SHORT REVIEWS Our thirty-sixth (36th) edition of Short Reviews for 2023 finds me grabbing at six notable releases from the start of the month of October plus one leftover from September I didn’t get around to in time to make the cut for last month. 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 and casual 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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Turin, Italy-based thrash metal quartet Ural have been alive and kicking since about 2010 and through the course of three full-lengths they’ve managed that sweet spot between the Municipal Waste-era of revisionist crossover thrash and some clear love for the tighter riffing of late 80’s Nuclear Assault, and that might not be a long walk to take for some folks but ‘Psychoverse‘ is a decidedly more serious feeling record as it sparks up. The ratio of somewhat simplified neo-thrash composition and the more elaborate presentation/expression of classic thrash/crossover factor in here even when they’re not hitting the party-hard mode as often as their earlier work. You can tell they’re working on their songcraft, finding hooks where they can (“Nightmare”) but the best songs for my taste on this album hit a kind of circa ’88 Anthrax kind of mode (“Uncanny Valley”) or just cut at more interesting riffs (“Drag me to the Wolves”). Vocals don’t always work for me but it is cool to see the band taking on a more ambitious set of songs and hitting most everything they try.

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Reviewing dungeon synth, or the deeper nuance of this medieval “pastoral” synth journey through California-based artist Malfet‘s fourth full-length requires some manner of nowadays expertise which I don’t entirely have, at least beyond a love for high fantasy video game soundtrack work. I’d basically said the same thing back in 2019 when I’d given brief mention of the artist’s second album, ‘The Way to Avalon‘. So, the obvious aspect of this fourth setting and implied narrative is the increasingly spacious sound emulated per slow martial percussion and consistent folken ensemble, a step beyond the winding forested forays of his earlier stuff. ‘Dolorus Gard‘ is essentially the story of Lancelot‘s siege I believe a castle, which was then made his an renamed Joyous Gard (if I’ve gotten my search terms right) and this provides imagery enough for this depiction of Arthurian legendry. The voice of the album is often distant but never loses sight of its core melody, managing intimacy, cheesy new age float, and plenty of courtly ethereal step-paced movement. I’d tended toward the initial dire march toward “Ride for Ruin” but the title track is something special before the remaining four pieces that close the album fall into a sparkly, quiet rut. With such a quiet, placid exit from these events I’d found myself put to sleep when used as background music and, no, I wouldn’t consider that a knock against it.

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October Tide has made a point of suggesting Fredrik Norrman (Uncanny, ex-Katatonia) vision for the band has intentionally rescinded the old death/doom metal connotations and instead continues to move toward their own modern version of melodic death metal, so, if you were into ‘In Splendor Below‘ back in 2019 this record intends to pick up right where it left off. Well, sure, but the first single from the album (“Tapestry of Our End”) is inarguably a signature piece from the long-running group. No reason to existentially detangle of course, the nuance of this seventh LP from the Stockholm-based quintet will reveal itself with some considerable patience as their focus on ~5-6 minute pieces which slow and steadily loose their hooks continues. We do get some bounding melodic death movement on the opener “Peaceful, Quiet, Safe”, the rushed-at spikes of “Blodfattig” and the steadier flow of “Season of Arson” but overall October Tide still situate themselves in that signature pocket of misery for the most part. The sort of wall of screaming loud vocal cadence hasn’t eased on the last three releases and this is still my only complaint, needing that dynamic to match that of the music more often as it evolves. As a longtime fan I’d found this album to be a worthy addition to the collection but I’m left with only a handful of truly standout moments which break into unexpected details or undeniably big moments.

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This young trio from Stockholm, Sweden play a fairly traditional sort of death metal conscious of the punkish, whipped-at origins of Swedish death metal’s chainsaw sound with most of their efforts using the HM-2 grind as a familiar wall of static to push through simple song structures and grinding hits. Bearing some Unleashed-esque kicks on their still very green debut LP (‘Deadly Possession‘) back in 2022 while also flirting with black and extreme thrash metal nods to keep things boosted and unpredictable these folks show up with a better grip of songs overall this second time. On that first record they’d obviously had some murderous riffs in mind but the rasp of the vocals and the unceremonious flailing of the leads kept the listening experience from catching too many serious ears up front. With another year under Xorsist‘s belts ‘At the Somber Steps to Serenity‘ benefits from a shake-up here and there with some early melodic death metal patterns peeking through on a couple songs and in general a far more accomplished spin than their prior work; Distorted bass tones gum things up to a grind, overblown distortion fuses the spine of their guitar tone, and this should remind folks of a certain era of Grave to start but they’re not giving up the thrashing speed and rasping vocal. This time around they’ve done a better job approximating the classic late 80’s/early 90’s riffcraft but the action starts to dry up near the mid-point on the running order, picking up a few stray burns on “Banished to Obscurity” but hitting an average n’ roll stride on that piece. Though I’d found this album was still pretty green in some respects there is a strong enough nugget of personality forming here between their grinding speed and adventurous spirit of the drummer that Xorsist is a name I’ll at least remember their gig.

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German post-black metal act Heretoir are probably best known for the Eklatanz directed original thread from atmospheric black metal unto post-metal evolution of the project which’d come to a head around 2017’s ‘The Circle‘. Rather than turn away from the breadth of their work and continue to move toward a depressive post-rock/alt-metal sound the line-up has since expanded to a quintet and incorporated contributions from all members for this anticipated fourth LP. As a result ‘Nightsphere‘ is inclusive of all past aspects and traits, funneling these into their oeuvre rather than pushing aside the atmoblack/blackgaze past of the group. We get the gamut of this within the longer, more dramatically stated pieces on the full listen as most of them reach for 10-12 minute stretches, often coursing through several movements within each. While I’d found these songs varietal, focused and particularly active for post-black metal today this sort of sound is far less novel than it used to be and this record feels busied when considering Austere‘s fairly understated approach upon their return earlier this year. In fact we even get guest vocals from Tim Yatras on one of the pieces here. Though this record wasn’t ultimately for me I’d suggest picking the two ‘Nightsphere’ parts (Glacierheart, Sanctum) are the pieces to focus on when gauging interest as they really are the main pulse of the full listen.

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Linz, Austria-based grindcore/death metal quartet Distaste have been around for over twenty years now and that should clearly indicate what type of death-grind they play to some extent, hyper-active blasting stuff with elements of neocrust, black/death metal, and a certain era of grind where bands like Nasum were supreme leadership. They’ve eased off the brutal death over time and instead crunch out riffs with a proper HM-2 bulldozer in hand, using it right in terms of creating equal parts chaos and bigger grooves as they chop away at each piece ~1-2 minutes at a time. The longer pieces on the album (“Das Leid und Sein Gift”, “Geiferloch”) aren’t guaranteed to be old crispy Swedeath chunkers since you’ll find the crust inspired side of the band sparking up (“Theresa”, “Der Erträger”) about as often for some variety/melody which adds some intense value to the full listen, wherein the outcome is something like Tragedy meets labelmates Keitzer. Overwhelming upon the first rush but a great grinding death infused record overall.

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