When I heard that guitarist from the killer band Wytch, Mattias Marklund, was releasing his own project on Ripple Music, my initial reaction was “oh shit, what about the awesome Wytch?”. Well, Wytch is still a thing, but on hold while some life stuff happens, so we can all go into his new project, Temple Of Dischord, breathing easier, since this is in addition to and not instead of. The songs on Temple Of Discord’s debut, In The Ashes, actually pre-date Wytch and were revisited by Marklund given the downtime in his other band, and thank goodness they were because these proto metal rippers are raw slabs of 70s/80s and even a bit of early 90s heaviness.
What really stands out on In The Ashes is Marklund’s guitar work. This is not a surprise, but I think with Wytch you can be so memorized by the vocals of Johanna Lundberg you don’t realize how much he rips it up. You can hear this clearly on the opener, The Reaper. Closer is a slow burn that sounds like something from the really good Danzig years. Not vocally, except for maybe the scream parts, but I got serious Def American era vibes from this one. There is a rawness and a NWOBHM thing going on here, with Black Out The Sun being a great example. I love the sloppy (in the best way) chorus on this one as well as the almost psych guitar work from Marklund. Razor Me has a bit of Danzig to it too, but like when Glenn slows it down and channels Johnny Cash.
Tracks like The Fields and Someone Else keep up the rawness of the record that gives it something special. All Their Lies is a fun little ripper while the closer, Rails, brings more Danzig vibes, as Marklund has the Danzig slow burn formula down for sure. If there is one thing people will struggle with, it is the vocals. Marklund still sounds like he is finding his voice as a singer. It takes a few listens, but it does eventually click in. Just don’t compare his singing to that of his other band. In Todd We Trust, as Ripple brings us a record from Temple Of Discord that may have never seen the light of day without him unleashing it on the world.
In The Ashes is a very cool and raw debut that really highlights Marklund as an all-around talent who has a ton to bring to the scene. 8/10
This I Owe - Alchemists (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Formed in 2024 as Alchemists, the Athenian band now go under the name This I Owe but their music is hard to describe.
If I had to make a comparison I’d say Skunk Anansie is the biggest mainstream influence as the band have a lot of alt metal grunt and the vocals of Maria Kanellaki are belligerent, powerful and multi-faceted just like Skin’s. If you take anything from this record then it’s that they have a bonafide star in their singer. She has grit but purity in her cleans but can easily go into growls when needed, adding some In This Moment to Nightmare, the undulating genre’s This I Owe play with meaning that fans of many styles will like something here.
This leads me to my next comparison, This I Owe lean on the prog side to with a bit of Tool, some Puta Volcano and Brits Panic Room too, unafraid of blurring genre lines with tracks such as Isobel which starts off as jazz and moves into the massive grunge rock extravagance and a lead break/solo section from Christos Kalentzos which is a fitting climax to this epic beginning to side 2, following the dramatic Queen Of Hearts which comes before it. Alchemists is a concept record which of course is always going to mean prog but This I Owe really try to avoid any musical limitations, closing the album with Solstice, a track driven by piano, orchestral swells and Maria’s spine-tingling vocals.
Equinox though which is the first track proper is the polar opposite to Solstice, beginning with and steered by a fat bassline from Thodoris Grigoroudis, it’s quite a metallic, doomy opener which moves into Sharks a song that feels a little like Testament with another huge bassline from Thodoris and some booming drumbeats from Gerasimos Avgeris and a thrashy solo from Christos.
Alchemists is an album that really made me take notice, This I Owe are a band who have a lot going on in their sound but if progressive, grungy alt metal, with amazing vocals sounds like a bit of you then you need to pick this up. 9/10
Atomic Peat - Demons And Other Friends (Broken Music) [Rich Piva]
Atomic Peat is a stoner rock trio out of Osnabrück, Germany who bring us their second record, Demons And Other Friends, almost nine years after their debut. I am not sure what caused the gap, but what I can say is that the nine songs on their new release are high energy and tight stoner bangers and a very welcomed return to those who have been waiting for a new record from them or those who are learning about Atomic Peat for the first time, like me. As you go in, you may think this is straight ahead stoner rock, but the more and more you listen, the more and more 80s metal in all sorts of forms surface to the top of the songs on Demons And Other Friends.
Right off the bat you get a high energy, Kyuss inspired ripper, Primitive, to kick this record off the right way. Ignite slows it down just a bit, but the riff is cool and the vocals are the best on the record. The trio have chemistry and are tight but still raw enough to show the heart they bring to their music. I really like the tempo change in this one too. Her Black shows that these Germans have some pop sensibilities too, as this one sounds less stoner and more straight-ahead rock with maybe even a little power pop thrown in.
This I Owe - Alchemists (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Formed in 2024 as Alchemists, the Athenian band now go under the name This I Owe but their music is hard to describe.
If I had to make a comparison I’d say Skunk Anansie is the biggest mainstream influence as the band have a lot of alt metal grunt and the vocals of Maria Kanellaki are belligerent, powerful and multi-faceted just like Skin’s. If you take anything from this record then it’s that they have a bonafide star in their singer. She has grit but purity in her cleans but can easily go into growls when needed, adding some In This Moment to Nightmare, the undulating genre’s This I Owe play with meaning that fans of many styles will like something here.
This leads me to my next comparison, This I Owe lean on the prog side to with a bit of Tool, some Puta Volcano and Brits Panic Room too, unafraid of blurring genre lines with tracks such as Isobel which starts off as jazz and moves into the massive grunge rock extravagance and a lead break/solo section from Christos Kalentzos which is a fitting climax to this epic beginning to side 2, following the dramatic Queen Of Hearts which comes before it. Alchemists is a concept record which of course is always going to mean prog but This I Owe really try to avoid any musical limitations, closing the album with Solstice, a track driven by piano, orchestral swells and Maria’s spine-tingling vocals.
Equinox though which is the first track proper is the polar opposite to Solstice, beginning with and steered by a fat bassline from Thodoris Grigoroudis, it’s quite a metallic, doomy opener which moves into Sharks a song that feels a little like Testament with another huge bassline from Thodoris and some booming drumbeats from Gerasimos Avgeris and a thrashy solo from Christos.
Alchemists is an album that really made me take notice, This I Owe are a band who have a lot going on in their sound but if progressive, grungy alt metal, with amazing vocals sounds like a bit of you then you need to pick this up. 9/10
Atomic Peat - Demons And Other Friends (Broken Music) [Rich Piva]
Atomic Peat is a stoner rock trio out of Osnabrück, Germany who bring us their second record, Demons And Other Friends, almost nine years after their debut. I am not sure what caused the gap, but what I can say is that the nine songs on their new release are high energy and tight stoner bangers and a very welcomed return to those who have been waiting for a new record from them or those who are learning about Atomic Peat for the first time, like me. As you go in, you may think this is straight ahead stoner rock, but the more and more you listen, the more and more 80s metal in all sorts of forms surface to the top of the songs on Demons And Other Friends.
Right off the bat you get a high energy, Kyuss inspired ripper, Primitive, to kick this record off the right way. Ignite slows it down just a bit, but the riff is cool and the vocals are the best on the record. The trio have chemistry and are tight but still raw enough to show the heart they bring to their music. I really like the tempo change in this one too. Her Black shows that these Germans have some pop sensibilities too, as this one sounds less stoner and more straight-ahead rock with maybe even a little power pop thrown in.
Of course, not when you get to the chorus, but I think you will hear what I mean. I even get an 80s metal thing at the back end of this song. Good stuff. Use Your Tongue starts of sounding like either Rock And Roll All Nite or a Bang Tango song, but stays way more Bang Tango. This is a compliment by the way and also confirms that the 80s I was hearing in the last track is ever-present all-over Demons And Other Friends.
If the stoner side of the band is what you prefer, I present to you Demons Coming Home, which kind of reminds me of Sahg if they were way less scary. Nature Boy is a fun little ripper that has a cool back story that you should check out on their Bandcamp page and cements my opinion that these guys are 80s metal freaks. Frenemy doubles down on this and is their ballad. Seriously. It’s good, too! A Part Of The Crown has a Sabbath riff and is the heaviest track on the record, even if the lyrics are a bit hokey.
The closer, The Way, is a nice way to finish off Demons And Other Friends and is their most dynamic of the nine tracks, with the harmonies to open it up and the chunkiness to go along with it. The guitar work on the back half is great too. Not everything needs to break new ground. Atomic Peat doing their thing very well, melding styles and likes nicely into the nine tracks on Demons And Other Friends. Let’s hope we do not have to wait another nine years for album three. This is a fun listen. 7/10
Still Falling - Through Time And Flesh (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
A story of our relationship with the divine told in the first person, Through Time And Flesh, is the new EP from Still Falling and portrays some Old Testament wrath that leads to nothing changing at all.
It’s all the creative vision of Greek atmospheric prog/death band Still Falling, a band that have a previous album and EP but this 20 minutes of new music not only shows a new focus on conceptual song writing but also some new members after going on hiatus in 2019. They return with their heaviest music since forming, the metalcore beginnings of the band now more in the progressive death style, Act II: The Fall, engineered around off time drum blasts, while the grooves from John Mor are as emblematic of their sound as his quality production.
As Act II adds some techno chug ala Fear Factory, the guitars of Nick Zaf and Spiros Papamanolis intertwine with industrial riffs, death metal speed and djent palm muting with pinched harmonics on the brutal closer Act IV: Through Time And Flesh. There’s a comparison to be made to Lamb Of God and Michael Mike’s vocals have that Randy Blythe, grunt vs scream so Still Falling owe a lot to the Virginian veterans. Reactivated and sounding heavier, Through Time And Flesh proves there is life in Still Falling. 7/10
Still Falling - Through Time And Flesh (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
A story of our relationship with the divine told in the first person, Through Time And Flesh, is the new EP from Still Falling and portrays some Old Testament wrath that leads to nothing changing at all.
It’s all the creative vision of Greek atmospheric prog/death band Still Falling, a band that have a previous album and EP but this 20 minutes of new music not only shows a new focus on conceptual song writing but also some new members after going on hiatus in 2019. They return with their heaviest music since forming, the metalcore beginnings of the band now more in the progressive death style, Act II: The Fall, engineered around off time drum blasts, while the grooves from John Mor are as emblematic of their sound as his quality production.
As Act II adds some techno chug ala Fear Factory, the guitars of Nick Zaf and Spiros Papamanolis intertwine with industrial riffs, death metal speed and djent palm muting with pinched harmonics on the brutal closer Act IV: Through Time And Flesh. There’s a comparison to be made to Lamb Of God and Michael Mike’s vocals have that Randy Blythe, grunt vs scream so Still Falling owe a lot to the Virginian veterans. Reactivated and sounding heavier, Through Time And Flesh proves there is life in Still Falling. 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment