Bursting onto the scene, as Potteries pounders Black Coast did with Outworld their 2021 debut, is one thing, keeping the momentum going is another, and from the onset of the raging ‘REAL (Are You Listening)?’, it’s clear the five-piece contemporary metal outfit are not just looking to do that, but they intend not to waste the opportunity this five-song offering gives to remind people just how good and how potent they are ahead of any subsequent longer releases.
Mixing fire-brand caustic riffs and screams with hooks, more considered sections, such as when the fury abates halfway through ‘CHAINS’, or the Loathe-esque ‘SEX’, this self-titled, self-released EP is more than effective in stating the case for both the breadth and the quality of these rising stars. With tasty elements of Deftones’ brand of nu-metalcore laced throughout, and an ability to mix controlled heaviness with impetus and hooks (‘MERCY’ is a great showcase for the band), as well as having that older-school feel of not feeling constrained by a sub-genre (or deliberate mesh of two sub-genres), Black Coast’s rise continues unabated
Buy the EP here:
8 / 10
Occupying a space somewhere between symphonic rock and metalcore, and building their profile away from the standard album/label approach, Halocene are taking a more traditional approach by releasing Maleficent (Self-Released) a single-cum-EP that mixes originals – the stomping and catchy Amaranthe-esque title track as well as the impressive ‘Hold Me, Help Me’ and ‘Repent’ that throw a nod to New Years Day, and a collab with YouTube cover vocalist Violet Orlandi on a fairly stock Evanescence-lite tune ‘The Mirror’ – with some choice covers to bolster things out
Of those, turning Sam Smith’s ‘Unholy’ into a metal track appears a natural act in the hands of a trio who have cut their teeth in the YouTube metal covers market over the last few years and is more convincing and effective than you might expect, with the end result sounding like something that could be on a Poppy album, while ‘Running Up That Hill’ is a harmless and standard take on the track, Adie Nicole Amick showing reverence with the vocals as the guitars beef up the midsection. However, the less said about the ham-fisted cod-metal stomp version of ‘Closer’ (Nine Inch Nails) the better (shivers).
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6 / 10
Fair play to Virtual Hardcore (their term!) proponents Tokky Horror for effortlessly blending punk, techno, and alternative pop in a way that still feels like a rock release with the KAPPACORE EP (Venn Records), the follow-up to their 2021 COVID / virtual debut. I’m not going to try and fake any down-ness with any kids by trying to pretend I know any contemporary references, but the smooth integration of nineties beats, that reminds of Faithless, Atari Teenage Riot, and Aphex Twin, while dialling in poppy moments and a punk energy not dissimilar to a less intense Ho99o9 makes for a quirky, interesting and engaging listen. Also, shout out for stealing song-title of the year with ‘Tranmere Raver’. Chapeau.
Using the EP to clear the decks from Gen 01 of the band ahead of going on to record their next full-length, Tokky Horror have consciously used the guitars in a more subliminal way, focusing on beats and vocals, particularly on single ‘Toilet’. While some acts feel like they’re trying to forcibly be different, or shoehorning different elements and influences together, KAPPACORE is a natural bringing together of throbbing bass, dance beats, and punk guitar behind unconventional and alternative pop vocals. If this is the end of phase one, we await the expansion and explosion of phase two with bated breath.
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7 / 10
While it is somewhat disingenuous and sneaky to include Loud As Giants Empty Homes (Consouling Sounds) in an EP’s round-up, it is only four songs, even if the shortest of these tickles the eleven-minute mark. It is also far too good and interesting a release to sit idly by without a home to recommend it on these hallowed pages.
A predominantly minimalist combination of post-rock, electronics, drone, and beats, this forty-five-minute collaboration of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh / Jesu et al) and Dirk Serries (Fear Falls Burning) manages to be both immersive soundtrack, comforting background, and challenging thought-provoker all at once. Never rushing, never forced, each of the four songs establishes and expands on a feeling and a slightly different theme to its companion pieces, like four episodes of a series that, although linked, doesn’t have an overriding story arc.
Opening and closing pieces (‘Monument’ and ‘Isolation’ respectively) are the less intrusive moments, ‘Estranged’ builds with ominous intent without ever giving way to full horror, and ‘Room Three’ perhaps gives off the greatest set of urgency and unsettlement. With a concept involving the feelings and emotions of different rooms in empty houses, and musically being a vehicle for Serries and Broadrick to collaborate on the type of music they grew up with, the reflective and patient nature of Loud As Giants’ music is both entrancing and inviting.
Buy the EP here:
https://store.consouling.be/products/title-empty-homes-marble-lp
7 / 10
Whether the unhinged nature of Swollen Teeth’s self-titled EP (produced by Slipknot’s Sid Wilson and released on Ross Robinson, Ghostmane, and Bill Armstrong’s new label Blowed Out) is a cynical and overwrought and over thought approach, or they’re just overflowing with a chaotic mesh of ideas that shout over each other in a competition to be heard, this combination of nu-metal and post-Forever hardcore sways from moments of quality and inspiration to self-sabotage and back again, the lurching swing of opener ‘Empty’ derailed by a chant that spells out the band’s name (yet doesn’t quite fit the timing), before finding a low-slung chug that bails it out.
The vocal heterogeneity helps the feeling of Swollen Teeth being the aural equivalent of one of those art videos that careens from one shot to a wildly different one to create a feeling of disorientation, though the cleaner shouted vocal (that always sounds like it’s going to break into “Where’s Your Head At?”) grates and suspends the disbelief. Deliberately espousing the cut-up, non-linear approach to crafting a song has its benefits, and there is promise in the chaos with sections working really well, though you can’t help shaking the feeling this is fifteen songs chopped up, re-ordered at random into five. Code Orange remain one of the few to master the art of splice metal.
Buy the EP here:
6 / 10
They may be born from the hardcore scene, and feature members congregated from Gulch, Ripped To Shreds, Dead Heat, and Sunami, but back from the dead Death Metallists Spinebreaker have laid down a marker with Cavern Of Inoculation Cognition (Creator-Destructor). Staying in the sludgier mire of the mid-paced and chunky end of the death style, ‘Infinite Crest’ snakes like a Trey Azagthoth possessed anaconda on a heavy-weight constriction splurge, while ‘Bone Riddling Necrosis’ marries biting riffs with stately doomy crush, Alex Herrera cavernous reverb-drenched vocals adding to the claustrophobia.
Ominous dread seeps through, and Spinebreaker pitch the push and pull nature of their Asphyx-tinged deathly metals perfectly, maintaining feeling and mixing pace, groove, twisting six-stringery and tension across the six songs, with ‘Spectral Forge’ the most foreboding and ‘Crimson Mask’ the most crusty. A forceful return from an underrated and most welcome Death Metal adherent, that gives hope that the five musicians can find time amongst their other, less foetid commitments, to return to the coffin mulch once more, and post-haste at that.
Buy the EP here:
https://spinebreaker.bandcamp.com/album/cavern-of-inoculated-cognition
8 / 10
STEVE TOVEY