Spaced : "This is All We Ever Get"

 New York has a hard-core legacy that can not be denied. However, Spaced wishes they were from Maryland. At first, this was not noticed, and I thought this was just a really well-produced old-school hardcore album. The second song and it all falls into place. These guys want to be Turnstille. I have nothing against writing catchy songs and fucking with the formula. But with a song like 'Big Picture" almost sounding like a Turnstille cover, that is where I draw the line. I am however willing to give the other songs a chance. It proves not to be as big of a problem for "Downfall" 

I am glad that Turnsstille encouraged punk bands to add more hooks and experiment a bit. But what I do not want are bands ripping their sound. "Rat Race" does have an almost nu-metal groove to it. The vocals have a purpose, the only problem I am hearing is the way the syncopation is used that drives too close to Turnstille's street. The big gang vocal chorus works well enough."'the Difference" is perhaps a little less of a Turnstile worshipper.I still hear the influence it is just not as pronounced. The breakdown groove is cool though. 

"Cosmic Groove" lives up to its name. It makes you bob your head, which works well enough for what they are going for and better than most hardcore bands are doing. The sung vocals on the last song, begin to cross back over into the front lawn of where Turnstille lives. At least just circle the block. The car is not in their driveway, but it is way too close at that moment. If Turnstill is your favorite band and you are like 16 years old, this might not matter much. They are good at what they do and the songs work when their true identity shines through so I will give this album an 8. 

Nocturnus AD : "Unicursal"

Mike Browning from Morbid Angel returns with his other class band Nocturnus, now Nocturnus AD. I had to go back and listen to "The Key" again to see if I was just not remembering things right or if something was weirdly different. Things are weirdly different as "the Key" sounds just like I remembered it. By the song "Mesolithic" it sounds like the same band, the first couple of songs just take some getting used to as Browning is not getting any younger so his approach to things might have changed. His snarls are more spoken than not. While it helps him to narrate this HP Lovecraft-like yarn he is continuing with this album, it does create an odd cadence at times. It reminds me of Coroner to some extent. I am never sure about the drummer being the lead vocalist. 

The synths are similar to the sounds heard on "The Key" so that works for me. I know it sounds like I am pretending "Paradox" was not released. I gave "Paradox" a 9, but it's not the album they are going to be measured against. It is interesting going back to read that review, as I mentioned many of the same things I am noticing with the sound on this album The vocals really are the only glaring weak spot the rest of the music compensates for. Things are more progressive and less angular on this album. "Mission Malkuth" finds the vocal style more spoken, though this makes the lyrics stand out there is not a great deal of grit to it. The riffs are pretty awesome and balance it out like a more acrobatic version of Morbid Angel, though the album does not hold the same kind of crunchy production of a Morbid Angel album, leaving things to sound like a thrash version of Pestilence at times. 

"Yesod..." finds more of a death metal groove forming as the pace picks. Portals are a huge theme on this album. Which is fine with me, works as well as Satanic themes for me, and could be interchangeable. At times, even occult themes are thrown in with the sci-fi which is on brand for this project. The riffs really improve here. "Hod the Stellar Light" is yet another song referencing the Tree of Life, and finds Browning's drumming excelling. Though I have always thought Pete Sandoval was best for Morbid Angel. There is a more Morbid Angel-like mood at the onset of this song, though the cosmic ambiance does take over in places. The delivery of the vocals might find him spitting the lyrics out in the most awkward manner yet, but the music continues to compensate. 

"Netzah the Fire of Victory"  might slow down into a cool doomier riff, by the time we get to the song I can not shake the thought that Browning should have just stuck to drumming and gotten someone who could have growled the lyrics, which would have better served the songs. Yeah I know he has always been the vocalist for this band, but if you can't cut it, oh, well. `The instrumental outro works well enough for what it is, and that is perhaps for the best as the vocals had gotten on my nerves.  Due to the vocals, I will round this down to an 8.5, I recognize that I am picky about vocals and do not see them as a thought but my primary focus and I factored that in when taking things into consideration regarding this album, I have always felt these guys were the most underrated death metal band out of Tampa, but his delivery makes it hardly death metal this time around. The album drops May 17th thanks to Profound Lore and you can make up your own mind about it then. 

Locusts & Honey : "Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed "

 Taking a break from what seems to be a death metal-heavy season and we are not even into June yet. Needed to switch it up so going for doom. This British band continues to remind me of what I love about Funeral Doom. Mournfully melodic, heavy sonically, though it slowly with depressive weight, the sound echoing out into caverns below. Not sure this song needs to be twelve minutes regardless of how slow they are playing. The vocals are a muffled mid-range rasp. The production is raw enough to give it personality, but you can still hear everything that is going on.  In fact, if cranked up this album sounds massive running into headphones.

The buzz of ambient noise the first song ended with bleeds over into the beginning of  "Confraternities of the Cord". It keeps a similar dripping speed as the previous song. It rings out with a more clanging reverb, It almost feels like the kind of atmospheric doom gazing early Jesu tapped into. "Beauty and Atrocity" is just an interlude of ambient noise, things do not get interesting until the sonic pound of "Traitor to Love". The vocals remain at a throat gasp. In some ways this song is more accessible, it moves at a deliberate and more flowing pace.   

Then just like that the album fades out on another wave of sound. It almost comes down to this being a single with two songs on it, as there are more instrumental ambient interludes than there is actual songs. I like the ideas that were being developed here, and they are capable of writing songs, think it would have been time better spent than how they cobbled this together. I will give the songs that are here an 8 Certainly a band to pay attention to, as I want to hear what they do on an actual album comprised of real songs. This album drops May24th.  

Replicant : "Infinite Mortality"

This New Jersey band will impress many with the fact their new albums are even more brutal than past efforts. The real recognition they should receive is achieving this while still caring about writing songs rather than, using music as a weapon to beat your ear drums out with distortion. The vocals are not the most purposeful, but they even took the time in the studio to add some nuance to the guttural exclamations.  The dissonance is counterbalanced by hooky little rhythmic twists. All of this is highly effective when the album, opens but this winding and grinding formula is not as fresh on the second song. The thing about extremely heavy bands is they typically lose the shock value after the first song, after all, there is only one first time to hear it. Sure the part where it lows down to let the lower growl emerge is pretty cool but not as good as the first song. 

There are plenty of subtle guitar trickers, which is an impressive enough fact considering subtlety is not what their overall sound is about. They are not afraid to pull out break-down style riffing to break up the chaos. Midway into "Reciprocal Abandonment" they introduce an odd dissonant atmosphere, showing another side to their sonic arsenal. Bands like Ulcerate have certainly done this sort of thing before. Their drummer is decent to keep up but this is clearly a guitar player's band. "Pain Enduring" hammers with a more single-minded pulse and the vocals just sounds of anger and torment along for the ride. 

"Nekrotunnel" is pretty much just run-of-the-mill blasting death metal with the guitar tones really dialed in. "Dwelling on the Threshold" digs in and is a little more grooving. A few creepy touches here and there ice the cake. The nine-minute "Planet of Skin" closes the album. They take their time winding up into the song. Things do not really get started til two minutes in. It chugs and roars with much of the same power that can be found on this album's other songs. Effective but not bringing anything new to the table.  I give this album a 9, impressive yes, but I am not going to say it's the best death metal album I have heard this year, we are only four months into 2024, as everyone is trying to get out their best stuff in time for the world to end, but if you want a death metal album that is dissonant and heavy while still musical this is worth your time. 

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Gray State : "Under the Wheels of Progress"

From Finland comes this very metal take on hardcore. It opens with an instrumental track, and foreboding might be the best way to describe its mood. The rapid-fire second song is joined by scathing vocals that are not unlike the scowl of disgust, Starkweather uses. There is more groove to "The Death of True Love" . The very melodic guitar solo is a really nice touch It combines the kind of classic metal playing combined with hard-core aggression that I have not heard since the first Shadows Fall album. It is what metal core genre should sound like. 

This is not to say they do not play into the tropes of hardcore with the under stomp of "Desire for Salvation" . These guys are great guitarists so that is what keeps pulling them back in a metal direction even when they are trying harder for something with more of a punk feel. They also know how to bring the riffs on "Ashes of Burning Worlds". It should make for brutal karate chopping pits if that is what is going down in Finland these days. 

 "Flaw in a Mortal Machine" is driven by a more thrashing energy, until they slow down for the more spoken motivational hard-core vocal Tedtalk to come into play. They do not shy from guitar solos even in these moments,. and I am fine with that. The riffs get a little Slayer in places.  They continue to rage down a similar path, though the bass grinds in to anchor it. There is more punk in the veins of "Lifeblood". The last song feels like it could have come from Life of Agony's "The River Runs Red", which is one of my favorite albums so fine by me.  I will give this album a 9 and see how it grows on me one of the better hardcore album so far this year.  

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Sunnata : "Chasing Shadows"

last album earned the number three spot on 2021's Top 10 Sludge Albums list. The vibes are more psychedelic on 'Chasing Shadows". The Polish band continues to push their sonic boundaries but with less aggression. In fact, it feels, more like grunge at times, as the droning baritone vocals remind me a little of Mark Lanegan this time around. It sounds great so I am not going to complain about this not being as metal as past releases since it has progressed in a very organic manner, and things are still intense. The vocals build into a more throaty belt, but not a growl. 

"Torn" is largely the band jamming around a sustained tension. While the vocals are improved from the previous album and crooned with palpable melancholy, they do not really give the song structure but add another layer of sound. The winding spiral of the guitar lures you into "Wishbone". This finds the band stepping into the direction of progressive, not a huge surprise considering their previous album did not conform to what you expect from the sludge or doom genres. The chorus to "Wishbone" finds a hookier dynamic in place. The vocal layering to "Saviours Raft" slants the song in the Alice In Chains direction. Though unlike Alice in Chains it drones of a jam more than creating vocal hooks. They do build the song really well into a heavier pound, that is still not quite metal.  

There is more of a hypnotic chant to "The Tide" which finds them highly effective at creating a mood, though it's more of a song to zone out to rather than an earworm you return to. "Hunger" is more brooding in its storm-building tension. The bass payer is the key to this here and in other songs, with a hefty tone that holds the backbone down. Even a simple strum is an effective blueprint for them to follow 'the Sleeper" combines the brooding grunge melodies with the pulse of early Pink Floyd's dark speculations. The last song is the album's most experimental moment rides an odd ambient groove. I will give this album a 9 it achieves what it set out to do here, which is create its own sound that is possessed by a surreal intensity. 

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High on Fire : "Cometh the Storm"

It's been 6 years since "Electric Messiah". Since then they have been joined by Big Business drummer Coady Willis. The bar is low for them here, as they have never scored higher than a 7.5.  They rely more upon a rumbling chug and are not dark or melodic enough for me. Always sounded like they took the stoner rock DNA and mixed it with Motorhead and Venom, in a manner that is not all that original. Things have changed this time around. Perhaps Pike's sobriety factors in. But I hear another influence, which makes perfect sense, after all, Matt Pike is close friends with Brent Hinds. Imagine them hanging out and one day a newly sober Piek thinks, well if they can play big places to a larger audience, I could as well, after all, it's not a huge leap, just groove a little more. To the record label, this is a reason to celebrate. 

The album opens with a more grooving sludge that recalls old Mastodon, with little of the Motorhead punk drive. In fact, it's s not until "Trismestigus" that I hear any of the old Motorhead rumbles. I imagine the song is about Hermes. It's a dense hammering wall of chugs, that obscures the roar of the vocals so he might be about as informed of the founder of  Hermetic magic as Ozzy was of the O.T.O when he wrote "Mr. Crowley". The answer here is not at all. Making it a clever metal occult namedrop. The title track benefits from their new drummer, as Pike makes more of an effort to sing. These factors help give me more of the brooding tension I want from heavy music.  

After an excursion into Middle Eastern music, they return to hammering you with the overdriven wall of sound. There is a surmounting tension to its drive. "the Beating' finds them back to the kind of more punk-leaning attack that prompts the Venom and Motorhead comparisons. "Tough Guy" is a step in the more metal direction, but it is also a rather straightforward pounding, with the growl of the vocals not contributing a great deal.  Though it is much more deliberate than much of what I have heard in the past from these guys.  If you stepped on the gas while playing "Orgasmatron" the results might be similar to "Lightning Beard". 

He makes another attempt at singing on "Hunting Shadows", which gallops closer to a more traditional metal with its brazen howl. The album closes with a ten-minute epic that is "Darker Fleece".  It hangs on a rumbling riff that trudges in a monolithic drone. Six minutes and I am wondering when they are going to switch it up. They don't. Regardless , this might be the most accessible to work, and showcases more thoughtful songwriting, so all the inspiration paid off I will give them an 8.5, which doesn't make this a top-tier legend of an album, but it does make it their best work yet. 

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