How's Your 2013? September Update

A couple months ago, I wrote a post here noting a couple of albums I was looking forward to for the months of September and October.  Now that September is gone and October is well under way, I thought it was time to revisit those albums, plus provide a small amount of insight on a couple albums I wasn't expecting that surprised the hell out of me.

I had three albums listed for release in September: Gorguts - Colored Sands, Sarke - Aruagint, and SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods.

Of these three, Aruagint is definitely my favorite.  In fact, I would go so far as to call the other two disappointing.

We've been waiting quite a while for new material from Luc Lemay and his reinvented and reinvigorated lineup.  What we've got is a Dysrhythmia album with Lemay's howl over top and a different drummer.  To me, it's a disappointment because it "progresses" too far from the band's death metal roots.  Whether or not it was right to expect a death metal album from this edition of the band is debatable.  Clearly, I did not expect such a turn of events and I don't find the music on Colored Sands to be all that compelling, because the last two Dysrhythmia records haven't been that compelling either.

Still, while I've put it aside for now, I may give Colored Sands a more proper chance in 2014 when I've been able to gain some distance from it.

SubRosa switched out the rhythm section for More Constant Than the Gods.  I can't say that I hear much of a difference, as the music does not focus on the rhythm section as much as the three vocalists, the violins, and the monolithic guitar.  For whatever reason, the album just hasn't grown on me yet.  The songs are longer on average, but less compelling.  I would call the album boring and lacking in traditional doom riffs.  There's a lot of plodding, to be sure, and some moments where the drums try to enliven things.  But none of that makes for effective (or exciting) music.  Also, a personal complaint of mine from the last record persists: violinist/vocalist Kim Pack is still pushed to the background, even though in my opinion she has the best-sounding voice of the three.  The vocals are mostly flat and tuneless, a holdover from the previous release.

All in all, I expected some kind of forward movement from the band, and it seems like they just stagnated.  There was more variety on No Help for the Mighty Ones, in addition to just having flat-out better songwriting.

That leaves us with Aruagint, the third album from the Norwegian band Sarke. I don't want to label them a "supergroup" necessarily, but for underground metal, I guess it's hard to say otherwise.  Their music is a bit hard to describe.  Calling them blackened thrash seems a bit inaccurate, but it's about as close to the mark as I'm going to get.  At any rate, they produce exciting and energetic music with a bit of a groove (i.e. "Strange Pungent Odyssey"). Not the dumbed-down groove of the mid-to-late 90's, but it's something you can headbang to, without a doubt.  I may end up reviewing this album in more detail, so that's all I'll say about it for now.  Just know that I'm impressed and that Indie Recordings has another winner on their hands.

There were also a couple of surprises in September: Vattnet Viskar, Altars, and A Storm of Light.  I'll be writing about Altars here and A Storm of Light elsewhere, so I can't say much other than I'm impressed by both records.

Vattnet Viskar signed to Century Media to release Sky Swallower, a record that builds off the previous EP.  Basically, it has more atmosphere, more tremelo, and a solid performance on drums that controls the direction of the songs in a pleasing way.  I will probably review this album for the blog as well.  So far, I've enjoyed it immensely.

Sometime around the beginning of November, I'll have my initial thoughts on the albums that were released this month.  Most of them have yet to come out, so as you can imagine, I'm excited for that.