Möhrkvlth: Gwenojennoù An Ankounac’h
Out 5th May on Antiq
Sickly sweet post hardcore rendered in black metal form. Every riff geared toward emotional catharsis, achieving nothing as a result given the fact that no room is left for conflict, tension, strife, contrast. The total lack of patience demonstrable in the melodic signature of modern black metal is perhaps indicative of a general lapse in attention spans across metal’s listener – and by extension creative – base. An ethos unwilling to grapple with the ambiguity offered by atonality and chromaticism. When not remixing alt/indie chord sequences into black metal technique there is a tendency to leap headfirst into endless dissonance in the hope of catching a stray essence of artistry via a one-dimensional hostility to the very possibility of meaning. Here we see the former impulse indulged in the extreme, to the point that any recognisably black metal chord clustering – ‘Va c’heriadenn’ for example – is predictable to the point where experienced listeners will be able to map the entire shape of the track within the first thirty seconds of music.
Goholor: Locus Damnatorum
Out 8th May on Personal Records
Similar to Wiegedood in its ability to churn out muted, chugging, aggressive black metal riffs that retain the same sense of cascading inevitability arising from a more open strumming technic. Melodically, Goholor draw far more from Nordic death metal, with no small degree of euphoric brightness and lyricism lurking behind the otherwise latent darkness. But spiritually this is far more obviously a product of the black metal camp, taking cues from the meditative yet quietly defiant Ukrainian style, exhibiting various hues of grey into white as opposed to irredeemable shadow. Frantic, but not purposeless, as is so often the case with riff dense and melodically inclined black metal of the recent present, there is an overarching intentionality and flow to these pieces that compensates for a general limitation in mood. A dual vocal attack helps to eke out further expressive terrain, as guttural howls seep into the landscapes and a mid-range bark adds a degree of militaristic fervour. A solid wedge of tight yet highly creative riff-based black metal refocusing our attention on the importance of the macro picture, something that modern metal, with its fixation on detail and micro-complexity, often forgets.
Nocturnal Departure: Spiritual Cessation
Out 8th May on Hells Headbangers
Losing none of the energy but extending the melodic template somewhat, Nocturnal Departure return with an album that shifts the dial just a little in terms of building on their previous effort. This is still primal, busy, riff based – as opposed to atmospheric –black metal, drawing on a mix of first wave via early Samael than anything distinctly Nordic, with perhaps a dash of early Behemoth’s lyrical freneticism. The overall temperament feels ritualistic were it not for the fact that this is strikingly physical, active, and largely un-repetitive music. Primal, Celtic Frost derived riffs butt up against a soaring melodic character that breaks across the music sporadically. A disposition that sometimes burrows down into the riffs themselves, as pleasing if predicable moments of euphoria set to driving, galloping beats lend the music a degree of brightness to set against an otherwise drab darkness. The music is at times a little too unfocused in terms of pulling together the influences and traditions it draws from, which bleeds into a lack of purpose in the momentum of the tracks themselves, but the lasting impression is one of a competent, well kept workhorse of meat ‘n’ veg black metal who remain on an upward curve of quality.
Molosser: Molosser
Out 11th May on Gutter Prince Cabal
Part brutalist, part doom, this debut EP draws on the hardcore tradition within death metal but eschews the goregrind direction usually taken by acts with a similar DNA. Instead chasmic, open, atmospheric, linear death metal is informed by bursts of illogical speed infused with a loose informality that gives the music an unusual sense of flow, at least when applied to the palette these riffs are drawn from. Where this might be lacking is a degree of focus. One is emboldened in the view that this behaves more like grindcore given the fact that, despite the length of the tracks, they behave more like disconnected vignettes, each one carrying its own agenda and energy. This can work in punk adjacent metal albums consisting of tracks barely a minute in length as a kind of clipped montage of histrionic social critique. But Molosser still behave like a band existing in longform, with material more suited to sloganeering, meaning the momentum is clipped, unsure of itself despite the overarching quality of the material.
Desolus: Dwellers of the Twilight Void
Out 15th May on Hells Headbangers
Desolus continue their errand of bringing a tighter union between Kreator and the ultimate jumping off point for formative German thrash in the form of Sadus. Here reaching a shaky but competent union, as the tighter threads of chromatic thrash riffing meet the liquidity of traditional tonal centres, the latter of which arises sporadically through the guitar leads. Despite this, ‘Dwellers of the Twilight Void’ is a strong contender in the crop of recent thrash, falling short of Chilean harbingers Mayhemic, Demoniac, or Critical Defiance only by virtue of evincing a greater degree of pastiche. Desolus maintain a hot crucible, burning away excess fat almost to the detriment of developmental material at times. But such austerity is infinitely preferable to its opposite. The stylistic focus begets compositional focus, as visceral riffs blaze by in raw punches of physicality, meeting their evolution as cuts to lower tempos allow for extended melodic (in the loosest sense of the term) patterns that open out the expressive potential of the music, aided and abetted by characterful leads, the latter of which elevate rather than compensate for anything lacking in the foundations of the music itself.
Mangled Recrement: Demo
Out 15th May on Caligari Records
Choppy, angular death metal links the technical recesses of anomic chromaticism with a more populist groove impulse, resulting in a please-all demo that actually pulls off the task. Themes are clearly stated and developed, influences are worn on sleeves, and each track chugs along with accessible aplomb, but these duties are carried out without deterring from each other. A finely balanced if run of the mill slab of modernist death metal results. One with obvious affiliation to OSDM trends but not beholden to them. This is most clearly felt in how deliberately the tracks develop as entities unto themselves as opposed to reaching in multiple directions for various recognisable signifiers. The clear but demo quality production helps by coating the material in rough edges, allowing the music to bight harder without submersing the finer details in static. Drums are perhaps a little lost in the faster passages, but the performance shines through regardless. Alongside these macro virtues are a whole host of quirks scattered in alcoves across these tracks, technical minutia, odd melodic inflections, and unexpected transitions of momentum that lend all a sense of tension and colour.
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