Recent Posts 2026 Anniversary Series 083: Voivod – Katorz Review: Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist 2026 Anniversary Series 082: Nevermore – The Politics of Ecstasy Review: Vorax – Volcano Shock Review: Sunswarm – Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn 2026 Anniversary Series 083: Voivod – Katorz Review: Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist 2026 Anniversary Series 082: Nevermore – The Politics of Ecstasy Review: Vorax – Volcano Shock Review: Sunswarm – Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn Recent Comments Review: Defect Desig… on Review: Defect Designer… Review: Astriferous… on Review: Astriferous – Pu… Review: Sisyphean… on Review: Sisyphean – Colo… Review: Hegeroth… on Review: Hegeroth – Sacra… 2026 Anniversary Ser… on Anniversary Series 104: Burzum… Recent Comments Archives September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 Categories Albums of the Year ALERT: Awesome new music Anniversary Series Band of the Day Demo Review Empyrion Review Forcefed Opinions From the Past Comes the Storms Geary of War General In Remembrance In the Streams of Inferno Interviews Killchain Hour Label Spotlight List of Grievances Live Funeral Radio Live Reviews Lost in Time Love Letters Nick Williams Review Roundups Reviews Riff of the moment SixSixSteve Sleeping Shaman Reviews Supporting Random Scenes The Project Time to Rediscover Uncategorized Albums of the Year ALERT: Awesome new music Anniversary Series Band of the Day Empyrion Review Forcefed Opinions From the Past Comes the Storms In the Streams of Inferno Label Spotlight List of Grievances Live Funeral Radio Review Roundups Riff of the moment Sleeping Shaman Reviews Supporting Random Scenes Time to Rediscover Meta Create account Log in Entries feed Comments feed WordPress.com 2026 Anniversary Series 083: Voivod – Katorz Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 25th July 2006 Metal albums have proven, time and time again, that magic can rise from the ashes of tragedy and so it was in 2006 with Canadian technical thrash icons Voivod and their eleventh record (for a thrash band to hit that in 06 is a crazy achievement) ‘Katorz’. With guitar and bass tracks written and recorded by Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour alongside Jason Newsted in Newsted’s studio before Piggy sadly was claimed by colon cancer in 2005, it seemed the right thing to celebrate one of thrash’s most important guitarists by recording the vocals and drums over it and releasing it in his memory. ‘Katorz’ felt like it was to be an epitaph record, but in reality it became more of a celebration of Piggy’s remarkable career and the foundation of Voivod for two decades to come. There isn’t anyone who could really have been against the creation of ‘Katorz’, such is the nature of the metal scene and our desire for beauty to rise from tragedy. But I don’t think we could have foreseen just how good it actually was, and how much is sounded just like Voivod should. Newsted fitted right in, lacking that classic Blacky blower bass tone but his serpentine playing slipped right in with the classic oddball riffs. D’Amour’s legacy of songwriting is all over this, from the jagged rhythms of ‘Dognation’ to the punkish thrash of ‘Silly Clones’ and of course, the charismatic insistency of ‘Polaroids’. This is a record that feels a bit slower and less frantic than earlier Voivod records at times, but it fits right in with the 2006 model for older thrash bands, to give us something a little groovy and fearsome in amongst the NWOAHM and metalcore booms. It is also so damn catchy as well, with most of ‘After All’ stuck in my head for the last week, as well as ‘The X-Stream’ getting the Guitar Hero treatment. I’m a big fan of ‘The X-Stream’; I believe it was the first Voivod song I ever heard back in 2006 and so it’ll always have that special place but it also kicks major ass. I’ve always appreciated that about Voivod, even when their music feels different and difficult by design, they’re more than capable of pulling out an absolute banger when called upon. An emotional record to begin with, before you even take into account its creative genesis, but ‘Katorz’ provided the perfect resilience to the tragedy and triumph of Voivod’s journey. Playing a darkly odd version of thrash, coming from Canada (and not San Francisco) and remaining steadfast to their style in the face of overwhelming odds during the late 90s and early 2000s, Voivod should probably have given up even before Piggy’s untimely demise. But this is a band made of much stronger stuff, and they were only to get better after this. ‘Katorz’ is the crossroads record, poised between perseverance and prideful demise. I’m so glad Voivod chose to continue, and we’ve all been better for it. ‘Katorz’ is that shatterpoint, and a great record to boot. https://www.facebook.com/Voivod Review: Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 19th June 2026 If you wanted me to guess where Japan-inspired horror black metal duo Saidan were from, I’d have guessed a thousand places before Nashville, Tennessee but I guess there’s more than country hiding in them there parts. ‘Fangdriller: Scars Beeath Memory’s Wrist’ is the band’s fourth full length record, and I heard a lot of buzz about it when it first came out from all the right people. The aesthetic looks incredible, and the music contained within isn’t as straightforward as it seems on the surface. ‘Fangdriller…’ is out now through Avantgarde Music. Opener ‘Razorblade Temptation’ is so anthemic, a mix of almost symphonic black metal and melodeath with some really upbeat melodies in there too. Saidan’s sound is an enigma, switching between death and black metal with ease, with even moments of heavy metal grandeur and ghostly keyboards added into the mix. ‘Rapture (I’ll Wait for You)’ is a super catchy rager that draws on galloping European power metal as well, and that proves to be a familiar theme throughout. You’ve got the most melodic of Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir moments mixed with howling Swedish melodeath on ‘Womb of Hatred’, and the scale of some of these tracks has to be drawing on power metal’s innate sense of grandiosity. There’s little calm passages in ‘Beat to Death’, as well as some truly epic moments in the fury of ‘Ethereal Blood’, that really emphasise the band’s sweeping songwriting skills. The whole record pulses with a vibrancy that cannot be contained, no matter which genre is being contorted together into Saidan’s masterplan. I think the closest comparison you can get is early Wintersun, self titled era, for something so rich and layered, yet infused with equal amounts of melody and malice. My favourite track is ‘Kara No Bara’, with its incredible Children of Bodom-esque approach to soaring melodeath, but I could have picked any of the tracks here, such is the consistency of quality. It is not to seem stereotypical, but it feels like when bands use Japanese ideals or aesthetics as their inspiration it feels linked to that country’s innate sense to deconstruct obvious tropes into something new, and this is no different. It sounds like a number of genres you recognise, but just mixed in a totally different direction than you’d expect, and it leaves ‘Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist’ as a breathless thrill-ride of heavy, extreme metal. Impossible to fully pigeonhole as anything other than supremely enjoyable, Saidan are a band that have captured my attention, and my ear, and I will be investigating their other works as soon as I can find them. This is a thrillingly complex and anthemic record, that still kicks plenty of ass when it is required. Superb. https://www.facebook.com/SaidanUSBM/ https://saidan.bandcamp.com/ https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/ 2026 Anniversary Series 082: Nevermore – The Politics of Ecstasy Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 13th July 1996 Who sounds like Nevermore then? Even today, Seattle’s power prog titans have few imitators and for good reason; born of power metal legends Sanctuary but with a lot more weight to them, their debut self titled record in 1995 had turned some heads towards the Pacific Northwest. Probably because it wasn’t grunge and it wasn’t hip, but their follow up just a year later, ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’, was to really put them onto the map. Named for the book by Timothy Leary, it explored a vast array of topics that most metal in this era wouldn’t have had a clue what to do with, let alone with the band’s pure musical skills in proggy, heavy powerful groove. Thirty years on though, in the wake of such a discography of classics, how does ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’ maintain a legacy? When you have a band like Nevermore writing music inspired by a psychedelics-promoting psychologist, you know you’re going to be in for a good time in 2026, but in 1996 this must have been a revolution in sound. Nevermore’s debut the previous year has been covered on the Anniversary Series, and while it showed much of the promise that the band would come to fulfil in its future incarnations, I’m not sure anyone was ready for the former Sanctuary members to create something so heavy, so multi-layered and so, for want of a better word, intelligent. Warrel Dane’s lyrical poetry has always set Nevermore above the rest of their progressive heavy metal brethren, almost as much as Jeff Loomis’ guitar style, but ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’ saw new heights. From ‘The Seven Tongues of God’ and its treatises on religion and revelation, through the disdainful politics diatribe of the title track and the remembrance of the man who faced down the tank in Tiananmen Square; Nevermore were giving you the kind of thoughtful and complex lyrical themes that you would struggle to find anywhere in the decadent mid 90s. Matched as always by Loomis and his instantly recognisable guitar tone, complex riffs swirling around the powerhouse low end of Williams and Sheppard on drums and bass respectively. I hadn’t realised that former Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O’Brien had been on this record, but it explains why some of the songs feel like Nevermore’s most technical efforts. The rich textures of the gloomy ‘Passenger’, those deep dense chugging moments of ‘Lost’ and ‘42127’, with its constantly moving time signatures and manic soloing could all be studied for just how the band excel in unorthodox songwriting and construction. This was probably the hardest of Nevermore’s records for me to get into, as a younger fan, as nothing apart from maybe ‘Next in Line’ felt as immediate as some of their later stuff. But over the years I’ve come to really respect what ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’ was doing, and how magnificently technical, heavy and melodic it was all at the same time. It sounds like nothing else circa 1996, and even today feels like a remarkably unique sound that few have managed to imitate. With the band returning to life after a long hiatus, I’m sure they will be cracking out some of these on tour and I will be waiting to get tickets when I can. ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’ more than stands up to scrutiny after thirty years, and having explored much of 1996 in metal so far, feels goddamn revolutionary. https://www.facebook.com/nevermorefans Review: Vorax – Volcano Shock Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 26th June 2026 I’m not going to lie here, if I come across a death metal record about dinosaurs, you’ve peaked my fucking interest immediately. Swiss newcomers Vorax have just released their debut full length, ‘Volcano Shock’, back in June independently and it follows up their 2022 debut EP ‘Jurassic Dawn’, which I completely missed and am now disappointed in myself about. So, death metal and dinosaurs then, with cover art that looks like that?? Let’s be having this. Opener ‘Magma Ocean’ has the kind of knuckle dragging, Bolt Thrower steamroller groove you’d expect from a death metal band about dinosaurs and it fucking rules OK? The band obviously love ‘Those Once Loyal’, A LOT, but who doesn’t? There’s something just primal about the groove of the title track, literally, that reverberates through your bones and almost compels the banging of the head. But you get touches of crusty old d-beat in ‘Hunter Killer’, and some moody, almost death/doom moments in ‘The Great Dying’ as well, making sure any preconceptions of Vorax being a simple one trick pony isn’t quite right. They are pretty relentless in their execution though, no funny business of acoustic passages or samples etc, just half an hour of pure Mesozoic power. ‘Flight of the Pterandon’ may be the apex of this sound, opening with a ‘Killchain’-esque riff into a bulldozing slab of pure death metal thunder that no one could fail to appreciate. ‘Volcano Shock’ gave me no surprises, and no disappointments either. This is old school, groove heavy death metal of the most straightforward and most brilliant kind. There’s a lot of bands who would try and turn this into something gimmicky, but Vorax have just taken the heaviest creatures of our planet’s history and created some death metal weighty enough to match them. ‘Volcano Shock’ is my guilty pleasure death metal record of the year so far, a no frill all riffs record that you can put on any time, anywhere and enjoy. Altogether now: *plays T-Rex roar from Jurassic Park* https://www.facebook.com/voraxdeathmetal/

https://vorax.bandcamp.com/ Review: Sunswarm – Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 22nd July 2026 The debut record from Southampton’s industrial newcomers Sunswarm is called ‘Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn’, and it is out now self released. Like all great British industrialists to come before them, Sunswarm focus their sound and message on the dystopian world crawling inexorably towards us and the future steps towards annihilation. Cheery future we’ve got coming, isn’t it? Let’s dive right in. Opening track ‘Erasure’ feels like the oppressive heat of an industrial summer, scorching searing light pouring down upon you as the earth quakes beneath your feet and you struggle for breath. Sunswarm’s sound is dense, multilayered and frantic at times, like Godflesh on steroids, but the post metal guitars provide respite from that oppression with cold melodic passages weaving in between these industrial strikes. Savage, distorted roars rise amongst that guitar, and if you remember ‘Red Sea’-era Isis you’ll probably be a big fan of this record. But there’s moments of esoteric sludge like The Body on ‘Inside the Torn Apart’, which balances sinister quiet passages with violent expulsions of chaos, or the scathing snarling soundtrack of despair that is ‘Sour///’, where crushing industrial beats ring out across a desolate soundscape devoid of life yet overflowing with sound. That’s where Sunswarm shine; their wall of sound is relentless, beset by sparse yet fearsome guitars and cathartic, throat shredding vocals. Add in some unsettling samples and effects and you are approaching the kind of end times that Al Jourgensen has been dancing towards for decades. It probably reaches a zenith for me in ‘With Your Beautiful Mind You Deserve Much Better Than This’, where all those elements crash together into something almost Ministry-esque but more primal and chaotic. ‘Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn’ is a scorching, nuclear firestorm of harsh industrial reality, draped like a shroud over a post metal and sludge record that is disintegrating into its core elements in front of your eyes. Unbearably weighty, Sunswarm are one of the year’s most devastating discoveries for me; nihilism incarnate and a contender for the next face of British industrial. Behold this aural hellscape and despair… https://www.facebook.com/sunswarmband https://sunswarm.bandcamp.com/track/sunswarm https://sunswarm.co.uk/ 2026 Anniversary Series 081: Strapping Young Lad – The New Black Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 11th July 2006 2006 was such a strange year for fans of Strapping Young Lad. Seeing them come off the incredible ‘Alien’ record and seeing them reach their popularity peak just in time for the festival circuit of 2006, Century Media demanded a new album in time for the summer festival tour circuit, including Ozzfest and thus ‘The New Black’ was born. Despite the short turnaround time, this is Devin Townsend and he cannot just phone it in even if he tried. He thought fuck it, if they want a stupid singalong festival album then I’ll write them one! The result was ‘The New Black’, the band’s last and firmly most melodic record but one that seemed that way without compromising that crazed SYL ‘wall of sound’ layering or their grind/thrash/prog/groove/death metal assault. How, you may ask? Well, let me take you on a trip you’ll not soon forget. From the moment you hear the ‘S, Y, L’ chant refrain in opening track ‘Decimator’, you just know that Devin is pulling some massive tricks out of his bag. Strapping Young Lad was notoriously his outlet for the most extreme of his musical visions and yet we’ve got a made-for-live-crowds singalong? What is going on? But that is the magic of ‘The New Black’ as an album; forged in the fires of the success of ‘Alien’ and the explosion of popularity of Strapping Young Lad, this is a stadium rock record made by grindcore freaks. This is industrial madness with more hooks than Hellraiser. You’ve got the sardonic ‘You Suck’, gleefully encouraging everyone to tell themselves how much they all suck and how ridiculous this entire charade can be, the tropical-disease levels of catchy ‘Fucker’, where the line ‘we’re doing it for the baby’ lets you right into some of the mindset of the album writing process, and the gloriously anthemic ‘Far Beyond Metal’ including special guest Oderus Urungus from GWAR. But this is far more than a cash-in, festival album; nothing is as simple when Townsend is involved. The gorgeous ‘Almost Again’, probably one of his most anthemic pieces under the SYL banner, is massive in scope, with one of the most beautiful clean passages leading into a tumultuous crescendo you’ll ever hear. You’ve got ‘Anti Product’, ironically one of the catchier songs on the record about the foolishness of all this commercialism complete with jazz flute, and ‘Hope’ with that infectious rolling chugging riff, reminding you just why Devin is regarded with such reverence for his songwriting and his vocal performance is unparalleled. The screams, the growls, the operatic cleans; it is all so majestic and memorable, and none of the big choruses or singalong bits feel fake or forced at all. We’ve all seen what he’s been able to do in that sphere for the last twenty years. If you ever needed someone who create a genuinely thrilling metal album that also savagely skewers the ridiculousness of becoming a successful act in the genre, it would be Devin Townsend and ‘The New Black’ is it. Gleefully catchy and yet impenetrable at times, this is truly the ‘anti-product’ of mid 00s extremity and yet it isn’t anything other than an incredible record, full of classic Strapping Young Lad madness yet tempered by Devin’s more progressive solo stuff as well. As much as I love all of Townsend’s solo work and don’t ever want that to stop, it is a fascinating alternate universe where S.Y.L became the biggest thing in the world. I mean, what does that even sound like? Probably like ‘The New Black’ to be honest. A ludicrous masterpiece. Review: Godthrymm – Projections Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 29th May 2026 Originally published: https://thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/godthrymm-projections/ I’m not quite ready to induct Godthrymm fully into the Yorkshire Doom Hall of Fame (which is not a thing, but really should be a thing) but the journey of legendary My Dying Bride guitarist Hamish Glencross and his pet project has been something very exciting to behold. Bursting back into the scene on 2018’s ‘A Grand Reclamation’, and then their incredible 2020 debut ‘Reflections’, Godthrymm have paid plenty of tribute to their frontman’s old band over the years but seem ready to step out of that miserable, violin-soaked shadow and into the sickly light of day themselves. Their third full length, ‘Projections’, completes their three record Vision Trilogy after 2023’s excellent ‘Distortions’ and is out now through Profound Lore. The gloomy lumber of ‘Trenches Deep’ is just what the plague doctor ordered for Godthrymm’s new album, a classically miserable Yorkshire doom riff and a melancholic atmosphere enveloping it. But there is more to this than just ‘let’s play Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride riffs forever’; as usual with Godthrymm they aren’t interested in retreading past glories but creating something more their own. The uplifting vocal passages and galloping closing section take this in a more epic heavy metal direction, but with Adie Bailey from English Dogs and Jason Walsh from Xentrix doing guest vocals, this wasn’t going to feel like your traditional doom track. The vocal interplay between Hamish and Catherine Glencross is key to this enrichment of the band’s sound, as it gives the whole album a much more epic doom atmosphere. It’s also faster and more aggressive in places, not merely content with a slower crawl but ‘Truth in My Own’ get up to quite a rampage when it gets going. I love those dynamic shifts as songs reach an apex, like ‘The Sun Never Fell’ and its atmospheric first half turning into a bruising beast of doom while old pal Aaron Stainthorpe making a remarkably poignant guest appearance on the weeping doom of ‘Endure My Skin’ takes it straight back down into the mire. To see Stainthorpe and Glencross back together again brings a black tear to this old doom head’s eye, and the song is so majestic and morose, you’ve got to hope this collaboration comes back again soon. I also love the old school bluesy croon of ‘Jewels’, where Catherine takes centre stage and nails another stylistic shift with aplomb. Less an ode to the past than a brave stride towards the future of British doom, ‘Projections’ is a record that takes heed of that foundation but builds the band’s own palace upon the rocks. Aggressively epic, yet rich and multilayered, Godthrymm are a band who are more than the sum of their parts and this record shows it probably better than anything they’ve done since their debut. It has been a journey across windswept moors in the driving rain to reach this point, but the destination is warm, welcoming and richly rewarding. A grandiose addition to the canon of great British doom records. https://www.facebook.com/godthrymm/ https://godthrymmdoom.bandcamp.com/music https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/ 2026 Anniversary Series 080: Flotsam and Jetsam – Doomsday for the Deceiver Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 4th July 1986 In a landmark year for thrash, some would say THE year for thrash as a genre, it would seem that even the less famous bands were putting out their defining records and that would read true for Arizona’s Flotsam and Jetsam, and their classic record ‘Doomsday for the Deceiver’. The first record to ever receive the legendary 6K rating in Kerrang magazine (although I cannot actually find a list of how many other records received such a rating), and the only record that future Metallica bassist Jason Newsted would appear on before he left to replace the tragic Cliff Burton, ‘Doomsday for the Deceiver’ has forever seemed like a real underdog record in the conversations about 80s thrash, although I think it is starting to get more of its due nowadays. You’d think with such a pedigree, more people would be putting some respect on it but I hardly ever hear it being discussed in the pantheon of great thrash records. Maybe I’m not talking to the right people… If you get more than a minute into opening track ‘Hammerhead’ without at least headbanging AND air guitaring at the same time, you must be dead inside or truly cynical, because this is pure 80s Bay Area thrash at its finest. Incisive, catchy riffs with killer solos, massive vocal hooks from frontman Eric A.K, who sounds somewhere between young Hetfield and from Angel Witch, a classic heavy metal vocal given a thrash delivery in the most fun way. Musically this record is as close to perfect as you can get for an 80s thrash record, with so many riffs that feel instantly recognisable of the time and place, but still rule forty years on. ‘Desecrator’ sounds like Anthrax meets Judas Priest, and the mighty title track is as impressive a long thrash song as any of peak Metallica’s stuff. Those Halford-esque screams are an absolute winner for me too, and they shriek through those classic riff structures with ease, including that amazing fadeout in ‘Metalshock’. ‘Metalshock’ is my favourite track here I think, a relentless gallop through every classic sounding thrash riff you can think of with incredible lead work and solos. It is a real testament (HA!) to the fantastic musicianship of Flotsam and Jetsam that something so technically impressive and so fucking fast can still feel really anthemic and absorbing. ‘She Took an Axe’ closes us out with a classic thrash ripper, jagged riffs driving through Eric’s finest Joey Belladonna impression. What a remarkably versatile vocalist he is! When your debut is mostly known for your bassist leaving to join the world’s biggest thrash band and for its incredible Kerrang rating, you know it has to be a good record. But I wasn’t really prepared for just how fucking good ‘Doomsday for the Deceiver’ actually is. Sure, it sounds like another 80s thrash record to an untrained ear but everything that makes that genre so good is here in such amazing quantities, it is a crime that people don’t talk about this record and this band enough. Flotsam and Jetsam are so great, and this album is an easy thrash hall of fame record. I think I’ve realised that this lack of knowledge is a me problem though, one I’ve been happy to rectify. https://www.facebook.com/flotsamandjetsam.official Review: Sallow Moth – Hydrophilous Brood Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 24th July 2026 Progressive death metallers Sallow Moth have created a fascinating science fiction world for their twisted and dissonant death metal over the past few years, with last year’s ‘Mossbane Lantern’ being particularly effective at creating something very evocative. Enter ‘Hydrophilous Brood’, set in an alternate dimension where new hybrid organisms are born after passing through the mossbane lantern of the last record, retaining a thematic conduit from last year. It’s a fascinating concept for a death metal record, and it is out now through Willowtip Records. Opener ‘Nebulous Appendages of Vacillant Seafoam’ is utterly brutal, a steamroller of classic death metal riffs and an abyssal roar from Garry Brents. Sallow Moth are guttural and dense to the point of oppression, but the guitar work is surprisingly technical and the whole thing reeks of classic prog death from the early 90s. You’ve got a modern sense of dissonance running throughout, but there’s so many jagged, old Atheist and Cynic moments combining with that modern, Ulcerate-esque style that it never feels totally jarring or uncoordinated. ‘Serene Aqueous Leech’ has plenty of headbangable moments, despite its lounge jazz detours, while the guttural, frenzied miasma of ‘Driftmoth Vivisector’ is a real mindfuck in places. I love a record that makes me really hone in on each section and each song, such is the amount of things going on all over ‘Hydrophilous Brood’. Never sitting still, never riding a riff into oblivion, Sallow Moth are inventive and progressive with their song structures without losing any heaviness or even an almost old school sound. I’d say Cryptopsy meets Cynic at times, especially in the superb ‘Arcane Benthic Umbilicus’, and there’s even the odd ‘Blood Mountain’-era Mastodon touch in the riffs of ‘Polymorphic Gnaw’. It can be difficult to make your death metal proggy and technical without descending too far into ‘what the fuck is going on’ territory, but Sallow Moth have really got a tight grasp on the balance, and it makes ‘Hydrophilious Brood’ a really intoxicating album to listen to. Emphasis on the toxic, because there’s something poisonous and dangerous about some of the riffs in here, and the whole atmosphere is smothering without being completely obfuscating. What an incredible ride this album is, from start to finish. https://www.facebook.com/sallowmoth https://sallowmoth.bandcamp.com/ https://www.willowtip.com/home.aspx 2026 Anniversary Series 079: Cryptopsy – None So Vile Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 3rd July 1996 1996 would be a bit of a final swansong for death metal’s most successive early period, but it did not go out with a whimper and instead would provide many of the genre’s enduring classics, even if we did not realise it at the time. Top of that pile, arguably, was the second record from Montreal’s most ferocious death metal entity, Cryptopsy. ‘None So Vile’ is a record that has more than stood the test of time, and is regularly mentioned in conversations about the greatest death metal album of all time. Well, thirty years on from its initial release, does that tag still hold water considering the veritable deluge of death metal records vying for said title released since? Before we even start on the music within, we need to take a moment to fully appreciate the sinister album cover, from a 17th century painting by Baroque painter Elisabetta Sirana, entitled ‘Herodias With the Head of John the Baptist’. Totally at odds with almost everything else death metal was doing at the time, it somehow makes ‘None So Vile’ feel even more viscerally real and in some way superior and grand in comparison with Cryptopsy’s peers. You’ll see a lot of classical artworks adorning modern extreme metal albums, but there wasn’t a lot of this in 1996, which makes the churning, chaotic death metal within so much more jarring and effective. From the opening scream of ‘Crown of Horns’ (performed on record and occasionally live by drum octopus Flo Mounier, not Lord Worm, I discovered while reading up on this) to the cathartic, frantic expulsion of closer ‘Orgiastic Disembowelment’, there is no escape from the relentless execution of technical brutality. This isn’t shiny tech death though, this is before that was even invented. This is grim, murky and chaotic, a frenzied mass of murderous intent led by Lord Worm’s unhinged vocal performance. He barks, growls, screams and gibbers like a virulent plague monstrosity, and is a perfect match for the mania underneath. Mounier is always the star of the show on a Cryptopsy album; his drumming is almost impossibly technical and fast, and no matter what riffs Jon Levasseur and Eric Langlois pull out, he’s right there with them, lost in the hurricane of death metal. Every track is a classic work, from the bludgeoning of ‘Slit Your Guts’ to the carnage of ‘Dead and Dripping’ and my own favourite, ‘Phobophile’, with that evocative piano led opening descending back into the world of madness. Then it is all over, barely over thirty minutes and you are left in awe of one of death metal’s great moments. There’s an argument to be said that this could be the most influential brutal AND technical death metal ever written (I’d also fight you for ‘Effigy of the Forgotten’ on that) and when you revisit it you would very much struggle to argue that point. ‘None So Vile’ is a staggering achievement, one the band have rarely managed to match the heights of. When you consider how good much of Cryptopsy’s discography is, that is no shade. That is just cold, hard, brutal facts. I love this record; its maddening technicality, its suffocating brutality, Lord Worm’s iconic vocal performance and the fact that even as the genre’s heyday was starting to fade there were still bands willing to push that envelope further and harder than ever before. ‘None So Vile’ is death metal perfection. https://www.facebook.com/cryptopsyofficial Subscribe Subscribed The Killchain Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now. Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now. 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