Reviews: Pathogenic, Majestica, Tayne, Sarkasm (Mark Young & Matt Bladen)

Pathogenic - Crowned In Corpses (Skepsis Recordings) [Mark Young]

From one extreme to another, Pathogenic come bringing some tech death goodness to warm the ears and befuddle the brain. Its straight in with Mass Grave Memory, which is just sublime. It is heavy and filled with an intensity in its approach that just grabs and doesn’t let go. It combines that required thrill factor whilst sounding fresh and they themselves state that it is their declaration of modern metal. For me, it hits in the exact way that this music should – hard, demanding that you get onboard or get out of the way and its even more remarkable that this is only the third album from a band that has been around since 2004. 

New Rot is next and has a build that is designed to blow minds. The first 50 or seconds are mesmerising, and once it settles down it becomes the soundtrack for an incoming storm where all will be laid waste in its path. I mention this quite a bit, but if a song can spark me wanting to actually play it then they are doing something well and New Rot does that. All of this good work with the music would be for naught if they didn’t have a vocal delivery to match and in Jake Burns, they have just that. Just when you think that this is just going to be a straightforward assault, they drop in a quality lead break in just to show that they are equally as adept at that side of things too.

And it gets better, Dead But Not At Rest has an almost gentle feel to it with an opening acoustic passage that soon turns heavy. This in itself isn’t new, but the way they change it again at 1 minute 30 into this rampaging beast is breath-taking. The guitars feel like they are coming from every angle, and the drumming is just amazing in how it keeps it all together. The breakdown here is massive and they way they have changed lanes in just three minutes is something else. And the lead? Forget it, just a face-melter of the highest standard. Its three songs in and I’m hoping that they can keep this going for the remaining five.

In a word – Yes.

Exiled From The Abyss is looowwww, with the use of keys to give it that expansive sound which is something that you will have heard elsewhere. As they have said its their interpretation of what modern is and given their desire to cross lanes at will and it sounds good, but not as good as the three leading to it. The lead is again exceptional but I’m not sure that this is too modern in the same way that certain sounds date music almost immediately after release. Obviously, this is just personal opinion and putting that to one side it still crushes. 

Fragments picks that baton up and lumbers into view and just to subvert your expectations once again, they eschew the grit for what could almost be described as choral vocal. This is their magnum opus on here, going full on into space rock with harmonies that come straight from Dr Brian May and ill stand by that statement all day long (and twice on Sunday). The solo’s leading up to here have been spot on, but on this they just take flight and checking online, its down to Chris Gardino. Take a bow, Son (obviously, if this is incorrect, the boss will sort it in the final edit) because that solo is exceptional. The outro is pure Tron (check out the original kids) and I can’t say enough about how good this song is.

Crowned In Corpses starts like they have wired some unfortunate up the mains and are giving him some electro treatment and we are back into the dirt and grime, dropping low once again as this one stomps its way into your skull and once that’s done they do it all again with murderous intent on Drag Your Crosses which is just brutal.

Silicon Regime is their closing statement and in the same way that the longer length of Fragments gave them room to breathe and spread out, it’s a similar arrangement here. For me, it coalesces everything into one spot – the melodic touches, crushing riffs, the eye for detail in how everything sits together and above all else, making it fly. There has been some astounding music dropped so far in 2025 and these have just popped up and said ‘have a blast of this’. 

Looping back to their comment about modern metal, I think with this album you have a benchmark for what it should sound like but more importantly have the songs to back that sound up. This is a colossal release, and if this translates live then it will cause absolute carnage. 10/10

Majestica - Power Train (Nuclear Blast Records) [Matt Bladen]

In 2019 Tommy Johansson (then with Sabaton) finally found a way to show Majestica, formerly known as ReinXeed, to a larger audience, releasing a debut album, then a Christmas album, all to great acclaim. Power Train is the second record under the Majestica banner and it's another 10 track symphonically driven power metal record, which is inspired by the likes of Rhapsody. Johansson's vocals come from the Helloween school, while his guitars link in with Petter Hjerpe's for some speedy melodic power metal, widdly solos and galloping riffs.

Battle Cry for instance runs at a rate of knots, though My Epic Dragon is faster, full Rhapsody myth and majesty. Much of the album is whizzy with the choirs/orchestral elements from the Christmas album rolling over into this one, fusing with the power metal of the debut, which can be heard properly on Megatrue a slow chest beater with Chris Davidsson (bass) and Joel Kollberg (drums). Victorious brings Stratovarius cinematics while Go Higher has 80's synth elements.

The one thing I found with Power Train is that a few of the songs at the beginning of the album all sound quite similar, maybe this is because of the crystalline production or the sound of the guitars but I did think one or two of the tracks were the same one repeated. Still it's power metal, there's only so many song about dragons you can write right? Majestica do power metal well, cheesy and silly it'll get you smiling if nothing else. 7/10

Tayne - Love (MNRK Heavy) [Matt Bladen]

UK trio Tayne are an experienced live a act, having supported the likes of Health, Author & Punisher and Greg Puciato already without a debut album so now they have one and it's heavily inspired by industrial metal pioneers such as Nine Inch Nails and Ministry along with more recent acts like Health and ††† (Crosses). Masterminded by Matt Sutton (bass/vocals), Tom Hancock (guitar) and Paul Traveller (drums)

It's an album that deals with love, how we define it, chase it and how it defines us, written during a period of dissociation, Matt found himself writing about his experiences but they reflected his father's experiences too. Matt's parents split when he was younger, his father coming out as a gay man after this are all part of the journey of this record, the music reflecting both of their experiences with love.

The duality of these stories comes through in the album cover, a black metal logo coloured with silver and pink, and the music does the same, thumping electro pop, paired with metallic industrial drive. Matt is an extreme metal fan and while his vocals are light and poppy, the trio have brought in Rolo Tomassi’s James Spence on Fear and Cage Fight’s Rachel Aspe on Coherent to bring the growls and screams.

Love is an album that, twitches, thumps, swaggers and swirls, industrial metal that owes so much to Mr Reznor and co, tracks such as In This Trend are fed by electronic drumbeats, Down is all fuzzy as Scars is just the sort of thing Tayne will become known for, anthemic industrial metal with emotive vocals. Love is a dynamic debut from Tayne well worth your time. 8/10

Sarkasm - Carnival Of Atrocities (Xtreem Music) [Mark Young]

And we say adios to the longest month ever and run straight into February where the new releases keep on coming. Next up is Canada’s Sarkasm who release their second full length album Carnival Of Atrocities. The band themselves have been going since 1990 with a couple of breaks in between and it’s safe to say that I didn’t expect them to play as hard as they have on here. Its that blend of death and thrash metal which whilst delivering the sort of instant aggressive music that we (those who primary source of metal is this) find so enthralling. It has an unmistakable feel to it, one that is born from the thrash heyday of the mid 80’s to the early 90’s and is full of riffs that are delivered in that direct manner.

I Am Chaos is boot off point with a semi-acoustic pattern that is ripped out of the way by some super tight trem picking and we are off. Just by listening to the first minute or so you know exactly what you are going to get so if you don’t like that then the rest will not be to your liking. If this is your bag, then you will be happy to know that you get 8 songs of equal quality, all of which are dropped with the energy of a band that is just starting out on their journey.

That blend of death/thrash is captured so well, take the Blast/Trem into traditional thrash on Echoes Of Hyperion which transitions seamlessly from one to another, the outgoing riffs in which they drop a classically thrash slide (listen to it, you will get what I mean straight away) and it fits perfectly. The slight discordant touch on Disintegrate is again another class motif whilst Cold Empty Rooms calls up the spirit of Testament for a down and brutal exercise in how this style should be played.

There is a deep groove on display on Ex Umbris and an unbelievable chug to it that is just quality and final track Dead Weight brings the frenzied trem picking back for a final throw down. They end on the almost exact same note as the opener, frantic riffs which propel everything forward at a satisfactory speed. What you have here is the sort of music that is designed for giving you ringing ears and a knackered neck when these are performed live.

So, in terms of reviewing it I can tell you that it has everything you could possibly want from this style of music; down picking, palm muting, double bass bashing and riffs for days which guarantees a good time for fans. Did I mention triplets? I love triplets and to me they still represent a feeling of speed and power when playing the guitar and through that there is a visceral thrill to this music as well as a reminder of when it was new and exciting. Which obviously leads me into a ‘but’….

For those whose extreme musical intake does not place this genre on the pedestal that some do, who were born well after the golden period had fizzled out into grunge then nu-metal and possibly look to this style as being old and tired, and I suppose that if you look to those bands that are associated with it, Slayer have gone, Megadeth blow hot and cold and Metallica have tried to recapture that spark but can’t seem to find the edit button to trim any fat from their albums which results in collective yawns for those who just don’t get why they were massive in the first place. 

Don’t let your opinion of those bands put you off. This is not tired music, this is energetic, aggressive and does exactly what it says on the tin. 7/10