Sunbomb - Evil And Divine (Frontiers Music Srl)
Influenced by Judas Priest and Black Sabbath (Take Me Away) you'd be forgiven for thinking that Sunbomb was another Scandi heavy metal band but it's another collaborative project from the Frontiers label featuring American rock/metal musicians Tracii Guns (L.A Guns) and Michael Sweet (Stryper). It was created based on Guns' love of heavy metal music, specifically doom apparently but he needed a vocalist that could handle the heavy so he plumped for the singer of the world's premier Christian Metal band. The doom influence is quite pronounced which was a surprise considering the musicians involved. Guns aimed this album to what he would listen to when he was 17 and it's certainly got that heavy thump; Better End has some Mercyful Fate drama, No Tomorrows is distinctly Dio (specifically Black Sabbath Dio) and there's also lots of classic British metal sound too. Sweet's vocals are brilliant throughout with a really wide range and it makes a real change to hear him singing about something other than Jesus. Evil And Divine does deliver on the expectation of being a 'proper' metal album, with the right balance of heavy and melodic. Ex-L.A Guns sticksman Adam Hamilton is behind the kit with Mitch Davis on bass except for the final track. Another powerful addition to Frontiers burgeoning metal catalogue. 7/10
Hippie Death Cult - Circle Of Days (Heavy Psych Sounds)
With a named that is probably partly inspired by Charles Manson, you'd like to think that there is an underlying danger to the music of rockers Hippie Death Cults second album. It's a feeling that is so often proven right across this record, Walk Within taking a trip through dynamic folksy melodies but underpinned with a sense of darkness. HDC's style of fuzz-infused doom rock mixed with 70's psych and hard rock flavours has held them in high regard despite only being around since 2018 Circle Of Days is the follow up to their 2019 debut 111 and comes a week after their recent split with High Reeper where they impressed me. On this full length they impress me again, elongated progressive/psychedelic rock songs that are anchored by the distorted riffs of band leader Eddie Brnabic but have lots of wide-screen rippling organs from vocalist Ben Jackson.
It's sort what you want but not always what you'd expect the title track filled with echoed crooning vocals from Jackson as Ryan Moore flexes his drumming muscles while Laura Phillips sets down a walking bassline. Phillips also counterpoints Jackson's vocals on the folky Walk Within. It's a sprawling record that often feels like a jam session between Syd-fronted Floyd, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin as Sabbath play next door their amps bleeding into the recording. You'd think that at 5 songs it would breeze past but most are elongated pieces allowing the band to flex their prog/jam/psych credentials while retaining that darkness of doom metal. Circle Of Days is a bewitching and groovy record from these Portland natives. Well worth your listening time, this is one cult worth joining. 8/10
Throat - Smile Less (Svart Records)
Third album from noisy, post-punk band Throat urges you to Smile Less in these current times. The world is a very dark place and Smile Less is a very dark album to inhabit it. Although that being said there is something upbeat about it, especially when it shifts into something that will get your arse moving. Smile Less often does this with 80's post-punk grooving on Conveyor Line where we get vocals low enough to scare Peter Steele and a bass-led riff, while Shots is pure punk, with added The Melvins weirdness. They go about adding some long slow, heavily distorted doom on Hospice.
Elsewhere though there's throbbing, sparse, industrial soundscapes on Home Is Where Your Hurt Is a mind melting metallic piece that slots into the middle of the album. All of the previous makes for the most rounded Throat record yet, it's also the most accessible, something of a leap for Throat who are known for being very abrasive and harsh. Smile Less is a dense record that leaves its mark long after you've stopped listening, though of course it's not for those who don't like the post-punk/noise/industrial but Smile Less will please those that do. 6/10
Sombre - A Common Conflict And The Respite We Deserve (Self Released)
Sombre is a one man black metal project created by Richard Stevenson who plays everything on this 6 track EP. There's always a lot of apprehension with one man black metal projects as some can, to be blunt, absolute shit. Happily the sense of post-black metal gloom that comes through on this four track EP saves it from being thrown on to the pile of self indulgent trve Cvlt bollocks. There is of course lots of Second Wave love, the tremolo guitars, frantic blastbeats and croaked vocals of bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem but Stevenson unashamedly takes things into the realms of atmospheric blackgaze with Alcest, Agalloch and Harakiri For The Sky. Now obviously there isn't the production value of these bands so it's not as slick as you'd want, but there is a lot to like here, the D.I.Y ethos coming through and despite it being a self release musically he's really honed in on what makes the experimental post-black style very interesting to the ear. Where he will go from here will be worth keeping an eye on. 6/10