The Eternal – Skinwalker Review
By Steel Druhm
In 2018, Aussie Gothic doom act The Eternal presented me with one of my most challenging trials as a music reviewer. Waiting for the Endless Dawn was a sprawling, meandering monster of an album running well over an hour, but the songs and morose atmosphere had a lot going for them. I agonized over whether the sheer length undercut the quality writing and in the end, I awarded it a 3.0. While I still stand by the criticisms I leveled, the album continued to infect my brain over the years and I realize I underrated it. Jump forward 5 years and The Eternal are back with another hour-plus dose of doom and gloom, posing all the same questions I battled with in 2018. Is seventh album Skinwalker well crafted enough to make an hour of mopey gloom palatable and digestible in one sitting or have they once again given the listener too much of a depressing thing? Getting Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis to provide guest death roars certainly works in their favor, but hard questions remain to test Steel‘s metal.
If you heard Waiting for the Endless Dawn, 10-plus minute opener “Abandoned by Hope” will feel very familiar. It’s a massive Goth doom piece littered with influences ranging from Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Tiamat, with heavy riffs and weepy flourishes paving the way for Mark Kelson’s soft, plaintive vocals. He’s the rare vocalist capable of sounding vulnerable and heartbroken but also ominous and creepy like Tiamat’s Johan Edlund. Tomi Joutsen’s deep death roars are sprinkled in as accents and work well offsetting Kelson’s glum crooning. The vocal hooks are ever-present and the song is unnaturally addictive, showcasing smart peaks and valleys and glossy, sticky guitar work. Is it too long? Absolutely. 7-8 minutes would have sufficed, but The Eternal go big and won’t go home. In sharp contrast, “Deathlike Silence” is a concise goth rocking gem with a sweet, earwormy chorus. It sounds like prime Lacrimas Profundere meets One Second era Paradise Lost and it gets in your head fast and sets up a successful bait shop. “Under the Black” works equally well, with touches of Viva Emptiness era Katatonia blending with Ghost and H.I.M. slickness, and the use of post-metal aesthetics adds weight and depth. “When the Fire Dies” may be one of my favorite Goth doom songs of the past few years, with the post elements again paying big dividends by extending the power of the frail mope rock.
Then come the patented doom marathon The Eternal feel compelled to deliver. “The Iconoclast” is 10 minutes and feels 12, but somehow it still works and forces you to make a grudging peace with its bloated excess. These guys possess a shrewd sense of the dramatic and understand the theatrical aspects of Goth doom. The way the song slowly builds suspense before the cathartic release is masterful. Mark Kelson is the downtrodden Ring Master of the ceremonies, guiding you from attraction to attraction with smart vocal placement and once again, Tomi’s death eruptions are the icing on the grave cake. There are segments here that remind of Ava Inferi’s stellar Onyx opus and there’s a fuck-ton of forlorn grief energy to be had despite the overstuffed package. Could it be 2-3 minutes shorter? Could Doc Grier be nicer? Both are stupid questions. Things close with another study in excess, 9-plus minute “Shattered Remains,” and yet again The Eternal use sage songcraft to rescue the freighter from the rocky shoals. The music is just heavy enough to satisfy and Kelson does his sadboi thing with grace and aplomb as Tomi leaps in and out dropping the death hammer. The chorus is instantly memorable and evocative, sure to harsh your mellow, and send you to the weepery. With no songs feeling uninspired, The Eternal again deliver an hour-plus of music you can wade through and still want more of despite the extra padding. No small feat that.
This is Mark Kelson’s show and the man delivers a vocal tour de force of Gothy unhappiness. His voice is perfectly-suited to the style and his ability to move from ominous baritone to higher register crooning conveys the rise and fall of emotion well. Richie Poate and Kelson are a formidable guitar tandem, adept at weaving heavy doom riffs with uber-sad trilling and weepy noodling. The icy post-metal aspects are well executed and highly effective in timing and placement. Tomi Joutsen is used sparingly but effectively to punch the heaviness upward. He’s not on every song so things never feel formulaic or forced. This a band that knows this genre inside out and knows how to pluck the heartstrings long and hard.
Skinwalker is 65 minutes of high-class depression bottled by professionals and hawked by grungy snake oil salesmen. The Eternal refuse to downsize and will not be rushed. If you have the patience though, they have the fresh Goth goods. If they ever learn to resist their fatter angels, they’ll drop a magnum opus that will shake the heavens. Until that day, Skinwalker will do just fine.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Reigning Phoenix
Websites: the-eternal.com | facebook.com/theeternal | instagram.com/theeternalofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 28th, 2024
#2024 #35 #AustralianMetal #AvaInferi #DoomMetal #GothicMetal #Jun24 #Katatonia #LacrimasProfundere #ParadiseLost #ReigningPhoenixRecords #Review #Reviews #Skinwalker #TheEternal #Tiamat #WaitingForTheEndlessDawn
Arka’n Asrafokor – Dzikkuh Review
By Dear Hollow
Despite comprising 20% of Earth’s land mass, Africa is sorely underrepresented in metal and worldwide music. Though subject to centuries of oppression and colonization, the influence can be felt internationally, but its unique cultural voices are sorely lacking. While Egypt is stalwart in its evocative depictions of ancient civilization (Scarab, Lycopolis), you’d be hard-pressed to find the music of Togo without some serious digging. Based in the capital city of Lomé, what seems to be the only Togolese metal band, Arka’n Asrafokor offers its sophomore effort Dzikkuh.
Arka’n Asrafokor embodies another interpretation of lesser-known and underrepresented native folk music utilized in hard rock and metal styles, following acts like the Māori Alien Weaponry, Polynesian Shepherds Reign, Hindi Bloodywood, and Mongol The Hu or Tengger Cavalry. You won’t find Jacoby Shaddix showing up as a rock feature in Dzikkuh, but instead a much more punishing breed pervades, chuggy riffs colliding with blistering double bass and vocal intensities throughout. Riffy influences of Alien Weaponry, Sepultura, and Pantera run rampant, layered with percussion, melodies, and motifs from the band’s native Ewe culture. When the quintet embraces the brutal and balances it with more warfaring tendencies,1 Arka’n Asrafokor accomplishes something truly powerful.
The backbone of Dzikkuh, like any good folk metal, is chunky rhythmic guitar, and guitarist Rock Ahavi is in no short supply of groovy riffs. Utilizing a seven-string, expect wonky rhythms, thick slogs, nimble noodling, and pinch harmonics galore chucked at the listener with reckless and energetic abandon, while the rumble down under from bassist Francis Amevo and blistering double bass and rabid beats from drummer Richard Siko add to the intensity. Vocalist Enrico Ahavi offers raspy barks and sporadic raps that add a jolt of intensity, while percussionist Mass Aholou offers a plethora of native instruments.2 When the act’s heritage in Ewe tribal warrior motifs are used to enhance Arka’n Asrafokor’s groove-metal assault, like layers of percussion and Rock Ahavi’s soaring battle cry-like cleans and grunge-inspired howls, tracks like “The Truth,” “Walk With Us,” “Angry God of Earth,” and “Home” expertly blend punishment and evocative tribal elements in adrenaline-pumping intensity reminiscent of Alien Weaponry. “Mamade” is the clear highlight, with recurring tribal motifs of percussion and melodies adding further weight to the crushing intensity through its bulletproof dynamic songwriting.
When Arka’n Asrafokor’s teeth are gritted with blistering heaviness, Dzikkuh hits like a bomb. When they slow things down, they sound a bit like a toothless Five Finger Death Punch. While Ahavi’s grunge rumble enhances the attack in songs like “Final Tournament” and “Angry God of Earth,” they lose their impact when utilized excessively, making “Still Believe” and closer “The Calling” revel in dad rock-inspired cringeworthy melodrama. Elsewhere, while intensity is generally best, tracks “Not Getting in Line” and “Asrafo” nearly fly off the rails with an almost mathcore wildness in rhythmic complexity, made stranger by unprecedented rapping vocals, although usage adds a certain desperation to “Home.” Tracks “Not Getting in Line” and “Angry God of Earth” feature awkward tonal shifts, like jarring bridges of silence between passages as well as weird shifts between clean choruses and harsh verses. Also, although unmatched in animalistic intensity, Enrico Ahavi’s raspy and smoky barks can be an acquired taste in tracks like “Home” and “The Truth.”
Being the only metal act in Togo, Arka’n Asrafokor had to record their albums in a tiny makeshift studio outside of Lomé, and the solidness of Dzikkuh pays off mightily as a labor of love. While it ends on a bit of a sour note with “The Calling” and there are some wayward hiccups throughout, this does not discredit cuts like “Walk With Us” and “Mamade” from being unique and pummeling tracks that add a new chapter to the growing body of ethnic voices in today’s metal. Technical without being too flashy to focus on the act’s native elements, each member contributes heartily to an act of passion and power. Reflecting roots in tribal warrior customs, Dzikkuh is a formidable album from an act with only more to offer going forward – a bold representative of a continent too often neglected in metal circles.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Reigning Phoenix Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 24th, 2024
#2024 #35 #AlienWeaponry #ArkaNAsrafokor #Bloodywood #Dzikkuh #FiveFingerDeathPunch #FolkMetal #GrooveMetal #HeavyMetal #Lycopolis #May24 #Pantera #ReigningPhoenixRecords #Review #Reviews #Scarab #Sepultura #ShepherdsReign #TenggerCavalry #TheHu #ThrashMetal #TogoleseMetal
The AMG Rodeö Goes to Hell: Kerry King – From Hell I Rise
By Steel Druhm
“The Kerry King Rodeö is a time-honored tradition that Grier hopes will never occur again. Though King has reunited (again) with Slayer, he gathered some of the trash metal elite to produce his first solo album, From Hell I Rise. Many will expect King to release his own Slayer album, while others look to see what he can do without the assistance of Araya and co. The Rodeö will be the final arbiter and Grand Leveller ”
Kerry King has become synonymous with thrash metal as a lifestyle choice. Since helping form Slayer in the early 80s, King played an outsized role in defining what thrash metal sounded like as he and his bandmates pushed extreme music to the next plateau. While Slayer’s latter era was less groundbreaking, those seminal early albums sound as good today as they did when they first burst out of Purgatory, and there’s a reason metal fans still scream SLAYER with so much unbridled bloodlust.
With his legendary band calling it a day, Mr. King decided it was time to try his hand as a solo artist, and that brings up to From Hell I Rise. With the enormous shadow of a reforming Slayer looming over the release, what can we expect from the mind of the Thrash King? We have several takes and all of them are hot. Buckle up, buttercups, here comes the Hell Rodeö (Helleö for short).
Kerry King // From Hell I Rise [May 17th, 2024]
Steel Druhm: I’ll cop to not feeling especially excited by the prospect of a Kerry King solo project. As much as I worshiped Slayer from 83 to 90, after that their sound aged badly and I was very okay with them calling it a day (though now it appears they’re back again). My jaded brain assumed a Kerry King solo outing would be like a return trip to the lesser Slayer albums so my enthusiasm was appropriately muted, especially when I saw that stock, unimaginative cover art. But with thrash luminaries Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, Paul Bostaph (ex-Slayer, ex-Exodus, ex-Testament), and Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head, ex-Vio-Lence) on board, the talent and thrash heritage is firmly in place. Is the material up to snuff though? If I had to deliver an elevator review, I’d say this sounds like off-brand Death Angel with side quests into Grip Inc. Proper lead track “Where I Reign” is pissed off enough to make an impression with Mark Osegueda delivering a very Araya-like performance backed by churning, groove-heavy riffs from King and Demmel. It won’t convert nonbelievers, but it’s solid enough. “Residue,” “Trophies of the Tyrant,” and “Toxic” bring enough testosterone and diversity of approach to gain traction and land on a gym playlist and the riffing is serviceable and beefy. Other than that, however, the album is stuffed with by-the-numbers generic groove-thrash. Cuts like “Crucifixation,” “Tension,” and “Rage” feel dull and bloodless, while punky number “Two Fists” is awkward and annoying despite a sort of Prong-esque weirdness I should like more than I do. Despite some very Slayer-esque moments, “Shrapnel” is too long and generic, making it a chore to stay engaged with. In the final analysis, Kerry hasn’t embarrassed himself here and at its best, From Hell I Rise is decent but non-essential. And like the last few Slayer albums, the songwriting isn’t all that sharp or memorable. That’s a shame considering the folks involved. 2.5/5.01
Dr. Grier: I was a wee lad when I first shook hands with Kerry King. I was in my twenties when I shared a beer with Paul Bostaph and Phil Demmel (on different occasions). I was in my thirties when I exchanged fist bumps with Mark Osegueda. And, I was thirteen when I lovingly embraced Kyle Sanders. Wait, no. That was some girl from junior high. I don’t know who this guy is. Anyway, Kerry King’s solo band has arrived, surrounded by these thrash metal legends to bring you his debut album, From Hell I Rise. Not surprisingly, this record is one of the more anticipated releases of 2024. And it’s been something King has been working on for some time. Not looking to create a copycat of his other band, the different staff members add a unique flavor to Kerry King, separating it from the Slayer dynasty. For better or worse. Of these thirteen tracks, only two have standout Slayer riffs. “Toxic” contains a lot of Reign in Blood-era character as it rips and roars for four straight minutes. It also sports one of the most vicious vocal performances I’ve ever heard from Osegueda. “Crucifixation” is another Slayer-esque banger that unfortunately transitions to what could potentially be a cool, dual-guitar harmonization. But it drags on for two minutes and goes fucking nowhere. The diversity comes out in tracks like “Trophies of the Tyrant,” “Residue,” and “Idle Hands.” The first song has a stomping groove that’s out of King’s wheelhouse but matches Osegueda’s gnarly vocals beautifully. “Residue” is an odd one because it’s total Pantera-core, even with a punchy vocal performance that reminds me of Phil Anselmo. And, hilariously enough, King wrote a fucking modern-day Metallica song with “Idle Hands.” In the end, I cannot support Kerry King. The best part of the album is Osegueda in his unhinged glory and Bostaph’s drum work. But without these two gents, this is not a good album, and most of the songwriting is just lazy. Also, calling it “thrash” is a stretch. This record is pretty much groove metal. No thanks. 2.0/5.0
Dolphin Whammy-er: Kerry King, the man himself, needs no intro. Neither does his body of work—or rather, Slayer’s body of work—which has laid the foundation for many a pull off-evil riff-whammy wailin’ thrash rager throughout the land. It should come as no surprise, then, that his debut solo effort, From Hell I Rise, contains enough riffs to fuel a fledgling act’s career and then some. Of course, there is an inherent problem that an overwhelming majority of these riffs—patterns that are the cornerstone of tracks like “Where I Reign,”2 “Residue”,3 “Toxic”—remind me of times when King and friends frenemies simply hit harder, faster, and with a touch more earnestness. Also, I don’t expect thrash lyrics to be dissertations or even low satire, but hearing men of this tenure talk about people spending “too much time forcing their opinion on other people’s lives” or how “hatred is [his] ammunition” encroaches on crotchety cloudfister rather than tongue-out punk. Speaking of punk, though, when Kerry King’s all-star troupe drop fast and furious against skank-led and d-beat rippers (“Two Fists,” “Rage”), mic abuser Mark Osegueda’s (Death Angel) vicious efforts land against a guitar attitude of equally fervent measure. Same too when King and Demmel drop a touch lower and groovier for the closing title track. It’s these kinds of flourishes that attempt to give this record its own feisty identity. However, while sticking to his own tested works ensures that nothing on From Hell I Rise lands as a dud—outside of that low-throttle intro track—it also ensures that most of it plays like a “less than” version of King’s career peaks. 2.0/5.0
#2024 #AmericanMetal #DeathAngel #FromHellIRise #GripInc_ #GrooveMetal #KerryKing #May24 #ReigningPhoenixRecords #Review #Reviews #Slayer #ThrashMetal
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Angry Metal Guy
