash, abrasive, relentless, and unapologetically theatrical. But for anyone that admires quality construction, musicianship, and flowing, linear compositions, ‘Desde Bajo Tierra’ cannot be faulted.
Bekor Qilish: The Flesh of a New God
Out 22nd September on I, Voidhanger
Displays an intimate understanding of multiple death metal forms lifted from the esoteric arm of the genre, but struggles to render them into a coherent statement. From here, schizophrenic jolts in multiple directions present as lack of purpose rather than three dimensional cultural interplay. There are many dime-a-dozen dissonant tech-death outfits churning in the contemporary vibe void, but Bekor Qilish are a cut above most insofar as their meandering, undulating riff processes tend to lead somewhere. But this somewhere is often a surprisingly conventional melodic resolution, feeding into milestones that I’m sure the artist thought would appear avant-gardist, but in reality align with banal pop with math rock flavours to give listeners the reassurance that what they are consuming something with at least the façade of intellectualism. As for the rest, furniture of limited appeal to death metal fans stitched together with angular Dillinger Escape Plan redundancies.
Hjemsøkt: Mystikk & Mørke
Out 22nd September on Purity Through Fire
Displays a generic but competent grasp of midwinter Nordic black metal as an intersection of modest but finely crafted riffs alongside obscurantist atmosphere. Plays into the punk ethos of the genre by keeping the mix intimate, modest, but clear enough to allow for full articulation of what is in essence a quality garage band, thundering basslines and all. Occasionally threatening to seep into “post” territory in an effort to expand the textural offering of this EP. But any hint at impotent individualist sentiment or overly emotive dog whistling is kept at bay through a refined sense of melodic progression. Atmospheric flourishes are deployed as a way to advance the composition, and not merely as ornamentation for lack of ideas. Although hardly shocking in its rendering of the form, this era is marked by an utter desperation to stand out as an individual, and offer a new “take” on old forms, leaving the landscape utterly destitute as far as meaningful engagement with artistic forms are concerned. In this context, Hjemsøkt deserve credit for their modesty, in focusing on the elements of composition that truly matter as far as longevity is concerned, they inject new enthusiasm into the foundations of a well worn form.
Mons Veneris: Excesses of Perpetual Gloom
Out 27th September on Signal Rex
Furnishes a relatively subdued template of raw black metal by this artist’s standards, leaving room for us to focus on the vocal delivery as the foreground for this EP. Basic punches of tremolo picked melodic threads are delivered through mildly out of tune guitars, displaying a relatively warm, almost classically psychedelic guitar tone; perhaps another provocation toward black metal mores? What sounds like a flat pack drumkit recorded with a single mic straight from the rehearsal room underpins this, played not without enthusiasm, operating in more traditional patterns of heavy metal bombast, not short on fills and jubilant accents as opposed to delivering a sober procession of mid-paced blast-beats. Such playfulness seems to be the underlying ethos of this EP. Whether poking fun at black metal’s austerity, its commitment to textural norms, or singular vocal requirements, Mons Veneris operate on this territory whilst undermining every convention they come across. Clean vocals veer between ritualistic chants to high end banshee screams, supplemented by more garden variety black metal rasps, all knitted together with an eccentricity that was clearly intended to be the meat of the content offered here. Mons Veneris commit to this package of wry insults with glee, earning the right to this endeavour via a clear display of adeptness for the forms they are subverting.
Rorcal: Silence
Out 29th September on Hummus Records
Bratcore in all but name. Bouncy grooves, beat drops, stale melodic refrains, ‘Silence’ is stitched together from the catalogue of mid-2000s emo standards and post hardcore trappings, here dressed in the veneer of populist edgy extreme metal. Cavernous production, excessive low end, splashes of dissonance to create a sheen of inaccessibility without letting this disrupt the delivery of what is essentially early 2010s US dubstep articulated through the aesthetics of funderground metal. Rorcal will no doubt be praised for their genre spanning imagination by the unthinking yes-men of what passes for contemporary metal journalism. But what’s on offer here is a series of conversation pieces, leftover detritus from a generation that learned all the wrong lessons from nu metal and its aftermath, reappropriated into a product that looks legitimate, but is in reality a series of unconnected vignettes, a delivery mechanism for impotent groove, beat drops, and repetitive two chord finales that one supposes felt profound at the time of writing.
Kontusion: Kontusion
Out 29th September on Sentient Ruin
Demo originally released in 2022. Evolves the early Bolt Thrower template from a place of pure grind – understood as a concoction of hardcore punk and early death metal trappings stewarded by Slayer – into pure death metal via enriched tremolo riffs and greater connecting tissue between each instant. Cyclical descending chord progressions prepare the ground for a surprisingly refined seasoning of melodic doom metal, overshadowed by the spectre of the gothic. This aligns Kontusion’s efforts with the peripheral regalism of mid-period death metal for its fusion of melodic contusions (yep) with unrepentant violence. This leaves an open question around this demo. Kontusion behave for all the world like standard grind/war metal fodder, boredomcore and all. But they are clearly adept in the ways of sophisticated romanticist death metal composition. Are they playing to their weaknesses in order to garner the attention of the louder than warranted war metal crowd? Either way, an almost decent work of death metal sits beneath more primal violent trappings.
Hate Meditations 
Leave a comment