Arthouse Fatso leans into exactly what it is: riff-forward deathgrind that centers around the mystique and controversy of Orson Welles and warps his character with left-field death metal and gritty electronics. Why watch Citzen Kane when you can listen to this four times instead?
The virtuosic and unpredictable careening and wailing of Amaya López-Carromero sells the impact of every song on Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief—upbeat post punk crowd-hoppers, psych-tinged and languished dirges, gothic industrial lamentations, you name it. And under it all, warmly touch instrumentals oscillate, layer, and crash to match her theatrics. Each listen something new sinks further into memory.
With a dark atmosphere crafted by hissing, oscillating synth lines and the resulting layered swells, and an existential lust defining its melodies, this collaboration of art history and surrealistic interpretation provides a treat for the curious and dream-stricken. MtM+T’s most gripping vocal highlights build around lines that appear in increasing layers, Amaya's full and classically angelic voice shimmering with a hymnal reverence and sorrow. Cozy up and drift away.
Lower Form Resistance hits with heavy-handed nostalgia, grips with tension-testing songwriting, and lands with enough momentum to sweep the floor from under your feet. If you’ve listened and persevered, hold tight to the thrash rager that now sits hot in your catalog. And if you haven’t? Consider this a warning and brace for impact.
Funeral for a King lands as a synthesis, an homage, and a reflection of the voice of its creators, proof that iteration matters. Doom with a raiding pulse, death metal with swords raised high, Stygian Crown unites both with a triumphant bellow—a cry for the riff and a cry for glory.
Oscillating synth work from resonant patches rise against clashing, warbling vocal harmonies that burst into bright instrumental peaks in epic, whimsical tryst. Atmospheric death, nightmarish post rock, feverish lounge jazz—whatever you want to call this EP—it's mystifying and worth your time.
Chitin remains fun and forward-moving in its forty-minute run. Unlike other bands that tip-toe about the progressive moniker with flashy time changes and virtuosic squealing, Defect Designer wears its technical prowess to steer the audience around its misdirecting halls and trap doors. While the path that these devious death metallers take poses its own hurdles, Defect Designer stumbles about with full commitment to an outré attitude with a refreshing honesty.
Between its trembling croons and its ungodly incantations, Ponte del Diavolo lands somewhere between a jam-laden, occult doom and punky black metal. Whatever you want to call it, Fire Blades focuses foremost on the sultry, slow burn that this eccentric act can imbue amongst their various identities. The devil lives in this wild ride.
