Mr Bison: Seaward (Subsound Records) [Lucas Tuckwood]
It’s time for some psychedelia folks, so let’s dig into Seaward from the Italian earful Mr Bison. It’s their fourth full length, and eschews some of their previous heavy psychedelic bluesy sound in favour of a more progressive, technical style that still feels good, but doesn’t always hit the mark. Having established a healthy reputation across three great albums, Bison has decided to its hand with a concept album, incorporating the Legend Of The Seven Pearls Of The Tyrrhenian Sea. Seven pearls, seven tracks, each depicting Greek legends, as well as mythical tales of the sea, earning the album its name. It’s an intriguing idea that might sound a little pretentious, if the songs weren’t so well made, and each track presents its story rather well.
As for the music, things get a little lighter with this release in comparison with Bison’s previous outings. The opener and title track is a deliciously heavy little morsel that builds up with slow atmospherics and explodes into that groovy, fuzz laden goodness one might come to expect from this band. Later tracks tend to differ from the standard formula however, often slowing down and changing into slow melodic pieces once the riffs are finished. The heavy is still there, but it can sometimes result in tracks feeling like they did not reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Some of the bluesy flair of their previous records has been put to the side, in exchange for a more progressive, technical style. It’s still great, and it’s always good to experiment with one’s sound, but I find it doesn’t hit quite as hard as their straightforward sludgy blues. Overall, this is a great album, but I feel that the decision to ditch some of the bluesy trappings places it just a few inches below Bison’s previous albums. It’s still good, but it bears a cursory mention. 7/10
Yovel: Forthcoming Humanity (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Yovel: Forthcoming Humanity (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Yovel are a Greek RABM band. I’d like to tell you who they are and when they formed but there is no information available on this band. They released their self titled debut in 2018. This album is based on the poetry of Tasos Leivanditis and features narration by Antriana Andrcovits. The style of Black metal Yovel play is a mix of Lo-Fi orthodox Black metal and a softer more folky sound, that occasionally dips into Pagan Metal. This album is fairly clever structurally. All of the songs feature sections of narration and samples, as most of it is in Greek, I can’t tell you what it is all about, some of the samples are of news reports. Debout Les Morts | Chapter I is a short intro that has a spoken word section over clean, slightly folky guitar, there is a melody lead in the second half and has a heavy ending that takes the audience into the next track. Peace | Chapter II opens with a harsh blast beat and tremolo picked riffs, the style is fairly Dark Throne and Lo-Fi.
The second half of the song is more melodic. Woe To The Vanquished | Chapter III has a spoken word and acoustic guitar intro, this then goes into a mid-paced section that feels more Pagan Metal than Black Metal. The track also has a softer section that features some layered tremolo picked riffs that feel quite Post Black Metal. To Arms | Chapter IV again starts with soft guitar and spoken word section before the fast and savage Black metal comes in. There is a slower but no less viscous part and the track comes to an end with melody lead. Epitaph | Chapter V starts with a spoken word section this time with a fairly uptempo clean guitar. The rest of the track is a mix of very fast and savage Black Metal and a slower more mid-tempo parts. The mid-tempo parts on this song are some of the best riffs on this album, they are driving and purposeful and really make this song. So Our Flags Were Born | Chapter VI as with all the tracks, this opens with clean guitar and spoken word before some very pleasing tremolo picked riffs come in, the song then takes a turn towards the savage with more lo-fi Dark Throne style nastiness. New Planet Earth | Chapter VII has the obligatory spoken word opening, but this time the clean guitar is strummed. 6:8 time drums are added to this, giving a feeling of hugeness and expansiveness.
The song has a central section with that is full of blast beats and then returns to the very pleasing strummed guitar part. Forthcoming Humanity | Chapter VIII opens with some nicely layered riffs, before going into some very savage blasting with really great, impassioned clean vocals, a melody lead is added and the vocals return to harsh and viscous. The track comes to an end with a section of mid-paced riffs. The album comes to an end with Love | Chapter IX is an outro and is the last of the soft guitar and spoken word sections. Forthcoming Humanity is a great album. It’s full of great riffs and melodies, and is clearly a complex album that has been realised with passion, skill and verve. I wish I could tell you more information about the band, but after hours of searching online I couldn’t find any. Whoever Yovel are, they are very good at making savage, but very intelligent Black Metal, which is complex structurally, whilst still having enough nastiness to keep it interesting. Highly recommended, 8/10
Wreck-Defy: Powers That Be (Self Released) [Paul Hutchings]
The third album from the band that features former Testament Greg Christian, ex- Annihilator vocalist Aaron Randall and drummer Alex Marquez (Malevolent Creation) is a bit of a mixed bag. With the band’s pedigree one might expect to be steamrollered by brutal riffing and there are certainly moments when things hot up. The engine room is tighter than the proverbial nun’s chuffer, Christian’s raging bass lines rampage like a bull on heat whilst guitarist Matt Hanchuck applies the thrashing riff with liberal aplomb. The title track is a ferocious beast, and once you acclimatise yourself with Randall’s roaring screams then things become even more enjoyable. Hell, the band even dabble with a bit of Alice In Chains style melody on occasion - Drowning In Darkness one of several tracks that benefit. So far so good.
And then we hit the one song which should never have been written. This Is Skin, a song clearly motivated by the racial unrest in the US over the past few months. There are no doubt good intentions behind it but the song crashes and burns from the opening bars. I’m afraid guys, this is clumsier than a 14-year-old boy on his first date. I can’t comprehend how the band finished this and said, “nailed it”. Simply no. Elsewhere, there is, as I said, some very solid thrash metal and a battering in the song I Am The Wolf which reassure you that when Wreck-Defy do what they do best, they are good. With the taste tainted, Powers That Be unfortunately suffers from the memory of one song which simply doesn’t deserve to be included. 6/10
Yersin: Guilt (Self Released) [Rich Oliver]
Guilt is the debut full length album by Sunderland grind bastards Yersin. Not a name I am familiar with but Yersin set out to impress with all out intensity with Guilt which rarely lets up during its half hour length. Yersin have influences ranging from Napalm Death and Wormrot through to more traditional metal such as Black Sabbath, Slayer and Pantera with the band describing themselves as somewhere between black metal and grind. This is an apt description of the band who mix a myriad of extreme metal sounds with grindcore aesthetics - the black metal influence is clear as well as heavy doses of thrash and death metal and even divergences into sludge metal territory at times.
It is an absolutely pummelling release with songs that make your bones ache from their sheer levels of violence and intensity from the carnage of Massive Headwound, the absolutely crushing Fritzl, the unhinged ferocity of Destroyer and my personal favourite, the completely devastating Northern Stronghold. Guilt is an enjoyable slab of violence but like a lot of grind it can get a bit repetitive and suffers from a lack of memorable riffs but these are minor nitpicks. If you like some disgustingly heavy music then Yersin certainly delivers the goods. 7/10
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