What makes much of this material stick is that Steven Wilson is meticulous at sound production and getting a live feel out of the instruments. Mixing this with the Electronic focus of many of these songs makes for some music that operates, production-wise, on a level that is unusual today. Sometimes the future doesn’t bite.
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Shining – SHINING Review
Depressive explorations of death is nothing new for Shining, but there lies a somber feeling over SHINING that is hard to miss: the growing isolation of age and eventual death of everything you know. A shining example of depressive extreme metal.
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Ashbringer – We Came Here to Grieve Review
Ashbringer sound like they come from this lineage of music, a Pitchfork-approved style of Post-Black Metal made popular by bands like Deafheaven. But the material on We Came Here to Grieve features a harsher edge than the scrapbooking album cover entails, mainly carried by the vocals. Still not kvlt enough for sunscreen.
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Hexvessel – Polar Veil Review
Polar Veil caught my attention simply by breaking the ice with distorted guitar in its first preview track. Hexvessel has used this before (and its members are no strangers to Metal), but Blackened Doom Metal was really not something I expected to hear from these guys. Not just another Black Metal Monday.
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Terra Builder – Solar Temple Review
At its best, Solar Temple has some novel ideas: the title track combines a Morbid Angel sounding riff with Grindcore intensity and “Dead Celestial” features a tremolo riff throughout that works well with the forward charging groove. So at least you could say that they’re a good Trem Builder.
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Alkaloid – Numen Review
Alkaloid have not changed much of their formula of Morbid Angel meets Yes in 2023. New to the mix is a slight push towards Heavy Metal leads that crop up here and there, as seen in “A Fool’s Desire” that opens with some acoustics recalling Caprae Idolum’s Matches EP before mixing and matching Heavy Metal with Death Metal outbursts. It doesn’t have any viola da gamba though.
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Altarage – Worst Case Scenario Review
Altarage have shifted the focus of their formula a bit more towards the War Metal and Grindcore aspects previously present in their work. There is some furious riffing here, that is overwhelming in one moment and commandingly grooving in the next. Best case scenario?
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Bekor Qilish – The Flesh Of A New God Review
The songs on The Flesh of a New God cycle through ideas like Blackened Death Metal à la Veilburner coupled with desperately hopeful synths that evoke Angelo Badalamenti, Jazz Fusion bits that recall their label mates Sarmat and Afterbirth-like left-field digressions into uplifting melodies. Voidhanger knows how to pick ’em this year. Now if just Billie Eilish would answer their call for a Bekor Qilish feat Billie Eilish collab…
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Sylosis – A Sign of Things to Come Review
Metalcore was always present in Sylosis’ concoction of genres but it always tilted more towards the older Hardcore leaning bands. Opening song “Deadwood” is like an autostereogram of small amounts of Dyscarnate stomp and shouted Slipknot vocals that gradually come into focus in a Linkin Park refrain. But in the end, does it even matter? Find out in this review…
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Crypts of the Unknown: Khonsu – The Xun Protectorate
