Tremonti - The End Will Show Us How (Napalm Records)
Mark Tremonti seems to be constantly working, between the reactivated Creed and Alter Bridge he has a solo project and also manages to release some swing/Sinatra tributes too!The End Will Show Us How is his sixth solo record and alongside his band of Eric Friedman (guitars), Tanner Keegan (bass), Ryan Bennett (drums) and long time producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette. What I'm always surprised about on Tremonti's solo albums is how good of singer he is.
Everyone knows about his guitar prowess (though once I'd love him to write against type and do a proper shredfest metal record), there are moments like that throughout his solo albums, here it's One More Time, I'll Take My Chances and Live In Fear all three having heavy thrashy riffs though none of the songs here are without big radio friendly choruses.
On this sixth album Tremonti isn't trying to reinvent the wheel but he does approach this album with 12 songs that have variation be it the proggy starter The Mother, The Earth And I, the massive sounding Nails, the djenty influences on The End Will Show Us How or the multiple uplifting anthemic tracks and ballads such as It's Not Over.
Putting together the music he known for with the music he's inspired by The End Will Show Us How is another class act from Tremonti. 8/10
PATRIARKH - Пророк Илия/Prorok Ilijah (Napalm Records)
After releasing Hospodi and a few EP's it was perhaps time for a change of identity. Batushka, fronted by Bartłomiej "Варфоломей" Krysiuk, was embroiled in a long term legal case with Krzysztof Drabikowski the guitarist of the original Batushka who formed his own version of the band after the initial split.
I won't go into the detail here (Google it) but Krysiuk's band have sought to distance themselves from this legal trouble by just changing the name of his band to PATRIARKH (Patriarch), the music on Пророк Илия/Prorok Ilijah (Prophet Elijah) remains very similar to what they played on Hospodi, Polish black metal blasts that burst forth from a soundscape inspired by the Eastern Orthodox church.
Using liturgical chants, heard throughout the Byzantine and Orthodox churches to this day in the Balkan countries, it's this style that prevails above all of the other sounds here. The atmosphere of the church lingers set against black metal, doom metal and Balkan folk traditions. This album is conceptual, the spoken word passes linking the songs as each chapter is unveiled, telling of Eliasz Klimowicz who became a self proclaimed prophet and lead the Grzybowska Sect until WWII though it lasted until the 1960's.
It's a story from one of many 'reborn Christ's' in Russian Orthodoxy, this sense of cinema coming from the addition of an orchestra and the use of pastoral imagery, theatrical play fragments, poems and liturgical sermons. The sequencing too plays a huge part in how the album is presented, each track segues into another, performed in various languages against Orthodox church traditionalism and Polish black metal.
PATRIARKH is Krysiuk's vision reborn and re-adjusted away from the past issues. 8/10
Ex Deo - Year Of The Four Emperors (Reigning Phoenix Music)
Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm returns with a new EP from his Ancient Rome themed project Ex Deo, the first for Reigning Phonenix Music it covers the Year Of The Four Emperors, AD 69, bloody uprisings and coups as the most powerful military leaders fought for position after the Julio Claudian dynasty ends in flames with Nero.
Each of the four tracks covers one of the four Emperor's who schemed, betrayed and fought their way to the ultimate position in the Roman world, leading to the rise of the Flavian dynasty which would culminate in 96 AD with the assassination of Domitian. Maybe this will be the next Ex Deo album? Though personally I think a jaunt to the later Empire would be great.
I've always got to watch myself with Ex Deo records as my degree is in classics so I could go on and on about the Year Of The Four Emperors forever so let's stick to the music. Beginning with Galba, the symphonic elements are abound on this vainglorious triumph of extreme violence and eventually bloody downfall as Otho brings a speedy style of melodeath with lots of guitar shredding.
The two sides of Maurizio Iacono's career can be heard in these two tracks alone, the expansive orchestral swells and nasty death riffs. From here get to the thunderous industrial dirge of Vitellius the final pretender before the new dynasty comes with the ascension of Vespasian on another epic track that closes this EP.
For me new Ex Deo is always a cause for celebration and this four track EP is perfect if you want to get into the band and their Roman history influenced extreme metal. 8/10
Hanry - Disruption EP (Pelagic Records)
Signed to Pelagic Records and claimed to be for fans of Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, Rennes, France based six piece Hanry astound with their latest EP Disruption.
Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm returns with a new EP from his Ancient Rome themed project Ex Deo, the first for Reigning Phonenix Music it covers the Year Of The Four Emperors, AD 69, bloody uprisings and coups as the most powerful military leaders fought for position after the Julio Claudian dynasty ends in flames with Nero.
Each of the four tracks covers one of the four Emperor's who schemed, betrayed and fought their way to the ultimate position in the Roman world, leading to the rise of the Flavian dynasty which would culminate in 96 AD with the assassination of Domitian. Maybe this will be the next Ex Deo album? Though personally I think a jaunt to the later Empire would be great.
I've always got to watch myself with Ex Deo records as my degree is in classics so I could go on and on about the Year Of The Four Emperors forever so let's stick to the music. Beginning with Galba, the symphonic elements are abound on this vainglorious triumph of extreme violence and eventually bloody downfall as Otho brings a speedy style of melodeath with lots of guitar shredding.
The two sides of Maurizio Iacono's career can be heard in these two tracks alone, the expansive orchestral swells and nasty death riffs. From here get to the thunderous industrial dirge of Vitellius the final pretender before the new dynasty comes with the ascension of Vespasian on another epic track that closes this EP.
For me new Ex Deo is always a cause for celebration and this four track EP is perfect if you want to get into the band and their Roman history influenced extreme metal. 8/10
Hanry - Disruption EP (Pelagic Records)
Signed to Pelagic Records and claimed to be for fans of Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, Rennes, France based six piece Hanry astound with their latest EP Disruption.
Having already released one EP in 2022, they look to follow up with Disruption which marks their debut on Pelagic Records a label who promote the most esoteric and inventive music around. Hanry fit into that category with atmospherics shimmering post rock brought with layered acoustics, elongated runtimes a bit of post-hardcore bristle.
Instrumental but speaking louder than words, the four tracks on this EP create inviting musical travels that swell with virtuoso performances and cross genre pollination. Feeling a lot like Bruit, I wasn’t surprised to learn that Clément Libes of Bruit mixed the record as it flows organically from one song to the next in peaks and troughs of ambient electronica, trip hop wooziness, industrial thunder and cinematic scope similar to the numerous pioneering French synthwave acts or the soundtracks of Eric Serra.
It’s difficult to pick out individual parts as Disruption is filled with music you have to let wash over you and just experience. 8/10
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