Should you encounter any of Dwelled’s online promotional materials before listening to this EP, you’ll find them described using words like “unforgiving” and “blistering”. That’s really not far from the truth. ‘Suffering Heritage’s six tracks attack with a genuine force, where a contemporary metalcore sound is peppered with moments of death tinged brutality. With everything clocking in at under four minutes – under three in many cases – the band haven’t left much room for flowery experimentation, or much else in the way of branching out.
Tag Archives: melodic death metal
AVNEYA – Road To I
As guitarist and vocalist with progressive metal band Obsidian Tide, Oz Avneya is no stranger to crushing riffs and complex time signatures, but on his solo debut ‘Road To I’, the Israeli musician stretches his musical boundaries just a little further. The occasional nods to melodic death metal within his band’s work sometimes take a bigger role here, but to balance out any pure aggression, this album also explores a couple of far more interesting musical avenues. When not cranking the riffs, Avneya can be found teasing the listener with elements of world music, and there’s also a much bigger concession to melodic prog.
UPON STONE – Dead Mother Moon
San Fernando’s Upon Stone broke onto the metal scene in 2021 with a well crafted EP, ‘Sky, Sword and Specter’. Its four tracks blended old school death metal with a pinch of hardcore, and when slowing down, the best material wasn’t shy in sharing a few (very welcome) trad metal traits. Assuming you could make it past a rather abrasive vocal, the music pulled from various sources to create an extreme metal release that actually felt really well balanced.
NO DIVINITY – Generation Of Pain EP
Released two years after their ‘Ceremony of Suffering’, this second EP from North Dakota’s No Divinity presents a big step forward for the band. Its four songs still feature the huge riffs that their fans have come to recognise, but they’re used in much broader strokes for an increased heaviness. This time out, the band have dispensed with the sub-two minute hardcore blasts, and instead concentrated on their longer, heavier jams – in the vein of ‘Splinter’ – to bring the best out of an intense, crushing guitar sound. More importantly, it comes with some massive production values that help to make their crossover hardcore sound even bigger than before.
CALLOUS HANDS – Trapped In Animated Flesh EP
The debut EP from Callous Hands (2021’s ‘Earth Mover’) wasted no time in announcing the arrival of a superbly heavy band. The three featured tracks blended groove metal, melodic death metal and elements of progressive metal for a sound that was truly impressive. In the band’s own words, the recording was “as heavy as fuck”, and certainly suggested great things to come.