Page 97 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
P. 97
ALBUM REVIEWS
instrumental outfit’s third write them off completely,
offering feels much closer whilst As Above So Below
to ‘cinematic’. Using post- is instantly memorable,
metal’s characteristic ‘dark even if it does recall Lamb
days with a dash of hope’ Of God’s Redneck a little
template, Burn Embrace too closely for comfort.
shimmers with semi-sad This far into their career,
tremolos and is careful it would have made for
TAR not to go too ‘funeral’ with a better album if Tenside
As If We Were Never Here its sludgy tones. By paying had trusted their instincts
SELF-RELEASED attention to the more and deviated with more
Swedish black-death crew undergo delicate moments of their determination.
a creative rebirth repertoire, Telepathy have QQQQQQQQQQ
This Swedish quintet have achieved just the right FOR FANS OF: Hatebreed,
prior form as Eldrimner, balance of earth and air. Heart Of A Coward,
who existed for 13 years They’re not without their Killswitch Engage Oranssi Pazuzu take another
ride on the astral plane
without leaving much of Pallbearer comparisons, REMFRY DEDMAN
a dent. The new name such as on the rising and
has been accompanied by falling mechanics of ORANSSI PAZUZU
a sonic tidy-up, with the Aonaran, however, the
sharp edges polished to atmosphere that effuses Mestarin Kynsi
a battle-ready gleam and from their tumbling sludge NUCLEAR BLAST
the thornier black metal riffs, reverb-drenched Finland’s cosmic black metal overlords refine their
elements trimmed so far high notes, the considerate warp drive
back that things have use of tempo, and the
started to itch. As If We glistening production BUILDING ON THE
Were Never Here suggests courtesy of Jaime Gomez THANATOS strengths of three
the transition has been Arellano results in Violent Death Rituals progressively wilder albums,
seamless; the djentish riffs immersive and evocative LISTENABLE 2016 saw the Finnish five-
are delivered at a bounding, post-metal. Dutch death godfathers bring fresh piece notch a new high
borderline thrash pace and QQQQQQQQQQ horrors from the Netherworlds with Värähtelijä, a mind-
the clearly enunciated rasps FOR FANS OF: Pallbearer, Quite possibly the warping excursion through
jostle confidently alongside Bossk, Pelican Netherlands’ first death the tattered fringes of
clean melodies and trickles HOLLY WRIGHT metal band, Thanatos psychedelic black metal.
of quicksilver guitar. Truth deserve to be European These shamanic Finns
be told, the metamorphosis extreme metal royalty up inhabit a world where the most extreme strains of
has left them in a rather there with the rabid likes of modern metal splash violently alongside krautrock,
safe place musically, but Kreator and Hellhammer. acid house and even jazz. You could be forgiven for
that’s not to say that this Alas, fortune has not smiled wondering what more their new album could possibly
new chapter doesn’t hold on them over the past 36 add to the mix? The answer is: nothing. In fact, Mestarin
promise – just look to the years, but as their seventh Kynsi sees the band moving in the opposite direction
intertwining vocals of record shows, there’s still – pulling back the dizzying scale of their assault for
Glömd and Homo Sapiens or plenty of opportunity for a feverish, 51-minute headtrip that unleashes a blinding
the chiming post-rock of TENSIDE the band to claw their way psychedelic maelstrom that lacks neither the ambition
The Garden Beneath for proof. Glamour & Gloom to glory yet. From the nor the intensity of its predecessors.
QQQQQQQQQQ IVORYTOWER /EDEL imperiousness of The Silent Repetition is the backbone of psychedelic music;
FOR FANS OF: Lamb Of Long-running Germans still War to the stalk-and-maul rhythmic or melodic patterns repeat over and over as
God, Skyharbor, Tesseract hitched to the metalcore wagon approach of Corporate new elements are gradually introduced. In this way,
ALEX DELLER Having just got off the road Indoctrination, Violent Death opener Ilmestys begins with a slow and unwinding
with Killswitch Engage, Rituals is 45 minutes of progression of two jangly guitar notes, bent to the point
German quartet Tenside are glorious extreme metal of dissonance. The motif builds and repeats until, at the
in a great position to release mastery, at its very best five-minute mark, a blasphemous siege of howls, power
this, their seventh full- when the band strike a chords, cymbals and drums erupts and drives the song
length record. Frontman balance between the unholy to its breathtaking end. Kuulen Ääniä Maan Alta is a wild,
Daniel Kuhlemann’s trinity that forms the core driving surge of electronica, gradually pulsating into
assertion that “We don’t of their sound – thrashy a neck-snapping gauntlet of extremity before ceding to
want to be metalcore” death metal with a pinch of a droney haze of chilly atmospherics.
doesn’t entirely ring true first-wave black metal. At There’s an undeniable stripped-down quality to these
TELEPATHY throughout Glamour & this point, quite what else six tracks; you can hear it in a clearer separation of
Burn Embrace Gloom’s 11 tracks but the the band can do to earn instruments and dynamics. And it works exceedingly
SVART band do at least stray acclaim is a mystery, but well. Not for the faint-hearted, Mestarin Kynsi is
Instrumental post-metallers finally outside the constraints of rest assured, this record is a thoroughly intense and captivating departure from
poke their heads above the clouds that genre in fleeting everything you could hope this earthly realm. You might need a walk and a bit of
While Telepathy’s 2017 bursts. The moments when for from a coulda-woulda- sunshine when it’s over, if only to clear your head for
second album, Tempest, they do are when the album should-be legendary act. your inevitable return.
showed new signs of is at its most successful. The QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ
maturity after their Devil Within and lead single FOR FANS OF: Possessed, FOR FANS OF: Blut Aus Nord, Dark Buddha Rising,
disjointed debut, it still had Cannibals provide just Kreator, Kaoteon Deathspell Omega
room to grow. Now, the enough of a contrast to not RICH HOBSON JOE DALY
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