Emerging from the murky shadows in Kingston-Upon-Hull in 2010, Battalions have made a name for themselves in the every growing UK underground metal scene with their groove laden and hook centric riffs. Following up their 2018 album Forever Marching Backwards, fourth album King Of A Dead World sees them back and more colossal than ever. With a change in personal during the covid lockdowns and a fresh start in mind, Battalions revisit their roots in DIY sludge and hardcore to create a ruthless album. Born out of the destruction of the world, King Of A Dead World is a ruthless album filled to the brim with relentless aggression.
“Who wants to be the king of a dead world?”, is the question that sparked the inspiration behind King Of A Dead World. As the erosion of humanity, the financial burden of a destructive war, the ravaging torment the planet is going through because of global warming and the battering of the Earth’s resources were laid bare, the abject rage contained in this album is highly combustible and incredibly relatable. Battalions have vented their visceral anger with a merciless barrage of sonic fury. As connoisseurs of all things sludgy and heavy, the Hull based quartet have unleashed a towering and colossal effort that wastes no time in hailing down furious bomb blasts of memorable, hook based riffs. From start to finish you’ll be addictively nodding along to the infectious grooves like the Churchill dog. As the DIY hardcore influence shines through with the sharper guitar tones and cleaner drums, everything feels more concentrated and precise. Battalions have a clear message to put forward and they do it with devastating efficiency. As world leaders continue to drag us deeper into the abyss, this album feels like the call to revolution as Battalions enlighten us to the stark misery that lies at our doorstep.
Leading the charge on Brutus‘ third full-length Unison Life is drummer/vocalist Stefanie Mannaerts, a rare combination of technical expertise and purposeful restraint. With a voice that transforms elegantly from angelic to thunderous, backed appropriately with black metal inspired, double kick blast beats and polyrhythmic, math-rock flourishes or tasteful chimes and percussion. Each band member is uniquely inspired to bring something different to Unison Life, from Mannaerts’ varied metal and electronic background to bassist Peter Mulders’ punk edge and guitarist Stijn Vanhoegaerden’s Nashville-tuned Americana and melodic rock influence.
The album’s opener ‘Miles Away’ is a true break from form for Brutus, being the only track of their career so far without drums. Its subtle, slow-burn synth soundscape layered with reverb-drenched vocals is jarringly interrupted by distorted guitar power chords, just as quickly fading back into blissful calm, only being disturbed again by pummelling, punk inspired track ‘Brave’. With lyrical content that breaks down the pain of suffering in silence via lines like “I wouldn’t mind just blending in/ It would be great to be a part of it/ Another day in this cage of glass/ Looking up is just too much to ask“, ‘Brave’ is both one of the album’s heaviest and intimately relatable songs.
Offering a sound that was recognisable and powerful, the New Jersey 5-piece are now a household name in the deathcore scene. Long story short – expectations for Pain Remains couldn’t be higher.
‘Welcome Back, O Sleeping Dreamer’ opens, prefixed by the sounds of choir and strings swelling with vicious intent before exploding into life with a distinctly Lorna Shore sound and guitarwork that lacerates with every strike upon the strings. It is apparent, even this early in the album that Will Ramos will be stealing the show for many fans. Throughout the album, he delivers an incredibly impressive performance, aided by sleek layering and high quality production. ‘Welcome Back…’ provides an instant album highlight, followed by singles ‘Into the Earth’, ‘Sun//Eater’ and ‘Cursed to Die’. These three tracks, while strong as standalone singles in their respective releases, feel like they blend together in shared ideas and themes here.
This is, unfortunately, the notable downfall of Pain Remains as it will leave some listeners hearing few differences between many songs on the album. ‘Soulless Existence’ is well-written, but in places relies heavily on technical riffs and blast beats that are very similar in structure and sound to the rest of the album. ‘Apotheosis’, while at many points exemplifying Lorna Shore at their very best and very heaviest, similarly seems to cling to the formula that much of the album works to as well. If you like this formula, as millions of people justifiably do, then you’re in luck. However, some will certainly find themselves wondering if they’ve heard many of these songs before.
Since the band’s inception over 15 years ago, Counterparts have performed countless sold out shows worldwide, shared stages with giants such as Architects and released several critically acclaimed full lengths. The most recent instalment, A Eulogy For Those Still Here, packs a punch as soon as you lay eyes on the title, and brings 11 tracks full of unyielding honesty and the forthright attitude of their composer that has brought the band their success, the end result being a powerful statement from a band who have been together since the start. The collective wanted to write a record as if it would be their last, and have poured their absolute everything into every layer from beginning to end.
‘7:26:2020’ is exactly the introduction to an album you would want, and 38 seconds later throws us headlong into ‘Whispers Of Your Death’ – a powerful combination of grief and catharsis woven into every scream. Having the full lineup delivering a collaborative writing process has clearly been essential to the end result, and vocalist Brendan Murphy delivers what could arguably be the best lyrical content on a Counterparts record to date.
Eschewing immediacy for a far more cathartic build and release style of black metal, the anonymous outfit were beloved by the underground and became critical darlings more widely with 2018’s Limbo. The question of whether they can repeat history becomes a moot point, one entirely answered by the payoff from the aforementioned ‘Memoir’ when it explodes into blackened fury. Mirage is anything but; instead of dissolving to immateriality on closer inspection, it instead drags listeners down further into its depths to reveal new and more terrifying, but beautiful, forms.
On the surface, Mirage is a black metal album through and through; blastbeats, tremolo guitars and raspy vocals are all present and correct. But it’s those deeper layers, from right below the surface, that show just how densely packed and intricate it truly is. ‘Memoir’ is a post rock crescendo, ‘Salve’ brings tortured melodies and cavernous howls together for a melodic black metal masterclass and ‘Deluge’ pushes and pulls violently like waves smashing against cliffs. This is all by track 3; there’s a further five (plus one bonus track if you’re lucky) to go, none of which drop the album’s quality below “great”.
It’s almost always accompanied by a tour of the press, the band proclaiming it to be their heaviest album, their most extreme, and now even before release, interviews have surfaced of both Clown and Jim Root downplaying the album and claiming they weren’t too happy with it. This is The End, So Far; the Iowan ennead’s seventh album; once again the object of speculation and constant fan theorising, especially as to whether it’s their last album from the name. All that’s really known is that it’s their last with their current and original label, Roadrunner Records, who signed them to the mammoth seven album prior to their debut.
But is it any good? It’ll certainly be divisive, as Slipknot always have been. Even their own constantly shifting sound, though, has had certain sonic markers or touchstones on their albums. There’s always been something of a brief ambient intro before it kicks into gear, but even by their unpredictable standards, ‘Adderall’ is one hell of a way to open the album. It’s a soft alt rock song, Corey Taylor in full croon that builds gradually over its runtime; it might just be one of the biggest curveballs they’ve ever thrown. Again, a divisive opening but one that’ll get people talking – as they always do. ‘The Dying Song (Time To Sing)’ follows it and again for all its catchiness, that chorus just isn’t great; especially not the opening rendition of it.
