Back catalogue: Metal

Review: In 2021 and 2022 respectively, extreme metal label 20 Buck Spin closed out their year of releases with firstly, a full-length from melancholic dream-doom death metallers Dream Unending, and secondly, the complex, blackened prog-death outliers Worm. In a conspiratorial twist to round a trifecta of year-ending projects, Starpath offers a split LP of sorts boasting 20 minutes of new material from both acts. The A-side delivered by Dream Unending imbues gothic post-punk melodies into their cosmic compositions whilst Worm pour their oily, grim malevolence over towering monoliths of cavernous doom.

Review: Floridian melodic metalcore outfit Wage War have opted to do the unthinkable (with regards to their scene), and dropped an acoustic project, reimagining cuts from all three of their previous full-lengths; 2017's Deadweight, 2019's Pressure, and 2021's 'Manic'. With a title like The Stripped Sessions it should be pretty evident that this isn't the bombastic affair the band's name usually indicates, instead channelling folk influences that expand as far as the surprisingly tender cover of the classic Johnny Cash cut, 'Folsom Prison Blues'. Produced by local fan and friend, A Day To Remember vocalist, Jeremy McKinnon; this is a most curious case of a group delivering from a facet which fans didn't realise they thirsted over.

Review: Huge guitar solos, a not-so-subtle hint of seduction and romance, rousing choruses and an attitude that screams: "I'm gonna make that heavy metal hand signal every five or six minutes." Warrant may not be the first name on everyone's lips when it comes to the heyday big room, sexually charged glam metal, but when all is said and done they did pretty well during their seven years in the game.
Emerging from the Los Angeles scene of the mid-late-1980s, a city that has a lot to answer for in these musical ends, by the time they packed up their Fenders and called time more than 10million albums had been sold, with the double-platinum Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich the real gem of the lot. Dog Eat Dog came along a little later, in 1992, and by this point the group had really got into gear. Don't expect the same tangible hunger and impact as the inaugural effort, then, but in many ways this is far more complete example of what they were gunning for.

Review: The debut full-length from Los Angeles glam metal superstars, Warrant, is the perfect time capsule of late eighties sunset strip era rock of a bygone leather-chapped age. 'Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich', boasted the hit singles, 'Heaven', 'Down Boys', and, 'Sometimes She Cries'; all still heralded as some of the group's most essential cuts to date. Noted for its pushed back release due to vocalist Jani Lane suffering a nervous breakdown upon catching his best friend and girlfriend "entangled", an encounter detailed in lyrical form on the band's single, 'I Saw Red', which would feature on the following year's sophomore effort, 'Cherry Pie'; there's still no ignoring or denying the infectious cheese, stadium-sized riffs and endlessly catchy hooks that still prop up this debut as a (not so) timeless classic of its stature.

Review: Los Angeles glam metal superstars, Warrant, had their biggest success with this Cherry Pie album. It's the band's second full-length and it contains two of their biggest top 40 charting singles. Both the title track and the cheeky anthem, 'I Saw Red', catapulted their name into the 80s-turned-90s rock stratosphere, while the somewhat infantile humour, braggadocios attitude, and hidden intrigue of deeper cuts such as, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', would signal the more abstract lyricism and clever song-writing tropes that would be more fleshed out and fully realised by the time 1992's seminal, 'Dog Eat Dog', arrived. This reissue comes on nice heavyweight vinyl.

Review: Sheffield metalcore giants While She Sleeps make their long awaited return on the follow up to 2021's Sleeps Society. Taking a more sprawling approach to composition this time around, and allowing outsider influences from the likes of Gorillaz, Aphex Twin and even Britpop to help steer their creative course, the resulting sixth full-length Self Hell, offers simultaneously the band's most aggressive, complex and frenetic work in over a decade, whilst tapping into newfound electronic soundscapes aided by the use of vintage synths such as the Korg MS-20 and Behringer TD-3. These warring textures provide a unique balance of post-metalcore serenity, with technical riffs weaving around lush hues of ambient, euphoric electronica akin to say Mount Kimbie, yet repurposed for angst-riddled displays of sonic, melancholic fury. That doesn't necessarily mean that there's a lack of chugging bangers with glistening synth lines, but they're deftly balanced with moments of triumphant catharsis.

Review: The second full-length from New Jersey thrash metal outfit Whiplash arrived courtesy of Roadrunner in 1987, a mere year after their breakneck paced debut 'Power & Pain'. At this point in the late 80s the scene already had genre classics such as Metallica's 'Master Of Puppets' and Slayer's 'Reign In Blood' to contend with, making it a free for all of pummeling thrash acts doing their utmost to not get lost in the ether. While some often cite 1989's 'Insult To Injury' as the total showcasing of their prowess, Ticket To Mayhem is testament (no pun intended) to the myriad of vital bands that kept the thrash movement pulsing beneath the major heights and laurels of a select few, with Whiplash finally receiving the praise and credence they had initially earned so many decades prior.

Review: The highly anticipated eighth full-length from Dutch symphonic metal legends Within Temptation comes four arduous years since the release of 2019's overlooked Resist. Hindered by global lockdown due to the COVID pandemic putting up barriers and blocks in the midst of the prolific collective's recording process, singles have been slowly drip-fed to the masses over the past few years with anthemic closer 'Entertain You' first being unveiled all the way back in the summer of 2020. In fact, more than half of the album's tracklist has already been released as several cuts were originally intended to serve as standalone singles, but purists can finally breathe a sigh of relief and rejoice at locking down the entire collection in its purest form with the official release of the somewhat aptly titled Bleed Out.

Review: Following on from 2019's muted, folk-leaning Birth Of Violence, as well as the weighty Bloodmoon: I collaborative LP with experimental hardcore heroes Converge, which arrived in 2021; the Wiccan mystic that is Chelsea Wolfe returns with her highly anticipated seventh full-length She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She. Shying away from the acoustic or metallic sonics of prior projects in order to embrace a blistering new era of frosted trip-hop, chopped and screwed with industrial tinges, echoing a more ugly, gothic interpretation of Portishead at their most macabre, the endeavour also marks her first since departing long-time label-home Sargent House following a litany of controversies, in favour of the ever-expanding dynamic roster of Loma Vista (HEALTH, Militarie Gun, Soccer Mommy).

Review: Gothic songstress Chelsea Wolfe makes her illustrious return on the much anticipated seventh full-length She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She. Following on from 2021's immense collaborative project with artcore auteurs Converge, the album shall serve as Wolfe's first solo endeavour since the minimal, folk-centric Birth Of Violence released in 2019, while serving as her first output since departing long-time label-home Sargent House (following a diatribe of controversies best saved for another time) in favour of Loma Vista; home to outsider artists of numerous sonic shapes. As this new chapter appears to be marrying elements of industrial fury with complex trip-hop motifs akin to Merzbow producing for Portishead, all the while maintaining her sultry, Wiccan hypnotism; 2024 looks set to be the year of the Wolfe.

Review: Trailed by her label Loma Vista as "a rebirth in process", Chelsea Wolfe's tenth studio album wears its weighty and deeply personal inspirations (cutting ties with friends and lovers and the extensive period of healing that follows) as a badge of honour. While these themes are most explicitly explored in the lyrics (and shine through her delicate, frequently weary vocal performances), there's a darkness and brooding intensity to some of the music on show that undoubtedly suits its subject matter. For proof, check the gnarled, raw and fuzzy Nine Inch Nails-meets-Tricky flex of 'Whispers In The Echo Chamber', the claustrophobic sound design and razor-sharp guitars of 'Everything Turns Blue', the Mezzanine-era Massive Attack growl of 'Tunnel Lights' and the breathlessly brilliant closing cut, 'Dusk'.

Review: It took just a year and a half for Florida's Worm to follow up their widely acclaimed doom, funeral, scary-men-grunting-over-engine-room-guitars album Gloomlord with this latest effort. In the world of modern music, that's actually relatively rapid (long gone are the days when rock bands would pump out one LP per year minimum), and yet the contents of Foreverglade feel remarkably un-rushed and, perhaps not patient - that would be a misleading way to describe such commanding and uncompromising sounds - but nevertheless meticulous in planning and production. While the uninitiated may be tricked into believing that this kind of heavyweight, oppressive-sounding noise has one track, the truth is what makes Worm's new offering so refreshing and essential is the way it pays respect to a gamut of metal, playing with tempos and time signatures and generally wanting to f*!k stuff up in a way that only true artists seem capable of.

Review: Following up 2021's exceptional breakthrough album, Foreverglade, Floridian death-doom hybridisers Worm return with the four track 26-minute mini-LP Bluenothing, which majorly increases focus on their more atmospheric tendencies. While the cavernous despair and cosmic horror remain firmly intact, the band embrace the echoing abyssal sonics with moments of delicate despondency from acoustic segments to neo-classical arrangements, serving as a distorted epilogue to its malevolent predecessor.

Review: Massachuessetts symphonic deathcore brutalisers, Worm Shepherd, made quite the statement of intent with 2020's 'In the Wake ov Sol'. On their sophomore effort, however, it now becomes abundantly clear just how much expansive venom the group have been harbouring. 'Ritual Hymns' builds upon its preceding debut with obliterating breakdowns, complex, frosted melodics and a weary, theatrical sense of nihilism that elevate epic centrepieces such as, 'Blood Kingdom' and 'A Bird In The Dusk' to a level of spectacle only tangentially approach on their debut.