Exaltation - cavernous death from New Zealand

Exaltation

Under Blind Reasoning

July 29th, 2022

Sentient Ruin Laboratories

New Zealand knuckle dragger brutes Exaltation decided to show up in 2022 with their debut full-length, with eight tracks in 31 minutes. Metal Archives shows nothing else besides a 2017 demo. They generally prefer shorter songs for the low-tuned, low-growling minimalistic cavernous concoction of doom, death and blast barbarity. It is not a complex cacophony of multiple layers that require repeated attempts at exegesis. I listen to this because apparently the thick dumb sound of blasting death doom goes perfectly with my simple-minded way of appreciating a racket. I’m not sure that my neighbors are enjoying the Exaltation hullaballoo blasting out of my apartment window as much as I am, but what am I supposed to do on a hot summer day with no air conditioning?! I have to have the window open, sit around drinking ice-cold tea and listen to Exaltation so that I do not drop dead in a hot smelly Lynnwood apartment.

This band is unmelodic, uncatchy fugly savagery, and only people like you could ever enjoy this “music.” You know how society has this stereotype that metal music is just loud noise? Yeah, well, it’s a stereotype for a reason. The name of the reason is Exaltation.

Gosh, this is awful stuff. I want more of it.

Under Blind Reasoning by EXALTATION

https://www.facebook.com/exaltationnz/

Amon Amarth - new album, new tour, Seattle included

Amon Amarth

The Great Heathen Army

Metal Blade Records

5 August 2022

Studio album number 12 from the hard-working Swedish band (1988-1992 as Scum; 1992-present as Amon Amarth) surely means that they are about to head out on road again. Their sound was more along the lines of death metal until their third album The Crusher in 2001, but with 2002’s Vs the World they went for galloping rhythms, while keeping the vocals growled and the guitar heaviness but with less speed. Their resulting blend worked very well as they became devoted to touring as much as possible in their quest to be successful. They achieved their goal.

Priding themselves on being consistent, making small changes for every album, these Swedes have their own way of doing things. If you are new to the band, expect quality and carefully crafted catchy songs, almost like heavy metal with good, deep, gentle growling, with strains of both melodic death and black metal, in a subtle way. On the other hand, if you already are familiar with their albums, grab something to drink or snack, and let the music play. It’s more like an extension, a continuation of the sound in the form of nine songs in 43 minutes.

They get criticized for not being true death metal and for not changing enough from album to album. Well, the band’s response could be the same as AC/DC’s Angus Young, “I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same.” (Plus, if you want true death metal, there are tons of maggot zombie-themed brutal bands in your own town playing on Tuesday night at the local bar and each year at your local American “Brutality Zombie Deathfest” with pig squeals, cupped microphone vocals and breakdowns.) However, the drum sound on this recording is typical of the contemporary sampled/programmed drum sound: flat, mechanical, sanitized and soft. The listener cannot hear the cool noisy craftmanship that you hear while listening to an actual drummer playing the drum set, whether in rehearsal or at a show.

To conclude, it’s been an awesome career and the story continues. It’s not easy to last 30 years playing metal; and yes, they are going out on tour and will be coming to Washington state again (12/12 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo). Trivia: There is here a song called “Saxons and Vikings” and guess who they invited to do the melodic singing? Biff Byford from Saxon, of course.

The Great Heathen Army by Amon Amarth

https://www.facebook.com/amonamarth/

Versus the World by Amon Amarth

The Crusher by Amon Amarth

Noroth - cavernous death in Washington state, U.S.

Noroth is traditional death in Washington state, U.S. with the following recordings so far on Bandcamp: It Dwells Amongst Us (2020; eight songs, 23 minutes) and Harbinger (2021; nine tracks, 27 minutes). It’s low, gruff growling with simplistic heavy riffing for those galloping rhythms. The slower parts do not generally slow down to a crawling pace, and stay in midtempo, grooving stomps, while the fast parts can go fast, but not into blasting paces. The effectiveness of the music is direct: one listen pretty much gives the audiences a rather good picture of the proceedings. If you enjoy deep growling and cavernous riffs, and midtempo/uptempo heaviness, then Noroth might be a fun listen or a fun show. Both recordings are the same style and sound, suggesting that the band knew exactly what they wanted from the beginning. Metal Archives does not show that the three members Itzhak (drums), Mike (guitar) and Biaggo (vocals, bass) are involved in any other projects, but I am unable to confirm whether that information is fully accurate. Whatever the case may be, fans of the more primal and simplistic forms of death are the desired demographic for this good stuff.

Harbinger by Noroth

https://www.facebook.com/norothovcascadia/

Bodybox - Florida men form trailer park metal band

Imagine a bunch guys named Bubba Lou, Big Earl, Lazy Jed and Fat Bobby living down by the swamp in Florida listening to Pantera, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pantera, Hatebreed and then some more Pantera, talking about forming a “heavy band, man,” while they’re out on the boat with their shotguns trying to find some alligators to barbecue later on tonight while they’re blowing up fireworks, chewing tobacco, and eating alligator beef jerky with Tabasco. It’s big, huge, enormously dumb stomping death brutality. The way they’d like to describe their sound is “Pantera’s I’m broken” combined with “deathcore” with some good ole trailer park grooves. It’s mostly animal farm noises, grunting and playing the three chords they know to the best of their hillbility. All they know is that if they can sound heavier than Pantera, than would be a good reason to go to the local Circle K and buy some beverages to pass out on Friday night and wake up some time on Saturday afternoon. These guys, whose real names their parents never told them, may not be good at reading, writing, arithmetic, speaking, thinking, staying out of jail, chewing alligator beef jerky and walking at the same time, but they sure make Florida proud with the death groove brutality of their 2021 EP “Through the Bongfire” and the 2021 demo “Microwaved Weed.” Bodybox can gallop in the old-school death way and can slow things down to grimace-face nasty heaviness breakdowns. The vocals are low and gruff, and lower and gruffer, while the music is dedicated to the art of the chugga-chugga-chug. Put away that calculator, you won’t need it to figure out the sound big belly tattooed hillbilly trailer park extreme metal. Alright, alright, alright.

THROUGH THE BONGFIRE by BODYBOX

MICROWAVED WEED by bodybox

Θλίψις - raging black metal from Greece

Θλίψις

Θλίψις

August 15th, 2021

1.Θλίψις/Thlipsis 03:50

2.ΝΙΧ 04:16

3.Love's Blood 03:23

total time 11:29

Θλίψις is raw, traditional raging black metal from Greece. It is Nick Sidiropoulos on drums; Felix Argus on guitars, bass, and vocals; Tumultus on guitars and vocals. Lyrically, their focus is on anti-capitalist ideas, stating that “the rich, the royals those in charge are drinking the blood of the working class.” Musically, it is vocal chord-ripping moon mad black metal howling. The guitar work is fast, as is the drum work, and once the listener gets past the frenzied speed and vocals, there is lots of fast black metal melody to be found. It is such a brief recording of three full songs that audiences might find themselves listening to the recording repeatedly for several times. FYI, Metal Archives shows the drummer as a member of other entities like Dødsferd, Grab, Herald, Insanity Cult, Isolert, Leeches, Nihilsect, Sores, Sørgelig, Sorry..., ex-My Deathbed, ex-Sordid Dogs, ex-Voidness, Ghetto Gospel, ex-Convicted, ex-Nefarious Dusk, ex-Belief, ex-Y. This recording is recommended for the dedicated fans of the sound of traditional black metal.

Θλίψις by Θλίψις/Thlipsis

Fellowship - power pop from England

Fellowship

The Saberlight Chronicles

Scarlet Records

15 July 2022

Fellowship is a new band of poppy power metal from Harwich, Essex, England, U.K. Metal Archives shows an EP in 2020, a cover of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” (from the animated movie The Lion King [1994] sung by Elton John) in 2020, another single in 2021 and now the debut album. With the cover they announced that their pop-oriented style. The new album is a celebration of ear-friendly melodic, pop-oriented power metal. It often seems that European metal musicians have a secret passion for electronic, dance and pop music that they try to work into their music. That’s the case here. There are shredding and fast tempos, but it’s all done very melodically. Fans of super catchy pop and happy rock may find a very interesting album here. Just in case it is not clear: fans that do not enjoy this style probably will dislike this album strongly. It has a soft, programmed or sampled drum sound. It is melodic rock music with a pop sound, and this may not please fans that want the sound of a real band playing their own instruments, as opposed to autotune sampled music that sounds very artificial or plastic and super soft.

The Saberlight Chronicles by Fellowship

https://www.facebook.com/FellowshipUK/

Begrime Exemious: Rotting in the Aftermath

Begrime Exemious

Rotting in the Aftermath

Dark Descent Records

8 July 2022

Begrime Exemious is a Canadian death metal band that Metal Archives lists as being in the style of Order from Chaos, Axis of Advance, Ares Kingdom, Deströyer 666, Dire Omen, Vastum and Vircolac. In other words, a raw type of extremity based on tradi-tional and classic thrash, death and black metal. For an extreme metal band to be thought of as in the spirit of cult acts like Order from Chaos and Axis of Advance, then that is a good thing. Begrime Exemious began in 2005, says Metal Archives. Their first EP was in 2009, in 2010 and 2012 they did albums, then later on three EPs, and in 2016 another album. Now they have this new one.

The last few days I have been listening to the album and this is what I have found. It is classic-based extreme metal of the old-school underground mentality. Considering that they are Canadian, and play raw music, it is almost guaranteed (I don’t know it for a fact, as I am not sure that I have ever seen interview with them) that they respect a cult band like Blasphemy, which, I guess, it is almost like a national tradition for Canadian raw metal bands. They are not as lo-fi as Blasphemy and prefer a clearer sound to let the energy, heaviness and frenzy be heard in a more detailed manner. The vocals are low and gruff and also have a higher, black metal tone, too, for that dual combination. The guitars work with thrash, death and black riffs, and the speeds can go to blasting, too. There are also some pretty cool guitar solos throughout the album. It’s just a solid album that gets better with each listen, and not necessarily because the listener needs more than a few listens to understand the music but because the songs are written well, the execution is good and the production fits the sound. With music like this, this band will become cult themselves, if they are not already.

Rotting in the Aftermath by Begrime Exemious

https://www.facebook.com/begrimeexemious/

Rising Revolution - symphonic power metal from the U.S.

Not knowing anything about the band, I decided to listen to their interpretation of symphonic power metal wondering how the young Americans would approach the genre. Well, for one thing, it seems like U.S. metal youth are not very interested in this type of musicianship, and seem to prefer the less complex and less challenging sounds of groove-core-based genres. Having to come up with melodies, figuring out the matter of having melodic singing and working on the development of a symphonic sound is probably a lot more work than one may imagine at first.

This year has seen Rising Revolution follow up their 2018 demo song called “Power Forever”. In 2022 they have two new songs, “Beasts of the Night” and “Freedom & Glory.” The band continues to grow in vision and capabilities towards the achievement of their sound.

As a different proposition in U.S. metal, Rising Revolution shows a great imagination of what they want to create, and now we are getting a glimpse of the potential. It is refreshing to hear a young band from the United States with an interest in good musicianship and songwriting in the style of melodic metal. The band says that it all began in 2014 in Richmond, Virginia with the two friends Ashwolf Grayson and José Díaz working on music in the band room at their school. Before they knew it, they had Ash (bass) and José (lead guitar) joined by Fletcher Harrell (drums), Marvin Ward (keys), and Kevin Potter (vocals & rhythm guitar). As it often happens, there have been line-up changes and nowadays only Ash, now doing vocals, remains from those early days leading the ship into new waters. Nowadays, the complete crew is Ashwolf (male vocals & keytar), Artemis Wray (female vocals), Zephyr McGrath (lead guitar), Zeldris (rhythm guitar), Ka-dir Elliotte (bass), and Ariel & Seraph split drum duties.

Their 2018 song “Power Forever” (4:36) already pointed to their ambition of an elegant type of rocking melodic symphonic style. It sounds like a young band finding their feet. Now in 2022 two new songs are called “Beasts of the Night” (3:39) and “Freedom & Glory” (6:01) and are from their upcoming debut album Revengeance: “a concept album from the perspective of a samurai from the 23rd century called by the mighty guardian deity Titan to vanquish his demonic foes, the Apocrypha.”

What caught my attention about the band is that Rising Revolution seems like they are just getting warmed up and that their best work is still ahead of them. They sound like a promising young band to keep an eye on and see how they develop the musical vision in the coming years. After hearing their songs with some more attention to detail, I still feel that they are a promising band and we will be pleasantly surprised when these wild horses harness their strength and begin to run with all their might. I like what I’m hearing, but I sense that this book’s first chapter is not even complete. This story is about to start.

Finally, the band says that they have been preparing for the 30th Annual Cutting Edge Music Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana and on kicking off a local metal festival Revolution Metal RVA in their area. Seems like they have been busy, right?

Prelude to REVENGEANCE by Rising Revolution

https://www.facebook.com/RisRev/