Live Report: Out For A Riff Fest
…
What started six years ago as a small backyard BBQ with a few local bands, then morphed into a bigger BBQ called Burger Fest with several bands, arrived this summer re-branded as the Out For a Riff Fest. Name changes aside, the event kept the same spirit as every year since its inception: a huge summer party for the Vancouver metal scene, complete with a dunk tank, burgers, and beers aplenty… all soundtracked by some of the city’s best metal bands. This year, bringing the momentum from previous year’s Burger Fests, a few touring bands were also added to the bill, chief among them North Carolina shitkickers Weedeater, as well as Seattle’s He Whose Ox is Gored.
As has been the case the last few years, Out For a Riff Fest took place at the East Van institution of the Waldorf Hotel, a long standing boutique hotel with a tiki motif. With most of the bands playing on an outdoor stage in the parking lot, it made for a slightly hilarious location for a metal fest being bordered by a large chain grocery store, bus stop, and union hall where passers-by were forced to stop with incredulous bewilderment at the barrage of noise coming from the tiny stage.
Though I missed instrumental doom outfit Craters and sci-fi tech-death posse The Hallowed Catharsis, I arrived in time for Satan’s Cape whose sludgy take on traditional doom perfectly matched the heat of the scorching parking lot. There were a handful of die-hards up front, but most people at this point had sought the shade of the picnic table umbrellas to the side of the stage. By the time Hedks hit the stage, I joined, attempting to cool off with a few cold ones while I watched the noisy-thrash rock duo shred.
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…
After scarfing down a messy burger, I mopped myself up and prepared for Wormwitch. I didn’t have a chance to catch them since the release of their excellent debut full length Strike Mortal Soil and was eager to see them tear through the tunes live. With most of the bands on the bill being of the slower, stoner/doom variety, Wormwitch provided a filthy and raw breath of fresh air. Their d-beat-chug-meets-black-metal-blast made for one of the best sets of the day.
Neck of the Woods were up next — another up-tempo band and a perfect pairing to carry the momentum Wormwitch set in motion. Vocalist Jeff Radomsky took his performance to the concrete, stalking through the crowd as he growled, shirtless and feral, letting the audience get a taste of tunes from their forthcoming debut LP The Passenger. I was momentarily distracted from their blitz of prog-slam by a curious scene at the dunk tank where two police officers were taking their shots trying to dunk a long-haired banger in a battle jacket, a task they completed with delight.
As the sun finally started to relent some of its intensity, Heron arrived onstage, crushing the audience with their harsh, manic doom, making sure that things remained as intense as the midday sun. It was also cool to see festival organizer Scott Bartlett shredding with his band at an event that basically started in his backyard.
They were followed by BRASS, a locally revered balls-to-the-wall rock band who are always a pleasure to see live and made for the most fun set of the day. The exuberant vibe of BRASS’ set ended up playing yang to Black Pills’ yin, with their ferocious noise-punk urging on the night’s impending darkness. I took the opportunity to go for burger round two in preparation for Weedeater.
…
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything really 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin trio is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin trio is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
Upcoming Metal Releases: 2/18/2024-2/24/2024
New Releases 2/18-2/24
Borknagar -- Fall | Century Media Records | Black Metal + Folk Metal + Progressive Metal | Norway (Bergen) Five years removed from solidifying their transition to a progressive metal band with black metal affectations, Borknagar return with their 12th studio album, Fall. Their previous record, True North, irked some who pined for Borknagar to remain a black metal band through and through. Fall will not please those people. However, it will more than satisfy those who need big, sexy, arena-shaking vocals, a heavy emphasis on melody, and a few cranks of black metal sprinkled like peppercorns.--Colin Dempsey
...
Morta Skuld -- Creation Undone | Peaceville Records | Death Metal | United States (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Morta Skuld's latest LP is meat-and-potatoes death metal with juicy, tender sirloins and charred yams glazed with maple syrup. It may be basic in format, but the execution is where the sweetness lies. Creation Undone comes 30 years after their respected debut album Dying Remains and plays like an old-school death metal record that's aged three decades. It's gruff yet polished, stubborn about its faith in its laurels. We'll have an in-depth interview with bandleader Dave Gregor up soon.--Colin Dempsey
...
The Body and Dis Fig -- Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven | Thrill Jockey | Experimental + Noise | United States + Germany At this point, it's not necessary to be familiar with The Body's collaborators. They've proven their ear for artists worthy of splitting an LP with them through their track record alongside the likes of Thou, Uniform, and Full of Hell. Berlin-based producer Dis Fig (real name Felicia Chen), the latest artist to join their ranks, seemingly shares The Body's love for creating hellish noise. In fact, when The Body's Lee Buford said, "A human can’t be as heavy as a machine," Chen added, "You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide." If those pull quotes make Orchards of a Beautiful Heaven out to be a tortured synthetic soundscape, then they're doing their job.--Colin Dempsey
...
Darkest Hour -- Perpetual | Terminal | MNRK Heavy | Metalcore + Melodic Death Metal | United States (Washington D.C.) Melodic death metal and actually good metalcore is having its heyday again, and this aging millennial couldn't be happier. The new Upon Stone got everyone stoked for the classics, and Darkest Hour do not disappoint, coming back from a long silence with some serious heavy, melodic goodness. Recommended for all fans of the band as well as new converts.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Stiriah -- Portal | The Crawling Chaos Records | Black Metal | Germany (Berlin) Stiriah's appeal is obvious. They play melodic black metal that's rife with harmonies. Their music rarely steps outside those boundaries, though given how precise and venomous they are in their comfort zone, it's idiotic to complain about that. There's no need to beef up your craft with atmosphere or over-the-top performances when the foundation is as solid as it is on Portal.--Colin Dempsey
...
Karkosa -- Estoterrorcult | Redefining Darkness Records | Blackened Death Metal | United States (Fort Wayne, Indiana) From Ted Nubel's track premiere of "Karkosa Deliver a Lethal Dose of Death Metal on "Poison of God" (Early Track Stream)":As blasphemous and corrosive as it is, Karkosa's new album Esoterrorcult reaches a level of catchiness that blackened death metal rarely nails, but honestly could stand to reach more often. There's no tradeoffs happening here, as Esoterrorcult is big on impact and vile, crawling riffs--but the Indiana group's core offering comes with engaging trappings that only add to the experience. Somber spoken word interludes, near-operatic gang vocals, and massive production make every song memorable, though the band's dynamic songwriting plays a role there as well. It's interesting to hear scream-along-worthy lyrics next to exacting technical staccato riffs, but damn if it doesn't work here.
...
Job for a Cowboy -- Moon Healer | Metal Blade Records | Death Metal | United States (Glendale, Arizona) Job for a Cowboy have seen and done it all during their career, from metalcore and deathcore to classic and new-school death metal and everything in between. Their new album sees them pairing down and playing straightforward, beat-down-inspired death with hints of everything that came before and some cool imagery. And the theme of false healers and psychedelic promises is all-too-relevant in this day and age.--Addison Herron-Wheeler
...
Iron Curtain -- Savage Dawn | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Spain (Murcia) The fifth and heaviest record from the Spaniards has more energy than six cups of coffee. Iron Curtain combine the giddy riffing and soloing of Iron Maiden and the sprinting momentum of Motörhead, complete with lyrics that’d make Lemmy proud: “Nomads of rock, out in the streets / Dirty rockers running town to town.” They clearly had fun writing and recording Savage Dawn, so turn your brain off and turn this up.--Steve Lampiris
...
Toxikull -- Under the Southern Light | Dying Victims Productions | Heavy Metal | Portugal (Lisbon) Toxikull’s amusing third record is their most arena-friendly and least thrashy. Here, the Portuguese quartet lean into the hair metal influence that’s been floating in the background since their debut, 2016’s Black Sheep. Under the Southern Light, then, is roughly the middle ground between Mötley Crüe and Overkill. Take that how you will.--Steve Lampiris
...
Vircolac -- Veneration | Dark Descent Records | Death Metal | Ireland (Dublin) The fiendish fug-swirl perpetrated by this promising Dublin quartet is primed with icky prurience and curiously chaotic deviations along countless musical left-hand paths, all wildly pupating in the bowels of a Celtic-lore mood cocoon. Imagine Slovakian tricksters Malokarpatan conducting rabid packs of Arthur Machen’s rascally “little people” in a narcotics-charged death metal burlesque, or Azagthoth and the Angels ditching Lovecraft for Yeats, and you might get an inkling. If there’s a minor quibble, it’s in the underuse of the album’s aura-enhancing extracurriculars, for instance, the wistful string section and Sarah McQuillan’s Björk-like guest vocals, but that’s pretty meagre beer when confronted with the majestic heft of Veneration’s singular brand of mysticism.--Spencer Grady
...
Traveler -- Prequel to Madness | No Remorse Records | Heavy Metal | Canada It's been four years since Traveler released Termination Shock, and the face of heavy metal has changed. Traditional heavy metal's revival is arguably stronger than ever, but even amongst an incredibly healthy stable of competition there's a fresh edge to Prequel to Madness: optimistic leads and an overall abundance of energy make this high-speed enterprise decidedly exciting.--Ted Nubel
...
Gonemage -- Spell Piercings | Independent | Nu-Metal + Black Metal | United States (Dallas, TX) Yes, you read those genre tags right. Garry Brents (Cara Neir, Memorrhage) pushes his ever-evolving project Gonemage in a new direction here, combining his mastery of weird black metal with his love of nu-metal. Rarely in music is anything truly 'new', anymore, but this certainly is a contender: bouncy industrial nu-metal with dark, surreal trappings and a healthy scorched vein of black metal.--Ted Nubel
...
How Fuming Mouth Touched Darkness and Returned With Gold on “Last Day of Sun” (Interview)
Fuming Mouth has certainly succeeded in death metal's surface level aspects – titanic riffs, dismal subject matter, and so on. However, what really sets them – and all good death metal – apart is their deep and sincere approach to songwriting and sense of melody. It's a formula that worked for the genre pioneers Death as well.
Like Death's founder Schuldiner, Fuming Mouth vocalist and guitarist Mark Whelan has had an uncomfortable brush with death following a cancer diagnosis. The result is a record where the vocals feel raw, immediate, and even desperately gripping, yet the record is incredibly heavy and also ridiculously hooky and catchy for what is ultimately straightforward death metal.
We spoke with Whelan about how they hit this ultimate blend on their latest album, Last Day of Sun, out now via Nuclear Blast.
…
…
What was the writing and recording process like this time around on Last Day Of Sun?
This is Fuming Mouth’s second full-length album, and it really started right when we released our first record. We wanted to dig into our roots and tap into bands like Nirvana, Carnage, Nihilist from Sweden, and old-school American death metal with bigger metal production, more melodic sections, more guitar solos, and bigger, heavier riffs.
And throughout the process, I got diagnosed with cancer, so it was really slow. It slowed everything down, but that also allowed us to work on those ideas even more. And now, years later, the album is finally out.
I know, I heard about that. It’s good that you had something to work on to keep you busy during all that.
It was nice because I was focusing so much on my guitar playing, and even though I wish this was done a little sooner, I really got to flesh things out.
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently because I also play death metal, and my father recently passed away from cancer. So I’m curious how having this big heavy thing on your shoulders that made the “death” in death metal seem more real affected the creation of this album.
It’s definitely true that some more serious elements of death got highlighted, but I can confidently say our most vile, disgusting, putrid songs came from that experience, songs like “Rest in Piss.” It’s almost morbidly funny.
And personally, when it comes to your dad, to a loved one going through cancer, it’s so much different than going through that yourself. Sometimes I look at my girl or my family members or friends, and I almost feel like they went through more than I went through, if that makes sense. So, from my perspective, it’s more like all these disgusting things I’ve had to go through and disgusting things are happening to me. That’s what I was seeing, so that’s what I was writing about. But then I did write some songs, like “Kill the Disease, which was so much more serious and, while being morbid, was about being strong and fighting back.
The record was obviously made under duress and has a lot of heavy themes as a result of that. But we have to ask—Are there plans in the works for a third record already?
We’ve been focusing on touring on this record, and there’s some solid plans for 2024 tours as well, so we’re going to focus on that. But there will definitely be a third album.
Is there anything else specifically you’d like to add while reflecting on the record overall, or to anyone who has enjoyed the record?
I would say, listen to our influences; don’t just listen to modern death metal or metal that is super trendy or currently cool. Entombed is one of the greatest death metal bands of all time, and so is Morbid Angel, Incantation, Carcass. So listen to our influences. Don't just listen to what’s going on right now.
Just because something is really hyped up right now, it doesn’t mean that’s not your thing, or that your thing won’t turn into a trendy thing right now. So just listen to all metal, including our influences, and listen to your heart when it comes to metal.
…
Last Day of Sun released November 3rd, 2023 via Nuclear Blast.
Mark Lanegan – Gargoyle
Noise Pollution #33: The Emperor
I guess it’s somewhat true that the older you get the more time seems to not just slip by but burst through like a bad meal at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere, coursing through the asshole of existence as water does a stream. And you can’t put shit back in the toothpaste tube, or whatever the old saying is. My memory’s hazy.
Anyway, you blink and you fucking miss it. And it’s been two years since Mark Lanegan died.
A few weeks before he died, I was plotting out the skeleton of a Noise Pollution where I was going to talk about some of his collaborations and less well known work, which got a little waylaid by a combination of my own inability to keep on track and, well, his unexpected death.
…
…
A lot has been written about him since his passing and we’re starting to see some unreleased and rare Screaming Trees material being put out by surviving guitarist Gary Lee Conner (whose brother and former Trees bassist Van also passed away in January of 2023) but besides that it’s been rather quiet. And I don’t mean that because he’s dead, but you know people tend to rush out before the corpse is even in the ground (or whatever final resting place they like, a jar in a shed? As long as it’s in the will, I guess.) and fuck it dry of any “found” material which turns out to be (mostly) pieces of ideas the deceased had left on the cutting room floor. But it’s so far seemed like he’s going to be left in peace after all. And that’s somewhat refreshing in these days of needing constant access to every single aspect of an artist’s creative life.It’s been over ten years since Lou Reed died and the people “closest” to him have managed to twist his legacy from proto-punk provocateur to an incessant social media bombardment of his love of Tai-Chi. You’d think that’s all his body of work represented, and they keep just fucking his corpse over and over, trying to thrust out little bits that can keep the money flowing in…I mean keep his legacy alive. His social media guardians have done more to fuck up his image than “Lulu” ever could.
I’m sure people would disagree with me. Those people have a right to their opinion. And that opinion is wrong.
…
Earth - There Is A Serpent Coming (Featuring Mark Lanegan)
…
One of the greatest surprises of the last few weeks of managing a record store (before the married woman my boss was fucking--with her husband’s consent I guess--decided I needed to be let go, with the offer of police escort!) I received a promo package with Earth’s “Primitive and Deadly” with a one sheet that said Lanegan was appearing on two of the songs. A decade and change before I had first heard of Earth when I was up late watching the “Kurt and Courtney” documentary and the interview with Dylan Carlson was one of the most fascinating pieces, and included bits of songs from the “Pentastar” album. Bringing this back to Lou Reed (as everything is fucking circular) this was sometime in the spring or summer of 2002, when my discovery of The Velvet Underground through Lou Reed through “A Perfect Day” being in “Trainspotting” opened me up to a whole new world of music, literature and even thought, the timing of hearing Earth for the first time versus even a year prior when all I cared about was black metal, was perfect.
Both “Pentastar” and “Earth 2” became huge records for me, being highly influential on Krieg’s “The Black House” and I would eventually cover “Charioteer (The Temple Song)” so I was excited when Carlson apparently dried up and came back into the light, with the help of Southern Lord Records. But the new material, while focused and well done, just never grabbed me the way the old stuff did so I stopped paying much attention. But staring at the promo, seeing Lanegan’s name and also working a twelve hour shift gave me every reason to give it a shot. I’m very glad I did.
…
…
“Primitive and Deadly” would have been one of my favorites of the year regardless of Lanegan’s involvement, it was just that fucking good. Riffs that just led you places, as fucking corny as that sounds, and everything seemed to be sonically in line with the record’s cover. Just a perfect record overall. And the last record I’ve listened to by Earth. Why? Beats me, I’ve never said I’m writing a perfect narrative that makes logical sense or, fuck, even goes anywhere. But oddly enough a few hours before I was fired, the store copy of “Primitive and Deadly” went missing. I have no idea what happened there other than someone should have learned not to choreograph a termination.
For those, like me, who didn’t pick up the vinyl the first time, “Primitive and Deadly” has recently been reissued through Southern Lord and it came out beautifully.
Lanegan, as I’ve come to learn, had countless appearances across genres, many of which I haven’t even explored yet. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep him, for lack of a better word, “alive” in some respects. I was familiar with his first record with Duke Garwood, “Black Pudding,” which was mostly acoustic folk-ish songs and it was fine, but I never really found myself going back to it. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out they did a second album together called “With Animals” in 2018. This one is far more experimental, stranger, and fucking darker than their previous work. Minimalist electronica mixed with the American Gothic that Lanegan had been perfecting the last part of his life.
…
…
I’m trying to remember the exacts but a few years ago someone who, and I had no idea about this fact until I made the mistake of voicing my opinion, directed a video for a (at the time) new Lanegan song that broke up the actual music for some skit that was just abysmal. Anyway I guess I told him it sucked and he told me I sucked “bro” and that was something I’d kind of forgotten until I was writing this. They can’t all be beautiful days.
…
…
I’ve probably spent the last week or so relistening to “Gargoyle” over and over, mostly “Nocturne” on repeat, paying very close attention to the lyrics. I don’t really have very much to add here except that this is a beautiful song.
Since his death I’ve read his memoir “Sing Backwards and Weep” which is simultaneously the best music related book I’ve ever read and also one of the most bleak and depressing as well. It ends just as Josh Homme forms Queens of the Stone Age and leaves a lot left to tell. And I guess that’s the mark of a good writer-leaving the audience wanting more, even if it’s unintentional, like in this instance.
I don’t think I’ll ever have that problem with my audience.
Lanegan’s last record was a solo, his first since “Field Songs” if I’m correct, and it’s meant as a compliment to the experience of his memoir. “Straight Songs of Sorrow” is just as bleak a listen as “Sing Backwards..” was a read. I guess it’s a fitting end to a long and, ultimately, excellent discography.
It’s certainly no posthumous ambient album about Tai Chi with lengthy bullshit about the practice being the thread of decades worth of work.
…
…
I plan on reading “Devil in a Coma”, his account of Covid (which eventually contributed to his death) and considered it while I had Covid myself, but we’ve already established I’m a fuck up when it comes to planning my life. Which also means I don’t really have a plan for the next one of these. But I’ll think of something. See you then.
Noise Pollution #33: The Emperor
I guess it’s somewhat true that the older you get the more time seems to not just slip by but burst through like a bad meal at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere, coursing through the asshole of existence as water does a stream. And you can’t put shit back in the toothpaste tube, or whatever the old saying is. My memory’s hazy.
Anyway, you blink and you fucking miss it. And it’s been two years since Mark Lanegan died.
A few weeks before he died, I was plotting out the skeleton of a Noise Pollution where I was going to talk about some of his collaborations and less well known work, which got a little waylaid by a combination of my own inability to keep on track and, well, his unexpected death.
…
…
A lot has been written about him since his passing and we’re starting to see some unreleased and rare Screaming Trees material being put out by surviving guitarist Gary Lee Conner (whose brother and former Trees bassist Van also passed away in January of 2023) but besides that it’s been rather quiet. And I don’t mean that because he’s dead, but you know people tend to rush out before the corpse is even in the ground (or whatever final resting place they like, a jar in a shed? As long as it’s in the will, I guess.) and fuck it dry of any “found” material which turns out to be (mostly) pieces of ideas the deceased had left on the cutting room floor. But it’s so far seemed like he’s going to be left in peace after all. And that’s somewhat refreshing in these days of needing constant access to every single aspect of an artist’s creative life.It’s been over ten years since Lou Reed died and the people “closest” to him have managed to twist his legacy from proto-punk provocateur to an incessant social media bombardment of his love of Tai-Chi. You’d think that’s all his body of work represented, and they keep just fucking his corpse over and over, trying to thrust out little bits that can keep the money flowing in…I mean keep his legacy alive. His social media guardians have done more to fuck up his image than “Lulu” ever could.
I’m sure people would disagree with me. Those people have a right to their opinion. And that opinion is wrong.
…
Earth - There Is A Serpent Coming (Featuring Mark Lanegan)
…
One of the greatest surprises of the last few weeks of managing a record store (before the married woman my boss was fucking--with her husband’s consent I guess--decided I needed to be let go, with the offer of police escort!) I received a promo package with Earth’s “Primitive and Deadly” with a one sheet that said Lanegan was appearing on two of the songs. A decade and change before I had first heard of Earth when I was up late watching the “Kurt and Courtney” documentary and the interview with Dylan Carlson was one of the most fascinating pieces, and included bits of songs from the “Pentastar” album. Bringing this back to Lou Reed (as everything is fucking circular) this was sometime in the spring or summer of 2002, when my discovery of The Velvet Underground through Lou Reed through “A Perfect Day” being in “Trainspotting” opened me up to a whole new world of music, literature and even thought, the timing of hearing Earth for the first time versus even a year prior when all I cared about was black metal, was perfect.
Both “Pentastar” and “Earth 2” became huge records for me, being highly influential on Krieg’s “The Black House” and I would eventually cover “Charioteer (The Temple Song)” so I was excited when Carlson apparently dried up and came back into the light, with the help of Southern Lord Records. But the new material, while focused and well done, just never grabbed me the way the old stuff did so I stopped paying much attention. But staring at the promo, seeing Lanegan’s name and also working a twelve hour shift gave me every reason to give it a shot. I’m very glad I did.
…
…
“Primitive and Deadly” would have been one of my favorites of the year regardless of Lanegan’s involvement, it was just that fucking good. Riffs that just led you places, as fucking corny as that sounds, and everything seemed to be sonically in line with the record’s cover. Just a perfect record overall. And the last record I’ve listened to by Earth. Why? Beats me, I’ve never said I’m writing a perfect narrative that makes logical sense or, fuck, even goes anywhere. But oddly enough a few hours before I was fired, the store copy of “Primitive and Deadly” went missing. I have no idea what happened there other than someone should have learned not to choreograph a termination.
For those, like me, who didn’t pick up the vinyl the first time, “Primitive and Deadly” has recently been reissued through Southern Lord and it came out beautifully.
Lanegan, as I’ve come to learn, had countless appearances across genres, many of which I haven’t even explored yet. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep him, for lack of a better word, “alive” in some respects. I was familiar with his first record with Duke Garwood, “Black Pudding,” which was mostly acoustic folk-ish songs and it was fine, but I never really found myself going back to it. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out they did a second album together called “With Animals” in 2018. This one is far more experimental, stranger, and fucking darker than their previous work. Minimalist electronica mixed with the American Gothic that Lanegan had been perfecting the last part of his life.
…
…
I’m trying to remember the exacts but a few years ago someone who, and I had no idea about this fact until I made the mistake of voicing my opinion, directed a video for a (at the time) new Lanegan song that broke up the actual music for some skit that was just abysmal. Anyway I guess I told him it sucked and he told me I sucked “bro” and that was something I’d kind of forgotten until I was writing this. They can’t all be beautiful days.
…
…
I’ve probably spent the last week or so relistening to “Gargoyle” over and over, mostly “Nocturne” on repeat, paying very close attention to the lyrics. I don’t really have very much to add here except that this is a beautiful song.
Since his death I’ve read his memoir “Sing Backwards and Weep” which is simultaneously the best music related book I’ve ever read and also one of the most bleak and depressing as well. It ends just as Josh Homme forms Queens of the Stone Age and leaves a lot left to tell. And I guess that’s the mark of a good writer-leaving the audience wanting more, even if it’s unintentional, like in this instance.
I don’t think I’ll ever have that problem with my audience.
Lanegan’s last record was a solo, his first since “Field Songs” if I’m correct, and it’s meant as a compliment to the experience of his memoir. “Straight Songs of Sorrow” is just as bleak a listen as “Sing Backwards..” was a read. I guess it’s a fitting end to a long and, ultimately, excellent discography.
It’s certainly no posthumous ambient album about Tai Chi with lengthy bullshit about the practice being the thread of decades worth of work.
…
…
I plan on reading “Devil in a Coma”, his account of Covid (which eventually contributed to his death) and considered it while I had Covid myself, but we’ve already established I’m a fuck up when it comes to planning my life. Which also means I don’t really have a plan for the next one of these. But I’ll think of something. See you then.
Noise Pollution #33: The Emperor
I guess it’s somewhat true that the older you get the more time seems to not just slip by but burst through like a bad meal at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere, coursing through the asshole of existence as water does a stream. And you can’t put shit back in the toothpaste tube, or whatever the old saying is. My memory’s hazy.
Anyway, you blink and you fucking miss it. And it’s been two years since Mark Lanegan died.
A few weeks before he died, I was plotting out the skeleton of a Noise Pollution where I was going to talk about some of his collaborations and less well known work, which got a little waylaid by a combination of my own inability to keep on track and, well, his unexpected death.
…
…
A lot has been written about him since his passing and we’re starting to see some unreleased and rare Screaming Trees material being put out by surviving guitarist Gary Lee Conner (whose brother and former Trees bassist Van also passed away in January of 2023) but besides that it’s been rather quiet. And I don’t mean that because he’s dead, but you know people tend to rush out before the corpse is even in the ground (or whatever final resting place they like, a jar in a shed? As long as it’s in the will, I guess.) and fuck it dry of any “found” material which turns out to be (mostly) pieces of ideas the deceased had left on the cutting room floor. But it’s so far seemed like he’s going to be left in peace after all. And that’s somewhat refreshing in these days of needing constant access to every single aspect of an artist’s creative life.It’s been over ten years since Lou Reed died and the people “closest” to him have managed to twist his legacy from proto-punk provocateur to an incessant social media bombardment of his love of Tai-Chi. You’d think that’s all his body of work represented, and they keep just fucking his corpse over and over, trying to thrust out little bits that can keep the money flowing in…I mean keep his legacy alive. His social media guardians have done more to fuck up his image than “Lulu” ever could.
I’m sure people would disagree with me. Those people have a right to their opinion. And that opinion is wrong.
…
Earth - There Is A Serpent Coming (Featuring Mark Lanegan)
…
One of the greatest surprises of the last few weeks of managing a record store (before the married woman my boss was fucking--with her husband’s consent I guess--decided I needed to be let go, with the offer of police escort!) I received a promo package with Earth’s “Primitive and Deadly” with a one sheet that said Lanegan was appearing on two of the songs. A decade and change before I had first heard of Earth when I was up late watching the “Kurt and Courtney” documentary and the interview with Dylan Carlson was one of the most fascinating pieces, and included bits of songs from the “Pentastar” album. Bringing this back to Lou Reed (as everything is fucking circular) this was sometime in the spring or summer of 2002, when my discovery of The Velvet Underground through Lou Reed through “A Perfect Day” being in “Trainspotting” opened me up to a whole new world of music, literature and even thought, the timing of hearing Earth for the first time versus even a year prior when all I cared about was black metal, was perfect.
Both “Pentastar” and “Earth 2” became huge records for me, being highly influential on Krieg’s “The Black House” and I would eventually cover “Charioteer (The Temple Song)” so I was excited when Carlson apparently dried up and came back into the light, with the help of Southern Lord Records. But the new material, while focused and well done, just never grabbed me the way the old stuff did so I stopped paying much attention. But staring at the promo, seeing Lanegan’s name and also working a twelve hour shift gave me every reason to give it a shot. I’m very glad I did.
…
…
“Primitive and Deadly” would have been one of my favorites of the year regardless of Lanegan’s involvement, it was just that fucking good. Riffs that just led you places, as fucking corny as that sounds, and everything seemed to be sonically in line with the record’s cover. Just a perfect record overall. And the last record I’ve listened to by Earth. Why? Beats me, I’ve never said I’m writing a perfect narrative that makes logical sense or, fuck, even goes anywhere. But oddly enough a few hours before I was fired, the store copy of “Primitive and Deadly” went missing. I have no idea what happened there other than someone should have learned not to choreograph a termination.
For those, like me, who didn’t pick up the vinyl the first time, “Primitive and Deadly” has recently been reissued through Southern Lord and it came out beautifully.
Lanegan, as I’ve come to learn, had countless appearances across genres, many of which I haven’t even explored yet. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep him, for lack of a better word, “alive” in some respects. I was familiar with his first record with Duke Garwood, “Black Pudding,” which was mostly acoustic folk-ish songs and it was fine, but I never really found myself going back to it. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out they did a second album together called “With Animals” in 2018. This one is far more experimental, stranger, and fucking darker than their previous work. Minimalist electronica mixed with the American Gothic that Lanegan had been perfecting the last part of his life.
…
…
I’m trying to remember the exacts but a few years ago someone who, and I had no idea about this fact until I made the mistake of voicing my opinion, directed a video for a (at the time) new Lanegan song that broke up the actual music for some skit that was just abysmal. Anyway I guess I told him it sucked and he told me I sucked “bro” and that was something I’d kind of forgotten until I was writing this. They can’t all be beautiful days.
…
…
I’ve probably spent the last week or so relistening to “Gargoyle” over and over, mostly “Nocturne” on repeat, paying very close attention to the lyrics. I don’t really have very much to add here except that this is a beautiful song.
Since his death I’ve read his memoir “Sing Backwards and Weep” which is simultaneously the best music related book I’ve ever read and also one of the most bleak and depressing as well. It ends just as Josh Homme forms Queens of the Stone Age and leaves a lot left to tell. And I guess that’s the mark of a good writer-leaving the audience wanting more, even if it’s unintentional, like in this instance.
I don’t think I’ll ever have that problem with my audience.
Lanegan’s last record was a solo, his first since “Field Songs” if I’m correct, and it’s meant as a compliment to the experience of his memoir. “Straight Songs of Sorrow” is just as bleak a listen as “Sing Backwards..” was a read. I guess it’s a fitting end to a long and, ultimately, excellent discography.
It’s certainly no posthumous ambient album about Tai Chi with lengthy bullshit about the practice being the thread of decades worth of work.
…
…
I plan on reading “Devil in a Coma”, his account of Covid (which eventually contributed to his death) and considered it while I had Covid myself, but we’ve already established I’m a fuck up when it comes to planning my life. Which also means I don’t really have a plan for the next one of these. But I’ll think of something. See you then.
Noise Pollution #33: The Emperor
I guess it’s somewhat true that the older you get the more time seems to not just slip by but burst through like a bad meal at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere, coursing through the asshole of existence as water does a stream. And you can’t put shit back in the toothpaste tube, or whatever the old saying is. My memory’s hazy.
Anyway, you blink and you fucking miss it. And it’s been two years since Mark Lanegan died.
A few weeks before he died, I was plotting out the skeleton of a Noise Pollution where I was going to talk about some of his collaborations and less well known work, which got a little waylaid by a combination of my own inability to keep on track and, well, his unexpected death.
…
…
A lot has been written about him since his passing and we’re starting to see some unreleased and rare Screaming Trees material being put out by surviving guitarist Gary Lee Conner (whose brother and former Trees bassist Van also passed away in January of 2023) but besides that it’s been rather quiet. And I don’t mean that because he’s dead, but you know people tend to rush out before the corpse is even in the ground (or whatever final resting place they like, a jar in a shed? As long as it’s in the will, I guess.) and fuck it dry of any “found” material which turns out to be (mostly) pieces of ideas the deceased had left on the cutting room floor. But it’s so far seemed like he’s going to be left in peace after all. And that’s somewhat refreshing in these days of needing constant access to every single aspect of an artist’s creative life.It’s been over ten years since Lou Reed died and the people “closest” to him have managed to twist his legacy from proto-punk provocateur to an incessant social media bombardment of his love of Tai-Chi. You’d think that’s all his body of work represented, and they keep just fucking his corpse over and over, trying to thrust out little bits that can keep the money flowing in…I mean keep his legacy alive. His social media guardians have done more to fuck up his image than “Lulu” ever could.
I’m sure people would disagree with me. Those people have a right to their opinion. And that opinion is wrong.
…
Earth - There Is A Serpent Coming (Featuring Mark Lanegan)
…
One of the greatest surprises of the last few weeks of managing a record store (before the married woman my boss was fucking--with her husband’s consent I guess--decided I needed to be let go, with the offer of police escort!) I received a promo package with Earth’s “Primitive and Deadly” with a one sheet that said Lanegan was appearing on two of the songs. A decade and change before I had first heard of Earth when I was up late watching the “Kurt and Courtney” documentary and the interview with Dylan Carlson was one of the most fascinating pieces, and included bits of songs from the “Pentastar” album. Bringing this back to Lou Reed (as everything is fucking circular) this was sometime in the spring or summer of 2002, when my discovery of The Velvet Underground through Lou Reed through “A Perfect Day” being in “Trainspotting” opened me up to a whole new world of music, literature and even thought, the timing of hearing Earth for the first time versus even a year prior when all I cared about was black metal, was perfect.
Both “Pentastar” and “Earth 2” became huge records for me, being highly influential on Krieg’s “The Black House” and I would eventually cover “Charioteer (The Temple Song)” so I was excited when Carlson apparently dried up and came back into the light, with the help of Southern Lord Records. But the new material, while focused and well done, just never grabbed me the way the old stuff did so I stopped paying much attention. But staring at the promo, seeing Lanegan’s name and also working a twelve hour shift gave me every reason to give it a shot. I’m very glad I did.
…
…
“Primitive and Deadly” would have been one of my favorites of the year regardless of Lanegan’s involvement, it was just that fucking good. Riffs that just led you places, as fucking corny as that sounds, and everything seemed to be sonically in line with the record’s cover. Just a perfect record overall. And the last record I’ve listened to by Earth. Why? Beats me, I’ve never said I’m writing a perfect narrative that makes logical sense or, fuck, even goes anywhere. But oddly enough a few hours before I was fired, the store copy of “Primitive and Deadly” went missing. I have no idea what happened there other than someone should have learned not to choreograph a termination.
For those, like me, who didn’t pick up the vinyl the first time, “Primitive and Deadly” has recently been reissued through Southern Lord and it came out beautifully.
Lanegan, as I’ve come to learn, had countless appearances across genres, many of which I haven’t even explored yet. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep him, for lack of a better word, “alive” in some respects. I was familiar with his first record with Duke Garwood, “Black Pudding,” which was mostly acoustic folk-ish songs and it was fine, but I never really found myself going back to it. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out they did a second album together called “With Animals” in 2018. This one is far more experimental, stranger, and fucking darker than their previous work. Minimalist electronica mixed with the American Gothic that Lanegan had been perfecting the last part of his life.
…
…
I’m trying to remember the exacts but a few years ago someone who, and I had no idea about this fact until I made the mistake of voicing my opinion, directed a video for a (at the time) new Lanegan song that broke up the actual music for some skit that was just abysmal. Anyway I guess I told him it sucked and he told me I sucked “bro” and that was something I’d kind of forgotten until I was writing this. They can’t all be beautiful days.
…
…
I’ve probably spent the last week or so relistening to “Gargoyle” over and over, mostly “Nocturne” on repeat, paying very close attention to the lyrics. I don’t really have very much to add here except that this is a beautiful song.
Since his death I’ve read his memoir “Sing Backwards and Weep” which is simultaneously the best music related book I’ve ever read and also one of the most bleak and depressing as well. It ends just as Josh Homme forms Queens of the Stone Age and leaves a lot left to tell. And I guess that’s the mark of a good writer-leaving the audience wanting more, even if it’s unintentional, like in this instance.
I don’t think I’ll ever have that problem with my audience.
Lanegan’s last record was a solo, his first since “Field Songs” if I’m correct, and it’s meant as a compliment to the experience of his memoir. “Straight Songs of Sorrow” is just as bleak a listen as “Sing Backwards..” was a read. I guess it’s a fitting end to a long and, ultimately, excellent discography.
It’s certainly no posthumous ambient album about Tai Chi with lengthy bullshit about the practice being the thread of decades worth of work.
…
…
I plan on reading “Devil in a Coma”, his account of Covid (which eventually contributed to his death) and considered it while I had Covid myself, but we’ve already established I’m a fuck up when it comes to planning my life. Which also means I don’t really have a plan for the next one of these. But I’ll think of something. See you then.
Noise Pollution #33: The Emperor
I guess it’s somewhat true that the older you get the more time seems to not just slip by but burst through like a bad meal at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere, coursing through the asshole of existence as water does a stream. And you can’t put shit back in the toothpaste tube, or whatever the old saying is. My memory’s hazy.
Anyway, you blink and you fucking miss it. And it’s been two years since Mark Lanegan died.
A few weeks before he died, I was plotting out the skeleton of a Noise Pollution where I was going to talk about some of his collaborations and less well known work, which got a little waylaid by a combination of my own inability to keep on track and, well, his unexpected death.
…
…
A lot has been written about him since his passing and we’re starting to see some unreleased and rare Screaming Trees material being put out by surviving guitarist Gary Lee Conner (whose brother and former Trees bassist Van also passed away in January of 2023) but besides that it’s been rather quiet. And I don’t mean that because he’s dead, but you know people tend to rush out before the corpse is even in the ground (or whatever final resting place they like, a jar in a shed? As long as it’s in the will, I guess.) and fuck it dry of any “found” material which turns out to be (mostly) pieces of ideas the deceased had left on the cutting room floor. But it’s so far seemed like he’s going to be left in peace after all. And that’s somewhat refreshing in these days of needing constant access to every single aspect of an artist’s creative life.It’s been over ten years since Lou Reed died and the people “closest” to him have managed to twist his legacy from proto-punk provocateur to an incessant social media bombardment of his love of Tai-Chi. You’d think that’s all his body of work represented, and they keep just fucking his corpse over and over, trying to thrust out little bits that can keep the money flowing in…I mean keep his legacy alive. His social media guardians have done more to fuck up his image than “Lulu” ever could.
I’m sure people would disagree with me. Those people have a right to their opinion. And that opinion is wrong.
…
Earth - There Is A Serpent Coming (Featuring Mark Lanegan)
…
One of the greatest surprises of the last few weeks of managing a record store (before the married woman my boss was fucking--with her husband’s consent I guess--decided I needed to be let go, with the offer of police escort!) I received a promo package with Earth’s “Primitive and Deadly” with a one sheet that said Lanegan was appearing on two of the songs. A decade and change before I had first heard of Earth when I was up late watching the “Kurt and Courtney” documentary and the interview with Dylan Carlson was one of the most fascinating pieces, and included bits of songs from the “Pentastar” album. Bringing this back to Lou Reed (as everything is fucking circular) this was sometime in the spring or summer of 2002, when my discovery of The Velvet Underground through Lou Reed through “A Perfect Day” being in “Trainspotting” opened me up to a whole new world of music, literature and even thought, the timing of hearing Earth for the first time versus even a year prior when all I cared about was black metal, was perfect.
Both “Pentastar” and “Earth 2” became huge records for me, being highly influential on Krieg’s “The Black House” and I would eventually cover “Charioteer (The Temple Song)” so I was excited when Carlson apparently dried up and came back into the light, with the help of Southern Lord Records. But the new material, while focused and well done, just never grabbed me the way the old stuff did so I stopped paying much attention. But staring at the promo, seeing Lanegan’s name and also working a twelve hour shift gave me every reason to give it a shot. I’m very glad I did.
…
…
“Primitive and Deadly” would have been one of my favorites of the year regardless of Lanegan’s involvement, it was just that fucking good. Riffs that just led you places, as fucking corny as that sounds, and everything seemed to be sonically in line with the record’s cover. Just a perfect record overall. And the last record I’ve listened to by Earth. Why? Beats me, I’ve never said I’m writing a perfect narrative that makes logical sense or, fuck, even goes anywhere. But oddly enough a few hours before I was fired, the store copy of “Primitive and Deadly” went missing. I have no idea what happened there other than someone should have learned not to choreograph a termination.
For those, like me, who didn’t pick up the vinyl the first time, “Primitive and Deadly” has recently been reissued through Southern Lord and it came out beautifully.
Lanegan, as I’ve come to learn, had countless appearances across genres, many of which I haven’t even explored yet. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep him, for lack of a better word, “alive” in some respects. I was familiar with his first record with Duke Garwood, “Black Pudding,” which was mostly acoustic folk-ish songs and it was fine, but I never really found myself going back to it. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out they did a second album together called “With Animals” in 2018. This one is far more experimental, stranger, and fucking darker than their previous work. Minimalist electronica mixed with the American Gothic that Lanegan had been perfecting the last part of his life.
…
…
I’m trying to remember the exacts but a few years ago someone who, and I had no idea about this fact until I made the mistake of voicing my opinion, directed a video for a (at the time) new Lanegan song that broke up the actual music for some skit that was just abysmal. Anyway I guess I told him it sucked and he told me I sucked “bro” and that was something I’d kind of forgotten until I was writing this. They can’t all be beautiful days.
…
…
I’ve probably spent the last week or so relistening to “Gargoyle” over and over, mostly “Nocturne” on repeat, paying very close attention to the lyrics. I don’t really have very much to add here except that this is a beautiful song.
Since his death I’ve read his memoir “Sing Backwards and Weep” which is simultaneously the best music related book I’ve ever read and also one of the most bleak and depressing as well. It ends just as Josh Homme forms Queens of the Stone Age and leaves a lot left to tell. And I guess that’s the mark of a good writer-leaving the audience wanting more, even if it’s unintentional, like in this instance.
I don’t think I’ll ever have that problem with my audience.
Lanegan’s last record was a solo, his first since “Field Songs” if I’m correct, and it’s meant as a compliment to the experience of his memoir. “Straight Songs of Sorrow” is just as bleak a listen as “Sing Backwards..” was a read. I guess it’s a fitting end to a long and, ultimately, excellent discography.
It’s certainly no posthumous ambient album about Tai Chi with lengthy bullshit about the practice being the thread of decades worth of work.
…
…
I plan on reading “Devil in a Coma”, his account of Covid (which eventually contributed to his death) and considered it while I had Covid myself, but we’ve already established I’m a fuck up when it comes to planning my life. Which also means I don’t really have a plan for the next one of these. But I’ll think of something. See you then.
Noise Pollution #33: The Emperor
I guess it’s somewhat true that the older you get the more time seems to not just slip by but burst through like a bad meal at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere, coursing through the asshole of existence as water does a stream. And you can’t put shit back in the toothpaste tube, or whatever the old saying is. My memory’s hazy.
Anyway, you blink and you fucking miss it. And it’s been two years since Mark Lanegan died.
A few weeks before he died, I was plotting out the skeleton of a Noise Pollution where I was going to talk about some of his collaborations and less well known work, which got a little waylaid by a combination of my own inability to keep on track and, well, his unexpected death.
…
…
A lot has been written about him since his passing and we’re starting to see some unreleased and rare Screaming Trees material being put out by surviving guitarist Gary Lee Conner (whose brother and former Trees bassist Van also passed away in January of 2023) but besides that it’s been rather quiet. And I don’t mean that because he’s dead, but you know people tend to rush out before the corpse is even in the ground (or whatever final resting place they like, a jar in a shed? As long as it’s in the will, I guess.) and fuck it dry of any “found” material which turns out to be (mostly) pieces of ideas the deceased had left on the cutting room floor. But it’s so far seemed like he’s going to be left in peace after all. And that’s somewhat refreshing in these days of needing constant access to every single aspect of an artist’s creative life.It’s been over ten years since Lou Reed died and the people “closest” to him have managed to twist his legacy from proto-punk provocateur to an incessant social media bombardment of his love of Tai-Chi. You’d think that’s all his body of work represented, and they keep just fucking his corpse over and over, trying to thrust out little bits that can keep the money flowing in…I mean keep his legacy alive. His social media guardians have done more to fuck up his image than “Lulu” ever could.
I’m sure people would disagree with me. Those people have a right to their opinion. And that opinion is wrong.
…
Earth - There Is A Serpent Coming (Featuring Mark Lanegan)
…
One of the greatest surprises of the last few weeks of managing a record store (before the married woman my boss was fucking--with her husband’s consent I guess--decided I needed to be let go, with the offer of police escort!) I received a promo package with Earth’s “Primitive and Deadly” with a one sheet that said Lanegan was appearing on two of the songs. A decade and change before I had first heard of Earth when I was up late watching the “Kurt and Courtney” documentary and the interview with Dylan Carlson was one of the most fascinating pieces, and included bits of songs from the “Pentastar” album. Bringing this back to Lou Reed (as everything is fucking circular) this was sometime in the spring or summer of 2002, when my discovery of The Velvet Underground through Lou Reed through “A Perfect Day” being in “Trainspotting” opened me up to a whole new world of music, literature and even thought, the timing of hearing Earth for the first time versus even a year prior when all I cared about was black metal, was perfect.
Both “Pentastar” and “Earth 2” became huge records for me, being highly influential on Krieg’s “The Black House” and I would eventually cover “Charioteer (The Temple Song)” so I was excited when Carlson apparently dried up and came back into the light, with the help of Southern Lord Records. But the new material, while focused and well done, just never grabbed me the way the old stuff did so I stopped paying much attention. But staring at the promo, seeing Lanegan’s name and also working a twelve hour shift gave me every reason to give it a shot. I’m very glad I did.
…
…
“Primitive and Deadly” would have been one of my favorites of the year regardless of Lanegan’s involvement, it was just that fucking good. Riffs that just led you places, as fucking corny as that sounds, and everything seemed to be sonically in line with the record’s cover. Just a perfect record overall. And the last record I’ve listened to by Earth. Why? Beats me, I’ve never said I’m writing a perfect narrative that makes logical sense or, fuck, even goes anywhere. But oddly enough a few hours before I was fired, the store copy of “Primitive and Deadly” went missing. I have no idea what happened there other than someone should have learned not to choreograph a termination.
For those, like me, who didn’t pick up the vinyl the first time, “Primitive and Deadly” has recently been reissued through Southern Lord and it came out beautifully.
Lanegan, as I’ve come to learn, had countless appearances across genres, many of which I haven’t even explored yet. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep him, for lack of a better word, “alive” in some respects. I was familiar with his first record with Duke Garwood, “Black Pudding,” which was mostly acoustic folk-ish songs and it was fine, but I never really found myself going back to it. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out they did a second album together called “With Animals” in 2018. This one is far more experimental, stranger, and fucking darker than their previous work. Minimalist electronica mixed with the American Gothic that Lanegan had been perfecting the last part of his life.
…
…
I’m trying to remember the exacts but a few years ago someone who, and I had no idea about this fact until I made the mistake of voicing my opinion, directed a video for a (at the time) new Lanegan song that broke up the actual music for some skit that was just abysmal. Anyway I guess I told him it sucked and he told me I sucked “bro” and that was something I’d kind of forgotten until I was writing this. They can’t all be beautiful days.
…
…
I’ve probably spent the last week or so relistening to “Gargoyle” over and over, mostly “Nocturne” on repeat, paying very close attention to the lyrics. I don’t really have very much to add here except that this is a beautiful song.
Since his death I’ve read his memoir “Sing Backwards and Weep” which is simultaneously the best music related book I’ve ever read and also one of the most bleak and depressing as well. It ends just as Josh Homme forms Queens of the Stone Age and leaves a lot left to tell. And I guess that’s the mark of a good writer-leaving the audience wanting more, even if it’s unintentional, like in this instance.
I don’t think I’ll ever have that problem with my audience.
Lanegan’s last record was a solo, his first since “Field Songs” if I’m correct, and it’s meant as a compliment to the experience of his memoir. “Straight Songs of Sorrow” is just as bleak a listen as “Sing Backwards..” was a read. I guess it’s a fitting end to a long and, ultimately, excellent discography.
It’s certainly no posthumous ambient album about Tai Chi with lengthy bullshit about the practice being the thread of decades worth of work.
…
…
I plan on reading “Devil in a Coma”, his account of Covid (which eventually contributed to his death) and considered it while I had Covid myself, but we’ve already established I’m a fuck up when it comes to planning my life. Which also means I don’t really have a plan for the next one of these. But I’ll think of something. See you then.
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
Acathexis – Immerse
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
“A Slow, Weary Wind” Runs through Acathexis’s Troubled Black Metal (Early Track Stream)
The Internet has enabled some rather fascinating collaborations in black metal, and Acathexis ranks high among them. Featuring Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum, the absurdly prolific Déhà, and Dany Tee (Seelenmord, Los Males del Mundo), the group put together their new album Immerse across three separate countries, but you'd never guess it from the finished product. Impressively locked-in, the trio execute atmospheric black metal with overbearing minimalism, avoiding extra layers in favor of weaving several compelling threads together. Déhà instills a complex mix of emotions into explorative leads that silhouette his rhythm guitar like impeccably detailed funeral crepe, while Buczarski's drumming locks in with huge booming fills that thunder throughout the album. Tee's vocals -- piercing, blustery gales -- enhance the natural, elemental chaos that permeates Immerse.
Today we're premiering "A Slow, Weary Wind," which concludes the record and comes with a sense of beleaguered endurance to match. Like a traveler drawing close to the end of a difficult journey, it comes with reflection, regret, and exhaustion, all expressed through the lens of sorrowful black metal.
...
...
Immerse releases March 20th via Amor Fati and Extraconscious Records.
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
...
...
The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
...
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 400px; height: 671px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2827572532/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/tracklist=true/tracks=2264372331,2914726852,1916290538,3531388869,570109062/esig=5a846a04a270501203b8490b7b13e8f3/" seamless><a href="https://tragedyproductions.bandcamp.com/album/rot-of-the-soul">Rot of the Soul by Angmodnes</a></iframe>
...
The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
...
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 400px; height: 671px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2827572532/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/tracklist=true/tracks=2264372331,2914726852,1916290538,3531388869,570109062/esig=5a846a04a270501203b8490b7b13e8f3/" seamless><a href="https://tragedyproductions.bandcamp.com/album/rot-of-the-soul">Rot of the Soul by Angmodnes</a></iframe>
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The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Angmodnes – Rot of the Soul
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
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The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
...
...
The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
...
...
The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Angmodnes Spreads the “Rot of the Soul” Through Gloomy Death-Doom (Early Album Stream)
Power and grace seem equally important in crafting melodic death and doom metal, and Angmodnes is not lacking in either capacity. The mysterious Dutch outfit (another offspring of Utrecht's potent scene) is set to deliver their debut album Rot of the Soul, a dose of sorrowful extreme metal that's as poignant in its weighted silences as it is at its heaviest. It's a record that's incredibly personal in some ways, especially lyrically, and derives a lot of its sound from layering clean vocals together, both ethereal and direct. At the same time, even the opening track "Beneath" is in possession of some extremely sinister riffs that had to have been cooked up in a high-wattage laboratory lit solely by tube amps. Anguished power chords and room-filling drums never overpower the diverse vocal approaches or clean instrumentation (including a tagelharpa), and often find themselves further amplified by the latter.
Perhaps best embodied by the closing title track's half-sobbed vocal break, Rot of the Soul is truly sad in a way that's easier to connect to than a lot of higher-concept approaches to the same thing. While not willing to share their names (members go by Y.S., M.V., and F.S.), the band is more than willing to draw listeners into the glum realms that their minds pace, over and over.
Below, we're streaming the entire record below before it releases on Friday.
...
...
The band comments:
Following the debut, Rot of the Soul builds upon the themes put forward there, detailing the gradual descent into a bleak solipsism and black hole depression; meditating endlessly on nihilistic axioms contrary to life, to the point where life becomes an impossibility.
Rot of the Soul releases March 1st via Tragedy Productions.
Altar of Betelgeuze Hear “Echoes” Of a Doomed World (Early Track Stream)
In the skilled hands of Altar of Betelgeuze, doom metal is but simple putty to be shaped and transformed. Although the Finnish band deserve praise for how they meld multiple doom subgenres into a coherent approach, what stands out the most is how they create dynamics and motion while staying true to their two core tenets: being heavy, and being slow. Without resorting to disjointed tropes or throwing in oddball songs, their new album Echoes is a consistently enjoyable jam that blends inventive, iconic riffs with a passion for slow, overbearing doom metal. With a noxious pot of stoner, death, and sludge metal simmering underneath the surface of its monumental exterior to juice things up, Echoes allows for some nice jams that break up the surface tension and create fluidity so that when the big, long stuff hits, it truly resonates. Speaking of long stuff, today we're premiering "Echoes," a nine-minute banger of a title track that lets Altar of Betelgeuze flex their full, brooding might.
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Though crushing, the production is pleasingly vintage: Sabbathian guitar and bass tones mesh together with the deep, growled vocals with surprising ease. Even on this lengthy track, the band's flexibility helps each tasty riff thrive, and the death-doom double-bass at the end feels like the only suitable way to end such a dirge.
The band comments:
We’re proud to reveal the second single and the title track of Echoes. It features massive riffs combined with hard hitting drums and big growls and the lyrics tell a tale of destruction. Being the longest and overall slowest track, it offers a unique perspective to the material on the album, and by that we mean total doom!
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Echoes releases March 22nd via Wiseblood Records.
Altar of Betelgeuze – Echoes
Altar of Betelgeuze Hear “Echoes” Of a Doomed World (Early Track Stream)
In the skilled hands of Altar of Betelgeuze, doom metal is but simple putty to be shaped and transformed. Although the Finnish band deserve praise for how they meld multiple doom subgenres into a coherent approach, what stands out the most is how they create dynamics and motion while staying true to their two core tenets: being heavy, and being slow. Without resorting to disjointed tropes or throwing in oddball songs, their new album Echoes is a consistently enjoyable jam that blends inventive, iconic riffs with a passion for slow, overbearing doom metal. With a noxious pot of stoner, death, and sludge metal simmering underneath the surface of its monumental exterior to juice things up, Echoes allows for some nice jams that break up the surface tension and create fluidity so that when the big, long stuff hits, it truly resonates. Speaking of long stuff, today we're premiering "Echoes," a nine-minute banger of a title track that lets Altar of Betelgeuze flex their full, brooding might.
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Though crushing, the production is pleasingly vintage: Sabbathian guitar and bass tones mesh together with the deep, growled vocals with surprising ease. Even on this lengthy track, the band's flexibility helps each tasty riff thrive, and the death-doom double-bass at the end feels like the only suitable way to end such a dirge.
The band comments:
We’re proud to reveal the second single and the title track of Echoes. It features massive riffs combined with hard hitting drums and big growls and the lyrics tell a tale of destruction. Being the longest and overall slowest track, it offers a unique perspective to the material on the album, and by that we mean total doom!
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Echoes releases March 22nd via Wiseblood Records.
Hands of Goro Claw Their Way to the Edge of Heavy Metal On Self-Titled Debut (Early Album Stream)
Forged in the fires of weird riffs, friendship, and creativity without limit, San Francisco’s Hands of Goro was formed by members of The Lord Weird Slough Feg and Spirit Adrift to create heavy metal of the highest order. These heavy metal warriors- Tom Draper (guitars) and Adrian Maestas (bass, vocals)- spent years refining their craft, putting out an EP in 2018 and supporting a variety of legends in the Bay, and are now ready to debut their first studio album together, joined on drums by underground hero Avinash Mittur (Nite, Wretched Stench).
Hands of Goro is a band that screams individualism. They reject outside pressures: trends, record labels, and even recording engineers, with the entire thing being self-produced in-house. Years of experience with strange heavy metal and playing in bands collide here to form an album that, while certainly carrying a familiar edge (particularly for Slough Feg fans, who will recognize “Uncanny” from New Organon), still manages to stand out in the crowded contemporary heavy metal scene by sheer force of charisma and songwriting might. Each song is a nonstop journey, and though I suspect I won’t quite understand the concept of Goro the four-armed beast until I get a chance to sit down with the lyric sheet (and probably not even then, honestly), the sense of adventure that radiates from the individual songs tells a story of its own.
While there's a certain rocking edge that I always appreciate present throughout the entire album, there’s nothing so simple as a unified set of influences to point at to make neat comparisons to draw in new fans. Rambunctious punk, tough epicisms, and even thrash metal collide throughout the playtime, with stomping power chord riffs suddenly turning into tremolo picking the likes of which is rarely seen in this genre or more melodic sections being offset by off-kilter rhythms instead of going into a more traditional direction. The lead singing is provided by Maestas in a style that carries more can-do personality than Dickinson-esque acrobatics but is offset and complemented by backing vocals that add a bit more range to the album, with the high falsetto shrieks on “Demonizer” in particular coming to mind. Altogether, the impression of the album- tied together by Mittur’s raging drum performance- is one of a love for heavy metal so vast that it can’t be contained by just a handful of sounds, and that demands a wider net to properly allow Goro’s will to be released. As traditional as the genre they play in can be and as much as the influences call back to a bygone time, this isn’t your dad’s rock band: Hands of Goro are fired up and ready to destroy.
Stream the album in full below and read on for an interview with the band.
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How did Adrian and Tom originally meet, decide to form a band, and how did Avinash end up getting involved? The promotional material says that the band itself formed some four years before Avinash started drumming; during that time in between was there a functional lineup?
Tom Draper: Soon after moving to the Bay Area about ten years ago, I went to a Slough Feg show and punished Adrian at the merch table. I whored myself out as a guitar player should he ever need one for a future project, and a year or so later he emailed me saying he’d just accepted a slot at a small festival in SF and needed to put a band together at short notice - thus Hands of Goro was born. Over two practices we wrote and rehearsed a set of music, with four brand new original tunes and two covers. We did exactly one show with that first drummer before parting ways with him. After that we recruited a British drummer called Will Edmands who recorded our first EP with us and played a couple of local shows before very sadly passing away in 2017. That obviously took the wind out of our sails and combined with joining Carcass in 2018, I pretty much told Adrian I didn’t have the time or energy to keep the band going - I had to fully dedicate myself to practicing for and not blowing the Carcass gig! It wasn’t until mid-late 2020 when, desperate for human connection and some in-person rocking, Adrian and I decided to head to his downtown San Francisco rehearsal space and blow the dust off the Hands of Goro songs we’d written a few years earlier. Avinash was fearless enough to answer our call to come and jam even when the official advice was to stay at home and not socialize. Try playing double-kick drums for two hours wearing a mask, the man’s a machine! The chemistry was immediate and palpable, and we quickly set about writing more songs and recording everything we could play together.
Avinash Mittur: That first time jamming together with Tom and Adrian was the one and only time I played drums in a mask! Tom reached out to me about getting together with him and Adrian just for fun, I don’t think he had mentioned that they were trying to start up Hands of Goro again. He sent me the first EP and I tried learning a song or two just so I wouldn’t go in completely blind. From what I remember, the tunes I learned were “Prince of Shokan” and “End to End” and I remember Tom expressing some pleasant surprise that I actually came a little bit prepared for what was sold as a jam session! I even have a vague recollection of us working on an early version of what later became “21st Century Plague” that night. Adrian would give me great cues and ideas for drum beats, Tom could spin up riffs with no notice and we’d have a chunk of a song in no time. For many months we’d occasionally get together for fun and at some point in 2021, we decided to try recording a couple new songs that we had hashed out. That kicked us in the butt to meet a little more regularly and get comfortable with the new tunes. I couldn’t tell you when the name of the group chat changed from “Jamming Stuffs” to “Hands of Goro” but it all felt very organic and natural to keep moving forward with writing and recording.
What inner need does Hands of Goro serve all of you that your other bands do not, given that you’re all already in heavy metal bands?
Mittur: I have tons of fun with my other bands, but there’s a very special spontaneity and a carefree attitude that comes from playing with Tom and Adrian. It feels relaxed in a way that usually doesn’t happen just about any other active and working band that I’ve done. Not to mention, it’s the only project that I play drums in these days! I have a habit of taking myself and my bands a bit too seriously when things get busy, but both Adrian and Tom always find a way to make Goro a stress-free and low-pressure band. It’s a little corny, but jamming with the two of them really does remind me why I like playing music in the first place.
Draper: The other notable bands I’ve played with since moving to the States (Pounder, Spirit Adrift) are based elsewhere (at best a 4 hour drive away, at worst a 4 hour flight), so they’ve been very goal-focused - we get together when there’s a show or tour and that’s it. With Hands of Goro we all live within a 30-45 minute drive of each other and we hang out socially a lot, doing non-band stuff. We enjoy each others’ company and having a practice or recording session is as much about the hang as it is getting any music work done. It reminds me of the kinds of bands I was in when I was much younger, like a school or garage band mentality. Only we’ve got decades of experience behind us and we can actually play! Plus it’s one of very few bands I’ve ever been in where I’m the only guitarist, which means playing in a completely different way to all the other bands where there’s been another to share the spoils with!
Adrian Maestas: Goro drives us to create sonic torment to plunge Earthrealm into chaos and disorder! Looking at how things have developed the past couple of years, I would say we are doing his bidding quite well, however, we still have the rest of the planet to strike!
All of the members of Hands of Goro are very busy with a variety of notable bands; how do you prioritize this band, and make scheduling work?
Draper: I think there’s been an implicit understanding so far that our “main” bands take priority, although now Hands of Goro is becoming more of a tangible project, with an actual album existing that may begin to change! It was definitely challenging to get together to record the album, the entire process took about 18-24 months from start to finish and in reality we only got together about six or seven times in-person to work on it. We all have regular 40+ hour a week jobs as well as other bands, partners etc… so we’ll book our rehearsals weeks in advance. We’re fully respectful and supportive of each others’ musical pursuits, we’re all lifers and we all need to play!
Mittur: Tom hit the nail on the head with that one. Our schedules were so all-over-the-place throughout 2022 that it wasn’t always easy to get together to work on the album, but we made it happen and were always understanding of everyone else’s commitments. The way I saw it (and still see it), Hands of Goro doesn’t get in the way of anything else and I have so much fun jamming with these two that I’m always happy to find the space to show up and get loud. One thing that helps–and I don’t think I’ve experienced this with any other band–is that I never feel like I have to “do my homework” before coming to practice, unless I was learning a very old song. The arrangements have been memorable enough to where we can show up after not having played together for months, and tear through the tunes without having to jog our memory too much. It’s a subtle thing, but not needing to actively and regularly drill these songs saves me so much time that I can devote to my other bands.
Maestas: If someone told you that they would give you a free trip to Hawaii tomorrow, would you go? Even if you had to work? Responsibilities? Family? The answer is YES! When Goro calls, there is no decision to be made, by his hands we set out on the voyage to beyond what is already known.
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Why did you forego a traditional record label and decide to self-release your album?
Draper: We briefly talked about shopping the album around to labels but decided that we could finance the vinyl pressing and PR ourselves - ultimately for a band at our level I’m not sure what extra a record label could or would do for us. I guess we’ll find out if nobody buys it!
Mittur: It feels like we’re still surprising our friends in the metal world with this project, even though we’ve been playing locally for nearly two years now. Given that we had the album ready, I know I certainly didn’t want to wait for a label to take notice of us and release it on their schedule. At least to me, it made more sense to get the music out there and available sooner rather than later so folks could get a feel for what we’re about.
Maestas: I asked a lot of people at small to mid-size labels, not to name names, but nobody wanted to put it out. So we decided to use the BSP label, go guerilla style, so far underground that nobody knows about it. The first release under the BSP moniker was the “Laser Enforcer” 7” from Slough Feg back in 2013.
Adrian, “Uncanny” was originally released as a The Lord Weird Slough Feg song with you on lead vocals- the first Slough Feg song since Omar’s departure to not have Mike singing, I believe. Was it written even then with the intention of eventually being recorded for Hands of Goro? When was the decision to use it again made?
Maestas: Hah! There was another song I wrote for Slough Feg, “Tactical Air War” from the Animal Spirits album, that has Bob Wright from Brocas Helm singing! “Uncanny” was written way before the Slough Feg version was recorded. Probably somewhere around 2016. I wasn’t sure where it would wind up but it’s on the Hands of Goro EP that came out in 2017, a full two years before it came out on the Slough Feg record. I have lots of songs I’ve written that just don’t work for Slough Feg, but I knew that “Uncanny” would, and it morphed into the version that appears on the New Organon album after being wrung through the hands of Mike Scalzi!
Mittur: Adrian’s definitely the best guy to ask when it comes to the full history of “Uncanny,” but I can certainly offer my take on how it came to be recorded for the Hands of Goro full-length. I first heard “Uncanny” on the last Slough Feg album New Organon and I very much fell in love with its energy and the kind of whimsical journey it takes the listener on. So much so that I even learned to play it just for fun all the way back in 2019! And when Tom later sent me the old Hands of Goro EP with the true original version of “Uncanny” on there, I felt so thrilled that I could have the opportunity to jam it with him and Adrian. I’d ask them if we could play it nearly every time we’d get together. During our first recording session, we set about only wanting to lay down drums and scratch tracks for “Archduke of Fear” and “21st Century Plague”; the original plan was to just record a 7” single. We finished the session a bit earlier than expected and decided to rip through whatever songs we had left up our sleeves. I asked the guys if we could give “Uncanny” a go and we somehow nailed it in a single take.
Y’all have mentioned your debut EP a few times throughout your answers to these questions and all I can find online is a link to buy it secondhand. Obviously, the album is going to be a lot more available, with a Bandcamp page and the like; will the EP ever get similar treatment?
Draper: I think it'd be cool if the EP remains somewhat mysterious and a collector's item. We have a few physical CD copies remaining which I think might occasionally appear as a merch-table curiosity...maybe it could appear as bonus tracks on the 30 year anniversary edition of the album.
Maestas: I think we only pressed 200 or so of those on CD. I stopped selling them a couple of years ago when I realized I only had 2 left! Maybe one day, if there is demand, we can reissue on 10" vinyl or something.
There’s a wide variety of influences in your music, and “End to End” in particular strikes me as having quite a bit of thrash crunch to it. Are any particular sounds off limits? How is the decision about what’s a Hands of Goro riff made?
Draper: “End to End” was definitely born from me channeling Hetfield in our very first jam together, and we actually have an even thrashier song in the works; we've played it live once already and will most definitely be recording it. I don't think anything's off limits musically for Hands of Goro - which doesn't mean we're about to drop a Jazz-Funk record, but we're always happy to try any musical idea. The decision about what's a Hands of Goro riff is made all together - if it's a good riff that we all like, it's a Hands of Goro riff.
Mittur: I think Tom’s right on here. It’s really just about whether we like what we hear or not. Meaning, I doubt we’ll have any nu-groove breakdowns any time soon but who knows what could crop up. Tom alluded to the thrashier tune that we have up our sleeves - I even have a small Cannibal Corpse-style blastbeat section in there, and I never thought that I’d be pulling out one of those for Goro. If it makes sense and sounds rad, I’m certainly here for it.
Maestas: Nothing is off limits to Goro! He does what he pleases and we just follow along. When new riffs are sent from Outworld, we look at each other and if we all three dig it, then we move forward. We try not to overthink things in this group, as that will sometimes damage the initial spark of an idea.
Hands of Goro self-describes as the spearhead of the Third Wave of British Heavy Metal. In honor of that, to close out the interview I’d love a few favorites from each band member from the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement as well as maybe a couple other favorite historical movements from the genre’s history.
Draper: For me it doesn't get better than Angel Witch's first album. Obviously the Dianno Maiden records are fantastic, Diamond Head had their moments, and Def Leppard's first few records are phenomenal, especially when you consider how young they were. On the slightly more obscure side of things I love "Lady of Mars" by Dark Star, that's one of my favourite NWOBHM songs. I think it's awesome how much reverence there still is for what ultimately was a very short period of time in a very small geographical area. The economic and social circumstances in the UK at the time meant that the fusion of Heavy Metal and punk was in many ways inevitable, you can hear and feel it in the escapism of a lot of the lyrics. The DIY spirit and attitude of those bands and records endures to this day in the NWOTHM, and indeed the TWOBHM.
Mittur: The big one for me is Satan’s Court in the Act - I always thought Brian Ross had some of the best vocal melodies among his peers and the guitarwork on that record is truly some of the most ripping of the era. I’ll also join Tom in standing by Killers. Though I love Bruce’s time in Maiden, I have a soft spot for the kind of in-the-gutter vibe that Maiden nailed on that album. If we’re talking about other big historical movements in metal as a whole, I can point to the Swedish death metal thing in the early ‘90s. Dismember’s first album Like an Everflowing Stream remains a favorite of mine to this day and I think that album showed off a pretty unique level of ambition and maturity for that crowd whereas some of the other bands were going for a more primal approach. I’ve also got to tip my hat to Adrian and Slough Feg here. When the San Francisco Bay Area’s underground metal scene really started going off in the late ‘90s and early 2000s and so many bands were embracing black metal and a more DIY aesthetic, Slough Feg went and made an over-the-top sci-fi adventure in Traveller. Those songs and the production are still so unique even within their own catalog, and I think it’s a genuinely excellent achievement that’s up there with some of the best stuff that’s come out of the bay.
Maestas: The first two Maiden records of course, Sad Wings of Destiny, I like Wild Cat from Tygers of Pan Tang, does that count? Special moments for me include the day I met Mike Scalzi, he introduced me to so many NWOBHM bands that I had never heard of!
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Hands of Goro releases March 1st and can be preordered (digital and LP) via Bandcamp.
Hands of Goro
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The sun was firmly below the horizon when Weedeater hit the stage to drop some dirty, fuzzed-out doom on the parking lot attendees, kicking things off with “Hammer Handle.” Dixie Dave was his usual charming self; bottle of Jim Beam in hand, crossed eyes, spinning his ball-cap around and frequently approaching the mic between songs to thank the crowd in his gravelly drawl with a friendly “appreciate y’all.” With no sun to hide from, all the vampires crawled out from under their umbrellas to witness the band run through tracks from across their nearly 20-year career like “Cain Enabler” and “Time Served,” even throwing in their Lynyrd Skynyrd cover of “Gimme Back My Bullets.”
Weedeater were the last band to play on the outdoor stage before the party moved indoors to the Waldorf’s basement “Tabu” stage. It’s a great room and one that rarely sees as much action as it used to. I took some much needed respite at a seat nearby and settled in for Seattle’s He Whose Ox is Gored. Though they are no strangers to the area, I had not yet caught one of their sets and found myself completely mesmerized by their synth-drenched drone and hypnotic riffs. Lisa Mungo, who also handles synths, is an absolute powerhouse of a vocalist and tastefully blends the softer aspects of her delivery with the harsher ones. I’ll certainly be in attendance for their next venture North.
After a few more beers among friends and some top-form stoner/doom from Seattle power-trio Serial Hawk, my sun-baked brain finally gave out. Telekinetic Yeti and Vancouver’s own riff machine Black Wizard were still due up, but a full day of sun, fun, beers, and burgers had wiped me out, so I took my leave. In my younger days, I may have even ventured to the after-party show at nearby all-ages venue 333 to catch some of Bushwhacker’s surely monstrous set. Alas, it was not to be.
Let it never be said that Out For a Riff didn’t have more riffs on hand than a man could stomach. I can’t wait to see what the BBQ is serving up next year.
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