• SHRT REVWS • Our third edition of short(er) reviews for the month of July focuses on releases arriving on the 19th-23rd and covering a range of genres doom metal, atmospheric black metal, avant-garde death metal, brutal death metal, and occult rock. // 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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The arrow and the lovely mud it lands upon. — The quest for the Tony Iommi inspired riff may be righteous but the bar is eternally set low for the sake of broad-minded participation (and a fundamental dyslexia for blues guitar education) and as such shooting high and landing askew will inevitably find its audience. In the case of Finnish doom metal quartet SARAJAH this was the springboard into the greater family tree of classic doom metal, moreso inclined toward the groovier and hypnotic motions of the mid-80’s by way of Trouble and Candlemass. If you are familiar with Finnish doom metal beyond Reverend Bizarre-alikes and you’re a fan of Church of Void we’ve got a couple of degrees of separation here with folks who’d played with former members of that band in Fimir who’d putout a solid record (‘Tomb of God“) back in 2021. Around that same time these folks’d begun demoing the songs for this album, taking their time to walk into this self-titled debut LP with confidence and find their stride. Largely recorded live in studio and sauntering in slow ‘Sarajah‘ is both understated and well-stylized as a distillation of slightly psychedelic doom craft that is yet entirely traditional in its focus, making for a haunting and at times “epic” feeling record which stays in its lane for the whole of its runtime. I particularly enjoyed this one for its immersive qualities and the peak that it reaches by the time “Underworld” puts its grand stamp on the record. Very clean and clear work here in terms of the render/recording yet they’ve retained the oaken yet dramatic quality this sort of doom needs, holding fast to a severe/affected sense of diction which should appeal to fans of the classics. The mood being so consistent kinda holds them back from any truly wild expression here so, this one is more about the hypnosis it gains over time which I’d found necessitated patience.

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When black metal artists find it necessary to become political, whatever that actually means, no matter their inclination it tends to be difficult to take seriously and if only for the sake of the lyrics being unintelligible to a general audience and the cadence of most black metal being not at all fit for propaganda unless derived from anthemic punk. I say this not to reduce the efforts of one W. aka Winterherz of Waldgeflüster and his increasingly outspoken solo project UPRISING but rather to suggest that when this album makes its point well it is often within a moment that pulls directly away from its black metal directive. You’ll find lyrics concerned with the environment, inequal distribution of wealth, and the resurgence of nationalism (and fascism, naturally) in the “western” world as the six songs here make their various points in more direct addressal here on ‘III‘ and this will of course more than likely attract folks who agree. Where I get a bit lost, and this doesn’t happen right away, is within the directive of the music where variously hypnotic atmospheric/melodic black metal dramatism meets up with erratic interest in popular rock/metal musing be it old groove metal (the album closes with an early Machine Head cover) or the more abrasive post-metal inspired side of things. I think there is some great conviction behind each of Uprising‘s releases, and the drumming here from Austin Lunn (Panopticon) is of course both fittingly applied and impressive throughout, though when giving ‘III‘ my full attention I’d found these songs jumbled and unfocused much of the time. Otherwise I definitely appreciate when musicians speak their truths, whatever they are, from the gut rather than the pulpit and this release seems to come from an honest and passionate place.

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An artist with eclectic taste and some general capability when it comes to approximating style Skåne County, Sweden-based musician Andreas Karlsson has released something like ~fifteen releases (demos, EPs, and albums) split between about five different projects since ~2020. Though his interests range from heavy rock to black and progressive metal FEBRUUS is his avant-garde death metal project and thus far probably the most notable in terms of offering something off-color to typically less-than daring niche. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re getting a great record here with ‘Surveillance Orgy‘ but rather that bears a palpably estranged outsider vibe here at the outset with skronking, oddly-set note choices and frequent atmospheric drifts. The best parts of this album step away from the dual rhythm guitar mashing n’ clashing long enough to achieve dissociative states which are by far the knack of the artist rather than the jumble of notes they meld into riffs and oddly-scaling runs throughout. The actual guitar lines are almost universally unpleasant in terms of a death metal listening experience, amounting to a random generation of points often relayed from one causal anchor, but the bigger-picture juxtaposition of disarray and escape conveyed make for an entertaining, nigh paranoid feeling record that is otherwise consistent in building from this modus and… whatever it is that guides it; Most all of these songs pass the eight minute mark in their meandering exploration and in this sense there is some strong immersive value available to folks who appreciate dissonant, avant-garde death metal which makes very few predictable choices with its guitar work. Otherwise I believe the drums are programmed and this rarely works for me when considering how awfully it clashes with the fastidious nature of the performances otherwise. An ambitious record but one that hasn’t quite realized its ambitions just yet.

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As we slip into the abstract extreme metal solo project realm once again, this time from a post-black metal musician who’d previously been involved in “mathcore” on some level, we find a rasping beast and a wholly atmospheric tumult in Daniele Vergine‘s OCCULTA VERITAS where the odd choice of either dissonantly wrangled tremolo picked movement or curious entanglement of progressions makes for absolute disarray complimented by rasped and scowling vocal expression. There is a miserable, distraught nausea which carries through the entirety of ‘Irreducible Fear of the Sublime‘ which feels overworked, almost wrathfully pressed upon the listener as an assault of guitar noise and foreboding howls which is perhaps artfully set in its post-metallic lilt but again entirely unpleasant as a listening experience. It should come as no surprise that this fellowe has some background in both mathcore and post-black metal as the main language of this music is harried, fraught and aggressive by nature, which’d read to me as a beast in pain. While I appreciate the beauty to be found within the gentler guitar voicing set next to the anxious dread of the other this never quite resolves into anything I’d naturally set on repeat and dive into. The vocals are almost entirely one note and far less accomplished than the rest of the musicianship and this leaves the experience incomplete, both ambitious and grafted together in some respect. Miserable stuff, sure, but experiential enough in its clash to draw some general interest.

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This debut EP from Houston, Texas-based quartet CASTRATED is a fine example of classic brutal death metal in its more-or-less third generational purity where a pre-2005 level of gory, fucked up and mayhemic themes are delivered with almost purely percussive intent built around moshable riffs that wouldn’t touch deathcore but might hit a classic feeling slam if the moment calls for it. ‘Surgical Vicissitude‘ is definitely not just on the brink but they cross the line, whip right over the edge here in terms of getting their disturbed-ass lyrics up the ears and the senseless violence of it all calls back to the dangerous, probably going too far level that brutal death was at back in the early 2000’s. I love this type of thing when done right and when the riffs come before any sort of gimmickry or ‘tech’ whatever idea that pulls us away from the destructive mosh of it all. I think the vocalist here, Anthony Voight (Sarcophagy) was the frontman for early 2010’s Gorgasm and you can tell he’s been at it forever because his presence holds most of this EP together by sheer imposition and force, kinda going for it right out the gates (“Deranged Manifestations”) though I’d appreciated the helicopter-tuned drumming from current Carrion Vael and Aethereus kit boss Matt Behner just as much, where he shotguns all over this thing front to back keeping the energy murderous. I don’t know that I’m floored by the steady-ass material on this EP, they’re not really messing around within its core intensity, so much as I’m stoked on the promise it shows in terms of cutting an LP at this level.

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Where do we draw the line in terms of ‘old school’ death metal as the generations continue to stack up and pure imitation has given way to experting fusion of forms? Sticking the 80’s and 90’s probably makes the best sense in terms of drawing a specific line between first, second and such generations beyond… yet we find more and more bands like Málaga, Spain-based death metal quartet KRYPTICY, who’d formed back in the early 2010’s, specializing in early 90’s rooted classicism yet delivering a sensation familiar to the next generation where bands like Krisiun and Diabolic exaggerated elements of Florida death metal as brutal death metal became part of the general vernacular. The best thing about this second LP from the band, ‘The Non-Return‘, is that they continue to veer toward classic sounds though they aren’t afraid to push into more damaging tempos and severe riffcraft. Both the register of the vocalist and the scattered, thrashing rhythms here recall a certain era of mid-to-late 90’s Polish death metal to me (see: Damnation, Mortify etc.) to my ears, otherwise if you are a fan of where bands like Skeletal Remains have taken things on their more recent records but also jive with albums like ‘Apocalyptic Revelation‘ this one should impress. A big improvement upon every aspect of their debut album and their best showing in terms of riffs thus far.

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Entranced within their musing upon the contrast offered by life, death and the eternal grasp of the hidden hand the psychedelic/occult rock yesteryears which flow through this second release from Swedish trio THE OTHER SUN are pushed afloat via the extra-spiritually driven mind of author Fredrik Eytzinger who works in collaboration with Icelandic musician Árni Bergur Zoëga (Árstíðir Lífsins, Carpe Noctem, et al.) and the venerable Tommie Eriksson (Saturnalia Temple) in realizing this exceptional, intense display of heavy-lidded revelry and meditative thought. The remnants of 50’s revivalist guitar techniques in late 60’s psychedelic folk form a loose basin for the blood here, though surf guitar (and much more) eventually arrives to flavour-in the heady, blissful hum of ‘Daimon, Devil, Dawn‘. All is new yet old and dark yet wizened by its own inherent intoxication as the first several songs arrive here yet the test, the heart of the album arrives around “Horizon Between the Eyes” where the album asks for patience rather than smoking-in and floating past. For my own taste the ‘less atmospheric’ gusts of this album (“Black as Gold”, “Conjuring Other”) were probably their most thoughtful yet there’ll be no denying the atmospheric richness of this recording felt within pieces like “Pan” and “Lion Spell”. If you are a fan of The Devil’s Blood, Occultation‘s second album, or Sabbath Assembly give this one a serious spin or two.

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