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Pantheon I – Worlds I Create (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Pantheon I – Worlds I Create (Candlelight Records)

More than just a step up from 2007’s formidable The Wanderer And His Shadow, Worlds I Create is a gigantic leap for Pantheon I, one that propels this Norwegian quintet into rarely-grazed pastures. It’s the brazen combination of melody and might, all done within the confines of modern black metal that makes Worlds I Create such a winner. To be thush, his thing just seethes and pulsates with rarefied energy of which we are treated to maybe three or four times a year.

Fronted and guided by former 1349 guitarist Andre Kvebek, Pantheon I use speed to its advantage throughout this 8-song platter, starting with “Myself Above All” which features the genius combo of hyper-black metal melodies and melancholic cellos. In fact, the use of the cello (courtesy of Live Christine) adds a new dimension of the spiritual black kind on Worlds I Create, as it’s often combined with a blast portion (see “Defile the Trinity” and “Written In Sand”) to eye-popping results.

The guitar tandem of Kvebek and John Espen lay out stellar, muscular BM riff after the next, culminating in album highlight “Ascending,” a swirling, ferocious concoction of latter-day Emperor, merged with some well-placed clean vocals. It’s easily the band’s best creation and lends to the notion that disparate elements like clean vocals or a cello can easily be integrated into Pantheon I’s sound.

Alongside the new Absu (which we’re still getting plenty of mileage out of),Worlds I Create has emerged as one of the upper-tier black metal releases of the year. There’s just a wealth of good ideas going on here, none of which seem forced. There’s just this foaming-at-the-mouth intensity to this album that appeals right off the bat. It’s in the riffs, the mournful melodies, the cellos…everything. Glorious.

www.myspace.com/pantheoni

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Delain – April Rain (Sensory/Roadrunner Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Delain – April Rain (Sensory/Roadrunner Records)

Quite the fuss around these Dutchmen (and woman), primarily because of Martjin Westerholt’s (ex Within Temptation) involvement and the fact singer Charlotte Wessels is another in a now very long line of beaming sirens to front a simarily-styled (read: Nightwish) metal band. April Rain does have some merit, though, as Westerholt flexes some serious songwriting muscle and Wessels turns in a admirable, if not rousing performance. How this will fall into the symphonic metal fray remains to be seen.

Lead single and title track “April Rain” is far and away the best song here. Buoyed by a sunshine-y (really, yes) verse and muscular guitars, “April Rain” is the type of single that always sucks people into symphonic metal; it’s almost too stickly-sweet to resist. “Invidia” follows suit, but since both of these jams are placed at the front of the album, there’s lots of time to be worn down and inevitably, it does happen.

When Delain stays within the more guitar/keyboard driven side of things, it all comes dangerously too close to Nightwish and ahem, early Within Temptation territory. Such is the case for “Stay Forever,” “Control the Storm” (Nightwish’s Marco Hieltala sings the chorus on this one) and “Go Away,” all of which fail to stir up any muster. It’s not that these songs are bad, they’re just a bit too familiar.

April Rain is one of those albums that would be better off to stay poppy. The title track is killer, so is “On the Other Side” and “Virtue and Vice,” all of which are bouncy, mildly saccharine numbers. For now, it appears Delain is enduring some very minor growing pains…nothing which a little chart success can’t iron out.

www.myspace.com/delainmusic

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

The Gathering – The West Pole (Season of Mist Records)

David E. Gehlke
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The Gathering – The West Pole (Season of Mist Records)

The majesty of Mandylion and Nighttime Birds seem so far off that The Gathering feels like a different band. Well, they are, obviously and that’s both with the departure of longtime singer Anneke van Giersbergen and their gradual move away from Goth metal in tow. Methinks that even with van Giersbergen, The West Pole will follow the same trajectory as 2003’s Home(read: not metal, not at all) and that’s necessarily a bad thing.

The first album with new singer Silje Wergeland (formerly of Octavia Seperati),The West Pole sees The Gathering continue to explore the shoe gaze and alt-rock terrain they started to fall in love with going back to 1999’s oft-overlookedHow To Measure A Planet. Outside of the all-instrumental opener “When Trust Becomes Sound,” there’s little muscle in the guitar department, yet this all comes together very nicely with Wergeland’s ethereal vocals, especially on “Treasure” (which sounds like the Cranberries, oddly enough) and the bouncy “All You Are.”

There’s a lot of restrain demonstrated here, not unlike recent Anathema where space and atmosphere is brandished heavily. Case in point, “The West Pole” and “No Bird Call,” the latter of which is sublimely charming tune that offsets the positive nature of most of the album. “Capital of Nowhere” is more akin to late 60’s pop rock than anything, while “You Promised Me A Symphony” and “Pale Traces” continue with the trend of alternating between the positive and upbeat to the mildly morose.

Getting one’s head around The West Pole is going to require some work. This thing is not as far removed from the bone-chilling excellence of the band’s mid-90’s period as one would initially think, but the dearth of distortion and guitars is going to make The Gathering circa 2009 a tougher sell than they should be. However, The West Pole is quite good. Not Nighttime Birds good, but a well-executed, occasionally mesmerizing effort that gets their post-Anneke era off to a good start.

www.gathering.nl

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Pelican – Ephemeral EP (Southern Lord Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Pelican – Ephemeral EP (Southern Lord Records)

A stop-gap EP before the next full-length (due sometime later this year or early 2010), Ephemeral is merely a snippet of what Pelican (far and away the best instrumental metal band of the last decade) can do. For those of us who know what the band are capable of, as in 2005’s earth-shattering The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, the prospect of new Pelican material is always an exciting one, so there’s no letdown here – just more mounds of anticipation piled on.

Buoyed by their recent hook-up with Southern Lord, the Chicago/Los Angeles-based quartet continue to drive home their sonically dense template of post-metal riffage with shoe gaze sensibilities on Ephemeral…all without vocals, naturally. Purely for the sake of reference, Ephemeral picks up where the band left off on 2007’s City of Echoes. There appears to be more of a reliance on straight-ahead, less sideways riffing on “Embedding the Moss,” while “Ephemeral” opens things up a bit more with loose, jangly riffs and a steady, driving beat. A cover of Earth’s “Geometry of Murder” (with Dylan Carson) rounds out this 3-song affair.

Hardly mandatory (that distinction would belong to the aforementioned The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw), Ephemeral is another winner in the band’s flawless catalog. They’ve yet to disappoint, so no major expectations for the next full-length, ok? Right, guys? Guys?

www.myspace.com/pelican

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Obituary – Darkest Day (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Obituary – Darkest Day (Candlelight Records)

Now three albums deep into their reformation (wow…already?), legendary Floridian death metallers Obituary have come through in the clutch yet again with Darkest Day. It’s more of the same, and since Obituary has made a career out of doing the same thing since 1989 (sans World Demise – which rules, by the way), they can get away with such maneuverings. It’s Obituary. Why tinker?

The second album without long-time lead guitarist Allen West, Darkest Daybenefits from the fluid, almost too-flashy-for-Obituary leadwork of Ralph Santolla (ex Death, Iced Earth). Santolla is given plenty of room in which to shred and does so right off the bat on “List of Dead,” where his unique scale runs adds a fresh dimension to the band’s sound. Elsewhere, Santolla is magnificent on “Fields of Pain” and “Outside My Head.”

Big riffs abound of the Celtic Frost variety on “Payback,” which could be Trevor Peres’ best riff-action since The End Complete. While the Slayer-esque opening of “Your Darkest Day,” rumbling rhythms of “This Life” and the wise inclusion of two songs from last year’s Left to Die EP (“Forces Realign” and “Left to Die”) only cement the notion that Darkest Day is another notch on Obituary’s headboard…or tombstone.

Outside of Cannibal Corpse, no Floridian death metal band has been as consistent and relevant. There’s lots of gas left in this tank…the possibilities for new, but not really new riffage must be coming out of the woodwork. Darkest Day most certainly has more variety and staying power than 2005’s Frozen In Time and 2007’s Xecutioner’s Return. Keep it coming, Obituary.

www.obituary.cc

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Glorior Belli – Meet Us At the Southern Sign (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Glorior Belli – Meet Us At the Southern Sign (Candlelight Records)

Anytime anyone deviates from the norm in black metal, you run the risk of it working or falling flat on its face. Black metal may forever be out of its fully-experimental phase that occurred earlier this decade, but we can take solace in knowing bands like France’s Glorior Belli are around to at least fuck with the template. With Meet Us At the Southern Sign, there’s a lot of off-putting rhythms, sideways melodies and the occasional nod to mid-90’s grunge. Yup – grunge.

Meet Us At the Southern Sign is the third full-length from the trio of Infestws, Alastor, and Morteaeus and it’s noticeable leap from 2007’s raw Manifesting the Raging Beast. Not to say Southern Sign isn’t raw in the traditional sense, but there’s this permeating uneasiness to the album, the sorta feeling one gets when listening to Shining or modern-day Mayhem.

It’s no surprise the band does trad BM quite well on “The Forbidden Words” and “Nox Illuminato Mea,” both of which utilize your basic BM elements (blasts, feisty tremolo picking, etc.), yet it’s starting to appear that particular approach is now out of Glorior Belli’s comfort zone. We’re turn to “Swamp That Shame,” which opens grand, spacious chords or “In Every-Grief Stricken Blues,” which is where we made the earlier nod to 90’s grunge. Actually, this tune reads more like a black metal “Planet Caravan,” if that could be fathomed.

Depth, depth, and more depth is probably the prevailing sentiment here. There’s lots to digest during this 11-song, 50-minute affair, but the bulk of these songs are palpable, but challenging, an odd counter-balance from one of the scene’s most unconventional bands. Meet Us At the Southern Sign is a total black metal darkhorse for 2009 if there ever was one. Get this.

www.myspace.com/gloriorbelli

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Suffocation – Blood Oath (Nuclear Blast Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Suffocation – Blood Oath (Nuclear Blast Records)

The age-old question: “How do you keep brutal death metal interesting over the course of 10 songs?” is a tricky one. It’s a bit maddening really; you take music so rhythmically pummeling and brutal for over the course of a half-hour and what do you have left? Granted, Suffocation – in their near-illustrious history – been able to answer the above question, just reference Effigy of the Forgotten, but on Blood Oath, it’s unfulfilled. Better yet,unanswered.

It’s not like there are no good ideas to be found – just look at the domineering riff assault of the opening title track or “Dismal Dream” – it’s tough, feral stuff. Classic, too. However, those two are stacked at the front of the album and to be frank, they feel like a composite of the rest the album. In fact, the band probably could have gotten away with a total re-arrangement of the tracklisting and the first two jams would still be the best – that’s just howBlood Oath feels.

Vocalist Frank Mullen is still one of the best in the biz (thanks for staying discernable and credible) and he’s often given the same confines in which to work with throughout the back half of the album. When does let ‘er rip and go for the jugular, like on “Images of Purgatory,” it’s like 1991 all over again. No sweatpants, though.

Come to think of it, there’s not a wealth of straight-up brutal death metal going around at the moment, save for Suffocation and the more obvious suspects like Cannibal Corpse. Death metal is more varied now than it ever was, which should prompt a bunch of veterans like Suffocation to at least try to deviate from the norm. Blood Oath is quality – no joke, but it’s not going to make anyone forget about Evisceration Plague.

www.myspace.com/suffocation

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Jungle Rot – What Horrors Await (Napalm Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Jungle Rot – What Horrors Await (Napalm Records)

For those of you who like your death metal devoid of cliché then the cover of Jungle Rot’s latest release, What Horrors Await is going to be immediately off-putting. Once you get beyond that though, there’s a wealth of old-school Obituary worship to be had. But it doesn’t simply stop there. Jungle Rot purposefully exist in their own right. Tracks like “Two Faced Disgrace” may well be built on the ruins of the past but they get under your skin . That song in particular moving seamlessly between, regular and half-time will stay in your head long after you’re finished listening to it.

Like Obituary before them, there’s plenty of groove in these songs, check out the revving intro to “Speak The Truth” which then turns into a pure heads down, foot on the speaker rocker, pelting out those sliding guitar riffs, drums adding some nice movement in the background. It’s not just the Tardy boys that come to mind either, there’s a little bit of mid-tempo Slayer on offer. The middle eight of “Worst Case Scenario” has plenty in common with “Dead Skin Mask” and there are bits of Chaos AD-era Sepultura on offer (see: “Two Faced Disgrace,” “The Unstoppable” ‘Nerve Gas Catastrophe”).

As someone who grew up listening to death metal in the 90’s you could do a hell of a lot worse than this. It’s got that familiar warmth to it, like slipping into a cut off denim jacket weighed down with patches, and with plenty of traditional, jabbing riffs in here what’s strange is just how catchy it is. Jungle Rot have managed to maintain their ability to write something memorable, yet retain heaviness, which has been their calling card so far in their career.

Yes there are plenty of slowed, half-time sections (“State Of War,” “Nerve Gas Catastrophe”) but they’re not blemished by having to pretend to be beatdowns, especially when they’re underscored by double-tap drums and heaving, swaying guitars. Plus, there’s plenty of heft in those guitars and vocalist/guitarist Dave Matrise has a fine set of lungs on him. It helps that the songs are all relatively short too, coming in like an air strike, doing the damage and getting the hell out.

So Jungle Rot may not have all the slick moves that the kids these days have but anyone over 25 who likes a bit of death metal is going to get a glorious kick out of this. It doesn’t break new ground for the genre in any sense, but it reaffirms what’s good and great about it – the energy, the riffs and to a certain extent, the fun of it all. Keep on rotting.

www.myspace.com/junglerot

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Magrudergrind – Magrudergrind (Willowtip Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Magrudergrind – Magrudergrind (Willowtip Records)

Opening with a sustained burst of feedback and slowly building noise, Magrudergrind are back, ready to tear off faces with the aptly-titled “The Protocols Of Anti-Sound.” It’s both a statement of intent and reinforcement of their standing in the music spectrum. An intense, grinding force full of blast beats, dirty, slicing riffs and bitter, angry howls, Magrudergrind is the sound of discontent. Short, sharp and gloriously intense fans of Phobia, Pig Destroyer, Insect Warface and Apartment 213 will be sweating through their palms to get at this. Politically aware and pissed off like all good punk messages are delivered single-mindedly and quickly, with as many casualties as possible.

The vocals may be the focal point most of the time, but the drumming is really the star turn in this tornado, able to shift from groove-laden to hyper intense blasts without losing any of its power. The groove may be important, but it’s when Magrudergrind let go into full force, pulverising grind that it really grabs you, especially the thump of that snare being pounded, jagged guitar lines being strewn about like so many worthless company shares.

Other highlights in this quickly, passing shit-storm are the big bass riff during “Assimilated Pollutants,” “Fools Of Contradiction,” which has a great groove right at the start and “Bridge Burner.” In fact, that one is massive sounding, like a bulldozer rumbling around between Admiral Angry, Kylesa and early Mastodon. A slower, intense pulsing creation to what they usually unleash it sits perfectly as it’s got the heft of Godflesh and offers a break from the super fast brutality that’s come before hand and follows soon after. But it’s no respite.

Mixing things up, “Heavier Bombing” opens with a “99 Problems” Jay-Z like hip-hop beat and lazily delivered “gettin’ down with the grind, gettin’ down with the grind, Magrudergrind,” before shredding like a barbed wire explosion. Their use of samples is also excellent, driving home points otherwise missed in the fray, like the uncertainty of identity of “Cranial Media Parasite.” Elsewhere, “Excommunicated” has the intensity and power of Converge, “Rise And Fall Of Empires Past” a brief brick through your front window.

You may see kids at Bring Me The Horizon shows wearing Cannibal Corpse t-shirts and everyone and their kid sister seems to be filling their Deathcore with blast beats and piggy growls but play this for them and they’ll be leaving in tears. There’s no time to be fashionable with these guys – they’d cut your fringe off and shove it up into your guts. Brilliantly uncompromising and thoroughly unrepentant while the rest of the world is wallowing in depression or trying to look for some light at the end of the tunnel, these guys are laying it out straight and telling it as it is.

www.myspace.com/magrudergrind

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

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