It is difficult to realise that ‘Chaosphere’ is now 25 years old, how did that happen? When Swedish band Meshuggah released their third album back in 1993 they probably did not realise that their new experimental move into polyrhythms and away from the more thrash exploits of their first two albums would create the inspiration for a whole new genre, djent. To celebrate the 25th anniversary it is has now been remastered by Thomas Eberger and Sofia Von Hage at Stockholm Mastering, the with the result being that everything is that much crisper and somehow even more poundingly heavy than it was all that time ago.

I came to the band later, so didn’t hear this when it was initially released, but the impact on the metal scene was intense and hearing it again all these years later it still sounds fresh and very current. If this was released as a brand-new album today it would not sound out of place in the current market, as this style of music is now something many appreciate and understand, but when this first came out the impact would have been devastating. Somehow, throughout all the chaos the band stay in 4/4, but such is the complexity and offshoots of music that one often thinks there are in 5/8 or 7/8, but the head knows what is going on as it moves uncontrollably to the groove.

The intensity is off the scale, and any movement of volume must only ever be up, which means there is a real risk to eardrums with this one. Everyone who knows metal will be fully aware of this band, and will probably own some of their albums, but now is the time to revisit ‘Chaosphere’ in all its heavy beauty and mark at the birth of a movement.

The Belgian death metal act are back with their twelfth album, and they have taken a somewhat unusual approach to this one in that singer Sven de Caluwé, who has been at the helm since the band’s formation in 1995, has brought in some mates to perform with him on each track so we get brutal duets with the likes of Alex Erian (Despised Icon) to Johnny Ciardullo (Carcosa/ Angelmaker), Ben Duerr (Shadow Of Intent), Francesco Paoli (Fleshgod Apocalypse) and others. Ken Bedene (drums), Ian Jekelis (guitars), Daniel Máni Konráðsson (guitars), and Stefano Franceschini (bass) have combined with Sven to create an album which is brutal in its style, intensity and delivery and then added to this with the addition of the singers.

It is a very clean sounding album, and in some way I think this would have been improved by some muddiness as in many ways there is too much separation and it comes across as quite clinical in places as opposed to a group of guys creating a maelstrom of blood and carnage in the studio. If there had been more of a focus on feel and less on getting it sounding quite so perfect, then the end result would have been more natural and less contrived. Blastbeats, grindcore influences and hardcore vocals among the death growls make this an interesting release which fans of the genre will enjoy even if it is not quite essential.

On 15th December 2019, Children Of Bodom, which at the time consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Seppälä (bass), Janne Wirman (keyboard), and Daniel Freyberg (rhythm guitar), held their last concert in Helsinki named, 'A Chapter Called Children of Bodom', before dissolving the band. In 2020, Laiho and Freyberg carried on as Bodom After Midnight, but Laiho was dead before the year was out. Obviously, this album has quite some importance given it is a recording of the last ever performance of one of Finland’s greatest ever metal acts, containing one of metal’s new breed of frontmen and shredders, but putting all the emotion to one side is this as good as one wants it to be?

The short answer is “Yes”, as that night the band were on fire. While no-one realised quite how ill Laiho was, this was planned to be the last ever show for the melodic death metallers and they were determined to go out on a high. I first came across the band at the time of their fourth album ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’ after I saw the video for “Needled 24/7” and loved their hugely complex approach with intense note density and complicated melodies which combined shredding with powerful keyboard lines which were far more than just background, since when I followed their releases with interest, and while I enjoyed their other live releases, this takes it to a whole new level. the band were determined to put on a show to remember, reaching all their way to their debut album from 1997 to ensure they provided fans with a great setlist. “Needled 24/7” will probably always be my favourite CoB number, and here it is gets blasted with the whole band putting their heads down to smash it with incredible intensity, yet also with the lightness and interplay one expects.

Children of Bodom cannot exist without Laiho, so there will never be a reunion, but fans will relish in this wonderful performance being captured for all, and I am sure it will also attract new aficionados who will seek out the back catalogue. Here we have a band captured at the height of their live powers and is a fitting tribute and reminder of just what a great guitarist and frontman Alex Laiho was.

It may have taken Cadaver 16 years to return with their fifth album, but the same line-up of Neddo (vocals, guitar, bass) and Dirk Verbeuren (drums) have produced the sixth after only three. I was quite a fan of ‘Edder & Bile’ and was intrigued to hear what the latest one would be like, and I was not disappointed. One of the joys of Cadaver is that while they are renowned for being a death metal band, formed some 35 years ago by Neddo and others, they are always looking to do something quite different. This time around they commence with “Sycophants Swing” which is what a jazz band would sound like if they were trapped in an asylum and forced to play the same tune for 20 or 30 years, and one can only wonder what will come next.

That next is “Postapocalyptic Grinding” where Dirk shows he can blast as well as anyone and they straddle the boundaries of death and grind, yet when they come to tracks such as “Dissolving Chaos” the result is something that is far slower and almost power metal in its approach but with some black metal overtones. This is an extreme metal album which refuses to sit solidly within just one genre and instead keeps showing what they are capable of, with their cover of “Deadly Metal” being pure thrash from beginning to end. Norwegian metal legend Ronni Le Tekrø, guitarist with old school heroes TNT, can be heard shredding like a madman all over the album. He originally came in just to play a blistering solo on that track but had so much fun he stayed! It is also interesting to note that double-bass maestro Eilert Solstad, who performed on Cadaver’s second album, 1992’s ‘....In Pains’, returns on the murderous ‘Scum Of The Earth’, adding scabrous textures and subterranean tones.

Neddo recently fought cancer and came out the other side, and has used that experience to motivate himself even more, the result being an exciting album from a band who are pointedly refusing to rest on their laurels but instead are out to show there is plenty of life in them yet.

In some ways Marduk have been incredibly stable in that founder guitarist Evil (Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson) has been at the helm for more than 20 years while singer Mortuus (Daniel Rostén) joined all the way back in 2004 but in other areas not so much. Drummer Bloodhammer (Simon Schilling) only joined in 2019, after the last album, while long-term bassist Devo (Magnus Andersson) left in 2019 to concentrate on session work (although he has guested on this album, while Mortuus and ex-bassist Joel Lindholm also contribute). One always knows what to expect with Marduk, and with their fifteenth studio album they have not disappointed.

When asked about ‘Memento Mori’ Daniel Rostén said, “Memento Mori is, all at once, a bold leap forward, a calculated sidestep, and a wistful backward glance. Meaning, we have broken new ground without forgetting our legacy or the journey that brought us to this point.” This actually makes sense as while there are obvious links back to the last album, ‘Viktoria’, and others going all the way back to the Nineties, the band are still attempting to progress within the black metal scene while never moving out of it. There are times, such as on “Charlatan”, where the drums, vocals and guitar are all moving in one direction while the bass is very much in another, which creates some space within the music and then when the bass aligns itself again it feels quite dramatic and more forceful. The use of micro breaks of space allows the music to reset and come back hard again while drummer Simon Schilling is a real find and it is no surprise that he is in so much demand (At the Grave, Eucharist, Hate Manifesto, Nervecell (live), ex-Belphegor, ex-Panzerchrist, ex-Paragon Belial, ex-Streams of Blood, ex-As Stormclouds Gather (live), ex-Der Weg einer Freiheit (live), ex-Fleshcrawl (live), ex-Infestus (live), ex-Kaoteon (live), ex-Monument of Misanthropy (live), ex-Nargaroth (live)) as he is a force to be reckoned with, providing an over the top dynamic attack yet he also knows when to pull back and provide more space.

More than 30 years since their inception, Marduk show no sign at all of slowing down yet.