Albums of 9/27/24

The most interesting albums of the week!

Diablation makes epic, symphonic black metal. Irreverence, released on Osmose Productions, is their third album in four years, and the ideas keep flowing. While the production on Irreverence could have done more to complement the songwriting, the riffs contain enough memorable moments to carry the day and make Diablation worth a try.

On Irreverence, you have somewhat typical blast-beats with a black metal topping that you’ve heard before. Irreverence works because of Diablation‘s twin abilities to craft melodies and play them off of each other. Irreverence isn’t just a pile of excellent riffs stapled together, although the riffs carry their weight. It’s also passages that bolster their predecessors with additional context, transitions that sound natural and compelling, and building moments that pull back so that the best melody in the song can come crashing through with increased triumph. Diablation sprawls quite a bit, but you’ll be wondering where it when when the album finishes.

Marche Funebre make death/doom of the beautiful variety, and I am very pleased to have listened to their fifth album After the Storm. Their last two albums, Einderlicht and Into the Arms of Darkness, were brilliant, and After the Storm equals them. This is my favorite album of the week. After the Storm was released on Ardua Music.

Songs on After the Storm carry some heft. While track lengths remain on the longer side throughout the record, fans of doom metal might find them fleeting. In any case, Marche Funebre use their stretched-out time to build, and build, and build. Songs have an arc to them, complete with rising tension and catharsis. Slow melodies wheel around throughout the tracks, just piling emotion on the listener. The production is gorgeous, the harsh and clean vocals both work satisfyingly well with this style of music, the drums crest along with the height of the music as they switch from intense patterns to more contemplative beats, and the bass sounds as good as any death/doom album I’ve heard this year.

It’s Ripped to Shreds. I don’t know what to say. This is typically excellent death metal, following their last release full of typically excellent death metal. Andrew Lee’s flagship project, still on Relapse Records, piles mid-tempo death metal riffs on top of each other until there’s no room to breathe. Sanshi contains no frills, no gimmicks, just concise death metal.

Sanshi could be Ripped to Shreds at the top of their game, but that also could have been Jubian. Or it could be whatever this group releases next. Their sound is so utterly consistent, their workmanship so focused, their songwriting so tight, it’s difficult to find a blemish. Ripped to Shreds are the platonic ideal of their brand of OSDM, and every death metal fan should celebrate them.

The Great White Nothing is Grava‘s second full length, released on Aesthetic Death. This young band bellows out thick, black smokey sludge. Their music is dark and lush. Guitars screech when the vocals drop out, with the band’s choice to highlight the dissonance and distortion supported by the slow, grasping pace of their songs. Fans of Amenra or Jupiterian will appreciate Grava.

The individual tracks on The Great White Nothing disappear before you have a chance to grow bored, even as notes stretch on forever. The songwriting is quite restrained, with direct, simpler riffs and vocal lines supporting rather than working against the song tempos and tones of the instruments. Grava‘s restraint allows their choices to hit with greater effect when they choose, such as when the drums drop out at the end of “Breaker.”