I find myself drowning in a backlog of releases, generally running about a month behind the calendar of new stuff coming out. As not to let the standard of perfection become an enemy of the good—though woefully unable to keep up with the deluge of new music—I press on. Here are some of the albums that have stood out to me since my last post.
Rites of Regress – Dust
Release Date: 11 March 2024
Location: Møre og Romsdal, Norway
Label: Third Eye Temple
Norwegian slow doom peddlers, Rites of Regress, are coming in hot as lava and heavy as Earth’s molten core. Their debut, Dust, consists of four tracks and is just over 29 minutes long. This blackened, crusty version of doom is one that will leave you wondering how, exactly, they were able to tune their instruments down so low. You may want to borrow one of grandpa’s adult diapers for this one. Because, if you turn it up loud enough, you might just find out that brown notes are real.
Cistvaen – At Light’s Demise
Release Date: 5 April 2024
Location: Devon, England, United Kingdom
Label: independent
This unsigned five-piece band from England is making waves with their first full length release, At Light’s Demise. Beautiful, resonant interludes disturb the depressive, atmospheric black metal that paces the album through most of its 57-minute run time. Dirge-like, doomy riffs are peppered throughout to add an enthralling dynamism to the tempos and to the overall mood. It’s nice to see what well-crafted compositions can come to this genre when its artistry is permitted to extend beyond that of the stereotypical one-man band.
Chainwind Ritual – Untitled I
Release Date: 15 March 2024
Location: İstanbul, Türkiye
Label: Tamar Records
Whoa. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought this monstrous swamp offering came straight out of the New Orleans sludge scene. Kuzey Alemdar’s visceral “vulgar display of” vocals is the perfected form of everything you’ve ever imagined vocals in this oft-maligned subgenre could be. Arda Tosun’s chunky riffs are so plentiful, you’ll be left wondering if the world’s supply of riffs has been depleted after this hour and 25 minute cornucopia empties itself of its heaviness. The rhythm section, consisting of Can Osmanağaoğlu on bass and Haluk Arda Aslan on drums, lays a firm foundation for the aforementioned perfections to be disseminated. What the album title lacks in creativity is made up for in its cover art and music. Groove metal is officially back and sludgier than ever.
Heavy Temple – Garden of Heathens
Release Date: 12 April 2024
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Label: Magnetic Eye Records
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the fine folks of Heavy Temple a couple of times, once on their tour with The Obsessed and later on their tour with King Buffalo. They are super nice and super cool. They’re also very talented musicians and songwriters, and put on an entertaining live show. So, naturally, I’m going to be excited about a new Heavy Temple LP. Garden of Heathens does not disappoint. High Priestess Nighthawk leads the way with her blazing vocals and overdriven bass. If you’ve heard them before, you know she has pipes! New guitarist, Christian Lopez, picks up the mantle where Lord Paisley (I’m gonna miss that dude!) left off, and lays down a whole lotta hot, sweet, smoky licks. The great Baron Lycan injects a fierce energy with percussive pandemonium. If you dig heavy, riff-driven psychedelic doom, this one is dripping with the honey of the fuzziest of buzzing bees.
Lares – Et in Arcadia Ego
Release Date: 12 April 2024
Location: Berlin, Germany
Label: Argonauta Records
Psychedelic blackened sludge is, perhaps, the perfect subgenre to my tastes. Sadly, there are few bands that can make such a fusion work well. As I wait for the impending new album later this month from one of my favorite bands, Inter Arma, this new Lares album comes as a pleasant surprise to scratch this seemingly constant itch of mine. Cavernous reverb adds a euphoria-inducing shimmer to layers of strings, breaking through the thick haze created by the vocals and the music’s deeper, darker elements. Lares leans heavily into the realm of doom, with some slow, droning riffs that go on and on, but not in a way that’s tiresome. They also integrate synth sounds that call to mind the outermost darkness of space, where light has no hope of prevailing. The title track, appropriately epic, is over 27 minutes long and is a trip through various soundscapes, teasing each of the influences that make their music, blithely, impossible to categorize neatly under any one of the subgenres into which they foray.
Throne of Exile – The Endless Sky
Release Date: 15 March 2024
Location: New Jersey, USA
Label: Shattered Earth Records
This album is a schizophrenic fever dream, and, as an unabashed fan of Mr. Bungle, I like it a lot. Fundamentally, Throne of Exile comes off as a deathcore band. But they take the best attributes of djent and progressive metal, throw in the random avant-garde fit (or post-punk, or psychedelic space rock, or reggae, or 70s AM gold, whatever!), and boil it all up into an elixir that induces psychotic rapture. The clean vocals are a bit “vanilla” at times, but don’t detract from the overall product in a way that makes me anxious to skip to the next track. The harsh vocals are dynamic, layered, and unstable in the best of ways. The work of the guitars is just as you would expect from the best that technical death metal has to offer. The synth adds a warmth and fullness to the sound. The bass is equally warm and cuts through the mix at all the right times. The drum work, like that of the strings, is flawlessly executed and carries the everchanging compositions from point to point with precision. Aesthetically, objectively, this has to rate up there with the best albums of the year thus far.