Abrams - Blue City (Blues Funeral Recordings) [Rich Piva]
On their fifth album, Denver, Colorado’s Abrams have completed their transformation from heavy sludge band to post metal/post grunge/heavy shoegaze act and created what can only be considered their masterpiece with Blue City. This is a bold statement considering their last record, In The Dark, was a top ten album of the year for me and still gets spun on the regular, but Blue City manages to take their brand of fuzzy rock to the next level.
I’m going to throw some names around here: Hum, Failure, My Bloody Valentine, Quicksand, Jesus and Mary Chain…lots of 90s love there, but none of these bands equal the whole of what Blue City brings. Yeah, you can hear parts of what would be considered the post grunge wall of sound type bands mentioned but in 2024 Abrams stands alone as the kings of heavy, melodic, post whatever (grunge? Shoegaze? Hardcore? Metal?) rock.
I love the guitar sound on Blue City, and the vocals are taken to the next level, both evident on the opener, Tomorrow. The driving drums and the heavy swirling guitar remind me of something from Quicksand’s masterpiece, Manic Compression. The production, now handled by Kurt Ballou of Converge fame and producer of bands like Torche and Cave In, has captured the true essence of Abrams.
I love the guitar sound on Blue City, and the vocals are taken to the next level, both evident on the opener, Tomorrow. The driving drums and the heavy swirling guitar remind me of something from Quicksand’s masterpiece, Manic Compression. The production, now handled by Kurt Ballou of Converge fame and producer of bands like Torche and Cave In, has captured the true essence of Abrams.
This is what Abrams is supposed to sound like. In an interview I did with Zach from the band, he mentioned Torche’s album Harmonicraft as a sound that made him convinced that Ballou would be the man for the job and boy did he nail that, because Blue City can hang with that underrated classic and achieved the killer sound that emanates from those songs. Fire Waltz sounds like its name, with a frantic riff and a sound that gives me Failure vibes but fuller.
Etherol brings some excellent harmonies and when that guitar kicks in you can feel the presence of Kevin Shields floating about. This is where I hear some of the Cave In comparisons too, which the band does not shy away from. Lungfish continues with the Cave In vibes, more Jupiter than Heavy Pendulum but either way you can’t go wrong.
I just love the guitar work throughout and the literal buzz that is created on all of the songs. Wasting Time brings me back to Failure again, but with more harmonies and pedal action, which works wonders for this track. Don’t think the band doesn’t still bring the heavy and chunky riff, because Death Om does all over the place, partnered nicely with the dual vocal harmonies.
Serious post hardcore vibes come strongly off of Turn It Off…this could have been off of a Revelation Records release back in the day and I am sure will translate excellently to the stage. Like on 2022’s In The Dark, the band is not afraid to slow it down and/or be melodic as hell (see Body Pillow), and we get the same awesome results with a track like Narc.
The songs don’t sound alike, but the band’s urge to go in whatever direction they want and explore new territories are where these songs touch. While Crack Aunt was a late addition to Blue City, let’s be glad Zach did not get his way and leave it off the record given how cool the tempo changes are and how beautifully all over the place it is. Closing with the breath-taking title track and those layered guitars could not have been a better choice.
The new Abrams record is a special one. So many different types of fans of heavy rock music will love Blue City. There are zero reasons (outside of the majority of the public’s terrible tastes) that this record doesn’t put Abrams at the forefront of heavy, melodic rock. In a different time this would be arena tour worthy, but even now this is generational record and one that will be tough to top in 2024. 10/10
Dopethrone - Broke Sabbath (Totem Cat Records) [Mark Young]
Imagine a guitar tone so thick you can almost chew it. That is what Dopethrone has conjured up on Broke Sabbath. Their sixth album is just filthy, dirty sludge which they themselves to as ‘Slutch’, a Canadian term for dirty mud snow or cold sludge. Its certainly fits the bill, as Broke Sabbath contains some of the gnarliest guitar tones committed to tape.
The new Abrams record is a special one. So many different types of fans of heavy rock music will love Blue City. There are zero reasons (outside of the majority of the public’s terrible tastes) that this record doesn’t put Abrams at the forefront of heavy, melodic rock. In a different time this would be arena tour worthy, but even now this is generational record and one that will be tough to top in 2024. 10/10
Dopethrone - Broke Sabbath (Totem Cat Records) [Mark Young]
Imagine a guitar tone so thick you can almost chew it. That is what Dopethrone has conjured up on Broke Sabbath. Their sixth album is just filthy, dirty sludge which they themselves to as ‘Slutch’, a Canadian term for dirty mud snow or cold sludge. Its certainly fits the bill, as Broke Sabbath contains some of the gnarliest guitar tones committed to tape.
The attention to delivering constant riffs is there for all to see, with Life Kills You dropping in like the heavyweight it is, with a grinding stomp that kicks off things beautifully. Its heavy, in your face completed by a lead break that fits in perfectly. Truckstop Warlock slows things down without losing that grind, keeping that ch-ch-ching sound going whilst maintaining that overall ‘Slutch’ feel, so much so that it could be bleeding from the speakers.
ABAC, with its spoken word introduction is world conquering heavy. From the first crash, it spreads itself like a lead cloak, smothering and suffocating. I’ve heard a fair amount of sludge / doom metal in the last year, and it has to be said that Dopethrone somehow manages to convey a lot more into their music than some of their contemporaries. I don’t know if it’s the feel or approach they have but they have something different.
Shlaghammer goes lower than ABAC so that it resembles just a wall of noise (in a good way). Rock Slock, with its sleazy intro solo decides to pick the pace up and is filthier than coal miner’s budgie. If you imagine Motorhead but slowed down, if might give you an idea. The breakdown is monumental, allowing them to punch back up to speed, ripping another dirty lead on the way.
They do all this in the first half of the song and when they repeat that trick, they stretch it out just beyond breaking point. Don’t let the sound fool you, this has some classic rock in here that works to great effect. Uniworse, with its declaration that people are the problem wastes no time in bringing those granite riffs and rumbles along like a mudslide wiping a small village off the map and Sultans of Sins finishes the album on a suitably nasty note, the repeated ‘SULTANS’ will go down a storm when they drop this live. What I like is their songs are long for the sake of it.
They aren’t short either, but they know that the content has to be enough to keep you with them for the length of the album. The way they are put together shows that they have a keen sense of how these will be delivered live, there are hooky moments amongst the sludge, and you know which songs they will be able to extend in that live setting.
Broke Sabbath continues that high sludge-mark to which they have attained with previous releases, and whilst you won’t find anything new here, and to be honest I don’t think you would want to it does what it needs to do – DIY ethic, monstrous sound and the right amount of punk rock to separate it from the pack. 8/10
Summoner’s Circle - Cult (Black Lion Records) [James Jackson]
The genre description that comes with this one is Death/Doom, though while researching the band I saw a description that was probably more accurate and included Black Metal also; the overall sound has quite a lot in common with Poland’s Blackened Death Metal Behemoth, touches of Carach Angren and Rotting Christ are also evident, upon the track Shroud of Humanity there’s a touch of the theatrical madness found in the Arcturus album La Masquerade Infernale released in 1997.
Summoner’s Circle - Cult (Black Lion Records) [James Jackson]
The genre description that comes with this one is Death/Doom, though while researching the band I saw a description that was probably more accurate and included Black Metal also; the overall sound has quite a lot in common with Poland’s Blackened Death Metal Behemoth, touches of Carach Angren and Rotting Christ are also evident, upon the track Shroud of Humanity there’s a touch of the theatrical madness found in the Arcturus album La Masquerade Infernale released in 1997.
Cult, the second full length album from Tennessee based Summoner’s Circle, opens with a track which wouldn’t be completely out of place in The Omen film series, church bells peal, an ominous drum beat rolls beneath keys and chanting gang vocals.
This leads into Cult Of The Dead Son and the song pivots between the trademarks of the Black and Death Metal genres adding the flair of the Symphonic to great effect. The aforementioned Shroud Of Humanity follows, Gregorian like chants open the song, church organs support the Black Metal style vocals and another stalwart of the genre, Dimmu Borgir, springs to mind.
Thirst Of The Vulture lulls the listener into a false sense of security, an acoustic guitar picks a melody, lain over a chorus of haunting vocals and building guitars and drums; at its crescendo, it drops, a piano takes over, it’s unexpected but brilliant, more often than not at that peak, everything would kick in, not here; the song is full of further unexpected twists.
Profit Of Death follows, a song comprising of clean, melodic almost radio friendly Rock one moment and blast beats, Black Metal vocals the next. The album, only 7 songs and 34 minutes long, finishes off with Dogmatic Defilings, a track that encapsulates all that has gone before it without sounding repetitive.
It’s been awhile since I listened to the bands I’ve found a comparison to with this release by Summoner’s Circle but after giving this a listen I’ve an urge to go back and listen to them all again. Great album, the overall mix of Doom, Black Metal, Death Metal and the touches of Symphonic influences, ensure that the songs don’t stagnate or become predictable and repetitive. 9/10
Teramaze - Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace (Wells Music) [Matt Bladen]
Probably one of the most prolific bands of the last four years is Australian prog metal act Teramaze. Releasing 3 full lengths in a span of 12 months is an amazing feat especially as you consider Teramaze play intricate progressive metal ala Dream Theater, Symphony X and Threshold. Their music is entrenched in the US style of prog metal those bands are part of, with some European elements mainly in the lyrics which are inspired by human condition, faith and storytelling.
Teramaze - Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace (Wells Music) [Matt Bladen]
Probably one of the most prolific bands of the last four years is Australian prog metal act Teramaze. Releasing 3 full lengths in a span of 12 months is an amazing feat especially as you consider Teramaze play intricate progressive metal ala Dream Theater, Symphony X and Threshold. Their music is entrenched in the US style of prog metal those bands are part of, with some European elements mainly in the lyrics which are inspired by human condition, faith and storytelling.
This eleventh album wraps up the conceptual storyline started on 2015’s Her Halo, continued on 2021’s Sorella Minore and now reaches the third part of the trilogy with Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace, timeline wise it’s a prequel to the events of Her Halo and tells a story of travelling circuses and the main character capturing the imagination of the crowd. It’s all quite deep and you’ll have to of heard the previous offerings to understand the full story but musically, Teramaze push boundaries with their sound.
The title track, the first track proper, has the poppy/prog sound of Coheed And Cambria, Dean Wells' vocals are soaring an impassioned against the textured instrumentals, Step Right Up gets darker with thick bass and acoustics as Madam Roma throws us deep into Dream Theater territory as does single Standing Ovation. Teramaze are a prolific band but they don't skimp on the quality either, fans of Coheed, Dream Theater and Haken will find plenty to enjoy. 8/10
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