Hailing from the North German Sea Island of Spiekeroog (Nope? me neither!) Temple Of Dread have released 4 albums, the last of which only coming last year, so with absolutely no time in between they are about to unleash their newest album God Of The Godless. In the PR material there is a lot of talk of brutality and a nostalgic whiff of the Florida death metal scene, which of course sound promising but, can they back all this up??
It starts off well enough on Carnage Ritual which while undoubtedly being death metal is also a heavily thrashy beast and the vocals aren’t your straightforward death metal bark, Jens Finger has definitely been listening to Obituary and taken that influence on board but also mixes it well with the thrash vocal approach, Spawn Of Filth then definitely takes on the Florida sound and could be picked directly off any Scott Burns era release and not sound out of place, this is not to say that it sounds dated or boring, it pays perfect homage to a ground-breaking time in music and manages to bring it into the modern day in an exhilarating way.
Black Scream has a lovely fade in guitar intro that continues to build, then with the drums then coming in and stepping up the pace the first part of the song but, it feels like it’s not quiet right and the various time changes do take away some of the cohesion slightly and unfortunately it just a bit too all over the place for me, Sacrificial Dawn kicks straight in with some an unmistakable hardcore stomp that adds an almighty groove to the song as a whole and is one that you will keep coming back to and enjoying more with each listen.
It's just done so wonderfully and the varying time changes done take anything away here as all sections join together with a wonderful slickness we then get to title track God Of The Godless that has another slow and menacing intro and the slow crawling style continues into the song throughout and creates that uneasy sense of dread that works so well in a slow death metal track and the relentless pounding double bass that Jörg Uken uses throughout is almost that bit too subtle but you never manage to miss it and it carries the song on with a force that is something to behold.
Prophetic Misanthropy is another track that begins with a hint of the death metal era Sepultura but with another slow and measured main body they keeps hold of all of your attention with twists and turns and a pulsing and pounding rhythm and some wonderfully gruesome sounding guitar work from Markus Bünnemeyer and the thunderous drumming and guitars that end the song round everything off beautifully, Monstrosity Divine is another slow burn of a song that never really gets out of second gear, I get it with a title like this you would want to create something lumbering and punishing but its just missing that killer spark to really ignite the song into life and push it to the next level.
Terminal Putrefaction doesn’t waste any time in re-introducing the swampy old school death metal sound back into proceedings and it’s another glorious but ultimately modern mix of styles that any fan of death metal will appreciate and enjoy, so we then get to Demise Of Olympus to close us out and it takes far too long for anything to happen on this track and when it does its just far to slow and measured for the most part there are some flash points here and there but ultimately it really feels a bit like an unfortunate track to end on.
The vast majority of God Of The Godless was a great listen, it sounded nostalgic but not dated, old school but also up to date and relevant and ultimately it is just wonderfully executed death metal. There are a few bits here and there that I could do without but the good easily outweigh and ‘’bad’’ bits there are, and any self-respecting fan of death metal will give this a spin and more than likely enjoy it thoroughly just as I did. 8/10
Kibosh - Your Favorite Curse (Frozen Records) [GC]
Bit late with this review as I have been on holiday relaxing and noisy French hardcore is not what you need when you are trying to relax. Your Favorite Curse is the debut album from Kibosh which has elements of hardcore, extreme metal, punk and emo which all sounds ok apart from that last bit not sure why you would mix emo into your sound if you claim to be extreme but it is what it is.
It all starts off promisingly enough with Tear Their Wings which is full of dissonant guitars that mix in with some more straight up beatdown hardcore and annoyingly next to no vocals on this track so its really a bit of a long warm up for Rust & Ember which is a chaotic mix of relentless and driving guitars that are taken directly out of the how to sound like Converge book and they do a decent job.
There is enough of their own take on the hardcore sound so they don’t just sound like a carbon copy and the short lengths of the track helps also as you don’t get the time to get bored before it all cascades into Gathered In Wilt which has a beautiful fury mixed into the breakneck and scatter gun approach to the musical styles and it’s the unpredictability of the song is the main feature here as you are never really sure what to expect next and the end section of this track is a truly savage beast.
Philosophy Of A Knife thunders forward on a wall of bruising guitars and is reminiscent of 18 Visions at their peak, it’s got a groove and density to the track that is absolutely wonderful and really keeps you hooked in and just to add another layer of goodness the beatdowns produced here are spectacular! Past Like Shards is a pointless interlude that is really unnecessary as this album only has 8 tracks and 2 have already been instrumentals? Just seems a bit pointless as it adds nothing to the sound, anyway Your Shape jolts you back into life again with another round of beautifully crafted chaos the way they throw in so many various genres into one song is a truly remarkable thing and its on here we get what I can describe as the emo bit but thankfully its not for very long before they are back to a sound that feels like its stamping up and down on your skull.
Craving The Hunger incorporates touches of grindcore into the already intense mix of sounds and of course because of this the song sounds fucking immense they switch it up with such ease and style you just have to really sit back and applaud them because they don’t waste a single nano-second of any song when they are on point they are fucking marvellous and just like that its time for Coal Black to finish the album off and it does so in a wonderfully unpredictable way I’ve used this word before but the chaos is the strong point to the Kibosh sound you just don’t know what to expect next and it’s an excellent way to end this album.
Got to admit a bit of frustration here, this was a wonderful listen and should have been a lot longer, 2 tracks were instrumental and when there are only 8 tracks on an album that is just disappointing as that time could have been used so much better, moaning aside I really enjoyed Your Favorite Curse it was a fantastic mix of lots of my favourite styles of music and all blended together expertly, I will look forward to what comes next form Kibosh and highly recommend you give this a try for yourself. 8/10
Bicurious - Your Life Is Over Now (Big Scary Monsters) [James Jackson]
Gavin Purcell and Taran Plouzane are Dublin based Bicurious and have been playing together as a band since 2016. Your Life Is Over Now is their second full length album, the follow up to 2021’s (Re)Constructed which led to the band making several festival appearances, including ArcTanGent, throughout 2022 and 2023.
The album opens with Coming Around and there’s a sound and style that I’m reminded of, it’s part The Killers and Biffy Clyro and it’s nothing that I’d actually choose to listen to, unfortunately by the time I’ve written this I’ve tried a few times to listen and offer a review that is constructively critical and I’m actually struggling to do so. After another attempt and feeling absolutely nothing other than the desire to turn it off and listen to something more befitting my mood and taste, I’ve had to throw the towel in and call it quits.
It’s not that it’s bad, the lyrics are personal enough that they’re relatable and the musicianship shows a maturity within the playing and composition. According to the bio I found online, they’ve gathered quite the following and have achieved some notable success during their nearly decade long career, so there’s definitely an audience for it; just not me. 3/10
Nasty Savage - Jeopardy Room (FHM Records) [James Jackson]
Nasty Savage originally formed in the early 80’s, playing a part alongside the likes of Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer in the formation of the thrash genre, their sound becoming a huge influence upon the emerging death metal scene, inspiring acts such as Death and Obituary.
The band split up, reformed to release an album in 2004; disbanded again in 2012 after years of intermittent shows to then reform again in 2016, a revolving door of musicians trod the boards of Nasty Savage with vocalist “Nasty” Ronnie Galleti being the only consistent presence.
So with playing such a notable part in metal history, I’m expecting to hear something mind blowing, ground breaking and genre defining.
Opening events is an instrumental piece going by the name of Invocations, which is a fitting title for a track that is built around an eerie melody, accompanied by odd sounds and a deep haunting chorus, it leads into Jeopardy Room and it’s here that my first glimpse of the album really begins.
I’ve issues with some of the “classic” metal bands that are supposed to be the best out there, the most influential and one of those bands is Slayer, I don’t get it, simple.. so when the opening riff hit and the vocals began all I could hear was Slayer style riffing and Araya’s vocal pattern and ultimately I was done.
As it happens the second track, Brain Washer, previously released as a single, has a bit more going for it initially, the opening riff has quite a sludgy feel to it though this soon passes and the traditional Thrash sounds are back. Southern Fried Homicide opens with a staple of Old School thrash in the form of an acoustic sounding guitar piece, overlaid with distorted guitars and building towards something heavier and surprisingly more groove influenced in comparison to the two songs before it. Witches Sabbath is, well it’s cringey. An extremely awkward semi spoken piece ruins an otherwise interesting intro and it just gets worse from there in all honesty. Time to throw the towel in on this one, it’s been awhile since I’ve given up on an album and this is the second this week unfortunately.
There is promise in some of the riffs and I feel I’m repeating myself but musically some of it’s quite good, though not all of it. I’m not a fan of the vocal style, it lacks the grit that I expect from the genre, it’s a bit too clean and lyrically at times it has felt a bit trite and puerile. Where the band were once an inspiration, they’ve been left behind by their contemporaries and are peddling the same old songs that once defined a genre. 3/10
The vast majority of God Of The Godless was a great listen, it sounded nostalgic but not dated, old school but also up to date and relevant and ultimately it is just wonderfully executed death metal. There are a few bits here and there that I could do without but the good easily outweigh and ‘’bad’’ bits there are, and any self-respecting fan of death metal will give this a spin and more than likely enjoy it thoroughly just as I did. 8/10
Kibosh - Your Favorite Curse (Frozen Records) [GC]
Bit late with this review as I have been on holiday relaxing and noisy French hardcore is not what you need when you are trying to relax. Your Favorite Curse is the debut album from Kibosh which has elements of hardcore, extreme metal, punk and emo which all sounds ok apart from that last bit not sure why you would mix emo into your sound if you claim to be extreme but it is what it is.
It all starts off promisingly enough with Tear Their Wings which is full of dissonant guitars that mix in with some more straight up beatdown hardcore and annoyingly next to no vocals on this track so its really a bit of a long warm up for Rust & Ember which is a chaotic mix of relentless and driving guitars that are taken directly out of the how to sound like Converge book and they do a decent job.
There is enough of their own take on the hardcore sound so they don’t just sound like a carbon copy and the short lengths of the track helps also as you don’t get the time to get bored before it all cascades into Gathered In Wilt which has a beautiful fury mixed into the breakneck and scatter gun approach to the musical styles and it’s the unpredictability of the song is the main feature here as you are never really sure what to expect next and the end section of this track is a truly savage beast.
Philosophy Of A Knife thunders forward on a wall of bruising guitars and is reminiscent of 18 Visions at their peak, it’s got a groove and density to the track that is absolutely wonderful and really keeps you hooked in and just to add another layer of goodness the beatdowns produced here are spectacular! Past Like Shards is a pointless interlude that is really unnecessary as this album only has 8 tracks and 2 have already been instrumentals? Just seems a bit pointless as it adds nothing to the sound, anyway Your Shape jolts you back into life again with another round of beautifully crafted chaos the way they throw in so many various genres into one song is a truly remarkable thing and its on here we get what I can describe as the emo bit but thankfully its not for very long before they are back to a sound that feels like its stamping up and down on your skull.
Craving The Hunger incorporates touches of grindcore into the already intense mix of sounds and of course because of this the song sounds fucking immense they switch it up with such ease and style you just have to really sit back and applaud them because they don’t waste a single nano-second of any song when they are on point they are fucking marvellous and just like that its time for Coal Black to finish the album off and it does so in a wonderfully unpredictable way I’ve used this word before but the chaos is the strong point to the Kibosh sound you just don’t know what to expect next and it’s an excellent way to end this album.
Got to admit a bit of frustration here, this was a wonderful listen and should have been a lot longer, 2 tracks were instrumental and when there are only 8 tracks on an album that is just disappointing as that time could have been used so much better, moaning aside I really enjoyed Your Favorite Curse it was a fantastic mix of lots of my favourite styles of music and all blended together expertly, I will look forward to what comes next form Kibosh and highly recommend you give this a try for yourself. 8/10
Bicurious - Your Life Is Over Now (Big Scary Monsters) [James Jackson]
Gavin Purcell and Taran Plouzane are Dublin based Bicurious and have been playing together as a band since 2016. Your Life Is Over Now is their second full length album, the follow up to 2021’s (Re)Constructed which led to the band making several festival appearances, including ArcTanGent, throughout 2022 and 2023.
The album opens with Coming Around and there’s a sound and style that I’m reminded of, it’s part The Killers and Biffy Clyro and it’s nothing that I’d actually choose to listen to, unfortunately by the time I’ve written this I’ve tried a few times to listen and offer a review that is constructively critical and I’m actually struggling to do so. After another attempt and feeling absolutely nothing other than the desire to turn it off and listen to something more befitting my mood and taste, I’ve had to throw the towel in and call it quits.
It’s not that it’s bad, the lyrics are personal enough that they’re relatable and the musicianship shows a maturity within the playing and composition. According to the bio I found online, they’ve gathered quite the following and have achieved some notable success during their nearly decade long career, so there’s definitely an audience for it; just not me. 3/10
Nasty Savage - Jeopardy Room (FHM Records) [James Jackson]
Nasty Savage originally formed in the early 80’s, playing a part alongside the likes of Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer in the formation of the thrash genre, their sound becoming a huge influence upon the emerging death metal scene, inspiring acts such as Death and Obituary.
The band split up, reformed to release an album in 2004; disbanded again in 2012 after years of intermittent shows to then reform again in 2016, a revolving door of musicians trod the boards of Nasty Savage with vocalist “Nasty” Ronnie Galleti being the only consistent presence.
So with playing such a notable part in metal history, I’m expecting to hear something mind blowing, ground breaking and genre defining.
Opening events is an instrumental piece going by the name of Invocations, which is a fitting title for a track that is built around an eerie melody, accompanied by odd sounds and a deep haunting chorus, it leads into Jeopardy Room and it’s here that my first glimpse of the album really begins.
I’ve issues with some of the “classic” metal bands that are supposed to be the best out there, the most influential and one of those bands is Slayer, I don’t get it, simple.. so when the opening riff hit and the vocals began all I could hear was Slayer style riffing and Araya’s vocal pattern and ultimately I was done.
As it happens the second track, Brain Washer, previously released as a single, has a bit more going for it initially, the opening riff has quite a sludgy feel to it though this soon passes and the traditional Thrash sounds are back. Southern Fried Homicide opens with a staple of Old School thrash in the form of an acoustic sounding guitar piece, overlaid with distorted guitars and building towards something heavier and surprisingly more groove influenced in comparison to the two songs before it. Witches Sabbath is, well it’s cringey. An extremely awkward semi spoken piece ruins an otherwise interesting intro and it just gets worse from there in all honesty. Time to throw the towel in on this one, it’s been awhile since I’ve given up on an album and this is the second this week unfortunately.
There is promise in some of the riffs and I feel I’m repeating myself but musically some of it’s quite good, though not all of it. I’m not a fan of the vocal style, it lacks the grit that I expect from the genre, it’s a bit too clean and lyrically at times it has felt a bit trite and puerile. Where the band were once an inspiration, they’ve been left behind by their contemporaries and are peddling the same old songs that once defined a genre. 3/10
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