• MASSIVE REVIEWING CAPACITY • is our latest short review column focusing on stray quality releases a few times a month, or, roughly every two weeks depending on the current month’s release schedule. In an attempt to be more conversational these are easygoing and casual thoughts for the most part, so relax and think for yourself as I attempt to find something, anything to say about multitudes of new releases relevant to my interests. — If you find a record 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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After ten years and now six full-length albums under wing Austin, Texas-based musician Nate Garrett sends his heavy rock inspired doom metal band SPIRIT ADRIFT into the great beyond. Having risen from stonier realms unto slick-as-fuck amalgam of heavy metal, 80’s doom and sludgy hard rock they’ve come back to Earth for a final album after two big ones for Century Media. ‘Infinite Illumination‘ is threaded with traditional doom metal beyond anything they’ve done since 2019’s ‘Divided by Darkness‘ as the Trouble-cribbed main riff from “You Will Never Hold the Key” suggests alongside its transition into late 80’s Candlemass styled movement in the second half. That song, alongside Side B kickoff “Buried in the Shadow of the Cross” (see also: “Where Once There Was an Ocean”), acts as sublime testimony to how effective Garrett can be translating directly from classic source (often 90’s looking back or looking forward) into his own dramatic ouevre. These are some of the best songs from the band for my taste… at least when standing outside the wall-to-wall brilliancies of ‘Curse of Conception‘ (2017). The only song here which doesn’t land for my own taste is the bopping mosh riff pumped “Born in a Bad Way”, sounding like a generic fest band trying to get normies to shake ass. Going out with some of the very best material from the project is an admirable feat, definitely a bittersweet yet respectable exit. If you lost track of the band beyond their earlier duo of 20 Buck Spin releases this one’ll feel like a natural keystone atop ’em both.

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Off-putting as the bizarro children’s show meets post-rock narrative (“One Man Wall of Death”) which kicks off ‘Sceaduhelm‘ is this latest collaborative album from endtime balladeers CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX persists with the dark post-rock inspired gloom they’ve long been known for. The unnerving tone of the record drains on as its gothy post-metal rumblings are given to catchier yet dissociative pieces such as the sweetly set “Ravenettes” feat. vocals from Belinda Kordic or the increasingly despondent “Things Start Falling Apart” feat. the underrated Justin Storms on vocals. If you’ve been a fan of the post-2020 era of the band, especially ‘The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature & Horrific Honorifics Number Two(2)’, you’ll appreciate that Storms, Kordic and Ryan Patterson (Fotocrime) are the chief vocalists deployed here despite the focus here being outwardly different in some respects. Heavy use of film/tv samples, eerie synth and such fill the void otherwise yielding an experience which is tonally consistent yet a mash-up of many vectors which loses a bit of its steam in the sleepier second half of its ~66 minute run. Themes of psychic exhaustion, cruelty and the sinister aspects of nostalgia are delivered in layers rich enough to warrant sitting down with the lyrics and hunting for context though I have to admit I’d walked away appreciating the themes conveyed more than the listening experience.

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ATLANTIC RIDGE is a side-project from G.E.F. (Thecodontion, et al.) and J.G.P. (Bedsore) combining extreme doom metal and atmospheric/post-black metal ideas which the duo have been working on since roughly 2019. The general concept of the band and this self-titled debut album, ‘Atlantic Ridge‘, revolves around exploration of unknown reaches where their imagination has been stoked by unique geologic features typically named/referenced in their song titles. The style of the band is uniquely cast between the rumbling, doomed step of The Ruins of Beverast and the post-metal affect of bands like Altar of Plagues which is made all the more interesting via frequent transition into funeral doom metal. The programmed drums are a bit flat and the overall render is muddy but this lends the whole experience a satisfyingly obscure, affected tonality which only helps extend their majestic deep underwater station. The ~13 minute closer is probably the piece to sell the whole idea but this one is best enjoyed in one continuous listen per is intentionally immersive design.

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Providence, Rhode Island-based trio ETERNAL KHAN return for a third full-length album a full decade beyond the last concocting a louder, more directly shot effort this time around. For ‘Bellum et Mortem‘ they’re once again repping a style of shouted-out thrashing black/doom metal which exists in similar realm with Celtic Frost inspired groups of yore. Their work here touches upon brutish heavy metal command and/or unhinged warrior sludge depending on the piece but generally features black metal inspired guitar work throughout. Though I appreciate the cranked-to-ten approach overall the vocals here are less than dynamic in delivery and this takes away from points of slower tempo movement (re: “Remember You Are Mortal”) in particular, occasionally trampling upon the sombre and heroic striding of their black metal riffcraft. To be fair “Hypnos” pulls back a bit later on so they can ease their barking when called for but this one is a barker in any case. “Far From This Dismal Shore” is probably my favorite piece here with regard for their black metal-sided features though I’d enjoyed the Dayglo Abortions-esque sneer of closer “Shaken Baby Death Rattle” just as much.

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Florence, Italy-based trio NECROMORBID aren’t just another bestial war metal whatever band but rather a thunderous, well-curated black/death metal troupe with a wild-yet-dramatic atmospheric touch to their craft. ‘Ceremonial Demonslaught‘ is their third LP in the span of ten years and despite looking like the usual whip-fest it reeks of adept conjure rather than harried slop. Opener “Perverted Abhorrence Domain” is the piece to make this argument up front but “Evil Angelic Might” (“Inverse Cruxifixation” also) more clearly illustrates their frequent treading into “atmospheric” death metal tribulation and how this lends grotesque tension to their work. It also highlights the production values which are unusually precise, especially the bass guitar tone’s ever present representation, which enforce constant interest rather than chaotic scrambling about. While I don’t know that they’ve brought an all new sound to bestial death metal this record has such a hot-shit, nails heavy sound I’d found myself returning to it way more than expected.

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This third full-length album from Norwegian heavy rock trio DRAKEN dives deeper into the prog-psych tipped verve of past releases while leaning into heavier stoner metal grooves overall. ‘Here Be Draken‘ generally kept me guessing from song to song as it’d kicked off where the Sabbath-grooved, bass heavy edge of opener “The Great Deceiver” lead to the danceable but shouted snappy groove of “Jólablót” in a matter of moments. The expected third LP for these guys might’ve been something more typically progressive rock inspired, as that’d definitely been their DNA in the past, but here they’re leaning into heavier straits, harder shouts and weirder cadence (“Crimson Sun”) to far greater interest on my part. Side B has the most fun here: “Wrath” has a sort of King Gizzard-does-thrash sort of deal, “Of Demise and Men” sounds like circa ’97 Entombed for a minute, and “Shit Show” slings unlike any other song on deck. The effect is myriad but entertaining, a harder record to jive with compared to the previous two but also a more interesting and personalized affair for that reason.

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Montreal, Québec-based doom n’ bass (sludge metal) trio SEUM‘ve lost none of their bounding, neck whipping and bluesy trudge on this third full-length album, ‘Parking Life‘, but this time around they’re slinging clean vocals beyond their usual razor-throated snarl. This opens many doors for their sound while holding onto their punkish, self-built rough edges. Some of these doorways lead to absurd places and others to righteous existential dread as the band’s sense of humor extends all the way to a horrifying cover of “Always On My Mind”. The gang shouts and such on opener/title track “Parking Life” emit promise right away if you’re into the very real connection between early sludge metal and deranged hardcore punk, “Right Swipe Blues” sounds like it could’ve been on the third CKY album as they hit its main harmony, and “Labrador” has a kinda early stoner metal yawl with its clean vocals/backing harmonies inserted. Not every vocal inflection hits but generally speaking the wall-to-wall hiss of the band being subverted only boosts their ‘ready apparent charisma levels.

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New Zealand-based black metal duo VAEOVON emerge from the darkness red-handed as their bloodier, scurrilous take on blackened death metal arrives fully formed and formidable per this intense debut full-length album. ‘Spiritual Nullification‘ isn’t solely zoned into brutality and doesn’t quite angle itself alongside bestial death or war metal despite carrying that inherent foundation, instead abstracting that intensity into frequent sidebar which allows for ranting and ripping tangent (see: “Plague Reverence”) ad infinitum. What that translates to in plain English is a lot of riffs, a thousand cuts across the face delivered within each of these pieces. The extreme level of right arm stamina expressed here is impressive especially via songs which do not vary at all in tempo (“Death Proclamation”) and burn through four or five minutes of uninterrupted whirring. Their gig isn’t just pure aggression, though, as you’ll find interludium and atmospheric black/death epic (“Shadow Dissolution”) stance in their ouevre which ensure movement even if some techniques do become strained by the endpoint. The whole deal is impressively mayhemic in its needling action yet precise in performance and construction, a wild and rare feat for their lane which radiates with terrifying violence throughout.

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