Solothus: Summoned from the Void (2013)

A Band to Watch

I reviewed the demo from Finland’s Solothus at the end of 2011, declaring them “a band to watch.” The record was straight-forward, simple death/doom but with a lot of great things going for it. There is just something special about certain metal demos.

Now the band is signed to Memento Mori and they’ve unleashed their debut proper, Summoned from the Void. They’ve kept a lot of what you could hear on the demo: dynamic tempos from slow to mid-paced and back again, hefty death growls, and a caveman level of sophistication, to name a few. But they departed significantly from their demo in at least two key respects, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Summary Judgments, Volume 4

Bags

Sometimes, it's just not my bag. Sometimes, I've already got a bag like it, and I'm happy with that. Sometimes, it's a bag of shit.

As always, the X out of Y songs tells you how far I made it into the record before shelving it.

Persefone: Spiritual Migration (2013)
(5 out of 13 songs)

I haven't read the site in a couple years, but I bet the guys over at MetalSucks absolutely shit their pants over Persefone. It's very high-quality prog-metal with (synthesized) symphonic elements, like a heavier version of Symphony X (or to a lesser extent, Dream Theater). I'm not so much into that kind of thing anymore, but this was good enough to hook me for a while anyway. The thing that eventually turned me off was, I can hear how much these guys are a part of the metalcore generation. They have some of the rhythms I hate from metalcore, and the vocals (both clean and harsh) are right out of that school of metal. I'm just too old for this, but for what it is--it's pretty awesome.

Dark Americana Briefs, Part 7

Home and Far Away

Riitaoja: Mantereelle (2013)
3.5 out of 5 stars

Now here's something a little out of the ordinary for this series: a Finnish band with Finnish lyrics. But the fact it's Americana is undeniable, with Western-sounding electric guitars and banjos, plus a bit of harmonica, and an overall American folk vibe through most of the music. The promo spiel referred to Wovenhand (possibly because the promoter was catering to me specifically?) but it's a fair comparison. That's not to say the European-ness is absent. The vocal style (both female and male) is decidedly un-Americana, and a few lighter tracks sound very Euro. Complete with bass and understated drums, the best songs on here are fantastic, even bordering on heavy (as the title track). Besides the great songs there are also a few very good droning tunes, as well as some weak ones that might sound like lullabies or lifeless indie rock. Overall, much more good than bad.

Folk Briefs, Part 5

Folkin' It Up

Comus: First Utterance (1971)
4.5 out of 5 stars

After hearing Comus, a whole lot of things started to make sense to me. Hexvessel clearly learned a lot from this psych-folk/prog-rock band, for one thing. But perhaps less obvious (until 2011 anyway) is the influence on a certain band who lifted the line "My arms, your hearse" from "Drip Drip." Unhinged male vocals, acoustic guitar, violin, flute, and lots of getting weird is what First Utterance is about. At least, if you think a song that methodically deconstructs itself and eventually turns into tribal howling is weird. It's also extremely engaging, dynamic, and in spite of its bizarreness, shockingly catchy. I can't stop listening.

Laurasia Awaits Us: Apathy Remains Victorious (2013)

Drone That's Not Dull

Laurasia Awaits Us is a two-piece, studio-only band out of Finland whose debut Apathy Remains Victorious was just released on Domestic Genocide. The PR spiel accompanying the release calls them a post-black metal band, but I think it’s more accurate to call them a doom metal band with drone and blackened elements. I’m not normally one to entertain much of the drone variety of music, but there is definitely something compelling about this one.

The record can be understood generally through a close examination of the first song. It starts out as pure doom, with a slow and heavy riff. The black-ness is represented with a somewhat hypnotic lead that enters the fray. It isn’t long before synths come in and the guitars go clean, a strange foreground to the distant, tortured vocals in the back. This morphs into a much more interesting riff that they play with for a while. Then everything goes quiet, cue the storm sounds and screams with eerie synth before finally a very strangely distorted lead closes the music and the storm sounds bring it to a close. So, even though the way they use their riffs and play with sound is indicative of a drone approach, Apathy remains interesting because it is dynamic, not sitting on one idea for too long, balancing tension and reward.

Metal Briefs: Death Metal Quickies

A Quick Death, Part 2

Lately I've found that death metal can be particularly satisfying in small doses, often. So I keep an eye out for short, intense death metal outbursts like some of these.

Bone Sickness: Alone in the Grave (2013)
4 out of 5 stars

Bone Sickness plays some of the filthiest and fastest death metal on the planet, with some of the most unclean solos you'll hear in 2013. In contrast to Acephalix, these guys put crust into a wholly American style of death. Think Autopsy running so fast that pieces of their instruments start flying off in every direction. They do slow things down a little on the title track, but not for long. This is a hell of a ride, and even though it's only an 18 minute full-length, it's genuinely every bit as satisfying as any half-hour.



(Couldn't find an embed for this release, but this demo track should give you a rough idea. The album releases April 30.)

Ensiferum: Unsung Heroes (2012)

Come Back Jari

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Ensiferum were kind of at the forefront of the whole folk metal wave of the 21st century. They took a sound that had been experimented with and twisted it and perfected it. Prior to Ensiferum breaking through there were very few bands that could be considered folk metal bands. Not to say that they were the first, but they definitely helped bring about the wave of bands that emerged in the years to come.

Folk metal has never been one of my favorite genres. I certainly enjoy some bands, but I typically do not go out of my way to seek out new bands unless they are doing something that interests me. Despite this, I have found that I generally enjoyed Ensiferum in their early days, but I have not liked much of their material after Jari Mäenpää left the band. He seemed to be the major element that drew me to Ensiferum's work. This is the first album I have heard from Ensiferum in quite awhile. Unfortunately it may be a while before I check them out again.

Convulse: Inner Evil (EP 2013)

Rising from the Crypt

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Convulse has been missing in action for years now. The band once released one of the most interesting death metal albums ever at a time when death metal was still fresh and new. As such, they were often thrown in the same conversation as groups like Demilich, groups that brought something strange and exciting to death metal. They released one more album after World Without God and were seemingly lost to time. They re-emerged this year.

Owing to the re-release of their stunning debut album and the revitalization of old school death metal, Convulse have come back from the dead. This is just a teaser unfortunately, a very brief two-song return to the fold. With any luck it does mean that we will be seeing a new full-length from the Finnish death metallers.

Vorum: Poisoned Void (2013)

Oh Yeah, That's Why I Love Death Metal

I used to do death metal album reviews to the tune of about one a week, maybe even better. That rate has fallen off drastically, but it’s not because the genre no longer interests me. The output is what’s lacking. Aside from Horrendous and Ataraxy, 2012 simply didn’t have much on the bone that was sufficiently rotten to satisfy my zombie cravings. I still list it as one of my two favorite genres (along with doom), despite the fact no death metal managed to even get an honorable mention from me in my end-of-2012 list.

Thankfully, 2013 is already shaping up to be much better. Case in point: Finland’s Vorum, and debut Poisoned Void. Vorum did a split in 2010 with the incredible Vasaeleth, so as you might expect their maggot-ridden bread and butter is old-school death metal. In contrast to their American counterparts, they’re not here for swirling, hellish Incantation-worship. These Finns are all about the riff, Altars of Madness style.

Kuolemanlaakso: Uljas uusi maailma (2012)

Uljas uusi maailma . . . Vai onko?

Kuolemanlaakso is, if you couldn’t tell by the name, a Finnish band. Originally a one-man project, it is now a full band who set out to imitate Triptykon. That’s not my assessment; that’s what their PR says. Imitating Triptykon is as noble a pursuit as any, so I eagerly dug into their debut.

What I found isn’t exactly what was promised. “Etsin,” definitely, has that sort of ominous and eerie death/doom with plenty of string bending, as does “Kuun lapset.” Neither of them exactly captures that soul-crushing mood that Warrior and Co. can perpetrate without effort, even though Triptykon's own V. Santura is on board. But Kuolemanlaakso do an admirable job of reaching for that. On the whole, however, the record betrays a lot more influences than just the one.

Metal Briefs: Death/Doom 2012

The Best of Both Worlds

Death and doom are the chocolate and peanut butter of metal. There is no better combination. Have a few Reese's cups.

Hooded Menace: Effigies of Evil
4 out of 5 stars

How can I possibly review an album like Effigies of Evil, the third from Finland's Hooded Menace? It's such a straight-forward example of death/doom, with extended, deep death growls and slow, crushing riffs. I can't say, "This is how it's different." And it's done very well, with solid riffs, solid songwriting, great control of varying tempos, and great production. I can't say, "This is what they did wrong." And I am, sadly, not familiar enough with old zombie movies to write some kind of extended metaphor about how their music perfectly reflects their inspiration. So, all I can say is this: If you like death/doom, you'll like Effigies of Evil.



Buy Effigies of Evil

Summary Judgments, Vol. 2

The same drill as last time: Here are five releases that I began listening to, but decided that either I wouldn't enjoy listening to much more, or that I wouldn't be able to write a decent review. The number assigned (X out of X) is how many songs I got into the record.

Hero's Fate: Human Tides: Black Light Inception (2012)
(4 songs out of 12)

I sampled a little of Human Tides: Black Light Inception by Hero's Fate and heard one of those melodic metal ballads with some Amorphisms, and thought I might like it. As I got further into it, I realized that's all it was: melodic metal ballads, packaged as melodic death metal purely because of the vocals. In truth, it's a dull, slow- to mid-paced rhythm section with morose leads and growled vocals. A song or two would be OK, but a whole album of this?

Arkhamin Kirjasto: Torches Ablaze (2012)

Under the Radar

So, apparently “New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal” (NWOFHM) is a thing, at least according to about a half-dozen Finnish bands. I’m not so sure that’s enough to qualify as a “wave” at all. Whether there’s anything to it, I don’t know, but if Arkhamin Kirjasto is any indication, a better term for what’s going on might be “Children of Children of Bodom” (COCOB).

Don’t for one second take that to mean they’re ripping off COB, because they’re not. Like the much more famous band, they take an extreme metal sensibility to an ordinarily much more melodic and accessible style of music. Where COB does a kind of death-meets-power-metal thing, AK is taking death to classic heavy metal. And it is so very, very good.

Hexvessel: No Holier Temple (2012)

No Holier Temple is the sophomore album of folk project Hexvessel, helmed by Kvohst of a handful of metal bands. There is no shortage of metal musicians taking up folk music on both sides of the Atlantic, with the Europeans tending to go solidly traditional and the Americans taking up country-inspired or Appalachian folk blended with rock sensibilities. That is analogous to what Hexvessel is doing, in updating a relatively modern folk style with rock influence. But their focus on 60’s psychedelic folk makes them more akin to The Devil’s Blood than any of Nuerot’s folk acts.

The band’s debut, Dawnbearer, found Hexvessel struggling to define their voice. A handful of songs were hook-oriented songs that could have been hits among the hippie generation, while a handful more were trance-inducing psychedelic deep cuts that didn’t work nearly as well as intended. But with No Holier Temple, they have clearly found their footing.

Punk Briefs: 2012

Do You Feel Lucky?

While it's obvious that punk has influenced metal a great deal, it's still surprising to me how much overlap there can be in the spheres of fandom, press, and PR. Southern Lord is playing a big part in that right now, as Tuesday's review of Xibalba is only the latest of their hardcore releases covered here.

I never listened to punk as a teen, and up until recently my entire punk repertoire consisted of the Misfits and Samhain. But as PR companies and labels have been making them available to me, I've given punk a chance. It's still pretty rare that I'll find something that I really like, but it's out there.

Beastmilk: Use Your Deluge 7" (2012)
4 out of 5 stars

After Pinkish Black and Alaric piqued my interest in deathrock, I happened across a promo for Finland’s Beastmilk. A cow is, by definition, a beast, so I guess they just really like regular milk. The promo materials make reference to Christian Death, whom Josh Haun identified as the source of deathrock. I still haven't listened to them yet. What I hear is a more gothic version of 80's Killing Joke. Then again, the more I listen to 80's Killing Joke, the more I hear their influence everywhere. Slow, heavy bass lines undergird quasi-metallic guitars in post-punk beats, with gothic clean singing in 80's New Wave style hooks over the top. In fact, the 80's figure pretty largely in Beastmilk's universe, as their songs make a lot of reference to atom bombs and Russia. I mean, who sings about Russia anymore, more than two decades after the end of the Cold War? Anyway, I really like it.

Summary Judgments, Vol. 1

This is sort of a new feature here at Full Metal Attorney. As the number of promos I have access to has increased, I have changed my criteria somewhat for a summary judgment, i.e., a very brief review of something that I didn't listen to all the way through. It may be that I just decided I didn't like it, or it may be that I decided there was no way I could write a full review of it that would be worth reading. Either way, I didn't devote enough time to it to give it a fair shake, so take its appearance here for what it's worth. I'm going to gather up handfuls of these at a time and tell you what my thoughts were, and I'll let you know how far I got into it.

Sophicide: Perdition of the Sublime (2012)
(8 songs out of 11)

Sophicide is one of those technical death metal bands who can't write a song. They are extremely proficient musicians, but the music sounds as if they lifted sections from better bands or reverse-engineered them into something slightly different. How else can you explain the Egyptian-inflected Nile-isms, the Opethian acoustic break, and a Necrophagist buffet of severed parts? It sounds cool, guys, but I've already heard all those bands before, and the some of these combinations do not work.

Preview at Decibel
Buy Perdition of the Sublime

Horse Latitudes: Awakening (2012)

Horses Are Heavy

If I remember my sixth grade history, the Horse Latitudes are parts of the ocean with little wind. The (questionable) story is that explorers of the 16th Century would be stuck on calm seas for so long that they could no longer water their horses, killing them as an act of mercy. Or the sailors would run out of provisions and resort to eating the horses or drinking their blood. Brutal.

Apparently, the band took their name from a Doors song, an unlikely source. Unlikely, because the Doors had no bass, whereas Horse Latitudes have no guitar. The Finnish band's unorthodox lineup consists of two bassists (who also handle effects) and a drummer/vocalist.

Förgjord: Sielunvihollinen (2012)

Adversary

Finland's black metal scene is less talked-about than the classic Norwegian or Greek scenes. It's less talked-about than the current US or French scenes. But it's certainly not unimportant, with Impaled Nazarene being perhaps the best-known name. Yet, my exposure to it has been extremely limited, coming mostly in the form of very unusual entities like the psychedelic Oranssi Pazuzu or the cheesy black/gothic/symphonic In Silentio Noctis.

So, consider Förgjord's Sielunvihollinen my introduction to Finnish black metal proper. The band has been around, apparently, since 1995, but this is only their second full-length release.

Barren Earth: The Devil's Resolve (2012)

It Removes Tough Stains . . . and It's Evil!

As far as normal people are concerned, a famous musician is only allowed to be in one band. If they hear that someone is going to be in a different one, they assume the old band broke up. This was something about metal that, for me at least, took some getting used to. Every band has a revolving door (or two), and nobody is a member of just one band.

Given this environment, it's pretty tough to say what's a supergroup, and what's just a "side project" or a second (or third, or eighth) band, or who's famous enough to make a true supergroup. But by any reasonable standard, Barren Earth qualifies, featuring as it does members or ex-members of Amorphis, Swallow the Sun, and Kreator. The Devil's Resolve is their second full-length album.

Cataleptic: Strength Within (2011)

Groove vs. Redundancy

Guest review by Patrick, proprietor of Beards Etc., home of metal, beards, and more.

Cataleptic are a Finnish death-doom group who released their full-length debut Strength Within last December. They have released some previous demos, but prior to this record I had never heard the band.

There are only 5 tracks on the album, but 3 of them eclipse the 10 minute mark so the total length is respectable. As you would expect, the music here is heavy and slow-paced. The guitar chugs away on the early portions of the album, playing riffs which are often simplistic yet effective in a punk sort of way. Here they are just slowed way down and played with a much beefier tone. The later tracks move into more melodic territory, still not getting particularly complex or varied with the riffs, but managing a clear shift in tone that keeps the album from growing stale as it progresses. The bass makes its presence felt, adding some depth to the mix. This is particularly true on the monumental 15-minute closer "Secluded Path" where it departs distinctly from the guitar lines in several places. The drums, as is typical in slower metal, are used sparsely to pace and augment the music without ever rising to the foreground.