Belgium’s best known unborn baby botherers are back with their 12th album Vault Of Horrors - a 10 track, 41minute romp packed to the brim with blastbeats, viscera, and more guest vocalists than you can shake a severed head at. Clearly imbibing some of the modern deathcore landscape, I feel like their tour with Lorna Shore and Ingested back in the tail end of 2022 has left a permanent mark on their sound.
Utilising less of the grindy, frantic riffs that arguably built the Aborted brand, and instead incorporating more chuggs, rhythmic focused riffs, and desolate sub drops. This is most notable in the track Brotherhood Of Sleep which features vocalist Johnny Ciardullo of Carcosa, and wouldn’t be out of place on any modern deathcore record. In fact, the whole record flirts with either side of the death metal and deathcore line, regularly crossing over to feature sections from both camps.
It’s always an interesting choice to see a band bring in guests for the recording, as the translation to the live setting can take some considerable co-ordination if the guest adds something that the band can’t provide themselves. When it’s a guitar solo, the resident shredmaster needs to learn what the guest contributed - not an impossible task. However, when it’s a vocalist, you’ve got a real challenge as the nature of mouth noises are so unique it’s the selling point to many bands in the first place. It’s one of the reasons Aborted’s Sven has provided his enviable throat talents to so many great projects over the years - he’s an absolute beast with a huge range and an instantly recognisable tonality.
It’s always an interesting choice to see a band bring in guests for the recording, as the translation to the live setting can take some considerable co-ordination if the guest adds something that the band can’t provide themselves. When it’s a guitar solo, the resident shredmaster needs to learn what the guest contributed - not an impossible task. However, when it’s a vocalist, you’ve got a real challenge as the nature of mouth noises are so unique it’s the selling point to many bands in the first place. It’s one of the reasons Aborted’s Sven has provided his enviable throat talents to so many great projects over the years - he’s an absolute beast with a huge range and an instantly recognisable tonality.
Vault Of Horrors has a guest vocalist on every single song, each chosen to add a unique texture to the tracks that no doubt the band thought would compliment Sven’s mighty roars. Some of them work really well in this regard, such as Oliver Rae Aleron of Archspire on the track The Shape Of Hate - his lightning fast barks punctuate the riffs and fit together perfectly, the track itself being fairly close to what Archspire sound like. Also Jason Evans of Ingested on Insect Politics - a track that’s criminally too short and definitely one of my favourites from the album. I’m not sold on some of the other guests’ styles however, and feel like they either distract from the track due to personal dislike of their tone, or not seeing the benefit that they bring to the track in the first place.
It’s a punchy record, with some serious groove moments coming from hooks that pull you right from the spine. I’d like to have heard more of the bass shine through, especially given it’s the last record with their exceptional bassist Stefano Franceschini (who’s left the band to focus on his PhD work). It’s also notable in Aborted’s back catalogue as one of the few albums to not feature any samples. Drummer Ken Bedene’s lightning fast playing is a staple that isn’t missing however, while guitarists Ian Jekelis and Daníel Konráðsson lay razor sharp melodic content down under Sven’s iconic roars.
It’s a punchy record, with some serious groove moments coming from hooks that pull you right from the spine. I’d like to have heard more of the bass shine through, especially given it’s the last record with their exceptional bassist Stefano Franceschini (who’s left the band to focus on his PhD work). It’s also notable in Aborted’s back catalogue as one of the few albums to not feature any samples. Drummer Ken Bedene’s lightning fast playing is a staple that isn’t missing however, while guitarists Ian Jekelis and Daníel Konráðsson lay razor sharp melodic content down under Sven’s iconic roars.
Is this a sign that Aborted are leaning away from pure death metal forever, or are just playing with what’s popular in the zeitgeist? Not being a fan of deathcore, I’m hoping it’s the latter, but as a long term fan of the band I’m still here and enjoying what they’ve served up. 8/10
Savage Oath - Divine Battle (Postmortem Apocalypse) [Matt Bladen]
The singer of Sumerlands and Pagan Altar (Brendan Radigan), the guitarist of Visigoth (Leeland Campana) and the bassist of Sentry/Manilla Road (Phil Ross) are all a part of this new epic metal project Savage Path. Ryan Mower adds session drums, as Carlos Llanas is the other guitar player who bring their skill to Divine Battle, an album 5 years in the making.
Savage Oath - Divine Battle (Postmortem Apocalypse) [Matt Bladen]
The singer of Sumerlands and Pagan Altar (Brendan Radigan), the guitarist of Visigoth (Leeland Campana) and the bassist of Sentry/Manilla Road (Phil Ross) are all a part of this new epic metal project Savage Path. Ryan Mower adds session drums, as Carlos Llanas is the other guitar player who bring their skill to Divine Battle, an album 5 years in the making.
It's packed with Battle Hymns that are tributes to those they have lost on this journey. There have been so many bands recently adopting this ‘epic metal’ sound but Visigoth and Sumerlands both did it brilliantly, as such it’s no wonder that Savage Oath is so good, add to that a member of the originators Manilla Road and the talent alone is enough to tell you how good this is going to be.
It's seven tracks of stunning epic metal, the vocal prowess of Brendan Radigan is incredible, he hits colossal highs on tracks such as Wing Of Vengeance and on Blood For The King, there’s more variation to his delivery but he always stays in that high register, similar to Eric Adams as the influence of Manowar, Manilla Road, Virgin Steele are all very important, the choirs from Paris Thibault on Blood For The King and Divine Battle bringing that cinematics.
It's seven tracks of stunning epic metal, the vocal prowess of Brendan Radigan is incredible, he hits colossal highs on tracks such as Wing Of Vengeance and on Blood For The King, there’s more variation to his delivery but he always stays in that high register, similar to Eric Adams as the influence of Manowar, Manilla Road, Virgin Steele are all very important, the choirs from Paris Thibault on Blood For The King and Divine Battle bringing that cinematics.
Phil Ross’ bass is used as the root of these songs, clean thumps that keeps the pace moving through tracks that all have pretty long run times. Smoke At Dawn is an interlude where Ross’ command of electronics and atmospherics comes into play. He doubles down on the riffs with Carlos Llanas, as classic metal, speed metal, doom metal all are thrown into this melting pot, Ryan Mower’s drumming furious and deft in equal measure.
Madness Of The Crowd gets Side B going with more some Savatage theatricality and plenty of speed, Llanas and Ross setting up for some more blistering solos from Leeland Campana. Divine Battle took five years but I want a sequel right this minute. Fantastic epic metal! 9/10
Bodyfarm - Malicious Ecstasy (Edged Circle Productions) [GC]
Just reading the press release for this latest release by Dutch death metal band Bodyfarm, they say it’s a brand new ‘’full length’’ release, which isn’t really the case, as it consists of 4 new tracks with 5 live tracks tagged on for good measure? One of my least favourite things are live releases as they just seem like a bit of a lazy way to get a ‘’new’’ release into the world? But it is what it is, I guess?
It does all start out very promising with Retaliate, which is a glorious throw back to old school death metal, that’s got the cutting and precise guitars and immense drum work and the vocals wrap around everything and compliment the music perfectly and there are also some lovely guitar solos included but there is never really a drop in the pace and it’s a thrilling way to start, Pervitin carries the same style and sound and rages forwards, but on this song there is a slight change in pace and styles but it doesn’t affect the force of anything and it may actually help a little, there is definitely a more melodic feel to this song but it loses none of the directness it needs to make it presence felt.
Bodyfarm - Malicious Ecstasy (Edged Circle Productions) [GC]
Just reading the press release for this latest release by Dutch death metal band Bodyfarm, they say it’s a brand new ‘’full length’’ release, which isn’t really the case, as it consists of 4 new tracks with 5 live tracks tagged on for good measure? One of my least favourite things are live releases as they just seem like a bit of a lazy way to get a ‘’new’’ release into the world? But it is what it is, I guess?
It does all start out very promising with Retaliate, which is a glorious throw back to old school death metal, that’s got the cutting and precise guitars and immense drum work and the vocals wrap around everything and compliment the music perfectly and there are also some lovely guitar solos included but there is never really a drop in the pace and it’s a thrilling way to start, Pervitin carries the same style and sound and rages forwards, but on this song there is a slight change in pace and styles but it doesn’t affect the force of anything and it may actually help a little, there is definitely a more melodic feel to this song but it loses none of the directness it needs to make it presence felt.
Onwards Doomsday of course doesn’t stray too far from what we have already heard and because what we have heard so far has been of such a high quality you don’t really mind that much and this is another high quality sounding death metal destroyer and the midway point where they introduce some real groove into the song is brilliantly effective and so simple you cant help but be impressed, Gates Of Malignancy is the last actual track on this release before the live section kicks in and they dial down the tempo to the slowest it has been so far for the beginning of the song and it is another melodic feeling song but with hints of doom added for dramatic effect and while I don’t dislike it, I do feel that it really stunts the momentum of the first 3 tracks and as this is the last song seems like an odd way to end, but like I said its not a bad song, just an odd choice!?
Now I suppose I have to get onto the live section of the release and see where this leaves us, an in all honesty the songs included are equally as good as the new songs and all sound razor sharp live, first track is Dreadlord and for my money this sounds like the best one here all the other songs Unbroken, Charlatan Messiah & The Dark Age show the same amount of decent song writing and live proficiency and all make for a decent listen but unfortunately The Swamp is a bit of a letdown as it just sounds like a bit of a mess, so overall the live stuff is good and all well done barring one track but I am still not sure that they should be tagged on the end and then qualify what is basically an EP release as a full length!!?
Based on what I heard from the first 4 tracks Malicious Ecstasy was a great listen, and I would have been very happy if this had 5 more actual new songs on it and my score would probably have been higher if there was but, there wasn’t so, it isn’t! There is no doubting the standard of musicianship and song writing was strong, and I enjoyed it all a lot and look forward to listening to Bodyfarm more in the future. 7/10
The Wizards - The Exit Garden (High Roller Records) [Rich Piva]
Spanish band The Wizards are a kick ass straight up metal band who walk the walk and talk the talk. Thinks 70s/early 80s metal love, Maiden, Priest, and the other NWOBHM bands are all over their new record, The Exit Garden, and I am certainly here for it. There are elements of psych on The Exit Garden too, reminding me a bit of Trouble during the Rick Rubin years. Reminding me I said, nothing touches those two albums, but you hear some of it across the eight tracks on this excellent effort.
The title track just rips your face off. It is heavy, catchy, and packed full of killer guitar work, and just enough of Trouble’s self-titled debut sprinkled in. Early Priest vibes shine through on Full Moon In Scorpio, but subtract the Metal God’s vocals for the unique and powerful stylings of Ian Mason, who can really belt it out. The guitar work is nothing to sneeze at either. Thrash riffs rule on Oniros and check out that galloping bass line. Heavy early Metallica worship musically but with a unique twist The Wizards bring to the ritual.
Now I suppose I have to get onto the live section of the release and see where this leaves us, an in all honesty the songs included are equally as good as the new songs and all sound razor sharp live, first track is Dreadlord and for my money this sounds like the best one here all the other songs Unbroken, Charlatan Messiah & The Dark Age show the same amount of decent song writing and live proficiency and all make for a decent listen but unfortunately The Swamp is a bit of a letdown as it just sounds like a bit of a mess, so overall the live stuff is good and all well done barring one track but I am still not sure that they should be tagged on the end and then qualify what is basically an EP release as a full length!!?
Based on what I heard from the first 4 tracks Malicious Ecstasy was a great listen, and I would have been very happy if this had 5 more actual new songs on it and my score would probably have been higher if there was but, there wasn’t so, it isn’t! There is no doubting the standard of musicianship and song writing was strong, and I enjoyed it all a lot and look forward to listening to Bodyfarm more in the future. 7/10
The Wizards - The Exit Garden (High Roller Records) [Rich Piva]
Spanish band The Wizards are a kick ass straight up metal band who walk the walk and talk the talk. Thinks 70s/early 80s metal love, Maiden, Priest, and the other NWOBHM bands are all over their new record, The Exit Garden, and I am certainly here for it. There are elements of psych on The Exit Garden too, reminding me a bit of Trouble during the Rick Rubin years. Reminding me I said, nothing touches those two albums, but you hear some of it across the eight tracks on this excellent effort.
The title track just rips your face off. It is heavy, catchy, and packed full of killer guitar work, and just enough of Trouble’s self-titled debut sprinkled in. Early Priest vibes shine through on Full Moon In Scorpio, but subtract the Metal God’s vocals for the unique and powerful stylings of Ian Mason, who can really belt it out. The guitar work is nothing to sneeze at either. Thrash riffs rule on Oniros and check out that galloping bass line. Heavy early Metallica worship musically but with a unique twist The Wizards bring to the ritual.
The band rips it up on trad/classic metal tracks like Holy Mountain Mind and Equinox Of Fire with the axe work particularly standing out on these tracks. Questions starts mellow with just a guitar and voice until the track kicks in and the guitar work gets you going down the path of a nice proto style metal ripper. Crawling Nights slows it down but never loses any of its metal shine, especially when the ace picks up and you get some nice Maiden worship, while Dawn Of Another Life closes us out with a piano driven metal ballad which is an interest change of pace to close the record out.
The Wizards brand of metal will be very easily consumed by the Priest/Maiden/NWOBHM crowd, and add that tiny bit of heavy psych (it is small but it is there) and this should cross over to the stoner rock fans as well. I love the vocals and the guitar work is top notch. Regardless of who I think will like this, The Exit Garden rocks, so throw up your horns and get ready to rock out. 7/10
The Wizards brand of metal will be very easily consumed by the Priest/Maiden/NWOBHM crowd, and add that tiny bit of heavy psych (it is small but it is there) and this should cross over to the stoner rock fans as well. I love the vocals and the guitar work is top notch. Regardless of who I think will like this, The Exit Garden rocks, so throw up your horns and get ready to rock out. 7/10
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