“Abstracted have been a band since 2013, and their long-gestating debut record, 2022’s Atma Conflux, was an effective and varied slab of djenty progressive death metal, marred by tepid production and less-than-stellar clean vocals. More than anything, though, it showed potential as a record brimming with ideas that was so close to being great. With Hiraeth, can the Brazilian group finally unify their influences into something more than the sum of their parts?” Add and Abstract.
“Although my love for metal has its origins in the -core movement, it’s largely passed me by in the years since. New artists come and go, and the next thing I know, my favorite metalcore songs were all released in 2015 or earlier. Extortionist is also one of those bands I neglected, but when I first heard them, I immediately clocked it was not The Contortionist. With no prog in sight, Extortionist is known for their blend of deathcore, metalcore, and nu-metal, which has me running for the Tums right away.” Nice core you got there. Be a shame if something…happened to it.
“You could make the case that Vildhjarta’s third full-length is too late to be relevant. There are few that djent as hard as the Swedes, and their own influence exists in pockets of tone-abusing youngsters and diehard veterans who just keep releasing shit: Tesseract, Periphery, and Animals As Leaders, for example. I’ve always thought that Vildhjarta is the more curious Humanity’s Last Breath, utilizing a similarly crushingly heavy bone-to-dust djent tone, dark atmosphere, and vocal attack.” Djent into shape.
“It’s sexy when things you love collide with things you hate. My lust for mathcore is well-established – I go hard for that mind-numbing dyscalculic tinnitus any day – but if you put a slab of prog metal in front of me, I’m gonna go as flaccid as a gummy worm in a hot car faster than you can say “Wilderun.” That’s Benthos. The Italian collective slides a platter of progressive rock’s lush, ambivalent, and emotive movements alongside mathcore’s jagged edges and feral energy, and you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love and hate – and get hot and bothered by.” The fresh maker.
Look at that! We did double duty on the Filters, covering August and September. We really only cleaned them once but billed double. Don’t narc on us!
“Pleroma is a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions, composed like an odyssey. It showers listeners with haunting arpeggios, winding riffs, and chamber instruments, adorned with a crown of myriad vocal styles both harsh and soothing, male and female – a far-reaching and royally ambitious sum and completion of its divine components. For an act that saturates its assault with all the decadence and bombast of a metal opera, Orgone is deeply entrenched in subtlety and restraint.” Night at the Death Opera.
“Following the uniquely progressive death(ish) trend of increasing Hippietude, Exist has slowly morphed over the years from a spacey, Meshuggah-ish prog act in the vein of Intrinsic-era The Contortionist to a Pink Floyd-ian tricky-rhythm rock, primarily, outfit.” Evolve, mutate, Exist.
“Dolph does Focus, who could have seen that coming? Certainly not a ramshackle group of kids in Florida who drank death metal in the wild and jazz fusion in the heat of endless study and rehearsal.” We said FOCUS!
“The Zenith Passage’s debut effort Solipsist crackled with a flame stoked by the identity that The Faceless set ablaze with dry and percussive pick spittings, alien-warble soloing, and sneakily grooving rhythm, but it wasn’t all so cut from the same cloth. Main mind McKinney even then seemed to have thoughts a touch more mechanical firing in his brain chamber.” Man vs. machine.
“Pupil Slicer really shook things up in 2021. While undeniably a slab of Converge-meets-Dillinger core with a nice dose of Botch, the trio’s debut Mirrors was a tour-de-force of grindy intensity, a neat balance between heart and callousness, and a marvel of songwriting. Songs like “Husk,” “Collective Unconscious,” and “Wounds Upon My Skin” still get regular plays in the Hollow household, with mad mastermind Kate Davies’ frantic vocals, insane axework, and boundary-pushing ideas taking center stage.” Eye on the prize.
