Greetings, Decibel readers!
I was sick this week, so I didn’t have a lot of headspace to focus on music, but the show must go on. Because you’re not sick. Well, maybe you are and the only cure is black metal. If that’s the case, take some of the below. Don’t bother calling though, I’m still getting better.
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Cradle of Filth – The Screaming of the Valkyries
Cradle of Filth records run on a stylistic spectrum, one that represents the various sonic tendencies built into their sound. On one end is highly riff-driven black and death metal, where gothic atmospherics and melodies act as side elements that set the music apart from their 1990s contemporaries across the North Sea. Good examples of this side include the band’s first few albums, along with their amazing run of recent records: 2015’s Hammer of the Witches, 2017’s Cryptoriana and 2021’s Existence is Futile. On the other end is the inverse: heavy gothic metal punctuated by extreme metal instrumentation, a more accessible style that caters to a potentially wider audience. This is the style that broke them into semi-crossover status with Damnation and a Day and Nymphetamine, and was a sound they chased for a few albums thereafter. And right smack in the middle… is … well, funnily enough, 2000s Midian. The band’s new album sits comfortably on the latter side of the spectrum, as Dani Filth and company are clearly going for an anthemic, catchy sound on songs like “To Live Deliciously.” That said, there’s plenty of guitar-driven glory to be found here, as the band always contains multitudes like on the riff-fest of “White Hellebore.” Although I’m not as big a fan of this album as the previously three, the band forever remains a gigantic favorite of mine. As if that wasn’t obvious.
Stream: Apple Music
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Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
Hey, these guys are on the road right now on the Decibel Magazine Tour! Have you gotten your tickets yet? I’m excited to see what this band brings to the stage at the NYC show. The band’s style has warmed on me over the years, perhaps it took that video with Kenny G to make something click for me.
Stream: Apple Music
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Labyrinthine Heirs – Labyrinthine Heirs
If you ever wanted to hear what angular black metal sounds like, this album is right on target. Think of The Jesus Lizard with corpsepaint.
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SpiritWorld – Helldorado
From our Q&A with SpiritWorld‘s Stu Folsom in Decibel #247:
“when we’re in the van, we’re funny. My older brother plays bass and one of my really close friends is playing rhythm guitar, and we’re just joking around on tour. We have our own language of comedy through the years, like most bands do. So, I don’t shy away from that. I am who I am, and if it turns off those guys in the back because maybe it seems like we’re not taking things serious, my response to all of that is: Go start your own band, bro.”
Stream: Apple Music
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Throne – Those Who Sat Upon Him, Was Death
Black metal that blasts the doors off with an extra dose of Formulas-era Morbid Angel and perhaps a bit of Nile and Hate Eternal as well. Truly punishing stuff, and perhaps a little refreshing as a I haven’t heard a newer black metal band sound like this in awhile.