Straight out of the gates, MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. calls back to the metalcore stylings of 2011’s Costs without tarnishing the melodic hardcore/punk sound Gideon has worked so hard to build. Trying to recover after Covid-19 hit mid tour supporting 2019’s release, Out of Control, they are back and badder than ever. These cowboys are redefining who they are while staying true to their metalcore/hardcore roots. Gideon are certainly the band to keep an eye on.
First track, “Locked Out of Heaven”, is out to prove just that. With leading riffs being full of hardcore rage and a chorus full of ambient clean singing, it blends their different styles perfectly in just the first song. “Push It Back” comes in right after with ferocious intent. Not only is opening an album with tracks as brutal as these not enough but also three singles, “Too Much is Never Enough”, the title track and lastly “Take Off” follow these openers respectively, all showing the listener just a taste of what they’re in for with this new record.
“If You Love Me, Let Me Go”comes in at track 8 and has a more nostalgic Counterparts style sound to it. Without a doubt this track is going to be a song fans gravitate to. Especially if they’re into that early Melodic Hardcore style. Melodic riffs and pounding drums follow with tracks “Off the Rails” and “The Final Nail”. With a sound similar to 2017’s Cold, Gideon are keen on reminding you why they are the metal legends they’ve come to be today.
What’s remarkable about Beyond Extinction is not that their average age is twenty. What is turning heads is that they’re twenty and making devastating death metal on par with the oldest artists in extreme music. Numerous outlets across the scene have all spoken highly of the four-piece deathcore/death metal group; Gig Radar claimed they were “a band that absolutely has the talent to make it to the very top of the British metal scene.” A lofty goal, to be sure, but here’s the thing: Beyond Extinction have the chops to make it all the way, if their second EP Nothing More Wretched is any indication.
Sibilant whispers drift up from depths unknown, and crystallize into one of the most fearsome vocal breaks to ever open an album: “Stare down at your ashes… and beg to die.” ‘Subjugator’. track two and the first traditional song on Nothing More Wretched, is designed and destined to be a show staple. It smashes anything in its path. Mosh pits will become at least fifty percent more dangerous when Jasper Harmer roars his challenge to the titans of metal.
It’s safe to say that most bands, if they’re around for long enough, will have a few bumps in the road in their recorded output or their general image…anyone remember the whole “Pay to be our roadie for a day” competition they ran? However, very few records are met with the vitriol that awaited Suicide Silence on their self titled 2017 album. It seemed that that record would become an albatross around the band’s neck and 2020’s “Become The Hunter”, while it was a return to the old sound and style, fell a bit flat and didn’t really recover all their goodwill.
So, how will their new effort “Remember…You Must Die” fare, and will they continue to live off their stellar early reputation, or will they decide to experiment again and risk the wrath of the internet once more? Well, for a start, it’s heavy. Heavy as hell. They’ve not went back to any experimental territories, or even seem to be the same band that released their self titled work anymore.
After years of telling anyone in smoking areas outside gigs that they were going to start a band, SNAYX’s bluff was finally called by rising stars Kid Kapichi who invited them to open one of their shows, frantically writing material, it seems like SNAYX caught lightning in a bottle with their debut EP, Weaponized Youth: Part 1. Taking up the space somewhere between Slaves, Trash Boat and Arctic Monkeys, the two piece live and breathe punk spirit while bringing danceable beats and poppy hooks.
Lead single ‘Work’ is maybe the most straightforward punk track on the EP, with relatable working class lyrics and pounding drums. Following the trials of working a full time, minimum wage job in a society that increasingly disrespects its workers, Work keeps up the pace throughout with rapid fire vocals, a fuzzed out bassline and tight rock drums. An unexpected but nonetheless cool addition to the track is the psych rock style organ in the choruses, providing an extra little texture and a touch of retro swagger to the track. Work only clocks in at 2 and a half minutes, epitomising that punk ethos, saying what it needs to and stomping off to the next track.
It’s been thirteen years since Misha Mansoor and his tech metal buddies burst onto the scene and reinvented everything we knew about more progressive styles of metal, but now they’re here to cement their status as one of the greatest metal bands of the last two decades…but will album number seven be lucky for them? Periphery’s last record (Periphery IV : Hail Stan) opened with a near 17 minute epic that was as brave as it was brilliant, so when you see that this record’s opening tracks is just over 7 minutes long, you could be forgiven for thinking that maybe the band have calmed things down a bit. You’d be wrong. There’s also some questions to be asked about just how much is too much? The five piece aren’t known for shying away from new ideas and blending styles together, sometimes to the detriment of cohesion and listenability.
Named after one of Norse mythology’s most mysterious characters, Heimdal sees equally mystical, Nordic giants Enslaved adding to their extensive back catalogue. Whilst the album, like its predecessor 2020’s Utgard, is a vast departure from the band’s black metal roots, there are certainly nods to their past. Be it the front cover shot by vocalist Grutle Kjellson, reminiscent of 1994’s Frost, or the track ‘Heimdallr’ that appeared on the band’s Yggdrasil demo, one of the first Enslaved songs ever written and “an entry point…into the world of Norse mythology” as guitarist Ivar Bjørnson notes.
Greeted by the sound of creaking sails, oars paddling through water and massive horns – supplied by Wardruna’s Eilif Gundersen, ‘Behind The Mirror’ immediately immerses and transports us to another world. The track features some choral vocals and prog-rock undertones that take centre stage elsewhere on the album such as the schizophrenic, proggy, keyboard-heavy madness featured on ‘Forest Dweller’ or the space-rock homages of ‘Kingdom’.
Fear not though metal purists as Heimdal also has more than its fair share of big groovy riffs and retains those all-important black metal credentials of old. On first listen ‘Congelia’ may appear to be just an eight-minute riff but listen again and it becomes a relentlessly heavy monolith, constructed of countless musical layers. It’s an album that one has to really “dig into” says Kjellson, twisting and turning with anticipation and uncertainty, there’s no guessing as to what’s next.
