Much of the PR around this album states it their debut album but I very much remember Simon reviewing a record called Gods Of Fire in 2023, now he loved that record but it seems that was basically a collection of their EP's and Singles so we will treat this as a their debut.
Firstborne are a band formed by ex-Lamb Of God and ex-Megadeth drummer Chris Adler, string shredding guitarist Myrone and vocalist Girish Pradhan of Girish And The Chronicles and The End Machine, they take the best parts of American heavy metal, radio friendly hard rock and thrash and put them all together across 10 songs that move more towards the hard rock spin more with this album than some of their previous singles.
Recorded with producer Machine (Clutch, King Crimson, Crobot), tracks such as Rescue Me and Only A Fool has that swaggering bluesy sound of Black Star Riders or Cinderella, the hard rock background of Pradhan showing up here as Shine brings more blues but with some Alice In Chains-like grunge with Adler taking cue from Bonzo behind the drum kit with the spacing and the psychedelic power, those years spent in thrash bands come on Wake Up.
There’s plenty of influences running through this record with some 80’s rock and metal met with 90’s grunge. The performances are all brilliant on Human Interrupted they take a turn that sounds like Pantera performing Van Halen, the drumming from Adler is more expansive than anything on LoG, Pradhan’s vocals have much more grit here and Myrone shows himself to be the master of ‘soft shred’ peeling off solos as if they’re nothing, and as the band close their record with the galloping Minefield (which steals a bit of The Trooper in the middle) but ends the record on a rebellious note.
A top quality album from Firstborne if classic heavy rock and metal are your thing, you will be playing ‘spot the influence’ but Lucky is a record that leaves you wanting more and impressed by the skills on show. 9/10
The Depth Beneath Us - Descent (Self Released)
The second album from Pennsylvania post rockers The Depth Beneath Us, they're a band with influences as wide as Battles, Russian Circles and even U2, their music is cinematic, atmospheric and build for wide-screen listening, like film soundtrack but rich in progressive rock experience, classical strings and a strong need for storytelling.
Comprised of Mike McCormick (guitar), Daniel Eckrich (guitar), Matt Rockman (guitar), Ryan Manning (bass), Wes Shatzer (drums) the triple pronged guitar is one of the ways the band are able to fully realise their multi-layered approach to music, Head And The Transient Love for instance really displays the versatility of this set up with counteracting melodies meshing together on top of propulsive drumming.
Descent is styled as a journey through sound, the glistening Hessdalen Lights shifts through into the techy Emprise and the fluid Apollonian as 117B embraces some searing Floydian guitar-scapes. Teetering on the precipice of prog with this is bristling post-rock at its most contemporary. 7/10
Praesider - Enter The Praesidium (Self Released)
Cornish extreme metal now as Praesider finally deliver their debut album Enter The Praesidium composed and crafted over a number of years.
This is an album that's been painstakingly constructed to build on multiple influences particularly those from the more symphony side of black metal the inspiration of Dimmu Borgir and Bal-Sahoth coming from their use of keys and orchestrations while there's gothic choirs that are pure Cradle Of Filth malevolence.
The Procession is just that, an organ drenched funeral march that showcases the choral as it builds towards the main part of the album, as more choirs are used to set the tone as the black metal kicks in for the first time on the title track. Vocalist Nexziya snarling with visceral aggression as she shifts into dramatic cleans.
She also provides the female parts of the choir as drummer Julian is the male part, as a keyboard player he's also the foundation of the synths and orchestrations, as much as he's the foundation of the whole band with steamrolling blast beats on tracks such as The Ultimatum and Mandatory Condemnation.
That balance of traditional black metal and gothic metal rears it's head again on Look Towards The Witch with Mercyful Fate the main influence here as Marcin and Jamie play riffs that accelerate the pace into speed metal, again drenched in gothic tones.
Between the duo, they handle all rhythm, acoustic (the closing Enter The Praesidium), lead and bass so they're both skilled with twin melodies and trem picking on Beast Of Abberation as Purgatorial Judgement increases the doom.
With time on their hands, Praesider have made a theatrical first record where extreme metal styles collide. 7/10
Smouldering Tomb - Maledictions (Self Released)
Having only been a band since, *checks notes* March 2025, Brighton based death metal band Smouldering Tomb haven't hung around delivering their debut EP just a few months later.
The band play, in their own words oppressive old school death metal which harks back to Autopsy and Incantation. So a world hating, misanthropic style of death metal, one that rages at planet and everyone in it.
The band are a trio with Hwyel Payne handling drums, fretless bass, synths/keys, dive bomb guitars and most of the recording plus mixing and mastering. His mix/master gives the record a rawness of a those early death tape trading demos where it was noisy and rabid. Joining him is Jake Burgess who handles the guitars and bass for the record, moving from lighting fast picking to slow sludgy processions, with some metallic distortion and heads down aggression.
Vocally Marianne Hayes has some of the most sickening gutturals I've heard this year. Almost indistinguishable without headphones, she barks and growls through tracks such as Diet Of Worms where the black metal shrieks come in at the end. For me the though it's with final song Subduer Of All that Smouldering Tomb show where they could be with future releases, the synthy beginnings bringing that ominous doom grunt bands such as Immolation or Incantation have.
Maledictions is a four track introduction to a band who dwell in maudlin heaviness, death metal that tries to consume you, they're worth keeping an eye on. 7/10
Maledictions is a four track introduction to a band who dwell in maudlin heaviness, death metal that tries to consume you, they're worth keeping an eye on. 7/10
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