• SHRT REVWS • This condensed version of short(er) reviews focuses on releases arriving in the first two weeks of November (mostly the 15th) covering death metal, melodic black/death metal, psychedelic/stoner rock, and atmospheric black metal. // 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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When Marburg, Germany-based atmospheric death/doom metal quartet NEKUS kicked things off with their hazed-over, cavernous bestial death EP back in 2020 they’d not managed to leave a deep enough impression for me to follow up on their 2023 debut LP. At this point I’d concede that’d been a mistake now that I’ve spent a serious enough amount of time with album number two, ‘Death Apophenia‘. While their broadest, most impactful strokes are still largely atmospheric gestures a la Grave Upheaval there are points of great discordance and rasping, nigh blackened dread which spike up along the way to help differentiate their sound from pure death/doom metal we get in various shades of their other related projects (Putridarium, Into Coffin). The best parts of this album reach a funereal high, an empyrean and distant burning type of lunging riff which errs on the side of more structured pieces (re: “Erichthea”, “Noxious Furor”) which’ve had their atmosphere gilded with strange vocalizations and dark ambiance without interfering with the lumbering dread available to their guitar and drum-fueled interplay. While the whole deal might sound blustering, noisome and aggressive without direction to start some deeper attention paid to the details here revealed a twisted run-through which is eventful, entertaining for its weirding interjections and blasted-through intensity.

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The history of ‘old school’ Swedish death metal band TOXAEMIA started with a three year run from 1989-1991 and picked up with most of the original members around 2017. Their style wasn’t necessarily legendary based on word of mouth back then or in hindsight now but they were a solid death metal band during their original run, a fact that has been reinforced by way of two full-lengths since. Rather than resembling the popular Stockholm-area sound or the melodic side of things these folks’ve always had a more straightforward USDM type sound and we can safely identify their muscle memory for the old ways as we clip through ‘Rejected Souls of Kerberus‘ since we find them pulling in a few classic demo-era pieces (“Beyond the Realm”, “Tragedies Through Centuries”) and giving them the full studio treatment to great effect. Well-produced, overtly loud, chunk-heavy on the riffs but all-in on their classic death metal sound there isn’t anything which helps Toxaemia stand out in the crowd here today beyond a fine grip upon ye olde rhythms. This isn’t a negative criticism in my book, rather a suggestion that this record (and the band’s general output) is primarily aimed the early 90’s idealist when it comes to death metal noise. The seamless integration of songs written back in 1989-1990 helps make a case for these folks drawing a direct line from past and present sensibilities, putting together a die-hard death metal album that is easy to hang with and enjoy.

https://toxaemia.bandcamp.com/album/rejected-souls-of-kerberus

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Initially pulling from a shared love of Bolt Thrower by way of folks involved in various hardcore, sludge, and black metal acts Chicago, Illinois-based death metal trio PRIMAL CODE present a mid-paced late 90’s hardcore edged debut here with ‘Opaque Fixation‘. While their inspiration is clear enough and their groove-laden sound doesn’t surprise out of the gates there is a distinct vocal personae up front which allows for both straight forward chunkers (“Anapsid”) and crossover events (“Iwl”, “Totem”) to develop an ouevre . For the current-gen death metal landscape these are appreciably moshable songs which have an interesting physical quality, simple and effective movements in general. I don’t think it’ll be a skull-popping revelation for folks attuned to the intensity of say, Dying Fetus, but folks looking to find that early metallic hardcore edge with a slight old school death note in there too will appreciate the patient roll of this one. For my own taste the pacing was all a bit too similar in terms of meter and with most of the main riffs pulling from the same chunk of the neck. When it works and they’re on a roll (see also: “Stuck”, “Extinction”) it all sorts itself out as a pretty decent debut.

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Los Angeles, California-based melodic blackened death metal project THE MOSAIC WINDOW return for a second full-length album not long after their celebrated debut album was picked up for broader release back in early 2023. ‘Hemasanctum‘ applies a bit more force to their action to start, side-stepping the more dramatic melodic death inspired patience of their previous release for the sake of carrying the force of 90’s black metal via session drumming from Gabe Seeber (The Kennedy Veil, Vale of Pnath). The “blackened” aspect of their sound is typically limited to vocal affect and some early-to-mid 90’s Swedish black/death metal inspired movements so I would go in with the basal expectation of a dark, sometimes densely presented melodic death record as we’ll find by the time songs like “Turibulum” and “Night Disease”. What I wasn’t expecting, and perhaps I didn’t pay close enough attention to ‘Plight of Acceptance‘ last year, was the rocking and half-thrashing, prog-metallic jog that began to work into several of these songs which’d kept the whole deal lively. Otherwise the only actual gripe I have with this album is the layering of the vocals, using a multi-tracked glottal roar/rasp brings a flatness to songs which are otherwise dramatic and it pairs strangely with chorales given similar treatment here and there, or, specifically on “Shrouded in Pain”. What might’ve been hymnal in mind ends up sounding kind of, emo anthemic? The tone of certain songs didn’t work for me, anyhow. I was stoked for this one going in and I really enjoy the album artwork and general production values well enough though the full listen never quite came together for my own taste.

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SOFTSUN is a connection made between Norwegian vocalist/bassist Pia Isaksen of Superlynx, desert bound rock maestro guitarist Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson) and multi-talented space rock drummer Dan Joeright (Earth Moon Earth, Big Scenic Nowhere) wherein they’ve developed a form of shoegazing and searching psych-toned dirges seemingly inspired by their own experimental stoner realms as well as niche forms of indie rock. Built around hypnotic space rock beats and sheets of effects-dripping atmospheric guitar work the anchor and tone for these songs ultimately feels serious, dire by way of Isa‘s dread-ethereal tone and use of lingering harmonies. The glowing yet ominous temperament of the bass guitar tone and the cutting yet tribal persistence of the drums leave a vast canvas for the trio to sprawl within yet they’ve generally manage to dive direction to each of these dirging pieces… and that isn’t to say that they stick with just one dynamic or tonal reach throughout these ~42 minute but rather that the first three songs feel related in modus and mood. ‘Daylight in the Dark‘ achieves a specific, personal enough surrealistic fusion which never feels outwardly typical or redundant of each’s own resume and makes sense as a likely, but not entirely likely crew formed to make something appreciably different. All three key parts here all feel essential to my ear, though I am partial to Arce‘s exploration of dreamlike guitar effects they color the experience rather than dominate interest throughout. I’d definitely wanted more SoftSun once I’d had my time with this record, though I’m not sure it needs to be “bigger” so much as taken to task, tested for its weight in a live setting.

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Schwarzenburg, Switzerland-based atmospheric black metal project PAYSAGE D’HIVER returns for a third official full-length album beyond plague year zero as they’ve now exited the “demo” phase which’d produced roughly ten full-length sized releases from 1997 ’til 2013. While not every work of atmospheric metal which attempts nearly two hours (roughly ~105 minutes to be exact) finds any particularly profound footing, especially bands inspired by Wintherr‘s other band Darkspace, each of this fellowe’s albums under this name began to read as sensorial orchestrations wherein the two guitar voicing became the core driver of statement over the course of time while a host of very subtle and lo-fi buried elements act as key functional units in driving variation. Getting lost in the wintry slough of it all and wandering through unknown and unsafe spaces is part of the allure and as such hunting down elements of songcraft which are memorable becomes somewhat relative within each ~15 minute (on average) section of this particular XIVth chapter in the artists ongoing tale.

Throughout this tome we wander beyond the forest and their haunt of ghostly possession unto the mountains (as in, ‘Die Berge‘), a colder and more desperate climb to start with LP1 (“Urgrund” and “Verinnerlichung”) before reaching for the escalation available to the three part transcendence of LP2 (“Transzendenz I-III”) where the tone of each song becomes increasingly ethereal with lead guitars and droning keys/synth linger amidst slower-paced weaving chapters. From there the final third of the album reaches for the summit, a grand finale which encompasses the whole of LP3 split into two ~18 minute songs. “Ausstieg” is probably my favorite song on the full listen not only for the variety they’ve taken on but the restless speed which builds the momentum for the first two thirds of the piece whereas the less eventful final ascension of “Gipfel” (re: “Summit”) slowly marches upward ’til a very long-tailed fade into the winter wind. So, I go through all of this here for the sake of suggesting that despite the length of this album the whole of the experience is not particularly demanding to grasp after a spin or two and each chunk of song has a distinct theme behind it which allows for separation into a knowable listen. Any general criticisms I might have are aimed more toward clarity of certain elements/layers and such which’d likely fundamentally misunderstand the knack for atmosphere involved. The end result it isn’t entirely for me in terms of regular listening but as a spectacle I’d still found the whole of the experience repeatable and entertaining in its depiction.

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