W.M.D.: Against all Warnings
Out 5th June, self-released
Tempers the legacy of Vektor into a tighter, more focused entity of progressive thrash. An earthy punk immediacy and even some hints at party metal a-la Municipal Waste are offset by bracing technical flourishes, arriving at something like Watchtower kept in check by a foot stomping simplicity. Although choppy and dense, the bulk of these pieces are direct, focused, and accessible. Complexity arises from the sheer number of parts thrust into a short space of time, and a constant churn of ornamentation that complicates an otherwise surprisingly down to earth posture. High end, relatively clean vocals work to humanise the music further in spite of the obvious allusions to a futurist, dystopian aesthetic. The result is a meaty thrash album that is refreshingly at ease with itself. Obnoxious, showy, over excited (like all good thrash metal), but undergirded by a wealth of substance to back up the claims made by the frontloaded fanfare.
Godless: Adversus Parousia
Out 6th June on Nuclear Winter Records
The long awaited second album from this Chilean outfit behaves like Incantation in a hurry, supplementing the frantic machinations with a brooding darkness that never quite comes to the surface owing to the sheer pace of the material. Elements of grindcore and frantic death metal are delivered with a muscular malevolence. But true to their nation’s reputation for refreshing old forms, Godless never seem to fall into the trap of so called caverncore in using the strength of their presentation as a replacement for sound composition. Given that the aesthetic across this album is a popular one in contemporary extreme metal, one keeps expecting it to devolve into droning chords or contrived theatre with little in the way of substance to compensate. But Godless never once drop the ball, delivering a continuous stream of creative riffing and dynamic arrangement. That some ideas don’t quite arise above the derivative does not detract from the experience, as the context into which they are placed, the wider picture Godless have scoped out across the album, elevates the material around it into a totalising picture of tight and strikingly modernist death metal.
Rotten Tomb: Vestiges of Tortured Souls
Out 6th June on Nuclear Winter Records
Muscular death metal borrowing from Asphyx alongside some faster tremolo passages of a proto melodic character. For contemporary references I am reminded of Plague Bearer in that it rents out the same high drama and sense of occasion from black metal, but digests this back into a death metal setting. The result, despite the unmistakably modern production, links death metal back to its roots in a classically evil aesthetic and posture, in defiance of the often dry machinations of the contemporary genre. Like their fellow countrymen Oraculum (although perhaps a little more limited in expressive range), Rotten Tomb create space without leaning into explicit doom territory, allowing the compositions to breathe with slower passages and more detailed riffing, accented by short but expressive lead material. Echoey vocals bottom out the atmosphere, but due to the monotone delivery are not capable of adding anything beyond intensity to the ongoing churn. This album succeeds as an internally consistent, fluid construction of assertive death metal dressed in all the grandeur of a gothic horror regalia. It falls short in whipping up these raw materials into an expression beyond the sum of these parts, reaching for a broader statement on monstrosity. But in the process, it still rises above the majority of its peers in presenting an artefact at least worth the analysis.
Véhémence: Assiégé Pour l’Éternité
Out 10th June on Antiq records
French black metal is a frustrating beast. Once upon a time it to cut to the core essence of the genre with some the purest, most visceral recordings one could imagine. Alongside some more leftfield tangents along the way, one of its largest exports in recent years seems to be clownish hardcore and emo dressed up in medievalism to disguise the fact. To be fair to Véhémence however, they are hardly the worst example of this I’ve heard this year, even if they fail to reach the dizzying heights of Sühnopfer, who continue to be the exception that proves the rule. Véhémence do at least connect up their riff style with the bracing melodicism of Swedish black metal at its best, and there are plenty of interesting attempts to work medieval and folkish flourishes into intense, high speed runs of aggressive energy. Equally, they break up the oftentimes monotonous intensity with well thought out acoustic breaks that go beyond the usual remit of an interlude and expand into compelling pieces of sparse neofolk in their own right. The album is peppered with odd choices in terms of rhythm, phrasing, and melody, some of which work more than others, but one can’t help but applaud the attempt to appear vital and imaginative in a sometimes stale formula, bringing a clear willingness to push beyond their confines without appearing unfocused.
Nuclear Tomb: Epoch Inhumane
Out 12th June on Rotted Life Records
Succeeds where the debut failed in demonstrating “quirky” thrash, specifically because ‘Epoch Inhumane’ is a classic case of a slow reveal album. Initially presenting as a basic, violent beast only to gradually unfurl a tapestry of jagged, non-linear riffing, illogical chromatic licks and an unusual flair for the dramatic. But these things pepper the music like spices, elevating the otherwise middle of the road – albeit enthusiastically delivered – material. The result is an album with layers, and one that can be enjoyed from several different angles at once. It scratches an itch for uncomplicated high octane thrash, but if one wishes to study the fauna more closely a wealth of complexity emerges. Fun accents, odd transitions, interesting moments of tension and release, and unexpectedly high intensity breaks arising seemingly from nowhere. Although the dissonance of Voivod and the technical intensity of Coroner can clearly be heard in the backdrop, one is not left with the impression that Nuclear Tomb are beholden to these retro influences. A curious and dynamic beast emerges from the cacophony capable of standing on its own two feet without relying on stray plaudits based on conveying the vibe of a still much loved genre.
Tombal: Grave of the Damned
Out 12th June on Blood Harvest
Refines the excesses of the HM-2 tone somewhat with a view to expressing a richer melodic palette than was typical of classical era Swedish death metal. Despite the explicit retro intensions of these Italians in both presentation and promo blurb, they do the above average songwriting a disservice in this regard. Part early 90s Napalm Death with a gothic module installed, part melodic death metal, and part early Dismember, Tombal offer a bright EP of tight, self-contained death metal that makes up for any limitations in originality through the sheer intuitive flow of the compositions themselves. Nothing feels stale, nothing feels contrived, and nothing feels over worked at the mixing desk to disguise a lack of ideas. The music is further elevated by the sparse but colourful dance of guitar leads that work their way on top, weaving in dramatic events that allow us to navigate the material over and above the clearly stated themes.
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