Suffering so you don't have to!
Vicky & Metalcatto
The time has come for me to let the fresher blood take care of an entire True kvlt article. Don’t cry—I’ll probably be back to do most of the heavy lifting next week. It’s not my fault that you readers and musicians have made a habit of directly contacting my writers to cut the line (it doesn’t work that way!). I don’t mind; it means I get to work less. So, without further ado, Vicky has some opinions today.
I discovered Wombbath the way many of us have gotten into old-school Swedish Death Metal in this digital age—through a Bandcamp sale! I checked out a few of their albums and decided they were worth a shot. Needless to say, Wombbath is a pinnacle of consistency. To me, all its albums sit at least at a solid 3.5/5.0. However, there are only so many times you can pull off the chainsaw trick before it chops your arms off. And Beyond the Abyss is here to prove that the band can keep juggling familiar sounds without losing a limb.
Vicky
I have to mention that I’ve listened to this album about twenty times in the past week or so, which means that I’ve had time to view it from various different angles. The first thing you may notice is the album cover, which resembles something you might see in The Lord of the Rings. However, you probably understand from the beginning that we are talking about something that Frodo Baggins probably wouldn’t listen to on his way to Mordor.
We’re back with what the tide brought in over the last few days. It was an intense release week, but was it equally intense in the deep underground department? Today, we have a lot of familiar faces, but each brings something unique to the table. Because, let’s face it, most of you aren’t satisfied with not getting paid for one project—you have to juggle several. Nothing but respect for that, I’ll just say. Now, let’s dive in!
There’s no way around Whitechapel—it’s a band with a fiercely loyal fanbase that’s stuck with it through thick and thin. So, let’s get this out of the way: I’m fully aware that diving into Hymns in Dissonance might summon the wrath of the internet. You might be wondering, “Why even review something so ‘Core’?” After all, it’s almost a tradition at MER to trash the whole niche. But hey, someone’s gotta take one for the team, right? We’re aiming for more journalistic integrity these days, and being open-minded is part of the deal. Plus, if there’s one band that’s managed to elevate the genre, it’s Whitechapel, so why not give it the benefit of the doubt for once?
Well, this was a mistake! I was supposed to review this next month, but I mixed up dates and ended up listening to it now. I assume As The World Dies won’t mind getting an early review of Nebula. With the risk of getting repetitive, here we have another release that doesn’t necessarily fit any traditional mold in Death Metal aside from the space Metal one, which, as we know, becomes much harder to define with each passing year. So here we are, trying to put labels on this untamed beast with little success if you ask me, but let’s keep trying!
Pegah & Metalcatto
It’s another session of Weekly Rapid Fire! Some of our readers sent us stuff, and we’ve been through the pain… I mean, the joy of listening to it live and then writing a paragraph or two so the hungry masses can quench their thirst for brutality for another 20 seconds. That’s not much, but it’s something. Alright, let’s get started—I don’t have all day!
It’s a difficult task to define what type of Metal Dawn of Ouroboros likes to play. There seems to be a constant exchange between Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, and Djent loudness values, all going hand in hand with songwriting that sometimes mimics more commercial acts. Hence, I was both puzzled and excited to jump into its newest release, Bioluminescence. Rarely has an album name been more fitting for the level of colorful chaos this album is about to throw at us. But is it good stuff, or are we going to feel overwhelmed by so much glitter?
Alright! After a short break, we’re back with our sewer-diving sport, where we check out what the small projects send us. Keep reading, because you never know when you’ll find the next big band here—just remember to tell everyone you discovered it via MER Industries. The rest are unnecessary details, right? Anyway, let’s get this list started and hope we survive the production choices!
It’s time for a debut album, my Metal grasshoppers! When I was reading OBRIJ’s promo, I was led to believe that Joseph would totally throw me out of my comfort zone, since it was supposed to have a ton of Hardcore influences. Yet, it was still a Death Metal album, and that always hits home for me. Plus, this work explores the atrocities of Comrade Stalin. There’s no way that horror isn’t Metal enough for us, but as a new band, I still wondered if these guys were capable of pulling anything interesting off. Stay with this cat and find out.
Metal Eclipse Reviews 