Death Metal has long been a genre that has remained on the outer edges of my taste buds when it comes to Metal, not because of a distaste for it, but rather an ignorance and lack of decent exposure to it. I’ve found over time that my interest in Death Metal has pointed me more in the direction of the genre’s multiple offshoots, like Deathcore, Melodic Death Metal, and Tech/Prog Death Metal. Despite this, I still “put my time in” and listened to some of the greats in the genre, like Slayer, Obituary, and Cannibal Corpse, but my listening habits remained rather surface-level. You may be asking yourself why the hell we're starting this review with a preamble about my Death Metal music history, but it’ll become quite clear when you give Tribal Gaze’s Inveighing Brilliance a listen. Inveighing Brilliance is a modern Death Metal record that manages to tap into the raw sound of 80s and 90s Death Metal while being contemporary enough to sound a little more polished and cleaned up for our modern ears. I felt it was important to set the stage before we dive in, as my ability to speak to the Death Metal genre may not be as in-depth or thought-provoking as it can be when I wax poetic about some of the other genres I’m much more familiar with.

A Dying Light manages to balance itself between Thrash Punk and Hardcore, with other genres occasionally slipping through (there’s a good Electronic/Industrial sound to the first track on the album, “The Feeding Grounds”, and the title track at the end of the record spends the first half sounding like a Classic Rock ballad). The vocals are raw and aggressive, the drumming is frenetic and controlled simultaneously, the bass playing is deep, rich, and present, and the guitar is crunchy and powerful. From the moment the record begins, there’s an energy present that demands your attention. Sonically, every song sounds like a wall of sound coming at you from every side, with those walls closing in on you to crush you like the trap in Saw V that Detective Peter Strahm gets stuck in (blame the Saw reference on me entering “Spooky Season”). RIP Detective Strahm.

When the band began teasing their return in 2023, I was cautiously optimistic. The singles they released didn’t impress me too much, but I remained hopeful that the full release would have some surprises at least. It took until now for that album to be released, and I can honestly say it wasn’t worth the wait. The Wheel sounds like a step back for the band, with the overall sound being a watered-down version of their former glory. The album lacks any true grit, with hardly any unclean vocals present. The clean vocals are mostly over-processed, and the writing is generic at best. There are no fun surprises, memorable riffs, catchy vocals, or fun electronic drops/sounds. The absence of Zach and Jimmy continues to be a massive creative and sonic crater for the band, even 10 years after they were let go. The three worst things you can do in music are be offensive, be boring, and/or sound terrible, and I See Stars commits one of these crimes by putting out a boring record. As for any standout tracks, this is the first album I have reviewed where there wasn’t a single song I’d suggest you listen to. Skip this record.

Have you ever wondered what 311 would sound like if they took the guitar tone from the intro to “Beautiful Disaster” and made a career out of making heavier Reggae music? You probably never wondered that though, cause that’s an oddly niche thing to think about, but I have thought of it and finally have my answer, and it’s Aurorawave!

ONI is another case of one of those bands that I somehow missed as they were coming up, and after getting the chance to listen to their new EP early, I’m kicking myself for being so late to the party. ONI has been around since 2014, releasing three albums and three EPs during that time. The group has also worked with big names in the Metal scene, most notably Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage (previously), producer Josh Wilbur (Lamb of God, Korn, Trivium, Suicide Silence, Motionless in White, etc) as well as Josh Gilbert (Spiritbox, As I Lay Dying, Wovenwar). The band has seen some lineup changes over the years, but vocalist Jake Oni has remained the constant, offering stability and killer vocals.