Conjonctive – Miserè de Poussière (Self Released) [Liam William]
Swiss blackened deathcore group Conjonctive is back with their 3rd album, Misère de Poussière. This album is absolutely brutal! All fast and aggressive tracks that combines your favourite death metal elements, consisting of blast beats and tremolo picking guitar harmonies with some nice dirty doom/sludge metal inspired chuggy riffs. This album is nice and heavy from start to finish, all killer, no filler!
Each track is jam packed with some great guitar playing, absolutely amazing drumming and some fantastic back and forth screaming vocals between the male and female vocalists. Track 1, II Pleut Sur Les Cendres kicks things off with a dirty, fast guitar intro, with the rhythm guitar, bass and drums joining in before the first verse begins and we get treated to our first (of many) bits of blastbeat action and the vocalists make their epic presence heard. There’s really no stopping from that point on and the rest of the album is just as fun and chaotic. These tracks aren’t too long, with the longest being just over 4 and a half minutes and I feel that is probably for the best. It wouldn’t make much sense to have the tracks be any longer. They’re short but they hit hard!
Some standout parts for me are; the brutal bridge section in Summer Hunt, the nice guitar solo (unfortunately the only one on the album) in the title track, the marching beat sounding guitar parts towards the end of Ombre Et Ordure, the entirety of Dying Melody (the shortest track on the album but easily my favourite) and the chuggy, groovy section halfway through Decémbre Noir.
The only real problem I have with the album is that there’s not much else to it than that, but I don’t really consider that to be much of a bad thing. The songs are the right amount of length, there’s no slower tracks or interludes, it’s hard and heavy all the way through. The mix is pretty good. 2 very nit picky things I will say is at the very end of Ombre Et Ordure you can hear a metronome in the background which I felt could have easily been cut out, and the ending of the last track ends a little bit too abruptly and it might have been better to have a bit of guitar or something to fade out just to give it a proper ending.
But overall, I very much enjoyed listening to this album, it’s absolutely chaotic and heavy and I love it. Fantastic playing from each of the band members and some really great work from the vocalists. Good effort! 9/10
Weite - Oase (Stickman Records) [Mark Young]
Oase is the second release from Weite, an international collective who describe themselves as ‘Weirdos’ and produce Progressive/Psych rock for other Progressive/Psych loving weirdos.
Probably. The last part about producing music for weirdos. I mean, they produce Progressive/Psych... it doesn’t matter. The boss is aware that I have a love/hate affair with instrumental music and although Mountain Caller are one of my favourite bands, the genre on the whole is one I am not too fussed over. So, which way do I fall with this one? Well, its pretty cool.
Honest.
It’s the kind of music that has a calming effect on you as they start to manage your mood with Versteinert, bringing in some glorious guitar tones that have the right amount of delay on them as the notes themselves dance in the air. It is a stunning piece of music, one that flows from one measure to another and despite weighing in at 9 minutes, it doesn’t feel like it all. One thing I get from it is that live, this would develop a life of its own just from the way it’s been put together.
Its quality and leads into the woodwind opening of Time Will Paint Another Picture which is fabulous. I sometimes talk about songs having that certain something that makes you want to play along/jam to it, and this has that. There is a great opening pattern which in itself forms the base of this. They change it around to suit lead licks and these have a late summer feel to them, which is ironic considering it snowed last night. Everything here is pitched perfectly, each moment a logical extension of the one before.
(einschlafphase) is next, changing direction as a pure electronica piece and I guess it is a refresher before Roter Traum comes in with solid drums that gently set up the next 10 minutes of music to come washing over you. Remember what I said about playing along? Well, this one occupies that same space. One thing it has is a sense of yearning, of reaching beyond its current position and should be used as a soundtrack for any science fiction film.
(einschlafphase) is next, changing direction as a pure electronica piece and I guess it is a refresher before Roter Traum comes in with solid drums that gently set up the next 10 minutes of music to come washing over you. Remember what I said about playing along? Well, this one occupies that same space. One thing it has is a sense of yearning, of reaching beyond its current position and should be used as a soundtrack for any science fiction film.
It is an epic track, never looking backwards and as it moves to the end the rising addition of electronica to it just lifts it to another level. After this, they turn their attention to lighter fields. Woodbury Hollow is a majestic 2 and half minutes of calm. In comparison to Roter, it is incredibly simple and a welcome change of pace because we spend the next 22 minutes in the company of these two:
Eigengrau
The Slow Wave
As much the same way as Woodbury Hollow occupied a mellow position, Eigengrau opts for a similar approach, but with a more expansive build. A slow burn, a sound scape that expands and twists through various forms with keys that swirl, guitars that rise and fall in an extended jam that at its heart is a simple arrangement until about 6 minutes in they change direction and suddenly the sound is stripped back to the basic core of drums, guitar and bass that takes an almost melancholic turn until it changed again. The way that they go through these differing approaches is something else, moving from one theme into another with ease.
Defeated Sanity - Chronicles Of Lunacy (Season Of Mist) [GC]
Brutal Death Metal, three words that send a shiver down my spine and make my insides hurt a bit, not because it’s so heavy or anything like that, no, it’s usually because its not what I want, now I love most varieties of death metal but always struggle with ‘’brutal’’ death metal, some of it is good but the vast majority of it is complete toilet, so with that ringing endorsement today I have Chronicles Of Lunacy the latest release form brutal death metal band Defeated Sanity, sigh.
It starts exactly as you would expect on Amputationsdrang with about as much subtlety as a steel toe capped boot to the gonads, it’s all blasting drums and guttural vocals which both completely drown out the guitars and any good work they may be doing and the speed at which the music is played is impressive but that also hinders any real patterns forming and it all just blurs into one long noise, The Odour Of Sanctity predictably follows the same heads down, play everything as fast as we can because that’s what makes it heavy right?
Eigengrau
The Slow Wave
As much the same way as Woodbury Hollow occupied a mellow position, Eigengrau opts for a similar approach, but with a more expansive build. A slow burn, a sound scape that expands and twists through various forms with keys that swirl, guitars that rise and fall in an extended jam that at its heart is a simple arrangement until about 6 minutes in they change direction and suddenly the sound is stripped back to the basic core of drums, guitar and bass that takes an almost melancholic turn until it changed again. The way that they go through these differing approaches is something else, moving from one theme into another with ease.
The Slow Wave is our goodbye song, a repeating riff that is teased along with some exemplary drumming that keeps the interest in place. This is one of the difficulties I have sometimes when reviewing material that is this good all the way through. Finding that you have used up most of your words on the first two songs is a pain, and what I probably should do is say this: Are you fan of instrumental progressive psych rock? Then buy this. Get the merch. Go see them live and even if you don’t normally go for this, please try it out. I’m glad I did. 10/10
Defeated Sanity - Chronicles Of Lunacy (Season Of Mist) [GC]
Brutal Death Metal, three words that send a shiver down my spine and make my insides hurt a bit, not because it’s so heavy or anything like that, no, it’s usually because its not what I want, now I love most varieties of death metal but always struggle with ‘’brutal’’ death metal, some of it is good but the vast majority of it is complete toilet, so with that ringing endorsement today I have Chronicles Of Lunacy the latest release form brutal death metal band Defeated Sanity, sigh.
It starts exactly as you would expect on Amputationsdrang with about as much subtlety as a steel toe capped boot to the gonads, it’s all blasting drums and guttural vocals which both completely drown out the guitars and any good work they may be doing and the speed at which the music is played is impressive but that also hinders any real patterns forming and it all just blurs into one long noise, The Odour Of Sanctity predictably follows the same heads down, play everything as fast as we can because that’s what makes it heavy right?
Wrong, it makes for an annoying listen trying to pick any specific thing out that I enjoy becomes the theme of this song and I can tell you that there isn’t much really apart from when the guitars do get a chance to shine, they sound full and groove nicely but this is not very often.
Things get slightly more interesting on Accelerating The Rot as there seems to be a bit more focus on letting the different instruments shine instead of the drums being the main focus and once again the jazzy intersections are here in force throughout and not just tacked on and it helps the song to flow differently which helps a lot as it doesn’t all just mesh into one long noise.
Temporal Disintegration has a weirdly timed opening that then flows into the main part of the song, its like if Dillinger Escape Plan went death metal and when they slow the pace down and incorporate these two styles together its good to hear something a bit different and more interesting instead of just pure speed and avoiding the tunnel vision of just blasting the shit out of everything.
There is this in there of course but it stands out here instead of getting boring, Extrinsically Enraged is another one that takes a slower approach and when I say slow its not like doom or anything its just slower than most things played on the album so far and it shows that when you mix up your focus and try new things there is a benefit to be had.
I mean they are never far away from ultimately throwing in a relentless attack section but when its combined with different ideas as opposed to being the only option it works so much better, after the more focused songs A Patriarchy Perverse is a bit messy in places and the differing styles and sections just sort of crash into each other and get in each other’s way a bit, the slow mid section is done really well but is the only part of the song I really enjoyed.
Condemned To Vascular Famine just outstays it welcome and is too long, they try all the different tricks that have been used on the album so far, jazzy mathcore death metal only really works if it’s concentrated in a short period of time here it just gets repetitive and about halfway through, I find myself kind of giving up, Heredity Violated ends the album with nothing new or anything that hasn’t already been done, I mean, its ok but it’s also not mind-blowingly good.
As usual I am not convinced with another brutal death metal album, Defeated Sanity definitely have talent and Chronicles Of Lunacy is impressively played and has decent parts in most of the songs but overall it just lacks soul and feeling, I understand that brutal death metal is meant to be heaviest of the heavy but it just all feels so forced and I find that I just get lost in the nonsense and always just feel that something is missing. Worth a listen but don’t get too excited. 6/10
As usual I am not convinced with another brutal death metal album, Defeated Sanity definitely have talent and Chronicles Of Lunacy is impressively played and has decent parts in most of the songs but overall it just lacks soul and feeling, I understand that brutal death metal is meant to be heaviest of the heavy but it just all feels so forced and I find that I just get lost in the nonsense and always just feel that something is missing. Worth a listen but don’t get too excited. 6/10
Die For My Sins – Scream (ViciSolum Productions) [Simon Black]
When a new collaboration cum Melo/Power metal Supergroup pops into my queue, my first thought always is that this is probably something to do with Italian label Frontiers Records.
When a new collaboration cum Melo/Power metal Supergroup pops into my queue, my first thought always is that this is probably something to do with Italian label Frontiers Records.
OK, the project is a collaboration from two brothers with Italian names (check), it’s got Ralf Scheepers doing guest vocals (double check) and there are lots of Italian session players filling other roles (triple check), but actually it’s from Swedish label ViciSolum (although given that this translates from Latin as “I won only” it’s an easy mistake to make). If you’ve not come across them before their range of output is more much broader than Frontiers in terms of sub-genres, and they seem to focus on more underground acts, so clearly one to keep an eye on in future.
Die For My Sins is a side project built around the brothers Fabio and Nicolas Calluori from Italian power metal act Heimdall and is much more traditionally heavy metal in tone and sound than their parent outfit. Having Ralf Scheepers handling the bulk of the vocals (8 of the 9 tracks) means that there’s an inevitable amount of homogeneity here, because as well as the numerous Primal Fear records.
Die For My Sins is a side project built around the brothers Fabio and Nicolas Calluori from Italian power metal act Heimdall and is much more traditionally heavy metal in tone and sound than their parent outfit. Having Ralf Scheepers handling the bulk of the vocals (8 of the 9 tracks) means that there’s an inevitable amount of homogeneity here, because as well as the numerous Primal Fear records.
He contributes to so many of these projects that it’s hard to stay fresh, which is also the problem Frontiers so often have with their cookie cutter approach. OK, things evolve a little when Ian Parry (Elegy) takes a turn on one track but given that he’s very close in tone and timbre to Ronnie Romero (who like Scheepers does loads of these projects), it doesn’t really solve the challenge of sameness.
This is a solid enough album, and I can’t fault any of the playing or vocals, but it doesn’t have any stand out songs to differentiate it from its soundalikes, and in a ridiculously overcrowded market that’s a bit of a shame. 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment