Shadowmass - Wastelands (Floga Records)
Wastelands is the sound of Shadowmass, combining their influences into their own style, a blackened type of thrash metal that where the likes of Metal Church, Coroner, Slayer, Nevermore and modern Megadeth converge into shredding guitars, blasting double kicks, snarling/sneering vocals and ominous dread filled movements.
These Greeks have made a definite effort to form something of their own, stepping into more extreme territory as their already with the ferocious and explosive thrash attack of Visions Of Desolation and Adrammelech's Laughter, both in the Slayer vein getting the trem picking and glacial atmospheres of black metal on Apphton.
A record that is based around the concept of entropy, Shadowmass have delivered a record that destroys any structures they have had before, adding more styles to their songwriting it's brought them closer to the closer to the progressive style of Nevermore on tracks such as Fading and Thy Will Be Crushed.
With their second album, Wastelands, Shadowmass take their music to a nastier place, blackened thrash with a progressive streak. 8/10
Leave The Wave - Disturbance (Self Released)
Leave The Wave is the debut album from Cypriot grunge rockers Leave The Wave, they refer to themselves as grunge-inspired and that's definitely obvious on this album as occasionally they they veer away from the grunge sound into some Iron Maiden rhythms (All I Ever Wanted) and even a bit of mid-90's Metallica too (Insane).
This debut deals with themes such as mental health, inner chaos, and struggle, all brought to bear with gritty heavy rock, that comes from multiple 90's bands. Be it some Pearl Jam on Control Your Brain, the echoed aggression of Nirvana on In My Way, while Lost In The Fray/Figure It Out have the woozy approach of Alice In Chains.
Disturbance is produced with a grimy, of that era sound to it which makes it all the more authentic, capturing the live sound of the band on record. Leave The Wave are a band who are inspired by the decade of plaid shirts and introspective riffs and this debut does a great job of churning the nostalgia. 7/10
Hidden In The Basement - Mud Days (Self Released)
Mud Days is the fourth full length from Larisa based heavy rockers Hidden In The Basement, and while their name is one that could prove difficult to Google, their music speaks for itself with some swaggering Southern heavy metal.
With three full length records and an EP behind them, along with numerous tours around Europe the band have been locked into what they do since their formation in 2007. Hidden In The Basement there's a real link to bands like Fireball Ministry, Black Stone Cherry and The Almighty on 4 Leaf Clover.
In fact any band that come from that Southern rock class, where the riffs are heavy, the vocals are gritty but there's plenty of dual guitar melodies on tracks such as As It Burns too. Hidden In The Basement, come swaggering up the stairs into the light of the world with more heavy riffing and swagger. This veteran band know how to sling a riff and Mud Days shows that off well. 7/10
Sevengill - Penumbra (Self Released)
Named after a type of shark that spends it's life "cruising along the sea floor and making an occasional foray to the surface”, this Athens band have embraced this beasts nature on the way they write their music. Their new album Penumbra is only four tracks long but three of them are way over 10 minutes apiece as Sevengill are a band who languish in the slow burn of post-metal and sludge.
Layers of guitars build one on top of the other as the tracks progress, the thunder growing louder and louder until it's fit to burst into explosions of savage vocals and cathartic release, which is them making their way to to the surface after snaking their way across the sea floor. The theme of the record is how music is important to our emotional state and there is a rawness to Penumbra (which translates to gloom).
It's a melancholic festival of noise where they're just as likely to play some oppressive industrial synths as they are steamrolling sludge metal. The segue between Ballata and For The Sun is especially good, as one slithers into the other perfectly. Sevengill impress with Penumbra, four tracks of dense musical intensity to sink your teeth into. 8/10
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