While their last output, Hell Unleashed, in 2021 was unbridled thrash metal, Evile have taken a step back and pondered their sound. Mixing it up with more heavy metal influences than straight up thrash. Title track ‘The Unknown’ starts us of on this journey with a slower pace than what fans are used to dealing with. The riffs are still killer but the tempos are slower, brooding, malicious – yet still heavy. Ol Drakes vocals are much more melodic on the album throughout and compliments the album very well. The slower tempos continue through ‘Monolith’, complete with band vocals on the chorus, to make it more aggressive even with the speed still slowed. With the band working more as a cohesive unit than on other offerings, and guitarist Adam Smith having more freedom on the writing side of the instrumentation and lyrical portions, it feels less like a thrash album for the first half of the album. But that’s the band lulling you in.
It’s not until ‘Sleepless Eyes’ where we get our first glimpse of anything thrash. The breakneck speed riffs are back and drummer Ben Carter keeping pace as the band traverses through the guitar speed stylings we all know and love. Even with Ol Drakes vocals still being more melodic, it’s still the band at peak performance. The exact same can be said for ‘Out Of Sight’. But after that the album once again goes back to the slower melodic side. It must be said that When ‘Mortal Coils Shed; continues its pace for the seven-minute run time, it gets repetitive, but then ‘Sleepless Eyes’ wakes you.
It seems as if there’s a heaviness arms race within metalcore (One type of metalcore anyway) at the moment. Over the last few years, the genre has been taken to new limits every few months, with the frontiers of brutality and heaviness reaching new extremes on an almost regular basis, without it veering into Deathcore territory. The guitars are getting more evil, the breakdowns stupider and the vocals are becoming almost otherworldly. Then you reach a crossroads…do you drag your knuckles even further into the ground or do you seek out new means of sonic extremity?
One of the bands at the forefront of this are Nashville’s Chamber. Having introduced themselves to the scene with an EP and a well received (Yet sadly lost in the COVID shuffle) debut full length, the group are hoping that this record manages to land with more impact. In terms of the aforementioned crossroads, these guys chose the road with attacking, wild riffs and drumming so frantic that to even attempt to headbang to it would snap your neck like a twig.
Titled A Love To Kill For, the record is summed up by guitarist Gabe Manuel as “It’s an album about people getting lost or mired in bullshit, whether that’s addiction or narcissism or selfishness. There are all sorts of ways the people you love can fail you in search of themselves, and ways people don’t come back from that.” Now on paper, those are themes that a lot of people can relate to, and lend themselves well to some sonic extremity.
Hot off the heels of their Eurovision finals appearance, Voyager present us with their 8th full length release, Fearless in Love – and what a performance it is. The album starts off with ‘The Best Intentions’, dancing synths and catchy vocals setting the tone for what’s to come, before the band jump into action in their typical energetic way.
Groove-laden previous single ‘Prince of Fire’ and dreamy ‘Ultraviolet’ follow, a reminder of just how well the band can seamlessly blend catchy vocals, tasty drum patterns and heavy prog chops. Don’t let the accessible hooks and glittery synths fool you though – behind the curtain, icy riffs run in this album’s veins. Eurovision hit ‘Promise’ displays the band’s charisma and energy in heaps, with the band enjoying a well-deserved boost in publicity well beyond the prog-sphere.
In diving head first in to the album, a familiar thread woven throughout IITOYD’s runtime, is the essence of mysticism being used as an augmentation device which we’re sure was meant to inspire a wave of fascination, yet left us somewhat stuck in an otherworldly hap hazard and ostentatious lofi charade. Such experimental sonic divergence in Post-Punk and Indie circles is a venture many are drawn to out of sheer curiosity as well as feel confident in doing due to their exquisite command of their craft, yet the album seems to possess no such foundation for the listener to follow intently, leading to very little lucidity and substance being able to be appreciated.
It’s finally summer. Spongebob is on, and you’ve just finished your first bowl of Lucky Charms. There’s some Halo in your future, and maybe some Smash Bros Melee if your friends join you that day. The soundtrack to your morning might be Linkin Park’s debut album, Hybrid Theory, or maybe Slipknot’s ‘Wait and Bleed’ if you’re a little more alt. The year is 2000. Life is good.
Now it’s 2023, and the nu-metal revival is getting into full swing. Tallah and Evanescence are playing massive rock festivals. Bands like Tetrarch and Vein.fm wear their nu metal influences proudly, and joining the revival is longtime metaller Garry Brents and his project Memorrhage.
A sharp intake of breath like a gathering of strength, a shriek, and Calligram plunge into the black tunnel that is Position | Momentum. The hallmarks of their sound – D-beat punk and blistering riffs – are all here, but this 2023 offering finds the multi-national quintet with a more mature sound. Every song adds to the sonic palette of frigid black metal until, by the final track, Position | Momentum has something to offer every fan of heavy music.
Calligram understand that album art is an important aspect of the listening experience. For this LP, artist Deborah Sheedy created a beautiful cover that pulls the viewer in and unsettles them at the same time. A person with a tranquil, pensive face rests between their hands that demonstrate either thought or torment, and superimposed is just a face in pure anguish, as if the horror is now only a recent memory to the thinker. A chilly lavender hue frosts the whole picture. It’s a perfect capture of the music inside the album’s cover.
