Thirteenth Sign: The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence (Self Released) [Dave Marcovecchio]
This pesky Corona business has certainly given us all a lot of spare time which has found people doing new and interesting things to take up time. While some have spent the time learning new skills others have spent it eating biscuits and catching up on Netflix and listening to true-crime podcasts. UK underground Melodeath/Thrash stalwarts Thirteenth Sign, however, have spent it knocking together their 4th album The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence. This alone would be an impressive feat, but paired with a total reshuffle of the bands line-up, the end result is nothing short of unbelievable. Taking cues from famous concept albums (Chiefly Queensryche's iconic Operation Mindcrime), The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence explores the loose theme of the inner workings and inner-thoughts of some of Britain's most notorious killers. While a few of these tracks wear this concept very firmly on their bloodied sleeve (such as the news snippet in the intro of The Bone Collector) others are a lot more subtle in their delivery. Musically though, they all tread a similar path, with some absolute belters on display (a personal highlight being lead single Electric Hammer).
This pesky Corona business has certainly given us all a lot of spare time which has found people doing new and interesting things to take up time. While some have spent the time learning new skills others have spent it eating biscuits and catching up on Netflix and listening to true-crime podcasts. UK underground Melodeath/Thrash stalwarts Thirteenth Sign, however, have spent it knocking together their 4th album The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence. This alone would be an impressive feat, but paired with a total reshuffle of the bands line-up, the end result is nothing short of unbelievable. Taking cues from famous concept albums (Chiefly Queensryche's iconic Operation Mindcrime), The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence explores the loose theme of the inner workings and inner-thoughts of some of Britain's most notorious killers. While a few of these tracks wear this concept very firmly on their bloodied sleeve (such as the news snippet in the intro of The Bone Collector) others are a lot more subtle in their delivery. Musically though, they all tread a similar path, with some absolute belters on display (a personal highlight being lead single Electric Hammer).
The music on offer here is a great mixture of modern thrash and melodic death metal, giving off a modern metal vibe that is instantly familiar, but with a few extra touches layered on top. New vocalist Reno Ramos' turns from a bellowing guttural scream to a sonorous croon at the drop of a hat and the use of orchestral elements adds an epic feel. For an album of it's length (an impressive CD filling 70 minutes) the pace is nicely moderated with long instrumental sections and clever use of samples and pre-recorded dialogue adding a cinematic flair. For the most part, this prevents the music from ever becoming too same-y or fatiguing. Fitting to it's theme, The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence is much like a Sunday night crime drama in that while it ticks a lot of boxes and at times borders on the formulaic, there's enough chills, spills to keep you interested. The songwriting skill and individuality on display elevate it beyond typical melodic-metal fodder and make something a touch more ambitious and daring. Stay Sexy, don't get murdered, and listen to Thirteenth Sign. 8/10
Sollust: (In)Versus (Self Released) [Simon Black]
Portuguese bands don’t come across my bows very often, so I was keen to hear what this five piece sounded like. Despite the fact that this bunch pf Progressive Gothic Metallers have been around for a while (since 2003 in fact), this is the first actual product since 2012’s The Last Bird Song EP and so to all extents and purposes is actually their proper debut album. Like any release that’s had a long gestation period, there is the opportunity for tightness and polish in the song-writing department and certainly the track structures are tight and surprisingly to the point, despite the strong Progressive influence.
The production is not as rigorous as perhaps best benefits the moodiness of the Gothic and Doom genre where let’s face it, a shed load of reverb goes a long way. However I’m quite forgiving when it comes to self-produced first releases, especially when the musicianship is as tight as this, and the focus on songwriting and mood so effectively delivered instrumentally. Duality is a big thing thematically on this record and they play the same game with many of the songs’ basic structures – splicing different genres together quite successfully. These transitions are then handled very well – Lost In Oblivion starts off hard and brutal, with moody sweeping guitar-scapes and some effective but surprisingly intelligible Black vocal tropes, which segue into a haunting clean vocal break mid-song and gradually back to angry very, very well. Supported by some clever technical fills and progressive tricks this song leads you along Sollust’s path for over seven minutes without you realising the overall length. And there’s many other great examples of this technique on the one hour run time of this record.
Even when you get a track that makes you think it might be a weaker moment on the record, it pulls a surprise out of the tail and stings you positively. Take Creed In Life, which from the opening bars makes me think is going to be a dirge filler evolves, body swerves and surprises, becoming one of the most moody, epic and engaging songs on the record. Where the album perhaps lacks slightly is that the slow, doomy pace (whilst immaculately done) wears one down after a while, and we’re fully halfway through the album at Blame Yourself before we get anything up tempo, or dare I say it, fast – even if only for part of the song. Do I mind? Not so much because the Gothic elements are so well done, and if Paradise Lost can spend an album just seeing how slow a song can go before it actually stops, I can forgive the mid to low tempo pitch of this album very easily as it grows on me the more I listen to it.
Portuguese bands don’t come across my bows very often, so I was keen to hear what this five piece sounded like. Despite the fact that this bunch pf Progressive Gothic Metallers have been around for a while (since 2003 in fact), this is the first actual product since 2012’s The Last Bird Song EP and so to all extents and purposes is actually their proper debut album. Like any release that’s had a long gestation period, there is the opportunity for tightness and polish in the song-writing department and certainly the track structures are tight and surprisingly to the point, despite the strong Progressive influence.
The production is not as rigorous as perhaps best benefits the moodiness of the Gothic and Doom genre where let’s face it, a shed load of reverb goes a long way. However I’m quite forgiving when it comes to self-produced first releases, especially when the musicianship is as tight as this, and the focus on songwriting and mood so effectively delivered instrumentally. Duality is a big thing thematically on this record and they play the same game with many of the songs’ basic structures – splicing different genres together quite successfully. These transitions are then handled very well – Lost In Oblivion starts off hard and brutal, with moody sweeping guitar-scapes and some effective but surprisingly intelligible Black vocal tropes, which segue into a haunting clean vocal break mid-song and gradually back to angry very, very well. Supported by some clever technical fills and progressive tricks this song leads you along Sollust’s path for over seven minutes without you realising the overall length. And there’s many other great examples of this technique on the one hour run time of this record.
Even when you get a track that makes you think it might be a weaker moment on the record, it pulls a surprise out of the tail and stings you positively. Take Creed In Life, which from the opening bars makes me think is going to be a dirge filler evolves, body swerves and surprises, becoming one of the most moody, epic and engaging songs on the record. Where the album perhaps lacks slightly is that the slow, doomy pace (whilst immaculately done) wears one down after a while, and we’re fully halfway through the album at Blame Yourself before we get anything up tempo, or dare I say it, fast – even if only for part of the song. Do I mind? Not so much because the Gothic elements are so well done, and if Paradise Lost can spend an album just seeing how slow a song can go before it actually stops, I can forgive the mid to low tempo pitch of this album very easily as it grows on me the more I listen to it.
That band are also clearly a strong influence as well, particularly with regards to guitar sound, and the overall effect is similar to some of those 90’s era albums. Exolventur and Reflection though are the tracks I come back to, and really summarise everything that works with this band. A good, but overdue debut, which well deserves several listens to deconstruct and appreciate fully. 7/10
Chestcrush: Demo (FHED Label) [Rich Oliver]
Chestcrush are a band hailing from Edinburgh and 2020 sees the release of their debut demo released digitally through Bandcamp and in physical form by cassette via the Cardiff based FHED label. Chestcrush are a two piece consisting of DM on vocals and Evan on guitars, bass and programming and like any good extreme metal two piece they make one hell of a sweet racket for two people. Musically what Chestcrush offers up is a filthy depraved mix of black metal, death metal and sludge metal. The riffs have that simplistic brutality that works so well when combining elements of sludge and death metal and work even better when mixed with the oppressive atmosphere of black metal. As well as solid musicianship, the vocals by DM are a nice mix of blackened screams and deathly gutturals.
The demo is comprised of four songs with opener Burden being the longest of the bunch and sets the tone of the release with a sinister sludgy riff building to some wonderfully nasty death metal and second song Grudge opens with a nasty tremolo riff which oozes black metal malevolence before erupting into death metal chaos. The demo gets more unhinged as it progresses into its latter half with Crushed being some absolutely disgusting and discordant blackened sludge whilst demo closer Agonal Breath sounds positively hellish with ever building levels of feedback and discordance. Chestcrush have a great little demo here which gives you a feel of the capabilities of the band and showcases their depraved mix of black, death and sludge metal. It’s a short, sweet and promising listen. 7/10
Snow White & The White Flames: Something On Me (Soulfood Music) [Matt Bladen]
Snowy White is no stranger to the stage, he has served time with Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and Thin Lizzy but between these jaunts he has enjoyed a lengthy solo career with his band The White Flames. Those expecting any Floydian soundscapes or a Thin Lizzy hard rocking won't get that on Something On Me, as The White Flames have always been a blues based outfit, very much 'English' styled blues that Snowy developed while jamming with Peter Green. So does it differ much from his previous album The Situation? Well not really, it's full of relaxed blues jams, White taking the gritty vocals and fluid guitar playing. He's backed by the locomotive rhythm section of Thomas White (drums) and Rowan Bassett (bass) along with various The White Flames members making themselves known on more expansive numbers such as I Wish I Could. Basically if you love the kind of bluesy sound coined by Peter Green but brought to the masses by Dire Straits, Chris Rea and Steve Miller then Something On Me will be for you. 6/10
Snowy White is no stranger to the stage, he has served time with Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and Thin Lizzy but between these jaunts he has enjoyed a lengthy solo career with his band The White Flames. Those expecting any Floydian soundscapes or a Thin Lizzy hard rocking won't get that on Something On Me, as The White Flames have always been a blues based outfit, very much 'English' styled blues that Snowy developed while jamming with Peter Green. So does it differ much from his previous album The Situation? Well not really, it's full of relaxed blues jams, White taking the gritty vocals and fluid guitar playing. He's backed by the locomotive rhythm section of Thomas White (drums) and Rowan Bassett (bass) along with various The White Flames members making themselves known on more expansive numbers such as I Wish I Could. Basically if you love the kind of bluesy sound coined by Peter Green but brought to the masses by Dire Straits, Chris Rea and Steve Miller then Something On Me will be for you. 6/10