Three bands that achieve the extraordinary by flexing their style, namely Múr, 10,000 Years and Rvkkvs.
Múr – Múr
Genre: Progressive / atmospheric doom / black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Iceland
This is a project that's a bit tough to nail down and label in any concise way, but you, the listener, should not let this concern you. If you like atmospheric doom, you'll love this. If progressive black metal is more your thing, this is also very much for you. Avant-garde folk metal, not totally unlike Thy Catafalque? Yes, you will find that in here also, and in no way do these different stylistic directions clash. It's beautiful and deep when it goes slow, delightfully weird and mind-tickling when it goes for some mid-tempo rhythm acrobatics, and spine-tingling when it decides to ball its fists and roar up at the night sky. It's a fairly long album at nearly 55 minutes, but time fades into irrelevance as your awareness sinks below the moonlit surface of "Múr"'s black waters. I think they can comfortably push the extreme ends of their style further for an even more dramatic result, but this is a stellar debut. These young Icelanders have a bright future ahead of them, that's for sure.
Highlights: "Frelsari" and "Holskefla"
10,000 Years – All Quiet On The Final Frontier
Genre: Stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: Sweden
In the mood for some fuzz-heavy stoner with a cosmos-curious, mildly psychedelic atmosphere? "All Quiet On The Final Frontier" is not your standard groove-fest, and not a completely spaced-out cerebral thing either, but exists in a thematically conscious border world in between the two. Both the vocals and instruments have a confidently rough, garage rock-like edge to them that prevents the sound from getting too smooth or mellow, although a richer production would probably have dispelled the slight air of amateurism that they're left with as a biproduct. For a modestly exploratory stoner record it's refreshingly frisky, managing to balance retro-spacey ambience with ragged, honest, riffage working on top of fluid, purposeful rhythms.
Highlight: "High Noon In Sword City"
Rvkkvs – Antithesis Of Prosperity
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Country of origin: New Zealand
A slightly reigned-in grindcore project that brings in elements of old school melodeath and a bit of straightforward, heavy groove metal. It's not always in-your-face intense, but takes turns delivering face-melting ragers and more mid-tempo, riff-centered bangers. It's rough, and with a slightly muted production, so could definitely hit a good deal harder, but it's refreshing to hear this kind of measured branching out in such a relentlessly extreme subgenre. At just over 17 minutes, it certainly left me wanting more, and not at all like I'd been served the same basic approach on repeat.
Highlight: "Kleptomaniac"
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