8 Hour Animal "Kill Your Boss"

    The upcoming full-length album from 8 Hour Animal is a profoundly hostile sounding extreme creation. Titled, “Kill Your Boss,” the album features a plethora of dissonant electronic noises along with some sadistically hypnotic industrial rhythms. 

    The one-man act behind 8 Hour Animal dives deep into the catastrophic electronic nightmare sound established by acts such as Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, yet also incorporates some very unconventional methods into the overall mix. 8 Hour Animal simply does not follow a repetitive formula and the music makes you feel like you are experiencing a schizophrenic meltdown. Compared to 8 Hour Animal’s previous release, “Resigner,” I felt as though the songs on this album sounded even more warped at times by offering an overwhelming amount of bludgeoning industrial sounds. 

    On the first track, “Real Masks,” I liked how the artist built up this catchy metallic industrial sounding rhythm and then slowly started to throw in these disturbing burst of distortion and horrifying vocal parts. There were times during the track when I started feeling dizzy following along to all the different noises that seemed to mercilessly clutter up the soundscape. The entire album is truly a frantic tornado of distortion and harsh electronic rhythms with tracks such as, “Grind Down” and “Under the Sod,” being prominent examples of how 8 Hour Animal is not looking to captivate listeners with breath taking melodies. The music is almost a surreal reflection of how humanity is slowly starting to crumble and people are mentality becoming unhinged under the societal pressures which haunt them each day. 

    Although most of the album contains intense mind melting arrangements, I was most impressed by the track, “Thaw.” The song’s tempo at first is very slow and very hypnotic sounding, but the music goes through this unbelievably eye opening industrial metamorphosis. Towards the end of the song you become engrossed in the hallucinogenic cinematic atmosphere and soon drift into the sheer dark electronic void. The last song on the album, “Make It Easy for Me,” is a decent track as well and convey’s a more 90’s industrial sound by capturing that raw surrealistic tone. When I look back at the entire album I definitely hear the influences in each compositions, but I cannot deny the unique approach and delivery that the artist behind 8 Hour Animal is able to achieve. 

    8 Hour Animal’s, “Kill Your Boss,” is a vivid example of true unorthodox artistic creativity that strives to tear down the walls of mundane extreme music. Although there were times on this album where I felt as if the arrangements were a bit disorganized, the album’s overall presentation is all about establishing a truly entropic environment which challenges order and structure. Fans of old school industrial/experimental electronic music will really take a liking to this album’s sound, so I highly recommend checking the album out if you are into savage mind altering electronic music. Leave it to Sentient Ruin to once again present the world with an extreme act that will leave you questioning human existence, while finding yourself completely possessed by the unfathomably deviant sounds. 

Check out the song "Grind Down" below (Album comes out March 17th, 2023) : 

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp: 

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/

Artch "Another Return" 2023 Re-Issue

    Most metal fans tend to view Norway as the country where black metal reigns supreme, however there is one band from Norway that back in the late 80’s put out a spectacular power/speed metal album. The debut full-length release from Artch, “Another Return,” is true heavy metal hidden gem featuring some skillful musicianship, excellent songwriting talents and all around solid production. Fans will have the opportunity to get their hands on a remastered/re-issued copy of the album via Hammerheart Records with a release date set for March 17th of this year. 

    Originally released in 1988 through Active Records, the album has gained a strong cult following over the years. Even though Artch never really gained significant recognition amongst the mainstream metal audience, the band’s debut album has sort of kept their story alive by setting an example of how to create an all around powerful sounding heavy metal release. The first time I heard, “Another Return,” was probably about ten years ago and I could not believe how exceptional the album sounded from start to finish. Taking elements from power metal, speed metal and thrash metal, the band comes up with these dynamic sounding pieces of metal music that grabs your attention right from the start. 

    When listening to the album, you hear this mix of melodic sounding arrangements similar to that of Iron Maiden, along with the thunderous riff style to of Saxon and other NWOBHM groups. The song, "Another Return to Church Hill," is a truly amazing offering of triumphant sounding heavy metal that begins with an utterly bombastic sounding introduction composition. The creative lyrics, crushing guitar riffs and high soaring vocals provided by singer Eric Hawk, all come together perfectly in telling this epic heavy metal story. Throughout the album the guitar riffs sounded unbelievably HEAVY with tracks like, “Loaded,” “Promise Land,” and “Shoot to Kill,” being some of the most deafening tracks off of the album. 

    Even the band’s more ballad like track, “Where I Go,” conveys such raw and monumental emotion that captures your attention as you listen to Eric’s voice compliment the mesmerizing acoustic chord progressions. My favorite song off of the album is the final track, “Reincarnation,” because of the crazy lightening fast guitar riffs as well as the killer sounding bass playing. Plus, I liked how Eric’s vocals also took a more aggressive tone to match the more thrash like guitar arrangements. Again, this album can appeal to a wide variety of metal fans, and a song such as “Reincarnation,” really taps into that mixture of power metal and thrash metal. 

    In the end, I am thrilled to see Hammerheart Records working with Artch to bring back this album and make it available for fans to own on CD and vinyl. Without any doubt, “Another Return,” is an album that vividly captures the confident and relentless spirit of 80’s heavy metal music. Even though an artist like Harry Styles is winning awards right now for making horrendous music while wearing a dress, I highly doubt that his fans will be buying his albums years later. The dedication and passion that went into writing such a strong sounding album like, “Another Return,” is definitely why after so many years this album is being made available again for metal fans to purchase. No matter the trend, no matter what the mainstream critics say, bands such as Artch will continue to carry on just like how heavy metal has endured for so many years and continues to inspire new generations of diehard headbangers.  

Check out the song "Another Return to Church Hill" : 

Hammerheart Records website: 

https://www.hammerheart.com/

Isolant "Drain"

    The harsh hypnotic sounding surrealistic distorted noises that Isolant conjures up on their new EP titled, “Drain,” slowly shreds away at your sanity until you finally submit to the captivating aural punishment. These musicians seem to capture the gloomy essence of fear inducing industrial music mixed with some old school crust punk, while also throwing in some monstrous sounding death doom elements. 

    Given this band’s unorthodox approach along with the solid production quality, I felt myself constantly engaged while listening to the entire EP. Once the first song begins you lose track of time as the world around slows down and you drift into this immense sounding industrial atmospheric realm. The members of this group have very extensive backgrounds within the world of extreme music with connections to bands like Malleus, The Watcher, Abstracter, Atrament, S.E.K.H. and Suspiral. There is definitely an open minded mentality amongst the members of Isolant and the compositions on this release demonstrate an unconventional artistic mindset which makes for one very unpredictable listening experiencing. 

    One of the most noticeable aspects about this EP is without question the catchy death doom riffs. The first track, “The End Begins Me,” is a great example of how Isolant is able to blend together these sharp dissonant industrial noises with monolith sized guitar arrangements that hammer out these addictive and abrasive chord progression. All the instruments and all the different electronic sounds you hear create such a vivid atmosphere. Also, the vocals on this album perfectly compliment the tone of the music by adding to the music's abysmal tone. Other tracks such as, “Drown in Ash” and “Inner Tomb,” explore these very simple yet utterly profound industrial sounding landscapes. Imagine the devastating style of a band like Godflesh, but then throw in some primitive crust/post-punk in the vein of Amebix and Killing Joke. 

    Another point I want to bring up about this release is that Isolant is able to effectively deviate at times from the heavy hypnotic industrial death doom barrage and take a turn down a different musical avenue. For example, I was not expecting a calming piano piece on the song, “Death Pulse,” but in the end the compositions proved to be a great solemn sounding way to finish off the track. The dynamic thought put into each track is definitely one reason why Isolant's music stands out, and also contributes to the EP’s strong haunting synergy. 

     In the end, Isolant is a group that is willing to defile musical logic and create a world with a plethora of unique sounds, while crafting these unbelievably addictive sounding riffs. I cannot tell you how many times when listening to this EP I would stop and find myself moving my head along to guitar parts. Plus, the vocals on this album are exactly what you want in terms of offering up that inhumanly sinister delivery to accompany the fiendish arrangments. Sentient Ruin will be working with Isolant on the release of the EP which comes out February 24th, so definitely go order a copy if you are into music which goes against the grain and is willing to experiment instead of simply copying what everyone else is doing within the metal community at the moment.  

Check out the song "Inner Tomb" below: 

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/drain