Cream of the Crop (Reviews Roundup)
Welcome to a new part of The Harvest which is your basic review roundup but with a Harvesting related name (because why not? :D)
This edition will be focusing on two records that I’m loving this week that’s more for the metalheads among us – and fans of horror and the Star Wars Extended Universe in particular.
We begin with Aborted’s latest offering – Vault Of Horrors!
As someone that loves the gore/deathmetal Aborted bring to the table – hearing that their latest record would be a collaboration with ten other great vocalists in the scene I was very intrigued as sometimes projects doesn’t always pay off.
Thankfully my nerves were quashed with the opening one-two punch of ‘Dreadbringer’ and ‘Condemned To Rot’ featuring Shadow Of Intent’s Ben Duerr and Francesco Paoli from Fleshgod Apocalypse respectively.
What also helps is you’ve got quite the rising stars such as Shadow Of Intent, Signs Of The Swarm, Angelmaker alongside legends such as Alex Erian from Despised Icon and Cryptopsy’s Matt McGachy joining Sven and the gang for a gory good time.
Does it change the game? No but honestly that makes it better – as much as I love your Lorna Shores and Septicfleshes sometime you just need some ripping guitars, double kick/trigger drums and some vocals that sound like they’re from hell.
We now move on to the world of POWER METAL – with a side helping of love for Judas Priest and Star Wars… welcome to JUSTICAR.
Founded by Alicia (who was responsible for one of my fave records from 2023 with Transgressive) Justicar is a project that touches on the world of sci-fi and they begin by doing an EP that begins the story of a character that while not known to many, fans of an expanded universe set in a galaxy far, far away will as we begin the story of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn is the star of his own trilogy but in this we are told the story of ‘Outbound Flight’ but don’t worry – the debut album titled ‘The Warlord’s Gambit’ will cover that in the near future.
What I love about this is firstly – it made me want to check out this part of the universe (regardless of whether Emperor Mickeytine discarded it or not.) The lyrics greatly tell the story and the vocals by Jordan Rutledge definitely fit the grandness of it all.
Secondly I’m loving the guitar attack by Alicia and Joshua Payne plus wonderful work on bass by Leona Hayward, looking forward to seeing how with Jeff Taft a third guitar gets brought in live for the Maiden style…
What definitely can be heard though is the pure joy for bringing their love for Thrawn to a bigger audience and the album is a record I’m anticipating very highly indeed.
UNLIMITED POWER METAL is alive – and it’s name is Justicar and not the Disneyfied bands that some have become.