![]() ![]() Former Gorgoroth frontman’s new project Gaahls WYRD delve into even more cinematic, folky places on their new EP The Humming Mountain. ![]() Still, we’re spoilt for choice for new metal releases this month anyway as well as all the albums below, we’ve got some pretty great EPs too. For a 90 minute album from a band I once considered to be at the very forefront of metal’s cutting edge, that’s really not good enough. It’s not terrible but it’s arguably their blandest offering yet there’s nothing here as egregious as some of the more baffling missteps on Once More ‘Round The Sun and Emperor Of Sand, but the only thing that really sticks in my mind here are the handful of gentle but expressive Dire Straits-ish lead sections that occasionally pop up. I’m not averse to lengthy double albums at all, but coming from a band that haven’t had enough ideas to sustain a single LP in well over a decade, this one feels particularly ill-advised. That said, however, I still struggled to get through the new Mastodon record Hushed And Grim this month. The rabid response to these sets is an affirming reminder that taking the time to listen to an album in full is still something that huge numbers of us cherish greatly. In spite of lesser publications trotting out the same increasingly tired, “Is the album dead?” think-piece like clockwork every other month, it was a blast to see so many bands delivering full album sets at Damnation this year, with Paradise Lost, Akercocke and Svalbard all performing classic records front to back. The latter’s set was one of the most powerful musical experiences I’ve had in a long-time – opening with the rarely (if ever) played ‘Jesu’ from their 2001 opus Hymns, the duo really proved just how timeless and futuristic their unique brand of industrial metal still sounds. ![]() ![]() Against all odds, the festival’s Leeds swansong was a fantastic send off, boasting a host of young UK acts alongside heavy-hitters like Carcass, Paradise Lost and Godflesh. After months of isolation, it feels good to be writing this column whilst battling through a comfortingly familiar post-Damnation hangover. ![]()
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