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Listening Notes: This is Metal Vol. 2

 It turns out that metal remains the genre most easily accepted by my ears, having accompanied me for exactly 10 years now. So, I’ll continue my review of metal releases, even though there are other genres waiting in the queue.

Haissem - Demonotone (2020)

70%

Haissem’s monstrous intimidation felt brief and fleeting. You know that SpongeBob expression when he's being "scared" by the Flying Dutchman—the one immortalized as a meme? That’s me. I found myself focusing only on the bass lines instead of the melodies, which seemed concentrated on "The Shadowhunt," not to mention the relentless drumming throughout. Oh, is this perhaps the meaning of "de monotone"?

Highlight: The Shadowhunt

Mad Essence - Black Area 1.0 (2022)

70%

Looking for Eastern European alternative/nu-metal or Rapcore? Mad Essence might be a candidate. Think Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park with industrial influences. That's enough to describe their music, which is dominantly built on electronic/industrial foundations with added hip-hop vocals. It’s a bit of a shame, really.

Highlight: -

Meadows End - Sojourn (2018)

80%

I was once captivated by symphonic elements blended with the technical style of Fleshgod Apocalypse, yet felt unsatisfied by the atmospheric offerings of Mechina. Then Meadow's End brought three albums to me just as I had fallen into doom/death metal, and in the end, only Sojourn managed to reach my heart.

I’d call it cinematic melodic death metal. While it sounds beautiful and emotional with its cinematic piano and violin, I can't help but wish there were a melodic death/doom version of this album. Or at the very least, an instrumental version.

Highlights: Mostly all tracks

Ondfødt - Oldfodt (2024)

75%

Overthinking in the early hours makes Ondfødt's music feel like a burden. I’d rather be trapped in the deafening silence than in the tension, anxiety, and fear created here, even though their black metal quality sounds clean and modern. However, the melody in "Paradiset" lightens that burden slightly.

Highlight: Paradiset

Putrid Torso - Prologue to Nowhere (2022)

80%

Two tracks of high-quality brutal death metal. The drumming that batters the eardrums is reason enough for me to appreciate Putrid Torso here. It’s like trying to demolish the walls of early-morning anxiety, yet the foundation remains, ready to be rebuilt another time... Damn it.

Highlights: All tracks

RedWeel - Inception (2019)

70%

The Ukrainian melodic metalcore unit RedWeel closes the session, but I’m reluctant to discuss their music, which is typical of the genre. Who do they sound like? As I Lay Dying? Killswitch Engage?

I’m just trying to find meaning in the song titles—from the title track suggesting that nothing is finished and it's all just the beginning, to wondering if I'm already dead through "Congratulations ... You Have Died." Then there’s "Past in All the World"—is it about a mind always trapped in the past? I’m not quite sure.

Highlight: -

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