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A Life Once Lost – Ecstatic Trance

Scott Murphy
Reviews
The most crucial element of composing noteworthy groove-centric metal is understanding the necessity of variety. Whether it’s Sepultura infusing Brazilian tribal music into each track or Pantera pacing out trashy groove assaults with opuses like 'Cemetery Gates,' those that wish to thrive in the genre must compose music that transcends mere mosh fodder. Enter A Life Once Lost, a Pennsylvania outfit returning from five years of studio silence with their latest effort, Ecstatic Trance, an album which fine tunes everything the band has accomplished on past releases to create an impressive result. ALOL’s previous affinity for redundant Lamb of God worship has evolved into djentless Meshuggah grooves infused with haunting melodies of the spiritual and Arabian variety.
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Bison B.C. – Lovelessness

Scott Murphy
Reviews
While the main complaints listeners opine when discussing an album usually revolve around discrepancies in songwriting, vocal style and/or production quality, some bands perform so strongly in one or two of these departments that their weaknesses can be forgiven. A personal example: Rorschach’s superb powerviolence/metallic hardcore makes up for some fairly horrendous vocals. Unfortunately for Bison BC, their newest release Lovelessness doesn’t allow the listener this option of tolerance due to a severe lacking in all three of these categories.
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The Secret – Agnus Dei

Scott Murphy
Reviews
There is a certain perverse irony behind the title of The Secret’s fourth album, Agnus Dei. The Italian metallic hardcore outfit’s latest offering bears the title of the peaceful Christian symbol of a holy lamb, yet presents itself as a wolf amongst the flock devouring the innocent beasts. While initially an intriguing and entertaining endeavor, repeated listens quickly reveal that this analogy would be more appropriately adjusted to describe Agnus Dei as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For while The Secret provide a solid performance of the recent trend of sludgy, grind influenced hardcore, this lycan ferocity is padded down by certain wooly missteps.
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Drudkh – Eternal Turn of the Wheel

Scott Murphy
Reviews
The frigid howl of a mid-December tempest giving way to the serene warmth of what lay cloaked beneath the blanket of snow: both a summary of how Ukrainian black metal outfit Drudkh chose to open up their latest offering, Eternal Turn of the Wheel, and an accurate description of the evolution within black metal itself.
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Blut Aus Nord – 777 – Cosmosophy

Scott Murphy
Reviews
Taken merely at surface value, French black metal outfit Blut Aus Nord’s 777 trilogy (2011’s Sect(s) & The Desanctification and 2012’s Cosmosophy) could be interpreted as a unique and effective blend of Deathspell Omega’s chaotic black metal and Godflesh’s grinding industrial groove. Such a conclusion would mistakenly settle for genre tags rather than allowing the trilogy’s expansive sonic themes to define these three releases for the monoliths that they are. The core sensation lies within the plight of a delicate human soul being torn to shreds as infernal and divine forces both lust for ownership via a celestial tug of war. For moments of varying brevity, the spirit experiences respite in purgatory as the higher beings recuperate for another bought of soul reaping.