Fates Messenger drop Eternal War like a swarm of hammers and they don’t pause to ask for mercy. This six-track EP is pure, galvanic metalcore, brutal grooves, visceral energy, and the kind of urgency that thumps your chest long after it’s done.
Opening with Hellstorm, the EP smashes in with wild riffage and drums like a collapsing tunnel. There's no easing you into this world; it grabs your attention, drags you in, and holds you there. Each riff feels like a challenge thrown in your face and you either respond or get swallowed.
The title cut, Eternal War, unleashes control and chaos through its guest turn from Tim Williams of Vision Of Disorder. His barked vocals feel like a spotlight on your worst thoughts, and the band charge alongside him with tempo shifts that leap like shrapnel.
Doomloop keeps the momentum insane with groove-laced riffs that crawl and strike. It’s a brief breather, if you can call it that, before Master Killer, a sneering, skinniest cover of Merauder’s classic, retooled here into Fates Messenger’s own venomous shape.
Tracks like Bleed Again gear the tone up again. It’s raw, biting, and relentless, like someone kicked down your door and left the bruise. Then closing with Bonechapel, featuring Al Llewellyn, they unify fury and atmosphere. It sounds like the last scream before the world stops.
The EP’s production is gritty but clear. Every drum hit has bite; every guitar lead cuts; vocals stay just raw enough. There’s no fluff here, just purposefully tight lines designed to whip necks and leave no room to breathe between riffs.
Tracks like Bleed Again gear the tone up again. It’s raw, biting, and relentless, like someone kicked down your door and left the bruise. Then closing with Bonechapel, featuring Al Llewellyn, they unify fury and atmosphere. It sounds like the last scream before the world stops.
The EP’s production is gritty but clear. Every drum hit has bite; every guitar lead cuts; vocals stay just raw enough. There’s no fluff here, just purposefully tight lines designed to whip necks and leave no room to breathe between riffs.
This doesn’t ease you in. If you’re not hooked by 30 seconds, you're not meant to be. But if you are, even remotely, the punch hits, and your brain follows. It’s pit-calibrated, heart pounding, and unforgettable.
A lean, mean juggernaut of modern metalcore energy. Fates Messenger may have checks from the past, but with Eternal War, they’re writing their future and it's violence with intention. 9/10
Anchor And Burden - Sunken Fleet (Return Trip Records) [Mark Young]
Well, got to say that I will not hear anything like this again this year. In fact, I would say that in the three years or so of reviewing for this site I’ve maybe heard one or two other releases that occupy the same space of ‘not being anything remotely close’ to what I normally listen to.
Anchor And Burden - Sunken Fleet (Return Trip Records) [Mark Young]
Well, got to say that I will not hear anything like this again this year. In fact, I would say that in the three years or so of reviewing for this site I’ve maybe heard one or two other releases that occupy the same space of ‘not being anything remotely close’ to what I normally listen to.
In that respect I have to applaud it for being so unique but what it does do is give me a headache of how I am actually going to review and adequately describe what it is like.
Sunken Fleet is the latest release from Anchor And Burden who describe themselves as ‘progressive avant-garde doom-jazz post rock’ a description that does not help in setting the scene for what you could expect here.
I mentioned that each song uses a similar approach but don’t take that as being they are the same. Each one is unique to itself, Abandoned Vessel is all bad feelings and discord, drums detonating around you as dive deeper into that wreck, that sense of unease as you investigate each room thinking in the back of your mind that something is going to propel itself at you. How you get on with this is going to be solely dependent on how open you are to trying new things and how prepared you are to give it a chance.
Sunken Fleet is the latest release from Anchor And Burden who describe themselves as ‘progressive avant-garde doom-jazz post rock’ a description that does not help in setting the scene for what you could expect here.
There is a concept at play here, with this album charting a course underwater following the events of their previous releases and I’ll say it again, if you can imagine what ‘progressive avant-garde doom-jazz post rock’ actually sounds like I bet you will still come up short.
Over the course of the 5 songs here they provide what at first sounds like a collection of random noises, a beep here, a jangly chord there which leaves you scratching your head. Just what is it, what is it supposed to be doing? Once you go back in again there’s a feeling of the clouds parting and then you see that it isn’t random at all.
Taking Sunken Caravan as an example the percussion on it lays that baseline and repeats, same as the bass which continually repeats that same pattern. In doing so it then allows for them to come in and colour and embellish these repeated measures. As each new addition comes in others diminish much in the same way as if they are alive, coming to you to assess you and see what you are doing. This might be a stretch on my part but that is how it landed with me.
My initial thoughts to the album was this was just a random event, spread out over its length with no rhyme or reason and I guess that fans of normal metal may not be able to engage with due to this.
Each of the tracks on here shares that similar approach and each time you have to put the work in to stay the course and listen to them all in their entirety.
Will the length of the songs dissuade some from listening? I would say so, but if you are a fan of the band and have listened to their material before you will know what you are getting into. Its like a compelling soundtrack to a film not made, Dagger Dances has this guitar line that comes in and its like a spider moving on a web.
I mentioned that each song uses a similar approach but don’t take that as being they are the same. Each one is unique to itself, Abandoned Vessel is all bad feelings and discord, drums detonating around you as dive deeper into that wreck, that sense of unease as you investigate each room thinking in the back of your mind that something is going to propel itself at you. How you get on with this is going to be solely dependent on how open you are to trying new things and how prepared you are to give it a chance.
It goes beyond standard ‘is it any good’ conversations because they don’t sound like anybody else. They have structure but not in a conventional way and given that generally our music is designed to hit you quickly that could be a turn off for some.
I loved it because it asked me to put the effort in to listen to it properly and it would have been so easy to write a review based on a partial listen. I’m glad that I stayed with it, my only regret is that it is so late. 9/10
Fortunately, Pancho Ireland (who also does all the guitar work) gives a powerful and charismatic vocal performance that carries the whole album, to the point where I would strongly recommend that they flesh out with at least one more pair of hands and see how much richer this could make things sound.
Burning Sun – Retribution (Metalizer Records) [Simon Black]
Burning Sun hail from Hungary, and for this project at least clearly think the starting and ending point for musical influence was that period in the early to mid-80’s when Noise Records were branching away from Thrash.
Burning Sun hail from Hungary, and for this project at least clearly think the starting and ending point for musical influence was that period in the early to mid-80’s when Noise Records were branching away from Thrash.
Blame the big labels for starting to sign bands and make it not so cool for Karl-Ulrich Walterbach to be associated with and realising that the nascent power metal scene in the form of Grave Digger or early Helloween - before it’s speedier take on traditional metal had got as far as getting a name of its own. Add in a tendency that far too many Power Metal albums in the intervening years to get a little too fond of concept albums, and you have Burning Sun to a tee.
In fact the production feels a little like it belongs in that age too, although I suspect that’s as much to do with the fact that with only two of them handling everything between them, that drum programming was clearly required whilst not being a core skill (although top marks for making the drum sound emulate the old Boss drum machine I used to use in my bedroom to cut demos in the late 1980’s with my mates).
In fact the production feels a little like it belongs in that age too, although I suspect that’s as much to do with the fact that with only two of them handling everything between them, that drum programming was clearly required whilst not being a core skill (although top marks for making the drum sound emulate the old Boss drum machine I used to use in my bedroom to cut demos in the late 1980’s with my mates).
Actually, the production is a bit distracting, because the drum sound is as tinny as hell most of the time, although it fluctuates a lot throughout, but then given these two are doing it all on their own better than I could, I can’t complain.
The trouble is the remaining instruments are a little richer on the range settings, so the overtly trebly drum sounds really distract from what would otherwise be a polished performance from the rest of the instrumentals.
Fortunately, Pancho Ireland (who also does all the guitar work) gives a powerful and charismatic vocal performance that carries the whole album, to the point where I would strongly recommend that they flesh out with at least one more pair of hands and see how much richer this could make things sound.
I know it’s tough and expensive doing this all, but if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well, and the homespun demo feel of the whole piece does grate after a while.
Which is a shame because the songwriting is really strong, and I actually found myself getting drawn into the sword and sorcery story underpinning it, which is a sign that they are on to something with this project.
But please boys a drummer, another six strings and a proper producer, and let’s make the next outing something special, because performance and songwriting wise, this is rather unexpectedly good. 6/10
Reinforcer - Ice And Death (Scarlet Records) [Matt Bladen]
German power metal with historical/dark fantasy lyrics about the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Black Death or the Norse legend of the frost giant Ymir, it’s pretty easy to guess what to expect from the second full length record from Reinforcer.
German power metal with historical/dark fantasy lyrics about the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Black Death or the Norse legend of the frost giant Ymir, it’s pretty easy to guess what to expect from the second full length record from Reinforcer.
This is German heavy metal, inspired by the likes of Running Wild and Blind Guardian but with a few touches of the heavier American style on Five Brothers. Ice And Death has a darker tone in the guitars, and gruffness in the vocals but I don’t find too much interesting about it.
The quintet can deliver power metal, harmony guitars, double bass kicks and big choruses but I found my attention wandering a little in in the middle of the record as there’s quite of bit of stuff here that is very similar in tone and very familiar with other power metal bands. I think as well for me power metal is made a lot of the time by the vocals and I’m not a fan of these ones.
I’m trying not be negative as Reinforcer do have some strong points with tracks such as the closing melancholy of Bring Out Your Dead, the NWOBHM drive of Heir Of The Bear and the pirate metal leanings of Dead Men Tell No Tales but I was never really hooked by anything, it could just be me so make sure to check out the record yourself. 6/10
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