Sweden has birthed many prolific bands, including (but not limited to) Candlemass, Cult of Luna, and Arch Enemy – joining the lineup is the mysteriously masked seven-piece Nephila, who blend space rock soundscapes with perfectly executed harmonies, lyrics inspired by world mythology and Nordic folklore, and a bass tone that could fit on Black Sabbath’s doomy self-titled record. Opening their sophomore full-length release HULDRA with the atmospherically pagan ‘Mother of The Woods’, the track acts as a grand introduction to the album, almost as if twin frontwomen Josephine Asker and Linn Edlund are summoning the forest spirits themselves with dual death-defying siren songs before thundering into the towering bluesy riffs and stampeding drums of ‘In Her Hands’, which lyrically tackles female empowerment with a spellbindingly occult twist.
From grabbing the attention of the entire alternative underground on their debut album, God’s Country, back in 2022, and consistently touring the world and collaborating with psychedelic country guitar virtuoso Hayden Pedigo, Chat Pile have had an incredibly busy few years. Now, on their latest record, Who Loves The Sun, the four-piece led by vocalist Raygun Busch dive deeper into their bleak and crushingly brutal sound with heavier production and more variety than ever.
Opening track ‘Creature’ has everything Chat Pile’s dedicated fanbase have come to expect from the band wrapped up in a concise and dynamic package. From the first verse, which features booming drums and deep, distorted bass backing a clean guitar that stabs through the mix like a needle, and Busch’s agonised crooning to the song’s sludgy, screeching breakdown, ‘Creature’ is a cacophony of horrible noise that wards off all but the most curious heavy music fans. While not as immediately brutal as much of their previous work, ‘Creature’ covers all the disgusting and desolate territory that Chat Pile call their home in just under four and a half minutes.
Despite sounding more diverse than ever with several cleaner and more melancholy moments, Who Loves The Sun still has plenty of that signature Chat Pile fury. ‘PEN IS MALL’, with its stomping riff and throat-shredding vocals decrying modern workplace culture, and ‘Christabel ’26’, with its slow build into disturbing, heart-wrenching sludge territory, might be two of the heaviest tracks that the quartet have ever put out.
It’s borderline impossible to not notice the desolate times we are currently living in. What’s even more blatant is how so many appear all too willing to accept the state the world is in and believe that there’s nothing we can do about the way the world is. East Coast America’s The Iron Roses don’t see things that way. Natasha Gray’s post-Boysetsfire project may not be as aggressive as the band that put her on the map, but the passion and fire that fuelled the likes of After The Eulogy remain as she joins forces with Becky Fontaine to combat the many injustices prevalent in today’s society and inspire others to take up arms beside them to fight for a better world.
The opening track and lead single ‘Dead Eyes’ perfectly sets the tone of what’s to follow for the next half hour. Frantic and distorted power chords with a melodic sheen combined with Gray and Fontaine’s soaring vocal harmonies as they sing about how numbed and desensitised we’ve become to seeing the images of people suffering in the various genocides going on across the world right now. It’s an incredibly strong start to the album – there’s no slow build-up; instead, we’re straight in there, and the rest of the album keeps up this breakneck pace throughout its short duration.
This same sense of urgency and immediacy is instantly apparent from the opening moments of their new album, Choosing To Die. Flicking a switch between harsh doom metal and frantic, panicked freakouts, they strike an intriguing balance of influences, caught somewhere between The Body, Converge and ’68. Somehow, they turn a two-piece into a haunted orchestra.
Monstrous riffs and discordant feedback permeate the album, painting a dread-soaked backdrop, upon which Thom Longdin snarls and barks, but the drums, provided by Jade Ashleigh Squires (along with the occasional synths) provide an equally interesting and foreboding dimension to the band.
Everything feels primal, urgent and chaotic, and yet there is a sense of control about the chaos, like bottling a storm. This controlled chaos is most apparent on ‘Being Forgotten’ and’Collapse’, which both benefit from a maelstrom of feedback, whipping around thunderous drum grooves. If it all sounds a bit too straightforward, ‘For Blood’ marks a turning point in the album, as they switch up tempos and lean into the grooves more. ‘To Take Life’ takes on an almost industrial identity and could easily have soundtracked a slew of early 2000s action hero explosion sequences on film.
If you have more brain cells than some of the riffs on this record, then you may have noticed Aaron Bruno, the face of AWOLNATION that produced that one hit ‘Sail’, is part of the heavy as fuck band The Barbarians of California. Capitalisation of band, record and song titles going forward is key to note here once you take in 10 seconds of the brutality. Joining forces with his longtime engineer Eric Steinman, they brought THE BARBARIANS to life, and with this, their second record and tours supporting the likes of Deftones proving that amongst the silliness they should be taken seriously.
‘BACK TO THE VALLEY’ takes you straight in with heaviness… “heavy” is an obliteratedly overused word in rock, so replace that with “thickness”. This is the first thick chapter of a densely populated novel. The population being riffs and good times. The latter being brought by cheeky additional vocal parts here and lyrics like “I’m the greatest you have ever known.” And we are only one song in to this epic. They certainly set the scene for the MEGATONS of confidence on the record.
Never missing a beat or letting you up for air, THE BARBARIANS hit you with four singles that led to the release, each one hitting you to the head with “the weight of this song” as referenced in ‘THE GNARLYCORE CLASS’. A tongue in cheek look at capitalism and society quickly follows in an uppercut with ‘VANILLA LATTE’ with “People drinking vanilla lattes making big decisions”. A definite dig at the ‘suits’ in this world.
Give Me Dirt is Cancer Bats’ 8th full-length in a truly illustrious career, and they are back with their most electrifying album in years.
Opening with ‘World Wild Fire Death Race’, featuring Nate Newton of Converge, the band’s intent is immediately clear, as frontman Liam Cormier launches into a scathing tirade against humanity’s hubris. It’s a much-needed shot of adrenaline for the apathetic and the despairing, and it’s a powerful start to the album.
Despite their numerous lineup changes (Cormier being the sole founding member nowadays), the band sounds refreshed and energised. Whilst they rage at the ruins of planet earth, they have lost none of their characteristic charm and humour, always finding time to inject a bit of fun into their sludgey, hardcore-tinged riffs.
