• SHRT REVWS • This condensed version of short(er) reviews focuses on releases arriving in the first half of February covering brutal death metal, death/thrash metal, death/doom metal, sludge metal, sludge rock, black metal, black/death metal, and blackgaze. // 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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Canadian thrash metal mainstays SACRIFICE are typically regarded as one the heavier groups to show up nearby the sea-change found in speed metal beyond ‘Hell Awaits‘, high energy fare with a darker image and plenty of punkish spirit to start. Like any self-respecting fan of thrash metal I hold ‘Forward to Termination‘ (1987) in high regard but they’ve never really faltered on any front. There is no major caveat to insert into notes on their classic (1983-1993) discography as a series of albums which became more “normative” (read: professional) with each iteration and traded evil speed metal cred for thoughtful vitriol. As a longtime fan I would suggest that ‘Apocalypse Inside‘ (1993) is the missing link, the key step from past-to-present and the mature voice of the band on a very underrated record. Or, if we can translate directly into terms the thrash fandom will best understand: “It was mid-paced.” but anyhow that is the root of what evil has arisen beyond the band’s reformation (with all original circa 1985 members) circa 2006. They’ve not been prolific but they have produced quality compared to the more frequent spurts of diarrhea from auld adversaries and compatriots alike.

Guitarist/vocalist Rob Urbinati‘s dictation had taken on a rasping, kinda snarling affect beyond the first album and became part of their signature over time and while this kinda helps the comparisons to Sadus‘ slower groovier output it also adds some conviction and familiarity to ‘Volume Six‘ as an album with plenty to say about the disturbing reality of modern day life. In terms of riffcraft we’re not getting slippery ‘Darkness Descends‘ level rip so much as classic speed/thrash metal patternation, plenty of variation offered from song to song in terms of pace, and a few experimental bits (re: “Your Hunger for War”) that help further convey the dystopian vision intended. The short of it is that ‘Volume Six‘ is an album that doesn’t desperately try to pick it back up circa ’87, doesn’t try to make modern melodic/groove metal for da kidz, and appears in touch with what their fans would want and as it turns out they’re still great at being a classic thrash metal group as they mix it up with instrumental showcase, hardcore punk covers, and plenty enough riffs to keep the thread going for about forty minutes and still feel like a cohesive return. Back in 2006 I didn’t walk away from ‘The Ones I Condemn‘ thinking “Man, Sacrifice are still cool as shit.” but this time around I’m pretty happy with this record, they’ve given me enough reasons to return. Otherwise for what its worth I’d say this is one of the better drum sounds on a Sacrifice record to date and the album art is pretty damned slick too.

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After a trilogy of color-coded fifteen minute EPs and roughly ten years of development infamous side-project SCOUR have finally readied a debut full-length with ‘Gold‘ and… finding the talking points on this thing thus far has been a matter of pulling teeth. Not for the sake of being perplexed but rather staying on the subject of the music. Yep, I’m of a certain age where Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down, et al.) was the new breed of frontman in metal and can instantly appreciate that level of personae next to pretty well accomplished touring musicians/artists in this fold, including members integral to Misery Index, though I’m not sure anyone has sold me on the exact parameters of their craft just yet. That point where third gen deathgrind and ‘Panzer Division Marduk‘ meet doesn’t necessarily amount to the second coming of Zyklon-B (Norway) or Niden Div. 187 but the structure of this whole blackened grinding gig kinda lands in similarly compact, blasted territory. That comparison’ll be uproarious blasphemy to some of course but much like the primitive brutality found in underground second wave black/death metal ideation each of these songs only just does what it has to do to get to a sweet spot of the riff (or movement) and ducks out as soon as it lands, leaving the listener scorched by their exhaust but not scarred up.

Nothing weird, nothing broken, nothing all that wild is introduced that might help this material stand out beyond their previous EPs leaving us with a pretty damned straight forward record that meets the expectations set. Maybe it is because they’re all largely working musicians already, or that this album was recorded in impromptu situations as suggested, but there isn’t much that roots Scour‘s debut as counter cultural art versus an exercise, as in literally a physical challenge to push the envelope with some fast-ripping noise. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course, but set your expectations closer to arena sized blackened deathgrind and not fuckin Angelcorpse or whatever. Put ’em on a headlining tour with Goatwhore or something and the right crowd will show up for the groovier riffs and blackened intensity.

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North Carolina-based trio BRONCO is more-or-less a successor to stoner/sludge metal group Toke who’d disbanded in 2022 due to guitarist Tim Bryan suffering a traumatic brain injury, though we can consider their previous band a rough draft in most respects as we are confronted with ‘Bronco‘ which arrives about eight years beyond their previous band’s last LP. Introductions are sludgier, edgier than expected as a bluesy, ‘Dopethrone‘-era Electric Wizard bustle strikes up on the longer, more strained pieces that open this record but it isn’t long before they’ve gone heavy blues rock enough to please the average Church of Misery fan as much as a Grief or Weedeater head. I’m all about this style to start as malevolent lyrics, violence and menace seem to be their modus but the mid-album cover of “Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” is what I’d consider bad metal camp as they clobber through the elaborate structure of a classic song for the sake of giving a “dark” spin on a murder ballad. I get the idea but I’d prefer it stuck at the end of the LP to make it easier to skip on subsequent listens. Otherwise this album does a fine job of crossing the lines between heavy blues, “southern” rock grooves, and hairier sludge metal tones keeping it harsh and low but slinging it looser than expected, not fully giving into the bluntness expected of stoner/sludge aberrations.

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Vancouver, British Columbia-based trio RUINOUS POWER made their introductions per a split with another Sebastian Montesi-related project Iogsothep each bearing their own experimental hand upon black and death metal extremes. While their split mates were more of a cavernous affair Ruinous Power, which features Shawn Haché (Mitochondrion, Tithe, et al.) and drummer Brayden Turenne, seems to channel the hot lightning of death-thrash metal in their frantically kinetic, often surreally rippled pieces. The aesthetic/imagery here suits a sci-fi abstraction of black, death and thrashing metal in the way that a Warhammer 40k theme suits a Bolt Thrower record and especially as we begin to soak in the opener/opus “But What of Sacred Mars?” and its urgent tirades of non-linearly struck riffcraft. That opener sets the listener up for more than the record delivers, though, as from that point we get ~3-4 minute quick spazzing pieces which do well to cinch up the timeline and deliver a broad but densely lain array of strokes on the way through. I’d enjoyed the quick witted fidget riffs of “+++ Engine Kill +++” as much as the cacophonic tech-readied moshable grinds of “Cerebrum Malefice” when sidled together and there I’d suggest we get something nearby the level of the opener in terms of capturing all nodes of interest promised in one glom. There is a level of challenging precision and note choice created here which’d thrilled me just as much as the furious pace of it all though this quickly highlighted the brevity of the work, compacted as these ideas are (and as good as stamping closer “The Descent of the Host” is) it does feel like a third act is missing from the experience. If it were to treat this type of authorship as I would say, a sci-fi writer, this’d be a fine first book in that is brief and unnerving with a suggestion of where an elaborate series or a wild arc might go.

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Sci-fi themed Norwegian brutal technical death metal quintet CELESTIAL SCOURGE bring an all-around maximal offering here on their debut LP between the colorful tech-death apropos cover artwork and a sound which quickly defines its cranked-to-ten extremes and never reigns it in for a second beyond that point. The note I’d give to folks who’re allergic to the dry soullessness of tech death is that this stuff is, to me, entertaining on the level of late 2000’s sci-fi/tech death in that it is rooted in death metal (re: relation to Blood Red Throne) and not groove/deathcore and approaches with the riff in mind and not just the run or an overabundance of leads. I’d particularly loved “The Optic Chiasm”, if only for the sake of getting a sort of Spawn of Possession feeling from the kick in and that kinda translates to the best moments/pieces on this perfectly succinct debut. There are big grooves and bigger ambitions in hand as most of these folks are sporting at least one pandemic project beside a serious group or two (Ruun, Vorbid, etc.) otherwise but overall ‘Observers of the Inevitable’ feels like a brutal tech death album specifically for folks already going with the grain in their exploration of the sub-genre.

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Santiago, Chile-based extreme sludge/stoner doom metal trio OCULTUM surprise once again with a record which is simultaneously more approachable than their longform funereal take on stoner/doom found on past works but no less willing to lean into extremes. ‘Buena Muerte‘ is simple in its gestures but stylized in a ear-bending way, taking the familiar umpteenth generation of fuzz worshipping doom and giving it a pretty damned unique meter. The title track (“Buena Muerte”) is particularly of interest as its kind of jammed blackened rushes and low-set growled vocals create havoc rather then pulverization, leading to a punkish and wheeling type of torment I’d not gone in expecting. Otherwise we get more of a “normal”-assed moments out of the band this time around otherwise via songs like “Last Weed on Earth”, a not-so-quick anthem to some and stoner/doom by numbers for others. I was already a fan of their previous album and found this one heavy and filthy enough, easy to hang with even at my most impatient.

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Fife, Scotland-based solo ‘old school’ deathgrind project CAUSTIC PHLEGM comes from the guy behind Chestcrush and focuses more on the crossover between the ‘Reek of Putrefaction‘-level of lo-fi scum and it’s parity with the early Carnage/pre-Dismember side of death metal at least in terms of watery, puked vocals and a tin can snare hitting next to a slapped-down Boss HM-2 mugged guitar tone. While I appreciate the sound design here, scumming it and creating chaos between the vocals and the flatline of the (programmed) drum patternation here the artist doesn’t necessarily find the cleverness or the insanity of its main inspiration here. That said the use of off-putting synth and a few mean-assed riffs glues the full listen together well enough. I probably veer more on the side of grindcore’s exaggerations of this style beyond noisecore rather than the Carcass-esque obsession but I appreciate where this idea sits in this niche, which is rarely presented with so much (or, appropriately little) care and enthusiasm.

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