Reviews: Bastarður, Plush, Ad Infinitum, Existance (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Bastarður – Satan’s Loss Of Son (Season Of Mist)

Satan’s Loss Of Son is just over 28 minutes of raging crust punk-meets-black metal. Imagine Darkthrone playing Entombed while throwing down with Lemmy in a dirty bar and you’re on the right, if a little beaten, track. The creation of Aðalbjörn Tryggvason, who is also the vocalist/guitarist of Sólstafir, Bastarður is a rip snorting, face melting, thrash along that has the outright aggression of grindcore along with the groove of Entombed or Motorhead. In what is a totally different style to his day job Tryggvason, forged his creation at his parents’ home after a relationship breakdown, he channelled his feelings into a personal project to explore his love of all thing filthy recruiting Dimma drummer Birgir Jónsson underpinning Tryggvason’s everything else. 

What they unleashed over those few days of recording was a snarling, primeval record filled with biting guitar tones, relentless percussive abuse and growled vocals. Though essentially a duo there are a lot of guests that add to the record Marc Grewe of Morgoth/Insidious Disease adds his growls to Neonlight Blitzkrieg, while Agitator-In-Chief Alan Averill (Primordial) crops up on Black Flag Fools, there’s also a host of guitar solos from Ragnar Zolberg and Thráinn Árni Baldvinsson, both of whom employing the explosive style of Jeff Hanneman (Tryggvason himself compares them to the legendary Slayer man) or Eddie Clarke, on Neonlight Blitzkrieg especially. With a debut that storms out of the block, with as much stopping power as an Icelandic volcano Bastarður is the flip side to Aðalbjörn Tryggvason’s musical psyche, indulging in his love of punk and riffs. Play loud and get wild. 7/10  

Plush – Plush (Pavement Entertainment)

Comprised of singer, songwriter and guitarist Moriah Formica , drummer Brooke Colucci, guitarist Bella Perron and bassist Ashley Suppa. Plush are brand new American rock band and despite all of the members being under the legal drinking age in the United States, they all have bags of experience when it comes to performing. Coming together under the moniker of Plush, all the band members have come to the public’s attention in one way or another, Ashley hailed as the ‘female Cliff Burton’, Bella studies at Berklee College Of Music following in the footsteps of John Pertucci and Mark Tremonti. Bands such as Alter Bridge, Halestorm and Disturbed are clear influences on this debut, the big riffs of Bella underpinned by the muscular bass playing of Ashley, as viral star Brooke lays down the grooves on her kit. 

The talent level here is very high, the songs catchy and radio friendly but also full of virtuoso playing and also heaviness. Case in point first single Athena where Moriah shows why she was such a sensation on NBC’s The Voice, her vocal having the same kind of power as Ann Wilson of Heart (she performed Crazy On You in her audition). Athena is a dark and brooding opener, with a defiant empowering chorus, Champion maintains the heaviness, in that early 2000’s style while second single Hate is the story of broken relationship, with bags of attitude, while Sober is a stripped back ballad. At 13 tracks the band are looking to make an impression and showcase the full range of their talent and to be honest there isn’t a weak song here. 

Yes it’s very much in the American style of radio friendly metal but the musicianship and song writing is of a quality far advanced of this bands years. With production from Johnny K, this self-titled release is big, swaggering heavy rock record, which sets Plush up stardom. 7/10

Ad Infinitum - Chapter II: Legacy (Napalm Records)

Back in 2020, Simon reviewed the debut of this Swiss Symphonic metal act. He noted that Chapter I: Monarchy had great musicianship and was not too overly showy or self-indulgent like a lot of bands in this genre. Listening to this follow up album I have to agree that Ad Infinitum keep things simple enough to focus on what makes a good song, but also there’s enough flare for it not to bore you to tears. Much of the praise surrounding this band goes to singer Melissa Bonny who’s crystalline vocals soars above the music which comes in at the melodic of the symphonic style, with my mind making associations to acts such as Amaranthe and Beyond The Black. 

Bonny’s vocals are excellent shifting effortlessly between cleans and roars but the three other members of the band, Adrian Thessenvitz (guitars), Korbinian Benedict (bass) and Niklas Müller (drums), also leave their mark, the four piece relying on a lot of orchestrations from Elias Holmlid to flesh out this concept record. Yep like the debut it’s a concept record this time around the legacy of Vlad The Impaler and the duality between his heroism and barbarity, which led to the legends of Count Dracula but also the prosperity of the Ottoman Empire. The focus on a historical figure means that the band can evolve their writing style throughout getting dark when required but also unleashing some big anthems such as Unstoppable. 

Self-produced by the band and mixed/mastered by Jacob Hansen, Chapter II: Legacy is an ideal follow up to their debut album from 2020. Doing what made that album good but adding bit more depth and variation in the song writing. The addition of Nils Molin of Dynazty/Amaranthe on dramatic ballad Afterlife, is also very welcome. Another year and Ad Infinitum release another great symphonic metal offering. 7/10

Existance – Wolf Attack (Bloodblast Distribution/Black Viper Records/Spiritual Beast)

Not to be associated with French symphonic metal band Exxistance, this French band are a heavy riffing, classic heavy/speed metal band. Wolf Attack is their third studio album, produced by François Merle before being mastered by the legendary Jacob Hansen, it’s a non-stop run through of traditional heavy metal that sound more German/Swedish than it does French. Tracks like Power Of The Gods has more in line with Helloween or Accept, Preacher Of Insanity is outright speed metal, Sniper Alley brings a bit more drama and a mid-paced groove. 

There's a lot of chest beating metal here though occasionally the band do add some more 80's rock flavours such as on Rock N Roll, You Gotta Rock It or Jenny's Dream where there's a lot of The Scorpions.The two styles jar a little too much for me, especially the ballad Tears Of Fire which is highly saccharine and doesn't sit well at all. This Wolf Attack is a little restrained at times meaning that it is a little bit of a mishmash, though it's listenable. 6/10