Bristol have something in the water there. There is a pool of extreme metal talent that just seem to be able to do it and as further evidence of this, up stride Embodiment with their first release since 2020 with a 4 track EP of the harshest nature. In a world where bands are in love with an instrumental opening, there is no messing about here from these.
Its so tightly wrapped during those speedy moments that when it loops back to that opening measure it lands so much better. The lead that frankly dominates from about 2 minutes and 30 seconds is spell binding, so much so that you lose track of everything else. And then they bring more heaviness in that closing minute that is just crushing. And I mean crushing.
Its probably some of the most exhilarating metal that’s come out this year, 4 perfectly built tracks that I’m hoping preface a full length release from them. This is a work of art, simply put. Absolute stormer.
9/10North Sea Echoes – How To Cast A Shadow (Metal Blade Records) [Matt Bladen]Veteran prog metal musicians Ray Alder and Jim Mathos (both Fates Warning), flex their muscles with North Sea Echoes, keeping the musical cohesion they have cultivated over many years but within a different set of soundscapes than they are normally a part of.
Their debut record
Really Good Terrible Things matched the emotional power of Alder’s voice with a style of writing from guitarist Jim Mathos that was driven by electronic music genres merging with rock, it was introspective and carried a quiet intensity that appealed to long time fans of the duo but also cast them in new roles.
The follow up
How To Cast A Shadow, takes things further, getting heavier in all aspects the riffs on
Enjoy The View are turn up the distortion while the electronic thumps are now combines with real drums from Dennis Leeflang, to give these songs more dynamic and natural heaviness, like the hard rocking All That Comes After.
Matheos has been writing extensively in between the last NSE record and for this one he had 25 songs prepared, sending them over to Alder who chose the ones he wanted to work with. The ones that suits his ever excellent and emotive vocal style from the anthemic single
I’ll Leave A Light On, the creeping thump of
All Fall Away and the beautiful
Good Enough all highlight his talents.
Matheos on the other hand expands his wiring style more on this second album, creating some moody pop rock ala Del Amitri on
Villains Or Saints, as
Revenge goes into the dark sensuality of Depeche Mode while the
Title Track invokes some industrial dreamscapes.
In my review of their debut I mentioned Lunatic Soul, Silent Skies and the more ambient side of Devin, and all these comparisons still stand on
How To Cast A Shadow, this second collaboration between prog metal veterans does gain a bit more metallic weight.
8/10
Faustian – Parable Of The Sewer (Apocalyptic Witchcraft) [Mark Young]
Supergroups, by their definition are a collection of individuals who are already established as solo artists or from groups, again already established. Your personal definition may be driven by how famous (relatively) they are within that chosen genre.
In some cases, metal, specifically extreme metal supergroups are maybe more deserving of that tag. Or you might see that and it immediately puts you off. Again, its dependent on your taste. Of the bands that make up Faustian, I have heard of Werewolves, I reviewed their Ugliest Of All album, and just as a reminder to them that they: They.Must.Not.Slow.Down.
In any event, it doesn’t matter to me who is in this band, they key is that it either:
Kicks ass.
Does not kick ass.
That is my starting point, and luckily, I Curse You, the lead off point starts off like a bomb detonating. The primordial energy that I’ve associated with Werewolves is here, but its emboldened by a different method of madness. It black metal but distilled from a place that is hotter than hell when it wants to be. Its not brittle in its production like others, everything is captured so well, but the one thing that is here is that intent, of moving beyond simple brutality into something else.
Broken Better pulls back the blackened cloak to throw in an electric display that takes the traditional and bends it to their will. The change in tack and willingness to do this where they could in all honesty have written 9 versions of, I Curse You and then be applauded.
One thing that is noticeable is that the songs are filled with ideas that don’t overstay their welcome. They speed when they need to, reduce when required but its never done without meaning something in the context of the song. Nothing is presented without meaning, and that is what I love about this.
As we move along Immaculate blasts off like the best black metal does, melody lines moving like a blur, drums blasting and guttural vocals are all in place. It’s a typical example of what you can expect from them, of being able to build music that is based on a genre that can often leave you cold and uninspired. This constant and consistent execution doesn’t falter at any point, its like they have chanced upon a fountain of riffs and ideas that have formed into extreme metal goodness.
As a rule of thumb, the success of an album (at least for me) is based on how it starts and then how it ends. We have all been there, a band starts off strong and stays at a decent level only to drop an absolute clanger at the end. No danger of that happening here; Tenements (Only The Wicked Walk In Circles) brings that mix of speed and classic black metal melodic lines into play, it calls back to Broken Better in how its put together, but it isn’t just a repeat.
This is the thing, the way that they have been able to this right through is top class. And then they drop their final statement: The Rot Shall Inherit The Earth. July has been very good to me; there has been some blinders released and this is one of them. Its one of the strongest closing pieces you will hear in 2026. It’s the sum of all parts smashed into a cohesive shape.
There is nothing wasted, nothing added that isn’t needed. It is an exercise in pure metal craft that a lot of bands would give all of their extremities to be able produce something like this. Jump on this immediately. 9/10
I almost forgot – It Kicks ass. Or kicks Arse. Depending on where you live.
Changing Places In The Fire – Changing Places In The Fire (Wild Thing Records) [Matt Bladen]
Born in exile, Changing Places In The Fire is the product of five Venezuelan musicians that are spread across the globe, this is their way of expressing the emotions about their forced collective migration, the effects it has had on them as people and the political ramifications that have led to it. Venezuela if you didn’t know went from being a dictatorship into effectively controlled by the USA.
So there’s a lot of real life experience he band say these songs were written in a period of upheaval and that the “album has lived with us for years” so now it’s the time for them to share their music with a wider audience courtesy of Wild Thing Records.
Falling between the alternative, prog and post metal scenes, Changing Places In The Fire can’t really be nailed down to one approach, in the blurb there are references to Dredg, Deftones, Oceansize, and Porcupine Tree, casting the net pretty wide.
Changing Places In The Fire open their debut record with some Tool-like grooving on The Epiphany Tree while Home blends Rush with Marillion, these two tracks begin the album very strongly, putting the band very much in my wheelhouse as a listener.
Progressive but without the need for too much showing off, song focussed to tell these stories of alienation and as we Welsh say hiraeth. A Reason To Fall carries on with the melodic post metal dreaminess as Fury And The Sound reminds me of Karnivool, due to the varied and passionate vocals of Daz Medrano.
Whether it’s dreamy post metal realms of the aforementioned A Reason To Fall or heavier sound such as Learn To Die, the the drums of Miguel Ángel Moliné are always sturdy and inventive, locking down the potency of the massive The Epiphany Tree.
In the melodic areas keyboard player Alfredo Ovalles adds the orchestrations and electronics, keeping tracks As If You Were Free feeling cinematic and bringing ambience to The Door Left Behind. Javier Landaeta and Antonio Silva share the guitar duties shifting magnificently between the ultra prog metal workout of A Case Against The World to the acoustically laced Into The Unknown.
There’s just so much talent on display and a synchronicity here that it feels like they were all in the same room rather than various places around the world. The debut album from Changing Places In The Fire is uniting force between all the players displaced but connected through their music. 9/10
