Exocrine - Legend (Season Of Mist) [Mark Young]
Well, this is quite the thing. There is Death Metal. There is Technical Death Metal. And then there is Exocrine, bringing their brand of lunacy and guitar wizardry with Legend which is sure to captivate and terrify in equal measure. Bear in mind, that I’d hadn’t heard any of their material up until this album and frankly its astounding.
I think we should set the scene out first. Fans of sludge, doom or that has any sort of ‘gaze associated with it should steer clear. This is a machine, precision built to offer songs that have BPMs off the known scale.
The use of an introduction / instrumental to open albums has become almost a common feature in the music I have reviewed recently. This is no different, with Presage starting us off. Now, its ok but doesn’t reflect what is to follow with the noodle scrambler that is Legend. I mean this is fast, with a technical prowess linked with song craft. And then there’s the trumpet that comes in around 1.20. Its blistering but somehow you can hear everything with the speed they are executing here. When they slow down its briefly to throw in the expected solo breaks which fit the song.
I don’t actually know how people can play like this, there is God-Tier drumming on this, it is just amazing. Some of the passages are jaw-dropping and rip along so quickly you have to go back and listen again just to get a grip on it. Life, motors along with those mazy side-ways riffs but they don’t forget they have got to have a song behind it, or it becomes meaningless. Eidolon has this riff in it that sounds like it is burrowing into rock, with a solo break that is just gorgeous whilst the drums go batshit. Theo Gendron is the name, remember that.
The Art Of War is, well it’s like the metal version of incoming fire from an enemy camp. They can do crushingly heavy when required, providing that necessary balance to avoid listener fatigue. Dust In The Naught changes it up too, bringing in deft touches of melody in its opening moments before the oncoming sonic battery. Warlock is a straight-up neck snapper, wisely they drop the tempo within the arrangement to throw in some prime riff building before launching for the skies once more.
Dragon has this wonderful descending line that shows off that melody once more, leading into more super-speed madness. It slaps. Just like The Oath that follows it, opening with electronica that adds a science-fiction feel to it whilst bringing some brutality to proceedings. That synth piece is key here, allowing them to breathe and expanding the sonics accordingly. This is continued in the epic By The Light Of The Pyre with a string opening which makes the following maelstrom so much more satisfying. With this one, there is a riff moment that absolutely top class, it’s a simple repeated guitar line that is just excellent. The bonus track, Cryogenisation, has a Japanese Anime swing within it and maintains that level of craft shown elsewhere.
I’ve said this before that the danger with technical metal is that the virtuosity can some overshadow and, in some cases, hide the fact that the songs are nothing more than vehicles for the band members to show off their skills. I don’t get that from this. What I get is that they have a model in mind of what they should sound like, and in order to achieve it they equally have to play out of their skins on each song they write. It can be tiring to be continually pelted with songs built this way, but I imagine if that this is your jam, then it is something that you are already fully prepared for.
I haven’t heard enough of this genre to say if this is the pinnacle of its form, and to say that it is would be stupid on my part. But it feels as though it should be. It should be talked about for the herculean effort expended by them, their ability to imbue the songs with both feeling, melody, and of course sheer off-the-scale speeds. There will be some who will dismiss it as just a speed fest with no actual body or substance. Well, they are wrong. These are not just a bag of thrown-together riffs and ideas. It's cohesive in each song no matter how fast they go. I would say that the later tracks where they add more pronounced synths and strings to them, well they go just that little bit better.
Is this one of the first essential albums of 2024? Possibly. Is it worth your time? Definitely. 9/10
Heave Blood & Die - Burnout Codes (Fysisk Format Records) [Rich Piva]
I am not sure I have reviewed anything labelled as “Post Punk” for the blog before, but I am starting out in excellent form as I cannot stop listening to the new album from Heave Blood & Die, their third full length titled Burnout Codes.
This is Post Punk as I would describe the genre, but Burnout Codes also has some doom, shoegaze, and even industrial elements to the eight tracks on the album. The ever-present synths drive the record, partnered perfectly with the chant like, layered vocals and wall of sound guitars. The first band that comes to my mind when I listen to this album is Prick, combined with some of the pop sensibilities of Japandroids.
I could have easily dismissed Heave Blood & Die as one of those grotesque (in the best sort of ways, of course) death metal bands, but this could not be further from what Burnout Codes brings here. This is a frantic thirty minutes of Post Punk perfection to break up my days usually filled with doomy riffs and stoner grooves. The early surprise of the year for me as Burnout Codes will stick in heavy rotation for me for a long, long time. 9/10
The Survival Code - Whispers Of Woe (Good Deed Music Ltd) [Matt Bladen]
This is some pretty modern rocking from The Survival Code, the London rock band play music that is reminiscent of Biffy Clyro, Muse and InMe, crashing drumbeats, large open riffs and proggy changes in rhythm are all there from the anthemic opener The Heart Will Bleed, this duo much more layered in their delivery than many of the standard guitar/drums two pieces in the rock scene, though obviously there’s links to The Royal Blood, The White Stripes and The Virginmary’s. The Survival Code in the studio though is just Gary McGuinness, he’s the creative force between the album writing everything, playing everything and providing the unique vocal style too. Live he’s joined by Simon Hartop behind the kit and the album is given its audio punch given by Matt Hyde’s production and engineering.
The theme that runs through this debut album is what it’s like to be human and navigate the digital age, with particular focus on what it’s like to be a musician when only streams and social media seem to matter. The band have had their fair share of tribulations and seen the darkest side of the music industry but they have also seen success that so often escapes independent bands. The reason for their success is clear with this radio baiting hard rock which draws inspiration from many bands, like Digging Your Own Grave which borders on Foo Fighters/Weezer territory, whereas others go more into the mainstream bent of Fall Out Boy.
It’s very populist alt rock but that’s no bad thing, in a world where artists have to scramble for every like and stream, pitching your music to the masses is a good way to go. The Survival Code have given on Whispers Of Woe rough and ready but also stylish and slick modern rock ready for radio play. 7/10
Coming into being in 2020, Boarhammer have taken a black metal left hand path that is not often taken, by basing their sound around early first wave black metal, rather than aping the second wave bands as several billion other bands have done. The band is made up of The Vessel on vocals, bass and drums and Wodwaz on guitar and additional vocals. The band made a bit of a splash in 2021 with their highly thought of Demo, I: Cutting Wood For Magical Purposes, so this is the bands second release, and their first full album.
As this is first wave black metal the influences are mainly from the early eighties, Venom, early Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Czech band Masters Hammer. Masters Hammer tend to be lumped in with the second wave Scandinavian bands, but they were active much earlier, and due to being based in Eastern Europe, did not have very many contemporaries, so developed a pretty unique sound, which has clearly been influential on Boarhammer. There aren’t that many current bands playing this style, but if I was to compare this to a current band then it would have be to Negative Plane who have released some very good first wave style black metal over the last few years.
The album opens with the song Entering Forest Twylite, which starts with mid-paced and very dramatic first wave black metal, this is the place where we first experience The Vessel’s vocals; he is part lead singer, part insane bellowing prophet of doom, and his vocals are a wonderful part of this album, bellowing furious denunciations and raising the magical energies. The song then drops into fast and primitive thrash, before a more measured and subtle section that, despite the minimalism, still has mad preacher vocals. The song then builds back from the minimal feel back to the Mid-paced Black Metal we met at the beginning of the song. Skeins Of Demented Magick, begins with a primal Blast Beat, that is simple and effective, before the song goes into a mid-paced melodic section, this then morphs into a very dramatic and aggressive section before going back to the melodic mid-paced first wave black metal with some very tuneful and melodic guitar work, the vocals are definitely channelling Demented Magick.
Next we get the song Tree Transvection which is mainly a mix of dramatic and aggressive chorus sections, with very fast parts that have a tempo that is part thrash and part polka, it’s an interesting high speed feel that works very well. The song also has a really good Guitar solo and a very dramatic ending. After Tree Transvection comes Erdkaul which is mainly about melody and great Harmonies, the pacing has a lot drive to it and it also has a great guitar solo. The song comes to an end with maniacal laughter, which on this album fits perfectly.
Arboreal Portal Ritual opens with the kind of sick guitar harmonies I associate with early Slayer before the song goes into a primitive blast beat. The sick harmonies return before a guitar solo, and a very dramatic ending with layered maniacal vocals for full lunacy, great ending! Behold Those Fell Candles is a song that is mainly driving and purposeful first wave black metal, the song does have a section of with that thrash/polka tempo, and a slow and heavy ending, but what you will mainly take away will be the mid-pace and drive.
The album comes to an end with the song The Witch, which is the shortest song on the album. The song has a suitably spooky opening before we go into stomping mid-paced metal with a bit of punk feel to the tempo, the song has a great singalong chorus and collapses in on itself at the end.
II: Chemognosis - A Shortcut To Mushrooms is a cracking album, really enjoyable and quite different to most of the black metal being released at the moment. The album has a loose and in some places is a little messy, but this is essential to the feel and atmosphere that the album has. If this album was perfectly tight and polished it wouldn’t work at all. Add to this feel the crazy bellowing vocals and this really stands out in a field of second wave soundalikes. After a few listens this really got into my head, there are so many melodies to hum and I will never tire of singing along with the madness and magic contained in these songs.
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