NETHERBIRD - The Grander Voyage

Netherbird - The Grander Voyage (2016, Black Lodge Records)

With the happening of Jon Nodtveidt’s greatest offering to Metal in the form of Dissection’s Storm of the Light’s Bane back in 1995, a multitude of copycats and followers from Sweden took a spin at the blend of Black and Death Metal with melodic guitar riffs and a huge penchant for the epic of Heavy Metal of the 80’s. In this wave of Swedish melodic Black/Death Metal acts, Netherbird is one of the most loyal band in the genre. Back after a short break, between 2014 and 2016, the Swedes made a comeback in full force.

RECITATIONS - The Firsts of the Listeners

Recitations - The Firsts of the Listeners (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Norway and Black Metal, Black Metal and Norway, you get it? Right? Okay so we can pass to something else. This band, which there is no information about anywhere has just released through Avantgarde Music a piece of four tracks of Contemporary Black Metal.

TUTTI I COLORI DEL BUIO - Initiation Into Nothingness

Tutti I Colori Del Buio - Initiation Into Nothingness (2016, Bare Teeth Records)

TUTTI I COLORI DEL BUIO began at the end of 2013 in Turin, Italy, from four friends previously involved in such bands as Marmore, Last Minute To Jaffna, and Magdalene, all active and known within the Italian scene.

Powerviolence is a genre that was brought back to somewhat popularity with Nails recently but that is a hybrid of Hardcore Punk, Grindcore, and Crossover. Never far from 1980’s punk and D-beat (obviously think of Discharge), such legendary acts like Spazz have paved the way for further bands like Tutti I Colori Del Buio.

MESARTHIM - .- -... ... . -. -.-. .

Mesarthim - .- -... ... . -. -.-. . (2016, Avantgarde Music)

Australia and Black Metal have a weird connection and many bands as Midnight Odyssey and Mesarthim have embraced the Darkspace bandwagon of Atmospheric Black Metal with a penchant for the cosmos themes. Many bands have done the same deal with more or less success. In the case of Mesarthim, a recent one man band, formed in 2015, the melodies and common grounds of the Atmospheric Black Metal was learnt very well. Does it translate in the album weirdly titled .- -... ... . -. -.-. .?

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - Dissociation

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation (2016, Party Smasher – Cooking Vinyl)

Ever since August 2016 The Dillinger Escape Plan announced that Dissociation would be the final release of the band before an extended hiatus, that would later be confirmed as a definitive break-up, there’s an aura of knowing that it will be a precious album from the masters of Mathcore. As a fully affirmed fan of their music since the release of the self-titled EP and an over fifteen years old Calculating Infinity t-shirt would be some of the proofs of this fandom. Let’s be honest to ourselves the expectations for Dissociation are high and even the band has some apprehension knowing that Ben Weinman has always been worshipping One of Us Is The Killer as their masterpiece. Today, if it was my opinion, he would have to change his speech a bit with their most recent iteration.

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - The Dillinger Escape Plan EP

Editor’s note : This is a retrospective of the entire The Dillinger Escape Plan discography as their final album Dissolution will be released October 14th.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - The Dillinger Escape Plan EP (1997, Now or Never Records)

GATECREEPER - Sonoran Depravation

Gatecreeper - Sonoran Depravation (2016, Relapse Records)

Of all the influences cited about the release of Gatecreeper’s first album, Sonoran Depravation, there is a conclusion we can easily get to; the band pushes the Death Metal buttons of fans of every spheres of the genre because the Gatecreeper is form by passionates of the Death Metal movement. Let’s have the name dropping game going on : Entombed, Asphyx, Suffocation, and Bolt Thrower just to name a few.

OPETH - Sorceress

Opeth - Sorceress (2016, Nuclear Blast)

There’s a duality in every band’s evolution that concerns both the band and the fans. First, the band doesn’t want to play the same songs over and over again and the fans don’t want to ‘’pay’’ for the same album either. However, once a band has its own sound the fans expect it to be similar while getting better at each subsequent record. That’s a challenge for any musician to walk that thin path. When the case is that a band gets tired of their previous sound and makes a left turn, it looses fans but might get some others.

Record of the Month: September 2016

There has been a few reviews on the month of September and the staff of LMdM must apologize for that because the album bin has been a hustle to deal with recently with two changes and phones and more difficulties accessing the dropbox the promo people have been reaching us with.

From now on, if you absolutely want your band reviewed please send a CD or LP copy it is easier for us because we had a technological step back.

Enough of this whining about all and nothing, with many expected releases in late September, I got to get some time for myself to actually think about the most deserving monthly award of RotM.