Black Metal from Manchester!! Huzzah!!
I’m excited because I think this is the first black metal band I’ve reviewed that are on my doorstep. Wode, with their 4th full length Uncrossing The Keys drop a satisfying bit of stuff, just in time for the dark nights and generally appalling weather that is to become our friend for the next couple of months. I’ve gone in completely blind here, and being honest the opening track Two Crossed Keys didn’t raise much other than a ‘hmm’ reaction. It was just ok for the most part, content to rumble along and not do a lot.
About 2 or so minutes in there is a change and suddenly it starts to move, finding more interesting things to say and as a result my interest picks up. Overall, it still was a little flat as an opening piece but with Under Lanternlight things take a different turn. There is an old-school flavour running through, part 80’s goth, part 80’s rock which works incredibly well. At its centre is the suitably grim vocals from M Czerwoniuk who also supplies riffs along with D Shaw, who make sure that there is a zip to this. I’m not talking light speed guitars but rather discernible guitar parts, and some quality harmony parts.
They get down and heavy on this with T Horrocks giving the skins a bash (and guitar too according to the bio) who brings a solid base. Rounding things out is some chunky bass from E Troup and what you have is a song that is so much better than the opener. I’m glad that this has played out like this because from here on in the music takes on an upward path, Saturn Shadow coming next with an almost punk start to it.
Once they get that out of the system its back to the big riffs that are set to a slower tempo. What I love about it is that they manage to get that black metal vibe into it without attempting to go down a traditional route of being screamingly fast. Its full of melodic guitar lines that have zero fat anywhere, its direct and to the point.
Speaking of traditional ways, Transmutation has what I would class as a standard bm start but kept within reasonable speeds. Its one of those tracks that builds, adding in keys to expand the core sound but without forgetting the riffs. And this one has some belters on it, bridging into doom territory here and there but always sounding like it is meant to be that way.
Speaking of traditional ways, Transmutation has what I would class as a standard bm start but kept within reasonable speeds. Its one of those tracks that builds, adding in keys to expand the core sound but without forgetting the riffs. And this one has some belters on it, bridging into doom territory here and there but always sounding like it is meant to be that way.
Keeping that upward movement going, they drop cracker after cracker that pops open the who’s who of metal and takes inspiration from everywhere, Prisoner Of The Moon upping that speed while keeping the bottom end present and correct before dropping in galloping riff, which I always love to hear.
Squeezed in here is a dynamic sliding motif, more melodic lines and furious ending. It’s the sort of stuff that you can return to again and again and what’s more you would get a buzz from playing it. Fiery End goes for the epically charged start, sounding like a band where whatever chains had caged them at the start had been well and truly thrown off.
Despite the dark nature of the music they approach it with a swagger, finding the target every time with a build that leans more into pure metal than the blackened sub-genre. There is a ton going on here, and all of it mint. There is an argument that because its not flying along at a 1000mph, can it be called black metal? I’m not that bothered really, if the music is good then it doesn’t matter does it?
Lash Of The Tyrant takes up position next, using its slightly longer runtime to utilise a lumbering tack that doesn’t skip on having memorable tunes. Given its length it could be labelled their masterwork and to some that would be the right thing to say, but I felt it ran slightly too long. Running into the final leg, we have Phantom, an instrumental track that I am ambivalent to. It didn’t offer anything, fading in and fading out without going anywhere.
They wrap this up with Dashed On The Rocks, which is triumphant, once it kicks in properly. Its an absolute blast, representing a gleeful nod to the genre as a whole. Fast paced and brutal its sudden handbrake turn into a melodic break section is spot on, giving it a little room to breathe and whilst the pickup into the ending minutes is telegraphed it is still executed well and closes this out on a high-water mark.
Lash Of The Tyrant takes up position next, using its slightly longer runtime to utilise a lumbering tack that doesn’t skip on having memorable tunes. Given its length it could be labelled their masterwork and to some that would be the right thing to say, but I felt it ran slightly too long. Running into the final leg, we have Phantom, an instrumental track that I am ambivalent to. It didn’t offer anything, fading in and fading out without going anywhere.
They wrap this up with Dashed On The Rocks, which is triumphant, once it kicks in properly. Its an absolute blast, representing a gleeful nod to the genre as a whole. Fast paced and brutal its sudden handbrake turn into a melodic break section is spot on, giving it a little room to breathe and whilst the pickup into the ending minutes is telegraphed it is still executed well and closes this out on a high-water mark.
As an album, I’ve mentioned that it is something that has a real grab, bringing you heavy riffs whilst not forgetting about the songs behind them. Apart from the opener and the instrumental, they don’t drop the ball (and on reflection these aren’t bad, just not as good as the others) with each song building on the one before. 8/10
Hollow Blessings - Vermin Tongue (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Abrasive, uncompromising noise from South Wales now as Hollow Blessings bring us Vermin Tongue a three track ranger which slaps you hard about the face with some hardcore/sludge venom.
Hollow Blessings - Vermin Tongue (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Abrasive, uncompromising noise from South Wales now as Hollow Blessings bring us Vermin Tongue a three track ranger which slaps you hard about the face with some hardcore/sludge venom.
Hollow Blessings always impress me with how visceral they are as a band and when Beyond The Veil erupts from the speakers with ferocity and a deep throbbing groove and underneath it all some twitching electronics as it moves into the blastbeats towards the end, it's this complexity that has always impressed me with Hollow Blessings.
However the title track is vicious, just over two minutes of pure aggression, hardcore with plenty of visceral vocals as it quickly moves into screeching guitar and a flailing percussion. Recorded and mixed by Dan Couch and mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air, Vermin Tongue is a volatile three song EP from Hollow Blessings which savages you from the off. 8/10
Agartha – The Hidden (No Remorse Records) [Simon Black]
Agartha is one of those band projects that are unlikely to appear on a stage anytime soon. A two-man studio outfit, with multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Berry handling all the playing, supported by Ryan Evans on vocal duties, this is something of a mixed bag of an EP.
It has a moody haunting feeling but musically is a bit non-committal. The melody lines from vocals and instruments tend to weave together, so this really doesn’t feel like a cohesive band but an early demo for an outfit formed in someone’s bedroom, which is frustrating as although there’s some strong elements in here the end result feels only half-cooked.
It's not until the halfway point when we get to the title track that things step up to the mark a bit more, with a dialling up of the mood and an element of rawness and emotion creeping into Evans’ vocals. These feel five tracks don’t have a studio consistency to them and feel like they’ve been assembled in pieces over time in different studio environments.
Agartha – The Hidden (No Remorse Records) [Simon Black]
Agartha is one of those band projects that are unlikely to appear on a stage anytime soon. A two-man studio outfit, with multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Berry handling all the playing, supported by Ryan Evans on vocal duties, this is something of a mixed bag of an EP.
It has a moody haunting feeling but musically is a bit non-committal. The melody lines from vocals and instruments tend to weave together, so this really doesn’t feel like a cohesive band but an early demo for an outfit formed in someone’s bedroom, which is frustrating as although there’s some strong elements in here the end result feels only half-cooked.
It's not until the halfway point when we get to the title track that things step up to the mark a bit more, with a dialling up of the mood and an element of rawness and emotion creeping into Evans’ vocals. These feel five tracks don’t have a studio consistency to them and feel like they’ve been assembled in pieces over time in different studio environments.
The Hidden title track has a much rougher sound, almost like one would expect from a live recording, and it’s all the stronger for it, as well as being a way more well-crafted arrangement that starts to feel like a proper band at work rather than a demo tape of song ideas. Vocally the rawer approach continues from here on, and definitely works better than the clean cut opening tracks, but overall I am left with an impression of an outfit that needs to be a bit bolder musically as these songs feel a little hollow as they are. 3/10
The Mansters - Snapshots From A Shitshow (Loyal Blood Records) [GC]
If you were to sum up the world in an album title, I think Snapshots From A Shitshow is about as on the money as your going to get but you wouldn’t necessarily expect it to come from the mecca of happiness and work/life balance heaven of Norway but The Mansters are clearly annoyed and have something to say about the state of how the world is going.
The opening notes of The World Is My Ulcer feel like we are going to get a nice and breezy skate punk affair, but it doesn’t take long for it to take a slightly more hardcore form, its not exactly hardcore punk ala Discharge etc, it has more of the Minor Threat/Gorilla Biscuits sound to it and Badeland Hardcore is more of the same, snotty, anger filled punky hardcore with a melodic dash thrown in here and there and its all very nostalgic and fun to listen to, nothing changes on The Beach which is short, brash and sums up that they are here for fun and a good time and want to do it? yep, at the beach, if you wanted something deep and introspective with epic choruses and multiple time changes and octaves and so on, turn this off now!
The Mansters - Snapshots From A Shitshow (Loyal Blood Records) [GC]
If you were to sum up the world in an album title, I think Snapshots From A Shitshow is about as on the money as your going to get but you wouldn’t necessarily expect it to come from the mecca of happiness and work/life balance heaven of Norway but The Mansters are clearly annoyed and have something to say about the state of how the world is going.
The opening notes of The World Is My Ulcer feel like we are going to get a nice and breezy skate punk affair, but it doesn’t take long for it to take a slightly more hardcore form, its not exactly hardcore punk ala Discharge etc, it has more of the Minor Threat/Gorilla Biscuits sound to it and Badeland Hardcore is more of the same, snotty, anger filled punky hardcore with a melodic dash thrown in here and there and its all very nostalgic and fun to listen to, nothing changes on The Beach which is short, brash and sums up that they are here for fun and a good time and want to do it? yep, at the beach, if you wanted something deep and introspective with epic choruses and multiple time changes and octaves and so on, turn this off now!
Lessons In Giving Up obviously doesn’t do much different from anything else that has proceeded it but its still a fun listen, there is no point in trying to make this something it’s not as it is clear there won’t be much variation of the sound and you can’t pretend there will be anything to break the cycle which is fine to an extent but could also get maybe a bit tedious at times.
Home Til I Die has a speedier energy and has a definite hardcore punk sound which is slightly different and probably what they do best, Something has an intro that is almost longer than the actual track itself and that doesn’t leave much room for the music to do very much or leave that much of a mark on you, its short , sharp and to the point but doesn’t have much that you get a chance to really get your teeth into.
I Should Be Getting More Likes is another sub minute track but there feels like there is more substance here and it has a good rhythm and rocks and rolls in a pleasantly punk way. Panicboy 2 is one of the longest tracks at a shocking and ungodly 2 minutes! It does allow for more stylistic involvements and the slight variation that is shown helps to actually make this one of the better tracks on the album, Run To The Pils is clearly about just fucking everything off and just getting pissed and while this might be what we all want to do I’m not sure we actually need a song about it?
Yngves Fault sounds like it’s a diss track based on someone saying their songs are to slow which is one thing I can definitely say they aren’t, and it really reminds me of a NOFX track which is a good thing I suppose!? I have to admit No Money, I’m Worried is about my limit to what I can listen to now as it is all just sounding the same, thankfully, Johnny Is Single Again only lasts 18 seconds so I don’t really have much to say about that as it comes and goes in the blink of an eye and then Snapshots From A Shitshow closes everything out in a very familiar fashion and is also the longest track on the album which isn’t ideal at this point.
Variety is the spice of life apparently. Well not if you’re in The Mansters it’s not! They play fast, short punk tracks and that’s it! If you like everything sounding the same and no unexpected changes to anything then you are in luck with Snapshots From A Shitshow, if you want something with more substance go elsewhere! It was fun to listen to an extent but unfortunately, I did find myself getting a bit bored towards the end of it all. If you turn your brain off and listen without expectations you will be ok, if you expect too much you will ultimately be disappointed. 5/10
Variety is the spice of life apparently. Well not if you’re in The Mansters it’s not! They play fast, short punk tracks and that’s it! If you like everything sounding the same and no unexpected changes to anything then you are in luck with Snapshots From A Shitshow, if you want something with more substance go elsewhere! It was fun to listen to an extent but unfortunately, I did find myself getting a bit bored towards the end of it all. If you turn your brain off and listen without expectations you will be ok, if you expect too much you will ultimately be disappointed. 5/10
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