Celeste - Epilogue(s) (Nuclear Blast Records)
Following their 2022 album Assassine(s) French avant-garde act Celeste release a three track EP of bonus tracks recorded during the sessions for the last album. The band play a type of extreme metal that melts together like a Raclette over toasted bread, they share vivid soundscapes like fellow French bands Alcest as well as Regardes Les Homme Tombre, post metal dissonance and atmospheric lingering combined with blistering black metal.
Plisse Les Yeux Jusqu'au Sang indulges heavily in the latter, Antoine Royer's sublime drumming a highlight as are Johan Girardeau's savage vocals. He locks in with Royer as the concrete bottom end for the band, low end frequencies that take the lead rhythms when Guillaume Rieth and Sébastien Ducotte, share the tremolo picking leads. Having already released 6 albums and one EP previously, Celeste are veterans to the game.
However they can still suprise you with a track such as With Idle Hands which features, haunting Chino-esque (Deftones) vocals, by Tim from US shoegaze band Grivo, which is why the Deftones comparison. It's also got English lyrics/title which is a rarity in the work of Celeste. If this is pointer to their next album then it should be interesting, if not it's a neat bonus for any fans of the band. Epilogue(s) is an EP with three off cuts that deserve to be heard. 7/10
The Dialectic - Crawl To The Throne (Seek and Strike Records)
The NWOAHM is alive and well with The Dialectic and theor new EP Crawl To The Throne. Those clean guitars on Obey, will bring you into the sounds of Lamb Of God, Devildriver et al, the melodic intros and solos so often paired with the thunderous metalcore breakdowns and groove metal riffs, Murder Machine especially. The Texan band also do this, clean guitars are used to lighten up these crushing moments where The Dialectic lean on their other influence which is the ultra-heavy, ultra-modern sounds of deathcore (they are on Seek & Strike).
Electronic twitches are used beneath the sledgehammer beatdowns, influenced by Whitechapel and Fit For An Autopsy. They also manage to add some of the more blackened tones on Harvest The Young which reminds me of Black Dahlia Murder, due to the speed, turmoil and twin axe harmonies. It's on the title track that The Dialectic slow the pace but keep the aggression, showing another part of themselves through the sludge landslide and those fretslides.
If your cargo shorts and trucker cap are on hand then get ready to slam dance to Crawl To The Throne as this EP is cut from a few different cloths. 7/10
Ex Everything - Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart (Neurot Recordings)
Post-hardcore noise from the Bay Area as Ex Everything bring their aggressive riffage and impassioned rawness on their debut album Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart. With a line up that comea from some of the most frenzied bands around, Ex Everything step up all of their other bands volatility with this unhinged, abrasive metal record with bass of Ben Throne fuzzes like an electrical current, an anchor for the math/noisecore changes in direction that this album, throbbing on Exiting The Vampire building tension and threat.
Andre Sanabria's vocals having a hint of a serial killer switching from ferocious screams to disconcerting cleans on tracks such as A Sermon In Praise Of Corruption. Inspired by the continual change of the Bay Area for the worst, the constant renewal for profit and the gentrification that has meant those from lower incomes are now forced to leave.
No wonder then that the band sound pissed off, Jon Howell's angular guitar playing twitching with the precision of a mine, always just in the edge of going off the rails on Slow Cancellation Of The Future while the punishing drum beats of Dan Sneddon are intimidating from the outset. Hoping to inspire some community action and inspiration to change things for the better, Ex Everything provide a call to arms for their home town with this tumultuous debut. 7/10
Call Me Amour - Revolution (Circular Wave Records)
Revolution is the debut EP from electronically tinged post grunge/alt rock band Call Me Amour. Having toured with Pop Evil recently, all the members of the band have had success in previous acts but due to politics, money etc those bands all broke up, leaving just the friendship between the members of this band. After touring with New Years Day and touring the UK during the pandemic they set got together in the Isle Of Man to record this debut EP.
Following their 2022 album Assassine(s) French avant-garde act Celeste release a three track EP of bonus tracks recorded during the sessions for the last album. The band play a type of extreme metal that melts together like a Raclette over toasted bread, they share vivid soundscapes like fellow French bands Alcest as well as Regardes Les Homme Tombre, post metal dissonance and atmospheric lingering combined with blistering black metal.
Plisse Les Yeux Jusqu'au Sang indulges heavily in the latter, Antoine Royer's sublime drumming a highlight as are Johan Girardeau's savage vocals. He locks in with Royer as the concrete bottom end for the band, low end frequencies that take the lead rhythms when Guillaume Rieth and Sébastien Ducotte, share the tremolo picking leads. Having already released 6 albums and one EP previously, Celeste are veterans to the game.
However they can still suprise you with a track such as With Idle Hands which features, haunting Chino-esque (Deftones) vocals, by Tim from US shoegaze band Grivo, which is why the Deftones comparison. It's also got English lyrics/title which is a rarity in the work of Celeste. If this is pointer to their next album then it should be interesting, if not it's a neat bonus for any fans of the band. Epilogue(s) is an EP with three off cuts that deserve to be heard. 7/10
The Dialectic - Crawl To The Throne (Seek and Strike Records)
The NWOAHM is alive and well with The Dialectic and theor new EP Crawl To The Throne. Those clean guitars on Obey, will bring you into the sounds of Lamb Of God, Devildriver et al, the melodic intros and solos so often paired with the thunderous metalcore breakdowns and groove metal riffs, Murder Machine especially. The Texan band also do this, clean guitars are used to lighten up these crushing moments where The Dialectic lean on their other influence which is the ultra-heavy, ultra-modern sounds of deathcore (they are on Seek & Strike).
Electronic twitches are used beneath the sledgehammer beatdowns, influenced by Whitechapel and Fit For An Autopsy. They also manage to add some of the more blackened tones on Harvest The Young which reminds me of Black Dahlia Murder, due to the speed, turmoil and twin axe harmonies. It's on the title track that The Dialectic slow the pace but keep the aggression, showing another part of themselves through the sludge landslide and those fretslides.
If your cargo shorts and trucker cap are on hand then get ready to slam dance to Crawl To The Throne as this EP is cut from a few different cloths. 7/10
Ex Everything - Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart (Neurot Recordings)
Post-hardcore noise from the Bay Area as Ex Everything bring their aggressive riffage and impassioned rawness on their debut album Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart. With a line up that comea from some of the most frenzied bands around, Ex Everything step up all of their other bands volatility with this unhinged, abrasive metal record with bass of Ben Throne fuzzes like an electrical current, an anchor for the math/noisecore changes in direction that this album, throbbing on Exiting The Vampire building tension and threat.
Andre Sanabria's vocals having a hint of a serial killer switching from ferocious screams to disconcerting cleans on tracks such as A Sermon In Praise Of Corruption. Inspired by the continual change of the Bay Area for the worst, the constant renewal for profit and the gentrification that has meant those from lower incomes are now forced to leave.
No wonder then that the band sound pissed off, Jon Howell's angular guitar playing twitching with the precision of a mine, always just in the edge of going off the rails on Slow Cancellation Of The Future while the punishing drum beats of Dan Sneddon are intimidating from the outset. Hoping to inspire some community action and inspiration to change things for the better, Ex Everything provide a call to arms for their home town with this tumultuous debut. 7/10
Call Me Amour - Revolution (Circular Wave Records)
Revolution is the debut EP from electronically tinged post grunge/alt rock band Call Me Amour. Having toured with Pop Evil recently, all the members of the band have had success in previous acts but due to politics, money etc those bands all broke up, leaving just the friendship between the members of this band. After touring with New Years Day and touring the UK during the pandemic they set got together in the Isle Of Man to record this debut EP.
Inspired by emotions and the love of performing and music itself, these are the first six songs to introduce anyone who hasn't seen the band to what they do. My initial go to when I first listened was that Revolution sounds a lot like a latter period Linkin Park record. The throbbing electronics behind big open chords, while the acoustic and electronic drums provide union. Though it's the vocals of Harry Radford (ex Yashin) that really makes me think of the much missed Nu-Metal pioneers on IMFKD and Girl On The Wall. He has a set of pipes that convey fragility and catharsis. There's also a massive amount of Asking Alexandria on Blackout and Drop The Knife.
Pulsating NIN-like synths, alt metal riffs and massive choruses, there's a lot to like and much much more to love in the future of Call Me Amour. 7/10