Assumption "Hadean Tides"

    If anyone thought 2022 was starting off slow in terms of the amount of strong new releases, Assumption comes bursting out of the nightmarish void to capture your attention by pulling you into a mind altering realm of punishing extreme sounding creativity with their new album, “Hadean Tides.” This death doom band from Italy has proven over the years that they do not wish to simply make stereotypical sounding extreme metal music, and instead sets their sights on exploring instrumental arrangements that leave listeners feel as though they are being pulled through a gateway into a inhuman hellish dimension. 

    I have been following this band since they released, “The Three Appearances,” back in 2014 and they have really become an act that understands how to write behemoth sounding albums. The ability to compose such monumental landscapes that deviate from some of techniques used by most modern death metal bands, definitely helps Assumption standout from the rest of the bands around. Working with Sentient Ruin and Everlasting Spew, two exceptional extreme music labels, Assumption is focused on unleashing a decimating and mesmerizing release that will instantly hook listeners. The album is extremely dynamic and you are left in sheer amazement as the band journeys into this explosive, yet sinisterly hallucinogenic sounding world. 

    The start of the album definitely reminded me of previous works by Assumption, and the band holds nothing back as they introduce listeners to their cataclysmic sounding world with the first track, “Oration.” You feel completely overwhelmed by the juggernaut sized drum parts that are followed up by some monstrous sounding guitar riffs. Everything about this band’s artistic vision is precise and presented with a malevolent confidence to drag listeners down into this unholy dominion. On the second track, “Submerged by Hadean Tides,” the guitar playing had me listening with great interest from the start of the song until the very end. The band’s unconventional approach to composing by starting out with a very slow and ominous sounding riff and then transitioning into that blistering old school death metal style, is perfectly recorded to create such a profound atmosphere. 

    Throughout the album I continued to recognize how this band is extremely talented when building up an arrangement and not getting carried away with frivolous sounding technical riffs. The vocals, the guitar playing and the drumming all sound tight and establish this colossal wall of distorted destruction. On the track, “Breath of the Dedalus,” the band ventures into this insidious sounding cinematic world to create ambience one might expect to be used in a horror film. Similar to what I have heard from this band in the past, they are masters at composing ominous and surreal sounding atmospheres. 

    One track that I felt ventured into a more hypnotic direction was, “Triptych.” At first I thought that the band OM had somehow contributed a song to the album, as the vocal delivery reminded me of how Al Cisneros sounds on all those Om releases. The song was a bit of a head scratcher when I first heard it, but after a few listens I started feel as though that this might be the best song off of the album. The song may be an anomaly compared to the previous songs, however, I find that it plays a significant role looking back at this entire album. Assumption creates a world of true unpredictability, allowing listeners to experience a plethora of haunting and surreal sounding moments. 

    “Hadean Tides,” in my opinion is an album that brings together a variety of elements and reaffirms my respect for this band. I believe fans will recognize similar musical themes that have been explored in previous releases, as well as some unique variations to what one might expect. Also, the metal world should definitely take notice of this band, because the skillful musicianship and songwriting talents are something that I personally find to be lacking amongst young modern metal bands. Assumption is not writing sloppy riffs and recording their drums in such a manner that you wonder if the band was huffing paint during the recording of the album. In the end, this band continues to show a relentless drive and will hopefully keep pushing the boundaries of extreme music on future releases. 

Check out the song "Submerged by Hadean Tides" : 

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/

Everlasting Spew Bandcamp:

https://everlastingspewrecords.bandcamp.com/

Low Moments "Picked Dead Last in the Dodgeball Game of Life"

    I know, some of you are questioning why Rob “The Metal Guy” is reviewing a non-hard rock/heavy metal album. I can just imagine a kvlt black metal badass seeing this and calling me a poser from their mom’s basement while eating a Hot Pocket. However, I thinking that it should be know that I listen a variety of different artists and even though this blog is called the Rock and Metal Temple, I am always willing to review and promote artists that I believe people should check out.  

    For many year I have been a fan of new wave, synth wave and dark wave, anything with "wave" attached to the end, so when the opportunity came upon to review this new release from the band, Low Moments, I thought here is a great opportunity to breakaway from what I usually review. Plus, with an album cover as hilariously clever as, “Picked Dead Last in the Dodgeball Game of Life,” you know that this is an album worth checking out. All the songs on this album actually have pretty amusing titles, but the music is very unique and very diverse. You do hear a lot of catchy synth pop arrangements, as well as some gloomy new wave elements. Also, the songs are rather short in terms of length, which I found refreshing to hear and helped the album flow from start to Finnish without much issue. 

    What stood out the most was how a song could be extremely catchy and full of brilliant sounds, yet contain some very interesting lyrics. I mean, the song titles alone are sheer genius and capture the type of personality I want from a band looking to experiment with a variety of styles and sounds. “Asthmatic Around Ladies,” is one song that I found to be extremely entertaining and it actually features some really creative sounding bass parts. Being a huge fan of New Order I always like hearing those sharp sounding bass parts to inject some extra moodiness to the overall sound. On the song, “Always Outside the In-Joke,” the music brings you into this very vibrant sounding world, which is also met by the singers very sad and solemn voice. 

    The album contains a handful of very short instrumental jams, some of which I would definitely like to hear expanded and incorporated into future material. I mean, the synth arrangements and melodies can be extremely addictive sounding at times, but then some of them can sound like samples from a cheesy 80’s TV show about detectives in Miami shooting at drug dealers who are supposed to be from a foreign country yet look like they have fake spray tans and talk with painfully phony accents. One instrumental track that I really enjoyed was, “When Your Song Title Are Better Than Your Songs,” because the title one again highlights into this band’s sarcastic sense of humor. I could even have seen this song with its trippy 80's sounding guitar riff being used as the theme music for a movie that blends together the worlds of John Waters and John Hughes. I would have loved to have seen a Divine meets the Breakfast Club film, or Divine as the lead role in Uncle Buck. 

    “But No, For Real, I’m Good at Nunchucks,” was one track that all humor aside really caught my attention. Even though the song is not very long you are presented with this rush of creative ideas and the punky sounding riff towards the end provided an extra touch of 80's sounding adrenaline rushing attitude. Low Moments may like to come off as a humorous act at times with their songs titles, but the musicianship is no joke and the quality of the recordings is very impressive for the most part. 

    Throughout the entire album I cannot say that I was offended, or completely disturbed by anything, so if anyone wanted to hear some classic sounding synth pop music to reminded them of the 80’s instead of that obnoxious Netflix show about Russians, a girl with supernatural powers exactly like Carrie and monsters practically stolen from the first Resident Evil film, then I highly recommend listening to this album. Low Moments is definitely the band to be playing right now as you cruise around in your Delorean drinking your New Coke and making all the young kids in your neighborhood think you are going through a midlife crisis. 

Check out the video for "Asthmatic Around Ladies" : 

Low Moments : 

https://lowmoments.bandcamp.com/