The most interesting releases of the week!
Burn is Hangfire‘s full-length debut, released on Rottweiller Records. From the opening track “Hunger,” you will get standard verse-and-chorus-structured songs with crisp guitar lines underneath vocals designed to be sung along to. The tempo and tone of Burn‘s tracks repel any doom or power tags, although the emotional output and occasionally the riff style certainly feel like distant cousins of several power metal bands. Fans of Dio will dig.
The newest release from Greek melodeath ancients Nightfall, Children of Eve was brought to us by Season of Mist. Children of Eve contains energized melodeath, closer to Dark Tranquility than the doom-infected strain of melodeath. The energy is there, the memorable riffs are there, but the biggest strength of Children of Eve is Nightfall‘s ability to maintain a cohesive sound without growing stale. While Nightfall sometimes get lost prioritizing a mosh or head bob over musical progression, they always sound infectiously enthusiastic.
The guitar tone. It works so well. On Through the Sky Maze, released on Black Throne Productions, features a production job with just the right amount of fuzz and mud. The guitars of Aawks buzz through a mess of drums and vocals in the most pleasing manner possible. The band writes somewhat simple stoner riffs. You won’t find anything more complex than Dopesmoker here, in a good way. But you’ll be thinking about these guitars for a long, long time. There’s something just pure and unapologetic here. I felt my heart rate slow down while writing this.
