This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Alfonso Conspiracy, Blood Red Throne, Darvaza, Enthroned, Ghoulhouse, Hollow Peak, Jours Pales, Upon A Burning Body, We Kill Cowboys and Wounded In Forest.
The ratings are on a 5-star scale.
Alfonso Conspiracy – The Explicit//The Exploited (Self)
Alfonso Conspiracy is a one-man project helmed by UK multi-instrumentalist Max James. The Explicit//The Exploited is his debut album. The album blends industrial metal soundscapes with modern metal grooves and a gothic atmosphere.
Tracks like “Neglect/Harass/Silence” blend harsh and melodic vocals, nicely blending warm riffs and icy beats. The electronic/industrial vibes are in the forefront of songs like “transmit” and “syntheticdzs.” There are influences of ’90s industrial bands like Nine Inch Nails along with current bands. There’s a lot of variety on The Explicit//The Exploited, and while not everything works, there are plenty of compelling moments.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
Blood Red Throne – Siltskin (Soulseller)
Norwegian outfit Blood Red Throne are veterans of this extreme metal caper by now, having reached their 12th full-length LP via Siltskin. The results are proudly reverent of classic death metal, both American and Swedish. “It’s heavier, faster, more melodic and powerful than ever before,” reads the press release, which largely rings true. But even after this long in the game, the band hasn’t really graduated to death metal’s big leagues yet.
That’s not for lack of effort or conviction, and these nine riff-heavy tracks are suitably bludgeoning (“Beneath The Means” and “Anodyne Rust” prove standouts) and groovy while being tighter than a miser’s wallet. Perhaps it’s a shortage of innovation, or even a unique personality eluding them at times that ensures the album is a satisfying enough listen in the moment, but ultimately a middling one.The group’s agenda, since day one, has seemingly been to clobber listeners senseless with their brutality. Siltskin is a success on that front at least.
Rating: 3
(Brendan Crabb)
Darvaza – We Are Him (Terratur)
Built on satanic rites, occult mysticism, and a gaze fixed straight into the void, international black metal act Darvaza return with a new offering dragged from the darkest temples and the bloodiest altars. The duo have crowned We Are Him as their second studio album.
The songwriting on We Are Him doesn’t attempt to break new ground; there’s no revelatory twist or unexpected detour. But that’s precisely the point — and exactly what keeps listeners gripped by the band’s immersive, overwhelming sound, which has reached a striking level of refinement here. Multi-instrumentalist Omega once again handles every instrument, while Wraath remains at the microphone as the devil’s own spokesman. We Are Him is neither a milestone in Darvaza’s career nor a standout anomaly within the black metal scene. Instead, it is a work that drags the true black metal spirit from the fiercest abysses and leaves the listener, by the album’s end, thoroughly satisfied with having walked a genuinely sinister spiritual path.
Rating: 4
(Arash Khosronejad)
Enthroned – Ashspawn (Season Of Mist)
The Belgian black metal band Enthroned have been around for more than 30 years. The most senior member of the trio is vocalist Nornagest, who has been in the band since 1995. The newest member is guitarist/bassist T. Kaos (Lvcifyre, Sodality). Ashspawn is his debut Enthroned album, and the first for the band since 2019’s Cold Black Suns.
It delivers the old school black metal fans expect from Enthroned, packed with blastbeats and creative arrangements. They balance extremity and brutality with intricate and sometimes progressive songwriting. That keeps lengthier tracks like “Stillborn Litany” and “Ashen Advocacy” compelling throughout. They also rip through some shorter songs such as “Sightless.” Produced by drummer Menthor, Ashspawn moves forward while paying homage to their long, successful past.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Ghoulhouse – Realm Of Ghouls (Horror Pain Gore Death)
Ghoulhouse may only be on their third album with Realm Of Ghouls, but they’ve already established their own take on death metal that has structured all their albums to date. About a dozen songs, taking up somewhere around 30 minutes, all in the two-to-three minute range. Filthy production values that add discomfort to already crude music. A synth instrumental with movie samples that could’ve been pulled from a 1980s B-movie.
So, what makes Realm Of Ghouls different than Ghoulhouse’s previous records? Not much, besides a grasp at catchier riffs on “Where Ghouls Are Bred” and “Devoured By Famined Pigs.” Anyone who has listened to them before, as well as anyone who has ever heard a death metal tune in their lives, will easily grasp what Realm Of Ghouls is all about.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Hollow Peak – Obsidian Cult (Massacre)
The Norwegian melodic metal band Hollow Peak, fronted by ex-Theatre Of Tragedy vocalist Ragnhild Westgaard, aka Nell Sigland, emerged in 2023 with the EP Endless. The quintet’s full-length debut is Obsidian Cult, which was produced by Westgaard and drummer Marius Karlsen.
They have increased the heaviness quotient on this album, beefing up the riffs and cranking up the drums. It’s also more atmospheric, but no less melodic. Westgaard’s voice can cut through the heaviness or soar above mellower section with equal aplomb. Those mellower sections appear on tracks like “Unseen” and “Ray Of Light” before kicking into full metal mode. While there are no weak tracks on the record, one of the most compelling is the nearly 7-minute closer “Town,” a dynamic and catchy composition that brings Obsidian Cult to a satisfying conclusion.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Jours Pales – Resonances (LADLO)
The French black metal band Jours Pales were formed five years ago by vocalist Spellbound (Aorlhac). Their fourth album Resonances comes on the heels of last year’s Dissolution. The lyrical theme explores the difficulties associated with the separation of a father from his child.
Jours Pales’ approach to black metal is varied and dynamic. Mellow, acoustic sections are contrasted by the genre’s typical blastbeats and icy riffs. That diversity is exemplified by “Une splendeur devenue terne,” an 11-minute opus that shifts from heavy black metal to groovy heavy rock to mellow interludes. Kall/Consider Suicide’s Kim Carlsson guests on “Mouvement ostentatoire rémanent totalitaire,” which moves from aggressive to melodic and back again. There are a lot of twists and turns on Resonances, with Jours Pales navigating numerous approaches.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Upon A Burning Body – Blood Of The Bull (Self)
For their seventh album Blood Of The Bull, San Antonio metalcore veterans Upon A Burning Body decided to go the independent route for its release. The band eases into the proceedings with “Sangre Del Toro,” a mostly instrumental track that begins acoustically before kicking in.
Once things kick in, UABB rarely ease off the gas pedal, though they do change tempos. Metalcore mixed with groove and death metal makes for ample intensity that blends in melody as well. The songwriting is concise and focused, with no track longer than four minutes, and most in the three-minute range. There’s no filler, just a solid collection of songs with standouts like “Killshot,” “Living In A Matrix” and “Dragged Through Glass.” Upon A Burning Body doesn’t tread much new ground on Blood Of The Bull, staying with what’s made them successful over the past two decades.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
We Kill Cowboys – Back From The Dead (Mongrel)
South African punk rockers We Kill Cowboys aim to take the band in a heavier and bolder direction than before on their third EP Back From The Dead. With an interesting blend of punk rock, grunge, and a sprinkle of power metal; they’ve used this blend to form their identity.
Singer-songwriter Alex Muller’s vocals feel like they fit in seamlessly within the EP, especially when paired with Mornay Carstens and Floris Le Roux’s melodic yet heavy riffs. Though tracks like “Cherry Lips” dip their toes with some heavy growls, this EP could benefit with more of that energy. Back From The Dead is a solid direction for the band to take and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to build on it.
Rating: 3.5
(Dalton Husher)
Wounded In Forest – Antihuman Artist (Inverse)
Tragedy spurred Wounded In Forest into existence, with Antihuman Artist the aftermath of an unfortunate passing. This group was originally known as A Lie Nation until the death of drummer Markus Leinonen in 2023. Following this, the other members decided to restart the band as a whole new project, switching positions and changing from melodic black metal to nihilistic death metal.
This EP is based around the Great Wrath, a period of Finnish history in the early eighteenth century when Russia invaded the country. Out of this mayhem comes all types of heathens and murderers, which forms the basis of the lyrics to Antihuman Artist. With two vocalists throwing shrieks and growls at each other, Wounded In Forest takes their loss and turns it into savage material.
Rating: 3
(Dan Marsicano)
