• SHORT REVIEWS • Our thirteenth edition of Short Reviews for 2024 releases finds me grabbing at six more releases from the ~first half of April. This year Short Reviews will arrive every ~1-2 weeks dependent on how many extra releases are worth talking about. // These are more easygoing and casual than longform reviews, so relax and think for yourself. 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. — 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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British gothic doom metal pioneers MY DYING BRIDE enter their 34th year with a fifteenth full-length album comprised of songs largely taken from pandemic era writ music. Most of their work on ‘A Mortal Binding‘ aims to emphasize the dramatic romanticist style the band are known for, pivoting from the severe gravity of ‘The Ghost of Orion‘ toward the esoteric and at times challenging-in-pace spectrum of their work which naturally retains a song oriented series of singularly set spectacle in theatric reveal. That is to say that the patient dramatism of the band is at its thickest performative mode herein and this is a bit difficult to resolve after the dire, more emotionally driven peaks of the previous album give way to a solid enough gothic metal inspired release. While I wouldn’t second-guess the sincerity of their focus I didn’t find myself connecting with the overall drift of the running order, such as the choice to bury “The Apocalyptist” yet lead with the in the thick of it aggression of “Her Dominion”. Much as I do understand the practicality of each placement this leaves the action up front and longer maudlin gloomers for the end of Side B and this’d felt counter-intuitive from my point of view as a longtime fan. Not a serious gripe but this one felt a bit off to start and I’d never fully sunk into its wiles.

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Kristiansand, Norway-based sextet IN VAIN are a progressive death metal band who have developed an accessible style of modern melodic metal over the years which is inspired by groups like Borknagar (“To the Gallows”, “At the Going Down of the Sun”) but also has a dark metal and blackened death metal side to it which veers between October Tide type mourn and the occasional shade of classic Opeth, at least from my point of view. Of course the heavier side of their work interests me more and this time around they’ve done well to trip between those rasping, harshened moments and their cleaner modern prog metal side to the point of balancing out the overdone “Wacken radio metal” feeling I get from a lot of their work. Glossy production values and busied compositions are much improved here compared to ‘Currents‘ back in 2018 but they do end up striking me as strangely mainstream’d alt-metal in spirit, particularly certain vocal melodies here and there which take me out of the intensity of their work. Above-average and extremely pro stuff, though not necessarily to my own taste.

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Though they’d clearly been inspired by both “orthodox” Swedish and French black metal of the early-to-mid 2000’s on their first two or three albums Lublin, Poland-based black metal act BLAZE OF PERDITION had sourced an incredible feat from many different angles on ‘Conscious Darkness‘ (2017) the first record of theirs which I’d taken seriously and an expectation set for what’d happen next as they signed with Metal Blade and appeared to be hitting a universally impressive current. Their interest in gothic rock/darkwave was expressed heartily on their 2020 follow-up and it was probably too atmospheric and nuanced a record to be greeted warmly by the underground constituency, or, anyone seeking vitalized aggression… but it wasn’t an outright bad record from my point of view. It might make sense that ‘Upharsin‘ is completely different, arguably a step back into the skin partially shed by ‘The Harrowing of Hearts‘ as they appear to pick up closer to where they’d left off prior to that release without crossing-out some of those same inspirations for subject and pacing.

The dramatic voice of Blaze of Perdition matches the tone of the album’s theme, an examination of the death-drive in human beings and the seemingly innate refusal to acknowledge this side of human nature, as their sound is yet largely lead by the loft of their guitar arrangements and heady mid-paced ventures. Here the rhythm section are particularly deliberate as they help to pull this work away from the usual atmospheric/surrealistic black metal rhythms into a natural outlier, especially on pieces like “Architekt” and the epic-rocking stride of “Młot, miecz i bat”. Otherwise the guitar hooks of songs like “Przez rany” do well to immerse and stick in mind to a well above-average standard here. A fine album, though I’d not found anything profound to say about it in a longform review. If you’ve enjoyed any of their work beyond their second LP, this one should be a quick and easy induction, a bridge between their last two records which smooths out the transition a bit.

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Vancouver, B.C.-based technical death metal quartet ATRÆ BILIS return for a second full-length album and they’ve gone ham on their sound for this one, whipping an incredible amount of detail up in order to deliver an aggro-psychedelic tech-death record driven by insane, mutant grooves. Their style reminds me of the high point of (at the time) tech-death propulsion and groove present by ‘The Negation‘-era of Decapitated but with inspiration taken from peak Canadian tech-death otherwise. They’d already achieved nearly as much with their debut LP though this one stands out for the amount of unexpected and unheard-of sounds they pack into each song, not unlike more recent Afterbirth releases albeit from an entirely different point of view. A trip and a half and an experience which comes with more than a few spectacularly entertaining moments, though I didn’t have anything new to say about their gig beyond the high praise I’d given their debut.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based ‘old school’ death metal inspired quintet OBSCURIAL return for a second full-length album and generally improve upon the style introduced by their 2021 debut, leaning into dramatic guitar swells and well-enriched production values for a surprisingly memorable spin. As we hit opener “Blasphemous Cult” and “Maggot Incubation” the atmospheric reach of the album quickly reveals itself as still driven by an almost ‘Sothis‘ level of aggression but reaching for a Grave-level attack, supplementing this with odd details such as the vocal effects on “Locust Plague”, otherworldly dive-bombed leads, surreal (and kinda subtle) keyboards, and a crunchier guitar tone which has that snapping cut to it a la earlier Invocator. Though I could reference plenty of old records for smaller aspects of their sound the overall effect doesn’t feel like it is desperate to sound ancient but rather obscure in its distinction and it should only take a few songs to start to soak up this ancient minded yet distinctly nowadays conception. ‘Heretic‘ has more depth than a cursory spin will reveal and there’ll be no reward for rushing through its wares without taking stock of all that they’ve put into each song here, this is especially true as you hit the second half of the album where the real density hits between the dread of “Carrion Disease” and the chunking epic “A Cure For Sickness” which hits this weirdly danceable-death node near the end.

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As we approach this sophomore full-length from German neo-thrash metal quartet EXTINCT right off the bat the drum sound hits like a bad drum machine from 2004, the vocals kinda sound like dude from Raised Fist (a good thing), and the first couple of pieces which open ‘Incitement of Violence‘ drag on despite being short and hardcorish in their kick-thru. None of this bugs me all that much, though, because the thrash starvation is already hitting critical here in mid-April and there’ll be no (real) relief for about a month otherwise. This new record finds the band returning after 11 years spent sorting out their next step beyond a debut, most of the delay being due to a guitarist leaving in 2016 and a suitable replacement being found in 2020 (from what I gather, at least). Their approach to thrash is as simple as exaggerated late 80’s Kreator and a bit of newer Slayer level grooves, flatly scratched riffs, and tank-level shouting without any signature nuance to it. Dry as this sounds on paper the listening experience works in enough variety and conviction that I’d had a great time hanging with Extinct‘s coldly cut and kinda mid-paced barrage as they do eventually find a groove somewhere in the second half. The only real point of irritation on repeat listens was the strangely artificial drum sound.

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