“It’s been a long five years since we’ve had an album from this Norwegian foursome. Which is probably a good thing, considering their last few releases haven’t been their best by a long shot. Basically, since 2011’s V, the band has struggled to retain their days-of-yore sound while trying to expand on it and deliver something fresh. Having left Season of Mist and returned to Indie Recordings, now is the time to drop something new and exciting.” Vreid and weep.
Ah, the pungent stench of autumnal Filters. Forget pumpkin spice and get you some Filter droppings from September!
“I came of age, musically and otherwise in the American Midwest in the 90s. Like so many of my adolescent male peers who lacked cultural outlets for our instinctive angst around blue collar upbringings, I latched on to the exploding scene of hardcore and early metalcore. For the better part of a decade, I mainlined releases from record labels like Victory, Revelation, SolidState, et al, but by around 2002, the prevalence of screamo and my own shifting tastes pushed me down other musical paths. Small wonder, then, that I was unfamiliar with Norwegian metalcore purveyors Purified in Blood when I selected—with trepidation, given the metalcore tag—their new record Primal Pulse Thunder from the promo sump.” A boy’s coming of rage.
“Vredehammer’s sophomore album, Violator, was released almost 8 years ago. The deadly blackened death record made it onto my very first top 10 list for AMG on account of the electrifying energy and excellent hooks. Successor Viperous slithered into my HM’s, and I may have underrated it at that. It increased the density of sound and used synths for a slick, neon battering ram. So when Steel waved the gorgeous-looking new promo over the writer’s pit, I leapt for it so fast and violently, three Melvins are still in intensive care. Is Vredehammer going three for three on my end-year list?” Re-arming the Hammers.
“On the surface, the perceived lethargy of stoner metal doesn’t seem like a natural match for the reckless energy of punk. But the two genres have been roommates since college and still bunk together regularly. The soundtracks of Jackass and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater mixed them up freely, and bands like Clutch and Fu Manchu have plenty of popularity on both sides of the fence. When I saw Rise Against in March of 2011, they brought Coliseum, who fused stoner, hardcore, and punk into one. So I wasn’t particularly surprised at Bokassa’s self-appointed genre of stoner punk. I was more surprised, and apprehensive, at Lars Ulrich of all people giving them the seal of approval.” Big friends, dumb punks, and stones.
Alright, you sodden louts, ready thine ears because this here album will need to enter forthwith. We usually save that sort of statement for the second paragraph, using the first to build tension with a nice gentle lead-up, but if you want one of those, tough shit. This is your lead-up. Gapen your hearing holes and get ready to absorb one of the flat-out coolest albums of the year, coming from the Stockholm underground to deliver a baseball bat, wrapped in barbed wire and dipped in ayahuasca, straight to the trachea. VAK has arrived.” VAK Daddy.
![Gloson – The Rift [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](jpg/a3076198733_10-768x768.jpg)
“Most sludge is boring. Repeating chords for an hour doesn’t make you ISIS, just like playing a 16-string guitar at 65,536 bpm doesn’t make you Archspire. Excellent post-metal requires even more self-control than other genres, since it needs to be repetitive but not dull, simple but not lazy, and creative but not flashy. Enter Gloson.” High glos.
“For those of you posers that don’t know, Kampfar is untouchable in the pagan/black metal realm. And they’ve been ruling it with a bloody battle axe for almost 30 years. Now, they are back again to threaten my year-end list with Til Klovers Takt. But, unlike Profan or even Ofidians Manifest, Til Klovers Takt explores all that is Kampfar. It plays out more like a best-of-release than a standalone record. Each song explores songwriting structures from the band’s past and present. Yet, somehow, it’s brought together in a strategic tracklist. Welcome to pagan metal heaven.” Kamping bastards.
“A swan at the edge of what? A fucking mandala? You know, those monk-assembled sand drawings that they sweep away as a meditation. A Swan by the Edge of Mandala (henceforth ASbtEoM) is hands down the most egregiously prog-endowed album name I’ve heard all year. And what’s that, Vorbid appears to be leaning on another definition of mandala? A dream symbol that represents a person’s quest for self-unity? So it’s a concept album too, as if we didn’t need more confirmation that Vorbid plans to spill forth a bounty of instrumental gymnastics, introspective lyrics, and formibably lengthened runtimes.” Vorbid tales.
“All the way back in March 2019, Norwegian black metal quartet Nordjevel impressed Grymm with sophomore effort Necrogensis. Snagging a 3.5 from the Grymmster, Nordjevel brought icy riffs and Norwegian fury to his Floridian home but it was not a record completely free from issues and had a notably stronger second half, suffering also from a little bit of bloat and/or lack of self-editing. With a line-up that has held steady since Necrogenesis and features former members of Dark Funeral, 1349 (drummer, Dominator), Morbid Angel and Zyklon (guitarist Destructhor), can Nordjevel now up their consistency, tighten their songwriting and take things to the next level on third album Gnavhòl?” Beyond the Grymm horizon.
