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MetalBite's Top 10 Albums of the Month - November 2021
Welcome to the second to last "best album of a month in 2021" list. As we gear up for year-end lists, there's noticeably fewer new albums that pour out in November, with a lot of the releases featured being last-minute big pushes from heavy hitter type labels such as Nuclear Blast, Napalm, Century Media, and all those familiar friends.
We've got one more of these and then we're gonna do a big year-end round-up, so get ready for that in December. We've got the same three guys (myself, Michael and Benjamin) curating this November list, but hopefully we get some thoughts from more MetalBite scribes for the big one.
-Nate
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Benothing - Temporal Bliss Surrealms
Everlasting Spew
As is the norm from Everlasting Spew these days, we've got versatile, oldschool-tinged death/doom that throws in thrash/speed influence in the frenzied riffing and soloing, hints of psychedelia in the atmosphere, and a seemingly loose, but focused delivery that hits you right in the gut but always leaves room to go in different directions. I've already praised Fractal Generator and Diabolizer enough this year, but you best not be sleeping on some of the more low-key releases on this roster as you put your "best of 2021" list together.
Dauþuz - Vom Schwarzen Schmied
Amor Fati Productions
I don't have much to say about this, but you should still listen to it - very no-frills German black metal with historical mining themes and a workmanlike touch to the steady plodding and robust construction of the songs. Does what it does well. I've been following these fellas for a couple of albums now and they got a good thing going.
Unleashed - No Sign Of Life
Napalm Records
The adored Viking death metallers are back with a hell of an album. Fortunately, they didn't reinvent their sound or songwriting - it's a good thing for me, at least, if they did change I would have found it irritating. Johnny Hedlund and the same three guys he's played with since 1995 give us 11 more tracks of solid death metal - it's even a little bit tighter than on the previous albums. No songs with unnecessary riffs, just streamlined, hard-hitting songs. Right from the start, you can hear the quartet was eager to record new music and the enthusiasm sustains through the album. There are no real filler tracks, a rare sight for a band on their 11th release in 26 years. If I had to pick standouts, though, 'Midgard Warriors For Life', 'The Shepherd Has Left The Flock' and 'Did You Struggle With God?' are my personal recommendations to listen to first.
In Aphelion - Luciferian Age
Edged Circle Productions
Shortly after In Aphelion released their first demo, Luciferian Age is just an EP to get you ready for the full-length coming in March 2022, but it is a great appetizer for "Moribund" and shows the musical skill and potential of these Swedes. That being said, this isn't a project of newbies: Vocalist / guitarist/ bassist Sebastian Ramstedt and guitarist Johan Bergebäck are already well-known from their involvement in Necrophobic. Others might know their drummer Marco Prij from Cryptosis (formerly Distillator).
You can find fast, icy black metal riffs on this EP that often lead into atmospheric, melodic cascades. 'Draugr' is a beast of a track in the vein of Bathory, and the title track is a very catchy song with a stomping rhythm and a hypnotic pace. 'Wrath Of A False God' is another fast and malevolent song and the very well performed cover of 'Pleasure To Kill' shows a major influence of the band. That's it - 22 minutes and hardly a weak point to be found.
Stillbirth - Strain Of Gods
Unique Leader Records
I was previously unfamiliar with this group, but after hearing the unfortunate news of Dominik König's passing, I decided to give a listen to the band's forthcoming material. German brutal deathcore with cannabis themes and Black Sabbath influences isn't something I've heard a lot of, so that was interesting enough of the hop. It sounds and looks pretty ridiculous at first - two bassists, the sudden random influences in the songs, the general vibe that they like to fuck aroudn a bit - but when you investigate it further, you realize that the wonky, varied songwriting mixed with surprising technical aplomb is similar to a modern version of stoner deathgrind legends Cephalic Carnage. It's a joke until it isn't, and then it's just a boatload of intricate, multifaceted riffs played with charisma and zeal.
The production on Strain Of Gods is disgusting and massive, somehow sounding like even more of a waveform-brick to the forehead than most deathcore does while still giving room for the bass(es) and drum subtleties to breathe. Dominik will surely be missed, and he was kind enough to leave the world this EP as a swansong of sorts. Rest in Peace.
Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Noktvrn
Season Of Mist
When are more people going to recognize Tobias Schuler is one of the best drummers in black metal? Will it be this album? This guy's got speed and stamina like the guy from Marduk, the atmospheric touch of Jamie St. Merat, and fills that are just straight fucking cash money. I've been singing this guy's praises since at least Finisterre, but pretty much everything he's on is great, mostly by virtue of him being there.
DWEF have expanded their range of motion with this album even more - they've always been about the big crescendo, incorporating a post-rock styled build over multiple tracks that slowly turns into minutes of sustained blasting, but on Noktvrn, Nikita Kamprad went more into the depths of the layered, minimal atmosphere he was toying with as intros and transitions. Songs like 'Immortal' almost give off a post-punk vibe, and despite this having a bit less of Schuler's tasty speed demon skinwork, he's equally as capable when dialing things back, and the band does a good job of interspersing the ambient moments with flurries of speed so no one goes too long without being satiated. In a deep, consistent German black metal scene, these guys have now consistently maintained their position near the top of the atmo-black pile for the last few albums. I do think that I prefer the previous album just a bit more, but anything this band does has the potential to grow on me over time.
METALBITE'S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE MONTH
10: Mors Verum - The Living
Total Dissonance Worship
Any time I get the chance to rep local homies, I'm gonna chomp at the bit - but I only do it if the music genuinely has enough going on to snap me to attention. That was never an issue with Mors Verum, who have always been one of my favorite local bands to listen to on record, with a level of craftsmanship a notch or two above local contemporaries. On their new EP, they've taken bigger steps and have truly come into their own. This would have blown me away regardless of when and where I heard it.
I had been crying for ages for them to find a human drummer, as it was perhaps the only area of the music where there was noticeable room for improvement, and they answered my prayers with one of the most skilled hired guns in the scene - the ubiquitous Greg Carvalho, who also plays in prog-death group Aepoch, black metal outfit Stolos, and a handful of other projects, in addition to doing a live stint with Bloodshot Dawn. It's safe to say they found the right guy for the job. His tight blastbeats, clever cymbal placement and almost mechanical synchronicity with the pulsing note changes in the guitars (check out the beginning of 'Inside' to see what I mean) give the guitars the proper foundation to really wander.
Compared to their previous release Deranged, this is a much more dissonant, repetitious, chord-infused affair. There's still flashes of Mrudul Kamble's dextrous fretwork, such as the midpoint of 'Purge', and they bring to mind a more esoteric and focused version of Nile. However, the majority of this plays in a harrowing and tense, yet lush and atmospheric ground that could be compared to a more riff-oriented version of Blut Aus Nord albums (mostly 777 era), with a dash of modern death metal a la early Ulcerate and perhaps a bit of Disentomb as well. It's hard to find a direct comparable, because they've found their own niche and identity, underlined by the wet, cavernous growls of Lyndon Quadros, darting around the fringes of the music, almost so buried in the background that you lose sight of them...yet they're always there, like a shadow that seems to move only in your peripheral. Blut Aus Nord themselves gave this a shout out on their Facebook page, how much else do you need to know to check this out?
MetalBite's Rating: 8.1/10
9: Exodus - Persona Non Grata
Nuclear Blast
Exodus take no prisoners on Persona Non Grata. It doesn't seem like they've been silent for seven years. No disease can stop them - I haven't heard such a furious album by them for a long, long time. Even the title-track (and opener) is brutal as fuck and Exodus doesn't let up. Most of the tracks are the blistering old-school thrash metal you are used to – the typical Hunting riffs, the characteristic voice of Souza - but in some tracks there are some slight changes. You can find a western-style acoustic track ('Cosa Del Pantano') and hints of traditional heavy metal influences. Most of the time, though, Exodus do what they do best - beat the shit out of your head by playing brutally catchy thrash.
-Michael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.2/10
8: Concrete Winds - Nerve Butcherer
Sepulchral Voice Records
Infinite varieties of extremity have been explored by extreme metal since the NWOBHM revolution of the early 1980s devolved into the key sub-genres that make-up the modern pillars of underground music in 2021, and as a result, one occasionally gets the impression that for some bands, the creation of grating noise and frightening velocity is a contrivance, designed to position themselves as a cult band. Concrete Winds remind us of a time when bands like Bathory, Venom and Hellhammer played the way that they did because it was the only way that they could play, teetering on the edge of the limits of their abilities at the time; the unavoidable result of their instinctive response to the music that inspired them. As their skills improved, each of these bands expanded their vision and ambition accordingly, or in the case of Hellhammer, transmogrified into something else entirely. Concrete Winds have more technical ability that the teenage Quorthon, or Tom G. Warrior, but listening to their savage second album, and endearingly wonkily-titled Nerve Butcherer, one is immediately struck by the sense that their sound is the only logical outcome of the way that the band approach their instruments. The result is a blitzkrieg of treble-heavy velocity, that is simultaneously thrash, death and black metal, while also being not quite any of them. A little like Portal's Ion, stripped of the murk and churn, Concrete Winds attack the listener from seemingly every possible direction, with a bewildering flurry of tremolo lines and strangely catchy riffs, while all the while, the rhythm section produce a never-ending clatter which propels the music forward in a slightly uneven and therefore completely organic way. Each song blasts past the listener in a 2 minute blur of aggression, and as such, there is little time to think. All we can do is to surrender ourselves to the thrillingly visceral experience of Concrete Winds' utterly maniacal sound.
-Benjamin
Absolute fucking madness. In a genre where everyone tries to sound savage and visceral, Concrete Winds are one of a rare few who exude that manic, unhinged vibe constantly, feeling like the fringe of extremity and chaos in a realm where that frenzy is an essential component. To put it another way, this sounds like Pissgrave on meth. There's a higher degree of musicianship than you typically get out of a war metal band, which only underscores the barbaric pummeling even more. The singular focus on feeding your hands into a paper shredder of riffs can hold your attention for impressive stretches of time - usually I get bored by monotone bursts of extremity, but Nerve Butcherer will slightly alter their angle of attack to create variety while maintaining the tension, and they also have incredibly concise songwriting. The new Archgoat is boring as shit - listen to this instead.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.2/10
7: Plebeian Grandstand - Rien Ne Suffit
Debemur Morti Productions
In an already discordant, noise-infused, inaccessible French black metal scene, Plebeian Grandstand consistently defy its already-broad boundaries. They are one of very few bands who has properly replicated the dissonant, overwhelming chaos of Deathspell Omega, and they fuse that with even more adventurous forays into screeching, harsh droning, stark industrialized rhythms, and expansive, drastic shifts. All of this is pieced together via a desperate, strained vocal performance that fully explores each fringe of extreme emotion - the song 'Tropisme' is a good example, since the shrieks and wails are the main feature and do the heavy lifting.
It's hard to properly execute that uncomfortable vibe in music, because there's only so long you can listen to nightmarish, atonal sounds before you long for a degree of musicality, but Rien Ne Suffit does a fantastic job of letting those moments last long enough to make an impact without letting them linger for too long. They're broken up by sections of spirited, manic fury in black metal form, with some surprisingly tasty riffwork hidden in all the banging and clamoring. The stamina displayed in the drum work is impressive, even for someone like me whose musical taste is basically "stuff with blastbeats in it". For all of the debate surrounding whether or not Deathspell Omega's beats are played by a human or programmed, Ivo Kaltchev sure does play similar material with ease. This group exemplifies what Debemur Morti is all about more than any other band on the roster.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.4/10
6: Gold Spire - Gold Spire
Chaos Records
This self-titled effort is the debut release from Gold Spire, a Swedish progressive death metal act, rising from the ashes of the well-regarded Usurpress, and their first effort immediately marks them out as a band with enormous potential. The opening instrumental is utterly intriguing, acoustic guitars, keys and somewhere in a dense mix, a saxophone burbling away suggests that the listener is in for something a little out of the ordinary, and that is exactly what we get. Although tonally, there are some similarities with the kind of note choices that have bewitched Opeth fans for a couple of decades, Gold Spire are a more avant-garde proposition than their compatriots, stretching unusual but captivating melodies over unconventional instrumentation, before dissonant and crushing doomy guitars shatter the serene soundcapes with a sound that reeks of despondency. The continual presence of the aforementioned saxophone is much more than simply a texture - at times, the way in which it becomes the central instrument of the band's sound, purposefully weaving in and out of the guitars and drums, adds a noirish quality to the band's attack, which variously recalls Ulver circa Perdition City, some of Yakuza's less frantic output, and Ihsahn's After, all references points that any progressive band should be pleased with. Gold Spire switches effortlessly between the lengthy instrumental passages and slightly more up-tempo death-doom, such as on the excellent 'Skull Choirs', where the gothic melodicism combines beautifully with brief snatches of tremolo riffing, layering satisfying crunch over the kind of lush and gloomy metal at which Tiamat once excelled. Gold Spire feels very much an album that fits neatly into a burgeoning progressive extreme metal scene, providing something of interest to fans of Imperial Triumphant, Gorguts, and Rivers Of Nihil, for example, without sounding too much like any of them, and for their first album to display such class means that we can be truly excited about what comes next.
-Benjamin
MetalBite's Rating: 8.4/10
5: Darkwoods My Betrothed - Angel Of Carnage Unleashed
Napalm Records
I never believed that this would happen! Darkwoods My Betrothed, one of my favorite Finnish black metal bands from the 90s, released a new album, their first since Witch Hunts in 1998. Angel Of Carnage Unleashed offers quite a lot – harsh, icy and hateful riffs, shrill vocals blended with very melodic, epic sections underlined by a sonorous voice. After some spoken word overtop of a keyboard (performed by Tuomas Holopainen from Nightwish...huh) the inferno starts. With their style, I doubt anyone would expect such a fierce opener and hateful vocals - the closest comparison would be their 1994 demo (Dark Aureoles Gathering) which was a bit more fast n' grim. On the other hand, there are also songs like 'In Thrall To Ironskull's Heart' that start off more like a ballad and gradually become more epic in scope. Angel Of Carnage Unleashed is Forrest Gump's box of chocolates in musical form, you never know what you're gonna get and it's pretty much always good!
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.5/10
4: Hyperdontia - Hideous Entity
Dark Descent / Me Saco Un Ojo
Everything that Mustafa Gürcalioğlu is involved in turns to riffs. It's gotta be Newton's fourth law of physics or something. The man has four different bands and they're all great, with a bit of a different flavor to each of them. Hyperdontia has always been the project with the most old-school death metal influence of the four (though it's never absent from Mustafa's writing completely), and new album Hideous Entity adds some extra bit of that Danish bounce, no small thanks to the other guitarist, Mathias Friborg, as well as drummer Paweł Tunkiewicz. You might recognize those two names, as they just put out an album together last month in Sulphurous that appeared on MetalBite's previous top 10 list. If you liked Nexus Of Teeth, this is the same thing but with more little groovy appendages and infectious, chunky riffing, with clear strides being made to give this project a fuller and more well-rounded form. 'Grinding Teeth' has a riff in it that is easily a top 5 contender for "catchiest hook of the year". I'm not even going to tell you where it is in the song because you'll know it when you hear it.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.5/10
3: Swallow The Sun - Moonflowers
Century Media Records
I'm not sure these Finns are capable of releasing a bad album. They truly pace the melodeath/doom realm with each new release, and Moonflowers is another worthy addition to an incredibly consistent back catalog. The album is a grandiose 40-minute build into a powerful climax, with each track being a great self-contained song in its own right. Every new movement gets a bit busier and more tense in switches between somber, enchanting arpeggios to warm, thick chords that have either the second guitar or a violin bringing out the lead melody. The album moves back and forth, like a wave, or perhaps a heartbeat given the lyrical themes. Each burst is more vibrant, until finally it lurches into a black metal-esque explosion that can barely be contained. The way vocalist Mikko Kotamäki can keep you dialed into very simple, elegant melodies is, as usual, unparalleled in the genre, and Moonflowers maintains an incredible balance between being accessible while still having the appropriate amount of emotional weight.
I don't usually like to rank "heavy hitter" type albums high up this list, as I'd prefer to give more attention to the up-and-comers that would benefit more from the recognition and exposure (plus Michael tends to hit more of the big name stuff), but I will always make an exception for Swallow The Sun. You've either already heard this album or you need to get around to it, so this is just another reminder for long-time fans that are wondering if they've still got it: they still got it.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.7/10
2: Hypocrisy - Worship
Nuclear Blast
After years of Peter being busy with his other project, Pain, on top of his involvement in Lindemann, I wasn't sure if he would come around with another Hypocrisy album. That surprised me, and in addition, the album is killer! The trio performs the typical melodic death metal stuff they know so well, but that didn't go great on the last albums, which were a tad uninspired and bulky. The time off has allowed Hypocrisy to return to their strengths. A lot of the songs (for example 'Children Of The Gray' and 'Worship') remind me of their magnum opus Abducted, with the big, epic space hooks and Peter's snarling highs really taking me back to the past. Some more brutal tracks like 'Dead World' or 'Brotherhood Of The Serpent' found their way in there as well, so you also get some nods to albums such as Into The Abyss or The 4th Dimension. Get your copy right now and worship Worship!
-Michael
MetalBite's Rating: 9/10
1: Stormkeep - Tales Of Othertime
Ván Records
The "symphonic" tag almost caused me to skip this because I rarely find something in that realm that doesn't make me gag, but I didn't, and man am I glad. I should have known any better than to doubt a project that Isaac Faulk is spearheading, though. He is one of the most versatile and distinct extreme metal drummers right now, excelling at two very disparate styles in atmospheric black metal (Wayfarer) and cosmic death metal (Blood Incantation). He also has an excellent sense of melody as a guitarist and makes that his focus in other projects, such as black/doom group Stoic Dissention, and this newer project. It initially appeared to be a solo venture, but for their first full-length Tales Of Othertime, they've fleshed it out with a full group.
Anything with a "medieval" tinge is tough to pull off without sounding too corny, especially when mixed with the theatricalism and overt presentation qualities of black metal. However, the dungeon synth-y parts of this album might actually be some of my favorite, with great pacing that keep you interested and subtleties that paint a full picture without having to make it too obvious, letting your mind fill in the blanks of a vast landscape being traversed by knights on horseback. The actual metal components are no slouch, either - there's actual Emperor influence, not just because this is symphonic black metal, but because the riffs have that particular discordant cadence that the 90s Norwegians had - lots of melody, yet always sinister enough to avoid any saccharine qualities. Taake and Whoredom Rife are two good musical parallels.
Even with the notable references to older artists, though, Stormkeep immediately has an allure and identity on their own, which is a big feat with a debut album. It makes sense when you consider that most of the musicians involved have been around the block before, but nonetheless this is still a standout within the black metal sphere for this year. It might be a side-project for now, but shit, if they keep putting out stuff this good I might actually end up coming back to this band more than I do Wayfarer, and Old Souls was one of my top 10 albums of the year when it came out!
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 9/10
As always, thank you for using these lists as the source for all the good shit in metal these days. Check out previous lists for some more stuff!
Entered: 11/30/2021 7:37:09 PM
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MetalBite's Top 10 Albums of the Month - November 2024
Welcome back to MetalBite's Top 10 Albums of the Month! Yet another list full of nasty riffs and nightmarish adventures. This edition of the MetalBite AOTM unfortunately comes with a departure, as our regular Vlad has announced his departure for the time being as he tends to the many responsibilities and demands life throws at us. He's been one of our most prolific contributors for a while, and he will be sorely missed - and being the upstanding lad that he is, he still got his entries for this month in before anyone else.
Nonetheless, we soldier on. There may be a little less quantity in reviews going forward, but certainly no less quality. Let's see what November had in store for us.
(PS: If you want to contribute to these lists, get in touch at themetalassault@hotmail.com! We're always looking for new writers, now more than ever).
-Nate
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Veilburner - The Duality Of Decapitation And Wisdom
Transcending Obscurity
With three albums in four years, you'd think that Veilburner are getting lazy, but they evolve more with each album and run the gamut of different styles in a similar manner to Akercocke. It's all rooted in extreme metal, but there's a certain bizarre esotericism underlying the songs and an impressive amount of compositional depth. Then you throw in all of the extra symbolic garnishes with this being their seventh album - seven songs all exactly seven minutes long?? Now they're just messing with us.
-Nate
Feral Forms - Through Demonic Spell
Everlasting Spew
Sometimes, you just need your brain scrambled by a primitive blitz of noise. Concrete Winds and Antichrist Siege Machine understand this truth and have already delivered some of the most violent albums of 2024, and Feral Forms is the Italian scene's response on a similar level of intensity. There's more of an underlying death metal current with their particular brand of savagery, but nonetheless this is still firmly entrenched in the war metal ethos of Blasphemy and Bestial Warlust. There's a few qualities that make it a more appealing listen: the snare tone is excellent (as is the drum production in general), the snarl in the vocals gives an overlying atmosphere akin to being dismembered by a pack of wolves, the riffing is adept enough to give some crossover appeal with garden-variety death metal fans - but this is primarily music for extremophiles. Approach at your own risk.
-Nate
Cryptic Brood - Necrotic Flesh Bacteria
Lycanthropic Chants
This a raw and heavy interpretation of death/doom, no beautiful melodies or atmospheres in sight, just pure and raw rage with a real DIY attitude.
-Raphael
Deus Mortem - Thanatos
Profane Spirit Productions
Deus Mortem brings so much chaos and death on the new album Thanatos, displaying such power in their violent and hateful riffs that absolutely annihilate alongside the maniacal blast beats and harsh shouting vocals with a pure death-defying energy. From the very get-go this album manifests such ungodly aura and destructive performance that will easily set your speakers or earphones on fire, and it only manages to get gradually darker and more extreme as it progresses, even if it slows things a bit down on the macabre fourth track 'A Lamb In The Arms Of A Wolf' while still keeping the musical tension high at all times. If one thing is certain about this album, it's the occult and hellish atmosphere that gets you instantly hooked and never lets go.
It's hard these days to find a black metal albums that keeps your attention constant all the way through, especially since most of them don't feel very genuine or are just highly repetitive, yet Deus Mortem on the other hand keeps the edges of their songs sharp and clean, while always playing to their core strengths. It's a simple yet effective standard black metal approach with a mean attitude that obviously means serious business, and what more could you want from that? This album is both a killer and a thriller, with superb execution. Be sure to check it out!
-Vlad
Rampancy - Where the Sun Of The Future Rises
Iron Front Productions
Triumphant black metal with a hint of death metal and maybe a slight dash of crust punk to add a healthy amount of vitriol to the delivery. Having casually followed this project for a few years, it's the strongest, most expensive and realized album yet. It seems with every new release, Rampancy gets a little closer to understanding what they want to be and where they want to go.
-Nate
The Watcher - Out Of The Dark
Cruz Del Sur
This is hella catchy. Sometimes you just need some laid-back rockin' tunes that stay stuck in your head long after they're finished playing. Pentagram, Trouble and fans of similar bluesy, heavy/doom metal should get some decent mileage out of this one.
-Nate
Beast - Ancient Powers Rising
Independent
Turning our eyes to Lower Saxony, we see German heavy metal band Beast, with their independent debut full-length. The first couple of tracks provide the usual ass-kicking action that one would expect, taking a speed/power metal approach, but it's only a taste of things to come. The band raises the bar even higher with 'Ride The Tempest' and 'Shadows From The Arcane Tower' on the second half of the album, plus the surprisingly catchy mid-tempo banger 'Swords Are Burning' is a nice treat. Beast delivers a nice mixture of epic and melodic heavy/power metal bands, ranging from 80's Manowar to Blind Guardian, Iron Maiden, Pretty Maids, Warlock and Virgin Steele, with a touch of sword and sorcery giving extra flavour. With those influences, in the album flows smoothly and the uplifting choruses ensure you're in for a treat.
The guitars are the biggest highlight of this album, because it will make you get immersed into the beauty of the songs and you can never get enough. Ancient Powers Rising is an incredibly fun and exciting journey that can take you to wonderful places. If you love fast and catchy heavy metal with epic themes, you needn't look any further.
-Vlad
Thyrathen - Lakonic
Floga Records
I don't really know the Greek black metal scene that well. I mean, I know Rotting Christ but even then, I'm not the biggest fan. That said, this album makes me think I'm missing out! Also, lyre and metal go so well together!
-Raphael
Iniquitous Savagery - Edifice Of Vicissitudes
Willowtip Records
If you liked the new Defeated Sanity album but thought there was just too much stupid jazz influence, this is a worthy alternative. There's plenty of brutality to be had and the tempo-shiting tendencies are retained just enough to give this a slinking, convulsing vibe.
-Nate
Black Aeons - Entering The Shadows
Silent Watcher Records
From the city of Otterberg, Germany, we have a melodic black/death metal band Black Aeons, consisting of two members Blackheart13 and Alex of Silent Watcher Records, both of whom are also active in another band A Somber Funeral. Black Aeons has been around all the way back as far as 2002, but debuted officially in 2022 with their Demos compilation, and now we have their first full length, presenting these classic songs in their newly updated forms.
This soundtrack is laden with nightmarishly heavy work of melodic black/death metal that mixes the best of both worlds, presenting a solid hybrid entity of high intensity. The guitars combine elements of both melodic black and melodic death metal, and it's got a serious edge, especially on tracks like 'Ode To Ares' and 'Into Darkness And Decay' that showcase the heaviest and most epic moments. As a longtime fan of Swedish melodic black/death metal I got hooked into this rich and powerful experience. If you haven't got the chance to check out the previous works of Black Aeons from Germany, do not be afraid to give this album a go, because I am sure you will also immerse yourselves into its nocturnal beauty.
-Vlad
Coma Hole - Hand Of Severance
Independent
What a warm and fuzzy treat. Stoner metal duo Coma Hole, which is comprised of Steve Anderson on drums and Eryka Fi, the riff druidess, on Bass/Guitar/Keys/Vox. On this album you will be treated to 34 minutes of pure stoner metal and rock, nothing overly fancy, just excellent songwriting, musicianship and a lot of groovy and fuzzy fun to keep you warm.
-Raphael
Kromlek - III - III & Upphaf
Trollzorn Records
Together with SuidAkrA, this month was a real blast from the past, going back to the mid to late 2000's, when I started to discover folk metal (and extreme metal in general) and I love it! Kromlek's first EP, Kveldridhur, was incredibly raw, but so fun, filed with catchy folk/viking/pagan melodies but with that raw blackened edge. They split up in 2012 but came back in 2023 to play shows and here we are now, with a grandiose double album! The first, III-III, are brand new songs and is a phenomenal work of blackened pagan/viking folk metal. Extremely cohesive and filled to the brim with epic and sometimes down right emotional melodies. Recorded at Antric Light Records studio and mastered in 2024, the upgrade in sound quality is remarkable! The second, Upphaf, are re-recordings of older songs. It creates an album far less cohesive but it's worth it for the upgrade in sound quality alone. If taken alone, I would give III-III a 8.5 but as a double album it suffers a bit, it's really really long so…
-Raphael
Paganizer - Flesh Requiem
Transcending Obscurity Records
More Swedish than meatballs and Abba, the Boss HM-2 distortion pedal! Paganizer's sound cannot be more pure og Swedish death, the distinctive "buzzsaw" guitar tone, the hardcore punk roots, the pure groovy aggression and yes, at rare times, even a touch of melody. It's all there but with a perfect modern production and a magnificent Mariusz Lewandowski artwork.
-Raphael
Thy Catafalque - XII: A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek
Season Of Mist
Normally one associates the term "avant-garde" with things that are abrasive, unsettling or downright bizarre, but Thy Catafalque has always embraced the term while making music that is downright pleasant. There's a certain folkish tinge without it ever resembling folk metal, and each album by this band is dripping with originality but never sacrificing it at the expense of accessibility. I have been a casual fan of this group for a little while, having covered Vadak in MetalBite's June 2021 column, and I missed two full-lengths in between that album and this one. Suffice to say, Tomas Katai is a prolific mastermind - if one could somehow take a tour inside his mind, you'd likely see a Salvador Dali-esque cascade of unusual imagery.
Usually you can draw a parallel to at least one other metal band when reviewing an album, but Thy Catafalque appears to be born in a delightfully weird vacuum. I can say this will appeal to fans of Arcturus, Solefald, and to a lesser extent Enslaved and Oranssi Pazuzu, but that doesn't really come close to describing what this actually sounds like. There's enough variety (not to mention quality) in this band's back catalogue - now a dozen albums long - that I should take it upon myself to do a deep dive on this band at some point.
-Nate
Völva - Desires Profane
Grind To Death Records
I feel the rage of anti-patriarchy, blasting through the speakers with every screams! This album is a treat if you like crusty black metal, with a strong message and great, new sounding, old school vibes.
-Raphael
The Mosaic Window - Hemasanctum
Willowtip Records
Remember when "one man black metal" was mostly used as a term of derision and signaled amateurish musicianship and a DIY aesthetic? 15-odd years later, that is definitively no longer the case. As home studios became more sophisticated, the line between human and programmed drums in the studio grew increasingly blurred, and bands where no two members live in the same continent became more common, distinguishing an album as a "one man band" doesn't factor into an album's overall quality the same way that it used to. It can still tell you some things about a project, but now it's more of an indicator that the creator has a very specific vision that would be diluted with more cooks in the kitchen.
This is very evident with Hemasanctum, which features intricate, melodic-yet aggressive black metal all composed from a single brain, with a degree of musicianship high enough to draw the attention of Willowtip Records, a label known for fronting the more sophisticated side of metal. Add in a session performance from Gabe Seeber, already established with Vale of Pnath, Abigail Williams, and a slew of big-ticket live performances, and you've got a "one man band" album that's about as professional as it gets. Flurries of blastbeats accompany shapeshifting yet groovy tremolo, there's plenty of solos to satiate the guitar nerds, and the vibrant delivery feels very…warm. I probably could have guessed this band originated from a place like southern California - it's just too exuberant to have roots in a frigid, northern climate.
-Nate
Ritual Fog - But Merely Flesh
Transcending Obscurity
Nasty old-school death metal with some thrash leanings. The guitar tone is monstrous and the screams are venomous. Get some.
-Nate
Pestilent Hex - Sorceries Of Sanguine & Shadow
Debemur Morti
This particular writer was a huge fan of the Finnish melodic black metal troupe's 2022 debut, and their follow-up, Sorceries Of Sanguine & Shadow is another solid album, which retains all of the symphonic majesty that made its predecessor such an absorbing lesson, but adds a greater degree of intensity to the more overtly black metal passages, ultimately making for a slightly more dynamic record. Pestilent Hex make black metal to wallow luxuriously in, combining the melodrama of prime Katatonia (without sounding anything like them) and the lush neo-classical romanticism of mid-period Dimmu Borgir to spell-binding effect. The stunning 'Through Mirrors Beyond', and the wonderful closer 'Sanguine Gnosis' are prime examples of the Pestilent Hex magic, stately melodies wrapping their claws around a core of infernal tremolo blasting, the result something approaching the glory of Dawn and Dissection, but with an opulent decadence running through the songs. The band might need to make some changes for the third record, as this is a fairly small variation on the theme established last time round, but the quality of their artistry is undeniable.
-Benjamin
Tribulation - Sub Rosa In Æternum
Century Media Records
Tribulation fully embraces their 80's goth rock sound while still keeping their blackened rock'n'roll edge and fully expressing their more post punk, accessible side. I don't know when the words and melody: "Saturn coming down tonight" will leave my mind.
-Raphael
Qaalm - Grave Impressions Of An Unbroken Arc
Hypaethral Records
This doesn't sound like anything I've heard before. It can be so heavy and oppressive, yet sometimes warm and melodic and at times cold and raw. It's long and complex songs gives plenty of time to explore multiple sounds and emotions. For fans of things heavy and extreme with musical complexity that grabs your attention from beginning to end.
-Raphael
Sarcophagum - The Grand Arc Of Madness
Nuclear Winter Records
The sister band to Golgothan Remains, and functionally they're quite similar - lots of tense, unsettling dissonance with an oddly appealing flavour, and a helping of pomp and artistry to elevate the atmosphere. One attribute I really like about this is that while the drums are provided by the ubiquitous Robin Stone, who has about three jillion session performances to his name, his performance is distinct and very different from his usual work - much more straightforward and intentional than his more frequent blasturbation. Don't get me wrong, I like his work as much as the next guy, and I've never been one to shy away from blastbeats, but after literally hundreds oof session performances, it does get a little samey. Perhaps since Sarcophagum is also Australian, they have the benefit of in-person collaborations, which can add a bit more room for tweaking and modifying the parts to suit the music.
Anyhow - this is similar enough to Golgothan Remains that it seems weird that they're two separate projects and released albums in the same year, but with output at this level of quality, I'm not one to complain. This is candy for dissodeath nerds.
-Nate
METALBITE'S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE MONTH
10: SuidAkrA - Darkanakrad
MDD Record
I must admit that the last time I listened to SuidAkrA (which I now realize is founding member's, Arkadius name backward) must have been in like 2007, around their album Caledonia, 'The IXth Legion' remains one of my favorite folk metal songs, I headbang so hard to those bagpipes! I was curious to hear where they are now and let me just say, I'm impressed. They have a pretty straight forward formula: a folk infused blackened melodic death metal. I'm in love with those soaring epic melodies, the blackened infused heavier moments and how good it sounds overall, recorded and mixed by Arkadius at GHA Studio Würzbu and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound, it is a masterwork of sound engineering and overall songwriting and musicianship. They take you across an exciting journey of epic folk metal, with brutal but melodic black and death and softer folk melodies. It's never boring for a second.
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.5/10
9: Golgothan Remains - Bearer Of Light, Matriarch Of Death
Dark Descent Records
I'm tougher on evaluating EPs, because you've got less time to make your point than a full-length. I'm a harsher critic if they have any filler. The upside is, when they're good, they'll usually rank higher in my year-end list, and Bearer Of Light, Matriarch Of Death makes its case well. I'm surprised I hadn't heard of Golgothan Remains prior to this - they've been a staple in the sparse-but-mighty Australian metal scene for a while, and everything I hear out of that region is full of tasty riffs and creative twists.
Stylistically, this group falls somewhere in between Suffering Hour and Dead Congregation - one foot in OSDM reimagined through a modern lens, the other in dissonant, blackened realms, with an emotive edge that sharpens the impact. The guitarwork is streamlined enough to be immediately effective, but there's enough detail that more will reveal itself when given time to blossom. The pained, shouting vocals with a certain tonal quality deepening their resonance are another high point. If you think Ulcerate has gone a little too far down the melodic rabbit hole, this may fill the void.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.6/10
8: Bedsore - Dreaming The Strife For Love
20 Buck Spin
Everyone frothed at the mouth over the new Blood Incantation - and I'm not saying it's bad by any means, I'm not THAT susceptible to hype backlash - but for my money this is the superior "death metal fused with 70s prog rock" album of 2024. It's a little less claustrophobic and the myriad of softer influences are more smoothly integrated into the extremities. A little bit of restraint goes a long way here, and it makes Bedsore feel more natural and elegant in their weirdness. The ebb and flow between tracks has an appropriately climactic build-and-release, and each of the more unconventional tones and instruments always feels wholly necessary - nothing is ever shoehorned in for the sake of sounding different, this is just how these songs are supposed to sound. I'm not even that much of a prog nerd, but this hooked me in and has lots more layers to uncover on subsequent listens.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.7/10
7: Mitochondrion - Vitriseptome
Profound Lore Records
Given we had to wait 11 years for the follow up to Parasignosis, this is appropriately dense, intricate and labyrinthine. There's endless layers to peel back over the course of the 1-hour-plus runtime, breathing room is sparse and a majority of the guitarwork is a winding maze of discordant note bending designed to take you further and further into a spiral of madness.
Very few bands can get away with releasing one album per decade and still remain relevant, but this Vancouver-based group is one of them. Even as the disso/death/black genre they helped to created has sprouted new tendrils and branched out in all sorts of different directions, Vitriseptome still feels like it breaks new ground, and the chord shapes, arrangements and progressions feel unfamiliar and novel as much as they are unsettling. This is inaccessible, bewildering and intentionally obtuse - it's not meant to be listened to casually, instead designed to appeal to the maniacs that listen to an album dozens of times in order to carefully dissect each movement and the inspirations within. The lyrical concept is just as detailed as the music, with a myriad of hidden meanings and easter eggs (the band offers a more thorough explanation on their social media) and little intricacies can be spotted that most listeners in our ADHD-ridden/TikTok era of music consumption would never care about or pay attention to: gradual exposition of a motif through a constant building of tension, the multi-pronged vocal attack, the evolution of the album as it goes on, somehow becoming more decipherable while still throws plenty of twists and turns - there's so much going on in here to be discovered, and it's the wet dream of a focused, obsessive extreme music nerd.
Because of the nature of this album and the fact that it was released in November, this won't make a lot of AOTY lists - I've given this a month and at least a dozen full spins and I still don't feel close to unlocking the mysteries contained within. But it's because of this that Vitriseptome is certainly worth examining, and will likely be talked about for years to come.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.9/10
6: Apocalypse - Pandæmonium
MiMo Sound Records & Publishing
Anyone who is familiar with the Italian one-man project Apocalypse of Erymanthon Seth from Turin, Piedmont, has known this for some time as a Bathory tribute project that is so incredibly authentic it's scary. However, things take a different turn with the arrival of the seventh full-length album Pandæmonium, promising something fresh for the masses, blending multiple influences into something mighty and innovative. Although the band's different styles previously resembled Bathory's notable works, with the previous album Retaliation resembling Requiem with its death/thrash metal approach, Apocalypse has finally distanced from the Bathory style formula and decided to shape his own musical identity that headed more towards an experimental epic/gothic metal style with elements taken from other subgenres like black, death, symphonic, heavy, pagan and folk metal, combining them to unleash pure Pandæmonium.
The riff work on here varies from heavy downpicking to mid-tempo rhythm picking to occasional tremolo picking, with vocals ranging from intense shouting to epic singing, while beautiful and powerful neoclassical guitar solos add a sweet cherry on the top. The songs present a dynamic range of ideas, never staying in one spot as they broaden the musical horizons of Apocalypse, with a couple of standouts like 'Witchhunt', 'The Well Of Deception' and 'Son Of Fire'. The album showcases a more frequent use of synths that manifest an ominous, gothic atmosphere, and the organ sound used on the intro and outro, gives the feeling like you've just watched horror theatre with anthology-like progression.
I was surprised how different this was from the past works of Apocalypse, and the overall experimenting with various metal subgenres turned out quite effective. Such a decision is a formidable challenge and a risk not many musicians are ready to take on, but what sets this album apart is its well-thought-out dynamic execution. There's something for everyone, with everything being in place and integral to the album's musical DNA.
-Vlad
MetalBite's Rating: 9/10
5: Defeated Sanity - Chronicles Of Lunacy
Season Of Mist
Every new album from this group is an immediate AOTY contender. The old adage of "a band is only as strong as its drummer" has never been more evident than here. Lille Gruber, the band's sole constant, primary songwriter, and arguably the best drummer in extreme metal, is the driving force that keeps Defeated Sanity among some of the best in the business. The rest of the band is fantastic, of course - they have to be able to keep up with him - but the rhythmic convulsions are what put this band in a league of their own. Undoubtedly jazz-inspired and constantly shapeshifting, this band has more different types of blastbeats in one song than some bands have throughout their entire careers. It simply isn't fair.
The backbone of this album is what gives it the staying power, but the obscenely brutal riffing and vocal work is what drills the album into your brain immediately. This band is just as much for meatheads that want their brain pounded into dust by slams as it is the tea-sipping death metal connoisseur - it's "thinking man's metal" that also serves to rob you of your brain cells. There's elements of their most complex and technical record (Passages Into Deformity) seamlessly blended with the sort of pummeling riffwork that makes Disposal Of The Dead and Pslams Of The Moribund so effective. Is this Defeated Sanity's best album? It's waaay too early to determine that. Is this one of the best death metal albums you'll hear all year? Without a doubt.
PS: Lille Gruber is the best drummer I've ever seen live. I've witnessed some incredible drummers in my time - Spencer Prewett, John Longstreth, Flo Mounier - but they're no match for Lille. He makes it look easy. And he doesn't even use a click track?????? The man is not of this earth.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 9/10
4: Demon Bitch - Master Of The Games
Gates Of Hell Records
Gates Of Hell seem to have very much become the standard bearer for bands comprised of men who exclusively play on 10, and it's rare that this writer doesn't find something appealing about one of their releases. Master Of The Games is much more than just appealing, however. In fact, it's probably the best album of its type released in 2024 – traditional, arcane heavy metal with concise, but audacious songs. If you have wished, at any point in the last quarter-century, that Iron Maiden would throw out Steve Harris's beloved prog-rock, and attempt to write the missing link between Peace Of Mind and Powerslave, wish no longer, as Demon Bitch have already bettered any such attempt. The galloping riffs are majestic, every twin guitar run and lead guitar line perfectly-judged, and the, admittedly divisive, vocals of Logon Saton bring commanding melodies and memorable choruses to virtually every track. Pay no mind to the naysayers, though - Saton's vocals are, in fact, a welcome throwback to the time during which an odd and idiosyncratic vocalist (looking at you Cirith Ungol) was a badge of metallic honour, and they only serve to enhance an already exceptional album. Master Of The Games is spectacular, a sensational reminder of the power and magic of heavy metal.
-Benjamin
MetalBite's Rating: 9.2/10
3: Yoth Iria - Blazing Inferno
Edged Circle Productions
The title lives up to its name - you get one big Blazing Inferno that scorches the world beneath it. Yoth Iria presents a massive collection of highly expressive black metal songs with epic and dark vibes, in traditional Hellenic metal fashion. Simple riffs and melodies are well integrated in the song structures, further amplified by the harsh, dry vocals of Rustam Shakirzyanov (a.k.a. He) and the tight drumming of Vasilis Stavrianidis. Each song on the album is like an individual chapter from a doomsayer's prophecy, complimented with a very strong atmosphere of dread and doom that builds up to an apocalyptic event, carving these images in your mind where you clearly picture Armageddon itself.
If there is one thing that Greek black metal bands are good at, it's the atmosphere - one of the greatest aspects of Blazing Inferno. The true magic of the songs lies within their power to transport you in another place in another time - you feel like you're going back to the Dark Ages with every song on the album, looking back at some of the most gruesome and horrifying historic events that fueled destruction. This album has so many strengths and qualities that really make it worth your while, it's hard to count all of them. I enjoyed other notable recent Hellenic metal albums like Varathron's The Crimson Temple and Rotting Christ's Pro Xristou, but neither were as engaging - Blazing Inferno is exceptional because of the general goosebumps I got from start to finish.
Out of all the recent Hellenic metal albums I had heard lately, this is without a shadow of a doubt, THE best one, and holy shit what a pleasant surprise. Yoth Iria provided such a brilliant masterwork of atmospheric, epic and melodic black metal that burns twice as high - the albu title could not be more fitting.
-Vlad
MetalBite's Rating: 9.3/10
2: Old Wainds - Stormheart
Darkness Shall Rise Productions
There have been many great and unexpected comebacks of this year from all corners of the world, but the one that really caught me by surprise is the return of the Russian black metal band Old Wainds, which hadn't released anything new for the last 10 years or so. Once I saw that the band is coming back with their fifth full-length, I felt as if I had seen the planets align and of course I wasn't going to miss this. Right from 'Watch The Midnight Unveil', you get instantly hooked into the magic of Stormheart with its master-crafted grim and cold style of black metal. There is so much solid gold to be found along the way - the first couple of tracks are just the calm before the storm that eventually manifests into a roaring blizzard. Every song drags you deeper into the intense and dark atmosphere and you end up being completely possessed by it.
No matter how many traditional black metal elements you come across, the song ideas feel so fresh and deeply expressive, and nothing feels tedious, repetitive or generic. Keeping one massive beast under the ice for a total of 10 years, well preserved and intact for ages, means it won't disappoint once it bursts out into the world. Old Wainds have returned with one massive and menacing beast of an album, which turned out to be an incredible journey worth experiencing by every means. Do not miss out, because this is one of the best black metal albums of this year, and deserves all the love and support.
-Vlad
MetalBite's Rating: 9.5/10
1: Opeth - The Last Will And Testament
Reigning Phoenix Music
Ok so, full disclosure, Opeth is my favorite band, so read the following with it in mind. I have no words. This is not Opeth going back to an older sound, I don't think Mikael is physically capable to move backwards. Makes sense he changed progressive metal. And I think he did it again! I heard in some review that this album is prog rock era Opeth with growls but it's much more! The metal is definitely back, the death metal even. But it sounds different, completely new but familiar somehow. Not to spoil anything here but this a concept album (apparently the first since Still Life), and the story is great! Mikael was inspired by the show Succession so expect a few surprises. Musically the band never sounded so good, they continue to expand their prog rock sound but do it with that metal sensibility and heaviness, Mikael's growls are the best in all of metal and he continues to explore his clean vocals, that sound better than ever! Anticipate to hear their entire career mixed to create something news with things we never heard from them, like the flute and spoken words of non-only than Ian Anderson. Easily my AOTY!
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 10/10
As always, we appreciate you stopping by and using us as a resource for the sickest riffs metal has to offer. View the past year's lists here:
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Entered: 12/16/2024 12:23:45 PM
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