I first came to know Green Carnation after they were more known as a death-doom band, with 2020’s Leaves Of Yesteryear, that was in my top five albums (#4) for that year. Leaves was all clean singing, beautiful proggy metal and I loved every second of it.
After a five-year break, the band is back with part one of a three-part trilogy, A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia, which shares some of the characteristics of Leaves but starts to creep back in elements of their time when death vocals were prevalent. While I much prefer the clean singing, the return of some of the heavy stuff does not deter from how great Part One of this story is.
The opening track, or chapter if you will, As Silence Took You, is very much along the lines of what the band was doing on Leaves; so, soaring, excellent clean vocals, amazing production value, killer guitar work, perfectly placed keys, and a proggy doom that only sounds like Green Carnation. In Your Paradise is in the same vein, but maybe even a bit heavier; a more driving track that really rocks while still being proggy goodness.
Me, My Enemy is the most Pineapple Thief of all the tracks, and is just gigantic and cinematic, a nice juxtaposition for what has been and what’s to come. Were you expecting a black metal track, because you get one (in part) with the ripper The Slave That You Are, harkening back to the early days of the band, executed as you think it would be. The clean vocals combined with the guttural grows from Hell partner perfectly.
The Shores Of Melancholia ease you back down, with another epic heavy prog track that actually sounds like Queensryche at times, which is fine by me. Part One does not close with any kind of let down, as the nine-plus-minute Too Close To The Flame sets up what’s next perfectly, with a little bit of everything that Green Carnation brings to the table in one epic heavy prog track.
Part One kicks ass, so I can wait to hear what Green Carnation has for the next two thirds of the trilogy. Green Carnation are just so damn good at what they do, with A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia being the perfect example. 8/10
Årabrot - Rite Of Dionysus (Djura Missionshus/Dalapop) [Matt Bladen]
Tin Machine on Mescaline, that's how I described Rite Of Dionysus to a colleague when I first listened to the new album from Norwegian noise rockers Årabrot.
Tracked and recorded with Alain Johannes at their church studio, the heavy side was released as 2023's Of Darkness And Light but in the middle of the sessions Årabrot founder/main member Kjetil Nernes join Alain at the Taylor Hawkins tribute. These feelings of grief and rockstar grandeur are channelled through the woozy, hypnotic, darkly psychedelic sounds of this record. It's not an album meant for immediacy, it's one that gets under your skin.
From the gospel, organ drenched slow build of I Become Light unveils itself as if it's the opening salvo to a cult-like ceremony, Kjetil Nernes' baritone vocals are equally soulful and sneering, while is his guitars range between fuzzy garage riffs and repeating acoustic patterns. A Different Form, the first track where Karin Park adds her ethereal backing vocals and it's like a glam rock nightmare that segues it's way into woozy psychedelia on Rock N Roll Star and Devils Hut where the Tom Waits influence seeps into the record continuing into the sparse Pedestal where Karin gets a full duet.
Part One kicks ass, so I can wait to hear what Green Carnation has for the next two thirds of the trilogy. Green Carnation are just so damn good at what they do, with A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia being the perfect example. 8/10
Årabrot - Rite Of Dionysus (Djura Missionshus/Dalapop) [Matt Bladen]
Tin Machine on Mescaline, that's how I described Rite Of Dionysus to a colleague when I first listened to the new album from Norwegian noise rockers Årabrot.
Tracked and recorded with Alain Johannes at their church studio, the heavy side was released as 2023's Of Darkness And Light but in the middle of the sessions Årabrot founder/main member Kjetil Nernes join Alain at the Taylor Hawkins tribute. These feelings of grief and rockstar grandeur are channelled through the woozy, hypnotic, darkly psychedelic sounds of this record. It's not an album meant for immediacy, it's one that gets under your skin.
From the gospel, organ drenched slow build of I Become Light unveils itself as if it's the opening salvo to a cult-like ceremony, Kjetil Nernes' baritone vocals are equally soulful and sneering, while is his guitars range between fuzzy garage riffs and repeating acoustic patterns. A Different Form, the first track where Karin Park adds her ethereal backing vocals and it's like a glam rock nightmare that segues it's way into woozy psychedelia on Rock N Roll Star and Devils Hut where the Tom Waits influence seeps into the record continuing into the sparse Pedestal where Karin gets a full duet.
Rite Of Dionysus is perhaps not what you would expect from an Årabrot, it's not immediate, but it does put a hold on you with the sinister, grief driven narrative that moves through it. Raise a glass of wine to the god of wine and theatre with Årabrot as they toast fallen friends here. 8/10
Biolence – Violent Obliteration (Selvajaria/Doomed/Raging Planet) [Spike]
Biolence are back, and they’ve brought a warhead. Violent Obliteration doesn’t meander, it hits like a collapsing bunker. Eleven tracks of unapologetic death/thrash, clocking in just under 46 minutes, feel like they were recorded in a fuel-fed furnace. Every riff snarls, every snare breaks like scorching debris, and every vocal sneer sparks like flint on steel. They say it’s their most cohesive, direct, and violent album yet and they’re not messing around.
The journey kicks off with Theatre Of War (Intro) a brief storm of sirens and dissonant tones that feels like boots hitting the ground before the charge begins. From there, Pit Of Degradation, Humanity Executioner, and Heavy Artillery keep the throttle wide open delivering chaotic riffing, punishing grooves, and drums that feel like cannon fire. It’s urgent without being sloppy; there’s control within the chaos.
Worlds Plague, Glory Of Savagery and Extermination Through Mutation are pulverizing in their momentum, thrash charged with death metal power. The title track Violent Obliteration stands out with its almost desperate concentration; it’s a short, savage bullet carved into the listener’s skull. 50 Caliber Freedom and F.U.B.A.R. shift the tone into grit-and-gristle territory, all mid-tempo grind with riffs that drag like anchor chains under lo-fi halos.
Closer Ashes Of The End (Outro) lets the dust fall with a jagged sigh. No warmth: just the echo of devastation and the sense that nothing quite feels untouched by decay anymore. Biolence doesn’t pretend to reinvent the wheel, they sharpen it and spin it straight into your skull. Their influences; Slayer, Sepultura, Obituary aren’t hidden; they’re fused into something punchier, leaner, and still blood-soaked. The production is raw but urgent, lo-fi enough to feel live, tight enough every riff lands where it should.
This hooked me fast. By the second track, I was locked. There’s no subtlety, and that’s kind of the point. Biolence aren’t whispering warnings; they’re crowing over the ruins. Harsh, visceral, and relentless. A full-spectrum assault for anyone who wants their thrash served with collapse. This is a very high 9/10
Ritual Mass - Cascading Misery (20 Buck Spin) [Mark Young]
You know, this has been a difficult album to review. Whilst there is a grind to reviewing in that you are constantly trying to listen and absorb whilst having one eye on the submission date generally you can get to a good position where you are ready to commit your thoughts to paper.
This has been on the listening table for a while and with the commute I have it enables me to listen to an album in full, uninterrupted so you can get a handle on the music and as I sit to down to type it up, I’m now attempting to say why I didn’t get on with it without just saying ‘I didn’t like it’.
Cascading Misery is the first full length release from Ritual Mass, and by rights It should be something that I would normally be in to. It makes all the right noises, but I’ve not been able to get onboard with it. Basically, It felt that there was no discernible break from where one track finished and another started.
Cascading Misery is the first full length release from Ritual Mass, and by rights It should be something that I would normally be in to. It makes all the right noises, but I’ve not been able to get onboard with it. Basically, It felt that there was no discernible break from where one track finished and another started.
There was nothing that jumped out and grabbed me, just a collection of songs that came and went without leaving a memorable moment or impression that warranted further listens other than to aid this review. In the olden days of reviews put to print i.e. Kerrang, Metal Hammer etc there would be some snarky humour embedded in there that wouldn’t tell you anything other than the reviewer didn’t like it. I want to avoid that, because that does a disservice to the band themselves.
The music isn’t awful, it isn’t badly produced and in a lot of ways probably leans more into a doom vibe than death metal. Its replete with crushing, densely packed riffs but they come and go with out leaving a dent on me and generally that is the case until I get to Disquiet. This 14-minute banger comes and shakes everything up and I’m not sure why I’m digging this over the other songs on here. Its this sprawling, destructive blast of grinding riffs and drums, complete with harmonic guitar lines and this monolithic foundation.
It visits all of the standard points of reference – from full on to atmospheric melody lines and back again before it fades out against a rising wall of white noise. It falls into that doom/death metal area and builds an oppressive air to it which has been present all along but is more pronounced here. I just can’t fathom why this is sticking with me when the others didn’t.
This does provide a suitable springboard for Ritual Mass to use and move forward on and for me there is good work here, especially that closing piece its just that in their current guise it simply doesn’t excite me enough to warrant further listens. Again, personal opinion is wonderful and for someone else this might be one of their albums of the year. Just not for me, just not yet. 6/10
This does provide a suitable springboard for Ritual Mass to use and move forward on and for me there is good work here, especially that closing piece its just that in their current guise it simply doesn’t excite me enough to warrant further listens. Again, personal opinion is wonderful and for someone else this might be one of their albums of the year. Just not for me, just not yet. 6/10
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