GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, JANUARY 2024

(Gonzo returns with another end-of-month roundup of recommended releases, this time shining a light on albums and EPs released by six bands in January.)

January is such a bullshit month.

It’s cold as all fuck, everyone’s burned out – financially, emotionally, professionally – and shows/tours are few and far between. To pile it on, it’s also customarily a terrible month for new music. I wasn’t expecting to unearth much during my monthly search of metal’s grimy underbelly to include in this feature.

Lo and behold, I was dead fucking wrong. 2024 has already seen so many good releases in just over three weeks that I actually had to figure out what not to include here. (Coincidentally, three of the releases are from France, so make of that what you will.)

Regardless of geography, the sharp rise in early-year quality in 2024 is making me rethink old paradigms. Is the January curse on its way out? Am I reading too much into this? Is reality a lie? Are the machines reading my thoughts? Fuck.

 

SLIFT, ILION

With 2024 already off to an anomalous start, France’s SLIFT checks off another unusual box – to my knowledge, this is the first time I’ve written about any band on these pages that’s signed to Sub Pop.

Before you start lighting your Molotovs, though, the French trio is anything but your typical signing to the Seattle-based label. Come to think of it, they’re not your typical…anything? I could say they’re a psychedelic garage-rock version of Mastodon or a searing cosmic prog middle ground between Torche and Domkraft.

But to really understand what the three Frenchmen are doing here, you’ve got to listen to ILION in its entirety. It’s massively weird and refuses to conform to a single identity throughout its staggering 80-minute length. It will challenge you, to be sure – the first three songs hit just over 30 minutes combined – and it’s the kind of record that demands repeat spins after the journey ends for the first time. It’s simply impossible to absorb all this after a single spin.

The title track kicks us off and wastes no time sending your ears to another dimension, while “Nimh” drives ahead with the same kind of mind-bending fury found in the likes of Blood Mountain or Harmonicraft. From here, nearly every song feels like the album’s centerpiece, but really, all of them could claim that title. The jagged guitars, shouted vocals, and time signatures that jump around like microwaved popcorn all make for an exhilarating listen.

 

HAUNTOLOGIST, HOLLOW

The weird thing about this new project from Poland is that I heard a few songs and immediately recognized a similarity to Mgla.

Turns out, the similarity isn’t just a coincidence – Hauntologist features none other than drummer Darkside of Mgla fame. The other half of the band? The Fall, who has also spent some time with the Polish black ‘n’ roll outfit.

Sonically, think of Hauntologist as a more atmospheric counterpart to the raw ferocity found in the duo’s other work. Hell, there are even some passages that you wouldn’t be wrong for calling “post-rock” (mainly in the magnificent track “Hollow”) and the band isn’t afraid to slap that label on their Metal Archives page.

“Ozymandian” comes bursting out of the gate with plenty of ill intent, and “Golem” takes its time getting going. It’s obvious the duo in Hauntologist have been around the block a few times, and it’s always fun to hear what accomplished musicians like to do when they’re not focused on their “main” projects.

 

MOURNING DAWN, THE FOAM OF DESPAIR

This band is one I’d never heard of before, but apparently they’ve been active in the French underground scene since 2002. Originally a one-man project of multi-instrumentalist Laurent Chaulet, Mourning Dawn are aiming high with the release of The Foam of Despair.

The band’s sound is melodic but sludgy, featuring plenty of heart-wrenching themes of loss, despair, and depression throughout. “Blue Pain” was the track that first caught my attention, sounding agonized and aggressive at the same time. Chaulet’s howl occasionally reminds me of Johan Liiva’s days with Arch Enemy in another life, but the music is far less technical and leans more on the slower, melancholy side of things.

A surprise nugget towards the end of The Foam of Despair is “Suzerain,” which brings to mind the chaotic post-Armageddon drudge of Godflesh. Don’t sleep on this one.

 

QILIN, PARASOMNIA

Wrapping up our unlikely French trifecta this month is the frenzied psychedelic sound of Qilin. I’d call them “the French Elder” for a possibly disingenuous take on their sound, but it’s not an inaccurate comparison. (Minus the vocals, given that Qilin doesn’t have a vocalist.)

Parasomnia is the band’s second album. It begins gently enough, with bluesy soundscapes that stray far from any metallic territory in “Lethean Dreams.” A heavy bassline rumbles underneath dreamy guitars that set up the song for a slow build of distortion and heaviness.

And that’s the formula in play with Parasomnia as a whole – it takes you on a voyage; some of the destinations are slightly unexpected, but I especially love how “Hundred-Handed Wards” brings the “Dopesmoker” riff back and takes it for a walk. There are moments that definitely evoke a little bit of Sleep mixed with Russian Circles when the band doesn’t lean on their jam-band tendencies, but the entirety of the record is creative, interesting, and overall engaging – and I usually prefer my metal with vocals, so that’s saying something.

 

ALLUVIAL, DEATH IS BUT A DOOR

It seems like this band is catching a ride on all the big tours lately, and it’s not hard to see why. While I didn’t eat up their last full-length as ravenously as some did, this EP sees the band evolve their sound a little – and I’m officially intrigued.

Traditional deathcore tends to bore me to tears, but Alluvial has found a way to at least keep it interesting without relying on the tropes that so many of their peers often do. Does the band still take an audial sledgehammer to your face at most opportunities? Yes. But do they know when to refine their sound into something more progressive? Also yes.

Opener “Bog Dweller” sets the pace well here, while “Fogbelt” and the title track bring to mind how The Acacia Strain sounds at times, minus the puff-up-your-chest singalong choruses. The way “Fogbelt” progressively builds the riff while messing with the time signature is decidedly fun. “Area Code” comes thrashing out of the gate soon after, and the title track wallows into doomier territory with a surprising inclusion of clean singing. (I’m just breaking every fucking rule in the book with reviewing this one, aren’t I?)

 

ESCUELA GRIND, DEEEAAATHMETTAAALL and Ppoowerviiooolllenncce

These New Englanders are turning more heads with every consecutive album and corresponding tour. I knew close to nothing about them before catching their explosive poolside set at Psycho a couple summers ago, but I’ve been a fan ever since.

The two new EPs they’ve put out aren’t shy about telling you exactly what you’ll find on each – I’ll let the titles do the talking there. But for the sake of comparison, the “death metal” EP is orders of magnitude more satisfying and coherent to listen to, with tracks like “Ball and Chain” and “Meat Magnet” (featuring the inimitable Barney Greenway on vocals) taking a proverbial 10-ton hammer to your eardrums.

You can practically feel vocalist Katerina’s energy bursting through your speakers with every roar, growl, and scream she utters – and that’s the story on both EPs here. It might only have four tracks, but it’s arguably just as good as their last full-length Memory Theater that’s double its length.

The “power violence” EP almost feels like an homage to the esoteric subgenre itself, featuring spastic bursts of raw, white-hot aggression that end before you can even start to bang your head. But that’s the point. And really, that’s how Escuela Grind likes to roll.

 

Like what you hear? Follow my best-of-2024 playlist for selections from everything you’ve just read, and a whole helluva lot more.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7zWqE685GVpuB5M3qRDvog?si=08d80939b43e4d89