First things first, speedy recovery to Suffering Hour drummer, Jason Oberuc as he battles Stage III Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Fundraiser and more detail clicking the photo below:
Fuck! another Sprain. Flenser with the physical come September. This one becomes more unhinged as it gains ground. Sonic Youth, Distorted Pony, Scratch Acid, Season to Risk unwholesomeness.
Owe this one to No Clean Singing, Guhts - White Noise. Absolutely ginormous in tone. Makes me think of Battle of Mice / Made Out of Babies on a white pony trip. Outstanding use of ornamental textural sound adding layers of unease and dread.
On the road with Guhts is none other than titan riff monger False Gods. Earlier in the month they dropped a couple songs on a split with Abiuro. “Time Poisoning” opens in Jesu tradition before settling into Crowbar/Sabbath groove with dual guitar dissonances. Just check the bass runs. Very Geezer Butler. You can’t fail.
Poland again shows it can’t fail. Revamped as a full band, the Bezdech sophomore release is a hellride part Gorycz, part Suffering Hour and all incendiary cacophony. Do as Saint Maud and go up in flames.
Knowing how the world is this will probably be one of the more interesting outsider metal releases this year that will be slept on. Well, sleepers, awaken to Genevieve. These Baltimore creeps bring an eerie style that is in part Ebonylake (if you stripped out the synth and key element), A Forest of Stars psycho theatrics and, you know what, this will be an unpopular opinion, but, you can go kick rocks, as Corpse NJ said in 86, “I’m right and you are wrong,” Imperial Triumphant if they went back to writing songs rather than noodling around with their cool friends. Get locked into Akratic Parasitism for 46 minutes and enjoy the psyched out calliope ride and kaleidoscopic sound.
New one from Venomous Echoes was recently announced. 2 molten strikes from a portal to the void. Absolutely maniacal vokills and everything and the kitchen sink death metal with blackened flourishes. If Choir meets Portal and Impetuous Ritual in Strapping Young Lad’s City is in your wheelhouse you can’t go wrong with this onslaught brought to you by Benjamin Vanweelden.
Downshifting into Asphyx death doom lurch is Innumerable Forms. Hell roars, Asphyx guitar tone and Celtic Frost riffs collide with a couple forays into primitive uptempo death and wobbly melodic early My Dying Bride inspired doom. No frills, lean and mean.
Congratulations to Aaron Pickford at Sludgelord Records for securing the rights to the cassette release of the forthcoming Will Haven - VII. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this in its entirety and put simply, it is the best version of Will Haven yet. Speaking sonics this is in a similar realm as Denmark’s LLNN where it is a perfect fusion of guitar driven heft, heavy pummel, and textural synth/keyboards. Yeah, I know, card carrying member of keys/synths out of metal. These guys utilize technology far better than 99% of metal acts fumbling with it.
VitaPhobia offer An Ode to the Rot. Something peculiar going on with the reverberating currents in this black metal miasma that add a punishing touch when using headphones. Insidious sonic warfare going on here. Even in the moody melodic sections there are undertones that worm into my skull and wreak havoc on my synapses.
Seattle’s Undulation strikes me as a distant cousin to Texan black metal act Oil Spill. Having a tight yet loose feel where at any moment on this ramshackle wooden rollercoaster ride simultaneously splintering to pieces and igniting that careening off the rails is a certainty. Pick your poison. Either way it is certain death.
Most of you have probably gathered by now, melodic black and death metal really isn’t my thing. No one told The Mosaic Window that. This, like many things in today’s post, is a one man project. This working in grand fashion utilizing uplifting, majestic turns. Killer guitar flourishes throughout. Moments where the bass runs are truly exceptional. Intelligently written compositions. Elements and trappings remind me musically of Dawn, early Megadeth, King Diamond, Lengsel, Mayhem and Emperor.
Asunder. Not the Oakland outfit associated with The Gault and Weakling’s John Gossard, but a one man project out of Shiyan, China. This madman released The Loss of Innocence full length, which is labeled as a final version of a release first showcased in December of 2022, and “A Crude Imitation” 2 days after. Long form black metal songs that are at turns majestic and punishing. There are more than a few guitar phrasings having folk rhythms used to nefarious ends. The bass tone is gnarly and rattling in Cronos/Venom glory. These songs are absolute riff-o-ramas that don’t follow conventional verse/chorus structure and this keeps a forward musical flow. Things are kept in constant motion in an epic journey.
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Doktor Dismemberment and Lady dDestruction take a power electronic turn in the rusteater pica trough with Infestation Ritual. First taste could very well be your last as you are set ablaze with scorching waves of noise, squalling guitar, guttural vocals, rhythmic pounding. Think of taking a plunge into water to ease the pain? Won’t help, silly. Phosphorus continues to burn.
On a recent episode of Everything Went Black Mike Hill interrogated Necromaniacs co-host Mike Scondotto about the Daze label’s Confusion - Storm the Walls discography. This collects all of Confusion’s material and is remastered by Mark Dann. Packaging features liner notes from members of Indecision, All Out War, Starkweather, Next Step Up, Darkside NYC and author Eddie McNamara. Predating the World Demise Obituary groove death metal aesthetic by a few years Confusion were proven in action to be the perfect crossover of death metal and NYHC and it remains a vibrant, driving force storming the walls of sanity.
My addled brain doesn’t remember and I’m too much on a roll to check whether or not I’ve written of Nirrti in a previous post. If so, too bad, if not, lucky you, embrace “Interdimensional despair” in visual form off the Palindromos release from April. Dissonant black metal punk. In a similar seasick inducing vessel as early Wolok.
Keeping the dissonant train rolling into Saint Petersburg, Russia with Mórnu. Esoteric black metal swarming noise over sprawling long form songs with occult thematic underpinnings.
Continuing an unhinged dissonant noise thread with Secrelict and its brevity kills aesthetic. These three songs are spasms submerged in dank cavernous climes that are gurgling their way topside to threaten humanity at large.
Ending this episode on a double dose of I, Voidhanger. Wyrgher is a Swiss act affiliated with the Helvetic Underground Committee. Main person behind this project, Menetekel has ties to a handful of active bands which you can discover using the Metal Archives. Cosmic black metal of a tech bent telling regaling tales of aliens propagating life across the universe. Remind you of Hawkwind and Ridley Scott? Good. Now, go enjoy the first track or two.
Dane doom death seers Tongues return with Formløse Stjerner. Unadulterated evil. John Carpenter horror soundtrack and blackened death doom at turns primitive and forward thinking.
Hell, yeah, I lied… A short dose of blistering, breakneck speed with the title track of forthcoming album from Somniate.
Same opinion on the Will Haven album. I was totally floored!