Death Goals – A Garden Of Dead Flowers (Prosthetic Records) [Alex Swift]
Queercore has existed on the fringes of hardcore music since its inception, influencing the genre in subtle ways yet only occasionally making overt strides into the spotlight. Not just a musical protest movement against the discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ people, nor a flaunting of sexuality and gender identity, the genre exists as counterculture. We have our own gigs, our own zines, our own spaces, which seek to give us a community that exists in opposition to the bigotry that exists towards the community, but also to institutions within gay culture, that we’ve always been too different, or radical for.
Even if you are not part of the community, you have seen the way its inspired the music you love – From Green Day’s decision to invite Pansy Division to support them on the Dookie tour as a nod of appreciation towards the queer punk music scene, to the ferocious anger captured by acts like Bikini Kill and Sleater Kinney in a movement that became known as Riot Grrrl. Hell, even this year The HIRS Collective have released a brilliant album about queers who exist on the fringes of society with multiple voices from extreme music collaborating on the project. One of the latest acts to emerge from the scene though is Death Goals. With A Garden Of Dead Flowers, the duo has created an unashamed ode to Queer love. The project is, in that sense an expression of discontent, through the recounting of stories that are relatable to those who have experienced them.
Genderless Clones Of Game Show Hosts wastes no time in demonstrating the angst at the heart of the album. With crushing down tuned guitars, shrieking wails of distortion, the piece ends on a repeated cry of “I am not a man. I am not a woman. I am nothing!”. Immediately following is the title track – made pulverising through a slower tempo, a kind of dystopian sereneness pervades on this piece, as the strained vocals cry out against an existence of being made to feel like you don’t belong in your own skin, or in the sexual boxes you’re presumed to inhabit.
“When I stare at my reflection. I don’t know who’s staring back. It’s these random acts of violence that I bring upon myself. In a garden of dead flowers, the only place that I fit in, I’m learning to fill in the silence with a sound less deafening” proclaims the first verse. It’s a moment of bittersweet reflection – the feeling of being left to wilt in the shadows, unable to bloom and fully express oneself is one many people experience, and yet its through our communities that we are able to continue existing as ourselves. Later, Loveless condemns toxic relationships, and environments that keep us stuck in negative mental cycles, and yet, vitally, the piece is a hopeful one seeing our narrator turning his back on the self-doubt with the words “I don’t need love enough for this”.
P.A.N.S.Y demonstrates the bands grip of melody as you’re forced to comprehend the enormity of the anxiety’s sung about, through a cascading riff, lending a powerful sense of scale to the song. Contrasting this is the metallic and industrial Death Goals in Cursive, which returns to the metaphor of the mirrors you can’t see your true reflection in, vowing to smash them to pieces and rebuild them “in my image”.
Far from seeing these struggles as a kind of battle between heroes and villains though, IfI’m The Enemy, Who’s The Protagonist? mocks characterisations that portray identity struggles as a game – this occurs in the most aggressive throes of the album as both this and the two following tracks, Last Night I Had A Dream About Death and Year Of The Guillotine carry out an assault on the senses with primeval speed and a pervading chaos, that’s as dirty and primal as anything you’ll hear on a hardcore record this year! Even still, the rage present in these songs is palpable, as the songs indignantly rage against homophobic violence, be that street level, or systemic.
Ending on the joyfully satirical Faux Macho, we’re given a glimpse of Death Goals sense of humour. Indeed, for those of us that have never quite fit gender archetypes, or lived up to stereotypical images in magazines, the deriding of superficial appearances and norms is incredibly relatable. It’s also moments like this that remind us that, for all the bleakness present in their sound, the bands message is one of defiance against the perceived wisdom of normal. Many LGBTQ+ people feel at home in the punk scene specifically because it’s always been a place for outsiders. Works like this show that tradition as being alive and well. 8/10
Herod - Iconoclast (Pelagic Records) [Mark Young]
So, for the uninitiated, Herod have been around since 2006 and are described as atmospheric groove metal, as well as having sludge and progressive tags (thank you Bandcamp). What this description doesn’t do is tell you just how heavy they are, and it certainly doesn’t tell you just how good they are. You know when you listen to certain bands, they have an indescribable something which sets them apart from their influences or from others that might sit within the same label / tag as noted above.Iconoclast is one of those albums which takes from it’s influences and remoulds them to suit their own artistic vision and I’m going out on a limb right now to say this will be in my top 10 albums of 2023 come December. The Icon smashes from the start, with a heaviness and a seldom heard clarity. The vocals are spat with venom and a fury whilst the music just rumbles along, instantly accessible whilst building that tension and dynamic feeling before they unleash The Girl With A Balloon, starting with that controlled riff that seems to be straining to move. Instead, it backs off to allow everything to swell into that furious roar. This isn’t just loud vs soft and repeat, there is a spoken refrain playing off against the backing that allows the screams to hit further as we reach the end.
The Edifice takes us back to some classic Meshuggah noise, instantly grabbing and getting your head moving, this is heavy but has an amazing groove to it which you know would sound phenomenal live. So far this has been magnificent, so they just casually throw this one at you. The Ode To comes in with a choir that builds from a single voice, perfectly in synch with the music behind it and it just turns everything it on its head. For the next 7 plus minutes it takes you on a journey and is just epic.
The Becoming swings us back round, with a constant barrage of riffing and drums, and is possibly the most straight forward song here. It just attacks from the start with vocals switching between spoken and screamed. Again, this one just moves with that constant state of motion before leaving to allow The Intergloom to softly enter and provide a measure of respite as we enter the final two tracks, comprising The Obsolete and The Prophecy.
The Obsolete comes in with a huge sounding riff and sustains this all the way through and it just batters you. The Prophecy comes at you in a different way again with a dual vocal attack, of two different styles that just lifts this clear of almost everything else on the album (The Ode To being my absolute standout on here). It’s a vocal battle with no quarter given and makes this possibly one of the finest album closers I’ve heard. Ever.
And that was that, done and gone. Like all great music, it will warrant repeated listening because there is no way I picked up everything on the initial listen. This is just one of the best things you will hear this year. It has that feeling to it of a band that is supremely confident in its abilities to write some of the best songs that have movement, emotion and some absolute black-hole levels of heaviness to it. Fans of Herod will no doubt already be aware of how good they are, but the real treat is for those who haven’t yet heard them. You should do everything in your power to seek this out and stream it / buy it because you won’t be disappointed. 9/10
Savage Grace - Sign Of The Cross (Massacre Records) [Richard Oliver]
There are a multitude of heavy metal bands that released albums in the 1980’s but didn’t survive beyond the decade. Many of these have become cult acts and some have been forgotten about apart from a die hard fan contingent. Also some of these acts, with the resurgence of appreciation for traditional heavy metal, have come out of hibernation in the 21st century ready to release some very long overdue material. One such act that folded in the early 90’s but have returned to us are Savage Grace who are releasing Sign Of The Cross their third album and their first full length album release since 1986. With such a long gap between albums the question is can they recapture the magic of those classic releases?
If, like myself prior to this review, you have not heard of Savage Grace then they are one of the bands from what is colloquially known as the USPM (United States Power Metal) scene alongside acts such as Omen, Vicious Rumors, Riot, Liege Lord, Helstar and Griffin amongst countless others. It is a sound that is rooted in traditional heavy metal but with more speed, aggression and melody and is perfect for those who want to sing along and wreck your neck at the same time and is a bit more rough and ready than the European power metal sound.
The music on Sign Of The Cross is more in a straight up heavy metal with similarities to the latter day albums by Judas Priest and Accept but with big nods to power metal acts such as Primal Fear, Iron Savior and Grave Digger. It is a powerful sounding record with pounding rhythms, soaring vocals, crunchy riffs and shredding solos with songs ranging from the speed metal attack of opener Barbarians At The Gate to more fist banging anthemic power metal tunes such as Rendezvous and Star Crossed Lovers’ as well as songs that sit somewhere in between mixing pounding rhythms and massive melodies such as Automaton, Slave Of Desire and the beefy title track.
Guitarist Christian Logue is the only sole member of Savage Grace from the old days and he is joined by Brazilian musicians Fabio Carito on bass and Marcus Dotta on drums (both of which were members of Warrel Dane’s band). On vocals he has Gabriel Colón who makes an impression with his powerful voice which is certainly reminiscent of Rob Halford and Ralf Scheepers. His vocals have enough melody and aggression to match the tone of the music.
Sign Of The Cross is a very enjoyable album of power metal goodness. There are gonna be hardcore fans and purists of the original Savage Grace who refuse to acknowledge this as a continuation of the original band (they are already out in force in the comments section of the bands new music videos). They may have a point as this does differ from the bands previous material but it has been 36 years since the band last released any material on the Ride Into The Night EP.
On its own strengths and merits, Sign Of The Cross is a very solid album of pounding, melodic and anthemic heavy metal which should appeal to old school heavy metal and power metal fans alike. 8/10
Haunt - Golden Arm (Iron Grip Records) [Matt Bladen]
Trevor William Church returns again with his trad metal project Haunt and the new album Golden Arm. Released via his own label Iron Grip Records the California musician again plays all the instruments/vocals here and recorded the album which was produced/mixed/mastered by Darren Trentacoste. Church is a prolific, not a year goes by that he doesn't release a record, his understanding of the NWOBHM genre is second to none but on this latest effort it looks as if he's adding some different 80's influences to his sound.
Hit And Run is a bit sleazier than the normal Haunt sound but they return to the NWOTHM with title track and Piece By Piece. Church's vocals are still exactly what you want for this style of music, as he again shows another side to his sound on the synthy Fight The Good Fight, the solos of live guitarist Andy Lei adding an extra level with his fretboard fireworks on thrashy closer The Horses Mouth. Church is a master of this type of music, with every Haunt album he brings more skills and a broader pallette but keeps his place as NWOTHM's daddy. 8/10