What the week brings.

Eternal punishment.

A recent post from The Devil’s Mouth reminded me… idiot, you still have the debut Anzv release in your wishlist. Well, it seems Gallas graduates from digital self-release to physical release via Alone Records. The physical release will have one additional song - one I’ve not yet heard. What I do hear is maniacal blackened death metal tinged with middle eastern scales. When these guys lean into their death metal bag of tricks it can be informed by Vigna’s Immolation school of off kilter, noisy riffs or Zos Kia Cutus Behemoth crush. The guitar tones have a harsh brittle mids up quality to them and they are wielded as weapons particularly when they forcibly crash offsetting atonalities against each other as they do during “Inane” and “Lethargy.” I’m genuinely impressed with the cacophony on display. The guitar sound is simply designed to do damage with jagged, abrasive quality rather than using an oppressively heavy death metal tone. Solid songwriting throughout. Generally an economy of motion in terms of riffs per song and arranging with traditional song writing. Great vocal delivery and tight, thunderous backline as a foil for the dual guitarists to weave their riffs around as well as bounce off of.

So, without further ado, please support: Everything Went Black, The Metal Dad and his fiendish five podcast, No Clean Singing, Stereogum: The Black Market, The Devil’s Mouth, Aversionline, Invisible Oranges, Horror Wolf 666, Into the Necrosphere, Sol Nox Podcast, The Book of Very Very Bad Things, Plague Rages and Doktor Dismemberment’s Midnight Murderplex…. these sites update daily and weekly.

This goes live today… or it went live after I wrapped this up for the evening… Cosse - It Turns Pale. French noisy alt-rock. They cite Slint and Sonic Youth as ear-markers. I hate both, but love this. The dual guitar interplay is fantastic and the beauty with theis act are the guitar tones and use of effects. Everything sounds enormous and rich. Almost makes me think of Swervedriver crossed with guitar centric Radiohead (93-97) although Cosse have a penchant for being noisier, more explosive. Though they can be sneaky and do something that seemingly has no resolution and simply dissolves into the aether.

Switzerland’s HEROD presents the first song off their forthcoming album Iconoclast. This one is a tectonic plate shifter with Meshuggah-nic riffs and rhythms, a touch of melody, a deep dive into Marianas Trench crush. May 5 on Pelagic.

If you were told this was a new SWANS song you would believe it. Seriously. Would you know it is The Infinity Ring listening to this track that is firmly somewhere between White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Great Annihilator. Since Gira and co don’t do this any longer, enjoy.

Oh, and one more Profound Lore release on the horizon is new Spirit Possession. No deviation in their attack…Improvements in terms of production make those Possessed by way of GISM guitars to swirl, trill, and bend all the better the punish you with.

After a knock down drag out demo/ep Homicidal Starts in 2019, Transylvanian Tapes has Villainous Temple’s Fill Creation With Abuse. A darker more ferocious production this time out makes their rabid and rapid fire Morbid Angel and Fallen Christ derived attack more potent than before.

The second glimpse into Total by Entropia. “Final” is almost diametrically opposite of “Retox.” Emphasizing melody for much of its duration, dialing back on the overt distortion while retaining dissonance and fortifying a sense of unease with buried electronics. In a way this reminds me of the musical attack of something like Helium Horse Fly and Ved Buens Ende with its use of off color chords and note choices.

Brucia Records announced Derhead - The Grey zone Phobia. This, too, is displaying a healthy dose of unchords and an electronic undercurrent. Compared to the Irrational I EP from 2020 it is a bit smoother in terms of attack and not as synthetic blackened industrial. The drums aren’t calling as much attention to themselves as being as overtly artificial. Probably one reason being there is a tribal element to some drum patterns lending to more movement across the kit and the guitars are at the fore in the mix.

New Nightmarer is on the horizon. Another line up shift and this brings Altars’ Convulsing Dumbsaint Brendan Sloan into the fold for bass duty in place of the mighty Nicholas McMaster. And a commendable job Brendan pulls off as he performs with adept musicality in the more relaxed spaces here. Being Nightmarer, there aren’t many times where one could suggest that is the case; however, this premiere track has slower passages where the bass can move among and play off dual guitarists Simon Hawemann and Keith Merrow and work with drummer Paul Seidel for maximum crush. Vocalist John Collett has great delivery with a lot of clarity to his gruff attack. I honestly believe this short dose is better than the entirety of the last EP, having an almost Concealment feel in terms of working tech magic in compact, catchy form no matter how much dissonance is employed.

Just a remider that Ad Nauseam are high level operators. In case you just forgot.