Metal

Review - Vader: The Empire

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Poland’s most infamous death thrashers Vader have returned once more under the banner of Nuclear Blast Records. After 2014’s highly successful Tibi et Igni, the band unleashed their next collection of covers in Future of the Past II - Hell in the East through Witching Hour Productions. Wasting no time, the four-piece entered the studio once again to record their thirteen full-length venture (eleventh if you don’t want to count the aforementioned cover recordings) titled The Empire. With a long-standing record of releasing quality efforts one after another without having to change much in the lines of their output, does Vader manage to destroy the listener’s ear drums once more, or is their brand of violence starting to wear thin?
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Review - Dark Tranquillity: Atoma

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When it comes to the melodic death metal genre, not many bands have been able to stand the test of time and retain as much positive praise from critics and their very own fan base than Dark Tranquillity. They are also one of the few acts to keep as many of the founding members as possible, an astounding feat given the group officially coming into existence in 1991 after two years running as Septic Boiler. The only massive change as of late has been the induction of ex-In Flames bassist Anders Iwers (Ceremonial Oath, Tiamat) in 2015 following the departure of Daniel Antonsson (Akani, Pathos). After ten strongly accepted full-lengths atop a number of miscellaneous offerings, we are approaching the act’s eleventh album simply titled Atoma. But is this yet another subtle musical restructuring, or is this their least evolutionary creation yet?
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Review - Buckshot Facelift: Buck at the Moon

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Buckshot Facelift, New York City and Long Island providers of death tinged powerviolence, have been running amok for a good twelve years now. However, the indie five-piece haven’t unleashed a lot of audible carnage from the studio. In all, the group has a three full-lengths, a live EP, and a demo release under their belts. That is, until today. Following up their late 2014 album Living Ghosts of the North Shore is a name your price Bandcamp download of Buck at the Moon, a new EP recorded at Audio Playground with Keith Moore earlier this summer. It contains two original compositions and a cover of the Ramones classic “Pet Sematary”. But is it something worth picking up, or is it even worth occupying the space on your hard drive?
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Review - Naat: Naat

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Naat is an Italian instrumental group that dabbles in the realms of post-metal, doom metal, and sludge. The act was forged in 2014 by founding members of Antea, Lilium, and Stone Smokers, all of which prolific bands within the northern tier of their home country. In the time to come, the group has honed their sound and recorded with Mattia Cominotto (Isaak, Infection Code), who also mixed and mastered the songs that would make up their debut self-titled album being distributed by a number of labels across the world including Goodfellas, Inverse, Ripple Music, and Argonauta Records (the label that supplied this digital copy for review). But is this new group one that is well worth keeping an eye on?
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Review - Grizzlyman: Grizzlyman (2016 Reissue)

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Sweden’s Grizzlyman is a three-piece progressive sludge act that features ex-12 Gauge Dead‘s Joel Ekman on bass and vocal duties, as well as ex-Athory Emic‘s Emanuel Enbäre on drums, rounded out by guitarist/vocalist Christopher Davis. The band came together in 2013, and about a year later issued their self-titled three song demo cassette through Ljudkassett! Records as a limited run of two hundred copies. Since then, the group remains active with the label, but has not issued anything new since. For 2016, Third I Rex picked up the Grizzlyman demo for further distribution through digital means, as well as a physical digipack once again in limited quantities. But was this something worth reissuing, or is it better left buried?
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Review - Construct of Lethe: The Grand Machination

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Construct of Lethe. Never heard of this Virginia based death metal act before? Well, you may know them from when they first came together in 2001 as Bethledeign, or under the name Xaoc when it changed in 2006 until 2010. Amongst the members, this group has a lengthy history going back about fifteen years at this point, though little in the line of studio offerings have been made available. The prior acts had a few smaller releases amongst them, and the current incarnation assembled a collection of demos for a “debut” compilation in 2014. The band also kicked this year off with their first official full-length album Corpsegod (which you can grab as a “name your price” digital download here). As we wrap up 2016, the trio present a brand new self-released six song EP titled The Grand Machination. But was this something that was rushed to market, or is it a suiting way for the group to close out one of their busiest years yet?
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