Back To Bandcamp: August 6, 2016

Here's your weekly breakdown of the free Bandcamp releases that caught my attention:


Demon's Bell - Demon's Bell EP
(https://demonsbell.bandcamp.com/album/demons-bell-ep-2016)

Heavy metal is a tradition, and for every band that's pushing at the edges of what's accepted, there's another celebrating and reliving metal golden days of the 1980s. Demon's Bell is such a band. Armed with classic riffs, old-fashioned speed, and a vocalist with a King Diamond-esque croon (and wail), Demon's Bell hearken back to the days when songs called "Hell's Eternal Wheels" still made parents recoil in terror, devil horns weren't a sick joke at a Creed concert, and heavy metal was still deeply rooted in rock n roll. Their riffs are crisp and quick, recapturing the head-bobbing quality that nearly every variety of metal has lost since NWOBHM faded away. The songwriting techniques perfectly emulate the glory years of bands like Mercyful Fate and Iron Maiden, delivering that delightful mix of nostalgia and high-quality metal music you can't help enjoying, even if you (like me) were born too late to have lived them.

Recommended.


Grimirg - Night Be My Grave
(https://grimirg.bandcamp.com/album/night-be-my-grave)

Night Be My Grave is slow, elegant, and sorrowful. Making careful use of baleful guitars, atmospheric synths, sparse drums, and the contrast between Aki Klemm's low, throaty growl and M. Vänskä's operatic soprano, Grimirg craft an exceptional work of haunting funeral doom metal. The tight, minimal compositions demonstrate Grimirg's musical mastery and ability to create a forlorn atmosphere without relying on theatricality or gimmickry. These are lengthy, sedate songs, but they hold your attention, like the slow steps of pallbearers carrying an ornate coffin to its final resting place. They're also heavy as a stone crypt and desolate as the dry bones it contains.

Highly Recommended.


Leviathan Cross - Demo
(https://leviathancross.bandcamp.com/album/demo)

"This town will be ours!" bellows Leviathan Cross's James Herrholz on "Delusions." It's an apt summation of the brashness and boldness of this Florida band's debut demo, a record that takes the sludgy hard rock aggression of bands like Mastodon or Baroness and injects it with occult spookiness. Not that esoteric doom or stoner metal is some sort of novelty; Leviathan Cross simply take what bands have been writing about since the dawn of doom and add a healthy helping of stoner rock's crossover appeal and sense of fun. These tracks are anthemic, energetic, and full of groovy chugs and rolls. They're an invitation to headbang. Honestly, for a band with a professed interest in the macabre, they might be too fun.

Recommended.

The Thurible Presents: Halfway There, 2016 Edition

I've been gone for a while.

I just emerged from several intensive weeks of my master's program, and I've got a week or so of respite before I plunge back in. That makes this the perfect time for a rundown of the best music of this half of 2016; both the free releases I've reviewed and the mainstream stuff I haven't.

8 Best Metal Albums of 2016 (Halfway There Edition)


1. Vektor - Terminal Redux

These aren't in order, by the way, but if they were this progressive sci-fi thrashterpiece would be right at the top, as I imagine it will be still at the end of the year list. Terminal Redux does everything right: the riffs are heavy and complex, the production is crisp and clear, the drumming is fast and relentless, the solos are insane, and David DiSanto's Dani Filth-esque snarl perfectly compliments the band's high-speed aggression. Though not a single song dips under a five-minute runtime (and most go much longer), Vektor pack so much into every track that you're never left waiting for them to end. If you want to hear the best single piece of guitar music of this year, here it is. Hold on to your spacesuits.


2. ColdWorld - Autumn

ColdWorld's Autumn captures the transcendence of sorrow—the way death brings us closer not only to mortality but also to eternity. The superficial simplicity of ColdWorld's songwriting conceals a mastery of atmosphere and melody and an emotional weight that most depressive black metal albums can only aspire to. The artful and subtle use of clean vocals, acoustic instruments, and ambient synths only underscores Georg Börner's incredible skill as a musician, but the soaring, bittersweet melodies at the heart of every track on Autumn are what really make the album so exceptional.


3. Cobalt - Slow Forever

"Nothing sounds like this" is high praise from me. It's even higher praise when I'm talking about a black metal album. Drawing melodic inspiration from Southern rock, Cobalt crafted a black metal record that drips like molasses and rolls like the Mississippi. It's also as angry as drunk ex-marine and hits like a shotgun. Basically, it's the most American black metal album since Roads to the North and I love it.


4. Blood Ceremony - Lord of Misrule

Call it retro metal, occult rock, or scooby-doom: Blood Ceremony are some of the best in metal's newest niche. Lord of Misrule tones down the heaviness a notch or two, but all the other elements that make a great Blood Ceremony album are still around, including the organ and flute work, folk influences, chunky riffs, earworm hooks, and occult-inspired lyrics. Alia O'Brien vocals are, as usual, the standout attraction in this spooky sideshow.


5. Spellcaster - Night Hides The World

Big hooks, big riffs—Night Hides The World isn't short on the things that made classic metal fun and fantastical. Not that Spellcaster are some sort of nostalgia act—there's plenty of modern polish on Night Hides The World and Tyler Loney's clean, full vocals owe more to modern hard rock than to the raspy metal grandmasters of old. Rather, Spellcaster put a fresh spin on classic metal elements, bringing pop sensibilities and 21st century production to the catchy riffs and soaring hooks of speed metal. Good luck getting these songs out of your head.


6. Lycus - Chasms

Lycus are masters of cavernous, menacing funeral doom. Chasms, like 2013's Tempest, is the Oakland band doing what they do best. The songs are long, atmospheric, and strike the perfect balance between beautiful and terrible (as in Ivan the Terrible, not "The Room is a terrible film"). It's an album that demands patience, but full immersion in this slow doom metal procession will take you to mysterious and unexpected places.


7. Castle - Welcome to the Graveyard

Castle aren't the most original band on this list. They borrow the best bits from classic bands like Black Sabbath and Mercyful Fate, but Castle have a knack for making songs that are simultaneously incredibly familiar and completely new. Welcome to the Graveyard probably won't make the top of any end-year lists, but I bet it will get a fair few more spins than plenty of highly-acclaimed albums will.


8. Eight Bells - Landless

Probably the ultimate band to watch from this year. Near-impossible to categorize—Landless incorporates elements of doom, black metal, prog, and the same layered, ethereal vocals used to great effect by Myrkur—Eight Bells push a lot of boundaries. But like Dead to a Dying World, the eclecticism of Eight Bells' style belies the band's unity of  tone and atmosphere. The bleak seascape on Landless cover isn't just stylistic—it perfectly conveys the isolated melancholy that inhabits every song on this fascinating album.

8 Best "Back To Bandcamp" Releases of 2016 (Halfway There Edition)

These are in order, and you'll notice (who am I kidding, no you won't) that some albums I gave a "highly recommended" to aren't on this list, whereas some that were just "recommended" are. Hindsight is a funny thing. Some albums stick with you more than others.


1. Heretic Rites - In Satan's Claws
(https://hereticrites.bandcamp.com/album/in-satans-claws)

These guys are going to be huge if there is any justice in the world. With such a unique sound already nailed down by their second demo, Heretic Rites have everything going for them. The hour of occult garage rock is nearly at hand. Let the unbelievers tremble.


2. Ghost Witch - Demo
(https://ghostwitchdoom.bandcamp.com/album/demo)

The Thurible ran one of the first (if not the first) reviews of Ghost Witch's debut demo. In that review, I compared them to Windhand—a fair and common enough comparison, but one that doesn't really get to the heart of what makes Ghost Witch so exceptional. Sure, their brand of doom is slow and melodic, but there's also an ethereal, mysterious quality... no, I can't place it. Whatever it is, Ghost Witch have something special, and they're sure to have one hell of a proper debut.


3. Black Mantra - From The Grave of Madness
(https://black-mantra.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-graves-of-madness-ep)

This Brazillian band's blend of doomy heaviness, stoner psychedelia, and gothic theatrics still gets me. It's a really distinct sound done pretty damn well, which is really all I ask of a band. That Black Mantra chose to blend several different elements I already fancied just sweetens the deal. This is one of the rare albums that I went back to discover that, yes, it was just as good as I remembered. Maybe even a little better.


4. Blackend Horizon - Monotonous Solitude Within Cold Forests
(https://blackendhorizon.bandcamp.com/album/monotonous-solitude-within-cold-forests)

Monotonous Solitude Within Cold Forests makes 8-bit black metal seem incredibly obvious. "How," it demands, "has no one thought of this before?" I don't know. We came up with harmonica black metal first, so we're clearly doing something wrong.


5. Necrolytic Goat Converter - Demo MMXVI
(https://necrogoatconverter.bandcamp.com/releases)

Behind Necrolytic Goat Converter, the Childish Gambino of black metal band names, is Chris Voss, a man that somehow took up recording black metal as personal therapy and ended up writing some of the best black metal tunes of 2016. Combining his love of classic black metal riffs with his more than decent songwriting chops, Voss whipped up some of the best, most straightforward bedroom black metal I've ever heard. And if we're lucky, Chris Voss may find that he's an even better songwriter when he's not conjuring up frosty riffs for therapy.


6. Louisiana Sadness - Swale

Also known as Swamp People: The Doom Metal Album, Swale feels murky, mucky and hazy—exactly the way a band called Louisiana Sadness ought to feel. Part Southern gothic, part bayou sludge, this instrumental record may not be perfect, but when it hits that atmosphere just right on tracks like "Southern Hatred," all is forgiven.


7. Pyre of Ash - Scattered Toward The Glens

This single impressed me with its incredible polish, emotional intensity, and Panopticon-esque atmospheric black metal sound. Pyre of Ash has since released a full EP, which I missed (fancy that). If it's anything like this stellar single, it just might make the overall end-year list.


8. Behold Darkness - Unholy Filth
(https://psalm88.bandcamp.com/album/unholy-filth)

There's nothing particularly original about Unholy Filth as a black metal record, except the production. The mix's emphasis on lower tones gives the album an extremely unique feel, transforming what would be a pretty good, slavishly traditional project into a fascinating lofi listen. It helps that I'm a sucker for anything that this devoted to the Norwegian black metal masters. 

Back to Bandcamp: May 1, 2016

Louisiana Sadness - Swale
(https://louisianasadness.bandcamp.com/album/swale)

Louisiana Sadness (guess where they're from) play some of the fuzziest, murkiest doom around. It's droning, repetitive, and dark; the kind of music that requires full headphone immersion to even hear properly. Basically, it's Electric Wizard sinking slowing into the Louisiana bayou. "Southern Hatred" plods along like the soundtrack to an airboat zombie hunt, drowning the listener in waves of muddy riffs. Opener "Answer," on the other hand, feels stiff and mechanical, and the lack of vocals throughout the record emphasizes the music's repetitive quality—sometimes to the individual songs' detriment. But the interesting production and unique Louisiana feel make up for Swale's repetitive song structures (most of the time), and the riffs are thicker and heavier than swamp muck.

Recommended.


BRÆKKE - Indulgence
(https://braekke.bandcamp.com/album/indulgence)

If experimental or progressive metal has a fault, it's that it rarely feels like a sledgehammer to the face the way good death metal or thrash does. It's more likely to make you look bemused than bang your head, and that's fine, but it's always a pleasure to listen to a band that makes you do both.

Minnesota's BRÆKKE certainly induce both bemusement and whiplash: their hardcore roots come through as chugs and screams on aggressive tracks like "Iscariot" and "Indulgence," but never without progressive melodies and unexpected song structures. The album's extensive line-up of vocalists and guest musicians shines throughout: "The Dead Don't Speak" lumbers along forlornly like one of Giant Squid's doomier numbers, complete with female vocals and appropriately harrowing lyrics, while "Skin On Skin" ventures boldly into indie rock territory before morphing into a symphonic post-rock anthem. If Indulgence has a weakness, it's a lack of focus, but the band explores so many interesting sounds and ideas it's hard to fault them for it.

Highly Recommended.


Sunspell - Memento Mori
(https://sunspell.bandcamp.com/album/memento-mori)

Despite the Sunspell's anything-but-average origins (the project is one of Greenland's four active metal bands, according to the Metal Archives), its brand of atmospheric, post-Leviathan black metal doesn't score high on originality. Memento Mori hits all the usual notes for bedroom black metal: fuzzy guitar riffs, throaty and distorted screams, minimalist production, etc. It does work well occasionally. "Pale Angels" adds an ethereal pad and occasional breaks from the wall of guitar fuzz, and "Upon The Altar of Sacrifice" includes clean vocals and chanting—a welcome change from the otherwise forgettable screams. But in all other regards this project is painfully average.

Not Recommended.

Back to Bandcamp: March 12, 2016

The North Gate - Center of Homes
(https://thenorthgate.bandcamp.com/album/center-of-homes)

The North Gate are a difficult band to define. They tie together elements of black, death, doom, and hardcore punk, without letting any individual element become their defining aspect. At times, the band feels like a heavier metalcore band—at others, a blackened sludge project. "Filthy Garments," for instance, opens with a black or death metal riff before transitioning into a sludgey bridge and ultimately ending with a dark acoustic passage. The only uniting features of the record, besides the general heaviness, are the prominent doomy basslines and raw, aggressive, punk-inspired vocals—both strong suites of the band. An interesting, if very short (and a little messy) debut from this New York band.

Recommended.

Necrolytic Goat Converter - Demo MMXVI
(https://necrogoatconverter.bandcamp.com/album/demo-mmxvi)

New York has no right to this many great metal artists. This one-man black metal debut has in spades what most releases by scene veterans lack entirely—tight songwriting, catchy riffs, and robust production. Tracks like "Absolution" and "Second Skin" highlight Necrolytic Goat Converter's straighforward and melodic take on black metal, reminiscent of Tribulation's most recent album in the best possible way. This is a true bedroom black metal album—recorded on a single guitar and produced in Garageband—but the drum arrangements are varied and tasteful and C. Voss avoids all the typical self-producing pitfalls, neither smothering the vocals in distortion nor drowning the guitars in reverb. A great debut from a great musician.

Highly Recommended.

The Thurible Reviews: Moloken - "All Is Left to See"

(Judging by the fustian and stiff English description on their bandcamp page, Moloken's third album is meant to be titled something closer to All That's Left Is To See. Don't name your album in a foreign language without consulting a native speaker, kids.)

Sweden's Moloken have grand ambitions. You can tell by the fact that they use the phrase "genre-fascism" unironically in the bandcamp blurb for their latest effort.

The post-metal/sludge foursome's third album, All Is Left To See, is a concept album (the first in a planned trilogy on human darkness ) packed with nontraditional song structures, ambient interludes, and crunchy prog riffs. It's often a little overambitious; a curious characteristic for a half-hour-long release that feels even shorter. Moloken eagerly experiment with wildly varied song lengths ("Burst" lasts barely over a minute. while "Seventh Circle" last seven) and unusual instruments (mallets on "Wreckage"), but never inspire the pleased incredulity that good experimental metal should.

Moloken hit their stride on the heavier songs. The soaring middle of "Seventh Circle" captures the despairing, visceral earnestness the band seems to be chasing, as does the first half of "I Dig Deeper." When All Is Left To See works, the jagged, hardcore-inspired vocals combine with sludgy riffs to deliver an emotional and punchy listening experience. When it doesn't—mostly during the album's numerous experimentalish instrumental passages—the band feels like they're stalling for time, building to a crescendo that never comes, or perhaps trying to obfuscate the fact that All Is Left To See is essentially a glorified extended play rather than a full-length release.

While All Is Left To See works better as a cry of hopelessness than brooding introspection—and Moloken seem to want it to be both—the success of the former on tracks like "Subliminal Hymns" and "All Is Left To See" makes up for the questionable merit of the latter. It's certainly not a career-making release, but a good release. Moloken can do progressive atmospheric sludge well when they're not preoccupied with being existential and experimental.

Recommended.