How someone hasn’t thought of a tour with Ashenspire and Bad Breeding is beyond me. I can’t be the only one who has thought of packaging these two politically charged UK acts together. But, you know what, Abest has released what is possibly their strongest album yet in Molten Husk, so no one should complain about the Scots and Germans linking up for runs of shows. Maybe it is recency bias but I’m confident Hostile Architecture is album of the year. And if not, within top 3.
The long awaited return of Diamanda Galas to harrowing confrontational conceptual work comes in the form of Broken Gargoyles. One can read the blurbs concerning this album on the bandcamp page and in this instance it is a case where vocal performance and sonic sculpture eclipse the hyperbole.
Not to be eclipsed by Russian Circles - Gnosis, Vienna, Austria’s age of strange cults could very well be the barbarian cousin Russian Circles didn’t know existed. It’s a Mean Man’s Dream for a meaner, more unstable world. Not as concerned with high stakes musical proficiency as Chi-town’s instrumental act but working as a rhythmic bludgeon. A sonic battering ram.
I wrote it before… and, I’ll write it again, Northless - A Path Beyond Grief is the album I wish Crowbar would’ve released after their Slugs demo in 1990. Riffs, rhythms, vocals, atmosphere. Translation Loss Records with the vinyl, band with the digital. Cover art that would be fit for Basil Gogos' Famous Monsters of Filmland paintings.
"Less technical. Less progressive. Even less ritualistic." So sayeth Dead Void. Until Tom G Warrior decides the time is right for a new Triptykon (Official) to drop, allow filthy sludge waves of Dead Void wash over you. Adorned with Stefan Thanneur artwork Volatile Forms mainly crawls with a stripped down Winter meets Celtic Frost abandon. The band can crank it up when their primitive reptile brain senses prey is close enough to seize. Digital release through the band and partner labels Dark Descent Records and Me Saco Un Ojo Records have physical copy.
Keeping it feral and barbaric we travel to Melbourne, Australia for the trio KILAT, comprised of members Karina Utomo (High Tension, Rinuwat), Rama Parwata (Whitehorse, Rinuwat) and Benjamin Andrews (MY DISCO, Agents of Abhorrence.) The old boxing and plumbing trades adage of pressure bursts pipes can be applied here as Rantai Penjinak is unrelenting black metal horror. Curiously enough I can confidently write last year’s Rinuwat debut Dua Naga and Whitehorse’s Death Weight were top 25 for me. Probably in the top 10 if I’m being honest.
We shall keep things dangerous from down under… Nine years after Paramnesia it is the return of Altars with Ascetic Reflections. Coming into the fold is Brendan Sloan of Convulsing and Dumbsaint. Sure, he’ll say he “only wrote lyrics and bass parts” as all but one song were musically sketched out prior to him joining; but, these little components of bass and vocals are tremendous cogs in this death metal machine. Great song-craft encompassing atmosphere, technicality, and riff mongering. All of this is nearly matched by the greatest band photo of all time.
And so we shall call it a wrap for today as time and space are limited, but, never you fear, tomorrow will be another day for more musings on music from the third quarter of 2022. It will continue in Australia. Oh woe is you. And, yes, that is not such a subtle hint.