I confess to not knowing that much about In Flames. I’ve seen them live, back in 2007 supporting Slayer and Lamb Of God on the Unholy Alliance tour and found them to be ok but certainly nothing to make me seek out more from them. That’s just opinion on my part and I am aware that they released some music that our heavy brethren have found distasteful. For this review, I am ignoring what has gone before and just reacting to the songs presented here. I’ll let others argue on its place within their back catalogue as they see fit.
Starting with the instrumental The Beginning Of All Things That Will End this reminds of the acoustic intro to Battery which after two or so minutes bangs into the State Of Slow Decay which bangs along at a terrific rate and takes me back to At The Gates. It’s heavy, fast and a strong opening gambit from them. It is almost too close of a ATG clone but then how many riffs can you really make within a given genre of music? There is also a taste of a recurring theme within it when the clean vocals come in, which almost seems like its designed for a sing a long in the live setting. There is something in how the cleans have been recorded, I cannot put my finger on, but it is jarring and takes away from the song.
Meet Your Maker continues with the fast attack and then we get the clean vocals again within the melodic bit and I just can’t get past it. It seems that there is a case of multiple themes they wanted to include in each song, and it left me cold. And so, it continues with each song: Excellent riffs, then clean then growls then clean. Foregone Pt 1 bucks this trend, it just storms out and stomps around and like State it could almost have been taken from Slaughter Of The Soul. Part 2 continues in a slower pace, but again that Gothenburg sound is all over it and then the clean vocals. Ack.
The pace picks back up from The Great Deceiver into In The Dark but the mix of vocal delivery is still there which I can’t get past. The style of music here, its aggression should have vocals that match it. By having the clean vocals in there is reduces its sonic impact. But that is just my opinion and I assume that there is an audience for this. It just isn’t me. 6/10
Frozen Dawn - The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Richard Oliver]
Spain seems to be a country delivering a lot of black metal goodness lately. Mere months after the latest stunning album from Noctem, fellow countrymen Frozen Dawn unleash a monster of an album with The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods. Frozen Dawn are a new band to this reviewer's ears but I’ve quickly become a convert to the band's fanbase having given this album multiple listens and also dug into the bands back catalogue.
Frozen Dawn formed in Madrid in 2006 and have made quite an impression with their first two albums The Old Prophecy Of Winterland and Those Of The Cursed Land which both have a long list of rave reviews. The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods should receive the same rapturous response and maybe more as it is easily the strongest album in the band's arsenal to date. Despite hailing from Spain, Frozen Dawn very much have a Scandinavian style about them performing a melodic brand of black metal reminiscent of bands such as Dark Funeral, Naglfar and of course Dissection.
It is fast paced and vicious but with strong melodic guitar parts and a thrash-like approach to the rapid fire riffing. Songs such as Spellbound and Cosmic Black Chaos leap out of the speakers with a fearsome intensity and barbaric ferocity whilst songs such as Frozen Kings and Wanderers Of Times play to the more melodic side of the band’s sound and sound positively majestic as well as deliciously violent.
I’ve said before that we are really spoiled with black metal in current times in terms of both the variety and quality of bands on offer and Frozen Dawn are testament to that as The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods is a stunning album. It is definitely a case of a band performing music in the style of band’s that have influenced them when when it sounds this damn good I am more than happy to forgo originality. This is a perfect balancing act of melody and ferocity and if your tastes are for the more melodic side of black metal then this album is a must hear. 9/10
Lüger - Revelations Of The Sacred Skull (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Piva]
Well, this is fun! Montreal, Québec, Canada’s Lüger rip out nine filthy tracks on their debut for Heavy Psych Sounds, Revelations Of The Sacred Skull, channelling equal parts Motörhead (you know it with the umlaut), Iggy and The Stooges, sleaze rock, and the heavier side of the NWOBHM influences for a dirty as hell good time. Don’t expect any new ground to be broken on Revelations Of The Sacred Skull but expect to feel like you are in a tiny, unventilated club with lots of smelly, shirtless dudes cutting themselves and generally breaking shit.
Right off the bat with the opener Black Acid you get Lemmy meets Iggy goodness with a dash of the origins of the back metal scene, think the listenable Venom stuff. More of the same with the next track, Motörcity Hellcats which by the name you can figure out what this sounds like. Night Of The Serpent Women leans more the way of the Stooges, but a sludgy/occult version, showing that these Canadians don’t have to be a breakneck speed to be effective.
The Sacred Skull reminds me of an 80s thrash song full on with air raid sirens opening the track. The production on this record is minimal, going for an almost demo tap feel in some parts, The Sacred Skull being a track where this really stands out. This is not a complaint; this may be my favourite track. Filthy Streets is a perfect description of the band’s sound and could be their theme song. Toxic Sludge makes me these guys could open for Municipal Waste to get the crowd going where the closing track is a dirty reverb filled slow burner that leverages the bands more occult/evil side of their personality.
I am all for bands wearing their influences on their sleeves and when executed well bands can take those influences and make them their own. Lüger does this mostly with success on Revelations Of The Sacred Skull. A fun, somewhat predictable (given their influences) record that folks who crave more Lemmy/Iggy worship will really dig. 7/10
Fugit - Morphogenetic Fractal Hologram (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
For fans of Alcest, Agalloch and Deafhaven, Fugit is a one man post black metal project from Italy. That one man is Andrea Milan who played all instruments, wrote all the songs, mixed, mastered and even did the artwork, he is also the vocalist (of course) with C.C providing ethereal female vocals on four tracks.
For fans of Alcest, Agalloch and Deafhaven, Fugit is a one man post black metal project from Italy. That one man is Andrea Milan who played all instruments, wrote all the songs, mixed, mastered and even did the artwork, he is also the vocalist (of course) with C.C providing ethereal female vocals on four tracks.
Formed as a way for him to cope with the human condition Fugit is based on his own experiences and how he deals with the world, from an auspicious ambient opening the first song proper is Starbust which has black metal blastbeats set against atmospheric keys, his recent experimentation in ambient/electronic and acoustic music being used on this metal album which makes me think of Vangelis meeting a band like Ulver.
This use of the electronics and synths is in keeping with the concept of the record which is: "the realisation that reality is nothing more than a fractal morphogenic hologram, constantly evolving its sound towards new melodies." Dramatic and cinematic, Fugit bring a sense of dark romance with opener White Limbo, Shrivel coming from a place on the doom spectrum, as the piano on Deus Sive Natura is more in-tune with New Age/Classical compositions. Morphogenetic Fractal Hologram needs repeated plays to be fully appreciated, let it worm it's way into your mind and question your reality. 8/10
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