Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 10

Cardinals Folly - Holocaust of Ecstasy & Freedom (2016) / 78%

Shadow Kingdom Records

Holocaust of Boobs and Doom

The third full length album from this Helsinki based trio is their most cohesive, concise and possibly their best one yet. Lead by Mikko Kääriäinen (bass, vocals, songwriting), the band plays this unhinged sort of groovy material with huge guitar hooks and rock hard drums. I always liked the thick Finnish accent in my doom (or heavy metal) and Mikko’s delivery delivers on that front with the way he sings those excellent and fun Lovecraftian occult lyrics. There’s also some harsh vocal moments and I think it adds a certain urgency to the fast paced material (such as the catchy title track).

It’s hard to avoid the Reverend Bizarre analogies since they practice the olde trad doom with the same determination, the same might and the same lack of restraint. They’re perhaps more subdued than the punk fueled inspired doom of Caskets Open though. I like the production, there’s a certain rawness to it that makes the seven songs sound natural and less polished than your usual modern metal. Overall, Cardinals Folly released a melancholic but entrancing record. Recommended for the doom lovers.

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Red Blade – Powerwalker (2011) / 75%

Defunct but sharp blade

I had this in my review folder for ages but never got around it. The now defunct Connecticut based band was super interesting and it’s a damn shame they broke up before releasing their debut full length album. The Powerwalker EP is a four song heavy metal release with a distinctive sound borrowing influences from thrash, grunge, stoner rock or hardcore punk. At times it sounds the Melvins mixed with The Sword and pure trad heavy metal. The production has the rightful amount of quality and lo-fi-ness to make the songs sound good and immediate and the vocals of Jacob Royer are far from your typical heavy metal delivery, they're gritty and influenced by both stoner metal and, to a lesser extent, southern rock.

It’s often pretty fast stuff with sweet guitar licks, a lot of immediate melodies and you can definitely hear the influences of other original traditional bands such as Blackholicus in there. The first three tracks are all around three minutes and just doesn't mess around with unnecessary stuff, it's to the point raw energy with a live feel. There's a good chemistry between the loud but subtle bass play, the active drums and the sole guitar. The aggressive but well flowing EP ends with an atmospheric (the end of "Cronos) and you're left wanting more but unfortunately, this is the only serving you've been served!Hopefully the guitarist and apparent composer Ben Erickson can come back with a new project one day since this was definitely inspired material.

Bandcamp






Scalare – At the Edge of Darkness (2016) / 77%

Heavy Chains Records

German tempered steel

The German trio plays a primitive form of heavy metal with terrible in a great way vocals and it’s a fun ride into Teutonic evil territories. The ten songs are all fist raising hymns with simple yet super catchy guitar riffs, high pitched vocals that are almost parodic and fast paced NWOBHMish drumming with a rough edge.

Like their colleagues of Heavy Chains (think of Barrow Wight, Angel Sword, Dracula or Tarot), they’re raw examples of what metal means to the most obscure of minds. This is definitely made to remain in the deepest shadows of the genre even if it’s far from being extreme metal. The cheesy spectre of Venom is never too far either, this is just what I’m looking for nowadays, the pureness of heavy metal summoned by bands like Demon Bitch or Iron Dogs (RIP). Scalare unleashed the riffs and know how to write epic and compelling material (the seven minutes “My Journey to the Stars” is certainly a wonderful way to close the record). They might not be for everyone due to the vocals but the veterans of the scene will find something to enjoy here.

Streaming on Bandcamp






El-Ahrairah – El-Ahrairah (2016) / 95%

Raw feels

After countless demos (I’ll admit I haven’t heard any of them), the Minnesota project released their debut full length back in May and it’s surely one of the best black metal albums I’ve heard this year.

What makes this great is the emotional weight of their succinct numbers and the ability to mix the rawness of their black art with an alluring and almost joyful aura. Songs like “Madeline and Edmund” or the calm and soothing moments on “Cut Like Rogues” really bring a gloomy but melancholic atmosphere to the band’s identity. Like some members of the USBM movement, El-Ahrairah does possess some slight punk leanings (listen to “Gates of Dawn”) but it’s also some sort of concise epic black metal with rough but really discernible guitar riffs. They also clearly explore depressive rock territories (à la Lifelover) at times. The mix of sounds is carefully crafted and done with the utmost care and talent.

The vocals are pretty vitriolic and strident in the best way possible, they’re loud in the mix but this impetuous formula works wonder for the thundering and abrasive sound they picked. The band also really shines when they use sparse but totally surprising clean vocals like the end of the superb closer “Rind of the Earth”. There’s nothing wasted on this record, it’s an essential album, really.

Bandcamp




Astronoid – Air (2016) / 50%

Blood Music

The foul air of asinine modernity

The Massachusetts quintet took the thin line between post metal and shoegaze to the next level with their debut album. If you thought metal reached the maximum level of smoothness , well you were wrong. This is by far the least dangerous the genre has ever been. Astronoid took the space metal of Cynic, removed the quasi nonexistent amount of extreme metal they had, they added a super whiny pop punk voice and added competent but out of place blastbeats to the whole thing. While the saccharine voice is certainly a good fit to the post rock core, it’s really damn annoying.

The songs are all dense and they flow really well, this and the true uplifting feel Air has some of the only qualities the band has. If you think Neurosis needed to sound more like Alcest, I guess this is the band for you?

Bandcamp

Rakta with Grosser and Security @La Vitrola in Montréal, July 10th 2016

*all the mediocre pictures were taken by my cellphone*



Thanks to Suoni Per Il Popolo for organizing this gig.

On this evening of July that felt more like we were in late April, I've decided to go see this interesting gig even if it was a bit out of my comfort zone but it was a rewarding experience.

Security opened the show with their blend of noise rock, Loop (the british band)-esque heavy explorations and many more influences too numerous to talk about. The duo composed of two members of the coldwave/synthpop/etc… project Dernier Sex unleashed a dark set of thundering bass and subtle yet highly evocative guitar lines. The guitarist, Anna, did some ethereal vocals as well but they were sparse, tastefully buried and not the focus of their music. The drum machine was used in an enjoyable and repetitive way adding a drone/industrial feel to their already busy mix of elements. A really good band and I’m looking forward to their studio material.

8/10

Grosser, a quintet from Calgary (or Montréal now apparently? Who cares?!) were next with their take on early punk rock/hardcore. The ubiquitous keyboard presence reminded me of Wolf Parade and it was the most interesting aspect of the band for me. The guitarist and the bassist looked like they had no fun at all compared to the dynamic and charismatic singer who was pretty damn good. The keyboardist was also adding an admirable queer presence to the band’s identity and it was a nice touch. This band felt more inclusive that what I usually see from the metal scene! Somewhat derivative except for the keys, the band’s short set was pretty cool and the weird projections were clearly a great bonus to their performance. They were composed of old (late 80s/early 90s) television samples of random and sometimes, gross stuff.

7/10

Rakta, the all girl Brazilian trio played a fantastic gig of their kraut rock infused psychedelic post punk with a lot of tribal inspirations. I was familiar with their debut album for a while now but this was pretty damn different as they played stuff from their newly released opus and it’s slower and more introspective music. With no electric guitars this time around (people told me that they had one when they toured here last year), the band relies on a hard bass presence, groovy and energetic drumming and a wide array of keyboard and electronic effects (they even had a The Doors-like organ moment!) to create their rich atmosphere. They reminded me of fellow South Americans Föllakzoid (that I’ve seen live some years ago) with the way they mixed repetitiveness and intricacy. The three ladies were very fun to watch, their tour is only starting and it’s really obvious that they really love what they do.

The part where they all gathered to play percussion for a good 3 to 5 minutes was mesmerizing and captivating. An interesting and dedicated band and they were tremendous on stage. They have my total support.

9/10

Intonate – The Swerve (2016) / 83%

Orphans of Sickness

We have a long standing technical death metal tradition to respect in Québec and Intonate are the brand new soldiers of this style. Their debut album takes the flexible bass fluctuations of Beyond Creation and push it towards a more dissonant and dark direction. One thing is for sure, the four musicians were able to totally play their way through the demented infernal landscape shown on the cover art with their instrumental prowess.

It’s a bit hard to distinguish progressive death from technical death as they’re often closely related. Intonate explores a lot of sensibilities here but we’re far from the ruthless and inane technicality of Necrophagist. It’s more akin to Spawn of Possession, Obscura or even the atmospheric obscurity of Ulcerate. The lyrics written by guitarist Ulysses Fiorito are smart and often conceptual (some tracks are about the ancient Akkadian empire and the city of Uruk) or based around science fiction and philosophy. They're a good fit to the aural side of the band.

The bass is thick, played by a quasi virtuoso and we’re far from the annoying sound displayed by Dominic Lapointe on an album like The Aura. The Nucciarone brothers (Dominic on drums and Nicola on guitar/vocals ), just like the Duplantier brothers of Gojira, are one hell of a fraternal duo. The drumming is intense, precise yet subtle and the airy mastering gave it the necessary place to grow. Sure, there’s guitar solos but they don’t go overboard and become a burden to go through. While they remain a technically sound band, they still deliver loads of memorable moments such as “Retribution Waters” with the grievous harsh vocals performance of Nicola.

Some tracks are lengthy but even “Eternal Seed” and its 13 minutes doesn’t seem like a never-ending ordeal to listen to. It flows very well and even if I think it’s an exhausting style of music due to its demanding nature, I managed to listen to the album several times without being bored and helpless. All in all, Intonate’s debut album, while not totally something fresh or new is an excellent offering of intelligent spatial death metal and someone should sign these guys as soon as possible!

Intonate on Facebook

Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 9

Brought to you by the Hound

Unru - Als Tier Ist Der Mensch Nichts (2016) / 80%

Oppressive incestuous post black

This German quartet's debut album (that we can translate to "As an animal, man is nothing") is a brief voyage into the oppressive minds of their songwriters. Rooted in both black metal and hardcore (crust, post hardcore...), the four songs managed to incorporate the pure hatred and violent conviction of all their influences. The drums are buried under the loud and atmospheric guitars but I liked the way they were recorded, it seems to be natural and fits the aggressive yet pensive identity of Unru.

I guess we could say that they're a post black metal band but there's nothing fancy, comforting or joyful about their music. The vocals are deep howls and combined with the instrumentation, it's like walking in an old post World War II disaffected military complex, it's cold and suffocating in the best way possible. If you like the numerous incestuous explorations of black metal and hardcore, this is a band to check out. The lengthy songs made this an exhausting but rewarding experience.

Dautha - Den förste (2016) / 83%

Sweden's new trad doom titanI do think that Griftegård only managing to release one full-length is a tragedy in itself but if we ignore this first world problem, I’m quite happy that Ola Blomkvist (guitars, lyrics, direction) is back with a new traditional doom project and it’s well worth the time for everyone who likes the style. While not reinventing the classic wheel of doom, the integration of some beautiful violins is refreshing in something else than melodic doom/death or goth metal à la My Dying Bride. After a brief intro (translated to “Adulterers should be killed”), we’re served two excellent mid-paced numbers with epic soaring clean vocals and terrific riffs. Definitely influenced by the medieval period and religions, Dautha’s music is classy, engaging and played by talented Swedish veterans. Let us rejoice when darkness thrive / Oh, this is Hell but we shall laugh This is a demo but the quality of the songs and the production made me wish it wasn’t. Unfortunately the handmade packaging limited to 78 copies is sold out but I’m sure we won’t have to wait too long before we get more material from these guys. Well, I hope so.

Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (2016) / 97%
Nine Inch Cocks

Signing to Nuclear Blast definitely made Nails sellouts, right? Oh fuck no it didn’t. The Californian trio unleashed their longest album ever (still only 21 minutes) and it’s one of the perfect outlet for aggression and violence I’ve ever heard. The band got added to the Metal Archives due to this record and rightfully so, I could compare it to the movie Alien, a cinema classic classified as both horror and science fiction… Well, YWNBOOU borrows as much from hardcore as it does from metal. Nails puts classic grindcore, old Swedish death metal, powerviolence, crust, Slayer-ish thrash in a dirty blender and crush the mixture till it’s just perfectly bloody.

Just like “Unsilent Death” or Abandon All Life, most of the tracks are short motherfuckers who will slam your head and make you jump everywhere. They never forget to write compelling and truly awesome riffs such as in “Into Quietus” and end the album with a monstrous eight minutes track containing everything they ever been known for. Slow pummeling riffs, spiteful vocals and fast destruction. I was really happy when they played “They Come Crawling Back” live as it’s one hell of a track. The best extreme album of 2016.

"VIOLENCE IS FOREVER"

Pillars – Pyres and Gallows (2016) / 70%

The Baguette Doom Series pt. XVII: Nice

The quartet from Nice (not pronounced like you think) plays heavy as hell doom metal without turning into a stoner band. The vocals of Clément Flandrois are rough, sort of harsh and would fit a southern metal band. The dude has a lot of range though and shows how good he is on the 10 minutes title track.

Many French bands actually sound like they’re from the American south and I’m not totally sure why (check out Glorior Belli and their southern black metal sound) and Pillars are definitely one of them. I mean, it’s subtle, don’t expect to hear some classless Hellyeah worship here, it’s still trad doom with obese riffs and a sad lyrical approach. This debut extended play has no obvious problems, it’s honest, well written and even has this blackened feel not usually present in this style of metal. Nevertheless, they could streamline their compositions a little and there’s a certain lack of memorability on there.

Deathbringer - From Silence Was Born The Sound of Death (2016) / 75%
Unsilent death/black

Montréal’s Deathbringer plays a savage and natural sort of death/black metal. Their debut full length, a short affair sounds like a demented Immolation at times. There’s an obvious focus on riffs and the album is full of great catchy ones. The production job was kept willingly raw and when I first heard a track from the album, I wasn’t quite sure it was the right decision but now that I’ve heard the full thing, I do think it fits the atmosphere they were going for.

Vocal wise, there’s a mix of cavernous growls, high pitched screams (both apparent on the last track “Bone Weaver”) and also some cleans (“By the Will of God”). The singer is one of the best aspects of Deathbringer, it adds to the dual identity of the band and their fluid back and forth between death and black metal. Even if they’re Canadian, they’re not really war metal, their core is death metal and there’s even doomy influences at times. War metal for me must be black metal with additional elements coming from death and grind.

All in all, it’s a strong debut for Deathbringer, they understood that riffs are the primordial element to make your band worthwhile and even though they kept the mastering and mixing lo-fi and raw, it makes the songs shine in the darkness.

Gevurah – Hallelujah! (2016) / 93%

Spreading of the indomitable fire

While their debut was pretty damn good, the debut full length from this Montréal duo defied my expectations as the project improves all their aspects. I believe Hallelujah! established them as the band to beat as far as Québécois black metal is concerned. What's weird is that they manage to crush all their provincial opposition by truly leaving aside the usual tropes we find in this scene. There's no wintery atmosphere, no folk interludes or instruments and no try hard patriotism or nationalism. Nevertheless, one important facet of Québec's ancestral society remains, the attachment to Catholicism and spirituality (made clear by their name taken from the Kabbalah). This religious identity is represented through the occult and evil atmosphere written so eloquently by the two musicians.

The themes of Gevurah are more comparable to Québec’s cousin, France (think of Aosoth), than with their own North American acolytes. There’s also certain influences from the Norwegian or Polish scenes in here. I think that those European scenes really adhere to the “let’s play black metal that’s atmospheric instead of playing atmospheric black metal” doctrine. I mean, even in the instrumental sections of this album, there’s still plenty of riffs to listen to. They never take the easy way out and just write sub par “atmospheric” parts where nothing happens. The riffs are delivered songs after songs even on their epic numbers like the concluding song.

What often distinguished great black metal acts from mediocre ones is the quality of their intentions. Gevurah masters both the musicality and the aesthetics of the genre, the tenebrous feel is one of the best I’ve ever heard and it’s combined with this lush yet totally claustrophobic production. The sound is fully controlled by one half of the band, Xavier handles it like a true professional (well he has his own studio after all). Another accomplished feat in their compositions is the ability to be pummeling while being long-winded, it’s not an easy task to write an almost twenty minutes black metal track without the need to include extraneous genres like funeral doom. At times it’s like if they were The Ruins of Beverast but without the atmospheric doom used by the German solo act. In fact the last track uses Gregorian chant and totally nails this occult yet relaxing part before unleashing the metal riffs to end the nineteen minutes trip into oblivion.

The vocals are deep, cavernous and it’s easy to follow the exceptionally well written lyrics (mixing both English and French). The drumming (X’s main instrument) are thoroughly awesome and he proved that he can play anything since he joined Cauchemar to record one of my other favorite albums of 2016. The guitars are pushing forward many different sorts of moods, from slow but still heavy riffs to dissonant faster moments. Just like the songs, they’re quite varied but never go into an unnecessarily sweet or overly melodic direction.

The superb art of Denis Forkas fits the dark aura emanating from Gevurah’s timeless and graceful black metal like a glove. An essential métal noir album.

The Snack Series: Jean Coutu délices - Ketchup / Sour Cream & Onions chips

Price : 
99 cents so I obviously bought 2 bags since I might as well be a family of five by now. I can feel good about myself because just before going to my nearby Jean Coutu (drugstore/convenience chain) to get those, I bought a bunch of sushis. I'm almost healthy.


Packaging/extra information :
1 buck for 140 grams of chips is really cheap. There's 270 calories for 50 grams but this is a totally irrelevant information since if you're like me, you'll eat the whole bag while watching the NHL playoffs or the re-runs of Friends on mute. The package is actually pretty cool in its subtility or the lack of it. There's a big bowl of ketchup and a tomato or some green onions (that are possibly absent from the recipe) depending of the flavour you got, they have nothing to envy from the big companies like Doritos or Lays except for the fact that Batman or Superman aren't on their bags.

Texture:
Pretty thin round chips, nothing to call your mom about but the design is honest and easy to put in your mouth in a repeated and really fast way.

Taste: 

The taste is worth more than what I paid for. It’s comparable to Pabst Blue Ribbon in the way that you get an easy to drink beer for cheap. If you’re on a budget and don’t want to ruin yourself by buying Miss Vickies’ latest new pseudo snob flavour (feta olive oil caesar salad or whatever the fuck they’re doing)

7/10

A very fair product from the Jean Coutu Délices line.  Shoot me an email if you me to send you a bag, I ship overseas.

Yautja – Songs of Descent (2014) / 96%

As powerful as Shea Weber's slapshot

This trio from Nashville is fucking insane. I've seen them live recently in Montréal when they toured with Magrudergrind and while I was familiar with this album beforehand, I really was flabbergasted with their stage presence. I've been spinning their debut full length since then and it's a marvelous tour de force full of turns and crossovers.

Their genre on the Archives doesn't come close to how vast their sound is but it's also difficult to pinpoint it effectively. Simply by looking at the three dudes, you could think that there's no cohesion to be found here but you'd be wrong. Their bassist was wearing an Aura Noir shirt and looked metal as fuck, their guitarist looked like he could play in Car Seat Headrest and their drummer would fit right at home at a Grateful Dead community worshiping acid. For some reason, the three dudes combined together simply works like a charm.

Sure, there's grind here but there's a lot of other stuff like mathcore, death metal, experimental and a big dose of sludge. It's almost like a southern appropriation of the US East Coast's hipsterism. In some ways, they're Tennessee's chaotic answer to Krallice or to early Mastodon, they have those odd rhythms while keeping the heaviness as an integral part of their identity. While there's an interesting variety of tempos, all of supreme quality, you never get lost with Yautja. They're taking you places that you wasn't quite sure were real. From the grind might of "Blinders" to the weird epic sludge of "Faith Resigned"(a song that sounds like Crowbar who suddenly became a forward thinking band), it's as a varied as you'll get for a grindcore band. They do feel like slowing things down quite often and it adds to the immense weight of the album, a song like "(Path to the Ground)" just messes around with a slow grind riff for ninety seconds but it doesn't affect the pace of Songs of Descent at all. The bass is thick and loud and the guitars are super interesting with the way it alternates between a super fast and crushing sound. Tyler Coburn has to be one of the best drummers I've ever seen live, the moustachioed gentleman is a beast on the kit. He's good at everything and also alternates between the blastbeats and a more traditional style. Supremely good musicianship.

Yautja is the name of the alien species in the Predator series and Nashville's NHL team is named... the Predators, not a coincidence! Like the invisible master hunter, the trio kills you with a combination of intelligence and pure aggression.

Yautja on Bandcamp