Page 99 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
P. 99
ALBUM REVIEWS
will pique interest before and drone. Across these five Testament: thrash
Obsidian’s polished tracks the duo distinguish metal’s dream team
production and just enough themselves as masters of
rust left on the blade will noise but also space and
retain it. The five-piece silence, for example the
seamlessly combine the manner in which Danser
technicality of modern Dans Le Champ Des Battements
death with addictive hooks Du Temps emerges gradually
VILLAGERS OF without compromising on from nothingness like some
IOANNINA CITY ferocity. Straight out of the eldritch horror slurping its
Age Of Aquarius blocks, Delilah obliterates way through the void.
NAPALM the senses via a devastating QQQQQQQQQQ
Unsung Greek folk heroes rightly combo of atmospheric FOR FANS OF: Triptykon,
promoted to the spotlight synths and chugging riffs Godspeed You! Black
While Rotting Christ have before slam-heavy Emperor, King Crimson
introduced Greek folk Immersed In Ire boots you JOSEPH STANNARD
instruments of late, in the teeth amongst
Villagers Of Ioannina City a demented flurry of pig
do so with a more refined, squeals. Elsewhere the title TESTAMENT
smouldering approach. track’s blastbeat-packing
The opening title track intensity is balanced by Titans Of Creation
perfectly balances affecting Jamie’s searing vocal NUCLEAR BLAST
guitars with melodies introspection and some Uncle Chuck’s wrecking crew return to conquer
from a traditional wind thrilling twin-lead guitar
instrument, the kaval. It’s work. Viscera could become
a potent mix of modern the jewel in the Unique WVRM SINCE ROARING BACK
rock structure with ancient Leader crown. Colony Collapse into action with 2008’s The
melancholy that stirs the QQQQQQQQQQ PROSTHETIC Formation Of Damnation,
soul, as bagpipes herald FOR FANS OF: Sylosis, South Carolina death-grinders just Testament have been on
the primal celebration of The Black Dahlia Murder, want to watch the world burn great form. Always a little
Dance Of Night before Brand Of Sacrifice On their third full-length, smarter than the average
building into a thunderous SOPHIE MAUGHAN WVRM have chiselled their thrash band, the Bay Area
crescendo. The angular, modern take on grindcore legends have long bridged
swirling thrum of Part V into an even leaner and the divide between old-
alongside Alex’s soaring more visceral beast, school attitude and state-of-
vocals are a particular blasting away with an the-art sonic brutality, but they’ve never sounded more
highpoint of this re-release, almost clinical intensity. ferocious than they do on Titans Of Creation. With the
while the Southern swing There’s a strong hardcore dream team line-up of classic-era members Chuck Billy,
of Millennium Blues and the influence here too, with the Eric Petersen and Alex Skolnick and a simply peerless
driving post-punk of Cosmic album infested with the rhythm section of bassist Steve DiGiorgio and drummer
Soul and For The Innocent kind of hulking, propulsive Gene Hoglan, Testament enter a new decade sounding
finish proceedings with WUW breakdowns that seem absurdly confident and powerful.
a surprising change of pace. Rétablir L’Eternité custom designed to As epic opener Children Of The Next Level erupts, you
A hidden gem. PROSTHETIC generate circle-pits – may feel compelled to leap to your feet and start
QQQQQQQQQQ French band of brothers reconvene although, on tracks like applauding, so immaculate and thunderous is the band’s
FOR FANS OF: Wovenhand, for second avant assault devastating opener Walled newly re-tweaked sound. Diehard fans will be thrilled,
Klone, Emma Ruth Rundle French brothers Benjamin Slum City, these approach because these songs all boast plenty of the tics and
ADAM REES and Guillaume Colin the same kind of gleeful, tropes that defined Testament’s early classics, but there
present a second volume of knuckle-dragging brute is nothing old-fashioned about the ripping, groove-
adventurous doomscaping force as Mortician’s slower driven thrash of WWII or the melodic malevolence of
following 2018’s Rien Ne moments rather than your Dream Deceiver. Instead, these are meticulously crafted
Nous Sera Épargné and it’s typical hardcore breakdown. modern metal anthems, delivered with levels of muscle
even more monolithically Furious Movement//The and virtuosity that few younger bands can match and
awe-inspiring than its Burning Tower introduces fronted by one of metal’s most iconic vocalists.
predecessor. The presence a bit more of a noise rock, By the time you get to the vicious and morbid Night Of
of Yakuza/Corrections utilising a cacophony of The Witch, it’s a done deal; Testament have never sounded
House saxophonist Bruce pick slides to brilliantly heavier, nor more utterly committed to crushing
VISCERA Lamont is a fair indication disorientating effect, before everything in sight. And the highlights come thick and
Obsidian of where WuW exist on the title track drifts into fast; Ishtars Gate takes bullish catchiness of the band’s
UNIQUE LEADER the metal spectrum; the ultra-harsh Bastard Noise Practice What You Preach era and pumps it full of steroids
Jamie Graham finds a new vehicle brothers share an artsy territory. This is unsubtle, and mescaline; Symptoms is a haughty, mid-paced chug-
to churn up the landscape
heaviness with the no-nonsense deathgrind tsunami, with Chuck Billy in multi-voice versatility
Led by ex-Heart Of A aforementioned outfits, fury that will certainly mode. Testament may be veterans, but on Titans Of
Coward frontman Jamie their eschatological scratch your blastbeat itch. Creation they sound like a lean, hungry and acutely
Graham and featuring rumblings packaged in with QQQQQQQQQQ focused band of brothers, on a laudable mission to
ex- members of Abhorrent lessons learned from the FOR FANS OF: Full Of pulverise the world. Sign up or get flattened.
Decimation and Martyr worlds of contemporary Hell, Dead In The Dirt, QQQQQQQQQQ
Defiled, the credentials of composition (the brothers Rotten Sound FOR FANS OF: Megadeth, Death Angel, Sylosis
this emerging powerhouse are classically trained), jazz KEZ WHELAN DOM LAWSON
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