I At Last were already mentioned on the pages of this zine. This time, they release new e.p. with Inverse Records. These guys are from Finland and they bring metalcore since 2019 as they say on their official page. This record contains five songs. Now, I am not a big fan of metalcore, not my cup of tea so to say, but this one is very, very good. It is enough melodic to border with melodic death metal influences besides hardcore, even having a bit of blast beats in my personal favorite called Wake. This band also does something that I love, that is combining clean melodic singing with screaming and shouting like we are used to in hardcore and metalcore bands. I always fall for that and that is great in my opinion. Guitar work is epic, besides harsh metalcore riffs there are enough catchy and melodic hooks and riffs to make your day happy. Also, there is a dose of melancholy that only Finnish bands can provide in their music. This is a great record for all you fans of such music. I know I am more than satisfied.
I am always glad to discover new bands in this vast and beautiful underground scene that I have been a part of for almost three decades now. Next Door To Heaven are hailing from Russia and this is their new e.p. The theme of the e.p. is battle between two sides of one medal, between artificial and natural within one person. There are five songs on this little record. Music of Next Door To Heaven can be described as mixture of metalcore, modern metal and being melodic above all. Catchy and nice guitar hooks are successfully mixing aggression of metalcore with calm of atmospheric metal creating one really fine soundscape for the listener. Vocals are superb with singer Daria Mazunova being able to reach emotion, melancholy and happiness varying of the song. Her voice reminds me a lot of Anneke from The Gathering. My personal favorite is Unleash The Beast being on of the hardest yet melodic song on this e.p. There is an interesting guest performance by none other than Lord Nelson (ex Stuck Mojo) on Flare Up being more of a rapcore song proving variety and creativity of this band. Really enjoyed this one.
Causam are hailing from Switzerland and this is their first full length album. This record contains eight songs, one being intro. Music of Causam can be described as fast yet melodic black metal. Their music creates atmosphere of aggression, sorrow, despair, yet at the same time melancholy with excellent melodies and guitar work. Drumming is mainly blast beats, yet turning at times into beautiful atmospheric passages just reminding me why I love black metal so much, being best music for expressing all of your emotions. My personal favorites are Beauty of Decay and Eternal, although all of the songs are just excellent. Vocals are black metal screeching but being perfect and fitting fantastic to the song structures. The lyrical themes are more deep and personal than in your face Satanic verses and the mixture of epic music and great lyrics make this one of the best black metal records that came out this year until now.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 