Winterfylleth "The Unyielding Season" (2026)

 

With the return of cold, wet winds, the fall of leaves under darkened evenings, its the perfect time to get back into Black Metal! Released March of this year, I'd held an obviously exceptional The Unyielding Season back for these moody months and boy has this record hit! Churning with the roar and rumble of vicious might, It doesn't take long for rattling blast beats and howling screams to pivot upon an emotive narrative.

With the arrival of rich atmospheric synths, a chemistry ignites, as the dark brooding gives way to melodic gratification. Chord progressions melt and ooze over this brazen exterior without softening its beastly majesty. Thus we revel in the union of inspired emotional direction and brutal heathen barbarism. It lets this ceaseless vivid music traverse scenic natural beauties through an intense lensing from both directions.

A matured ebb and flow lets this music breath on occasion, calming from its mostly wild ride of intensity. Soaring across landscapes of rural wonder, evoking the sense of longing for mother nature, The Unyielding Season tapes of a familiar vein of Black Metal with absolute class and conviction. A brilliant execution of this niche sound.

The back end of this one cools off with a couple of beautiful acoustic guitar interludes, lined with folk string sections. It sets up a mighty ending, Enchantment. The mid-tempo pivot and manly Gothic singing has this track feeling like a cover... I just looked it up, fellow Brits Paradise Lost! Anyways, great record. One of the best this year.

Rating: 8/10

Nitzer Ebb "That Total Age" (1987)

 

Enticed to revisit acts of old, barely remembered, my thickly first impressions fade fast. A cyclic pound of steely Industrial drums and resonant bass synth plucks suggest utter simplicity. Commanding shouts reign above, sentiments encapsulated by lyrical lines doubled in droning repetition. Its stark, minimal and invites a listener to assume replication of its blueprint would be relatively straightforward. As songs drift by, one gets caught in a mechanized sway. Between the lines, an entrancing magic emerges.

Its stiff rhythms become mesmerizing. The drone of minimalism engulfs. Those passioned shouts and guttural yelps of Harris and McCarthy hypnotize. Stripped lyricism distills to brief phrases and word pairings, suggesting fascist and authoritarian commentaries. That Total Age has a curious atmosphere assembled through surface level drum machines, bass synthesisers and mics with a healthy helping of reverb.

Songs barely yield variety yet each one finds a pivot point to add mild spice among the looping. Occasional drum performances add a human touch, often chiming in upon the rattle and clank of metallic strikes. Listening to it almost four decades later, its power still persuades effortlessly. In the context of 1987, this surely would have been quite a mind blowing experience for some music heads of the late 80s.

Rating: 8/10

Polarity "Phenomenon" (2025)

 

Here lies a labour of love for sound design! This four track stint pushes crisp clarity and aesthetic action directly to your ears! Moreso an indulgence in rhythm, mood and atmosphere, a lack of melodic direction laser focuses one on its textural treats within. Phenomenon folds the attention of its own sparseness upon those razor blade Drum N Bass beats and channeled low end oscillator articulations with a touch of class.

Sleek, smooth yet hard hitting, these tracks cruise through an emotionless void of alien charisma, riding rhythmic energy to deliver pulses, slides and reverberations of synthetic sound crafted by matured skill. With sublime tone and execution, focus resonates at its electronic textures, making each sonic arrival feel like the point itself, rather than an element contributing to a larger, potentially progressive, vision.

The opening collaboration very much captures two voices figuring out how to share a space together. Funk basslines worm their way into the context with shouts and quirky Disco jabs. It strips this track of a charm heard across the other three cuts, which offer listeners a reason to tune in, drop out, and revel in a void of synthetic delights.

Rating: 6/10

VR SEX "Human Traffic Jam" (2019)

 

With eyebrow raising moniker, the Los Angeles based VR SEX suggest a dystopian tone, reflecting technologies ever growing encroachment upon human connections, community and intimacy. The music very much mirrors this sentiment. Through passioned expression of inner turmoil, the band lovingly plunders ideals of decades past, packaging them in an ecstatic fever dream that evades an twists of modernity.

Product of the Post-Punk umbrella, a downtrodden Gothic Rock glumness reverberates through deeply spoken vocals. A constant clatter of stiff drum machine groove resembles proto Industrial origins. At times its hazy, droning, noise drenched guitar tones take on a shimmering Shoegaze quality. Synth sound design explores a range of corrupting aesthetics, stretching to Noise in moments. Through it all, rock steady baselines march and pound, gluing the music like its essential backbone.

Downgrade might be their most 80s esque track, fondly reminiscent of Killing Joke, however identity is their own. VR SEX has a unique expression emerging from its overt influences. Sprinkled between its main songs, dystopian interludes of rumbling noise establish the records firm grasp on its thematic setting. Pyscho Cybernetiks infusion of detuned astral synth always perks the ears with its alarming vocal snippets. This leads into Cheek Detritus, my personal favorite cut. A horror realizes itself as the prior interlude manifests into a harrowing decent. The only grip on sanity is the firm rhythm section, both drum and bass in unison, shielding us from the insanity.

Human Traffic Jam is remarkable in its own right, a sort of modern classic from decades past. The soft modern touches are mostly technological, its spirit utilizing that era to tackle todays woes. Its a riveting listen, impactful on first spin but after many, its clear these songs have the power to stick around. I'm still loving this one.

Rating: 7/10