Spiritbox - The Fear Of Fear (Rise Records/Pale Chord) [Danika Ulrich]
Spiritbox's ascent through the years has been nothing short of phenomenal and with new release The Fear Of Fear they've created a thrilling, ominous, and intensely powerful piece of work. Spiritbox has always experimented with atmospheric beauty. In The Fear Of Fear, these atmospheric and electronic driven sections provide calm without sacrificing intensity. It is a tightly wound EP that shows a band gaining confidence and becoming more at ease with who they are, as opposed to hopping back and forth between the two extremes.
Spiritbox opens the EP with a jagged rhythm on drums and guitar before LaPlante bursts in with screams that are doused in delay. Cellar Door is a powerful, slow building anthem that proves to any doubters that Spiritbox are just as heavy as before, if not more so. What would usually be a breakdown for any other band is just their chorus. When the chorus is a breakdown you know the breakdown itself is going to be annihilating.
Too Close/Too Late adopts the same mellow vocals and vintage synths as the band's older fan favourite Secret Garden. It's a melodic masterclass with lots of groove paying homage to their earlier, more progressive work. It blends pulsing guitar with blissful melodies resulting in a beautiful track. Spiritbox once again channels rage in the vocals on Angel Eyes, another song that features heavy, polyrhythmic djent guitars and sheer aggression. The use of electronica in the intro and outro is a stand out element of the track for me. It breaks up the heaviness the main body of the song entails. This is just another weapon in the band's armoury that they are utilising to their advantage in this EP. It's an intense three minutes of rage. With its groovy, dissonant riffs it is further enhanced and accentuated by its expansive, chaotic, and atmospheric breakdown.
When The Void starts it has an electronic beat at first but it quickly transitions into a powerful riff. The band creates a dynamic and captivating arrangement by skillfully fusing electronic elements into the soundscape. With LaPlante softly singing over pulsed electronics, the opening moments of Ultraviolet showcase The Fear Of Fear at its most exposed and minimal yet. The song builds to a suspenseful chorus that innately and instantly enthrals featuring incredible melodies and a stunning atmosphere throughout. The EP ends at the height of its beauty and intensity. All of this culminates in a breathtakingly beautiful breakdown towards the end with LaPlante adding flair to an already amazing ending.
In terms of structure, The Fear Of Fear feels much more in line with the band's progressive past work. While Rotoscope was a boundary pushing statement of what Spiritbox could be, The Fear Of Fear perfectly captures the essence of what Spiritbox is and shows how the formulas used to create Eternal Blue have been refined and perfected for this. Six flawless songs that not only show off the best of what they can do within the constraints of the metalcore sound, but also further demonstrate their development and their skills as songwriters. It is a sophisticated and astoundingly powerful sounding EP that is easily amongst the year's best releases. 9/10
Spiritbox's ascent through the years has been nothing short of phenomenal and with new release The Fear Of Fear they've created a thrilling, ominous, and intensely powerful piece of work. Spiritbox has always experimented with atmospheric beauty. In The Fear Of Fear, these atmospheric and electronic driven sections provide calm without sacrificing intensity. It is a tightly wound EP that shows a band gaining confidence and becoming more at ease with who they are, as opposed to hopping back and forth between the two extremes.
Spiritbox opens the EP with a jagged rhythm on drums and guitar before LaPlante bursts in with screams that are doused in delay. Cellar Door is a powerful, slow building anthem that proves to any doubters that Spiritbox are just as heavy as before, if not more so. What would usually be a breakdown for any other band is just their chorus. When the chorus is a breakdown you know the breakdown itself is going to be annihilating.
The tracks frantic build that culminates in hammering, percussive chugs near the end show off how well developed Spiritbox's ability to oscillate has become. Knowing precisely when to input ballistic power and how to structure the journey there to maximise the impact of that power. With an atmosphere that will induce a feeling of unease its unrelenting barrage of warped riffs and drumming creates a brutal pace. It is an unsettling opener and easily the strongest track of the EP.
Jaded transitions into more melodic territory featuring an uplifting feeling chorus. Elements of melody and heaviness are balanced in this track. LaPlante exhibits her entire vocal range, ranging from powerful screams to softer, almost breathy wails. The way she alternates between the two in the first verse is especially powerful. This track demonstrates how they have developed into a major player in the metal scene. The band's signature mix of eerie melodies and powerful instrumentals is on full display in Jaded. The track transports into an auditory maelstrom that captivates from beginning to end thanks to its unadulterated emotion and high intensity. Jaded also strikes a profound and realistic chord with its lyrics, which explore themes of disenchantment and inner demons. As LaPlante transforms her feelings into a healing musical experience, her vocals soar.
Jaded transitions into more melodic territory featuring an uplifting feeling chorus. Elements of melody and heaviness are balanced in this track. LaPlante exhibits her entire vocal range, ranging from powerful screams to softer, almost breathy wails. The way she alternates between the two in the first verse is especially powerful. This track demonstrates how they have developed into a major player in the metal scene. The band's signature mix of eerie melodies and powerful instrumentals is on full display in Jaded. The track transports into an auditory maelstrom that captivates from beginning to end thanks to its unadulterated emotion and high intensity. Jaded also strikes a profound and realistic chord with its lyrics, which explore themes of disenchantment and inner demons. As LaPlante transforms her feelings into a healing musical experience, her vocals soar.
Too Close/Too Late adopts the same mellow vocals and vintage synths as the band's older fan favourite Secret Garden. It's a melodic masterclass with lots of groove paying homage to their earlier, more progressive work. It blends pulsing guitar with blissful melodies resulting in a beautiful track. Spiritbox once again channels rage in the vocals on Angel Eyes, another song that features heavy, polyrhythmic djent guitars and sheer aggression. The use of electronica in the intro and outro is a stand out element of the track for me. It breaks up the heaviness the main body of the song entails. This is just another weapon in the band's armoury that they are utilising to their advantage in this EP. It's an intense three minutes of rage. With its groovy, dissonant riffs it is further enhanced and accentuated by its expansive, chaotic, and atmospheric breakdown.
When The Void starts it has an electronic beat at first but it quickly transitions into a powerful riff. The band creates a dynamic and captivating arrangement by skillfully fusing electronic elements into the soundscape. With LaPlante softly singing over pulsed electronics, the opening moments of Ultraviolet showcase The Fear Of Fear at its most exposed and minimal yet. The song builds to a suspenseful chorus that innately and instantly enthrals featuring incredible melodies and a stunning atmosphere throughout. The EP ends at the height of its beauty and intensity. All of this culminates in a breathtakingly beautiful breakdown towards the end with LaPlante adding flair to an already amazing ending.
In terms of structure, The Fear Of Fear feels much more in line with the band's progressive past work. While Rotoscope was a boundary pushing statement of what Spiritbox could be, The Fear Of Fear perfectly captures the essence of what Spiritbox is and shows how the formulas used to create Eternal Blue have been refined and perfected for this. Six flawless songs that not only show off the best of what they can do within the constraints of the metalcore sound, but also further demonstrate their development and their skills as songwriters. It is a sophisticated and astoundingly powerful sounding EP that is easily amongst the year's best releases. 9/10
Fuming Mouth - Last Day Of Sun (Nuclear Blast) [Matt Bladen]
A grinding dirge driven by one single drumbeat, feedback guitars and gurgled vocals is how Fuming Mouth open their second album Last Day Of Sun. It plants the seed for what is to come with death metal that adds, hardcore, d-beat and crust to the OSDM assault. An album that was created through struggle Mark Whelan (singer/guitarist/founder) has battled with Acute Myeloid Leukemia just as they began to record. Due to his battle Whelan re-wrote parts of the album to reflect what he was feeling, it means that Last Day Of Sun is personal and infested with rage. Whelan seeking catharsis through his art. With all clear the work began on this follow up.
A grinding dirge driven by one single drumbeat, feedback guitars and gurgled vocals is how Fuming Mouth open their second album Last Day Of Sun. It plants the seed for what is to come with death metal that adds, hardcore, d-beat and crust to the OSDM assault. An album that was created through struggle Mark Whelan (singer/guitarist/founder) has battled with Acute Myeloid Leukemia just as they began to record. Due to his battle Whelan re-wrote parts of the album to reflect what he was feeling, it means that Last Day Of Sun is personal and infested with rage. Whelan seeking catharsis through his art. With all clear the work began on this follow up.
Recorded with Converges Kurt Ballou the album shifts between blasts of ultraviolent grind/crust on Respect And Blasphemy/Kill The Disease to the slower crush of the opener Out Of Time or the sludge landslide of Burial Practices and Postfigurement. The influence of Ballou proved invaluable as you can hear a lot Converge on this record as well as the early Bolt Thrower sound, Fuming Mouth even contributed to a In Battle There Is No Law cover album. This record was Bolt Thrower at their rawest and a lot of that is reflected by Fuming Mouth. But as with the Birmingham bruisers, the sound adapts and those slow dirges become more more invasive and impressive, even adding clean vocals shouts on The Silence Beyond Life.
The more melodic fringes of Fuming Mouth throwing a curve ball as The Silence Beyond is the most 'American' song here. Thankfully Sign Of Pain brings back the filth, as guitars divebomb and vocals scream. At this juncture I want to say that Last Day Of Sun as the sexiest guitar tone I've heard all year, it's filthier than under a truck drivers bunk but my god is it fun. With that glorious tone the breakdowns of Sign Of Pain hit harder but the woozy Leaving Euphoria claims the melodics back with a Nirvana-like grunge haze. These elements where it's not ear shredding death metal, remind you that this album has a conceptual touch too, so there can be experimentation. Last Day Of Sun is triumph over personal adversity and an exorcism through noise. 8/10
Sugar Horse - Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico (Fat Dracula Records) [Mark Young]
The more melodic fringes of Fuming Mouth throwing a curve ball as The Silence Beyond is the most 'American' song here. Thankfully Sign Of Pain brings back the filth, as guitars divebomb and vocals scream. At this juncture I want to say that Last Day Of Sun as the sexiest guitar tone I've heard all year, it's filthier than under a truck drivers bunk but my god is it fun. With that glorious tone the breakdowns of Sign Of Pain hit harder but the woozy Leaving Euphoria claims the melodics back with a Nirvana-like grunge haze. These elements where it's not ear shredding death metal, remind you that this album has a conceptual touch too, so there can be experimentation. Last Day Of Sun is triumph over personal adversity and an exorcism through noise. 8/10
Sugar Horse - Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico (Fat Dracula Records) [Mark Young]
Well, this is a bit of alright. 6 songs of quality Doom/doom gaze from your favourite decidedly average band (with acknowledgement to BC).
Truth comes in very slowly, with muted choir vocals as they are gradually joined by a rising arrangement that builds in intensity only to fall away for the absolute crusher that is Or to break that calm into a thousand pieces. Methodical, discordant noise with dirt and clean vocals that suddenly break for Consequences, which turns it around into another direction, a softer more melodic and uplifting one.
Truth comes in very slowly, with muted choir vocals as they are gradually joined by a rising arrangement that builds in intensity only to fall away for the absolute crusher that is Or to break that calm into a thousand pieces. Methodical, discordant noise with dirt and clean vocals that suddenly break for Consequences, which turns it around into another direction, a softer more melodic and uplifting one.
Soaring vocals that once Comma starts with that militaristic riff are torn away by screams. Comma is a short stab at your eye, that riff is constant whilst those discords attack again. As soon as it starts it’s done, and Neu takes its place. Starting like a jam to bake up ideas left by Comma, with some Nirvana phrasing in there, what is apparent is that Ash has a scream that doesn’t quit. Or are afraid of halting a track with a wall of noise that runs until the final song, Mexico kicks the door in with a monolithic riff and a repeated mantra of inhale, exhale that is a carry over from Neu.
On vinyl or cassette, this would just be a seamless unfolding of a musical journey that feels like it could have been one song. Trying to give this a proper review is difficult as it is 17 minutes long but if you go back to it with the lyrics, it starts to take on a majesty that was hidden the first time round.
It takes its time to get under your skin and then stays there. For my sins I’d never listened to them before this review, like a lot of bands this year. To say that my musical horizons have opened like a barn door swinging open in a storm would not do these bands the justice they deserve. These, Gozer, Torpor amongst others just do it differently but with an end result of startlingly good music. What is exceptional about Sugar Horse is that they seem capable of anything, be it heavy, or subtle, light or dark. The 6 songs captured here give a brief flavour of what they are capable of, which just seems to be anything they put their mind to. 7/10
On vinyl or cassette, this would just be a seamless unfolding of a musical journey that feels like it could have been one song. Trying to give this a proper review is difficult as it is 17 minutes long but if you go back to it with the lyrics, it starts to take on a majesty that was hidden the first time round.
It takes its time to get under your skin and then stays there. For my sins I’d never listened to them before this review, like a lot of bands this year. To say that my musical horizons have opened like a barn door swinging open in a storm would not do these bands the justice they deserve. These, Gozer, Torpor amongst others just do it differently but with an end result of startlingly good music. What is exceptional about Sugar Horse is that they seem capable of anything, be it heavy, or subtle, light or dark. The 6 songs captured here give a brief flavour of what they are capable of, which just seems to be anything they put their mind to. 7/10
Infinity Ritual - II (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
As the name of this album suggests, Infinity Ritual are just about to release their second recording. The bands first; an EP called EP, shows a certain literal approach to naming releases. Infinity Ritual have been making music since 2020, in their base of Taranaki, New Zealand. The three piece is made up of Jason Karam on bass and vocals, Mark Thomas plays drums (not to be confused with British comedian and activist of the same name), and Adam Colless on vocals and guitar.
Infinity Ritual play a mix of huge and quite sludgy doom and drone, the songs tend to grow to huge proportions where they end up becoming massive thundering grooves. The album is split into five tracks, an introduction and four long songs.
The album opens with the aforementioned introduction; FCG, a drone track with the occasional vocalisation, and lots of modulation, in a couple of places it is reminiscent to the beginning of Dio’s track Holy Diver. FCG leads us into the first full track, Succession, which opens with huge pounding riffs that are very aggressive with chanted vocals. The song builds to mid-paced sludgy doom, with lots of aggression, drive and feedback. The song does have a section that is measured with a brooding and boding feel to it before the track returns to big, heavy pounding riffs and the song collapses into feedback.
Next comes Earthdriver which starts with a riff that feels quite stoner, very heavy stoner, but stoner none the less, the song then drops the audience into aggressive pounding sludge with bellowed vocals. The song breaks down to just drums, before it slowly builds itself back up to massive, heavy proportions with the help of a really good guitar solo. The song comes to an end with massive riffs and layered vocals for a huge and bellowing climax.
Deceivers has a slightly different feel to the material that came before it. The song has a huge, heavy and very aggressive beginning, but then breaks down to just bass and drums, and when it builds back up things feels much more minimal than the other material on here. The sense is dark and brooding, there are parts that build but they seem to drop back as well, giving a feeling of ebb and flow, build and diminish. The song finally builds to huge proportions, at which point it ends, abruptly.
The album comes to an end with the song Stones, which at over eighteen minutes takes up nearly half of the albums full run time. The song is a mix of the huge and heavy sound featured on most of the tracks on the album, with the drone from the intro FCG.
As the name of this album suggests, Infinity Ritual are just about to release their second recording. The bands first; an EP called EP, shows a certain literal approach to naming releases. Infinity Ritual have been making music since 2020, in their base of Taranaki, New Zealand. The three piece is made up of Jason Karam on bass and vocals, Mark Thomas plays drums (not to be confused with British comedian and activist of the same name), and Adam Colless on vocals and guitar.
Infinity Ritual play a mix of huge and quite sludgy doom and drone, the songs tend to grow to huge proportions where they end up becoming massive thundering grooves. The album is split into five tracks, an introduction and four long songs.
The album opens with the aforementioned introduction; FCG, a drone track with the occasional vocalisation, and lots of modulation, in a couple of places it is reminiscent to the beginning of Dio’s track Holy Diver. FCG leads us into the first full track, Succession, which opens with huge pounding riffs that are very aggressive with chanted vocals. The song builds to mid-paced sludgy doom, with lots of aggression, drive and feedback. The song does have a section that is measured with a brooding and boding feel to it before the track returns to big, heavy pounding riffs and the song collapses into feedback.
Next comes Earthdriver which starts with a riff that feels quite stoner, very heavy stoner, but stoner none the less, the song then drops the audience into aggressive pounding sludge with bellowed vocals. The song breaks down to just drums, before it slowly builds itself back up to massive, heavy proportions with the help of a really good guitar solo. The song comes to an end with massive riffs and layered vocals for a huge and bellowing climax.
Deceivers has a slightly different feel to the material that came before it. The song has a huge, heavy and very aggressive beginning, but then breaks down to just bass and drums, and when it builds back up things feels much more minimal than the other material on here. The sense is dark and brooding, there are parts that build but they seem to drop back as well, giving a feeling of ebb and flow, build and diminish. The song finally builds to huge proportions, at which point it ends, abruptly.
The album comes to an end with the song Stones, which at over eighteen minutes takes up nearly half of the albums full run time. The song is a mix of the huge and heavy sound featured on most of the tracks on the album, with the drone from the intro FCG.
The song opens with droning tones with modulation, after about three minutes the song drops us into uptempo heavy riffs with quite a groove to them. The feeling is dramatic and aggressive, which is compounded by harsh vocals. The song then quickly drops us back into quiet droning before a single guitar plays a big riff, that then becomes a big, slow riff with echoey vocals, again this is transitory as a soft and brooding section with clean guitar smooths everything out again.
The song then builds back from the minimal clean section back to the huge heavy and echoey section we met before. The song builds in complexity, while still maintaining the heaviness, before we are dropped back into a final drone section that has a bit of an industrial feel to it. The song has one last jarring surprise as the drone changes to fast, aggressive and pounding section that batters the listener till the end of the song and album.
II is a cracking piece of sludgy doom. The mix of drones and doom works very well, the doom is massively heavy and the angry, aggressive sludge elements don’t distract from that heaviness, they accentuate it, and the drones are not over used, just enough for the desired effect. The band also have a talent for writing riffs that are at the perfect head nodding tempo, and get into your psyche.
II is a cracking piece of sludgy doom. The mix of drones and doom works very well, the doom is massively heavy and the angry, aggressive sludge elements don’t distract from that heaviness, they accentuate it, and the drones are not over used, just enough for the desired effect. The band also have a talent for writing riffs that are at the perfect head nodding tempo, and get into your psyche.
Although the album is called II it’s a second recording, not a second album, judging this as a debut album, this is doubly impressive, it sounds like an album made by a much more mature band. If you want huge, heavy, angry and aggressive, tempered by some meditative drone, then this would definitely be an album to seek out. 8/10