A local band!! Hailing from Liverpool Mairu bring you their blend of post-metal and atmospheric sludge that leans more into the instrumental approach and is an absolute belter. Just before we get into the review, don’t let atmospheric sludge or instrumental put you off. The music here is in turns heavy, subtle but always top class. It is one of the releases of the year, made all the better for the fact they are from the UK (and Northern, although I’m not in any way biased).
Torch Bearer begins silently building into a solid, downright dense riff structure that takes you on a journey through slow, measured moments to then move with more pace to put you smack in the middle of the final, closing act of the song. It’s a keen arrangement, putting emphasis on keeping that flow movement going into a fine ending riff. It’s a good start and moves into the quiet opening bars of Perihelion which unfolds in an unhurried manner again keeping that balance present with the stark melody set against a heavy riff which goes into heavier places. It’s a brilliant opening, which goes a long way to set up what follows next.
I mentioned being unhurried, which is the order of the day here. Songs are built with their core ethos in mind – What do they want to hear? Wild Darkened Eyes mixes it up by hitting the heavy switch from the get-go, death growls and monolithic riffs that hit without being overly complex. The real gravy is in the arrangement, knowing when to ease up and when to drop the hammer. One thing to note is that there are degrees of heaviness on display here. Its not one note / one sound running through it so that these differing shades of black really stand out. The Scattering Dust is another prime example of apparently effortless song building, Wah soaked passages, that sliding scale of heaviness that suddenly breaks out a fast section, taking you by surprise and eliciting head nods at the desk.
Atar bursts forth, back and to, building and regressing but continually moving forward and not daring to stand still and we then hit the end, with Rite Of Embers with a suitably epic feel that acts as a bookend and closes the album on a high. A mark of the music here, is that this is a ten-minute song that doesn’t feel like it which for me is a massive and is generally something that turns me off this genre normally. This is a cracking release, the compositions and approach making light of some of the track lengths, which makes this an enjoyable experience as opposed to one of endurance.
Fans of sludge should go mad for this, and its great to know that there are bands of this quality practically on my doorstep. Within each song there is a story, some are narrated others aren’t, but all are absolute stormers. The best is that there is no repetition, no rehashing of ideas you recognise elsewhere. Its as striking as anything I’ve heard this year which is fantastic given the wide range of music released this year. If this is the direction that the slower, sludge genre (Instrumental PM Sludge?) is moving in then I’m all for it. For me, music needs that urgency, and this has it down to a fine art as they move from song to song, journey to journey all keeping that level of engagement high.
Its really, really good stuff and you should check them out because excluding them from your listening choices because of a tag or genre you are going to miss out. 9/10
Temple Of Dread - Beyond Acheron (Testimony Records) [Erick Willand]
Temple Of Dread seemingly sprang to wretched life from some dark forgotten shadow hole in fabled 2019 and have been raging prolific ever since, averaging an album almost every year save 2022. All three members either spent time in or are currently in Slaughterday, a band that catches high praise from this reviewer for tight production and fantastic cover arts.
We’ll talk about cover art later, let’s get to the sounds. Beyond Acheron opens with a solid intro track smartly kept tight and short, just long enough to set the stage and then vamoose. Right into the first track and also title track Beyond Acheron, a bold mover that is pulled off with calm confidence. The song is packed with intense thundering drum work and what I can only describe as ‘proper OSDM’ vocals.
Temple Of Dread seemingly sprang to wretched life from some dark forgotten shadow hole in fabled 2019 and have been raging prolific ever since, averaging an album almost every year save 2022. All three members either spent time in or are currently in Slaughterday, a band that catches high praise from this reviewer for tight production and fantastic cover arts.
We’ll talk about cover art later, let’s get to the sounds. Beyond Acheron opens with a solid intro track smartly kept tight and short, just long enough to set the stage and then vamoose. Right into the first track and also title track Beyond Acheron, a bold mover that is pulled off with calm confidence. The song is packed with intense thundering drum work and what I can only describe as ‘proper OSDM’ vocals.
This album grabs you with swirling guitar attacks that are almost hypnotic, especially when combined with musicians that clearly know how to build a death metal song. The little thrash flourishes just add to the style here, you can feel the experience and forethought. The meat of this album, tracks like World Below, Dance Of Decay, and The Plague are tight, rumbling and more importantly fun DM songs that will definitely end up in a ton of playlists. Like Asebeia, the 9th track that went right into my personal list nearly immediately.
It’s not all twisted skulls and reeking graveyards though and once again I’m visited by my personal nemesis, ‘unnecessary song length’. (That dastardly bastard!) The first track to suffer from this is Damnation at a numbing 7:30. To be clear, it’s not a bad song, it’s just a bit bloated. Song length is so important because keeping a listener's attention is so important in an age when information is shoveled into us at alarming rates. If you’re going to have a DM song over the 4 minute mark it had better be interesting..or weird. Is Damnation a good song, yes, the guitar work alone is fantastic. Could it have been trimmed by a good 2 minutes…also yes. And the same goes for All Consuming Fire and Carnality Device. My dudes, when in doubt, trim it.
However, in the grand scheme of things this kind of thing is a me problem and I see that. Putting that side and also admitting that I am absolutely buying this myself I can’t fault it that deeply. Of course there is also the cover art by absolute legend Paolo Girardi to consider, a personal favorite of mine that’s plus a point right off the top. So, solid death metal songs, good production, and great cover art land Beyond Acheron at 8/10
(After - I ended up adding All-Consuming Fire to my personal list after a third listen)
Weaving together narratives among common threads of collapse, resiliency, symbiosis, and renewal, Australia’s Claret Ash present the second instalment of the Worldtorn series with Worldtorn: Anemoia.
Opening proceeding with a flurry of fury is Cascadence Of The Twilight, which also contains nice, crisp basslines along with wonderful atmosphere and varying vocal styles. There are a lot of pieces that gel together well to give an indication of who Claret Ash are. This is then followed by the releases longest track Invocation Of The Dream Weavers unlike the previous track this takes a more doom-laden approach with melodic piano pieces and folk elements that weave in and out of the heavier parts that follow.
It’s not all twisted skulls and reeking graveyards though and once again I’m visited by my personal nemesis, ‘unnecessary song length’. (That dastardly bastard!) The first track to suffer from this is Damnation at a numbing 7:30. To be clear, it’s not a bad song, it’s just a bit bloated. Song length is so important because keeping a listener's attention is so important in an age when information is shoveled into us at alarming rates. If you’re going to have a DM song over the 4 minute mark it had better be interesting..or weird. Is Damnation a good song, yes, the guitar work alone is fantastic. Could it have been trimmed by a good 2 minutes…also yes. And the same goes for All Consuming Fire and Carnality Device. My dudes, when in doubt, trim it.
However, in the grand scheme of things this kind of thing is a me problem and I see that. Putting that side and also admitting that I am absolutely buying this myself I can’t fault it that deeply. Of course there is also the cover art by absolute legend Paolo Girardi to consider, a personal favorite of mine that’s plus a point right off the top. So, solid death metal songs, good production, and great cover art land Beyond Acheron at 8/10
(After - I ended up adding All-Consuming Fire to my personal list after a third listen)
Claret Ash – Worldtorn:Anemoia (Hypnotic Dirge Records) [Rick Eaglestone]
Weaving together narratives among common threads of collapse, resiliency, symbiosis, and renewal, Australia’s Claret Ash present the second instalment of the Worldtorn series with Worldtorn: Anemoia.
Opening proceeding with a flurry of fury is Cascadence Of The Twilight, which also contains nice, crisp basslines along with wonderful atmosphere and varying vocal styles. There are a lot of pieces that gel together well to give an indication of who Claret Ash are. This is then followed by the releases longest track Invocation Of The Dream Weavers unlike the previous track this takes a more doom-laden approach with melodic piano pieces and folk elements that weave in and out of the heavier parts that follow.
Following this in a reworking of Ground Dweller from the band’s debut album of the same name, this version is faster and more aggressive, more in line with how is performed live, this is complimented well an acoustic version of The Wolves Have Fed Again. Completing the release is a sweeping Orchestral version of lead track Cascadence Of The Twilight which is wonderfully gothic in presentation and its woeful nature really closes of the EP nicely. A triumphant example of atmospherics. 7/10
Royal Deceit – Ill (Prime Collective) [Zak Skane]
Fading with some phaser sounding lead lines Ill brings an upbeat opening to the metalcore outfits 10 track album, with it’s classic tom grooves and two step rhythms following with some Darkglass clanking bass tones, chunky downtuned guitars accompanied with modern poppy sounding sing-along choruses and raw emotionally lathed harsh vocals.
Royal Deceit – Ill (Prime Collective) [Zak Skane]
Fading with some phaser sounding lead lines Ill brings an upbeat opening to the metalcore outfits 10 track album, with it’s classic tom grooves and two step rhythms following with some Darkglass clanking bass tones, chunky downtuned guitars accompanied with modern poppy sounding sing-along choruses and raw emotionally lathed harsh vocals.
The following track The War Inside brings in some electronic crossover elements in the introduction with it’s 90s sounding electronic beats and filtered sample guitars, which is then followed by foot stamping drum beats and heafty chugging and discord lathed guitar riffs that lead us into Wage War and Slipknot territory especially collaborated with the vocalist laying his heart on the line with an emotionally driven performance. Let Me Burn lead us into the dirty depths of half time groove hell, whilst the harsh vocals takes the lead role and demonstrate some naughty transitions from hefty gutturals to throaty fries.
Undertow packs polyrhythmic intellectual arrangements whilst still packing poppy choruses for the general listener to grab on to. Low Life still carries on the mainstream catchiness whilst being armed with a nu metal edge and layered with ambient string sections. Other highlights on this album is This Hell which pacts modern metalcore vibes with it’s technical interval jumping riffs and anthemic choruses which would please any Architects and I Prevail fan.
Self-Destruction and Wolves packs some awesome modern Nu-Metal riffs that would please fans of the likes of Cane Hill and Graphic Nature. Overall does this album reinvent the wheel, no. but does it wear it’s influences on it’s sleeve with artistic swagger abso-fucking-lutely. For fans of Wage War, Architects and I Prevail. 7/10.
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