• SHRT REVWS • Our second edition of short(er) reviews for the month of July focuses on releases arriving on the 12th and covering a range of genres including stoner doom metal, black metal, post-metal/deathcore, heavy psychedelic rock, black/death metal, classic thrash metal and such. // In an attempt to be more conversational 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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What better way to greet the first sub-90°F day in a week than a slow and easy Electric Wizard-heavy groove from Sardinian psychedelic doom metal act BLACK CAPRICORN who’ve returned just a couple of years beyond their last with ‘Sacrifice Darkness… and Fire‘. Slow and stoney as ever with an 80’s doom touch to their work still translating these folks bring a warmer, cleaner production value to this album compared to ‘Cult of Blood‘ prior but the auld rotten Italian doom metal spiritus is yet here alongside some fostered interest on stoner metal rides (“Electric Night”) and big, easily parsed doom metal riffs delivered with without any real missteps. Some of the leads land pretty flat (“The Moon Rises as the Immortal”) but overall it sounds just as buttoned up as it needs to be to yield the delirious, hazy experience intended. As always this type of low-energy, big and fuzzed doom sound benefits from being cranked up too loud and is best suited for folks not prone to overthink it.

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If you were around for the return of Celtic Frost when their strangely popular, grossly overhyped ‘Monotheist‘ album eventually gave way to Triptykon you’ll recall a lot of bands began to explore the headspace of industrial, sludge and gothic/atmospheric metal in a similar way as the 2010’s approached but Asturias, Spain-borne trio TOTENGOTT‘s history starts at more of a direct point of worship, as a cover band that’d gone their own way with originals by 2015. ‘Beyond the Veil‘ is the third LP from the band which treats elements of thrash, black, and doom metal as their broader palette which manages to make for a unique enough mélange of both classicist and moderne metal tropes. What I don’t get from this album is a vision, a point of view which makes profound use of their broader capabilities. Strong production values, sharp visual presentation, and a well-developed sense of menacing yet varietal rhythm makes for a solid take on this particular type of sub-genre admixture, an everything-in approach which might be lead the d-beaten death rhythms to start and reach for gothic death/doom sentiment the next all the while clearly taking strong cues from the cadence of Tom G. Warrior‘s avant-garde/atmospheric streak (“Sons of the Serpent”) as well as the mid-80’s style of Celtic Frost proper (“Marrow of the Soul”, “Beyond the Veil Part II: Necromancer”). Of course I’m more interested in the ‘old school’ side of their gig and found myself checking out for the more elaborate kinda atmospheric doom/sludge portions of the record. Overall I’d been torn on this one, loving one half of it and feeling indifferent about the other half. On a basal level their whole gig is pretty cool, I love the main points of inspiration and their own exaggerations of it, so, definitely give this one a chance to bloom in mind even if there is a tinge of familiarity that sparks up throughout the full listen.

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The big change to my attempt at short review writing within this mid-year shift is to take on stuff, sub-genres and whole swaths of music I’d been echo-chambering away from over the last four years and yes… that means I am going to take about a U.K.-based deathcore band. in the case of quintet TURIN we find the focal point of their efforts less on complex rhythmic development and moreso on pairing dismal, stark post-metallic atmospheres with the severe sledge of what I’d consider something like progressive deathcore in the sense that their use of blackened death metal tropes is fairly light but might churn out some dissonant waves, or, even use frosty keyboards (“I Am the Truth”) to generate something blunt yet alt-metal tuneful despite its rhythmic nausea. Some of this is curiously enjoyable in terms of the floaty, tragedian tone of their work. Deathcore in its modern permutations often crosses too many wires when conveying its emotional heft and the way their vocalist has lead their directive with cold, flat brutality for at least the opening portion of the record helps give ‘The Unforgiving Reality in Nothing‘ a consistency as an experience which outshines a lot of the kitchen-sink stuff out these last five or so years. All of that said this isn’t my thing of course as the guitar rhythms are entirely functionally writ to enhance the percussive nature of the style and this leaves me struggling for a substantial connection beyond the mid-point. I’ve no doubt die-hard fans of deathcore and post-metal affect will swarm to this for its serious-faced approach and strong production values.

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Fusing folken Americana with the modern fixation of jam-heavy psychedelic rock Austin, Texas-based quartet LORD BUFFALO have always had a fantastic idea behind their gig but the execution, the vocal presence and the more direct songcraft needed to make a connection hadn’t fully arrived on their sophomore LP (‘Tohu wa Bohu‘, 2020) a handful of years back, tending toward the heady drift of All Them Witches without fully touting their ability to approach deep-set inspiration from Wovenhand and Nick Cave. This latest album surely indulges in mud-folkin’ psychedelic tangents (see: “Slow Drug”) but they’ve hit us with a more vocally driven, tuneful song to start as they appear to promise to get the point more often. The vocalist here can go full-on David Eugene Edwards here and there (“Passing Joy”, “Holus Bolus”) and while it might be a bit on the nose for a few songs that style of vocal is perfectly suited for their desert-bound approach, otherwise we find just as many extended instrumental pieces with sour-toned and often tension built scenes in mind, the most far-out of the lot being the intense closer “Rowing in Eden” where I’d particularly loved the use of droning repetition and restless strings grinding. I’d particularly enjoyed the bleak heartbeat-attuned thump of this record as much as the last but the vocally driven songs are clearly just as much of a strong suit, they’ve certainly left room to go in either direction as much as they’d like.

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Doing the bestial death/war metal thing isn’t as easy as it sounds, at least in terms of getting anyone to listen to it more than once, but in the case of Finnish/Italian quartet CLACTONIAN inspiration taken from late 80’s grindcore and first wave black metal do well to build up some interest within this brief ~13 minute first demo tape. From my point of view there is a Blasphemy-esque nod to some of these songs where their interest in classic grindcore and thrashing riffs brings an approach which isn’t particularly chaotic and generally still centers around the riff. Founded by G.E.S. of Thecodontion and including members of SVNTH, Ashen Tomb and Kleptocrazia with a theme centered around the Paleolithic (aka Old Stone Age) era of human culture and development there is the sense that they’ve thought this one through to the point that it hasn’t been developed into the usual generica. At the same time I’d suggest there are some solid riffs or, a high enough level of rhythmic interplay, that I’d been entertained each time I’d picked this record up.

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Originally known as Bloodlust these folks were a mid-80’s entry to the realm of New Jersey’s underground thrash metal scenery at the time, sort of a caricature of the cartoonish nature that thrash had taken on later in life. They’d been best remembered for their first album being part of the prime discography from the New Renaissance label, it was a raw ripper even if it’d been considered “average” for its time as the bar was set fairly high by then. I always liked their second album, ‘Chopping Block Blues‘ (1989), but I doubt they’d ever reached the level of interest intended as they’d called it quits by 1991. The main appeal of a band like this is probably best aimed at folks who appreciate the quasi-extreme thrash and early death metal that’d come from the realm of early Slayer worship and groups like Rigor Mortis, Coven and Morbid Saint among others who’d (generally speaking) provided an equivalent to what’d been going on over in Germany circa ’87 (or nearby), meaner heavier stuff before thrash filed the sharper points from its teeth.

Anyhow, having the band reform made as much sense as any other, they’d had a few particularly memorable songs off each record and plenty enough personality in their time. Back in 2007 they’d brought it back and eventually produced a strong third album by 2017. There’d been several line-up changes upon return and the missing link has always been not getting original vocalist Gary Markovitch back in the fold. Though that key point of personality has only just been imitated at this point I’d rather have bands like Blood Feast spreading the good word than not and, again, ‘Future State of Wicked‘ wasn’t half bad; Another seven years later and they’re ready with a fourth record where sole original member Adam Tranquilli (who’d left before ‘Chopping Block Blues‘) is now also providing vocals with second guitarist CJ Scioscia contributing songwriting beyond 2017.

Always a band to include bloody horror and some kind of defiant, subversive narrative in their whole deal we find ‘Infinite Evolution‘ generally resembling their classic sound and vocal cadence. That is to say that this Blood Feast record retains their personality in a believable way just as the last one had and they do this by sticking to the basics of thrash metal riffcraft most of the time. I particularly enjoyed the classic guitar tone(s) on this record as much as the entertaining side-step of songs like “The Preacher”, “Eye of Glass” and the ear-catching momentum of of “Ravaging the Loins of Mary”. If you’re looking for nostalgia from a recognizable name with that whole late 80’s underground thrash zeitgeist nailed, this record took me there consistently. Didn’t totally blow my head off but hey, I’ll take a solid and kinda tuneful classic thrash metal record over most anything else these days.

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After three albums in various configuration this Bordeaux, France-based post-doom/shoegazing drone crew stepped back into its core line-up as a duo, taking a five year break before their reconfiguration as a trio (plus vocalist Louise Dehaye) for an album which rethinks the dreamlike gush expected of the ENDLESS FLOODS name into slightly more compacted statements. Known for ~20 minute pieces spanning an entire side of an LP now we find the band easing into songs closer to the ~8-10 minute mark, patient as ever but also fixated on this theme of a “rite of passage” for this album as they build their dramatic statements around a series of events circling the fire. As poetic and captivating as this comes across it isn’t so vastly different from what ‘Rites of Gold‘ was on about aside from the layers of vocals, their harmonization and variously wailing exaggerations which make for a record that is far from connective but also strangely sentimental. The listening experience is oddly quaint if not cloyingly “indie” cinematic when taken as an outwardly set but obviously very introverted thought. While I believe there is some reasonable sincerity behind these pieces I can’t say that I connected with any of it, finding it particularly annoying to be promised something akin to shoegazing drone and/or doom and being left with a glowy, sleepy and sometimes heavy post-rock album. Not the worst possible outcome but also nothing all that substantial beyond theme, eh, if you’re looking for doom and dread that is.

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