Despite having some rubbish pseudonyms and titles that only gore soaked death metal bands would use. South Carolina band Demiser sign to Metal Blade records for their second album Slave To The Scythe, it's another record that has been born out of the likes of Venom, Bathory and Slayer with lashings of 80's speed/thrash, black metal and some bullet belted NWOBHM and Motorhead on Carburetted Speed.
Like the soundtrack to a B-Movie action flick that doesn't exist, Slave To The Scythe, moves from one sort of action scene to the other, very little messing around, keeping with the analogy no room for plot, just set pieces, here's formed by shredding guitars and blast beats. Whether it's songs such as Phallomancer The Phallomancer, Hell Is Full Of Fire or Infernal Bust, Demiser play it fast, furious and goddamn fun.
You can almost forget about the alter egos and track titles, so you can just indulge in some filthy rock, metal n roll from Demiser. 7/10
Orme – No Serpents, No Saviours (Self Release) [Rick Eaglestone]
Like the soundtrack to a B-Movie action flick that doesn't exist, Slave To The Scythe, moves from one sort of action scene to the other, very little messing around, keeping with the analogy no room for plot, just set pieces, here's formed by shredding guitars and blast beats. Whether it's songs such as Phallomancer The Phallomancer, Hell Is Full Of Fire or Infernal Bust, Demiser play it fast, furious and goddamn fun.
You can almost forget about the alter egos and track titles, so you can just indulge in some filthy rock, metal n roll from Demiser. 7/10
Orme – No Serpents, No Saviours (Self Release) [Rick Eaglestone]
Hertfordshire’s Drone Doom trio Orme a back with a dose a sludge laden singularity for No Serpents, No Saviours. At over just twenty-four minutes Orme’s latest creation is an amalgamation of styles that the majority with a particular presence of a sub-genre would be able to gravitate to as there are so many directional shifts and a swirling underpinning of well-crafted influences.
Through this grittier and darker side, the duo have seemed to lean towards there are more intense vocals that interweave the musical compositions which flit from the ominous to the serene all the while keeping a doom heartbeat throughout. The sprawling atmosphere is hard to be pulled away from as there are almost constant elements that draw the listener in with elements such as roaring distortion and interludes that stand out throughout the piece heightening the overall listening experience.
At times its woefully bleak, other times is delicately sorrowful with sprinkles of psychedelia that enrich the overall aesthetic and is certainly something that more elements come to the forefront with each listen.
An ambitious juxtaposition of sound. 7/10
Sidewinder - Talons (Wyrmwood Records) [James Jackson]
Talons arrives on the back of two singles, Disarm The King and Guardian and is the second full length album from the New Zealand based band. Before I go any further I want to point out that the opening riff of Disarm The King sounds quite similar to Nickelback’s Burn It To The Ground; depending on your point of view of course then this will either be a good or bad thing.
At times its woefully bleak, other times is delicately sorrowful with sprinkles of psychedelia that enrich the overall aesthetic and is certainly something that more elements come to the forefront with each listen.
An ambitious juxtaposition of sound. 7/10
Sidewinder - Talons (Wyrmwood Records) [James Jackson]
Talons arrives on the back of two singles, Disarm The King and Guardian and is the second full length album from the New Zealand based band. Before I go any further I want to point out that the opening riff of Disarm The King sounds quite similar to Nickelback’s Burn It To The Ground; depending on your point of view of course then this will either be a good or bad thing.
The album opens with Guardians and a sleazy vocal accompanies a mellow intro before the band brings the distortion and heavy feel into the fore, there’s a very Blues inspired tone, part Stoner Doom part Blues Rock. An interesting start to the album so far and Wasted Space is no exception, Prisoner follows and I’m reminded of Lzzy Hale, a similar soaring vocal performance but the riffs are dirtier, weightier.
The Depths has a monolithic Sabbath style opening to it, delving into something that could easily have been written and performed by the Birmingham based legends.
The Depths has a monolithic Sabbath style opening to it, delving into something that could easily have been written and performed by the Birmingham based legends.
I’ve already discussed Disarm The King and it’s a good track, plenty of drive and groove steeped in its scuzzy guitar sound and there’s a great bass bridge that’ll please any low end admirer. Desert Song is next, another head nodding, foot tapping track that keeps the album’s momentum moving until the slower pace of penultimate track Northern Lights. Taking its name from Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the final song on the album and for its namesake it’s only fitting that once again Sidewinder channel Black Sabbath.
I didn’t know what to expect when I put this album on, the band name doesn’t give much away and the artwork is just as ambiguous, but the content within is pretty damn good and definitely worth listening to. 8/10
Drenched - Grey (Self Released) [Rich Piva]
Drenched are a young and new band out of Newcastle, England whose dads had a whole bunch of Korn, Chevelle, and Linkin Park in their CD collections. These guys are firmly ensconced in late 1990s early 2000s heavy rock, unfortunately mostly the stuff your reviewer thought was tired and mostly passable after the true seismic shift that occurred with the real grunge movement of the early 90s. Hey, I saw the tag of grunge on the debut EP, Grey, and got excited, but this is way more 2000s alt metal than anything that came out of the Pacific Northwest.
The guys in Drenched can play their instruments well but if I wanted to listen to Chevelle I would. Drenched are too much on the nose with nothing that would make them stand out or be unique in a sea of a million bands doing this today. They have a crunch to them and can be heavy, using (In)sane as a good example. The Change, the opener, right off the bat gives you a feeling like you have heard all this before. Chevelle looms large over the track Cycles a little too much, while the closer of this quick four track EP, is the strongest of the batch but still lacks anything that would want me to go back to this set.
Drenched can play, they understand the content, but Grey lacks anything different or worth revisiting that I could not get from the bands who did this a couple decades ago. Let’s hope they get out from what happened in the past and leverage their talent to add something new to a tired genre. 5/10
Drenched - Grey (Self Released) [Rich Piva]
Drenched are a young and new band out of Newcastle, England whose dads had a whole bunch of Korn, Chevelle, and Linkin Park in their CD collections. These guys are firmly ensconced in late 1990s early 2000s heavy rock, unfortunately mostly the stuff your reviewer thought was tired and mostly passable after the true seismic shift that occurred with the real grunge movement of the early 90s. Hey, I saw the tag of grunge on the debut EP, Grey, and got excited, but this is way more 2000s alt metal than anything that came out of the Pacific Northwest.
The guys in Drenched can play their instruments well but if I wanted to listen to Chevelle I would. Drenched are too much on the nose with nothing that would make them stand out or be unique in a sea of a million bands doing this today. They have a crunch to them and can be heavy, using (In)sane as a good example. The Change, the opener, right off the bat gives you a feeling like you have heard all this before. Chevelle looms large over the track Cycles a little too much, while the closer of this quick four track EP, is the strongest of the batch but still lacks anything that would want me to go back to this set.
Drenched can play, they understand the content, but Grey lacks anything different or worth revisiting that I could not get from the bands who did this a couple decades ago. Let’s hope they get out from what happened in the past and leverage their talent to add something new to a tired genre. 5/10
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