2022-05-26 Metal Hammer UK

I was in places like Europe and Japan, though, where the CHRIS JERICHO
bands I loved were still respected. You could still see
Helloween and Dio and Maiden in arenas in Japan, for Chris Jericho: he interrupted
example, so I’m not sure in the early 90s I appreciated just The Rock and lived to
how hard it was for metal bands in the States. It wasn’t tell the tale
really until Avenged Sevenfold came along that I really
found a newer metal band that I understood.” METALHAMMER.COM 51

But wrestling really thrived in that era…
“It did. I joined WCW in 1996 and, it was funny, the main
event scene there wasn’t great but the undercard was
incredible. Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper wasn’t such
a great match in 1998, but it drew big crowds, and under
it was us – me, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Booker T,
Rey Mysterio – having these great matches. WWE had
a terrible undercard but the main event was Bret Hart
vs Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin or whatever. Those
matches were incredible! It took me a while to realise
that my position was of a place where I was never going
to break through, and that’s when I joined WWE in 1999,
which is when I went to the next level. But wrestling as
a whole was so popular from ’98-2002, it was a boom
period. Those four or five years were like being in a heavy
metal band from ’82-’88. You could do amazing things
because the culture was geared towards it.”

You made your debut in the middle of one of The Rock’s
promos as well…
“Yeah, it was before the millennium and I used the Y2K thing,
changed it to Y2J, and had this clock counting down. The
countdown ended while The Rock was in the ring during
Monday Night Raw and I came out and interrupted him;
it doesn’t get much bigger than that. It set the tone for my
time in the WWE. I was one of the first guys to make the
switch from the WCW, so it was a great start and it was
indicative of my time in that company.”

Did you feel there was some suspicion towards you when
Fozzy first came about?
“Oh, for sure. Because it was Chris Jericho the wrestler,
people thought it was just a gimmick band at the start, and,
to be fair, back then it kind of was. It all started because I met
Rich Ward from Stuck Mojo backstage at a WCW show and we
just hit it off. So, there was a little bit of suspicion, but that’s
how Fozzy started. We were just doing covers but we wanted
to do more and, not a lot of people know this, but our first
record deal was signed by Johnny Zazula, who recently passed
away, but who signed Metallica and Anthrax to Megaforce
Records. Fozzy were the last band he ever signed.”

You certainly evolved from the more tongue-in-cheek,
early incarnation of Fozzy
“Yeah, we were this kind of Blues Brothers thing. We
had fake names and this whole backstory, a Travelling
Wilburys-type thing [an 80s supergroup featuring Bob
Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and
Tom Petty]. We were sort of like the original Steel Panther;
we did a kind of mockumentary thing that was on MTV,
so we had a lot of steam straight out of the gate. We wanted
to do more and we decided to start trying to write our own
stuff; that gimmick rode its course pretty quickly. It took
a long time to get people’s respect, but it feels like such
a long time ago now.”

The UK really took to Fozzy. How big of a deal was it
to finally achieve that first Main Stage slot at Download
festival in 2014?
“Well, we’d played there a few times over the years, and
I knew that we were pretty low down on the bill, but by the

CHRIS JERICHO

Fozzy… or is it Steel Panther? to make a good go of it, and built up a great fanbase of people PRESS/ADRIENNE BEACCO
that trust my judgement and who I have on the show.”
“HE BELIEVED HE
WAS ATTACKED You’ve had a few pretty controversial guests on as well…
BY BIGFOOT” “Yeah, I am not saying I agree with everyone on the show,
but I am interested in conspiracy theories. I’ve had a few
time we got onstage the place was fucking packed; there on the show, but it makes for a great story. I had a guy who
were 30,000 people there. It felt like we were making a mark believed he was attacked by a family of Bigfoot. Now, we
and really getting to people. Every Download experience has can laugh, but he believed it, and for 60 minutes it was
been better than the last – we have a great connection with a riveting story. I like that side of things. If you think you’re
the UK audience. I’ll never forget our first UK show was at going to be influenced by my show… you got a lot more
Nottingham Rock City, and I walked out onstage and thought problems to worry about.”
I had walked onto the wrong stage because it was so packed.
I just couldn’t believe that many people had come to see us, You’re a committed Christian. How much has your faith
and the UK has always been so good to us from day one, and been a motivating factor in your career?
we continue to build and build.” “It’s huge. Because, I don’t want to get too philosophical, but
if all these achievements are just random chance, then what
How did the Talk Is Jericho podcast come about? is it all for? I have to believe in something. What, I’m just such
“I used to do a radio show on SiriusXM, and I’d play music a cool fucking guy that all this just happens? I don’t think so.
and do 10-minute interviews. That show ended, and then I have to believe in a higher power. I feel that knowing
one day Steve Austin called me to be on his podcast. The someone has your back and is pulling for you, and is guiding
people that were putting it together were looking for other us, helps me to get to where I need to be.”
people to host their own shows. I really enjoyed doing Steve’s,
so I said, ‘Sure, but it can’t just be a wrestling podcast. I love Did you still think you’d be wrestling in your 50s?
music, comedy, the paranormal…’ You know, I’m curious, “I don’t know, man. Look, I never went into anything
I want to ask people about all this stuff. That’s always been casually – I never went into wrestling to be the 716th best
my model; if I find it interesting, I want to do it.” wrestler! So, looking back at all the hard work, I am pretty
proud, of all of it. Fozzy just got certified gold for [seventh
How quickly did you take to it? album] Judas! This band, a gold record…? After all these years
“Well, at first, I didn’t really know what they were. I thought there is still more to achieve, so, yeah, it’s definitely an
it was some college radio thing, podcasts weren’t the known achievement, but I’m too busy still looking ahead.”
entity that they are now. Luckily, I stuck at it and got
a foothold, eight-and-a-half years later, and I’ve been able FOZZY’S NEW ALBUM, BOOMBOX, IS OUT NOW
VIA MASCOT
52 METALHAMMER.COM

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BLEED FROM WITHIN

WORDS: RICH HOBSON

PRESS

BLEED FROM WITHIN
Slated as the next Lamb Of God before debt and naivety
brought them crashing down, the Scots are older, wiser
and ready to seize their second shot at the big time

BLEED FROM WITHIN

ial the clocks back to 2013, and it looked like Scott Kennedy:
Bleed From Within had the world at their feet. reality has hit
They had signed to Century Media and their
third album, Uprising, was being met with PRESS
acclaim. In a glowing 9/10 review, Hammer
reviewer Nik Young described it as “vicious,
driven, and irresistibly headbang-worthy.”
To top things off, they were on tour as the main support
for Megadeth, where they hoped to learn some lessons
from the thrash legends. Chief among them: don’t piss
off a rock star’s bodyguard, particularly when they can
bounce you off the walls like a ping-pong ball. “Dave
Mustaine requested we go to his dressing room…” BFW
vocalist Scott Kennedy starts, a grin lighting his face up
like the sun. “Ali [Richardson, drummer] burst in with
a bottle of [caffeinated fortified wine] Buckfast and
almost threw it in Mustaine’s face! Like, ‘’Ey lad, you ever
tried this?’”
Ali sinks into his seat with the look of a man who has
heard this story a million times and never gets any less
embarrassed. Scott forges ahead undeterred, hooting with
laughter as he recounts Dave Mustaine – the man who
reportedly made Megadeth’s debut album on a diet of
hamburgers and heroin – had to explain there wasn’t much
he hadn’t tried. “Aye,” Scott says, “But have ya tried this?”
The story speaks volumes about the band’s enthusiasm
and inexperience at the time. This was evident almost
18 months later, when a deal-gone-wrong plunged the
band into over £20,000 worth of debt. For a bunch of
20-somethings whose finances were – at that point at least
– predicated on them being able to drop tools and go on
tour for weeks on end, it seemed like a death sentence.
Luckily, the music saw them through. “It was too much to
just walk away from, especially given what we’d already
achieved,” Ali says.

“I’D HAVE EIGHT
CANS BEFORE
GOING ONSTAGE”

SCOTT KENNEDY, VOCALS

Bleed From Within started life in 2005 as a jam project
while its members were still teenagers. Based out of a local
community centre in Hamilton – a town 15 miles southeast
of Glasgow – its members would cover bands such as Lamb
Of God and Pantera. “Ashes Of The Wake was my holy grail,”
Scott enthuses, while Ali professes that “the four-count
at the start of Fucking Hostile was the moment I put the
clarinet in the bin and picked up drumsticks.”

Over time, they began writing their own songs and
bringing individual influences into the mix – a touch of
Gothenburg here, shades of The Black Dahlia Murder there.
They played anywhere that would host them, and when
the local gigs dried up, they hit the road. “We’d be thinking
we’d fuckin’ made it because we were going out in a 15-seat
minibus, gear all over the seats around where we’d sleep,”
Ali says with a scoff. “You’d have eight cans before going
onstage; if I could see some of that footage back, I’d be
embarrassed beyond belief.”

Still, their efforts paid off, and in 2009 they released their
debut record, Humanity. Aware that riches weren’t about to
drop into their laps, the band held down part-time jobs at
restaurants, bars and car washes to keep cash coming in.
They soon realised that wasn’t going to work out, however.
“Every time we went on tour, we’d come back not knowing
if we still had jobs,” Scott admits.

56 METALHAMMER.COM

To remedy this, the members built careers outside Bleed BLEED FROM WITHIN
From Within to ensure they had some level of financial
stability – three members now own a company that Ali Richardson: marked
specialises in motion graphics. “The paths we’ve chosen are safe from MegaDave’s
based on keeping the band going, essentially,” Ali explains. bodyguards, May 2022

It wasn’t the rock’n’roll fantasy of sex, parties and
swimming pools of Irn-Bru they might have hoped for, but
it kept the dream alive. Now they just had to get past the
next obstacle: gatekeepers. In the early 2010s British metal
scene, bands such as Bring Me The Horizon and Asking
Alexandria were raked over the coals for everything from
the way they dressed to the bands they toured with. Bleed
From Within didn’t escape unscathed.

Haters didn’t care that Bleed From Within were fusing
turn-of-the-millennium Gothenburg with the neck-
juddering groove of Pantera and Lamb Of God, or that their
sound owed as much to classic thrash as it did to metalcore
or deathcore. What they cared about was that Scott ‘looked
like Oli Sykes’ (he had a fringe), and that the band weren’t
grizzled veterans of the metal scene (despite the fact they
had been touring relentlessly for years by the time they
started appearing on big bills). In their eyes – and to use their
words – Bleed From Within were ‘a cookie-cutter shitty
metal band for angsty teenage kids’.

“I’ve not bothered my arse with what people say about
our band,” Ali says sagely, sounding like the Scottish Dalai
Lama. “It was always our appearance that seemed to get
judged above all else – especially because we were a group
of small guys going out on these huge stages where you’d
have folks like Dave Mustaine, Gene Hoglan or Chuck Billy.
We’re wee guys compared to them!”

orced to take a three-year break from touring while
they resolved their myriad legal and financial issues,
Bleed From Within re-emerged in 2018 as a band
reborn. With both Era and its 2020 follow-up, Fracture, they
reasserted their place alongside the likes of While She Sleeps
and Architects as one of the hottest metal bands in the UK.
Appearances at Download Pilot and Bloodstock over the
summer saw them greeted as conquering heroes, crowds
chanting their name and singing along.
Then, as if to prove just how far they had come, those
scenes repeated later in the year when Bleed From Within
played some of their biggest shows to date, supporting
Bullet For My Valentine in UK arenas before embarking on
a sold-out headline tour in their own right. “The crowd were
singing so loud every single night, for every single song,”
Scott says. “It left me speechless.”
“Each show seemed to be more wild than the last,” Ali adds
excitedly. “Crowdsurfers, pits and sing-alongs the whole time.
In Glasgow they had to stop counting the surfers after track
three. The next few years are going to be fucking mental.”

The songs that have defined Bleed From Within’s career

THE HEALING UPRISING AFTERLIFE THE END OF ALL I AM DAMNATION
(2010) (2013) (2018) WE KNOW (2020) (2022)
Back when they The title track from Returning after Fracture’s bombastic Can Bleed From
played the Metal their third album, a five-year gap, opener announced Within continue
Hammer Razor tour and first for Century Bleed From Within they were not their winning streak?
in 2011, this was Media, Uprising was took their template, fucking around. Yes, yes they can, as
the song that really a PMA metalcore polished it up with Made for sing-alongs the lead-off single
ripped, and saw statement of intent help from Adam and fist-pumps, it’s from Shrine shows.
While She Sleeps’ – ‘We will rise to our ‘Nolly’ Getgood, become an anthem Absolutely immense,
Mat Welsh front-flip feet, there’s nothing and dropped in representing the we can already see
off the barrier on holding us back,’ a punch-yourself-in- band’s triumphant the pyro going off
the London date. they roared. the-face breakdown. bounceback. on a massive stage.

METALHAMMER.COM 57

BLEED FROM WITHIN

Haters gonna hate. Those That Wish To Exist – a record that topped the UK charts PRESS
BFW couldn’t care less in February 2021. “Bands like Architects getting to No.1 in
the charts is so exciting,” Scott enthuses.
As if to illustrate that point, the band’s sixth album, Shrine,
is their most ambitious to date. Lead single I Am Damnation “It’s exciting to have any guitar music in the charts, even
set the stage in November by boasting some of the biggest if it’s not metal,” Ali adds. “Just look at Bring Me The Horizon
riffs and hooks of the band’s career, but that’s just a small – playing to thousands of people around the country and
taste of what is to come. The characteristic PMA that has collaborating with Ed Sheeran. One of the biggest artists
powered the band through dark times thus far is still present on the planet collaborating with a heavy band.”
and correct, but is joined by musings on the nature of
mortality that naturally come with age. Like the spider in Scottish folklore that wouldn’t give
up its attempts to weave a web, inspiring Robert The Bruce
Levitate’s soaring symphonies are at odds with its lyrical to fight for – and ultimately win – Scottish independence,
content concerning dementia, based on Scott’s experiences Bleed From Within have faced their setbacks and obstacles
with his grandmother. Elsewhere, Killing Time was inspired with a sense of perseverance and pragmatism. With
by an incident where Ali attempted to resuscitate a heart Shrine on the horizon, at this point the sky’s the limit –
but the band aren’t about to get ahead of themselves.
“I PUT THE “The bad situations we’ve got in as a band have come
CLARINET IN from chasing a dream and not living for the reality,”
THE BIN” Scott says soberly.

ALI RICHARDSON, DRUMMER That doesn’t mean they’ve lost their sense of ambition,
though. “When bands like Rammstein, Iron Maiden and
attack victim, although sadly in vain. “It really made me Metallica are no more, we’ll see a real change. Bring Me
reflect on my mortality and what I do with the time I’ve got,” The Horizon will be headlining festivals those bands
he admits. would usually do and everybody else will jump up, too,”
says Ali. “The naysayers are going to be fucking furious,
And then there’s the music. With industrial beats, but they have to deal with it. The new wave of metal is
electronica and full symphonies courtesy of the Parallax already in front of them. Get your head out of your arse!”
Orchestra – who’ve worked with BMTH and Architects
– Shrine could well be a modern British classic, up there with SHRINE IS DUE FOR RELEASE ON JUNE 3 VIA
chart-raiding epics such as You Are We, Sempiternal, or For NUCLEAR BLAST

58 METALHAMMER.COM



NU GEN

There’s a new wave of artists tearing genres to shreds
and reshaping alt culture for the next generation.
Meet nu gen: the scene everyone is talking about

WORDS: LIZ SCARLETT AND MERLIN ALDERSLADE

CASSYETTE: PRESS/JAMIE WATERS

NU GEN

Cassyette calls her
sound ‘grit pop’

NU GEN

he ‘rock is dead’ conversation Mimi Barks: making music
just won’t die. In this year alone, without boundaries
rapper-gone-rocker Machine
Gun Kelly suggested that of fans. They’re bagging support
the genre was in need of
a “defibrillator”, while Kiss’s “WE SPEAK slots with A-listers (Cassyette is
Gene Simmons reasserted his supporting My Chemical Romance
notorious 2014 statement,
declaring in a recent interview OPENLY ABOUT at Milton Keynes’ Stadium MK
with Metal Hammer, “I stand by TRAUMAS” this year), collaborating with
my words: rock is dead.” Most metalheads would baulk at mainstream heavyweights
such melodramatic claims, but the truth is that rock’s place
on the wider music spectrum is certainly in question; 20 MIMI BARKS (Siiickbrain recently teamed up
years ago, contemporary metal was shifting millions and
dominating the charts. In recent years, heavy music has with Willow daughter-of-Will
struggled to make an impact outside of its own bubble.
One movement looking to change that is nu gen - a new Smith) and dominating the online sphere (after joining
generation of musicians who are propelling the genre back
into the mainstream, flooding the scene with new sounds TikTok to promote her music in 2020, Mothica’s song Vices
that meld together everything from metal and punk to
R’n’B. It’s a clash of styles unlike anything we’ve seen before, got more than five million views). It’s pushing alternative
and it’s being championed not by bands, but by individual
singer-songwriters who look like they’ve stumbled straight music into new spaces to reach millions of ears for the first
out of a Hot Topic in 2004.
“This genre is obscene, ruthless and there are no time - “from my experience on TikTok, I’d say alternative
boundaries in lyrical or visual output anymore”, says Mimi
Barks, whose self-proclaimed ‘doom trap’ fuses big riffs music is now the norm”, suggests Mothica, “which I think, in MIMI BARKS: PRESS/AARON HEATHER
with hip hop hooks. “You can self-publish and don’t need to
please a third party such as a label, publisher or record store the long run, is a great thing for the genre to evolve.”
to sell your music.”
Mimi is one of a seemingly endless wave of emerging nu While nu gen may only now be starting to grab headlines,
gen artists, united less by sharing one specific sound and
more by having a shared attitude – an approach to making the truth is that it represents a natural endgame for
music where there are no restrictions based on genre, image,
or even having an actual band to write with. a generation of artists raised on streaming and social media.
“There are more solo artists in the scene now because
of bedroom production and the internet”, offers Mothica, For Cassyette, it’s been years in the making.
who creates shadowy alt-pop with EDM and emo leanings.
“You can record a live, full band sound in a home studio, “I think it’s been like bubbling under the scene for a really
so musicians have more room to try out new things.
I also think a lot of these artists, myself included, are long time”, she confirms. “A lot of these musicians have
incorporating music they might have grown up with into
their own sound.” been making music for years, it’s just becoming popular.”
Alongside Mimi Barks and Mothica there are the likes of
Cassyette, who mixes rock, emo and pop in a blend she
labels ‘grit pop’; Dana Dentata, writing industrial-singed,
hell-raising rap metal; and Bambie Thug, whose trap-goth
stylings could see them as equally at home on a stage with
Nine Inch Nails as Megan Thee Stallion. There’s plenty more
where they all came from, too: Siiickbrain, Lilith Czar, Zand,
Lil Lotus, AlienBlaze, Nascar Aloe… their music might not all
sound exactly the same, but they represent a generation of
artists doing alternative music differently.

t’s also a scene in which we are seeing better
representation for non-binary and LGBTQ+ artists
- reflecting a rock landscape that is finally starting to
come to grips with its historical image as a chest-beating
boys’ club.
“I feel like, now, the audience feels [better] represented by
musicians, because you can always find somebody that looks
like you, whereas you couldn’t before”, suggests Cassyette.
“I also see a lot of queer artists coming through, myself being
one of them. It’s an exciting time, because where there’s more
diversity, there’s better music and it’s only going to make
these sounds more futuristic. Rock is becoming redefined.”
The nu gen movement is flourishing into something huge,
saturated by an eclectic and extensive range of artists that
are storming across the UK and US with growing numbers

62 METALHAMMER.COM

NU GEN

Dana Dentata: shattering
mirrors and glass ceilings

DANA DENTATA: PRESS/AMINA GOLD Despite an early career in the club scene as a DJ, Cassyette Ten tracks that have helped
has always had one foot planted in electronic pop and one in define a movement
rock. She grew up listening to Paramore, Korn, Black Sabbath
and Mötley Crüe from the age of 13, but ventured away from POPPY
her teenage heroes once her DJing career took off. Now, she’s I Disagree
become one of the forerunners of her generation of artists While Poppy is something of a precursor
and believes that the rock scene’s fresh approach to blending to nu gen, her dizzying mixture of
styles is the secret to lengthening its shelf life. metal, pop and EDM is a major influence
on the scene.
“It’s important for me to make two sides of music, so that CASSYETTE
you always leave the door open for people”, she explains. Mayhem
“If you can get more people listening to and loving your Nu gen’s foremost breakout star shined
music on the pop side of things, they’re going to listen to the even brighter this year with this
heavy stuff. That’s how you keep [rock] alive.” emotionally driven rocker with an
angsty, arena-worthy chorus.
hile the hype around Cassyette and her peers MIMI BARKS
might seem excessive to some - as well as the MCR Suicide
dates, she landed BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record In The self-professed ‘doom-trap’ artist
The World with Behind Closed Doors (feat. Kid Brunswick) and is at her best on this grinding slice of
performed with Frank Carter during his headline set at last dark rap, which even manages to make
year’s Download Pilot - she’s in no two minds about having autotune sound sinister.
earned her seat at the table. “I’ve worked my ass off to be MOTHICA
here”, she states. “I’ve been really focused on making Buzzkill
‘Holy motherfucker, do you have something
to say?’ With this bassy, emotionally
heavy tale of abuse, it’s clear that
Mothica certainly does.
DANA DENTATA
Pantychrist
This crunching slab of sneering trap
metal could work just as well on
a festival stage as at Torture Garden
in the wee hours.
SIIICKBRAIN
Purge
Siiickbrain’s collab with Willow manages
to throw out anthemic pop, slick r’n’b
and crunching heavy metal in less than
three minutes.
BAMBIE THUG
P.M.P
Driving goth-trap brimming with sex
and spit, P.M.P (that’s Pussy. Money.
Power) may not be subtle, but it’ll be
stuck in your head for days.
ALIENBLAZE
Romantically Dead
This bouncy rock banger sounds like
someone took the skeleton of a glam
metal song and washed it in grungey
gunk. Lovely.
ZAND
I Spit On Your Grave
Big beats, spooky ambience and swathes
of sultry electronica bathed in screams
and screeches make this a delightfully
unhinged treat.
NASCAR ALOE
Angry Car
Snotty rap bars spat out over
a claustrophobic EDM track that sounds
like it could comfortably sit on some of
Aphex Twin’s more abrasive material.

METALHAMMER.COM 63

NU GEN

Mothica believes our collective
trauma has turned many people
onto heavier music

“ALTERNATIVE music that I love, and lyrics, has always appealed to fans that are more in touch
MUSIC IS NOW I feel like it’s something with their emotions”, she argues. “Maybe with people who
THE NORM, AND new and fresh.” have experienced traumatic things in their lives. I think the
IT’S EVOLVING” collective trauma we’ve gone through the last few years has
Another common turned a lot more people onto this style of music, and even
theme within nu gen is the way people dress. I’m older than a lot of my fans, and this
that, much like certain style of music wasn’t as embraced when I was growing up.”
elements of nu metal
and emo, it’s a scene It’s certainly being embraced now. Nu gen is more than
a scene - it’s the sign of a sea-change in heavy music. The
MOTHICA that encourages people barriers are down. There are no limits. And it could just be
the spark that helps rock take over the world again.
to be more open about their mental health and be their truest
“Rock is very much alive”, insists Cassyette. “It’s been very
selves, offering an outlet for fans to express themselves much alive this entire time because the core fanbase has
always been there and has always been listening. I just think
unapologetically. “I think that a lot of kids can relate [to us]”, it’s getting a chance to come back and have its own revival
and it’s turned into something else. It’s getting really
suggests Mimi Barks, “as there’s never been a time in history interesting; I actually think that this is going to be what
carries it right to the top… and it will be right at the top.”
before where we could speak so openly and shamelessly
CASSYETTE’S MAYHEM SINGLE IS OUT NOW VIA
about depression, anxieties, traumas, drugs and sex.” DEVIL LAND. DANA DENTATA’S PANTYCHRIST
ALBUM IS OUT NOW VIA ROADRUNNER.
“The direct connection from artists to the fanbase creates MOTHICA’S SINGLE LAST CIGARETTE IS OUT NOW
VIA HEAVY HEART/RISE/BMG. MIMI BARKS’
a different kind of passion”, adds Dana Dentata. “Being able SINGLE RAD IS OUT NOW VIA SILENT CULT MOTHICA: PRESS/LISSYELLE LARICCHA

to say whatever we want in our songs, kids are getting to

hear exactly how they feel now. It’s extremely important to

me to keep in contact with the people who reach out to me

that are affected by my music.”

Mothica, meanwhile, suggests a combination of rock’s

natural disposition to emotion and the pure, batshit insanity

of the last 10 years on Planet Earth may have something to

do with it. “I think rock music, heavy music with darker

64 METALHAMMER.COM

www.classicrockmagazine.com

TROLLFEST PRESS

NORWEGI

First impressions pin Trollfest as folk-metal jesters celebrating
Big Dumb Fun. But look beyond the pink flamingo costumes
and a more intriguing story emerges

WORDS: CHRIS CHANTLER

66 METALHAMMER.COM

TROLLFEST

AN WEIRD

METALHAMMER.COM 67

TROLLFEST a global audience. 2019’s Norwegian Fairytales dropped this
convention to focus on the band’s native tongue, and finally,
ven by the fabulous, outrageous, with Flamingo Overlord, we monolinguist English speakers
unapologetically over-the-top standards have Trollfest songs we can sing along to. It feels like an
of the Eurovision Song Contest, Trollfest’s album the collective, whose eclectic, restless compositions
January 15 performance at the Melodi and overactive imagination actively mitigate against
Grand Prix, Norway’s televised boredom and stagnation, have been building up to for a long
pre-selection tournament to select time. Liberated from any internal or external pressures to
the nation’s entry for the annual festival remain ‘on brand’ in this new phase of their career, in the
of song, was A Moment. group’s concept album about a flamingo-based tyrannical
Introduced by Rammstein-style jets of flames, on a stage dystopia, the troll lyrics of yore are nowhere to be seen.
decorated with inflatable palm trees, a squad of burly
musicians sporting pink flamingo costumes pranced “I don’t know if it was an active decision or if it just turned
around in circles to parping folk-metal as their frontman out that way”, ponders Jostein. “Lyrically it was certainly
encouraged the audience to get their “freak on” on the freeing to write in English this time around. It made it a lot
“dancing floor” and “dance like there’s no tomorrow”. easier to say exactly what I wanted to say. Similar thing with
Fuck knows what the live audience at the H3 Arena in the trolls, it was freeing to set them aside for a bit. I felt like,
Fornebu made of this endearingly ludicrous spectacle, trying to become a dictator in the troll world, I don’t think
but when footage of the performance was posted online, that would work. There’s too much anarchy amongst the
The Internet was charmed and captivated: “Why on earth trolls to ever accept one ruler!”
wouldn’t you pick this one?”reads the first comment
underneath the clip. “It has everything you can ever ask Though cartoonish imagery and eccentric flamboyance
for from a Eurovision hit.” have always been part of Trollfest’s DNA, these elements
Sadly, for our plucky, feathered heroes, it was not to be: are underscored by serious talent, discipline and hard work.
voted through to the competition’s Last Chance Gold Duel The absurdist genre-mashing isn’t just undertaken for its
eliminator - don’t ask us, it’s complicated - Trollfest own sake either – these often breathtaking arrangements
ultimately lost out to Maria Mohn’s Fly for a place in the are radiating with sheer passion for music in all its forms.
national final, at which the good people of Norway duly Almost 20 years into their career, Trollfest have seen
elected Subwoolfer - two men in black suits sporting yellow
wolf head masks singing Give That Wolf A Banana - as their
Eurovision 2022 ambassadors. What a time to be alive.
It’s entirely possible, though, that the average viewer
assailed by the gleefully batshit Dance Like A Pink Flamingo
may have written off the Oslo-based nine-piece as a gang of
camp wackaloons making novelty pop-metal for children’s
parties. And entirely possible too, that lyrics such as ‘Like
parasites we infest, Bleed all resources dry / No hope, no change
will come / Power sits in comfort’ may have gone unheard
amid the visual chaos, so that the true meaning of the song
- a cautionary tale about the cynical machinations of an evil
ruling elite, and how tyrants thrive on apathy - may not
have been immediately obvious to all.
It remains to be seen, too, whether those investigating
Trollfest’s Napalm Records debut, Flamingo Overlord, will
choose to delve beneath its dizzying blend of upbeat,
catchy sing-alongs to uncover dark reflections on themes
of addiction and indoctrination. Those that do may
increasingly come to view the album’s novelty pop-metal
sheen as rather sinister, if not downright perverse.
“If you’re having a shit time and the person right next to
you is having the time of his life, it’s even shittier”, observes
vocalist Jostein Austvik, aka Trollmannen. “Particularly if
the guy next to you knows you’re having a shit time and he’s
still enjoying his ass off!
“Hopefully - if people haven’t written us off completely
- when they get the album and see the lyrics, all the
happy-go-lucky party songs will have to be revisited with
another perspective. You could even take it as a bit of a kick
towards the shallowness of our culture; people take one
quick look and think they’ve sussed everything out, but you
only have to take half a look more to realise that your
assumptions are completely wrong.”
Be honest: who saw that coming?

ormed in 2003 by Jostein and guitarist John Espen
Sagstad, aka Mr. Seidel, Trollfest have inarguably put
in the hard yards before emerging as a 2022 buzz
band. Self-proclaimed pioneers of True Norwegian Balkan
Metal, the group’s first seven records were written and sung
entirely in ‘trollspråk’ - a kind of grammar-free amalgam
of German and Norwegian, hardly conducive to chasing

68 METALHAMMER.COM

TROLLFEST

Slayer, they ain’t

PRESS/JULIA MARIE NAGLESTAD “THE MUSIC “My dad’s an old 70s metal dude”, he reveals. “The thing
INDUSTRY IS SO I remember most was Hocus Pocus by Focus, the Dutch band,
LITTLE ABOUT with the yodelling. That made me giggle for fucking hours!
MUSIC THESE DAYS” My dad had a live version on cassette, I rewound it so many
times it broke. Frank Zappa is also a wonderful example of
TROLLMANNEN how serious music and comedy can go very well together.”

massive change in the industry in which they operate, Maintaining this equilibrium can be even harder to pull
and there’s no trace of humour in their frontman’s voice off in the metal scene; back in the 80s, Anthrax copped
when he says, “The music industry is so little about music a load of flak when they stopped trying to look mean in
these days.” leathers and started smiling in Bermuda shorts, and there
is still a sense that it’s not cool for metal bands to goof off.
“There’s so much about the image, the video, the One can only imagine just how much Trollfest’s surrealist,
accompanying merchandise, the newly brewed beer, the subversive approach to their art has ruffled feathers - no
bar of soap with the band logo on, just so much fucking pun intended - among some of the more committed, kvlt
shit”, he spits. “As a bit of a ‘Fuck you’ to all of that, we’ve doom lords in the Norwegian metal community.
always been 110% serious about the music we make.”
“We’ve met our fair share of those guys”, Jostein laughs.
Balancing a sense of humour with a conscientious, “Sometimes we see them at shows, away in the back with
committed and ethical approach to art and industry can be their arms folded, shaking their heads. One of my favourite
a difficult line to tread for musicians. For Jostein, who cites things to see is those guys start off like that, and by the end
Devin Townsend and Mr. Bungle as artists who continue to of the show they’re jumping around grinning and having
inspire his band, the two approaches were never separate; the time of their life! To me that’s a very beautiful thing to
his initiation into heavy music was inextricably bound up see, and one more dig at these people who need everything
with the act of laughter. to be serious the whole time. I find that so fucking boring.
And I do wonder, how serious do you need it to be? Do you
only listen to death metal made by murderers? Do you believe
black metal bands sacrifice humans and drink their blood?

METALHAMMER.COM 69

TROLLFEST

Sometimes you just have INTRTOHLELDINEGEP PRESS
to flamingo mad
A beginner’s guide to the Trollfest catalogue,
“THE BLACK METAL courtesy of frontman Trollmannen
BANDS WITH NAILS
AND SPIKES ARE THE BEST ALBUM
JUST NERDS LIKE Brumlebassen (2012)
THE REST OF US” “This is the most metal one! There’s great
variation on it, but as a whole this is the
TROLLMANNEN heaviest and most intense. I feel it’s a very
good representation of the Eastern European
How come those lies are serious and our lies are not serious? folk music combined with extreme metal,
It’s fine, if you wanna be one of those serious people, fair that’s one of the things I’m really happy we’ve
enough. But the black metal bands with long nails and
spikes, prepared for war, sacrifice for Satan, all that stuff, done, and this is the one where we did it the best.”
you meet them and they’re just nerds like the rest of us.”
THE WORST ALBUM
urovision glory may have eluded Trollfest, but there Willkommen Folk Tell Drekka Fest! (2005)
is much for the Oslo band to look forward to as their “This is really tough! We had a lot of fun
profile continues to swell, and a deep catalogue for making the first one, but I feel we didn’t really
newcomers to their Flamingo Secret Society to uncover. start smelling our own stuff until the second
And if Trollfest aren’t the escapist fantasy troupe their album, and we were making our own stuff by
image might suggest, this intriguing, idiosyncratic collective the third album. So I guess this one is the
are seemingly relaxed and accepting of the fact that not furthest away from what we’re doing now.”
everyone who signs up for the journey ahead will be looking
to them to provide a moral, intellectual and spiritual THE WILD CARD
roadmap for a future yet unwritten. Kaptein Kaos (2014)
“It seems to me that’s what’s going on in the democracies “I guess that’s the closest to the new album;
of the western world, a lot of people are signing off from it’s pretty experimental with a lot of jumping
politics and societal interests and just going on a bender”, around from genre to genre, and a lot of
Jostein muses. “Probably all of us should pay more attention, very different-sounding songs that still sound
and actually know a little bit about politics so we can make a bit similar in some sense! It’s very hard to
informed choices, maybe even improve stuff? But it turns get bored when you put on that album, each
out that we’re way too fond of the bottle and the party.”
song is a thing unto itself.”
TROLLFEST’S FLAMINGO OVERLORD ALBUM IS
RELEASED ON MAY 27 VIA NAPALM

70 METALHAMMER.COM



CAVE IN

WORDS: MATT MILLS • PICTURES: JAY ZUCCO

REQUIEM
FDOR RE AAM

CAVE IN
The shock death of Cave In bassist Caleb Scofield in
2018 left the New England hardcore/metal community
reeling. But with masterful album Heavy Pendulum,
Cave In are keeping their friend’s memory alive

CAVE IN n March 28, 2018, Cave In’s “CALEB’S DEATH
WAS CRUSHING…
Caleb Scofield was killed in IT WAS
a freak road accident. The DEVASTATING”
39-year-old bassist was
driving towards a toll booth JR CONNERS
in Bedford, Massachusetts, Caleb (far left) was
when he attempted to change part of the Cave In

Olanes, and his pick-up truck family for two decades
collided with a concrete
barrier: he died almost
instantly as the burning wreck rolled along the highway.
Survived by his wife, Jen, and the couple’s two children,
10-year-old Desmond and seven-year-old Sydney, Caleb also
left behind a distraught extended musical family in the close-
knit New England hardcore/metal scene, having served in
Cave In for two decades. Fans crowdfunded more than $45,000
to cover his funeral expenses within two days of his death,
while friends and former bandmates - Cave In, Pelican, Old
Man Gloom, Isis - arranged benefit gigs, the latter ending an
eight-year-long hiatus to pay tribute. Within this supportive,
fecund community there were months of mourning,
celebration and productivity, all swirling simultaneously.
“It was crushing,” Cave In’s drummer, John Robert ‘JR’
Conners, says of Caleb’s death, speaking four years on,
via a video call with Hammer. “When you’ve had as long
a relationship with someone as we had with Caleb, it’s like
dealing with a family member. If you really love that person,
if you love spending time with that person, if you’re creative
with that person, then it’s devastating. Each person needed
to figure out how to cope with that.”
“For Cave In, we just put so much work into the benefit
shows,” singer/guitarist Stephen Brodsky continues, picking
up where his bandmate of 27 years left off. “In the heat of
doing that stuff, we were just really wrapped up in all the
logistics, rehearsing and making appearances. In a way,
having all the work kept us from spiralling about the effects
of the grief.”
By all accounts, Caleb was a devoted parent and a loyal,
loving partner. “His love for music was almost equal to his
desire to be a good dad,” his cousin, Kaitlyn O’Connor, was
quoted as saying by local press. Isis added on social media:
“He was a great father [and] a loving husband, and his loss
will be most deeply felt by his family.” Cave In stated in their
tribute to him: “He was one of a kind, our best friend and an
unfathomable world of inspiration.”
On a musical level, to know the mark that Caleb stamped
on heavy music is to know the restlessly eclectic journey Cave
In enjoyed with him, and are now continuing in his honour.
Stephen, JR and lead guitarist Adam McGrath – three middle
school chums from Methuen, Massachusetts – added Caleb
to their ranks in early ’98 after meeting him on Cave In’s first
American tour. Although the four-piece initially raged their
way to prominence in the same Boston hardcore scene that
birthed Converge, they fearlessly dabbled with grunge and
prog in the early 2000s. Their six albums form a sliding scale
between apoplectic hardcore and hypnotically melodic rock.
And with Converge’s Nate Newton stepping in to help his
friends as they continue to process their loss, the impending
Heavy Pendulum once more pushes their capabilities.
The quartet’s first album for their new label, Relapse,
Heavy Pendulum is Cave In’s monolith. At 70 minutes in
length, it’s easily the grandest undertaking of their career,
and it justifies every second as it weds the quartet’s metallic
and melodic leanings in hitherto uncharted ways. Lead-off
single New Reality doesn’t fuck about with dishing out the
heaviness, flaunting a guitar riff that’s as hellishly low as it
is precious to its creators.
“It’s a variation on an open G [tuning] with a drop C
wildcard in the mix,” explains Stephen. “It’s a tuning that

74 METALHAMMER.COM

CAVE IN

Cave In (left to right):
Adam McGrath, Nate Newton,

JR Conners, Stephen Brodsky

B“ TRHOETYH EMRI …S S” T H E I R

Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou produced Cave In’s debut album and also
their latest. He tells Hammer of the close friendship between the two bands

KKURT BALLOU: FUTURE OWNS/OLLY CURTIS HEAVY but it was a celebration of his PERSONALLY, WHAT’S THE
PENDULUM life. I never cried as hard or DYNAMIC BETWEEN YOU LIKE?
IS CAVE IN’S laughed as hard. I’m about to “We’re family. We argue about
FIRST cry right now…” how many times to do a chorus
RECORDING CONVERGE AND CAVE IN or if a song needs a bridge, or
WITHOUT ARE INCREDIBLY CLOSE. where we should get lunch. Ha
CALEB: WHAT WHAT BROUGHT YOU ha ha! All normal family stuff.
WAS THE GUYS TOGETHER? But we’re friends and we love
ATMOSPHERE “They’ve always been a part each other.”
LIKE IN THE STUDIO? of that [Massachusetts NOW THAT IT’S FINISHED,
“It was redemptive, optimistic metalcore scene]. I see all of WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS
and joyous. They miss their them fairly regularly, whether ON HEAVY PENDULUM?
brother, but they’re extremely it’s at a show, at one of our “It’s a great record and I’m really
happy that they get to shows, or JR just stops by to excited about it. I think that new
continue making music. borrow a tambourine. There life breathed into the band.
Caleb would have loved what are times where I’m driving Coming out of tragedy, I think,
they’re doing now; he’d have home from work and I’ll see JR was a big motivator for them to
wanted them to move on. with his kids in the park on my reconnect with each other, and
It was more of a celebration. commute. We’re kind of always create what I feel is important,
Even at Caleb’s funeral, we around in each other’s lives.” vital music at this time.”
were mourning his passing,

METALHAMMER.COM 75

CAVE IN

Caleb came up with called the ‘Secret C’.

It reminds me of Caleb, so it’s nice to

continue writing stuff in that tuning.”

Speaking about the complete body of

work Stephen says, “It’s one of the most

focused writing efforts that we’ve done in

a long time. We were on such a roll with

writing that we just kept going and going,

cranking out songs and ideas, which

probably explains why the record’s so

long. We could really sink into this sonic

world and see what came out of it.”
It’s almost alien to hear Cave In feel
musically comfortable… anywhere.

When Stephen humbly plays down
their 1998 debut, Until Your Heart Stops,
as “Converge worship”, that drastically

undersells its innovation in the then-

immature metalcore space. Converge

may have had an obvious influence on

its jagged licks and nonstop screams -

Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou produced

the album, as he did with Heavy Pendulum

- but the avant-garde song structures

were exclusively Cave In’s, breaking the The video for New Reality.
rules in a genre that didn’t even know Good to see Cave In aren’t
what its own boundaries were yet. conforming any time soon

Just two years later, Jupiter emerged. “AFTER CALEB’S PASSING,
Rather than seeking to refine their metalcore origins, or to EVERYTHING WE DO HAS
iron out any of the quirks Until Your Heart Stops had, instead
it pulled a 180, calming Cave In’s soundscape. Wails were TAKEN ON A GREATER AIR
replaced by gentle singing, metalcore grids became horizon- OF IMPORTANCE”
free space rock, squealing riffs were supplanted by grooving
post-hardcore chords. With hindsight, Stephen attributes
the shift in focus to the band’s youthful members hearing
grunge dominate the airwaves.

“When Pearl Jam’s shit was hitting, we were super-young STEPHEN BRODSKY

and impressionable,” he recalls. “I just wanted to dive through

my TV and leave Methuen and wake up in Seattle.” Cave In willingly retreated to the underground, re-signing

“We also grew up with bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin to their old home of Hydra Head so that they could follow

and Pink Floyd,” JR adds. “They weren’t afraid to mess with their own muse. There they made both Perfect Pitch Black and

their sound and try different, experimental things.” its 2011 follow-up, White Silence; the six-year gap between

As you’d imagine, cries of “Sellout!” followed Cave In as the two necessitated by the members starting new projects

they eased off away from Full On Attack Mode . The decision and spreading out across the country to prioritise family life.

to sign to RCA Records – then-home of Foo Fighters, The Their swansong for the label was 2019’s Final Transmission.

Strokes and Kelly Clarkson – and the even mellower alt-rock Released 15 months after Caleb’s passing, it was a collection

of 2003’s Antenna only amplified those dissenting voices. of professionally mastered demos that the band made

“That came a lot from the elite world of hardcore,” Stephen immediately prior to his death. It was on a trip home after

recalls. “But playing rock bars in Boston that were 18-plus or a weekend of jamming Final Transmission material with his

21-plus, a lot of people told us that was selling out. And the bandmates that the bassist had his fatal accident.

thing is that Boston is such an underdog town. The Red Sox “I haven’t listened to Final Transmission since we were

went almost 100 years without winning the World Series. preparing to play shows [in 2019],” JR admits. “I listened to

So I think a band like Cave In getting major label interest, it when we were mixing and mastering and that’s all I can

people had never seen anything like that before.” take with it. It’s got a lot of heavy emotion attached to it.”
If there’s even a sliver of a silver lining to this narrative
The glitz and glamour didn’t linger. Touring off the back of arc, it’s that Cave In did not die with Caleb Scofield.
Antenna was instant and incessant. Desperate to add colour If anything, preserving his memory has given the band
new purpose. Both Stephen and JR describe nothing
to the monotony of life on the road, the band reintroduced
tracks from Until Your Heart Stops to the setlist. As a result,
the demos for their fourth album, Perfect Pitch Black,

reintegrated the sound of their hardcore roots, darting but joy in the entire process of making a new album, even

between unflinching aggression and soothing segues using extending this to the often-numbing commitments to doing

what Stephen jokingly dubs “good-cop-bad-cop vocals”. promotional and filming music videos.

“When we handed in the demos for Perfect Pitch Black, “We are able to connect to Caleb’s memory now through

RCA were not stoked about it,” says JR. “I think that started the band,” says Stephen. “It’s all taken on a greater air of

the process of the label being like, ‘What the fuck are you importance, and it helps us continue forward. It gives us a new

guys doing?! You’re not a metal band; you’re supposed to be reason to do it. There’s a new meaning behind everything.”

a space rock band!’ I don’t think they understood where we HEAVY PENDULUM IS OUT ON MAY 20 VIA RELAPSE

were coming from.”

76 METALHAMMER.COM



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THE REVIEWS

90

GHOST

Sweden’s Satanic emissaries bring the
sweet smell of sulphur to the Midlands

80

KREATOR

Teutonic thrash linchpins reassert their ruling class

80 ALBUM REVIEWS
82 BLEED FROM WITHIN
83 BRIDEAR
84 COHEED AND CAMBRIA
87 MOTIONLESS IN WHITE
88 NOVA TWINS
92 ROADBURN FESTIVAL
94 DESERTFEST
96 INFERNO FESTIVAL
98 DEVIN TOWNSEND
100 ARCHITECTS

EDITED BY: JONATHAN SELZER • PICTURE: KATJA OGRIN

METALHAMMER.COM 79

ALBUM REVIEWS

KREATOR

Hate Über Alles

NUCLEAR BLAST

Triumph and spite from Germany’s kings of thrash

WHEN KREATOR HEADLINED Pleasure To Kill through to the razor-sharp bands, the quartet could easily tread water and
sophistication of recent crowd-pleasers Satan
Bloodstock for the first time last summer, Is Real and 666 – World Divided, frontman Mille get away with it. But from the laugh-out-loud
many people seemed surprised by how intensity of its title track onwards, Hate Über
effortlessly they conquered such a big Petrozza has always been a great songwriter, Alles absolutely screams commitment to the
occasion. In reality, the Germans have been
in imperious form for the entirety of this with an intuitive sense of what works. The cause and to the noble yet visceral art of heavy
century, and their stature and popularity have
steadily grown as a result. As that Bloodstock fact that he is also one of metal’s certified metal songwriting.
set proved, Kreator are serious heavyweights
with a ridiculous number of unstoppable good guys, albeit one armed with a deathless That title track is the perfect starting
metal anthems. From seminal early bursts
of primitive chaos like Flag Of Hate and screech that would scythe through any stupor, point. With its ferocious thrash gait and
is an added bonus. With all that in mind, Hate
Über Alles feels like an important milestone, a gargantuan scream-along chorus, it’s

despite being Kreator’s 15th studio record. a perfect encapsulation of Kreator’s ageless

Well-established as one of Europe’s biggest powers. Just in case anyone remains
unconvinced, Killer Of Jesus (again, Mille gives
HATE ÜBER ALLES FEELS LIKE great title) repeats the trick, delivering PRESS
AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE
another exhilarating extreme metal assault

with at least two colossal hooks. Kreator are
on top form at mid-pace, too; both Crush The
Tyrants and Strongest Of The Strong strike

80 METALHAMMER.COM

ALBUM REVIEWS

Kreator: still vicious, drummer Lars Are Nedland.
still victorious He contributes vocals and
bass with a Lemmy-like
BATTLELORE quality. Opener Void is a riot
of black metal buzzsaw
The Return Of The Shadow guitar and gruff, punk
attitude, evolving into
NAPALM solemn grandiosity. The
Symphonic Finns make an epic prize-fighter swagger of
return to Middle Earth Death To Morality features
vocals by Taake’s Hoest,
It’s been 20 years since while anthemic closer
Battlelore’s first album, Dadaist Disgust features
and 11 since their last. Rotting Christ’s Sakis Tolis.
That alone suggests this A middle finger clad in a
Tolkien-mad fantasy metal spike-encrusted glove,
septet are seasoned Antithesis is the sound of
professionals, re-energised Nedland having fun –
after a long lay-off and no matter how anti-fun
fizzing with new ideas he might want you to
honed and arranged for believe he is.
maximum impact. This is ■■■■■■■■■■
arguably Battlelore’s most FOR FANS OF: Darkthrone,
consistently engaging, Midnight, Deathhammer
fully realised work. They
have always reached for TOM O’BOYLE
epic immensity but could
be stymied by ill-fitting, BRUTALITY
over-modern influences
or ideas stretched too Sempiternity
thinly. This time the
combination of experience EMANZIPATION PRODUCTIONS
and hunger bring the Florida’s turbulent death metallers
Finns to the summit of reach a high-altitude precipice
symphonic beauty-and-
the-beast metal, artfully Brutality are a lesser-sung,
balancing light and shade but still crucial element of
whilst maintaining the Floridian death metal
resonant atmospheres. scene. Even the line-up
troubles and personal
■■■■■■■■■■ dramas that have plagued
their 35-year career
FOR FANS OF: Epica, haven’t overshadowed the
Amon Amarth, The Lord brilliance of their first
Of The Rings OST three albums, released
during the scene’s 90s
CHRIS CHANTLER heyday. After their
umpteenth split, they’ve
a sublime balance between nails-hard revelation. Finally, the epic cautionary BLACK VOID reunited just for this and
heaviness and melodic finesse, with tale of Dying Planet tells us everything are now leaving “the door
perennially underrated guitarist Sami we need to know about how fucking Antithesis open”. Sempiternity may
Yli-Sirniö delivering a particular pissed off Mille is with the state of the be hybrid in nature with
jaw-dropping solo on the latter. As if to world right now. Closer to symphonic NUCLEAR BLAST two new songs, two oldies
prove how malleable his band’s sound black metal than traditional thrash, Rotting Christ and Taake frontmen rerecorded and four live
continues to be, Mille revels in old- it’s the perfect, pitch-black conclusion join a riot of inverted antagonism tracks, but the recent
school nostalgia on the Priest-like to an album created in the midst of addition of Jarrett Pritchard
Become Immortal, before delivering global chaos. Highbrow nihilism is on lead guitar has propelled
the mother of all thrash mini- dragged through the filth- them to new heights. If this
symphonies on Conquer And Destroy. One intro, 10 genuinely fantastic encrusted gutter on Black is their swansong, at least
With ethereal female vocals, songs, absolutely no fucking about. They Void’s debut. The counter- they’ll leave on a high.
syncopated, tech-death precision and may have nothing to prove after nearly point to grandstanding ■■■■■■■■■■
yet another giant chorus, Midnight Sun four decades of active service but Hate rock project White Void, FOR FANS OF: Monstrosity,
is an instant classic. Demonic Future is Über Alles proves it anyway. When it both are the brainchild of Resurrection, Malevolent
every bit as sinister, savage and smart comes to hitting the heavy metal nail multitalented Borknagar Creation
as its title suggests. on the head with maximum conviction, keyboardist/Solefald
Kreator are firmly top of the bill. OLIVIER BADIN
Another sign that Kreator are feeling
invincible, Mille’s clean vocals on the ■■■■■■■■■■
otherwise monstrous and haunting
Pride Comes Before The Fall are a gentle FOR FANS OF: Slayer, Arch Enemy,
Machine Head

DOM LAWSON

METALHAMMER.COM 81

ALBUM REVIEWS

Bleed From Within CASKET FEEDER Brandon Yeagley goes
keep searching for the full-throttle on Electrified
ultimate breakdown Servants Of Violence and Golden, a song whose
ever-rising chorus needs
BLEED FROM WITHIN SELF-RELEASED scraping off the ceiling by
Death/hardcore mayhem from the the time it finishes. Even
Shrine Milton Keynes stomping grounds that sounds restrained next
to the brilliant hand-clap
NUCLEAR BLAST Casket Feeder’s debut blow-out of Dance With The
album takes the guitar Dead. That they sustain
Glasgow’s metalcore bruisers get closer to the knockout blow tones and furious riffing of the pace over 12 songs is
Swedish death metal and impressive, even if they
FOLLOWING A STUDIO drought support slot or own headline tours, marries it to the violent don’t mix things up quite PRESS X2
they solidify bonds with longtime fans mosh grooves of hardcore. as much as they could. But
after the breakthrough of 2013’s Uprising, and win new admirers. The swagger of It’s hardly the most original playing this stuff in 2022
Shrine is the third album from this Sovereign and Stand Down, the thrashy pairing, but the UK quintet is a dirty job, and Crobot
Scottish mob in a fertile five-year period. Shapeshifter that’s propelled with gusto have enough ideas, speed are doing it admirably.
And while its two predecessors provided and brutality to stand out ■■■■■■■■■■
well-aimed uppercuts by Ali Richardson’s from the pack. Occasionally FOR FANS OF: Wolfmother,
to the mush, this is the percussion, and Killing they take their foot off the Monster Magnet, Greta
closest Bleed From Time’s expertly needed accelerator, as on the epic Van Fleet
Within have come yet groove, swells of strings intro to Tyranny Begins and
to a knockout blow. and anthemic burst all the title track, but you’re DAVE EVERLEY
provide solid platforms never far away from filthy,
Just as Parkway Drive’s from which Scott Kennedy thrashing metal madness. DAMPF
Reverence seemed to take and Steven Jones can A little more variation in
the Aussies’ well-honed unleash their dual-vocal pace and more lead work The Arrival
metalcore to more commands. might have made this
glorious, ambitious a stronger release, but GRAMOPHONE
realms, here the extra Yet again this an album Servants Of Violence does Bombastic power metal from the
strings, keys and spoken- boasting muscle, class more than enough to unlikeliest of sources
word passages between stomping opener and the righteous enthusiasm that the warrant your attention.
I Am Damnation and majestic closer quintet exude during all their ■■■■■■■■■■ Dampf are the brainchild
Paradise add more drama and character endeavours. What isn’t apparent, FOR FANS OF: Venom of Swedish producer Bo
to the album. The violin-led Levitate is however, is whether it contains that one Prison, Extreme Noise Martin ‘E-Type’ Erikson,
another track that revels in the pomp of BFW-imprinted, genre-defining song or Terror, Morbid Angel who has worked with
its regal leads and towering peaks, with chorus that can elevate the band from everyone from Max Martin
ample opportunity given for guitarist homegrown heroes to leaders on the REMFRY DEDMAN (the man who wrote
Craig Gowans to display his chops. Flesh international stage. Even if that truly …Baby One More Time) to
And Stone follows suit before heading into galvanising moment is yet to arrive, Shrine CROBOT members of Ace Of Bass.
the dirt with a guttural thud. provides plenty of sturdy psalms to help Quite the unique CV for an
them continue to spread the gospel. Feel This artist in Hammer, but he’s
Crucially, it’s this wrecking-ball teamed up with members
groove that makes Bleed From Within ■■■■■■■■■■ MASCOT of Sabaton and Bathory
stand apart from generic metalcore Hair-tossing, hard-rocking fervour with the goal of creating
bands. When they unleash it live, as FOR FANS OF: Parkway Drive, Bury from the Pennsylvania heartlands a mix of all of the
on their recent Bullet For My Valentine Tomorrow, While She Sleeps participants’ previous
Four albums in and Crobot work. So, if you’ve been
ADAM REES are still proudly flying waiting for a pop hook-
the flag for the kind of filled, bombastic power
groove-laden rock that’s metal album with a
never gone out of fashion. proto-black metal stomp…
Feel This is an exhilarating it’s finally here. Broad
no-nonsense attack that influences aside, it’s hard
draws on all the right not to get caught up in the
influences – Led Zeppelin, sheer, balls-out lunacy of
Monster Magnet, The Cult The Arrival. It might not
– then reboxes it for a always work, but when
modern audience. Vocalist/ Twilight Eyes’ brutal AOR
harmonica-blaster chorus comes in, you’ll be
unironically sold.
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FOR FANS OF: Cradle Of
Filth, Powerwolf, Roxette

STEPHEN HILL

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DEATHWHITE Your Way. The Seattleites riffs and a great chorus. Bridear school their peers
have harnessed the same With most songs clocking in the art of power metal
Grey Everlasting combination of upbeat over six minutes, the
punk rock and feisty album’s pace may be BRIDEAR
SEASON OF MIST metalcore as before, but ponderous, although the
Pittsburgh’s doom metal enigmas continue to challenge and songwriting is anything Aegis Of Athena
hand out the heartache finesse their songwriting but. Whether drifting
and vocal delivery. The enticingly through SETSUZOKU
Abandon all hope, ye who success is evident in their kaleidoscopic instrumental
enter here because this recent singles including the cornucopias or hitting hard Japan’s metal magicians embark on another
faceless four-piece are out highly energetic All Of Us; with big hooks, Druids exhilarating adventure
to make melodic doom persuasively anthemic, the crush with a charisma that
metal miserable again. On Architects-esque Crooked keeps their sludge fresh. OVER A DECADE in,
their third album you’ll Halos; and fast-paced gem ■■■■■■■■■■
find none of the pop-tinged Brainwash Broadcast, which FOR FANS OF: Kylesa, the technicolour blitzkrieg
pomp of Ghost, nor the features brilliantly raucous Intronaut, Om these high-octane Japanese
grandeur of Candlemass – vocals from Underoath’s mavens ply their trade
just sadness seasoned with Spencer Chamberlain. TOM O’BOYLE in continues to explode.
a dollop of gloom. ‘Your The rest of the album has Bridear’s fifth full-length,
hands will never be clean/ powerful hooks and DVL Aegis Of Athena, showcases
Even when you wash the melodies aplenty, too. J-metal with a sonic
blood away’ opener proper Tracks like Words For Hire, Hush grandeur that’s lovingly
Earthtomb croons with the title track and the offset by its endearing
sullen vocals. White Sleep catchy Never Enough prove WORMHOLE DEATH charm and lyrical sincerity.
is similarly joyless as its Dragged Under can Glaswegian newcomers offer too
bridge roars ‘I fear nothing! safeguard enough snarl many hails to the kings Possessing the same exploratory verve of last year’s
I am no one!’ Musically, beneath the smile to set Bloody Bride album, Aegis Of Athena immediately
switching from smooth, them apart from their DVL sound like Avenged conjures its storytelling magic through the spoken-
sad arpeggios to louder – melodic punk peers. Sevenfold in the same way word intro of nine-minute opus Side Of A Bullet, before
but still sad – choruses is ■■■■■■■■■■ that the Really Hot Chili quickly dialling up the prog and balancing shreds with
Grey Everlasting’s bread and FOR FANS OF: Sum 41, Peppers sound like Red symphonic bombast and Kimi’s sweetly soaring singing.
butter. Although formulaic Rise Against, Beartooth Hot Chili Peppers, or As the opening melodrama leads into insatiable pop
at times, it offers jolts like Fred Zeppelin sound like hooks, blistering leads and the blues-soaked riffery
Blood And Ruin’s post-metal NIK YOUNG Led Zeppelin. The question of crushing single Ray Of Chaos, the ambitious balance
climax and the guitar lead is, of course, if the of what inspires this band – namely the NWOBHM
of Formless. Deathwhite DRUIDS Glaswegians can pull tastefully laced with modern metal characteristics –
may specialise in sorrow, enough tricks out of is most apparent.
but the Pittsburgh trio use Shadow Work the bag to at least put
just enough variation to a permeable stamp of The intensity throughout, from displays of six-string
motivate you past the PELAGIC themselves on their sound. magnificence through Helloween-esque power metal
finish line. Progressive sludge wizardry from Hush does evoke the pomp and jazzy interludes to regular on-a-pinhead
■■■■■■■■■■ within the ley lines of Iowa ready-for-Broadway tempo shifts (Past In Emerald), is consistently startling.
FOR FANS OF: Katatonia, sensibilities that made A7X The album’s other grand monolith, Brave New World
Dawn Of Solace, Iowan trio Druids have so captivating in the first Revisited, is undeniably dizzying in its versatility and
Paradise Lost peddled their shamanic place, the moody noir technical wizardry, but Bridear’s melodic intelligence
sludge for 13 years, yet stylings of The Pitch and is never compromised as a result of these lofty goals.
MATT MILLS Shadow Work is only their snarling latter stages of As comfortable with the twinkling restraint of Lodestar
fourth album. Reminiscent Dread standing out in and the succinct hard rock bluster of Greed as they are
DRAGGED UNDER of the progressive sludge- particular. But each of the with their more overtly elaborate material, Bridear
splosion that birthed the songs on Hush delivers flair seem to be doing this all by a combination of instinct,
Unright Animals likes of Mastodon and and musicianship that is virtuosity and wild-eyed passion.
Baroness, Druids aspire exactly the kind of high-
MASCOT toward similar heights. adrenaline excitement The result is an album that not only flows beautifully
Upbeat punk rockers keep an edge The ritual chants of Aether modern metal benefits but punches equally hard, and it’s those genre-splicing
beneath the exuberance lead to Path Of R, a psych from. But without a more curveballs that convince you to repeatedly venture
jam that builds to distinctive flavour of their deeper down the rabbit hole. In terms of its musical
This is a deeply fun release mountainous riffing and own, they’ll forever exports, the Land Of The Rising Sun currently burns
and worthy follow-up to jazzy solos. Single Ide’s languish as pretenders to brighter than ever.
Dragged Under’s 2020 Koan is a pensive trip that a throne that was claimed
debut album, The World Is In builds to an explosive more than a decade ago. ■■■■■■■■■■
climax without really ■■■■■■■■■■
representing what’s best FOR FANS OF: Avenged FOR FANS OF: Helloween, Amaranthe, Lovebites
about the record. The Sevenfold, Ice Nine Kills,
raucous and esoteric Hide Avatar SOPHIE MAUGHAN
does a better job, with huge
RICH HOBSON

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Coheed And Cambria are FUTURE PALACE prowess, but the
back in the hot seat subtraction of Dave’s
Run distinctive vocals and
COHEED AND CAMBRIA cantankerous humour
ARISING EMPIRE continues to leech even
Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind Sonic highs and emotional lows more energy. Melodic
from German post-hardcore trio rager Berserker Mode,
ROADRUNNER novelty smile-inducer
Future Palace are brimming Completely Fucked and the
New York’s prog maestros return to their sci-fi saga with aspiration. The post- prog-rock density of Rise
hardcore trio’s second Again stand out, but these
AFTER A MERE ONE-album break, of disco handclaps that are cooler than album combines pop hooks are the minority on an ALEXANDRA GAVILLET/PRESS
Polar Bear poo. Big. Tune. with soaring vocals and hour-long album that
2018’s The Unheavenly Creatures saw breakdowns as they explore otherwise sounds like
Coheed And Cambria delve back into the Structurally, Vaxis II does follow the aftermath of a toxic a bar band playing for
Amory Wars story that had dominated a fairly well-trodden path for Coheed; relationship. Expertly disinterested weekend
the majority of their produced, songs like recent pub crawlers.
recording career. This is fill the first half of the single Flames and Loco Loco ■■■■■■■■■■
the second part of what is, album with absolute jump out the speakers. FOR FANS OF: Ghoul,
according to the band, bangers like the Vocalist Maria has one hell The Mentors, Lordi
a five-act storyline from modern pop strut of of a voice too. Not all of it
that universe, and A Disappearing Act and the hits, such as the electronic CONNIE GORDON
concentrates on a couple punky chug of Comatose middle-eight of A World In
running from tyrannical before really flexing Tears, but Future Palace HEART ATTACK
forces. those creative progressive have built well on their
muscles toward the end 2020 debut, Escape. A band Negative Sun
That alone may be of the album. The eight- to keep an eye on.
enough to make those and-a-half-minute-long ■■■■■■■■■■ ATOMIC FIRE
who never connected with closing title track is so FOR FANS OF: Bring Me Gallic groove metallers keep hitting
the band’s brand of emotional prog bloody grandiose it makes Guns N’ The Horizon, Holding the right note
want to sprint for the hills. But, while Roses’ November Rain sound like an Absence, PVRIS
Vaxis II is a typically bombastic, early Misfits demo. Groove metal bands live
sprawling set, the beauty of Coheed has Ten albums into a stellar career, and ELLIOT LEAVER and die by the quality of
always been that even if you don’t give with standards remaining incredibly their riffs. A good job, then,
two hoots about the lore, they pen songs high, it might be easy to start taking GWAR that Frenchmen Heart
that can stand alone without knowledge Coheed And Cambria for granted these Attack have them in
of their sci-fi-based melodrama. Take days. Shame on you if you do; even taken The New Dark Ages spades. The lovechild of
the album’s first single, Shoulders, for in isolation, Vaxis II is a superbly realised early Metallica, Sylosis and
example. Critical plot device or essential vision from a band whose ambition PIT a hefty dose of Machine
character development it may well be, knows no bounds. Guardians of the grotesque feign Head, this third album
and all power to you if that’s what you interest in human affairs distils the appeal of those
take from it, but ultimately, it’s a hell of ■■■■■■■■■■ influences into one
a riff, has a chorus that clings to you like Gwar are kings of package. Septic Melody
a particularly needy puppy and is full FOR FANS OF: Rush, Muse, The Devin outrageous costuming, packs a searing guitar solo
Townsend Project opportunistic, non-linear as well as neck-snapping
storytelling and ruining groove, setting the tone
STEPHEN HILL generations of white for the remainder of the
clothing during their live album. There’s nothing
shows. It’s amazing and particularly ground-
admirable how their breaking in what Heart
gimmick has survived Attack do, but the
triumph, tragedy and time. execution is certainly
Thirty-eight years of space- compelling. With cuts like
age satire and fart jokes World Consumption that
continues with the balances tremolo fury with
collective’s second post- frenetic thrash and guttural
Dave ‘Oderus Urungus’ growls and a title track
Brockie offering. that draws in progressive
Truthfully, few salivate and classical influences,
over Gwar’s musical the lack of originality is
easily forgiven.
■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Machine
Head, Metallica, Sylosis

WILL MARSHALL

84 METALHAMMER.COM

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heavy Self Sabotage is Anaia), there’s a deceptive SMALL MERCIES
particularly special, as is complexity to the
Comatose, with its heady arrangements that keeps Where EP is short for ‘Epic Potential’
mesh of cleans, yells, you breathlessly perched
THE HERETIC ORDER wickedly hooky fretwork on each movement, wholly BURNER INRETROSPECT
and electronic unprepared for what might
III enhancements. For the follow. Meticulously A Vision Of The End Current State
most part, this Michigan produced and layered
MASSACRE metalcore band’s sound with subtle hooks, Sunir CHURCH ROAD SELF-RELEASED
Dark theatre and banging anthems doesn’t stray far from the demands multiple spins
from London’s horror metallers expected but, aided by to reveal its brilliance. Burner deal in Wielding blistering riffs,
some smooth production, ■■■■■■■■■■ death’n’roll-infused serene clean vocals,
Metal and horror’s it’s grown more FOR FANS OF: Sigur Rós, hardcore that pulls no devastating screams and
symbiotic relationship atmospheric and anthemic. Wardruna, Radiohead punches. This is an turbulent grooves, this
may have produced nastier They may occasionally get Entombed and Converge Leeds metalcore crew
offspring than The Heretic a little trigger-happy with JOE DALY mash-up that routinely unleash their debut EP with
Order, but the UK crew’s the effects – Two Worlds hits the best spots of both groundshaking aplomb as
bug-eyed boisterousness Away and Dear Sons fall flat KRAUSE those brilliant bands. harmonious soundscapes
continues to take some among edgier tracks – but Well worth your time. clash with primal noise.
beating. Steeped in the the emotive vocals in The The Art Of Fatigue
quasi-gothic pomp of early Price Of Dreaming and ■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■
80s metal, but delivered angular guitarwork, VENERATE INDUSTRIES
with choking doses of menacing growls, and Greek noise rockers rev up their STEPHEN HILL SOPHIE MAUGHAN
contemporary oomph, III sticky melodies of Heritage antagonism engine
gets the balance between prove HF are ones to watch. LORD OF THE LOST LYONESS
style and substance just ■■■■■■■■■■ Despite this third full-
about right. The opening FOR FANS OF: Of Mice length’s moniker, Greek The Heart Of The Devil Fools Gold
Children Of The Sun is & Men, Our Hollow Our noise-rock squad Krause
a majestically unhinged Home, Dayseeker sound anything but NAPALM SELF-RELEASED
anthem, equal parts King fatigued. In addition to
Diamond, Ghost and NIK YOUNG this being their swiftest, A well executed, pre-tour Despite its bluesy, hard
Kreator. Spirits Of The Night punchiest album to date, EP from this German rock base, there’s an
takes a more theatrical IANAI their burly, antagonistic industrial/gothic outfit. It occasional, smouldering
approach to exploring the riffing sounds even more features a piano version Tool-esque undertow to
shadows, while a cover of Sunir thoroughly pissed off. of a track from last year’s this UK band’s debut EP,
Motörhead’s Deaf Forever Songs like Crowdfunded Judas album and three most notably in the
has all the snot and SVART Assassination and excellent covers: Iron smokey vocals of Gigi Gold:
swagger of the original. Out-of-this-world offerings by Stressworld are some of Maiden, Lady Gaga and part bar-room badass,
Peaking with the epic pan-global folk collective Krause’s brashest and a gay/trans movie anthem. part searching siren.
crypt-crawl of Spiders and meanest offerings to
Invictus’s sacrilegious, split- The conceit of Ianai is that date, with Nick Prapas’s ■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■
personality speed metal, their music emanates furious drum fills keeping
III puts fun into fear. through Trevenial – energy levels in the red ELLIOT LEAVER JONATHAN SELZER
■■■■■■■■■■ a time- and dimension- throughout. Even brooding
FOR FANS OF: Deathless travelling entity relaying cuts like The Stuff Of Tired MOTHER OF MILLIONS SHOOTING DAGGERS
Legacy, King Diamond, messages between worlds. Eyes and the tense, seething
Powerwolf The reality is far more Ceremonial Aspects Of Orbit Athames
exciting – an eclectic post- Everyday Bloodbaths still
DOM LAWSON folk collective helmed by sound like they’re just one VICISOLUM PRODUCTIONS NEW HEAVY SOUNDS
Swallow The Sun singer/ furtive glance away from
HOLLOW FRONT keyboardist Jaani Peuhu decking you and storming MOM’s first release since With six shit-kicking cuts
that includes appearances off in a huff. Krause may the loss of keyboardist of DC hardcore-cum-punk
The Price Of Dreaming from members of Massive not be doing anything Makis Tsamkosoglou grind delivered with
Attack, Him, Client, Sisters drastically different to the is understandably raw. generous amounts of
UNFD Of Mercy, The Rasmus and legions of Amphetamine The Greek quartet’s vein-popping hatred and
Predictable yet memorable others. Think Sigur Rós Reptile Records-obsessed progressive rock-metal fevered disdain, Shooting
metalcore from US upstarts joining a band of African noise fiends out there, but melee is particularly Daggers are storming the
percussionists at a full they perform this style atmospheric with deeply barricades at maximum
Despite a deceptively moon psychedelic ritual. with such a palpable vigour vulnerable vocals. volume on their debut EP.
soothing start, the follow- Seamlessly weaving ancient it’s difficult to remain
up to 2020’s Loose Threads is tribal instrumentation into unmoved by it. ■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■
packed with serious energy ethereal showers of dream ■■■■■■■■■■
and highly memorable pop (Samovela), or conjuring FOR FANS OF: Unsane, NIK YOUNG SOPHIE MAUGHAN
tracks. The haunting yet mesmerising atmospheric Whores, Wasted Death
sacraments (Vasariah,
KEZ WHELAN

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Decapitated return MAGNATAR experimental layers do WORLD PRESS
to face the music justice to strong song- SERVICE
Crushed writing and emotional
DECAPITATED vocals. Fire From The Gods’ Heavy metal uprisings
SEEING RED AJ Channer guests on Only from around the globe
Cancer Culture New Hampshire debutants ooze Human and the soaring
across the sludge spectrum cleans and well-timed AARLON
NUCLEAR BLAST breakdowns in Bleed Me
This US quartet’s debut Dry will keep live crowds Dafan
Poland’s disputed death/groove metallers may only be a few minutes happy. It’s little wonder
make their case longer than their 2017 they released so many ASPIRATION
EP, but it’s a much more singles – they certainly
WELCOME TO THE well-realised experience. have enough radio-friendly This Indian metalcore
Their sound is a blend of fodder to choose from. band’s latest grows with
greyest of the grey zones. styles under the sludge ■■■■■■■■■■ each listen. The diverse
In September 2017, Poland’s umbrella, leaping from FOR FANS OF: Asking influences, pacing and
then-cause célèbre death crushing Cult Of Luna-style Alexandria, Miss May I, mix of melancholy and
metallers Decapitated were misery on Crown Of Thorns Volumes aggression makes Dafan
arrested after a gig in Santa to more minimal fuzzy uniquely emotional
Ana, California and charged grooves on Dead Swan. NIK YOUNG and immersive.
a month later with second Loving You Was Killing Me ■■■■■■■■■■
and third degree rape. After recalls Mastodon’s spacier MISERY INDEX
the defendants pleaded not moments, and there’s even NIK YOUNG
guilty to the charges, the case was dropped in January. an industrial flavour to Complete Control
Prosecutors stated they had dropped the charges “in stark interlude Old. Whilst FRIENDS FROM MOON
the interests of justice” and for “the well-being of the Magnatar are still wearing CENTURY MEDIA
victim”, while the bandmembers’ attorneys stated it was their influences on their Baltimore’s militant grind squad Astray
a result of various witness testimonies in their defence, sleeves, Crushed excels in seethe the day
and at the behest of the accuser. If you still don’t know its eclectic approach and SELF-RELEASED
how to feel about Decapitated, then at least you’re still admirable disdain for Still the musical equivalent
engaged in a moral dialogue, because outside those sludge clichés. of a radioactive brick thrown This solo project from
directly involved, no one knows, and to come down firmly ■■■■■■■■■■ through your window, India’s Ritwik Shivam
on one side risks an injustice to the other. FOR FANS OF: Yob, Cult Misery Index are the angry- emulates Devin Townsend
Of Luna, Slomatics as-fuck grindcore wrecking at his most carefree. You’ll
No one’s going to listen to Cancer Culture unless they crew we need right now. hear serene psychedelic
at the very least entertain the possibility that the band KEZ WHELAN Understandably, the band pop, goofy histrionics, and
are innocent. And the rub is that, sonically, it’s such the sound more pissed off a touch of Strapping Young
epitome of what death metal should sound like in 2022 MEMPHIS MAY FIRE than ever here, and their Lad chug for good measure.
that you can’t just squirm your way through it. If the merciless, militant attack ■■■■■■■■■■
insistent, Lamb Of God-esque, groove-driven title track Remade In Misery has mutated accordingly.
doesn’t address the aftermath directly, the lines ‘Opinions Switching from mono- ADAM REES
like opiates… Comments like convictions’ are surely a knowing RISE chrome blasting to epic
parallel. But the imperious sound isn’t down to rage or Lone Star metalcore veterans boost grandeur with ease, The SIJJEEL
defensiveness, it’s a celebration of Meshuggah-level their radio-ready credentials Eaters And The Eaten and
precision, aerated with atmospheric leads. Rites Of Cruelty are exercises Salvation Within Insanity
These Texan metalcore in militant fury and
Since their reformation after the death of drummer staples aren’t messing calculated, explosive COMATOSE MUSIC
Vitek and the incapacitation of former vocalist Covan, around here. Heavy and violence, while Conspiracy
Decapitated have, more than any other band, planted urgent from the get-go, Of None’s mid-paced Led by Saudi Arabian
old-school roots firmly in the modern age, and here to the powerful riffs and punishment ritual is as guitarist Hussain Akbar,
breathtakingly fertile ends. From No Cure’s cavernous captivating chorus of Blood heavy and commanding as Sijjeel play a terrifying
detours, through Hello Death’s sushi-chef riffing and & Water offer a thrilling anything MI have recorded. strain of ultra-brutal death.
Tatiana Shmayluk’s spellbingingly speculative vocals, taste of what’s to follow. The slithering, abyssal Grotesque, dissonant and
and Robb Flynn’s guest turn on the absurdly exhilarating This is an album packed brutality of Reciprocal deranged, Salvation… raises
Iconoclast and beyond, however you approach Cancel full of passion, energy, Repulsion showcases the the bar and then beats
Culture, it’s an album that’s near-impossible to ignore. and belters. Death Inside nonchalant assimilation of you to death with it.
may be a touch polarising black metal majesty, before ■■■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■■■ and the production overly Now Defied! is hellbent on
polished for some, but the smashing anything and DOM LAWSON
FOR FANS OF: Meshuggah, Lamb Of God, Dyscarnate increased aggression and everything in its path. We
all have days like that.
JONATHAN SELZER ■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Aborted, Pig
Destroyer, Napalm Death

DOM LAWSON

86 METALHAMMER.COM

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PRESS/ROCKCANDY NONSUN gargling vocals take centre Flitcroft’s voice is the Motionless In White prepare
stage. Bursts of progressive band’s trump card across for a big leap
Blood & Spirit noodling emerge from a versatile collection.
Replaced while the hair- He shares some raw, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE
DUNK! raising outro of Waldsterben delicate expression with
Doom-laden Ukrainians strike is a stand-out moment. Anathema’s Vinnie Scoring The End Of The World
a resonant tone Wandering into the club- Cavanagh, while also
house where Landmvrks belting out venomous ROADRUNNER
Hailing from Lviv, Ukraine, and Polaris hang out, the shrieks and epic high notes Industrial metal mainstays look set for their big leap
Nonsun continue their Germans assimilate the as the material demands.
exploration of introspective, modern take on sprawling ■■■■■■■■■■ BY BLENDING
instrumental doom sound- anthemics. Almost every FOR FANS OF: Kyuss, METALCORE with
scapes, but find themselves track succeeds, ranging Orange Goblin, Pink Floyd
tragically unable to from harmonically chugging industrial riffs,
celebrate their second opus. complex riffs to pit- CHRIS CHANTLER synths, and the dark subject
All of the revenue for pre- inducing breakdowns. matters of goth and horror,
orders was given to the Here, everything feels SISYPHEAN Motionless In White have
band and their families by bigger, with twists and grown into an outfit that’s
their label to support them turns at every corner, all Colours Of Faith much-loved in multiple
as they endure life in a the way to Ohnmacht. Its corners of the alternative
warzone. The record melds melee of electronic swells TRANSCENDING OBSCURITY world. However, one thing
post-rock atmospherics and delicate keys closes Lithuanian black metallers further remains elusive: an album to propel them to the level of
with droning resonance to off this second effort in their adventures into altered states peers such as Bury Tomorrow and Asking Alexandria,
accentuate the huge riffs. suitably brooding fashion. and to see them headlining some of the bigger
The maelstrom of Guilt, ■■■■■■■■■■ If you’re after orthodox academies on these shores. Sixth album Scoring The End
Disgust, Disaster feels like an FOR FANS OF: Landmvrks, black metal, you’ll want to Of The World might just be the key to unlocking the next
aftermath, as disembodied Polaris, Imminence take a pass on the second stage in the Pennsylvanians’ career.
howls beset saxophone release from this grim
lamentations, while In Your SOPHIE MAUGHAN Lithuanian five-piece. In the past, Motionless In White’s biggest issue with
Eyes, I’m A Cripple makes Sisyphean’s 2017 debut albums has been consistency. Each release, they always
for a defiant conclusion. SERGEANT featured a pointedly wicked craft a handful of excellent tracks that inevitably make
Currently the vile overture THUNDERHOOF fusion of ice-encrusted it into their live shows, but the difference in quality
of war dominates the BM and old-school death between those and the ones that don’t is sorely
interpretation of this work, This Sceptred Veil that transported your noticeable – often because their influences are too
but in any context Blood consciousness into dark blatant. This time, though, that issue has been rectified.
& Spirit is a tumultuous PALE WIZARD and fascinating realms. From the explosive Meltdown – arguably the best
display of defiance in the Bath-based LP stoner/psych Here, they resume their opening track the band have written – to the slinky,
face of despair. quartet get serious on album three alchemical pursuits with synth-laden Werewolf and the nu metal-tinged Red,
■■■■■■■■■■ an absorbing foray into White & Boom (featuring Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo), for
FOR FANS OF: Year Of No British stoner/psych bands pure aural chaos. At its the first time MIW have given us a record where every
Light, Insect Ark, Sumac often saddle themselves withered heart is the track could feature in future setlists.
with goofy names that collision of doomy
TOM O’BOYLE quickly become atmospherics and the As for the charismatic Chris Motionless, recent single
incongruous when the unholy swell of Norwegian Masterpiece is indicative of his vocal performance here,
THE OKLAHOMA KID facetiousness is outgrown. BM. Though not without and it’s easily his best to date, whether he’s giving us an
Hence, eight years since the occasional foray into emotional rollercoaster during Red, White & Boom or the
Tangerine Tragic putting their first songs a straightforward, modern menacing snarl he generates on Slaughterhouse alongside
on Bandcamp, Sergeant style, it’s delivered with Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris. A big step up from
ARISING EMPIRE Thunderhoof’s third album spitfire and rage, due previous efforts, Scoring… could be the moment that
German metalcore newbies draw strikes far more enigmatic in large part to the Motionless In White finally realise their potential and
from a deep well moods, resonant emotions cacophonous blasts and rocket up through the metal ranks.
and melodic nuances than unerring precision of ■■■■■■■■■■
Tangerine Tragic sees The you’d expect from such drummer Mantas D. FOR FANS OF: Ice Nine Kills, Asking Alexandria,
Oklahoma Kid switching a cartoonish moniker. Ultimately, Colours Of Faith Black Veil Brides
deftly between different There’s still plenty of deals more in refinement
sonic personas. Nineties bellbottom-flapping than revolution, but in an ELLIOT LEAVER
Neue Deutsche Härte woofer-blowing, wig-out increasingly cluttered
nuances (Pale Tongue) sit vibes, but this isn’t just genre, Sisyphean have done
alongside huge choruses a retro call-back to the more than enough to stand
while elsewhere glass- Man’s Ruin roster of 1998. out for all the right reasons.
There’s a subtle but ■■■■■■■■■■
dextrous progressive flow FOR FANS OF: Deathspell
at work, and although Omega, Raven Throne,
stoner vocals can be a bit Blut Aus Nord
of an afterthought, Dan
JOE DALY

METALHAMMER.COM 87

ALBUM REVIEWS

Nova Twins: the unsavoury things the
revolution starts here legendary drummer has
put his name to since
NOVA TWINS SOREPTION Mental Funeral in 1991,
Labyrinth Of Veins is
Supernova Jord a freshly foul collaboration
with Greg Wilkinson, now
MARSHALL UNIQUE LEADER also a member of Autopsy.
Swedish tech-death troupe get You may reasonably infer
London’s rock revolutionaries make a rallying cry for freedom their groove back that Static Abyss aren’t
inclined to make wild
BY RIGHTS, NOVA Twins’ opener Antagonist hits like a primordial Having parted ways with detours into jazz-funk. PRESS X2
punch to the gut, its garish riffs fizzing guitarist Mikael Almgren, Songs like Nothing Left To
technicolour 2020 debut, Who Are The with life, K.M.B is a playful tongue-in- six-string duties on Jord Rot and Jawbone Ritual
Girls?, should have transformed them cheek gothic murder-rap, while Fire And are handled by Ian Waye proudly belong in the same
into modern-day rock superstars. With Ice and Choose Your Fighter capture the of Canada’s Thanats, who revolting sonic realm as
their exhilarating blend of Day-Glo does a fine job of executing both Autopsy and Reifert’s
punk, gnarly bass, metal incendiary energy of their the fiddly fretboard other high (as fuck) profile
and electronic euphoria, live shows. acrobatics the Swedes have band Abscess, but
guitarist and vocalist Amy become known for. This somehow nastier, slower
Love and bassist Georgia Increasingly, fans are clinical expertise has and more deliriously
South seized the zeitgeist, craving bands who have garnered them admirers, disgusting than either.
smashing boundaries and something to say, and but their fourth album ■■■■■■■■■■
preconceptions of what Supernova’s statements of seems weightier and more FOR FANS OF: Autopsy,
rock music should be. revolution and empower- urgent than 2018’s Coffins, Phrenelith
ment loom large. Monument Of The End. The
Given the pandemic Cleopatra, written at the gnarly opening one-two DOM LAWSON
scuppered some of the height of the Black Lives The Artificial North and The
momentum that record Matter movement, rallies Forever Born show Soreption THORNHILL
deserved, second album for unification as it calls for at their catchiest,
Supernova should be their moment, POC to unapologetically claim their place brimming with fiendish Heroine
blowing everything that makes the duo within heavy music: ‘When I was a kid they staccato riffs and groove
so special up to widescreen proportions. always called me a freak / And now them that holds together the UNFD
Written almost entirely during lock- little bitches want to look like me’. Later, frantic tempo changes. Aussie metalcore mob hitch a ride
down, it’s laced with darkness and Puzzles is an empowering metal take on Atmospheric synths are on the greats
triumph, more a celebration of freedom an r’nb boner jam that flips misogyny on again deployed to break up
than a ‘pandemic’ record, rippling with its head. Inspirational, innovative and the maelstrom of notes, Thornhill’s second album
stir-crazy, combustive energy. Musically genuinely capable of moving the genre clearing the way for the shows some serious
too, it’s a tech-head’s dream, heavily forward, Nova Twins are spearheading payloads of The Chasm and ambition. The reference
indebted to the bone-shaking techno of the move towards a more inclusive scene Each Death More Hollow to points as Heroine unfolds
The Prodigy. But without a single synth and a future that’s very bright indeed. fully detonate. are routinely massive arena
in the studio, the Twins manage to ■■■■■■■■■■ or stadium acts like Muse,
hotwire an array of electronic, buzzsaw ■■■■■■■■■■ FOR FANS OF: Decapitated, Tool or even, in the middle
effects from their bass and guitar. Any of Archspire, Beneath of Leather Wings, dance
these tracks could be a single. Thrilling FOR FANS OF: Bring Me The Horizon, The Massacre superstars Faithless. But
Cassyette, Wargasm one name stands out above
ADAM REES all others, and we just have
DANNII LEIVERS to be blunt about this:
STATIC ABYSS Thornhill have been
listening to a lot of
Labyrinth Of Veins Deftones. Maybe a little
too much. Whilst aiming
PEACEVILLE for the skies is a noble
Slow-flow horror from Oakland’s pursuit, it’s unfortunate
death metal denizens that these Aussies never
really reach the lofty
Despite having dedicated heights of their influences.
his entire adult life to These songs aren’t bad, but
producing deeply horrible their attachment to White
music, Autopsy’s Chris Pony is Single White
Reifert is nowhere near to Female-level stalking.
running out of ideas. One ■■■■■■■■■■
of the most gruesome and FOR FANS OF: Deftones,
Thrice, Muse

STEPHEN HILL

88 METALHAMMER.COM

ALBUM REVIEWS

band on their sumptuous Legion Of The Seas, Pirates is RESURRECTIONS
debut. As showcased via a confident deployment of
sprawling opener Rebel their epic mission. Michele Unearthing the latest metal reissues
Drones, Stand In Your Light is and Clémentine’s chemistry
built from slow crescendos, is undeniable and for a band The artist
widescreen post-rock who’ve suffered an identity formerly known
bluster and delicate, wistful crisis for the last decade as ‘Walls’ Jansen
melodies, with vocalists thanks to a revolving door
TROLLFEST Daniel Änghede and Daisy of members, it’s refreshing
Chapman sharing a hazy and reassuring to see
Flamingo Overlord spotlight and At The Gates’ them settle into this
guitarist Jonas Stålhammar current line-up.
NAPALM delivering an absurd
Norway’s madcap folk metallers number of sublime solos. ■■■■■■■■■■
add a new twist to their tomfoolery There are occasional
deviations from that FOR FANS OF: Nightwish,
Although retaining this atmospheric red line, most Sonata Arctica, Epica
chaotic mob’s Balkan notably the spiky and
madness, Flamingo Overlord austere The Lord He Giveth HOLLY WRIGHT
is a long shot from And He Taketh Away. But
Trollfest’s traditional Stand In Your Light’s default YATRA ONE OF A FEW disproportionately influential power
corpus of ridiculous (yet setting is lush and
technical) oompa-fiddly languorous melancholy, Born Into Chaos trios from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal’s
music, riddled with the as showcased on the heyday, TANK debuted with 1981’s Don’t Walk Away EP
scent of musty drinking sax’n’synth-laced Drag Nets PROSTHETIC (High Roller) [9]. It’s still a crucial nugget of rambunctious
taverns. This is slick, party and the gorgeous, uplifting energy and attitude, powered by the untrained snarls
fun in neon – a caffeinated title track. You may weep. Maryland death metal trio master and propulsive four-string of ex-Damned bassist Algy
conga drenched in heavy ■■■■■■■■■■ the art of shredding Ward. Power Of The Hunter [7] emerged barely six months
riffs, reggae and Latin FOR FANS OF: Anathema, after their 1982 debut LP; inspiration was stretched a bit
undertones like an Crippled Black Phoenix, Sometimes you just want thin, but there were some great, forward-moving songs,
Offspring/Gogol Bordello 40 Watt Sun an Incredible Hulk of a riff with much-tightened interplay. 1983’s This Means War
mash-up. With all-English to smash you in the face. [8] introduced a second guitarist and spacey keyboards,
lyrics and more clean DOM LAWSON Yatra’s fourth album expanding the palette and sharpening the songwriting
singing than ever, their has been genetically to create a NWOBHM classic. On 1984’s Honour & Blood [6]
backing off from their trad VISIONS OF ATLANTIS engineered for when you’re Tank’s militaristic obsession felt decidedly overstated,
folk leanings might be as in such a mood. Born Into its repetition sinking in on overlong songs that
divisive as the signature Pirates Chaos is equal parts sludge nevertheless retained enough wildness of spirit to
dance moves in Dance Like and tech-death, laying maintain interest.
A Pink Flamingo or the sax- NAPALM intricate yet pummelling
addled rap in Twenty Miles Long-running symphonic Austrians licks down over Also that year, LA quintet ARMORED SAINT’s debut
An Hour, but it’s fun beyond make avast improvement comparatively simple March Of The Saint (High Roller) [7] was launched to the
belief. If the ragtime pep rhythms. Terminate By world on major label Chrysalis, with hopes high for an
of Flamongous or the Fronted by the dual vocal The Sword rockets from 80s US metal success story. The LP was more solid start
infectious carny anthem force of Michele Guaitoli open-string chugs to than stellar smash, but they had a highly coveted singer
Flamingo Libre doesn’t get and Clémentine Delauney, ear-splitting screeches, (John Bush, headhunted by Metallica and Anthrax) and
you power-jigging, nothing Austrian symphonic outfit before Reign Of Terror a classy, classic HM style that beat its own path through
will. Flamingo Overlord is Visions Of Atlantis are worships Floridian death an era dominated by the thrash vs glam wars. On 1985’s
everything a metal party renewing their adventurous metal with its thunderous Delirious Nomad [8] they were growing in confidence,
album should be. spirit with eighth album tremolo picking. The title their arrangements getting more distinctive and
■■■■■■■■■■ Pirates. Newish recruit track broadens the colour adventurous, yet 1987’s Raising Fear [6] sounded more
FOR FANS OF: Korpiklaani, Michele’s silken and gutsy palette even further with tentative and unsure of itself. The best songs are the
Gogol Bordello, Alestorm vocal tone, drawing its insidious black metal heaviest (natch), but some lightweight fillers betray
parallels with ex-Kamelot melody. Granted, axes the band’s identity crisis.
HOLLY WRIGHT crooner Roy Khan, is the notwithstanding, this is far
dramatic shift this band from a diverse endeavour, In the early 90s, Chicago veterans TROUBLE had
VENUS PRINCIPLE needed and although as Dana Helmuth’s vocals successfully reinvented their weighty, apocalyptic
there’s still a way to go and Sean Lafferty’s drums doom with an upbeat psychedelic groove. 1995’s Plastic
Stand In Your Light with the album’s overall stay locked in the same Green Head (Hammerheart) [7], their overlooked but
memorability, it offers ‘brutal’ mode throughout. inconsistent sixth LP, lollops a little too far down this
PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS up some real promise. The six strings lead the flowery path, the band even blissed-out enough to
Aching grandeur from former Whether it’s the Nightwish charge over these 38 throw in a Monkees cover.
Crippled Black Phoenix members whimsy of Clocks, the minutes, so it’s a blessing
climatic arrangement of that they pull their weight AFTER FOREVER’s self-titled final album [9] still
Formed by ex-Crippled Master The Hurricane or as mightily as they do. sounds dynamite with a laser beam after 15 years,
Black Phoenix members, the symbiotic vocals of zeroing straight into the dramatic essence of symphonic
Venus Principle take ■■■■■■■■■■ power metal. Floor Jansen’s fearless conviction and
an undeniably similar masterful precision still drop jaws, hammering home
approach to their former FOR FANS OF: Carcass, what a loss this band was when Floor fled to Nightwish.
High On Fire, Deicide
CHRIS CHANTLER
MATT MILLS

METALHAMMER.COM 89

LIVE REVIEWS

LIVE REVIEWS

GHOST

UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS/TWIN TEMPLE

RESORTS WORLD ARENA, BIRMINGHAM

Bringers of the light and the heavy form an unholy, exhilarating triumvirate

GHOST’S ASCENSION IS almost Papa Nihil swings evolving. From the colossal Metallica riffs of KATJA OGTIN
back into action Cirice to the Abba-like keys at the start of
complete. A decade-plus journey from Spillways, Ghost are armed to the teeth with
‘everyone’s favourite cult sensation’ to the PA, before the rest of the band roar to
‘everyone’s favourite’ has seen them life with the utterly exhilarating Kaisarion. enthralling, invigorating anthems that define
established as a viable arena (and festival) Joyous and unbridled, the track is a perfect
headline act with a sense of branding and summation of the transformation Ghost the very best of what heavy metal has to offer,
devotion matched only by the likes of Iron have experienced since the release of
Maiden. Granted, the arena isn’t entirely Square Hammer, loading their albums with grabbing some primordial, instinctual sense
sold out – the back wall subtly curtained off undeniable pop-metal bangers that can
– but it doesn’t take away from the fact that convert the masses in a single fell swoop. and giving it a good tickling until you’re left
Tobias Forge truly has built an empire off
the back of some great songs and a cheesy Not that there’s any converting needed basking in the afterglow.
Satanic shtick. tonight, of course. The audience voraciously
roar through colossal renditions of Rats, From The surprise resurrection of Papa Nihil
Speaking of which, TWIN TEMPLE’s The Pinnacle To The Pit and Mary On A Cross,
Satanic doo-wop proves to be a near- Papa Emeritus IV summing it up best with feels entirely appropriate for a Good Friday
irresistible lure. Fifty years ago, these sounds a pithy one-liner: “It makes my motor run,
might have emanated from a San Francisco how about yours?” For all the charisma and Ghost show and, after some Frankenstein’s
basement bar or ultra-trendy New York attic, captivating energy of Papa, however, the
but transposed to an arena in Birmingham Nameless Ghouls are truly coming into their Monster-style throttling of Papa IV, we enjoy
they prove no less seductive or stylish. own on this latest run.
Serpentine rhythms coil around brass wails the best sax-meets-rock solo since Tim
while vocalist Alexandra James commands Hand gestures, posturing and general
total attention throughout the set, and she’s panto-theatrics keep a massive smile on Cappello wailed on the beach to some soon-
charismatic enough to spawn a cult following Birmingham’s collective face throughout to-be vampire fodder in The Lost Boys. Though
of her own. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, the set. A guitar duel during Devil Church Impera makes a strong showing in the setlist,
they won’t remain on the fringes for long, turns into an impromptu snippet of Iron the lack of Watcher In The Sky and Twenties
however, and by the time the set closes (with
a ritual, naturally), Twin Temple have set the Man (when in Brum, after all). In fact, the feels surprising given just how all-conquering
mood sky-high. Ghouls exhibit so much showmanship
that you can’t help but wonder if there’s those songs are. We take some solace in
Sabbathian riffs intermixed with fuzzed- some dissent with the Devil, as they seeing Call Me Little Sunshine and Hunter’s Moon
out psychedelia is still a solid draw in the occasionally steal thunder from Papa proving to be just as addictive as Rats or Square
home of heavy metal (just look at God Damn, himself (getting the occasional boot up the Hammer before them, at least.
Black Mekon or Table Scraps), but sandwiched ass for comedic effect in the process).
between Twin Temple and Ghost UNCLE ACID From blasts of flame during Year Zero to
& THE DEADBEATS fall into a personality- Ghost’s mythos isn’t
less void. The riffs are plenty nice, at times contained within bios, Papa dancing like he’s in the Beelzeblues
feeling like the grandchildren of the grave, booklets and YouTube
but a lack of interaction and low ambient videos – it’s something Brothers, Ghost strike the perfect balance
lighting makes it feel like Uncle Acid active and alive at every show
are willing themselves back to they play, an infernal jukebox between production and performance to
basement bars. musical that is continually
cement the sense they are firmly on track for
GHOST may have
kicked off their 2022 the top tier of the rock and metal pantheon.
schedule in the US, but Papa’s blackened snarls during Mummy Dust
the Impera cycle hasn’t
truly taken hold until might harken back to Ghost’s roots in extreme
the band have returned
to the UK. Arriving metal, but the keytar solo during that same
onstage like a Satanic
Peter Pan, Papa’s song betrays their true stadium-sized
silhouette emerges ambitions. By the time Square Hammer kicks in
behind a curtain as
Imperium plays over there can be no denying Ghost have captured

heavy metal heart and soul. It’s only a matter

of time until they conquer the world at large.

RICH HOBSON

90 METALHAMMER.COM

LIVE REVIEWS

Come to Papa: Ghost revel
in the power and the glory

METALHAMMER.COM 91

LIVE REVIEWS Lingua Ignota:
your guide
Jo Quail maps out an through
enthralling new vision purgatory

Ulver trip the light fantastic

ROADBURN 2022

VARIOUS VENUES, TILBURG

Ulver, Emma Ruth Rundle and Lingua Ignota bring the rapture back to the lowlands

IF YOU’VE FOUND yourself dreaming of deliver a sense of autumnal wistfulness that heavy swirling strobes or soft twinkling PETER TROEST
perfectly underpins their contemplative new lights, it makes their main stage set feel like
other, better worlds over the past few years, album, Perfect Light. a journey into another dimension. Back to
Roadburn is a four-day window into what earth with the force of a megaton bomb. Kevin
could be. Aside from the deep sense of No strangers to Roadburn, Iceland’s Martin, aka THE BUG, and MCs Flowdan
community that’s returned after three years, SÓLSTAFIR are back on the main stage, this and Logan turn the second stage into an
there’s something genuinely magical about time playing their 2011 album, Svartir Sandar, apocalyptic, red light-bathed fever dream as
watching so many of our most exploratory in full. It’s a big draw – rarely heard live foundation-rattling beats create both urban
and immersive artists play host to thousands songs like Sjúki Skugginn, gorgeous imagery hellscape and last-rave-on-earth abandon
of rapt devotees, where each performance featuring music videos as well as artwork by around the room.
feels like a calling. That’s particularly Kim Holm – but sadly, it’s not their night.
apparent with BIG | BRAVE, who fill out the Technical issues halt the pace, and once these Day two’s main stage starts with another
vast Terminal hall. Robin Wattie’s fragile gremlins hit the band struggle to retain their visionary, dystopian experience, as JAMES
yet wilful vocals claw their way through the confidence. One of the heavier bands at KENT aka Perturbator adds layers of Vangelis-
tectonic, push/pull birth throes of the riffs, this year’s Roadburn, Belgium’s black baiting atmosphere to Cult Of Luna frontman
and her humbled, awed speech about the metallers WIEGEDOOD’s main stage set is JOHANNES PERSSON’s skin-ripping roar
crowd and occasion resonate perfectly with a pummelling sensory overload of flashing and stricken adventurism. It’s a symbiotic,
the spirit of the festival. lights and juddering black metal. transportive pairing under a stunning light
show and a backdrop of floating particle webs
At the main 013 venue, steadily building GGGOLDDD give one of the most moving like an AI neural network. There are plenty
dread gives way to pitch-nastiness, sludge performances of the weekend as they play of low-end lurkers on Roadburn bill, but
and post-metal blurring as VILE CREATURE new album This Shame Should Not Be Mine PRIMITIVE MAN make them sound like
& BISMUTH celebrate the heat death of the in full. The album explores vocalist Milena they’re paddling in the kiddie pool. Abyssal
universe in sonic form before giving way to Eva’s experience of sexual assault, and the sludge replete with blastbeats and a sense of
beautiful, ethereal melodies that drift beyond set focuses heavily on her voice: where we tension so tight it could garrotte an elephant,
the void. Playing songs from their new, third can hear every word and feel every emotion. their set is a masterclass in sludge’s most
album, Close, MESSA’s set on the main stage RUSSIAN CIRCLES’ mesmerising punishing capabilities.
showcases their innovative doom as it verges instrumental post-rock is elevated to another
from ambient to jazzy with added sax. Spring level with a hypnotic light show that For all the anticipation in a packed
may be in the air in Tilburg, but 40 WATT SUN complements the music perfectly. Whether Terminal, DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE’s low-end

92 METALHAMMER.COM

LIVE REVIEWS

Duma herald a new dawn
for electro-grind
Sólstafir: Addi Tryggvason
seeks out a high note

GGGOLDDD’s Milena
Eva: grace under fire

rumble and plaintive laments come across for long. EMMA RUTH RUNDLE’s set may be The backdrop for LINGUA IGNOTA’S 2019
as sketchy and unfocused, unable to fully on the main stage, but it has all the intimacy Roadburn appearance was a Hades-esque
harness the power of last year’s Gas Lit album. of a tiny club show. Alone, she plays through travelogue through wildfires. This year, with
JO QUAIL’s The Cartographer combines post- her new acoustic album, Engine Of Hell, in full, a Sinner Get Ready-focused set, the images of
metal sonic monoliths with symphonic alternating between guitar and piano, often pastoral landscapes and rapt spirituals have
grandeur, straining the nerves with queasy, adding explanations to the songs, which adds a different kind of potency, steeped in themes
foreboding tones that can explode in brass to the intimacy. The silence of the crowd in of dominance, the thrall of supplication
cacophonies or gliding strings as pressure these quiet moments is testament to the and the unearthly power that binds. Kristin
builds. Grave Lines’ Jake Harding booms with Roadburn audience’s enduring respect. Hayter herself sounds like a host of
post-metal imperiousness that would do Back at The Terminal, SENYAWA’s blend of traumatised angels weeping over the state of
Kristian Karlsson proud, while Lucie Dehli traditional Indonesian instrumentation and the earth, and these songs are transformed
invokes more spiritual vocalisations that inventive industrial clangour proves both into ornate sermons conducted from a state
cement the experience as being awesome in mind- and ear-blowing, before Kenyan of purgatory that feels both sacrosanct and
the truest sense of the word. duo DUMA’s electro-assault is a thrilling, indelibly stained.
nerve-jangling experience, even if Martin
Performing their new album A Loner in full, Khanja’s near-ambient vocals don’t quite THOU’s Black Sabbath tribute set brings
HANGMAN’S CHAIR’s brand of doom comes take us to the point of total abandon. Roadburn 2022 to a celebratory close. Tony
laden with the cool, seductive tones of goth. Iommi’s riffs are sucked into a black hole of
Roadburn don’t particularly do sludge so heavy it feels like the universe
Cédric Toufouti is one of the headliners, but ULVER are chief crushing everything into a single, perfect
scene’s unsung talents, but among the headliners they terminal moment. Kristin Hayter makes
judging from the reception don’t have. Packing the main a guest appearance for Black Sabbath, imbuing
this won’t remain the case Geezer Butler’s lyrics with otherworldly
stage out more than any other act doom that perfectly accentuates Roadburn
over the weekend, the band’s visuals are 2022’s express aim of redefining heavy,
a school in synaesthesia that could match taking things back to the source and
prog titans Pink Floyd or Genesis, while reconstructing them at a molecular level.
Flowers Of Evil’s sound bridges old-school prog, Long may the revolution continue.
contemplative post-rock and trippy electronica
in a glorious, psychedelia-drenched fusion. RICH HOBSON/HANNAH MAY KILROY/JONATHAN SELZER

METALHAMMER.COM 93

LIVE REVIEWS

DESERTFEST 2022

VARIOUS CAMDEN VENUES, LONDON

Electric Wizard, Yob and Orange Goblin help resurrect London’s riffastic three-dayer

FRIDAY Their harmonised, Chris Cornell-influenced the walls of the Electric Ballroom vibrate with WILL IRELAND
vocals and chilled-out vibes are the perfect high-octane energy right through to closing
In an increasingly saturated festival market, way to end the first night. track Red Tide Rising.
the Camden-crossing Desertfest continues to
thrive by taking the acolytes of the riff from SATURDAY “The guillotine is too good for those people.
the fringes and putting them front and centre Hanging is too kind.” Steve Albini isn’t shy of
for experiences fans just won’t find anywhere “There are more people here than in the opinions, letting the world know just how he
else. A decade since its first event, the 2022 village I come from.” SLOMOSA’s frontman feels about Celine Dion singing one of her own
line-up features a kaleidoscope of acts might be humbled by the Ballroom’s early songs at karaoke. SHELLAC’s set holds no less
covering stoner, doom, psych and just about afternoon crowd, but there’s nothing modest bite, angular, jutting noise punk with a clasp
everything in between – with ribald about the Norwegians’ driving grooves, like like a bear trap proving an odd-but-fun choice
afterparties to boot – to fully satiate even the a makeshift plane achieving take-off as for Saturday night headliner.
most ardent devotee. Ramones-y belligerence and nasal vocals
combine with hazy, desert-warmed riffs SUNDAY
To whit, Japan’s BLACKLAB flit back-and- for maximum, endorphin-releasing effect.
forth between fuzz-drenched grinding MY SLEEPING KARMA aren’t the beings of Despite being named after an entire desert
doom and adrenaline-laced punk at The pure light their recorded music suggest, but planet, Edinburgh’s DVNE would feel more at
Underworld. Drummer Chia clatters the kit a bunch of strapping Germans whose every home at Arctangent. Their proggy post-metal
so hard she breaks it. “She’s got too much blissful note quivers and dilates like newborn, sounds spectacular in the Roundhouse, but
power,” vocalist Yuko says with a grin. radiant spores. with such a dispersed audience, it’s clear they
Dingwalls might have changed its name to are a little out of place here. CONAN, however,
Powerhaus, but it still holds true to its punk Featuring Kyuss alumni Brant Bjork and drop like a sledgehammer here. Their riffs
legacy, as newcomers SHOOTING DAGGERS Nick Oliveri, STÖNER offer up their bluesy gurgle and lurch like the digestive tract of
electrify with hardcore punk ferocity. marijuana-infused punk rock’n’roll to an some great fellbeast, showing how much
Electric Ballroom that’s as heavily packed scope uncompromising doom has when given
LOWRIDER are still channelling the as you’d imagine one of their joints to be – the space to roam.
psychedelic, desert rock of Kyuss, albeit with and their music is just as potent. After a set
a heavy dose of early QOTSA, Josh Homme- chock-full of originals the trio close up with EYEHATEGOD might baulk at being called
styled vocals. The packed Electric Ballroom an impassioned cover of Motörhead’s sludge, but there’s no better term to describe
crowd lap it up, reaffirming the enduring R.A.M.O.N.E.S. before treating the crowd to the suffocating filth of their set, Mike IX
power of the scene, and the loyalty it inspires. what they were clearly waiting for - Kyuss Williams shrieking like a man condemned.
Discontinuity can be just as thrilling, as classics Gardenia and Green Machine. The From the gutter to the stars. YOB’s Atma-
Iggor Cavalera and Wayne Adams, aka psych-heavy open-ended soundscapes of cover backdrop hosts the radiant light at the
PETBRICK, mash d-beats, electronics and EARTHLESS attract a substantial crowd to the end of a tunnel, and every throbbing riff
ritual, brain-freezing clatter into a state of Ballroom. It’s hard to catch a glimpse of the sounds as if it’s gathering the critical mass to
delirium as cameos from Integrity’s Dwid San Diego trio through the sea of swaying reach a state of transcendence. It’s an organic,
Hellion and a faux-pro-Trump cowboy suggest souls, but their immense riffs fill every nook heaving rite that holds more than 1,500 souls
a homemade Ministry on a whole new set of and cranny of the venue. in a state of tantric awe.
psychoactive drugs.
In 2016 at the very same festival, an OPIUM LORD’s grit-laden sludge sifts
Nine years after their last UK show, inebriated conversation between five folklore through the last dregs of humanity and
INTEGRITY themselves are a holy grail for fanatics formed GREEN LUNG. Now, the increases the Black Heart’s force of gravity by
Desertfest’s hardcore punk faction. A band Londoners are greeted with an overflowing 66.6%. SACRI MONTI’s daze-inducing
fundamental to the scene, yet one that exist Underworld reciting every line and furiously psychedelia also renders movement almost
in a singular space where occult leanings and rocking their heads to songs that
visceral, street-level assaults meet, their already seem like decades-old impossible as the Californians voyage
songs are potent, groove-battered stews, classics. Sweden’s MAIDAVALE across expansive streams of mind-
coagulating around Dwid’s sandpaper howl. serve the Black Heart a warping keys, harmonising guitar
Seeing SPIRIT ADRIFT in the pressure cooker banquet of 70s-style solos and crushing, sense-assaulting
that is the Black Heart feels truly explosive. experimental riffs.The Roundhouse is an ideal host
You can scarcely nod your head without being grooves, for ELECTRIC WIZARD’s black mass,
subsumed into a wall of flesh, but songs like pulsating bass, their signature Satanic, cinematic
Ride Into The Light are so epic you just can’t dazzlingly wild visuals adding to the ambience
help yourself. percussion and stretches of of their psychedelic dirge. The
kaleidoscopic, acid-laced riffs that band lure the hordes in by
WITCHCRAFT have the pedigree to conjure - if not for Matilda Roth’s uniquely opening with Return Trip
a majestic, magic-fuelled performance. executed, monotone vocals to keep before belting out a storm
Instead, their somewhat drab, lacklustre you earthbound - would send you of classics culminating in
presence, along with guitar strap mishaps and spiralling into a wondrous cosmic the inimitable Funeralopolis
Adidas tracksuits, sees the Swedish, former trance. Classic crowd-pleasers – the ultimate in stoner
retro-doom darlings squander whatever ORANGE GOBLIN rouse late-night doom deliverance to send
charms they have left. festival-goers with a host of Desertfest out on the
groovy, fist-raising anthems as greatest of highs.
The bastard child of Kyuss and Alice In
Chains, STEAK close the Electric Ballroom RICH HOBSON/ALICE PATTILLO
with their dance-friendly, mellow melodies.
LIZ SCARLETT/JONATHAN SELZER

94 METALHAMMER.COM Opium Lord are
bad medicine

LIVE REVIEWS

Electric Wizard induce
a super stupor

Green Lung receive a
heroes’ homecoming
Orange Goblin: still on

top of the world

Dvne: planet-
sized riffs

Yob make tracks
for transcendence

Shellac’s rage will
always go on…

Maidavale: sorceresses
of garage psychedelia

Stöner: Nick Oliveri
cranks up the riffs

METALHAMMER.COM 95

LIVE REVIEWS

Djerv: something
wicked this way comes

Venom’s Cronos:
black metal’s

original sinner

INFERNO FESTIVAL 2022

JOHN DEE, ROCKEFELLER, OSLO

Taake, Emperor and Tom G. Warrior herald the return of Norway’s infamous extreme metal fest

DENIED ITS 20TH anniversary by you- turned-feral vocals already bewitching a stunning live recreation of the legendary
everyone gathered before a final, a cappella
know-what, it’s entirely in the nature of folk song stops time and hearts. BÖLZER, as Hellhammer demos. Flanked by three young
Inferno that it’s kept as much of 2020’s ever, sound as though they’ve tapped into
intended line-up as possible. Although it some paranormal artery, the livid streams of musicians, the Swiss veteran maintains
throws the occasional curveball, the festival’s sound coursing out of KzR’s guitars
reputation, and popularity, is based on and corralled by HzR’s pounding the original rawness but adds the later
reaffirming the (mostly) Norwegian extreme drums turning the John Dee
metal canon, making it a true North Star on into a packed house of musicianship of Celtic Frost and Triptykon.
the festival circuit. It’s also wholly apt that worship for ferocious,
DJERV kick off proceedings on the main primal forces. Day two starts in stately style with
Rockefeller stage, having recently returned
after a 10-year hiatus. But with Agnete IHSAHN and HAMFERÐ’s evening dress
Kjølsrud a towering, Maleficent-eque his band of music
presence, there’s a near-feral lust for life students aren’t just matching the distraught
erupting throughout their stomping, pitch perfect, but the
exhilaratingly wayward anthems. KAMPFAR Norwegian is pushing elegance of their funeral
are Inferno royalty, the broad, scorched black metal to its
ground covered over their near-three-decade limits and beyond by doom. Jón Aldará’s
history both brought into focus and given performing the full
a charred and ragged edge by frontman Dolk’s Telemark EP including the operatic vocals are a
hoarse, punky vocals as the doom-laden Troll, Iron Maiden and Lenny
Død Og Trolldom and supercharged pummel Kravitz cover versions thing of such beauty
of Det Sorte offer different perspectives on intersected by some fan favourites.
a still-fevered, crowd-inciting vision. One genius follows the other as Tom they become an elegy
G. Warrior pays tribute to his late friend and
Downstairs at the John Dee venue, co-creator Martin Ain. Under the banner for all humankind, his
SYLVAINE offer a more intimate experience, TRIUMPH OF DEATH the Swiss mastermind
both the warmth and adventurism coursing lays bare the foundations of black metal by growls a told-you-so
through Katherine Sheppard’s crystalline-
from the darkest side

of the psyche. Some

Asagraum’s bands are basically rock
Obscura digs deep acts dressed up in BM
clothing, but there’s an
into the dark

electrifying purity of intent

to ASAGRAUM. They may pay

tribute to the icy Northern style, but

their riffs are ever-surging channels mining

a host of dark forces that are fully their own. UNCLE ALLAN

GORGOROTH are the embodiment of

Norwegian black metal and although the

majestic aspect went with singer Gaahl, Taake

96 METALHAMMER.COM

LIVE REVIEWS

Xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx
xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx...

Ihsahn: the old and Nyrst weigh up the pros
new wave of BM and cons of the endtimes

Taake’s Hoest: Norway’s
new king of black metal

Kampfar: the jewel in
Norway’s BM crown

Triumph Of Death: Kreator stir the Mayhem: Attila Csihar
Tom G. Warrior goes pits of Hell incites Carnage

back to his roots ‘does not compute’ throughout the crowd, but
the final conflagration of Taivaan Portti gives
frontman Hoest brings the fierceness back It Black, playing the Windir tribute Spiritlord way to a rapturous response, as if we’ve just
or taking Oslo by storm with Wild North West. remembered clapping as a human impulse.
that interim vocalist Pest never achieved. NYRST’s vocalist takes a similar mad-prophet
MARDUK are also in exceptionally strong approach to vocals as Oranssi’s Jun-His, as the
An amp fries, a guitar cable breaks, the sound Icelanders’ apocalyptically atmospheric BM
shape. Frontman Mortuus is as fearsome as courses thorugh the John Dee. The Rockefeller
turns rotten, but the crowd hardly cares and is packed for KREATOR as the Germans
celebrates the likes of Incipit Satan. Picky ever, but refusing to play many hits beyond hammer out a set only filled with classics
1993’s Wolves is not the way to win over from the first to the latest album. A circle-pit
punters might complain that VENOM are grinds relentlessly through the whole gig,
a packed festival audience. only interrupted when Mille Petrozza
playing far too well these days, but Cronos instigates another wall of death.
Keeping to their recent three-part format,
and his band are literally being worshipped TAAKE’s headline slot feels like a coronation
in the North and starting with Witching Hour replete with set and costume changes, it’s for an entity at once central to True Norwegian
BM and yet somehow parallel to the canon,
the trio play just enough old material to win the first, reformation-era set that sounds a Hoest a wilful, one-off anomaly whose
this day with the encore of Black Metal and singular charisma can make the flame his
In League With Satan. little ropey by MAYHEM’s standards, neither alone, and to whatever ends he sees fit.
Tonight, he lives up to the occasion, no longer
DARK FORTRESS have had better days. the clinical angularity nor the old school- a feral Iggy Pop in corpsepaint, but something
binding approach of the Daemon tracks more regal, draped in a Norwegian flag cape
Although the German melodic black as he lords it on stage. From epic, folk-laced
quite gelling under the red banners. A cowled anthems to Myr’s fuck-you banjo solo, this
metallers’ performance is technically sound is an ascension to the crown to which all of
Attila Csihar is an otherworldly presence Inferno pays enthralled witness.
as they kick off day three, they lack conviction throughout, and as they tear into both De
Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and Deathcrush, the GUNNAR SAUERMANN/JONATHAN SELZER
and create no spark – probably enhanced by
many hearing tracks like Baphomet for the profane, commanding power reaches an

first time. ASPHYX don’t have bad days. With ecstatic state that’s a tuning fork for a rapt
a set focused on both 1991 debut The Rack
and last year’s Necroceros, the primordial, and rammed Rockefeller.

palpitating, groove-laden nature of their If you’re feeling a little wasted by the final

death metal trawl remains both constant and Sunday, ORANSSI PAZUZU are on hand to

a source of reinvigorating thunder. It was tip you over the edge. Hitting Inferno like

never rocket science, but only few are granted a visitation from an extra dimension, even
by the Finns’ standards, their set is out there.
access to DM’s inner citadel. Whatever VREID
From the woozy tension and traction of
are doing, it works great with the crowd, Oikeamielisten Sali, through extended
whether it’s covering the Rolling Stones’ Paint
atmospherics, you can sense the awe and

METALHAMMER.COM 97

LIVE REVIEWS

Devin Townsend ranges BURNING WITCHES
across his musical spectrum
NERVOSA
DEVIN TOWNSEND
THE ROBIN 2, BILSTON
VOLA
In 2020, Prika Amaral was forced to
ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON reforge NERVOSA when three-quarters
of the band unceremoniously quit. You’d
Canada’s cosmic metal maestro soars across a gloried career never tell from watching them live today,
the Brazil-born thrash act playing with
IT’S A GRANDIOSE Vola: brains his Bloodstock headline show a tightness and synchronicity that
over bounce of last year don’t put in an perfectly accentuates the Teutonic-style
setting for one of metal’s most that has been making exploratory raids
grandiose characters this appearance, but musically it’s in territory most black for more than 40
evening, as the legendary glory years. They sound fucking massive. Their
of the Royal Albert Hall once as vast, as wild and as eclectic set covers Perpetual Chaos almost in its
again hosts one of our most entirety, chucking a few older ragers like
creative minds. “They sound as any show this beautiful old Death and Masked Betrayer in to show
like Korn,” says one punter what the new unit can do. An early
dismissively, as VOLA run building has ever seen. We get appearance from Burning Witches
through the support set. He’s vocalist Laura Guldemond on Rebel Soul
not accurate; the Danish prog songs from every facet of highlights how well both bands
metallers don’t quite aim for complement each other, the latter’s set
that level of party-starting, but Devin’s career. Highlights veer offering a perfect exploration of chest-
they do have some massive beating trad metal like mama used to
instantaneous riffs, and on from an incredibly delicate make (presuming said mama is Doro
These Black Claws do attempt Pesch). The sheer muscular force of
something slightly nu metal-inspired. Maybe acoustic version of Ih-Ah! from BURNING WITCHES’ rhythm section
that’s what he meant. But Vola do all of this with ensures the show loses none of its energy
a far more cerebral bent, going for emotional his Devin Townsend Project to even as the pace takes a near-total shift.
weight over jumpdafuckup bounce. Decent. Flight Of The Valkyries, Lucid Nightmare
four Strapping Young Lad and Black Widow are as fine modern metal
“I just love playing music!” beams DEVIN anthems as a red-blooded metalhead
TOWNSEND halfway through his set, and from songs that are greeted like the could hope for, belted out with such
the excitable way he exclaims it he’s obviously not vigour you’d almost forget we’re in
lying. The band he has put together has learned second coming by the a small club in a Wolverhampton suburb
four and a half hours of music to play over the two and not some grand Viking hall.
nights that Devin will play this venue. This first old-school metalheads in
of the two evenings has a unique, special feel to RICH HOBSON
it, everyone aware that this is a one-off set that attendance.
will never be repeated. It’s a stripped-down affair GAEREA
visually, the elephants and dancing ballbags of But whatever he tries his hand at, Devin is
WODE
a fascinating focal point for his band, his voice
THE BLACK HEART, LONDON
soaring through the venue when he croons,
From the post-industrial heartlands of
shaking the foundations when he roars, his Manchester, WODE have been making
waves with the Swedish-inspired
playing note perfect and idiosyncratic, his smile blackened thrash of last year’s Burn In
Many Mirrors. As good as that album is,
as wide as a particularly delighted Cheshire Cat. live they take it to another level. More
feral, and yet more organic, the added
It also should be noted that the Royal Albert Hall savagery brings a hint of 90s German
thrash to their epic, Dissection-like
doesn’t just look nice, it lets its artists sound as riffing. In the cramped sweatbox of The
Black Heart they hit like a cavalry charge.
fantastic as they should, managing to harness Imbued with the sound of rusting bullet
belts and tinnitus, Wode have something
all of the nuance and intricacies in this often special. GAEREA’s take on black metal
is less ferocious, but no less enthralling.
incredibly complex music. All in all, this is the Somewhere between the epic nihilism TINA KORHONEN
of Mgła and the swell and whisper of Isis,
kind of evening that will live long in the memory. they are post-black metal perhaps, but
they never lose sight the essential
Thanks Devin, we love you playing music too. misanthropic core that is the heart of
BM. Steeped in the occult imagery with
STEPHEN HILL sigil-covered masks and punishingly
loud, the Portuguese quartet – at least it
appears so, it’s too packed to see clearly
– are an immersive and enthralling
proposition. They can also boast more
shirt designs on sale than most bands
have in a lifetime.

ALASTAIR RIDDELL

98 METALHAMMER.COM

LIVE REVIEWS

IGORRR

OTTO VON SCHIRACH

THE FLEECE, BRISTOL

Htoytpheer-wiensvtentive Gauls bring their maelstrom

SOME BANDS BEND the boundaries of music. Igorrr
twist them until they snap. The very definition of an

‘avant-garde metal’ band; their melting pot of genres and

styles have been such a hit that they’re selling out club

venues nowadays, albeit with a two-year wait thanks to

the pandemic. Still, that’s neither here nor there right

now, because the atmosphere inside the Fleece is at fever

pitch for the outfit started by Frenchman Gautier Serre.

It renders support act OTTO VON SCHIRACH little more

than a side attraction and, whilst his dark, industrial hip

hop isn’t entirely a trainwreck, there’s no hiding the faces

of those who are only watching him to secure their spot

for the main event.

What transpires is something that’s beyond even the

minds of those who think they know what to expect.

Bolstered by an impeccable PA and a light show that

would make the Prodigy blush, IGORRR are, quite simply,

untouchable tonight. The conglomerate of elements that

make up their sound can all be made out – Nervous Waltz

goes from classical to dubstep to blastbeats to symphonic

metal in the space of 30 seconds. Gautier is both DJ and

additional guitarist, and he and drummer Sylvain Bouvier

get to trade off during a mid-set interlude, while Martyn

Clement’s doom-laden riffs during Downgrade Desert marry

beautifully with Middle Eastern tones as it segues into

Camel Dancefloor.

The stars, however, are vocalists Aphrodite Patoulidou

and JB Le Bail, whose juxtapositions of operatic soprano and

gutturals are abrasive and captivating in equal measure.

When the two combine on Pavor Nocturnus, both singing

clean, it’s an encapsulating lovesong worthy of Gomez and

Morticia Addams’ first

Otto von Schirach: wedding dance. It’s followed
strangely not the by the all-out war of Viande,
main attraction
a soundtrack for the end of

the world, then Opus Brain,

which starts in line with

a midnight rave. Like a lot of

Igorrr’s material, it shouldn’t

work on paper, but it’s

delivered with such panache

and conviction that it’s

impossible not to get swept

up in the majesty of it all.

There might actually not

be another band on the

planet capable of combining

outstanding beauty with

immeasurable brutality

DJE IMAGES/DUNCAN EVERSON and not leave either in the

other’s shadow, but Igorrr

have struck the perfect

balance. This isn’t just

a gig, it’s a borderline

religious experience.

Igorrr: Aphrodite Patoulidou ELLIOT LEAVER
searches for a dance partner

METALHAMMER.COM 99

LIVE REVIEWS

Architects: who says TOOL
discourse is dead?
BRASS AGAINST
ARCHITECTS
RESORTS WORLD ARENA, BIRMINGHAM
SLEEP TOKEN, MALEVOLENCE
Fifteen years waiting and finally it’s
O2 LEEDS ARENA, LEEDS here: Tool are back in the UK, playing
indoor arenas. Their Download 2019
Brighton’s metalcore champions showcase their arena credentials headline was nothing to be sniffed at,
but for a band whose visual spectacle
IN 2016, WHEN Architects sold out the 5,000- show to date outside of the capital, with vocalist sits somewhere between Pink Floyd KATJA OGRIN
Sam Carter acknowledging tonight is a special and Star Wars, finally seeing them with
capacity Brixton Academy, it seemed like a huge moment for the band. Accordingly, the production full production is a once-in-a-blue-
deal. So, to see the Brighton metallers here, on is huge: lighting displays, raised platforms and moon opportunity.
the opening night of their first ever UK arena a massive LED screen beaming out apocalyptic,
tour, is a reminder of just how far the band have eye-popping visuals, during monstrous opener BRASS AGAINST warm the crowd
hurtled since their techy metalcore beginnings. Black Lungs. up ably, chucking brass covers of Rage
Against The Machine, Audioslave and
Of course, one of the most exciting things By now, they’ve mastered the art of blending even Tool themselves out to a politely
about Architects making the jump to arenas is their most brutal moments with the clean, patient crowd. But TOOL command total
opening the door for other bands to go too. Case melodicism of their newer material. Nihilist is attention tonight – literally. A phone
in point is Sheffield’s MALEVOLENCE, whose probably the heaviest song that will ever be ban in the arena means the room is
gut-punching technical groove metal goes down played within these walls, while a monolithic almost completely black as the band
a treat. There are a lot of fans here in Malevolence Gravedigger shimmies against a disco-inflected arrive, a semi-translucent curtain
t-shirts and, given the size of the pits that open Little Wonder and the anthemic bounce of Meteor, draped in front of the stage creating
for Self Supremacy, it appears the rest of the crowd with the crowd bellowing along to every word. a near-3D effect that messes with
have been won over too. On the other hand, And any remaining doubts that Architects are your sense of perception. It’s nothing
SLEEP TOKEN’s thunderous tech-metal and cold, now a bona fide ‘arena band’ are silenced by compared to the lighting, however –
otherworldly soundscapes yearn to be heard in the juddering riffs and life-affirming horns the entire arena effectively turned into
cathedral-sized buildings. From the moment of a wondrous Dead Butterflies. Along with a lighting rig that bathes different
mysterious band leader, Vessel, steps onto the the heart-wrenching Gone With The Wind, sections in a kaleidoscope of colours
stage, a hush falls over this room. Unfortunately, dedicated, as always, to late guitarist Tom that, combined with flashing laser
the mix tonight is slightly off, rendering the Searle, it’s their epiphany moment. The days displays that would do George Lucas
singer’s mystical vocals almost inaudible on when selling out Brixton Academy seemed like proud, make it almost impossible to
Hypnosis and a cacophonous Jaws, although there’s an impossible dream achieved feel an age ago. focus on the stage when so much is
no dimming the band’s gospel-like atmosphere Architects are untouchable tonight, the best going on away from it.
and raw emotion that leaves our ears throbbing. UK metal band of a generation, and right now
they feel unstoppable. Fear Inoculum accounts for half of the
This show has been a long time coming for setlist, its hypnotic sounds shimmering
ARCHITECTS. We’re used to seeing them play DANNII LEIVERS and twisting in the ears as songs unfold
vast London venues, but this is their biggest like some quasi-evolutionary jam.
Guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin
Chancellor excel at switching between
tight, stabbing riffs and amorphous
drifting melodies, but the MVP is
drummer Danny Carey, whose fills and
beats flow with such fluidity that it looks
like his arms may be made of rubber.
Behind it all lurks Maynard James
Keenan, gripping his mic stand like it’s
a life support as his voice takes on an
impossibly omnipresent aura. It’s
a perfect complement to the mesmeric
rhythms of Fear Inoculum, while older
cuts Sober, The Pot and Right In Two feel
like colossal commands being issued by
some Old Testament god.

Even a 10-minute interval between
the main set and encore isn’t enough
to break the spell Tool conjure, the
mesmeric rhythms soon luring us back
in, while a shower of sparkling confetti
creates a visual display like watching
a swarm of fireflies drifting from above.
Tool prove to be more than worth the
wait when it comes to gargantuan visual
spectacles, their arena tour making
their Download performance look like
a bunch of blokes standing in a field. It’s
a masterclass in transcendental musical
experiences, but here’s hoping we won’t
be waiting 15 years for the next lesson.

RICH HOBSON

100 METALHAMMER.COM