Outre-Tombe - Abysse Mortifère (2021)

Outre-Tombe is an old-school death metal band from Québec and Abysse Mortifère is their third album. The vocals in French are excellent, and so are the riffs, the leads and the thick ugly atmosphere and the heavy grooves. Reminding bands like Autopsy, Bolt Thrower or Entombed Abysse Mortifère have everything that makes a very enjoyable old school death metal album. Recommended!

Excellent album de death metal à l'ancienne de la part des Québécois de Outre-Tombe. Mention spéciale pour le chant en français, mais tout le reste est vraiment excellent aussi. Abysse Mortifère ravira tous les amateurs de bon vieux death metal. Je recommande chaudement !

The Bandcamp page.

 

Chepang - Swatta (2023)

Chepang fourth album, Swatta, see them going even further the innovative and technical grind road (reminding a bit Discordance axis / Gridlink) and it's an awesome album, and probably will be the most memorable (possibly also best) grind album of the year. They kept the chaotic sax element on some songs, but also wrote some more melodic and longer ones, invited plenty of guests on some others, and there's also a part experimenting AI songwriting. Fifty minutes of crazy and full of surprises grind. Would take me pages to properly review this album... I'll just sum it up in one word : WOW! 

The BC page.

 

Soft Kill - Metta World Peace (2023)

Soft Kill is a post-punk / shoegaze one man project from Chicago. I enjoyed its previous releases and often considered reviewing one of them, but felt maybe it was a bit too generic. But Metta World Peace is a different beast. The post-punk / shoagaze with a prevalent The Cure influence is still the core of the music, but this time the songs are also built around hip-hop beats (with a few MCs as guests) and it works extremely well, making it the most memorable Soft Kill album. We already knew hip-hop producer sampling shoeagaze worked fine, Metta World Peace is proof shoegaze/post-punk artist using hip-hop beats and samples can produce great results too. Really addictive album that I can't recommend warmly enough!

The Bandcamp page.

 

Cryptworm - Oozing Radioactive Vomition (2023)

Happy to say that death metallers from Bristol (UK) Cryptworm are passing with success the test of the second album (after a first excellent one) with Oozing Radioactive Vomition (out in mid december). The menu is still old school death metal mixed with slam / Mortician / goregrind for additional groove and putridity. Very tasty!

The BC page.

 

Fausten - Mercenary (2022)

Fausten is Julian Caraz and Derek Szeto, and what they do toghether is what we could call industrial bass music (with elements of illbient, dark industrial, dubstep, etc.). They are back with a second release called Mercenary, nearly ten years after their first album, and they prove they still have it.And closing with a Fret (Mick Harris) remix can't be wrong either... Recommended for anyone into dark and heavy industrial/electronic music.

The BC page.

 

Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night: Part One (2023)

Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night: Part One is another fine peiece of progressive metal from Californian band Night Verses, with technical playing but songs mostly focused on building atmospheres, with a post-metal/post-rock flavour. Good stuff.

the BC page.

 

Suffocation - Hymns For the Apocrypha (2023)

2023 is really a prolific year for death metal legends, and pioneer of brutal and technical death Suffocation are joining the party. And unlike previous album "...Of the Dark Light", Hymns For the Apocrypha is really convincing, combining all the Suffocation intensity with memorable riffs and songs. Recommended!

The BC page.

 

Organ Dealer - The Weight of Being (2023)

The Weight of Being is the second album from New Jersey grinders Organ Dealer, longer than the first one "Visceral Infection", and at least as good. This is modern grind at it best : relentlessly fast but sharp and tight, powerful and groovy

The BC page.