Molder - Engrossed In Decay (Prosthetic Records) [GC]
The first thing you really notice when you listen to the 2nd album from Molder is that they aren’t trying to break any new ground and re-create the wheel, this is straightforward, heads down, balls to the wall, old school death metal, but there is no standing still here as they have managed to put a modern twist on the format and inject it with such energy and passion and it’s a pleasure to listen to!
Right form the off ,you can tell a lot of thought has gone into Engrossed In Decay as some of the songs really benefit from the great samples chosen as they don’t just start a song they really add to and complement them and add some fun into the gruesome mix these being Relentless Pestilence, Disinhumed Carcass and Decomposed Embryo’s. Musically, the guitars are sludgy and dense but always have the right crisp tone so none of the vicious riffs get lost in the barrage faced by the listener and as a bonus there are some beautiful guitar solos in there as well!
The drums hurtle along at breakneck speed and are relentless in places and the big scuzzy basslines aren’t ever lost in the mix either which is great, and in possibly the best compliment I can pay the man, vocalist Aaren Pantke is the closest thing to John Tardy I have ever heard! The tunes on offer here should make any fan of death metal smile and bang their head until their eyes dislodge, and their brains leak out of the empty sockets, which I am sure Molder would love and write a song about!! To say I enjoyed this album would be an understatement, everything on offer here is great and I can’t fault it from start to finish this is great death metal album and you should give it your full attention ASAP!! 8/10
Supersonic Blues Machine is a cool band name, and fitting for this hard rocking bluesy outfit built around the core trio of Fabrizio Grossi (bass), Kenny Aronoff (drums), Kris Barras (guitar and vocals) and filled out with a huge list of guest musicians. Since I’m not very familiar with this branch of the grand Rock’n’Roll tree, I had to spend some time learning who everyone was, arguably the best part. Voodoo Nation, their third studio effort, opens with the song Money. A swaggering little song with some great backing vocals about, well…money. It’s a little repetitive but ends just in time and slides nicely into Too Late, a track with some real Western flavour bits that show up throughout the song. Again a bit repetitive lyrically, I’m getting an itch.
The next two songs are where the album begins to stumble a bit, especially with song length. Coming Thru and You And Me are both over 5 minutes long and I swear my brain began to drift right out. Good song craft to be sure, and this is clearly a personal taste judgement but good blues/rock songs should hustle along with all do haste. When these guys put it to the floor, it’s good and even my metal addled thinking mush can dig it. Like track 5, Get It Done, which rocks right on through the rom-com movie montage of some dork fixing up an old car or something. That’s all this song made me think of but it was fun and got my fingers tapping. 8 Ball Lucy is arguably the best song on this album, held aloft by the fantastic guitar work of Sonny Landreth and his unique style.
However once again, it’s just a bit too long, feeling like it just trails off at the end. Which brings me to my biggest gripe and the song that broke me for this album, Devil At The Doorstep. Eric Gales is a phenomenal guitar player, but my dudes, this song is 2 seconds shy of being an 8 minute song. In this reviewer's humble experience there are few bands that can really stretch that song length and not destroy minds, Supersonic Blues Machine is not one of those bands. And that’s not even the last song, or the last song to pull up stuffed to over 5 minutes. They throw one more blazing rocker in track 9, Do It Again, which again made me think of an 80's comedy movie. By then though, there was just nothing left of my patience and nothing in my now vacated skull for the remaining three songs, I Will Let Go, Voodoo Nation, and All Our Love to latch on to, in one ear and out the other.
I burned out on Blues/Rock with this album. There is some great musicianship here, all of these players know their stuff and people like Eric Gales, King Solomon Hicks, Charlie Starr and Joe Louis Walker are fantastic and I enjoyed learning about each of them to be honest. However, with overly long songs that sucked the life out of themselves and a phoned in album cover I’m afraid the spell is not strong enough. 5/10
Darkane - Inhuman Spirits (Massacre Records) [Richard Oliver]
There are certain bands that have fallen by the wayside in comparison to the contemporaries despite having the chops to match and sometimes outmatch the most popular bands in a scene. The Swedish melodic death metal scene is dominated and most well known for bands such as In Flames, At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork but there are lesser known gems such as The Duskfall, Ebony Tears and of course the subject of this review Darkane.
Darkane formed in 1998 in Helsingborg and stormed onto the scene with their ferocious debut album Rusted Angel in 1999. The band have remained active in the years since but in latter years the releases have become more sporadic. They have managed to retain virtually the same line up since the bands inception with only the vocalist post being interchangeable. The same line up returns from previous album 2013’s The Sinister Supremacy and the time in between releases has allowed Darkane to craft a slick yet ferocious album with Inhuman Spirits.
The album still retains the bands trademark mix of Swedish melodeath and American thrash but there are also some symphonic elements mixed amongst as well such as on the opening title track, some more contemporary metal leanings such as on the ridiculously catchy Awakening, ferocious death/thrash such as on the relentless Embrace The Flames and plenty of groove such as on Conspiracies Of The Flesh. My personal stand out from the album has to be Inhaling Mental Chaos which manages to be relentless and catchy in equal measure with plenty of bombastic melody.
The band are on very tight form with some wonderful performances with the drumming from Peter Wildoder being a real stand out. The vocals by returning original frontman Lawrence Mackroy veer between a melodic thrash vocal style and a ferocious harsh style and he flits effortlessly between the two. Inhuman Spirits is another addition to a solid discography from Darkane. The best songs seem to be loaded into the first half of the album rather than spread out meaning that the second half is a tad anticlimactic though it is still strong material mixing the violent, catchy, bombastic and melodic together in fantastic style.
If you are a melodeath fan and haven’t heard of Darkane then this album is as good a stepping on point as any. 8/10
Diogenes BCE - Innocence Will Never Regain (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
Innocence Will Never Regain is the debut album of Norwegian duo Diogenes BCE. The pair are Sigurd on Guitar and Vocals and Kristian on Drums. Although Diogenes BCE is a new project Sigurd and Kristian have a musical history together since 1995, when they were both members of the Black Metal band Morrheim, who changed their name to Grand Alchemist in 1998. Grand Alchemist released two albums in their carrier; one in 2002, and one ten years later in 2012.
Diogenes BCE play a style of music that is not Black Metal, but is clearly influenced and informed by Black Metal, as well as by other forms of extreme metal. Its style is most reminiscent of German band Horn. I found that the faster material worked best for me, it’s tight and Thrashy and full of energy and drive. The opening track Hungry, Thirsty And Lonely is a great example of this style, taut, Blackened and decidedly aggressive, there is a slower section that keeps the aggression, but Hungry, Thirsty And Lonely is mainly about neck breaking high speed riffing. Another cracking Thrashy track is Coming Closer To My Demons which feels so filled with inertia you could use it to power a freight train, again there is a slower part; an energy packed expansive section, but again this is rooted in speed. The fast songs aren’t all thrash based, the track Glowing Avalanches has a fast Melodic Death Metal feel to it that works very well, it vacillates between mid-paced and very fast and also contains a fair amount of aggression.
Despite me preferring the faster material on Innocence Will Never Regain, that doesn’t mean I don’t like the slow stuff as well. Final song on the album Where The Contempt Grows is my favourite of the slow tracks, it’s slow, with a purposeful walking pace that is slow, but feels unstoppable, it’s a similar tempo to Immortal’s Tyrants. The song contains a huge expansive section with really great drumming, and ends on a fantastically heavy riff. Despite this being a very well written, played and produced album (production is very good, everything sounds great), Innocence Will Never Regain does have one small problem. I found some of the slower tracks to be a little over long, and my interest started to wain, it’s not a problem with what the band have written, they’re just overlong. The track As Low As Love Can Get has some great riffs in it, but not enough for the over ten minute run time, so after about 6 minutes it started to feel a little ploddy and lacklustre.
The track A Death-Poem For A Lost World has a similar issue, its just too long, a few edits to the hour and 7 minute album run time would tighten it up very well. All it needs to loose would be a few repetitions of riffs, rather than cutting any material. Innocence Will Never Regain is a great album, full of great songs, cracking fast riffs, thunderous slow and heavy riffs, and some awesome drumming. I should also reiterate that this is a debut album, so this much quality with just the need for a small amount of editing, is very impressive. I’ve enjoyed listening to it, and I bet you would too! 7/10