Weekly Digest Septermber 20-26
Autumn music has come — Brooklyn gloom from A Pale Horse Named Death, gothic heavy metal by Unto Others, for the gloomiest ones — Scepticism is here. Also, Angels & Airwaves (ex-Blink 182), Poppy with her weird genre salad, progressive metal by Rivers Of Nihil, melodic hardcore of One Step Closer and more heavy and speed metal in our Weekly Digest.
A Pale Horse Named Death — Infernum In Terra
Pale Horse Named Death is a doom metal band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2010 by the man who understands that gloomy Brooklyn sound, Sal Abruscato (former drummer of Type O Negative and Life of Agony). "At this moment the world seems to be in a very dark place hence the title of the album "Infernum In Terra". This is a very dark album, but what else is new I always write dark music to sooth a dark soul!" — Sal comments on the album. I recommend it to fans of Brooklyn sound like Type O Negative and Life Of Agony, as well as fans of such bands as Paradise Lost and Tiamat.
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Angels & Airwaves — Lifeforms
Angels & Airways, as the project of ufologist Tom DeLong (ex-Blink-182), cannot compete with the success of his former band. However, the albums that Blink-182 released with Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) instead of Tom, were, to put it mildly, not very interesting. "Lifeforms" instead does not sound forced, electronic arrangements and pop-rock in combination with Tom's recognizable vocals create a rather pleasant soundscape. This is not my music at all but throwing away personal preferences is ok.
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One Step Closer — The Place You Know
XXX melodic hardcore, the debut full-length of the Pennsylvanian band One Step Closer sounds like Title Fight meeting Have Heart. So you get it.
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Poppy — Flux
Poppy is an example of the Internet getting out of control. First known as a YouTuber in the image of Android, Poppy began her career as a musician with cover tracks on her channel, quickly gained popularity and in 2015 signed a contract with Island Records, then released her first single "Lowlife". Since then, her tracks have been heard in games and TV series, and she got big in Japan due to the image of "Kawai Princess" and the positive reviews of music critics. On "Flux" you can hear something from Garbage and Hole, there is electro-pop, there is pop-punk, there are screams and even blastbeats. First of all, it’s the music for Generation Z, which doesn’t care about labels and just wants the music to rock and have a good visual, so Poppy gives it to themc.
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Rivers Of Nihil — The Work
The progressive metal / death metal band Rivers Of Nihil is back with a new album. The pronounced sound of a bass guitar as in nu metal — checked, the songs with a critique of capitalism — checked, and the most importantly, the saxophone loved by fans — checked. Comparing "The Work" to "Where Owls Know My Name" — the first one sounds weaker to me, but that's normal after such a successful previous album.
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Skepticism — Companio
A real funeral doom for those who understand.
Tentation — Le Berceau des Dieux
The French band from Northern Catalonia, Tentation is a relentless heavy metal. I mean, there is for sure something extra wonderful about heavy metal that is not sung in English. The band has a true 80s sound, just as it should be, lots of energy and a song called "Heavy Metal" — beauty in one word.
Unto Others — Strength
Unto Others, the band formerly known to heavy music fans as Idle Hands, which released the cult album already — "Mana" in 2019, was forced to change its name due to copyright issues. But this did not prevent Unto Others from confidently continuing to conquer their niche — Gothic heavy metal. The musicians began their work on the "Strength" album two weeks before the release of "Mana", since then they managed to release the EP "Don't Waste Your Time II", get a deal with the major label Roadrunner Records and, unfortunately, due to a pandemic failed to go on tour with Behemoth, Arch Enemy and Carcass. We have all the same sensual and emotional on the "Strength" album, maybe even more gothic than before, rock with wonderful metal riffs, solos, and energy. I highly recommend giving their whole discography a spin, the ratio of hits to the number of songs is surprising here. Well, also it is just a perfect season for such music now.
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Wraith — Undo The Chains
Traditional for punk / speed metal / black metal digest. Such albums are always fun.
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