. . .
Back from the grave! This series has been sorely missed (by me) not so much for the recommendations themselves, but the inevitable comments pointing out all the impossibly obscure nuggets of blackened gold that so many of us would miss otherwise. So here it is, presented purely out of shameless greed: the new and unimproved UPCOMING METAL RELEASES. Had I any clue how much work this would entail I might have reconsidered, but too late for that now. Preorder links have been included where available, so get out there and pump some green blood into our precious metal economy’s tireless veins.
. . .
SHOULD RULE HARD
. . .
Old-timers rediscover the fine art of songs and youngsters learn how to write them. The winner: your ears (the loser: your neck). The new Cannibal Corpse is unnaturally awesome–bands this old hardly ever make records this good. Songwriting wins out over unmitigated brutality resulting in some of the most memorable brutal death in forever. Black Breath get it, too, as they work in melodic solos and more thrash than ever before. Wizard Rifle are a pair of weird children, seemingly, (see their promo photo), but their marriage of Lightning Bolt skronk and thick stoner riffs succeeds entirely on the strength of fluid arrangements and willpower. Killer stuff.
Black Breath – Sentenced to Life (3/27) [Preorder]
Cannibal Corpse – Torture (3/13) [Preorder]
Meshuggah – Koloss (3/27) [Preorder]
Pharaoh – Bury the Light (3/6) [Preorder]
Wizard Rifle – Speak Loud Say Nothing (3/13) [Preorder]
LISTEN
. . .
Black Breath – “Mother Abyss”
. . .
. . .
Cannibal Corpse – “Demented Aggression”
. . .
. . .
Pharaoh – “Castle in the Sky”
. . .
. . .
MIGHT RULE HARD
. . .
Old bands, arisen! Sleepy Hollow—about as obscure as they come, playing traditional heavy metal ala Manila Road—are back with their first album in 21 years. The old stuff is surprisingly rad, and what little I’ve heard of the new stuff seems worthy in its own right. Fester are a little-known Norwegian black/death/whatever band releasing their first album in 17 years. The track “I’ll Hunt You Down” (see 1:52 in this clip) seems oddly anthemic for its subject matter, making this the potential feel-bad hit of the spring (if we can ever find it in its entirety). And Angel Witch return after 26 years with their 4th album, this time on Metal Blade. It’s a good time to be old, apparently.
Syphilitic cock-demons feeding on the nether regions of a rotting, female Jesus? Why not. Lord Mantis bring the creepy evil on their latest, suitably titled Pervertor. Unrelenting blackened sludge that matches the cover art perfectly. And we see French bands from both ends of the death metal spectrum: Gorod bring another dose of clean, precise tech-death while the obscuritans in Manipulator scrape the opposite end of the barrel, with cavernous vocals and raw, blasting guitars. Worm Ouroboros offer some respite from the noisier releases of the month with their dark chamber-rock, featuring journeyman drummer Aesop Dekker. A little something for everyone.
Angel Witch – As Above, So Below (3/26) [Preorder]
Enthral – Obtenebrate (3/19) [Preorder]
Fester – A Celebration of Death (3/20) [Preorder]
Formloff – Spyhorelandet (3/12) [Hear] [Preorder]
Gorod – A Perfect Absolution (3/12) [Preorder]
Lord Mantis – Pervertor (3/13) [Preorder]
Lunar Aurora – Hoagascht (3/13) [Preorder]
Manipulator – Voidbound (3/20) [Preorder]
Sleepy Hollow – Skull 13 (3/23) [Info]
Unsane – Wreck (3/20) [Preorder]
Vattnet Viskar – (March) [Bandcamp] [Preorder]
Windhand – S/T (March) [Preorder]
Worm Ouroboros – Come the Thaw (3/20) [Preorder]
. . .
LISTEN
. . .
Enthral – “Fields of Death”
. . .
. . .
Fester – “A Celebration of Death”
. . .
. . .
Gorod – “Birds of Sulphur”
. . .
. . .
Lord Mantis – “At the Mouth”
. . .
. . .
Lunar Aurora – “Beagliachda”
. . .
. . .
Sleepy Hollow – “Midnight”
. . .
. . .
Worm Ouroboros – “Withered”
. . .
PLAYING CATCH UP
. . .
February offered an embarrassment of riches, of which you’re probably well aware. But in case you missed them—hell, I didn’t realize Napalm Death was out already—here are a handful of the best:
Asphyx – Deathhammer [Buy]
Iron Mask – Black as Death [Buy]
Napalm Death – Utilitarian [Buy]
Pallbearer – Sorrow & Extinction [Buy]
Terrorizer – Hordes of Zombies [Buy]
Zombie Inc – A Dreadful Decease [Buy]
. . .
Where’s The Faceless in this list?
…not releasing a new record?
Definitely gonna check some of these out. Also looking forward to God Forbid’s new one Equilibrium on the 26th.
Thank you for bringing back this feature.
Yes, thank you. Was one of my favorites…Good job on getting the Pharaoh some love…
The new Revenge album also came out in February.
Your not the only one.
I miss Cosmo doing this.
Yeah well Cosmo is GONE and he’s never coming back! The sooner we can accept this, the better off we’ll be on the road ahead. No one ever said this was gonna be easy, but yknow things always seem to work out in the end.
Glad to see this feature back!
Well done!
Lord Mantis’ new jams are killer live!
I saw Wizard Rifle play with Arabrot in front of 5 people in Chicago last year…those dudes are unwearers of the shirt!
The new Unsane under ‘might?’ i think its very existence makes it it a WILL rule hard…
Nice to see this feature back.
I thought they fell off a little on the last one, but the one track I’ve heard from Wreck seems promising.
http://youtu.be/Y0ZQcpVt1w0
Definitely gonna catch these guys on tour in April.
Not that anyone asked, but I think the Cutthroats 9 LP that came out on Man’s Ruin is the best Unsane record since _Scattered, Smothered, and Covered_. I’m a huge fan, but I think everything from _Occupational Hazard_ on is a bit interchangeable. The new song, for instance, sounds a lot like “Alleged.” They still absolutely destroy live though (or at least they did around when I last saw them, not too long before they released _Blood Run_).
And I get the “circus music from hell” comment about Sigh. They’ve always struck me as close kin to Mr. Bungle.
I forgot about that 3-song digital-only release Unsane did on Co-extinction records a couple of years ago. That sounds like older Unsane, and thus makes me very happy. Need to remember to listen to that more. I don’t purchase digital stuff very often (I’m a physical media guy), and, when I do, I tend to forget that I have it.
Actually just started listening to the new album promo: digging it so far. I haven’t listened to the old records in a while so I can’t reliably compare, but there are some interesting songs with more melody than I remember them typically incorporating (in a good way).
edit” take out taht second ‘it’
Fister has a new one out. It is bad ass.
What’s the story with Sleepy Hollow? That track is cool, but I’ve never heard of these guys before. Should I have?
Only frustrating thing about this feature (as a constructive criticism kinda’ thing) is just seeing all these releases more or less listed, without much context. I suppose it’s tough, because there’s a wide range of material to cover here, and that I can fill in the gaps myself with the internet etc. Some of these picks seem a little unusual, though, (which is good!) and I wish I knew more about why the author was interested in them.
Sleepy Hollow were an oddball discovery, found by poring over the metal-archives list of march releases (there are a lot), then tracking down youtube clips. From what I can tell, these dudes put out an album in 1991, then pretty much vanished. Until now. Metal survivor/vocalist Bob Mitchell has been playing since the early ’80s and is probably most famous for playing with Attacker, an early US power metal band who released their debut on Metal Blade. Check out the LOTR by way of He-Man cover art:
http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Attacker/Battle_at_Helm%27s_Deep/2670#
Yeah, I get the critique about context. As always it’s a struggle to balance readability with a manageable length and an interesting, diverse list. For the sake of tradition, I went with Cosmo’s old format, which means listing a bunch of random albums that I personally found interesting, describing a handful, and providing clips or links for everything I can’t cover in more detail. It’s more meant as a jumping off point for conversation and recommendations than to be anything prescriptive or definitive.
Like I said, the only thing I’m looking for are some good album recommendations in the comment section. Bring it on!
Cool! Thanks for the answer.
I’m entirely sympathetic to the format you have chosen, by the way. This is a beast of a task.
Thanks for bringing this feature back, it’s very helpful! I was sad to see it go along with Cosmo.
really, really excited for the vattnet viskar. the two up on their bandcamp are already excellent songs, hopefully the album lives up to them
You missed the best release of February…
Anguish – Through the Archdemons Head
Wizard Rifle…I saw them live last month, and sincerely disrecommend them. Long sludge songs, an octaved guitar, a constant cacophonous drum solo. Imagine Dark Castle with fewer notes and more drum hits. They let Portland infect their heavy Indie Rock in that photo. And as many things in Portland, it’s more style than substance.
New Drudkh is out on CD on 3/13. It’s already available digitally from Amazon.
I’ve never been hugely into them, but I really like this album.
You forgot about the new Sigh album coming out on the 13th.
I tried, but couldn’t get into it. Scenes from Hell was cool; In Somniphobia is more like circus music from hell.
Happy to have this back. Great job. Looking forward to next month!
thanks for posting the the vids of these!!!
The new Sigh album is one of my favourite albums of recent years. Phenomenal. I’ll take this over Cannibal Corpse recording the same album for the 14th time in a row any day.
Wow, I’d never heard of Sigh before, but they’re pretty astonishingly badass.
new Master’s Hammer came out in February too. Would probably bore some people to death, but it’s destined to be one of my faves. Sounds like a world music/Italian horror soundtrack-infused version of Armoured Angel!
not excited that much about new Drudkh
i want to echo the sentiments of many others and say thank you so much for bringing this back, and great job! this feature was sorely missed!
New Angel Witch? Fuckin’ A!
Nice to see some folks talking up the new Sigh album! Another similarly eccentric black metal March release: Pneuma by Hail Spirit Noir