Fallujah don’t mess about. Xenotaph is a full-bodied, dizzyingly complex onslaught and it’s absolutely glorious for it.
From the opening seconds, there’s no easing in. You’re dropped headfirst into a whirlwind of precision riffing, blast beats, and swirling atmospherics that somehow manage to be both crushing and cinematic. It’s technical, yes but not for the sake of showing off. There’s a purpose to every spiral, every time signature shift, every whispered clean vocal layered under the storm.
Fallujah have always pushed boundaries within the technical death metal and progressive spaces, but Xenotaph feels like a band that’s reached full maturity. The song writing is tighter, the mood darker, and the emotional undercurrent more focused. You can feel the weight in these tracks, not just the sonic heft, but the sense of something genuinely personal buried under the surface.
Fallujah have always pushed boundaries within the technical death metal and progressive spaces, but Xenotaph feels like a band that’s reached full maturity. The song writing is tighter, the mood darker, and the emotional undercurrent more focused. You can feel the weight in these tracks, not just the sonic heft, but the sense of something genuinely personal buried under the surface.
There are moments that genuinely stop you in your tracks. When the chaos momentarily recedes and gives way to those soaring, almost post-rock textures, it’s like stepping into a pocket of calm before the next maelstrom hits. That ebb and flow is where Xenotaph really shines it is an album that rewards attention. Casual listening? Probably not. Immersive listening? Absolutely.
It’s not all easy going. There’s a lot packed in here, and the density can be overwhelming at times. But for those willing to engage with it fully, Xenotaph is a beautifully crafted monster, equal parts brutality and elegance.
In a genre where technicality can sometimes come at the expense of feeling, Fallujah have managed to hold onto both. Xenotaph is intense, ambitious, and entirely worth a listen. 8/10
Sun After Dark – Tatkraft (Hammerheart Records) [Spike]
Sun After Dark's Tatkraft is a thundering, metallic statement it's dark, deliberate, and absolutely unafraid to lean into its influences. There’s a clear thread running from Rammstein and Celtic Frost through this record, both in the mechanical stomp of its rhythms and the weighty, cold atmosphere that hangs over everything. If you like your music muscular and moody, this delivers.
Sonically, it hits hard. The production is thick and dense, with riffs that land like iron girders and vocals that range from guttural to hypnotic. There’s a relentless quality to much of the album that keeps things driving forward, track after track, with the kind of industrial-tinged groove that fans of Neue Deutsche Härte will immediately feel at home with.
But Tatkraft isn’t just a one-trick beast, it takes risks. Several tracks shift dramatically mid-song, diving into genre-bending detours that, while ambitious, didn’t always land for me. There were moments where I found myself slightly pulled out of the atmosphere, as if the transitions, though musically sound, broke the spell the band had so effectively cast.
Still, I can’t fault the sheer intent here. Sun After Dark clearly have a vision, and Tatkraft wears that proudly. When it sticks to its brutal, industrial roots, it’s commanding and confident. The twists and turns? They might just be a taste thing. Some listeners will find them bold and dynamic for me though I found them slightly jarring.
But that’s art. And this album, for all its heaviness, definitely makes you feel something. 7/10
Insania - The Great Apocalypse (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Swedish band Insania come galloping back with more full throttle power metal on their sixth record and like so many power metal bands these days they're going a bit darker, lyrically and occasionally musically too, though don't fret too much as they still have bright, breezy, rampaging power metal with tracks such as Underneath The Eye letting rip fully.
Those double kick drums from band leader Mikko Korsbäck moving at warp speed while the Erik Arkö (bass), Niklas Dahlin (guitars), Ola Halén (vocals and guitars) complete this version of Insania. The Great Apocalypse is their second album for Frontiers, as well as their second since their return from hiatus in 2007.
V was greeted as good comeback but with this new record takes everything a bit further, locking in on their core sound but adding some prog metal to the title track, some epic voyaging on Indestructible. You're here for power metal though and No One's Hero, Afterlife and Fire From Above have you covered with frantic percussion, twin guitar harmonies and plenty of guitar/keyboard duels.
Insania are a band for fans of Helloween, Stratovarius or anyone that loves their power metal with plenty of pace. 8/10
Malvada - Malvada (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Brazilian rock band Malvada formed during the pandemic, Indira Castillo (vocals), Bruna Tsuruda (guitar), Juliana Salgado (drums) and Rafaela Reoli (bass) joined together to play rock music, taking shows all over their native Brazil and building a fan base for the swaggering contemporary style of hard rock which saw them sign to Frontiers in 2023, the home for the sort of hard rock that Malvada play.
This self titled debut is their first to feature songs in both Portuguese and English, Indira's blues soaked vocals working well in either language, giving her full range to the dramatic Fear and attitude After where they have the grit of Halestorm, the walking bassline of Rafaela driving the groove here, there and everywhere.
They get heavier with the grunting Bulletproof, the verses twitching with electronics against Juliana Salgado's drumbeat, as Bruna Tsuruda's massive riffs come in on the choruses. Como Se Fosse Hoje, So Sweet and I'm Sorry are the albums ballads, the first two all Mr Big acoustics and campfire melodies, while the other is has FM play written all over it.
Malvada's debut album is a fine example of modern heavy rock from this up and coming Brazil band who will be making waves outside of their native country very soon. 7/10
It’s not all easy going. There’s a lot packed in here, and the density can be overwhelming at times. But for those willing to engage with it fully, Xenotaph is a beautifully crafted monster, equal parts brutality and elegance.
In a genre where technicality can sometimes come at the expense of feeling, Fallujah have managed to hold onto both. Xenotaph is intense, ambitious, and entirely worth a listen. 8/10
Sun After Dark – Tatkraft (Hammerheart Records) [Spike]
Sun After Dark's Tatkraft is a thundering, metallic statement it's dark, deliberate, and absolutely unafraid to lean into its influences. There’s a clear thread running from Rammstein and Celtic Frost through this record, both in the mechanical stomp of its rhythms and the weighty, cold atmosphere that hangs over everything. If you like your music muscular and moody, this delivers.
Sonically, it hits hard. The production is thick and dense, with riffs that land like iron girders and vocals that range from guttural to hypnotic. There’s a relentless quality to much of the album that keeps things driving forward, track after track, with the kind of industrial-tinged groove that fans of Neue Deutsche Härte will immediately feel at home with.
But Tatkraft isn’t just a one-trick beast, it takes risks. Several tracks shift dramatically mid-song, diving into genre-bending detours that, while ambitious, didn’t always land for me. There were moments where I found myself slightly pulled out of the atmosphere, as if the transitions, though musically sound, broke the spell the band had so effectively cast.
Still, I can’t fault the sheer intent here. Sun After Dark clearly have a vision, and Tatkraft wears that proudly. When it sticks to its brutal, industrial roots, it’s commanding and confident. The twists and turns? They might just be a taste thing. Some listeners will find them bold and dynamic for me though I found them slightly jarring.
But that’s art. And this album, for all its heaviness, definitely makes you feel something. 7/10
Insania - The Great Apocalypse (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Swedish band Insania come galloping back with more full throttle power metal on their sixth record and like so many power metal bands these days they're going a bit darker, lyrically and occasionally musically too, though don't fret too much as they still have bright, breezy, rampaging power metal with tracks such as Underneath The Eye letting rip fully.
Those double kick drums from band leader Mikko Korsbäck moving at warp speed while the Erik Arkö (bass), Niklas Dahlin (guitars), Ola Halén (vocals and guitars) complete this version of Insania. The Great Apocalypse is their second album for Frontiers, as well as their second since their return from hiatus in 2007.
V was greeted as good comeback but with this new record takes everything a bit further, locking in on their core sound but adding some prog metal to the title track, some epic voyaging on Indestructible. You're here for power metal though and No One's Hero, Afterlife and Fire From Above have you covered with frantic percussion, twin guitar harmonies and plenty of guitar/keyboard duels.
Insania are a band for fans of Helloween, Stratovarius or anyone that loves their power metal with plenty of pace. 8/10
Malvada - Malvada (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Brazilian rock band Malvada formed during the pandemic, Indira Castillo (vocals), Bruna Tsuruda (guitar), Juliana Salgado (drums) and Rafaela Reoli (bass) joined together to play rock music, taking shows all over their native Brazil and building a fan base for the swaggering contemporary style of hard rock which saw them sign to Frontiers in 2023, the home for the sort of hard rock that Malvada play.
This self titled debut is their first to feature songs in both Portuguese and English, Indira's blues soaked vocals working well in either language, giving her full range to the dramatic Fear and attitude After where they have the grit of Halestorm, the walking bassline of Rafaela driving the groove here, there and everywhere.
They get heavier with the grunting Bulletproof, the verses twitching with electronics against Juliana Salgado's drumbeat, as Bruna Tsuruda's massive riffs come in on the choruses. Como Se Fosse Hoje, So Sweet and I'm Sorry are the albums ballads, the first two all Mr Big acoustics and campfire melodies, while the other is has FM play written all over it.
Malvada's debut album is a fine example of modern heavy rock from this up and coming Brazil band who will be making waves outside of their native country very soon. 7/10
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