High Picks
Vitriol – Endure & Turn out to be (brutal prog-death)
I've (and plenty of others) have spent a very long time ready for a real successor to Rivers of Nihil's The place Owls Know My Identify (2018), and whereas I don't assume Vitriol have concocted one thing fairly as groundbreaking and momentous as that file, I feel that is in all probability come as shut as anybody has within the half-decade or so since its launch, whereas additionally carving out an especially brutal path all of their very own. Certainly, Endure & Turn out to be sounds just like the follow-up to Owls had been written whereas listening to a complete lot of Hate Everlasting, as an alternative of like Emerson Lake and Palmer and a bunch of right-wing conspiracy podcasts or no matter. Throw in some mid-period Decapitated and early Ulcerate for good measure and we've received ourselves an exceedingly risky stew going.
I don't assume a single album has had me laughing so hysterically on the sheer brutality of all of it since Hate Everlasting's Phoenix Amongst the Ashes all the best way again in 2011, nevertheless it's not all blasts and tremolo. Beneath all of the brutality are some critical tune constructions, memorable melodies and manic musicianship that makes Vitriol stand out above the gang and their rivals and comrades alike tremble earlier than them in terror. The album can also be expertly paced, balancing its ostensibly unrelenting offensive with extra restrained, Psycroptic-style instrumental interludes that give the listener an opportunity to catch their breath whereas bracing themselves for an additional onslaught. Endure & Turn out to be impresses with its depth, however there's an underlying restraint to its proceedings that, even at first look, suggests it's a genuinely landmark style file that we'll not solely be speaking about once more in twelve months' time, however for years to return as properly.
Caligula’s Horse – Charcoal Grace (prog metallic)
On the extra relaxed finish of the metallic spectrum, we even have a brand new Caligula's Horse album. The sheer truth of its existence could be trigger for celebration by itself round these elements, however is made all of the extra monumental by additionally being among the best and most bold albums of the band's already extremely acclaimed profession. I feel Eden and I agree much more usually than he thinks, however we're undoubtedly coming at this one otherwise. Whereas he discovered Charcoal Grace "extra of a grower than every other Caligula's Horse album", I discover it to be their most speedy; satisfying outing since The Tide, The Thief & River's Finish (2013).
Rise Radiant (2020) had/s its moments, however the album as a complete felt overly ponderous and hasn't actually caught with me in any respect since its launch. In distinction, Charcoal Grace feels far more refined and directed, with a lot of its choices being constructed across the sort of heavier riffs and refrains which have been all too fleeting on its predecessor. It's additionally a a lot darker and extra driving providing than Bloom (2015), with the band nowadays having much more in widespread with progressive tech-metal acts like Tesseract than Karnivool or any of the opposite Aus-prog acts they got here up with. Charcoal Grace can also be a noticeably much less dense file than In Contact (2017), whereas additionally sustaining the band's now trademark sprawling prog metallic ambition and grandiosity.
Therein lies the album's one true weak spot, nevertheless. On the entire, I feel Caligula's Horse undergo from the "good friend who received't go away whenever you're finished hanging out" complex Eden so expertly (and moderately viciously) recognized of fellow Australian progressive metallic establishment Ne Obliviscaris, and—as comparatively streamlined as Charcoal Grace is—at simply over an hour lengthy, it's additionally a reasonably tall ask. Particularly, I don't assume there was actually a must chuck the twelve-minute-long monitor "Mute" on the top of the album, particularly when its first three-or-so minutes of mellow monotony moderately undermine the climatic, cathartic impact of "The Storm Chaser" earlier than it. Maybe it was an try and recapture the magic of "Graves" from In Contact (though even then I'd argue that album/monitor overstays its welcome considerably). Vocalist Jim Gray's frequent falsettos don't at all times really feel like probably the most comfy or becoming alternative for his or her compositions both. In every occasion although, what is really spectacular about Caligula's horse, and what finally units them aside, is their ambition. There actually hasn't been an album like this since Rise Radiant or In Contact, and there in all probability received't be one other one till the subsequent Caligula's horse album rolls round both.