Full of Hell & Andrew Nolan - Scraping The Divine (2024)

Full of Hell is one of the best blackened hardcore bands and released several excellent collaborative albums in the past, Andrew Nolan never failed to make his music, whether more hardcore/metal or industrial, interesting at least, most of the time brilliant. Saying I had big expectations for this Scraping The Divine collaborative album would be an understatement. Does it live up to it? No, it EXCEEDS it! Yes, sir! Ranging from ferocious noisegrind to more atmospheric industrial metal (the track with JK BRoderick isn't the only moment of the album evoking Godflesh), it is a truly awesome album. Warmly recommended!

The BC page.

 

Blind Guardian - The God Machine (2022)

Obviously, anyone into heavy metal knows about Blind Guardian, but maybe not everyone knows The God Machine (released in 2022) is a break from the symphonic direction they had for a long time and a return to a lot more aggressive and heavier music. And it turns out to be a totally awesome album, keeping the excellent singing and lead guitar playing, but putting aside any cheesiness, keeping only the best you can have in a heavy metal album.

The BC page.

 

Chat Pile - Cool World (2024)

With this second album, Cool World, Chat pile confirms that they belong to the top noise rock/metal bands. One thing I noticed with this new one is that they often sound nearly as much related to Korn that they are to Unsane, which, believe it or not, is actually pretty cool. And doesn't matter if you agree with this or not, you'll probably enjoy how it is raw, bleak and crawling with a sneaky groove, and will agree it's a great album.

 

The BC page. 

 

Black Hole Deity - Profane Geometry (2024)

Profane Geometry is Black Hole Deity (from alabama) first album, and their music is already excellent. They play some modern technical death metal that also includes elements evoking Morbid Angel and Nile atmospheres and massive epicness. Recommended!

The BC page.

 

The Bug - Machine (2024)

Last year, The Bug (producer Kevin Richard Martin) released a series of five EP called Machine, from I to V, and then compiled some of its tracks on this Machine album released by Relapse. As expected from The Bug, it delivers the best dark and industrial dub. This time it's all instrumental, perfect for feeling the power of the beats and getting lost into the pulsating bass. Strong stuff!

The BC page.

 

Kesem - Wander (2024)

On one hand I regret the near punk energy of their more rocking first album (the awesome Post-Terra), ont he other hand I like when bands are not replicating the same album and bring something with a different mood. And that's what Kesem did with Wander, an album more on the quiet side of progressive rock, evoking at times King Crimson, sometimes Porcupine Tree, but keeping some heavy psych rock moments as well. In any case it's another excellent piece of progressive/psychedelic rock. Recommended stuff!

The Bc page.

Vile Species - Disqualified As a Human (2024)

Disqualified As a Human is the third album from old school grinders from Greece Vile Species, confirming they are trustworty dealers in quality grind. Good stuff!

The BC page.

 

 

Gigan - Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus (2024)

I won't compare Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus with Gigan previous four albums, because I'm discovering them with this one (No, I don't live under a rock, but previous album was seven years ago and by that time I was still mostly sticking to the old school death metal). But what I can say is that it's an awesome album, the embodiment of how mind-blowing technical death metal can be. Gigan is tech death at it's most radical, dissonant and abstract, but also progressive and catchy in it's very special kind of unhuman groove. Highly recommended!

The BC page.

 

Graveyard - 6 (2023)

Usually graveyard is where people end, but for a change I'll start this new year for Blasting Days with a Graveyard review. Their sixth album, called 6, and released in September 2023. After a couple of albums in which they had modernised a bit their sound, they are back to their proto-heavy metal / heavy blues roots. The result is a very quiet album, but filled with excellent songs that I enjoyed listening many times. Good stuff.