Crammed full of guitar solos and Neoclassical wank, Slave to the Sword was one of the best and most-listened to albums for a High School-aged Cosmo. Now, nine years and two albums since that release, Exmortus returns fresh to Nuclear Blast with Necrophony after a couple releases on Prosthetic Records. Is this one to add to the list of Exmortus successes or does this signing to a major label signal a watered-down sound for a wider audience? Slave to the wank.
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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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Grand Cadaver – Deities of Deathlike Sleep Review
For all the talented people involved in Grand Cadaver (featuring members from Dark Tranquility and Katatonia, among other bands), their mission statement is simple: to write Death Metal songs that are conceived spontaneously and quickly, letting their passion for the music guide the way. Grand Cadaver are anything but sleepy.
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夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) – Skopofoboexoskelett Review
Skopofoboexoskelett (or Snufferdoodle as some folks call it) is an exercise in absurdity that is layered in a pulsating amount of chaos before giving way to a hypnotic end. *Eggplant emoji*.
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Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium Review
Rather than being a clear evolution, Ontological Mysterium comes off as a gross mutation. The album cover preemptively states this as the three skinless faces of Horrendous’ logo have merged into something altogether darker. Red is the new black.
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Crypts of the Unknown: Bergraven – Det Framlidna Minnet
