Reviews: Shores Of Null, Hippie Death Cult, Statement, Ominous Ruin (Matt Bladen, Rich Piva, Simon Black & Mark Young)

Shores Of Null - Beauty Over Europe (Sulphur Music/Masked Dead Records) [Matt Bladen]

To celebrate their upcoming European jaunt, and as a tribute to their loyal fans who made 2023 one of their most successful to date. Roman doom metal titans Shores Of Null bring us Beauty Over Europe a live album that captures tracks from various venues while the band were on their The Loss Of Beauty tour. 

This journey across Europe saw them playing with Swallow The Sun, Draconian, and Avatarium across 18 countries, treating European fans to their melancholic, introspective style of death/doom where the hollered cleans sit in tandem with snarled harsh vocals. 

The emotional resonance of both captured perfectly on these recordings, though the vocals are quite high in the mix, though that's not a complaint to me, you can still hear how impressive the band are too. The Nothing Left To Burn, one of two from Leipzig, showcases their talent for cavernous riffs and exploratory melodies. 

One of the two older numbers is the lumbering Quiescent, and this is on the heavier end, closer to that 90's doom sound, while Black Drapes For Tomorrow, the other 'older' cut has a definite Type O Negative sound. 

It's the tracks from The Loss Of Beauty that showcase the best of the band, those beautiful maudlin melodies compose the last three song of this live release, A Nature In Disguise shifting from black metal double kicks to a death metal chug, Darkness Won't Take Me gets us back on the cathartic goth side and this set closes out with Blazing Sunlight, a track that exhibits the full power of Shores Of Null.

An album that captures this Italian band at their best on stage, I personally can't wait to experience their full headline set at One For Sorrow 2025 in August however until then this will be the perfect hors d'oeuvre and the best way to get to know the band of you've not heard them before. 9/10

Hippie Death Cult - Live At The Star Theater (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Piva]

From all indications Hippie Death Cult is an amazing band to see live. I have not been lucky enough to see the trio in the flesh, so the band, and Heavy Psych Sounds, is graciously giving people like myself the next best thing via their first live record, Live At The Star Theater. 

We get five songs from their recent tour that shows the band in their natural element on stage and on their home turf in Portland, Oregon. The show is both filled with energy and some of the best HDC songs in their catalogue, and just rips it up for almost 45 minutes.

The first thing that sticks out in this five-song set is how much Laura Phillips has settled in as the frontperson of the band and how comfortable she sounds leading the trio. 

Her vocals sound amazing and her stage banter, including advising the people in the middle to get the fuck out of the way if they don’t want to move to the music and playfully threatening (or maybe not playful) to jump in the crowd to take care of things if she has to shows how she is commanding the stage and how her interacting with the people is so natural. 

She is not afraid to let go some serious screams and growls either. Eddie Brnabic’s guitar work sounds as amazing as ever, and the recording of his work on Live At The Star Theater brings it right up in the mix so you can hear all the goodness in detail. Harry Silvers has proven to be a HDC secret weapon, pounding on those drums and bringing the heavy to the band even more. 

Just listen to Toxic Annihilator to get all of this in one shot. So great. Harry gets the spotlight on Shadows, a track where the band gets to do some sonic exploration, with outstanding results. Including one of my favourite tracks, Red Giant, will make the fans of the band happy for sure. Harry’s drums make the room shake on this one. 

You may say that five songs are too few for a live record, but there is a killer, 16-minute version of Circle Of Days to close out and this is only a one record set, so that takes up some room, and the record is better for it. The full show will be released in video format as well for those who want beginning to end experience of the entire set, so chill out, OK?

Hippie Death Cult is one of the best bands out there in any genre and if they come through your town, you should see them. They are all super cool people as well, so chat with them before or after they blow you away from the stage, like they do on Live At The Star Theater, an amazing live record from an amazing band. 9/10

Statement – Sinister Thing (Mighty Music) [Simon Black]

Denmark’s Statement have been at this for just over a decade, but this fifth opus of theirs is the first I have had the privilege of spinning. Now normally when I come across a new band that raises my eyebrows in a pleasant way, the first thing I usually do is catch up on some of their back catalogue, but I am not sure if that’s wise in this instance, because there’s quite a jump between this album and their earlier discography.

Now, given that I’m usually highly appreciative of the more melodic Hard Rock end of the spectrum, the fact that this opus is a way heavier affair you would normally find me leaning more towards the lighter past, but that’s not happening here, because this baby is packing a significant punch. 

OK, the melodic elements have not gone away, their presence is crucial to what this band can deliver, but this time round it’s packed in a smorgasbord of down-tuned heaviness that really makes this stand out.

Instrumentally I can find no fault, with these boys clearly having a perfect chemistry and internal groove, with vocalist Jannick Brochdorf effortlessly holding the attention with his emotive, roaring yet high vocal ranged delivery. Then there’s the songs themselves…

They’re hard, they’re heavy but built on that strong melodic foundation so pulls at one emotively, creating that instant desire to nod ones’ head with extreme prejudice. At this stage in their career, one might expect a couple of bangers and a little filler on a studio album, but this delivers ten songs that do not dip in quality, have a consistent band sound but provide range and variety, and for forty-five relentless minutes this album grabs you by the delicate parts and hold your attention.

After five studio albums you expect the players to know their song crafting, but for many bands that’s the point when the creative juices can run a little dry and things start harking back to their origins but without that crucial spark of originality. That’s categorically not happening here. This record from start to finish is strong, punchy and fresh as a daisy, albeit a daisy that’s just been hammered to a surprised pulp by a bunch of drop-C tuned instruments. Bang on… 9/10

Ominous Ruin - Requiem (Willowtip) [Mark Young]

From Swedish death to brutal and technical death in the blink of an eye, Ominous Ruin casually saunter in and drop an early contender for brain melter of the year. Technical death metal has been another of those genres where I can certainly appreciate the skill involved in playing the way they do, certainly to a standard that is beyond me. 

My brain acknowledges it to be heavy, complex and fast but there sometimes seems to be a disconnect between the brain and the heart. I think this is my way of saying that it doesn’t grab me the same way that Hell Awaits does or Made In Japan. Its all down to personal taste, isn’t it?

Seriously, check out Made In Japan though.

Anyway, as a band they have been around for a decade or more, releasing demo material, singles and EP’s before getting to the point we are at now, with Requiem which is their second full length album. 

They start with the appropriately titled Intro, a short piano / guitar driven piece which is immediately supplanted by Seeds Of Entropy, which takes no time in announcing itself. It sets the tone for what is to follow, a frenzied blast that hits and moves, with intricate playing and devastating drumming. 

It is certainly brutal, there is no mistaking that at all but despite this It still doesn’t resonate with me. I know it’s good but is that because as a guitar player I can hear how complex it is but it feels sterile. 

Seeds leads into Eternal and if I hadn’t been looking, I wouldn’t have known that one had finished and that this was still the same track. Is it the case that because of the nature of this particular beast, the songs themselves don’t possess an identity other than being super technical? 

Are each of the songs going to plough a similar groove? Again, Eternal does exactly what they say it will do – be brutal whilst showing off that technical ability but misses what I love about metal, the visceral nature, the aggression all of which drew me into this music in the first place.

Bane Of Syzygial Triality acts as their next intermission prior to Divergent Anomaly kicking off, which is frankly mesmeric in the way that the notes are just thrown at you. And yes, it is something else to listen to but by now I know what to expect here. I also know why it is isn’t hitting me the way I believe metal should do. 

It is an exercise in technical proficiency that sets its targets differently than the metal I’ve grown up on. For me it its not built to excite in the same way that Slayer did with Angel Of Death, or Carcass with Buried Dreams and that is fine, metal has to grow and evolve otherwise it gets stale and ultimately dies. I’d go so far to say that this doesn’t kick ass in the conventional way.

That is not to say that they don’t go hard on this, I’ve said it does and a high spot is Fractal Abhorrence, which has some epic stuff on it and does with whilst still bringing that technicality that the others had. The problem is me, or rather my perception. If its technical but has the right pay off i.e. its not technical just for the sake of it than I’m all for it. That’s probably why Fractal Abhorrence lands the way it does. 

The same goes for Architect Of Undoing which is dizzying but done with an intent and a warmth that was missing elsewhere. It’s not full on all the way through and these moments where they step back a little it gives the rest room to breathe. Of course, it’s still mental and it seems a bit cock-eyed of me to like this more than the others but there’s no point me sitting here and saying it’s the greatest thing ever when I don’t feel that way.

Staring Into The Abysm, well its certainly 3 minutes of virtuosity with but some cracking riffs in there but at this point I’m thinking how many more times can I say that in that respect it is something else whilst actually not digging it? Requiem is the end and keeps that level of technical madness at 11, it’s just that I have no more to say.

Ultimately, going back through the review I know that you might be thinking just what he is trying to say? I’m not actually sure really, except that I think that you have approach this like this: Fans of technical, virtuoso extreme metal will go bananas. It contains a level of skill that is light-years beyond what I feel is conventional extreme (is there such a thing?) metal. 

Its probably the water mark for what this genre is but it misses what I feel this music should do. I can appreciate it for what it is but it doesn’t thrill me like it should do. 6/10