Reviews: King's X, Sublation, 156/Silence, Acts Of Sadistic Cruelty (Reviews By Rich Piva, Zak Skane, Quinn Mattfeld & James Jackson)

King’s X - Three Sides Of One (Inside Out Music) [Rich Piva]

Confession: I am a King’s X superfan. I am also a journalist (ha!!!, also I love to quote Bob Pollard in my reviews…) so I am going to keep this as objective as I can. Who am I kidding, the new King’s X album, Three Sides Of One, is amazing and should be celebrated by all. I am not going to lie; I was a bit worried going in. I did not love the last solo albums from dUg and Ty (that was hard to type). The former was a bit bloated, and the latter had some weird production and the vocals seemed off. I have to say that Three Sides Of One is a glorious return from one of the best bands in the world that is still putting out top quality material even at studio album thirteen and some 40 years in.

 
The production issues that plagued the last solo albums are nowhere to be heard on Three Sides Of One. The record sounds like a signature King’s X record, starting with the opener, Let It Rain, with Mr. Pinnick’s soulful and powerful vocals and a sweet psych infused solo by Mr. Tabor. I can see this as a kick-ass tour opener. This track could be on ANY of the amazing albums in their discography. Flood Pt. 1 is another perfect King’s X track, with harmonized vocals (love it) and a message not of love, but of a needed change in this world to even have a chance to have their most known song a possibility. The sequencing on Three Sides Of One reminds me of Faith, Hope, Love with Nothing But The Truth playing the role of I’ll Never Get Tired Of You, which of course is perfectly executed. Give It Up is an up-tempo signature dUg track with a catchy chorus and some sweet bass pounding. 

 The Ty tracks on Three Sides are truly the highlight of this record. Ty Tabor is one of my favourite all-time musicians and he lives up to that on Three Sides Of One, with both his amazing playing and the tracks that he sings lead on. You get a super deep, powerful, and very timely track in All God’s Children and a fun and witty track with Festival which may be my favourites on this ripper of an album. We even get a strong Jerry lead track with the ballad Take The Time. This may be his best track on ANY King’s X album.

King’s X may be the most criminally underrated band ever. They have yet to put out a bad album and at this point it is a safe bet they never will if this is what we get after all this time. I am not sure Three Sides Of One is going to suddenly propel them to superstardom, but maybe more people will hear this record and go investigate one of the best discographies that exists in heavy music. Three Sides Of One can sit proudly as part of this amazing collection of work hang with the best of them. Amazing stuff. Long live King’s X. 9/10

Sublation – The Path To Bedlam (Self Release) [Zak Skane]

Sublation formed in Philadelphia in 2008 under their original name Fisthammer created by frontman Max Svalgard and Danny Piselli. During their time as Fisthammer, the band have released two albums Devour and Infallible independently earning credit of being the Decapitated of the next generation and gaining them the endless tours including opening for death metal legends Master before their five year hiatus in 2015. In 2020 Fisthammer have returned from their hiatus under the name Sublation to carry out a new artistic version. 

The Path Of Bedlam opens up with some classic hammer horror influenced soundscapes accompanied with classical decorum inspired orchestral arrangements composed from violins, harps and harpsichords before Trepanning Of The Evangelics is unleashed upon us with it’s Archspire inspired technical riffs and fast phrased vocals. I have got to admire the how Max Svalgard has written these riffs with orchestrated excellence whilst Danny Piselli accompanies them with his fast paced but yet accurate drum parts. Let The Fire Burn shows the band their darker side with their collective choice of dark toned intervals and heavy use of dynamics, taking the albums direction in a more groove-laden approach. With the use of blast beats combined with minor chords it does give the track a bit of a black metal vibe and spoiler alert the neo-classical guitar sections at near the end of the track just give it a nice break before a climatic heavy ending. 

Hypnotic Regression meets the Yin with the Yang with the band fusing their technical riffs with swagger filled vibrato noted licks accompanied with double kick related grooves and blast beats which takes influences from bands like The Black Dahlia Murder, Archspire, Lamb Of God and At The Gates to a more modern template. Black Monday does exactly what is says on the tin with its blackend death metal arrangements coming from Max’s ambient tremolo picked leads, black metal inspired chord sequences and frying vocal styles to Max’s caffeine induced blast beats. Other highlights from this album are Evoked Through Obsidian which will please many Black Dahlia Murder Fans whilst and their Opeth inspired I Will Show You Fear In A Handful filled exotic extended chords and proggy inspired odd meter time signatures will keep the listeners intrigued from start to finish. 

Overall this is a great modern death metal album from the classical inspired intro, the rip tearing melodic death metal riffage of tracks like Trepanning Of The Evangelics Hypnotic Regression, the groove laden Let The Fire Burn, The Alchemist to the Progressive climax of I Will Show Fear In A Handful there enough flavour and flare that will please any fan that likes their music heavy and dark. The only concern I could point out is that the band could of added more melodic lead lines to provide more light to their bloomy arrangements to other than that 8/10

156/Silence – Narrative (Sharptone Records) [Quinn Mattfeld] 

I don't know what it's like to run a marathon but after listening to 156/Silence's latest album, I have a better sense of what it might feel like to sprint one. Narrative kicks off with the unrelenting and pummelling energy of A Past Embrace and The Rodents Race and the Pittsburgh-based quartet shows almost no sign of slowing down from there. The space we are allowed midway through Another Loss is a welcome breather despite knowing exactly what is coming: another bone-crushing conclusion to an utterly bone-crushing song on an album so-far filled with nothing but shards of bone. 

Am I A Fault and Take Your Place give us windows into the more dynamic pacing on the album’s second half and indeed, the B Side offers a more patient approach to the sheer aggression on display early and often on the record. 

The first half of Narrative feels like a boxer trying to score a knock-out with every punch (not sure where all the sports metaphors are coming from today): it’s a dazzling and breathtaking effort but at times it's also exhausting. But the metalcore upstarts put together a much more strategic side two, culminating in a brutal conclusion with Live To See A Darker Day and because of their restraint on the latter half of the LP, we are actually ready for it now! 

Narrative is an impressive third offering and once the band works out their early eagerness, they settle into a record with more maturity and efficacy than at first they seemed capable of like a veteran cyclist knowing just when to hit their stride… Sorry, I had to get a third one in there somewhere.  7/10

Kill Everything/NecroticGoreBeast/Virulent Excision/Gorepot - Acts Of Sadistic Cruelty (Comatose Music) [James Jackson]

I’ve often admired anyone who can play a musical instrument but when it comes to the genre of brutal death metal, I’m kind of wondering if they should. First to assault the senses on this compilation album are Kill Everything and the three slabs of DM by numbers just remind me of why I moved away from listening to the genre 20 years ago; a rather muffled and poorly production plagues this in my opinion and any semblance of a guitar riff, no matter it’s technicality is lost beneath the drums and vocals.

The first ten seconds of NecroticGoreBeast’s intriguingly titled Gangrened Genital Tumor Exhibit give a clear glimpse of a guitar riff that eventually carries the song but goes no further than that; pig squeals litter the standard DM style vocals and it does nothing for me, luckily I’m in for more on second track Purulent Rectal Discharge; a better production, clearer sound and more balanced mix does give the songs justice and amidst the noise are some pretty good riffs. 

According to the press sheet, Virulent Excision hail from Chicago and combine thick bloody riffs with violent intensity but once again it’s DM by numbers with the slight exception to the vocal delivery, whilst vocalist, Goregrinder does deliver the usual style there are a few moments of clarity but not enough that you’d find yourself singing along in the shower. Some playful guitar techniques, set them slightly apart from the previous bands on this compilation but not enough that you’d notice.

The final four tracks come from one man band, Gorepot. And while I must give him some credit for the comedic song titles, my favourites being My Ex And Instant Noodles Are Both Done In Two Minutes and the equally rib tickling Bill Cosby’s Favourite Disney Princess Is Sleeping Beauty the music itself isn’t anything that stands out from the rest of the crowd.

To sum up, if brutal death metal is your musical drug of choice then the offerings here are a good example of what’s on offer within the genre, all of the classic traits are there, used to varying degrees by the bands I’ve mentioned but none of the bands are breaking the mould. If, like me, you prefer your music to have a more melodic approach then it’s certainly one to pass upon. 3/10