This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Axe Dragger, Black Lung, Bosse-de-Nage, Full House Brew Crew, Leaves Eyes, Lords Of Salem, Lost Society, Miserere Luminis, More, Nefastis, Sermon To The Lambs, Temple Of Void and Vreid.
The ratings are on a 5-star scale.
Axe Dragger – Axe Dragger (Ripple)
Axe Dragger’s self-titled debut album feels like a fever dream when just looking at the musicians involved. Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch collaborating with ex-Pentagram drummer Pete Campbell? Sure, that pans out. Then add Dark Funeral bassist Fredrik Isaksson? A little unexpected for a heavy metal record, but still following. To round it out, ex-Pantera vocalist Terry Glaze? Now this reviewer’s attention is fully hooked.
What comes together is a gleeful look back as if time has stopped circa 1986. Balch shreds like a worshipper of Michael Angelo Batio on “Give You The Rope,” while Glaze’s voice has aged extremely well with some high-pitched wails on the eponymous opener. Axe Dragger’s anthemic metal is undisturbed by any contemporary trends.
Rating: 4
(Dan Marsicano)
Black Lung – Forever Beyond (Magnetic Eye)
Baltimore, Maryland psychedelic doom merchants Black Lung have been plying their trade for over a decade now. Their fifth album Forever Beyond is their first for Magnetic Eye Records.
Thick riffs, a throwback vibe and extended instrumental sections propel tracks like “Forever Beyond Me” and “Traveler,” while they dial back the intensity and increase the atmospherics on numbers such as “Savior” and “The Border Hoarder.” Black Lung close the album with the 8-minute opus “Scum,” with plenty of tempo and intensity changes. Forever Beyond continues the band’s blend of pointed lyrics and trippy music.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Bosse-de-Nage – Hidden Fires Burn Hottest (The Flenser)
Nearly eight years has passed since we last heard from the San Francisco post black metal band Bosse-de-Nage. That gave them plenty of time to craft and polish the songs that became Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, as they once again worked with producer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven).
Their songwriting is dynamic, with tracks like “Mementos” shifting from laid-back to intense black metal with aggressive vocals. Songs like “Underwater” and “Frenzy” are more urgent and intense at the beginning before easing back. The length of the songs (most in the 6-to-8-minute range) gives Bosse-de-Nage plenty of leeway to experiment with a variety of structures and approaches, and they make the most of it. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest has a lot of depth and subtlety, taking a few listens to absorb everything that’s going on.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Full House Brew Crew – Glasgow Grin (ROAR)
Greek groove metal unit Full House Brew Crew have never been a band interested in playing it safe, and Glasgow Grin, their most ferocious statement to date, makes that abundantly clear from the first note. This lean ten-track assault arrives like a closed fist rather than an open hand. The title track kicks things off at a blistering 2:38, and the momentum never lets up. Vocalist and guitarist Vagelis Karzis, known from his work with Wolfheart and ex-Rotting Christ, is in the best form of his career, sitting right at that sweet spot between controlled aggression and total abandon.
Tracks like “No Gods, No Chains” and “Rain” hammer home the band’s central thesis while “Distant Star” earns its runtime as the album’s longest cut. Finnish engineer Saku Moilanen’s production at Deep Noise Studios is massive and punchy; every kick drum lands like a body blow. Glasgow Grin is the most focused and confident work of Full House Brew Crew’s career. It’s heavy, it’s tight, and it doesn’t let go.
Rating: 3
(Jeanetta Briski)
Leaves Eyes – Song Of Darkness (Reigning Phoenix)
The long-running German symphonic metal band Leaves Eyes follow up 2024’s Myths Of Fate with the EP Song Of Darkness. The four songs aren’t leftovers or b-sides, but new compositions with the orchestral flavor and metallic crunch the band’s fans have come to expect.
The title track explores the Icelandic saga of Gisli the Outlaw, while “Hall Of The Brave” and “Until The Last Day” cinematic and dramatic tracks, with Elina Siirala’s smooth soprano singing contrasted by Alexander Krull’s growls. Closer “Roots Eternal” is laid-back before kicking into bombastic power ballad mode midway through the track. Song Of Darkness is a solid release to whet the appetite for Leaves Eyes’ next full-length.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
Lords Of Salem – Supersonic Vampire Pussy (Echozone)
After a handful of releases and one EP in 2018, German hard rockers Lords Of Salem‘s (no relation to the 2012 movie of the same name) first full length album is Supersonic Vampire Pussy. With a sound that claims to be Mötley Crüe mixed with Danzig, it comes together as a bit of a mess in some places.
The samples used throughout the album do give a nice little touch, and the instrumentation is all around good. However, the vocals of lead singer Postel feel out of place with “Eternal Love” feeling the most out of place. The main issue is that there are so many solid aspects of this album but there are some that miss the mark just barely. Supersonic Vampire Pussy being their first full length album, it makes sense that there would be some rough patches in the beginning.
Rating: 3
(Dalton Husher)
Lost Society – Hell Is A State Of Mind (Nuclear Blast)
Finnish outfit Lost Society doesn’t lack ambition, but their lofty goals on new LP Hell Is A State Of Mind yield mixed results. The album contains a groove-laden modern metal sound produced with crystal clarity, sitting somewhere between metalcore, nu-metal and alt-metal. Think a mash-up of Linkin Park, Falling in Reverse and Ice Nine Kills, and you’re getting close.
There are acoustic flourishes, while vocalist/guitarist Samy Elbanna segues between falsettos, screams and rap-esque cadences. And that’s not forgetting the infusion of a 40-piece film orchestra throughout. At times the strings are cinematically effective, but can also feel akin to window dressing. Needless to say, there’s plenty happening; to the extent it seems haphazard and not always entirely convincing. There are winners, though; note arena-ready “Dead People Scare Me (But The Living Make Me Sick)” and “Synthetic.” While there are misfires, this former thrash act appears comfortable in their own skin nowadays crafting such a slick brand of heaviness.
Rating: 2.5
(Brendan Crabb)
Miserere Luminis – Sidera (Debemur Morti)
In 2023, the Canadian atmospheric black metal band Miserere Luminis‘ album Ordalie was issued 14 years after their self-titled debut. After that long gap, it took them less than three years to put together the follow-up, Sidera. The Montreal trio writes long songs, with the shortest of the five tracks clocking in at 8-and-a-half minutes.
Keeping the listener engaged as songs stretch into double-digit lengths is a challenge, but for the most part Miserere Luminis succeed. They incorporate interesting riffs and shifts in speed and heaviness with ample atmosphere. Progressive forays on “Les fleurs de l’exil” and dramatic piano on “De cris & de cendres” add even more variety. Sidera takes commitment to fully absorb, but it’s worth the journey.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
More – Destructor (Warhead)
The protracted gestation period of More‘s Destructor might rival Chinese Democracy, but the album is finally here, their first since 1982. Legendary producer Chris Tsangarides (Yngwie Malmsteen, Loudness, Gary Moore, UFO, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest) was playing guitar with More at the time of his passing. Tsangarides’ sound engineering was completed by Maor Appelbaum, himself an acquaintance of Tsangarides. And in fact the first notable quality of Destructor is that the production is fantastic.
Singer Mike Freeland (ex-Praying Mantis), who left and returned to More while the album’s future was in the balance, is almost unrecognizable, but delivers a superlative performance. The hard-hitting riffs are merciless; once they grab you, they don’t let go, and the songwriting is solid. Honestly, there isn’t any filler on this album. It’s hard to believe that this is only More’s third album since the band’s formation around 1979, but Destructor encapsulates traditional heavy metal in all its glory.
Rating: 4.5
(Chris Galea)
Nefastis – Shadows At The Light Of Dawn (Rockshots)
Sometimes a band has to revamp themselves to get their creative spark; sometimes it takes a band like Nefastis over a decade to get to that point. Twelve years, to be precise, divides Shadows At The Light Of Dawn from debut album De Diebus Fastis, Nefastis, Infaustis. In that time, they’ve gone from ho-hum thrash metal to rousing symphonic death metal, which proves to be their best form.
This shift in focus lets their instrumentals, once distracting momentum killers, transform into neoclassical delights. Nocturna vocalist Rehn Stillnight guests on a few songs, including complementary harsh/melodic harmonies on “Collapsing Dream.” Not every band can pull off a dramatic turn in sound as well as Nefastis does on Shadows At The Light Of Dawn.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Sermon To The Lambs – Sermon To The Lambs (Comatose)
From the blood-soaked underground of Chile rises Sermon To The Lambs vocalist Richard Aguayo, guitarist/bassist Mauro M., and drummer Victor Araneda, arriving fully formed and utterly merciless on their self-titled debut. “Crowned King Of The Worms” sets the tone immediately: dense, swarming guitars and Aguayo’s genuinely menacing roar. What separates this from the pack is their command of dynamics, hypnotic slow-crawling passages woven between eruptions of speed, giving the brutality room to breathe and making it hit considerably harder.
Standouts include “Maximum Apostasy,” which detonates from ritualistic calm into chaos, and “Flagrum Taxillatum’s” surgical, spiraling descent. Fans of Brodequin, Deeds of Flesh, or Enmity will find this essential. Araneda’s mix is crushing yet clear, Par Olofsson’s artwork fits perfectly, and the guest vocal bonus tracks feel earned. Sermon To The Lambs is a debut that demands to be taken seriously.
Rating: 3
(Jeanetta Briski)
Temple Of Void – The Crawl (Relapse)
On their fifth album The Crawl, Temple Of Void deliver more of the galloping death doom that they are well known for and then some. Opener “Poison Icon” wastes no time in making its introduction by thrusting the listener into the middle of a violence, yet before the track ends you are treated to some fantastic soloing courtesy of vocalist/guitarist Mike Erdody’s axe.
This newly minted quartet is very high on their embellishments this time around, drawing from the atonality of Helmet on “Godless Cynic” with a bass line that would vibe with The Cure. They get a little more sonically bizarre on “The Crawl,” becoming more than the foundation of death doom that Temple Of Void have stood on since 2013. By the time they get to “Thy Mountain Eternal” and “Soulburn,” there’s a more ethereal accompaniment to the doom dirges allowing for the band’s sound to continue to evolve. These Michiganders can view The Crawl as a net positive, a record that encompasses all that they were and dials their variety up to 11, an absolutely essential piece of heaviness.
Rating: 4.5
(Tom Campagna)
Vreid – The Skies Turn Black (Indie)
With their tenth studio album, Vreid, one of the pioneers of Norwegian melodic black metal, return with renewed ambition and emotional weight. The Skies Turn Black is an album steeped in drama and sentiment, shaped by deeply personal moments that resonate throughout its expansive soundscape. From the self-titled track serving as a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, to “Kraken,” written for a film produced by the band’s first music teacher, the record feels intimate without losing its epic scale.
Vreid boldly redefine their musical terrain here, adding layers of theatricality that give the album an almost rock opera presence. Nowhere is this clearer than the eight-minute “Loving The Dead,” featuring Agnete Kjølsrud of Djerv, with Chris Pontius of Jackass appearing in the music video. Drawing from its roots while revisiting the progressive rock spirit of the 1970s, The Skies Turn Black sees Vreid soar confidently across metal’s past, present, and future.
Rating: 4
(Arash Khosronejad)
