Massachusetts

Killswitch Engage, Live At The Palladium (Metal Blade 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Killswitch Engage releases the recording of their 2021 Palladium livestream event this week.

Do you remember last year? The pandemic was still roughing us up, sort of like it still is today. Back then, though, there were more restrictions than there are right now on live music so we fans were treated to a number of livestream events to offset the sadness of not getting together in person. I remember the Clutch livestreams particularly, and there were many other bands following suit. A few were captured for posterity, including the August 6, 2021 performance by Killswitch Engage at The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Coming together on the cusp of the new millennium, Killswitch Engage has had an enormous impact on heavy music. Over the years they have released eight full-length albums and a heaping helping of splits and EPs. Typically labeled metalcore, the aggressive musical presentations of heavy metal were formative for the category. I have been lucky enough to see them several times at festivals and, if a choice has to be made when two bands are playing at the same time, Killswitch Engage is probably going to get the nod. The band is Jesse Leach (vocals), Adam Dutkiewicz (guitar), Joel Stroetzel (guitar), Mike D’Antonio (bass), and Justin Foley (drums).

This show was very different, not only because of it being a livestream but also because of the content. The set included both the Atonement (2019) album and the Killswitch Engage (2000) album in full. Talk about bookending. It is an amazing performance and it is incredible fan service with a little surprise toward the end. Beyond the band’s fan base, this concert is a good vehicle for new listeners to jump in. Recommended.

Live At The Palladium is out on Friday, June 3rd through Metal Blade Records on digital, vinyl, and CD/Blu Ray combo. I would get the Blu Ray in order to actually see the show, if it was me. I understand the both attraction of vinyl and the convenience of digital as well. This might be a tough choice. What to do?

Links.

Bandcamp, https://killswitchengage.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-palladium

Website, http://www.killswitchengage.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/killswitchengage

Metal Blade Records, https://www.metalblade.com/killswitchengage/

© Wayne Edwards

Killswitch Engage, Live At The Palladium (Metal Blade 2022)

An Unction In Braille, The Wordless Whisper (2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

New England metal band An Unction In Braille release their inaugural EP, The Wordless Whisper.

The band has been coming together since about 2012. The music is a melodic-esque combination of death metal, metalcore, and grindcore – light on the melodic. While that description does cover a lot of ground, the music itself has a recognizable focus in its combinatorics. The musicians are Robert Meroski (guitar), Josh Veck (vocals), Kieran Beaty (guitar), Wes Welch (bass), and Jacob Lindquist (drums).

There are five tracks on the EP, each weighing in at radio length. The opener, “Catharsis,” is built around a discreet elemental sounds that stand together in order to create a collective front. The tips and ranges make ideal sense in the context of the subject. “Of The Dead” goes next and dashes off in a different direction altogether. There is a coarseness to the syncopation that oversteps the fundaments just enough to keep you guessing. And then “An Inch From Death” has a structure that seems almost linear compared to the first two; a very death metal approach to the ideas.

“Sickening Sweet” shows the most melodic movements on the set, all the while surrounded by pile driving percussion and staccato riffs. The final track is “Dark As Black.” There is a vileness in the vocals that would go nicely in a black metal tune. Here it both competes with and complements the barely contained other-raging pylons of musical construction. These songs do leave you a little unbalanced after listening to them, an effect that is surely deliberate and calculated. When I am listening to An Unction In Braille I am hearing something different from the off-the-shelf music I sometimes come across, and I like it. Recommended.

The Wordless Whisper is out on Friday October 29th on CD and digital. The omnipresent Bandcamp is a good place to pick it up.

Links.

An Unction In Braille website, https://www.anunctioninbraille.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/AUiBmusic/

Bandcamp, https://anunctioninbraille.bandcamp.com/album/the-wordless-whisper

An Unction In Braille, The Wordless Whisper (2021)

Exsanguination, Spectral Hymns (HPGD 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Massachusetts Death Metal act Exsanguination presents Spectral Hymns, the band’s first long-player.

Not much is known about Exsanguination – at least not much yet in the usual places. The band’s first EP came out last year, and there have been several singles as well. The new one is the first full-length album to hit the streets. The music is Death Metal, and it lies on the groove and riffy side of the street. There are many clever twists and quirks that make Exsanguination’s style easily recognizable.

The Spectral Hymns album includes four new tracks and gathers six previously issued ones as well. The new tracks are “Martyred,” “Mortal Wounds,” “Revenant,” and “Blasphemous.” It is convenient to have the singles and music from the earlier EP collected here, and naturally it is the new music that is the big sell.

“Martyred” has a nearly two minute instrumental lead in that bangs well and good before the vocal growls show themselves. It is the perfect way to kick off the set, highlighting the musical style and song-writing approach. Vocals are a smaller part of the compositions for Exsanguination than they are for many bands that might otherwise seem similar. “Mortal Wounds” is instrumental in its entirety, and “Revenant” has another long lead-in, as does “Blasphemous.”

If you have been following the band in its new career you might have already heard the compiled tracks, but if not here is another chance. Stand-outs are “Lords Without Thrones,” “Tombs of the Blind Dead,” and “Blood Ocean.” The more I listen the deeper this music sinks in. The slowdowns and accelerations are planned to turn your attention rather than shock you, and the doom-heavy moments are perfectly compatible with the up-tempo segments for this reason. Everything comes together like perfectly fit stones of an ancient wall built by a lost civilization. This is a great album. Highly recommended.

Spectral Hymns is out on Friday, June 11th. CDs and digital are available at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/spectral-hymns

HPGD, http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/index.html

Exsanguination, Spectral Hymns (HPGD 2021)

Fuming Mouth, Beyond The Tomb notice (Nuclear Blast 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Following up on their impressive debut full-length from last year, Fuming Mouth has released a new EP.

Since 2013, Fuming Mouth has been releasing demos, splits, and EPs, leading up to The Grand Descent (2019). That was a big album with twelve crushing tracks. The new one is three songs, and they are just as ferocious.

“Beyond The Tomb” is a dark curse thrown at your spirit that cannot be escaped. “Master Of Extremity” is a steam roller headed straight for you. “Road To Odessa” is a heavy hammer of doom. Three things stand out to me about this release: the attack vector of the music which I hear as multidirectional, the massive bass lines, and the originality of the clever elements that are integral to the music, not merely ancillary. It is not easy to make a place for yourself in the heavy music scene, but Fuming Mouth is doing just that. This is a band to watch.

The new EP is out now from Nuclear Blast Records. Gather it unto you, in digital or physical incarnations. Either way, consider it highly recommended.

Photo by Gabe Becerra.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://fumingmouth.bandcamp.com/

Website, https://www.fumingmouth.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/fumingmouth/

Nuclear Blast, https://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/products/sound/vinyl/lp/fuming-mouth-beyond-the-tomb.html

Fuming Mouth, Beyond The Tomb notice (Nuclear Blast 2020)