With results like this, it's hard to see why long form sludge metal isn't a more common venture. Granted, Ashbreather's sophomore album resembles a great deal of growth from their self-titled 2020 debut, which was a promising but unadventurous slice of sludge. But "Hivemind", their 2022 followup compounds hugely on those basic elements and exemplifies how long form songwriting works: the unwavering focus on concept and delivery.

In essence, a science fiction tale told in numerous voices through the medium of a sludge, progressive and psychedelic metal suite, "Hivemind" cautiously treads the line between diversity and fragmentation, merging its eleven parts close to seamlessly into a single thirty-seven minute journey.

Shifting between sludgy doom-like passages into noodling prog, droning ambience and just as quickly jumping out of it, each transition succeeds in keeping fresh and snappy just long enough before moving on. Often albums committed to a single long form concept are content to retread ideas with little to no variance, but Ashbreather has brought considerable maturity and depth to a not-so-commonplace album structure, and ultimately made a song that succeeds not only in being cohesive, but also being a genuine banger of a track that I will likely revisit in future quite often.

When a group of artists intrinsically tie a personal tragedy to the creation of their art, it becomes an inseparable aspect within it. Such has clearly been imbued in the creation of Bell Witch's massive, emotionally crushing third full length outing, Mirror Reaper. Envisioned as one continuous, 83-minute composition, spanning two disks on CD, 2 double sided LPs or seamlessly in digital format, Bell Witch have created a monumental, sombre eulogy to their ex-drummer and vocalist Adrian Guerra.

Glacial in pace, yet extreme in scope, Bell Witch craft introspective bass lines which ring out with the sense of grief. Traversing the length and breadth of what's on offer, the composition offers peaks and valleys, near silent moments ringing with the subtle, yet unmistakable musings of an organ - to massive soundscapes of crushing emotional weight.

It is hard to overstate the diversity of the primarily two-man drum and bass guitar band, forcing out your feelings with every twist and turn on offer. The subtle insertion of the late Adrian Guerra's vocals impresses even heavier the weight of emotion Mirror Reaper works with. Even in the lengthy minimalist passages late in the composition, the band gracefully and gradually lead us through highly emotive territory, with near perfect segues into organ passages, before driving forward to a cyclic, cathartic close.

Few albums can respectfully represent an emotion with as much legitimate weight and personal circumstance so seamlessly woven in. While its surface length and ponderous nature warns off casual listeners, the passage through grief is not something that comes fast, and as a eulogy to Guerra and a gigantic slab of emotional ritual, you would be hard pressed to find a representation of grief as primal, cathartic and yes, as beautiful as Mirror Reaper.

Ritualistic, lo-fi atmospheric black metal is Oaks of Bethel's game, and they play it for 133 continuous minutes on this single track suite. As well as using static to wrap a veil of mystery around the spoken word vocals, there are subtle melodic tones delivered by keyboard that play under the repetitive, crunchy black guitar chords and hollowed out drum patterns.

The track is most interesting when it melds between sections, dropping out of the repetitive drum patterns in the form of large bridges where the guitar can speak in the foreground of the mix.

This is merely an average composition, given that repetitive atmospheric black metal isn't easy to pull off as a genre, let alone for 133 continuous minutes - but as a positive I never felt like turning it off. I wonder what that says about how I choose to spend my time.

Can be heard at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzpfb59uxLc

Krokmiten is a band with a twenty year past, but an enormous fifteen year hiatus between their initial demos and what was to be their debut album Alpha-Beta. Released as one 46 minute track (as a free download no less) That album, released in 2011 fit best under the category of experimental death metal, and their followup, Omicron-Omega continues in much the same vein.

The bands creator and frontman Simlev describes the album as relating chaos on interplanetary levels, and the gruff vocal style he employs throughout the continuous fifty minute track compounds a sense of urgency. The music itself throws us straight into the heaviness, and you best get used to that intensity and pace, because about 90 percent of the track is in this fast, aggressive style, with only minute pauses for swirling atmospherics.

This fits with my expectations of the band, but the consistency of the style, having not being broken up by a greater weight of dynamics, soft, loud and middle ground, makes the album pummel into, and I dislike saying it, boredom or predictability. The solos within the mix don't stand out as much as Alpha-beta, namely because of the consistency of the bands approach. The middle ground builds up to heaviness, such as around the 23 or 42 minute mark make a welcome change as the band escalates tension rather then burning us out with white-knuckling the entire track. In a sense this is more of a regression from the more defined builds in tension Krokmiten displayed in Alpha-beta.

That certainly isn't to say this isn't still a reasonably talented band behind what we're hearing through the speakers. I was certainly impressed with their debut more then here because it feels a bit too familiar, not as experimental as the debut was, and covering less new ground. With a stronger production value, perhaps more impact on the drums and dynamic range, this band can soar to a masterful level; as it stands now, it feels like they are content to thrash about in their own defined stomping ground without exploring new territory, and perhaps potentially bringing their music to new heights.

In closing, if you have heard Alpha-Beta, you can expect much of the same intensity throughout its heavier moments, with less emphasis on the more subtle dynamics. While I can appreciate the decision to be consistently heavy and in our face, the music proves draining and underwhelming in its consistency. However we are still dealing with a talented band who is yet to carve their masterpiece; and seeing as they keep a close communication with their fans, and their music is free - it's still a worthwhile release, if only as a prelude to potentially greater heights.

Free to download at http://www.krokmiten.com/

This is the kind of album where in order to give a completely enlightening review, you're going to have to know some technical terminology to wrap your head around it. The band's only known description of their music is 'Metal in Opposition".

If you're not savvy with terminology or don't often deal with academic assertions in your music, you're on the same ground as me. This is a headtrip of an album, described by several sources as krautmetal, free metal, polystylist metal, extreme metal, along with just plain brain melting. Piqued your interest? It certainly piqued mine - and I will also be among the critics to attest that this kind of experience is certainly not for any but the most open minded.

Structured as a five part, single 78 minute composition, Capture of Ziz immediately lays its thesis on the table, a complex, riff salad, Metal in Opposition: rife with accompanying instruments such as a mandolin, harmonica, violin... if you think that means it's going to sound pretty damn strange, you're right. The main feature of the album is undoubtedly a guitar and drum exercise, with complimenting vocals ranging from guttural raspy death metal-esque ruminations, to off-kilter and psychedelic spoken word. The music foundations are constantly in motion, ranging from forward driven erratic tribal drum beats, to a massive acoustic bridge.

To explain further would do injustice to the surreal kind of experience that Qualeaceans have served up here, apparently the result of four years hard work. I recommend this headtrip only to the most open minded metal music fans, as the massive length, surreal and sprawling nature, as well as krautrock sensibilities, makes it a very niche offering, but decidedly unique, and worth a listen, even if only to experience a very unique, and some would say extreme interpretation of metal.

Listenable in Full on: https://qualeaceans.bandcamp.com/