• SHORT REVIEWS • Our twentieth edition of Short Reviews for 2024 releases finds me grabbing at six (mostly heavy rock) records coming out this Friday, June 21st. This will be the final edition of the Short Reviews column as you know it (!) as I am moving on to a different type of short-form coverage starting in July. // 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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South Dakota-based stoner/sludge rock band RIFFLORD return with their most riotous release to date as ‘39 Serpent Power’ kicks things off buzzing and gives us a fast-paced ride from the start. It is kind of a jam that they keep that momentum rolling out throughout the full listen though it comes at the cost of any dynamic sense as each song kinda hits the same but they’re all pretty good. That initial ride doesn’t let up beyond a few doom metal riffs as they carve out the first six or seven songs in a row and, sure, I’m pretty easy to win over with the right amount of energy applied to this kind of stuff. If you cut into this album and find yourself quickly pointing out the obviate inspiration taken from classic High on Fire I’d suggest those moments hit early on in the record and don’t necessarily return in the second half, ultimately sounding a bit more like Black Wizard, Saviors and such. I’d found this album reasonably repeatable for its high energy, the push through its first few songs presenting plenty enough adrenaline while retaining that bluesy early doom metal energy. There isn’t that much to what these guys do beyond some herky-jerky movement but I’d found the easy thrill of it did the job well enough.

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After two popular releases with Black Lion Records Norrbotten, Sweden-based solo artist Jacob Björnfot‘s melodic black metal band KVAEN now takes a great leap onto Metal Blade for their third full-length album, bringing an expectation of something big in their wake. Rather than lean into the folken, kinda pagan black melodicism (re: Suidakra, early Manegarm) developed on the previous two records the emphasis here strays from the contributions of guest spots and toward the thrashing and shredding side of the fellow’s work, bringing the brilliant Fredrik Andersson along on drums. This means Side A has some big thrash metal moments to perk interest up front and Side B (see: “De Dödas Sång” b/w “The Perpetual Darkness”) explores a Vried like touch and even a few Amon Amarth-esque moments later on, showing a reasonable amount of variety on an easy to pick up spin. That said, my criticisms of this band haven’t changed since 2020 in the sense that Kvaen‘s work lacks a centralized identity with any pronounced flair or vigor to it, instead resembling a mature artist in scope without a strong point of view applied to the songcraft. This isn’t such an issue in the realm of extreme metal where a host of standardized ideals presented in a row are still entertaining. ‘The Formless Fires‘ does well to bring some interest with ‘Master of Puppets‘-lite presentation up front yet we never quite see this integrated into the head-down romanticist mastery of the mid-90’s Swedish melodic black/death metal side of the band where the riffs should ultimately arrive (and nearly do on “Traverse the Nether”). Otherwise we get what I’d consider ‘festival anthems’ in songs like “Tornets Sång” and “The Perpetual Darkness” which feel like something new here, catchy enough but this is the type of thing I’d felt bands did with more earned personality back in the early 2000’s. A perfectly enjoyable album otherwise.

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Each album from this long-running Norwegian metal band has approached from a different angle, served an artistic purpose, or been readily influenced by its contributing factors. Starting with a solo album (+ Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone) from Sarke (Khold, Tulus) in the late 2000’s, a live show capable line-up followed, a notable vikingr concept album, a Spellemannprisen winning album, etc. ‘Endo Feight‘ finds the band once again stepping beyond the expected black n’ roll n’ thrashing Celtic Frost-esque signature (see: “In Total Allegiance”, “Old Town Sinner”) they’ve become known for with a rocking, groove-ridden, avant-garde heavy rock record. Anchored by the menacing tension of Culto‘s performative declarations and creeping through the shadows at a mid-pace the first four or so pieces here slink and lurch through their motions with a notable flair for blues-driven guitar technique as guitarist Steinar Gundersen (Spiral Architect) brings some appreciable value to these dramatic and adventurous songs. It all reads strange as fuck to start, something like obscure late 70’s prog from first wave black metal band but even that doesn’t seem to cover what they’ve done here. While the second half loses some of its steam songs like “Lost” definitely stuck with me for how unexpected and atmospheric their reach’d been.

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You’ll have no luck finding a review of Illinois-based “occult rock n’ roll” quintet VEXING HEX‘s second full-length album without some manner of reference to (early) Ghost and not only for the sake of their tuneful approach to popular 70’s prog rock kitsch meets 80’s heavy rock/metal but for these songs generally recreating the spirited songcraft of records like ‘Opus Eponymous‘ and especially ‘Infestissumam‘ sans the extra dramatic touch of the latter. You’ll get a different-but-the-same feeling from “One Thousand Eyes” and “Solve et Coagula” before they’ve run out of that up front steam on Side A. The resemblance doesn’t necessarily hurt for this not-so serious catchy rock record and this isn’t the only reference one could pull from ‘Solve et Coagula‘ which has a bit of the 90’s in mind just as well, be it C.O.C. or Type-O-Negative (“Poison Apple”) but these are mostly surface level observations on my part. They’ve still got a couple of ear worms in the second half (“Mind Funeral” esp.) though I’d felt the album’d gotten its hooks in within the first seven or so songs. At this point they’ve clearly got the knack for this kind of thing and these songs are “fun” enough though I’m interested to see how they might make take this into something that is more their own and keep the energy up.

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At a glance Sydney, Australia-based septet BATTLESNAKE appear to be having a bit of fun with the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard side of things with the large crew and theatric heavy prog rock style but that’d be a matter of image and ambition rather than an actual direct semblance. These folks do well to rub a bit of dirt on their sometimes retro-feeling gig by way of 70’s Judas Priest (“Road Warrior”, “I Speak Tongues”) going a bit heavy metal with their most standout pieces along the way but also finding some keen ideas within their most tangential pieces (“Pterodactyl Firehawk”, “Pangea Breaker”). This second LP is all the more ambitious than their first, not only in terms of exploring increasingly bombastic presentation and performance but how they’ve made it all feel like it battles on for much longer than its brief and easy ~34 minute rub. This is an easy one, a good time on offer wherein I’d appreciated the big personality being shot forth without taking an outsized amount of time to get their point across.

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You might recall I’d loved the eclectic ‘ready familiarity of ‘Never Decide‘ (2019) the second LP from Athens, Greece-based “extreme classic rock” quartet BUS (aka Bus the Unknown Secretary) when it’d released and here we find them doing something very different five years later as they’ve gotten to work on a third record which splits its merger between the 70’s meets 80’s heavy rock and heavy metal conundrum by way of a ‘Killing Machine‘/’Hell Bent for Leather‘ touch to start. They’d apparently recorded this live in studio in the span of about three days, having written the album as clear and concise as possible as they edge right under the ~35 minute line with its eight songs. Running on instinct but carrying a wizened touch in everything they’ve done thus far we of course get the psychedelic rock headiness (“Rumours”) and the anthemic but jammed (“Rise of the Fallen”) sides of their gig to round out the radio ready early 80’s metal songs (“Somebody Spits on You”, “Under My Skin”) highlighting the album otherwise. Every BUS album feels like it goes places, has some strong aptitude for unique melodies, and though I wasn’t sure what they were going for here at first this is less a paradigm shift and more a showing of those good instincts in action.

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