SHORT REVIEWS Our thirty second (32nd) edition of Short Reviews for 2023 finds us covering a big chunk of the month of September with 15 short reviews. // I’ve done my best to showcase the most interesting works that I come across while still presenting some decent variety here but choices boil down to what sticks, what inspires or what is worth writing about. These are more easygoing than longform reviews, so relax and think for yourself — If you find something you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase! If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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Dikasterion is a black/death metal from Belgium who’ve finessed their bestial, war metallic fusion with first wave black/traditional heavy metal influences for an inspired result here on their first mLP, which follows up a well-received demo and 7″ prior. With some direct relation to Possession and more recently Hangedheif there are some familiar shared tenets displayed herein but they’ve made a concerted shift to a stomping, mid-paced yet venomous sound which focuses on axe-swinging rhythms. even going as far as covering 1985 power metal anthem “Armies of the Night” from Los Angeles’ one-shot Stormtrooper. I’ve such a passion for this song/cover that it’d nearly negated all interest in the rest of the mLP on the first couple of passes but they’d ultimately convince with a very strong official debut here thanks to “Rites of Conviction” and the driving/representative opener “Perdition’s Call”. If the closing track isn’t a cover they should explore the Bathory-esque side of their sound more so that it fits. Excellent album art, too, since it rewards a good long stare each time.

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At a glance Pennsylvania-based black metal solo/bedroom project Luring bears all the outward symptoms of today’s trendy USBM glom away from lo-fi black/dungeon synth crackle towards early 90’s inspired revivalism but this isn’t ultimately where their work lands. These folks, or, this person manages an admirably blasphemous vision conjured through mid-paced gloom n’ lurking atmospheric pieces which occasionally raise hackles and stab at a faster pace, mystic but not devotional work just yet. In between short keyboard lead interludes and wandering strings of tri-toned guitar leads there is a menace behind this work that should eventually shine through if their focus ever shifts from morbid and surreal atmosphere toward pure rhythmic menace (read: riffs.)

As a second LP unhindered and still vitally left to bake in its bubble I would say that ‘Triumphant Fall of the Malignant Christ‘ is admirably ambitious in its vision, resourceful in generating heady atmosphere yet unfocused in its curation of a ~45 minute black metal release tied to the old ways, a soft-handed way of suggesting their attack is tame but the songs have the right feeling behind them otherwise. “The Axe of Vengeance” is a prime example of the darkly buzzing core of their aggression simply mulling in an obscure center while the storm itself blazes through its surroundings. Then again “Burning Flames of Hatred” make the case for their mid-paced, stomping side and overall this ends up being the most generous pocket of strength of their in their work.

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Zürich, Switzerland-based doom metal quartet Tar Pond originally featured Martin E. Ain (ex-Celtic Frost) before respectfully hitting pause on the process of their debut LP after his sudden passing in 2017. That debut would finally surface finished and self-release back in 2020 and the band decided to carry on, ‘Petrol‘ being the follow up to their post-metal inspired and groove driven doom metal sound. While the big and bass-hulking rhythms of the band create a traditional doom metal type layout which is thunderous and effective in its own right the real point of captivation on this record for my taste comes from vocalist Thomas Ott, who provides just as much tension to their landscapes as the riffs. The ratio of modern post-metal buzzing gloss to cold and simple doom metal sludging-about is weighted towards doomed riffs throughout this album but there is some occasional release from the heft of their work on “Slave” and moreso on “Something”. There is a 90’s alt rock gloom to th scant melodies explored here where the cadence of Ott‘s voice sometimes hits an Alice in Chains level of creep and bluesy estrangement, particularly on closer “Dirt”. I’d love the production values, the straightforward lunge of their sound and the exploration of surreal rhythms but I’d felt the full listen was one-dimensional and called for a very specific mood effectively.

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Active since roughly 1996 Hiems is the solo project of Italian musician Algol who is best known as a key member of Forgotten Tomb beyond 2003 or so. Though consistently demoing and working up to full-length readiness throughout the first decade of the post-millennium this’d felt like a side project or hobby-level act until their second LP, ‘Worship or Die‘, released in 2009 and though it wasn’t the most focused or original release it was clear the artist had put quite a lot more time and energy in that sophomore record. It might seem odd to praise a black metal act for reaching a professional grade standard but I think it suits the accessible, polished ambitions of this third LP where strong production values highlight the heavy rock and Scandinavian black metal inspired reach of the artist. Looking beyond aesthetics and sub-genre nods I’d found this album most valuable for the perspective explored, a black metal musician who thrives apart and finds virtue in their own unique perspective as I felt this comes across well in the avant-era Celtic Frost rhythms and doomed crawl of the first several pieces, a pace and feeling which fans of Algol‘s other bands will appreciate off the bat. I’d found the lyrics get sort of hokey on “March!”, the tracklist is all over the place in terms of flow between themed pieces, but overall the groove-heavy blackened crawl of the album was entertaining.

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Stockholm, Sweden-based melodic metal band Sodomisery initially consisted of musicians who were best known for joining more current line-ups of classic death metal bands such as Katatonia and Diabolical but the core of the group remains guitarist/vocalist Harris Sopovic who writes at a standard of modern popular ‘melodic metal’ with heavy inspiration taken from late 90’s black metal and more current melodic death metal. Their sound is quite modern, far from an sort of ‘old school’ canon but appreciably tuneful nonetheless as slow-motion melodeath with heavy use of symphonic elements to keep things glowing and sprawling well enough. The hooks aren’t quite there overall and a few songs don’t really go anywhere but the wind (“Master Your Mind” for example) yet I’d appreciated the ambitions of the main composer who is certainly aiming bigger than their debut had in all aspects. Fans of later Hypocrisy, post-’96 Atrocity (Deu) and Dark Funeral should generally appreciate this stuff, not really to my taste but not bad.

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Athens, Greece-based quintet Bio-Cancer were initially revered for their lively and cutting take on modern day thrash metal’s neon glowing revisionism back in the early-to-mid 2010’s but it was clear they were raised on melodic death metal and the melodeath-thrash/groove of the early 2000’s just as much as they were intrigued by the blazing revolt of classic thrash. Nearly ten years since their second full-length ‘Revengeance‘ retains the shotgunned energetic surges just as before but now presents what is essentially a melodic death metal record which is tangentially relatable to both ‘Enemy of God‘-era Kreator and earlier Skeletonwitch but still relates closely to the uniquely anxietous cluster-bombed theatrics of their two prior releases. I definitely went back and forth with this record over the last several weeks, first finding it exhilarating to start and soon after finding the full listen samey and often too relentless in its flood of ideas despite having some serious melodeath-but-ripping moments throughout. Melodic death metal and modern extreme thrash are still a very viable combination in the right hands and I think these folks have found a satisfying ratio to work with yet the sheer density of this release might take some time to sink in and parse into sense. A thrill-ride of an album in general, though.

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At their best Mexico City-based thrash metal trio Strike Master resemble the angstiest riff-ready aspects of late 80’s thrash metal aggression, the snap of their jaw is felt on pieces like “Lost Within Compass” to be sure, yet the purist and traditionalist alike will find an increasing frequency of early 90’s groove metal simplicity and strange outlier pieces like “Heavy Metal” on this latest record. Over the course of a five LP long career and many line-up changes the only steady voice coming from the project is the guitarist/vocalist who hasn’t strayed from his formula of fairly straightforward riffs, harsh shouts, and lightly melodic movements which break up the assault of their muse. Here the focus on simple grooves is predictable in motion, acting as a momentum killer for pieces which begin with plenty of promise (such as “Black to the Future”) but cut into 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 hammer-on riffs too often. The best pieces on this album briefly recall the prime ‘Extreme Aggression‘-era of Kreator to some degree, such as the first half of “Prototype God” but the riffs don’t always connect into a meaningful statement, instead hitting a far less consistent standard. With so many thrash records to chose from this month this one is neither niche enough to garner extra interest nor tuneful enough to really standout for my own taste. It has its moments nonetheless.

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Oslo, Norway-based psychedelic rock/stoner doom metal trio Superlynx return for a fourth full-length album of gloomy moon-spiritual pieces in rumbling, largely sedate rituals which compliment the reach of their previous record (‘Electric Temple‘) with an additionally jammed, loosened feeling of performance. The downside to this change is that the record reads as stiff, sleepy and without any real burst of speed or assertion beyond the walking paced motion of it all. I’d particularly enjoyed the guitar tone and the adventure it takes throughout the full listen here thanks to a natural sense of space and a focus on simple, easy to read and ride-along with pieces. If you’re big on Heavy Temple and Book of Wyrms but want something that fully sleeps in the desert at night and jams for most of it, this should be a fine spot to chill out within. Standouts: “The Unknown”, “Cycle”.

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“There’s no hope but death for wretches, condemned from Hell…” and no doubt you were thinking it but Swedish horror-country/rockabilly band The Coffinshakers said it, in a deep baritone and with fangs agleam in the moonlight. Formed way back in the mid-90’s and primarily active in the 2000’s I’d no idea this exceptional group had a record on the way when their vocalist featured in gothic rock group Die Oberherren and for my own taste the morbid lyrics and pristine camp of their work is well preserved beyond 2007, eerily so. Of course this is as hi-fi as they’ve ever been with Rob‘s voice of death threats and damnation ringing pristine in front of a band lacking the thump and shuffle of their 2007 self-titled release, lacking the garage flunked edge but making up for it with a spacious mansion’s worth of haunt. For me this is both a call back to a more enthused, standout era of weirdo rock but also a reminder of what a difference a fine lyricist/songwriter can make beyond a far-out sound. Particularly love when the operatic dread choirs hit on “Reverends of Doom” and the duo of “City of the Dead” b/w “Wretches” to start.

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Finnish black metal musician Ruttokieli (Barathrum, White Rune) returns with a fifth full-length from his expressly melodic guitar driven project Sielunvihollinen and he’s shown no sign of slowing down on this tirade of melodious and violent Finnish style mayhem, still tuneful to the nth degree. ‘Helvetinkone‘ is of course anthemic by nature and arguably speaks to melodic death and dark metal melodicism inspiration as each piece here hits an accessible stride and manages some manner of earworm worthy hook as it develops. The tunnel vision developed on this album is more intense than the last, not so much for the sake of immersion but per most of the songs reading as similar in scope and throne-set austerity. I personally appreciate that level of consistency on this type of record, all standards are high and the vision of the artist admirably fine without coming across excessively sentimental. My favorite example of this is probably late album set “Kun kaikki vihdoin kuihtuu pois”, a piece which appears subtle to start but through repetition reveals its less obviate hook. I’d have gone into detail on a longer-form review but I didn’t have much of anything new to say about their work.

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New Jersey-based tech-grindcore band Gridlink weren’t necessarily a supergroup when they started but they did feature Discordance Axis‘ unique vocalist Jon Chang, brilliant drumming from Bryan Fajardo of Kill the Client/Cognizant and of course mad guitarist Takafumi Matsubara who’d injured himself just as the band hit their third LP milestone with ‘Longhena‘ circa 2014, causing a long hiatus until now. ‘Coronet Juniper‘ returns with the sort of intense gasket-blowing screech and drill-fest one’d expect from such a mad entity having been locked away for nearly a decade, in fact they’ve fucked around with interludes and distractions a lot less in general and gotten right to it. I’m certainly no weird-grind expert, Watchmaker‘s first two are about as close to this level of shrieking tech-melodic rippery and implied chaos, but I did enjoy the band’s previous release for the breaks in the melee it’d offered.

This time around Gridlink‘s recording/production values are more atmospherically set and this naturally gives the most room to the drumming and the doubly loud vocals. The bass guitar is the ultimate victim of this rabid return but not inaudible yet this feels appropriate as it generates something differently energized from the band upon their reprisal. Don’t mind me, of course, one of my favorite grind records is ‘Soul of the Martyr‘ and I don’t mind over the top wall of noise aggression striking throughout a ~20 minute spasm-grind clip but I do think that this record will find its fans in the buried nuance of its less mathcore-relevant rhythms while the white-hot chaotic scream of it all rails on, it won’t hit exactly like ‘Longhena‘ and that is a good deal. A thoroughly entertaining record even if it tended to blaze by far too quickly.

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Hungarian quartet Grymheart describe themselves as a melodic power-death metal band but this is fundamentally incomplete as elements of folk and symphonic power metal play a much bigger role in their style than rasped vocals, taking their sound more in the direction of 2000’s Thyrfing per the heavy use of keyboards or perhaps early Ensiferum for eh, obvious reasons once you’re knee deep in its kicking melody-centric charge. Of course there is no shortage of groups playing within the sandbox held between melodic death guitar work and power metal with bits of shred, folk etc. in history but not many great ones exist today. These folks manage a rousing album with plenty of jaunty melodies to grind through, my only real complaint beyond the well-trodden melodic devices used is the quite placement of the vocals since they are buried enough to obscure most of the lyrics despite being verbose throughout most pieces on the full listen. The bigger-charging pieces like “Everlost” and “Hellbent Horde” caught my ear most often.

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Huronian is a melodic black/death metal quartet from members of Hateful, Valgrind and Blood of Seklusion wherein main songwriter/guitarist Umberto Poncina tackles a later Dismember-esque form of melodic death metal focused on dual rhythmic harmonies, a few wild bursts of leads and generally carries on with the work they’d begun digging into on their debut LP ‘As Cold as a Stranger Sunset‘ which was likewise aimed at the sound spearheaded by Dissection and At the Gates during their first transitional phases. The most ear-worthy aspect of this release is their approach of dual rhythm guitar driven movement which admittedly does get a bit lost in their polyrhythmic reap but in a jagged, tightly wound fashion which is accurate many bands expanding upon Alf Svensson‘s more technical side circa ’93, not far from the straining speed, and less completely melodic in terms of consonant phrasing, but still along those lines. In plainest terms, they’ve done a find job of tapping into the early melodic death metal sound and kept it heavy rather than rely on major key movements to generate interest. Fine work which should prompt many to go back and check out their 2021 LP.

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The fifth full-length from Stavanger, Norway-based metalpunk-rock crew Kvelertak continues a trend of accretion, an additive and outsized approach to the broadening palette they’ve served for over a decade now. Folks might potentially recall the self-titled debut from this band circa 2010 was a frequent recommendation from me back in the day, an exciting and vivifying performance and an unreal combination for its time: Swinging blackened hardcore punk n’ roll taking on a serious hard rocking, anthemic quality is still compelling but at this point the returns on that sound have been tempered well enough. For all of its excess ‘Endling‘ is an engaging and involved experience with some continued emphasis on longer form songs which might flip between folkish choruses, piano-banging Scandinavian retro rock, rushed thrash metal adjacent riffing, and their usual metalpunk n’ roll ride which sustains ’em well. From the multi-tiered eight minute opener to the crossover/thrash heavy metallic posturing on “Likvoke”, this record has absorbed a twinge of sword swinging speed metallic chunk but they’ve done well to transform any serious traces back into their own brand of high energy heavy rock.

More ambitious songcraft per extended compositions, heavy use of atmosphere, and even a bit more “black metal” help create the sensation that Kvelertak are going somewhere bigger with this album but once I’d hit the the halfway point the steam began petering out for my own taste. They’ve still got their swinging hardcore punk edged side up and running (“Motsols”, etc.) and newer Ivar Nikolaisen is now integrated more naturally here than he’d been on ‘Splid‘ and while I miss the maniac snarl of the original vocalist this sound is just as acceptable, perhaps more prone to layered choruses and shouted harmonies which are neither here nor there for my own taste. After a couple of listens I’d felt like I’d gotten the point well enough, a few big standout moments but ‘Endling‘ kinda loses me in the details.

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Oakland, California-based psychedelic doom-rock haunt Haurun are a pandemic formed outlet, a surrealistic and steady handed, even a bit bluesy shade of trip which sits on the borderline between a bad trip and an ecstatic step outside the self. I think I’d landed on “Tension” there in the middle of the album and began to appreciate the direct intent of the band within their craft, to linger in the air and see what creeps out of the shadows. Though the partnership of the lead guitarist and the vocalist are key to creating their subtle fire it really is the reverb woven voice of Lyra Cruz that puts a spell on this album, or, ensures its slow pace and shimmering guitar tones hold up over the course of a ~45 minute listen. Most of the sombre face of the album should appeal to fans of Blackwater Holylight and I suppose Mansion too but they’ve got some more kicking pieces over on Side B worth checking out too where the pace hikes up. Could be a bit more diverse and ease up on the the studio effects, no doubt there is still plenty of room for growth with this core sound/idea in such a good place to start. A huge vibe and assuredly a grower over time.

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