May the month’s most outstanding metal releases be with you.
Vektor – Terminal Redux
by Joshua Bulleid
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEAsNxcIGKM]
Vektor have always been, unashamedly, touted as the heirs to Voivod’s tech-thrash legacy (see their logo), but Terminal Redux—for me at least—more-readily answers that age-old, intergalactic question; what if latter period Death decided to up and play thrash metal?—to stellar result.
Terminal Redux remains as abrasive and as technically-challenging as Vektor’s previous work, while its smoother, more-progressive tones make it, at once, a more accessible and ambitious outing from the band. Believe the hype(rdrive).
Wo Fat – Midnight Cometh
by Evan Mugford
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIHnuOz23xQ]
It may only be late May, but boy howdy is this New England weather feeling like early August. And with the emergence of hot weather, so must the tunage abide. Wo Fat have made a living out of jamming some of summer’s most soulful and head-banging soundtracks, and their latest, Midnight Cometh, keeps the streak intact.
And as per usual, the trio meld the sinister and the supernatural with a decidedly Southern twist. Swinging drums, dense fuzz and killer solos fly with abandon, which—again—has been the norm for Wo Fat, but Midnight Cometh just may harbor some of the band’s catchiest and heaviest tracks this side of Noche del Chupacabra. Welcome this humidity in style.
The Morningside – Yellow
by Neil Bird
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQG89sTPxig]
The Mornimgside have moved away from some of their longer and more Agalloch-style leanings over their last couple of albums. Their songs have become much shorter and to the point, with the songwriting becomming stronger and much tighter as a result. With Yellow, the band have created a nearly 50-minute slab of blackened doom but with heavy emphasis on guitar. The album features some great leads and solos throughout its entirety and the songs just feel so powerful, and at times cathartic.
There is a great sense of emotion in the musical aspect of Yellow and the vocals bring some aggression and intensity to it all. This is still definitely the same band that released The Wind, The Trees And The Shadows Of The Past, but a much more succinct and stronger one overall. This is perhaps the best The Morningside have sounded yet, and a real standout in their discography.
Perturbator – The Uncanny Valley
Shawn Miiller
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGzZ4SjFOLI]
“Tokyo – 2112 A.D. – Neon glyphs flash across the alley – blinking kanji. Hues of garish pink and red emerge, language of the night.“
Thus begins The Uncanny Valley from Parisian synthwave act Perturbator (A.K.A. James Kent). The album plays through like the soundtrack to a long forgotten sci-fi flick. Retro and laden with the hallmarks of the genre, yet darker and more menacing than anything that came before it; The Uncanny Valley is the new gold standard for synthwave.
