Heavy Music HQ Reviews: Week of August 23, 2024

This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from All For Metal, Demiser, Earth Lux, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hatchend, The Mercury Impulse, My Fictions, Nebulith, Nile, Simone Simons, Spectral Wound and Zeal & Ardor.

The ratings are on a 5 star scale.

All For Metal – Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon) (Reigning Phoenix)

Just over a year after releasing their debut, the heavy/power metal band All For Metal are already ready to unleash their second full-length, Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon).

The songs are bombastic and melodic, with lyrics about Japanese myths and legends. The best songs on the album are catchy and memorable, such as the title track, “When Monsters Roar” and “Valkyries In The Sky,” which features Burning Witches’ Laura Guldemond. A few, however, devolve into melodrama, with too many spoken word parts. The former outweigh the latter, making for a solid traditional/power metal album.

Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)

Demiser – Slave To The Scythe (Blacklight)

Slave To The Scythe may be structured similarly to Demiser’s 2021 debut, Through The Gate Eternal, with its nine tracks and acoustic interlude squished in the middle of the record, but the blackened thrashers have boosted their fondness for NWOBHM on this album. Guitars trade off glorious solos, while the rhythm section never stays centered with fills and lead breaks on “Carbureted Speed” and “Phallomancer The Phallomancer.”

For a group that likes it fast and loose, it’s outside their wheelhouse to try something like the eight-minute closer “In Nomine Baphomet.” They are wise enough to not keep the tempos hot the whole way, giving in to a classic heavy metal-styled riff halfway before a great guitar solo contributes to a fade-out ending. Though their music may have evolved, their message of hell and mayhem stays firm.

Rating: 4
(Dan Marsicano)

Earth Lux – Earth Lux (Metalville)

Earth Lux were founded as a side project in 2023 by Sunroad members Steph Honde and Fred Mika to focus more on a melodic hard rock style. Along with former Mad Max guitarist Michael Voss, they have come together to release their self-titled debut album.

Starting off strong with the opening track “Shine on Me,” the overall pacing is about average with others in the scene. But as the album progresses further the rest of the tracks start to sound a bit generic with “Kyrie Eleison” having a solid guitar solo in the middle. Despite the strong talent backing it, this debut is a little shaky at best. A few more album releases down the road should help them forge their own identity.

Rating: 3
(Dalton Husher)

Fleshgod Apocalypse – Opera (Nuclear Blast)

Fleshgod Apocalypse have come a long way since their days as a technical death metal band. In Opera, you can still hear impressive technical displays, but they take on a more supportive role compared to the intense action that’s constantly unfolding. The album wastes no time and keeps you on the edge for its entire duration.

If you liked their previous two albums, then Opera will feel familiar, but even more over the top. There are stellar performances from everyone, and even the final piano track adds something to the drama we’ve experienced. My only issue with Opera is that its production is rather loud, and it might be too bombastic and melodramatic at times. However, overall, Fleshgod Apocalypse have crafted another great symphonic/death metal album.

Rating: 4
(Carlos Tirado)

Hatchend – Summer Of ‘69 (Selfmadegod)

Swedish foursome Hatchend enter the fray with Summer Of ’69, furious thrashy hardcore featuring members of Birdflesh and Deranged to name a few. Opening with “Shackled Humanity” the band makes sure their no-frills approach is on full display, putting their collective feet on the gas and pushing the pedal through the floor. “Who’s the Foe Today” has righteous jams going on through with riffs that evoke wild moshing feeling like they are singling out the poor fool who is going to be met by an eventual wall of death.

Summer Of ’69 is a little over half an hour of pure unadulterated and rocking speed with a purpose, “If it’s too fast, you’re too slow” fully willing to sacrifice themselves before giving up and being true to themselves. If you need a shot in the arm and have been missing some quality thrashing, crossover, hardcore or whatever amalgamation this is, lend Hatchend your ears, if you dare!

Rating: 4
(Tom Campagna)

The Mercury Impulse – Records Of Human Behavior (Self)

The Mercury Impulse are an ambient/drone project from JR Robinson (Wrekmeister Harmonies) and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy Of Habit/Bloodyminded). Their debut album, Records Of Human Behavior, is an hour of guitar noise and buzzing analog synths. Though it’s instrumental, save for some samples used in “Primitive Instincts,” they make their message clear with track names like “Infinite Repetition” and “Miles Of Smoldering Trash.”

This writer felt at times like he was John Ritter in Stay Tuned, his body being sucked into a space of dead air with no idea what’s at the end. They tear the foundation of music atom by atom, leaving behind a vacant husk that a niche audience will endure. The rest of us will stare slack-jawed at the inaccessible design of Records Of Human Behavior.

Rating: 2.5
(Dan Marsicano)

My Fictions – Touch Of Glass (1126)

The Massachusetts post-hardcore band My Fictions emerged a decade ago with their debut album. They took a few years off, and then issued an EP in 2021, and now are ready to unveil their latest full-length Touch Of Glass.

It’s an intense and streamlined album, anchored by a strong performance from drummer Seamus Menihane. There are moments of chaos, such as “Dreams Of Escape” and “Selfish Wish” along with groovier and more accessible numbers like “Cold Streak.” While the vocals are aggressive and heaviness ample, My Fictions do a good job of injecting dynamics on songs like “Eden” and the title track that make things flow better. There’s not an ounce of filler as the ten tracks on Touch Of Glass fly by in about a half hour.

Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)

Nebülith – Feel Good Music For The End Of The World Vol. 1 (Self)

If one’s prevalent thought about metal is “I can’t hear the bass guitar, it isn’t loud enough,” then Nebülith’s Feel Good Music For The End Of The World Vol. 1 should do the trick. All the guitars used on the album are of the bass variety, from fretless to 4-string to synthesizer. They are stacked over each other, making the illusion of a full band behind the scenes instead of the reality of this mostly being from the hands of Charlotte, North Carolina-based musician John Shaughnessy.

Only two songs use an outside drummer; otherwise, this is all Shaughnessy’s baby. With a psychedelic filter being set over smokey stoner metal, there’s a cloud of questionable substances caked onto these songs. The iffy vocals are a weak point, as the band works best when they are less utilized on the dreamy “Clear Light” and titanic closer “UVB76.”

Rating: 3
(Dan Marsicano)

Nile – The Underworld Awaits Us All (Napalm)

The veteran South Carolina death metal band Nile have some new faces on their latest album The Underworld Awaits Us All. Morbid Angel bassist Dan Vadim Von and guitarist Zach Jeter (Imperium, Doomsday Revival) are the group’s newest members, joining founding frontman Karl Sanders and longtime members George Kollias (drums) and Brian Kingsland (guitar).

The five-year gap between Vile Nilotic Rites and the new album is the longest of Nile’s career, making anticipation especially high. The band doesn’t disappoint, delivering their trademark death metal with stellar musicianship and creativity. Their middle eastern influences are showcased on the interlude “The Pentagrammathion Of Nephren-Ka.” “Overlord Of The Black Earth” and “Naquada II Enter The Golden Age” inject a brief melodic choir, which is an interesting change of pace. Melodic singing also makes an appearance near the end of “True Gods Of The Desert.” From streamlined tracks like the two minute “To Strike With Secret Fang” to epics like the 8 plus minute title track, Nile maintain the perfect mix of extremity, groove, melody and technicality. The Underworld Awaits Us All is another potent addition to Nile’s impressive catalog and one of the year’s best death metal albums.

Rating: 4.5
(Chad Bowar)

Simone Simons – Vermillion (Nuclear Blast)

After 20 years fronting the symphonic metal band Epica, Simone Simons is releasing her first solo album. She worked with Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen in the writing and recording of Vermillion, which showcases her versatility and vocal range.

There’s plenty of symphonic metal similar to Epica, with bandmate Mark Jansen lending his growls to “The Core” and “R.E.D.” Simons also ventures in different directions, such as the industrial tinged “Cradle To The Grave” that features a guest appearance from Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz. “Dark Night Of The Soul” is a sparse, piano-driven ballad. Simons utilizes a lot of vocal styles on the record, from pop/rock to operatic. The combination of Lucassen and Simons works well together, as Vermillion should appeal to fans of both their work.

Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)

Spectral Wound – Songs Of Blood And Mire (Profound Lore)

Spectral Wound return with the much-anticipated follow-up to 2021’s A Diabolic Thirst with their fourth album Songs Of Blood And Mire. This Quebecois quintet are able to convey their dark imagery masterfully through their melodically driven black metal. “Fevers And Suffering” opens the attack, and it evokes sounds of the great Dissection, while making this frigid and cold attack something of its own as well, effortlessly blending chaos with savagery with splendor.

The morbidity continues on “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” with Jonah Campbell’s shrieks adding a ton to this already complex and visceral package. The riffs are rapid-fire and set the tone for “Twelve Moons In Hell.” Combine that with the drum kit that nearly sounds like it will explode at some point, Spectral Wound does all that they can to envelope you in the sounds of Satan. If you needed the right amount of technical mastery and melancholy, look no further than Songs Of Blood And Mire, one of 2024’s best black metal offerings.

Rating: 4.5
(Tom Campagna)

Zeal & Ardor – Greif (Redacted)

Zeal & Ardor are one of the most eclectic bands out there. Ever since Strange Fruit, they’ve made a habit of having their own approach to metal music. Greif is meant to be more of a collective effort from the band than ever before, and it’s noticeable. The band explores familiar ideas from soul music and post/black metal, but also mixes them with more complex rhythmic structures and sonic experimentation.

I believe people who love unconventional music will enjoy Greif. However, if you were expecting more black metal, you might be disappointed, as the album spends more time exploring ideas that aren’t typical of any particular style. In that sense, this release is intriguing, but I’d advise metalheads to adjust their expectations, as the album is maybe 20 percent metal and 80 percent experimentation.

Rating: 3
(Carlos Tirado)