ALBUM REVIEW: The Phantom Carriage, "7-Year Epilogue"

By: Peter Morsellino

Album Type: Full Length 

Date Released: 14/08/2020 

Label: Throatruiner Records

 

“7 Year Epilogue” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Free at Last 

2). Every Second Holds a Life

3). A Tribute to Those Who Stand Still 

4). Old Tales, New Thoughts

5). Deeper, Lower 

6). The Fate

7). One Last Time

The Review:

France's The Phantom Carriage return from an extended hiatus with the incredibly ambitious “7 Year Epilogue”. A melding of genres and emotions, The Phantom Carriage really get the chance to spread their wings and let the creative juices flow.

With notes running the gamut of black metal, hardcore, and screamo, The Phantom Carriage show off a bit of everything in a great big crust punk cauldron here. The styles flow in and out of each other seamlessly, allowing for unbroken concentration on the stories being told by each song.  I'm tempted to note a bit of a black gaze thing going on, but I think this group moves beyond that trend. The melding of the generally cold hardcore and black metal influences with a very emotional lilt creates an immediate connection with the listener. It grabs hold of you and refuses to let go.  I do not believe that I've ever heard such catchy melodic hooks on a crust punk album before.

The raw emotion found pushing the musical delivery is the real star of the show on this album. The band does an amazing job of conveying an aura of dread and despair.  Vocally, The Phantom Carriage features a wide range, all leading back into the emotive product. There's anger here, but also fear and pain. It's a well-rounded picture of the story that is being told. 

The Phantom Carriage have a winner on their hands with “7-Year Epilogue”. It checks all the boxes for this reviewer, being a heavy, emotionally robust piece. I say check this one out.

“7-Year Epilogue” is available HERE

 

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Mourir, “Animal Bouffe Animal”

By: Josh McIntryre

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 21/02/2020

Label: Throatruiner 

“Animal Bouffe Animal” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Sentir Le Vide
2. Ton Univers Mental M’Épuise
3. Foutu Pour Foutu
4. La Gueule Ouverte
5. Parole De Hyène
6. Animal Bouffe Animal

The Review:

The comparisons to Plebeian Grandstand are inevitable given this initially being a project of that band’s bassist, Oliver L. That being said, Mourir stands out on its own and brings us an album that I fully expect to be one of 2020’s best in black metal.

This is more on the side of atmospheric black metal if we want to be picky but that doesn’t mean that Mourir stays in the background. The music isn’t exactly trance inducing. Instead, like Plebeian, Mourir is dark, dissonant, and downright aggressive. Its animalistic bite comes from the production as it is absolutely in-your-face the majority of the time whether blast-beats are pounding with a cranked snare (much louder than most black metal) or when they are pulled back for more crushing sections. Even the ambient sections feel threatening. In addition to this hell-inducing music the vocals are bestial, demonic. They sound like the core of someone’s inner being, with all of their existential anguish, lashing out onto the world.

Heavy metal has been inducing this kind of imagery for fifty years now so it is rare to find a band that stands out in its brutality. This, for me, rings even more true within the black metal genre, a culture filled with bands that try to be ‘dark and evil’ but just end up mellow and corny. It just sounds so personal with Mourir. It’s the difference between fantasy violence, like playing Mortal Kombat as a kid, and seeing actual blood from an actual person. It’s the nausea felt by Antoine Roquentin and the bitter ennui we’d expect from Sisyphus, even if he’s supposed to be happy. There’s a certain psychological realism at play that’s hard to explain but ultimately it’s our ability to relate that makes it all the more gruesome and yet so much more interesting.

“Animal Bouffe Animal “is supposed to sound like we’re being pulled into Hell (and reads like it from what I gather using Google to translate the French lyrics) yet it feels like the human id screaming at a world it is mismatched with, as if Hell is just a metaphor. Misþyrming and Blut Aus Nord stand out as other bands I’d liken Mourir to and this record is easily as good as the 2019 albums from both, respectively. When you want your black metal to be disgusting and aggressive this record is a must.

“Animal Bouffe Animal” is available HERE

Band info: Instagram || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Fange, "Punir"

By: Charlie Butler


Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 01/03/2019
Label: Throatruiner

The spite of Fange's aural barrage is both terrifying and exhilarating, enhanced by an oppressive, ominous atmosphere and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to hear crusty sludge being twisted into weird new forms.

“Punir” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Ceinturon
2. Chien De Sang
3. Les Boyaux De La Princesse
4. Opinel
5. Il Reconnaîtra Les Siens
6. Maintien De L'Ordre
7. Second Soleil

The Review:

Fange are setting the bar high for filthy heaviness in 2019 with new LP “Punir”. Familiar elements can be detected within the Rennes quartet’s sonic onslaught but they bring them together to create their own unique brand of horrible noise. 

“Ceinturon” rips into life with a cloud of buzzing evil riffage that sets expectations for a no-nonsense crusty death metal hellride. While a lot of “Punir” delivers on these expectations, there is a whole lot of other unexpected nastiness going on too. The previously mentioned opener and “Les Boyaux De La Princesse” take the listener on intense journeys into the heart of darkness, melding punk metal filth with lumbering weighty sludge. The spite of Fange's aural barrage is both terrifying and exhilarating, enhanced by an oppressive, ominous atmosphere. The ever-present cloud of reverb that cloaks proceedings and the heavy use of chorus-laden lead guitar creates an awkward, uneasy feel that sits somewhere between gothy post-punk, black metal and noise rock. This strangeness serves to intensify and amplify the surrounding carnage and lends “Punir” a very distinctive sound.

“Opinel” and “Maintien De L'Ordre” offer two brief left turns into pure noise, agonised howls and programmed beats. Although short, these tracks demonstrate the full breadth of Fange's sonic arsenal and could easily support an album of their own. The pay-off of “Opinel” in particular begs for more material like this, coming across like Death Grips being played through a stereo that has been thrown down a flight of stairs, then set on fire. The climax of closer “Second Soleil” utilises these noisy electronic elements within the context of their more metallic material to great effect. The unexpectedly subdued finale creates a hypnotic air of dread by opting for a slow floor tom heavy thud which soon becomes swamped by distorted beats and rising tides of hissing static. 

“Punir” is a punishing release from Fange, highly recommended for anyone who wants to hear crusty sludge being twisted into weird new forms.

“Punir” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Great Falls, "A Sense Of Rest"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 21/12/2018

Label: Corpse Flower Records |

Throatruiner Records |

Init Records

 

…the band have expanded their sonic horizons to cover new levels of punishing heaviness.  Jagged shards of damaged post-hardcore now give way to crushing low-end riffs like a collision between KEN Mode and “Remission” era Mastodon

 

“A Sense Of Rest” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Accelerationist
2. Not-For-Sale Bodies
3. Kettle Logic
4. We Speak In Lowercase
5. Thousands Every Hour
6. Baldessari Height
7. I Go To Glory
8. Scratched Off The Canvas

The Review:

Great Falls decided to throw Album of 2018 lists into disarray with the late December release of the monstrous “A Sense Of Rest”. The Seattle trios last LP “The Fever Shed” was a taut thirty minutes of barbed noise rock fury. In the three years since its release, the band have taken their furious back catalogue as a foundation and crafted an expansive beast of an album.

“The Accelerationist” wastes no time introducing the listener to Great Falls in full flow with an onslaught of razor sharp guitar, pounding drums and churning bass. It soon becomes apparent that the band have expanded their sonic horizons to cover new levels of punishing heaviness.  Jagged shards of damaged post-hardcore now give way to crushing low-end riffs like a collision between KEN Mode and “Remission” era Mastodon. “Not-For-Sale Bodies” continues the barrage, culminating in a lumbering finale that demonstrates how much weightier “A Sense Of Rest” is compared to previous offerings. 

The highlight here is the monumental fifteen minute centrepiece, “We Speak In Lowercase”. It feels simultaneously like Great Falls unleashing all they have achieved to this point in one slow-burning epic and a huge leap into the unknown. The opening sections are unexpectedly melodic, delivered with a restraint and vulnerability that bring to mind Kowloon Walled City's amazing “Grievances” LP. Demian Johnston's vocals are at their most affecting here, from an exposed despairing howl at the beginning of the track building to an imploring scream at its climax. As the band dynamics move between quiet and loud, the tempos shift accordingly leading to a stirring slow-motion coda of shimmering reverb-heavy distortion.

It's as if Great Falls anticipated the state of awe the mind-expanding “We Speak In Lowercase” would leave the listener in by following it with “Thousands Every Hour”. The opening minute or so of screeching feedback followed by a skipped groove, one chord riff brings you back down to earth with a dose of punk rock urgency.

“A Sense Of Rest” is an incredible release from Great Falls. A perfect blend of ragged noise rock, devastating riffs, dark melody and ambitious songwriting, this LP should earn them some well-deserved attention.  

“A Sense Of Rest” is available (LP USA) HERE, (LP Europe) HERE and CD HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook