Page 90 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
P. 90
ALBUM REVIEWS
have clearly put a lot of time
and thought into building
around their impressive
riffage. The contorted
stop-start riffs of Black
Cloud indicate a progressive
impulse later explored
via the 10-minute epic
AZUSA Matryoshka Brain. Charlie
Loop Of Yesterdays Davis’s rasping vocals are
SOLID STATE a treat too, sounding
Dillinger and Extol members weave particularly unhinged on
new spells of jazz/tech wonder Anaesthete, where he sounds
After 2018’s unusual and like the demonic offspring
promising debut, Heavy Yoke, of The God Of Hellfire, aka
this one part ex-Dillinger Arthur Brown.
Escape Plan, two parts QQQQQQQQQQ
ex-Extol project returns. FOR FANS OF: Eyehategod,
Loop Of Yesterdays is again Charger, Iron Monkey
defined by vocalist Eleni JOSEPH STANNARD
Zafiriadou, who’s able to
spin on a sixpence between
wistful and ethereal and
guttural and scabrous
depending on the mood of
The Black Dahlia Murder
promise a rabbit-punch the music. The gorgeous
to the senses
title track carries shades of
THE BLACK they dip into the jazzy tech- BENIGHTED
Massive Attack, yet when
metal the members are so
DAHLIA MURDER skilled in, such as on the Obscene Repressed
Meshuggah-aping grind
SEASON OF MIST
Saint-Etienne’s most brutal let the
of Detach, Azusa can easily
violence flow
Verminous compete in the ferocity So remorselessly brutal that
stakes. Their breadth of
dynamics is already hugely
it’s frequently laugh-out-
METAL BLADE impressive. If they continue loud funny, Benighted’s
Michigan’s death metal mob hit a new, bloodstained high to evolve at this pace their visceral deathgrind formula
reach could be stratospheric. is virtually without peer.
IN THE 19 years since The Black Dahlia mind you; The Wereworm’s Feast is a slab QQQQQQQQQQ As with everything the
Murder’s formation, the Michigan crew of death metal so meaty it could feed FOR FANS OF: Gojira, Frenchmen have released,
have grown to become one of extreme a family of four for a month and The Oathbreaker, Myrkur Obscene Repressed brings the
metal’s most respected Leather Apron’s Scorn STEPHEN HILL hammer down at an insane
bands, bolstered by a back simply crushes with ease. pace, delivering jolting dose
catalogue so strong that It’s the final track, Dawn after dose of technically
any hint of a new album Of Rats, however, that precise but thrillingly
is welcomed with high resonates loudest, bringing knuckle-headed extremity.
anticipation. The success elements from the rest of The reason why the likes of
of 2017’s Nightbringers the album together into Brutus and The Starving Beast
pushed expectations even one neat, four-minute are so sonically injurious
higher, but this merely package that ranks among could simply be that
served to fuel the band’s the best songs the band Benighted are genuine
fire, because 10th album have ever written. BEGGAR psychopaths. It certainly
Verminous is even better If festival slots were Compelled To Repeat sounds like it, as they tear
than its predecessor. based on the consistency of releases, APF through something as
The opening title tracks sets out the The Black Dahlia Murder would have London-based sludge four-piece go stripped down and
album’s stall with a barrage of riffs, headlined Download moons ago. beyond the norm nails-hard as Smoke
blastbeats and savage vocals from the Verminous doesn’t just uphold their From opener Blood Moon it’s Through The Skull or the
near-infallible Trevor Strnad; it’s classic quality control; it represents a band who apparent that Beggar offer oppressive, staccato
Black Dahlia Murder and a welcome are still evolving, possibly yet to reach a little more than standard- blast-blizzard of Casual
punch to the senses. Where the album their creative zenith. If that’s the case, issue sludge. The track’s Piece Of Meat. An insane
really makes its mark, though, are the whatever comes next has the potential dramatic intro gives way to cover of Slipknot’s Get This
melodies and tempo changes, meaning to be nothing short of completely a swinging head-nodder of is a welcome treat, too.
songs like Sunless Empire and Removal mindblowing. Until then, this is still a riff as drummer Bertrand A bone-shattering kicking
Of The Oaken Stake morph into massive absolutely excellent. Sautier’s cymbals crash worth receiving.
anthems that are bound to get fists QQQQQQQQQQ maniacally and a brief QQQQQQQQQQ
pumping and bodies moving. This FOR FANS OF: Job For A Cowboy, pastoral moment FOR FANS OF: Aborted,
doesn’t mean there’s less of the Whitechapel, Decapitated materialises like an oasis Decapitated, Implore
aggression that made TBDM so revered, ELLIOT LEAVER amid armageddon. Beggar DOM LAWSON
90 METALHAMMER.COM
