Page 93 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
P. 93
ALBUM REVIEWS
a return to folkier, forest- keyboard textures. The SMALL MERCIES
dwelling climes after the singer-songwriter is
shift to heavy, electrified a woman of various artistic Where EP is short for ‘Epic Potential’
grooves and Doors-esque faces and voices, and you
psychedelia of 2016’s When will see and hear many of
We Are Death. Opener them in the meditative
Billion-Year-Old Being is part soliloquies of these seven
mellifluous folklore, part songs. Illusory may not be
FOOL’S GHOST lysergic freak-out. Lead an essential entry in the
Dark Woven Light single Demian is a lazy blues book of Jarboe, its intrinsic
PROSTHETIC ballad. The muted trumpet nature and autotelic
Mournful, spellbinding meditations of Bog Bodies is the sound of purpose of coming to CANDLEMASS DRIPBACK
for the restless of heart smoke-filled speakeasys. a greater understanding of The Pendulum Blessed With Less
Fool’s Ghost are a unique An Englishman willingly life make it a fascinating NAPALM Than Nothing
proposition: a married duo, lost in the Finnish experience, nevertheless. Two inessential LP outtakes, 4 FAMILY
rooted in different musical wilderness, singer/song- QQQQQQQQQQ a song Leif Edling wrote for Dripback aren’t deathcore,
styles, releasing a record writer Mat McNerney’s FOR FANS OF: Anna von Avatarium, two acoustic but no other tag fits quite
of melancholic quietude rarefied earthen tones Hausswolff, Swans, interludes and a brief bass so well. Their lightning-
on an extreme metal label. morph from whisper to Chelsea Wolfe solo; an underwhelming charged hardcore and
Guitarist Nick Thieneman’s tumult throughout the CHRISTINA WENIG EP from the Swedish doom crushing death metal paints
post-hardcore origins are record, proving spell- pioneers, evidently content the world as it should be.
worlds away from his wife binding on the harmonised to continue lazing in Irrepressible and without
Amber’s jazz background, séance that is closer Joy Of Sabbath’s long shadow. a turgid breakdown in sight.
but their debut departs Sacrifice. Running just shy of QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ
from both, proving heavier 40 minutes, Kindred isn’t CHRIS CHANTLER RICH HOBSON
in emotional intent than Hexvessel’s defining
in sheer musical heft. The statement, but it is a
album title is indicative wonderful place to hide;
of what’s at work within; a gateway to a solemn,
Epilogue’s mournful dreamlike realm that MASTER BOOT RECORD
organ and solitary notes offers refuge from the Floppy Disk Overdrive
reverberate around Amber’s vagaries of the everyday. METAL BLADE
rich soliloquy, and Golden QQQQQQQQQQ Italy’s synthwave savage fires up
is built around a sparse, FOR FANS OF: King Dude, the heavy artillery MALEVOLENCE RVDRA
pensive bassline. Like Wardruna, Darkher If synthwave has ever The Other Side KVRV! KVRV! KVRV!
many of the tracks, Touch’s TOM O’BOYLE struck you as not quite MLVLTD MUSIC WE DON’T GIVE A FUCK
yearning flourishes metal enough for your Short, sharp three-track Italian electronic trance
gradually. Paradoxically, liking, Master Boot Record EP from the Sheffield- producer B.R.K. channels
Dark Woven Light is haunting may be the entry point based metalcore bruisers. his inner goth with these
in its urgency. It’s you’ve been waiting for. The title track goes for four Middle Eastern-
a desperate whisper whose After a series of increasingly a commerciality that fans flavoured soundscapes and
exterior calm barely berserk underground might not be used to, which, ritualistic chants. Think
conceals interior turmoil. releases, this mysterious if received well, could be an The Cult dropping DMT
It’s a record for restless Italian has signed with a big interesting avenue for the with the Hu and scoring
nights, for those lying metal label and, possibly band to explore in future. a low-budget horror film.
awake in search of hope. JARBOE out of necessity, delivered QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQ Illusory an album that pointedly REMFRY DEDMAN JOE DALY
FOR FANS OF: Emma CONSOULING SOUNDS increases the metal
Ruth Rundle, Big Brave, Former Swans vocalist reveals quotient, resulting in
True Widow yet more sonic facets demented eruptions of
TOM O’BOYLE With a career spanning electronics and distortion
more than three decades that are craftily structured
and an endless number of like authentic metal songs.
releases, listening to one These are great songs,
of Jarboe’s albums is like too: more refined, more
reading a page of her diary. memorable and yet SUGAR HORSE WOLFPACK
On her 33rd solo effort, even more extreme than Drugs A.D.
the dreamy Illusory, the last year’s wilfully SELF-RELEASED BDHW
multi-faceted artist disorientating Internet Firm believers that slow Spitting on stereotypes and
explores the self and its Protocol EP. Exemplified by and steady wins the race, safe bets, these Parisians
HEXVESSEL perception through the eight-minute, digital this Bristol doomgaze continue to see how far
Kindred Buddhist concepts. Being fever dream of EDIT.COM, quartet mark themselves brutal metalcore can bend.
SVART what you would call a ‘free Floppy Disk Overdrive is out as real thoroughbreds Ferocious yet unafraid to
Finland’s pagan folk-psych troupe spirit’, she once more lets the ultimate riff-driven, on their addictive new EP. tap into calm vocals, gritty
delve back into the wilderness
her mind and soul float chiptune beat ’em up. Featuring five corrosive melodies or industrial
Kindred is Hexvessel’s through transcendent QQQQQQQQQQ cuts, it’s a magnetic, influences, this approach
second album in less than spheres where space and FOR FANS OF: Gost, Igorrr, reputation-making release. pays off spectacularly.
a year, following on from time don’t matter, while The Algorithm QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ
2019’s All Tree. Both mark engulfed in reverb and eerie DOM LAWSON EDWIN MCFEE NIK YOUNG
METALHAMMER.COM 93
