Reviews: Higher Power, Atomic Witch, Mosara, Thorn (Rich Piva, Spike, Matt Bladen & GC)

Higher Power - There’s Love In This World If You Want It (Nuclear Blast Records) [Rich Piva]

Turnstile is one of the biggest bands out there right now, so there is no reason why Higher Power can’t be there too, except for issues with getting the follow up to their 2020 record 27 Miles Underwater actually out to the public to capitalize on the momentum they were able to create with that killer release. 

There’s Love In This World If You Want It is here now, in the form of a surprise release that has garnered some strong opinions on both sides of the aisle, with some hating the pop punk feel to the record, and some loving the hardcore vibes combined with all other sorts of punk influences of the 30-plus minutes of the record. I am in the latter camp, as this record rips it up, is catchy, reminds me of so much stuff I love, and is here and gone so quickly, always leaving me wanting more.

Someone said that There’s Love In This World If You Want It sounds like every pop punk band that has ever put a record out, combined. I think this was meant as a negative, but I think it is a strength of the album. Yeah, we still have the hardcore vibes, but it is pop hardcore, just like what Turnstile is really. 

Absolute Bloom opens the record up, and is catchy, bouncy, poppy, hardcore goodness, with an early Blink vibe to it. Deal with it. The hardcore vibes are stronger on Count The Miles, giving off some early AFI vibes, and boy does that make me happy. I hear bands like Billy Talent thrown around too, and all I can say is yup, I hear it, and it is fine by me. 

Breakdown!!! I have mentioned Turnstile a lot already, and how could I not with a track like All The Rage? Post hardcore/Emo vibes are strong in this one. Anyone aware of The Casket Lottery? You should be (new one soon!). How about Elliott? Well, Better has vibes from those bands and again, this makes me happy. Maybe some Brand New too. 

Two Doors Down is the heaviest track on the record, but still maintains that poppy catchiness that you get throughout There’s Love In This World If You Want It, even if it is hidden a bit more in this track. A little Get Up Kids action is what you get with Lunar Tuesday, while Kaleidoscope has a 90s alt rock vibe to it. I hear this on Wide Awake too. I love the instrumentation on this one. The closer, My Sweet Surrender, is like a combo of everything I just mentioned, with the Blink 182 doing Casket Lottery vibes, but bigger, winning out.

So yeah, I really dig Higher Power and I am so glad they are back. This is a mish mash of all sorts of punk stuff, and to me it really works. If Turnstile can have a top ten record, there is no reason why High Power can’t at last open for them and nip at their heels a bit on the strength of There’s Love In This World If You Want It. 8/10

Atomic Witch – Death Etiquette (Redefining Darkness Records) [Spike]

If your attention span is shorter than a rat’s memory, Death Etiquette has you covered. Atomic Witch waste absolutely no time: opener Morgue Rat is a blast of flesh-ripping thrash, gurgling death metal, and the kind of horror-drenched chaos that feels like it was pulled from a scratchy VHS copy of Re-Animator. It’s tight, savage, and over in less than half an hour which is long enough to scar, short enough to demand immediate re-entry.

There’s something deliciously sick about how this band merge styles without overthinking it. One minute you’re in a twisted proto-speed metal loop, the next in a full-on grind-adjacent collapse. But none of it feels stitched together. Of Flesh & Chrome lurches with a mechanical groove, like a derailed industrial train belching toxic smoke. Worms & Dirt wallows in low-end filth and dissonant leads, almost hypnotic until it isn’t. The crown jewel might be Death Edging (Come To The Light) it’s a warped centrepiece that proves Atomic Witch aren’t just about pace and panic. There’s menace here, a deliberate build of tension under all the reverb and bile. It’s the closest they come to atmospheric, and they manage it without losing the lunatic edge.

Elsewhere, Dream Rot delivers short sharp shocks, Skelecidal stumbles like a corpse on stilts, and closer Vicious Mistress signs things off with venom and glee. Even when the songs are only two minutes long, there’s a clarity of intent. This is music designed to jolt, swing wildly, and then vanish back into the smoke. Sonically, it’s sharp where it needs to be, but scuffed just enough to feel dangerous. Vocals are spat from the gut, guitars are coated in grime, and the drums punch through like a basement trapdoor slamming shut. There’s no fat, no room for indulgence, and no pretence of subtlety.

It all feels like the soundtrack to a manic late-night drive with too many flashing lights in the rear-view. You’re not sure if you’re being chased or chasing something, but the engine’s revving and the tape’s already halfway through.

Frenzied, filthy, and fun in the worst possible way. 8/10

Mosara - Rumour Of A Funeral (Remorseless Records) [Matt Bladen]

Get ready for a sludgefest from the Desert, despite being 1,522.5 miles from New Orleans, Mosara play the dankest, dirtiest, hardcore infested sludge, west of Texas. Their new album Rumour Of A Funeral is crushing, cataclysmic and also cathartic as the band describe this record as having their “blood, sweat and tears” running through it. 

Five tracks, four on the official release and 2023 single Amena added as a bonus digitally I assume, Rumour Of A Funeral, rumbles like an oncoming storm from its first moments and never lets you get comfortable. This doom at its most aggressive and angular, blackened by its forays into sludge dissonance and the vocals that never move away from being an anguished scream, it’s a redefining for the band who moved through a lot of turmoil in the creation of this record. 

It’s described in their press as “sonically remorseless” and that’s a great way to refer to this wall of noise, the four piece comprised of John (drums), Chris (bass), Nikos (guitar) and Tony (vocals/guitar) have plunged into the depths of their own despair to come up with the music here, crafting their dismay and their hardship into their most galling record in their existence. 

Originally formed in 2005 but then splitting and reformed in 2019, they have been hitting the music scene with might for a while now but Rumour Of A Funeral may just be their most accomplished album. If you want your doom, distorted and disorientating with sludge/hardcore and progressive textures then I suggest you immerse yourself in the noise of Mosara. 7/10

Thorn - Nebulous Womb Of Eternity (Transcending Obscurity Records) [GC]

A few weeks have passed since I have fawned over the latest Transcending Obscurity release so, it seems like it’s time for me to scratch that itch again, and this week it’s the turn of one-man project Thorn and his second album Nebulous Womb Of Eternity to see if the never-ending run of T.O artists can release yet another a worldie album.

There is no time to prepare yourself for charmingly titled opener Ooze Maelstrom it has a delightful savageness about it and I imagine this is what fans of Br00tal death metal actually think their music sounds like but it never does, this has all the relevant blastiness and chugging riffs but also has a clarity and preciseness to it, whadda you know BDM can actually sound decent!! 

I do almost die slightly when I see Entombed In Chrysalis is 8:26 long because that is long for most genres nevermind death metal but, it’s not actually as bad as I am expecting the pace is slower which is to be expected so lends a much more old school feel to the sound and its all done well enough but does tend to get slightly repetitive very quickly and the last 4 minutes is just a prolonged outro tacked onto the song for god knows what reason and is just a massively unnecessary way to end a song. 

Quartersawn Remains picks the pace back up and is a swampy mix of the OSDM and BDM of previous tracks which does work well and swiftly removes and feelings of annoyance from earlier, there are some slight timing issues I’m not a massive fan of but listening to the overall sound, it’s a good track. On Zombifying Mold my main issue is the lyrics don’t really seem to fit with the music and sound a bit all over the place which is also probably true of the music now I have had a re-listen, it’s just all over the place timewise and tonally and just sounds a bit muddled and messy for the most part and the enjoyment is slowly getting slightly less with each passing track now! 

Haunting Gale does re-address the balance somewhat and is chock full of chugging walls of guitars and mixed in the background is a subtle but nevertheless noticeable deathcore element that adds a bit of atmosphere to the non-stop onslaught and this really makes all the difference and expands the sonic horizon of the whole track which has come at just the right time for me as I mentioned was flagging a bit towards the end of the last track, I suppose the trick is to keep it going now and exactly the opposite happens on Gloaming Corporeal Form which is just 2 minutes of ambient space noise that an album that only has 7 tracks REALLY does not need, to include this as a track just feels like a bit of a pisstake in all honesty and re-ignites the frustration element that has been simmering away.

Here is the 7th and last track Nebulous Womb Of Eternity and its another marathon at 7:33, and as with the previous long track everything is just slowed down and a bit drawn out, I can appreciate that a band wants to try different styles, but suddenly incorporating an almost funeral doom-esque style into the album on the final track just feels a left turn the is completely unneeded and ends the album in a really disappointing and drawn out fashion.

For an album that only has 7 songs, to have one that lasts 8+ minutes 4 of which are almost just silence and to have a mid ‘album’ interlude just isn’t what I want! Nebulous Womb Of Eternity actually started out very promisingly but unfortunately just got gradually more frustrating to listen to too as it went on. In all honesty I’m not 100% sure what Thorn is trying to achieve with this album as there is no discernible direction or style and overall, it’s just a confusing and ultimately disappointing listen, a rare miss for Transcending Obscurity. 5/10