New releases last two weeks: Metal

Review: BIG BRAVE's music epitomises what has been called 'massive minimalism,' with layers of textural distortion and feedback accentuating its weight and frayed edges. Their artistry blends traditional folk techniques with a modern deconstruction of guitar music, all of which is evident in the new album A Chaos Of Flowers, which is a follow-up to their fierce 2023 album Nature Morte. Lyrically, the songs delve into vulnerability, isolation, and co-existence in nature and guitarist and vocalist Robin Wattie drew inspiration from poetry by female-presenting artists, exploring alienation's impact on the psyche. This record is a testament to the band's ability to evoke intense emotions through minimalist yet powerful arrangements.

Review: The mid-90s were a time of immense change for the death metal scene, strongly linked to the endless progression of the genre's most vital pioneers Death, who in retrospect, appeared to be reshaping, retooling and expanding the genre for their current and future peers in real time. Having already switched out the lyrical gore obsessions of their early material for the socio-political ponderings of 1990's Spiritual Healing, before turning to more opaque, introspective ruminations on their superbly technical, progressive death metal opus Human in 1991, a two-year gap would occur (a lengthy creative respite in terms of their prolificacy) before the arrival of 1993's Individual Thought Patterns. During this time, metal drumming legend Gene Hoglan (Testament, Fear Factory) would enter the mix along with King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque, and this newly refurbished line up would continue to build upon the virtuosic hyper-technical prog-death blueprint of Human, but with a major increase of oppressive, metallic menace, leading many to consider the work to be Death's most mercurial balance of artistic complexity and vicious heaviness.

Review: Following on from 1988's seminal sophomore triumph Leprosy, pioneering death metal forefathers Death entered into the 90s with a work that would shift perception on, not only their own project, but the entire genre as an entity. Released in 1990, Spiritual Healing marked a notable embracing of more melodious compositions, largely due to the presence of lead guitarist James Murphy, with this LP being his only contribution to the band's discography, along with bassist Terry Butler. Coinciding with the simultaneous maximisation of technicality and melody, the album would also shift the lyrical approach of primary songwriter Chuck Schuldiner, who began moving away from gore and viscera-soaked tales and focusing more on the real-world horrors of drug addiction, poverty, serial killers, organised religion and corrupt faith healers, just like the one that adorns the iconic artwork.

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Review: There are few nu-metal bands from the formative late 90s/early 00s scene who achieved the monumental crossover appeal of Linkin Park. From their turntable spinning, frenetic rap-metal beginnings on 2000's global breakout Hybrid Theory, to the refined maturation of their formula on 2003's career-height Meteora, to their Jay-Z collaborative album Collision Course to the shedding of skin and rebranding as a genre-less alternative rock entity on 2007's Minutes To Midnight; as popular and accessible as they were, the band clearly constantly strived for sonic progression. Papercuts collects the highest charting singles from the group over two decades, with the most recent contribution being the previously unreleased 'Friendly Fire' recorded during the sessions for 2017's One More Light, which ultimately serves as the final new piece of recording from the band and vocalist Chester Bennington who would tragically take his own life later that same year. Ignoring the standard sequencing of a greatest hits which often lists the tracks in chronologically released order, here the cuts are compiled to sonically complement each other and reflect the band's ethos rather than a single line commercial pattern. Here is why the anthemic double platinum 'In The End' is juxtaposed with the minimalist rap-rock of MTM banger 'Bleed It Out', or why the previously unreleased fan favourite demo 'QWERTY' lands right between the U2 indebted 'What I've Done' and the original breakout single that started it all 'One Step Closer'.