Testament (credit: Stephanie Cabral)
With metal festival season gone quiet Getintothis’ Nedim Hassan finds solace in startling new releases from BlackLab, Katatonia, Testament and others.
The metal festival casualties of the ongoing global pandemic are starting to pile up, with cancellations galore impacting upon the international scene.
The recent cancellation of Download festival, which was due to take place in June and has been pushed back an entire year until June 4th 2021, has been a bitter blow for the rock community.
In the face of adversity, rather than wallow in self-pity, it has been heartening to see Download making a significant contribution to supporting the NHS during this crisis by raising over £75,000 for NHS Charities Together. They have achieved this through the sales of an exclusive Download t-shirt, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the charity.
Although they are regularly assessing the situation, for the moment the organisers of Bloodstock Open Air have assured fans that this year’s festival will still go ahead.
Indeed, they have gone one further by lifting our spirits with their latest line-up announcement, which sees a debut appearance from one of Merseyside’s finest contemporary metal acts.
Our favourite black ‘n’ roll horror metal freaks, Video Nasties, have been confirmed for an appearance on the Sophie Lancaster stage on the Saturday.
Other recent additions to the line-up include the hotly tipped British metal act, Vexed, Finnish thrashers, Lost Society, groove-laden rockers, Wolf Jaw, and the majestically melancholic force that is Grave Lines.
With headliners Judas Priest, Behemoth and Devin Townsend already confirmed, we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that this is one event on the metal calendar that can go ahead safely.
These ones go up to eleven! Catch up on all our previous editions of Dysgeusia here
In the meantime, we have been seeking solace from a slew of stellar releases that have crossed our paths recently.
Before we get to the new albums that have received heavy rotation during lockdown, we could not fail to point out the rather splendid new single from Merseyside’s finest thrash metal act, Reaper.
Sigil was released on April Fool’s Day but we are certainly not joking when we say that it is a hugely impressive offering which boasts a powerful barrage of technical, melodic riffing. Here’s hoping there is more of the same from this talented outfit soon.
Titans of Creation
Testament: Titans of Creation
Nuclear Blast
These Bay Area thrash veterans continue to mine a rich vein with their thirteenth studio album.
Chuck Billy is arguably the best vocalist in thrash metal and he is on stupendous form from the onset of epic opener, Children of the Next Level to the simply massive sounding first single Night of the Witch.
Testament are a well-oiled machine propelled by drummer Alex Hoglan and lead guitarist Alex Skolnik who crafts mighty riffs and scintillating solos throughout.
Highlights come thick and fast but for our money it is Symptoms with its slower, more menacing riffing and more introspective theme that is the standout here.
Abyss
BlackLab: Abyss
New Heavy Sounds
Japanese duo BlackLab are back with the aptly named Abyss. This is an album that sucks you into a vortex of fuzz-drenched, reverberating, distorted riffs and never lets go.
Melding bludgeoning doom riffs with slowed down, bratty riot grrrl inspired hardcore punk, the album shifts from more immediate foot-tapping numbers like Fade and Melt, Weed Dream and Forked Road, to lumbering assaults like the epic closing track Sun.
For a record soaked in so much crushing distortion, it is still surprisingly melodic and progressive as it takes the listener on a journey they will want to return to again and again.
City Burials
Katatonia: City Burials
Peaceville
As soon as Anders Nyström’s searing guitars cut through the brooding keyboard soundscapes on opener, Heart Set To Divide, we quickly realise that Katatonia’s eleventh studio album is a different beast to its predecessor, 2016’s The Fall of Hearts.
The addition of new member and second guitarist, Roger Öjersson, has also coincided with what vocalist Jonas Renkse recently referred to as their 80s heavy metal influences seeping into their music. These are in full effect on second single, Behind The Blood, which features wailing, soaring guitar work that would not be out of place on a classic Judas Priest album.
Yet, this is still very much a Katatonia record, and the forays into cleaner, more virtuosic fretwork are merely one more element in a musical palette that enables them to evoke the darkly melancholic, progressive sound worlds that have become their forte.
Renkse’s sumptuously sombre vocals are embellished by keyboardist Frank Default’s trip-hop beats on Lacquer, while The Winter Of Our Passing sees some of their most bleak, dystopian lyrics yet being carried along by an aggressive, driving, electronic pulse.
City Burials is a mesmerising record and a triumphant return for a band that seem to be able to surpass their stratospheric standards for innovation with each release.
Anthrobscene
Deified: Anthrobscene
Self-released
This pivotal third release from St Helens groove metal merchants, Deified, raises the bar several notches without compromising their customary brutality.
Anthrobscene is an EP that sees the five piece maintain the ferocious brand of hook-laden groove metal that brought them to the attention of the wider UK metal scene, but also expand their sound into new terrain.
The sinister lead single, Dark Desires, with its exploration of the obsessions that can stem from immersion in social media, sets the scene for a record that interrogates the worst excesses of humanity within a digital world.
Broken Matrix boasts an infectious juddering riff, while Enemies Within tackles corporate abuse of power by combining sermon-like spoken words with white hot rage.
However, it is Blood Under The Bridge that provides the clearest signal of the band’s intentions to refine their sound. The pulsating track combines memorable soloing from guitarists Matt Pike and Alistair Blackhall with a judicious use of varied pacing to illustrate the band’s ability to display poise and frenzy in equal measure.
Hereafter
Tyrant: Hereafter
Shadow Kingdom
The term legendary is an over-used one in rock music, but in the case of California’s Tyrant, it is certainly apt. This outfit were first formed in 1978 and put out debut album Legions of the Dead as far back as 1985, before seemingly calling it a day in 1996.
However, after developing something of a cult following, the band have returned to live action in recent years and Hereafter is their first new album in more than two decades.
The latest release features a rejuvenated line-up that is boosted by none other than Rob Lowe from Solitude Aeternus. His voice enables the band to meld their NWOBHM sensibilities with an altogether more doom metal edge.
The result is a unashamedly old school sounding record that still manages to put to shame some of the younger pretenders on scorchers such as fist-pumping opener Dancing on Graves.
Highlights include the gritty and menacing Fire Burns, the galloping Pieces of Mine and the brooding, When the Sky Falls, which evokes Dio-era Sabbath at their finest.
Hopefully we have provided you with some welcome distractions during lockdown. Now, armed with this knowledge, it is time for you to turn your living rooms into mosh pits. Just don’t blame us if you end up breaking your best ornaments.
