Makeshift Altars

      Classy songwriting in a scene inundated with 'progressive' pretenders -      Luna's Call's sophomore effort impresses with wide-ranging and varied musical influences that never feel integrated capriciously. The term 'progressive metal' is quite loaded by its nature - ostensibly bands in this genre are somehow elevated above or are more forward-thinking than their brethren in more roots-oriented genres like doom or traditional death metal - whether by virtue of their songwriting, instrumentation or some other metric. As a longtime fan of the genre, I'm very familiar with the wide-ranging variety of music that can fall under this cognomen - as well as the blurry lines between this and other subgenres. And so, when Dalton here at Makeshift Altars sent me links to this record and I read 'Progressive Death Metal' on their bandcamp page, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed in the least - while other bands t...

  Belgian romantics, Marche Funèbre, conjure an operatic image of longing, grief, and loss of hope in the modern age     Isn't it so nice when a band's name accurately reflects the sound of their music? For all those who have trouble using Google translate (or can't make sense of English cognates in foreign languages), Marche Funèbre is French for "funeral march" or "funeral parade". As one might expect, a band name with such somber connotations belongs to a band playing somber, moody music. In fact I kind of find it funny that they play death doom rather than funeral doom, though I suppose that might be a little too on-the-nose. But enough of genre conventions and names, who are these people?     Marche Funèbre have been together since 2008, and Einderlicht  is their fourth provocation to the god of mourning and sorrow (see; album) since then. From their inception, Marche have been quite steadfast in their use of several key songwriting elements: decrep...

  The School of Riff Architecture is open for class, and the professors emeritus in Desolator have laid down their syllabus for the year     Yeah, that's right, the boys from Sweden are serving up healthy helpings of speed and aggression as all the kids return to school. What better time to dole out relentless riffage than when it's time to start believing yourself a scholar once again? Straight out of Stockholm, Desolator are setting the scene for the world of sermons and seminars the world 'round with their second full-length album, Sermon of Apathy . I'll be the first to tell you there's absolutely no fucking around going on this time around either. Brandishing a species of borderline melodeath sensibilities mixed in with some of the sludgiest offerings of the modern OSDM revival scene, Desolator have set about showing everyone how shit is done; in style.     Back in 2013 Desolator blazed onto the scene with a breakout album worthy of note for anyone whose de...

  Ov Shadows fly in to deliver you a glacial slab of black metal all the way from Sweden, and boy are their arms tired...     ...not from flapping their would-be wings, of course, which I’m sure would be covered in tar-black feathers. Either that or something resembling a bat’s wings. Black Metal Animorphs, anyone? Just me? Okay... no, in all seriousness, where these black metal bands get the stamina to deliver these absolutely pelting sections of blastbeats and constant double-picked leads for at least 90 percent of a 45-minute album is beyond me. But Ov Shadows pull it off, and showcase a wealth of not only arm strength but songwriting competence as well.     Black metal can really start to sound a bit unimaginative after listening to artists try to pull off the same wintery sound over and over, with so many purposefully under-produced tracks you would think a business selling only $5 microphones would be trading on the New York Stock Exchange by now. So w...

       Back at the end of August, Massacre Records quietly released a new record from old school death metal aficionados Voracious Scourge - hailing from Baton Rouge and formed from members and ex-members of many famous groups from throughout extreme metal history, the hellish imagery on the album's cover - which no doubt would look stellar on a record sleeve - is entirely reflective of the music contained within. From Voracious Scourge's Bandcamp: 'Old school death metal project formed by Jason McIntyre. The love of late 80's and early 90's death metal fuels the writing behind the project. VS h e arkens back to the good old days when creating great songs with solid riffs and vocal hooks that grabbed you and stuck in your brain like mental meat hooks, was the mission.' Consider me meat-hooked, lads. In Death is their first full-length after a compilation release and an EP previously, and opens with horror game pastiche, droning synths and ominous choir sounds pu...

  Willowtip Records doles out another dose of death metal – this time with a twist of Belarusian brutality.     Forgive me, as I’m going to begin with a digression: I revisited the movie As Above, So Below a few weeks ago and since then I’ve become a little preoccupied with the study of Christian mysticism what with all the references to “Dante’s Inferno” strewn throughout its creepy Parisian catacombs setting. Good movie, a little underrated if I do say so myself. Anyway, after I stumbled upon this new Ominous Scriptures release I realized how serendipitous it was that I happened to watch that and suddenly find myself neck deep in old-fashioned theological subject matter regarding heaven and hell, now that I had a matching musical thesis to go along with my research. Now, brace yourselves, because I don’t think we have a Dante Alighieri level of storytelling here (barring the connection of 9 tracks with the 9 circles of hell that is definitely intentional and in ...

    You can't not attract me with an ISIS inspired name like Wills Dissolve. That's my favorite track off of Panopticon, c'mon now. Not that Wills Dissolve, whom I will henceforth refer to as WD to avoid confusion, have anything to do with ISIS or post metal (maybe a little bit); but hot damn do they pretty well live up to such a name.     WD are a progressive metal band at heart with healthy smatterings of blackened death metal, and Echoes  is their new half-hour tirade on the emotion that accompanies spaghettification. As a single song, Echoes  functions similarly to the myriad other progressive epics of its ilk, and thus reminds me heavily of such contemporaries. Specifically, it feels incredibly like Green Carnation's Light of Day, Day of Darkness , though half as long, as well as a fair bit of Opeth's discography. While in this way it does feel somewhat derivative, I have to say it holds an enormous weight on its shoulders, evident from the opening mom...