Greetings duelists and welcome back to Flash of the Blade! Don’t remember what this column is about? Luckily, it’s easy to remind you: this column is about short releases that go hard. Also, swearing. Which genres are included? Fuck genres. If it goes hard and if it goes fast and if it doesn’t waste any time doing either of that, it can end up here. OK? OK. Let’s fucking get to it.
Sword
Assault Sorcery – Discernment in Viscera (19:29 of weirdo black metal). I wrote about these guys for Kvlt Kolvmn as well but there’s no rule that says I can’t write about them here as well. There are no fucking rules when it comes to Flash of the Blade except that the music needs to be fast and it needs to kick ass. This does both of those things; Discernment in Viscera is one of the most immediately satisfying and one of the weirdest albums released this month.
Daggers
Alustrium – Insurmountable (23:43 of extremely finely crafted death metal). This album is fucking perfect for this column because not only does it rule on its own merit, it also has a meta aspect to it: it shows how much the EP format, short and brutal, can elevate a band’s music to whole new levels. This is Alustrium’s finest work, benefiting immensely from the condensed runtime of the release.
Dvne – Omega Severer (17:26 of progressive, sci-fi death metal). While they’re working on the follow up to Asheran, the immensely talented friends over at Dvne released this little tidbit to whet our appetite. Surprise, it fucking rules! It has all the melody, clear riffs, and emotive vocals that we’ve come to expect from the band and shows that there are great things still ahead for them.
Children of Nova – The Complexity of Light (33:19 of prog rock goodness). Man, these guys really got forgotten, huh? Their 2012 release got a little more traction but they’ve since disappeared, which is a real shame. This release from 2009 is one of the best albums to arise from the early scene of the previous decade/the end of the one before that. Has the dexterity of The Mars Volta and a lot of the chunk and attack of the albums that would follow it from the progressive metal/rock scene.
The Raven Autarchy – The Obscene Deliverance (28:57 of shreddy deathcore). This project is really easy to explain: it does Within the Ruins better than Within the Ruins have been for years.