This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Agriculture, Author & Punisher, Cathedral, Dirkschneider And The Old Gang, Dispossessed, Hooded Menace, Michael Schenker Group, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Smohalla, Sum Of R, Today Is The Day, Unsouling and Valdur.
The ratings are on a 5-star scale.
Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound (The Flenser)
The L.A. post black metal band Agriculture have been prolific since they formed in 2021, with either an EP or full-length issued every year beginning in 2022. The Spiritual Sound is their second full-length.
Agriculture’s sound is constantly shifting. A black metal base with the typical musical and vocal tropes is expanded to include noise, groove, melody and plenty of experimentation. The first half of the album is more aggressive and intense, exemplified by tracks like “Micah (5:15am)” and “The Weight.” The second half, with songs like “Bodhidharma” and “Hallelujah” is more deliberate and introspective with acoustic sections and melodic singing. It’s a contrast in approach, shifting from black metal to post metal/shoegaze, with the closer “The Replay” tying everything together.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Author & Punisher – Nocturnal Birding (Relapse)
Tristan Shone formed Author & Punisher two decades ago as a solo project, releasing numerous albums. His latest effort Nocturnal Birding is more collaborative, working with guitarist Doug Sabolic (Ecstatic Vision, A Life Once Lost) and bringing in several guests.
Intense industrial metal and mechanical drone is contrasted by brief moments of the sound of birds. There are slow, deliberate compositions like “Black Storm Petrel” along with groovier tracks such as “Titmouse.” Among the guests are Couch Slut’s Megan Oztrosits, France’s Fange and Indonesia’s Kuntari. Nocturnal Birding creatively brings together mechanized sounds and nature.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Cathedral – Society’s Pact With Satan (Rise Above)
The influential UK doom band Cathedral formed in the late ’80s and released several albums before disbanding after 2013’s The Last Spire. During that session, they also recorded a 30-minute song that was rediscovered by producer Jaime Gomez Arellano when he was revisiting old studio archives.
Technically Society’s Pact With Satan is a single, but at nearly a half-hour in length, it’s more of an EP. There are a lot of ebbs and flows during the track, with a lengthy intro and slow doomy pace that speeds up into stoner territory. Those twists and turns continue with more tempo changes, catchy sections, instrumental breaks and the band’s patented riffs. While Society’s Pact With Satan is a bit self-indulgent at times with some lulls, there are a lot of compelling parts, and it was worth resurrecting and giving to Cathedral fans.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
Dirkschneider And The Old Gang – Babylon (Reigning Phoenix)
Dirkschneider And The Old Gang are mostly made up of old mates of Udo Dirkschneider, besides of course Dirkschneider himself. This includes drummer Stephan Kaufmann and bassist Peter Baltes, both early members of Accept. Babylon must be one of the most melodic releases from Dirkschneider in terms of songwriting and production. Some songs even feature female lead vocals (coming from Manuela “Ella” Bibert).
Now for the grumpy stuff. “Strangers In Paradise,” one of the tracks to be released as a single, doesn’t stick. “Beyond The End Of Time” has an intro riff taken almost verbatim from “Balls To The Wall” but with a guitar having a much weaker tone than the aforementioned Accept classic. In “Batter The Power” the choir vocals sound too processed. While this (and more) is disappointing, not all is doom and gloom. “It Takes Two To Tango,” which opens the album, is a great song with no shortage of riffs and hooks. “Propaganda” is a fist-pumping anthem. So, bottom line: Babylon boasts some great moments but for sure it doesn’t live up to its potential.
Rating: 3
(Chris Galea)
Dispossessed – Democide (Carbonized)
Death/doom metal in the hands of Dispossessed is an excruciating experience, a common theme throughout their second album, Democide. These four songs are paced as if the very idea of being fleet-footed is an irredeemable offense. The occasional burst of double bass drumming from L. MacDonald almost breaks out of this self-induced prison, but it’s a failed escape every time.
Ten-minute songs start and close Democide, with “Exanimate” sneaking by without so much as a raised heart rate and “Watan / If I Must Die” having a drawn-out outro of low growls and downbeat guitars. The unassuming synths in the latter are new for Dispossessed, furthering their sinister intent. This record almost champions itself on being downtrodden doom metal with a splash of death metal.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration (Season of Mist)
As Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration’s intro settles in, it builds an ambience of gloom and doom and it becomes apparent that Hooded Menace are primed for spooky season. Their seventh full length continues from the critical highs of their previous album, 2021’s The Tritonus Bell. Considering the death doom style the band is known for, melodies have begun to creep into the music with each successive release, with the first proper track “Pale Masquerade” having that front and center.
The slow funeral march of “Daughters Of Lingering Pain” gives the band ample room to stretch out. Pained vocals are juxtaposed with some of the beauty that would make even the most ardent fan of funeral doom blush. Compare that song with “Lugubrious Dance,” which has a speedier tempo, but maximum riffs being more in line with doom laced heavy metal than being the expected, slow crawl. Hooded Menace continue to flex their collective muscles on Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration, forging a path forward in a genre not often concerned with innovation.
Rating: 4.5
(Tom Campagna)
Michael Schenker Group – Don’t Sell Your Soul (earMusic)
After revisiting his early days with UFO, Michael Schenker gathers his Michael Schenker Group for Don’t Sell Your Soul. Erik Grönwall (H.E.A.T., Skid Row), who sang on My Years With UFO, is also the new vocalist for MSG.
There has been a revolving door of members over the years, but the band’s brand of classic hard rock/heavy metal has remained pretty consistent. The songs are heavy yet melodic, with plenty of room for Schenker’s guitar wizardry. Grönwall is a good addition, with a lot of power, range and versatility in his singing style. Former MSG vocalists Michael Voss and Robin McAuley also guest on Don’t Sell Your Soul, which delivers everything fans of the band want and expect.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – X’s For Eyes (Better Noise)
After five years of mostly touring and surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, multi-platinum award winning Florida alternative rockers The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus are releasing their eighth studio album, X’s For Eyes.
Maintaining their signature mid-2000s sound all these years later, it is impressive to see a band keep a style consistent after all this time. Much like the rest of their albums, it provides all the classic notes for fans of the genre. With the help of Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens fame, “Always The King” makes a strong attention getter for an opening track and sets the tone out the gate for the rest of the album. There is no new style in X’s For Eyes that hasn’t been done before and that is fine; their style is iconic and the sound of generations.
Rating: 3.5
(Dalton Husher)
Smohalla – Ruina Draconis (I, Voidhanger)
Smohalla doesn’t tie themselves to conventional methods with their electronics-drenched black metal on Ruina Draconis. The group’s first album since 2011’s Résilience has the keyboards as a vital part of their music, keeping in line with vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Slo’s synthwave project, Fixions. There is a cinematic pomp to the piano and synths in the middle of “In Stagno Ignis Serpens Antiquus.”
Ruina Draconis is not bound to a specific songwriting pattern. If Smohalla wants a six-minute instrumental that fuses industrial beats with distorted guitars, they do so with “Et Mortui Iudicabuntur.” Lyrics in French that are both screamed and sung with equal passion? They do it without hesitation. After fourteen years, the band could’ve easily faded off, leaving behind a great debut record, but they do one better with an impressive sophomore effort that tops Résilience.
Rating: 4
(Dan Marsicano)
Sum Of R – Spectral (Dusktone)
Sum Of R were formed in 2008 by Swiss musician Reto Mäder and are currently a trio, with the lineup rounded out by Marko Neuman and Jukka Rämänen, who hail from Finland. The band’s latest album is Spectral.
Their music is avant-garde, with tracks like “Agglomeration” drony and experimental. Some songs are more straightforward, such as opener “Solace,” featuring vocalist Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu, Grave Pleasures), but that’s not the norm. Expansive songwriting with numerous shifts in tempo and texture and non-traditional structures is the prevalent approach. As with any experimental album, they don’t all work, but Spectral is a unique and rewarding experience that requires time and patience to fully absorb.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Today Is The Day – Never Give In (SuperNova)
Never Give In is the latest release from noise rock veterans Today Is The Day, their first studio album in five years. This is an esoteric type of album that has a very hypnotic effect along with a post vibe that is very compelling. There is a modern aspect to the album that is interesting, but the music is too subdued to be particularly compelling.
Instead, it’s an album to become entranced in considering it has a very psychedelic aspect to it. There isn’t a powerful presence to the release, but the somewhat hypnotic effect will certainly appeal to certain types of people. Never Give In is an album that requires some patience and perseverance to enjoy, a slow burner.
Rating: 3
(Adam McAuley)
Unsouling – Outward Streams Of Devotional Woe (I, Voidhanger)
With its gothic undertones and new wave-y melodies, Outward Streams Of Devotional Woe is more nuanced than the death/black metal Unsouling revolves the album around. The band, a product of solo musician A.S., are punctual with their message, as lyrics are developed in short sentences. “Steady in its flow. Streams of pain and sorrow. Otherworldly rise. Dissipate burden,” from “Towering Black Wave,” doesn’t tiptoe around the message.
The sentiment is clear, even just from that one line: the spark of life has been drained from Outward Streams Of Devotional Woe. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean the album is a hassle to get through. A.S. is able to punctuate the traditional aspects of the music with parts that wouldn’t be out of place on a Depeche Mode record.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Valdur – Guilded Abyss (Bloody Mountain)
Over the past decade, Valdur have cemented themselves as one of the underground’s most formidable forces, descending into the darkest, most sinister depths of extreme metal and placing the eternal presence of demons firmly at the core of their sound. Their latest studio album, Guilded Abyss, pushes even further into infernal territory, fusing death metal’s crushing weight with the unrelenting venom of black metal.
Guilded Abyss is cold, raw, and chaotic, a work steeped in darkness yet unmistakably Valdur. While its swampy, blackened death metal textures echo familiar traditions, the band’s command of atmosphere makes it uniquely their own. Doom metal undercurrents shape the foundation, as reverberating riffs and ominous layers create a suffocating, resonant soundscape. For devoted fans, this album is a brutal feast: it may not redefine the genre or expand Valdur’s horizons, but it burns fiercely, destroys utterly, and reaffirms the band’s place among the underground elite.
Rating: 3.5
(Arash Khosronejad)
