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Unchosen Ones – Divine Power Flowing (Blood Fire Death) [Cherie Curtis]

Unchosen Ones brings us Divine Power Flowing, which is melodic metal with inspiration from classic heavy/ power metal favourites by combining showy piercing riffs and with expressive and emotive lyrics and vocals. What becomes apparent immediately is the stunning voice and nicely layered vocals providing some great musical fullness without being distracting or overwhelming, which makes for a lovely sounding all-rounder, it’s a casual listen that’s fit for most occasions.

There’s a mixture of intensity throughout, there’s something for everyone. I say this a lot when it comes to power metal because of course there’s 80s elements, but what sets the Unchosen Ones apart is their creativity and their ability to think outside the box, It’s not just nostalgia or a copy of a copy with these guys.

What’s interesting is their overall concept, it’s dark high fantasy with vintage video game synthetic sound jotted around. Divine Power Flowing has a lot of world building. Its cinematic and sounds the way a Zack Snyder film looks, it toes the line between mainstream and dated. 

There’s lots of attention to detail when it comes to atmosphere, there’s some well executed string openings paired with rushing drums for a dramatic build of intensity with some brass elements, techno clicking beats added in very subtly for a dynamic swell of texture. The stylistic verse deliveries alongside some satisfying metal vocals lead swiftly to a catchy and mainstream sounding chorus which all leads to a nicely wrapped and technical guitar solos.

Overall, it’s a solid album and it’s very well executed. Divine Power Flowing is likeable, but to me personally – it’s not life changing and does leave me wanting a bit more as it’s very much an everyday listen. I feel like it would suit being featured on a duke box in a dive bar or played on a long drive. If you’re bored of some standard melodic metal and are looking for something different but not neck breakingly heavy this one is for you. 7/10

Stabbing – Eon Of Obscenity (Century Media) [Matt Bladen]

Extremity is the name of the game with Texas death crew Stabbing. Eon Of Obscurity not only perfectly encapsulates their brutal death metal genre tag but it takes it further. This is vulgur display of death metal which will crush cinder blocks using it’s skull.

At times it’s claustrophobic, at others horrific, this is band who push to the nth degree, with old school death, brutal death and grindcore all called upon as influences, the band members combined their talents in 2021 to create Stabbing, an angry and violent name for an evening more angry and volatile band.

After the release of their debut album in 2022 they spent a huge amount of time on tour and while supporting Suffocation on tour vocalist Bridget Lynch was asked to step in for their vocalist Ricky Meyers, seamlessly joining the band on stage while also solidifying Stabbing as a band to watch out for.

She and they could hold their own with one of death metal originators then there must be something special about them. It’s was these shows that got them signed to Century Media and it was back into the studio for album number two.

So this is what we have in our hands and in our ears, another slab of brutal death that has been crafted to be as extreme as it can be, riffs (Marvin Ruiz) that carve like a buzzsaw through flesh, a snare (Aron Hetsko) that bites you every time it’s hit, fuzzing bass (Matt Day) that gurgles your insides and vocals that go from gargling gutturals to horrific yelps.

Lynch wanting to do more vocally on this record having not been satisfied with the debut. It really adds something, as there’s times you times you think it can’t possibly be a human and that very much the aim. Eon Of Obscurity revels in it’s rawness, it’s savage and extreme but with a refined focus on what they want to be.

Kicking you in the head from the first track until the last Stabbing post their intent with a nail gun on Eon Of Obscenity. 8/10

Stargo – Violet Skies (Broken Music) [Joe Guatieri]

Stargo are a Stoner Rock band straight out of Dortmund, in Germany. So far they’ve put out their debut Parasight back in 2020, then they followed it up quickly with an EP called Dammbruch in 2021. Now after a good few years, they bring us their second studio album with Violet Skies.

The record opens with Interstellar, it blends Stoner Rock with classic Heavy Metal. The vocalist sounds like a mixture of Chris Jericho, yes really, Bruce Dickinson and Ozzy Osbourne, an odd combination to say the least. It’s upbeat and energetic, prioritising speed with a handful of twists and turns along the way but unfortunately the Bass finds itself buried in the mix.

Going into track two we have, Shine Like Diamonds. The bass has more of a presence here which I was glad about, though for some reason the song feels like it starts halfway through as if something has already happened , no introduction, just build-up. There is a standout moment here where the solo starts at 2:21 where it takes the riff from the song and escalates upon it. With a whoosh of effects and feedback, it’s a rocket ship taking off.

Later on we go into track seven with Tharsis. It’s an instrumental number and stands as the longest track on the album, clocking in at just over 10 minutes. It’s flashy and sparkly, attempting something a bit more heavy and psychedelic, like Stargo’s attempt at an Atomic Bitchwax type of jam. It suffers simply from doing too much, the more atmospheric section takes place near the back end of the track when really it makes so much more sense starting with it.

Overall with Violet Skies, Stargo have just put a single drop of water into the ocean of Stoner Rock out there. Sure they wear their influences on their sleeve, the likes of Kyuss and Iron Maiden come to mind immediately but it doesn’t do much to take them forwards and carve their name into the tree. Only a handful of moments that really stuck out to me, sure there is technical proficiency, the band are clearly good with their instruments but it’s a standard affair. 5/10