Beats and yelling shorts, 26th May 25

Ahamkara: The Harrow of the Lost
Out 25^th April on Bindrune Recordings

Blends the vast sweeping atmospheres of Wodensthrone and the idiosyncratic polyphony of Obsequie into a vapid mulch of emo black metal. Trivial harmonic material decorates a slue of anthemic riffs rendered with a black metal aesthetic for an audience incapable of confronting the music’s challenging aspects. Light touch folk flourishes, endless attempts to contrive a sense of emotional catharsis, and limp sentimentalism par for the course in much post black metal. One is unsure whether to deem this release superior to post black metal as things are actually happening here, but given the extent of candyfloss pop melody on display, it’s safe to conclude Ahamkara would have been better off not bothering.

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Sijjin: Helljjin Combat
Out 25^th April on Sepulchral Voice

Muscular old school death/thrash retains a strong sense of play alongside its overriding remit of wanton violence peppered with occultist darkness. Positions itself as a death metal successor to ‘Reign in Blood’, spiced with a European eccentricity expressed through the vocals and some odd tangents that betray the album’s modern orientation despite its retroist values. Whilst the riffs and overall structure are delivered with a pleasing fluidity and knowledge of their craft, nothing remarkable stands out beyond admiration for a job well done, that is until Sijjin deliver leftfield lead guitar material, or drive home a riff to the point of avant-garde repetition. These subtle decorative refrains peppered throughout the album lend a degree of tension and artistry to what is otherwise unapologetically direct extreme metal. Despite the familiarity of the material, one is still left guessing as to what Sijjin will do next.

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Samiarus: Reign Destroyer
Out 25^th April on Sentient Ruin

Chaotic war metal interjection plays to the subgenre’s strengths by allowing the chaos to speak for itself within what are still strictly administered structural blocks. Each track, although brief, manages to articulate a clear thematic intent. The basic, linear patterns allow the listener visibility on the throughline despite an array of disruptive artillery breaking up the flow through lurches into faster tempos, chaotic atonal lead material, or unprepared melodic content. But an underlying backbone of determined intent remains, anchoring the listener despite the ambient chaos. Vocals exercise a degree of restraint, as mid-range death growls with clear rhythmic forethought further emphasise the strong percussive flow of these pieces. This allows the drums a degree of freedom to shift from mid-paced Bolt Thrower-esque marches to rampant blast-beats without the music falling into total incoherence. A promising if modest development on a style often too proud of its own restrictive mien. 

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Goats of Doom: INRI
Out 30^th April on Purity Through Fire

Abrasive carnival metal that has nothing useful to say even as an entertainment product given how unpleasant it is to listen to. Strained black metal vocals that sound like they were painful to record are set to a mishmash of watered down heavy metal melodicism – think the equivalent of how melodeath flattens over melodic nuance – and random offcuts of punk and pop rock. Apparently we’re supposed to treat this as a black metal release despite the fact that the woeful vocals are the only thing that bear any association to the genre. For the rest, random breakdowns to hook the pondlife in with chest-thumping bravado stitched together with basic punk beats and groove metal riffs.

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Αχέροντας: Nekyia – The Necromantic Patterns
Out 30^th April on Zazen Sounds/III Damnation

Camp Greek black metallers return for another overwrought salvo of symphonic occultism. Αχέροντας take the eccentric mysticism of the early Greek style and meld it with populist undercurrents of extreme metal that have been rife since the early 2000s. Whilst they’ve always shown more compositional sophistication than a Belphegor or Behemoth, Αχέροντας are equally cluttered and overextended in terms of dramatic and thematic intent. There’s a lot to unpack across their work, and it’s not always clear that it’s worth the effort. The clash of sugary melodic licks with light dissonance, dark Emperor inspired tremolo runs colliding with meathead melodeath grooves. Αχέροντας have always stood out in this regard through their ability to pull together a clear communication of ideas despite the many gestures toward incoherence. And this album is no exception. As the tracks progress a degree of focus and concentration begins to manifest. But again, given the effort required to get one’s ear into the material, it’s not always clear what the purpose of all this surplus instrumentation and ancillary material actually is, beyond muddying an otherwise serviceable if generic picture.

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Alukta: Merok
Out 2^nd May on Transcendance

Updates the funeral doom formula with layers of earthy mysticism, offsetting the cold waves of droning guitar energy with a degree of human warmth despite the overarching hostility of the presentation. Simple melodic molecules incrementally work themselves into satisfying variations across each track. But the achingly slow motion development typical of modern funeral doom – not helped by the genre’s atmospheric homogenisation – is offset by micro folk refrains that lend a degree of motion and accessibility to what is otherwise a dogmatically ambient experience. Vocals play a key role here, as a dual attack stretched between high end black metal screeching and guttural howls are bookended by clean chanting and throat singing adjacent ceremonial inflections that lend a sense of occasion to what is otherwise stubbornly atmospheric music. Despite this, Alukta have left themselves many levers to pull on to contrive drama, resolution, and telos in what is at times quite static music. The tension between a cyclical ritualism and linear builds into crescendos is one that is maintained throughout the album, meeting its final conclusion in the closing number ‘Exuvia’.