Widows Peak - Claustrophobe (Self Released) [GC]
This review is another one of those genres that worry me slightly Widows Peak are described as Technical Progressive Death Metal which fills me with slight apprehension and dread, is it all going to be widdly wanky guitars that go on forever and mix with keyboards and then throws in some gruff vocals that make it class as death metal? Or is it going to be technical proficiency mixed with brutal death metal? Who knows what I’m about to hear?
Skipping past the now seemingly standard intro Blood On The Breath and headfirst into title track Claustrophobe there’s the widdly guitars I was dreading but it lasts all of abut 10 seconds before absolute fucking carnage is just pouring out of the speakers and I’m left picking my jaw off the floor this is exactly what I wanted the guitars from Chris McCrimmon & Mack Shaw are technical and bruising with rhythms the twist and smash in equal measure, Patricio C.Paulsen’s drumming has a chaotic beauty about it even if the snare is a bit off putting its sounds like its been mixed to low and dubbed slightly but it takes noting away from the utter madness of the song and you can even feel the bass of Alyxx Frayne holding everything together and guiding the song and you have to give a round of applause to Travis Godin because his vocals are unhinged and beautifully deranged in the best way! What a start!
It’s been a few reviews since something spoke to me as much as Claustrophobe does! I was scared to begin with but by the end I was fully sold and loving what I head just heard, now I could bang on forever about just how good this album really is but what I am going to actually do is leave you with one last statement which is, I guarantee you will not hear a better technical death metal album this year the Claustrophobe and if its not in your album of the year list you are wrong! From the end of the first song, I knew that this would be the easiest score I have ever had to give an album. If you disagree, as I have said before there really is no helping you. 10/10
The Hate Project - Blessed With Malevolence (Seek & Strike) [Mark Young]
And to really finish the week off, we have The Hate Project, a quickfire blast of Swedish metal that according to online sources promises to bring ‘raw heaviness and serious groove to the extreme metal scene’ so no pressure at all. Of the 5 songs here, track one is a short intro with the main body coming straight after. Kicking off with the short, sharp Suffer, we drop straight into some groovetastic heavy metal, with the title track Blessed With Malevolence.
Maybe if I come back to this in ten years time it’ll sound different, but I doubt it. Whilst it would seem that the talent is there, these guys are can play, there’s no denying that, it’s just not something that I’d listen to on purpose. 4/10.
This review is another one of those genres that worry me slightly Widows Peak are described as Technical Progressive Death Metal which fills me with slight apprehension and dread, is it all going to be widdly wanky guitars that go on forever and mix with keyboards and then throws in some gruff vocals that make it class as death metal? Or is it going to be technical proficiency mixed with brutal death metal? Who knows what I’m about to hear?
Skipping past the now seemingly standard intro Blood On The Breath and headfirst into title track Claustrophobe there’s the widdly guitars I was dreading but it lasts all of abut 10 seconds before absolute fucking carnage is just pouring out of the speakers and I’m left picking my jaw off the floor this is exactly what I wanted the guitars from Chris McCrimmon & Mack Shaw are technical and bruising with rhythms the twist and smash in equal measure, Patricio C.Paulsen’s drumming has a chaotic beauty about it even if the snare is a bit off putting its sounds like its been mixed to low and dubbed slightly but it takes noting away from the utter madness of the song and you can even feel the bass of Alyxx Frayne holding everything together and guiding the song and you have to give a round of applause to Travis Godin because his vocals are unhinged and beautifully deranged in the best way! What a start!
Implements Of Hell does not let you gather yourself and prepare for more, no, it just grabs you and smashes ten shades of shit out of you but also manages to have more of a structure that really does once again highlight the talent of every musician playing on this record. The Worming Hour lets the bassline lead the song forward with a more muted but none the less savage approach to the main part of the song it does get sort of a bit widdly midway through but then proceeds to unleash yet another wave of absolute insanity to finish off in spectacular fashion, Monochrome is what you would get if you mixed early Dillinger Escape Plan, Ion Dissonance and Origin together and if that doesn’t sound like something you would be interested in then I really can’t help you.
The best thing so far about this album is the relentlessness of it all, is never gives you that chance to relax and compose yourself before another ambush is throw at you and its truly wonderful to take in. Pillars Of Failure is a suffocating wall of dense riffs that jab and provoke you but in a different way to what we have heard they almost challenge you to dare take your attention off them for 1 second because they know if you do you will miss something, so if your attempting to listen to this with other distractions around you don’t bother you need all of your attention for this and believe me it worth every bit of your concentration!
Charlatans Of Industry is another twisted and contorted noisy beast of a song that makes you wonder just how they will manage to pull this all off live because there is so much of everything it’s just unbelievable! Thrombosis starts off with a muted beginning and you think they have finally run out of steam, have they fuck! This time its more of a mathcore/hardcore type of pummelling and it just seems that whatever they put their hand to, or touch turns to gold!
Heartworms 1: Aorta is a gargantuan 8 minutes long but crosses the line between astonishing savagery and beautiful chaos expertly and even when they finally give you a breather about halfway through the ethereal sounds and patterns, they create never has you doubting the long run time and to be able to keep this type of creativity going without getting boring is truly special, Heartworms 2: Vena Cava rounds off the double header in typically mental fashion and after the slight lull in pace of part one, it reinvigorates the senses in the most violent way possible! It then just leaves When The Last Leaf Wilts on the album which is just an instrumental mood piece that normally I would scoff at, but Widows Peak have earnt the right to do exactly as they please and with that its all over and I am absolutely floored and exhausted from what I have just had the pleasure of listening to.
It’s been a few reviews since something spoke to me as much as Claustrophobe does! I was scared to begin with but by the end I was fully sold and loving what I head just heard, now I could bang on forever about just how good this album really is but what I am going to actually do is leave you with one last statement which is, I guarantee you will not hear a better technical death metal album this year the Claustrophobe and if its not in your album of the year list you are wrong! From the end of the first song, I knew that this would be the easiest score I have ever had to give an album. If you disagree, as I have said before there really is no helping you. 10/10
The Hate Project - Blessed With Malevolence (Seek & Strike) [Mark Young]
And to really finish the week off, we have The Hate Project, a quickfire blast of Swedish metal that according to online sources promises to bring ‘raw heaviness and serious groove to the extreme metal scene’ so no pressure at all. Of the 5 songs here, track one is a short intro with the main body coming straight after. Kicking off with the short, sharp Suffer, we drop straight into some groovetastic heavy metal, with the title track Blessed With Malevolence.
It absolutely screams with vitriol, its fast, dense and possessing of some of the deepest growls going. Needle Fanatic keeps this pressure up, again chock full of double bass but with synths filling out the sound. And it sounds huge, I’m not sure where the raw description comes into things because to me, raw equals minimal production and this is anything but. Its sound is similar to a ton of other bands out there at present – the stop start riffs, that particular guitar tone associated with 7 string guitars. Luckily for them it is a constant attack, as Confessions Of A Murder smashes in, taking no prisoners and leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
Final track, Death’s Deal is pure sludge, dense riffing and just grinds itself to a finish and then done, finished, gone. The trouble with it, is that it’s just fine. I’m not blown away by the songs, they have everything you associate with modern extreme metal: spidery riffs, fast bits, slow bits, double bass, on fire drumming and deep growls. It is groovy as they suggest, especially the title track but because of that familiar sound it doesn’t stand out in any way and you need the songs to really hit hard, make a mark on you because otherwise they disappear from memory. And here, they just don’t. 6/10
Following The Signs – Conflictions (Self Released) [Zak Skane]
As soon as the gates opened we are flooded with groove laden riffs that carry the brutality of the old school new wave of American Heavy Metal of bands such as Lamb Of God with it’s triplet feel riffs whilst also carry the modern calculated attack of modern acts like Perphery, Martyr Defiled and Of Mice And Men. With their staccato delivered rhythms and eerie sound scapes to create a bed for the vocalist to lay down some modern harsh vocals and 2000 styled clean choruses.
Following The Signs – Conflictions (Self Released) [Zak Skane]
As soon as the gates opened we are flooded with groove laden riffs that carry the brutality of the old school new wave of American Heavy Metal of bands such as Lamb Of God with it’s triplet feel riffs whilst also carry the modern calculated attack of modern acts like Perphery, Martyr Defiled and Of Mice And Men. With their staccato delivered rhythms and eerie sound scapes to create a bed for the vocalist to lay down some modern harsh vocals and 2000 styled clean choruses.
This momentum carries out with Exposed which contains Lamb Of God meets Architects tripled fill technical riffage that dives down into heavy beat downs and grooves. Falling brings the old school mastodon sludge laced with Chimera rage and frantic leads. From The Brink gets bouncy with modern metalcore meets Nu Metal fashion with it’s octave hopping riffs and fist pumping guitar grooves and choruses effected well…..choruses.
Finally the last song from the first side of the album Upon Me closes the first half of the album to a sludgy crescendo. Other highlights on this album are is the 2010 styled breakdown driven track Alone which reminisces of the myspace era bands like Asking Alexandria and Emmure, whilst the instrumental Gloomflower shows the bands most experimental side with it’s bass guitar wahs and spacey ambient chord structures to the dynamically structured Brainwashed.
From track 1 – 12 the band fire from all cylinders with chain-gun intensity, but this can be a blessing as well as a curse because even though the band can deliver this album with furious style it does overlook its creativity, as result making some of the riffs and the song structures becoming repetitive. For fans of Lamb Of God, Mastodon and old school While She Sleeps. 6/10
Wyld Timez - Nefarious Instinct (Morbid And Miserable Recordfs) [James Jackson]
Going into Nefarious Instinct completely blind was an experience that can only be compared to watching From Dusk Till Dawn, you expect one thing but are then slapped in the face with something completely different; judging a book by its rather 80’s sounding band name, I had kind of expected a Motley Crue/Poison vibe, that Glam/Hard Rock era thrown out for a new generation.
What actually hit me in the face was more Speed/Thrash Metal inspired with a Punk influence, reminding me more of Motörhead than Faster Pussycat.
Full disclosure, I’ve never really liked acts that seem to only know how to play at full throttle, I find it tedious and uninspiring, that relentless barrage of speed and frequently repetitive verse/chorus song structure does little for me; Wyld Timez put the pedal down as soon as this album begins with its title track and for the most part, there is an interesting section towards the end of the second song that lets you take a breath, just don’t let up.
You could literally fast forward your way through any track and find yourself in exactly the same place as you left off, track three Infernal Wretch sounds the same as track 8 and the first single from the album, Lust And Leather, which bizarrely starts the same way as most live gigs end, with that crescendo of cymbals and open riffing that every band ever does when the show is about to end.
It’s not for me personally and whilst I’ve always had a relatively open mind in regards to music, I’ve also found that if I don’t like it upon first listen, then a tenth try isn’t going to garner any different results; though saying that I did hate Ghost initially but quite honestly I’m a bit of a fan these days and after a Johnny Cash phase around 2007, I found that Load and Reload era Metallica had a different feeling to it.
Wyld Timez - Nefarious Instinct (Morbid And Miserable Recordfs) [James Jackson]
Going into Nefarious Instinct completely blind was an experience that can only be compared to watching From Dusk Till Dawn, you expect one thing but are then slapped in the face with something completely different; judging a book by its rather 80’s sounding band name, I had kind of expected a Motley Crue/Poison vibe, that Glam/Hard Rock era thrown out for a new generation.
What actually hit me in the face was more Speed/Thrash Metal inspired with a Punk influence, reminding me more of Motörhead than Faster Pussycat.
Full disclosure, I’ve never really liked acts that seem to only know how to play at full throttle, I find it tedious and uninspiring, that relentless barrage of speed and frequently repetitive verse/chorus song structure does little for me; Wyld Timez put the pedal down as soon as this album begins with its title track and for the most part, there is an interesting section towards the end of the second song that lets you take a breath, just don’t let up.
You could literally fast forward your way through any track and find yourself in exactly the same place as you left off, track three Infernal Wretch sounds the same as track 8 and the first single from the album, Lust And Leather, which bizarrely starts the same way as most live gigs end, with that crescendo of cymbals and open riffing that every band ever does when the show is about to end.
It’s not for me personally and whilst I’ve always had a relatively open mind in regards to music, I’ve also found that if I don’t like it upon first listen, then a tenth try isn’t going to garner any different results; though saying that I did hate Ghost initially but quite honestly I’m a bit of a fan these days and after a Johnny Cash phase around 2007, I found that Load and Reload era Metallica had a different feeling to it.
Maybe if I come back to this in ten years time it’ll sound different, but I doubt it. Whilst it would seem that the talent is there, these guys are can play, there’s no denying that, it’s just not something that I’d listen to on purpose. 4/10.