Novena: Eleventh Hour (Frontiers Records) [Matt Bladen]
UK prog band Novena have finally released their debut full length after their well received EP in 2016. This has been in the works since then mainly due to the band members all being part of others bands. The most notable is singer Ross Jennings who is also the voice of Haken, here also shows off his phenomenal vocals prowess, though he shares the mic with Gareth Mason of the band Slice The Cake, with both of them intertwining well with the soaring cleans and low rapped grunts pricking up your ears, though they do not draw all of the focus as musically Novena are progressive and interesting, with a mournfulness and emotion in their songs. Dan Thornton (Ex-HAARP Machine) and Harrison White’s guitar playing intertwined like vines both taking their fair share of furious leads but also more delicate acoustic styles on Sun Dance.
Cameron Spence’s (Ravenface) is a sublime drummer, deft but also powerful shifting styles throughout as Moat Lowe’s (Slugdge, Ex-NSEHG) bass playing underpins the album with a dextrous style. Harrison White is also the musical director for the album informing it with a theatricality through his compositions and keys. The songs here is both joyous and sad almost like Emo/Prog owing as much to Yes or King Crimson as they do to bands such as Dance Gavin Dance and Between The Buried And Me, at times poetic and reserved but at others blisteringly heavy and totally unleashed, there is a schizophrenic nature to the album with menagerie of sounds as Corazon brings lots of Latin flavour, there's spoken word poetry throughout, The Tyrant runs a gamut of different musical influences across it's 10 minute plus running time though it doesn't let up on the 15 minute Prison Walls a song that is very old school prog rock. I'm struggling to put into words how good this album is, yes it's a little pompous at times but all great prog music is. Eleventh Hour is pretty much a perfect prog record. 9/10
Earth Rot: Black Tides Of Obscurity (Season Of Mist) [Paul Hutchings]
Bruising, brutal and compelling from the opening strains of ‘Dread Rebirth’ through to the conclusion via Out In The Cold, the third album from Australian blackened death metal outfit Earth Rot is far more than the usual bludgeoning approach. A darkness hangs over the entire album, but there is ample groove to get the head nodding. Combining ferocious elements of black and death metal, Black Tides Of Obscurity is a massively potent mixture which has impressed more on each listen. The band combine epic style with a gritty earthy approach and the results are impressive. Tracks such as New Horns, the blistering explosive Towards A Godless Shine and the intricately weaved Kataklysm edged Ancestral Vengeance and The Cape Of Storms incorporate the likes of Behemoth and Fleshgod Apocalypse without any copycatting.
UK prog band Novena have finally released their debut full length after their well received EP in 2016. This has been in the works since then mainly due to the band members all being part of others bands. The most notable is singer Ross Jennings who is also the voice of Haken, here also shows off his phenomenal vocals prowess, though he shares the mic with Gareth Mason of the band Slice The Cake, with both of them intertwining well with the soaring cleans and low rapped grunts pricking up your ears, though they do not draw all of the focus as musically Novena are progressive and interesting, with a mournfulness and emotion in their songs. Dan Thornton (Ex-HAARP Machine) and Harrison White’s guitar playing intertwined like vines both taking their fair share of furious leads but also more delicate acoustic styles on Sun Dance.
Cameron Spence’s (Ravenface) is a sublime drummer, deft but also powerful shifting styles throughout as Moat Lowe’s (Slugdge, Ex-NSEHG) bass playing underpins the album with a dextrous style. Harrison White is also the musical director for the album informing it with a theatricality through his compositions and keys. The songs here is both joyous and sad almost like Emo/Prog owing as much to Yes or King Crimson as they do to bands such as Dance Gavin Dance and Between The Buried And Me, at times poetic and reserved but at others blisteringly heavy and totally unleashed, there is a schizophrenic nature to the album with menagerie of sounds as Corazon brings lots of Latin flavour, there's spoken word poetry throughout, The Tyrant runs a gamut of different musical influences across it's 10 minute plus running time though it doesn't let up on the 15 minute Prison Walls a song that is very old school prog rock. I'm struggling to put into words how good this album is, yes it's a little pompous at times but all great prog music is. Eleventh Hour is pretty much a perfect prog record. 9/10
Earth Rot: Black Tides Of Obscurity (Season Of Mist) [Paul Hutchings]
Bruising, brutal and compelling from the opening strains of ‘Dread Rebirth’ through to the conclusion via Out In The Cold, the third album from Australian blackened death metal outfit Earth Rot is far more than the usual bludgeoning approach. A darkness hangs over the entire album, but there is ample groove to get the head nodding. Combining ferocious elements of black and death metal, Black Tides Of Obscurity is a massively potent mixture which has impressed more on each listen. The band combine epic style with a gritty earthy approach and the results are impressive. Tracks such as New Horns, the blistering explosive Towards A Godless Shine and the intricately weaved Kataklysm edged Ancestral Vengeance and The Cape Of Storms incorporate the likes of Behemoth and Fleshgod Apocalypse without any copycatting.
Slabs of funk breakdowns contrast with the insane death metal assaults, (Mind Killer, Unravelling Vapour Of Sanity), much of which is quite brilliantly unexpected. Closing with Out In The Cold, Earth Rot change pace and feel for this smolderingly dark bluesy track, featuring spoons from Christopher Zibell (Taake). Earth Rot are Jared Bridgeman – Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar; Tom Waterhouse – Guitar/Backing Vocals; Colin Dickie – Guitar; Daniel Maloney – Drums. Black Tides Of Obscurity demonstrates that Season Of Mist rarely pick a dud. This is a quite outstanding release. 8/10
Innards: Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face (Transcending Obscurity) [Paul Scoble]
Innards have been in existence since 2017, Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face is the first thing the Portuguese 3 piece has released. The band play a very old school style of Death Metal, so simple tremolo picked Death Metal riffs, blasting drums and squealing solos. First track Night Of The Anthropophagous is a fantastic piece of old school death metal in the style of Entombed or Dismember, it’s nice and brutal with a nod to D-beat, nice start. Next up is Enlightenment Through Hate which has a bit of a thrashy feel to it, which is apt; as the song features Frank Blackfire of Sodom. The final track is The Fog, which has a real grind feel to it. Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face is a cracking little EP. Ok, it’s not particularly original, but what Old School Death Metal band is? This EP has pretty much everything that was great about Death Metal in 1991, and that is something special. Highly recommended. 7/10
Deadfire: My Mind Belongs To The Devil (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Deadfire are an Aberdeen based 4 piece. The band have been going since 2013, and have released 2 albums and an Ep before this Ep. The Ep opens with My Mind Belongs To The Devil, and we get rock very heavily influenced by the early nineties Grunge scene. There are nods to Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. The Soundgarden influence is mainly down to the vocals which are sound very close to Chris Cornell. That all sounds ok, but it’s all a little bit lacklustre. This is sub-par grunge, it all feels a little flat, almost like it was written by a committee trying to work out how to attract the grown up grunge kids demographic. Next track Mary Jane isn’t much better, it’s all played very well, but again it feels flat and lifeless. The other problem with Mary Jane is a rather naff chorus, which does not work. Final track Call From The Void is a little better rhythmically, it has more of a groove to it. But that is wrecked by, and there is no easy way to put this, a Rap. Suddenly this isn’t sub-par grunge, it’s sub-par Nu-Metal. I’m genuinely at a loss to decide which is worse. My Mind Belongs To The Devil isn’t great. The real shame with this Ep is that it’s played and produced well, it’s the cliched writing that is the problem. Everything on this Ep has been done before and done better than this, you might get some nostalgia from it, but you’d be better off listening to the originals. 5/10
Innards: Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face (Transcending Obscurity) [Paul Scoble]
Innards have been in existence since 2017, Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face is the first thing the Portuguese 3 piece has released. The band play a very old school style of Death Metal, so simple tremolo picked Death Metal riffs, blasting drums and squealing solos. First track Night Of The Anthropophagous is a fantastic piece of old school death metal in the style of Entombed or Dismember, it’s nice and brutal with a nod to D-beat, nice start. Next up is Enlightenment Through Hate which has a bit of a thrashy feel to it, which is apt; as the song features Frank Blackfire of Sodom. The final track is The Fog, which has a real grind feel to it. Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face is a cracking little EP. Ok, it’s not particularly original, but what Old School Death Metal band is? This EP has pretty much everything that was great about Death Metal in 1991, and that is something special. Highly recommended. 7/10
Deadfire: My Mind Belongs To The Devil (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Deadfire are an Aberdeen based 4 piece. The band have been going since 2013, and have released 2 albums and an Ep before this Ep. The Ep opens with My Mind Belongs To The Devil, and we get rock very heavily influenced by the early nineties Grunge scene. There are nods to Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. The Soundgarden influence is mainly down to the vocals which are sound very close to Chris Cornell. That all sounds ok, but it’s all a little bit lacklustre. This is sub-par grunge, it all feels a little flat, almost like it was written by a committee trying to work out how to attract the grown up grunge kids demographic. Next track Mary Jane isn’t much better, it’s all played very well, but again it feels flat and lifeless. The other problem with Mary Jane is a rather naff chorus, which does not work. Final track Call From The Void is a little better rhythmically, it has more of a groove to it. But that is wrecked by, and there is no easy way to put this, a Rap. Suddenly this isn’t sub-par grunge, it’s sub-par Nu-Metal. I’m genuinely at a loss to decide which is worse. My Mind Belongs To The Devil isn’t great. The real shame with this Ep is that it’s played and produced well, it’s the cliched writing that is the problem. Everything on this Ep has been done before and done better than this, you might get some nostalgia from it, but you’d be better off listening to the originals. 5/10