Soilwork - Verkligheten

Artist: Soilwork
Album: Verkligheten
Year: 2019
Rating: 76/100

With a long and illustrious career behind them now, Helsingborg melodic death metal stalwarts Soilwork gear up to give us their eleventh studio album, "Verkligheten" (in English: Reality). This also gives them the opportunity to announce new drummer Bastian Thusgaard, who replaced Dirk Verbeuren when he went to join Megadeth. So how does this one stack up?

The title track "Verkligheten" sets the tone for what comes before "Arrival" launches itself into life with a barrage of blastbeats, buzzsaw guitars and Björn "Speed" Strid's ability to switch between a mid pitch scream and his excellent clean tones. We get a few other gems among the standard Soilwork fare, like "Bleeder Despoiler", "The Nurturing Glance", and "Needles and Kin", featuring a solid guest growled vocal turn from Amorphis frontman Tomi Joutsen. Elsewhere, Arch Enemy frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz appears on "Stålfågel", one of the more interesting numbers on the album.

"Verkligheten" is a solid album on the whole, but it's not an album that will win Soilwork any new fans, unlike some of its more spectacular predecessors like "The Chainheart Machine" and "Natural Born Chaos", or even "The Living Infinite". However, it serves as a solid introduction to the band for new drummer Bastian Thusgaard, who can deliver some solid blastbeats as well as the slower numbers.

Track listing

1. Verkligheten (instrumental)
2. Arrival
3. Bleeder Despoiler
4. Full Moon Shoals
5. The Nurturing Glance
6. When the Universe Spoke
7. Stålfågel
8. The Wolves are Back in Town
9. Witan
10. The Ageless Whisper
11. Needles and Kin (featuring Tomi Joutsen)
12. You Aquiver (featuring Dave Sheldon)

John Garcia and the Band of Gold - John Garcia and the Band of Gold

Artist: John Garcia and the Band of Gold
Album: John Garcia and the Band of Gold
Year: 2019
Rating: 82/100

It's no secret that I've always been a fan of John Garcia's work since his days fronting Kyuss. From Kyuss, Slo Burn, Unida, Hermano and Vista Chino, to the Band of Gold, his distinctive trademark holler has been delighting the ears of stoner rock fans since 1991, and with the self titled effort from him and the Band of Gold, this is his third solo effort.

If there's one old adage that John Garcia seems to firmly believe, it's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". More of the same is very much the order of the day: taut drumming, thunderous bass grooves that jolt the ears and buzzsaw guitars, topped off with Garcia's vocals, and it works a treat. "Jim's Whiskers" sets the tone of the album nicely, sounding not wholly different to something you'd have heard by Vista Chino or latter day Hermano. "Kentucky II" is a rollicking groover with a tidy opening riff and more of the same, as are "Lillianna" and "Apache Junction".

If there is a criticism of the album to be made, it's that the album won't gain a lot of traction outside of Garcia's and Kyuss's fan base. Those who know and love Kyuss, and Garcia, by extension, will doubtless find something to enjoy here. More of the same, but that's not a bad thing.

Track listing

1. Space Vato
2. Jim's Whiskers
3. Chicken Delight
4. Kentucky II
5. My Everything
6. Lillianna
7. Popcorn (Hit Me When You Can)
8. Apache Junction
9. Don't Even Think About It
10. Cheyletiella
11. Softer Side

Petrichor - No Silver Lining: A Return to Rain

Artist: Petrichor
Album: No Silver Lining: A Return to Rain
Year: 2018
Rating: 90/100

Two years on from their superb debut, Rain, Leeds based doom metallers Petrichor have decided to revisit the original album and do some fine tuning, as it were. So what has changed?

Well, Petrichor don't believe in overloading the listener with superfluous musical textures, instead only opting to add what they feel belongs there musically, which suits them just fine. What does go in, however, are keyboards that enhance their sound, and a gorgeous guest vocal turn from Vickie Harley on new opening track "This Too Must Die", which sets the tone perfectly. Like the original track on Rain with the same title, the new song has the same theme of doomed love and self sabotage, and Harley's vocals mesh superbly with the sonic clarity of vocalist and guitarist Jon "Crowbane" Crowder's soaring Dio-esque tenor. Elsewhere, "We Are the Fire" and "Nihilist" are the real jewels in Petrichor's bleak sonic crown: the former is a pagan revenge song which blends together a plethora of ideas seamlessly without being afraid to change things up if need be, the latter a sprawling 15 minute epic that comfortably darts between crushing doom metal and traditional heavy metal before its funereal ending to close the album off.

The fine tuning of material on No Silver Lining: A Return to Rain has worked a treat for Petrichor. It comes across as seamlessly worked and provides a new dimension to the band's sound. A new album is due to follow in 2019, and it's pleasing to see they're not prepared to rest on their laurels. A delightfully bleak listen, indeed.

Track listing:

1. This Too Must Die
2. Drown the World
3. As the Dark Steals the Light
4. We Are the Fire
5. Nihilist

Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No Crown

Artist: Corrosion of Conformity
Album: No Cross No Crown
Year: 2018
Rating: 86/100

With Pepper Keenan returning to the fold after a lengthy spell in Down (that also saw Phil Anselmo and the other members of the NOLA supergroup turn their attentions back to their other projects), the classic Corrosion of Conformity line up (Keenan, Woody Weatherman, Mike Dean and Reed Mullin) returned for their first album together as a line up since America's Volume Dealer. The big question is, however, how does it stack up?

The second that "Luddite" roars into life, it's clear that Pepper Keenan's return was worth it. This is Corrosion of Conformity doing what they do best: crunching riffs, powerful drumming and Keenan's distinctive vocals. The gloomy trudge of "Nothing Left to Say" and "Old Disaster" provides a neat counterpoint to tracks such as "Cast the First Stone" and "Wolf Named Crow", the sort of fare that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Wiseblood or Deliverance.

The only real criticism of No Cross No Crown I have is that the interlude tracks stretch the album out a little too far. Otherwise, it's a solid album. It might not be breaking any new ground, but it's the Corrosion of Conformity that we know and love, and that's the main thing.

Track listing

1. Novus Deus
2. The Luddite
3. Cast the First Stone
4. No Cross
5. Wolf Named Crow
6. Little Man
7. Matre's Diem
8. Forgive Me
9. Nothing Left to Say
10. Sacred Isolation
11. Old Disaster
12. E.L.M
13. No Cross No Crown
14. A Quest to Believe (A Call to the Void)
15. Son and Daughter

Mythic Sunship - Upheaval

Artist: Mythic Sunship
Album: Upheaval
Year: 2018
Rating: 85/100

Danish quartet Mythic Sunship are an instrumental psychedelic rock band in the vein of bands such as Yawning Man, Øresund Space Collective and fellow countrymen Causa Sui. Their four track opus Upheaval is their sixth full length studio effort, having taken listeners on a spaced out journey since 2009.

The second Upheaval gets under way, we're greeted with layers of effects pedal-ridden guitars that are suitably hypnotic without becoming hypnotic's evil twin, boring. In addition to that, when the quartet think an idea has run its musical course, they change things up a bit and re-plot the idea's co-ordinates before a return to the original idea. This is all done with precision and excellent timing.

Mythic Sunship are now very much veterans of space rock, and Upheaval is a solid release, with only the third track clocking in at under ten minutes long. If this album was longer it would cause the listener's interest to waver, but they do enough to engage the listener to make Upheaval an interesting and enjoyable listening experience.

Track listing

1. Tectonic Breach
2. Aether Flux
3. Cosmic Rupture
4. Into Oblivion

Summoning - With Doom We Come

Artist: Summoning
Album: With Doom We Come
Year: 2018
Rating: 74/100

Austrian black metallers Summoning are one of those bands that seem to slip quietly under everybody's radar despite countless albums and a solid reputation. Like their fellow countrymen Abigor, Summoning deal in atmospheric black metal, and With Doom We Come is their 8th studio album.

The sonic clarity of With Doom We Come is the most striking thing about it on first listen. While the lack of a drummer results in these horrendous sounding programmed drums, the buzzsaw guitars have a warm tone to them and the keyboards provide a sufficient atmosphere. On the flip side, however, the songs just aren't that memorable. They don't do anywhere near enough to grab the attention of the listener, with the exception of "Herumor".

With Doom We Come is not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it's also not an album that will sustain the listener's interest throughout, especially not with seven out of eight tracks being longer than seven minutes in length. Ideal for completists, but there's little to recommend it otherwise.

Track listing

1. Tar-Calion
2. Silvertine
3. Carcharoth
4. Herumor
5. Barrow-Downs
6. Night Fell Behind
7. Mirklands
8. With Doom I Come

Watain - Trident Wolf Eclipse

Artist: Watain
Album: Trident Wolf Eclipse
Year: 2018
Rating: 77/100

There are some bands within extreme metal that use some wonderfully nuanced quiet, subtle passages within their music. Watain are not one of them. The black  metal trio from Uppsala, Sweden return with their first album in five years, following up The Wild Hunt.

Opening track "Nuclear Alchemy" roars out of the traps with all the subtlety of a punch in the face, and subsequently sets the tone for the rest of the album. From there on in we get exactly what we expect from the trio: bludgeoning guitars, raspy vocals and pounding drums, although in among all the noise, there are some neatly structured songs; in particular "The Fire of Power" and "Ultra (Pandemoniac)", the latter of which features a guest vocal turn from Attila Csihar (Mayhem and Sunn O))) ).

While Trident Wolf Eclipse may not be the most subtle album ever recorded, it isn't without its enjoyable moments. Older fans will be pleased at Watain's return to their more traditional sound, while newer listeners will find plenty to sustain their interest here, too.

Track listing

1. Nuclear Alchemy
2. Sacred Damnation
3. Teufelsreich
4. Furor Diabolicus
5. A Throne Below
6. Ultra (Pandemoniac)
7. Towards the Sanctuary
8. The Fire of Power
9. Antikrists Mirakel