Ancient Dome – Cosmic Gateway To Infinity

Ancient Dome plays thrash metal and hails from the new capital of thrash: Italy. These guys are actually one of the longer standing and more prolific Italian thrash groups. They’ve been around since 2000, and “Cosmic Gateway To Infinity” marks their third full-length record. As the title and album art give away, Ancient Dome take a different thematic approach than many of their peers. This album is based around interstellar travel and other similar topics. While many would expect this lyrical direction means more technical music, Ancient Dome takes a different approach. The music is no more or less technical than the standard thrash affair; however, it is somewhat more melodic. On “Cosmic Gateway To Infinity”, the use of melody comes more from the vocals than the guitars (though the guitars are not absent of melody either). Singer Jerry De Feo manages to inject plenty of singing alongside his thrash grunt. This is most obvious in the chorus of the opener, “N.I.F. (New Interstellar Force)”, but is relatively prominent throughout most of the record, and is particularly noticeable in many of the choruses.

As the album continues on, it becomes clear that Ancient Dome truly does have a bit more experience than their peers. They manage to avoid many of the pitfalls of thrash, while providing their own unique sound. Although this album is fast, it never reaches absurd speeds, and the fact that this record still manages to be quite enjoyable in spite of its speed and melody is a testament to songwriting talents of the members of Ancient Dome. The song structures occasionally seem a bit dense, but that’s all the more reason to keep listening to the record to discover new layers to each track. The only one that will be immediately memorable upon first listen is the aforementioned "N.I.F. (New Interstellar Force)", but none of the songs are bad. From a production standpoint, everything is up to par. The mixing sounds good, and though the bass isn’t the most prominent, it isn’t impossible to hear. There isn’t too much more that needs to be said about “Cosmic Gateway To Infinity” because it’s a really solid release. The band manages to sound unique within the confines of a relatively restricted subgenre of metal, and although this album doesn’t necessarily stack up with the greats, it is a worthy listen for any major fans of thrash. 

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Highlights

"N.I.F. (New Interstellar Force)"

"A Sea of Stars"

"Cosmic Gateway to Infinity"

Final Rating

4.0/5 or 80%. 

Written by Scott

Tormenter – Prophetic Deceiver

The last couple of years have not been kind to thrash metal. While there have been some great releases, it appears the onslaught of thrash bands are either disappearing, slowing down, or just getting worse. With the exception of Hatchet’s “Dawn of the End”, there hasn’t been a release in the last couple of years that brought me back to 2008 when I heard Gama Bomb, Bonded By Blood, and Evile for the first time. Until now, that is. Tormenter is a band that has been around for a while, and while their prior work was definitely quite good, their new album, “Prophetic Deceiver”, is propelling them to the thrash metal elite. This album brings together all of the elements that make a fantastic thrash record: impressive individual performances, variety, and most importantly, memorable songwriting. Although what Tormenter does is not fundamentally different from many other thrash bands, they add enough of their own personality to make this record unique.

One of many highlights begins with the opener, “Snakes In The Throne Room”, which shows the band’s melodic sensibility. Tormenter uses harmonized guitars effectively, showing great homage to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Alongside these leads are plenty of guitar solos (none of which relent in any way), and a chorus that is absurdly brutal, showing the drummer’s ability to pound away with double bass. “Snakes In The Throne Room” sets the stage for the rest of the album, as similar themes are prominent on every other track. Tormenter is not afraid to show an ear for melody, and it is the perfect contrast for their aggressive vocalist, Carlos Rodelo. Although his voice is certainly not as unique as those from the bands mentioned above, he takes a bit of a death metal approach, while still staying firmly planted in thrash, not unlike John Kevill from Warbringer.

As the album goes on, it is filled with highlights. The title track manages to be quite catchy, as screams of “Prophetic Deceiver” will be running through your head for hours. The track features a tribute to “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due” with a clean guitar section quite similar to Marty Friedman’s from that song. The short interlude track, “C.P.R”, is fantastic in that it really isn’t all that different from the rest of the album. It’s pretty shreddy, and shows the band’s talent well. The second half of the album is no different from the first, and also features some of the best tracks.

One element of the album that does need discussion is the production. I’m somewhat split on it. On the one hand, the drums and bass sound great. Every single fill is enhanced by how good the drums sound, and the bass is noticeable all throughout the record. The lead guitars are likewise pushed to the forefront. Perhaps most surprisingly for thrash is that the rhythm guitars are too quiet. All throughout the album, it feels like the rhythm guitars are fighting to be heard, and that is unfortunate given how good many of these riffs are. It is most noticeable about 25 seconds into “Sacrilege” where there is a buildup with the guitars playing a riff, and the bass and drums accenting it. Every time the rhythm section comes in, it is considerably louder than the guitars they complement. This problem is certainly not anything that ruins the album, and it is only a slight complaint on an otherwise stellar release. Even in spite of this issue, “Prophetic Deceiver” is easily one of the most inspired thrash albums I’ve heard in a while. For all those feeling a bit disappointed with a lot of thrash coming out these days, “Prophetic Deceiver” is the answer to all of your problems!

Be sure to check out and like Tormenter on Facebook!

Highlights

"Snakes In The Throne Room"

"Prophetic Deceiver"

"The Final Form"

"Cosmic Collapse"

Final Rating

4.6/5 or 92%. 

Written by Scott

Old Thunder – Slings & Arrows

Old Thunder is a one-person doom metal project grounded in the US. Mainman Dustin Grooms plays every single instrument and does vocals on the band’s debut EP “Slings & Arrows”. Irrespective of anyone’s thoughts on the quality of this release, that fact alone is always impressive. The good news is that fans of doom metal have absolutely no reason to question the quality of this release. The four full tracks on “Slings & Arrows” are competently played, and sound relatively up to par with much of the subgenre’s slower bands. I emphasize slow because, at times, Old Thunder is just too slow. The first full track, “June 2, 1910”, opens with some huge ringing chords, and drums underneath that sound like an eternal struggle to hit the beat (this isn’t a comment on Grooms’ ability to stay in time, but rather the sluggish pace at which the track moves along). After about a minute and a half of this, things speed up considerably, and this is where I’d consider the EP to be at its best. Although one could hardly consider this sound doom, whenever things are speedier and more energetic, the EP flourishes. This aggression is aided by Grooms’ superb growls. He leans in a bit of a black metal direction; his voice is raspy, but not particularly shrieky. Even when the music becomes slower again (thankfully not as snail-like as before), Grooms continues his hostile assault.

There is one area where it becomes difficult to appreciate Old Thunder’s sound, even for doom fans. On “June 2, 1910”, there is a clean guitar interlude about halfway through. The interlude itself starts off promising, and the guitar work is definitely very melancholic, but relaxing (a re-occurring feeling on this EP, particularly noticeable on "Serpent Sovereign"). Yet where this section fails is with Grooms’ clean vocals. He abandons metal altogether with his singing, and his voice is so far outside the realm of metal that I don’t even have a good comparison to give. When his harsh vocals return (in a fantastic transition, I might add) the song becomes enjoyable again, but this is just one section that should have never occurred. Interestingly, "Rainroom" also has some singing, but it is much better on this song, and similar to something that Insomnium would do.

Of course, there are 3 other tracks on this EP that exceed 4 minutes, but “June 2, 1910” was the most worthy of discussion simply because it covers the ground that the rest of the EP does as well. Thankfully melodic singing is used sparingly, but melody itself does return often. “Rainroom”, for example, features some fantastic harmonized leads. Their appearance alone makes the song a highlight, and they are relatively pervasive throughout the track. “Sinking” is a somewhat more plodding song, though it conjures an enjoyable atmosphere. At times it uses a quieter melodic lines that complement the tortured screams of Grooms, while at others, it chugs with riffs and mid-paced drumming to create a trance. 

In the end, “Slings & Arrows” is a relatively solid piece of doom. With its one flaw aside (that lasts no more than a couple of minutes), it manages to deliver a variety of interesting riffs while mixing up the tempo. Although it is not entirely the most memorable release, it is still a worthwhile listen.  

Be sure to check out and like Old Thunder on Facebook!

Highlight

"Rainroom"

Final Rating

3.5/5 or 70%. 

Written by Scott

Viathyn – Cynosure

Progressive metal is something I tend to stay away from. While I’m not fundamentally opposed to all of the essential traits of the style, I find that it’s not usually something done all that well in practice. With that said, “Cynosure”, the second record by Canadian metal group Viathyn, is a definite exception. It still features a couple of things I really dislike in progressive metal: exceptionally long albums (64 minutes in this case), and somewhat meandering songs that don’t conform to the standard (or even identifiable) song structures. In spite of these characteristics, this is a really good album, which says something about the things Viathyn is doing right.

Part of what makes “Cynosure” such an interesting listen is that it draws influence from a variety of sources. Some might call this power metal, and that's certainly a dominant sound that is mixed with prog here. There are lots of soaring melodies, and while the vocals do not sound like Michael Kiske, they would not be out of place in a Helloween-esque band. Viathyn transcend the power metal label though. The guitar solos are incredibly virtuosic, and though they can resemble a band like Gamma Ray, they just as often resemble shreddier artists like Jeff Loomis or Michael Angelo Batio. In fact, on “Shadows In Our Wake”, the band pays tribute to the god of shred, Jason Becker. There is a lengthy section in this song where the guitars are clean and play harmonized classical leads. Anyone familiar with Becker’s “Perpetual Burn” will love this section, and it proves to be the highlight on the entire album. Another way Viathyn mixes things up is that they use harsh vocals (see “The Coachman” and “Albedo”, among others). These gutturals are relatively well performed, and in no way resemble anything in the metalcore realm. On “Countess of Discordia”, there is quite a bit of tremolo picking that will please fans of more extreme metal. The connection to extreme metal is also very evident in the rhythm section. The band’s drummer is quite active as he varies up different drumbeats. While there aren’t any blast beats, nor streams of absurdly fast double bass, there are plenty of interesting fills and rhythms. This diversity helps keep things interesting over the course of a very long record. 

“Cynosure” does have the occasional flaw. The biggest offender here is the use of laid-back, quieter parts. Quite a few minutes of “Time Will Take Us All” lacks vocal power, simply because the music is too tame to support the great voice of Viathyn’s singer. Likewise, “Albedo” has some of these moments as well. When both tracks pick up the pace, however, they manage to sound equally as potent as anything else on the album. Ultimately, it is easy to recommend this album to anyone who digs any kind of progressive music, and even for those of us that are naturally averse to it, there is still plenty of quality offered by Viathyn on “Cynosure”.

Be sure to check out and like Viathyn on Facebook!

Highlights

"The Coachman"

"Shadows In Our Wake"

Final Rating

4.1/5 or 82%. 

Written by Scott

Alkira – Juggernaut

“Juggernaut” is the first full-length record from Australia’s Alkira. This four-piece plays an intense brand of thrash metal that is built around powerful riffs, varied tempos, and lots of aggression. Aside from a relatively tame intro, once the album kicks off with “Submission Therapy”, it chooses not to let up. Be forewarned that this relentlessness does not take the form of “Darkness Descends”, “Ritually Abused” or even fellow countrymen Harlott; instead, it is more akin to something like Exhorder where speed and power are prominent, but can make way to groove. Additionally, the primary driver of the consistent battering ram of sound is from the vocals. While there is not a lot of range in the vocals, there is plenty of conviction. Some of the more menacing screams sound like some irreversible damage is being done to the vocal cords, and while I don’t recommend that to anyone, it creates one brutal sound. Though this approach is one-dimensional, it is not inherently bad. Alkira still mixes the music up to counteract this vocal approach.

The term groove/thrash or groove metal often frightens away most thrashers, and rightfully so. Having been exposed to plenty of thrash, the label groove/thrash often means a groove metal record that wants to be associated with thrash for various reasons. In Alkira’s situation, this is absolutely not the case. Other than the final track, which is somewhat plodding, the band is thrash-oriented first, with hints of groove. Though Alkira is not as potent with their groove tendencies, a good comparison would be to Vio-lence’s first record, where groove complemented thrash in a way that would get all heads banging. And even when it feels like the band might lean on this element a bit too much (such as in “The Fleet”), they are immediately aware that things need to be turned up again. The very next track, “Inebriated State”, has quite possibly the fastest and most brutal riffing of the entire record. Alkira is also no stranger to melody. While they are a far cry from Heathen or Artillery, the band is able to seamlessly inject leads into their music. The aforementioned "The Fleet" does a stellar job of this, as does the title track.

Despite my praise for “Juggernaut”, I have two slight criticisms with this record. The first is the songwriting. The members of Alkira are definitely better songwriters than most thrash bands. The songs here aren’t completely devoid of memorability, nor do they blend together; however, they also don’t quite reach the heights of some of the stronger thrash bands out there. It is clear the band has the talent, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them reach those heights in the future, but they are just outside that range right now. The other comment I have is regarding the album length. No style of music is more suited to a shorter album than thrash metal. The reality is that a 52-minute album such as this one is almost always less effective than if it were 35 minutes. While the album isn’t boring by the end, it certainly would be more impactful if it were without a couple of tracks. Alkira does tend to write longer songs, and, for the most part, they don’t feel any longer than the typical 3-4 minute thrasher, but it would still benefit the band to just release the best 7 or so tracks. Nevertheless, “Juggernaut” is definitely well above much of the thrash out there today, and just a couple of steps below the upper echelon.  

Be sure to check out and like Alkira on Facebook!

Highlights

"Submission Therapy"

"Inebriated State"

"Juggernaut"

Final Rating

3.9/5 or 78%. 

Written by Scott