BitterJalapeno Vitriol has had four and half years to produce a follow-up to the cacophonous monolith "To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice". Evidently, the band has used this time wisely and are back with an updated lineup, and a notable upgrade in sound. While their debut showcased some of the most punishingly frenetic death metal ever put to wax, "Suffer & Become" shows a fraction more restraint, with the Portland-based quartet paying more attention to compositional and structural diversity. That said, it should be stressed that this is no walk in the park - "Suffer & Become" is still so utterly bewildering in its complexity and so overbearingly intense that a casual attempt at listening will most likely end swiftly, even for death metal enthusiasts. This is best reserved for the most masochistic of listeners willing to suffer and become at one with torture, ultimately reaping the tumultuous rewards of giving this monster their full and undivided attention.

"Suffer & Become" is distinguishable from its predecessor through a few slight augmentations to their richly textured tech death which, when combined, yield delightfully successful results. Although its compositional base still lands you in the same hurricane of incomprehensibly intense drumming and discordant riffs, the use of melody is key in giving the album a platform of its own. After opener “Shame and its Afterbirth” has beaten you to a pulp, virtuosic guitar leads machete their way through the carnage to temporarily save your soul in majestic fashion. “The Isolating Lie of Learning Another” also shines in this respect with a brief yet triumphant solo, soaring joyously above the chaos. A greater variance in tempo also pays dividends with the slower, lumbering groove of “The Flowers of Sadism” and “I am Every Enemy” helping to break up the incessant rapid-fire drumming. “Survival’s Careening Inertia” provides arguably the starkest contrast on the album with clean guitar dominating the first few minutes, serving as a short intermission. The track gradually builds in intensity before morphing into monstrously dark and atmospheric epic outro, rich in swirling overdriven leads and ominous synths. From this point on, the album is consistently at its most brutal, tormenting you with a tirade of chaotic riffs, near constant double bass peddling and snarling interplay between equally ferocious vocalists, one in the death camp and one with a spine-chilling black metal shriek.

Despite all this talk of diversification, one thing is certain: no matter what respite you are granted, Vitriol will slam you straight back down into the depths of hell almost immediately. "Suffer & Become" is so suffocating and oppressive that after several listens, you still won’t have made much progress with unpacking its contents. Perseverance will reward and those with enough patience will enjoy an astounding sophomore that displays a supreme level of technical skill and an insatiable thirst for pushing the limits of death metal. If it were to push any further, Vitriol may collapse under the weight of its own genius.

Attribution:

https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/88183/Vitriol-USA-Suffer--Become/

BitterJalapeno Ever present is a plethora of artists attempting to imprint their mark on the diverse world of extreme metal, ensuring that the wide umbrella genre is never short of fresh meat. Naturally, this also means that saturation is unavoidable, resulting in many efforts inevitably slipping under the radar and fading into obscurity. Athenian blackened death-sludge outfit Wothrosch is one such artist launching its first assault on the world with its debut album Odium, released to the unwashed masses two weeks into 2023 showcasing great musicianship, fantastic production and a record which is enjoyable but sadly, not too memorable.

Odium is impressive in many ways. The mix of mid-pace sludge riffs grinding away underneath creepy tremolo-picked leads provides an ominous backdrop and creates a truly ghastly and asphyxiating atmosphere assisted by vocals that switch between brutish sludge roars, guttural death growls and screams that sound like a wild beast being subjected to the most barbaric torture methods imaginable. The musicianship on offer is top notch with a special mention to the drummer who effortlessly swapping between rapid blast-beats and slow doomy passages, proves themselves highly versatile. The production is remarkably grandiose for the debut album of a little-known band and gives the album a nice sheen without being too clinical.

In contrast, Odium is plagued by a shortfall in variety and a surplus of overly lengthy cuts. By the halfway stage, the magnificent vibes projected at the start begin to wane and the album succumbs to stagnation with individual tracks becoming indistinguishable from each other. The ferocious closer “Reign” being an exception, just about managing to bring the album above mediocrity. While Wothrosch may have cooked up a variety of metal influences into a tasty sonic recipe, a distinct lack of deviation from that specific sound is enough of a stumbling block that consuming the full portion in its entirety is a challenge. If the band were to combine the tight performances and fastidious production with a more focused approach to songwriting, they could easily prevent themselves from being one of the countless highly talented outfits who do not cut the proverbial mustard.

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Attribution:

https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/86160/Wothrosch-Odium/

BitterJalapeno Orogenic processes fast-forwarded while the stricken lay dying...

The fifth full-length offering from Liverpudlian doom metal machine Conan shows no sign of deviating from spirit-crushing, despair-filled doom metal of the most ferocious degree. Clocking in at over 50 minutes, Conan’s latest is their longest album to date and is somewhat a return to their older style, centring the structure around lengthier cuts as opposed to the shorter, punchier tracks featured on 2018’s impressive Existential Void Guardian. However, there are still pockets of aggressive sludge here – such as the punk-tinged “Ritual of Anonymity” which contains some of the album's faster-paced sections. The aggression in the middle is bookended by two epochs of slow-moving, catastrophic doom which despite their length, do not outstay their welcome and are the strongest portions of music on offer here.

There are two things that Conan’s music always brings to mind: barbaric battles and geological processes. Opening track “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots” is so destructively heavy and dense that it manages to replicate how I imagine the collision of continents would sound if occurring in 10 minutes rather than over a period of millions of years. The usual pulverising doom riffs are nuanced with some nice touches of post-metal adding stylistic diversity. Conjured in the mind are images of thick, slow-moving lava snaking its way down the side of a volcano as pyroclastic bombs descend from the ash-obscured sky above, reducing everything in their path to cinders.

In addition to the strong structure, the album impresses from a production perspective. The viscosity of the guitar and bass tone is unfathomable while still allowing the drums to shine through with crystal clarity. It’s obvious that Conan has lost none of its forbidding atmospheric quality and on Evidence of Immortality, some additional features develop this further. Organs are utilised to great effect in the funeral doom closer “Grief Sequence”, providing another layer of ominous atmosphere as the brooding, monolithic guitar chords gradually edge the listener towards their impending death following the aftermath of a medieval bloodbath. The sinister atmosphere intensifies as the song (and album) crawls to an end, assisted by the inclusion of warping flange techniques on the organs, delivering a fever dream-like sound as if the stricken listener is slipping into a delusional state as their life approaches its inevitable terminus.

Conan has delivered yet another high-quality lump of barbarically heavy doom metal and have once again re-cemented themselves as a prime act of the genre by adding another pillar to their legacy – one with the utmost consistency in quality, and undoubtedly, longevity.

BitterJalapeno Formed in 2012, Suppression is a Chilean death metal band comprising members of thrash metal band Ripper. Following the release of their first EP “Repugnant Remains” in 2019, the band is back to assault the senses once again with their first full-length offering “The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh” released by Unspeakable Axe Records. It displays a marked progression from the rough death metal of the aforementioned EP with distinct developments in songwriting, stylistic diversity and production. Firmly rooted in old school death metal, it shows an obvious influence from the brutality of “Consuming Impulse” era Pestilence combined with more convoluted structures, paying homage to the likes of Suffocation and Atheist. Suppression has done a great job of keeping this old school sound alive while successfully combining it with a range of influences from more modern styles of death metal and a mild progressive edge.

The material is highly technical but not to the point of qualifying as tech death proper. Thunderous, evil riffs dominate the soundscape supported by ocean-deep basslines, frenetic blast beats and wildly parched vocals. Ominous guitar solos are frequent, providing a melodic factor but conversely, hints of dissonance are present - the band have been conservative in this respect, avoiding taking the claustrophobic route of bands such as Ulcerate and Ad Nauseam. The jarring guitar and fluidity of the bass work on “Misunderstanding Reality” bring the album to its progressive peak without losing any of the sadistic heaviness. Deep grooves provide further diversity on “Unperpetual Misery” while album closer “Extortion Behaviours” showcases Suppression’s ability to mix mind-bending cacophony with more studious parts to great effect. The whole package is assisted by the excellent production of the legendary Colin Marston and as expected, the overall sound projected is incomprehensibly powerful and barbarically heavy, while allowing all elements of the music to breathe organically and be heard with a great degree of clarity.

Despite a commendable performance from the entire band, the star of the show is undoubtedly Pablo Cortés who pulls of a phenomenal performance on fretless bass. His slick basslines provide a wonderfully rich texture throughout but shine through particularly when allowed to let loose on frequent bass-only breakdowns, swelling and contracting exuberantly, adding a touch of jazz influence to the affair. For the best examples, see the frenetic opener “Lifelessness”, the marginally slower “Oveerfeeding Gaps” or the atmospheric “Unwinding Harmonies”. Even though the overall musical style is drastically different, it’s a bass performance that reminds me of post-sludge band Intronaut’s masterpiece “Prehistoricisms” albeit in a less delicate fashion.

Any death metal fan can testify to the fact the genre has splintered into many diverse tangents since its birth in the 80s and with the help of the on-demand world in which we now reside, an overwhelming number of artists are releasing material. As such, it can prove difficult for bands to produce music which stands above that of their peers. It’s clear that Suppression deserve respect for having achieved this in an environment of such saturation and can be considered a strong force in the current death global metal scene.

BitterJalapeno Metal Music Archives Reviewer's Challenge: June 2022

“The Sum of all Fossils” is the debut and so far, the only full-length release by New York based technical death metal outfit Flourishing. Originally involved with death-grind, the music on this album abandons grind and focuses mainly on death metal with high levels of dissonance and atonality, played in a breakneck, frenetic fashion accompanied by powerful growling vocals. Upon first listen, it might be easy to write Flourishing off as another outlet for Gorgutsish disso-death worship but with repeated listens, it’s clear there is much more on offer here – the influence of genres such as sludge metal and industrial metal become obvious in addition to the occasional pockets of hardcore/post-hardcore.

The production is perfect for the music – organic sounding, with just the right amount of filth and murkiness for death metal while giving off a distinctly cold sensation to the listener – this is amplified by a cloak of cold industrial atmosphere which envelops the whole affair somewhat but is more prevalent on some tracks such as “In Vivid Monochrome” and “By Which We’re Cemented”, the latter of which is one the most diverse tracks on the album, showcasing vocalist Bussanick’s ability to switch from his usual guttural grunting to a strangled, open-throated, post-hardcore shout.

The occasional use of melodic guitar work provides the album with some well-placed variation to the surrounding onslaught. Songs like the aforementioned “By Which We’re Cemented” and “Momentary Senses” use melody effectively to add an element of light to the dark, bleak backdrop of despair which makes up the album’s bulk. The former has some great guitar harmonics in addition to some major key celestial riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a 00s sludge album and juxtaposes delightfully with the brutality, adding a small sense of hope in comparison to the overall sense of foreboding. It's clear that “The Sum of all Fossils” demonstrates an adventurous approach to songwriting with unconventional song structures and an ability to successfully combine many influences into one coherent piece.

My favourite aspect of the album is the emotion that oozes from every pore. This reaches its peak on the epic closer “As if Bathed in Excellence” which is almost like a mini version of the album in itself with its technical and brutal first half, the sludgy breakdown and the superb melodic outro which ascends the listener back into the realms of light to bring the album to a conclusion.

Sadly, Flourishing is no more but two members are currently part of the blackened death metal outfit Aeviterne who’s debut album “The Ailing Façade” was released earlier this year. It has a similar sound but with a greater focus on atmosphere, a more grandiose production job and seems to have picked up where Flourishing left off back in 2011. It was only after listening to Aeviterne that I discovered Flourishing and if you are looking for dissonant tech death with a difference, Flourishing and their new re-incarnation have both firmly nailed it.

BitterJalapeno “The Tiger’s Daughter” is the fourth full length release by one-man progressive metal machine Brett Windnagle, otherwise known as Lascaille's Shroud. Windnagle stated that the mood he was attempting to project on this single-track epic was reflective of the emotions he experienced whilst reading a trilogy of fantasy novels by K. Arsenault Rivera which focuses on the ups and downs of a romantic relationship between two female Oriental warriors. He certainly did not fail in his endeavours as this is one hell of an emotional journey through sound, encompassing both dark and light realms while maintaining an impressive level of cohesion throughout.

A wide range of musical influences is explored, including but by no means limited to death metal, progressive metal, classic heavy metal, post-rock, and traditional Oriental folk. The bulk of the music is slow to mid-paced death metal with riffs and chord progressions that steadily chug along underneath brutal death growls. Also present is the classic death metal technique of tremolo picking but, in this case, it is not overused, adding variety rather than being a mainstay. The inclusion of synthesisers provides an atmospheric background to the whole experience while the use of Oriental elements - possibly a koto - add a touch of authenticity to the subject matter.

There are few guitar solos throughout the album, but lack of quantity is more than compensated for by the quality as when they appear, they soar to great heights, displaying effective use of melody in contrast to the brutality of death metal while also drawing some influence from the classic heavy metal of the 80s. Even though I have not read the novel in question, I imagine that Windnagle created these solos to mirror the most joyous parts of the novel’s narrative and has done so with great success. Further adding contrast are piano-led segments – reminiscent of the softer side of 90s and 00s post-rock acts such as Mogwai – which bring moments of calm to the album and maintains the listener’s interest as the journey continues. The greatest contrast, however, is the inclusion of clean vocals which are provided by Mercedes Victoria. Her soft voice adds huge volumes of emotion, simultaneously producing a true sense of love, pain, and longing.

To conclude, it can’t be denied that “The Tiger’s Daughter” is an excellent example of genre-fusion with a commendable level of cohesion. Although not something I would typically have sought out as general listening, I found it a most captivating listen where many musical styles are brought together in unexpected coexistence.

BitterJalapeno Released by Upstate Records in January 2022, “Life…And Everything After” is the debut full-length release by Philadelphia based five-piece metalcore band Gloves Off. While some fans may have found some disappointment to discover that the first four tracks were not new material as they had already featured in 2020’s “Life” EP, the album as a unit is a very impressive powerhouse of modern metalcore with equal parts aggression and abrasion.

Album opener “Pinnacle in Timeline” has such a catastrophically slow and heavy introduction that one could be forgiven for thinking they were listening to a doom metal band but before long, Gloves Off blast into full-pelt, savagely heavy metallic hardcore. The remainder of the album flies by in a whirlwind of frenetic drumming, crushingly heavy riffs, jarring panic chords and the occasional destructive breakdown. Songs such as “In Reflection” and “Winter Solstice” contain riffs of skull-crushing proportions while the closing track “Between Greetings and Goodbyes” adds an additional layer to the mix in the form of black metal influenced atmosphere. The punishing qualities of the music are matched perfectly by the vocalist who delivers a performance with a supreme degree of anger and ferocity.

Most impressive, however, is the refreshing level of energy the band manage to channel into their music and this coupled with an exhibition of strong songwriting skills and an organically raw yet powerfully rich production job results in a very confident debut album which makes a strong statement not only in the world of metalcore but the world of heavy music in general and stands out proudly amongst a very overpopulated genre.

BitterJalapeno Released in the summer of 2021 by 20 Buck Spin, “Deconsecrate” is the sophomore full length release from Oregon based blackened death metal band Aenigmatum. It boasts a complex sound, rooted in modern death metal with a slight glazing of black metal atmosphere coming mainly from the raw and organic production. As chaotic as the guitar riffs initially sound, they are also dripping with a healthy dose of melody and groove which becomes more apparent and rewarding with further listens. Amidst the bleak atmosphere and frenetic dissonance, there are pockets of fantastic melodic lead guitar which at points show influence from the twin guitar leads of Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden and allow the listener to let off some steam from the surrounding brutality.

The musicianship is superb across the board with the two guitarists complementing each other delightfully, switching sharply between riffing in unison/twin lead, tremolo picking and monstrously crushing riffs. The jazz influenced basslines are interestingly structured, providing additional layers of melody and a mix of crazy breakneck and slower groovy rhythms further assisted by a truly bombastic performance from the drummer. In terms of songwriting, “Deconsecrate” exhibits a great level of maturity with unconventional song structures throughout and plenty unexpected twists which keeps things consistently fresh and interesting for the full duration.

The only factor which ever so slightly drags this album down for me is that the vocals are so low in the mix that you almost forget they are there at times, but this may be due to them being enveloped in a full set of staggering performances from all musicians.

To summarise, this album is a 45-minute blackened death roller-coaster played with great conviction and a high degree of technical skill which should please most fans of modern death metal - in particular, fans of the twisted death metal of Diskord. Despite there being a lot of stiff competition in 2021, the intense musical performances and intriguing song structures of “Deconsecrate” have engaged with me on such a level that I am compelled to name it my album of the year and I can’t wait to hear what they have to offer next.

BitterJalapeno Released in 2018, “Existential Void Guardian” is the fourth full length studio album by UK doom metal titans Conan. It’s a release which carries on in a similar vein to the preceding albums. This is certainly not a negative point as the consistently high standard of said releases is commendable and on this one, the songwriting has an even greater level of sophistication.

As usual, we are instantly lambasted with an impenetrable storm of monumental riffs from which there is no escape. The guitar tone is beyond powerful and is amongst the densest I’ve ever heard. This is accompanied by angst ridden and enraged vocals which are reminiscent of Scott Kelly. The overall vibe is somewhat a fusion of the abrasive, pained anger of Neurosis and the slow stoner doom of Sleep but avoiding the whole idea of creating a 1 hour long track from a handful of riffs and jam-like solos.

Aside from the songwriting, one thing that stands out from previous releases is the production - clearer, warmer and more professional sounding without going so far as to sound overly polished. This is ideal for not compromising the delightfully ludicrous levels of heaviness in the music.

“Existential Void Guardian” is an utterly crushing album and truly provides the sense of an impending disaster looming on the horizon. If doom metal is your thing, you should familiarise yourself with Conan’s material if you have not already.

BitterJalapeno Released in Spring of 2008, “Meanderthal” is the second studio album from Floridian stoner metal outfit Torche – a band comprising members of sludge metal bands Floor and Cavity. Vocalist and guitarist Steve Brooks continues Floor’s legacy of combining crushingly heavy riffs with melodic clean vocals to great effect. Stoner metal is not the first thing that springs to mind when listening to “Meanderthal” but pop-tinged sludge - something akin to a fusion of Cavity and Jimmy Eat World with a trace of psychedelic rock thrown in.

The aptly titled opener “Triumph of Venus” gets things off to a superb start with it’s ultra downtuned and heavy rhythm guitar alongside powerful, thundering drums and layers of triumphantly blistering lead guitar which is reminiscent of the more melodic side of Mastodon and really sets things up nicely for the remainder of the album.

Unusually, the dirty sludge riffs and chord progressions tend to be played in a major key which, alongside the highly melodic vocals, provides a sun-soaked, accessible form of sludge which I find equally uplifting and addictive although at the same time, I can appreciate that few bands would be capable of pulling off this mix of sounds successfully. The album reaches its sludgiest point on the penultimate and final tracks “Amnesian” and “Meanderthal” which alongside “Grenades” and the aforementioned opener “Triumph of Venus” are the biggest highlights of the album for me.

“Meanderthal” is not an album which displays huge amounts of variance or technical complexity so clocking in at a shade over 36 minutes in length is entirely appropriate for the style of music as it negates the chance of growing prematurely stale.

I would highly recommend this album to fans of Floor and to any open minded metal fan willing to look past the accessible and poppy qualities mentioned above and try something a bit different. A great uplifting release and great summer listening.

BitterJalapeno Released in 2001, “Sonic Excess in its Purest Form” is the seventh studio album by Louisiana based sludge metal legends Crowbar. Listeners are presented with the classic Crowbar formula - their trademark slow and brooding brand of sludge occasionally interspersed with short bursts of fierce aggression.

This appropriately named album blends elements of previous Crowbar releases into a neatly packaged 45 minutes of sonic bliss sure to appeal to any fan of sludge. It takes the violent aggression of 1996’s “Broken Glass” and fuses it with the sorrowful “Odd Fellows Rest” from 1998 resulting in an extremely refined product and a wonderfully satisfying listen. The production is excellent – crisp, clear and warm with a ludicrously heavy guitar tone, enveloping the listener in an exquisite blanket of beefy riffs that are deeper than the ocean and powerful enough to move mountains.

For me, no other metal artist comes close to matching Crowbar in terms of the deeply emotional delivery of their music. The centrepiece of this is Windstein’s earnestly anguished vocals as he rasps and growls emotively over thick waves of immensely immersive and hypnotic music from the rhythm section.

“Sonic Excess in its Purest Form” is a contender for my favourite Crowbar album along with the aforementioned big beasts “Broken Glass” and “Odd Fellows Rest” and is, without doubt, essential listening for fans of sludge metal. I reckon it’s also a great choice for an introduction to the band for those unfamiliar with their work. Lastly, I’d recommend whacking the volume up full as you can. It will enhance the experience.

BitterJalapeno Although originally released in 1999, this review has been written based on the 2002 reissue.

As one would expect from a sludge recording, thick and meaty blues influenced riffs are very abundant and continually assault the listener with very little respite – no complaints from me of such assault as I am a bit of a masochist for being abusively flattened the heaviest of riffs as I imagine many others are. Another common sludge trait consistent with this release is the almost constant use of ear piercing guitar feedback.

Although sludge by definition is influenced by punk, I feel this album showcases a more punk tinged sound than most other sludge I am familiar with. For example, the vocals in the first track remind me of a more violent version of Bruce Loose from massively influential San Francisco punk outfit Flipper before becoming much rougher and harsher for much of the remainder of the album. A further example of this would be the average track length which is much shorter than most metal tracks with only 4 of the 11 tracks breaking the 4 minute mark and 5 tracks not reaching 3 minutes.

Elements of Stoner rock/metal are also exhibited in a few moments such as “Taint and Abandon” which features the same riff throughout and after opening with nice calm stonerish vibes, suddenly blasts everyone listening with a sludge soaked version of the same riff. Other tracks such as “Threshold” and “How Much Lost” conjurer up delightful memories of the stoner metal/desert rock of Kyuss which I now realise I must refresh myself with as a matter of urgency.

Overall, I would say this an essential riff-fest of an album for anyone who enjoys getting down and dirty with a bit of sludge or for anyone who simply enjoys mega powerful riffage in any format.

4.5/5

BitterJalapeno Widely considered to be their magnum opus, 1994s Troublegum is the second full length studio release by Northern Irish alternative metal outfit Therapy? The album marks a progression from the vaguely industrial/post-punk influenced music heard on predecessor “Nurse” to a more straightforward and accessible metal sound. It is altogether a more focused recording with far cleaner production, neater song structures with a much stronger and more defined vocal performance from front man Andy Cairns.

Arguably one of their most accessible releases to date, Troublegum has detectable influences from genres such as pop punk which I imagine may put some people off giving it a bash but I would advise those who haven’t listened to still do so. The album does not hang about and from the first second is bursting at the seams with aggressive riffage, catchy hooks and copious amounts of noisy feedback. Lyrically, the album explores themes of anxiety, rejection and self-loathing amongst others and is delivered to the ear canals with a large dose of hatred and rage.

Despite the obvious negativity in the musical and lyrical output, it still manages to be a fun and motivating listen which I would recommend to any fan of metal or rock based alternative music. I would also recommend catching a live performance if you ever get the chance – many songs from Troublegum are set staples.

4/5

BitterJalapeno Many thanks to Unitron for kindly recommending this album to me. A rather interesting listen with many musical styles being brought together in unexpected harmony.

The bulk of the album is composed of deep grooves, aggressive, sometimes dissonant riffs and angry screamed vocals but throughout the album, there are some portions which lean more to avant-garde metal and others with the addition of some entirely different genres altogether.

On a few tracks, the metal gets briefly abandoned for hip-hop beats/rapping. Being someone who is generally not the biggest fan of that genre, this was not something I was expecting to enjoy but for a reason I honestly cannot pinpoint, I have no issue with it being inclusive on this album.

Jazzy material also features occasionally. For example, the track "Constant Velocity is as Natural as Being at Rest" makes use of a trumpet in sections that sound not unlike the jazz inspired post-rock of Tortoise. There is also a nice vibraphone solo on "The Constant Destination." Although these sections work surprisingly well, they are appropriately short lived and the listener is soon catapulted back to abrasive metal.

Further surprises were discovered in the final track – “Opposing Meter”. It begins with eerie background noise and a rapid rotating synth part which sounds like Pink Floyd’s “On the Run” followed by a few minutes of silence. After this, we are treated roughly 15 minutes of very pleasant and soft psychedelic guitar work overlying slow rhythms on bongos/djembe. I did feel this could easily have been shortened significantly but it was enjoyable regardless.

Overall, I found this album to be a bit of roller-coaster encompassing a wide variety of influences and takes your mind in many directions. Perhaps not one I will listen to frequently, but I know I will gladly return to it when the mood strikes. 3.5/5 from me.

BitterJ

BitterJalapeno Deep, dark and exceptionally moody, A WORLD LIT ONLY BY FIRE was the first GODFLESH album released in nearly 13 years after 2001s HYMNS. I get the impression that they were trying to record something of refreshed version of their first studio album STREETCLEANER which I think they did successfully. Call it a STREETCLEANER 2.0 if you will. It has the same relentless rumbling aggression, very low tuning and Broadrick's signature bark but with a fresher feel from the modern production. If you listen with headphones up full blast and close you eyes, you can practically see the fire mentioned in the album title (or maybe it just makes me think of the album cover of STREETCLEANER??)

Having said that, I would still put STREETCLEANER in front of this down to its originality at the time of its release even though the music itself has a less professional feel which is generally the case for most first releases anyway and certainly not always a bad thing.

One thing that lets A WORLD LIT ONLY BY FIRE down in my opinion is that it can feel that it drags on somewhat towards the end and on occasion, i do not make it quite to the end of the album. For this reason, I cannot give more than 3.5/5. Still a great album which I would recommend to anyone who likes their metal dark and bleak.

BitterJ

BitterJalapeno I hate to use the word "unprecedented" at a time when the word has lost all meaning due the frequency of its use in the 2020 media but there is no alternate word i can use to describe the heaviness of this album. I don't mean heavy as in the brutality of the music or heavy as in shockingly harsh vocals. I mean heavy as in the heavy emotion projected by Kirk and the boys which is dripping in so much sorrow and burning pain that it will weigh you down to the point where you are empathizing with their misery - in a very good way.

The album is very slow and at some points dirgey but my god, the delivery is brute force. The riffs are of gargantuan proportions and sort of sound like two giants battling on a mountain top. These are carried along by the ever pounding drums and together with the rasping vocals of Windstein, the whole thing washes over you in a big wave of sludgy goodness. If you have not had the pleasure of this album yet, please get yourself immersed.

Deep, passionate, sorrowful, amazing. Truly deserving of a 5/5.

PS: Good Iron Maiden cover to round things off at the end.

BitterJalapeno After years of drifting away from the heavier side of music and spending a lot of time wandering around the misty realms psychedelic, I find myself back with a bang and have been revisiting some metal relics from my teenage iPod days. This, coupled with the Covid-19 lockdown in Scotland has sent me on a rampage of metal music discovery with death/prog/sludge/doom being at the very heart of it.

This album was a first for me in 2020 and I have to say that I already love it dearly like an old friend. It has equal elements of death metal and progressive metal but is also surprisingly easy going and very much likable on first listen which is not always the case for some albums spanning the death/prog sub genres. For example, GORGUTS' OBSCURA took me a good 5 focused listens to even begin to comprehend although I did also eventually love it and is also now a firm favourite.

Crimson flows seamlessly through 8 parts of a prog/death metal epic and is full of incredible deep riffs peppered with highly melodic lead guitar parts, some of which are reminiscent of the music of NWOBHM and which also have clearly been an influence on the likes of MASTODON who took sludge metal to new territories in the early 00s. The more melodic side of this album can also be clearly heard in the more accessible bands of the 00s melodic metalcore scene such as KILLSWITCH ENGAGE.

I would recommend this album highly to lovers of all types of metal music, even those that are put off by the death growls as it exhibits a stunning atmospheric and melodic quality which I feel makes it more easily penetrable than the majority of other albums within the genre. Overall, an outstanding adventure through sound. My only disappointment is that I had not heard it prior to 2020.