Albums of 9/6/24

The most interesting releases of the week!

I hate punctuation in album titles, apparently so much that I almost skipped over this release entirely. The fourth Black Sites album, independently released, follows three heavy metal albums that ranged from solid to excellent. The band has never made a serious musical misstep. In that regard, The Promised Land? changes nothing. I really, really hate that question mark.

Musically, The Promised Land? is a bit sparser and slower than Untrue or Exile. While this record feels more stretched and exploratory, everything that makes Black Sites work is still here: the focus on quality riffs, the big choruses, the songs that breeze by no matter the length. This is a step in a new direction for this project, but is still familiar enough that any fan of the band’s previous work will have a blast here.

Blitzkrieg are still having fun. The album starts off with a high-energy riff, followed by an arpeggiating guitar, followed by a relaxed yell. From there, the butter-smooth heavy metal just rolls. On their self-titled album, released by Mighty Music, this NWOBHM band sounds like an infectious cannonball.

Blitzkrieg use all the old tricks, and they do so with some pizzazz. Their vocal harmonies hit a warm and fuzzy place, and their continual guitar arpeggiating always earns a smile. The songs and the album are a bit too long, but it feels more like a fun adventure than a slog. While Blitzkrieg doesn’t break any barriers, it does everything that I want a heavy album to do.

Embrace The Darkness is Solitary‘s fifth full-length, released on Twisted Into Form. After a spoken-word intro that includes a sentence on anorexia that re-contextualizes the cover art a bit, Solitary serve up biting and bitter thrash metal. This is what 72 Seasons could have been. While some aspects of this album such as the vocal inflections sound a bit too much like a Metallica cover band, overall Embrace The Darkness sounds more somber and introspective than most thrash.

The riffs on Embrace The Darkness stand out immediately. Solitary sounds full of energy and vigor mostly due to the excellent guitar work. While the song structures come across as a bit stale, the performances carry the day. You can feel the band pulsing together through these tracks.

The Stench of Decaying Flesh is Heinous Exsanguination‘s debut EP. This is dumb slam. You have riffs repeated, but slower, you have riffs repeated but with blast beat this time, you have riffs repeated but with an extra squeaky burp from the vocalist. The music on this EP is short and direct, with no technicality or compromise whatsoever.

Outside of an unnecessary spoken word introduction to “Savage Evisceration,” there’s basically no fat in this decaying flesh. Every fill contains individual puncture hits that feel important, and every riff contains plenty of space and simplicity. Heinous Exsanguination have made something pure that fans of slam will enjoy.