Philadelphia based band Lör play a self described blend of power, folk, and progressive metal, a genre tag that is defined immediately on the first song of this EP, Upon A Withered Heart it's got a Blind Guardian racing jig, soaring vocals from Tyler Fedeli, numerous pace shifts, an anthemic quality and some nifty lead bass from Nick Bonsanto, a lot of it reminds me of Falconer but with the unflinching bombast of Blind Guardian. The title track closes the album with yet more fist pumping power metal and huge gang choruses, it all goes a bit Dragonforce before evolving into swing jazz in the middle, the speed metal kicking back in with gusto reaching the final destination of gang chants at the conclusion.
This EP is only just over half an hour long but it rarely lets you ease into being comfortable, A Life Once Known is rampaging speed metal with explosive soloing paired with lots of dual guitar/key lead runs and forays into folk acoustic playing. Ruin however has crunching riffs and jaunty keys from Matt Bartlett (who is also very important to the beautiful Relic) that is a little Haken flavoured, but early Haken due to the additions of harsh vocals from Peter Hraur who also supplies the gorgeous guitar playing and lush orchestrations. On the aforementioned Ruin they show a different side to their musical dexterity, it's a grandiose ballad led by the expressive drumming of Greg Bogart taking a more acoustic direction.
What I will say as well is that the production here is quite natural sounding, not relying on the massive in your face sound of so many power/prog bands, one to listen to on headphones for sure. I hadn't heard any of Lör's music before (they have a full length released in 2017) but the back of this album I will definitely be delving into their history. Edge Of Eternity is magnificent and doesn't feel like it's a short release, I can't wait to hear more! 9/10
If you love your death metal, brutal, technical and full of 90s reference then boy is Killitorous' The Afterparty is an album for you. Founding member Aaron Homma is in very good company with Suffocation's Eric Morotti just blast beating the heck out of those drums. The Afterparty starts of with All Hail The Startchild and it's not long before you get a glimpse of what kind of grindcore/party-death metal magic you'll be listening to for the next 40 minutes. Married With Children gives a very Black Dahlia Murder feel with the technical guitaring prowess and shift in vocals from Mathieu Dhani and Youri Raymond. My personal highlight from the album is Rodney Danger field Of Dreams, just for the title alone. I mean, as the band rip and tear through this song and you hear "ahhh my Kel wants me to see a psychiatrist" - I'm only sad that I hadn't checked out Killitorous' debut album Party Grind sooner so I could understand what my freakin' ears were about to hear. The pacing of the album is phenomenal, there's simply no rest for the wicked here and it continues from Eat Your God up until King Diamond Dallas Page. The band definitely have friends in the business and some of the guests on the album are great additions with Riley McShane (Allegaeon), Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Leprous) and Voivod's Dan Mongrain amongst many others. For me it's a solid album, amazing technical prowess resonates throughout an album that not only packs a punch, but kicks you in the balls with light-hearted 90s goodness. 8/10
Abyssidious: Murk And Malice (Self Released) [Rich Oliver]
Murk And Malice is the debut release from experimental black metal project Abyssidious. Very little is known and can be found out about this project apart from that it is based in East Anglia and appears to be a one man band with all music and vocals performed by a K. Issious. Time to focus on what we do know and that is the music offered to us on this release. Murk And Malice is 35 minutes of uncompromising, raw and dissonant black metal. From the start a statement is sent with the opening song O...Salvation! being some unapologetically ugly and raw black metal with some very dissonant riffing and reverb drenched screams of torment.
Killitorous: The Afterparty (Tentacles Industries) [Lee Burnell]
If you love your death metal, brutal, technical and full of 90s reference then boy is Killitorous' The Afterparty is an album for you. Founding member Aaron Homma is in very good company with Suffocation's Eric Morotti just blast beating the heck out of those drums. The Afterparty starts of with All Hail The Startchild and it's not long before you get a glimpse of what kind of grindcore/party-death metal magic you'll be listening to for the next 40 minutes. Married With Children gives a very Black Dahlia Murder feel with the technical guitaring prowess and shift in vocals from Mathieu Dhani and Youri Raymond. My personal highlight from the album is Rodney Danger field Of Dreams, just for the title alone. I mean, as the band rip and tear through this song and you hear "ahhh my Kel wants me to see a psychiatrist" - I'm only sad that I hadn't checked out Killitorous' debut album Party Grind sooner so I could understand what my freakin' ears were about to hear. The pacing of the album is phenomenal, there's simply no rest for the wicked here and it continues from Eat Your God up until King Diamond Dallas Page. The band definitely have friends in the business and some of the guests on the album are great additions with Riley McShane (Allegaeon), Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Leprous) and Voivod's Dan Mongrain amongst many others. For me it's a solid album, amazing technical prowess resonates throughout an album that not only packs a punch, but kicks you in the balls with light-hearted 90s goodness. 8/10
Abyssidious: Murk And Malice (Self Released) [Rich Oliver]
Murk And Malice is the debut release from experimental black metal project Abyssidious. Very little is known and can be found out about this project apart from that it is based in East Anglia and appears to be a one man band with all music and vocals performed by a K. Issious. Time to focus on what we do know and that is the music offered to us on this release. Murk And Malice is 35 minutes of uncompromising, raw and dissonant black metal. From the start a statement is sent with the opening song O...Salvation! being some unapologetically ugly and raw black metal with some very dissonant riffing and reverb drenched screams of torment.
This unhinged sound is prevalent throughout the rest of the release with the title track being a far more atmospheric and psychedelic sounding song with a great use of dark ambient soundscapes being used in conjunction with the raw black metal riffing. The Mouth Of Mother contains the most traditional sound black metal riffs but again these are mixed with moments of twisted psychedelia and unhinged insanity. This is a great debut release from Abyssidious and shows great promise for future releases from the project. It might be a bit much for the casual black metal fan as this is a far more unhinged and twisted beast but if bands such as Blut Aus Nord, Dodecahedron and Leviathan are your bag then Murk And Malice comes highly recommended. 7/10
One Desire: Midnight Empire (Frontiers Records) [Simon Black]
Not an act I had come across before, but Finland’s One Desire feels very much like a spin-off project, featuring members of Cain’s Offering (itself a supergroup), Sturm Und Drang and others and is a very mainstream AOR affair. The tone of this sophomore piece is very mid-tempo and anthemic, with a focus on a clear, crisp execution of the 80’s Journey/Def Leppard vein that is not going to offend anyone and which would go down well at a festival like Sweden Rocks or Steelhouse.
Opening with Shadowman, the band clearly know how to structure their material by the numbers, and the tone carries over into the next couple of tracks well – building a nice tone and structure to the work. This is one of those albums where you cannot fault the end result of any of the individual songs – they are all well-crafted, well-structured, well-executed, well-produced, but the overall net effect at the end still doesn’t grab you by the throat and demand multiple replays. The danger with experienced musos getting together for these projects in between their main gigs is that it becomes very easy to be formulaic, because there isn’t the hunger and pressure to deliver that you get from a young band fighting to be noticed.
One Desire: Midnight Empire (Frontiers Records) [Simon Black]
Not an act I had come across before, but Finland’s One Desire feels very much like a spin-off project, featuring members of Cain’s Offering (itself a supergroup), Sturm Und Drang and others and is a very mainstream AOR affair. The tone of this sophomore piece is very mid-tempo and anthemic, with a focus on a clear, crisp execution of the 80’s Journey/Def Leppard vein that is not going to offend anyone and which would go down well at a festival like Sweden Rocks or Steelhouse.
Opening with Shadowman, the band clearly know how to structure their material by the numbers, and the tone carries over into the next couple of tracks well – building a nice tone and structure to the work. This is one of those albums where you cannot fault the end result of any of the individual songs – they are all well-crafted, well-structured, well-executed, well-produced, but the overall net effect at the end still doesn’t grab you by the throat and demand multiple replays. The danger with experienced musos getting together for these projects in between their main gigs is that it becomes very easy to be formulaic, because there isn’t the hunger and pressure to deliver that you get from a young band fighting to be noticed.
This definitely doesn’t have the feel of a band trying to kick down the doors, and the consequence is that there is little to distinguish One Desire from the melée of other acts in the genre. If you’re a fan of this sort of insipid AOR, you are going to probably pull me to one side at a festival and give me a jolly good telling off, but sadly this feels like an album made for an audience long gone. 6/10
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