Reviews: Abhoria, Tenside, Damian Wilson & Adam Wakeman, Dead Eyed Creek (Reviews By Paul Scoble, Zak Skane, Matt Bladen & Rich Piva)

These influences are definitely there, but I can hear also hear faster and more savage material that has similarity with bands such as Tsjuder or 1349. The production is very good, everything sounds very clear and the mix is just right, as you would expect from an album inspired by this period of black metal history there is a cold, frostbitten and very grim feel to the music and this is helped by the crystal clear sound.

The album opens with a very short song that acts as an intro to the album; Emergence begins with dissonant guitars, before the song drops into mid-paced black metal with harsh vocals, the vocals are harsh throughout the album and are very effective, the song has a short blasting section with very impressive drumming before a short return to the mid-paced sound brings the song to it’s end, and takes us into the next track.

The Inexorable Earth opens with a super fast blast beat before the song settles down to a mid-paced feel that is similar to Immortal’s style on the albums At Heart Of Winter and Sons Of Northern Darkness, the riff has a relentless feel that works very well, it also boasts a very good guitar solo. The song goes back to the savage blasting we got at the beginning of the song, despite the savagery of the blasts, there still a lot of melody in the tremolo picked riffs. 

These sections swap places a couple more times before the song comes to an end. Next comes the song The Well, another one that mixes very fast and aggressive blasting sections with mid-paced sections, in this song the slower parts have an expansive feel to them that works extremely well.

After The Well comes Within Our Dominion, a song that features less blasting and ferociousness, and a lot more heaviness. The song mixes mid-paced, tremolo picked riffs that are full of melody and have a bit of a dissonant feel to them, with much slower and heavier riffs that despite the slower tempo have a great sense of drive and purposefulness. The song also features a very good guitar solo. 

Next comes the track They Hunt At Night, a super fast blast-fest of a track that has a little bit of 1349’s savagery to it. The song does have a slow section with a guitar solo, but the main thing you will take away from They Hunt At Night, is furious speed.

Devour is a mid-paced track with a slight Emperor feel to the riffs. The song builds in intensity, drive and tautness as it progresses, the riffs are nicely infused with melody and again we get a very good guitar solo. 

The Foundling is mainly made up of mid-paced and expansive sections that are broken up by short blast beat section that a super fast and aggressive. The song also has a couple of very slow and heavy sections something Abhoria are just as good at as the savage blasting. 

Next we get the track Ghost In The Smoke, another super fast blast of aggressive nastiness. There is a slow and very dissonant section in the middle of the song, but this quickly drops back into super fast material with a great solo. 

Depth comes to an end with the song Winters Embrace; a piece of ice cold, Immortal style black metal that is more frostbitten than Scott’s Antarctic expedition. The style fits with mid-career Immortal, and is of a similar quality; this song is so good it could have come from At Heart Of Winter.

Depth is a great album. The band have made material that fits into a specific style and time period from black metal history, but without it sounding as if they are copying anyone; this is clearly inspired by, not stealing from. Even when they sound very similar to Immortal, it’s done so well the material could have come from one of those classic black metal albums, this is no pale imitation. 

If, like me, you are a big fan of this era of black metal then you need to get on this strait away, as you will love it. I’ve also listened to this al lot, and so far it has only got better, so this album clearly has a lot of Depth, so the title is also a description! A stunning piece of late Nineties style black metal, highly recommended. 9/10

Tenside – Come Alive Dying (Ivorytower) [Zak Skane]

The albums opening track Come Alive Dying instantly hits us with some unique takes of tribal influenced quires that are mixed in with Parkway Drive styled sledge hammer riffs, and big bombastic drum grooves. 

The singer goes from nostalgic eerie clean vocals that have been popularised by singers from the Nu Metal era such as Chad Grey from Mudvayne and Benjamin Burnley from Breaking Benjamin, which was then revamped by Chris Motionless from Motionless In White before he does into standard harsh beefy dark vocals in the choruses. 

Throughout the track we also get some classic melodic death metal lead guitar lines which elevates the choruses which is then followed by some sleazy swinging half time grooves. 

After their groovy beginner, Shadow to the Shine ups the tempo to their more thrashier metalcore styled riffs flowed with bouncy nu metal grooves and modern styled metal choruses that you would hear from the like of Parkway Drive and Linkin Park. 

Pitch AndGold brings in some gothic Lacuna Coil vibes with it’s twinkling clean guitar melodies and crunchy bass lines that are riddled within the verses and Darkness To Blight brings in some Machine Head and Fear Factory influences with its sledgehammer delivered single note riffage. Neoclassical lead lines are laced in the verses which is then followed by it’s American radio rock influenced choruses. 

To conclude the first half of the album Impending Doom and Aim For Paradise provide us with some anthemic bangers that are laced with old school In Flames melodic riffs. Deadweight opens up the second half of the album by re-introducing some unique samples to the mix whilst providing some mammoth sounding riffs and some unique beat accent drum grooves. 

Pretty Lonesome shows the bands their more radio friendly side with it’s reparative dark catchy poppy vocal hooks that take influence from bands like Breaking Benjamin in Motionless In White. 

Transcend brings in the hardcore influences from it’s half time bouncy guitar riffs and groovy halftime drum beats that we are all familiar with from the likes of bands such as Hatebreed and Kublai Khan to the vocalist using the song title as a main hook for the chorus. 

The final two tracks closing the album are the ambient tinged Vengeance which brings in some melancholic verses that are filled with echoed clean guitars which are then amplified to the choruses channelling to loves of melodic death metal lead lines until they are ventured down to their note bending breakdowns. 

The closing track gives us pure modern in flames vibes with it’s electronic sampled intro, it’s delayed guitars, chucky distorted riffs and bouncy choruses.

Overall Come Alive Dying is a well produced metalcore album. The bands aim of mixing old school elements with their modern take on the genre is captured perfectly by the mix engineer Joseph McQueen at Sparrow Sound Los Angeles. 

My only thoughts one this album is that, if they could of added more songs with interesting elements like they did on tracks like Come Alive Dying with the tribal sounding choirs mixed in with classic break downs or the electronic sections in Deadweight, Dust Of The Bereaved this band could have had a sound that would of stood out from other modern metalcore acts. 7/10

Damian Wilson & Adam Wakeman - Can We Leave The Light On Longer? (Blacklake Records) [Matt Bladen]

Sometimes partnerships are symbiotic, both elements have to be present for it to work properly. The duo of Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman are that sort of partnerships, both long tenured in the world of prog, they are both members of the criminally underrated Headspace and from there, this project has come. 

Can We Leave The Light On Longer? is their third album as a duo since 2016, the simplicity of Damian's brilliant vocals and acoustic guitar with Adam's everything else (piano, vocals, Hammond organ, acoustic & electric guitars, bass, and percussion) brings emotion to tracks such as Multiplicity, a harmony between both players just beautiful. 

Songs such as November and The Man From The Island are the most wistful, lost romance and nostalgia colliding with lyrical storytelling, giving you the most introspective collaboration between these two musicians. 

Seeing them live I always shed at least one tear, on album it's the same, the over-arching theme being how we are all connected as humans and how loss makes us face out own mortality. Tracks such as A.I and Let's Talk are the ones that deal with these explicitly but the whole album dances around this topic. 

It's not just a two man nor is it a two bit operation as Pete Riley and George Hogg bring additional drums and trumpets, the later on the jaunty The Ballad Of The Bare Knuckle Fighter.

Can We Leave A Light On Longer? Let's never turn it off as it's another luminous collection from Wilson/Wakeman. 8/10

Dead Eyed Creek - Out Of Phase (Blood Blast Distribution) [Rich Piva]

I would never have guessed that Alice In Chains would wind up being one of the most influential bands in rock today back when I was learning about heroin culture while spinning Dirt on repeat (is it spinning when it is a cassette?). The band was then and is now one of my all-time favourites, so when the boss asked me if I was a fan and if I wanted to review a band with “AIC vibes” I immediately accepted. 

I have found that a lot of bands these days site Alice as an influence, with overall mixed results amongst the lot of bands steeling riffs from Jerry and harmonizing like he and Layne did so perfectly. Dead Eye Creek is one of these bands, and the Dutch collective nail it on their debut, Out Of Phase. 

These guys are no rookies, coming from metal bands Satyricon, Dark Fortress, and Triptykon, but for Dead Eyed Creek they trade their denim and leather in for flannel, sounding like they just got off the bus from Seattle for this new project.

The opener, Viscid Dreams could be a 3-Legged Dog outtake in all the best possible ways. You have the crunchy grunge sound with some serious down tuning with vocals that sound more like Weiland than Layne/Jerry. 

The chorus brings the layered harmonies that you would be looking for when searching out AIC vibes and the solo is right out of the Cantrell playbook. Out Of Phase leads with the layered vocals on top of the riffs and is more of in the AIC mid-tempo burner style. The end of this track will surprise you. 

Set Me Free opens like a Soundgarden track and brings the heaviest riff on Out Of Phase and pairs nicely with the urgent vocal performance, also bringing My Sister’s Machine to mind. A couple of the songs are a little too alt radio friendly for me, Circling and Down By The River being examples.

But those do not overshadow the other killer tracks like Uninspired (love the vocals), the very AIC inspired Speaking In Tongues, the STP heavy Dissolve, and the Jar Of Flies-like With Broken Wings.

If there is one thing I would call out as a negative on Out Of Phase is that to my ear it is a bit over produced for all those filthy, grungy riffs. A bit too clean for my liking, but the songs and playing are there, almost making up for the slickness, but not quite, which is really my only gripe. 

Overall, Dead Eyed Creek nails it on the debut, bringing the 90s grunge sound and delivering nicely on those AIC vibes promised to me when I took on this review. 8/10