Anvil Live at Allston, MA's Great Scott
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Words and photos by Ben Stas
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It’s hard not to root for Anvil. The veteran Canadian thrashers and noted documentary subjects are about as sincere as they come in their love for the heavy metal they’ve relentlessly performed and produced since the late 70s. 2008’s ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ relayed the occasionally startling passion with which vocalist/guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow has fruitlessly pursued his dreams of rock’n’roll stardom with best friend, drummer and foil Robb Reiner for decades. Despite a chorus of famous faces singing the band’s praises at the film’s start, empty bars, mid-morning festival slots and polite “thanks but no thanks” from record labels greet Anvil time and again. Yet, they remain undeterred, playing their hearts out even if literally nobody is watching.
In a strange twist, a movie that’s largely about their failure was the very thing to briefly rescue Anvil from obscurity. Suddenly, people were paying attention again. The band played their biggest shows in years, managed to get This Is Thirteen – the LP recorded in the film – released by an actual label, and made a late-night TV appearance. They headlined a 2,500 capacity room in Boston on their subsequent U.S. tour. But, Anvil being Anvil, that momentum wasn’t sustainable. Seven years later, the band is back on the bar circuit, where they recently headlined the Allston hole-in-the-wall Great Scott at a tour-opening Thursday night gig. It comes as no surprise that their enthusiasm was undiminished.
Joining Anvil on the road were symphonic Sacramento group Graveshadow and fellow Californians Night Demon, but it was local trio Black Mass who opened this night’s show. As they did in a support slot for Skeletonwitch last year, Black Mass captivated with a vicious burst of unrelenting old-school thrash. They wasted no time in a short set and earned the acclaim of the early-arriving headbangers.
Next, Graveshadow adopted a less frantic pace for their theatrical heavy metal tales. The band’s budget goth aesthetic and fantasy-horror subject matter bordered on cringeworthy, but particularly through the engaging presence of vocalist Heather Michele, they mostly succeeded in selling it.
Ventura trio Night Demon were the evening’s best-suited support. They came across as a band who knew exactly what their rowdy audience wanted: no-nonsense, high-speed rippers about murder and the devil, and plenty of them. There was little in the way of dramatic flourishes here, save for a masked figure bearing an illustrative goblet during “The Chalice,” but a band sounding this tight and focused didn’t need them.
As the clock rounded midnight, it was Anvil’s time at last. Kudlow began the set in the center of the crowd, shredding among his disciples while a handheld flashlight stood in for the spotlight that might illuminate Angus Young doing this sort of thing in a football stadium. From that moment onward, smiles abounded as the band’s current three-piece lineup worked through a set they were clearly having the time of their lives with.
Selections from Anvil’s defining statement, 1982’s Metal On Metal, prevailed, as did some less successful tunes from the band’s more recent output. Groaners like the pirate yarn “Daggers and Rum” counterweighted goofy gems like “666” and “Mothra,” which sprawled out with a vibrator-aided guitar solo straight out of the band’s early days. The crowd of diehards ate it up all the same.
At the set’s best moments, Anvil convincingly made it sound like the mid-80s in the confines of Great Scott. Between songs, though, Kudlow peppered his stage banter with recollections of chance encounters and brushes with fame that put things in context. He told of Ozzy Osbourne finding ‘The Story of Anvil’ inspirational, and concluded an anecdote about opening for Motörhead by dedicating “Free as the Wind” to the departed Lemmy. “We played the Orpheum with Aerosmith,” he recalled at one point, adding “I bet none of you were there” with a smile.
Despite the hand they were dealt and the broad success that Anvil never achieved, there was little trace of bitterness in those moments. Deep down, it seems, Anvil are content with being Anvil, whether that includes sell-out crowds of thousands or a hundred people having a great time in a dimly-lit bar. They’re the band thrilled with opening for Motörhead, even if they’ll never be Motörhead.
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black Mass
Black Mass at Great Scott
Black Mass at Great Scott
Black Mass at Great Scott
Black Mass at Great Scott
Black Mass at Great Scott
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Graveshadow
Keep Of Kalessin Begin a New Chapter With “Katharsis” (Interview)
Norwegian black metal band Keep Of Kalessin has done things a bit differently within the black metal genre since its 1995 formation. Enduring a few hiatus’ and several member changes —including their longtime lead vocalist—the band have forged ahead with their most ambitious album yet in Kartharsis. On its eight expansive tracks, original member/vocalist/guitarist Obsidian Claw (Arnt Obsidian Grønbech), bassist Wizziac (Robin Isaksen), and new drummer Wanja “Nechtan” Gröger, weaves together their trademark melodies, intricate riffing, and aggressive vocals, while also adding a few new elements to their arsenal of sound, including the gorgeous ballad “Journey's End.” Responding through email fresh off the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise, Obsidian Claw spoke about the long span between last album and Kartharsis, his ever-expanding role as the new lead vocalist, and future plans for his band.
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https://youtu.be/J5I5RTqyJ8g...
Coming back recently from the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise, how did your sets go, and did you enjoy the trip? Yes, the trip was amazing. We actually took some days in Orlando and Florida before the cruise, which is also nice. It’s been such a long time since we visited the U.S., so it was great to also enjoy it a little bit. As far as 70k goes, it was also great! Seeing so many old friends as well as doing two very special sets was amazing. We played a set to celebrate the 25 years where we focused on our catalog, and then we also presented some of the new songs from Kartharsis on the main stage of the festival. What led to the band’s hiatus in 2000 and then the reformation in 2003? Basically, it was personal disputes within the band, and in Trondheim, there was not many people driven by the same goals and ambitions as me. It wasn’t until I joined Satyricon that I came in contact with people who could help me move forward. It’s been eight years since the last album Epistemology; what was the reason for taking so long? Well, it was never my intention to let eight years go by. I actually started with the album back in 2017; I probably made the first riffs even before that. But then life just happens. After extensive touring and sole focus on the band for more than a decade, it came to a point where I needed more balance in my life. So as focus shifts, time flies really fast. I was also facing many challenges both in business, relationships, as well as physical and mental issues which were compounded by the pandemic, and suddenly it was not three or five years anymore, but eight. One lesson learned though, I will never let things slide as far as they did ever again. Does Kartharsis mark a new era for a band? If so, in what ways? Yes, it probably does. We have a new drummer who is simply amazing to work with! He is just so professional, and it really makes running the band much easier. Kartharsis is the starting point of a new era where we will focus more on being consistent in our releases. It also proves that the band musically still has something to offer and I think that the setup we have now is the best we’ve ever had. With the departure of Thebon in 2013, this is the second album now with you on lead vocals, how do you think you have you settled in the lead vocal position? I think that on Epistemology, which was the first album I did vocals myself, it was all very new to me, and it sounds OK, but not so professional. I think that the vocals on Kartharsis are much more mature, and you can hear that I have done some shows and had time to evolve the vocals on this album Were there any adjustments you’ve had to make to accomplish both vocals and guitar? I never do any adjustments to be able to play the guitar and sing at the same time. This is because first I do the riffs and the songs, and then after everything is done, then we do vocals. So I actually never think about the fact that I have to do both at the same time before we start rehearsing for the live shows. But yeah, when we started rehearsing for 70,000 Tons Of Metal, I thought to myself, “What have I done?!” Because doing both guitar and vocals on “The Omni,” for instance, was the biggest challenge I have done as a musician, I would say. It is so complex to do all those vocals and guitars at the same time. And it wasn’t 100% for the 70K cruise either, but with a little more rehearsals and live shows, I will probably get there… I hope so. Many of the band's lyrics reference Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy book series. Is the book’s theme still prominent in your songwriting? Are there songs on the new album directly related to this theme still? The lyrics on the new album are not so much connected to this. We moved past this many years ago, but still you find some references probably. The new album has more personal lyrics and is more a continuation of Epistemology contemplating the big questions of life, universe, and at the same time keeping it epic and personal. I think Kartharsis is the most mature album we’ve done, and I think the lyrics also reflect that in a great way. Lyrically, what were some of your other inspirations and impetus for the songs? The lyrics on this album contain a lot of personal thoughts and emotions. It is my life’s journey in the past few years battling both inside and outside challenges. Most of the songs are linked to this in one way or another, but still with hope and aspirations for the future. Kartharsis is the purification process of leaving those negative thoughts and emotions behind and looking toward a better future. In this way, I guess the album is very in line with what many people are feeling in these crazy times of financial instability, wars and pandemics. Because in the end, how we feel and how we see things is what creates our reality. And this is the overall thematics of the album, and hopefully it will inspire people for such a cleansing of the mind so we can move forward. “Journey's End” is such a lovely track, melancholic yet uplifting, with the use of clean vocals, piano, and glorious backing vocal harmonies. Are these new elements to Keep Of Kalessin’s sound? How did you go about constructing this track? I’ve always been a sucker for power-ballads since I was a kid listening to all those ’80s ballads. And, I think that any metal band with respect for themselves should have at least one ballad on every album. So we created one. If you listen to Reptilian, we are also very close there with a song “Dark As Moonless Night.” However, we don’t go “all in,” maybe. Also, “Heaven of Sin '' is kind of a ballad in regards to the rest of Keep Of Kalessin tracks. So we have been doing this before. And for Kartharsis, I actually had three different ballads, but of course I would only choose one of them to be on the album. And because “Journey’s End” was the first one fully finished with vocals and everything. The fact that it fits the overall album more than the other two, I decided that this should go on the album. Taking it all the way down to that level might surprise someone that is more used to our blast beats and screaming vocals, but still, the melodies and choirs are very much Keep Of Kalessin. Many of our songs could be arranged differently with slower drums and you would get this kind of epic ballad. The message in the song is very personal, and I decided just to put it on the album, and to my surprise, most of the people I talk to actually bring this out as a highlight of the album. The production is epic and massive. Who was involved in it, and what were you wanting to create sound wise? We record everything in our home studios. I record guitars; Robin records bass at his house; Wanja records drums in his place, and then we also got Jonny Maudling, known from Bal-Sagoth, to do the keyboards! I am such a huge fan of Bal-Sagoth, so it was a huge honor for me that Jonny was willing to help out with the keyboards. And he for sure brought another level to the epicness of the album. The mix was done by Linus Corneliussen, whom we met while touring with Soilwork. He is the monitor guy for Soilwork, but he also works with Jens Bogren in Fascination Street Studios, so we decided to try Linus for the mixing of the album, and we couldn’t be happier with our choice because he really did a great job! It is by far the best production we had on any album. Explain the band camaraderie and musical chemistry between all the members. Right now, the band is set up in a very good way. We also have a live guitarist who plays in a band called Nexorum together with Robin. So me, Robin, and Roger live in Trondheim, and Wanja lives in Germany. We work very well together, and I think everyone is very professional, so it is less work for me keeping everyone in line, and everyone is very well prepared for live shows. And there are no big egos in the band, so everything is working really well on tours as well. What’s next, including touring plans? We are doing some festivals this summer including MetalDays in Slovenia. Then we do Leyendas Del Rock in Spain and Cosmic Void in the U.K. Then we will be looking to do a tour or two toward the end of this year and many more festivals next year, hopefully. But this also depends a bit on the reception we get and that we can show some good numbers to the promoters out there....
Kartharsis released on March 24 via Back on Black. Get it here.Todesstoß Reveals Secrets to Aesthetic Perception (Interview)
Black metal experimentalist Todesstoß' Martin "Traumorgane" Lang has been a figure in my nightmares for quite some time. A grainy image of a man with lengthy tubes for arms, terrifying music, and folk art-inspired abstraction all dictate this, and for many years, at that. Since 2000, Todesstoß' multifaceted, desperate, dense, and strange music trawls the depths of human misery and psychological struggles in favor of expressing them in a raw, uninhibited fashion. Though Traumorgane has been joined by various session musicians over the past two-plus decades, Todesstoß, and by extension his "expressive electronic music" project Venuspuls, are uniquely his, an extension of Traumorgane's inner psyche and creative spirit. In a rare and lengthy interview which can be read below, it was my pleasure to discuss Traumorgane's body of work, his philosophy on art, and many more concepts. Thank you to Martin Lang for agreeing to do this interview and for the many, many visual aids that accompany it!
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How would you describe Todesstoß artistically? Is there a specific era like expressionism in which you feel your music and art fit? Everything that touches Todesstoß as a result of an aesthetic perception is a right description. The artistic placement depends even for me on the point of view. A very interesting comment Déhá / Yhdarl made in the past was that: "Todesstoß is not a style; it’s a mood." So this may show how the fountainhead is placed beneath the earth, bringing a fountain of sounds to every thirsty listener, who wants to drink from the dark well of my inner self. The term “expressionism” was made up by other people and is too small for the world Todesstoß has to offer. But for sure, from past to present Jugendstil, Symbolism, and classic modern art including expressionist and surrealistic elements were a part of the visual and auditive. Luciano from I, Voidhanger, the label I have been cooperating with since a couple of years, sees, at least, the younger Todesstoß as a kind of bizarre theatre. Bassist Nils "Euer Gnaden" Sommermeier's entrance to the project on the Heikäne Löwentötrin EP, turning it more into a "band" proper, marked a distinct change in Todesstoß' sound towards something more progressive and cinematic. What led to this change from the minimal to the extravagant? Concerning the integration of other members to Todesstoß, it changed few but fine aspects of the compositions due to the personal styles of the contributions, which took the ideas, the general development and songwriting I still kept on my own, to a higher level. Heikäne Löwentötrin was the second collaboration with Euer Gnaden, who got his baptism of insanity with the highly mad album Sauglingshängwerk Aushilsheins. He composed the bass lines for the title track and Heikäne Löwentötrin. Just brilliant. Yes, the aim of Heikäne Löwentötrin was to present a main idea of the surrealistic movement, namely the "femme fatale," but put in a Todesstoß costume, showing new ornaments of flickering creative lights floodlighting the shadows of all mundane. For me personally, Larvalis' Todesstoß vocal performance on this track, which was mixed into the foreground, due to playing the ultimate role in this theatre of horrors and primeval fears is still one of the most outstanding, radical, and absolute in the fields of dark metal. The extravagant or, as I would prefer, the overemphasized element of the song was not a new element that appeared out of nowhere, but was developing from 2008 on even more and more leading to an art and music form that knows no limits in its creation anymore. This special development found its opus magnum in the 7th Todesstoß album Hirngemeer, Todesstoß’ enfant terrible. Your vocals have always been singular (I've heard them compared to an elephant's wailing), somewhat in line with the "depressive black metal" voice approach but with an extra layer of madness, though more recently both new auxiliary vocalist Benjamin "Flesh of L." Schmälzlein and yourself have been experimenting with sprechgesang (or "talk singing" for the uninitiated). What goes into picking a vocal technique and style for a Todesstoß release, and how do you find yourself sharing vocal space with this relatively new band member? Never heard the wailing of an elephant, really, so this can’t be an influence! I remember reading something about elephants, too. Are we talking about the same thing, an older Metal Archives review that got lost? Hehe, but it was not very charming. So what’s behind this? Interesting every time. Here and there, I came across a certain helplessness to describe the impressions from Todesstoß music in reviews, like the songs they had to face created a certain instability of the reviewers' foundation of empty phrases. I always had the feeling that Todesstoß' music is misunderstood, not accepted as normal, or even dangerous for the human psyche, which is exactly the antithesis of my aesthetic perception. In contrast to other bands, in Todesstoß, one of the main emphasis (besides the "snakey" lead guitar) lies on the vocals for sure. This goes from mixing it into the foreground, putting style and level of expression to a certain max, and keeping it various. This last point presupposes a certain grade of experimentation concerning choice of words, emphasis, speed, tone height, and much more. In Benjamin, who was a member of the band for several years until 2016, I found a perfect fellow in creating and developing the vocal compositions in the respective result. This result depends on topic, character and style, mood of the song. Yes, I felt very well sharing vocals with other musicians, though the most perfect experience and result will be the involvement of a new vocalist, W., for the upcoming album Das Liebweh-Dekret....
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Emotionally, Todesstoß touches upon something more maddening and difficult to put one's finger on without the right mindset. How do you tap into this more psychotic and expressive emotional center when creating music and art? So it seems I have another mindset than most others, even among “outsiders”? That’s easy: I concentrate on myself and the pictures and sounds in me. Todesstoß generally released on your own Traumorgane-Kreationen arthouse label, but you within the past decade have transferred the project over to Luciano Gaglio's I, Voidhanger Productions. What was this transition like for you? There were many co-operations over the last 23 years, though no label made it to publish more than three releases until now, my own label (I use sometimes) included. The transition to I, Voidhanger was a relaxation for me, being free from production and main distro aspects, which always collide with the creative part that demands a certain level of contemplation. So I, Voidhanger maybe will try to break the record of three. You recently revived the Todesstoß band after a six-year silence. What went into deciding to put Todesstoß aside after so many years of productivity, and why did you decide to bring it back? I continued constantly working for the project and new releases until April 2019. Shortly before I finished a new album and the re-release of the first demos, multifarious personal issues in the true sense of the word stopped me from going on any further. Suddenly, working on music was no longer possible, no matter what I tried. Even my websites got deleted; my shop I worked for several years was brutally destroyed by the webhoster; I lost contact with musicians working with me; I lost my home two times. And this is only the harmless episodes of a story leading to madness all around me. Even the occult world spread its wings to cover me in shades of enmity. After a while, I recognized that I had to accept this situation and concentrated to get my life stabilized. From 2019 to 2022, I focused on private ornithological and entomological discovery, moving from the east to the south and from the south to the northern part of Germany. As you can see from my point of view, the break took three and a half years only. It really feels like bringing back though, bringing back myself to the inner world I left to go on another journey in the valley of chaos. As a visionary returning is not my first choice, I prefer to re-conceive the continuation as a usage of possibility to do what I can. Generally speaking, Todesstoß releases pair with intense artistic presentation, be it art prints, dense booklets, or other musical extracurriculars (though I'm sure you consider these to be gesamtkunstwerk in their own right which are not separate). As a visual artist yourself, how do you find the correct pairing between the visual and the sonic, and which generally comes first in your creative process? Well, I think it always has been and still is a steady process and correlated. What is for sure is that the alpha of a new vision always is to find in thought, which is a further step of intuition . Overall the first spark for a lucid inner vision is either a poem I wrote a melody coming to my mind, or the wakening call of an image that completes a concept by bridging an inner conflict, leaving out the banal skill of developing artwork for music or composing music to artwork. Ultimately there’s no first or last, but the overarching. Visually, Todesstoß touches upon a few art styles, be they folk art, expressionism, the avant-garde and Modern, and so on, all under a blanket "Martin Lang/Traumorgane" type of style. What inspires you to create art like this, and what are your artistic inspirations overall? Talking about this very fundamental aspect of life itself, it leads to the main question: Why do we create something anyway? Inspiration is only a good help for the necessity to form in this earthly existence not who I want to be, but who I can be. The moment of inspiration comes alive when empirical values are being transformed to personal aesthetics as a basic module of expression of which art is the compressed vision. As you have stated correctly, from the beginning until now, I have chosen slightly varied art styles at least underlying my personal aesthetic compressed vision depending on the status quo of my soul situation. It’s not a choice for me of what I want to be a part from, but what is part of me. So inspiration is everything around me that wants to be a part of myself! I am aware of the fact that I answer in a very metaphoric way and want to add that this is because I prefer the element of air. To show my humility to earth I want to add concrete inspirations in my day-to-day-life: glances of children, insects, birds, the wind, my separation of trivial things and trash, art, literature and music of my soul mates all over the world. Your latest album, 2017's Ebne Graun, is a single 46-minute song which culminates a gradual stretching of song lengths since Euer Gnaden and Flesh of L.' s introduction to the band within the past decade. Was it your intent to create something so long, or was this more of a natural progression? It’s not a determining fact that the lyrics should have a certain length, but the characteristic mannerism to invite epic thoughts leading to a long-living creature of a song. In simple words the idea, the vision has to invite myself and anything further will be as natural as the vision itself. The idea behind Ebne Graun is the one of the afterlife being just in such a way as every dead soul arriving in the beyond is imagining it due to its individual state of spiritual oscillation. All begins in self contemplation and silence leading through several steps of awareness in a disembodied state and a final conclusion in the end. The requirement for this evaluation leads to "only" 46 minutes approximately. A short time for an afterlife experience that can take aeons in reality? Do you feel Todesstoß songs will grow even longer over time? Or will more distinct and structured songs make a return to the project? Relating to future compositions, I only can listen to what the songs are whispering in my ears, becoming living creatures and they decide how big and mighty they want to become. I am only the gardener pouring my plants turning into sonic shapes. When it comes to material already finished, the 25 minutes mark is not exceeded so far. The typical length of a Todesstoß song roughly speaking lies between 7 and 25 minutes. What I prefer and need is a wide area of structuring leaving tiny spaces for the banal and bathetic. How do you find yourself writing Todesstoß songs? Do you have a specific Todesstoß process? It’s nothing dramatic. Just calming down, checking what has arrived and developed in me, that can be transformed to a poem/lyrics, music, or visual art. The root of the process is to collect and get aware of what impressions I gathered. These impressions are considered very carefully with elements of my will and emotionalism. Towers of a new building in my spirit world. You've recently been publicly active as Venuspuls, your "expressive electronic music" project, having released a new album this past January. Though obviously different in execution, there are undercurrents of the surreal, illness, and other themes which tie Venuspuls and Todesstoß together. Do you feel that these projects are thematically and artistically connected? Oh, it seems you refer to an old album description of the second album Exitusse Aanaavee I missed to update and put on my new Bandcamp site. This album and the last sign of life was actually in 2013. So we talk of a 10 year silence for this project (I still love). For new Venuspuls material being in progress at the moment I started a little sigh of life by creating the bandcamp site for now, where all existing material I ever have put out is available and anyone interested what I did besides Todesstoß is invited to check this out here. Maybe it’s the two sites of the same coin, who knows. Topics and visual ideas are different, but the source is the same, just me. Besides the fact that I wanted to create electro music with Venuspuls, there is also the wish and chance to have a second child I can raise. If Todesstoß is my son, Venuspuls is my daughter. With the little but fine difference that I give essential features not only to their flesh but their soul. While Todesstoß is soaked with martial, chivalric spirit of metaphoric explicitness, Venuspuls is impregnated with the Lilith / Venus powers leading to the wicked, vegetative eroticism of the anti-world....
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You spent five years working on the latest Venuspuls album, Exitusse Aanaavee. What goes into crafting an album like this? How can you account for the five year work period? The tools and instruments are different and so is the composition flow and tenor. While I can just play a riff on my guitar for Todesstoß I have to create Venuspuls on synths or virtual tools which takes a little more approach for me being more instrument-orientated. I also had and still have compared to possible Todesstoß lyrics only a few poems that fit to Venuspuls' vision of music. As I remember around 2008–2013, which marks the period of time we’re talking about, I composed and recorded several Todesstoß works, so a lot was going on around that time. Nevertheless, I put everything into the Exitusse Aanaavee album I could offer and I’d wish that more people could share my undimmed excitement for this album, which I see at last as one of my most mature works. After ten years I still think every second, every single note is set at the right place....
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Todesstoß has existed in one form or another since 2000, marked with the release of your first demo Endlose Suche. How do you feel Todesstoß has evolved since then? Aye, the project was formed in 2000 and saw the first two releases Endlose Suche and Eine verlorene Seele. At the beginning, I was driven and powered by a rebellion force of youth which found its visual art equivalent and support in the fields of Jugendstil, for example works by Hugo Höppener (Fidus), Arnold Böcklin, Franz von Stuck, and at the same time northern and Germanic mythology and dreamlike visions by myself. Bit by bit, the more personal aesthetic aspects evolved: integrating my own visual art, individualistic lyrics, and also the music transformed from classic black metal of the second wave to a more distinct self-sufficient effort leading even to a status of separation, which came natural and was not forced at all. The Sehnsucht EP for instance, was a calm song, with ultra eerie vocal presentation of an amorous and at the same time savage offering of the inner part of my soul. Here for the first time an unsparing vulnerability was shared with the audience, that might have led to several grazing shots by music. Another significant work was the Spiegel der Urängste EP, presenting a radical guitar sound, combined with an uncommon artwork and again the spectral high shriek vocal performance, almost piercing the souls of listeners. For the debut album Stelldichein, I used my first own oil painting as cover artwork, which paved the way for a combination of my creative fields of operation. With the Pantherwelle demo (2006), showing the first real surrealistic cover art, Würmer zu weinen (2008) and Abwegnis 121 (2010) I directed the project even further into spheres of illusoric surrealism, not in consequence of artificial lunacy, but the wish for an even more radical version of showing my reality to others, no matter what it might engender, far from categorization. The simple early lyrics processed to lyrical writings including more and more imponderabilities and even style wise neologisms as the result of a super nonconformist perspective I developed as my individual normalcy. With the 5th album Sauglingshängwerk Aushilfsheins, I extended the lyrical story to a semi-fictional and metaphoric social criticism, by having elaborated a fictional lyrical character, who is the leading man of this extraordinary epic Black Metal opera of insanity. I even dared into regions of commercial suicide with Hirngemeer, the enfant terrible in my discography, which I see in tradition of presenting new kinds of art as a result of inadequacy of the exhausted conformism, always repetitive patterns of expression, showing narrowness of the mind. While Hirngemeer took the listeners to shores of insanity as symbol of the wish for a new way of existence, I tried to create with the follow-up album Ebne Graun the ultimate epic song, dwelling in occult, anthroposophic fields of the beyond visions of active principles of life itself, a horror and paradise at the same time, reminding me and the listeners to this world’s duality. Do you feel Todesstoß moved in a direction you desired from its inception, or has the project's evolution been more unexpected? Both my willful ambitions that always can be attempts in a world of chaotic turbulence, and extrasensory influencing aspects, an interference from the external world, filtered by my expositions paved the way to the life cycle of Todesstoß, being the ouroboros of parts of my soul, until light replaces bone. What can we expect from newer Todesstoß material? Well, guess that’s up to you! In 2019, shortly before I decided to make the break, I realized that I had accumulated so much material, without getting it finished, I decided–and this might be a surprise–to start working on a completely new album that will be the follow up to Ebne Graun. Das Liebweh-Dekret, so its title will present not only six new tracks, which combine all trademarks of Todesstoß in a very worked out form, but also the stunning contribution of a new singer, sharing his main vocals with myself (clean, experimental stuff). I also cooperated with Lidia, an American actress and singer for additional vocal performance in a song. At the moment, I give it the finishing touches, and it’s planned to be released in 2023 via I, Voidhanger records as digital version, CD, and maybe LP, at the same time with Eine verlorene Seele and the tracks from the third demo with Imperium Sacrum under the title of Vergängnisse in a remastered form, also by I, Voidhanger. On the horizon there’s also the long planned Todesstoß / Venuspuls split album that will include four tracks of each project. Furthermore, the material I composed between Ebne Graun and Das Liebweh-Dekret, material for two albums. All this shall be out until 2025. Now I open the floor to you: is there anything you'd like to say about Todesstoß, Venuspuls, and/or your art that you haven't had an opportunity to say yet? Yes, it also lives and breathes of being experienced. Any final thoughts? Thank you for your curiosity leading to this interview and being a gentle and interesting dialog partner. Greetings to all fans and people who start becoming acquainted with my works. DeviantArt E-Stories Venuspuls I, Voidhanger Records...
Thetan Lets the “Dim Times” Unravel (Early Track Stream)
Nashville 'hardcore drum and bass' duo Thetan has a hell of a back catalog: their recent releases include a full collaboration LP with Kool Keith, a single featuring Lil B, and a blazing-fast LP packed with furious powerviolence. Though their collaboration work tends to favor heavy, in-the-pocket rhythms and dissonant textures that gives their guest vocalists room to operate in, their standalone sound fills in all that space with sheer rabid insanity. Though a new full-length volume of this is on the way, the upcoming Dim Times serves both as a bridge to new material and as a chance to document (and even revamp) the group's vast body of work. Featuring some re-recordings, covers, and cutting floor gems, the CD edition of the album also packs in lots of previously vinyl-only material. Today we're premiering the EP's title track, "Dim Times," which bassist/vocalist Dan Emery notes was "written for an album but didn't make the final tracklist." Slow, crunchy riffs act as a launchpad for desperate blast beats as Emery's vocals inject spiteful bile into the track. It's indulgently chaotic, and it opens up an EP full of drum'n'bass weirdness with a confident opening salvo.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm-9bVzdPkA&ab_channel=Anti-Corp...
Dim Times releases May 19th via Anticorp Music. Upcoming Thetan Live Dates: 4/02/2023 The End – Nashville, TN w/ Bled To Submission, God Is War, Knoll 4/22/2023 Medusa’s Hairdresser – Nashville, TN w/ Courtney, Cursed Circuits 5/31/2023 The Cobra – Nashville, TN w/ Goatwhore, Torsion 7/01/2023 Bucket City Punk Fest 3 @ TBA – Murfreesboro, TN…
Night Demon
Fleshgod Apocalypse, Obscura, and More End NA Tour at The Regent, LA 3/16/2023 (Live Photos)
Italian symphonic and technical death metal masters Fleshgod Apocalypse recently concluded a North American tour which saw them co-headlining with tech death giants Obscura. They were joined by two Napalm Records bands, Wolfheart and Thulcandra -- notably, Thulcandra shares vocalist/guitarist Steffen Kummerer with Obscura. The tour's final date was March 16th at The Regent in Los Angeles, California, and we've got some vivid photos of the show below - keep scrolling. Photo Credit: Harrison Pearl, Black Pearl Photo (IG: @theblackpearlphoto.)
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Voidscape Embrace Death Metal’s Melancholic Appeal on “Odyssey of Spite” (Early EP Stream)
Voidscape plucks a vital nostalgic string tucked deep in my heart - though the New Jersey-based band doesn't sound exactly like the melodic death metal that I grew up with, their new EP Odyssey of Spite is completely unafraid to enrich their vicious death metal core with a synth-boosted melodicism that's indulgently weird and expressive, and reminds me of sounds long buried by a zest for mainstream appeal. At the same time, Voidscape differentiate themselves from other melodic death metal revival acts by focusing more on catchiness and diversifying their attack -- this is evident in the guitar work, which combine more traditional death metal riffs with explorative leads that let the absolutely sublime bass tone shine through, and how the anthemically delivered, anguished vocals lend themselves to killer choruses. Despite the melodic tendencies, misery is absolutely central to Odyssey of Spite.This EP is a brief, explosive record, with only one track running over four minutes, but it dedicates its middle track "Ludlow" entirely to mood. "Ludlow" is essentially a two-minute slice of melodic progressive rock sandwiched in the middle of a death metal EP, and it absolutely works, emphasizing the album's crestfallen, mysterious atmosphere. Listen to the full EP here ahead of its Friday release:
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Vocalist Mike Ximinez comments:The future seems like it's getting bleaker and the world is in disarray. You can't help but marinate in the thick melancholy and mourn the insipid state of things, but you need to push through or else you'll get sucked into the void. As an entity, we've been writing together sporadically for over half a decade and we're proud to unveil this chapter of the VOIDSCAPE saga! Odyssey Of Spite is a declaration to persevere despite the obstacles ahead.
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Odyssey of Spite releases March 31st via Nefarious Industries.Numerical Control Society Finds Progressive Stoner Bliss on “Astral Hobo” (Interview + Track Stream)
Doom metal and progressive rock seem like vastly separate worlds, but their ethereal borders collide with a surprisingly large overlap. Though heavy, lumbering riffs are perfectly fine arranged with devastating simplicity, they also prove to be an excellent anchor in more unusual contexts, played in strange time signatures or unveiled at climactic junctions. This is the realm that Numerical Control Society explores, pursuing a progressive-minded form of instrumental heavy music with almost scientific zeal. Their last EP Circular Reasoning for Squares was a three-track proof on the concept, hurling out incredibly burly grooves flush with a certain wild-eyed madness that made it clear vocals were not necessary, and would in fact only distract from the riffs and weaken their argument. On their upcoming EP Moonshot, the band further diversifies their sound, incorporating more quiet parts and more progressive rock influence; they amass a cloud of intrigue around their heavy core. The exquisitely-sculpted guitar and bass tones that made Circular Reasoning for Squares are still a heavy participant in the sound, especially on lead single "Astral Hobo," but they're counterweighted by an inquisitive, introspective sense of atmosphere that unites all four tracks into a powerful suite. We spoke to guitarist Matt O'Dell about the new EP - stream lead single "Astral Hobo" below and check out the interview.
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It's been four years since your last EP, Circular Reasoning for Squares. What's new with Numerical Control Society in the meantime? Matt O'Dell: We all lost a lot with COVID, and besides just losing time and momentum, our guitarist Sam moved overseas. After the fun of Craigslist emails and auditions, we finally found Kyle Billingsley to take his place, and he has been a great addition to the band. The band's aesthetic conveys this sort of conspiratorial, secret-society feeling, but as I saw on your Facebook page, the logo and name come from an actual organization. Can you explain the name's origin? You are right, the name came from an actual organization called the “Numerical Control Society” that my grandfather was the president of many years ago. Numerical Control is now known as CNC (Computer Numerical Control). Back when the band formed, a few of us were in jobs that were all tied closely to manufacturing and CNC. It just happened that while we were in that fun phase of trying to agree upon a name, I mentioned that tidbit about my grandfather, and everyone else said, “That’s the name.” After some google searching, I found an old conference program that someone scanned into a PDF and put on the internet, and that gave us our branding. Even though we’re not the type of prog rock band that likes playing songs in a ton of weird time signatures, there’s definitely a numerical and mechanical element to our songs that really fits the name. Where does the name of the EP, Moonshot, come from? It first came up as a working title for our single "Astral Hobo", but I always knew I wanted to change the name of the song eventually. As we were listening to the EP as a whole and looking through different cover photo options taken by our resident photographer and bassist, Michael Klayman, the name Moonshot came back up and just stuck. While there's still tons of chunky, groovy riffs, Moonshotbalances this with less heavy, but very fascinating progressive rock elements. Given the band's shared interest in progressive rock and classical music, were there any musical concepts or combinations you wanted to explore on Moonshot? When coming up with new concepts for songs, I tend to go deep into certain source materials for inspiration. When writing the songs on this EP, I was listening to a lot of Philip Glass, Joan Tower, and John Adams, which I think lended to that “less heavy, prog rock” style. At the same time, I also was spending a lot of time studying Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, which gave me a lot of ideas for different riffs. A lot of the heavy parts in Sequoia and Astral Hobo are heavily inspired from that book. Your last EP was recorded at Bricktop Recording in Chicago. What approach did you take to producing Moonshot? There was definitely one positive with having all that down time: we were able to work on our self-recording skills. I had learned a lot back in school, but hadn’t put it to use for 15 years. With some practice, we were able to record all of the guitar and bass parts at the homestead, which gave us a little more freedom to try different things. That said, we love the drum sound that Pete Grossman at Bricktop is able to create, so we went back there to record all the drums in a day. After everything was recorded, we used the same duo as our first EP of Pete for mixing and our friend Mario Quintero (audiomq) from Spotlights for mastering. Aside from an upcoming release show on April 13th at Burlington Bar, what's next for the band? We’re actively booking some shows for the spring and summer and plan on getting out of Chicago a bit, so look for us in a Midwest town near you. We’re also already into writing the next album, which I hope will be out in a lot less than 4 years (fingers crossed)....
Regarding the origin of the song title "Astral Hobo", O'Dell adds this citation:“[Madame Blavatsky] maintained that the spirits appearing at séances were not those of one’s dear departed aunt or of famous people but were simply a kind of astral hobo…eager for any contact with the ‘real world’, and happy to tell any story or adopt any identity that will help in this.”
–Gary Lachman , “RETURN OF THE REJECTED: POSTMODERN OCCULTISM AND POPULAR CULTURE”
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Moonshot releases independently on April 14th via Bandcamp.…
Anvil
Demonstealer’s Incendiary Metal Assaults “The Propaganda Machine” (Track-by-Track Rundown)
Though Demonstealer's previous albums have examined humanity's failings in great detail, it's never been as incensed as on their upcoming album The Propaganda Machine. Stripping away fantasy and what-ifs, the Indian extreme metal band describes ruinous political structures, shady dealings, and world-changing atrocities with hard-hitting volleys of blast beats and intricate riffs that dramatically combine death, black, and thrash metal. It's a record that reflects the sinister might of the topics it examines, but rages against them at the same time. Like on many of his albums, sole band member Demonstealer (Sahil Makhija) has recruited an impressive roster of guest musicians. This time, he taps guests from bands like Cognizance, Wormhole, Scale the Summit and more; he also notably enlists ex-Cradle of Filth keyboardist Anabelle Iratni, whose additional atmospheric and melodic contributions give the record's blistering sound some additional depth. The level of technicality on display could be exhausting in some contexts, but Demonstealer's command of rhythm and song structure sculpts his and his guests' expertise into catchy, evocative metal while still putting a whole lot of chops on display. The Propaganda Machine is an exhilarating record that tackles remarkably cynical subject matter, but as Demonstealer's breakdown of the album explains below, hidden in its complex darkness lies a slim hope of success. Read the full track-by-track breakdown below.
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Track-by-track breakdown by Demonstealer: 1. The Fear Campaign - In the current political climate, right-wing politicians in India and the world over use fear to retain and maintain their power. In most countries, there are campaigns used to spread fear among the majority population. Like in India, particularly, there is widespread propaganda to keep Hindus, who form the majority population, in fear. Who are they made to fear? The minority, Muslim population. This campaign of fear has been seen worldwide, in Brexit (I was in the UK when it happened) and even in the more recent BLM protests. It's common practice, and this song breaks down its use of it. Musically I chose to match Hannes Grossmann on drums with Forrest on bass. Both have an almost virtuoso style of playing, but at the same time, without detracting from the song. Anabelle brings some much-needed atmosphere while Dean Paul Arnold matches the virtuoso with his guitar solos, all 3 of them. 2. Monolith Of Hate - As a society, we are being turned into more hateful creatures, we are taught to hate right from a young age, whether it's hating someone for being different, their religion, their skin color, their sexual preferences, hate is being pushed and we're building a monolith of hate. It's something that will consume us. Especially in India, the current right-wing government officials themselves have taken out demonstrations chanting hateful slogans, calling for violent acts and crimes and their entire agenda is built on hate. It is something that needs addressing. Musically this track mixed brutality and melody. They represent anger and sadness together. James Payne delivers unrelenting fury on the drums, while Maritno adds real emotion with his bass playing. Anabelle elevates all the melodies with synths and orchestrations. 3. The Propaganda Machine - This track speaks about how we are often so blind to propaganda. We've been conditioned to be a certain way, whether it's through religion or politics. Religion as well is one of the biggest propaganda machines, and most of the world is conditioned to believe and blind to reality. Musically it's one of the shortest and most straightforward songs on the album. Ken Bedene and Stain have both been solid anchors on this track. 4. The Art of Disinformation - We live in a world where the narrative is controlled by social media, the red pill or the blue pill? In India, there is a massive problem of fake news (as in the rest of the world) but most of the media here is controlled by the right-wing ruling government. They have reached a point where there is barely any other political party that can stand up to them or be a decent opposition. They have what is called an IT cell where people are employed just to spread propaganda and misinformation using Whatsapp which is the biggest spreader of misinformation in our country. We have had people lynched and killed because of Whatsapp forwards. During the protests against a controversial citizenship act, the IT cell was in full swing. Their biggest claim to fame is being able to make anything trend on Twitter. You can actually see like a copy-pasted tweet about any trending topic, and it's just a nightmare to navigate this. Lyrically my song addresses this issue which is a global problem. We also saw this happen during the attack on Ukraine. Musically Sebastian Lanser was able to really take this song to the next level with his precise drumming and extremely tasteful style. Kilian Duarte brings in that rock-solid low end. For the lead guitar, I managed to get Alex from Cognizance who I am a huge fan of, and his leads are ever so tasty, with lots of emotion in his playing....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTuAaul91S4...
5. Screams of Those Dying - India has been plagued by communal problems ever since the British decided to divide and rule. Even today politicians create, feed and nurture a Hindu-Muslim divide in this country. Our Prime Minister was quite the face of deadly riots in Gujarat in 2002, and his political party follows that Hindu supremacy model and thought. Just before the pandemic the Hindu extremists rioted and went on a rampage killing many Muslims after politicians from the ruling party went on campaigns making hate speeches. I'd urge people to read about it as well. The song is about the communal violence, riots and disharmony created in India. Musically, Dominic and Hannes acted as the perfect combination for this track. 6. The Great Dictator - I guess the title pretty much explains itself. I think musically, this track is a real journey, probably the most progressive on the album. James Payne has outdone himself. I pushed the speed on this track to about 260 bpm because I really just needed to push myself to the limit as well. Once again, it's a melodic track but brutal at the same time. Ananbelle took the orchestration of this song up about 5 notches, and we really wanted to give it that grand feeling. Martino's bass lines once again add so much emotion and melody without taking away from the brutality. 7. The Anti-National - One of the tactics of the right wing, especially in India, is to brand people as 'anti-national'. If you question the government, you are anti national, if you don't do something that promotes a certain ideology, then you are anti-national. The worst part is that it's tied politics and the Hindu religion together. So today, if you eat beef, you are considered anti-national even though the constitution grants me the right to it. The current government is very aggressive, very pro-Hindu and fascist in nature and with supporting groups that are very violent. If anyone criticizes the current prime minister, the army of online trolls and even in-person goons will show up to cause trouble, and you are branded anti-national. I believe those that are critical and look to push the government to work for the betterment of the people vs playing religious and political games are the real patriots, and this song speaks about this. We're all proud anti-nationals. Sebastian Lanser packs a powerful punch on this track along with Kilian Duarte on bass, both are very technical players, but this song needed a more straightforward in-your-face approach, and they have played for the song. 8. Crushing The Iron Fist - I'd like to think of this song as a note of hope to end the album on. I'd like to believe that we will leave the world better than we found it, that we will live in a world that is more just and equal for all people. That we will treat others with kindness and we won't let tyranny and oppression win. But the truth is that this is a long fight, and change doesn't happen overnight. And I top my hat and acknowledge all the people who have sacrificed their time, energy, effort and sometimes even their lives to create a better world, one they may have never gotten to see in their lifetime, but their efforts have been the building blocks to the future. Musically I got one of my favorite guitar players Sanjay Kumar to throw down not one but 3 epic guitar solos, they really add an incredible dynamic to the song, which Ken Bedene blasts through the drums and Stian, as always, holds down the fort with Anabelle whose keys compliment the riffs beautifully....
The Propaganda Machine releases today via Black Lion Records.Records of the Week With Jon and Ted Week #21
Each Friday, Editors Ted Nubel and Jon Rosenthal will share their picks for Records of the Week — not necessarily what's out this week, just whatever's on our mind or on our record players.
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Jon Rosenthal
The Morningside
The Wind, The Trees And The Shadows Of The Past
Oh, how I have loved this record for the past 15 years. Lost somewhere between old-logo Katatonia and Pale Folklore-era Agalloch is Russian atmospheric doom metal band The Morningside's debut. Melodic, mournful, and nostalgic–all wrapped in a nice, not-so-compact package–The Wind, The Trees And The Shadows Of The Past's stylistic worship and band-specific-genre fusion hits the ol' heartstrings in a really special sort of way. This record takes me back to a time of naivete, discovering bands every day and finding "forever favorites" as a teenager which would shape my taste for years to come. Those who love Brave Murder Day will find comfort in The Morningside's excellent use of rock and post-punk influence, but frontman Igor Nitkin's higher-pitched vocal presence speaks more to the American answer to Katatonia's take on melodic death/doom metal. I hate to be so reductive as to say "this sounds like Agalloch and Katatonia playing together," as name-dropping other, unrelated bands in reviews tends to be something I hate to do, but… trust me here. If you like these bands, or even Empyrium's first A Wintersunset…, but with better musicianship and vocals (sorry, guys), you're going to very much enjoy The Morningside's debut (and their most recent album Yellow). American black metal legend Panopticon's Austin Lunn agrees, having released this album on his short-lived Lost Forty record label, where he also reissued Falls of Rauros' legendary debut Hail Wind and Hewn Oak....
Ted Nubel
Orange Goblin
Coup De Grace
So, I checked, and Invisible Oranges is grievously lacking in Orange Goblin appreciation. Let's fix that a little bit. Coup de Grace is a singular, never-revisited point in Orange Goblin's long and storied history, which has continually evolved from cosmic-inspired stoner blues and toward their definitive post-2000s sound: a snarling mixture of angry stoner rock and heavy metal. The record, released in 2002, captures Orange Goblin engaging in what might be their drunkest, most belligerent-sounding stoner rock yet, avoiding cosmic themes in favor of violence, horror, and general misconduct. They toy with heavy metal (and a Misfits cover), but these songs mainly just lurch from one whiskey-fueled groove to another, with vocalist Ben Ward's signature bellows leading the charge. Not only is it a fun record, but there's this undercurrent of prickly, punky menace to it: the low-fidelity fuzzy guitars and boxy drums create a thumping, rickety sound that both appeals to my inner caveman and lets the band tell stories with a little venom. This is a sound they'd make even meaner on Thieving from the House of God, but it was never as, well, gloriously inelegant as on Coup de Grace. "Born with Big Hands" is one of my favorite Orange Goblin tracks in general, describing an inclination to ultraviolence with perhaps one of the band's most absurd, yet badass choruses, and "Jesus Beater" is a cheerful dose of blasphemy. Closing track "Stinkin' O' Gin" fully revels in the album's inebriated glory, closing it out with a lengthy hymn to an overabundance of spirits. In later albums, Orange Goblin would continue moving more and more away from their laconic stoner rock roots to become a vicious practitioner of heavy stoner metal, but Coup de Grace remains a triumphant, uncouth landmark in their career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSPnhPq4Hrc&ab_channel=ThomasLoboScreaming Bloody Oranges, Episode #20: Discussing “Black Medium Current” with Dødheimsgard’s Vicotnik
Enlisting Doldrum and Erraunt multi-instrumentalist Oneiric (aka Ben D.) and our friend Ben "Brainsmasher", Invisible Oranges spoke with the sole remaining founding member of Dødheimsgard, Vicotnik–also of Ved Buens Ende and Dold Vorde Ens Navn. We discussed their upcoming record Black Medium Current, which represents yet another leap forward for the adventurous band, as well as their past history–notably Vicotnik's experience in Norway's burgeoning early '90s black metal scene.
—Jon and Ted
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Listen and subscribe to Screaming Bloody Oranges: The Invisible Oranges Podcast on the following platforms: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | PodbeanEvil Itself: Devangelic’s Brutally Sinister Death Metal Reigns on “Xul” (Early Album Stream)
On their upcoming fourth album Xul, Italian brutal death-dealers Devangelic return with a vengeance: their tones and assault sharpened to a killing point, rendering their esoteric subject matter in blood-curdling fidelity. Shifting farther away from brutal death metal conventions and continuing on from 2020's Ersetu, Xul combines mythology with incredibly vicious riffs that rely on a lethally pristine rhythm section to give them the clarity they demand. Fans of Nile, another brutal and technical outfit that walks these pathways, will find a lot to like here, though Devangelic prioritize their core offering (riffs) over atmospheric and aesthetic considerations. Sumerian lore is a huge part of Xul, though, expressed mostly through blistering, jabbing death metal. It's not entirely all-out, war, though. There's a brain-bending element to the record, too: on "Udug-Hul Incantation," the band leaves behind bloody battlefields for tortured mindscapes full of dissonant surges and distant agony. Several interludes ("Famine of Nineveh," "Hymn of Savage Cannibalism") also break up the action with classical guitar and some alternate instrumentation, though they're only brief respites before another wave. At its core, this is a martial record, depicting the eternal struggles of man against evil, and Devangelic's carefully-applied brutality gives that conflict the turbulent chaos it deserves. Stream the record here before it releases Friday:
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Xul releases April 7th via Willowtip Records.Undead Raise a “Demon of a Thousand Lies” With Wicked Death Metal (Early Track Stream)
As befitting their name, Undead seems to have burst from the grave of metal scenes long gone. The Spanish band's second full-length album Putrefactio calls back to the proto-extreme-metal era, practicing a similarly formula-less approach which gleefully sprints from the disgusting depths of death metal to corpse-desecrating grooves bordering on thrash metal. Disrupting convention like so much putrid earth, they also tuck mid-paced grooves into the mix to break up their usual fast-paced fare. Death metal is the constant here, but it's wielded with zealous curiosity in service of the band's blood-spattered subject matter. On "Demon of a Thousand Lies," premiering below, Undead's retro appeal is evident: dark, nasty guitar tones give the song a meaty sound that's got a lot more body to it than most old-school revival takes. Even more obvious is its violent potency, as that slithering opening riff tears into the listener, soon to be followed by some especially mean mid-paced double bass segments. Undead are strong adherents to the old ways, certainly, but they do so with a novel viciousness of their own making.
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The band adds:Real horror comes from within. Paralyzing fear and anxiety can dominate reason and create demons worse than those you could find in the deepest pits of hell, constantly twisting reality and calling the shots from the darkest corners of self. Reality will never be as frightening as the monsters created by your mind. Always lurking from the shadows. Sometimes tamed, but never gone.Putrefactio releases May 5th via Redefining Darkness Records.
The Best Heavy Metal from Q1 2023
Time marches on as always, and 2023 has already provided a bountiful crop of excellent music. In fact, after reviewing the shortlists of picks from our writers, there was an incredibly low amount of overlap! Below, we've collected some top picks for your perusal - and, since the submissions were so varied, I've also included an alphabetic list of our writers' submissions at the end.
–Ted Nubel
I actually had a pretty hard time figuring this out, not because of the quantity of solid releases between January and March of this year, but because of how many quality releases I've heard which are coming out after March. Albums and otherwise I'm looking forward to later this year: DHG, Lunar Chamber, Tenhi, Austere, Kinit Her, Paysage d'Hiver, Saturnus, and more. 2023 is shaping up!–Jon Rosenthal
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Invisible Oranges' Top Metal Picks for Q1 2023 (Jan-March): Lamp of Murmuur - Saturnian Bloodstorm Having spent four years cultivating a devoted underground following, generated a mountain of speculation and counterspeculation, and finally debuted their live incarnation in 2022, Lamp of Murmuur are here to show us their assertive side. Saturnian Bloodstorm is a whirlwind of heavy metal and confidence that cannot wait for you to hear it.–Luke Jackson
[Read Luke's interview with M. here]...
Majesties - Vast Reaches Unclaimed By design, Majesties' debut album Vast Reaches Unclaimed has a sound firmly rooted in the past. Featuring members of Inexorum, Obsequiae, and Antiverse, the music holds some similarities to those projects, but it mainly takes you back to early 1990s Sweden with furious melodicism via the riffs and ripping brutality on the vocal side. Fans with an appreciation of the Gothenburg scene in Sweden, especially before it was a fixed monolith in heavy metal history, should recognize this primordial and beautiful style of music in its nascent state: one that can still be heard in various forms over 30 years later.–Tom Campagna
[Read Tom's interview with Majesties here.]...
Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars Thirteen albums over three decades, and Katatonia still has crushing insight into the foundations of suffering. Though they've long since moved on from death/doom to a dark spread of gothic and progressive metal, that fundamental connection to our heartstrings remains secure.–Ted Nubel
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Gel – Only Constant Though Gel's career may have spiritually peaked after a performance at a Sonic Drive-In, musically speaking Only Constant is a monstrous offering that promises even more chaos to come. The band creates bizarre, wondrous soundscapes and then blitzes through them with a menacing hardcore assault. It's a brutalizing whirlwind at high speeds, and when it slows down we're treated to some excellent weirdness.–Ted Nubel
[Read Tom Campagna's interview with Gel here.]...
Kruelty - Untopia It's hard to disagree with the thick, meaty diet of d-beats and grisly hardcore-mashed-up-with-death-metal riffs that Kruelty provides. Plus, you really can't top the drum tones here, especially that snare. As any drummer can attest, an unmuted snare drum is a loud, disagreeable motherfucker, and it's rendered in full furious fidelity here.–Ted Nubel
[Taken from UMR 3/12-3/18]...
Spirit Possession - Of the Sign... Remember in 2023 when we all remembered that the secret ingredient of good black metal is not, in fact, saxophones, but rather a strong foundation in heavy metal songwriting? Spirit Possession do, and on their second album for Profound Lore, Of the Sign…, heavy metal furls itself around the band’s cavernous blackened instincts.–Luke Jackson
[Taken from UMR 3/19-3/25]...
Ulthar - Anthronomicon + Helionomicon Regardless of your gravitation to fearsome four-minute bangers or byzantine tracks that take up the full side of a record, they're both here. This is the sound of a band that's had time to dial in the sound they want, which makes sense considering Anthronomicon and Helionomicon were born during the pandemic and refined after Ulthar's three members moved out of the Bay Area in different directions in part due to the region's soaring coast of living. Though Ulthar are now a bicoastal band, and its members have had to do more virtual swapping of riffs and ideas, the pace of their creative output has, if anything, sped up.–Luke Jackson
[Read Luke's dual-review and interview with Ulthar here.]...
Liturgy - 93696 Which Liturgy did you come here for: white papers and trap beats, or black metal and staccato digitalism? For perhaps the first time in the band’s output, 93969 feels like a summation of what came before, a maximalist climax to the training montage that began with 2015’s The Ark Work and ran through 2020’s chamber piece Origin of the Alimonies.–Luke Jackson
[Taken from UMR 3/19-3/25]...
Ablösung - Deformität Well, for a start, this is cheating given it was released in the second half of December; It justifies its inclusion by having been unfairly overlooked amid December’s Big List Energy. The only convincing way to make rawness work in black metal is to make it completely integral to the music it supports. To embed raw in such a way that to alter or polish it becomes equivalent to removing an instrument altogether. Ablösung understand this, and their debut Deformität uses extreme rawness to convey a sense of place, while obscuring easy access to their music. The Siberian act play lock step, metronomic black metal through a blizzard of distortion and hum that will have your ears squinting to decipher it, and your imagination running wild as to how, when and why this document came to be. The audio equivalent of watching Skinamarink on a Game Boy.–Luke Jackson
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Witch Ripper - The Flight After The Fall Seattle’s Witch Ripper traffic in 2000s-era hulking, sludgy, proggy stoner metal. Their sophomore full-length The Flight After The Fall is the best record I’ve heard this year (so far). Thanks to brilliant songwriting, expert pacing, and a helluva story with some superb imagery (“Like a broken arrow, steel pushes black / Cold tethered no more, a space devoid of light”), the album builds to an arresting climax and satisfying conclusion with its 16-minute closer, “Everlasting in Retrograde Pts I & II,” like a well-written novel. This is my gold standard for 2023 until proven otherwise.–Steve Lampiris
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Ropes Inside a Hole – A Man and His Nature Ropes inside a Hole released one of this year's gentlest heavy records in January. A Man and His Nature is timeless, melodic post-rock veined with post-metal riffs. Gauzy moments give way to granite edges; ghostly vocals harmonize above. That's not to say the album lacks urgency—tracks like "Others Are Gone. I Don't Care" remain propulsive, buoyed as much by charging riffs as by math-rock guitar and rhythm work. It's an unassuming record that gets under the skin on repeated listens—this Italian six-piece knows how to paint a vivid and introspective picture for the listener not afraid of a little emotion.–Colin Williams
Trespasser - ἈΠΟΚΆΛΥΨΙΣ A scathing assault on some of the crumbling pillars keeping modern capitalism going. To quote a not-yet-published interview by Colin Dempsey (check back next week!), the band "repurposes the urgency often found in hardcore punk into a meaty yet triumphant barrage that’s outgrown their former black metal distinction." Does that count as a spoiler? Point is, this rocks, and our interview next week will dive extremely deep into what makes Trespasser tick....
Top Dungeon Synth Pick for Q1 2023 (Jan-March): Erang – A Blaze in Time A career in retrospective. The 11th album from this dungeon synth artist proves to be his most intimate and self reflective moving beyond all expectations. This is not just dungeon synth rather fantasy ambient being used to take stock of the past and evaluate trials and tribulations filled with both joy and sorrow.–Jonathan Carbon
Stay up to date on cool dungeon synth happenings with Kaptain Carbon's Dungeon Synth Digest. We're super excited for his upcoming feature on NEDS 2023!...
More Writer Submissions - Best of Q1 2023 (Jan-March): Note: These are all submissions that didn't make the above list. Alphabetically ordered, and you'll even find some non-metal stuff in here. Anachronism - Meanders Arnaut Pavle - Transylvanian Glare Baazlvaat - Incredible World Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You Celestial Rot - A Chain Around Eternity's Throat Conjureth - The Parasitic Chambers Cycle of the Raven Talons - A Medicinal Musical Danny Brown x JPEGMAFIA - Scaring the Hoes Enslaved - Heimdal Fathomage - Autumn's Dawn, Winter's Darkness Firmament - We Don't Rise We Just Fall Haxprocess - The Caverns of Duat Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags Judiciary - Flesh + Blood Kringa - All Stillborn Fires, Lick My Heart Man Must Die - The Pain Behind It All Mithrandir - Toward the Spires of Dol Guldur Obituary - Dying of Everything On the Sun - Drag Parranoul - After the Night REZN - Solace Scáth na Déithe - Virulent Providence Sigils of Ruin - Demo I Skratte - Akt II : Des Wolfes Klagen Superterrestial - The Fathomless Decay Theophonos - Nightmare Visions Thy Darkened Shade – Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya Trǫlláss - All Trolls Are Bastards Truciciel - Buried Beneath Zulu – A New Tomorrow For even more, check out BrooklynVegan's list of favorites from Q1.…