sarcasm

Upcoming Metal Releases: 4/23/2017 - 4/29/2017

As of this week, I will have been with Invisible Oranges for two years. My, how the time flies… and you’re all stuck with me.

Here are the new metal releases for the week of April 23, 2017 – April 29, 2017. Release dates are formatted according to proposed North American scheduling, if available. Expect to see the bulk of these records on shelves or distros on Friday unless otherwise noted or if labels and artists get impatient. Blurbs and designations are based on whether or not I have a lot to say about it.

See something we missed? Goofs? Let us know in the comments. Plus, as always, feel free to post your own shopping lists. Happy digging.

Please note: this is a review column and is not speculative. Any announced albums without preview material will not be covered. Additionally, any surprise releases which are uploaded after this is published will not be covered.

send Jon your promos at [email protected]. Do not bother him on social media.

ANTICIPATED RELEASES

Sarcasm – Within the Sphere of Ethereal Minds | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Sweden
Sarcasm hits me right in the nostalgia. This is the other classic Swedish death metal, far from Dismember’s bulldozing brawn. More closely resembling the early, Mikael Stanne-fronted era of In Flames, Sarcasm’s aggressive, melodious death metal is strong evidence that Southern Lord records is wrong – Swedish death metal is so much more than angry d-beats and Motorhead riffs. Come hang out on the right side of death metal history, Sarcasm’s 1991 impetus certainly shows they know what they’re talking about.

Enisum – Seasons of Desolation | Avantgarde Music | Black Metal/Ambient | Italy
From Andrew’s premiere of “Seasons of Desolation”:

“Compounding Seasons Of Desolation‘s therapeutic qualities is an adept drum performance, as well as dynamic screams which modulate seamlessly with the album’s peaks and valleys. Enisum withholds nothing in its reliance on switchbacks between drum-centric passages and choruses full of protracted growling and lead riffing. The entire album feels charged and chock full of itself, such that every moment feels designed for maximum effect and nothing less. Dare it be said: it even has attitude and groove.” (Jon’s note: I don’t think it’s as post-y as Andrew proclaims).

Cult of Eibon – Lycan Twilight Sorcery | Iron Bonehead Productions | Black Metal | Greece
Iron Bonehead Productions’s Hellenic black metal addiction continues, this time with Cult of Eibon moving down the historic genre timeline to the more gothic rock sounds pioneered on Rotting Christ’s A Dead Poem. Lycan Twilight Sorcery shifts from mystical and ancient sounds of “classic”-era Greek black metal worship to something more downcast and muted, and Cult of Eibon’s fusion of black metal’s eerie qualities with the Sisters of Mercy-esque muscle which defined Rotting Christ’s

havuukruunnu

OF NOTE

Havukruunnu – Kelle Surut Soi | Naturmacht Productions | Pagan Black Metal | Finland
Gnashing, glorious pagan black metal in that classic, magical, wholeheartedly “Finnish” sort of way.

Kenoma – The Tides Will Prevail | Translation Loss Records | Post-Metal | United States
It’s taken a long, long time for Kenoma to release their full-length album, but length and time is the name of the game when it comes to post-metal. While most others who play a similar style of music nowadays seem to have lost their way, Kenoma has been slowly crafting The Tides Will Prevail for the past decade, and it functions as a sort of time machine back to when post-metal was still interesting. I’d only expect the best from former Rune members.

Barathrum – Fanatiko | Saturnal Records | Black/Doom Metal | Finland
With recordings which date back to 1991, Barathrum is certainly a classic name in black metal, but their first album in twelve years still fails to recapture the glory which led up to 1998’s Legions of Perkele.

Wolfbrigade – Run With The Hunted | Southern Lord Records | Crust Punk/Metal | Sweden
The Swedish masters of Motorhead-y crust punk return to crush skulls once more. There really isn’t much more to this album, but hey, crust doesn’t have to make grand statements.

Veldes – The Bitterness Prophecy | Razed Soul Productions | Atmospheric Black Metal | Slovenia
Keyboards have made a triumphant return into black metal’s forefront, and they certainly lend themselves to Veldes’s mammoth, fantasy-inspired atmospheres.

Morte Incandescente/Illum AdoraRemnants of a Flaming Past | War Arts Productions | Black Metal | Portugal/Germany
An angry, passionate stomp of a split – long-standing Morte Incandescente’s incensed, eerie Belketre-worship pairs perfectly well with Illum Adora’s own triumphant, raw second-wave majesty.

FOR THE ADVENTUROUS

Buildings – You Are Not One Of Us | Gilead Media | Noise Rock/Post-Hardcore | United States
For those who like their noise rock big, cacophonous, and disorienting.

Ides of Gemini – Women | Rise Above Records | Dreampop/Doom Metal/Darkwave | United States
From Andrew Sacher’s premiere of “Heroine’s Descent”:

“[A] doomy, gothy dose of psychedelic rock. For fans of any and all things dark, check this out[…]”

A-Sun Amissa – The Gatherer | ConSouling Sounds | Drone/Jazz/Ambient | Germany/Belgium
A massive cast of drone heroes (Colin H van Eeckhout, Aidan Baker, Aaron Martin, and more) craft distant, detached drones with a haunting, funereal jazz atmosphere.

Statiqbloom – Blue Moon Blood | Translation Loss Records | Industrial | United States
From Joseph’s premiere of “Black Walks Eternal”:

“Metal and industrial share a long history of flirtation and sometimes congress. The results lie on a wide spectrum from positive to negative. For the purposes of this article, let’s put KMFDM and Ministry at one end, and, um, Ilud Divinum Insanus at the other. Fade Kainer’s debut album as Statiqbloom, Blue Moon Blood falls on the positive end of the spectrum. After pulling shifts in Batillus, Tombs and Jarboe’s live band, Kainer’s developed an ear for balancing bleak heaviness with a pleasant hypnotic sensibility. Listeners with zero tolerance for dance beats in this context aren’t going to find much to love on “Black Walks Eternal”, but the spirit of peak era Wax Trax is present and audible, as if it never left.”

FROM THE GRAVE

Timeghoul – 1992-1994 Discography | The Crypt | Death Metal | United States
I certainly hope most of you would have found Timeghoul by now, especially with the recent resurgence in their technical, spacey death metal they pioneered in the early 90s, but now is a good time to see just how much two demos can help sculpt a genre for years to come.

Sigh – Scorn Defeat | The Crypt | Avant-Garde Black Metal | Japan
Sigh’s last handful of albums went a little too far into the “Danny Elfman” realm, but I can only imagine how otherworldly it was to hear an album as strange as Scorn Defeat all the way back in 1993.

Absu – In the Eyes of Ioldánach | The Crypt | Black/Thrash Metal | United States
Absu has yet to do anything wrong, but most never delve further back than Tara, which is fine, as it really is a perfect example of black/thrash metal, but maybe this is a good opportunity to delve a little further back. This EP is absolutely razor sharp, especially for 1998.

OTHER RELEASES

Ayreon – The Source | Music Theories Recordings | Progressive Metal/Rock | Netherlands
Arjen Lucassen is both brilliant and has a massive social circle (have you ever read the guest performer list on any of his albums?), but I still await an Ayreon album which places music composition over concept contextualization.

Skyclad – Forward into the Past | Listenable Records | Folk Metal | England
Skyclad’s goofy, fun folk metal hasn’t really grown or evolved in the past however many decades, but it also doesn’t really have to.

Soulrot – Nameless Hideous Manifestations | Memento Mori | Death Metal | Chile
From Joseph’s premiere of “Infernal Anti-Womb”:

“Soulrot [plays] death metal of the Swedish variety – that they hail from Chile’s fertile metal scene is secondary. That means buzzsaw guitars and face-stomping beats. That means bellowing vocals and lyrics about horror stories. In other words it’s ideal. Let the bass rumble take you to land where riffs descend clandestine like an ever-flowing stream.”

Martyrdoom – Grievous Psychosis | Memento Mori | Death/Doom Metal | Poland
Most modern death/doom metal would, in 1992, be considered part of the burgeoning “funeral doom metal” scene, but Martyrdoom more accurately represents death/doom almost 30 years ago – closer to Mythic and Rippikoulu than, say, Hooded Menace.

Cult of Erinyes – Tiberivs | code666 Records | Black Metal | Belgium
Welp, it’s definitely atmospheric black metal. There isn’t much more to it than that.

Categories: