By the beginning of the 1990s, Sepultura had put Brazil firmly on the metal map. While their audience grew significantly with the release of their third full length album ‘Beneath The Remains’ in 1989, it positively exploded with 1991’s ‘Arise’. That album was not only the very pinnacle of the music the then young band had sought to create, but also one of the best thrash releases of the era. Decades on, Seputura’s influence can be heard running through the hearts of many underground Central and South American metal bands – most notably Harvest. Whereas many have sought to emulate the raw thrash of ‘Beneath The Remains’, El Salvador’s Conceived By Hate look farther back, still. On parts of their second full-length LP they cull a definite influence from the Seps’ ‘Bestial Devastation’ and ‘Morbid Visions’ releases, which mixed with their own ideas, crafts an unholy sound that blends extreme thrash and death metal with superb musical results.
DEATH METAL POPE – Harvest EP
Despite their chosen name, Death Metal Pope aren’t a death metal band. Some of their vocal choices are towards the extreme in places and there are occasions where the riffs step into the fast and intense sphere of extreme metal but, for the bulk of their material, these three Long Islanders love it slow and heavy. At least three quarter’s of 2016’s ‘Harvest’ is a stoner metal fan’s dream. They mightn’t score many points for originality, especially since the clean end of the vocal more than resembles Phil Anselmo in places and the music is very Down-centric, but, make no mistake, the results come close to stoner perfection.
TAKE TURNS – Crytomnesia Crept
On the 2014 EP ‘Animal Fat‘, Take Turns recycled many parts of 90s alt-rock and grunge, serving up cheeky nostalgia by the dustcart load, leaving behind a half dozen Pavement-esque gold sounds guaranteed to please listeners hitting those tricky forties at the time of release. The Leeds slackers brought back youth and exuberance aplenty, showed they could wield a guitar and distortion pedal with the best of ’em, but above all – and this being very much the clincher – never sounded lazy when doing so. The love for those whom influenced Take Turns cut through almost every note, making the release seem as if constructed from more than just dusty hand-me-downs
GÉVAUDAN – Litost
With bands like Kurokuma and Allfather making some very heavy waves, the underground doom scene in the UK found itself in a very healthy state moving into the close of 2016, perhaps more properous than it had been in a long while. There seemed to be new doom and sludge bands oozing through the woodwork on a weekly basis, but since the fashion for slow and heavy never gets old, the ever expanding scene had more than enough room to accommodate…and, this, obviously could only be a good thing.
BARROW WIGHT – Kings In Sauron’s Service
Over the years, the Lord of the Rings trilogy has been a fairly popular inspiration for concept albums. Even before Peter Jackson’s world dominating, award winning film adaptations, rock bands were looking to Tolkien for lyrical themes. Magnum‘s Bob Catley released an entire album of Middle Earth based songs back at the turn of the millennium; Blind Guardian released a full album of Tolkien tales two years previously. It could be said that many prog, power metal and battle metal bands are obsessed, but few have taken Tolkien to heavier places than Barrow Wight.