Sinner's Blood return with their second album Dark Horizon's, again it's another chance to show the talent of collaborators James Robledo (vocals/production) and Nasson (multi-instrumentalist), the two conceiving pretty much everything on this band while also showcasing the Chilean metal scene as a whole. With one previous record and Robledo having two solo albums on Frontiers, they are veterans of the label so it was walys a given another Sinner's Blood album would be coming.
Thankfully it's another banger, Robledo's vocals so similar to Symphony X's Russell Allen or Masterplan's Jorn Lande, singers who helped establish Frontiers label as players in the scene. Nasson's experience in the scene and his performances with Chaos Magic make sure that the musical backing for this project has more depth than just heavy, progressive metal. The bottom end of the band are bassist Nicolás Fischer and drummer Guillermo Pereira who have both been members of the prog metal scene for a while.
With the title Dark Horizons, you can expect there to be perhaps a darker edge to the riffs etc but nothing that Symphony X or Evergrey don't have. It's melodic, progressive and keeps things heavy when needed, Sinner's Blood are another quality metal band from South America who are getting their dues from Frontiers. 8/10
Coffin Rot - Dreams Of The Disturbed (Maggot Stomp) [Mark Young]
It is suitably grimy, oppressive and takes a lot of cues from when death metal was a new and exciting assault on your senses. This is their second full length release but have been kicking around since 2017 and with this, the Portland natives have dropped what could be the death metal equivalent of a comfortable pair of slippers. Pipe and jacket are optional.
Slaughtered Like Swine has everything you want and would expect, from the guttural vocals, deep breaks and an irresistible momentum despite it not being the fastest track. They make it move and it covers a lot of ground in what is a relatively short song. What it does is give you an overview of what the album is about, what they are about which is bringing dense riffs, those deep vocals and atonal lead breaks.
Thankfully it's another banger, Robledo's vocals so similar to Symphony X's Russell Allen or Masterplan's Jorn Lande, singers who helped establish Frontiers label as players in the scene. Nasson's experience in the scene and his performances with Chaos Magic make sure that the musical backing for this project has more depth than just heavy, progressive metal. The bottom end of the band are bassist Nicolás Fischer and drummer Guillermo Pereira who have both been members of the prog metal scene for a while.
With the title Dark Horizons, you can expect there to be perhaps a darker edge to the riffs etc but nothing that Symphony X or Evergrey don't have. It's melodic, progressive and keeps things heavy when needed, Sinner's Blood are another quality metal band from South America who are getting their dues from Frontiers. 8/10
Coffin Rot - Dreams Of The Disturbed (Maggot Stomp) [Mark Young]
It is suitably grimy, oppressive and takes a lot of cues from when death metal was a new and exciting assault on your senses. This is their second full length release but have been kicking around since 2017 and with this, the Portland natives have dropped what could be the death metal equivalent of a comfortable pair of slippers. Pipe and jacket are optional.
Slaughtered Like Swine has everything you want and would expect, from the guttural vocals, deep breaks and an irresistible momentum despite it not being the fastest track. They make it move and it covers a lot of ground in what is a relatively short song. What it does is give you an overview of what the album is about, what they are about which is bringing dense riffs, those deep vocals and atonal lead breaks.
Which basically equates to if you liked this, then the rest will hit as well as this. Perverted Exhumation follows the same build as Slaughtered but ups that pace to suit. The arrangement works better at speed and on here there are signs of those little touches that elevate their music above others. The chords under the lead break are spot on and the break down with that guitar and loowwwww vocals coming in are royal.
At the start I said ‘comfortable slippers’ and that opinion has not changed. I should try to explain that this is a good album with just the sort of no-fills death metal that would be well received in any era. It does what it needs to, and it does it well. 8/10
Kant - Paranoia Pilgrimage (SOL Records) [Rich Piva]
Kant is a band I knew very little about going into writing his review, but I cannot resist a band and album listed as “heavy psych rock” in the promo folder, so here we are, with me reviewing their new record, Paranoia Pilgrimage, and I am oh so happy that I am. That little tag is a great start for what to expect, but there is more to Kant, as the band has really come to play with their second record.
You get killer, swirling psych guitars on tracks like the opener, The Great Serpent, paired with reverb-y fuzzy vocals and a classic old school psych vibe that a lot of bands try for but miss. The band has the riffs too, like on Baba Yaga, which to me sounds like My Morning Jacket if they went more heavy psych leaning, which is a very interesting listening experience. You want to chill and stare at the clouds too? Then check out the track Book Of Creation where you get that vibe until the flute kicks in and you start your interpretive dance.
Lurking In the Cemetery settles in for that more controlled tempo, which is apt for moving slowly around a cemetery at night until they kick it up at the end whilst Unmarked, Shallow Grave fizzes into life (death?) and runs with it, the song progressing through a number of twists, from labyrinthine guitar lines to pummelling riff and a lead break that is straight from the Cannibal Corpse school of death metal. And I suppose its this that makes it so comforting. Musically, it is exactly what you expect, and delivered in the way you would want it.
They handle each song well, knowing when to slow and when they need to pick that pace up and a fine example of this is on Living Cremation where that foot is kicked through the floor in the final moments and tees up the opening to Hands Of Death which is glorious, that mix of the palm muted and then into the trem picked sections is again another example of knowing how to put the two together to ensure it avoids being a one-note exercise.
The real beauties come in at the end, Predator Becomes Prey is a monster, coalescing their best ideas into one spot. It has everything that they do incredibly well on here and it is fitting that they placed it in the penultimate position. The Howling Man, with its thunder and lightning sample segueing into their most immediate track on here. As Predator pulled their best together, this one takes that idea and goes further, providing that balance between speed and power. Riffs seemingly come from all angles, ever changing but staying within that brutal arena. It can often sound a little cringe when you hear ‘saved the best for last’ but I truly believe that to be the case here.
The real beauties come in at the end, Predator Becomes Prey is a monster, coalescing their best ideas into one spot. It has everything that they do incredibly well on here and it is fitting that they placed it in the penultimate position. The Howling Man, with its thunder and lightning sample segueing into their most immediate track on here. As Predator pulled their best together, this one takes that idea and goes further, providing that balance between speed and power. Riffs seemingly come from all angles, ever changing but staying within that brutal arena. It can often sound a little cringe when you hear ‘saved the best for last’ but I truly believe that to be the case here.
At the start I said ‘comfortable slippers’ and that opinion has not changed. I should try to explain that this is a good album with just the sort of no-fills death metal that would be well received in any era. It does what it needs to, and it does it well. 8/10
Kant - Paranoia Pilgrimage (SOL Records) [Rich Piva]
Kant is a band I knew very little about going into writing his review, but I cannot resist a band and album listed as “heavy psych rock” in the promo folder, so here we are, with me reviewing their new record, Paranoia Pilgrimage, and I am oh so happy that I am. That little tag is a great start for what to expect, but there is more to Kant, as the band has really come to play with their second record.
You get killer, swirling psych guitars on tracks like the opener, The Great Serpent, paired with reverb-y fuzzy vocals and a classic old school psych vibe that a lot of bands try for but miss. The band has the riffs too, like on Baba Yaga, which to me sounds like My Morning Jacket if they went more heavy psych leaning, which is a very interesting listening experience. You want to chill and stare at the clouds too? Then check out the track Book Of Creation where you get that vibe until the flute kicks in and you start your interpretive dance.
These crazy Germans can certainly rock too, using Traitors Lair, Occult Worship, and the title track as examples. I especially love the latter, as it incorporates some killer heavy psych guitar. The frantic heavy psych of Lord Of The Flies is my favourite track, as the singer tests his range with excellent results on this one. I really like the closer too, as Rainbird is eight plus minutes of bluesy heavy psych that brings the fuzziest crunch on all of Paranoia Pilgrimage. Paranoia Pilgrimage is really good and fans of that opening simple description will totally dig this.
Kant certainly Kan, and they really rock and bend some minds while doing so. 8/10
Awake The Dreamer – Holocene (Arising Empire) [Zak Skane]
Awake The Dreamer Holocene brings in a mixed bag of nostalgia from it’s mid 2000’s era Metalcore clean vocals and electrical passages it’s early 2010 styled low tuned djentcore riff assaults and harsh vocals.
The opening track Future Fades in with some classic 2010 production with it’s low pass filtered swells to it’s electronic layers, especially, in the choruses that reminisces of Joey Sturgis production with bands of that era such as Asking Alexandria, old school The Devil Wears Prada and I See Stars, the comparison comes in strong when the classic binary chugs come in. The vocal delivery brings in the some of the classic noughties vibes with the harsh melodic vocals sounding like Anders from In Flames Sounds Of A Playground Fading era, whilst the clean vocals reminisce of Dead By April.
Awake The Dreamer – Holocene (Arising Empire) [Zak Skane]
Awake The Dreamer Holocene brings in a mixed bag of nostalgia from it’s mid 2000’s era Metalcore clean vocals and electrical passages it’s early 2010 styled low tuned djentcore riff assaults and harsh vocals.
The opening track Future Fades in with some classic 2010 production with it’s low pass filtered swells to it’s electronic layers, especially, in the choruses that reminisces of Joey Sturgis production with bands of that era such as Asking Alexandria, old school The Devil Wears Prada and I See Stars, the comparison comes in strong when the classic binary chugs come in. The vocal delivery brings in the some of the classic noughties vibes with the harsh melodic vocals sounding like Anders from In Flames Sounds Of A Playground Fading era, whilst the clean vocals reminisce of Dead By April.
The following track Tides continues this momentum by pushing the electronic elements front and centre whilst the pounding chugging grooves from the drums and guitars carry the song. Tracks like Burns show the band taking a more post hardcore route trading in the Northlane styled djent riffs for big sounding strummed guitar chords whilst up beat drum grooves and electronic drum and bass sections accompany the melodic vocals.
The melancholic track Violence continues the post-hardcore melancholy whilst bringing back the ambient layers of the synths and reverbed guitars whilst their closing track Echoes ends the album with more vocal hooks than a butchers workstation whilst bringing back the thundery low tuned djent breakdowns. The electronic layers are more bombastic with the electrical layers consisting of ponging synth appreciators, ambient delayed guitars and even some delicate twinkles with the piano.
Tracks like Take My Hand, Alone, Labyrinth and Holocene take the album into heavy territory with it’s djenty technical riffs, fret tapping melodies and foot dancing double kick grooves, but I feel like these tracks are the weaker moments on the album because they come off more formulaic that bands like Singularity-era Northlane and In Hearts Wake have mastered 10 years.
Overall Awake The Dreamers' Holocene in a sold release that brings in two decades of nostalgia in the space of ten tracks. For fans of old school Northlane, In Hearts Wake and We Came From Romans. 6/10
Overall Awake The Dreamers' Holocene in a sold release that brings in two decades of nostalgia in the space of ten tracks. For fans of old school Northlane, In Hearts Wake and We Came From Romans. 6/10
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