Written by: The Administrator
About, oh, 18 hours ago, the mere concept of Doom Ska had simply never entered my mind. Presently, the possibilities presented by the mere existence of the genre conglomerate in question have me pretty damn excited. This change is due solely to a single song from Cartoon Head–a track that sits confidently under the two minute mark, and notably enlists the service of brass hype to accentuate the churning see-saw riffage and bombastic vocal delivery. "Worse!" is, for sake of brevity, a ridiculously fun track. This thing rips. It has me pumped up and ready to flail my arms and legs in some gross attempt at dance. I wanna learn the lyrics so I can shout along. Why is it so short. I crave more. The guitar is nearly nauseating in a highly kinetic fashion–it pulls and pushes, instantly leaving the listener feeling a little ragdolled. The jubilant horns, while initially surprisingly, are significantly less overbearing than you might imagine, and ultimately fit very comfortably alongside the clanging guitar. They add a delightful emphasis to the track's carnivalesque mood and sense of bouncy momentum. I mean, shit. I was really taken off guard by this track in the best of ways. In a world of music that often feels referential and derivative–which, I hasten to add, is seldom a bad quality–Cartoon Head has put forth something that feels remarkably fresh. Maybe that's coming from a place of unfamiliarity, but from my perspective, “Worse!” feels uniquely original. Give it a well-deserved listen here! Cartoon Head - Worse! was released Nov. 25th via HVNG MVN RECORDS
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Written by: The Administrator
Do you enjoy jarring music? If so, yer in luck: Hymn, today's band/self-reported "aging idiots" in question, are the absolute living embodiment. This release is a clanging and boisterous romp, a chaotic and jolting free fall through a gallery of outwardly weird punk, acidic skramz, and a homegrown variety of post-hardcore that perches on the experimental edge. Over a seven track stretch, Hymn demonstrate an eclectic menace and intensity, presented in a lo-fi rough-n-ready form that feels designed for the frantic mess of a cramped live environment. I’m reminded fondly of drunken and impromptu 3AM noise rock shows that plagued my college years. Very few things have managed to capture that particular brand of sonic, social, and emotion disorientation. 
Written by: The Administrator
We slumbering townsfolk seldom find consensus when it comes to the world of music appreciation and unsolicited commentary, but we do enjoy some common ground from time to time. One such instance of is the inevitable positive reaction upon the release of new music from Pittsburgh's Úzkost. They've been dropping a string of consistently excellent and hard-hitting tunes over the past few years, with a clear plan to continue releasing singles across the coming year. Self-described as "blackened and doomed death metal," this crew demonstrates a real knack for relentlessly disorienting (albeit engaging) songwriting. I absolutely loved the standalone "Mt'hr" released a month ago for its unique ability to balance undiluted and unhinged rage alongside highly memorable hooks. Needless to say, the announcement of another track following on the heels of "Mt'hr" was cause for much celebration 'round these parts. Enter "Arise: Assemble! Conjoin Your Flame!" 
Written by: The Administrator
Okay. In order to set the stage, please excuse some heavy self-plagerization. In discussing "Haunting Mantra," Fuzznaut's excellent standalone single from the long-ago year of 2020, I wrote that guitarist and composer Emilio Rizzo's work is "self-contained enough to provide certain boundaries, yet breathable enough to allow for a steadfast sense of relaxation, creating a lush environment without feeling overly complex or indulgent." On this latest project, the 26 minute Apophenia, Rizzo presents similar ideas in format that feels even more meditative, yet tinged with the emotional weight of seemingly omnipresent melancholy. Before we get too far into the fray: this is a strong album, a crystal-clear encapsulation of the trademark Fuzznaut approach and aesthetic. While your mileage will absolutely vary depending on your willingness to sink into the embrace of atmospheric instrumental music, I highly recommend trying Apophenia on for size. 
Written by: The Administrator
Let's get the obvious out of the way. If you're reading a review for a band called, erm, Chestcrush, and haven't yet mentally and physically prepared to have your sternum mercilessly shattered and ground down into the finest of bonemeal, you might want to swiftly backpedal into calmer waters. Two parts of this three-track monstrosity are perhaps the most belligerent and violent manifestations of the Chestcrush approach to date, which is saying something if you are familiar with their prior work. Indeed, Apechtheia is as crushingly malevolent as 2021’s stellar Vdelygmia. The aggression displayed is frankly pretty stunning. However, on this latest, the stakes feel grander and the violence at play feels more calculated, more sinister. The tracks are certainly longer, trading the comfort of familiar song structure for more expansive odysseys through grinding blackened death and, perhaps more uncomfortable, a viciously introspective brand of nihilism. Apechtheia is progressive in the sense that it truly feels like a deliberate progression beyond that which came before. It feels like a genuine maturation.  Written by: Blackie Skulless
Last year, the Italian traditional heavy metallers Konquest brought forth their debut album The Night Goes On. Channeling a pretty heavy amount of Iron Maiden worship, it was something decently strong, but nothing out of this world. When a young act that sticks to the basics closely hits the scene, it can go one of two ways. Either the band continues with that one trick and gets fine at best, or they take it a step further and make an identity for themselves. Time And Tyranny would see them doing the latter. So it should be obvious that the Iron Maiden influences are still worn on their sleeves, but with higher levels of originality. As a matter of fact, Konquest reflects the Paul Di’anno days more than anything, and that’s fully realized on this record. A far tighter production is added without overdoing it, the mix is at a point that literally everything can be showcased for proper digestion, and the energy is impactful even on the slower numbers. This is all pretty fantastic at its base, but if that were the only step forward, we could just about end things here with a “this is pretty damn good” and little else to say. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Since the band’s black metal inception, Worm have slowly moved away from that raw and punishing sound towards something far more layered, swiftly becoming a doom/death icon. Last year’s Foreverglade (review here!) saw a complete realization of this, cleaning up all of the loose ends that Gloomlord beheld. The early black metal influence certainly still peaked its head, but each subsequent record would see it become more and more of a background technique. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t present, just less obvious. And then Bluenothing happened. One year following the album that really sent them to a broader scope, Worm dropped an EP that takes the influence they mastered and brings forth more atmosphere and reflects more on the black metal. Fear not, as this is still packed with the bleak and empty voids of cleaner doom wails crossed with rhythms holding the force of a hydraulic press. But there’s a higher presence of keys to coincide with the higher guitar wails, and contrast the harsher death metal bottom. This year, in an attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we're trying something new and novel around these parts. Namely, we're gonna actually publish the little one-off reviews that were previously (and arbitrarily) deemed too short for publication. In that spirit, here's a mini-review of a swampy single worth checking out.  Written by: The Administrator There's a lot that I love about the intrinsic qualities of stoner doom, but perhaps my favorite aspect is the fairly constant relationship between quality and simplicity. More often than not, stoner music striving to complicate the formula loses me, whereas the tunes that stick to a core motif with a grimy dogged stoicism tend to win me over. Despite a catalog only boasting six tracks, Chatanooga's own Dope Skum fall soundly into the latter category. They know their strengths, they play to them. Their tracks aren't overly complex, and that's the damn point. This new single, "Folk Magic," is the first new music from the Appalachian trio since the release of their debut EP in 2020. While several of the tracks on that project felt slightly long, I quite liked Tanansi, and was excited to see something new from the Dope Skum camp hit the ol' inbox. And let me tell ye: if you're in the mood for some swampy fuzz, "Folk Magic" will hit the damn spot. This is a great track. Plain and simple. From a riffcraft perspective, the comparisons are honestly fairly endless, but in my mind, Dope Skum's approach particularly recalls the heft and organic appeal of Bongzilla. There's a tangible weight behind the bluesy central riff, a plodding-through-the-mire. An homage to a long Appalachian tradition of generational folk magic, the track itself has a very strong sense of place, pulling both from the grounded instrumentation and the atmospheric cicada-laden intro. The vocals, which are bellowed more than sung, stick to a single simple refrain of the track's title. It's a simple approach but, illustrating the aforementioned tenet, one that succeeds mightily. One does not need a hooky chorus when repeated howls of "Folk Magic!" serve, in and of themselves, as an earworm of significant proportion. I can only hope that "Folk Magic" serves as a harbinger of more great music from Dope Skum. Give it a listen and consider snagging it from bandcamp here! This year, in an attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we're trying something new and novel around these parts. Namely, we're gonna actually publish the little one-off reviews that were previously (and arbitrarily) deemed too short for publication. In that spirit, here's a mini-review of a single worth checking out.  Written by: The Administrator Watching the growth of Legendarium over the past few years has been a real treat. Each frequent release has been better than the last, which inevitably starts to raise the question: when does upward trajectory stop? When does a plateau in quality become apparent? Not yet, that's for damn sure. The forthcoming Death's Hand In Yours--this year's second full length LP from the band in question--demonstrates Legendarium at their best. It's a varied and confident continued foray into heavy metal. Death's Hand In Yours exists as a glorious homage to the tropes and motifs of the genre at large, and for that reason alone, it presents an absolutely delightful listening experience. But alas, I am not here today to review the album at large; that can wait. Today's praise is reserved for the mighty "Caelador, Destroyer," the latest advance single. This is a rollicking single if e'er there was, built on the spine of a churning riff and a bounding sense of momentum. The verses carry themselves with a jubilant kineticism that, for all its punkiness, reminds me of a more blatantly heavy evolution of Witch Cross. This bouncy energy is quite engaging, to say the least, and if you're able to crank this track without involuntarily bobbing your head or stomping your foot, I'm not entirely sure how to help. And, lest ye forget, no Legendarium track is complete without a ripping-yet-tasteful solo. Bottom line? It's a damn strong single. "Caelador, Destroyer" is the kind of no-nonsense heavy metal track that exists and thrives on the basis of its own component parts. No gimmicks required. If you're predisposed to enjoy new Legendarium material, you'll inevitably like this song. If you are unfamiliar, I can only hope that this serves as the portal for further enjoyment. Give "Caelador, Destroyer" a well-deserved listen below, and consider grabbing a copy of that sweet preorder of Death's Hand In Yours prior to release on December 9th. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
After actually waiting over a whole year to put out a new full-length, Haunt have come forward with album number six! Considering the rate, I have taught myself to enter new discs without any preconceived expectations, but I’m thrilled to report that Windows Of Your Heart brings forth a little more memorability. While 2021's Beautiful Distraction was still a solid disc, that was my main qualm outside of its title track. Stylistically I wouldn’t really call this one anything much different, but its execution is interesting enough. From the gate, you get a bit of a refreshed feeling from opener “Mercenaries.” The speed metal boost that’s brought forward breathes new energy, especially with the way it fills in the gaps with softer clean guitars. Similar energy exists on “No Control,” though I will admit that this one doesn’t utilize repetition as well as it could have. That isn’t utilized too heavily throughout the album as a whole, though. |
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