Defiled: Altered State
Out 12th June on Season of Mist
The latest effort from this long standing Japanese entity offers flashes of brilliance between long stretches of uninspired number crunching. Similar to Krisiun in the sense that they champion shortform death metal. But where Krisiun – love or hate them – make known their urge to flatten death metal off into a relentless churn of violence in every bar they play, Defiled at this point feel tired, falling back on generic grooves and off-the-shelf riffs. The trimmed down song lengths, once an interesting artistic statement in its own right, now feels like a necessity, as if they are quite literally running out of ideas, forced to let tracks trail off without any real purpose. True to the namesake of the album, ‘Arise’ era Sepultura is the most obvious influence. But none of the flair, daring, or imaginative development can be found here.
Thy Killing Hand: Infernal Commands
Out 12th June on EAL Productions
Although this Polish entity is anonymous one suspects Mark of the Devil of Sodality and Cult des Ghoules fame has left some fingerprints. The music is more dynamic and vibrant than these other projects, adopting a glum melodicism and explicit doom metal pacing that allows the music to flow as music as opposed to some ritualistic piece of performance art. But the pacing is still deliberately torturous, the atmosphere alienating, the momentum tentative, tense. But the tempo does pick up piecemeal, marching along with rigour and intention, struggling to overcome the reverb drenched inertia of the guitar tone, it is reminiscent of early Master’s Hammer for its almost carelessly swaggering gait in stark contrast to the frigidly gushing Nordic style. Structurally the album feels very loose, flowing episodically from one phrase to the next. Themes, such as they are, may be picked up across the entirety of a piece, but they work more as brief jingles, a returning character working across the stage at increments, allowing us to navigate an otherwise turgid churn of laboured noise. A work more intriguing for its developed – and largely idiosyncratic – aesthetic, making this perhaps best regarded as something closer to aggressive ambient than anything strictly metallic.
Solystalgia: Solystalgia
Out 24th June on Nameless Grave Records
Clunky melodic death/doom with a pulse, this bizarre debut will offer as many reasons to turn it off as it does reasons to keep listening. Despite the tedious Ahab derived sentimentality, the album continues to leave one guessing as to where they will take the music next. Elements of a darker, drab entity sit between moments of undignified emotionalism, intriguing melodic inflections give way to predictably cathartic chord runs, and the by now tedious plod common to modern takes on melodic death/doom are tempered by unexpected shifts in tempo and dynamics. Overwrought guitars will suddenly break for a rest allowing the bass and drums to conjure moments of unusual tension. Laboured histrionics are welcomely cut short by a sudden break into a blast-beat. And the lead guitar material refuses to play by any clear set of rules within the genre, twisting and weaving between bright and grey colours, between obvious cadential shapes and a long, meandering lyricism that, if nothing else, will keep one endlessly engaged. Whilst the lasting impression will ultimately be a matter of taste – the sentiment behind emotional doom generally leaves me cold – from an academic point of view there is no denying that Solystalgia left enough on the line to wet the curiosity of a broader audience, displaying a unique character and willingness to bend and break rules when it matters.
Astriferous: Atavistic Unravelling
Out 26th June on Me Saco Un Ojo
Astriferous continue their run of stirring death metal, at once cacophonous yet intricate. The production appears deliberately overworked, with a dominant guitar tone filling out the mix leaving little room for the drums to shine through, making their presence felt more than intellectualised. Vocals are equally bombastic, offering a stable yet inhuman bark of mid-range distortion to match the theatrical moment behind the music. The riff signatures are simple but never boring or generic. Their placement and sequencing in some sense being more important than the actual content, the latter of which seems to borrow from the defiant primitivism of early black metal as much as it does the usual Autopsy and Incantation reference points. Rhythm is emphasised by the guitars as much as the drums, as certain strong beats hit like an earthquake across the flow of these tracks. Despite the maximalist presentation, Astriferous work with relatively basic ideas to achieve the most dramatic effect possible, weaving them together into an intricate tapestry.
Citrinitas: Telestic Ekstasis
Out 26th June on Caligari Records
Chasmic blackened doom delivered in a refreshingly shortform demo. But across this brief sixteen minute runtime Citrinitas demonstrate a strong understanding of how to imbue this aesthetic with substance. A fine balance between meditative, repetitive riffs and longer melodic lines that could just as well have been written for violin strike out across these tracks, allowing themselves plenty of room to unfurl a modest narrative of sorts that feels at once immersive and internally consistent. Citrinitas also work in a creepy undertone that brings an element of Eldritch horror missing from more explicitly mournful takes on this style, see for instance the loose blues intro of ‘Stella Signata’ which sees a smoky guitar lick gradually evolve into an epic dirge of funereal lamentations. Distant vocals appear almost incidental to this endeavour, offering an understated narrative through these darkened corridors, a refreshingly deadpan choice against the often hyperbolic emotionalism of much blackened doom. Despite this being a form of music that likes to spread itself out, this demo offers a tight, efficient…literal demonstration of one possible interpretation that leaves one expectant for the expansion into an EP or debut.
Morgal: The Seventh Circle
Out 26th June on Werewolf
Attempts to stitch together a take on frantic blackened thrash with a more explicitly black metal impetus, with results ranging from the satisfactory to the confused. The production speaks of an artist intent on a retro aesthetic, with a warm guitar tone, pillow punching snare, and an overall muddy organicism more appropriate to classic heavy metal. But the music expressed through this cloying template owes more to Slayer than it does Satan (the band), as the raw energy of thrash at its most evil meets the high melodicism of tremolo riffs delivered with sharp clarity and intention. At times reminiscent of the unfocused, frenetic energy of 1349, the clarity and structure of pieces seems to hang by a thread, but Morgal prove just about able to pull multiple disparate elements together when it counts. The lack of focus can test patience. One speculates whether this is an example of band members unwilling to compromise on making their individual taste or influences heard and failing to find an effective way to bind these elements together convincingly. But Morgal remain above average in at least getting this material over the line into a coherent statement worthy of some attention.
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