September was a perfect storm of fantastic releases. This started off as individual reviews and got pushed back because of life, and I never got to finish writing them. I said to hell with it and decided to do a rewind of a few of my favorite releases from September.
Seven Spires – Gods of Debauchery – September 10th
Aborted – ManiaCult – September 10th
Inferi – Vile Genesis – September 10th
Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infinity – September 17th
Seven Spires: Gods of Debauchery
Truth be told, Emerald Seas was one of my favorite albums of 2020, so I was REALLY looking forward to this album and had very high expectations for it. Thankfully, it did not disappoint me at all.
The 3rd full-length album from Massachusetts-based symphonic metallers came in like a hurricane across the seas. From the opening orchestration of Wanderer’s Prayer, it starts building tension, making you excited for the rest of the album to unfold. The opening of the title track carries over the symphonic build-up from the album opener, then when it breaks, it carries the melody from Emerald Seas making it clearly known that this is a continuation of the story from the previous albums. Adrienne once again shows her incredible versatility in vocal style. From growls to screams to some of the most beautiful cleans, this woman knows how to use her voice not only to sing but also vocally illustrate her stories. There are moments of haunting beauty along with exceptionally dark and brutal passages (like you’d expect to hear from Fleshgod Apocalypse).
8.5/10
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Aborted – ManiaCult
Well… Fuck… If getting hit in the face with a sledgehammer needed musical accompaniment, ManiaCult would absolutely be the soundtrack. From start to finish, this album is a brutal assault of some of the heaviest shit I’ve heard in a long while. I’d been getting pretty excited about this release with the way they were having fun with Wayland Thurston running around and appearing on other album covers, to the point that he teamed up with Bob the Butcher (Vulvodynia’s token madman) and started terrorizing albums and photos alike. The Aborted crew was on point generating a massive amount of hype for this album, which was absolutely worth every ounce of hype they generated for it.
7.5/10
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Wayland Thurston – Official Facebook Page
Inferi – Vile Genesis
Inferi is brutally technical and tastefully so. Since I first came across them years ago, they’ve been one of my favorite bands to listen to. Vile Genesis is no slouch of an album and comes out ripping hard and never letting up! The band is in their best shape right now and unleashing this album shows just how much in their prime they are. The opening of No Gods but Our Flesh sets the tone of what the rest of the album holds. From wonderfully melodic passages to some of the tightest riffs and playing that metal has to offer. With the storm of brutal releases in September, this fits right in with the rest of the albums that just dropped like an atomic bomb!
8/10
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Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infinity
Hoooooooooly shit. Bob the Butcher warned us, he showed up everywhere trying to tell us that the end of the world was upon us… We. Didn’t. Listen. The elder gods failed to tell us of the sheer fucking brutality that Praenuntius would unleash when he awoke from his slumber. The boys from South Africa returned with a brutal vengeance to come and destroy everything in their path this time around. I’m pretty picky when it comes to deathcore, but this album absolutely decimates all (I SWEAR that Bob the Butcher isn’t standing behind me as I write this, making sure I write a positive review)!
I find myself screaming/growling along with Banquet of Enigmatic Horrors Pt. 1: Terror every-fucking-time I hear it. It’s catchy, brutal, has just the right amount of tension to hold you in suspense for the entire song. The Shadowy Descent of Gaia, the technical album opener starts with a rifftastic run on the fretboard that immediately gives way to the slam that makes you want to punch the nearest person in the face, and just keep swinging. That unrelenting beating will continue for the next 56 minutes, and you’ll enjoy every moment of it.
9/10
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Bob The Butcher – Official Facebook Page
In closing…
Watch for a bunch of updates rolling out shortly behind this article. I covered 2 shows in October, and I need to finish writing those articles and uploading those photo galleries ASAP!
- Cradle of Filth
- 3teeth
- Once Human
- Rivers of Nihil
- Carnifex
- After the Burial
- The Black Dahlia Murder
