Wake - Thought Form Descent (Metal Blade Records) [GC]
It’s safe to say that Wake don’t want to be pigeonholed as four minutes into album opener Infinite Inward I have already heard death metal, black metal, and some doomy atmospheric metal, giving this album the potential to be very interesting. Everything on offer here is urgent, savage and filled with genuine heart wrenching emotion that can often be lost in music that is as extreme as this, at times the vocals really stop you in your tracks and just make you listen to the pain that is being poured into every second. It’s almost an insult to try and describe what Wake are doing as they really take everything to another level.
It is almost as if they create soundscapes and not actual songs, none of the actual music here clocks in at under 5 minutes aside Pareidolia which allows you a minute’s rest to regroup before the onslaught continues and The Translation Of Death which fades the album out with a much-needed dose of serenity. Everything hits you like a ton of bricks it’s all intense riffs, impassioned vocals, dense rhythms, and pounding drums one minute then out of nowhere comes a passage so beautiful you need to look and check your still listening to the same album?! The perfect example of this is Venerate (The Undoing Of All) which is like an 8-minute sledgehammer to the chest, a beautiful, unrelenting, and savage beast in the truly the best possible ways.
I Think Wake may have found a new way to be describe brutality as when you listen to them you notice all the extreme elements are seemingly so effortless and then when mixed with some truly beautiful more serene parts all the music on Thought Form Descent is ruthless and savagely heavy but also offers some genuine shining moments of beauty with textures and dense layers, that guarantee there will always be new bits that you discover with each listen and trust me, you will keep coming back for more as this is a fantastic album. 8/10
Ernia - How to Deal With Life And Fail (Transcending Obscurity Records) [GC]
The second release from Spanish grindcore nutcases Ernia really is, for want of a better word mental! From the very beginning of opener Farewell, Sputnik this album is a delightful and savage non-stop attack on all your available human senses, and I couldn’t be happier about that!!
Every single part of the sound is always full on & intense and never gives you a chance to relax or take a breath. To listen to its definitely grindcore at its purest but, also manages to mix in some mind boggling mathcore sections that wouldn’t be out of place on early Dillinger albums and brutal slamming death metal parts there is also a lot to remind me of TheLocust in places but it’s not that they are just cut and paste copycat type stuff they really have created a truly unique sound with some of the highest technical excellence you will hear for a long time to come.
You really, really need to be on your toes when you’re listening to this or you will miss something as all the songs blast by at an unrelenting and unpredictable pace with vocals that could peel paint, 1000mphdrumming, sonic boom bass drops and incredible guitar work, this really does deserve your attention!
For me, Ernia really have created something utterly unique and savagely beautiful here and they really could be one of the bands to watch in the future because if their output continues to be this good then I can’t see how they can fail as this album is unreal. 8/10
Anticreation - From The Dust Of Embers (Sentient Ruin) [Matt Bladen]
On their debut album From The Dust Of Embers black/death duo Anticreation, craft a devilish, devastating 34 minute destruction of your ear canals. Comprised of two extreme metal veterans; Necro (guitars, vocals) and Noctus (bass, vocals) with guest musicians being drummer Krzysztof Klingbein and some ambient/noise by Slanderer From The Dust Of Embers revels in its blasphemous, contemptuous, evil, tremolo picking, scorched vocals and grinding rhythms doing exactly what you'd want a black/death band to do, especially a Greek one. There's plenty of Necromantia, Rotting Christ and Varathon influences, but also bands such as Burial Hordes, Enshadowed and Merciless Crucifixion all of which Necro has been a part of.
It's bleak and uncompromising, the dissonance favoured by the band coming though on each track as the blistering speed so often shifts into a screeching death metal chug. The Beauty Of Lava really encapsulates the flowing of molten magma down a mountainside towards a doomed village, strains of death doom give way to just fuzzing noise as the percussive DM battery returns towards the end. Much of the record starts towards the death metal side but there's enough black metal to satisfy on tracks such as Abomination Reborn. If you've any interest in the Hellenic extreme metal scene you'll recognise, and enjoy the sounds of Anticreation, moreover if you're also a fan of Immolation then you'll also be banging your head hard, however for many this will be just another addition to an over saturated genre. 6/10
Spektrvm - Blood For Heaven (Sliptrick Records) [Matt Bladen]
Remember those Halcyon days of nu-metal fondly? Or are you a dyed in the wool fan of Disturbed or Metallica? If the answer to all of these questions is yes then you'll be ready to go out and pick up Blood For Heaven the new album from Perama, Corfu based metal band Spektrvm. Something of a game of two halves. At the beginning there's some proggy, thrash heavy metal that can be heard on bands such as Nevermore or even Metallica, the classically tinged intro Gift Of Oizys from the former, the doomy title track the latter.
But as the album gets going they sort of morph into a Disturbed covers band Thanos Zabetakis' vocals very David Draiman-like on War Of Chameleon, Leviathan and Rainfire the like barking out politically motivated lyrics and making reference to societal problems too. The music sticks with the chuggy, groovy metal style of Disturbed as well though it does change with Trying To Breathe giving some more modern metal balladry, drummer Lyo Panagiotopoulos taking a restrained approach here and on Rotten World.
Green God has bassist Michael Pouliezos give some Tool rhythms though Without Borders shifts into some folky, proggy thrashing the guitar duo of George Zikas and Nicholas Dhamo showing off their prog chops. It's a little all over the place but the basic selling point of this album is that if you like Disturbed, and even Breed 77 too you'll get your groove on to Spektrvm's debut album. With a bit of refining and the hook laden songs of a band such Disturbed, their second album could be gold dust. 7/10