A Reckoning is the 4th full album from Arx Atrata, stemming from the brain of single member Ben Sizer. The genre is melodic atmospheric black metal and courtesy of the Boss, it provides more exposure to a style of music I don’t know a lot about. Looking online Arx Atrata formed in 2013, and have since then have ploughed a singular furrow, with each result completing Ben’s vision whilst showing room for growth.
Now, dear reader you might have read that I have become fatigued with albums that have an intro track as means of a starting point. Its because they generally feel as though they are filler, and as a result don’t go anywhere. This is not the case here with To Sunder The World. Simple chords, building synths that slowly expand. Its measured, controlled and has that movement to it that grabs you. It is an early indication of the ride you are about to take as it then segues into I Was A Witness To His Passing, which starts with a bang before settling into shape as a prime piece of black metal storytelling.
Its melodic, almost uplifting as it twists and turns through a myriad of changes. What is apparent early on is Ben’s ability to pull this together, so all the parts fit seamlessly. The title track, A Reckoning keeps this going, its pace is steady, with a simple but effective central riff. It doesn’t rely on super-charged guitars to push it forward, the gentler moments working equally ensuring that you are kept gripped by it. When it pushes the speed towards the end it doesn’t lose itself in a flurry of blasts, it keeps its shape.
Mercy Unearned is the masterwork here. 9 minutes of pure class, from the opening gentle picking into that dual guitar attack, never standing still or repeating the tricks from earlier. The sub-melodies that weave in and around the heavier guitar are quality, and the arrangement is excellent, knowing when to speed up without it developing into a speed fest.
It covers a lot of ground without putting a foot wrong. The Ruin Of My Past is another example of just how well they put these songs together. It’s the parts within that are just royal, deploying the synths at key moments that keep the track from becoming dull. With songs of this length, there is always a danger that any momentum built slowly falls away. Not here, the craft is there for all to see.
With an album title like Mojave Green, you would expect that we would be going down the desert/stoner road for sure, and we in fact do, but like everything Blasting Rod does it is simply not that straight forward. The album starts out this way, with a nice and fuzzy stoner rock ripper in the form of YEA 24m (Cosmic Bash). This has fuzz on top of fuzz while bringing some heavy psych to the party as well. Give me a whole record of songs like this and I would be happy, but that is not Blasting Rod’s MO; they are here to challenge the listener, and I am here for it.
Five tracks in 45 minutes, with one being over 16 minutes can be daunting for some, but hang in there, even during the most difficult parts on Mojave Green, because Blasting Rod has given us something special with their new record. Even if it is challenging in parts, it is their most complete and fully realized record till date. 8/10
Mystery - Mind Pollution (Metalapolis Records) [James Jackson]
There’s a very thrash aspect to the intro to Writing On The Wall, the opening track on Mystery’s fourth album Australia based Mind Pollution, from there it morphs into a more traditional rock track more in the vein of Motley Crue and similar hard rock acts.
Bear in mind that I’m basing my review on how this hit with me. Fans of the genre may say otherwise, and that is fine but for me you cannot argue with how good this sounds. So obviously they bookend with The Witch (at 9 minutes) and Our Dark Shadow (11 minutes) which is like them saying we can do this for days. The Witch ups the speed whilst keeping that melody in check. There is a fantastic progression in here, just before they pull back for those uplifting moments once more.
It is an incredible effort, and it is up there with Mercy for how good it is. It also shows that they are not afraid to go fast when they need to. The album closer Our Dark Shadow, encapsulates everything into one place without falling victim to repetition. It is a gift that keeps on giving, those melodic touches are everywhere, the main riff dominant and providing the backbone for the rest to build from it.
Quite simply, this is an album that exceeds every promise made. From start to finish it represents what I consider to be an incredibly high standard of music that continue to get better as each song unfolds. It is an album that sets the bar for what this genre can do. Get on this, because it is pure excellence. 10/10
Madicide – Madicide (Self Released) [Zak Skane]
Originally formed in the Swansea by bassist Josh Bevan and rhythm guitarist/vocals Ceri Roberts the four piece thrash group have played the venues along the South Wales alongside with their heavy peers such as Revoker which the vocalist is now in Bullet for My Valentine and Sworn Amongst before they went on hiatus in 2015. Since it’s reboot in 2021 Madicide have brought new and revived fan classics into their full length album.
For example The Pit And Pendulum which was originally released in 2012 has been revived with a more groovy pace allowing each riff to cut through with more precision, the original disjointed transitions have been smoothened out and polished up with some assistance by the the people of Pitch Black Studios. The Anthrax inspired track Killing Machine adds crystal clear guitar segments before being re-introduced by the redefined rhythm sections and better paced verses.
Quite simply, this is an album that exceeds every promise made. From start to finish it represents what I consider to be an incredibly high standard of music that continue to get better as each song unfolds. It is an album that sets the bar for what this genre can do. Get on this, because it is pure excellence. 10/10
Madicide – Madicide (Self Released) [Zak Skane]
Originally formed in the Swansea by bassist Josh Bevan and rhythm guitarist/vocals Ceri Roberts the four piece thrash group have played the venues along the South Wales alongside with their heavy peers such as Revoker which the vocalist is now in Bullet for My Valentine and Sworn Amongst before they went on hiatus in 2015. Since it’s reboot in 2021 Madicide have brought new and revived fan classics into their full length album.
For example The Pit And Pendulum which was originally released in 2012 has been revived with a more groovy pace allowing each riff to cut through with more precision, the original disjointed transitions have been smoothened out and polished up with some assistance by the the people of Pitch Black Studios. The Anthrax inspired track Killing Machine adds crystal clear guitar segments before being re-introduced by the redefined rhythm sections and better paced verses.
The two stepping Trapped In Purgatory has been given some extra "thoonk" with the track containing more low end to the drums and the guitar having a more darker thicker tone in comparison to the old version. The vocal tracks have now been added these Voivod and Killing Joke styled effects to some variance in the verses whilst also making half time beat down part even more slower to give it that extra mosh factor.
Into The Dark had been re-vamped with in the clean intro and has added more texture with some synth layers to give it some added ambience. Whilst the drum arrangement have also been given a modern update by being replace the demo styled drums with full sound and more polished production resulting with a more retro sound especially is the drums fills having this old school styled reverb which you can hear from classic album like Metallica Ride The Lighting and 80’s Era Sepultura.
Their bonus closing track Death March has also had a remix with this retro sounding production, resulting with the double kick grooves and Cliff Burton styled bass lines sounding more locked along with the guitars still sound more thicker than it’s former brittle self.
The newer editions on this album such as Nicotine Love brings in the band into more groovy territory after it’s ambient intro section that consists of chiming clean guitar arpeggios accompanied with ascending and descending bass lines and atmospheric vocal layers before being greeted with Metallica half time riffs mixed with Megadeth snarling vocal delivery.
The newer editions on this album such as Nicotine Love brings in the band into more groovy territory after it’s ambient intro section that consists of chiming clean guitar arpeggios accompanied with ascending and descending bass lines and atmospheric vocal layers before being greeted with Metallica half time riffs mixed with Megadeth snarling vocal delivery.
The King In Yellow, which I assume is influenced by the book, provides these neo classical clean sections whilst we also getting high energy circle pit worthy riffs. The Stephen King inspired track Tommyknockers brings the band to new level of song writing and musicianship with the choruses sounding catchier than ever, the arrangements backing the guitar solos are a match made in heaven whilst the production really accentuates the sci-fi themes of the track with it’s clever usage of the robotic effects on Ceri's vocals.
This 9 track album shows a great land mark in the bands musical journey by showing how they have progressed as songwriters and musicians, especially to their close followers with newer entries such as Tommyknockers, King In Yellow and Nicotine Love. On a critical note, I do feel like they have wasted an opportunity in the studio by re-working songs that have already released, it could have been suggested to use that studio time to record newer material even if it was a 5 EP instead because it does sound like a night and day difference of when the old and new are on the same album.
This 9 track album shows a great land mark in the bands musical journey by showing how they have progressed as songwriters and musicians, especially to their close followers with newer entries such as Tommyknockers, King In Yellow and Nicotine Love. On a critical note, I do feel like they have wasted an opportunity in the studio by re-working songs that have already released, it could have been suggested to use that studio time to record newer material even if it was a 5 EP instead because it does sound like a night and day difference of when the old and new are on the same album.
From a followers perspective, I do respect the band using this studio time and higher production to re-amp some old classics such as making the last section lower to help it hit harder Trapped In Purgatory and adding more textures on Into The Dark. For fans that like their 80’s and 90’s Thrash i.e Anthrax, Megadeth and Ride The Lighting era Metallica this definitely should be on you list. 7/10
Blasting Rod - Mojave Green (Low And Slow Disk) [Rich Piva]
The Japanese stoner/doom/heavy psych scene is super strong right now, with bands like Bahboon, Lightning Swells Forever, and the band that we will cover in this review, Blasting Rod, leading the way. Of the three bands I mentioned, Blasting Rod is the least straight forward and most challenging listen, as these guys go all over the place, in the best possible way, and are the most experimental of the three. This is very evident on their new album, Mojave Green.
Blasting Rod - Mojave Green (Low And Slow Disk) [Rich Piva]
The Japanese stoner/doom/heavy psych scene is super strong right now, with bands like Bahboon, Lightning Swells Forever, and the band that we will cover in this review, Blasting Rod, leading the way. Of the three bands I mentioned, Blasting Rod is the least straight forward and most challenging listen, as these guys go all over the place, in the best possible way, and are the most experimental of the three. This is very evident on their new album, Mojave Green.
With an album title like Mojave Green, you would expect that we would be going down the desert/stoner road for sure, and we in fact do, but like everything Blasting Rod does it is simply not that straight forward. The album starts out this way, with a nice and fuzzy stoner rock ripper in the form of YEA 24m (Cosmic Bash). This has fuzz on top of fuzz while bringing some heavy psych to the party as well. Give me a whole record of songs like this and I would be happy, but that is not Blasting Rod’s MO; they are here to challenge the listener, and I am here for it.
Not everyone is going to be though when the second track, Yao Tsu (Infinity Landing) is over sixteen minutes long and half of that is droning guitars and feedback and the second half is a slower doom type instrumental with some crazy ass guitar work. It is a lot but, in the end, it is quite the rewarding experience. It is good they did not put this track at the end of the record as it would be too easy to ignore the coolness of this song. The title track hovers around ten minutes but has a more traditional song structure and is a killer epic desert rock journey in all of its fuzzy glory, with some nice tempo changes included. I absolutely love the guitar tone on Mojave Green.
Bowl Of Shala sounds way too much like California to be from Japan, but here we are. This one is a stoner slow burn to start that has quite the bring down vibe until the tempo changes, taking you on a head trip rollercoaster that shows that Blasting Rod can psych doom it up when they want to. Grandon The Stone Cutter (OG ver.) is the closer and shows a funkier side of the band, with a super cool bass line, nice riff, and is the catchiest Blasting Rod song I have heard in a while.
Five tracks in 45 minutes, with one being over 16 minutes can be daunting for some, but hang in there, even during the most difficult parts on Mojave Green, because Blasting Rod has given us something special with their new record. Even if it is challenging in parts, it is their most complete and fully realized record till date. 8/10
Mystery - Mind Pollution (Metalapolis Records) [James Jackson]
There’s a very thrash aspect to the intro to Writing On The Wall, the opening track on Mystery’s fourth album Australia based Mind Pollution, from there it morphs into a more traditional rock track more in the vein of Motley Crue and similar hard rock acts.
Dead By Sunday takes on the “drink all day, party all night, sleep when I’m dead” mantra of old and whilst the music is as rousing as you’d expect, lyrically it sounds cliché and more juvenile at times than it was probably intended. Mad Man extends that mentality and adds some gang vocals to its Whoah, Whoah chorus; again musically it’s not all that bad, the hooks and riffs formulate a solid track upon which a number of flamboyant solos are played out.
Fortunately the following track, Fantasy, a rock ballad of sorts, drags the lyrics into a more mature context and more than competently handles the long lost love tone. Take You Down ensures takes a step backwards and adds motorbikes to the soundtrack, adding little to the track in all honesty, the rock band notion of fighting the world, living on the edge bravado, that’s always felt false and blow hardy.
At the halfway point in the album I’m torn as to whether I carry on or leave the rest alone, for whilst I’ve quite enjoyed the music so far, I’m finding the lyrics far too puerile and I listen to the ever imbecilic but funny with it, Steel Panther. Straightforward rock with the occasional thrash tinge to it, musically this isn’t too bad, for lyrical content and poetical prowess however I’ve heard a lot better. 5/10
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