• SHRT REVWS • This condensed version of short(er) reviews focuses on releases arriving in the first half of May covering epic heavy/doom metal, technical death metal, black/death metal, funeral doom metal and more. // 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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Massachusetts-based duo HEXROT open this debut full-length album sounding like a 2010’s sludge metal group covering late 90’s Death with some manner of dissonant black metal technique serving their rhythmic abstraction, unfolding into various points of disarray and respite throughout a largely seamless listening experience. Rather than build death or black metal songs in proper structure most of these pieces are contortions, jammed out ideas in pieces which segment into movements that’re rarely given traditional feature. In this sense ‘Formless Ruin of Oblivion‘ should appeal to fans of underground progressive metal foremost in this current state. I’d particularly appreciated the springing-loose bass guitar tone as it’d both noodled through and braced each segment though the vocals and guitar work were hit-or-miss for my own taste as spectacle, though certain sections pinged the part of my brain that enjoys spastic improvisation be it noise rock skronk or jazz fusion tipped wrangling. While I’d enjoyed this record on the first couple of spins it isn’t the type of record I’m prone to cling to beyond first ascent, reading as an exercise of forms and experimentation that might read better in person performance. Otherwise I’d enjoyed the sound of this record, the production values and the treatment of the general layers, an organic feel and “real” space given to sometimes chaotic or hard to read movements feels like a luxury for a band this early in their development and presents a high standard they should uphold.

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Bristol, England-based duo HATEFUL ABANDON return over a decade beyond their last release with the surrealistic amalgam of ‘Threat‘, their fourth LP overall. Having been a mainstay on the eclectic Todestrieb Records roster via a darker take on post-punk/anarcho punk tinged industrial sounds these folks return to mine gloom-heavy “minimalism” which (to me) reeks of the dead industrial landscapes of the mid-to-late 80’s. The first couple of songs take a more direct stab at post-punk drainage, with the main confrontation on the album occurring within apocalyptic standout “Shithouse”, and from there the bulk of the full listen kinda backgrounds itself a bit but not in an in inappropriate sense. Naturally a lot of the nuance found here is lost to me as I’ve never gotten that deep into some of their major points of inspiration but I’d enjoyed my time with this record nonetheless as if feels like an obscure tape from the Vancouver scene of certain era here and there.

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After an extended hiatus beyond their third LP in 2018 Ontario, Canada-based atmospheric metal band FINNR’S CANE return for a self-titled opus and a finely representative release on this fourth album. ‘Finnr’s Cane‘ is remarkably shaped in that it features partial improvisational guidance while also making the dramatic choice to feature cello performances in the place of bass guitar, ensuring these post-rock flavored and atmospheric black metal braced movements are both emotionally driven and palpably dramatic in their slow-swerving task. I’d particularly enjoyed “Shadows” as a standout here via a few deeper rhythmic turns. Though their atmospheric ideal is yet akin to later-era Agalloch these pieces feel even more introverted, carrying a consistent ember through the whole of the experience. I’d enjoyed their 2018 release quite a bit upon full review but this feels like a new skin, an even more consistent and assured self which fans of earlier Fen, Lustre and maybe even certain Empyrium records should appreciate for its softer atmospheric post-rock float (re: “The Everwinter Grey”) and use of piano.

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Washington, D.C.-based stoner metal trio GREENHEAD describe their sound as “psychedelic stonercore” for the sake of some psychedelic doom/rock musing having found its way into a kinda hardcore barked sound (re: “Purple God”) earlier on. Over the course of a few singles, all of which find their latest versions here on the LP, they took those barks and leaned heavier into clean-sung and growled vocals instead ensuring ‘Subherbia‘ carries a sublime but kinda dark vibe through its near hourlong rub. These folks are (mostly) involved in deathcore/metalcore otherwise so you get some of their sense of groove via the rhythm section but the ~half hour title track/opener (“Subherbia”) which opens the album runs a wide-set gamut that’d recalled the late 90’s anything goes era of sludgecore weirdness, kind of like seeing Zao open for -(16)-. On one hand if they reigned it it might start to sound plain here, but on the other hand there are too many ideas obstructing the flow of the full listen. The result is entertaining enough, though, as unexpected sounds and surprisingly tuneful vocal moments carry the load. I particularly liked the sort of alt-metallic Sleep-esque break into “Indigo” to start and found the trade between crooning and roaring on the shorter “All-Seeing Eye” a memorable point to connect with up front. I could see ’em opening for an accessible band like Lo Pan just as well as a more psychedelic troupe like Elder.

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Bangladesh/Germany-based death metal band KHNVM centers around the ideation of vocalist, guitarist and bassist Obliterator (Nekrohowl) who’d impressed me with Immolation and Morbid Angel tinged sounds on his first two releases in 2019 and 2021 respectively. Though his focus hasn’t been purely ‘old school’ sounds for this project that is generally where ‘Cosmocrator‘ will pull the most interest in terms of fandom as these patient, fuming death metal songs (re: “Fetid Eden”) show some mastery of more deliberate currents. In terms of constructing a full album experience which flows naturally from side to side they’ve done a fine job curating a dynamic enough sense of movement through the whole deal yet the artist’s handle upon the riff falls into plain groove metal movements, sluggish chugged motions (re: title track “Cosmocrator”) which appear to reach for something like semi-melodic contemporary death metal yet very little of the actual rhythms stick in mind. There are a couple of songs on here that’re entirely solid, repeatable wrath (“Venom Spawn” esp.) but overall I’d found this album never fully dug into my brain with its action, lacking any bold character in the vocals beyond the status quo. While I wouldn’t say that Khnvm‘s work has produced diminishing returns just yet I find that each record loses some of its classicist specificity for the sake of expanding ouevre… and this’d only be worthwhile if the result was either more tuneful or striking/dramatic in its rhythms. Otherwise a very finely curated album, great album artwork and the lyrics are consistently above average.

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Whatever is in the water in Czechia it has done well to inspire maniac bands like Contrastic and incomparable prog-deathgrind duo !T.O.O.H.! unto (more) frequent action upon return. In this sense we could easily take a record like ‘Po ovoci poznáte je‘ (‘By Their Fruits You Will Know Them‘) for granted per its suffocating density, alien language, and use of clashing melodic frenzy which erupts throughout. Dual guitar harmonies, ‘In Somniphobia‘ era Sigh-like congestion of forms and an unadorned production value aiming to feature human-handed drumming all create mental indigestion to start. Those of us with prime fortitudes built within the wilding 2000’s era of the band should otherwise appreciate the scrambling layers which hum within as the skeleton of these obscene acts… something like FruityLoops-built cyber-tek synthgrinding on an absolute tear through weirding breakthrough moments, one after another. While I haven’t absorbed the meaning of this work in the slightest per its lyrics and such it is exactly the strange, joy-wrenching brutality I look for when I approach !T.O.O.H.! as a longtime fan. The longer and mania-extruding songs like “Tam, kam nikdo nechodi cili Pravda a laska z krovi” and moody power-metallic rise of “Pekarovic Markyta” stuck in mind longest but you’ll probably have to just take the whole thing at once and let it glom in mind as their sardonic symphony rattles on.

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