Soen - Reliance (Silver Lining Music) [Matt Bladen]
Much like Leprous, Soen are a band who have moved away from their intense prog beginnings and while the Norwegians have gone down a more emotive and atmospheric route, these Swedes have adopted hard rock posturing over the course of their last few records.
You only have to see their most recent stage show which features plenty of flames and vocalist Joel Ekelöf decked out in a leather jacket and aviators to see that Soen are band who have adapted prog metal into a more streamlined musical identity, witnessed here with a track like Unbound.
Ekelöf and co founding member drummer Martin Lopez clearly have a vision in mind and that's a band where the percussion and groove is right up front, the heavy riffs of Lars EnokÅhlund (keys/guitars), Stefan Stenberg (bass) and Cody Ford (lead guitar) matching what Lopez does as the whole band goes marching towards anthemic choruses and solos.
There's a lot of comparisons you can make to fellow Swedes Evergrey and Katatonia who both use a progressive skillset to craft accessible music and that's what Reliance is, accessible just with the two opening numbers; Primal and Mercenary, you get massive riffs, powerful drum patterns and those brilliant vocals all crafted for the stage.
You can feel the frustration and earnest yearning for a better world with each of these ten cuts, the record putting out a call for us to unite in these challenging times (I mean watch the news people!), the aggression and introspection two sides of the same coin as the band explore every facet of their songwriting.
From the synth driven balladry of Dischordia, or the piano-led Indifferent, through the swaggering, macho heavy rock of Axis, the moody slither of Huntress or the choral closer Vellichor, Reliance is an album that will take Soen into bigger venues and wider fanbases, and not before time for these impressive Swedish veterans. 9/10
Marianas Rest - The Bereaved (Noble Demon) [Mark Young]
Second week in and hit with a little death/doom, just to make you feel colder. Hailing from Finland, Marianas Rest specialise in the languid, almost lethargic pace which really drives that funereal approach home. It is death metal, in that there are growls and double bass, it’s the way its delivered by them may mean it doesn’t get its full due by those who love the faster paced material (me included).
It is a release that has been put together by a band that works within their own field, timed to their own clock. They want you to get onboard, but they aren’t going to change how they do things in order for that to happen.
The Bereaved is their 5th full length release, which has seen them consistently release new music since their inception in 2014 and I’m assuming that with each release they have further refined this approach that provides a collection of strong songs that embrace their cultural background as well as the core tenets of what constitutes funeral doom.
From the opening moments of Thank You For The Dance, the spoken word representing a blackened shroud that encapsulates the following 57 minutes of music. This opening track sets the tone, build and overall shape of what is to follow. The melodic touches, noted in their online bio’s are here, offered in the briefest of flashes.
Rat In The Wall is next, with its melancholic feel in full effect. The mixture of cleans amongst the growls works well in providing a further emotional release. It’s dark, heavy going but delivered in such a way you cannot avoid getting caught up in it. Completing this early hat-trick is Divided, more like Rat In The Wall in arrangement but avoids any sense of repeating the same tricks. The only common theme it shares is the speed. Heavy on the atmospherics the lead break that comes in towards the end of the track is sublime.
It is difficult to try to wax lyrical on every song, except that they occupy a specific pace. What they do with that is use it as a base to start embellishing the canvas required for each song. Again In To The Night has cosmic flavours running through it whilst angst is the order of the day with Burden. The latter has this descending run which is just mint.
They know how to write material that resonates with you, generating a mood relative to the song in place at that time. Everything that is included is done so because it will elevate the song, for example closing minutes on Pity The Living where they wring as much as is possible out of what is for all intents and purposes a standard movement. It just lands differently.
Of course, if your bag is super technical, hyper speed metal then the glacial pace here will do you no favours, I might as well be clear on this. If you are able to give it a go, you will find a work of dark beauty. 8/10
Gluecifer - Same Drug New High (Steamhammer) [Mark Young]
And now a touch of the old rock. Well, not too old. Gluecifer, formed back in 1994 and represent a different facet of guitar driven music that came out of Scandinavia in the mid to late 90’s.
The emphasis is on direct, get you off your feet songs that draw from the standard influences whilst injecting their own spin on things. I confess that I never got on this particular bus at the time (not heavy enough for me) but coming back to it now with older ears (more mature? Probably not) you can understand why they were popular. They offered you something that was familiar but was different enough so that they (and others) could avoid accusations of providing mere facsimiles of what has gone before.
I think that if your leanings are to more hard rock than metal, certainly to more faster aspects of hard rock then this will be right up your strasse. Each of the songs just comes in with the sole aim of getting its content done and dusted as quickly as possible. No extended jams or instrumental moments its line them up and knock them down.
With that in mind, Same Drug New High succeeds. In effect, each song rocks. This is a fact. Its high octane, almost punk in velocity twinned with some of the most hook laden material you will hear this year. That is also a fact. Its built for playing in the car in the same way its built for the live arena, a soundtrack to a night out of epic proportions.
It can sit next to your classic rock (Deep Purple, AC/DC etc) as well as your punk and new wave with ease and for fans of them and this genre there is a load to love. That being said, one of the things that attracts us to rock and then onto metal is that feeling of danger that is associated with it. The music should never feel safe, its shouldn’t be too polished and I think this is one of the reasons I never truly got in to it as a thing back in the late 90’s.
The production on this is quality, they sound great but for me they are too clean. That gritty element is missing but then its likely that I’m looking or expecting something that isn’t there. I can certainly appreciate them more, but because it feels as though it is missing something Its not something that I would actively seek out. Still, they make true on their mission statement which is to come in and rock. You cannot argue with that. 6/10
Tombseeker - Tombseeker (Iron Fortress Records) [Matt Bladen]
There's nothing quite like a death metal war machine and Kansas City destroyers are pure crushing death metal which has the pulverising demolition of Bolt Thrower, the buzzsaw riffs of Entombed and the furious blasts of Suffocation all combined for maximum destruction.
Tombseeker don't scrimp on the intensity, but they don't add anything that's not needed, no synths, no orchestrations, nothing cluttering up this OSDM force. The riffs from Kyle Calloway and Simon Joseph are disgusting, they grind away like a belt sander to the face before dive bombing and flashing solos when called for.
As tracks such as Chamber Of Torment and They All Bleed The Same drummer Allen Gimgerich has to be inhuman from the way he blasts with so much speed and precision, abusing that snare drum, even when the band ease off the gas with a hammering stomp such as the middle part of Left Behind while bassist Alex Van Erem is determined to move organs with his low end on Anticitzen.
With vocalist Jonathan Houst gargling rocks at every opportunity presented (who needs clean vocals?) Tombseeker's debut record is influenced by but not a slavish copy of OSDM legends. Grab your camo and let's smash some stuff up. 8/10
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