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Acclaimed Norwegian Hard Rock/Metal Singer JORN LANDE Signs With BLACK LODGE RECORDS

https://blabbermouth.net/news/acclaimed-norwegian-hard-rock-metal-singer-jorn-lande-signs-with-black-lodge-records

#JORNLANDE #BLACKLODGERECORDS #AcclaimedNorwegianHardRock #MetalSinger #announcement #vocalist #Blabbermouth #metal #music

Bombus – Your Blood Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier

After a much-needed vacation,1 and being sick as fuck for weeks, ole Grier is back with something you might not want in your life but you need it. In 2016, AMG Himself reviewed the third record from Bombus, a little-known Swedish outfit. Like AMG, I was surprised that something so simple could plant a seed in my ear and keep me returning for more. But, I suppose it’s no surprise when surrounded by endless extreme metal that a palate cleanser like Repeat Until Death would find a home in my regular rotation. The band basically plays metalized rock with predictable song structures and hooking choruses, where nothing overstays its welcome. Three years later, we appeared to have missed the release of Vulture Culture. But maybe that was for the best considering it only contained a handful of new ideas and struggled to come together as a complete album. I was hesitant when I saw this year’s Your Blood in the bin. Though one spin in, I knew something magical was happening to Bombus and Your Blood turned out to be their most ambitious record to date.

After spending years with Century Media Records, Bombus has penned a new deal with Black Lodge Records. Not only that but co-founding vocalist and guitarist Matte Säker left the band. In his stead, not only was another vocalist/guitarist recruited (they have two), but a third guitarist was added to the mix to bring the band from a four-piece to a five-piece. With these newfound axes, the band traveled a new road that brought soaring solos, intricate leads, and harmonizing soundscapes. Your Blood also offers the most melodic collection of pieces the band has ever accumulated. The result is far less predictable than previous albums, introducing new twists that’ll pull at your heartstrings, bob your head, and raise an eyebrow (or two). If you know the band’s previous output, nothing will prepare you for what’s to come.

While one of the more straightforward ditties on the record, “Killer” does a decent job introducing you to the new Bombus direction. After opening with all three guitars lending their strings to soaring leads, the song settles into a melodic groove. As the song builds, the passion and sadness of the track intensifies, sucking you into its mere three-and-a-half-minute runtime. With an accessible piece setting the mood, things get real weird, real fast. The follow-up track, “The One,” zaps you into a time warp that introduces a slow-moving vocal style akin to Nick Cave and a poppy drum beat that could have come from The White Stripes. I know, it’s a couple of odd descriptors, but the song is absolutely hypnotizing as it weaves in and out of intense moments and drum-led spoken-word interludes. But, the weirdest track of them all is the title track. Like so many other bands these days, Bombus reaches into Spaghetti-Western influences. With cawing crows and more sinister Ghoultown vibes, this track slithers around like a sidewinder, erupting into the catchy chorus while passing through cold, dark desert nights.

Between these oddities, Hellhammer-esque nastiness, Motörhead beauty, speed metal licks, Pain-like psychedelics, and Volbeaty clapping segments,2 a couple tracks truly crawl to the top. “Carmina” is one of the most interesting tracks on the album, showing how much time the band spent to improve and diversify their sound. Probably one of the heavier tracks on the album, much like their style of old, this track uses a combination of hammering vocals, bass, and drums to set up the chorus. The chorus is interesting because it passes through two phases: first, punching Rob Zombie-ish shouts, and then low, overlapping vocals. After passing the midway point, the band settles into Chug Land, pounding away on a riff as the guitar leads swirl around the background chants. The best song on the album immediately triggered me in the strangest way possible. The simple riff of “Take Your Down” is almost identical to the soundtrack of one of my favorite revenge scenes in television history: when Frank Castle finally gets his hands on William Rawlins. It’s a powerful song with a fantastic chorus that punches on those revenge qualities and puts goosebumps on my arms.

Outside of the weirdly cool (but also still weird), synthy guitar work of “No Rules” and the howling wolf at the beginning of “The Beast,” which had me spitting out my coffee in laughter, Your Blood is a great new direction for Bombus. The songs are painstakingly structured for a style like this, the choruses are some of the best they’ve ever written, and the diversity makes it exciting on repeat listens. The album flow is also well done vocally. As the album plays out, the vocals get nastier and more pained. After introducing some cleans toward the beginning of the album, the back half finds them more and more raucous, concluding the record with the most desperate performance. Your Blood might not be the vicious metal record you want, but if you take a minute to explore the band’s discog, you’ll be surprised by the results of this new record. Everywhere I look on the interwebz, people ask, “Why are these guys not more popular.” And you know what? I have no idea.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 267 kb/s mp3
Label: Black Lodge Records
Websites: bombusmusic.com | facebook.com/bombusmusic
Releases Worldwide: November 1st, 2024

#2024 #35 #BlackLodgeRecords #Bombus #Ghoultown #HardRock #HeavyMetal #Hellhammer #Motörhead #NickCave #Nov24 #Pain #Review #Reviews #RobZombie #SwedishMetal #TheWhiteStripes #Volbeat #YourBlood

💥 Nuclear lanza "Violent DNA" el 25 de octubre. Tres nuevas canciones y tributos a bandas de death metal de los 90s. Ya en preventa exclusiva en NB Extreme Recordings.
Más detalles aquí 👉🏼 https://acortar.link/tY4vpp

#Nuclear #ViolentDNA #ThrashMetal #DeathMetal #BlackLodgeRecords #MetalChileno #Rockaxis

🐦🔗 https://farside.link/x.com/rockaxisoficial/status/1829536051641164087#m

Thermality – The Final Hours Review

By Kenstrosity

Envy is a powerful drug. At no point does it give me any kind of high, and yet once I get a hit of it, I have a difficult time letting it go. Whether it be someone who inspires me to improve a skill or talent I already have, or someone who just can do something I as of this moment can’t, seeing artists accomplish feats that I struggle to fathom leaves me in a murk of awe, admiration, and envy, all in equal measure. Enter Swedish melodic death metal band Thermality, comprised of five kids who are all at least a decade younger than me right now, as they release their sophomore record The Final Hours with full label support from Black Lodge.

Pulling a great deal of influence directly from early In Flames and some of Kalmah’s jauntier fare, Thermality’s second outing contains a whopping fifty-five minutes of chunky riffs, effervescent guitar melodies, bumping rhythms, and throaty rasps. High levels of Gothenburg aura radiate from these thirteen tracks, providing more than a fair amount of swagger to the overwhelming majority of Thermality’s material. As a record, The Final Hours evokes a distinct Aether Realm-esque character, storytelling both in musical composition and lyrical content taking top priority. For Thermality, this strategy works extremely well. If nothing else, composing The Final Hours the way they have demonstrates that the band fully understands their references, knows how to write with a rapidly developing voice inside a deeply established field, and performs it with polish and poise beyond their short years.

The tricky part about writing a long-form, story-driven record in this style is making sure all of its material is strong enough to keep me interested and immersed as a listener. Thermality do an admirable job of the attempt, but fall just short of the landing. While early cuts like “Weeping Angels” and “Stranger” hit harder with galloping riffs and vivacious grooves, the record passes by rather forgettably until “Nightfall.” With each song tapping out around the four-minute mark, I’m stuck in a bit of a rut waiting for The Final Hours to lock me in for approximately thirty minutes. It’s a long wait. Compounding this issue, Thermality’s vocalist sounds strained and rough around the edges. He manages to hold it together throughout, but I found myself worrying that his technique here will result in injury before improvement. That being the case, it’s been difficult to cozy up to the record the way I’d ideally prefer.

Nevertheless, Thermality’s strength as songwriters shines through in The Final Hour’s best offerings. Album highlight duo “Nightfall” and “The Hunter and the Nightmare” utilize eerie, ethereal synthwork to great effect as an introductory hook, leading directly to some of the record’s strongest guitar lines. Meanwhile, the latter song makes great use of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” for a classical twist in solos and lead melodies, and then uses those cribs as a vehicle for buttery smooth transitions back to original material. Aforementioned early star “Stranger” marks the highlight of the first half, boasting excellent synergy between core theme, lead melody, and exuberant percussion. Not only are these musical cohorts well matched, but they are also quite memorable in spite of—or perhaps because of—their compositional straightforwardness. On a grander scale, The Final Hour isn’t the most memorable record, but it is enjoyable in the moment. Beyond proving the potential these young artists possess, this record’s reliably pleasurable nature showcases the hard work and diligence Thermality put into their craft. That dedication alone demands respect.

The Final Hours is just the beginning for Thermality. Talented but practiced, young but polished, passionate but thoughtful, they’ve already attained a full understanding of who they are and what they want their music to sound like. What follows is merely a matter of momentum. The Final Hours itself didn’t impress me as better-rated records I’ve covered must. However, the band garnered my full attention after creating a work that sounds this professional at such an early stage. I am very interested to hear how they develop and improve. The Final Hours come just before a bright new era for Thermality.

Rating: Mixed [Non-Derogatory]
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Black Lodge Records
Website: facebook.com/thermality | thermality.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 16th, 2024

#25 #2024 #Aug24 #ÆtherRealm #BlackLodgeRecords #DeathMetal #InFlames #MelodicDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SwedishMetal #TheFinalHours #Thermality

Wormwood – The Star Review

By Dear Hollow

Swedish melodic black metal act Wormwood has a complicated history, and it all comes down to this. A string of albums have been hit or miss, as highlighted by the gone-but-unforgotten Akerblogger: 2017’s debut Ghostlands – Wounds from a Bleeding Land was a 4.0midable meloblack offering that balanced hooks and viciousness, while a follow-up trilogy installments one and two in concept albums 2019’s Nattarvet and 2021’s Arkivet have largely fallen short, respectively reflecting famine and extinction’s inevitability. The Star represents a culmination for the five-piece, as the biblical star Wormwood wipes out a good chunk of humanity by poisoning the oceans and freshwater in the Book of Revelation. Will the Swedes capitalize upon their potential in the final and most climactic installment of their trilogy?

Reflecting the star crashing into the ocean, The Star represents the end of the world, hinted at by famine and devastation in previous installments. While vocals are scathing and sinister affairs fitting its apocalyptic theme, instrumentals balance lushness with drive, as big guitar plods offer the stars and powerful drums ensure fluid movement while crystalline synth floats atop. Ubiquitously pleasant but never quite reaching anything further, Wormwood’s fourth full-length is a confused album in its sanguine, rather stagnant representation of humanity’s extinction.

The best of The Star revolves around solid use of motifs. “Liminal” and “Galactic Blood” are perhaps the best examples of this, plodding guitar riffs providing the backbone while the synth takes the place of the leads, while nearly Gothenburg noodling gains precedent over the former. The best track here is “Thousand Doorless Rooms,” which utilizes this motif-based songwriting with some teeth to give a mysterious but heart-wrenching feel. This dynamic is further explored in closer “Ro,” whose heavy metal soloing and vicious vocals take Wormwood to their brink in a relatively climactic closer. In a surprising turn of events, clean vocals are a highlight here, gentle and subtle amid the waves of melody, and tracks like “Stjärnfall,” “A Distant Glow,” and “Ro” are benefited by their inclusion. The drums are a commanding element, cutting through the sound regularly, blastbeats elevating “Suffer Existence.” The spacious mix is forgiving, allowing a nearly airy and organic feel to the proceedings, and giving further emphasis to Wormwood’s more vicious elements: drums and shrieks.

The Star is always pleasant but hardly innovative, which calls into question its length and inconsistency. Even the best tracks like “Liminal” or “Thousand Doorless Rooms” can cut back at least a couple minutes, while “Suffer Existence” and “A Distant Glow” feel nearly unending. Wormwood also throws a curveball in the form of “Suffer Existence,” whose suddenly uneasy melody, relatively spooky atmosphere, and appearance of blastbeats make it feel like a last-minute inclusion – the weird folky fiddle in the middle of it certainly does not help much either. And while “Ro” features some neat little tricks that add to its more energetic conclusion, the album feels tonally stagnant as a whole, no real growth or movement occurring across tracks and some songs simply existing as better than others. Finally, although a complete nitpick, the meloblack stylistic choices are a bit of a conundrum, as lushness and harmonics don’t seem to jive entirely with the apocalyptic theme Wormwood encapsulates – there is very little punishment to be found on The Star, aside from the slightly more energetic but wholly inconsistent “Suffer Existence.”

The Star is ubiquitously pleasant. Melodic harmonic guitars clash with sinister vocals and powerful drums in a “how-to” manual for melodic black metal. If you’re a fan of Sacramentum, Old Man’s Child, or Dawn, you might find something to love with Wormwood. However, given how tonally stagnant yet strangely inconsistent The Star is, it’s better relegated to background music instead of front-row seats to humanity’s destruction. Given how confusing this is, it’s easy to wonder if Ghostlands was a fluke. The Star is competent, Wormwood’s blend of guitar leads and chilly synths providing a tasteful approach, but does it accurately represent the bombast and explosiveness of the great star ushering in an age of extinction? No, it does not.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Black Lodge Records
Websites: wormwood-official.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/WormwoodSWE
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#20 #2024 #BlackLodgeRecords #BlackMetal #Dawn #May24 #MelodicBlackMetal #OldManSChild #Review #Reviews #Sacramentum #SwedishMetal #TheStar #Wormwood

2023 - THE UPCOMING TERROR!⚔️
➡️February 3rd, 2023⬅️

REXORIA - Imperial Dawn🇸🇪🔥

3rd album from Jönköping, Swedish Melodic Heavy Metal outfit🔥

BC➡️https://rexoria.bandcamp.com/album/imperial-dawn 🔥

#Rexoria #ImperialDawn #MelodicHeavyMetal #BlackLodgeRecords #TheUpcomingTerror23 #KMäN