Reviews: Armed For Apocalypse, Tons, Karin Park, Half Gramme Of Soma (Reviews By GC Richard Oliver, Steve Walsh & Matt Bladen)

Armed For Apocalypse - Ritual Violence (Candlelight Records) [GC]

As we all know a lot has happened in the world since 2018 which is the last time Armed For Apocalypse blessed us with music and now in the year 2022 after all those long and painful years they have decided it’s time to re-introduce themselves to us but, has it been worth the wait??

Roaring out of the blocks with Under My Shame you can tell all those years of waiting have paid off! This is a snarling sludgy hardcore filled attack of a song that exudes a ‘’Fuck You!!’’ type of confidence that makes this song so chaotic and brutal! Welcome back lads! Next up is Frail which is another vicious and short attack that has a hardcore punk sound with its sharp and fast riffs colliding with some glorious bone rattling drumming that smashes head first into a crushing end section before it’s all over and we can tell again that their time away has just made these guys laser focused on creating something devastating following on from the quick opening one two we have the first official release from the album. 

Lead single Full Of Phlegm which is punishingly heavy and an absolute beast of a song with Cayle Hunter & Nate Burman producing some outstanding guitar work and the dense and suffocating rhythm section of Nick Harris and Charlie Fischer creating a blistering and destructive piece of music that contains violence and beauty if equal measure, Hourglass then lurches into our consciousness on a wave of low tuned, distorted riffs and Nate’s vocals really start to take control and its sound like he has poured every ounce of his being into this recording process and it really is a thing of savage beauty to behold.

Lifeless is another hardcore punk style track done to almost perfection and this side of Armed For Apocalypse may be their most underrated plus point and will definitely take some people by surprise as they seems to effortlessly just drop in crusty HC bangers for fun on this record! Live Through The Storm is a rollercoaster ride of genres blast beating its way into life before dropping into the more familiar territory of big sludgy riffs before adding texture to the song with some dare I say it almost mellow sections before the trademark huge end riff drops back in. Foredoomed has an almost atmospheric death metal start before unleashing a furious, neck snapping riff that is no doubt helped by a guest appearance from one Mr Andreas Kisser of Sepultura fame, its full of blast beats and a groove that kicks in midway and continues all the way towards the end riff which is truly magnificent.

Thieves Of Existence builds on a quiet guitar and drum intro before crashing in with a serene yet uncompromising guitar section which then fall away to just bass drums and vocals to almost lull us into a false sense of security before again launching into the opening riff and then smashing it all together in an unprecedented showing of brutality to create my album highlight so far as it offers so much and really shows why Armed For Apocalypse have the talent to break out of the underground. 

Suffer For A Living is another exercise in aural violence and has guest vocals form Trevor Phipps from Unearth, it’s a full on sludge metal bludgeoning which is simple and to the point and is another highlight, we get one more blast of crusty hardcore punk on Flesh And Blood which is probably the stand out from all the HC tinged track on offer as it offers up all the fastness and nastiness shown previously but also fully embraces the sludge/doom side also, outstanding work! Then it’s down to Eternally Broken to issue the closing statement and it accomplishes everything you would hope in a brutally uncompromising way everything feels like it is being played like it’s their last ever time playing an instrument, it’s all big riffs, tortured vocals and there is echoing beauty mixed in with thunderous anger and all cascades toward one last bile filled ending section until Armed For Apocalypse finally decide we’ve had enough and finish this truly remarkable album.

At the start of this review, I asked if it was worth the wait for this album and the answer is an emphatic YES. In all honesty I have been waiting for this album for a very long time and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. Its brutal, vicious, and uncompromising statement of intent that in places is truly savage and furious, yet also contains some true beauty mixed in within all the ugliness, it wants you to engage but also keeps you at arm’s length so it can drag you back in at any given time. If there is any justice in the world this should change Armed For Apocalypse’s career and after all the years away and hard work put in they 100% deserve anything and everything that comes their way. Ritual Violence is a stunning, must hear essential piece of work. 10/10

Tons - Hashension (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Richard Oliver]

Every week there seems to be a new stoner band to discover from Italy such is the strength of the scene out there but Tons are definitely one of the most caustic and nasty sounding stoner metal bands from the country. With album number three Hashension, Tons aim to deliver devastating blow after devastating blow to the face.  

Musically this sits more on the sludge side of things but with a good chunk of stoner metal groove to it such as in Ummagummo whilst A Hash Day’s Night and Slowly We Pot are just pure ugly and abrasive blasts of grimy sludge. The vocals from frontman Paolo are all harsh with growls and screams more commonly heard in extreme metal but they are well suited to the abrasive music on offer here. Despite the acerbic nature of the music and vocals it is clear Tons have a sense of humour about what they do with all the song titles being a play on other well known songs such as A Hash Day’s Night, Slowly We Pot and Hempathy For The Devil.

Hashension is a decent and enjoyable bit of filthy sludge and stoner metal. I mean there are countless bands who do similar to this but when you add great riffs, sick vocals and a caustic vibe together you can’t really fault it. It is similar to bands such as Bongzilla, Weedeater and Cough so if those bands are up your street then Hashension is well worth a listen. 7/10

Karin Park – Private Collection (Pelagic) [Steve Walsh]

Despite being a recording artist for almost 20 years, Swedish born Karin Park remains a little known figure outside Scandinavia. If she’s known at all it’s probably as a member of her husband Kjetil Nernes’s art metal band Årabröt. But Park’s career had been underway for a decade before she met Nernes and she’s found success as a solo artist, as an actor in film and theatre, worked as a model, and even co-wrote the Swedish entry for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest (it came fourth). This variety of roles may contribute to Park’s relative obscurity – she’s hard to pigeonhole. And this album, Park’s seventh, seems calculated to keep people guessing.

Park’s musical style has changed quite considerably over the years, starting as fairly conventional band-based pop, through more beat-based work, to the gothic metal of more recent releases. Now, it seems Park has settled for a stripped down musical backing for her voice, consisting mainly of church organ, piano and electronic drones with little in the way of guitars or even drums. It’s fortunate her voice is such a remarkable instrument in itself, able to convey intimacy and strength, sometimes at the same time, and it’s more than capable of carrying these songs. Of the ten tracks here, nine are re-workings of songs that have appeared on previous albums and opener Traces Of Me, the only new composition, sets a strikingly assured tone in an arrangement that has a perfect balance between voice and musical backing. Of the old songs selected for inclusion, most benefit from the restyling and form a cohesive and satisfying set.

Playing the originals alongside the reworked versions is illuminating. Stripping out the former backing and supplanting the basic elements of each song into the new style exposes the lyrics and melodies to closer scrutiny. While some songs work quite brilliantly (Opium, Bending Albert’s Law and Blue Roses), with Park’s voice adding nuance to the melodies and new depths to the sentiments, others (Shine and Look What You’ve Done) are less successful and seem to struggle to sit comfortably in the new setting. The most remarkable transformation is visited on Superworldunknown, the first track on Park’s similarly titled debut from 2003. Then the song sounded like a clunky attempt to emulate The Cardigans’ left field pop: here it becomes an elegiac, organ -driven hymn to hope and the future that brilliantly manages to deliver the melodic pop essence of the original with a more condensed and effective punch.

Not really a metal album as such, although it could be described as song based ambient doom, it is nonetheless a fine collection of songs that should, if there’s any justice, introduce Park to a much wider audience. 8/10

Half Gramme Of Soma - Slip Through The Cracks (SOL Records) [Matt Bladen]

Slip Through The Cracks is the first release by the newly created Sound Of Liberation (SOL) records group. Already and established name as a booking agent for stoner, psych, doom and sludge, they now turn their hand to actually releasing material from these bands starting with Athenian heavy rockers Half Gramme Of Soma, with a sound that's got 90's grunge aesthetic, fused with some swaggering heavy rock, stoner jams and a punk rock attitude, these Athenians draw from their gritty yet beautiful city for lush psych trips that are brought back to earth with fuzzing grooves. 

Slip Through The Cracks is their third full length and sees the band focusing up their stoner/psych sounds, using the experience they gained touring with bands such as Monster Magnet and 1000mods. The bass playing gets Muck & Cheese going, those psych vibes grooving through as we start off. Touches of Soundgarden and AIC are audible here, but also there's the choppy raggedness of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Atomic Bitchwax on Voyager. Slowing things down the woozy Magnetar is them shifting towards more towards the stratosphere as Mind Game and Sirens furthers this exploration into the astral realms, the final track 22 22 though is their finest psychedelic movement here. 

As well as their frequent lift offs into space they bring things back to Earth with groovers such as Wounds to live up to those punk/grunge credentials. Slip Through The Cracks is an exploitative rock album for 90's kids! 8/10