Luka Productions – Mali Kady [2016; Sahel Sounds]

Quick and upbeat African hip-hop fills this album, with lo-fi drum machines and chintzy loops joined by free-handed auto-tune usage, propelled along with enough energy to make it all flow together effectively. The percussion tends to be the most interesting, with rhythmic jumps and pockets of deep layering giving simple arrangements quick twists into the complex, with the vocal cadence weaving alongside it. The cheapness of the loops, which often sound as though they were pulled from a salvaged Casio, doesn’t stand out as much as it might in a more polished affair, and the frequent chorus auto-tuning helps them bleed together in an interesting way.

A bigger sticking point is the consistency of the tone, with lasting change-ups to the tempo or mood rarely appearing. The occasional inclusion of other vocalists doesn’t really alleviate that problem, but they do at least inject some extra flavor. At the same time, the commitment to one particular mood within the album still allows for some variety within the particulars, and in that regard, the enthusiasm from the performers is obvious. It’s not quite enough to keep things from slipping into monotony, but there’s enough earnest spirit put into the music to keep it entertaining despite that.

Underdark – Mourning Cloak [2016; Adorno Records]

Featuring three tracks of black metal with a splash of post-rock, this debut EP for the British group of Underdark is carried largely by the drums and rhythm guitar, with the lead guitar providing interesting texturing during the down-time passages. Some plinking background piano proves less interesting, though its attempts at expanding the band’s palette are appreciable, while the band’s ability to handle lengthier material without losing the thread hints at the possibility for more interesting and varied compositions in future work. Not a bad first effort, but less than compelling on the whole, with the swerves in and out of harshness being more striking than the actual music.

Here’s the alternate cover art.

Jupiterian – Mine Is Yours To Drown In [2016; self-released]

Covering “Mine is Yours to Drown In (Ours is the New Tribe)” from Anathema’s 1995 EP Pentecost III, the Brazilian group of Jupiterian bring their heavy doom metal style to bear with forceful vocals, crashing drums, and slamming bass. The main riff is kept clear through its permutations, and the midway shift to sharper guitar tones has a cool effect on the flavor established by that point, before trickling down to incidental noises for the finish. Despite the shortness, the song does a good job of showing off the band’s abilities in a number of ways.

Eternal Elysium – Resonance of Shadows [2016; Cornucopia Records]

Originally released with eight tracks, Eternal Elysium’s sixth studio album was reissued the following year with five more songs showing off the Japanese band’s retro heavy psych rock. Trading freely between English and Japanese in the singing, the group unrolls busy blankets of pedaled guitar over crunchy bass groundings, while the drum-work jumps all over the place with its rhythm reinforcements and flourishes. Inflections of prog crop up occasionally, with time signature change-ups and long trains of melody mutation, but the songs are generally fairly straight-forward with their song-writing, letting the guitar handle most of the twists. There’s no notable divergence from the band’s usual style, but at the same time, there’s also no under-performance, as they maintain a respectable level of quality throughout the album. Something more for existing fans of the group, but still enjoyable for what it is.

Sülfür Ensemble ‎- I (4 Songs About Dystopia, Satan, Ghouls & Marilyn Monroe) [2016; Morbid Syndicate]

On their debut EP, the four-piece Turkish band of
Sülfür Ensemble

roll out a set of heavy sludge, delivering on the EP’s title with, in order, “Daily Hate”, “Plea”, “Karaçor“, and “Marilyn”. Some choice film audio samples complement the fuzzy guitar, slabby bass, punchy drums, and rasping vocals, and while the band doesn’t do anything groundbreaking with the style, they do pull off a solid set for their first release, with enough flair put into the guitar touches to suggest the potential for cool embellishment in live performances.

Eschaton – AM Producer 02 [2016; Advection Music]

Mixing six of his own tracks with two remixes of other artists’ works and two collaboration tracks, this album shows the drum’n’bass of Chris Wright’s Eschaton project, fusing deep-bodied and exquisitely-produced synth texturing with rapid-fire breaks. The songs are given ample room to run, with just one dropping under six minutes, and the shaping of the non-break components flow along with impressive delicacy to their spacy, slow-rolling tones.

Unfortunately, the persistently high speed of the breaks, combined with a narrow range of those tempos and low-variance looping in contrast to the synth-work, leads the percussive elements to feel as if they’re dragging down the rest of the music with their apparent staleness. Thankfully, there’s enough pauses in the beat deployment to allow for breathing room, and the late-coming (but stand-out) track “Ch’i” demonstrates Eschaton’s ability to better balance all his elements to excellent effect. Despite high technical and production quality, it’s something of a mixed bag, but dnb fans looking for something with a psychedelic flair will find a lot to appreciate here.

Reverend Horton Heat – Hardscrabble Woman / Lying to Myself [2016; Victory Records]

Running a rockabilly ode to the title character, the A-side of this single moves fairly slowly by the band’s standards, but rides its firm bass-line steadily while laying vibrant guitar rambling over it. The B-side slightly raises the tempo and energy, but feels a bit stitched-together, with numerous momentary silent breaks between measures, and a heavy leaning on the chorus through the lyrics. Sub-par for the band, but still a decent little cut of rockabilly.

Meth Drinker / Dead Instrument – Meth Drinker / Dead Instrument [2016; Drop Out Records]

Devoting their side of this split to a single song, “White Cell”, Meth Drinker open on loose strumming of low-strung bass chords, following that lead for half a minute or so before slamming in the harsh electric guitar, and then the even harsher vocals. Sludgy and caustic, the band throws itself into the rhythms until caving into to a quick break to regather themselves, launching from there into a more guitar-driven grind back down to the low end, until trailing off in a wail of feedback interference.

Dead Instrument split their time between three tracks, leading with “Kill.Control.Kill”, its grindcore blitz coming as a sharp change-over. Jackhammer drums, barking grunts, and buzz-saw guitar lead from that to “Pathetic Intent”, with breaks lasting just a couple seconds to show that there’s a bass lurking beneath the furious treble. “Parrot” erupts with highly similar tempo and rhythms, its craggy Sex Pistols-melting guitar solo being the main thing to set it apart. Despite the divergence of the musical styles, both bands get across a commonality in their fuck-you attitudes and presentation, with violence bleeding from both, just expressed in different ways.

Novanta – Hello We’re Not Enemies [2016; Seashell Records]

Seven tracks of mellow and dreamy synthpop with a bit of shoegaze flavoring, built on scintillating slow-drift tone layering, drum loops, falsetto vocals, and little keyboard doot-doots. The atmosphere-building is done well, the layer-stacking feels organic, and the minor side-melodies stay playful, but on the down-side, the detached vibes end up making the (mini-)album as a whole feel thrown together, with the more sorrowful moods of the later tracks feeling like a hard turn from the first half’s starry-eyed giddiness. Rough in execution, but successful with its emotional expressiveness despite that.

She Beast – Felch [2016; self-released]

On their second EP (not counting the original demo), the Australian group of She Beast share four tracks of dirty doom sludge, gurgling growls and down-tuned guitars colliding with hard-pounded drums and a thick bass slather. Jumps to quick tempos are mostly kept to the shorter songs, and the EP follows an alternating pattern of a ~3-minute track followed by one about seven minutes long, making for a neat split of sides if this had ever received physical release. The longer songs maintain a heavy grinding pace, so the avoidance of getting stuck on one vibe for too long by switching back and forth helps quite a bit. Solid stuff in fast or slow mode, with a genuinely grimy feel to the sound and some surprisingly hooky riffs.