2021 - WeMetalheads

Moonspell – Hermitage

February 26, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Portugal
Style: Gothic metal
Label: Napalm Records
Release date: 26 February 2021

Hermitage is a slow-burning, introspective Moonspell record. It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios in the UK, and it is the band’s first album without longtime drummer Mike Gaspar, with Hugo Ribeiro now behind the kit.

Anyone hoping for the fury of 1755 will be disappointed. This is atmospheric gothic metal with a lot of Pink Floyd-style space in it. “The Greater Good” and “Common Prayers” carry the strongest hooks, Fernando Ribeiro mostly sticking to his deep clean voice, while “All or Nothing” takes its time and builds slowly. The instrumental “Solitarian” works better than you’d expect.

It drags in places, and a couple of tracks feel unfinished. But the mood is consistent and very Moonspell.

Best tracks:

The Greater Good
Common Prayers
All or Nothing
The Hermit Saints

Author’s rating: 7.9/10

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Iotunn – Access All Worlds

February 26, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Denmark
Style: Progressive metal / Melodic death metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release date: 26 February 2021

For a debut full-length, Access All Worlds is absurdly assured. The Danish band built it as a loose space-travel concept across seven tracks, and singer Jón Aldará, also of Hamferð, is the first thing that grabs you. His clean voice is enormous, and when he switches to growls the songs snap into death metal territory without warning.

“Voyage of the Garganey I” is a ridiculous way to open a debut, a slow-building epic that keeps opening up new rooms. The title track and “The Weaver System” are tighter and riffier, with melodies that stick after one listen, and “Safe Across the Endless Night” closes things in proper widescreen fashion.

Fredrik Nordström mixed and mastered it at Fredman Studios, and the guitars have real weight. If there’s a complaint, the master is a little loud and crowded in the busiest passages. Minor stuff. This is one of the best debuts of 2021, full stop.

Best tracks:

Voyage of the Garganey I
Access All Worlds
The Weaver System
Safe Across the Endless Night

Author’s rating: 8.9/10

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Evergrey – Escape of the Phoenix

February 26, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Sweden
Style: Progressive metal
Label: AFM Records
Release date: 26 February 2021

Evergrey’s twelfth studio album picks up where The Atlantic left off, but with sharper edges. Jacob Hansen produced it, and the guitars hit harder than they have in years while Tom S. Englund’s voice sits right on top, as raw and wounded as ever.

“Forever Outsider” is the perfect opener, a heavy, slightly stomping riff that opens into one of those huge Evergrey choruses they seem to write in their sleep. “The Beholder” brings in Dream Theater’s James LaBrie for a duet, and the two voices actually work together rather than competing. That’s rarer than it sounds. “Eternal Nocturnal” is the most direct thing here, almost a hit single in another universe.

The title track, sitting late in the running order, is grand and melancholic. Not every song lands, and the middle of the record sags a little with mid-tempo ballad territory. But when Escape of the Phoenix is on, it’s Evergrey at their best: heavy, sad and huge at the same time.

Best tracks:

Forever Outsider
The Beholder
Eternal Nocturnal
Escape of the Phoenix

Author’s rating: 8.5/10

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Einherjer – North Star

February 26, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Norway
Style: Viking metal
Label: Napalm Records
Release date: 26 February 2021

North Star is Einherjer’s eighth studio album, recorded at Frode Glesnes’ own Studio Borealis, and it sounds like a band with nothing left to prove. Eight songs of Norse heavy metal, mid-paced and proud.

“The Blood and the Iron” and “Stars” do the heavy lifting up front, big riffs and chants built for a festival field. “West Coast Groove” lives up to its name with an almost rock ’n’ roll swing, and further back “Listen to the Graves” gets room to breathe. Simple stuff, done right.

Best tracks:

The Blood and the Iron
Stars
West Coast Groove
Listen to the Graves

Author’s rating: 8.0/10

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Architects – For Those That Wish to Exist

February 26, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: UK
Style: Metalcore / Alternative metal
Label: Epitaph Records
Release date: 26 February 2021

For Those That Wish to Exist is the Brighton band’s ninth album, and the one where they stopped worrying about being a metalcore band. It’s self-produced, it runs fifteen tracks, and it trades a lot of the old breakdown-and-blast formula for strings, brass, electronics and huge, arena-sized choruses. It also gave Architects their first number one on the UK albums chart.

Some of it works brilliantly. “Black Lungs” and “Animals” are the kind of singles Sam Carter was built to sing, and “Dead Butterflies” is genuinely gorgeous. The guest spots are well placed: Winston McCall of Parkway Drive roars through “Impermanence”, Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr gives “Little Wonder” a swagger, and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil turns up on “Goliath”, the heaviest thing here.

Fifteen songs is a lot, and the middle of the record sags. Still, when “Meteor” and “Dying Is Absolutely Safe” close it out, it’s hard to argue with the direction.

Best tracks:

Black Lungs
Dead Butterflies
Animals
Goliath
Meteor

Author’s rating: 8.4/10

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Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle

February 20, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Germany
Style: Blackened death metal / Melodic black metal
Label: Noisebringer Records
Release date: 20 February 2021

Menschenmühle is the debut album from German project Kanonenfieber, and it is built entirely around the First World War. The lyrics draw on letters, reports and documents left by soldiers, and the nine songs open with the baptism of fire of “Die Feuertaufe”.

Musically it sits between black and death metal, with tremolo melodies that carry most of the emotion and a mid-paced, almost marching heaviness underneath. “Dicke Bertha” stomps like the siege gun it is named after, while “Grabenlieder” is the track that sticks hardest, a sad, hummable lead over relentless drums.

The production is cleaner than the underground setting might suggest, and that gives the melodies and the battlefield atmosphere room to breathe. A few songs follow the same build, but as a debut this is focused and genuinely affecting.

Best tracks:

Die Feuertaufe
Dicke Bertha
Grabenlieder

Author’s rating: 8.5/10

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Harakiri For The Sky – Mære

February 19, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Austria
Style: Post-black metal
Label: AOP Records
Release date: 19 February 2021

Harakiri For The Sky’s fifth album runs close to 85 minutes, and that number tells you a lot before you press play. The Austrian duo of M.S. and J.J. have never been interested in brevity, and Mære sprawls without apology. It was due out in January but was pushed back to February because of pandemic-related production delays.

The sound is the familiar one. Long, melancholic tremolo leads, a constant mid-paced drive and J.J.’s hoarse, wounded screams sitting on top. Session drummer Kerim “Krimh” Lechner gives the songs a tighter, harder spine than before, and it helps.

The best moments come early. “I, Pallbearer” opens with real urgency, and “Sing For The Damage We’ve Done” brings in Alcest’s Neige, whose clean voice drifts over the riffs exactly the way you’d hope. “I’m All About The Dusk” is long but never stalls, and “And Oceans Between Us” has one of the album’s strongest melodies.

It does sag in the second half, where a few songs blur together, and the closing cover of Placebo’s “Song To Say Goodbye” will split listeners. Still, few bands in post-black metal write sadness this convincingly. Cut twenty minutes and this would be their masterpiece.

Best tracks:

I, Pallbearer
Sing For The Damage We’ve Done
I’m All About The Dusk
And Oceans Between Us

Author’s rating: 8.4/10

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Soen – Imperial

January 29, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Sweden
Style: Progressive metal
Label: Silver Lining Music
Release date: 29 January 2021

Imperial is Soen’s fifth album and the tightest thing they’ve released. Eight songs, around 42 minutes, no wasted space. Joel Ekelöf sings better than ever, warm and controlled, and the band around him keeps everything locked to the groove.

“Lumerian” and “Deceiver” open with heavy, compact riffing that hits harder than you might expect from a band this melodic. “Antagonist” is the anthem. “Illusion” and “Modesty” slow things down and let the melodies breathe, and closer “Fortune” is quietly one of their best songs.

The flip side of that tightness is that several tracks follow a similar shape, and the loud, polished mix by Kane Churko flattens a few of the dynamics. Minor complaints. When the chorus of “Antagonist” comes around, none of that matters.

Best tracks:

Lumerian
Antagonist
Illusion
Fortune

Author’s rating: 8.5/10

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Accept – Too Mean to Die

January 29, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Germany
Style: Heavy metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: 29 January 2021

Sixteen albums in, Accept still sound like a band with something to prove. Too Mean to Die is the first record since longtime bassist Peter Baltes left, with Martin Motnik now on bass and Philip Shouse added as a third guitarist next to Wolf Hoffmann and Uwe Lulis. Andy Sneap produced it again, and it shows: big, clean, nothing buried.

“Zombie Apocalypse” opens at a gallop and Mark Tornillo sounds as raw as ever. The title track is pure Teutonic stomp, “The Undertaker” slows things down into a dark, chugging mid-tempo piece, and “Symphony of Pain” is Hoffmann at his most melodic, the kind of lead work that has always set this band apart.

Not everything hits. “Sucks to Be You” is a bit of a throwaway. But the closing instrumental, “Samson and Delilah”, is a guitar showcase that sends you right back to track one.

Best tracks:

Zombie Apocalypse
Too Mean to Die
The Undertaker
Symphony of Pain

Author’s rating: 8.2/10

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Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice

January 8, 2021 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Death metal
Label: Century Media
Release date: 8 January 2021

Crypt of Ice is the debut album from Texas death metal crew Frozen Soul, and it does exactly one thing: mid-paced, crushing, Bolt Thrower-worshipping death metal with a freezer theme. No surprises, no filler.

The title track and “Arctic Stranglehold” are pure tank-tread grooves, and Chad Green’s bark sits deep in the mix like it’s coming from under the ice. “Encased in Ice” and “Gravedigger” keep the stomp going to the end. Ten songs, all built for headbanging slowly. It works far better than it has any right to.

Best tracks:

Crypt of Ice
Arctic Stranglehold
Encased in Ice
Gravedigger

Author’s rating: 8.2/10

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Tag: 2021

Moonspell – Hermitage

Iotunn – Access All Worlds

Evergrey – Escape of the Phoenix

Einherjer – North Star

Architects – For Those That Wish to Exist

Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle

Harakiri For The Sky – Mære

Soen – Imperial

Accept – Too Mean to Die

Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice

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