• SHORT REVIEWS • Our first edition of Short Reviews for 2024 releases finds me grabbing at six releases from the general pool of early January 1st through the 12th. This year Short Reviews will arrive every TWO WEEKS and will now also include additional albums I’ve passed on giving reviews or scores for. I’ll mention albums worth giving a try and review the more notable stuff. // 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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January 9th, 2024

The ninth volume in Ripple Music‘s ongoing ‘Turned to Stone‘ series of split 12″ LPs features Philadelphia-based quartet Ritual Earth and Italian duo Kazak as a fairly well-matched pair of psychedelic doom-rock groups who bring an easy, painless groove to their work. Ritual Earth are on the blues rock side of the fence with a bit of earlier Shannon Hoon in their vocalist’s cadence thanks to the use of effects which (mostly) work amidst the syrupy prog-tinged and keyboard riddled heavy psych they generate otherwise. They’ve done a fine job of leading with a soulful register but this becomes stretched, twisted out of shape the longer they roll with it and to the point that “Ominous Aurorae” kinda misses its landing. Kazak are similar in pace but different in most every other way as an Om and Ufomammut inspired duo concerning themselves with mantra driven psychedelic doom metal, of course this is much more my speed and by the time they’ve broken into “Haze” the hypnosis had fully set in. I’d appreciated the pairing here as each half brings their own calm to the table for the sake of atmosphere built upon keyboards/synth and ringing guitars though I didn’t walk away from this one stunned by the songwriting on either side.

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January 12th

This debut LP from Kalamazoo, Michigan-based noise rock duo Bronson Arm is split between their (‘Tosser‘, 2021) EP which features as Side A alongside five new songs which make up Side B and this creates a very clear divide between the brighter, cleaner layers of their earlier recordings and the far more minimal and noisome dread of their new material. The ‘Tosser‘ EP was meticulous, precise and though the duo split their instrumentation between a guitarist/vocalist and a drummer it’d employed a full array of tempered guitar layers that’d left their gig sounding unique enough but almost alt-rock precocious next to the newer songs that’ve made their way onto this compilation. This has more to do with gnarlier guitar tones, uglier noises (is there a TV on in the background?) and gloomier stretches of ringing chords which introduce themselves on “One With the Floor” and less to do with their songcraft beyond allowing more space for the dread to ring through uninterrupted. The simpler and more distraught their pieces got the more I connected with them and I’d quickly began to prefer the more obnoxious and dismal side of the band, even when stretching into a psych-garage rock tangent on “Rabbit Starvation” and the art-rocking mess of “The Devil You Know”.

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Now achieving their sixth full-length release just beyond their twentieth year since formation Parisian black/doom metal quartet Mourning Dawn craft yet another depressive plunge into their unique enough realm of blackened dark metal and melodic death/doom metal inspired aggression. They’ve long been best at creating pockets of disturbed dark metallic bliss, dramatic melodic pieces set within the tumult of depressive black metal vocals and heavy atmospheric doom metal grooves. While they do well to showcase their best traits on “Blue Pain” and the eerie ruptured build of “Apex” their heavy use of spoken word, garbled voice recordings in French, and frequent interruptions per these voices quickly becomes a point of irritation on two of the longer pieces (“Tombe du Temps”, “Borrowed Skin”) which introduce the album and this is before the trap beats and industrial groan of the curious “Suzerain” (also closer “Midnight Sun”) arrives to do something entirely different. Though I wasn’t sure what to think at first I’d ultimately appreciated getting something unheard of, unexpected and non-generic from these folks rather than just another album even if not all of it is to my taste.

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With a hundred dry admixtures of beatdown and classic brutal death spin-kicking down the chute with short-ass releases these last several years it isn’t hard to keep up so much as it is hard to differentiate one green-assed face value take from another. In the case of Oakland, California-based quintet Iron Front two things stand out from the first listen, the main vocalist suits the cavernous dry-rotted production values perfectly and they’ve kinda got chops enough to convince on the beatdown side of things. In terms of riffs they’ve always got the walk of it down pat, one foot after another, and the whole deal is short enough that repetition doesn’t erode the rush of it all but they definitely jump back into a predictable pocket of simpler breakdowns as the album grinds on through. When I put on my death metal hat, meh. When I think back to being in my late teens listening to metallic hardcore and brutal death in the late 90’s, sure, I get it. “The Slam of ’87” is the one piece that goes the extra mile to grab the ear but the absolute tank-slapping bounce of “Pig Splitter” was great to return to on repeat listens. Not sure if it’ll grow on me but if they hook into meaner death metal riffs here and there in the future I’d give a bigger thumbs up.

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Bergamo, Italy-borne trio The Clamps return with their third full-length album wherein they once again feed punkish garage rock energy into stoner rock and keep it fairly simple and tuneful as they go at it. Don’t expect a huge evolution beyond their first two records, some faster pieces and a few of their stoniest songs (“Raze the Land”, etc.) for a bit of variety. A very comfortable sort of thing to ride into which doesn’t afford itself many frills though each song carries itself with robust physical energy and I suppose something slightly more angry and slingin’ hot than expected.

CHECK THESE OUT TOO:

DOMINATION CAMPAIGN – A Storm of Steel [January 12th, Prosthetic Records]
ESCUELA GRIND – DdeeaatthhMmeettaall [January 12th, MNRK Heavy]
Linnea Hjertén – Nio systrar [January 12th, Nordvis Produktion]
SAEVUS FINIS – Facilis Descensus Averno [January 12th, Transcending Obscurity Records]

https://escuelagrind.bandcamp.com/album/ddeeaatthhmmeettaall

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January 19th

Brisbane, Australia-based quintet Resin Tomb set their collective dials to the rusted gears of grinding, dissonant death metal but they’ve walloped the whole machine with elements of sludge on top of their sound to keep it filled with clangorous murk and neck bristling severity which serves the moment well as they conjure an imposing whirr. Fans of more recent stuff from Wake and Vermin Womb will quickly pick up on the all-out energy of ‘Cerebral Purgatory‘ but there is (eventually) more of a brooding edge to some of their work (“Human Confetti”) which suggests they’ve got more than wilding, slammed through menace in their gig. Their vocalist just kinda goes to eleven and stays there for a wall-to-wall shouter but there is enough breathing room to enjoy the oddly-angled riffs and brutal but brief impact of the full listen. I wouldn’t say it burst my skull into chunks but I appreciated the high standard set across the board for a debut and solid choices for both gritty and col production values and appropriately dark album art.

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