Metal Briefs: Unsigned in 2012

I often wonder why people come here. There are probably some who like to read my reviews of the better-known releases. But I think most of you are more interested in the lesser-known. This is all about that.

The Ash Eaters: Ruining You (2012)
3.5 out of 5 stars

Hot on the heels of their fantastic Ibn Ghazi EP, The Ash Eaters have hit us with Ruining You, their first full-length. All five songs are entirely instrumental exercises in Umesh Amtey's distinctive, hypnotic riffing style. When I reviewed the EP, I made a point about how the band has mastered the EP format, and made music so engaging that it doesn't need vocals. However, I'm sad to say this is the first time the band has (slightly) disappointed me. Ruining You doesn't seem as adventurous as Ibn Ghazi, lacking such weird, subtle experiments as the choral backing vocals of "These Are the Inhabitants of the Fire." The lack of vocals is also a much tougher sell at 40 minutes instead of 13. Though it's by no means unpleasant, or even dull, it's just not on the same level as The Ash Eaters' shorter releases.

Serpentine Path: Serpentine Path (2012)

Earthly Trance

The bad news: Unearthly Trance has disbanded. The good news: They’re actually still together, operating under a new name with an expanded lineup (including Tim Bagshaw of Ramesses/ex-Electric Wizard renown).

Other bands have expanded their lineups in the past, adding members and making their sound more complex, and haven’t bothered to change names. But it’s fitting that Serpentine Path has been released under a new moniker, because the music is quite different from anything Unearthly Trance has ever done. But still quite good.

Vesen: This Time It's Personal (2012)

This Time It's Impaled Nazarene

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

What a ridiculous album title. Seriously, this is the kind of thing you would expect from some Nickelback clone or rap artist, but for a long-running blackened/thrash metal band, it comes off as juvenile and embarrassing.

The first track kind of continues with a little bit of this juvenile style. It's much more of a teaser for the album as a whole with the band building in intensity toward the very end. The vocals are presented in a layered format which gives off the impression that they are actually yelling at the listener. So subtlety appears not to be Vesen's strong suit at this point.

Winterfylleth: The Threnody of Triumph (2012)

Wolves in the English Throne Room

I first read about Winterfylleth in Terrorizer, when they were drowning the band’s sophomore album in barrels of EPA (English Praise Ale). Since they’re a British rag, it’s easy to see why they would get their knickers knackered for a band that reinterprets Wolves in the Throne Room for the English countryside.

They do a fine job of it. It’s melancholy black metal in the WITTR style, but with English folk melodies. They’re memorable and affecting. It’s broken up by a couple of short, pure folk tracks. It’s tough to say much more about it, because the market for this kind of thing is flooded, and you should know exactly what to expect. You don’t even have to leave the “W” page of the metal listings to find more (Wodensthrone immediately comes to mind).

Taak: Rist viletsuse teel (2012)

Where Is Estonia?

Taak is a doom band out of Estonia, who have apparently been laying down riffs for more than two decades under a few different names. Like most Americans, I could not point to Estonia on a map. I would kind of vaguely gesture somewhere toward eastern Europe. You might try to be helpful, and say, “It’s by Latvia.” That doesn’t really help. Hmmm. Wikipedia is showing me a location further north than I would have guessed. Practically next-door to Finland, which explains all the crazy markings they put on their letters. I guess that also explains the badass doom metal.

My stereotypical cultural ignorance aside, I could definitely point to plenty of bands that sound like the music on Taak’s third full-length, Rist viletsuse teel. It begins on some upbeat heavy/doom metal reminiscent of Grand Magus’s recent output. That vibe is repeated several times throughout the record, but you can also hear bits and pieces of Candlemass and Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath. The only thing that sets them apart from those better-known influences is the synthesizer, which usually sticks to electric organ mode but also sounds like theremin or other instruments at different times.

Dark Americana Briefs

Darker

Previously I've covered the "dark Americana" vibe mostly through the folk genre, but it goes beyond just folk (and beyond just America). The term "Americana" more generally refers to any uniquely American form of music, whether folk, country, blues, and more.

Crippled Black Phoenix: (Mankind) The Crafty Ape (2012)
4.5 out of 5 stars

Crippled Black Phoenix is a supergroup of members made famous through work with Electric Wizard, Iron Monkey, Mogwai, and others. The prog rock of (Mankind) The Crafty Ape does not strictly fall within the confines of dark Americana, but it is as much 16 Horsepower and Ennio Morricone as it is Pink Floyd. But it explores even outside that wide swath, getting extremely epic at times, introspective at others. It's hard to imagine they could cram this many ideas into anything less than a spectacular 87 minute double-album.



Buy (Mankind) the Crafty Ape

Kvlt of Hiob: Thy Kingly Mask (2012)

Funeral Mood

Guest review by Patrick, proprietor of Beards, etc.

Kvlt of Hiob are a German black metal duo who released their debut album, Thy Kingly Mask, in May of this year. It is therefore unsurprising that this was my first encounter with their material.

First off, these guys are nothing like your typical underground black metal group. The dark, evil sound is quite clearly present, but they lack the rough, utterly unpolished ferocity of many other young black metal bands. Instead, they experiment a great deal with their song structures and they place most of their emphasis on atmosphere (but not in a "let's rip off old Burzum" way). The songs tend to be fairly slow paced and spacious, with effects and audio clips that create strong images of a dark medieval dungeon. The vocals through many such stretches are essentially the echoing, unintelligible screams of some prisoner being tortured in a distant, unseen cell. The unusually clear production allows all this to be audibly distinguishable, which I personally like but which may bother more purist black metal listeners.

All Hail the Yeti: All Hail the Yeti (2012)

Abominable

A lot of you are going to hate All Hail the Yeti. I’m going to drop a few names here that don’t exactly inspire good feelings amongst extreme metal fans. This band is radio-ready. They’ve got plenty of obvious metalcore in their sound. But I like it anyway.

The L.A. band takes poppy Southern sludge a la Mastodon’s The Hunter, strips it down, and goes the extra mile toward mass appeal with a radio-metalcore template and huge helpings of Slipknot. The only part of that sentence I don’t like is the “metalcore” aspect. I’ve made it no secret I’m a fan of Slipknot. And I think Soilwork’s best, uh, work was in Stabbing the Drama and Sworn to a Great Divide. With my credibility at an all-time high, I ask you to read on.

Exhumed: Vanilla Fudge

Yum

Vanilla Fudge is often cited as an important proto-metal band. In 1967, their self-titled debut was filled with cover songs played at about half speed, anticipating Sabbath's slow-rolling crush. They infused all of the songs (originally by the Beatles, Cher, The Supremes, and others) with a thick layer of psychedelia.