(Andy Synn suggests three more short but sweet musical morsels for you to sink your teeth into)
What is it that they say about the best laid plans?
Some of you may have noticed a bit of a disruption to our regular publication schedule here at NCS this week, and that’s due to the fact that Islander is currently without power or internet where he lives and I’m dealing with a really nasty case of the flu that’s making it very difficult for me to function.
Rest assured, normal operations will be resumed at some point… but, until then, hopefully this little round-up of some recent EPs will keep you occupied and entertained.
CHURCH TONGUE – YOU’LL KNOW IT WAS ME
As the designated “Hardcore guy” on staff here at NCS I consider it my responsibility to highlight as many of the best new releases – from new bands and old ones – which come my way, especially when they lean more towards the metallic end of the spectrum.
Case in point, the new EP from Indiana’s Church Tongue (following on from 2021’s The Hubris of Gods Departed) is six savage songs of raging riffs, rampaging breakdowns, and raw, in your face emotion perfect for fans of bands like No Cure, Walking Wounded, Candy, etc, and easily one of my favourite short-form releases of the year so far.
“Heart of Darkness”, for example, hits you straight away with a blend of punishingly heavy riffs and surprisingly fluid bass work, all welded to a variety of viscerally hooky rhythms, while the the discordant, blastbeat-driven brutality of “One Hand Wrapped Around the Sun” pushes the intensity up another few notches.
“When It Betrays” showcases some of the most technically complex and rhythmically contorted riffage and drum work on the whole EP (sounding, at times, like a heavier, more overtly Hardcore-influenced version of God Forbid – especially when those guest vocals from Colin Young kick in) and is an easy pick for one of the record’s biggest highlights, but that doesn’t mean you should disregard the menacing slow-burn of “The Fury of Love” (which features a throat-shredding guest appearance from Crystal Pak of Initiate as the song builds to its violent crescendo) or the feral fury of the Fuming Mouth-esque “Bury Me (One Thousand Times)” which follow.
The climactic title-track, however, is one that you really can’t afford to miss, with its heavy emphasis on atmosphere and morose melody (plus a killer guest spot from Deafheaven‘s George Clark – which is saying something, since I honestly don’t like anything after their first album) as it transitions into its colossal second act which makes it feel far more epic and expansive than its relatively trim run-time would indicate.
Honestly, even if you’re not normally into this kind of thing I’d recommend at least giving You’ll Know It Was Me a chance, as it’s definitely one of the realest and most emotionally raw releases of the year so far.
GRAND DEVOURER – TRAVERSING THE VOID
You know what they say… you only get one chance to make a first impression, and German death-dealers Grand Devourer have made one hell of an impression on me with their debut EP, Traversing the Void, that’s for sure.
Clocking in at just over twenty three minutes in total, these seven songs sit somewhere between the headbanging hookiness of Bæst, the gut-wrenching grooves of Blood Red Throne, and the pedal-to-the-metal pounding of The Crown, with the absolute riff-gasm of “Totalitarian Dominion” and the arguably even more unrelenting blast ‘n’ burn blitzkrieg of “Circling the Abyss” strongly favouring the latter with their high-velocity, high-impact intensity.
The gargantuan grooves and shred-tastic soloing of “M777” then shift the focus a little more towards aping Blood Red Throne‘s punchy rhythmic bludgeoning, replete with a plethora of neck-wrecking hooks and a climactic burst of blast-driven brutality, after which “Beneath a Pale Horse” doubles down on those Bæst comparisons with the way it shifts back-and-forth between blasting, grooving, and grinding with merciless intent.
Speaking of “grinding”… the punky, one minute Death-Grind spasm of “Awaken the Beast” cuts right to the chase with no muss or fuss or wasted space, while the ridiculously catchy “Entropic Aura” infuses every riff and every rhythm, every lacerating lead and seething tremolo run, with an array of virulently infectious hooks which never threaten to reduce or dilute the monstrous heaviness of the music.
Closing with the longest and most involved track on the album, “Chasing A Behemoth”, the band then inject what sounds to me like a little bit of Hate and/or Aborted influence into the mix while also making room for a bit of brooding, introverted atmosphere during the song’s moody mid-section, suggesting that while Grand Devourer may still have a little way to go to truly find and define a sound that is recognisably their own they’re definitely already working with some of the best possible tools!
PYRRHIC SALVATION – WHEN SOCIETY CRUMBLES
It’s been three years since Pyrrhic Salvation issued their debut EP, and since then they’ve gone and added a brand new vocalist to the line-up, so it probably won’t surprise you to learn that the band’s sound on When Society Crumbles is not exactly the same as it was on Manifestum I (the more “blackened” elements in particular have been drastically toned down).
What probably will surprise you, however, once you push play on the embed below, is how strangely melodic so much of their latest EP is (albeit still in a strange, raw-around-the-edges, kind of way).
Opener “Infrastructures”, for example, while still as deliriously technical as ever (but, again, not in the clean, over-processed and over-produced sense which characterises much of what gets tagged as “Technical Death Metal”) possesses this unexpectedly infectious undercurrent of slippery pseudo-melody (which, on occasion, moves smoothly from the background into the foreground).
The band’s sound is still bristling with dissonance and discordance, of course, and the drums frequently sound like they’re about to go completely flying off the handle, but there’s a much clearer – and more melodic – method to the group’s madness this time around, especially during the outstanding “Insight”, whose nuanced, nimble-fingered bass-work and seething, subtly harmonic guitar layering (not to mention the more prominent use of poignant lead melodies) help make this track in particular as captivating as it is creative.
They’re not afraid to still get a little nasty when the occasion calls for it – the first half of “Inferiority Complexed”, for example, is a helter-skelter assault of dissonant aggression and jerky, jarring rhythms while the middle section of “Every Last Soul Unmade” ramps up the intensity even further – but the overall impression of When Society Crumbles is one of intricate progressive instrumentation and clever, unpredictable compositions wherein the heaviness and harshness is just one of many different facets and aspects of the band’s still evolving sound.