Alpheratz are hailing from Mexico and this is their latest opus. These guys have been in the scene for a long time and they play a mixture of symphonic black metal and avantgarde black metal reminding me a lot of Arcturus with their song structures, although less bombastic than mentioned Norwegians. This opus contains intro, outro and eight songs in between. Songs are not fast, there is no blast beat on this one, Alpheratz lean more on slower, doomy atmospheric side of things, coldness, synths which emphasize almost eerie dreamlike atmosphere of horror and despair. Vocals are neither too screechy, nor too raspy, fit perfectly to the music. My personal favorites are As Burning Fire and Infinite Sad with almost gothic song structures in the latter. This is a good release.
Not much is known about entity called Alone except that it hails from Canada and this is its first release. Opus called I – IV because there are four songs on this one, being a bit longer and called The wars, The sea, The hunt, The cavern. Music of Alone can be described as melodic yet fast black metal with some really melancholic riffs and melodies beneath all the blast beats and aggression. My personal favorite is The hunt being the longest song on the opus but having most atmosphere from anguish and aggression of primal black metal to calm acoustic parts which fit perfectly to the overall mindset of the song. Vocals are crushing and screaming their lungs off and I think that they are just perfect for this kind of black metal. This is a good one, so if you are a fan of such music, go grab this one.
Grand Collapse are by far one of the most interesting bands to come out of the UK hardcore scene nowadays. This is their third album and it will melt your face off. These guys play a mixture of old school UK school of hardcore with Ripcord coming to mind delivering thrash hardcore punk attacks with blistering all out war speed and anger, but also besides speed and d beat there are raw guitars, angry screaming vocals and gang backing sing along parts with some street core and moshing parts brought into the song structures for good measure. Lyrics are political and personal, dealing with clergy, animal rights, police state and similar merry themes that are actual today in our world. This is the kind of bands that are so relevant in the scene today, because punk hardcore became somehow safe and not a threat anymore and not a scream of anger and rebellion, but only party. Fortunately for us, bands like Grand Collapse are still carrying the torch.
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