Review: Black Spikes, Rising Insane, Catch Your Breath, Riff Dealer (Matt Bladen)

Black Spikes - Ydos (Napalm Records)

Ydos is Lithuanian band Black Spike's first for Napalm Records and comes after their nomination at the M.A.M.A award which is similar to a Grammy. So there's an expectation of big things from this progressive metal act who are already booked to be playing Uprising festival next year.

Performed in their native language, Ydos is the story of the human condition, lived through ethereal soundscapes, haunting moments of unnerving bliss, punishing modern prog metal riffs, diverse vocals and a love electonic beats that saturate tracks such as Melas

To my ears, and eyes Black Spikes remind me of The Great Discord, taking an avant garde passage through their music but also adding a feeling of one of Eurovision's weirder offerings (Apatija). Ydos is a very dark, spellbinding and distinctive record.

Tracks such as Zelvar features angular riffs against lullaby-like spell casting as Revana gets to the heavy side with rapid fire rap vocals, that heavy side increasing for Aurea and Senas Demonas as this record is sequenced in a way that it builds into the heaviest moments at the end.

Ydos brings metal but maybe not how or where you would expect it to come from, at times baffling, at others brilliant Black Spikes could be the newest metal superstars. 8/10

Rising Insane - Deathrace (Long Branch Records)

German modern metal act Rising Insane have been making a name for themselves for nearly a decade now, their story reaching a peak when they signed to Long Branch Records in 2019, this led to a shift towards a style that kept their live show ferocity but brought more melody and dynamics.

A cover of Blinding Lights by The Weeknd opened then up to larger audience and with their previous record they further welcomed more kudos for their deeper and more experimental sound, never shedding their metalcore beginnings but adapting them into something more palatable for a larger audience as so many bands do these days.

They keep up this hybrid modern sound with new album Deathrace, with a record that will appeal to fans of Polaris and Caskets, whom they collaborated with on single, and final track Good Enough, but with this record they have made sure to make this Deathrace their most visceral and raw record yet, with every song, even the ones that have more of their clean side still feature crushing heavy riffs.

Their new record has Rising Insane living up to their name with breakneck shifts in tone, there's punk/nu-metal on Outrage, massive aggression on the Title Track, soaring clean choruses on Traumatized, while tracks such as Narcissist and Dirt skillfully bring both the clean and harsh sounds, the interlacing of electonics and beatdowns seeing Countdown absolutely wreck you.

While other bands seem to head towards the lighter side of the metalcore sphere, Rising Insane have chosen to get nastier on this new album, strap in an enjoy the ride. 7/10

Catch Your Breath - Not Broken Enough (Thriller Records)

I will say this at the beginning of the review that there were times when I thought I had the 'repeat track' button pressed while playing this record, mainly in the middle of the record where a lot of the songs have a big drum, a moody verse and shout out loud chorus.

Not Broken Enough is the latest set of emotional cuts from American band Catch Your Breath and while they write from the heart, their songs full of vulnerability and personal reflection shown here through their blend of soaring courses and punchy riffs drenched in electonic beats.

Right on the peak of modernity Catch Your Breath have been crafting their sound on stages across the world amassing a strong fanbase behind them. However the Austin, Texas band don't seem to devuate too far from the multiple bands doing this hybrid of emotional metalcore, alt metal and electronic synths like Bad Omens, Dayseeker and others where pop is the priority.

Not Broken Enough showcases Catch Your Breath boldly and whether you enjoy this record will depend on how much you like this modern style of metal anthems. 7/10

Riff Dealer - New Blood (Self Released)

When you're a band containing members from bands that have previously won Bloodstock Metal To The Masses, then calling your album New Blood just makes sense, as this is the stage that all M2TM winners play at Bloodstock Festival.

So Riff Dealer are experienced there's no doubt about that, so expectations are high for their debut album and they deliver on them if you're a lover for late 90's early 2000's heavy music. Riff Dealer take their influences from the NWOAHM sound with groove and nu-metal being the two major styles they play here.

A love of thick basslines, start stop riffs and barked vocals are needed to really get enjoyment out of this album. I can't say I was ever fully committed to that scene so while there's bits of this record that found myself banging my head to, like Weight Of The World, tracks like Deadends & Daydreams and Voices do nothing for me.

While this record is called New Blood, there's a lot of old ground being gone over here which never really feels massively original. 6/10