Australian heavy riffers Sumeru are nearing their first decade of output and they show no signs of slowing. Having recently changed the line-up with the introduction of Jake Willoughby on vocals, Sumeru have continued to develop since their last full length ‘Summon Destroyer’. ‘Blood Ordinance’ is a snap-shot offering that looks to showcase the punishing high tempo sludge that these Sydney heavyweights have become known for.
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Lotan. The seven headed dragon, origin of chaos and the instigator of war against the cosmic order. Also, the new melodic black metal outfit formed primarily of members of Vanir and featuring others from Ethereal Kingdoms when it comes to live duties. Drawing together elements of hard-hitting death and thrash metal, sweeping melodic layering from symphonic metal and an over-arching atmospheric darkness from black metal. Lotan have cooked up a five-track EP to introduce their sound to the world at large.
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This is the second album by HBE since 2019. Lockdown has obviously been prolific for them. The 10 tracks show a wide variety of influences steeped in the mysticism and musicality of bands from the 70s up to date. There is much to be admired in the tracks on show if you like bands as varied as Deep Purple and. Greta Van Fleet, rather an aural feast if the PR is to be believed.
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With the recent shock news to come out of camp Nightwish announcing the departure of vocalist Marko Heitala, Jonny B ended up heading off on a bit of a symphonic metal binge to remind himself that there is more to symphonic metal than Nightwish (although he’s pretty sure he knows a few people who would argue otherwise). As a result, he ended up stumbling across Winterage, whose name stirred a very vague memory but are a band that je can’t say he’d ever dedicated time to listening to until now…
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Well, 2021 may somehow have managed to stagger and stumble to the midway point of its first month, but already it is looking as if it as going be as much of a shitstorm of a year, if not more so, than its predecessor, with the Government apparently losing the war with the pan(dem)ic and “fighting back” with renewed, and even more stringent, lockdowns in place the length and breadth of the Über Kingdom (and beyond). But, with BoJo’s much vaunted pathway out of the crisis still some way off, and the summer festival season already in severe doubt following the cancellation of Glastonbury and other events looking set to fall like the proverbial dominos, at least 2021 is sharing something more positive in common with 2020, in that it already has produced some terrific new music, with the promise of plenty more to come, if the if the inbox here at ÜRHQ is anything to go by…
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