Paralleled Existence is the 4th album from Connecticut deathsters Xenosis and continues the tech death evolution of Devour and Birth ( 2018). Staccato riffs scuttle among frenzied passages of hugely complex yet intense song structures, often morphing into punishing brutality before being torn apart again and again.
So much is going on in this album. I've listened several times and I'm still coming to grips with how Xenosis has managed to combine technical death metal wizardry with mind expanding progressiveness and yet somehow keep those hooks leaden as bent and twisted as they sound. There are eight tracks on Paralleled Existence, each one sounding only vaguely familiar from the last, all eight a nexus of death metal styles creating an atmosphere of delirious mania from which there is no escape from the turmoil.
Paralleled Existence is Xenosis'musical version of 'Alice Through The Looking Glass,' a warped, illogical nightmare.
Deathrattle Podcast recommendsParalleled Existence ~ Highly technical, progressive death that doesn't detract from the overall brutality of the album.
I've always been interested in the First World War and make a point to watch any documentaries covering the subject that appear on tv. Recently I watched the movie 2017 and as it's fresh in my mind, I can't help but connect it to the debut album of Le Monde Par Le Feu. 'À NÉANT' invokes an image of No Mans Land. The landscape is bleak, barren and churned by numerous detonations of sludge accompanied by vocals sounding like the cries of the mortally wounded.
Le Monde Par Le Feu consists of Cho and Ben from doom/sludge/death metal band Oldd Wvrms and Thomas from the French black metal band Pénitence Onirique and some of the sounds from both bands has influenced the music of Le Monde Par Le Feu but this new unit isn't a clone by any means. For instance, the doom element of Oldd Wvrms has been diluted slightly in favour of a more post-metal sound, but fear not, the album still sounds really heavy due to the more aggressive sludge passages that follow the intricate melodic parts so typical of this type of music. I'm particularly pleased that this new band has added a vocal delivery, pained as it is, alongside synths, giving more depth to each track and an atmosphere of toxicity beyond anything Oldd Wvrms has released.
I tend to find that many post -metal bands fall into the trap of over experimentation, not so with Le Monde par le Feu. Most of the tracks are reasonably lengthy, but superbly structured, ebbing and flowing like a windswept, stagnant pool, the most surprising one, however, being 'Scolopendre' which is the least complex track on the album but the riff really does remind me of Gojira.
RECOMMENDED - Song structures, not too much experimentation, excellent production quality, blackened harmonies enhanced by charred sludge.
Damn Kal-El, damn their eyes! I really wanted to appear kvlt and not include their latest album 'Dark Majesty' in my top five album releases for August unlike so many of my peers, but however much I resisted (And I listened to a LOT of albums, my shortlist numbered just over 80), I had no option but to return to 'Dark Majesty' and place it at the pinnacle of August releases.
Sure, there were a couple of albums that contained exceptional tracks that were superior to anything on 'Dark Majesty' but the crux of the matter is, containing an exceptional song does not make a great album, especially when compared to one which can be described as stellar from the first track to the last.
Lets face it, stoner doom albums are ten a penny, it takes a special album for a band to rise above the others and be noticed. Kal-El has done it by adding an ingredient I haven't come across too often in the doom genre, a sense of elation. It's the harmonies that do it for me, it's really magical the way the soaring vocals hitch a ride on some of the smoothest yet heaviest stoner doom riffs ever laid before the Sabbathian altar. Elephant Tree touched on it with their track 'Bird,' but that's one track in a fantastic album in its own right, Dark Majesty is chock full of 'Bird's.'
Releasing such a fine album does, of course, present Kal-El with a problem, albeit a nice one.....how are they going to better this?
Doom once again dominated the upper regions of my 'best of' list of albums for August particularly the occult/stoner variety and thrash was more prominent this time. Although I usually have more than a few death metal albums bubbling away in my list with Fearancy and Headshrinker, the brutal side of the genre is conspicuous by its absence. Indeed, Headshrinker is August's surprise package. I've tagged them as a death metal band but their album 'Callous Indifference' is far from straightforward, incorporating elements of thrash, doom and even post - metal into a rather dark sound.
So, the following bands take a bow
KAL-EL
Kal-El is the fuzzed-out step-child of hard rock and heavy metal, often with hints of pyschedelic and blues rock as well as doom metal. Songs typically feature a bass-heavy groove, detuned guitars and mind-expanding lyrics...
WITCHANGER
Stoner/doom from Finland, Hämeenlinna
TAXI CAVEMAN
Polish stoner rock trio. Influences? California, Fuzz, Tony Iommi, arcade games, prehistoric era and Prehistoric game.
HEADSHRINKER
Headshrinker is a metal band based out of Denver, CO. A symbol of the mental health issues we all struggle to deal with, Headshrinker is inspired by persevering through dark times, and the will / strength to battle through when the outlook is bleakest. Headshrinker embraces the pain and finds the expression born out of raw emotion. We all struggle and only death is real
SUNCRAFT
Flat Earth Rider is Suncraft’s debut album, written and recorded during 2020. The album is a collection of six unique tracks that show off the band’s wide array of songwriting prowess. They draw from diverse rock n’ roll influences, from the classic rock-inspired riff of the titular track, to the doomy chorus of «Commie Cannibals», the spaced-out vocals on «Adaptation» and the blast beat-induced ten-minute closing track «Bridges to Nowhere», this album is filled to the brim with genre-breaking tricks-up-the-sleeve.
Lyrically, the album ponders on themes of greed, alienation, loneliness and spirituality, reflecting upon conundrums of contemporary life. One highlight in particular would be the song «Flat Earth Rider», which paints a tragicomic picture of an imagined flat earther’s search for truth and meaning.
WITCHCRYER
“Their Gods Will Come For You” is a new conceptual album from Texas classic doom band Witchcryer, featuring songs about gods across various ages of civilization throughout time. Featuring thickly-woven epics such as a Faustian tale of a damned soul swallowed whole by an apocalyptic leviathan, an account of a Mesoamerican sun deity teaching its doomed warrior people to fly, and a Roman goddess seeking justice for crimes against women, vocalist/lyricist Suzy Bravo says, "this is the album I’ve been writing in my head my entire life." Ambitious and dynamic, this is anthemic old-school metal mixed with weighty modern doom!
DESECRATOR (Aus)
With a sound that has been compared to early Testament, Dark Angel and Sacred Reich DESECRATOR’s twin guitar attack, punishing rhythm section and blood soaked vocals have won over the old guard of staunch metal fans as well as recruiting a new wave of young thrashers.
WITHOUT GOD
Another masterpiece by Without God crafted through hard work, as if one has plowed up black shriveled earth and sowed it with anger and aggression, fear and anxiety. The album is filled with yearning for magical worlds from where only a few can return. The work comes as "Siberian Tunes: The Green Light" EP featuring lightness, green tones and Russian lyrics for better perception.
HOODED MENACE
With the immaculate songwriting skills and the perfect balance between harsh death metal fueled outbursts and exquisite melodic melancholy, HOODED MENACE unleash skeletal horror and somber despair onto their craving audience with 'The Tritonus Bell'!
FEARANCY
The new style is still based on some of the original style elements, but taking a new and heavier direction to a modern form of melodic death metal.
TOXIC RUIN
TOXIC RUIN was formed in 2014 with a mission of blending classic thrash metal, old-school death metal and modern technicality and tones into a wicked headbanging brew.
VOLTAJE CADAVER
Five guys from the north of Spain playing loud and intense heavy music with a lot of influences.
Frenzied technicality and bulldozing brutality that couldn't have gelled any better if the tracks had been assimilated by the Borg. 'Inversion Of The Unseen Horizon' sounds like it's been lifted straight from the final scene of a slasher movie only this time the baddie wins. Every track is relentless, a rabid assault weighed down by a growling vocal delivery that meshes seamlessly with the voracious myriad tempo changes, shifting from complex Morbid Angel like structures to punishing Suffocation barbarity and I can't think of too many bands that have done this as successfully as Deformatory.
FFO Cryptopsy, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Origin, Hate Eternal
