Cruel Force: Haneda
Out 27th March on Shadow Kingdom
Sits at the playful end of German thrash, emphasising the melodic elements of Destruction circa ‘Mad Butcher’. On the basis of this material there is a clear effort to align with the rough and tumble of 80s thrash via the period correct mix and throaty vocals, but the resultant hybrid feels more like a speed/power hybrid. ‘Haneda’ reaps the benefits of this melting pot however, as the more bombastic elements of its heavy metal genetic code are tempered by a directness and urgency thanks to the distant punk lineage working its way through many of the riffs. The latter of which in turn benefits from the longform structures and unapologetically melodic flair exercised throughout with playful creativity. Although clearly designed as another period piece, Cruel Force effectively martial their basket of influences to get the best out of each element of their sound, brandishing the raw material of aggressive metal in sharp distinction to the brighter, borderline euphoric heroism of the narrative interplay, the two contrasting elements benefiting from the tension woven throughout the album.
Cryptworm: Infectious Pathological Waste
Out 27th March on Me Saco Un Ojo/Extremely Rotten
Stripped back gore metal borrows a slice of Demilichian surrealism, boiled down to its barest rudiments. The result is sparse but energetic death metal, truer to the pre-1990 origins of the genre than the brutal strains preoccupied with similar fleshy themes from the late 90s onwards. Although many riffs fall back on a plodding groove and could quite easily be lifted and shifted into a Slipknot track, the sharply clarified topography works in welcome contrast to the faster speed runs of tremolo riffing. The guitar tone is somewhat understated, injecting a welcome degree of space to the centre of the mix, allowing the drums and vocals room to breathe and mould the momentum of the music to their will. Vocals themselves are predominantly a guttural growl befitting the overall tone of the album, although a mid-range Carcass-esque rasp is a welcome returning character. Drums are raw and unfiltered, a tinny snare dominating the mix as it works either through straightforward blast-beats or more elongated grooves. The material itself would be passable if unremarkable were it not for the occasional oddball choice. An unusually avant-garde riff here, a surprisingly persistent use of repetition to the point that it looks like an artistic choice there. This drags the listener out of their stupor at welcome intervals and demands further attention.
Funelore: The Dissolution of Consciousness
Out 27th March on Me Saco Un Ojo
Rhythm guitar takes a back seat in this glum funeral doom EP, allowing keyboard lines and clean arpeggios to step up to the foreground of the mix. This makes the atmosphere oddly open, and all the more haunting as a result. Something that sets Funelore apart from the often overwrought nature of funeral doom in recent years. An eerie lack of completion permeates the mix with unsettling ambiguity. Esoteric alongside diSEMBOWELMENT sit next to gloomy, goth melancholia, driven by the intentional rhythmic momentum despite the depressed tempos. The music is forbidden from dissolving into pure drone by the provocative drum crescendos that rise and fall throughout each track. Low, distorted vocals soar above this display, providing long sustained notes that are still somewhat suppressed in the mix, meaning they function more as background narration to the foregrounded symphonics. This curious yet brief EP contains enough idiosyncratic elements to make it worth paying attention to in a subgenre that all too often seems starved of direction beyond empty aesthetic gestures.
Sura’sura: Warfare Metal
Out 27th March on විරූපි Propaganda (VIRUPI)
Brief but solid EP of militaristic black metal. Despite the presentation and thematic material the compositions beneath are surprisingly wide ranging, taking in an array of divergent threads. The resultant mix takes the form of Norwegian black metal, but remains oddly devoid of emotional content. Imagine Ildjarn at his most aggressive with tempo changes and more than two riffs per track. This feels fitting for the specific concept Sura’sura are trying to get across. A setting where nothing but the physical remains. A thread of static following certain pathways as a matter of inevitability. Art adopting the shape of what came before out of muscle memory. This is black metal attempting to reconcile itself to the scorched earth policy inherent to content saturation. Music that hits all the right beats – quite literally – but digging beneath reveals an environment where nothing but violence, conflict, and the literal collision of physical forces is possible. Anything more cerebral or fragile is simply not capable of surviving, all oxygen sucked out of the atmosphere, leaving nothing but this rigid zone of unending, meaningless rebuttals.
Tårfödd: Mörker Täcker Livets Ljus
Out 28th March on Purity Through Fire
Essentially a pale rerun of Nargaroth’s ‘Era of Threnody’ in that it attempts a similar meshing of euphoric black metal with rock ‘n’ roll elements, but leans too heavily into the reassuring sentimentalism of post rock, resulting in a pop album that feels like it’s been stretched out on the rack. This habit is all but endemic within modern extreme metal to the point that it’s hardly worth mentioning in this specific case, were it not for the fact that Tårfödd are at least capable of writing some serviceable to powerful black metal riffs alongside some effective acoustic passages, with ear grabbing ideas arising too frequently to be put down to fluke alone. That these are integrated so tightly into an otherwise worthless album means that it’s either the result of unconscious habit or simply the fact that Tårfödd know how to apply colour at the micro level and are choosing not to.
Cenotafio: La escisión acausal – Por la vía inversa hacia la descarnación
Out 1st April on Demoniac Productions
Swirling, chasmic death metal retains just enough solidity to articulate a vision in contrast to most aesthetically comparable acts who replace compositions with guitar tone. The black/death moniker incorrectly attributed to this style is actually somewhat appropriate in the case of Cenotafio, as soaring tremolo refrains usher the listener into the music with siren wail calls. This is underpinned by more fluid drums, whose transition into blast-beats feels almost accidental, as the same musical phrase switches stiff rigidity and fluid ambience as a means of gaining more leverage out of a single idea. The excessive layering of the mix means that individual tracks tend to step on each other’s tows to some extent, meaning that coherence is something that must be dug out from the overall presentation, as if the production is actively working against the listener’s desire to understand the music. But pealing back the layers does reveal a pleasing if limited signature identity, one that is sadly not compensated for in the bold textural flourishes strewn across the surface of this album, as if to cloak the rather frugal substance beneath.
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