Written by Kep, Westin, Ellis, and Kirk
Look, I’m not gonna lie to you. We slacked off a little in November. Life was busy, especially for your friendly editor. But you know who didn’t slack off? The bands on this list, each of whom delivered releases that knocked us on our collective asses. Read on to see what we dug the most, and stay tuned this month for our staff AOTY lists.
As always, quick links to our (few) reviews for November releases:
Gama Bomb – Bats
Neurectomy – Overwrought
Everson Poe – the tower
And now on to the roundup!
Convocation – No Dawn for the Caliginous Night
Funeral death/doom from Finland
When funeral doom is done well it has a certain grandeur to it. There’s this majestic sorrow, imposing dark stone cathedrals of grief built deliberately out of dirge melodies and crushingly heavy textures. Colosseum, for example, did it particularly well; the new Convocation does this as well as any album I’ve ever heard. They do it with instrumentation—one of the first things you notice in the opening texture is organ, and there are notable strings as well—oppressive atmosphere, and an ear for the sort of motifs that exude fear and sadness in equal measure. That big repeating riff in opener “Graveless Yet Dead”, made of two sets of descending half steps separated by a tritone? An exquisite example. The pacing is spot on too, with a shorter, less intense instrumental in the center of four huge tracks. I consider myself a funeral doom connoisseur, and this album is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Bonus point: “Atychiphobia” contains what might be the single most harrowing scream I’ve ever heard on recording.
– Kep
Xoth – Exogalactic
Technical blackened death/thrash metal from the US
Xoth is new to me, but their incredible genre blend is absolutely enthralling. The band easily swap between crushing ferocity and energetic groove alongside some of the gnarliest leadwork you’ll hear this year. The black metal elements lend an extra edge to the intensity but also provide a sense of grandiosity and momentum that feels like each track is constantly building towards a peak. Exogalactic is constantly climaxing in a ceaseless crescendo across the entire record, its relentless rain of destruction never faltering.
– Westin
Cauldron – Suicide in the City
Metalcore from the UK
A few years ago metalcore historians stumbled upon a long lost vault of unreleased records from the genre’s defining era and they’ve been drip-feeding them to the general public ever since. The SeeYouSpaceCowboy debut is one, as are both the Dying Wish records, and definitely also this debut full-length from UK bruisers Cauldron. Obviously most of that is bollocks, but the truth is that Suicide in the City is a mid-00s metalcore throwback that stands tall even among the many other excellent examples of this we’ve had in recent memory. It’s got that balance of savagery and melody nailed to perfection, with the emotional stakes raised further still by an intricate concept that not only tells a gripping story of its own but also reflects the personal struggles of vocalist Frazer Cassling.
– Ellis
Worms of the Earth – Kheri-Habet
Ritual ambient from the US
If you’re anything like me, your Halloween candy has been gone, you’re tired of Thanksgiving leftovers, and the last thing you want to hear right now is Christmas music. Good news! Arcane Dirge had some Black Friday releases to ease the psychic damage you will undoubtedly receive from hearing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for the next month or so. If you’re not familiar with Worms of the Earth—which I kinda think you should be—then you’re in for a real treat. On Kheri-Habet, mastermind Dan Barrett once again blends tribal drums with Middle Eastern instrumentation over an entrancing yet haunting soundscape. The title translates to “the carrier of the book of rituals” and is a direct sequel to 2019’s Netjer and marks yet another milestone in a truly remarkable recording career. If you’re looking for an escape from the usual snowy, windswept soundscapes of the coming winter, perhaps a trip to the Egyptian desert is just the vacation you need.
– Kirk
Elitist – A Mirage of Grandeur
Death metal from Denmark
Boy, this absolute beast of an album took me by surprise. Coming like a ballistic missile out of Denmark, Elitist plays a brand of ugly, dissonant death metal that wastes no time whatsoever. A Mirage of Grandeur is wild, fast, and unpredictable from the first second and throughout the record’s extremely tight 30-minute runtime. Think of the sort of angular, sometimes lurchy riff structures of Gorguts, the fiery focused dissonance of Ulcerate, mixed with more straightforward filthy death metal in the vein of Death and a particularly nasty, pissed off anticapitalist slant. It’s a vicious hell of a ride with a bucketful of moments that will grab you by the ears and drive repeat listens. If you need any further prompting to check this out, here is is: Elitist shares three members with underground grinders Piss Vortex, one member with both dissodeath outfit Dysgnostic and experimental crushers Apparatus, and this album is mastered by the one and only Colin Marston. Enough talk, go listen!
– Kep
Acid Force – World Targets in Megadeaths
Thrash metal from Slovakia
Slovakia is a fairly remote country to most of us, and the metal scene equally as isolated from a lot of the world – Metal Archives lists barely seven hundred bands out of the country. Acid Force are an incredible representative show of force, and they’re here to kick our ass. I love the return to to the “nuclear armageddon” aesthetic with both the album title and killer art by Andrei Bouzikov feeling like a sick homage to the roots of the genre. The music can be described as sounding like the musical spirit of early thrash, blending speed metal and heavy metal with more aggression in a way that sounds as organic today as it would have in 1985, without sounding like a rehashed retro throwback. The LP is tight and punchy, songs are catchy and superbly well written, just further proof that thrash metal will never die.
– Westin
The Hope Conspiracy – Confusion/Chaos/Misery
Hardcore from the US
There’s an episode of Jeremy Bolm’s First Ever Podcast where Sunny Singh (aka hate5six) explains that his friends in The Hope Conspiracy were essentially waiting for frontman Kevin Baker to get angry enough for the band to make new music. And finally – seemingly out of nowhere – here it is. Confusion/Chaos/Misery is every bit the rager it had to be to hold up against the Boston legends’ fantastic discography; “The fascist system will have us living on our knees” barks Baker in the opening title track – the first of four that are all similarly pissed and politically charged and backed up at every turn by the kind of d-beaty metallic hardcore the band perfected decades ago. Kurt Ballou produces so obviously it sounds perfect, and perhaps the best part of all is that the band’s updated bio says that this is just the beginning…
– Ellis
Suffocation – Hymns from the Apocrypha
Technical/brutal death metal from the US
Suffocation heard your worries about whether an album without Frank Mullen would be any good and delivered an absolute rager in response. Hymns isn’t just a good album, it’s a truly great one, feeling undeniably like the Suffocation we know and love—as everyone should have expected, since Terrance Hobbes is still the one writing the riffs—but doing more than just retreading the old paths. It’s a Suffo-standard tour de force, 41 minutes of pants-shittingly brutality that leaves nothing but bloody pulp in its wake. Standout tracks like “Dim Veil of Obscurity” feature so much to love: active arpeggio-driven riffs, relentless speed and wicked tremolos, horribly dark atmosphere, wildly acrobatic and shreddy solos, devastating chunk riffs and slams. “Immortal Execration” features one of the heaviest main riffs in all of their storied career. Ricky Myers, long since proven to be a capable vocalist in the band’s live shows, has his on-recording coming out party here, laying down a monstrous performance front to back. Derek Boyer’s bass tone might be the best on any Suffocation album. It’s a deadly package that stands as the best brutal death of the year for me.
– Kep
Receiver – Whispers of Lore
Heavy metal from Cyprus
Although Receiver are not Greek, I think a lot of trad fans will recognize and embrace the sound of the Mediterranean that this fantastic debut evokes. Frontwoman Nikoletta Kyprianou has such an engrossing tone to her voice that keeps pace with the tasty guitar work. The production feels simple and dynamic, letting the instrumentals shine without feeling like they’re overworking for a sound that wouldn’t fit the vibe. Receiver have the trad gallop down pat on “Starchaser” which I feel exemplifies the dynamics beautifully – every single member sounds good and the song is catchy and nails the mid-tempo hits.
– Westin
No Cure – The Commitment to Permanence
Metallic hardcore from the US
It’s a shame deathcore means something else because that leaves anyone who cares far too much about subgenres without any helpful shorthand for bands like No Cure who balance death metal and metallic hardcore as equitably and brilliantly as they do on their new album The Commitment to Permanence. This is a swift follow-up to their two excellent releases from just last year and arguably their strongest and most aggro effort yet. Not that you could miss it either but they’re also straight edge af and in “No Cure Straight Edge Die Slow Fuck You” they provide one of the hardest track titles and mosh calls of the year. If that’s the highlight though it’s only by a hair as all seven tracks here go terrifyingly hard especially considering that frontman Blaythe Steuer recorded his vocals with broken ribs after he “caught a boot” at a Rhythm of Fear show.
– Ellis