Quickies: Second Quarter 2020 Releases included ABYSMAL DAWN, SECRETS OF THE MOON and PROTEST THE HERO

Between April 3rd and June 26th, there were some very decent releases that didn't get a full review but deserved my attention anyway.

ABYSMAL DAWN Phylogenesis (04/17)

The death metal quartet from Los Angeles led by founding member Charles Elliott ( guitars/lead vocals) is back after 6 years with Phylogenesis, their fifth album. Abysmal Dawn plays an aggressive mix of technical modern and early death metal. Honestly, those more tech death bands sound a lot alike, but for some reason I was captivated by Phylogenesis. It could be that I haven't reviewed many death metal bands this year and was missing it. But the fact is that Abysmal Dawn displays skillful songwriting and technical delivery with memorable riffs. There are no frills on this album, it features 44 minutes in 9 songs of straight up death metal from start to finish. It all starts with the aggressive, drum intensive, fast tempo "Mundane Existence" and many songs follow the same feel, but  not all. The single "Hedonistic" is a bit slower and groovy. "The Lament Configuration" is more progressive and almost Meshuggah-like.  Not ground breaking by any means but an interesting (tech) death metal record for the genre enthusiasts.

SECRETS OF THE MOON Black House (5/8)

SotM are (were?) a black metal band from Germany, founded in 1995. Black House, which follows 2015's Sun, is their 7th studio album. It's my first experience listening to this band, so I have no expectations of how they should sound like. They've been to several line up changes and it's not difficult to notice that also they have been changing their style from album to album. With Black House it's clear from the first couple of songs that there's very little left from black metal here. The immediate references are The Cure, Alice In Chains and Fields Of The Nephilim with a touch of Faith No More (e.g. "He Is Here"). As you can imagine it's a Goth Rock/Post Metal album with no screams or anything like black metal blast beats. Every song has a guest appearance which bring a nice variety to the album. But unfortunately Black House doesn't always work, some songs in the middle of the album get boring and too indie rock for my taste. In sum, if you never heard SotM before, go ahead and check this out for something good and different: Dark, mellow, Goth and atmospheric. If you were expecting anything like the black metal albums before Sun and you are not open to a complete 180º turn from that, then don't even bother. 

GRAVE DIGGER Fields of Blood (5/29)

Fields of Blood is the 20th studio album by the pioneers of German Power Metal. The essence of the band has not changed, despite the line-up changes, frontman and founding member Chris Boltendahl was able to keep an incredible consistency in their sound. The only difference from the first couple of albums and all recent releases is the modern and pristine production. I always find amusing why a bunch of Germans with heavy German accent sing about Scotland so much. The band even recorded parts of their new longplayer in the Scottish Highlands. On the other hand I love when the use Bagpipes. The intro "The Clansman's Journey" and the mid-tempo "The Heart of Scotland" being clear examples of that. For most of the album the band stay true to their no-frills traditional brand of metal. For example "All for the Kingdom" and "Freedom" are very welcomed new headbangers to their repertoire. The ballad "Thousand Tears" featuring Noora of Battle Beast is a surprise and the epic title track going over 10 minutes. It stood out to me the quality of the drumming and guitarwork, I found myself really enjoying about half of the songs. But as an overall album there are too many ups and downs. Overall, some fun Teutonic metal as expected by those veterans. Old time fans will enjoy it, for the others it won't change your previous view on the band.

PROTEST THE HERO Palimpsest (6/19)

Palimpsest is the fifth studio album and first full length since 2013's Volition. Those Canadians prog metallers have a neck for catchy melodies and complex and dynamic song structures. Protest The Hero is usually labeled as prog metal, but while it is true, it's a very unique sound. The singing is mostly clean and almost power metal despite some screaming here and there, most notably in "Soliloquy". Musically,  Protest The Hero is close to a mix of Periphery and Dillinger Escape Plan. But there are some Dream Theater-like moments, as in the instrumental passages from "From The Sky" or "Reverie".  Palimpsest is a good album, but it suffers from being a bit too long, I usually get distracted in the middle part and it takes an effort to get back into it. As the songs are complex, it also takes time to get into them, it does help that most of the sing is very clear and melodic.