Planes Mistaken for Stars Live at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill
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The dissolution of Denver’s Planes Mistaken For Stars in 2007 was taken hard by the small but hearty following they’d developed since their inception in 1997. Different bands sprouted up afterwards including guitarist/vocalist Gared O’Donnell’s Hawks & Doves, Chuck French and Neil Keener’s band Git Some (the duo are currently members of Wovenhand and have been since 2014) and periodic reunion shows without original drummer Mongo Ricketts.
When Deathwish Records announced they not only signed the re-formed group, but were also releasing an entire album of new material (2016’s Prey), the internet erupted with shouts of joy.
The seasoned post-hardcore group hit the road for a full US tour in October, and on December 17 made it to Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, a tiny club with a long history and a tradition of hosting amazing underground bands.
Show openers and tourmates Hesitation Wounds, made up of members of Touché Amoré, The Hope Conspiracy and Trap Them, brought a blast of frenetic and explosive hardcore. Next, Southern California’s Retox blasted through a 40 minute set of spastic, angular post-hardcore sounds, accentuated by abstract images projected onto and a makeshift screen behind them.
Planes Mistaken For Stars stormed the stage like the post-hardcore kings they are, opened with “A Six Inch Valley” from 2004’s Up In Them Guts and proceeded straight into “Glassing” from the same album. Fists pumped and words were screamed as the packed room joined in joyous camaraderie with O’Donnell and crew. They followed with a couple songs from Prey, “Dementia Americana” and “Riot Season” before launching into the one-two punch of “Belly Full Of Hell” and “To Spit a Sparrow”. It was impossible to suppress a dopey grin at the start of each song. As an introduction to “Clean Up Mean”, O’Donnell appealed to everyone to take care of each other, to support those who might be struggling, and to hang in there when things get tough. A solid request, which the crowd seemed to take to heart.
The Planes Mistaken For Stars hits came one after the other… “Dancing On the Face of the Panther”, “Never Felt Prettier, “Fucking Tenderness”, “Church Date”, and even the oldies “End Me in Richmond” and “Sicilian Smile” made it into the set. By the time they wrapped their set up, it felt like the show had only just got going. The crowd yelled for more, but they’d come, said their peace, made their statement, and let it be what it was. But goddamn, it was good while it lasted.
-Bobby Cochran
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Retox
Kal-El Reveal the “Dark Majesty” of Far-Out Stoner Metal (Track-By-Track Rundown)
I said this in our Upcoming Metal Releases column this week, and I stand by it: Kal-El knows how to rock, and that makes all the difference in the crowded, soundalike-laden stoner and doom metal scene. Their new album Dark Majesty is over an hour from start to finish—that type of lengthy runtime can often make me drop an album before it's barely begun, killer tones and aesthetic be damned, but every song on the Norwegian band's fifth full-length is a convincing argument to stick around for the next. This is not an album where the 'good stuff' is nebulously located in the back half with only the promise of coming riffs to stave off the doldrums; this is an album where each song is a self-contained weapon of amplified war, ready to melt faces with a combination of titanic volume and skillful groove. The volume side of the equation opens things up as "Temple," the longest song on the album, immediately kicks off into earth-rattling overdrive. The wailed vocals that join in aren't atypical for the genre, certainly, but the choruses they deliver do tend to stick in the brain through a combination of clever writing and loop-heavy reiteration. Though much of the record sticks to in-the-pocket stoner grooves, the long-format songs offer lots of opportunities for the band to show off their chops through complex rhythmic passages, massive soundscapes, and sometimes just subtly twisting each monolithic riff into something different over time with the listener almost unaware of the shift. The two "short" songs here, just over four minutes each, are kind of like radio singles to mix things up, boosting the tempo and hammering home the band's signature spacey groove. Combining skillful chops with massive fuzz, Dark Majesty is another iteration on Kal-El's master craft: making desert rock in outer space. Listen to the album (out today) below and check out a track-by-track rundown from the band.
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"Temple": Lyrically, "Temple" is a song about one man’s inner struggles and how a person’s mind is his sacred ground where he can and will entertain his own thoughts. Alone. This is not a place one invites people, but occasionally he’s visited by shamans who pretend to be his friend. Musically it came together through several different ideas and riffs we had, and perhaps it's reflected in the variety of the many themes. The making of the tune started with Josh coming up with something real heavy while under the influence at the beginning of a rehearsal. "SPIRAL": "Spiral" is a fairytale about a spineless person who enjoys every sinful aspect of life. But with too much of certain chemical altering substances, one tends to hurt for several days when the smoke clears. Some of the music is from a riff Bjudas came up with by messing around with a guitar. The riff was thrown into the jam-pit, and thus "Spiral" was born "MICA": "Mica" is about an intergalactic heroine and bounty hunter, who mercilessly hunts down her victims for profit. The music is made out of a few different riffs, but the making of the tune was kicked off by one riff that The Captain brought to the table. The rest of the band chipped in with ideas to complement it and the song came together quite quickly after that. "HYPERION": "Hyperion" is a space metaphor about burials and death. The music was made out of an idea The Captain had after sitting around a drain pump for several hours, and was further developed by the band with more ideas and riffs to make it what it is on the record. "DARK MAJESTY": The title track, "Dark Majesty", is about the popular conspiracy that the US government has a secret division investigating UFOs and is involved in outer world diplomacy. Quite compelling! And this one also came straight out of the rehearsal room, but the main riff is one that Bjudas had laying around for years. "COMÊTA": "Comêta" is about schizophrenic thoughts, a make belief if you like, like cosplay one might argue. The music came from an idea we had on tour way back when, and it was eventually refined by Doffy while knocking it out in a frantic rehearsal we had during recording. "KALA MISHAA": This tune is personal, and about hurt. A struggle with faith one cannot control. The music is mainly made by Johnsen and developed further by the band as a whole. "VIMANA": In India there is this story about Vimanas, flying chariots, and stupas. These vehicles were involved in a large aerial space battle quite some years ago and are documented in detail in books and manuscripts from that period. One even suggests that villages were vaporized by nuclear missiles as evidence of immense heat is recovered (only obtainable with something powerful as a nuclear blast) in recent times. Musically, the idea started with Bjudas playing a beat while tuning the drums. Accompanied with an idea Johnsen had, Doffy developed it into a 'vocal' riff and together we jammed it out into what eventually became "Vimana"....
Dark Majesty is out today on Majestic Mountain Records.Celestial Steel: Black Sites’ “Sword of Orion” Strikes True (Early Track Stream)
As a relatively active member of the Chicago metal scene, I mentally maintain a list of local bands that I need to see live — because no matter how many shows you go to here, there's still going to be some frustrating gaps. After I became aware of Black Sites with their excellent 2019 album Exile, they rocketed to the top of the list, but certain factors have unfortunately conspired to prevent any more shows in the meantime. For now, their spot on the list remains intact and the injustice of it all has only continued to fester, but a new album from the group is a welcome consolation prize in the meantime. On their upcoming album Untrue, Black Sites forges a progressive assault that strikes deep with clever riffs and soaring melodies, continuing their singularly elevated brand of heavy metal that goes beyond retro worship. While it retains the classical appeal of catchy twin-guitar metal, Untrue captures not only the heart but the imagination as it explores the incredibly lucrative potential of enriching the tried-and-true with heavy instrumental prowess and an ear for tasty hooks. Check out a sample with the new single "Sword of Orion," premiering below:
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To quickly summarize: it's a ripper. "Sword of Orion" takes its opening slot on the album seriously, kicking off with rumbling guitars and a reverberating tom drum rhythm and in short order launching into a beefy hook with pounding double-bass underneath it. Guitarist/vocalist Mark Sugar then introduces his gritty-but-mysterious voice as well, adding another layer of harmony to the dual guitar attack. It's the type of energizing heavy metal that makes you want to go out and get a battle jacket, or, if you've already got one, actually get around to re-doing all the patches on it. At the same time, Black Sites doesn't sound exactly like the heavy metal of the past, incorporating progressive song structures and decidedly non-traditional segments. Mixed by the revered Sanford Parker, Untrue is up-close-and-personal metal, imbued with the might of decades of amplifier and sound production evolution. The guitars are pincer-sharp but can crush when needed, and each snare drum is a beefy smack, situating the listener right in the middle of the fray. Above it all, intricate vocal and guitar harmonies swell, driving the song's emotional thrust and reinforcing the conviction that Untrue is something special: modern metal that carries the spirit of traditional metal forward to new heights....
Untrue releases October 8th independently through the band's Bandcamp page.The Enigmatic Progressive Rock of Drott (mems. Enslaved, Ulver) Enters the “Arch of Gloom” (Music Video Premiere)
As much as progressive rock lends itself to sweeping tundras, it also possesses an equally important insular element. The best passages reflect self-discovery, and adventurous song structures can mirror how conflicts aren’t always resolved through an easily traversable path. Drott, the three-piece instrumental act comprised of Arve Isdal of Enslaved, Ulver percussionist Ivar Thormodsæter, and Matias Monsen, exemplify progressive rock’s introspective qualities in the music video for their new single “Arch of Gloom,” directed and edited by Jens Kristian Rimau. Watch the video now:
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https://youtu.be/cGOEk5CnarU...
The track is a meditative moment in the context of their upcoming debut album Orcus. “Arch of Gloom” is slotted near the end of the narrative, just before the climactic title track. The single’s jazzy rhythm section ventures inwards rather than expands. The drums and bass are innocuous enough that Isdal’s guitar soliloquy has ample space to weave around the rhythm, yet there’s an identifiable propulsion in the mix. It’s certainly progressive in the sense that there’s exploration done here, but the reserved tone implies that it’s an internal monologue. The instrumental piece is meant to be Drott's final descent before confronting the Lord of the Underworld, the titular Orcus. “Arch of Gloom” is distinct from Ulver’s late-career pop fascination and Enslaved’s more progressive leanings by maintaining a strict focus on form. It more recalls Ulver’s recent improvisational release Hexahedron (Live at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter) wherein the marvel of discovery lies not in the overt musicality but the subtle ways it conveys contemplation. In the video for "Arch of Gloom," Drott adorn plague-doctor-esque masks, perhaps to protect themselves from the looming power of Orcus. They fixate on the surrounding flora as if it is their final chance to engage with this world. Both the video and the song end by fading into light; a rather optimistic conclusion given the group’s impending meeting with the judge of the dead. Consider it a moment of levity. You can take it as an excuse to step outside and smell the flowers for yourself. It’s doubtful you’ll face anything as fearsome as what awaits Drott at the end of their journey on Orcus. From the band:At the end of a dark and bouncy road lies the Arch of Gloom. Through persistent bass and drums, Arch of Gloom is driven to the point of desperate collapse by a haunting guitar solo. Mesmerizing in its mystical attraction, it hypnotizes desperate souls into a surrealistic dance before they are lured down the abyss to face the verdict of Orcus.
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Orcus releases on September 24th via By Norse Music (EU pre-orders available here, and NA pre-orders available here).Records of the Week #18: Remembering Eric Wagner (Trouble, The Skull)
The idea behind this column is to share our picks for Records of the Week — not necessarily what's out this week, just whatever's on our mind or on our record players. This week, with the passing of Eric Wagner, ex-Trouble vocalist, the IO staff reflects on on some of our favorites from Trouble and beyond.
Ted Nubel
The Skull
For Those Which Are Asleep
I only have one possible nit to pick with this album, and that's the album art: after Trouble's iconic and vivid album art, it was hard to come to grips with what can essentially be summed up as 'band name and album art on red'. But, thinking further, it fits the album well: The Skull might be considered a continuation of Wagner-era Trouble, but it also served as a vehicle for the now-matured Wagner and his bandmates, two of which on this record were also from Trouble (drummer Jeff Olson and bassist Ron Holzner). Coming thirty years after Trouble's debut full-length, For Those Which Are Asleep reflects a set of musicians still committed to creating absolutely tremendous doom, but one now burdened by the trials of life. Both as a step to distance themselves from the past and as a visual representation of their "elder statesmen" approach to doom, the refined and muted approach makes sense. Some of that also translates to the music, though this record is definitely not tired or worn out: when The Skull wants to go fast, they do. (And holy shit, did you see them live?) But lyrically and musically, it's a darker shade of doom metal that reflects on past sorrows and regrets, considering if they might just be "Sick of It All" after so many years and other such musings. The vocals are tremendous, of course: Wagner was one of the genre's greats, unmatched in his iconic doomed timbre here and right up until his passing. Rest in peace, Eric....
Brandon Corsair
Trouble
Psalm 9 (a.k.a. Trouble)
This is a special record for me in more ways than one, and with the tragic death of singer Eric Wagner a few days ago I’ve been revisiting it heavily. My strongest memory of Trouble goes back to when I was a dumbass teenager that was loudly criticizing the idea of Christian metal in a forum; how, after all, could something so lame and conformist as Christianity be sung about by any worthwhile bands? Well, I was set straight by someone that sent me this very record, and I was mesmerized: some of the heaviest goddamn doom riffs I’d ever heard, amazing harmonies and melodies, and one of the most interesting singers in the entire genre. Over the years Trouble have come to be my absolute favorite doom metal band, and I can be found saying that all over social media, forums, and chat rooms. Their logo is on my coffee mug, and their name is on thanks-lists of albums I’ve played on, and they’re easily one of the most found band names if you run a search of the ol’ band groupchat. What I’m trying to say is that the devastating and beguiling music that Trouble made together back in the 1980s is some of the best to ever exist, and that their impact on me was stunning. The buildup on "The Tempter" is a masterclass in creating tension, and the rest of the song alongside classics like "Assassin" are the ultimate proof to dipshits that think Electric Wizard invented doom that the genre doesn’t need to be slow to be true. Nobody had better transitions between balls-to-the-wall speed, crushing doom, and sections of genuine beauty, and even now, I think that nobody else ever managed to do what they did on Psalm 9 quite as well. These days I listen to The Skull and Run to the Light as much as the debut, but Psalm 9 isn’t just where it started for Trouble; it’s where it started for me, and it remains the most personally significant record for me from the greatest band’s catalog. Pour a beer out, and for the sake of Eric Wagner, join me and blast some Trouble....
Thomas Campagna
Trouble
Run to the Light
Beginning with a self-reflective song like “The Misery Shows,” referring to song titles from their first two albums Psalm 9 and The Skull, Trouble weren’t quite ready to separate from the doom metal that established them on the scene earlier in the 1980s. As a matter of fact, 1987’s Run To The Light was the band’s farewell letter to the decade where they cut their teeth: the one before they redefined their sound. The whole A-side of the record is obsessed with the band’s own mortality, whether it be looking at past conquests or knowing something big was looming for the band about three years in the future. Eric shines on this album with his unique vocal style; this big, haunted hippie of sorts fit the songs he performed on so well. “On Borrowed Time” is a slow-moving plod and Wagner can make his presence felt within this small space with the typical mastery of slow riffs, courtesy of Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin, able to convey the gloom and doom but also be melodic and complex. The title track is an uptick in speed, which commonly slows down in a stop/start style that the band was absolutely phenomenal at pulling off. The middle section again slows to a beautiful crawl where Wagner is able to swoon through the mic with some vocal effects thrown in for good measure, before the gigantic riffs again crash all over the listener. The latter half of the album is just as powerful, but this time looking forward, especially on the closing track “The Beginning”. “Born In a Prison” preaches unity through the lyrics with the song itself being a speedy heavy metal venture chock full of doom and blues but with the band operating at their fastest speed. Run To The Light doesn’t garner as much love when compared to Psalm 9 or 1990’s Trouble, but it is another showcase of exactly what made the band special, what made them unique, and made them Trouble. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mX9Eowd9F7n55X01-yIeb6cHQ6NAQJrto&feature=gws_kp_album&feature=gws_kp_artist...
Side note: Like many heavy metal heavyweights, Wagner lent his talents to Dave Grohl’s incredible Probot project which included Lemmy (Motorhead), Snake (Voivod), King Diamond, Max Cavalera (Sepultura/Soulfly), and Wino (Saint Vitus/The Obsessed) among others. Luckily, one of the live recordings of this collective included Eric on MTV’s Headbangers Ball in 2004 performing “My Tortured Soul” featuring Dave Grohl on drums, Wino and Greg Anderson (Sunn O)))/Goatsnake) on guitars. Just listen to what Eric could do — and that lineup was just a thing of legends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnocrmavf_Y...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 8/29/2021 – 9/4/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of August 29th, 2021 to September 4th, 2021. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays. See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging. Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
Upcoming Releases
Iron Maiden -- Senjutsu | Parlophone | Heavy Metal + NWOBHM | United Kingdom If you’re reading this column, you already knew this album was dropping—it’s been sitting on Steve Harris’ laptop for over a year and a half. The group continues further into the realms of progressive songwriting without indulgent technicality. As Bruce Dickinson puts it; “...there are other people who can still understand drama and light and shade in a song. [What we did in] the early days of the heavy metal world, we're not really doing that anymore; we did that with the first five or six albums, but we're now on album number 17. We can do so much more now, and really take people on a journey." In short, more refinement, more world-class melodies, and more ambition, even in their twilight years. They shall never surrender.--Colin Dempsey
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Portrait -- At One with None | Metal Blade Records | Heavy Metal | Sweden It’s fitting that Portrait’s new album is releasing the same week as Iron Maiden’s because it’ll satisfy those salivating for that sweet classic metal sound. The operatic vocals, twin guitar melodies, and marching pace evoke NWOBHM’s heights with unabashed sincerity.--Colin Dempsey
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Carnifex -- Graveside Confessions | Nuclear Blast | Deathcore | United States (San Diego, CA) Well, if you're in the market for 'blazing fast death metal meets prolonged breakdowns', Carnifex continues to be a top-tier purveyor of it.--Ted Nubel
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Defacement -- Defacement | I, Voidhanger Records | Death + Black Metal | Netherlands As the album art indicates, take this project's name very literally: a primal emission of ripping, eviscerating black-death with as little in the way of "hooks" or "musicality" as (in)humanly possible. Still, it's seductively bleak: the foggy miasma it's all wrapped in is tantalizingly obliviating.--Ted Nubel
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Sermon of Flames -- I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive | I, Voidhanger Records | Death + Black Metal | Ireland Sermon of Flames' debut album is a far cry from their raw, recorded-possibly-inside-an-air-conditioner demo: in agonizing clarity, their furious death/black hybrid spits out focused rage in short, cathartic bursts.--Ted Nubel
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Sol Kia -- Zos Ethos | I, Voidhanger Records | Black Metal + Drone` | Belgium Black metal, if it was played by a duo of sleep paralysis demons (one of whom in this case is the mastermind behind Ôros Kaù).--Ted Nubel
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Vessel of Iniquity / Thecondontion -- The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event | I, Voidhanger Records | Black + Death Metal | United Kingdom + Italy Themed splits are always worth hitting, and the weirdo mix of black and death metal found here is specially worthwhile. Thecondontion explores some esoteric species through weirdly melodic dinosaur death metal (with huge, rattling bass textures, I should add) while Vessel of Iniquity, as they tend to do, explores the boundaries of noise and black metal and exactly how little sonic information one needs to get their skull perforated by a blast beat.--Ted Nubel
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Claymorean -- Eulogy for the Gods | Independent | Epic Power Metal | Serbia Claymorean make soaring heavy metal seem effortless. They maintain their high energy as if they’re gliding. Their craft is light, balancing muscular riff work with Dejana Garčević’s throaty performance.--Colin Dempsey
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Aran -- Pimeyttä Vasten | Naturmacht Productions | Atmospheric Black Metal | Finland Brassy synths adorn the lengthy atmospheric compositions on this release, which weaves fascinating melodies and clever rhythmic variations into compelling journeys easily worth the time.--Ted Nubel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgIbPaP5F9g...
Deformatory -- Inversion of the Unseen Horizon | Independent | Technical Death Metal | Canada From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Summoning the Cosmic Devourer":Inversion of The Unseen Horizon['s] concept continues the band's own mythology, a twisted derivative of Clive Barker's fantastically demented Hellraiser mythos pushed into realms beyond our own. Brutally punchy and laced with annihilating streaks of black metal, cosmic machinations are put into bone-snapping focus through the band's unrelenting technical death metal.
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Doctor Smoke -- Dreamers and the Dead | Ripple Music | Heavy + Doom Metal | United States From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "https://www.invisibleoranges.com/doctor-smoke-the-rope-video/":While taking some cues from stoner rock and doom, there's a clear shift from the fuzzier, stoner-ish metal of their 2014 debut The Witching Hour, bringing the vocals into focus and introducing some modern grit to help the devilishly complex rhythm side of the record hit home [...] delightfully demented and plenty doomed.
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Dragon Breath -- The Awakening | Independent | Heavy Metal | Cyprus This supercharged heavy metal record puts the vocals pretty high in the mix. With the unusual delivery on tap it's a bit of a risk, but ultimately it works, and the heavy presence allows the guitar-versus-vocals harmonies to really resonate.--Ted Nubel
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Illum Adora -- Ophidian Kult | Independent | Black Metal | Germany Illum Adora is pretty obviously over-the-top when it comes to their aesthetics and lyrical content, but the end product is highly compelling and worth suspending disbelief to really get into the mood: smartly-penned lyrics and intriguing synth lines add extra flavor on top of the classic black metal attack.--Ted Nubel
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Apallic -- Edge of Desolation | Kernkraftritter Records | Progressive Death Metal | Germany The German death metal band’s newest album boasts a heightened focus on lengthier tracks. They use these longer run times to inject epic inclinations without cramming the mix. Pick this up if you like your death metal with progressive and folk tendencies that keeps it pretty fucking death metal.--Colin Dempsey
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Rise to the Sky -- Per Aspera Ad Astra | GS Productions | Atmospheric Death + Doom Metal | Chile Though it's their second album in under a year, this Chilean doom/death solo project continues to execute at the top of its class: truly emotional metal with powerful vocals and haunting melodies. I really can't get enough of the lead guitar work here.--Ted Nubel
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Genophobic Perversion -- Gore Reprisal | Independent | Goregrind + Noise | United States (Boston, MA) The one-man sludge/grindcore act is joined by Plaguewielder, who sets the tone with a pair of bookending ambient pieces. His contributions contrast Genophobic Perversion’s cavernous, chunky, and surprisingly groovy tenth full-length release this year.--Colin Dempsey
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Beyond Grace -- Our Kingdom Undone | Prosthetic Records | Death Metal | United Kingdom Pissed off, brutalizing tech-death metal with a melodic bent -- the biting lyrics aren't focused on ripping organs asunder here, instead tackling socio-political issues with savage insight.--Ted Nubel
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Filth Wizard Debate “Chimney Ethics” Through Nuanced Riff-Weaving (Early Track Stream)
On their 2018 debut Thor's Toolbox, New Zealand amplifier magicians Filth Wizard offered a strong thesis on how riff-focused metal could be merged with progressive tendencies: without a word spoken, the album's songs (all named after normal, non-godly tools, curiously) are as attention-grabbing as any reverb-drenched chorus sung by a voiced equivalent. Working in and modulating a staggering amount of catchy riffs and intricate dynamics, the band nails down a reliable formula for holding focus and getting the head nodding. With their upcoming album Sleepeater, these sorcerers of sewage twist the formula further, retaining their groovy songwriting chops but putting them to diverse and heavier uses. The first single from the album, "Chimney Ethics," highlights this, interspersing sludgy rock riffs with adventurous melodies and the band's signature strangeness. Listen now:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnkOKrvcbDA...
Though Filth Wizard's mighty aptitude for crafting a groove is a big part of what makes this song work, it also shows off the trio's cohesive creativity. Each part of the song, from the drums to the lead guitar work, feels like a unique and autonomous voice, but they fluidly interact within the song's confines to create harmonies and counterpoints rhythmically as well as melodically. This vivaciousness helps the song take shape in the mind: by example, after a jazzy lull midway through, the transition back into full-bore riffing feels like an orchestrated trap sprung on the listener, not just a few distortion pedals being stomped on. Whereas Thor's Toolbox opened with a softer, acoustic track, "Chimney Ethics" kicks off Sleepeater with a bang. The retro-stoner jam vibes of their debut are joined here by a broader palette of sounds, partially due to the band as a whole partaking more in the writing process, and the results are striking. Filth Wizard was definitely not in a position where they needed to change their approach, but "Chimney Ethics" demonstrates that the band's newest chapter is filthier, heavier, and more sonically persuasive than ever....
Sleepeater releases October 8th independently via the band's Bandcamp page.“At One With None”: Portrait’s Powerful Heavy Metal Remains Peerless (Interview with Guitarist Christian Lindell)
One of the best and most consistent bands in heavy metal, Sweden’s Portrait started more than fifteen years ago and immediately established themselves as titans of the genre. Youth and a lack of interest in sticking to established waters could not hold the band back, and by their second album they had signed to the legendary Metal Blade Records label. Since then, each album has further refined their personal approach to heavy metal—and now Portrait, though noticeably still the same band they were with their debut in 2008, have arrived at a place where their sound cannot be mistaken for anyone else. Much of the meat of At One With None revolves around mid-paced riffs and hypnotic song structures that rely as much on repetition to build atmosphere as they do on vocalist Per Karlsson’s mesmerizing croon. The songs whirl through unpredictable riff changes without ever diverging significantly from a core of sharp, almost mystical riffing; even when the band speeds up and gets a bit more aggressive on songs like "He Who Stands," their aggression is tempered by changes into clean guitars or goth-laden sections of beauty. A weaker band could not pull off the blend of approaches and musical styles that Portrait put together, but their top-notch songwriting ability and mastery of heavy metal are undeniable. One approach that stands out more than on past records is modulating riffs that change keys or tempos rather than changing riffs entirely, which allows the band to control the mood of a song with more precision than if they circled relentlessly from riff to riff. A song might have less individual riffs than on some previous Portrait records, but the quality of each riff is so high that the difference is only noticeable via repeated listening, and crescendos of drumming and vocal lines allow the record to remain fresh at each and every point. Many comparisons have been made in the past between Portrait’s approach and Mercyful Fate, and despite how far Portrait have gone in developing their own sound the comparison remains apt—albeit not in the expected ways. A common technique that Portrait uses to change between disparate riffs is to have drums drop out at a particularly abrupt shift, and the combination of theatrical, emotional vocals and those sharper, winding structures certainly calls back to the greats. This is perhaps the most unique Portrait release yet, however, and the comparisons to bands like Mercyful Fate or even to countrymen such as In Solitude are mostly surface level; as always, Portrait follow their own path, and that path is as bright and glorious today as ever. Read below for an interview with Christian Lindell discussing the new record, and go buy a copy—you won’t regret it.
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A tendency of Portrait’s songwriting on this album that I’ve noticed is modulating a riff with a key change and tempo variation instead of moving to an entirely new riff, such as in “Ashen.” When did you first realize how effective that technique is? It has probably been in the subconscious or back of the head for a long time, but one moment that I remember was when listening to "At dawn They Sleep" by Slayer about 5 years ago or so, in which they use that technique as well. I was later "intentionally" inspired by that approach when we wrote the song “Mine To Reap” on the Burn the World album. Dissection did the same in a lot of songs, for example the verses of In the cold winds of nowhere and the variations between the choruses in Soulreaper can be mentioned. And the chorus riff/melodies in Night's blood also for that matter, with the changes in the rhythm section over the same riff. A change of beat/rhythm or tempo to the same riff can indeed become very effective. Do songwriting tools like this ever become something that you overthink, or does active knowledge of how you approach things not change anything? No, we seldom overthink things like that. The inspiration always comes by itself, as if channeled from within. What takes time sometimes are the song arrangements. One needs the time to test things out and listen properly before deciding on the final cut, especially with the longer songs. Interestingly enough, I read that Iron Maiden do it the other way around. They want to record their albums as soon as possible after the music has been written, in order to keep it fresh in mind. Perhaps we will also do things that way, ten albums from now… What’s the fastest that you’ve ever put together a final-version Portrait song, given that? I can't say for sure, but "Phantom Fathomer" is definitely one of them. It was written in a couple of hours. Maybe some small change was made in the arrangement later on, but nothing big. Much of the album is composed of rather hypnotic repeating rhythm guitar sections that don’t bite as much as they lull. Does that conscious creation of atmosphere play a large part in your process when putting together new Portrait material? Yes, the kind of atmosphere created by such approaches is a big part of our sound and one of the things that makes us stand out among other contemporary heavy metal bands. There is a lot of that on the new album, I agree. More so than on the Burn the world album. This is not something that we think too much about during the actual song writing process though, it all comes very naturally and this time the inspiration that came to us moved in that particular direction. I guess it is one of the main differences musically compared to the previous album. Burn the World had more intense and aggressive parts while At One with None has a bit more... melodic approach? It's all up to the listener to judge of course, but what I am most satisfied with is that we have again created something that we feel proud of without repeating ourselves, but still keeping the Portrait essence there. Did you go into At One with None with any specific goals in terms of melodicism or atmosphere that you feel you met? Not really. As mentioned above much of this comes by itself. That is the way it has to be, as soon as you need to put pressure on yourself to find musical inspiration something is wrong. Maybe some of the older bands should think about that. It is so transparent and bad when old bands try to get "back to the roots" and do what they did 30 years ago. Not to mention the bands who base tours on "Special 40th anniversary of the debut album set". It is pathetic. Do something new that is relevant instead. Do you have that problem with older bands doing older special sets all the time, or just when their material has grown stale? Are things like the King Diamond “Abigail” tour the other year ever okay? I can't really say I was crying in disappointment when watching that "Abigail" tour. It was great of course, and a bit different also when you have this whole concept story etc. But, King Diamond has done so many great albums and in a live situation I myself would prefer to hear stuff like "Moonlight", "Black Devil" or "Waiting" over any of the Abigail songs. But again, doing such tours is still a bit different when you have these story concept that makes for a nice stage show and so on. The digital release seems to come with two bonus tracks that collectively total about ten minutes of playtime. What are those songs, and why use them as bonus tracks rather than as a standalone 7” single or alternate release? We recorded 11 songs and had not really decided which ones to include on the album prior to the recording. We are satisfied with all of them, but the two you mention, "The blood is the Life" and "Farewell to the Flesh" is closely connected lyrically and fits well together as a bonus 7" to come with the box set version of the album. It just felt right to exclude them from the album and release them separately instead. Sure, we could have released separate 7" singles also but with these two it felt better to include together with the album, being from the same recording sessions and all. They will be on a 7" in the box version and also on the digital release on streaming services etc. Another song, "The Passions of Sophia", was recorded as well and we will see when to release it. It is a long epic song, about 10 minutes I think. The reason why all songs aren't included on the album is that we want to stick to a single vinyl album and not a 2-LP. Around 50 minutes playing time is perfect in our opinion. Do you ever write songs with specific arrangement goals for the overall construction of an album, or does the band usually just write a bunch of songs and decide afterwards how they’ll go together like you did this time? We just write the songs and let our intuition guide us. We instinctively feel when we have enough material to start the recording process. When we feel that we have enough different musical expressions to let the Portrait essence manifest through, we know that the album is done. This is now your fourth record with Metal Blade Records. Do you see the band continuing on with them when your contract is over, if it’s not already? Has it been a good few years with them? Yes, we signed a new deal with them for this album. The first deal was for three albums, and so is the new one. So yeah, we are satisfied with the cooperation so far and we expect nothing less for the two upcoming albums! Several other members of the band fill their time with other side-bands, but as close as I can tell you focus mostly on Portrait, as does Anders. Do you think there’s any advantage to staying busy with other bands or do you prefer your own approach? I won't say that I never will have any other band or project. There has been ideas of course, but the thing is that everything that I want to express through music can be done through Portrait, so I don't really know why I should do anything else. I put so much into Portrait also, so if I would have some other band going on as well it would probably become half-hearted in one way or the other. But on the other hand it is always good to rehearse with other, get experience on stage and so on. Having other bands going on is not something I think is missing in my life, but I have no problems with the others having their things on the side of course. What’s next for Portrait? We will be doing some Swedish shows during the autumn and winter, then hopefully be able to tour other countries as well some time next year. The live scene situation is of course horrible with all these restrictions everywhere, but we won't give in....
At One With None releases September 3rd via Metal Blade Records.…
Planes Mistaken for Stars
Wharflurch’s Hallucinatory Horror Lurks in the “Psychedelic Realms Ov Hell” (Early Album Stream)
With metal, "what you see is what you get" is often a best-case scenario: there's far too many tragic tales of amazing album art with just-okay music that couldn't possibly live up to the insanity of its art. Fortunately, Wharflurch's debut full-length more than delivers on this front: the psychedelic filth on the cover of Psychedelic Realms Ov Hell is, if anything, understating the majestic bizarrity of the sewer-full-of-drugs death metal found within. Each song title is more outlandish than the last, and the psychedelic devastation wrought within each track that much more intense: dive in now ahead of its Friday release.
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Even if, for some fun-hating reason, the strange synths, cybernetic vocals, and cavernous reverb were stripped away, what we'd be left with here is absolutely crushing death/doom. Sensitive to the crucial dynamics of tempo in this genre, Wharflurch knows when to slow down and when to, well, not: flurries of tremolo riffing crash convert into ungraceful stomps with whiplash-inducing precision. On top of this meat-and-potatoes mastery, haunting leads along with delightfully retro synthesizers float into the gruesomely kaleidoscopic grotto: come for the riffs, stay for the inescapable horror. On "Phantasmagorical Fumes," the Floridians venture further into spacy, progressive textures: heavy on the synths and doom, the hallucinatory miasma created by the song's mid-section is so strong one can almost smell it. The ripping conclusion to the song brilliantly ties this together with death metal, returning to a fast-paced scramble before breaking back down into a slow, mournful progression to wrap it up. The album concludes with its title track, a perfect encapsulation of Wharflurch's unusual sound and what makes this so compelling: the weird vocals that start it off, plus the lengthy decaying outro, are delicious atmospheric packaging for another punishing death/doom track crafted to get you headbanging regardless of wherever you might be at the moment. Join Psychedelic Realms Ov Hell's descent into madness as this final track screeches and howls to an end, and then go start the album over again....
Psychedelic Realms Ov Hell releases September 3rd via Gurgling Gore and Personal Records.Rongeur Laments For The “Underachiever” (Early Track Stream)
Like the patient thump of a solitary fist beating against a door, "Underachiever" begins with a string of repeated, isolated chords. As it opens, the song exposes a tender chamber of the mind: that dark, tucked-away corner where we keep our own self-loathing. Through stoically unwavering sludge, the Norwegian act Rongeur takes listeners within their own selves, assessing this painful chasm and following it all the way down. Enormously impactful without overcomplicated orchestration, each note on the band's latest single from their upcoming album Glacier Tongue strikes deep, tracing out details of our perceived failings and getting to the root of it all. Listen to the track now:
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"Underachiever" traces out a conceptual arc with a post-metal-like evolution, though the noise rock-driven riffing and cavernous drums melancholically iterate on rhythms without dabbling in excessive melody, using just a few dour notes and absolutely gut-wrenching screams to create a stunning portrait of discontent. There are points when it seems like the song could speed up, but it doesn't, resolutely sticking to its miserable pacing like someone stuck in a self-defeating cycle of doubt. With the subtle introduction of choral-like synthesizer pads and slight hints at optimism, Rongeur insinuates there's a possible path forward—but it's up to the listener to find, as the song ends with a litany of drum beats open to interpretation. The band comments:"Underachiever" is about stagnation and the struggle for achieving dignity in life. It is an ode to those who wrestle with the relentless tongue cutting and antithetical machine that is reality.
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Glacial Tongue releases later in September via Fysisk Format.No Love Lost #1: Five Albums Best Not Forgotten
We all have our own personal affronts when it comes to what the zeitgeist of heavy metal chooses to like and dislike. For whatever reason, every so often a release will come along that just blows your mind, and—shockingly—nobody else cares. Philistines on RateYourMusic give it a 3.2, a couple people on Facebook share it, and then, with the constant inundation of new releases, that new favorite album vanishes under the waves, never to be appreciated again. One could argue that this is fine; our own personal tastes shouldn't dictate what everyone else likes. But it's still frustrating seeing good albums get swept away by a tide of new releases, and as someone whose inbox is nearly literally swept away in this fashion daily, it can be fatiguing. However, it turns out that waiting until the end of the year before deciding which releases we should talk about is not a viable editorial strategy, and so the cycle continues onwards while we do our best. That being said, we're kicking off this column with an aim to unearth some of these albums from the past that have failed to find the love we think they deserved. You may disagree with whether or not they were "loved"—we didn't impose any objective standards on submissions—but they deserve it nonetheless. Expect future editions as we nurse additional grudges.
—Ted Nubel
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Ted Nubel
Pale Horseman—For Dust Thou Art July 2020 Pale Horseman are a Chicago sludge institution that have been putting out skull-crushing sludge for nearly a decade now, and they have never once considered giving it anything less than their all. No matter how small the venue is, every time I've seen them play live they've shown up rocking twin full stacks and a bass rig designed for small-scale demolition. While their new drummer (though he played on 2017's The Fourth Seal as well) did dial down the drumset size a bit compared to the behemoth their previous percussionist employed, the full commitment starts at the gear and and it runs all the way up to their work ethic. This is their fifth full-length, operating essentially entirely independently, and their crushing, cyclical form of sludge remains as anti-trend as possible. It's heavy, slow riffs with apocalyptic vocals and wicked fills, with zero intent to compromise. I'm part of the problem here, because this release caught me off guard last year (not for lack of warning, just time management) and I was just barely able to include it in our Upcoming Metal Releases column, let alone give it the listens it deserved. But as I've found the time to do so in the last year, the stone-footed endurance of this record cements it as one of the band's best. For best results, turn your speakers way up and let this pulverize you....
Ivan Belcic
Adversary—Ruination December 2014 A frequent theme across music is the band who emerges with a finely honed and impactful debut only to then fade back into the mists with just this singular permanent record of their existence. These nuggets of ephemeral glory blanket metal’s landscape, covered in layers of subsequent and similarly isolated releases, dusting the plains between the towering mountains of legacy names and big-label support. Georgia’s Adversary is one such band. The quintet’s 2014 debut Ruination is a crisp melodic death metal record that conveys sweeping narratives of adventure, exploration, grief, and loss. Less a concept album and more a collection of vignettes centered on these themes, Ruination is a polished and far-more-than-competent exercise within the band’s limited palette of crunchy guitars, gatling-gun drums, and a growl–clean vocal hybrid that has, at least for me, supported years of repeated listens. If Twilight of the Thunder God is steak and potatoes melodeath, Adversary’s Ruination is a venison stew. It’s similar enough on the surface, but a more nuanced listen reveals a depth of flavor and breadth of influences not present in its more popular cousin. The song structures push the band’s take on their accessible genre to more complex extremes, their use of frequent tempo changes and rhythmic shifts never disrupting the album’s consistent overall flow and complementing the sophistication of the lyrics. For the people lucky enough to have been paying attention at the right time, or even better, to have been involved in the local scene in which these bands dwelled, these one-off records often occupy a special place. They evoke a moment in time, a particular life-state in which that record held special power and meaning, in which that band represented something greater than their physical selves for the people who came across them. The last post on Adversary’s Facebook page is dated 2015, yet comments from a year ago hint at a follow-up album in the works to be released the following year. I attempted to reach out to the band in preparation for this column, and in the meantime, can only hope that this new music will someday soon see daylight....
Tom Campagna
Ghoul—Dungeon Bastards July 2016 America and gore-based imagery go hand in hand—hell we started death metal, right? One of the band(s) that is oft forgotten when it comes to greatness would have to be Impaled/Ghoul: the same people are in both bands, with the former being an incredible Carcass clone and their own Mondo Medicale being the best part 2 to Carcass’ Necroticism. Ghoul, on the other hand throw more thrash into their own volatile mix with random silly things like psychobilly riffs making them more like melodeath plus Municipal Waste and their own bloody imagery and costumes giving a nod to GWAR. Dungeon Bastards was the band’s fifth proper album and still their most recent, released in 2016 when the world could have really used a laugh; it was my album of the year. The album is a loose concept of a dictator named Commandant Dobrunkum, being born and raised to become absolute ruler of Creepsylvania (the band’s country of their own creation). A track like “Ghoulunatics” is a thrash masterclass; pounding drums giving way to insane riffs and even sections that have a Middle Eastern vibe, certainly more diverse than you would expect from the band on the surface. With more fun tracks like the self-proclaimed note to the country “Word Is Law” to more of what you expect from the band especially from their Splatterthrash days like “Shred The Dead” (which sounds exactly like you think it would), this is just a blast of a record and it continues to slay to this day—it just deserved more fanfare upon initial release. Shred the Dead!...
Brandon Corsair
Lethean—The Waters of Death November 2018 I’ve spent years now trying to convince people to give this one a more robust listen. I’ve interviewed the band, reviewed them, told everyone in the sun that they rule, and it seems like my one-man-hype-machine just isn’t enough to offset how little Lethean give a fuck about fitting into the metal scene. At their heart Lethean are gorgeous, moody epic heavy metal that despite fitting squarely in that description don’t sound like anyone else that could be described that way. The emotional melodic vocals from the band’s singer Thumri Paavana are far too acrobatic to compare to typical masculine singers that normally approach this sort of stuff, and the guitar playing leads more towards peaks and valleys of melody than towards pounding Manowar-esque anthems. Much as a dragon soaring out of a mountain to roast some hobbits is epic, so is the forlorn, still ocean, and Lethean lean to the latter. Somber is a good word that describes what Lethean are; they’re almost restrained, creating soundscapes more than jagged heavy riffs, but even that fails to encapsulate the band because the band actually riffs really goddamn hard. When I reviewed the album a couple of years ago I said that the closest comparison was Argus playing with the melancholy of Warning fronted by Thumri, and I stand by that; The Waters of Death is an album of contrasts that works a lot better than it should on paper, and I desperately hope that we get more soon and that the reception is good enough to force them to get together a live band....
Colin Dempsey
Vengeful Spectre—殞煞 Vengeful Spectre January 2020 Before getting into why Vengeful Spectre rips so hard, you need to know that Vengeful Spectre rips hard. There’s more to the Guangdong-based band’s debut album than that, but it’s imperative to recognize that it’s a torrential storm. The fact that the six-chapter story of swordsmen, war, betrayal, and revenge is still semi-legible through the language barrier and the shriveling vocals is a testament to Vengeful Spectre’s capacity to strike the necessary emotional notes of a narrative arc. Of course, the expected Black Kirin comparisons aren’t inaccurate, but each group is built off of different fundamentals. Whereas Black Kirin are more theatrical, Vengeful Spectre are hallowed. There’s little empathy spared here. Honestly, there isn’t much time for empathy amidst the throttling black metal. Vengeful Spectre distinguish themselves by repurposing traditional Chinese instruments in service of the narrative. Without them the album would still shred, but implemented with this finesse, Vengeful Spectre is a masterful black metal mise-en-place. The group disregards the delicate tones usually associated with these instruments and instead use them to amplify the severity of their pieces. There’s a short break during “The Expendables” where the plucked strings act as a war rally. Or note the plodding pace of “Wailing Wrath,” which adheres more to what’s expected of epic black metal, yet is akin to a warrior on the brink of exhaustion. The strings push the track forward more than the riffs or the absolutely demonic vocals. Vengeful Spectre surpass the appeal of musical tourism. They gun for the throat, claw your eyes out in a frenzy, and thrash about like a soldier acting on instinct, all with the weight of a war epic....
Scene Dive: Inside Porto’s Tireless Metal Movement
This article is the first in a planned series that will explore different cities’ extreme music scenes, taking you to the venues, rehearsal spaces, record stores, and other places where the heart of metal beats in locations around the world. This inaugural Scene Dive is a visit with the DIY heshers of Porto, Portugal. Porto, the Undefeated City, sits perched on steep bluffs where the Douro River meets the Atlantic. It is Portugal’s second-largest city after the capital, Lisbon, and as Portus Cale, it is the place from which the modern country’s predecessor emerged. Porto’s history of naval travel has had a profound impact on the city—while acquainting Portuenses, the city’s denizens, with the cultural spoils of South America, Africa, and elsewhere, it also acquainted the numerous citizens who remained with saudade, a uniquely Portuguese sense of longing and loss. “Portugal has a very dark side,” Gaerea’s anonymous guitarist says. “It goes back to those times [of] saying goodbye to someone you love… People went to the harbor and said goodbye to their loved ones when they went off to another world. And they would probably not come back.” Bassist and Larvae Records founder Zé Pedro calls saudade “kind of a core component of Portuguese identity,” one that has informed centuries of musicians, from fado singers to the country’s modern metalheads. More recently, Porto has, like many European cities, seen a flood of tourists, many from neighboring Spain as well as the UK and France. In some respects, the city is living through a version of the same predicament faced by places like Berlin or Prague. After decades of repression, stagnation, and war abroad left Porto sleepy and affordable, it became an attractive destination for creatives, whose improvement of the cityscape was followed by aggressive moves from others to capitalize on it. Visitors, lured by neighborhoods stacked like tiers of a cake on either side of the river, were followed by international commerce and chain retail. Rents rose. Some artists were forced to seek newer, cheaper spaces. But the city’s arts scene, which breathed new life into it at the turn of the millennium, is alive and well in 2021. In DIY spaces like Stop, an abandoned mall the city has threatened with demolition, a close-knit community of musicians is pushing the boundaries of metal. A growing variety of record stores connects the Undefeated City with the global hardcore, shoegaze, and black metal scenes. Porto, in turn, is poised to make historic contributions to those genres—as long as the deluge of tourism, loss of local culture, and ongoing pandemic don’t end the city’s renaissance prematurely.
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“A VERY ARTSY, TRASHY VIBE” The metal scene in Portugal is small but mighty. Gaerea’s guitarist says that “it’s impossible to be a member of a touring band in this country without ever mentioning the people who started it all—Moonspell.” These Gothic metallers from Lisbon got together in 1989 and have released 11 full-lengths in the years since. Moonspell has attracted a robust fanbase in their home country as well as in Germany. Meanwhile in Porto, bands like Holocausto Canibal pushed Portuguese metal into heavier territory. Influenced by Iron Maiden, Metallica, and other 80s mainstays, Pedro, Holocausto Canibal’s sole remaining original member, sought ways to push the genre. “From then on, the eagerness to discover more things, and preferably more and more extreme, was incessant,” he says. A few shops and venues emerged around that time and supported those in search of ways to push their sound. “There was a heavy metal shop in the center of Porto that played a pivotal role throughout my journey in the underground,” Pedro says, “the Halloween Heavy Metal shop that existed for some years in the mid ‘90s.” The shop was owned by since-deceased Web vocalist David Duarte, who “acted as a true pioneer, boosting the entire Porto and national scene.”...
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Holocausto Canibal got their start in 1997. In addition to Web, Pedro cites Gangrena, Genocide, Tarantula, and Xeque-Mate as early influences. While Gangrena and Genocide laid the foundation for the city’s death metal scene, Holocausto Canibal’s goregrind- and slam-influenced sound pushed it further. The band continues to release music and has a full-length in the works for 2022. Pedro has also played with The Ominous Circle and industrial metal act Grunt, and since founding Larvae Records in 2013, Pedro has tried “to reissue underground classics that today are very difficult to find at decent prices.” Larvae’s catalogue has grown to 50 releases including the latest from Brazilian grinders Rot. Pedro has deep roots in his hometown. He reminisces about the sound of the knife sharpener and the smell of cooking, though noting that “unfortunately, certain sounds and smells that indelibly marked my youth were extinguished as a result of the inevitable urban evolution.” Like others, he has witnessed significant changes in the past 20 years. André Mendes, the promoter who runs Amplificasom, says “Porto was a very different city [back then]. Finding a house wasn't the problem; the problem was to find a habitable one on a safe street. Bands wouldn't come here [on tour], so to get to shows, you'd have to go to Lisbon.” Frustrated by the lack of musical variety, Mendes started Amplificasom in 2006. He has since helped book artists ranging from Neurosis to Zola Jesus in venues such as Hard Club, located in the Mercado Ferreira Borges, a red iron structure in the heart of downtown Porto. Mendes, Pedro, and others cite the boutique record store Piranha as another early place to gather. Piranha has been around since 1995, a sort of warm-weather Helvete in Porto’s Boavista neighborhood, and continues to be an important metal destination. Meanwhile, local musicians looking for a practice space found refuge in a derelict shopping mall, a concrete vestige of the 80s clad in sheet metal and glass, which had long since been painted over inside and out by successive graffiti artists and local kids. Others began practicing among the shuttered stores and built ad hoc rehearsal spaces, which were followed by several recording studios, and finally by a café and small venue, Metalpoint. As Stop, this drab, blocky building, at odds with the ochre townhouses on either side, has become the epicenter of Porto’s rock and metal scenes. “We rehearse in a very special place,” Gaerea’s guitarist says of Stop. “It’s really easy to meet other musicians. It’s a very artsy, trashy vibe. We feel at home there.” He estimates around 400 bands call the hulking structure home. Marcelo Aires, drummer and keyboardist for Sullen, Rei Bruxo, and formerly The Ominous Circle, says Stop’s Metalpoint is one of “the main catalysts for metal artists in the city, for sure.” But in his view, this tight-knit incubator can be limiting as well. “The Porto metal scene is cool if you just want to make music for your friends and grow within a very limited but dedicated fan-base,” Aires says. “If you want anything bigger and more ambitious than that, you'll have to go beyond borders.”...
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Small and bounded on two sides by water, Portugal has always looked beyond borders for culture, exploration, and plunder. But now that those from abroad are coming in ever-greater numbers to visit, prices in Porto have gone up accordingly. This sharp increase in the commodification of the city has ramifications for its musicians. Like Berlin’s Kunsthaus Tacheles, Stop and other radical spaces face the increasing pressures of gentrification and overtourism....
FOG The rest of the world “discovered” Porto in the mid-2000s. Its vistas, quaint cafés and bed and breakfasts, and location close to some of Portugal’s best beaches drew tourists in droves prior to COVID. Like San Francisco and other coastal cities, Portuenses (the name for citizens of Porto) often awake to find their hometown shrouded in névoa—maritime fog. “[Our band’s] name actually came from Porto being how it is,” says Nuno Craveiro, one half of post-black duo Névoa. “We would get up for college early in the morning… and see all this fog hanging below the hill.” As often as not in the late 2010s, this fog teemed with tourists heading out for a day of sightseeing and gastronomy. For locals, this has impacted housing. “You can’t live there anymore,” Mendes says. “Tourism was booming before the pandemic and will keep booming, but such is housing speculation that I wonder when the city itself [will] turn into a hotel.” Local housing has made way for short-term rentals; mom-and-pop restaurants have yielded to Starbucks. “There were some cases of really amazing music clubs closing doors to give way to new restaurants and hotels, which is truly sad,” says Aires. “The main disadvantage of living there [is] increasingly higher rents, due to the never-ending demand for new restaurants, hotels, AirBnB's and everything regarding tourism.” João Freire, Névoa’s other main member, agrees. “Before COVID, there was way too much. An avalanche of tourists everywhere. It was insane,” he says. Freire mentions a former venue that hosted bands like Full of Hell and Nothing that has since become a chic Thai restaurant as an example of gentrification. But the pandemic has changed things somewhat. “Now, it’s strange because it kind of looks like the Porto I knew from when I was a child. I used to be scared of going downtown—it has a sort of Gothic look, the downtown zone—and now it’s really empty [again].” COVID impacted the city’s artists as it did everywhere. Tours were canceled, recording was put on hold. However, Porto’s metal musicians, like others afflicted by saudade before them, turned their sorrows into music and released pivotal works in 2020. In spite of the virus, there’s vitality. “There’s a lot of new record shops opening in the city, and in areas I would not expect to have record shops,” Gaerea’s guitarist says. “It looks like there’s a lot of interest for alternative stuff again.” In 2021, with the continued uncertainty of the pandemic on top of Porto’s affordability issues, the question is whether this interest can sustain itself. “A GOOD MIX OF GENRES” Porto’s metal output gives some positive indicators. Following acts like Holocausto Canibal, the city’s musicians have put their own spin on different genres of metal. Mysterious blackened death metallers The Ominous Circle took aesthetic cues from Portal, releasing Appalling Ascension in the US on 20 Buck Spin and playing Migration Fest in 2018. Oak took funeral doom into atmospheric territory with 2019’s Lone. And Gaerea released 2020’s excellent Limbo, a furious black metal LP that brought the hooded group to its apotheosis. “Limbo has a very strong connection with our 2019 touring schedule. We’ve had this lineup for that long, and it’s the first lineup we ever had for touring,” Gaerea’s guitarist says. “Everyone stayed very focused and earned their spot.” Limbo was recorded between concerts in 2019 and sat ready for release when the virus hit and the band canceled their tours and waited. “We thought people would be home, would need distraction and would need music in their lives… We can’t complain. 2020 was our biggest year,” the guitarist says wryly of Limbo’s release. “A lot of people are still buying it, posting it, streaming it, doing fan videos, sending art… It was an album that helped us grow a lot.” The band plans a frantic year of shows in 2022 if everything goes well in the meantime....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4iUrRRs2lg...
Porto supports an experimental and jazz scene, which Mendes and Névoa’s Craveiro and Freire speak of fondly. Mendes cites HHY and the Macumbas as one of the city’s most innovative acts, and Névoa has drawn from this other part of the city’s sonic palette. Of their 2016 release, Re Un, Craveiro says they were “trying to create a ritualistic mood experience,” citing Oranssi Pazuzu and the Finnish scene as influences on the record’s heavy atmosphere. “We were listening to some jazz already at the time but didn’t have the capacity ourselves to make a good mix of genres,” he says. “We were really sick of blast beats,” Freire says. Craveiro laughs. “The first record was all blast beats. The new one [Towards Belief] has one.” Towards Belief had a tortured birth. Freire and Craveiro say they had mostly finished the record by the end of 2018. “We always had this dream, I guess, this aspiration of the ‘next step,’” Freire says. The duo felt assured that they’d be able to take the album on an international tour, having played Roadburn more than once, but after a struggle to find a home for the record on a label, COVID hit. “We kind of were in this strange limbo where we couldn’t move forward,” Freire says. “We just said, ‘okay, we’re just going to release this,’” Craveiro notes. “We thought people would enjoy this right now, [so] at least people have something new to listen to [during COVID].” Towards Belief truly is something new, a seamless fusion of jazz and metal. The band knew from the beginning they would benefit from featured musicians. Craveiro and Freire reached out to other metal musicians, seeking soft vocals or other additions, but finally enlisted saxophonist Julius Gabriel and trumpeter Arve Henrikson to play on the six-song LP. The record is awash with warm tones and cavernous spaces, the harsh vocals like a primal scream in a high-ceilinged gallery. Névoa is “playing the most forward-thinking heavy music that Porto ever saw and record after record keeps showing their level of creativity and ambition,” Mendes says. With blended elements that would sit right with fans of Altar of Plagues or Bohren and Der Club of Gore, Towards Belief was a slept-on highlight of 2020. The band was discouraged by the album’s long incubation period and is unsure of what is next. Both members are currently otherwise occupied, though Craveiro continues to compose electronic music, working on projects like vau. Regarding the band’s future, Freire says, “it’s going to be a thing from one day to the other… It’s going to be Nuno sends me a shitty recording from his phone with a new riff.” Craveiro laughs. “We’ll see,” he says....
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LIMBO The musicians interviewed here all hedged when asked about the future. Though smaller-scale festivals like semibreve are slated for October, Mendes has moved Amplificasom’s next Amplifest to 2022. Except for virtual events hosted with the municipal theater Rivoli, Amplificasom has tabled everything else due to the virus. “We need to keep fighting to survive and wait for better days,” Mendes says. For Pedro, who canceled Porto Death Fest IV, which was to feature Undergång, Morta Skuld, and a dozen others, the pandemic has also been a hardship. “All of my bands have had a lot of concerts canceled and almost all of them outside the country,” he says. He has redoubled efforts at Larvae to release music while tours remain on hold. Others remain more optimistic. Gaerea’s guitarist teased a November event and sounded hopeful that the band will play the 100+ dates they have planned next year: “We’ve tried to not be very pessimistic about the pandemic. We can’t control it. We can’t go full of rage to the internet and complain about governments. It’s not just Europe or Portugal. If we get shows canceled in Porto, they’ll probably be canceled in NYC.” Meanwhile, Portugal has slowly moved to readmit other EU residents as well as Americans, Australians, and others—with a negative COVID test and proof of vaccination. A mask mandate and capacity restrictions remain, but tourists are returning. Riffs again ring out in Stop’s rehearsal spaces despite municipal pressure, and Porto’s metalheads are out again to buy records, saudade be damned. “I think I appreciate it more than a few years ago,” Freire says of his hometown, to which he returned after some time living abroad. “I like the nooks and crannies of it,” Craveiro adds. Artsy strips like Bombarde and venues like Hard Club and Auditório CCOP continue to provide a home for the arts. As Freire notes, “musically, there’s definitely a lot of interesting stuff. I think people really make an effort to have an interesting scene.” “It’s good to have all these tourists going around the city and discovering these scenarios,” Gaerea’s guitarist says. “They hear this live music—it doesn’t matter if it’s metal, or pop, or rock, or jazz, or indie, whatever—they go inside and enjoy themselves… and the city shapes these tourists.” He fondly notes how loud the city can be, the way its residents yell to one another across subway platforms in conversation. “We’re very intense with our words,” he says. The musical landscape reflects that intensity. “Porto is a city that feels like a village, and it’s a box of surprises,” says Mendes. “You need to allow yourself to get lost in the tiny streets [to] discover it.”—Colin Williams
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Ghastly Treads The “Mercurial Passages” Of Delightfully Bizarre Death Metal (Interview with Ian J. D’Waters)
There are many pathways that death metal can follow, and most of them are oft-treaded ground by this point. The bands that choose to follow their own path are always a love of mine, and especially bands that eschew conventions regarding heavy rhythms or song structures. Ghastly is one of those very special bands that pursues a more obscure path, replete with little idiosyncrasies of character that help differentiate them from all peers. A particular focus of Ghastly is dynamics. Otherworldly melodies or even passages of clean, ghostly reverb guitar melodies will sit in the same song a pounding section of aggressive traditional death, all held together by superior songwriting rather than by tricks of momentum or force that lesser bands rely on to make disparate elements work together. The way each song twists and turns is fascinating, a veritable masterclass of unpredictability, and even when songs move through more predictable sections through a crescendo of rage or into a more mellow melodic one the actual choices of guitarwork are always fascinating. One of the cooler techniques that Ghastly regularly uses to great effect are sections of simpler backing rhythm guitars with catchy, memorable lead melodies over the top; these are difficult to pull off but the reward is immense, and the sense of class that they impart is an important part of the record. Dual leads and other sections without effective “death metal” rhythm guitar help seal the deal of a record that’s almost psychedelic in how stretched out and mesmerizing it can be. Though a great amount of the focus is on sections that are less traditionally death metal, Mercurial Passages is by no means anything else. Fundamentally, the class and melody rely on the demented aggression that is the undercurrent of every song to have something to bounce off, and the ferocious drumming and vocals keep even the most sensitive sections grounded. This is Ghastly’s third record and the years of experience that went into it show; every record has pushed boundaries more and more and leaned into an increasingly unique, personal sound. I can’t wait to see where they go next, but for now, it’s impossible for me to put down the new record. Give it a listen and read an interview with Ghastly’s main songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian J. D'Waters below.
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Mercurial Passages makes heavy use of sections that rely on lead guitar melodies over slower rhythms a la Demigod or Gorement. For those sections, do you write the melody first, or the rhythm? Most of the times the melody comes first and rhythms later. There have been occasions that I have a rhythm guitar already but it needs something to it and I’ll start jamming that part with the lead guitar and see what comes up. I have to blame the fascination with these lead guitar melody sections on Tales from the Thousand Lakes and The Karelian Isthmus, both albums affected me so much in my teen years and still are one of my favourites. Are there any specific sections with those lead melodies on the new album that you’re particularly proud of, or that were harder to write? I wouldn’t say any lead was hard to write, or at least I don’t remember a thing like this. Of course I stand behind every riff, lead, pulse and beat on the record and I am proud of what I came up with. Few leads ("Parasites"’ solo & "Mirror Horizon"’s final lead) were intentionally left to be written at the spot. I have done that in every recording session that I leave things a bit open for ideas that pops into my head without composing everything 100% beforehand. It doesn’t work all the time but with "Mirror Horizon" it did and that might be the song I am most happy with concerning the leads. How do you determine the best way to balance more aggressive tremolo riffs against the stretched out melodies and jangly riffs that are so much of Ghastly’s core sound within an individual song? By trial and error usually. First of all, I gather riffs together and record them, then I test the structure by jamming drum parts to it. If that doesn’t flow, I need to change something. Some parts can take years to find the perfect song structure that works. I attend to give every song its own feeling and atmosphere, but this time on Mercurial Passages, it got a bit out of hand and it expanded to the whole album. With this I mean that the album is almost like a concept, or how I put it - it’s like a nightmarish movie. Will future albums take the same cinematic approach to songwriting as Mercurial Passages? Would you ever perhaps actually take that next step and combine in the music with a strong lyrical concept? The cinematic thing has been always with us and it most likely will be there in the future. I have this feeling it might be more going to that direction to be honest. What comes to the lyrics, I am not a huge fan of concept albums or stories that are put into album form. I sure do love King Diamond but the lyrics aren’t the thing for me. I never really dug into the stories of Abigail, Them or Conspiracy for example. Vocals are merely an instrument in my books, even though I do understand the power of words. Lyrics are not my speciality at all and that’s why I am so grateful that my old friend Andy Gordon has always been keen to help us with his lyrical outpour. We haven’t talked about a real concept album ever, so can’t really say what is going to happen. There is great care given to dynamics on the new album, with sections that even cut out for just atmospheric guitar a la “Ouroborus.” Are these any more difficult to write for you than more straightforward death metal? Not at all as to me that’s the fun part and I love to try things out. I think it’s harder to write straightforward death metal that actually works and sound decent. The core is of course simple and straightforward with drums, bass and rhythm guitars, but that doesn’t always work - I need to add something more to it if the song needs it. Dynamics, changes and atmosphere are crucial in every art form. There are some extremely aggressive parts on the new album, such as on “Out of the Blue.” Do you ever struggle to make those work alongside the more melodic or atmospheric sections? Doing arrangements can be a struggle if I feel some parts just don’t click together. As with anything, trying it out, listen to it and giving time will sort things out for the best. Sometimes the answer is to get rid of the melody and make the part more violent or to do the opposite. As you have noticed, Ghastly’s music sure isn’t just aggressiveness or only melodies. I sure love those styles and I try to fit both together to have the maximum effect in my music. This is the first record to include Johnny Urnripper of Stench of Decay fame. What does he bring to the band, and what made it the right time to become a three piece? This is the second album to include Johnny, he was already on Death Velour. We knew him for years, he lives in the same city, he has the perfect Finnish death metal growl and he also plays guitar. Before that we had played few shows as a trio, but this music needs a second guitarist on stage so he was perfect for the job. On Death Velour he had one song to growl on his own and few smaller parts but on the new album I wanted him to have more time on vocals. There’s a great balance with his and Gassy’s vocals. My mistake! When you were writing music for his parts and Gassy’s did you always put the guitars first, or were any sections written ahead of time with vocals in mind? How important are vocal arrangements in the greater context of the songwriting? Music always comes first and vocals are an instrument that when found the best lyrics for the song, I’ll arrange the rhythmic vocalisation as to me that is a very important factor. This time Gassy recorded his vocals on his own and added his own touch to it which works. Arrangements mostly follow a few certain rules like the riffs will determine where there will be vocals. Many tricks learned from listening to favourite bands also are used as a homage. What’s next for Ghastly? Future is something we cannot foretell, so can’t really say yet what’s in store for us. What I’d want us to do is more and more live shows, rehearsals and music. Right now the situation is that there is no pressure to do anything specific, but I’d like to make us more solid live band than we have ever been. Time will tell. Do you have anything else to talk about or promote? Thank you very much for this interview, Brandon. It was a pleasure. If there’s someone who reads this and haven’t checked our music, I’d advise people to go to digital platforms to give it a shot. The music ain’t something that is going to hit you right away as it has so many levels in it but it will open after few plays. Best way to check our physical merch at the moment is to go to 20 Buck Spin’s website and order there. At the same time it is advised to check all the other great albums this label has released....
On “Bestial Fornication,” Eternal Evil’s Ferocious Thrash Metal Taps Into Primeval Momentum
If there's any universal truth about thrash metal, it's that the shortest song on an album is probably going to rip the hardest, and that's certainly the case with "Bestial Fornication." Clocking in at under two and a half minutes, the new single demonstrates exactly how unhinged Eternal Evil's debut album The Warriors Awakening Brings the Unholy Slaughter is—if the album title didn't give it away already, that is. This bite-sized slice of madcap thrash metal shows off the Swedish band's penchant for being both blazing fast and sadistically intriguing, never expecting high tempos alone to capture the audience's attention and doling out rhythmic, catchy riffs and solos. Heavily attuned to thrash metal's past and violent potential, Eternal Evil's riff-packed assault brings the heat in a way that not much other modern thrash can. Listen below (and check out the previous single as well):
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Blasting out of the gate with malevolent speed, "Bestial Fornication" is, as a whole, anything but subtle. Every riff in the song is fiendishly intricate, aligned tightly with the rhythm section for brutal impact and headbang-friendly. Here we only need a few killer riffs to get the point across, but on the rest of the album, this same formula makes for longer, more involved songs with just as much old-school intensity. Packed with moments that are bound to trigger nostalgia about the first time you discovered thrash metal, these Swedish teens' debut taps into the same infectious energy that gave the genre its push into the spotlight so many decades ago. From the band:"Bestial Fornication" is one of my favorite songs that I have written. The lyrics are very brutal and graphic because I was in a period of listening a lot to Cannibal Corpse at the time. One of the cool things with this song is that it's our only track that contains blast beats. It's fast, full of power and straight to the point as it should be!
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The Warriors Awakening Brings the Unholy Slaughter releases November 26th, 2021 via Redefining Darkness Records.Upcoming Metal Releases: 9/5/2021 – 9/11/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of September 5th, 2021 to September 11th, 2021. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays. See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging. Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
Upcoming Releases
Aborted -- Maniacult | Century Media | Death Metal + Grindcore | Belgium Aborted's brutal death-grind mix is a lot of fun on its own, but this music 'visualizer' is just great. Headlines in the mock newspaper displayed throughout include things like 'Earth Proven To Not Be Flat, But A Donut' (with subtitle: 'And the atmosphere has been proven to be the frosting') and 'Pregnant Woman Gives Birth to Mutant Sea Turtles After Tinder Date With a Lobster'.--Ted Nubel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NPPSf0dZ6A&ab_channel=CenturyMediaRecords...
Inferi -- Vile Genesis | The Artisan Era | Technical Death + Black Metal | United States (Nashville, TN) Intoxicatingly melodic and relentlessly intricate, Inferi's approach to technical death metal continues to be unparalleled.--Ted Nubel
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Chrome Waves -- The Rain Will Cleanse | Disorder Recordings | Post-Black Metal | United States (Pittsburgh, PA) Chrome Waves play into the shoegaze and post-rock of blackgaze moreso than they do the metal, but they explore the vaster soundscapes of those styles within relatively conventional song lengths. That means there’s plenty of layers and foggy vocals with a healthy measure of wanderlust. Oh, and you’ll hear the drums from ten miles away.--Colin Dempsey
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Mastiff -- Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth | eOne | Sludge + Hardcore | United Kingdom Crossbreeding sludge with hardcore often results in a vile dredge that you only throw on when you’ve given up on humanity. Mastiff aren’t that pessimistic, and that plays to their advantage, despite the fact that they are clearly not very pleased with the world. They play out of stubbornness to survive.--Colin Dempsey
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Mehenet -- Ng'ambu | Gilead Media | Black Metal | United States (New Orleans, LA) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Dona Sete":Though the inclusion of ambient urban sound later in the album and traditional instrumentation helps tie Ng'ambu back to the city, the connection feels deeper than that. Hailing from a city that has managed to hold onto much of its history and culture despite fires and floods, Mehenet's vivid and authentic take on ritualistic black metal claws back the concept from the throngs of tepid imitators, paying tribute to a slice of New Orleans' spirituality at the same time.
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Giant of the Mountain -- Mountain's Blood | Careless Records | Black + Death Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Just listen to the introduction to this new EP -- "Inundation" is mostly clean guitar with vocal choruses, and it serves as a spine-tingling, goosebumps-raising tone-setter that's compelling on its own. As the album progresses into the melodic black/death/sludge mixture that Giant of the Mountain excels at, we see this same tone transformed into frosty riffs, harsh vocals, and punishing drumming, moving away from the warm and heartfelt sentiment into something bitter and remorseful. When the clean vocals come back to offer a new perspective layered on top, the combination is awe-striking.--Ted Nubel
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Coyote Man -- Relics | Independent | Progressive Rock + Metal | United States (Chicago, IL) Coyote Man continue their inspiring brand of progressive rock/metal on this new EP -- though instrumental, the narratives crafted with riffs and rhythm alone speak volumes. Speaking of riffs, although the band continues to not be listed on Metal-Archives due to, I dunno, cosmic injustice, these three songs pack some nasty stuff that bites hard.--Ted Nubel
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Starless -- Hope is Leaving You | Independent | Post-Metal + Rock | United States (Chicago, IL) From Andrew Sacher [via BrooklynVegan]'s track premiere of "Pendulum":As heavy as it is atmospheric and melodic, the song exists somewhere at the crossroads between Neurosis and Hum, and if that sounds like your kind of crossroads, you should check this out. Or, as the band puts it, "'Pendulum' grips the listener with a consternation delivered from the dreadfulness of the heavens above."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnYjFYBaBfc&ab_channel=Starless
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Redemptus -- Blackhearted | Gruesome Records | Post-Metal + Sludge + Hardcore | Portugal (Porto) Redemptus are the hardcore band you wish you listened to in high school. They’re charred and brittle without stooping to shout-along choruses and mosh-pandering that so much of the genre uses to garner audience empathy.--Colin Dempsey
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Black Mass -- Feast at the Forbidden Tree | Redefining Darkness Records | Black + Thrash + Speed Metal | United States (Boston, MA) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "They Speak in Tongues":This vein of throwback-heavy thrash metal is hard to perfect: it's evil, but it's also fun, which is a hard thing to describe and harder still to cultivate. That balance is achieved here, and not through calculation or pretense: simply the inevitable byproduct of a band devoted to playing sick riffs really fast. Mission accomplished, folks.
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Trappist / Connoisseur -- Cross Faded | Tankcrimes | Grind + Crust + Hardcore + Sludge | United States (California (Oakland + Los Angeles)) When drugs, alcohol, and d-beats collide: two Californian bands present a split of nasty grind/crust/yelling thematically aligned with their vices of choice (Trappist being, y'know, beer, and Connoisseur being the green stuff). Suitably, Trappist's half raises the aggression and suggests poor life choices with up-front nastiness and speed while Connoisseur prioritizes reverb, fuzz, and snarled vocals to create hazy, blissful chaos.--Ted Nubel
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Lvcifyre -- The Broken Seal | Dark Descent Records | Black + Death Metal | United Kingdom POV: You just broke the seal and now an angry snake-god is going to rend your soul from your flesh. I love the album art on this! The music, though, is no joking matter, sporting an ample assortment of killer riffs—of the completely annihilating, ritualistic black-death kind.--Ted Nubel
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Maladie -- Symptoms III | Apostasy Records | Avant-Garde Metal | Germany On the whole, Maladie is German avant-garde metal, not of the insular, cryptic variety, but of the “yeah this song could use a swing-jazz section along with some French horn,” persuasion. If that sounds too tame for you, this upcoming release promises to be entirely acoustic, presenting an even looser grip on reality. Details are scarce, but not too much longer to wait now.--Colin Dempsey
No public stream yet - keep an eye on Bandcamp....
Replicant -- Malignant Reality | --Ted Nubel...
Teeth -- Finite | Translation Loss Records | Death + Doom Metal | United States (Los Angeles, CA) Jarring, jangly death-doom meant to sap your sanity one seemingly-impossible riff at a time.--Ted Nubel
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Knowledge Through Suffering Eliminates Celestial “Concealment” With Annihilating Insight (Early Album Stream)
Blackened death metal is, for my money, the best combination of metal’s philosophical inclinations and genre-exclusive pleasures. It has the best of black metal and death metal while existing in and of itself, congealing death metal’s tangibility and ease of appreciation with black metal’s effervescence. It takes the difficulty in defining the merits of the latter and puts them into the lens of the former. With this framing, the one-man Italian band Knowledge Through Suffering grasps for answers to questions befitting only a god on his debut album Concealment, which we're premiering in full below.
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Knowledge Through Suffering is the pummeling child of black metal’s soul-searching through musical extremities, doom metal’s scope, and death metal’s putrefaction, with his biggest strength being his sheer magnitude. On Concealment, they trudge through three colossal tracks sticking closer to a death/doom framework with the desperation of black metal. Though the sonic traces are scarce—you won’t find tremolo picking, raw production, or drilling repetition—black metal’s drive beyond humanity for ethereal solace is present. Knowledge Through Suffering is searching for an expression that can only be sincerely exposed with immensity. Concealment lyrically and conceptually focuses on God’s disappointment with his children. He must reckon with his offspring’s sins leading them astray from his path. Buried within that is a tinge of self-loathing, presented itself through the monstrous riffs. There’s segments of caveman, warlike death metal that punctuate Knowledge Through Suffering’s disgust with mankind. God dismisses the Earth and humanity as wastes, while he is saddled with shame— both are his creations, after all. This internal tension presents itself in pig squeals and raw shouts in the closer “Of Flesh.” Elsewhere, the riffs are so densely layered you can feel God sweating under the pressure.As much as Concealment is an album of vitriol—the best kind of vitriol that caustic, unfiltered, old school death metal bleeds—it’s also a meditation on one’s complacency with dissatisfaction. From the band:Concealment stands for regrets and drastic solutions; as everything concerning K.T.S., this record is a declaration of war to the very self on multiple levels. The point was tracing similarities and parallelisms on the subject of creation between mysticism and art: as God relentlessly tries to create the best version of himself through matter and space and inevitably fails, so does the true seeker of beauty through his constant but futile efforts to become what he will never be. Ironically, my last effort of beauty is a putrid and filthy hybrid of Black, Death and Doom Metal that wants nothing but to bring your spirit down through a spiraling void of HM-2 guitars and cavernous sermons on divine judgement.
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Concealment releases September 15th via Brucia Records.In the Dazzling Realms of Death Metal, Sunless Conduct “The Unraveling of Arcane Past” (Early Track Stream)
Death metal is tethered strongly to its rockist roots. The riffs, the grunts, and the drum fills all follow a traceable path from earlier rock music. That’s great, but sometimes you just want something more. Dissonant death metal stretches beyond that, using minute dynamics to portray complex situations and ideas. It surpasses its influences into a realm where the subject matter is as philosophical as it is inwards-looking. As heady as technical death metal often is, the beauty lies in how every track is an exercise in both restraint and flourish, with all the drama packed between bass slaps so meaty you could sizzle them on the grill.
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https://youtu.be/V8-_8rSVsY4...
Similarly, Sunless’ newest single “The Unraveling of Arcane Past,” from their upcoming album Ylem is as inward-gazing musically as it is thought-provoking. The trio attack with splurging basslines, discombobulating time signatures, and vocals carved from a chasm. The messy mix, and that’s a compliment, signifies a process of understanding. Fluctuating through tempos without losing intensity, the song introduces small, intriguing variances in the friction between the instruments. Like reassembling a puzzle, the joy comes from seeing it take shape, much like Sunless’ subject matter. They speak beyond the basal emotions, putting their unwavering technicality towards coming to grips with brain-twisting concepts. That’s what makes this style of death metal so fun. Every part of the song feels like a new opportunity. It’s easy to love death metal for its front-faced appeal—take it as it is, and when it’s good it’s good. But Sunless, fear-inciting and awe-striking at the same time, invite further investigation into not only their music, but how positive and negative emotions often run alongside each other, embedding this contrast even into the technical yet inseparable bass and guitar here. Normally they’re isolated from one another, but they’re more alike than we believe....
Ylem releases on October 29 via Willowtip Records (pre-orders also available via Bandcamp.Nocturnal Wanderer Bestows Upon Us The “Gift of the Night” (Early Album Stream + Interview)
When I was offered an early release promo of the upcoming Nocturnal Wanderer album Gift of the Night, I jumped on the chance to premiere it. The Pacific Northwest project's music is absolutely otherworldly, with a mesmerizing blend of some of black metal’s finest melodic underpinnings, classic heavy metal, and the dirty romping fun of genre classics a la Venom and Bulldozer without actually sounding like those bands. As I put those words to paper (so to speak) my mind is drawn to Malokarpatan, who employ many of the same influences and have a not-entirely-dissimilar approach, but Nocturnal Wanderer’s sound is their own; just as wild, but even more free, there’s a looseness that draws to mind something primordial dancing in the air, with the potential to be cruel but without the modernity to be construed as anything approaching evil. Beauty is to be found everywhere throughout Gift of the Night and is a defining characteristic that draws together the music. Minimalism of both riffs and composition give way to frenzied heavy metal solos that are the pulse of the music, and the romping, bass-driven black metal can swiftly build up to one of those emotional solos before falling either into a sharp assault or a dreamy swell. Predicting the album is impossible and the entire thing is a journey; let it draw you in, and it will captivate nothing else. Listen to the album below and read an interview with the solo artist.
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This is the first Nocturnal Wanderer release, and you’re approaching it as an album instead of as a demo or EP. Why did you decide to eschew soft introductions to the band and jump straight to a full length? Cheers, Brandon! Almost nothing about the album was deliberately planned, so it wasn’t necessarily a decision to skip the demo release phase for Nocturnal Wanderer. I spent a good deal of time trying to decide between EP and LP, and solicited feedback from some close friends on the matter, to which I got mixed advice. The runtime is really on the line, and it’s shorter than what I would personally consider an LP in most cases. The final decision to release Gift of the Night as an LP came down to a feeling of completeness. To listen front to back, it unfolds more like a full length release than a “demonstration” or EP, and there is a single-minded aesthetic vision that I think you typically only get from a full length record. Apart from that, I always find demo releases to be much less important for solo projects. In a band, it can take some time to find your footing with other musicians, and the songs can take a long time to mature in some cases. An individual with complete control has an opportunity (and hopefully ability) to make everything come together in a holistic way from the beginning. But basically, in the end, intuition was more important to me than the details. Is there any personal significance behind the difference between each of these formats beyond marketing, general feeling, and length? I think it’s a little bit of each, and unless you’re strictly speaking about vinyl records, it’s more of an artistic/aesthetic decision. For me, again, it’s a question of completeness as much as it is runtime. A full length/album should sound like a deliberate selection of songs that are arranged in a way that there’s a beginning and end, like a novel. An EP always seems more like a handful of songs that, while they belong together, don’t necessarily need to have that feeling of beginning and end. There is a tremendous amount of classic metal underpinning the black metal of Gift of the Night, and the music at times toes the line between heavy metal and melodic black metal. Was the process of intertwining your influences deliberate, and was it difficult? How easily and naturally did the songwriting flow? Neither deliberate nor difficult. I think this was mostly just the result of influence. In the months leading up to the writing and recording of Gift of the Night, I was listening to a lot more classic heavy metal than I normally do; stuff like Kill Em All, Screaming for Vengeance, Too Fast for Love, and tons of 80s German thrash, in addition to all the same black metal bands I always put on. Early in the process, when a picture started coming together, I knew I wanted these songs to sound ecstatic and tough, rather than gloomy and dour. The word “belligerent” was always in the back of my mind while I was writing and recording. I knew I wanted to capture equally the feeling of a tranquil summer night and getting into a fist fight. This was also the first time I’ve ever put at least one guitar solo on nearly every song on a record, which should have been intimidating, but at the time I was recording I didn’t really have any idea that there would be physical records or label support involved – I figured it would be a fun way to spend a couple weekends and see if I could push myself into new creative territory. In that way, the songwriting flowed incredibly naturally. All the music on the album was written and recorded at the same time. Lots of stuff was improvised as well. Have you ever in the past leaned on improvisation in the same way when writing and recording? To some degree yes, but I’ve never been so determined to keep moving forward without self-editing along the way or forcing myself to do yet another take until I get it just right. The music for Gift of the Night was written and recorded in just four or five days, and that was only possible because I was forcing myself not to look back. To circle back to the heavy metal influence, you mentioned that it’s not necessarily normal for you to listen to as much classic material as you have been. Will future Nocturnal Wanderer creations potentially deviate from these influences if you’re not listening to the same stuff, or will you wait to write more music until the mood is right? Most likely it’s going to have to be the latter – waiting until that same feeling comes around and trying to capture it again. The whole thing was motivated by this specific otherworldly feeling that I get around the same time every year. It’s difficult to put into words, and this was an attempt to try to convey it to the best of my ability. It’s hard to say whether the melodic and structural aspects of the first recording will survive, since it was such a product of impulse and influence. On the one hand, I’m really happy with the way it turned out and I’d love to try to hang onto that sound if possible, but it’s a slippery thing, and trying to force it could result in a really uninspired album, so I’m just going to have to see what happens. It’s always a unique experience making a first album, without really knowing even what the “band” is supposed to sound like yet. It’s a process of discovery. But now there is a “supposed to sound like”, and that always has an influence on future work. Hopefully it will be a positive one. The material on Gift of the Night is some of the most bass-driven black metal that I’ve heard in a while. Was that the intention from the start? Not really. I wasn’t sure at the beginning if I would even add bass, but the songs felt like they had room for additional melody beneath and within the guitar riffs, so I started messing around and recording ideas, and it all came together pretty much in a single recording session. I felt like the bass melodies were strong enough that they needed to be present in the mix. Bass guitar gets less and less important as the heavy metal influence gets further away in black metal. When the guitars and vocals become a medium for texture and melody, and the drums are mostly just a pulsing, hypnotic wash, there’s not a lot for a bassist to do other than fill in the low end frequencies of a mix. I love a lot of that stuff, but Gift of the Night is not that kind of record, and the bass parts add a lot of balls to the song, both sonically and melodically. While working on these songs did you take into consideration the possibility of how they’d translate live? Quite the opposite. I feel pretty confident that Nocturnal Wanderer won’t ever be a live band. I like the freedom to record whatever I want regardless of whether it can be performed live. That said, I did strictly limit myself to two guitar tracks for the album, so in theory it could be played by a standard four-piece band if my feelings about it change. Though you have extensive experience with bands you’ve let Nocturnal Wanderer remain mostly anonymous, not relying at all on any identity or reputation for success. How early into the process of putting together songs did you decide to keep your name out of it, and why? Mostly just for fun. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. But to offer a more cliché answer, I did want the music to stand on its own. I didn’t want people to have an idea in their head about Nocturnal Wanderer before having listened to it, based on other bands and projects that could be considered as related. In fact, while I was contacting labels with the album, I didn’t divulge my name or previous bands or anything like that (Altare figured it out pretty quickly somehow though). A handful of close friends also know who I am, but mostly I just wanted to start over from the beginning again. I’m not going to great lengths to protect my identity, and I’m sure someone will figure it out and that’s fine, but I won’t publicly admit it anyway. The only difficult part about this is that I can’t promote the release “as myself,” which is a challenge. Everything has to be done through email, anonymously. It has also been interesting to observe the ego wanting to take credit and choosing to deny that impulse. I think it’s probably a good practice. Now that you’ll have some sort of established fanbase going forward for the new band, is acquiring label support any less significant with future releases? Where does the importance of anonymity and gathering power without resting on past laurels cease to matter? Well, it remains to be seen if there will be any kind of established fanbase. I’m not sure if the failures or successes of this release will have an impact on label support in the future. I’ve had that go both ways in the past. I think these days, labels are more likely to just release whichever albums they hear and like at any given moment. It may at least help with getting future recordings into more label owners’ ears, and if so, it could be helpful in that aspect. Regarding where anonymity ceases to matter… that’s a great question. There’s surely a gradation, but at least I can tell myself that any positive momentum will have been built from the ground up. Maybe anonymity just becomes a stylistic choice at that point, maybe not. The minimalism of the artwork and logo for Gift of the Night belies music with a large amount of depth. How did you decide on the aesthetic that you wanted to match the band’s music? My plan in the beginning was to use night photography. Nothing fancy, Just photos I’ve taken. I had an idea that I wanted to be completely responsible for everything up until the vinyl was being pressed. I spent a lot of time going through photos I’ve taken, making new ones, laying them out into an LP template, and I couldn’t capture the right feeling of the music. In theory, night photography of towering coniferous trees and the moon skulking behind wispy clouds should be a perfect fit for the songs, but I found photography was too much realism, and missing some of the more fantastical elements that I wanted to convey. A friend suggested Thaumaturge Artworks, and I was pretty much on board right away. I gave very little direction to the artist – just the basic ideas. I’m really happy with the way the illustrations came out. There’s some more on the inside of the LP as well as the cover art and ivy border around the photo on the back cover. I drew the logo and did all the lettering and layout. I think the stark white background contrasts with the lyrical and visual content in a nice way (with the lyrics about night and darkness, and the illustrations of nocturnal animals). It’s also just a really striking look, in my opinion. I probably stole the idea from the LP release of Min Kniv’s Av Aske. I think I was subconsciously making decisions that are contra to what you would typically expect in black metal, without trying to completely abandon that style - this is, after all, a black metal record. As is the story for pretty much all aspects of this album, it was more of an intuitive choice than a deliberate one. Intuition is a common thread to how you chose various aspects of this project. Is that a contrast from previous bands? Is there ever a heavy place for a calculated approach to music in your mind? I have done recordings in the past where I spent months and months overengineering them, nitpicking every tiny detail, trying to iron out every single wrinkle. At the time, I’m sure I was making recordings that had a lot more wrinkles, but I’ve learned that there are diminishing returns for that kind of work. Everybody has a different style, and everybody has a different standard, but for me, I prefer to just try to make a good recording and then turn it loose with minimal production – “warts and all,” as they say. Most of my favorite albums are full of warts anyway, and it adds character....
Gift of the Night releases September 17th via Altare Productions.August 2021 Release Roundup
Time marches on, and we've got ourselves another month of 2021 in the can without much positive to note on the worldly affairs side of things. We lost Trouble singer Eric Wagner to COVID-19 literally mid-tour, so that fucking sucked. If you're able to attend shows right now, make sure to treasure them (and get vaccinated), as their future is looking increasingly dubious. Here's hoping 2022 isn't a total wreck, I guess, because it's coming up real quick. Ignoring the horrors of reality, there was a lot of great metal out this month (as always), and we have a few picks for you below. If you're looking for more things you might have missed this month, I've got a few recommendations: we talked to Portrait about their new album, and although their album is from earlier this year, this interview with Ghastly is a good read. Writer Colin Williams also reviewed the stellar new Wolves in the Throne Room album, and Colin's scene dive into Porto, Portugal is an amazing, immersive plunge. On with the picks!
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Ted Nubel
Lucifer's Fall—III - From the Deep August 8th, 2021 True, undiluted doom is a little rare these days. Every possible offshoot you can think of is thriving, finding new ways to inject the dismal certainty of the genre into everything from black metal to grindcore, but peel away even the stoner rock offshoots and the field of "traditional doom metal" is pretty slim. The community behind it, though, is mighty—every year we still get a few records that show the ancient torches are still burning bright. Lucifer's Fall's new album III - From the Deep squarely falls into this camp; although there's obvious elements of heavy metal here, they're a necessary byproduct of being "true" doom when the metal landscape has stratified so much since that term came into creation. What was 'doom' thirty years ago is not easily classified now, at least if you want to get to any useful level of specificity. The essentials are all here: hearty, passionate vocals, massive solemn riffs, and a healthy dollop of sheer insanity. Lucifer's Fall has no issue going slow, as the old ways dictate, but doom 'n' roll (hell, with even a song named after it) helps the band raze their way through a massive full-length offering of classic, timeless doom. Long-winded melodies and heartfelt solos wind their way through the album, providing a nice counterpoint to the titanic riffs and generally over-the-top occult lyrics. There's a lot to love here that doesn't require puritanical devotion to the classics, but the band's passion for being completely, inarguably doom comes through all the same....
Tom Campagna
Filth Is Eternal—Love is A Lie, Filth Is Eternal August 27th, 2021 Filth Is Eternal is the new moniker of Fucked and Bound, Seattle’s hardcore purveyors responsible for 2018’s tour-de-force Suffrage. Love Is A Lie, Filth Is Eternal is roughly 20 minutes of metallic hardcore played at blazing fast speeds with pained vocals via a pissed off Lisa Mungo. “The Chain” powers through all of what you want from this genre, especially something turn of the millennium-ish, with lots of thanks given to their heavy leanings on proper hardcore punk. Rah Davis’ fat bass line introduces “Private Room” properly with a slower tempo than the songs previously heard—think Converge without the wild tempo changes, but with all the aforementioned rage in aplomb. “The Ritual” is a stop and go affair prone to circle pits and moshing...and as a matter of fact it begs for it. The album closes with the band’s title track, a 4 minute monster akin to sludgy hardcore. Mungo finishes her masterful performance behind the mic with some of the most acute pain she can muster for the last bit of this album. If you need a quick hit to get you going and pissed off, look no further....
Colin Dempsey
Dea Artio—Nebelfelder August 13th, 2021 So much of heavy music is championed for its repulsiveness that a release best described as “refreshing” seems increasingly rare. Nebelfelder isn’t refreshing to the extent of being a boundary-shattering take on black metal, and in fact its beauty is distinct from most metal that’s routinely heralded as beautiful. By that, Nebelfelder doesn’t lift souls by paying lip service to twinkling post-rock. Dea Artio wholeheartedly embraces an atmospheric one-man black metal aesthetic, yet it typifies the splendor in that approach. It’s not beautiful like how, for example, brutal death metal can sink to such putrid levels that its revelry in filth is artful in itself. No, the Austrian artist plays to black metal’s underlying wanderlust. With all that taken into consideration, Nebelfelder is as beautiful as it is quirky. The plodding pace is never taken to throttling extremities. Most of the time Dea Artio follows a rhythm akin to walking through the woods. Where it gets quirky is how that pace is punctuated with accordions, low chanting vocals, and synths that peer through the patchwork in the trees. While listening to Nebelfelder, these elements make sense due to Dea Artio’s phenomenal pacing. It’s only when taken in isolation that you’re struck by how quaint those accordions and synths truly are, as they don’t pierce through the mix so much as they accent the journey. They’re like fireflies cutting through the fog. Actually, that was probably their exact motivation, seeing as how nebelfeld is the German word for “patch of fog.” Again, little surprise. Dea Artio holds ancient forests, misty mountains, and the occult as his largest inspirations. Nebelfelder then plays like his own interpretation of nature through the vehicle of black metal....
Upcoming Metal Releases: 9/12/2021 – 9/18/2021
Here are the new (and recent) metal releases for the week of September 12th, 2021 to September 18th, 2021. Releases reflect proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see most of these albums on shelves or distros on Fridays. See something we missed or have any thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging. Send us your promos (streaming links preferred) to: [email protected]. Do not send us promo material via social media.
Upcoming Releases
Carcass -- Torn Arteries | Nuclear Blast | Melodic Death Metal + Death 'n' Roll | United Kingdom Eight years after their comeback album Surgical Steel, the goregrind and melodic death metal titans returns with what’s probably the closest thing to “boomer death metal.” It swings towards death’n’roll by emphasizing harmonies and the kind of minuscule tweaks often found in late-career albums; improvements you’ll appreciate if you’ve been following the band for years.--Colin Dempsey
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Abolishment of Flesh -- In the Presence of Darkness | Blood Blast Distribution | Melodic Death Metal | United States Abolishment of Flesh is heavy on the "death" side of melodic death metal, even weaving some slam/brutal bits of rhythmic punishment into their already pretty aggressive strain of death metal. At the same time, In the Presence of Darkness really cultivates the hellish, melancholically doomed atmosphere the title and album art bestow on it.--Ted Nubel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtyGSfuUnXQ&ab_channel=AbolishmentofFlesh...
Blazon Stone -- Damnation | Stormspell Records | Heavy + Power + Speed Metal | Sweden Blazon Stone, who take their name from one of Running Wild's albums, continue to follow in that band's footsteps here by offering an alternative to mainstream "pirate metal" (which generally just seems to be themed alcoholism worship). Heavy metal-laced power metal with hearty vocals and catchy choruses await you on these seas, though it does seem to basically be the same thing they've been doing since their inception.--Ted Nubel
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Criminal -- Sacrificio | Metal Blade Records | Death + Thrash + Groove Metal | Chile This long-lasting Chilean metal outfit (notably featuring Anton Reisenegger of the underappreciated Chilean death/thrash act Pentagram) is back with a new album: expect infuriated heavy metal built seemingly for the sole purpose of riling up moshpits.--Ted Nubel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBjyw4HkMNM&ab_channel=MetalBladeRecords...
Occulsed -- Crepitation of Phlegethon | Everlasting Spew | Death Metal | United States (Atlanta, GA) This knotty old-school death metal-playing duo bill their music as “catacombal.” That doesn’t adequately capture the athleticism of the drumming and riffs, but the vocals are definitely straight from the crypt. Perhaps “mummified” is a better term, then.--Colin Dempsey
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Knowledge Through Suffering -- Concealment | Brucia Records | Death + Black + Sludge Metal | Italy From Colin Dempsey's full album premiere:Knowledge Through Suffering is the pummeling child of black metal’s soul-searching through musical extremities, doom metal’s scope, and death metal’s putrefaction, with his biggest strength being his sheer magnitude. On Concealment, they trudge through three colossal tracks sticking closer to a death/doom framework with the desperation of black metal.
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Taser -- Filthcrawl | Independent | Sludge Metal | Finland Nasty sludge spewing straight out of your shower drain: excessively filtered vocals and alcohol-poisoned riffs burble out of Taser's sludge like toxic byproducts of pent-up disgust.--Ted Nubel
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Vandallus -- 4 | Independent | Heavy Metal + Hard Rock | United States (Cleveland, OH) Vandallus have mastered the art of making heavy metal 'smooth' -- not sure if that's really the right word, but this is cruising metal suited for lengthy drives, packed with pleasant harmonies and skillful guitar/vocal interplay. When you're riding these highways, nothing can get you down.--Ted Nubel
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Dickless Tracy -- Grave New World | Monsterbilly Records | Death Metal + Grindcore | Slovenia The nomenclature here does a disservice to how solidly Dickless Tracy play death metal. They may have started as a weekend hobby but you don’t get this pedigree of concentrated, no-frills, tight-as-a-noose output without putting some blood on the line.--Colin Dempsey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDA5S_QQybs&ab_channel=DicklessTracy...
Gravedäncer -- Unholy Bond | Helldprod Records | Black + Speed Metal | Brazil Umlaut in the band name? Two-tone badass album art? Yep, you guessed it—it's black/speed time. Gravedäncer take the sleazy bounciness of their demo and slightly tune it up here, keeping the old-school chaos but making sure the riffs ride through the night in grim clarity.--Ted Nubel
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Dalisay -- Ang Trahedya ng Dalisay at Ketungin | Surrogate Rec. | Death + Thrash Metal | Phillipines An exceptionally evil strain of melody weaves its way through this record: take lead single "Karnal" for an example, which starts off with a slow tritonal introduction before plunging into shuddering, skin-crawling riffs.--Ted Nubel
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Heirs of Isildur -- Heirs of Isildur vs Tales from Nocturnia | Independent | Epic + Melodic Metal Metal | United States With a Tolkienesque name, a steampunk aesthetic, and an accompanying graphic novel, it’s a little surprising that Heirs of Isildur sound so intentional in their music. It’s synth-heavy melodic death metal that rips while sounding exactly like the soundtrack for a steampunk time travel narrative, striking the rare yet vital balance of self-awareness and sincerity.--Colin Dempsey
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Ghostheart Nebula -- Ascension | Black Lion Records | Melodic Death + Doom Metal | Italy Ghostheart Nebula demonstrates just how much doomed sentiment and bitter emotion can fit into the void of space: the Italian death/doom band's debut full-length travels far from the realms of man, conceptually, but the massive, synth-enriched journeys inside tie right back to mortal suffering.--Ted Nubel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdFzb_BLRss&ab_channel=GhostheartNebula...
Forebode -- The Pit of Suffering | Independent | Doom + Sludge Metal | United States Fans of Yatra should check this one out: for whatever reason, there's not a ton of bands combining IQ-erasing heavy tones with sharp riffs and scowling vocals, but Forebode is a promising offering in the category. The band leans into bluesy swings, but even the lead single on its own shows their penchant for introducing more aggressive meters as well.--Ted Nubel
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As the Sun Falls -- Last Days of Light | Independent | Melodic Death Metal | Switzerland Melodic death metal should not be a deceptive framing for suffocating guitar tracks and overly sentimental synths. It should be performed like Last Days of Light, with melodic and punchy guitar tracks, intelligently integrated synths, and weight in its step.--Colin Dempsey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vo7MhZu4cY&ab_channel=AstheSunfalls...
Nocturnal Wanderer -- Gift of the Night | Independent | Black + Heavy Metal | United States From Brandon Corsair's full album premiere:Beauty is to be found everywhere throughout Gift of the Night and is a defining characteristic that draws together the music. Minimalism of both riffs and composition give way to frenzied heavy metal solos that are the pulse of the music, and the romping, bass-driven black metal can swiftly build up to one of those emotional solos before falling either into a sharp assault or a dreamy swell.
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“Graal”: Take a Sip of Succumb’s Regal, Crushing Death Metal (Early Track Stream)
San Francisco death metal quartet Succumb are back, following up on their self-titled debut album from way back in 2017. Succumb was a death metal album with doom dirges and showed excellent promise for what was to follow, even with just over half an hour of proper material under their respective belts. The properly titled XXI comes to us as a continuation of what made their debut so easily digestible, providing everything one could want in a small and crushing package: Derek Webster’s guitars and Harry Cantwell’s drums lay the foundation for vocalists Cheri Musrasrik and Kirk Spaseff to trade verbal blows within the confines of each song. We're premiering a new track "Graal" today - listen and then read more about the album below.
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https://youtu.be/NBlH98vx0l0...
The back-and-forth nature of the vocals on the album helps the band to build a unique flair throughout tracks like “Smoke”. Cheri’s growled approach is as unsettling as a voice reaching out from beyond the void pulling you towards the other side of this mortal coil. Spaseff is a bit more gruff (more so like Corpsegrinder than, say, Karl Willets) but the style seems to fit some of the ...for Victory-esque moments that songs like these provide to the listener, even more evident on each complete playthrough of the album. The track we're premiering today, “Graal,” pounds through its starting few seconds before giving way to their signature dual vocal style, all the while slowly upping the tempo for the next full scale aural attack. This makes Cantwell’s battery work all that more dynamic, as it helps the band to shift speeds at the drop of a hat before plodding to a halt amidst some truly terrifying atmosphere. Here, Succumb pummels from all directions while moving at a pace a little beyond what old-school death metal generally prefers, but they also excel at a crawl as well, delivering crushing death metal at glacial speeds. “Aither” is all of two minutes long, but it serves as a transition to even more frightening realms. Riffs fly around like body parts after a brutal assault upon unsuspecting masses; all for your entertainment, of course. It starts to paint a picture of a bloody war, and the following track “Soma” manages to keep some of that high intensity intact before falling back into a slow-motion vignette: a battlefield moving in black and white while drums play to the beat of bodies falling to the ground, eventually coming back into full color to reveal the blood of the slain splattered throughout the scene. Simply but tastefully executed, each member helps this well-oiled machine to move, but gives credence to the cohesiveness through independence. “Trigrams” serves as the closer to the album and clocks in at just over 7 minutes. The lead guitars get a chance to breathe as they get aired out with a lack of vocals, allowing them to separate from the pack and make themselves felt as both distinct from the whole, yet as an integral part of the whole experience. Fat bass work is also of note, feeling chunky and large absolutely adds to the colossal and crushing effects of this track. Succumb have crafted a solid death metal album that has all the elements you want from old-school death metal without leaning too heavily on the classic traits of any one band's overall sound, allowing for a fresh take on a generally decomposed version of death metal. XXI is the sound of a band sticking to a familiar formula using what they know and avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump that other bands may fall into when more eyes and ears are trained on them. This four piece is poised to make a big name for themselves in the underground—this album pines for a basement show, torn apart by the people and music that make it all possible.—Tom Campagna
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XXI releases September 24th, 2021 via The Flenser.Aduanten’s “Sullen Cadence” Stokes the Fires of Melodic Death Metal (Video Premiere)
Maybe—no, definitely—the riff sits as metal’s focal point due to its lineage. Tony Iommi was a phenomenal guitarist, but his riff penmanship on the first seminal Black Sabbath albums above all other aspects of his playing has guided metal’s development the most. If you’re a riff-hound looking for an alternative because, perhaps, you’ve soaked in all the riffs featured in our recent No Love Lost column, the Texas death metal trio Aduanten are one such wellspring. Their recently released music video for “Sullen Cadence,” off of the Sullen Cadence EP from earlier this year, carries the same compositional mindset as the group’s music, an approach that opts for elegance over extremity. Watch below:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mY5OqCOUTc...
Both the video and the track focus on exploring a small number of ideas. In the case of the Jonathan Nunan-directed video, it’s pagan imagery like wicker burning, torches, and hooded executioners. The cinematography uses wide shots and no more than a few cuts. Nothing is done hastily. Nunan forces you to witness the witch-burning horror without allowing you to look away. His insistence embellishes the atmosphere. Similarly, Aduanten eschews a riff-centric approach in favor of harmonics. They create moody pockets where guitars burn at a higher pitch than most melodeath bands. The group meditates on a few ideas, like the tribal percussion that introduces “Sullen Cadence,” and milks them for all their worth. As soon as they’ve sapped a reserve, they transition without haste. There’s internal pressure to “Sullen Cadence” owing to the contrast between Aduanten’s patience and their efficiency. The track is a few ideas, explored down to their deepest crevices, then seamlessly replaced by the band's next interest. From the group:We are pleased to present the video for "Sullen Cadence," which arrives courtesy of a full production by director Jonathan Nunan. We gave Jon virtually no input on the video's direction apart from simply presenting the music and lyrics, and we couldn't be any more pleased with his visual interpretation of the song and the existential battle that it represents. The decision to set the traumatic experience of the primary character in a bleak historical context is an important one that speaks to the sense of universality that we try to achieve with the lyrics. There's certainly a lot more than can be said about why we love this visual treatment, but ultimately we think it's best to let the video speak for itself in all of its old-world splendor. Please enjoy and thank you for your interest in what we do.
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The Sullen Cadence EP is available now through Aduanten’s Bandcamp page.…