This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Church Of The Sea, Elvenking, Epica, Exorcism, Impaled, In The Woods…, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Metempsychosis, Ryoji Shinomoto, Tower, Versatile and Ye Banished Privateers.
The ratings are on a 5-star scale.
Church Of The Sea – Eva (These Hands Melt)
Downtrodden doom metal fuses with clanking industrial noise on Church Of The Sea’s Eva. This trio uses samples and programmed drums for its rhythmic clash, as the guitar is trapped in a perpetual state of fuzz. Meanwhile, vocalist Irene is a beacon of light with her soothing croons. Imagine Chelsea Wolfe if she got into a Ministry kick, and that’s where this band lands.
Eva contorts the tale of Adam and Eve where the latter is not seen as a sinner but a freethinker challenging norms. All of this is done in a state of active restraint for 30 minutes; enough time for the group to tell their story, as any longer would head the album towards a repetitious cycle they wouldn’t be able to come back from. As it stands now, thanks to the dominant use of synths/samples, Eva is even bleaker than a lot of other doom metal.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Elvenking – Reader Of The Runes – Luna (Reaper)
The Italian power/folk metal troupe Elvenking began the Reader Of The Runes trilogy in 2019 with Divination, followed by Rapture in 2023. Now they are concluding it with Reader Of The Runes – Luna. Lyrically it connects all the characters in the story and answers all the mysteries from the previous albums.
Like the previous two installments, Luna is cinematic, atmospheric, bombastic and melodic. Folk influences are there throughout, but are especially notable on tracks like “Gone Epoch” and “The Weeping.” Elvenking do a nice job changing up tempos and textures to add ample variety. The album closes with the 11-minute epic “Reader Of The Runes – Book II,” a dynamic and engrossing composition with influences of bands like Iron Maiden and Blind Guardian. Reader Of The Runes – Luna effectively concludes the trilogy, opening up the possibilities to what Elvenking will do next.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Epica – Aspiral (Nuclear Blast)
When a band has been around for a while, they can fall into familiar patterns in creation and execution. For their latest album Aspiral, the veteran Dutch symphonic metal group Epica decided to change up their process, both in writing and recording, resulting in more collaboration and an effort to capture the band’s live energy in the studio.
Epica’s sweeping symphonic style is fully intact with their combination of heaviness, melody and atmosphere topped with Simone Simons’ ethereal vocals contrasted by Mark Jansen’s harsh vocals. It’s challenging to balance cinematic atmospheres and complex arrangements with good old fashioned riffs and hooks, but Epica make it look easy. More focused tracks like “Cross The Divide” “Apparition” are contrasted by lengthy opuses like the three “A New Age Dawns” songs. With Aspiral, Epica showcase the songwriting chops and musicianship they’ve honed over the past two decades while also maintaining the passion and emotion that connects them so seamlessly with their listeners.
Rating: 4
(Chad Bowar)
Exorcism – Spectral Aggression (Self)
Hailing from the city that gave us Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, up and coming thrash quartet Exorcism have given us their debut EP Spectral Aggression. It checks all the boxes a thrash metal fan would enjoy while adding their own extra twists to it.
Though the EP has only four songs, “Strike of the Match” stands out among them with its shredding guitar solo opener. Though this is Exorcism’s debut EP, moving forward it would be interesting to see how they do with a full length album and if they are able to maintain this strong momentum.
Rating: 3.5
(Dalton Husher)
Impaled – Demo Medicale (Tankcrimes)
Long forgotten by Impaled, this 2002 demo was thrust back into existence when the band’s ex-guitarist/vocalist Andrew LaBarre handed it over to his bandmates. His pivotal role in resurrecting this demo, followed by his untimely death, casts a shadow over this unearthed relic, transforming it into a haunting tribute to his indelible mark on Impaled’s legacy. Raw and relentless, Demo Medicale is the blood-soaked precursor to their monumental full-length triumph, Mondo Medicale.
This demo is a death metal/grindcore onslaught, overflowing with savage riffs, guttural roars, and a twisted medical theme that revels in the grotesque. Released later in 2002, Mondo Medicale honed the edges and tamed the chaos, but Demo Medicale retains a primal, unfiltered essence that diehard fans will relish. The differences, whether in production grit or subtle arrangement tweaks, provide a glimpse into Impaled’s evolution. Brought back from the brink by LaBarre’s hand, this forgotten chapter stands as both a gory milestone and a poignant echo of a talent silenced too soon.
Rating: 4
(Arash Khosronejad)
In The Woods… – Otra (Prophecy)
In the Woods… are a band with a long and prolific career. Their style has always been difficult to define. However, on Otra, the music clearly leans toward progressive death metal with touches of black metal here and there. This album is an exercise in subtlety and detail. It features heavy sections but is carried by its melodies and emotional depth.
I can’t help but notice that the songwriting is Otra’s strongest asset. My only criticism is that I would’ve liked more variation. The tracks contain excellent ideas and progressions, but they linger on them a bit too long for my taste. That said, it doesn’t detract from the fact that Otra is engaging, deep, and fascinating.
Rating: 3.5
(Carlos Tirado)
The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller Supplement I: The Ephemeral Glades (Cruz Del Sur)
Slough Feg’s 2003 album Traveller is widely considered to be among the band’s best albums. It was a concept about mutant half dog, half men traveling the cosmos, chock full of enough dual guitar harmonies to make peak era Thin Lizzy blush, while satisfying those looking for a science fiction adventure; a real win-win. Fast forward over 22 years and the EP Traveller Supplement I: The Ephemeral Glades aims to pick up where the adventure left off.
“Knife World” opens this 7-song set and feels right at home with the original material, allowing a proper run of the album and EP in a unified fashion. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Scalzi has not lost a step over all these years as he remains one of the best vocalists in the genre, helping to create a setting that cannot be described as anything other than a Slough Feg recording. Also check out “Ephemeral Glades” and “Magnetic Fluctuations” to get more of the mix of the fast and slow plus the band’s unique folklore for maximum effect. Really happy to see the band continue to add on to such a fan favorite album.
Rating: 4
(Tom Campagna)
Metempsychosis – Metempsychosis (Black Lodge)
Swedish thrash/death band Metempsychosis released a demo in 1995, changed their name to Mournful, released another demo and broke up. There are thousands of groups like this; usually forgotten, with the only legacy left behind being a page on the Metal Archives site. Not Metempsychosis though, as 30 years later, they have revitalized their demo tracks by re-recording them as a surprise for drummer Dennis Ekdahl’s bachelor party.
Though these songs were written decades ago, being able to revamp them in the present gives them a leg up over the rough quality of the demo. Speaking of the demo, the original version of these tracks is included as a curiosity and nothing more. This entire self-titled release is really in that vein, more of a snapshot into four musicians in their youth trying to find their way and never quite getting there.
Rating: 3
(Dan Marsicano)
Ryoji Shinomoto – Children Of Bushido (Napalm)
For his first solo album, Ryujin vocalist/guitarist Ryoji Shinomoto decided to pay homage to one of his influences, the late great Alexi Laiho. Children Of Bushido blends the melodic death metal of Children Of Bodom with traditional Japanese music and Samurai metal, and it was released on what would have been Laiho’s 46th birthday.
Covers albums can get tedious, with nearly identical arrangements to the originals and little creativity. That’s not the case here. The blend of Finnish metal with Shinomoto’s distinctive style gives CoB classics like “Hate Me!” and “Bodom After Midnight” a unique sound that augments the originals instead of just copying them. The nine songs are mainly from Children Of Bodom’s early albums, including four from 2000’s Follow The Reaper. From opener “Lake Of Bodom” through closer “Downfall,” Shinomoto honors Laiho’s songs by combining western and eastern styles.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Tower – Let There Be Dark (Cruz Del Sur)
When a band touts their latest album as being their heaviest or darkest, there can be justified reservation in such claims. In the case of Tower’s Let There Be Dark, the argument can be made that this is really the case. Their heavy metal has reached back to NWOBHM to capture the quickest tempos they’ve ever written.
In the same breath, they also put on a sentimental front with the ballads “And I Cry” and “Don’t You Say.” Let There Be Dark is the culmination of a decade of grinding away for Tower, somehow topping the excellent Shock To The System from 2021. The knock against the band is having an acoustic interlude track so close to another acoustic instrumental in the middle of the album, though the brief pause in momentum is easily rectified with a stunning finale in “The Hammer.”
Rating: 4
(Dan Marsicano)
Versatile – Les Litanies Du Vide (Les Acteurs de L’Ombre)
After emerging in 2022 with an EP, the masked Swiss symphonic black/industrial outfit Versatile are issuing their full-length debut Les Litanies Du Vide. The title translates to “The Litanies Of The Void.”
The band’s music is cinematic and atmospheric, adding a gothic flair to the intensity of black metal and the iciness of industrial. There’s no lack of dynamics either, such as the mellow last part of “Enfant Zero” and the ominous intro of “Ieshara” adding twists and turns to the compositions. Versatile live up to their name, shifting smoothly between danceable grooves and intense metal. Les Litanies Du Vide is an impressive debut with creative songwriting that will appeal to fans of a variety of genres.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Ye Banished Privateers – ‘Til The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead (Napalm)
Sweden’s scurvy dogs Ye Banished Privateers return with another collection of sea shanties telling the tales of dead men, lost booty, and rum. On ‘Til The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead this band of pirates pretty much sticks to the formula established on their previous releases, but here’s the thing: this doesn’t really qualify as heavy rock music.
The most “metal” thing about them is the fact that they’re on Napalm Records. But unlike contemporaries like Alestorm, who give equal time to their power metal side, the Privateers provide a fully immersive pirate experience. “A Final Toast To Oliver Cromwell” is guaranteed to have you “yo-ho’ing” along with your mug of ale, and “Waves Away” features a stirring melody over a sparse accompaniment. The band employs a staggering array of instruments and textures across the album, but there’s nary a crunchy guitar lick or blast beat to be found.
Rating: 3
(Gino Sigismondi)
