Review: Skálmöld, Entropy Created Consciousness, Arc Arrival, The Last Cell (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Skálmöld: 10 Year Anniversary - Live In Reykjavík (Napalm Records)

What better way to celebrate a 10th Anniversary than with a number of sold out shows in your own backyard? Icelandic Viking metal band Skálmöld have done just this on the self explanatory titled 10 Year Anniversary - Live In Reykjavík. Recorded in front of a baying crowd in their home town of Reykjavík this is basically the essential retrospective of the band with the opening chant of Heima getting the interaction going early as they plough through the fairly standard Viking Metal fayre with melodic-death metal riffs met with grunts and screams as it's fleshed out with more folky sounds. 

Now live albums can be a little hit and miss as some shows you'd have to be there to really get the full experience I'd say with this one you'd have to speak Icelandic as well, this is because much like Hammerfall's first live album, much of between song banter is in their native tongue (as you'd expect) so it's difficult to immerse yourself in the show as an English speaker still, when the music hits you can hear it's Skálmöld playing classics from their ten years of existence drawing on their Viking heritage for stories from the Norse myths and legends (makes a change from dragons and wizards). Thrashy riffs, deathy vocals and fire that still burns brightly Live In Reykjavik and as songs such as the excellent Að Hausti and closing out with Kvaðning it's a fitting testament to the band but fairly standard Viking metal. 6/10

Entropy Created Consciousness: Antica Memoria Di Dis (Self Released)

Entropy: "lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder." Lack of predictability is very much what you get from the, and I quote "anonymous and immortal musical entity" that is one man atmospheric black metal act Entropy Created Consciousness. Now you could go through the lengthy...and I mean almost Homeric PR that accompanied this record and really you'll find out that it's the second release, based around Virgil's epic poem Dante's Inferno. I'm sure you want to really you want to know how it sounds musically, in the PR it states bands like Ulver, Melvins, Boris, Sinmara, My Dying Bride and Moonspell along with film directors such as Harmony Korine and David Lynch.

Now I'm sorry but Antica Memoria Di Dis is not for me, there is a droning, noisey kind of black metal here I can't get along with, drawing from that second wave but with the more overarching moody atmospheres. Yes occasionally things branch out into Gothic industrial, stoner grooves and even electronic bleeps but when it's brought back to the atmospheric black metal sound I found myself struggling to listen to get through the songs as the riffs are basically just noise with the vocals croaked at the back of the studio. I bet there is a following for this underground sound and I'm sure that the vision is in the right place but I found little here I enjoyed. 3/10

Arc Arrival: C.H.A.O.S EP (Self Released)

Bringing the heavy from Stirlingshire Scotland, tech/modern metal act Arc Arrival came to fruition when vocalist Greg Dick (no relation to Fish I believe), joined in 2018 giving the band a mouthpiece for their bludgeoning, tech metal battery. The band managed to grab a Semi Final slot in the Glasgow Metal 2 The Masses which was the basis for the completion of this debut EP. A truly D.I.Y affair the EP was written, recorded and mastered at their own homes due to the pandemic it does mean that things are a little washed out but hey let's concentrate on the music here and much of C.H.A.O.S is powerfully aggressive metal with massive breakdowns, industrial textures, nitro-fuelled double kicks and Dick shifting between grunts, screams and cleans. If you're a fan of bands such as Meshuggah et al then you'll be stomping around your front room. Unfortunately it doesn't really do much for me, the songs are all a little haphazard in terms of composition, the transitions between the riffs is a little jarring especially on Re-Birth however Trigger The Silence exposes the weaknesses in Dick's clean delivery, though his rough edges are pretty decent. Good luck to the band, but for me C.H.A.O.S is just a little to chaotic. 5/10 

The Last Cell: Veter (Self Released)

The Last Cell is the solo project from Austrian guitarist Jean-Marc Perc who has been playing since the age of 9. He is the epitome of virtuoso, playing more notes, then many guitarists will have ever learned. Now rather than using his prowess for EVH or Zakk Wylde style arpeggios with The Last Cell Jean-Marc is inspired much more by Plini and Intervals, on stage he is joined by Lukas Florian (bass) and Robin Weber (drums), but I think the music on the record is just him. Veter is the band's third album following Nautilus and Continental Drift all based around the elements (water, fire, wind and earth etc) meaning that there is a elemental sound to be found here. It's packed to the brim with Perc's brand of "creation through chaos" masterfully blending fluid progressively tinged guitar playing with atmospheric soundscapes making for some instrumental music that is easy on the ear but also interesting. Veter is Perc not only showing his playing prowess but also how you can create songs that don't need vocals for emotional power. If you like Plini and Intervals then I urge you to pick up Veter. 6/10