All of April’s most-awesome metal albums all in one awesome metal place.
Barbarian – Cult Of The Empty Grave by Shawn Miller
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNu9ag5JlRw]
Taking the most bestial and barbaric parts of the first wave black metal; a la Bathory, Celtic Frost and Venom; and smashing it headfirst into it a brick wall built on the bones of Running Wild’s pirate raids and Manowar’s heroic sword battles—Barbarian’s third full length album, Cult of the Empty Grave,manages to take all of their blackened thrashing speed metal glory to a new level. Barbarian’s latest effort is an authentic blend of everything that makes heavy metal so fucking great, which recalls the days when heavy metal was heavy metal and subgenres could go pound sand.
Moonsorrow – Jumalten Aika by Alex Melzer
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qloJIvvHWsc]
Finland’s Moonsorrow have grown into a band that steadfastly defiy genre definitions and borders—taking inspiration from black, death, folk and pagan metal, progressive sounds and anything in between. Jumalten Aika is one of their most varied efforts to date, covering everything from introspective folk elements to all-out blastbeats and some of the fiercest black metal screams the Sorvali cousins have created yet. Despite the immense length of most of the album’s songs, they never feel like they’re dragging or being overwrought—showing the true strength of the band’s songwriting. Jumalten Aika is yet another gem in these Finns’ already amply studded crown!
Beastwars – The Death Of All Things by Evan Mugford
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvlwW2BM3Fw]
The kings of Wellington have returned to reclaim their throne! Three years removed from the release of their colossal sophomore effort, Blood Becomes Fire, has apparently made Beastwars all the more ravenous. The Death Of All Things is fucking riff famished and the resulting sound is bloated, heavy, and towering. Beastwars’ initial stoner-sludge-whatever style has grown into something far more righteous and, unsurprisingly, even more accessible. The vocals, the psychedelia, the escapism—The Death of All Things hits all the right notes. Like lake sturgeon or a saltwater croc, the concept of indeterminate growth seems quite apt in regard to this killer Kiwi quartet.
Howls Of Ebb – Cursus Impasse by Nathan Hare
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S04vql1AMzc]
I haven’t heard an album this bizarrely enjoyable in a while. For anyone unaware, Howls Of Ebb are one of the weirdest (and best) death metal bands currently active. Cursus Impasse, their second album, sees the band craft a record that’s an almost perfect mix of blackened dissonance, contorted, progressive death metal, and nightmarish psychedelic segments. Cursus Impasse‘s songwriting is balanced, being both accessible and structurally twisted and, simply put, a career defining moment from one of death metal’s most creative bands.
Haken – Affinity by Joshua Bulleid
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7pEXGCtnnk]
Listening back to Haken’s previous albums, it’s easy to see why I never bought into all the hype surrounding these new age prog messiahs. As musically impessive as they might be, each of Haken’s previous releases—particularly the immediately preceding The Mountain (2013)—are chock-full of random free jazz scat and acapella breaks, and other such semi-cliche “progressive” rock fare that is offputting to all but the most more-progressive-than-thou types and, honestly, doesn’t really add up to much.
Affinity, on the other hand, is packed to the brim with nothing but some of the tightest and most expansive progressive rock n’ roll to ever flirt with the heavier side of the sonic spectrum. Affinity is three-parts early Dream Theater, mixed with four-parts Rush; a dash of Karnivool and a hint of Genesis—topped off with a zesty punch all Haken’s own.
