Weekly Round-up: 20th March 2014

Due to wealth of great music that I've been ploughing through this week, this is a special mid-week (ish) edition of my weekly update. The next one will be up on Saturday. There should be plenty here to keep you good people going.

Mantar

Hailing from Hamburg, this German duo conjure up a delicious noise that incorporates elements of Sludge, Doom, Stoner and Black Metal, but achieves a finished result that all but defies specific genre classification and is a sound that is completely their own. Like Kvelertak before them, it seems as if Mantar have performed some type of musical alchemy and have succeeded in producing gold. The tortured vocals howl, the riffs crunch and the drums crash in a wonderful cacophony of dischordant noise. The single most exciting and interesting new band I've been privileged to hear since the aforementioned Kvelertak back in 2010. Album of the week, month and potentially, year. Merely listening to this album has been a life-affirming experience for me. Mantar are making the most exciting noise on the planet right now and have left their peers choking in the dust. Truly indispensable. Turn this up loud and wait for the huge grin to spread across your face.

Gus G

I have to say that I wasn't exactly overjoyed or filled with optimism when the news reached my ears of a Gus G solo album. History is littered with the rotting corpses of solo efforts from many a lead guitarist - and they are, pretty much without exception, awful. It is with great pleasure (and surprise) then, that I can report that Mr G has resisted the urge to show us all how good a player he is, at the expense of writing "real" songs and has instead opted to record a bloody great hard rock album. As is par for the course with solo albums from prominent artists such as Gus G, he has taken on board a wealth of "guest" musicians - including Mats Levén, Dave Ellefson and Billy Sheehan - for this album and has let them write the lyrics for the songs they feature on. This gives each song a more personal touch and allows Gus to concentrate on the music. This also gives the album a more varied feel as each song is often different from the previous one, while the music remains cohesive over the course of the album. Of course, this isn't to say that Gus tones down his flamboyant playing style, but rather allows it to complement rather than overpower the songs. I can't recommend this highly enough. It probably isn't what you are expecting.

Woland

The name might well bring to mind Jonathan Ross saying a certain male name, but this is a really rather good album. Technical Progressive Blackened Death Metal would possibly be the best way for me to describe this - although that is admittedly a bit of a mouthful (that's what she said!). There is a distinctly Norwegian sound going on here (even though the band are, surprisingly, Finnish)  - think something along the lines of early-mid era Dimmu Borgir, Vreid, Immortal, etc. - and for the first few tracks I was absolutely enraptured. Unfortunately, the unexpected Spanish guitars on "Living Water" aside, the lack of variation on offer starts to grate after a while. This slight niggle aside, "Hyperion" is an album that is, at times, jaw-droppingly good and never drops below being competent. There isn't a single weak track on here and they do what they do very well and this album has just crashed straight into my top 20 of the year list.

Karkaos

What a strange blend of Melodic Death / Metalcore / Folk / Power Metal (happy now, Emil?) there is to be heard on this debut album from Canada's Karkaos. I actually wasn't impressed or convinced by this album initially as the contrasting styles sounded at odds with each other. Despite my reservations though, I didn't switch it off and I'm very glad that I didn't as this is actually a very respectable debut release from a talented young band. The production is flat and the vocalist could be better, so it's not a perfect album by any stretch and it feels as if the band has yet to fully decide on the style they want to play, let alone refine and hone its sound, but I am very much looking forward to hearing what they come up with for the follow-up. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy this interesting concoction for what it is - a fun, energetic Metal album.

Lorelei

Symphonic Black / Death Metal that invokes the spirit of Dimmu Borgir, Septic Flesh and even The Black Dahlia Murder. Although no where near as polished as any of those bands, this is as solid an effort as can be expected from a band without the weight of a good record label behind them. Crushing riffs, pounding drums and brutal, varied vocals (Death, Black, Hardcore and more) rub shoulders with some exquisite keyboard work. This album gripped me from the start and maintained my interest for its duration. No mean feat it has to be said. I hear more than a few generic albums in the course of a month, and this is certainly not one of them.