Formed in 2012, Belgian progressive/post black metal band Soul Dissolution have never been afraid to stretch the confines of black metal. Their 2018 album ‘Stardust’ mixed standard black metal ideas with some surprisingly melodic passages, resulting in something that often sounds like Drama crossed with a very extreme version of ‘Jester Race’ era In Flames, stretching extreme riffs into cold, bleak shapes.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
IMPELLITTERI – The Nature Of The Beast
Impelliteri’s tenth studio album ‘Venom‘ was a funny record. Not intentionally so, unfortunately, but lyrically it was so clichéd, it managed to make Judas Priest seem like they could be nominated for an Ivor Novello award at any given moment. Funnier still was Chris Impellitteri’s thinking behind the release: he supposedly wanted to “…create a metal record that would appeal to everyone… Even women”, apparently. Here was a man so stuck within a universe centred around 1984, he failed to even see how a lot of women were active on the metal scene at the time of its release. The very idea that some of them were even in bands might’ve just made his little head explode.
FOREVER UNCLEAN – Woof EP
Mixing skate punk, pop punk, melodic hardcore and scratchy 80s indie, Denmark’s Forever Unclean delve into a melting pot of sounds that can turn on a sixpence. It’s will full credit to the band that such a varied sound works as well as it does; if any of the musicians were in any way slack, the tunes on their 2018 EP ‘Woof’ could fall apart in an instant.
I AM THE LAW – Hymn Of The Vulture EP
Prior to the release of their second EP ‘Hymn of The Vulture’, I Am The Law shared stages with Superjoint Ritual and Crowbar. They also cite Pantera and Lamb of God among their main influences, so, taking these facts on board, you could probably take an educated guess at what these Nashville based Southern metal overlords sound like before even hitting the play button.
…And you’d be absolutely right.
THE RUN UP – Good Friends, Bad Luck EP
The Run Up are five friends from Bristol, always ready to bring the world big riffs and bigger choruses. Their brand of pop-punk is tougher than most, but within the riffs comes a fantastic sense of all things melodic, always allowing great hooks to catch the listener. Their debut album, a self-titled affair from 2017, presented a solid half hour’s worth of material but, if anything, this follow up EP is even better. The short format suggests the band have really streamlined their approach and decided to only share the very best tracks this time around.