Lamb Of God – Still Echoes
The opening track from Lamb Of God’s long-awaited seventh album, VII: Sturm und Drang, Still Echoes sees frontman confront the dark secrets and tormented ghosts that lurk in the walls of Pankrác Prison in Prague, where the singer was held on remand during his 2013 trial for manslaughter (Blythe was accused of injuring a fan onstage in 2010, but was acquitted of all charges in June 2013). As intense and unsettling as one might expect, given the subject matter, Still Echoes is also one of the new album’s more straightforwardly brutal tunes and a neat entry point for what is a subtly inventive and adventurous piece of work. One of modern metal’s biggest bands, Lamb Of God show no signs of losing their edge.
Armored Saint – Win Hands Down
Way back in the early 80s, Metallica briefly toyed with the idea of recruiting a lead singer, as James Hetfield had reservations about being the band’s full-time frontman. The only man they considered for the job was Armored Saint’s John Bush, and over 30 years later it’s not hard to see why. Soulful, fiery and commanding, Bush remains one of metal’s most distinctive voices and, despite a 13-year stint with Anthrax, he still sounds most at home with his original crew. The new Armored Saint album proudly showcases a sound that marries the best of the old school with a gleaming contemporary edge. Win Hands Down confirms that Bush and his veteran cohorts still ooze class and authority.
Burgerkill – Undefeated
The biggest metal band in Indonesia by some distance, Burgerkill have forged strong connections with the UK in recent times and, as a result, will be making their debut appearance here at the none-more-metal Bloodstock Festival in August (and in Germany at Wacken Open Air the same month). As they prepare to record their fifth album, the Bandung quintet must be very aware that they now have an international audience to consider, but the blazing vitality of Undefeated suggests that they already have their steel-plated shit together. This is consummate modern metal with an exhilarating edge of brutish hardcore and an invigorating lack of cliche. If there’s any justice, Indonesia’s status in the global metal community is about to soar.
Midnight Odyssey – Hunter Of The Celestial Sea
Now that “epic” is routinely used to describe everything from superhero movies to a trip to Nando’s, we may have to come up with a new adjective to accurately portray the sheer enormity of Midnight Odyssey’s new album Shards Of Silver Fade. A two-hour voyage into the blackest recesses of the cosmos, it’s an album that demands total immersion and a robust attention span, with beauty and horror represented in equal and exhilarating amounts. Hunter Of The Celestial Sea – one of the album’s shortest tracks, believe it or not – shimmers like the night sky through the eyes of the lysergically enhanced: this is still black metal, but not as we know it.
Myrkur – Haevnen
Life is full of surprises, but few are as startling as the difference between one-woman black metal project Myrkur’s DIY debut EP and her forthcoming debut album. Where the EP was pale, primitive and lacking in substance, M is a record that overflows with moments of eclectic inspiration, as the benefits of collaborating with other musicians, rather than remaining a purely solo affair, become more than apparent. With shades of everything from wilfully necrotized black metal through to off-kilter prog rock pomp, M is a jaw-dropping statement from one of the most intriguing artists in the metal underground. Haevnen is just the tip of the iceberg.
