This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Act Of Creation, Black Lava, Ceremony Of Silence, Februus, Jupiter Cyclops, Open Surgery, Orange Goblin, Quiescent Mantis, Shallow Side, Shun, Todesstoss and Werewolves.
The ratings are on a 5 star scale.
Act Of Creation – Moments To Remain (Massacre)
Moments To Remain is the latest album from the German melodic death metal band Act Of Creation. The album’s lyrical concept revolves around the concept of time, which is reflected in the cover art.
Opener “Awake” starts with a ticking clock before the metallic barrage begins. Jessica Nicole Kork alternates spoken word vocals with harsh growls. While the vocals are aggressive, the songs have plenty of melody, with catchy riffs driving tracks such as “Come With Me” and the title track. The intensity is tempered by the acoustic instrumental “Cry Of A Peacecrow” before the extremity resumes. Kork injects melodic singing into “Lost Little Soul,” which is also very intense, and one of the album’s highlights. Moments To Remain balances intensity and melody very well.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Black Lava – The Savage Winds To Wisdom (Season of Mist)
Several seasoned Australian metal musicians again combine for Black Lava’s second full-length, The Savage Winds To Wisdom. The group has a considerable pedigree, boasting alumni from Ne Obliviscaris, Hadal Maw, Blackhelm and A Million Dead Birds Laughing. The band’s brutal sound straddles classic Swedish death metal, black metal and doom-laden atmospherics. Slow-burning opener “Colour of Death” also infuses progressive elements into the mix. Despite this range of styles, the resulting delivery can feel a little pedestrian, while lacking in truly killer hooks. It’s a sentiment reinforced by the vocals, which are suitably relentless, but not always engaging.
“Unsheathing Nightmares” is a clear standout; a ferocious, dynamic and ambient take on black metal. Near the record’s end the songwriting begins to feel a little stale, although the title track concludes proceedings in strong fashion, a seven-minute mini-epic with furious blasts, death metal savagery and a screeching guitar solo. Fredrik Nordstrom’s (mastering/mixing/engineering) studio expertise adds a touch of class to the finished product, too. The Savage Winds To Wisdom is a mixed bag. It has some exceptional moments, but others that feel less inspired.
Rating: 3
(Brendan Crabb)
Ceremony Of Silence – Halios (Willowtip)
Ceremony Of Silence are interested in the temporal world and beyond on their second album, Halios. To get there, it’ll take traveling at speeds only achieved within the confines of blackened death metal. The band, now expanded from a duo to a trio with the inclusion of new vocalist who goes by the letter N., pattern their music with whizzing riffs and cannon-fire percussion.
The group takes the edge off on interlude “Eternal Return” and closer “King In The Mountain” by turning the heat down to allow for drifting melodies. These two have prominent bass guitar, which is not always present in this style of music. Ceremony Of Silence have spent the last five years between releases simultaneously getting more belligerent and atmospheric.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Februus – Surveillance Orgy (Transcending Obscurity)
Februus is the brainchild of Swedish musician Andreas Karlsson (Well Of Depression, Tusenårseken), who handles vocals and all instruments on his full-length debut Surveillance Orgy. Februus plays death metal with a progressive bent.
Most of the album’s five songs are lengthy, in the 7 to 8 minute range. While there are progressive forays, Karlsson doesn’t forget the groove or melody on tracks like “Gentrification Of The Soul.” Songs such as “Morning Star Over Deathlehem” are denser and more chaotic but melodies still make an appearance. “The Price Of Enterprise” is the shortest and proggiest number on the album, which closes with the 14 plus minute opus “Resignation Syndrome.” It’s the record’s most dynamic song and its most compelling. While a bit of streamlining might have helped, Surveillance Orgy is an interesting and well-executed prog death album.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of The UFOnaut (Rockshots)
Originally formed in 2019 by former downthesun lead singer Aaron Peltz, Arizona natives Jupiter Cyclops bring forth their debut album Age Of The UFOnaut. Taking their inspiration from the mid-1970s proto-metal and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Jupiter Cyclops pay a nice homage to both of them.
Age Of The UFOnaut feels like a cross hybrid of Dio and Motörhead between Aaron Peltz’s robust vocals and the potent rifts provided by former Opiate for the Masses guitarist Dustin Lyon. “Sinful Ways” is a standout track that manages to add a very subtle vocal distortion in a way that is not over done or distracting. With an album clocking in at a respectable forty minutes, Jupiter Cyclops doesn’t overstay their welcome and deliver a quick yet powerful debut.
Rating: 3.5
(Dalton Husher)
Open Surgery – Absolute Destruction (BVR)
Open Surgery stun with their brand new EP Absolute Destruction. The Swedish death metal band packs a punch into every single song on the record with a sound akin to the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel. Inspired primarily by the Florida scene, Open Surgery craft an excellent concoction of deadly vocals paired with relentless guitar work and drum beats you feel in your core.
The record is tasteful; an ode to the death metal greats with each guttural roar and epic breakdown. Listeners will enjoy the hardcore sound of each song for sure, but the high moments on this record are sky-high – at times, the riffs and vocal screeches will take your breath away. Expertly crafted and thoroughly executed, Open Surgery are distinctly impressive, and this EP is a testament to that.
Rating: 4
(Ethan Wylan)
Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction (Peaceville)
Orange Goblin have had a long career that has seen them explore heavy metal, hard rock, stoner rock, and psychedelic rock. Hence, there are some expectations when reviewing Science, Not Fiction. The first impression made me think that this album is a quirky mix between High On Fire and old Mastodon. However, it’s more focused on being engaging and fun than musically complex. It’s full of tracks that have a proper sense of groove.
Science, Not Fiction has a rough production that gives it an organic feeling, plus excellent guitar and vocal work that bring back other times when it was more important to be different than perfect. However, the album’s pace does feel rather unbalanced, as the tracks tend to overstay their welcome, even if not by much. It’s still a fun ride, though!
Rating: 3.5
(Carlos Tirado)
Quiescent Mantis – Here Comes The Swarm (Exitus Stratagem)
In Quiescent Mantis’ world, insects have taken control and humans are enslaved to the bug overlords, all of which is laid out on their debut album, Here Comes The Swarm. “Open The Gates” and the title track accurately signal the sonic equivalence of hordes of creatures overtaking a city’s population. The trio takes thrash metal and punches in hardcore and death metal for a release complete with constant twists.
These twists don’t always land though, like the singing on a few songs that pales to the vicious screams and the uneven “Killer Bee, Killed.” The wild two-and-a-half minute closer “This Is The End!” is so fantastic that it’s almost disappointing they don’t cut loose often like that on Here Comes The Swarm.
Rating: 3
(Dan Marsicano)
Shallow Side – Reflections (Thermal)
Alabama hard rockers Shallow Side have been around since 2012. After some singles and EPs, they issued their full-length debut in 2019. Five years later they return with Reflections, though singles from this record started being released in 2022.
Shallow Side know how to write radio-friendly songs with big hooks and catchy riffs that still pack a punch. They also inject some electronic elements that add atmosphere without overshadowing. There’s minimal filler, and nearly every track on the album could be released as a single. Some of the highlights are “Filters” that features Nonpoint’s Elias Soriano, the anthemic opener “The Worst Kind” and “Every River.” Reflections looks to be Shallow Side’s breakthrough album, with several songs hitting the charts already and the potential for more.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Shun – Dismantle (Small Stone)
Dismantle, the second album from Shun, is a master class in the art of the soft-loud dynamics that rock/grunge perfected. It’s tidy verses with unassuming guitars and placated vocals that ramps up for a chorus with massive musical mass. Not every song employs it, but the ones that do, like “You’re The Sea” and “Interstellar,” do it with aplomb.
There’s crunch to these songs from a production standpoint, as up-tempo tunes “NRNS” and “The Getaway” have a ring of danger to them that wasn’t present on their self-titled debut. Shun are a group that can rock without losing their feeling for moodiness in a strong sophomore release.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Todesstoss – Das Liebweh-Dekret (I, Voidhanger)
Martin Lang formed Todesstoss nearly a quarter century ago, with their full-length debut issued in 2006. It has been seven years since Ebne Graun, with Das Liebweh-Dekret their ninth full-length.
While it has many of the hallmarks of black metal, Lang’s vocal style makes Todesstoss stand out from the typical band in this genre. Icy riffs are punctuated with theatrical, melodic singing. Many of the lengthy songs have experimental sections that push genre boundaries. The centerpiece of the album is the 23 minute “Ghulismus,” which is influenced by everything from gothic rock to ’70s fuzz to traditional black metal. While not every experiment on Das Liebweh-Dekret works, enough do to make it an album for adventurous black metal fans to explore.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
Werewolves – Die For Us (Self)
Werewolves have not only maintained the destructive force of their music, but in their latest studio work they have taken it to a new level of awe, thrill, and devastation. Die For Us, the band’s fifth album, reaffirms their commitment to creating ferocious technical death metal.
Die For Us is ruthless and unrelenting. It is 35 minutes of organized and uncontrollable chaos, where the band’s technical precision, demonstrated through complex guitar riffs and intricate drum patterns, is evident in the midst of the relentless aggression. Sullen and fatal technical death metal, standing on the front line, hand in hand with all dark and wicked streaks of black metal, portrays a view of the sinister and hateful world in action with the human being drowned in the most wretched, inevitable vile fate. Die For Us is Werewolves’ best work to date and shows the trio in their most ideal conditions of songwriting and performance.
Rating: 4
(Arash Khosronejad)
