It feels like there's been a lot of Charlotte Wessels releases since she left Dutch band Delain in 2021, much of this is due to her taking the step of delivering singles every week, then compiling them into full albums. Both the Tales From Six Feet Under records brought multiple genres and experiments, funded by her patrons, as if to distance herself from the symphonic act she left. They were interesting record with Wessels preforming most of it herself (the first one especially), but never quite felt like a new 'band'.
So despite The Obsession being her third album, it's more like her re-debut, alongside a rejigged version of Soft Revolution, from the Tales From... records, it's an album of new material, written in her studio but this time feels much more fully formed, recorded with Timo Somers (guitars), Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije (bass), Joey Marin de Boer (drums) all formerly of Delain. They imbue tracks such as the chunky Ode To The West Wind with metallic heaviness, Alissa White-Gluz bringing the growls as there's electronics that run through the symphonic punch of The Crying Room (this track is phenomenal) and Praise. Dopamine is one of the first singles and features the soaring operatic of Simone Simons, blended brilliantly with the poppier vocal of Wessels.
There's also contributions from Sophia Vernikov (piano/hammond), Elianne Anemaat (cello) and every proggers favourite composer Vikram Shankar on Breathe. These guests and musicians allow the fusion of genres is still here though be it the slinky Serpentine, the atmospheric ballad The Exorcism, Soulstice which has a bit of Imagine Dragons about it, while All That You Are has the drama of Muse.
So despite The Obsession being her third album, it's more like her re-debut, alongside a rejigged version of Soft Revolution, from the Tales From... records, it's an album of new material, written in her studio but this time feels much more fully formed, recorded with Timo Somers (guitars), Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije (bass), Joey Marin de Boer (drums) all formerly of Delain. They imbue tracks such as the chunky Ode To The West Wind with metallic heaviness, Alissa White-Gluz bringing the growls as there's electronics that run through the symphonic punch of The Crying Room (this track is phenomenal) and Praise. Dopamine is one of the first singles and features the soaring operatic of Simone Simons, blended brilliantly with the poppier vocal of Wessels.
There's also contributions from Sophia Vernikov (piano/hammond), Elianne Anemaat (cello) and every proggers favourite composer Vikram Shankar on Breathe. These guests and musicians allow the fusion of genres is still here though be it the slinky Serpentine, the atmospheric ballad The Exorcism, Soulstice which has a bit of Imagine Dragons about it, while All That You Are has the drama of Muse.
To be honest though Chasing Sunsets, the first song tells you what you need to know from the record, metallic riffs, against ethereal dreaminess, and Wessels' incredibly distinctive and angelic vocals, if you like this song, you're going to love what comes next. The Obsession is the first fully formed ‘band’ album from Charlotte Wessels as a solo artist and while it’s sure to be compared to her former band, the diversity and scale of the album is far superior. 9/10
Glacial Tomb - Lightless Expanse (Prosthetic Records) [Mark Young]
And now, we go to Denver for some sludge-filled death metal, care of Glacial Tomb.
And it’s a bit saucy.
Stygian Abattoir is chaotic, aggressive and completely in your face. It’s the sound of a band in a hurry to stomp a hole in you and move onto the next victim. Mixing frenetic drumming in with discord and a guitar tone that could split concrete its offset by a quick and direct lead break that hints at technical virtuosity without it boring the pants off you. If the rest of this is like this, then I suggest you might be revising your album of the year lists as this is a storming opening gambit.
Keeping that rolling momentum going, it’s an absolute cracker, although I think they lean more into the death metal than the sludge, the overall tone is that of a cloying, mouldy blanket that suffocates. Enshrined In Concrete goes full on, with those guttural vocals switching register and its devastating when combined with their attack. The trem break-down is quality and they throw in a touch of Queen-esque harmonies in there, planted within a glorious lead break. The stabbing arrangement leading up to that is spot on, and the return to speed after is monstrous.
On Abyssal Host, that gnarly almost filthy rhythm guitar tone squashes all on this one, it’s like a swarm of pissed off cyborg bees, but that doesn’t do it justice. They tear through the album with intent, and that intent is to cause physical harm. There is not one jot of fat on here, nothing wasted no melodic introductions or make-weight sections, it’s what I believe modern extreme metal should be.
The final tracks round off proceedings to the same high standard as they started. Wounds Of Existence, with an almost funky start but don’t let that put you off. They bring the heavier than lead chunk to proceedings and an almost jaunty lead break. The drumming is top, spidery guitar lines that close out what is probably my fave track on here (and there are few you could go with).
And now, we go to Denver for some sludge-filled death metal, care of Glacial Tomb.
And it’s a bit saucy.
Stygian Abattoir is chaotic, aggressive and completely in your face. It’s the sound of a band in a hurry to stomp a hole in you and move onto the next victim. Mixing frenetic drumming in with discord and a guitar tone that could split concrete its offset by a quick and direct lead break that hints at technical virtuosity without it boring the pants off you. If the rest of this is like this, then I suggest you might be revising your album of the year lists as this is a storming opening gambit.
Keeping that rolling momentum going, it’s an absolute cracker, although I think they lean more into the death metal than the sludge, the overall tone is that of a cloying, mouldy blanket that suffocates. Enshrined In Concrete goes full on, with those guttural vocals switching register and its devastating when combined with their attack. The trem break-down is quality and they throw in a touch of Queen-esque harmonies in there, planted within a glorious lead break. The stabbing arrangement leading up to that is spot on, and the return to speed after is monstrous.
On Abyssal Host, that gnarly almost filthy rhythm guitar tone squashes all on this one, it’s like a swarm of pissed off cyborg bees, but that doesn’t do it justice. They tear through the album with intent, and that intent is to cause physical harm. There is not one jot of fat on here, nothing wasted no melodic introductions or make-weight sections, it’s what I believe modern extreme metal should be.
The final tracks round off proceedings to the same high standard as they started. Wounds Of Existence, with an almost funky start but don’t let that put you off. They bring the heavier than lead chunk to proceedings and an almost jaunty lead break. The drumming is top, spidery guitar lines that close out what is probably my fave track on here (and there are few you could go with).
Which leads us into The Lightless Expanse, which grinds out its opening attack that is slow and heavy. I mean insanely heavy which is probably as close to the sludge as you get on here. The drumming behind this one is spot on, listen to this with good earphones and you will get what I mean straight away. It is a masterclass on this, and to be honest the build itself is everything you could want from modern extreme metal – speed, its heavy and has the right amount of aggression within it.
This is an incredibly focused attack on the senses. I think that the tag of Sludgeyfied death metal is probably a touch misleading. I think of sludge metal, I think of slower, drawn-out arrangements with riffs that are repeated ad infinitum. That is something you cannot accuse Glacial Tomb of. Their guitar tone is low and filthy, and it is a familiar tone that other bands use. It is one of the negatives here, well the only one really.
This is an incredibly focused attack on the senses. I think that the tag of Sludgeyfied death metal is probably a touch misleading. I think of sludge metal, I think of slower, drawn-out arrangements with riffs that are repeated ad infinitum. That is something you cannot accuse Glacial Tomb of. Their guitar tone is low and filthy, and it is a familiar tone that other bands use. It is one of the negatives here, well the only one really.
The positives though, they are numerous. The riffs are diamond hard and mix up where they come from on the neck, its not just lower string mutilation. The lead breaks are well worked out and show a real expert touch to them – where they land, the style etc and embellish the song further. An absolute blast from start to finish. 9/10
Krilloan - Return Of The Heralds (Scarlet Records) [Simon Black]
Krilloan have crossed my platter a couple of times in the last few years, with both their 2021 Stories Of Times Forgotten EP and first full-length Emperor Rising in 2022 receiving generally favourable feedback from me. If you haven’t come across them yet, Krilloan play a blistering combination of Traditional, Power and Speed Metal with its roots strongly in the vein of fellow Euro contenders Blind Garden, Hammerfall and a healthy dollop of mid period Helloween. To be fair there are plenty of other bands who do something similar, at least in the Eurozone, so you have to be relatively special to rise above the melee and get noticed.
Where Krilloan have always delivered well is in keeping the focus on brevity and avoiding the cliché of over-convoluted conceptual records, you know those endless three album epics that bore you to death trying to unpick their tenuous storylines in an over-arduous run-time of an hour or more each. Krilloan are having none of that, thank you very much.
Short and to the point remains their focus, and despite being yet another sword and sorcery concept, the reader wouldn’t know it because the story isn’t necessary to enjoy the record, which generally focusses on serving up strong songs that stand on their own independent of any arc, and more importantly, succinctly. No over-long instrumental pieces, or 18-minute epic arc closers here thankfully, just to the point songs for whom 5 ½ minutes is the longest piece, and that one longer than almost every other track on the album by nearly a minute.
The line up has remained the same since their last album too, but the milk-curdling range of vocalist Alex VanTrue seems to have extended somewhat, with a bit more of a low-end punch counterbalancing the more top end scales that he’s more than capable of delivering. This is a vocalist, and indeed a band, more confident in their style and approach and starting to vary the tone a bit, although perhaps they could have gone a teensy bit further.
Although there are plenty of gallopers in the pack, when they do slow things down it works well and contributing to a generally heavier sounding record than its predecessors. Sometimes they lull you into a false sense of security here, starting a track mid-tempo only to raise the tempo after the first or second eight, but I would have preferred a couple more of the slower paced full tracks in there, because after three releases dripping in the allegro and presto end of the Speed Metal spectrum, they have rather made their point.
That said, it’s an album that works, and grows with repeated spins, and not everyone knows their back catalogue, so if nothing else, like all their output to date a solid and resounding. 8/10
Bird’s View – House Of Commando (Drakkar Entertainment) [Liam Williams]
Here we have the second album by German Hard Rock band Bird’s View. 11 brilliant tracks which are jam packed with catchy guitar riffs, bouncy basslines, pounding drums and some truly great vocal work. A nice blend of grunge, psychedelic rock and at some points showing off their heavier side with hints of thrash metal, demonstrating this bands versatile taste and talents. Although the songs average at around 3 minutes in length each, they are short and sweet enough to let the album flow smoothly and yet leave you wanting for more.
The opening track Vienna starts with a nice little bit of clean guitar accompanying the vocals before the rest of the band kick in and pick up the pace. This track sounds like a perfect combination of Queens Of The Stone Age and Foo Fighters. A lot of the guitar parts throughout the album are comparable to Queens Of The Stone Age, who you can tell are a huge influence on this band. But instead of sounding like a rip-off, it comes across very naturally in a way that pays homage and not trying to simply imitate that sound. The following tracks, Stay Down and Pin Drop have a similar sort of sound and energy but it does not get stale to listen to since each track still sounds new and original. There is a really nice psychedelic rock bridge section in Pin Drop.
Bird’s View – House Of Commando (Drakkar Entertainment) [Liam Williams]
Here we have the second album by German Hard Rock band Bird’s View. 11 brilliant tracks which are jam packed with catchy guitar riffs, bouncy basslines, pounding drums and some truly great vocal work. A nice blend of grunge, psychedelic rock and at some points showing off their heavier side with hints of thrash metal, demonstrating this bands versatile taste and talents. Although the songs average at around 3 minutes in length each, they are short and sweet enough to let the album flow smoothly and yet leave you wanting for more.
The opening track Vienna starts with a nice little bit of clean guitar accompanying the vocals before the rest of the band kick in and pick up the pace. This track sounds like a perfect combination of Queens Of The Stone Age and Foo Fighters. A lot of the guitar parts throughout the album are comparable to Queens Of The Stone Age, who you can tell are a huge influence on this band. But instead of sounding like a rip-off, it comes across very naturally in a way that pays homage and not trying to simply imitate that sound. The following tracks, Stay Down and Pin Drop have a similar sort of sound and energy but it does not get stale to listen to since each track still sounds new and original. There is a really nice psychedelic rock bridge section in Pin Drop.
Circus comes in with a bit of an old school Gorillaz sounding intro before a nice heavy-ish riff leading into the bouncy first verse. I really love the way the drums play around the glitchy guitar riff in the second verse. There’s a nice quieter chorus with just clean guitar and vocals before a sick dirty guitar solo leading into the final chorus. Came Along has a bit of a Biffy Clyro vibe and is a little bit slower than the other tracks so far, which gives you a bit of a breather before kicking into the slightly more experimental sounding second half of the album. More To Come starts off very thrashy. From the guitar riff and drums to the screaming vocals. But then halfway through it completely changes to a nice grungy acoustic section to end the song. White Barriers has a bit of a brit-pop vibe to it, sounding like a mix of Blur and early Foo Fighters.
Colorblind also sounds like early Foo Fighters with a hint of Alice In Chains. The vocals are very similar to Dave Grohl's and the acoustic guitar and percussion remind me of Rooster and Brother by Alice In Chains. There’s a nice little slide guitar solo just before the last chorus too which fits in quite nicely. The main riff and the choruses in Promise Everything sounds a little bit like Muse. I like the use of the octave pedal with the lead guitar part in the verses. Come Back Home has some nice little riffs and I do like the pre-chorus parts where the guitars and drums all play in unison. The last track, What It’s Like, is an interesting song to end the album on. The synth and guitar play a slightly haunting set of chords along with the vocals. The band joins in after the second chorus along with another nice little guitar solo to help build the rest of the song up to an excellent crescendo which fades out nicely to close out the album.
This was a really fun album to listen to. A lot of different sounds which I was able to pick out as sounding familiar to other bands but it still sounds very original. As I’ve said above, it’s done in a way which, to me, shows that this band are not afraid to let their musical influences shine through in their own way and help them to create their own sound. While doing a little bit of research for this review I discovered that this album was mastered by Howie Weinberg, who has previously worked with the likes of Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Smashing Pumpkins, to name a few. I think he has done an amazing job with the mix which is absolutely superb. But I also have to congratulate each member of the band for writing and performing such a great album. Well done lads! 10/10
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