This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Blindfolded And Led To The Woods, Dead Heat, Extortionist, Frayle, Friendship Commanders, Humanity Zero, Les Batards Du Roi, Purpendicular, Sanguisugabogg, Serpent God, Terzij de Horde and Warrant.
The ratings are on a 5-star scale.
Blindfolded And Led To The Woods – The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes Me (Prosthetic)
2023 marked an important chapter for Blindfolded And Led To The Woods. Their album Rejecting Obliteration signaled a bolder leap into avant-garde/technical death metal, establishing the band as one of the most forward-thinking voices in the genre.
Now, with The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes Me, BALTTW push that vision even further. The record brims with dissonant intensity and unrelenting technicality, weaving a soundscape that feels both chaotic and meticulously constructed. It’s a work that thrives on contrasts; moments of suffocating heaviness explode into jagged, unpredictable turns, while subtle undercurrents of atmosphere reveal a more nuanced side to their songwriting. Far from simply following in the footsteps of its predecessor, this album asserts itself as a confident step forward, proving the band’s ability to innovate while deepening their voice within extreme metal.
Rating: 4
(Arash Khosronejad)
Dead Heat – Process Of Elimination (Metal Blade)
One their third album and first on Metal Blade, Dead Heat aim to reach crossover supremacy. Process Of Elimination opens with the raucous “Perpetual Punishment” whose explosive riffs and barked vocal performance is a solid entry into the band’s overall approach. The uncompromising drums of “Hidebound” continue to pummel the listener into submission, before slowing to a chugging riff for maximum moshability.
The second half of the album opens with “DH Stomp,” a self-titled transition for the band to get the circle pits flowing properly as it builds towards even more chaos. “Be My Will” has heads banging from the outset with very little regard given to necks in general and a variety of riffs erupting from within its core. Process Of Elimination is just the wall of death that moshers everywhere have been waiting for and Dead Heat are more than happy to oblige.
Rating: 4
(Tom Campagna)
Extortionist – Stare Into the Seething Wounds (Unique Leader)
Stare Into The Seething Wounds, the fourth album from the hardcore/deathcore band Extortionist is a vicious platter that offers a caustic view of the metal world. It is raw and recalls very few bands because they have carved out their own niche quite well. There is a bit of a nu-metal flair to be found here. The issue with the album lies in how it is too simplistic and generic sounding at times, with very little to give the songs color so they just sort of drift along.
The musicianship is solid with neat production and very heavy buzzsaw guitars that come across as generic and don’t offer much in the manner of dynamics. Drums are hollow sounding and don’t offer much to the music. Stare Into the Seething Wounds comes off a bit nu-metal sounding for my tastes, but is still a reasonably good listen.
Rating: 3
(Adam McAuley)
Frayle – Heretics & Lullabies (Napalm)
The Cleveland doom band Frayle are one of those artists that seem to be poised to jump to that so-called “next level.” For their third full-length Heretics & Lullabies they have signed with Napalm Records.
The album title suggests contrast, and that’s exactly what Frayle deliver. Heavy, plodding doom and blackgaze shifts to catchy and melodic goth with ethereal vocals from Gwyn Strang. “Souvenirs” moves at a glacial pace, while they bump up the BPM a bit on songs like “Hymn For The Living.” They also reimagine Lana Del Rey’s pop hit “Summertime Sadness” into a doomy dirge. The songwriting is on point, and Heretics & Lullabies has all the ingredients for success.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Friendship Commanders – Bear (Magnetic Eye)
Bear is the latest effort from the Nashville heavy rock duo Friendship Commanders. Once again they worked with longtime collaborator Kurt Ballou (Converge, High On Fire, Nails, Trap Them). The guitar driven album touches upon numerous styles and genres ranging from doom to grunge to traditional metal to hardcore.
Tracks like “Melt” and “X” are catchy and accessible, while “Drain” and “Found” are heavier and pack more of a punch. No matter what the style, Buick Audra’s vocals steer the ship, from smooth pop/rock crooning to full out belting. One of her strongest performances is on album closer “Dead Discarded Girls,” about the brutal murder of a teenage girl by another girl. Bear has both emotional heft and memorable songs, a potent combination.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Humanity Zero – Cursed Be The Gift Of Life (Rude Awakening)
Greece is not the first place one would think of as a hotbed for doom metal, but Humanity Zero are a fresh reminder that they can roll with the best with their latest offering Cursed Be the Gift of Life. It comes seven years after their last release Proselytism.
The album has a sound blending elements of doom, death and just a small sprinkle of sludge thrown in for fun. The whole is brutally slow, with each track seemingly building off the last to create an unholy masterwork. “Forgiveness Devoured” and the title track each clock in at just over ten minutes each but each feel as if they could be broken down to their own songs. When compared to their earlier works, it is on par with their last two albums Proselytism and Withered In Isolation with the path of slow brutal beatdowns and vocals and this direction continues to suit them.
Rating: 3.5
(Dalton Husher)
Les Batards Du Roi – Les Chemins de l’Exil (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre)
The French black metal band Les Batards Du Roi emerged last year with their self-titled debut album. It didn’t take the trio long to craft the follow-up Les Chemins de l’Exil, which translates to “The Paths Of Exile.”
Traditional black metal that’s harsh and aggressive is tempered by melodic and ambient passages, with tracks like “L’âme sans repos” and “Vers l’étoile solitaire” incorporating quiet spoken word vocals contrasted by black metal rasps. Orchestral parts also add variety to the proceedings, as does periodic brief melodic singing. Most of the songs are fairly compact, but there are a couple of more epic compositions as well, most notably the eight minute closer “Sous la couronne de l’éternité.” Like the rest of Les Chemins de l’Exil, it’s dynamic and varied.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Purpendicular – Banned (Metalville)
Not surprisingly since they were named for a Deep Purple album, Purpendicular began as a Deep Purple tribute band nearly two decades ago. They eventually began writing original material, and were joined by Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice on 2022’s Human Mechanic, and again on their new album Banned.
They’ve got the classic ’70s rock sound down pat, with melodic choruses and a retro vibe and dashes of psych and prog. Robby Thomas Walsh (Roger Glover, Joe Lynn Turner) provides textured and emotional vocals. Tracks like “Blood Red Moon” and “Seventies Kid” utilize Hammond organ to transport the listeners back in time. At 77 years old, Paice is going strong, laying down a potent groove and showcasing numerous clever fills. Banned is an entertaining blast from the past.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath (Century Media)
On their third album Hideous Aftermath, Sanguisugabogg have shed their early music looseness in favor of a more focused, albeit streamlined brutal death metal sound. Opener “Rotted Entanglement” comes off particularly heavy, they even toned down the infamous drum pings from previous records. “Felony Abuse Of A Corpse” sees the band beating heads in with brutality with no regard for the listener, ending with vocalist Devin Swank’s gutter scraping vocals accompanied by those signature drums.
While it is admirable that the Bogg are tightening up and becoming more mature, it lacks the overall x-factor that prior records had, something less fun, sadly. One of the biggest reasons the band became so popular was effectively their middle finger to underground death metal norms. Hideous Aftermath succeeds only to assimilate a once unique band to being just another death metal band and we already have plenty of those.
Rating: 3
(Tom Campagna)
Serpent God – Denial (Inverse)
Death/doom metal can come in many forms, some keen on being melodic and others keeping the proceedings grim and unsightly. For Serpent God’s debut album, Denial, the Finnish trio falls somewhere in the middle of that range. The use of keyboards, the infrequent singing and melancholy guitars places the record in the former, while rugged growls and punchy double bass drumming puts Denial near the latter.
Most songs fall within six or seven minutes, with the exceptions being the sublime opening title track and despondent closer “Void.” Each song title is only one word, a punctual depiction of what each one is trying to express. Repent, revelation, sermon, oblivion: all given a devastating transformation on Denial.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Terzij de Horde – Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone (Church Road)
Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone is a breathless display of hardcore-ish black metal from Terzij de Horde. Though none of the songs reach the double-digit heights their previous releases have obtained, they hardly ease up for 42 minutes. No matter how long a song is, they keep the pace high strung to the point of exhaustion.
They save any cooldown periods for the closer “Discarding All Adornments,” which is seconds away from getting to 10 minutes. Guest singer Amelia Baker provides spoken word behind bare melodies about halfway into the track, a temporary haven that’s torn down almost as quickly as it was put up. Terzij de Horde are resolute in their quest for a nonstop onslaught.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Warrant – The Speed Of Metal (Massacre)
There are a couple of different bands named Warrant. The best known one is the American glam metal group that had a string of MTV and radio hits in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The other actually formed around the same time period, but in Germany, and they play power/speed metal. After releasing their debut in 1985, they disbanded then reformed in 1999, but didn’t release a new album until 2014.
The Speed Of Metal is Warrant’s third full-length, with frontman Jörg Juraschek the lone remaining original member. Their sound features potent vocals, plenty of guitar wizardry and ample melodies. It addition to ragers like “Cut Into Pieces” and more epic compositions like “Cry Out,” Warrant revisit their 1988 song “It’s Up To You.” There’s also a cover song. No, it’s not a speed metal rendition of “Cherry Pie,” which would have been hilarious, it’s their version of The Sweet’s “Windy City.” The Speed Of Metal treads familiar ground, but is well executed.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
