With their debut, Aftryk, Danish band Vægtløs promise a mix of power and delicacy, grip and release, packed within four tracks that comfortably traverse the realms of black metal, post metal, and post rock. And though its namesake translates to “imprint,” does Aftryk do enough for you to remember its cause?
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Ὁπλίτης (Hoplites) – Παραμαινομένη (Paramainomeni) Review
Hoplites is a one-man Chinese black metal/hardcore band that emerged out of nowhere and proceeded to release three full lengths over the course of 2023. I thought each release was slightly better than the last, but none of them really had memorable moments, instead feeling like an aimless jam session each time that threw elements at the wall to see what stuck. Where does that leave the new album? Find out in this review…
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The Oldest House – A Worm Through Time
The promo sheet states that the sole creator of this EP, A.M. (what’s in a name?), conceived the music as one long piece that is supposed to be like a “huge wall of static that is creeping slowly towards you.” Fortunately for Metalligator, he did not do a good job of that. Wait, or did he? Guess you have to read to find out.
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Svdestada – Candela Review
With a woman in a robe on the cover stretching air and red light, it’d be easy to dismiss Candela as just another longing metalcore album. And while there are shades of that in riff assembly, Svdestada (a stylized version of sudestada which simply means “southeast”), hailing from the burgeoning punk scene of Spain, self-describes as blackened crust. We’ll take our patatas bravas golden brown though…
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Undulation – An Unhealthy Interest in Suffering Review
Undulation got cred from the hipster-ish side of the metal internet, and they frankly do check out all the boxes. For a Death Metal Band, they are more emotionally driven and the female vocalist does a lot to sell it. Scuttlegoat has an unhealthy interest in Death Metal.
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Walking Corpse – Our Hands, Your Throat Review
When people say Deathgrind, they can mean many different things. It is a hybrid genre, after all, and it can run the gamut from what is basically punk with growls to relentless, chaotic blasting. Walking Corpse however fit into a third category. Relentlessly supplying riff after riff after riff, they take no prisoners. Their Arms, Our Hearse.
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Putrascension – Forever Below Review
The real highlight on this album is easily Michael Gonçalves (Replicant, Windfaerer). His vocals are absolutely unhinged, giving him a demonic edge that works so well in this style of music. His rabid shrieks, howls, and moans are reasons why it’s easy to come back to the album time and again. A few shrieks to cure the mid-week blues.
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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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Massen – Gentle Brutality Review
A hazard of venturing into deeper waters of dissonance and the more extreme ends of Metal is that these genres have a hard time impressing on that end as they have to balance melody and heaviness. Despite this I still enjoy melody, groove and selectively catchy material but drift away from things that mix in overt aspects of Pop melody. Bands like Massen are instantly fighting an uphill battle for my interest, then. But impressively, this Belarus duo bring some serious skill to the format. Massenive skill.
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Crypts of the Unknown: Capilla Ardiente – The Siege
