Page 91 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
P. 91
ALBUM REVIEWS
black metal and post- room to breathe. Cesspool
hardcore. Matteo Rizzardo’s Of The Vicious delivers on its
vocals are sung entirely in title with malicious riffs,
Italian, yet his viewpoint while the fiddly interplay
comes across succinctly in of Parasitic Degenerate and
deep guttural roars and Comatose Subservient also
screams that cut to the have nefarious atmospheres
core, and as such, this to match the necessary
CABAL international group (from raucous tick list. Betrayal
Drag Me Down Italy, the UK, Brazil and is another disgusting and
LONG BRANCH France) create music that visceral addition to the
Danish tech-brutalists make friends transcends language. The burgeoning brutal death
in high places emotion is felt keenly metal roster.
Cabal are one of Denmark’s through harsh wails and QQQQQQQQQQ
most promising new metal slicing guitars rather than FOR FANS OF: Disentomb,
bands. Their debut album, an understanding of what Ingested, Vulvodynia Bury Tomorrow prepare
Mark Of Rot, turned plenty is said. Opener Carne is ADAM REES for a new dawn
of heads from fans of driven by a filthy guitar line
techy-deathy-blackened while Serpe inserts classic BURY TOMORROW
noise, and the follow-up is, black metal riffing to deadly
well… more of the same, effect. The Eye Is The First Cannibal
really. That will doubtless Circle is a genuinely exciting MUSIC FOR NATIONS/SONY
be music to the ears of those record that deserves to South coast metalcore braves bring more melody
who like their metal as push Calligram to the to the mosh
meat’n’potato-based as foreground of the
possible, but the lack of blackened metal scene. BLACK FLAME WAS
innovation, new ideas and QQQQQQQQQQ JIM DAVIES always going to be a hard act
progression might not do FOR FANS OF: Downfall Headwars to follow for Southampton’s
much to tempt in the more Of Gaia, The Secret, Hexis EXTREME MUSIC metalcore brutes Bury
broadminded metal fan. CHERYL CARTER Former Prodigy/Pitchshifter Tomorrow. But where they
You can’t really knock Cabal guitarist re-enters the mainframe raised the bar for themselves
too much when songs like As guitarist for The Prodigy throughout that last blood-
Tongues would kick your and Pitchshifter, Jim Davies curdling record in 2018,
teeth all the way down your was an instrumental Cannibal sets it ablaze. Album
throat with ease, and having component in the number six goes straight for
Matt Heafy turn up on the hybridisation of rock fury the jugular from the off, arming the utterly visceral
far more epic-sounding with electronic beats in opener Choke with some of Adam Jackson’s best drum
Bitter Friend – by some the late 90s. Headwars is work. The Grey (VIXI)’s spiralling melodics prove even
stretch the most interesting a throwback to those times more emotionally evocative when preceded by the band’s
track here – is quite a coup. CORDYCEPS albeit given a punchy, 21st- ballsy title track – a neatly produced, defiant effort
But, that aside, Cabal aren’t Betrayal century production job charged by glittering clean vocals.
quite doing enough to stand UNIQUE LEADER and a widened influential While confrontational in all the right places, Bury
out from the crowd here. Las Vegas-based slammers look palette from which to glean Tomorrow’s 2020 incarnation makes a marked lean
QQQQQQQQQQ to spread the infection inspiration. Despite the further toward the melodic, exemplified by the heavenly
FOR FANS OF: Slaughter To Named after a parasitic instrument Davies is tones of Imposter that stand as a phenomenal show of
Prevail, Thy Art Is Murder, fungus that preys on most known for, there are James Cameron’s vocal range, Better Below’s smooth
Black Tongue
insects’ brains and turns a couple of tracks that have groove and Quake’s ability to swirl through contemplative
STEPHEN HILL them into zombie spore- a far stronger focus on downturns and harmonious melodies with ease. In
spreaders, Cordyceps’ pure electronica such as contrast, you can practically hear the circle-pits forming
brutal moniker takes a little Shadows and Game Of beneath The Agonist’s crushing riff that barges through,
bit of effort to understand Faces. Elsewhere Zombies, making way for Dani Winter-Bates’ barbed vocals, with
compared to their more a diatribe against the ills the frontman on blistering form from start to finish.
bluntly named peers. But of social media, evokes Meanwhile, the slickly produced, otherworldly Gods
their sinister mid-paced the sardonic attitude that & Machines makes a gorgeous contrast with the raw
slam is not so subtle, JS Clayden would pepper disarray of Voice & Truth that follows. Kristan Dawson’s
delivering all the necessary Pitchshifter records with. riffs throughout Cold Sleep are simply shattering,
guttural vocals, ugly drops It’s unclear whether setting the stage for a terrifically chaotic closer in
CALLIGRAM and frenzied drumming to younger folk weaned on Dark Infinite, causing carnage by recklessly chucking
The Eye Is The First Circle make this a debut of note. a diet of Code Orange blastbeats from all angles.
PROSTHETIC However, in comparison to or Bring Me The Horizon The sheer talent and artistic wisdom it takes to
International ragers set the black the more sludgy sound of will take to this, but those produce such a towering, jam-packed record nearly
metal/hardcore faultlines aflame
their contemporaries, the nostalgic for the British 15 years down the line proves why Bury Tomorrow are
Calligram have been setting crisp production here brings metal/electronic crossover still such a formidable force in the metalcore realm
the underground aflame the snare and cymbals of the late 90s would do today. Neatly balancing stunning melodies with
since their first EP, 2016’s to the fore, allowing the well to seek Headwars out. teeth-clenching brutality throughout, they’ve made
Demimonde, while laying the old-school riffs of the QQQQQQQQQQ show-stopping metalcore look easy once again.
foundations for this, their title track and blackened FOR FANS OF: 3Teeth, Fear QQQQQQQQQQ
debut full-length: a whip- breakdowns on Maelstrom Factory, Pitchshifter FOR FANS OF: WSS, In Hearts Wake, The Ghost Inside
smart amalgamation of Of Hypocrisy a little bit more REMFRY DEDMAN ALI COOPER
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