Will

2019 is slowly unveiling some fine releases.  With Altarage, Overkill and Candlemass all making me grin thus far in the past three months, despite a slow start and some disappointments (Venom, Queensryche and Legion of the Damned).  Naturally, your ears prick up when you hear Flo Mounier, Rune Eriksen and David Vincent have decided to get together and make some unholy communion.  Straight away I thought we had potential AOTY material right here given the obvious talent and experience present on this record.  I wasn't disappointed.  Whilst not flawless, 'Something Wicked Marches In' is a glorious display of DM, performed by intelligent and capable artists who manage to individually stamp their authority on the record yet at the same time are mature enough to work as a complete and cohesive unit.
Let's start with David Vincent.  He's by no means at an 'Altars...' or 'Blessed...' level of stature here yet his performance grabs the attention, not in the least due to the vocals being so forward in the mix.  His grim and menacing style compliments the music perfectly, adding atmosphere and clearly enunciated declarations of wicked intent alongside his familiar growls.  The painful memory of 'Illud...' is put to bed firmly here, much more effectively than Morbid Angel's mediocre follow up offering of 2017, it has to be said.

The dissonant , gnawing and at times melancholic guitar of Eriksen builds Mayhem-esque structures within solid chugging death metal riffs, offering variety and diverse pace throughout.  Again, whilst sounding like Eriksen throughout the record it never feels at any point like his guitar work is dominating proceedings.  His work moulds well around the percussion and vocal performances, crafting a real sense of balance and true artistic unison.
Then of course we have the machine that is Mounier.  The famed Cryptopsy skin-basher is as you would expect on good form here, the varied pace of the album lending well to showcase the many sides to the repertoire of the Frenchman.  Whether it is the faster pace that dominates much of the album or the more mid-paced tracks or passages that populate the album in abundance, Flo is there blasting and pounding as required with all the surety and aptitude you would expect from a man of his experience and ability.
Standout tracks include the title and opening track that sets the tone so well for the rest of the album with its multifarious pace.  Straight away the performance feels tight and professional and as the blasting opening to 'Praevalidus' smashes into the listener like some DM freight train the quality level is immediately maintained.  The ritualistic feel of 'Monolilith' with its chanted admiration of the demon of the night is superb and as enticing as the subject matter herself.
As I say, it is not a flawless record.  For a start the bass is virtually lost in the mix (not 'And Justice For All...' lost but, nonetheless, undervalued somewhat in the mix.  There are also times when you forget you are listening to an album as such since some of the tracks merge together a little and sound the same, almost like you are listening to established group jamming in their studio instead of recording a full-length.  These are only minor quibbles since when 'Something Wicked Marches In' is on point it is fucking amazing.
4/5 

The first song I heard ahead of the full 2014 release ("The Satanist") from Behemoth was "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel".  It immediately peaked my interest, setting the tone nicely for what was to become one of my favoured full lengths of that year.  This time around I heard "God = Dog" (which I think means the band are more cat people?).  It sounded blunted and frankly restrained.  Yes, there was a brief passage of some interesting string work towards the end but generally it just passed me by.  Sadly, just as my experience of the lead song/single from 2014 was an excellent benchmark for my expectation of the full length, the same has happened in 2018 but with a very different outcome.
"I Loved You At Your Darkest" rarely achieves touching distance of the band's previous full length.  There's lots of things that stop it from doing this, indeed the list is as long as either one of my lanky and lengthy arms.  The songwriting is poor, it lacks any real structure the majority of the time.  As a result there is a constant sense of this just being a very hastily written, rush of ideas.  Tracks like "If Crucifixion Was Not Enough" and "Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica" show this in abundance, the former nailing the lid down on its own coffin with one of the laziest attempts at a menacing riff I have heard in a while.
When we do actually settle into some sense of structure it actually works well.  "Bartzabel" is a sole triumph in the songwriting/structure stakes here and this is almost ruined by the annoying double layered, chanting backing vocals.

Next on my list of grumbles?  The sound.  It is one of the most sterile and strained sounding mixes I think I have ever heard on a record.  The drums sound like they were tracked for a completely different purpose on some of the tracks, "Wolves ov Siberia" and "Rom 5:8" in particular.  I can't believe that this was the intended sound the band wanted to achieve.  I follow Behemoth on Instagram and they make much majesty and menace over their theatre and general pomp when performing live it seems.  Surely then they haven't listened to the final playback of this record?
Now then.  I don't recall chanting children on a record ever working well?  But there's a couple of tracks here of children chanting their disdain for Christianity alongside Nergal and co.  It sounds frankly fucking ridiculous and trite even over only two tracks!
In summary, this is a massive disappointment whether you enjoyed "The Satanist" or not.  Hastily put together, poorly arranged and mixed terribly to boot.
1/5 

Glen Benton is 51.  Fuck I feel old now too.  Deicide are 30 years old (32 if we count the Amon era).  Album number 12 from the fathers of Florida death metal is a strong effort considering yet another change of personnel has occurred.  It is bye-bye Jack Owen, hello Mark English of Monstosity fame taking up guitar duties and ironically I like "Overtures of Blasphemy " a lot more than Monstrosity's effort this year.
Whilst it can never make the "beast of a DM record" title I would give to the debut or"Legion" for example, "Overtures..." is entertaining.  Whether it is the melo-death passages that litter the streets and alleyways of this record or the more familiar sacrilegious blasting fury of Deicide at their (old) best, there's plenty to balance the experince over these 12 tracks.  Take "Seal The Tomb" for example, it goes immediately for the jugular, relentlessly chugging riffs alongside Benton's usual demented growls only to be tempered by menacing and interesting leads and sonics that carry the song along well.  Listen once to this track and it is in your head for literally days after.
Then there's the vehemence of the lyrics of "Compliments of Christ" were you can feel the spittle from Glen's lips splattering your ears as he spews forth the vitriol he is best known for.  "Anointed in Blood" opens like a lead jam session recorded mid flow before developing into a hellish gallop of fiery hooves, again perfectly completed by some well placed and well timed leads.
This is were Morbid Angel went wrong with "Kingdoms..." safe DM with little if any attention paid to the sonic wizardry of their sound.  Take a leaf out of Glen's book Trey!
It is clear that this is no nonsense DM that is not out to reinvent any wheels it still has enough equal measure of extremity and assured and unapologetic attitude to hold it's own against most of the DM records released this year.  It is not perfect by any means.  I lose it on more than one occasion if I am honest ("Crucified Soul of Salvation" in particular hits my 'standby' button really nicely) and it is a couple of tracks too long making for an almost excessive feel to the running time.  Whilst it is a well paced record there's definitely some "filler" present.  But very any turkeys in here there is still thankfully the brilliance of tracks like "Consumed by Hatred" to snap you back to attention.  "Flesh, Power, Dominion" is one of the strongest things Deicide have ever put to tape btw.
3/5

One of my favourite urban myths is that you will go blind if you masterbate too much.  Listening to Portal might make you go blind as you ears frantically take resource from your brain that was needed for mundane tasks such as vision and bladder control as they try to cope with the relentless auditory assault of "ION", however pulling your pud won't affect your eyesight boys.  Science bit over, on with the review.
"ION" seems instantly more refined than previous outings.  Don't get me wrong here, there's no slick production values been applied and there isn't any venture into clean vocals for example.  It just seems that this time around things are more calculated.  "Phreqs" is like being attacked by a swarm of wasps, as chaotic as it seems there's some well thought out structure to the attack to maximise the impact.  One of the only criticisms I could draw against Portal of old was that sometimes the mental factor was up over 11 and things did tend to get lost.  "Vexovoid" remedied this a lot with its more "Horror" approach and "ION" seems to take that on a notch further combining dark alchemy and atmospheres perfectly.  The build of "Crone" for example is full of creeping dread and menace, finally arriving and proving to be as ghastly as I had hoped it would.
For all the scientific intimation of the cover things are still more on the experimental as opposed to technical side of death metal.  There's still that pit of the stomach sensation of being dragged into some fathomless void by the spiralling darkness of those fucking guitars and the taunting evil of those drums - they are not just about all out assault folks.  The layers do genuinely seem to be being applied with more structure this time around and the instrumentation is used better than ever to produce real atmosphere.  Favourite release of 2018 so far.
5 horns out 5
 

Is there any success in avoiding failure?  I mean there are no bones to make about it, Morbid Angels last offering was fucking terrible.  In comparison to that "Kingdoms Disdained" is an absolute triumph with all hints at "experimental" (or just downright "shite" bits) thankfully lost to the annals of catastrophic album releases from 2011.  But is it enough to improve on one of the worst releases ever by harking back to what you know with such totally that, inevitably, you risk judgement of being considered to have just retreated back into the safety of straight up, no frills, DM?  Albeit done with a poise and guile of the band of seasoned musicians the world knows you to be.
It is hard to criticise "Kingdoms Disdained".  The wave of favourable reviews already popping up across the metal community is already testimony to this and rightly so that these reviews are favourable, because at it's core this is as solid a DM release as you will hope to find all year.  No one with ears can deny the grinding death metal intensity of "Garden of Disdain" as it chomps away at your very being like some Pac-Man villain chasing the hapless yellow fucker.  The ripping pace, chaotic structure and mental sonics of "The Righteous Voice" will have any DM fan in absolute fucking raptures also.  The familiarity of tracks like "From the Hand Of Kings" as being straight up recognisable MA fodder will warm the heart of anyone wearing a "Covenant" tee also.  All over "Kingdoms Disdained" there's bits of great DM, I openly recognise this.
Likewise, it is hard to write entirely positive things when in essence the whole thing is just too safe.  Whilst I can hear the chaotic writing of Trey here an there it just feels like it is constantly being reined in or somehow stifled.  Who wants to sit listening to an MA record and have to hope there's a blooping, looping, totally archaic piece of sonic fuckery just waiting to spin the planet off its axis?  They should be there on all tracks not scattered throughout the record like some afterthought.  In dumbing down/pairing back for this record MA seem to have dropped into some "pre-Altars" state of foetal development, only giving hints at what they are really capable of.
There has of course been a significant line up change with Bonkers Vincent now a "Country Musician" in his own right having left the MA fray to allow the return of Steve Tucker.  Tucker is superb throughout the album, long may he reign (again).  The replacement of Tim Yeung with Scott Fuller also proves a positive step forwards.  Although at times a bit lost in the mix the drums are on the whole great throughout the eleven tracks here.  Line up improvements aside, the production feels a tad sterile and stifling at times also - "The Pillars Crumbling" in particular stands out as being riddled with this problem.  It is a similar production blueprint to the "Covenant" sound, an undeniably strong record with a sound that holds it back too much.
The overall opinion I garner from this release is that MA have returned to form, which let's face it folks isn't that fucking hard.  There needs to be more here to hold my attention beyond the few listens I have given it so far.  I have an array of similar quality sounding DM records already in my collection and I really wanted this release to standout from them.  Sadly I find myself wanting to like it more than I actually do.

Whether you love or hate Cannibal Corpse, their penchant for churning out accessible, fun and consistent DM can't be denied.  Yes when they suck they really do suck (Gallery of Suicide), but even if technically never more complicated than most Kinder egg toys there's always a familiarity to CC albums that appeals.  I get those that hate that familiarity.  If you prefer to become lost in a Portalesque vortex when enjoying your extreme metal then the obvious churn of CC won't be for you.  However, for every complex and archaic DM record in my collection I like to have a fair amount of surety too (someone will be along in a minute to replace "surety" with "safety" no doubt) and "Red Before Black" is as familiar to me after a few listens as most of the band's previous outpyt.
"Red Before Black" reinvents no wheels, either in terms of DM in general or the CC specific brand.  It is naive to say it has no variety as this simply isn't true, the pace of "Remaimed" for example goes from a slight itch to a raging STD style of a rash.  Opening track "Only One Will Die" comes for you like a deranged serial killer, devoid of any bizarre macabre master plan to use your body in some horrific piece of death art, just driven instead by the need to rip your head off and shit down your neck.
"Firestorm Vengeance" starts like a thrash track, chopping away at the bars like a lumberjack on LSD defacing a tree.  The mastery of "Scavenger Consuming Death" is undeniable as it chugs away sitting imperiously glaring at you like some cocksure domestic pet who just shat in your sock drawer!  Sonically, the album seems a little more developed than usual without ever dissolving into the territory of "guitar wankery".  My only instrumentation grumble is the slightly soft edge to the drum sound which taps along instead pummelling in unison with the rest of the activity on display here.
Whilst still being relevant (and it has achieved this without becoming "core" orientated either) and it staying in my head a lot better than the last two Suffocation records (for example)  it sets nothing alight.  As solid a DM record as this is my face isn't torn off at any point, my ears aren't battered and my neck doesn't get sore due to some over-exuberant headbanging session.  Most tracks do dip away unfortunately.
Let's take nothing away from the effort though.  To not be producing shit metal at this stage in your career is an achievement in itself, I just start to question if motions are starting to just be gone through?