(Andy Synn presents three more artful examples of the Best of British)
There are three things which the three bands featured in today’s article all share:
One… they’re all British (though I suppose that’s obvious).
Two… they’ve all got eye-catching, instantly memorable, double-barrelled names.
And three… they’re all really fucking good.
BLIND MONARCH – THE DEAD REPLENISH THE EARTH
I have to apologise to the Blind Monarch boys, because I am woefully late in covering their second album, which was released back in mid-August.
The silver lining of this is that the delay has given me a lot more time to sit with The Dead Replenish the Earth and really let it sink in… sink being the apropos term for such a disgustingly doom-laden sonic quagmire as this, the experience of which is like dragging your wretched body across a morass of burning coals and broken glass.
It is, as a result, not an album for the faint-hearted or those with a short attention span – despite being a full ten minutes shorter than its predecessor it might be even more demanding, simply due to how much harsher and heavier it sounds – especially considering that the group have incorporated some even more prominent passages of doom-laden dronery into the dirge-like death-march of tracks like “Other Faces” and “Diminishing”.
In addition to all the gut-wrenching heaviness and bleak, gloomy ambience – the aforementioned “Diminishing” being a prime example of how the band juxtapose bowel-quaking guitars and bile-spewing vocals with moments of haunting minimalism – the occasional flash of mournful melody (such as that which crowns the second-half of the torturous title-track) serves to showcase another of the subtle ways in which the band have further expanded their creative palette this time around, adding some subtle shades of moody darkness to their harsh, ugly sound.
There’s absolutely no question that The Dead Replenish the Earth is a significant step up from What Is Imposed Must Be Endured, firmly positioning Blind Monarch as the UK’s answer to the likes of Primitive Man or Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean… but only time will tell if their profile will rise to a similar level.
GIANT WALKER – SILHOUETTES
While I am aware that there’s a somewhat annoying trend of comparing any female vocalist in the Rock/Metal to someone more famous, please rest assured that when I draw comparisons between Giant Walker vocalist Steff Fish and Oceans of Slumber‘s Cammie Gilbert it is both an apt comparison – just take a listen to the former’s rich, almost R&B influenced delivery on “Time to Waste” – and very much a compliment (and certainly nothing different than what I’d do for any other artist either).
The comparison gains even more weight when you realise that several of the best songs on Silhouettes bear a striking resemblance – though never a derivative one – to the more mellifluous and mainstream-friendly sound that Oceans of Slumber pursued on Starlight & Ash, with the likes of “Halcion”, captivating closer “What It’s Worth”, and the gorgeously gloomy title-track showcasing a similarly smooth, and sublimely soulful, sound.
But while Fish’s sublime singing might be the highlight of the album, its backbone is very much the subtly complex, cunningly catchy riff-work of guitarist Jamie Southern, whose funky, bouncy – and, let’s be honest, unabashedly Nu-Metal edged – style sits somewhere between the refined Prog-Pop of Karnivool (who are very much an admitted influence, the band make that very clear) and the effortlessly infectious Rock rhythms of Incubus (with perhaps just a dash of Leprous to be found in a song like “Eraser, Obscurer” as well).
The combination of these two elements (which is not to downplay the contributions of bassist Jordan Gregory and drummer Alex Black as the duo definitely possess the gift of groove) is what makes songs such as “Use On You” and “Round and Round We Go” so successful, both as potential radio hits (the former being especially deserving of a much wider audience) and as cleverly written pieces of pristine Prog-Metal magic.
But don’t just take my word for it… give it a listen for yourselves!
SWAMP COFFIN – DROWNING GLORY
It quickly becomes clear, the second that absolutely crushing album opener “Know You’re Worthless” kicks in, just why Swamp Coffin have recently been talking about getting more gigs with members of the UK Hardcore scene, because Drowning Glory hits just as hard as anything the beatdown brigade have to offer.
And when I say it hits hard… let me tell you, it really doesn’t pull any punches, as the aforementioned “Know You’re Worthless” is like going six rounds with an opponent who’s over a foot taller, and at least 100lbs heavier, who only offers you the barest break in the pummelling in which to catch your breath before he knocks the wind right out of you all over again.
That’s not too surprising though, as Sludge has always been Hardcore’s slower, nastier sibling, as the ultra-aggro assault of “This Was Always Going to End In War” and the relentless chug ‘n’ churn of “Hypocritical Mass” go a long way to demonstrating, while the bone-grinding war of attrition that is “Drowning Glory” – seven minutes of monstrously heavy guitars and morbidly infectious vocals, broken up by a scintillating solo, that hits you like an asphyxiating metallic mud-slide – and the swaggering, sickeningly catchy, strains of “Terminally Cursed” prove that you don’t need to play fast when you’re packing this much weight behind your punches.
That being said, arguably the best song on the album is also the most melodic, as the brooding vibes of “Chapter and Hearse” help push what is already a very impressive album to a whole new level, especially when the perfectly-placed sample from Network – “I’m a human being, god-dammit! My life has value!” – signals the transition into the song’s absolutely hypnotic, and resolutely heavy, second half.
Make no mistake, this is one of the top-tier albums of 2024, a record as virulent as it is violent – with colossal closer “As Cold As Blood” putting the final nail in this proverbial coffin with its heaving riffs, primal hooks, and absolutely massive breakdown – that deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.