A two track EP from the Stockholm based melodic black metal act Wormwood. There is a subtitle, Contemporary Decay Of Stockholm, in two parts which suggests that this could be on the darker side. I’ll leave others to tell me if its darker than their other material. Their bio certainly suggests a lot, so let’s dive in.
YRA|Extas starts in a way that expected; no messing or wasted moments but without the traditional speed fest of blasting drums or manic vocals. Instead, it coasts along until they decide its time to show their teeth.
This is a brief moment, manic until they fall back into slight chordal movements and melodic lines that play off each other. The song length should have clued me that this was going to be an exercise the band showing off their talents in being able to fill that space by doing whatever they want.
This is fine, but once they kick it into gear it becomes something else. The trouble is that they feel the need to pull that speed back once more and dive into the cinematic side of their sound. This might mean more to me if I’d heard more by them prior to this, but hey ho. Comparing this against other black metal I’ve reviewed recently, this sounds like what could be the higher end of that movement.
Other bands are approaching it from maybe one perspective, and the music they are releasing is good, don’t get me wrong but there is a huge amount of confidence on display here. Here is a band that have touched down in a number of different lanes and are closing this out with a brilliantly pitched lead break.
This is quality, and Purposeless Geometry starts with what sounds like a choir singing, but I think it’s a guitar tracked many times. It’s like night and day compared to YRA, just another facet of a band that grows more and more interesting as this song unfurls.
I mean if you dived into this at around 4 minutes 40, you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to a completely different style of music. Its as far removed from extreme metal and then they kick the legs from under you and throw in the guttural vocals to provide that extreme edge, working as a counterpoint to the music underneath it.
And that is all she wrote. Two songs, 16 minutes of frankly spellbinding music. 9/10
Negative Frame – Break The Ice (Blood Blast Distribution) [Matt Bladen]
The UK has become a center for bludgeoning metallic hardcore in recent years, with bands like Malevolence, Guilt Trip and Pest Control all bringing the disgusting breakdowns, mechanized precision, some epic soundscapes, hardcore punk aggression and melodic elements that steal from early metalcore and melodeath.Maybe it’s the weather or the insane times we live in politically but bands have a lot to be angry about so there’s and influx of bands coming from the underground grabbing on to the cultural zeitgeist that the whole metallic hardcore sound brings with it. A rage against oppression, injustice and a general feeling of emptiness that many may have with this world.
The extremity of the daily grind has informed this debut album from Negative Frame, a band born from the London skate scene who throw together their love of hardcore punk, thrash and groove metal on Break The Ice, their first studio record where these influences are very strong especially on tracks such as the lead guitar filled Cut Throat and the thrashing Cold Nights.
It’s visceral and volatile as any bands who’ve emerged from the UKHC scene always are, songs with an intense communal spirit that are designed to get you moving, be that circle pits, stage dives or throwing high kicks, it’s music for stages and you can feel the livewire energy bristling though every single note of this record.
However there’s also maturity shown, more complexity coming through with a dedicated lead guitarist offering plenty of solos as a accoutrement to the stomping riffs on tracks such as the incensed Pay To Play, the steamrolling, fret sliding monster that is Rat Trap or the Pantera-like Heavens Blue which shows Negative Frame in whole new light.
Negative Frame are a band born from UKHC scene but Break The Ice, is a different beast with the lead guitar parts and the shift in tone towards more melodies in the latter part of the record, there’s evidence that Negative Frame could ascend to the lofty heights of Malevolence and even beyond. 9/10
Sinsid – All That Remains (Pitch Black Records) [Matt Bladen]
Like traditional heavy metal with vocals that sound like prime Blackie Lawless? Then I’d suggest picking up a copy of All That Remains from Norwegian metal act Sinsid.
A band that is built on the foundation of Terje Singh Sidhu’s raw, gritty vocal, they’ve been playing classic heavy metal for 14 years and they’re a band who do thing traditionally. Those vocals, the twin axe riffs, melodic elements and choruses that are built to be shouted back by loyal warriors.
All That Remains is their fourth album and I’d love to tell you it’s a revolutionary piece but it isn’t, this is Sinsid doing what they do with a record of heavy metal that’s got grit and guts, elements of Grim Reaper, Helstar, Accept, Running Wild or any of the NWOBHM/Teutonic crew who play down tuned and tough heavy metal.
There’s galloping work outs like Breaking All The Rules and Sarcophagus, anthemic moments such as the Title Track some strutting street metal on the very W.A.S.P-like Running and the spooky The Horror (I Know), all delivered by a band who live for heavy metal and mixed/mastered to give it an authentic throwback sound of the bands I’ve mentioned.
If you like traditional heavy metal but a bit gnarlier then Sinsid’s new record will get you pumping that fist. 7/10
The Vicious Head Society – Call Of The Void (Crime Records) [Mark Young]
This is one of those albums where there is so much going on, a lot of it good, a lot of it very good and some of it that caused me to skip forward. I have to be honest with you, that prog isn’t my thing at all, but I would suggest that lovers of prog, especially with a technical skew this has (is that just prog?) will go nuts for this.
The Vicious Head Society hail from Ireland, with Graham Keane occupying the creative and driving force behind it. What the band does is provide an outlet for some of the most virtuoso displays of musicianship you will hear anywhere. Some of this is mind blowing, absolutely jaw dropping in execution and in some ways, they hit like a modern day Deep Purple – guitar/keyboard interplay that is something to behold.
Fractured is as good as example of what they can do – pummeling double bass, off-kilter riffs and some soaring cleans that are machine built to sit with each other, its difficult to put into words how good this sounds as opening blast. That technical approach I mentioned starts to creep in, but the real quality is in how this has been put together. You will know what I mean when you hear it, promise. And obviously there is the lead breaks that come in around 4 minutes. Just fabulous stuff.
This is one of those albums where there is so much going on, a lot of it good, a lot of it very good and some of it that caused me to skip forward. I have to be honest with you, that prog isn’t my thing at all, but I would suggest that lovers of prog, especially with a technical skew this has (is that just prog?) will go nuts for this.
The Vicious Head Society hail from Ireland, with Graham Keane occupying the creative and driving force behind it. What the band does is provide an outlet for some of the most virtuoso displays of musicianship you will hear anywhere. Some of this is mind blowing, absolutely jaw dropping in execution and in some ways, they hit like a modern day Deep Purple – guitar/keyboard interplay that is something to behold.
Fractured is as good as example of what they can do – pummeling double bass, off-kilter riffs and some soaring cleans that are machine built to sit with each other, its difficult to put into words how good this sounds as opening blast. That technical approach I mentioned starts to creep in, but the real quality is in how this has been put together. You will know what I mean when you hear it, promise. And obviously there is the lead breaks that come in around 4 minutes. Just fabulous stuff.
The Edge Of Time occupies the same space as Fractured, well built on a solid riff foundation and giving the vocals room to do their thing. I’m not doing the best in describing this but just take my word for this. I need to give a shout out to Nathan Max, who delivers a stunning vocal performance on this and deserves his moment in the sun. These two are belters, dripping with quality. When they are firing like this, I have to say I could listen to it all day long.
It’s when they step off the gas a little that I find myself losing a little bit of interest, such as with Holding On To Forever which after a good start pulls back into what I call ‘soft track three mode’ and makes me skip onwards. The Tide picks up after this, and its back on track, admittedly with a familiar riff build. This one does have those mint chord changes to it, plus more of that stunning guitar work, it can’t fail.
And then they do it again, Ignite opting to lean into that softer style of things, which turns me off almost instantly. I think a lot of its is to do with my personal preferences, and the way that the band have pulled this together. Its their art, not mine but it didn’t work for me. The Void comes back stronger, but still feels light in its touch, driven more by synths which is no bad thing but for me something is missing.
And then they do it again, Ignite opting to lean into that softer style of things, which turns me off almost instantly. I think a lot of its is to do with my personal preferences, and the way that the band have pulled this together. Its their art, not mine but it didn’t work for me. The Void comes back stronger, but still feels light in its touch, driven more by synths which is no bad thing but for me something is missing.
The Edge Of Time Pt 2 comes across like they want it to be an epic piece and certainly possesses all of those required ingredients but I can’t get on with it. That heavier approach that I locked into has gone, at least to this point and its likely that this will excite fans of the scene.
So Speaking of epics, They close up with Distant Lights of Home, which is an epic piece of work. There are elements, that remind me of the Running Man’s soundtrack (the OG one) and yes, it does pick up after a soft opening section. I think that it represents the good and bad in one spot, and I guess that it fits into milieu that they are going for – a journey taking in a number of steps, changes in arrangement and the use of light/dark tones to get to where they need to be. I’ve said this before that some songs don’t need to be the length they are, and if you are going to do this make the song interesting all the way through.
Whether this is derived from an extended jam that has been hammered into shape, I don’t know but depending on your tastes this will either be a climax of climaxes or something you skip onwards.
For me, this is one of those albums that has some amazing moments on it that are undone. Again, you cannot argue with the virtuoso displays on here, or with the vocal performances. Had they kept that momentum built from the first two tracks, we would have been having a different conversation. 6/10
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