Conflagate The Celestial Refugium is the debut album from multi-national Cambion. A new band to me, having not heard their previously released EP and demo. The three band members have been playing in extreme, mainly death metal bands, for years though apart from Hate Eternal whom drummer Chason Westmoreland briefly played with, I am also unfamiliar with.

From the off its obvious this is going to be a pretty intense ride. Relentless ultra-fast blast beats and a blur of double kicks, with only the occasional respite where they slow it down a bit, are the order of the day on this slab of blackened death metal with thrashy undercurrents. It’s technical stuff with brilliant musicianship from all involved. Those who enjoy the intensity of the likes of AngelCorpse and Perdition Temple should lap this up. Fortunately they’ve also got great songs with the riffs to back all the bluster up and over the thirty eight minutes my interest never waned, which for an album that on the face of it offers little musical variation, takes some doing. However, final track Obscuratio, a nine minute plus instrumental, sees the band trying something a bit different. The break neck blasts are still there but it takes time before we reach them, prior to which from a lone guitar opening we get a more tempered approach. It makes a good closer but the previous seven tracks are where this albums strengths lie.

Conflagate The Celestial Refugium has turned out to be a great find, an album that I’ve been playing more than most over the last couple of months. Certainly one of the best death metal albums of the year so far. Essential listening for fans of the genre.

Back in 2017 Suffering Hour created quite a stir with their debut album “In Passing Ascension”. Their distinctive take on blackened death metal won them many admirers so not surprisingly album number two, “The Cyclic Reckoning” arrives with high expectations.

Whilst the band shows growth they continue using the template they cut last time. Their sound is pretty distinctive mainly down to the guitar work of YhA which is quite clean with plenty of top end and vibrato and a heavy chorus effect – a seventies vibe even at times. The songs, only five in total, sound cold and atmospheric loaded with plenty of dissonance. The thin top heavy production bears more resemblance to black than death metal and in fact the music does sit in both camps. Personally I would have preferred the rhythm section to have a meatier sound as they lack power and sound distant in the mix. No doubt this is deliberate though adding to the cold, icy feel. As a result of this the guitar does tend to overshadow everything else, including the vocals, so it’s just as well that YhA has come up with some engaging riffs though they’re far from immediate and require some perseverance to fully appreciate. The album closes with the sixteen and a half minute “The Foundations of Servitude” giving them ample opportunity to stretch things out and not surprisingly is the most complex track here. The opening chiming chords soon descend into a maelstrom of riffs backed by the ever-shifting bass and drums. It’s the best track on offer and whilst the first four songs hint at what’s to come it’s only now that I feel the band reach their full potential.

A minor criticism from me is despite its uniqueness; the guitar sound does wear a bit thin over time and seems to offer limited opportunities for growth on future albums if they stick with it. But I’m getting too far ahead here so concentrating on “The Cyclic Reckoning”, whilst it’s an album I admire rather than love, there’s no denying it’s very good and full marks must go to Suffering Hour for trying to do something original in a genre (or genres) of music where it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

It’s not often I give out a 5 star review as there’s not that many albums that are without even a few minor flaws. In the case of Bionic Swarm, the debut album from Dutch technical thrash metal band Cryptosis I had to make one of my rare exceptions, such the quality on offer here. This is their debut album but they were previously active as Distillator since 2013 so they’ve had time to cut their teeth and it shows.

Cryptosis occupy a similar place to Voivod and Vektor with their spacey and futuristic thrash metal. They’ve even just released a split with the latter recently. Naturally being added to our technical thrash metal sub here on MMA the music is complex as expected. It’s often very fast though not relentlessly so and busy. The songs often have strong and memorable melodies so it’s not one of those total guitar wankery exercises with style over substance. Far from it in fact as the strength of the melodies, often having a melancholic vibe helped by their use of mellotron, is one of the albums greatest strengths. There is also plenty of prog elements on display so fans of prog metal may find it to their liking if they are not averse to the vocals usually associated with more extreme metal genres. It’s an album that’s best listened to as a whole as every song as it comes is my new favourite! Another reason is it’s also a concept album of eight connected stories according to the band set in the year 2149. Naturally the playing is top notch with some blistering fret work and fast, precise and busy drumming – essential for this sort of stuff of course. The icing on the cake is the clear and powerful production allowing every nuance and intricacy to shine through.

Bionic Swarm is an album I’ve played often in the last few weeks, on heavy rotation in the car and at home. Deservedly so as well as at the time of writing it’s my favourite album of 2021 so far. Essential listening for fans of extreme metal, but also well worth a listen for prog metal fans too.

The Crown, a death metal band (sometimes melodic death metal) from Sweden were active from 1998 until 2004, though prior to that they were known as Crown Of Thorns. They then reformed in 2009. It’s only since this reformation I’ve really took much notice of them though what I’ve heard of the earlier albums seems solid enough without being spectacular but perhaps I need to give them a thorough checking out as I know some people rate some of their early work very highly . Since 2009 though I’m well aware of the quality death metal the band have been releasing, the highpoint being 2018’s Cobra Speed Venom. Catchy crushing riffs aplenty really brought to life by a powerful and clear production. I was therefore looking forward to their latest album Royal Destroyer to see if they could keep the momentum going.

Initial impressions were good, another powerful production though not quite as bright as Cobra Speed Venom which is not a criticism. First track proper, after a short intro, Let The Hammering Begin! gets things off to a great start – fast, incredibly heavy and insistent brutal riffing that doesn’t take long to get under the skin. Things continue in a similar vein with no shortage of equally pummelling riffs, sometimes injecting a thrash element. Whilst speed and ferocity are largely the order of the day they do slow things down now and again, the first time apart from a few short bursts being on Glorious Hades. It’s not bad but I did find my attention wandering so it was good to hear that follower Full Metal Justice catches them on full throttle again where they are at their best. Later in the album a few tracks like We Drift On sees the band running out of steam but they find their form again for closer (unless you have the bonus track version) Beyond The Frail which is one of the best songs here.

Another overall strong album from The Crown then. Cobra Speed Venom remains my favourite which this doesn’t quite match down to a few tracks robbing it of great status but at its best equals past glories. Well worth checking out though and I’m sure most fans of the band will be pretty happy with this one.

The Dead Daisies have had a revolving door of members since their eponymous debut in 2013, the only ever present member being Australian guitarist David Lowy. Practically a who’s who of hard rock, members who’ve come and mostly gone include bassist Marco Mendoza, vocalist john Corabi, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Doug Aldrich, drummer Brian Tichy and drummer Deen Castronovo as well as some high profile guests like Slash and Jimmy Barnes. The band have so far released four never less than solid studio albums, the pick of the bunch for me being 2016’s Make Some Noise. After 2018’s Burn It Down vocalist John Corabi and bassist Marco Mendoza jumped ship. A great loss to any band but the perfect time to bring in Glenn Hughes, replacing both of them in one go. Hughes and Aldrich already have history, the guitarist having played on one of his solo tours back in 2015 I believe it was, one of the dates in Newcastle I was lucky enough to have seen.

It’s clear from the off that bringing in Hughes was the smartest move the band could have made. As soon as the title track Holy Ground kicks in its apparent that he’s had a big influence on the band’s sound. Of course there’s his vocal. I’ve long held the belief that his powerful and soulful delivery is the finest in rock but on a musical level a lot of the songs could have sat comfortably on many of his solo albums. Holy Ground is undoubtedly the bands finest album to date but all the credit can’t be given to Hughes who with one or two exceptions has made his strongest albums in band settings – Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall and most recently Black Country Communion. The Dead Daisies are on fire here with eleven songs of hard hitting rock bursting with big riffs and powerful hooks backed by top notch musicianship. Every song here is a killer, even the seemingly obligatory ballad Far Away that closes the album which Hughes’s soulful vocals fit perfectly and Aldrich reels off perhaps his best guitar solo on the album. There’s also a cover of Humble Pie’s 30 Days In The Hole. The Daisies seem to have at least one cover on every album but here they make the song their own adding power to the original and also featuring Castronovo sharing vocals, a fine singer in his own right.

It’s perhaps on the other nine tracks where the real gems lie though where the band really kick ass, heavier than they’ve ever been. The songs, mostly mid-pace, have plenty of groove and are driven along by the powerful Hughes/Castronovo rhythm section overlaid by Aldrich and Lowy’s crushing and infectious riffs. Favourites include Like No Other (Bassline) for strongest hook and a pummelling dirty bassline and perhaps Hughes’s finest vocal performance on the album. Then there’s Unspoken, the first song unveiled by this line-up and a grand statement of intent that really made me very impatient to hear the rest. Righteous Days is another highlight for the same reasons that I’ve already mentioned above but as I already said, every song here is a killer.

In view of the many line-up changes this band has had and Hughes seems to get itchy feet fairly often, I really hope this incarnation can hold it together for a few more albums as they work so well together and it’s hard to see how they could improve on this formula they’ve developed. An early contender for album of the year for sure.