SHORT BUT SWEET: DRAGONCORPSE / GLASSBONE / MINUALA / SALLOW MOTH

(Andy Synn dives into four recent short-but-sweet releases)

There’s been a lot of truly excellent EPs released this year, with at least a few more still to come (as a matter of fact, we’ve got our own new EP coming out just next week).

And although, for reasons previously stated, my time is probably going to be a little more limited than usual over the next month or so, I’m hoping to at least cover a few more of them before “List Season” officially kicks in.

Beginning with the four succulent morsels of metallic goodness that I’ve elected to feature here today.

DRAGONCORPSE – THE FALL OF HOUSE ABBARATH

Make no mistake about it, Dragoncorpse – who had the distinct honour of being my #1 pick on my list of personal favourite EPs last year – are a ridiculous band.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing – after all, Metal can be a pretty ridiculous genre, when all is said and done, one which often thrives on both sonic and stylistic excess – and by combining two of the most unashamedly overwrought sub-genres on the spectrum, Power Metal and Deathcore (a half Dragonforce, half Carnifex fusion which they’ve dubbed “Powercore”), the band have gleefully embraced their love of everything that’s OTT about the music they so clearly love.

Picking up (in musical terms at least, the actual story – because of course there’s a story behind it all – fits in between the first and second tracks of their previous EP) where last year’s The Drakketh Saga left off, the six tracks (well, five and one intro that you’ll probably end up skipping after you’ve heard it the first time) which make up The Fall of House Abbarath offer much the same mix of bombastic riffs and brutish breakdowns, interspersed with moments of shed-tastic technicality and passages of soaring melody, all topped off with a healthy helping of vivacious, shamelessly ostentatious, vocal melodies and gritty, glass-chewing growls.

Yet it’s clear the group have also spent a fair bit of time (and a not insignificant amount of effort) refining and streamlining their rather unique formula, such that the high-velocity heroics and hooky heaviness of songs like “Welcome Home”, the crushing-yet-catchy “I Live… AGAIN!” (which in places reminds me of long-defunct shred-core upstarts Woe of Tyrants), the pseudo-symphonic, staccato-meets-falsetto hybrid that is “A Quest for Truth”, and surprisingly brutal closer “Fear and Hunger”, all just seem that little tighter, the juxtaposition of styles and genres that little bit neater, and that little bit more polished overall.

Sure, I’d imagine a lot of you are still going to absolutely hate this – the band’s sound is as divisive as it is distinctive, likely by design – and the mawkish balladry of “Whisper on the Wind” probably deserves it… but I know at least some of you are going to have a lot of fun with this EP, and will probably end up looking forward to whatever the band do next just as much as I am.

GLASSBONE – DEAF TO SUFFERING

Death Metal and Hardcore, will they ever get along? Well, if French brutalists Glassbone have anything to say about it the answer is an emphatic “oui!”

Over the course of these tracks – collectively clocking in at just over sixteen-and-a-half minutes, with none of the songs ever breaking the four minute mark, such is the band’s commitment to keeping things as lean, and as mean, as possible – the French fivesome combine their darkest Death Metal aspirations and their heaviest Hardcore inspirations in a way which easily puts them on a par with some of the very best of the current crop of Death + ‘core hybrids (think bands like Tribal Gaze, Embrace Your Punishment, and Fuming Mouth).

Opener “Post Mortem Declaration”, for example, opens with the sound of abject despair… and then proceeds to beat you down, mentally and physically, with some of the year’s chunkiest, chuggiest riffs (think Obituary if they spent more time in the gym), after which the gruesomely-titled “In Your Guts” marries a merciless, Merauder-ish sense of aggression to some subtly Morbid Angel-ish touches (most notably in the song’s frequent use of venomous leads and ugly, lurching rhythms).

“Sanctified By the Blade” has an almost Immolation-esque feel to it, grinding and groaning and stomping after the listener like some massive, bowel-loosening monstrosity (and the addition of some moody, morbid melody near the end only furthers the comparison), while the utterly gargantuan grooves of the title-track could easily go toe-to-toe with Cannibal Corpse at their heaviest, with the group’s more devolved, cro-magnon tendencies helping the song hit even harder.

And then there’s closer “Power Through Decay” which combines an ugly, punky, Terminal Nation style stomp to some unexpectedly frenetic bursts of deathly frenzy (all topped off with a ruggedly simple, yet raggedly effective, repeated vocal refrain which find the band barking/growling the track title over some crushingly climactic heaviness that sits somewhere between the aforementioned Immolation and Incendiary).

That’s a lot of names to drop, and a high bar to set, I know, but Glassbone have quickly established themselves as one of my favourite new discoveries of the year with this EP, so I feel like the hype is at least a little deserved!

MINUALA – З​Е​М​Л​Я​-​М​А​Т​Е​Р​Ь

Wouldn’t you know it… you wait a couple of years for a new Minuala record, and then three(!) come along at once!

Of course, one of those albums is a re-recording of the group’s 2010 debut – which was followed in April by the band’s sixth album, В Агонии – and the other is the EP we’re here to talk about today, but that’s still a pretty impressive, and impressively prolific, release schedule all in one year.

Picking up the baton from the aforementioned В Агонии, which found the band shifting even further towards a moodier, and more restrained, Post-Metal sound, З​е​м​л​я​-​м​а​т​е​р​ь (transl. “Earth Mother”) takes the next logical step by further embracing the more brooding, Post-Black Metal side of  the group’s evolving identity, with the ululating female cleans and scintillating male snarls of “Я есмь” expanding the emotional palette of the music at the same time as the heaving guitars, subtle string embellishments, and sudden bursts of blastbeats shift their sonic approach even further towards the more blisteringly bleak, and achingly atmospheric, end of the spectrum.

The title track then takes this a step further, its melancholy melodies (including the occasional dash of poignant piano) and electrifying, tremolo-driven energy sharing a soulful spirit with the likes of Downfall of Gaia and Dödsrit, while the more introspective, folk-tinged strains of “Гори” put an even greater emphasis on atmosphere and ambience (with the clean vocals taking the lead for 90% of the track as well.

Last, but by no means least, “Чернь” takes a little bit of everything that has gone before it and takes an even bigger swing with it, combining massive, Post-Metal riffs, seething blackened intensity, and hypnotic, melancholic melody into just over four minutes of heart-wrenching, head-banging catharsis which prove that while Minuala may have changed a little over the years, their ability to captivate their audience definitely hasn’t.

SALLOW MOTH – VEIL

Well this was a pleasant surprise – after the release of 2021’s Stasis Cocoon I thought we’d seen and heard the last of Progressive Death Metal project Sallow Moth… yet here they are again with perhaps their most brutal and challenging work yet!

While there’s still a simmering undercurrent of classic Hypocrisy and Edge of Sanity underpinning the music (with the influence of the latter being particularly prominent during the EP’s more pensively proggy moments) opener “Relic of Deceptiva” quickly introduces you to an altogether gnarlier and more technically twisted version of the band, one whose cripplingly contorted riffage and writhing, churning rhythms also share a fair bit in common with the likes of Defeated Sanity and Disentomb.

As a result, there’s no question that Veil is the most aggressive and antagonistic release of Sallow Moth‘s career… but that doesn’t mean it’s forgotten how to embrace its weirder and more unorthodox side either.

Take “Gutscape Navigator”, for example – sure, its grisly guitars and uber-guttural vocals are as nasty as they come, but the frequent, almost jazzy, instrumental interruptions and passages of trippy proggery will keep you on your toes just as much as the sudden, surging tempo shifts and jagged, bone-jarring rhythmic twists.

The peak of the EP’s ambition (which is not to criticise ferocious final track “Return from Plana Chaos”, which continues to push the extremes in terms of both gut-wrenching heaviness and mind-bending weirdness) comes with the nine-minute “Noctai Carapace”, which combines the brutal technicality of Brodequin and the slamming savagery of Suffocation with touches of progged-out hyper-pop and sequences of soothing ambience whose juxtaposition and contrast demonstrates the project’s continuing willingness to push the boundaries with little to no regard to custom or convention.

It’s an exciting, adventurous release, that’s for sure, and while it may lose the band some fans who can’t cope with their new mutated form… chances are it’ll gain them just as many brand new followers eager to see what strange shapes they continue to take in the future!