With a gothic, shoegaze-y take on rock that’s legitimately cool, it’s just a shame that Zetra can’t drum up the ideas to work with it.
Tag: heavy metal
In this Review Round-Up, genre experiments from Zeal & Ardor and Frozemode yield a mixed bag (with one much better than the other), while Dark Tranquillity provide some welcome reliability.
After a long break, Kittie come back re-energised with an all-purpose metal hit that ensures their return couldn’t be more welcome.
Consistency continues to be High On Fire’s greatest asset as, 25 years in, they still rank among stoner-metal’s absolute best.
A final double album proves a bittersweet finale for Sum 41, as a pop-punk / metal split produces as many obstructions as it does triumphant hits.
While She Sleeps’ newest album is by far their most diverse yet, a swing into alt-metal that prizes its own modernity and free-thinking creativity, and yields all the unevenness you’d come to expect.
A generically middling sound comes from South Of Salem, thanks to ‘edgy’ hard rock over a decade past its prime, and that was never that transgressive to begin with.
In the first Review Round-Up of 2024, Rough Justice and Island Apes prove that solid stuff can come from either extreme of the complexity spectrum, while The Darkest Moment simply bore all the way through.
Metal excess combined with the influence of their Japanese heritage and culture puts a strong onus on Ryujin’s self-titled album soaring with ease.
Ghost’s playbook is the holy text for the nuns of Dogma, who deliver a brand of classically-infused metal that’s just as fun and flagrantly grand.