Monolith, Voyager (2013)

Tracklist:

1. Prisoner of War
2. Patrimony
3. Inertia
4. Named
5. Initiation
6. Frontier
7. Endurance
8. Communion
9. Fortification
10. Onslaught
11. Desolation
12. Fear and Trembling

As the summer sun turns to autumn rain, the good people of this earth demand intergalactic escapism to deliver them from the terrestrial gloom.  And lo!  From the icy wastes of Canada have arrived our saviours: a trio of bright young sparks returning with their second full-length record of bombastic space-edged melodic prog-death metal.  Monolith’s superb new album, Voyager, delivers just as much as it promises, and it’s a lot: zangy synth; battering blastbeats; chugging chords; and a wild vortex of clean and death-growl vocals.

Asphodel, Graces of the Fall (Demo, 2013)

Tracklist:

1. Celestial Shade

2. Rivers of the Nether

3. Ghost Star

A year is a long time in music.  And the emergence of five bearded Greeks, from Patras, from imitating Opeth and Septicflesh to producing their own work, proves it.  According to the band’s own biog, Asphodel were established as a cover outfit in spring 2012 before trying their hand at original composition.  Their debut demo, Graces of the Fall, now showcases that work.  Whatever the humility of their own self-descriptions, Graces of the Fall is certainly more than a simple demo, its three tracks clocking in fully twenty minutes of head-banging, dead-ringing glory.  And Asphodel themselves, from their musical mastery to their black-death-gothic-progressive genre mashup, are much, much more than a simple cover band.

Back to the dead...

After an inexcusably long absence, I'm making a (tentative) return to reviews over the next month, with a view to properly starting the blog up again.  In line first are a number of cracking recent releases which reflect some of the most daring and exciting work in their respective genres.  Bear with me, and enjoy!