Between October 2nd and December 11th, there were some very decent releases that didn't get a full review but deserved my attention anyway.
ANAAL NATHRAKH Endarkenment (10/02)
Anaal Nathrakh delivered the goods following the previous album that I already loved. There's no way to label this band. It's Melodic Death Metal meets Black Metal and Grindcore with touches of Industrial. And given the riffs and operatic vocals at times, it's even Power Metal with big hints of
Mercyful Fate. Not sure how they make it work, but it does and I love it. My only small complain is that a couple of songs are too noisy for me with some super fast drums that even sound electronic. Other than that a top extreme metal album.
The next three albums did not make my year-end list because they came too late in the year.
COMMUNIC Hiding from the World (11/20)
I really enjoy the dark progressive sound of
Communic. It's like taking
Gamma Ray and
Blind Guardian and dial up the progressiveness then adding a strong melancholic feel to it. Their 2017's album
Where Echoes Gather made a good impression on me. Unfortunately the follow-up
Hiding from the World came too late in December 2020 which jeopardized my time with it. However, I can already say it's a good album as well, with 7 epic long prog songs. heavy guitars and very sad lyrics. It's almost like
Paradise Lost went prog power metal. I dug it and I hope to spend more time with it in 2021.
DARK
TRANQUILLITY Moment (11/20)
I like this band a lot and I think their guitar sound and performance have reached a new level with Christopher Amott joining the band. With that said, I felt the music writing in this album a bit boring and not that different from the previous two albums that I liked a lot, but less inspired. Yes, there are some good tunes here that will work well live, but as a full album, it's repetitive and long.
SODOM Genesis XIX (11/27)
12 songs and 55 minutes is bit too long for a pure thrash metal album. I had the impression that now with a second guitar player,
Sodom sounds more like
Slayer than ever before. I mean that's not a bad thing, but a bit weird for such an experienced band. Other than that, if you want a pure ferocious thrash metal album from veterans who know how to do it, then you wont be disappointed.
Last but not least, this one was a special request. And therefore an exception as I usually don't review albums retroactively.
RIGOR SAMSA Cataract (03/26)
Cataract is the debut album from the Polish Progressive metal band
Rigor Samsa. This is a release from March 2020. The album features 12 songs and runs for 60 minutes. With that said, 3 tracks are short transitional ones. From the get go with the album opener "Anode" we clearly hear a strong influence from
Tool. The song writing, the guitar and the voice are all very similar to the iconic American band. But it's not all about
Tool. For example, the last minute of the song gets quite heavy. With the double bass drumming and the vocals going harsher, the song takes a more metal flavor than you would find with
Tool. There are other moments that
Rigor Samsa bring other influences, "Mirage" for example while still on the same lines as the opener shows a different flavor almost like later
In Flames. But most of the rest of the album stays close to the
Tool sound and more alt prog rock than prog metal. Overall, I think those guys sound great and can write some very cool songs. The album is very well produced and all their musicianship skills can be clearly heard throughout the record. On the other hand, I also have some constructive feedback. I personally prefer shorter albums and also not a huge fan of short instrumental tracks in between songs, specially not as track number two. The other thing is that of course the band should build upon this release to go beyond mirroring
Tool. Perhaps incorporate other influences in their sound to become even more unique. Maybe more metallic since the singer and drummer have clearly showed some sparks of it in songs like "Mirage". all in all a good effort and a very nice debut album, I am looking forward to the next album and hopefully seeing
Rigor Samsa live in the near future.
That concludes the 2020 albums - happy 2021!
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