Rolling 2021 Metal Thread

I won't start this thread with an album cover image this year, I promise...

Quick list of metal and metal-adjacent albums I want to check out sorted by release date:

15-Jan Bloody Hammers
15-Jan Dread Sovereign
22-Jan Nervosa
22-Jan Asphyx
22-Jan Wardruna
22-Jan White Ward
29-Jan Tribulation
5-Feb Korpiklaani
5-Feb Subterranean Masquerade
12-Feb Amigo The Devil
12-Feb The Pretty Reckless
26-Feb Black Sheep Wall
26-Feb Culted
26-Feb Empyrium
26-Feb Epica
26-Feb Architects
26-Feb Alice Cooper
26-Feb Moonspell
5-Mar Nightfall
12-Mar Eyehategod
26-Mar Genghis Tron

Well uh... Asphyx! That's something.

Dread Sovereign's capsule description sounds interesting.

White Ward listing is a reissue of this

https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/origins

the first tracks from that Wardruna are fantastic

I like Nervosa, Tribulation, and Eyehategod, so I'll be checking those out.

Coffins have a 2CD compilation of EPs and splits coming out 1/22.
A new NYC band called Gravesend have their debut, Methods of Human Disposal, coming out 2/19. Noisy, sludgy grind; RIYL Kill The Client but also Unsane.

Aside from the Wardruna and Asphyx, I'm especially looking forward to: Dordeduh, Sur Austru and Cult of Luna.

There's a new Dordeduh? Fuuuck yea

Apparently it's been ready for a while now, they're just taking their sweet time.

Also forgot to include Ruins of Beverast in that mini-list.

Btw don't forget to nom your 2020 favourites before next Friday:

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: NOMINATIONS Thread (open until the 8th of January 2021)

I love Nervosa and Eyehategod. also excited for the Asphyx and Tribulation

jesus god that Revenge from last year. I know their albums always sound like you're sitting inside a dishwasher listening to a band play outside but this shit sounds like being in a bunker listening to bombs hit above ground.

in other words, gets my highest score as a critic, 7.5 out of 10

I'm not a critic.

ILM 2020 METAL & HEAVY + Adjacent Albums Poll CAMPAIGNING THREAD IS NOW OPEN

Voting thread wont open until the general EOY poll rollout has ended

Holy shit, Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom is dead. He was only 41.

Devastating news, wow. I've always loved Bodom, he was one hell of a guitarist and a pleasure to interview.

This review of Hatecrew Deathroll was maybe the second thing I ever published in the Voice. (The headline is pure C.E., of course.)

wow , 41. rip

60 MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2021
Revolver Magazine

3TEETH
Alien Weaponry
Amenra
Animals as Leaders
Anthrax
Arch Enemy
Architects
Ashes Divide
At the Gates
Avenged Sevenfold
Baroness
Beartooth
Bring Me the Horizon
Bullet for My Valentine
Cane Hill
Cannibal Corpse
Jerry Cantrell
Carcass
Converge
Crowbar
Cult of Luna
Daughters
Dead Cross
Deafheaven
Dying Wish
Evanescence
Every Time I Die
Exodus
Eyehategod
Ghost
Gojira
GWAR
High on Fire
The HU
Ice Nine Kills
Jinjer
Judas Priest
Kerry King
King Diamond
King Woman
Mastodon
Megadeth
Melvins
Metallica
Ministry
Ozzy Osbourne
Polyphia
Poppy
Emma Ruth Rundle
SeeYouSpaceCowboy
Spiritbox
Serj Tankian
Times of Grace
Tomahawk
Turnstile
Vein
Venom Prison
Whitechapel
Youth Code x King Yosef
Rob Zombie

Is the new ERR another Thou collab? They’re about to release a new EP, so hopefully Revolver is referring to a solo LP.

Pumped for At the Gates.

Stoked to hear - Amenra, At the Gates, Baroness, Carcass, Cult of Luna, Daughters, Deafheaven, Ghost, Gojira, Priest, King Woman, ERR

Cautiously optimistic about - Cannibal Corpse, Exodus, King Diamond, Mastodon, Melvins

Would love to be surprised by - Metallica, Ozzy, Zombie

I'm in for Baroness, Cannibal Corpse, Converge, Eyehategod, Ghost, Gojira, High on Fire, Judas Priest, Mastodon, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie

If the Melvins/Big Business quartet ever reforms, I'll be thrilled, but nothing they've done post that incarnation has held my interest.

I can't imagine who wants to hear a solo album from Kerry King.

I sure hope the Megadeth album is a concept album about tyrannical government overreach!

Kerry King's solo album is gonna be a rap album IMO

If the Melvins/Big Business quartet ever reforms, I'll be thrilled, but nothing they've done post that incarnation has held my interest.

Yeah, that's why they are on my "cautiously optimistic" list. They haven't inspired me much lately, but I've liked to much of their overall catalog that I don't know if I'd ever be able to completely write them off.

Totally spaced on seeing Converge, totally on my stoked list.

Photoshoppers, do your worst.

https://img.discogs.com/p1W_7iifr5YQ9jPAqGkbNtgmwao=/fit-in/600x608/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1872663-1492278331-9406.jpeg.jpg

Holy shit, the Dee Dee King album is on Spotify.

lol who hotly anticipates a new Anthrax album in 2021?

I wouldn't even say I'm "mildly" anticipating it, but I remember Worship Music being pretty decent.

Worship Music was dope. the one after, not so much.

they could still have some surprises in em

who is the vocalist these days?

Unless I missed something, still Joey Belladonna. He's been back since 2010 and their last two albums.

yup it's Joey

I am genuinely anticipating: Amenra, Baroness, Carcass, Crowbar, Cult of Luna, Deafheaven, Ghost, High on Fire, Judas Priest, King Woman, Mastodon, Melvins, Emma Ruth Rundle, Tomahawk, Venom Prison, Youth Code x King Yosef

I am not expecting much: Anthrax, Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Exodus, Eyehategod, GWAR, King Diamond, Megadeth, Metallica, Ministry, Ozzy Osbourne

I know it's 2020, but my copy of Ravening Iron finally showed up. Holy hell, yeah, this is as good as the buzz indicates. In addition to everything else, they've got a killer rhythm section.

Also, I did not learn until today that artist Ken Kelly is Frank Franzetta's nephew. Makes sense, but I had no idea.

my only frustration with the Eternal Champion is that I wish the vocalist were more charismatic. he's effective but at times gets stuck in a monotony.

the songwriting is ace though. this is the kind of power/heavy I wish was in greater prevalence, cos it has teeth.

Oh yeah, I'd be way more into power metal if it sounded like this more often.

my only frustration with the Eternal Champion is that I wish the vocalist were more charismatic. he's effective but at times gets stuck in a monotony.

This is exactly why this album didn't click with me. Riffs galore, but the singer - meh. That's why the Spirit Adrift album was my power metal pick for the year. (I wish Visigoth would put out more music soon.)

Yeah I still think the Spirit Adrift record is slightly better, but I was really impressed with the bassist for Eternal Champion. It's not often with this kind of metal that I find myself gravitating towards the bass player.

one of todays trump insurrectionists

https://i.imgur.com/7fchcWA.jpg

you fucking kidding me

I knew he was a bit of a loony politically but....goddammit.

welp, bye Iced Earth...for now, until things blow over.

I think Tribulation has a new album out 1/29, right? Surprised that's not on the list of anticipated up there.

New Ghost album would be sweeeeeeeeeeet. I'm like 65/35 "he's had some time off to work on it and thus it will be amazing" vs. "they're about due for diminishing returns"

http://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/136975071_4061043350592028_3120396240289924417_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=2&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=o-83QSxRsmcAX_0e_qF&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=95151fbdf069efa01eed00cb5be03f97&oe=601E0B6F

🙄

sad thing is unlike the other two bands, I think IE's lunacy is mostly concentrated in Schaffer (though ex-singer Barlow was a cop soooo...). but that's cos his bandmates seem to change every album.

I bet they break up as a result (or he replaces the current lineup after they quit)

These guys, dubbed ‘Cold Thrower’ in the comments (which I think is both funny and accurate) are about to drop their first LP tomorrow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EKV1O7gJDU

I listened to some of it this morning. It's fine. If you need one more record that sounds like that, get it. They're from Texas, though, so don't be surprised to find yourself deleting it in a month when they turn out to be Trumpoid revanchists or something.

re: Frozen Soul, am a big fan of their Maggot Stomp demo, but haven't had a chance to listen to the full length yet, but I'd say it's pretty unlikely they are right-wing Trumpists since they donated a few hundred bucks to BLM over the summer (more than Exhumed and other bigger bands did if I recall correctly) and have also mocked anti-maskers on their socials.

Those who listen to post-Udo Accept (i.e. not me) may be disappointed to hear that their upcoming album Too Mean to Die has been postponed from January 15 to January 29.

https://metalinjection.net/metal-crimes/iced-earths-jon-schaffer-now-listed-on-fbis-most-wanted

Jose Mangin, idiot:

Common ground = Heavy music.
Let’s focus on what we all hold close to our heart, and for us Metalheads, it’s our music.
What happens when someone falls in a mosh pit?
Do we ask them who they favor politically?
Or do we just automatically pick them up & continue rocking?
🤘🏽🙏🏽🤘🏽

— Jose Mangin (@josemangin) January 8, 2021

"favor politically" vs "showing up to an armed insurrection"

nail his ass

kinda wanna watch him getting perp walked and holding up an Oontz speaker playing "Reaching the End"...quiet tune but fitting

Guys, checking back a few days but I contributed to the Ramones Museum fundraiser/make space appeal during the summer (hoodie and some shirts for something stupid like €30) and one of the shirts they sent me was a Dee Dee King one. Lockdown means I haven't been anywhere to bust it out yet but it's just waiting.

Toilet Ov Hell was prompted by the insipid Jose Mangin tweet referenced above to publish 'Metal Alone Cannot Unite Us':

While that sentiment may be nice on the surface, it doesn’t hold much weight in reality.

Punk fought Nazis and kicked them out. Hardcore fought Nazis and kicked them out. Metal, in general, just kind of shrugged and allowed them to stick around. By doing so, these people have learned to tone down their rhetoric enough to start or join other bands, get signed to better known labels, and subtly reach a much larger audience. It is one of many blind spots in metal that continues to fester and push us apart rather than bring us together.

His desire to find commonality rather than focus on differences may be well-intentioned but chooses to ignore ongoing and underlying issues. It asks us to ignore the real world and put our arms around the sweaty person next to you at the show when “Raining Blood” plays over the PA. This is the equivalent of Marge Simpson saying “Now let’s forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!” Ignore the difficult stuff, listen to music, and everything will be better. While a common interest in a specific genre of music may bring us together, it does not bind us together. We live in the real world where real things happen and they do not magically go away because of a shared love of a riff or lyrics.

Schaffer and Graves found more in common with seditionists and bigots. No riff was too great and no solo was too incredible to stop them from befriending and supporting the worst of the worst. That cannot be ignored, cannot be forgiven, and can never be forgotten.

Commonality is not good enough, especially after the events of last week.

evil bathroom otm

v well-said

Very much so, yes.

That said, I will continue enjoying unproblematic art made by problematic people, without slipping a single penny into their pocket.

reminds me a lot of the bullshit I used to read about "gamers" as if liking video games was some sort of coherent political orientation

Yes, this band's name is POUNDER and yes, they know EXACTLY what they're doing with this album cover.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Erfkg1nXAAIkNhu.jpg

one for the Yawnsomely Literal Cover Art thread

I don't want to link to it to give it any extra eyeballs, but there's a flyer flying around twitter for a fascist metal fest coming to an "undisclosed location" in New Jersey this summer.

Biggest thing on it appears to be Disma completely undermining their redemption narrative by appearing at this thing even after they ditched the Nazi vocalist.

Yeah, from what I've read not every band on that bill is explicitly Nazi, but...why would the non-Nazi bands agree to play that show?

That’s where I am, seems like something you wouldn’t want to be associated with, especially now. There are enough sketchy bands on that flyer to raise eyebrows.

DISMA (NJ)
ENGORGE (CA,NJ)
ABHOMINE (FL)
GODLESS NORTH
INTOLITARIAN (IL)
MANTICORE (OH)
BLOOD STAINED DUSK (AL)
CULTUS PROFANO (CA)
TRENCH WARFARE (TX)
FEVER (MO)
BERATOR (IL)
APOCRYPHAL REVELATION (KY)
ANCIENT MESSIAH (PA)
WITCH TOMB (MA)

How many of these bands are sketch?

Intolitarian and Fever for sure. Disma had a Nazi former lead singer, but supposedly cut ties with him because of it. Haven’t investigated all the rest yet.

I mean...

Gee, I wonder why bands like this are so upset about the existence of people who oppose fascism. pic.twitter.com/cAamXjgRYM

— Kim Kelly (@GrimKim) January 12, 2021

ABHOMINE (FL)

Been sad watching Helmkamp go from weakness to weakness in his late career chasing the edgy extreme. He recently added the drummer from Grand Belial's Key to Abhomine and there's a song called "Gogamgoz" (ZOG Magog backwards get it?) on their recent EP, among some other outright dumb fash shit. Oh well.

Huh, I see Hell’s Headbangers is still comfortable releasing this sketchy and fash shit.

I’m not sure I get the non-biblical reference, re: that title.

just google ZOG

I see… ugh.

Nothing to do with King Zog of Albania then?

Man, I could do with a metal concept album about an early hypertext system designed at Carnegie Mellon in the '70s.

mind you. i think he was a fascist anyway

There's also this late addition to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tmnt/images/3/37/Triceraton_unknown.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/450/height/450?cb=20180702065437

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tmnt/images/5/50/Zog.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091123230926

Bah, screw that. He's a Triceraton named Zog.

Not the biggest Gatecreeper fan but they surprise-dropped a new release today. I would love for surprise releases to become more commonplace in metal tbh

Kristin Hayter posted something on Twitter about playing new Lingua Ignota music for folks and describing their reactions, anyone heard if a new LI album is due this year? Did I miss an earlier post? I ctrl F'd it. She said it's unlike anything she's done before and everyone who's heard it has cried, which may just be ad copy but if it's true, I'd be excited for it. I relistened to Caligula yesterday and it's still gutwrenching.

on @sargenthouse later this year. Release date tbd

— LINGUA IGNOTA (@LINGUA_IGNOTA_) January 14, 2021

I had no idea and am now massively stoked!

yesss

Two contrasting appetizers. First, a single from Chaotian's upcoming debut LP:

https://chaotian.bandcamp.com/album/adipocere-feast-mc-single

Second, a 13-minute atmoblack folk tale courtesy of Sur Austru, from their upcoming second album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4K5m6AuqA

I think I like the new ERR/Thou EP better than last year's LP – seams are less audible this time around.

There's a new Eyehategod song from the album that's coming out in March and I gotta be honest, I'm not super into it, mostly because now that Mike Williams is enunciating his lyrics, he sounds like Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks/Off! Their self-titled album from 2014 was great, so this is a disappointment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQa5o9Q9Z7k

Actual raw-ish Egyptian BM. Loving it so far:

https://lycopolis.bandcamp.com/album/the-procession

Jon Schaffer was finally arrested today, so there's some good news.

just hosted a two hour all Les Legions Noires radio show during prime drive time on my local station, featuring an all-vordb solo block and some particularly horrible recordings of chapel of ghouls. feeling powerful

New War Metal from the Neckbeard Deathcamp crew This is War Metal done well and really hittin' the tone for today.

Nervosa album hitting the right spot, but they replaced like 75% of the lineup for this one? Mia Wallace, who's done a lot of other stuff, including being in the Triumph of Death touring band, is on this one.

new vocalist Diva Satanica is sick as hell

I for some reason am in a dark mood and decided to read about the Verruckt waterslide accident in 2016 at Schlitterbahn while listening to the new Asphyx.

the album sounds pretty grim when you pair it with what I did!

omggggggggg this Asphyx ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuules

especially "Mount Skull", which has a guitar solo which reminds me of Massacre's,just squealy horrific noise

*sees song titled "Botox Implosion"*
*reads lyrics*

yes what death metal needed in 2021 is an anti-botox screed

if you read the lyrics to "The Feeder" on the last album, you'll quickly realize it might be best to just throw away the lyric sheet when you buy a nu-breed Asphyx album

The doomier bits on the new Asphyx are better than the faster ones yet the album is paradoxically dragged down by its slower tempo. I also miss Martin van Drunen's unhinged delivery of old. Not bad, not great either.

new nervosa rips

I totally dig the faster moments on the Asphyx!

if you read the lyrics to "The Feeder" on the last album,

Why did I follow this advice?

next album will have a song called "Butt Chugger"

"Death Boof"

in news that will shock nobody, Decibel Metal and Beer Fest 2021 bumped again, this time to 9/25 - 9/26. Converge and Napalm Death still in the lineup.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0551043614_10.jpg

If you couldn't guess from their cover art, Insect Inside are a broooootal slam death metal band. They're from Russia, and their album The First Shining of New Genus is about people being devoured by insects. It comes out next month, and I like it. (I also like their name, which is a pretty good pun for people who don't speak English as a first language.)

I have now listened to four songs from the forthcoming Accept album (reminder: I LOVED Accept's mid '80s albums then, and still do) and while not-Udo tries very hard, he is and will always be not-Udo. Also, the songs are bland, hookless Euro post-thrash.

really into the thorn tracks on this short little split:
https://gurglinggore.bandcamp.com/album/fumes-thorn-split

"eclipsing a dying sun" reminds me a bit of metamorhogenesis-era estoteric but substantially picking up the pace and death metal grooving

I wanted to like the Asphyx, on unfortunately even with a car listen on pretty high volume, it was just kind of muddy. I thought there was a lot of promise with the songwriting and riffs but it never blew me away.

The last band I saw live before COVID, Warish, has a new album coming out in April.
This is the first video from it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj40gUGUEyY

I like it! It's punk with stoner metal fuzz; it seems obvious that Riley Hawk spent a lot of time listening to the SST stuff in skater dad Tony's vinyl collection though he loves him some grunge too.

Thanks for the heads up, I dug the Warish debut more than I expected, although I was more of a fan of Riley's other (prior?), even more stoner band, Petyr.

I like the new Genghis Tron song w the guy from the Armed

You have no idea how stoked I am for new Genghis Tron.

Some early 2021 faves so far, including a few, uh, advance copies:

Aberration – Aberration. A new band featuring members of Void Rot and Suffering Hour. Not a major departure from either band's sound, but it delivers in spades:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/aberration

Altered Dead – Returned to Life. Death metal from BC with a punkish edge that gets everything right, including 'Into the Crypt of Rays'.

https://altereddead.bandcamp.com/album/returned-to-life

Les Chants de Nihil – Le tyran et l'esthète. French medieval meloblack from Bretagne with a self-consciously anachronistic psychedelic slant.

https://leschantsdenihil.bandcamp.com/album/le-tyran-et-lesth-te

Ferriterium – Calvaire. More French medieval meloblack, except this one is simply phenomenal, an early EOY list contender.

https://ferriterium.bandcamp.com/album/calvaire

Nervosa – Perpetual Chaos. I'm a half-hearted thrasher compared to the true believers itt but this rips and it doesn't let up throughout.

https://nervosa-brazil.bandcamp.com/album/perpetual-chaos

The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires. 'No album made by Alexander von Meilenwald is anything less than stellar' continues to be a self-evident statement.

https://theruinsofbeverast.bandcamp.com/album/the-thule-grimoires

StarGazer – Psychic Secretions. I'd never heard these guys before but I am now in thrall to their off-kilter, fretless bass-heavy tech-prog.

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/psychic-secretions

Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound. Before this one, I'd only listened to Down Below and it did precious little for me. The songwriting is much stronger this time around so perhaps conversion is nigh.

https://www.metalblade.com/tribulation/

Wardruna – Kvitravn. Obligatory 'not metal, but…' this is the ultimate low-fantasy Viking cosplay soundtrack and bits of it are frankly moving.

http://www.wardruna.com

i think so far I've mostly gotten into the

Asphyx (apparently I'm the only one!)
Nervosa
Gatecreeper

The Asphyx was decent, but I suspect I won't be revisiting it very often. I still need to hear the Gatecreeper.

The promo email for that StarGazer record emphasized their black metal side, and black metal is an auto-delete trigger for me, so I had to retrieve it from the Gmail trash and now I'm...kinda into it.

The Nervosa is very good for what it is, and sent me back to the last few Destruction albums, too; the Tribulation is...better than the last one, but I'm still not as big a fan of their records as I was seeing them open for Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth a few years back.

The StarGazer is about as BM-y as, say, Sweven, so yeah, their promo talk is just bait for another kind of reviewer.

Oh yeah, and while I enjoyed that Frozen Soul single I posted upthread, the LP itself is middling. I hear their EP from 2019 is a bit better, but I can't be arsed to investigate.

new coffins comp compiling a bunch of eps hits the spot

Thanks for the heads-up re: that new StarGazer, pomenitul--I really like that advance single
(up to now, their 2005 debut The Scream That Tore The Sky had impressed me most out of their discography, but I seem to have wishlisted it on Bandcamp a while ago w/o buying; will prob remedy that pronto)

really loved the stargazer record from... 2014? was it that long ago

psyched to check out the new one

I've been rooting around in StarGazer's back catalog and will be reviewing the new one. Some interesting stuff. Their publicist sold them short, IMO.

And yeah, the Coffins compilation kicks all kinds of ass.

Chelsea Wolfe collab with Emma Ruth Rundle that just seemed inevitable, really:
http://chelseawolfe.bandcamp.com/track/anhedonia-feat-emma-ruth-rundle

Full album down the road hopefully...

My thoughts exactly. We talked about it a bit in the Chelsea Wolfe thread, if you're curious.

That's where I discovered it. :)

This is pathetically little to go on, but I choose to believe that Sargent House retweeted this because it's actually in the works:

Please do a full album!

— Satellites At Sunset (@satellitesunset) January 28, 2021

Album premiere and writeup of new StarGazer just posted on No Clean Singing:
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2021/01/28/an-ncs-album-premiere-and-a-review-stargazer-psychic-secretions/

I saw Armed mentioned above but not sure if we talked about the new announcement yet. very excited.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKjacGsFTJ3/

hell yeah

One of my favorite cheeseball power metal bands, Crystal Viper, have a new album out tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZddid_gNpc

https://listenable-records.bandcamp.com/album/the-cult

now that we have an ERR/CW single, we just need to add Marissa Nadler and we can finally have Evil Boygenius

On a completely different note, here's some shoegazey/ambient/drone metal for solo guitar:

https://gauntemperor.bandcamp.com/releases

It's quite beautiful, really.

new Tribulation as expected is high quality goth-pop metal, kinda like the last one.

vocalist sounding more and more like a dude who got his windpipe crushed in a car wreck but w/e

the contrast between the colorful, hooky instrumentals and the one-dimensionally gruff and mean vocals is a big part of their appeal for me

Good write-up summarizing The Ruins of Beverast's career ahead of The Thule Grimoires's official release (tomorrow):

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2021/01/29/the-ruins-of-beverast-a-retrospective-and-a-review-of-the-thule-grimoires/

Andy's playing along to some Black Metal hits on RockSmith during a 12hr livestream - https://www.twitch.tv/andysaor

(just heard Todeswalser, Woman Of Dark Desires, and now Mother North)

First video from a collaboration of hardcore industrialists Youth Code with trap-metal producer King Yosef.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkS4_6KI_2A

Seems like a new-fangled Americanized Atari Teenage Riot which I am definitely okay with.

The new Rob Zombie song is...kinda surprising! It starts off as his usual nonsense (the lyrics are a bunch of "Yeah!"s and "Alright!"s with random phrases thrown down in between), but goes full Nebula/Fu Manchu desert stoner rock in the second half.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuhL6aTONM0

Press release headline: ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE CLASSIC ANTHRAX LINEUP TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE UPCOMING "AMONG THE LIVING" GRAPHIC NOVEL

Guess that makes Dan Spitz the new "Not Man!"

Seriously though, he's an anti-vaxxer. Fuck him.

Haven't listened to Rob Zombie in more than a decade. Second half definitely makes that song.

Man, I want to like The Body, but those vox are just ass.

Fart vocals?

Yep, helium flatulence.

lol. came here to sing the praises of I've Seen All I Need To See only to see the above comments. I mean, thats been the vocal style he's used forever. shocked me at first but I love its uniqueness and passion. This album sounds more like the live show than a lot of their recent releases. I love it.

AMG's January highlight is this progressive thrash album by Chileans Demoniac:

https://edgedcircleproductions.bandcamp.com/album/so-it-goes

I've only sampled the first couple of minutes and it sounds quite promising even for the halfhearted thrasher that I happen to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFiGYtX4ey0

new cannibal corpse! fuckin rips! erik rutan is now a permanent member!

love the artwork too.
can't wait. gonna give this a spin!

So do I buy the standard artwork (seen above) or the special alternate cover...?

https://proassets.monopile.cloud/97264/73afa8fe74f8a35931ef783cc9ab6413_l.jpg

Always stoked for new CC.

Really surprised by how fantastic the new Eximperitus­erqethh­zebib­šip­tugak­kath­šul­weliar­zaxułum album is.

the who now

fbclid=­erqethh­zebib­šip­tugak­kath­šul­weliar­zaxułum

ahaahahah

Nice.

oh they actually sound like something I'll like. cool, adding this to the growing list of impulse Bandcamp buys

Tech death band from Belarus, Eximperitus for short. The new one is giving me some classic Nile vibes, but it's just a mammoth ride and doesn't overstay it's welcome at, like, 37 minutes.

(Our beloved local caveman pointed out that I mistakenly posted this to last year's rolling metal thread, so here it is again…)

As much as it pains me to say it (again), Romanian metal mostly sucks balls, but this is actually good:

https://daius.bandcamp.com/album/ascuns

Folk, neo-Romantic quasi blackgaze with passionate vocals, some lovely melodies and a uniquely prominent nai (pan flute) part that manages to keep cheese at bay (Gheorghe Zamfir this is not). Daniel Neagoe is way too prolific for his own good so it's nice to hear him hit the bull's eye for once.

Outburn Magazine is returning to the print format. As someone who likes actual magazines, I approve of this and will likely subscribe.

This seems relevant to this thread: Roadburn Redux: 16-18 April, online edition, just announced its program.

* NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM will re-imagine their album 'Éons'
* SOLAR TEMPLE live debut, made up of members from Turia and Fluisteraars
* DUST MOUNTAIN (feat. members of Oranssi Pazuzu, Dark Buddha Rising, Death Hawks), live debut
* KAIRON; IRSE! perform 'Polysomn' in full

And loads more. Details here: https://roadburn.com/roadburn-redux-first-names-announced-for-2021-online-edition/

I've not been grabbed by online festivals since the rona started tbf, but this looks pretty promising!

* DUST MOUNTAIN (feat. members of Oranssi Pazuzu, Dark Buddha Rising, Death Hawks)

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/032/834/DtPiP_DWsAEPntc.jpeg

:D Knew you'd like that one! I've only learned of Kairon; IRSE since the album poll and have been playing it a lot, so I'm really looking forward to that one as well!

tbh all 4 of the bands you listed are v v v hype and I will be purchasing

Yeah! It's 'pay what you like', so you can't go wrong really. I've never attended Roadburn, sadly, but line-up wise it's always pretty much perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbo21aWFbhQ

new Armed song/video is absolutely sick

love that so much. never know whether to put them in here or the emo/screamo thread. love em. this and the closer album are probably my most anticipated of early 2021. both not really metal though

aaaaaahhhhhh

yellow-hat guitarist doing a full Cardiacs bit in the verse <3 <3 <3

Kinda surprised to hear gothic/death rock influenced metal coming from ex-Goreaphobia members but I dig this first song.

Shadows is a new dark avant-garde metal band from Immolation and ex-Goreaphobia guitarist Alex Bouks, who brought other former Goreaphobia members to the table. (...) Now Alex has returned to his musical roots in Shadows, with classic influences featuring Pink Floyd, Celtic Frost, Sisters of Mercy, Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate or Voivod, and with musicians he always felt chemistry with, including Henry Piotrkowski and Jake G of the split-up Goreaphobia and Lance Walter of another Philadelphia unit, Dominance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJIOitT-OrA

https://jutegyte.bandcamp.com/album/the-rib

'Compilation of material from a 2014 release (tracks 1 and 2) and the 2017 comp Frozen In Time III (track 3), both released by Black Horizons. The first two tracks are settings of poems from James Dickey's Drowning with Others. All sounds in track 3 are derived from processed guitar recordings.'

A good Gizmodo piece on how to spot Nazi metal bands. Potential sources of annoyance:

1) It's on Gizmodo, so it's aimed at non-metalheads ("Yawn, I know all this stuff already")
2) It's by K1m K3lly, so if you have beef with her, just don't click

why would someone have beef with her?

if you're stupid and hate women?

she's a target of those death metal blog idiots who tried to start a metal version of gamer gate

Lingua Ignota surprise release today:
https://linguaignota.bandcamp.com/album/agnus-dei

An EP that features covers by Iron Lung and two classical pieces.

pomenitul posted above about a Romanian band that was good despite the fact that Romanian metal mostly sucks.
Was thinking it was this amazing funeral doom record that came out today but it's not, so here's another solid Romanian project!

Mourners: Act I: Tragedies
http://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/act-i-tragedies

Not on Spotify, alas.

It came out last year, so you can totally vote for it in the upcoming poll! I need to revisit it, though, as it was at the back of my mind when I (somewhat unfairly) said that Daniel Neagoe might be a little too prolific for his own good.

Also this is totally an insane hang-up of mine but I have a hard time with Romanians (and francophones) who sing in English, it just rubs my ears the wrong way.

Objectively a terrible way to listen to music tbh, but I can't help it.

It came out on CD today and I never heard it last year so it's a 2021 release for my pusposes.

a day or 2 left to nominate for 2020 metal poll.

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: NOMINATIONS Thread (open until the 8th of January 2021)

Revisited that Mourners album and enjoyed it far more this time around, so thanks for that, NYCNative. I'll add it to the 2020 list in case anyone wants to vote for it – and we can add it again next year as needed, the release date is ambiguous enough.

she's a target of those death metal blog idiots who tried to start a metal version of gamer gate

Yeah, I know about that, but she seems like a solid writer with good politics so I was wondering if there was some specific reason people here might dislike her.

I think this is probably the greatest song of all time.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3UwobrHMSPKA4GTKceKoTO?si=4mvT_NdgR-ixyiMHPG3gfg

(new single from the upcoming second album by Flight of Icarus; be warned that music may contain traces of ABBA-esque pop melody)

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT

Didn't expect my Sunday to include one of the members of Agoraphobic Nosebleed to be out here saying "actually the Nazis were left-wing", but here we are. pic.twitter.com/KtxSYUYlxW

— SW (@Lunar_Cult) February 7, 2021

ffs

Aaaaand here's the ass-covering follow-up tweet:

I was saying it was interesting how surprised ppl were to find out that Nazis, Hitler and socialism had a history from learning about racist black metal music, it was just stated very poorly

— Jay Randall (@agoraphobicnb) February 7, 2021

I think it's interesting how the fuckwit didn't research it properly

He's been posting and deleting a lot of dumb shit "both sides"-ism political takes since Biden took office so this is pretty unsurprising, but still disappointing nonetheless.

OT but everyone itt walking like this after Glenn McD's best song of all time

https://www.behereandnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Walking-on-Eggshells-in-Relationships.jpg

I did give it a go Glenn! Not my cup of tea but I can see the appeal, and dare say the Abba ref is a feature, not a bug.

(xp) I might have responded to that Tweet.

You hear ABBA, I hear the closing credits of every anime ever.

If anything, I'd prefer more pop, less metal in that song. The metal ingredients aren't adding much.

Agreed.

Last hours to nominate. Hope to get voting starting tomorrow

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: NOMINATIONS Thread (open until the 8th of January 2021)

That Jay/J. Randall stuff… he’s flown his flag as a reactionary dullard for a long time now. It’s a shame because his netlabel Grindcore Karaoke really spread the word for bands like Dead Neanderthals and Cloud Rat. But it is what it is.

Huh, guess I won't hold my breath for those other ANb EPs that were supposed to be written by other members. The one Kat wrote back before she left was pretty good, but again this helps give more context to why she left in the first place.

Damn, the new The Body record is fantastic. Heavy and bleak as shit.

Sorry to follow you around ILM naysaying but that sure doesn't sound like something I need right now lol (am sure it's good though)

Haha oh yeah, it's certainly not a mood lifter. I don't think I "need" it either, but it's actually surprisingly cathartic at the moment.

The Body album is fantastic. "The City Is Shelled" has such an amazing build. But yeah as you can tell from that title, it's not really a warm hug of an album but they are so exciting sonically that their albums always leave me with a bit of hope.

Can't say I was expecting this but it's an excellent album indeed:

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ad-nauseam-imperative-imperceptible-impulse-review/

another Paysage d'Hiver album y'all

https://paysagedhiver.bandcamp.com/album/geister

ok then!

truly the Gas of metal

I never got Gas but I see what you’re saying.

Emphasis on the capital G, of course.

yeah I was mainly thinking....weird release schedule, super long super monochromatic releases, rabid cult following

but I'm feeling fancy so I preordered the 2xLP lol

the track you can buy now is pretty different sounding

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/man-builds-guitar-out-of-his-dead-uncles-skeleton-uses-it-to-play-black-metal

hey guyz any guess where dude was from

Florigreece

Downfall are a modern (read: not '80s clones) thrash band from Italy who sound to me like a cross between Testament and Trivium. (This is a good thing, FTR.) Their new album Passive Regression is heavy and shouty.

https://downfall1.bandcamp.com/album/passive-regression

wow, that is really good. exactly what i was looking for this weekend

Downtown Music Gallery, one of the last great New York weirdo record stores, asked me and about a dozen other people to write year-end lists for their email newsletter, which I think goes to about 8000 people. Here are all the lists, and mine is reprinted below. Nothing here will be unfamiliar to thread denizens, but the second section (five recommendations of anything you want to recommend) might be.

THE 10 BEST EXTREME METAL ALBUMS OF 2020 By Phil Freeman

I spent most of 2020 writing about jazz, so all the other year-end lists. I wrote up were focused on that. Just for Bruce and the crew at DMG, who were unlikely to agree with me on jazz picks, I thought I’d come up with something special: 10 albums guaranteed to peel your face off and tuck it into your shirt pocket for you.

1 Afterbirth, Four Dimensional Flesh (Unique Leader): Four Long Island dudes laying down skull-pulverizing riffs and machine-gun blast beats, but that’s a Trojan horse. Once they’ve got you, they start tossing soft synth washes, prog-rock compositional left turns, and bursts of almost Sonic Youth-ish dissonance into the mix.

2 Ulcerate, Stare Into Death and Be Still (Debemur Morti): This New Zealand trio’s brand of death metal is dissonant, atmospheric, and punishingly bleak; some of their albums feel like a single hour-long song, by design. This one, though, lets a little light into the room. It’s still ugly and severe, but it feels like they might want you to enjoy the experience.

3 Beast of Revelation, The Ancient Ritual of Death (Iron Bonehead Productions): Two relatively low-profile Dutch musicians recruited John McEntee, of Pennsylvania death metal legends Incantation, to handle vocals on this album, and it’s a crusher. Funereally slow and bulldozer-heavy, it’ll suck the life right out of you, and that’s a good thing.

4 Neptunian Maximalism, Éons (I, Voidhanger): Remember God, Kevin Martin’s band from before he became The Bug that sounded like Godflesh covering Charles Mingus? Neptunian Maximalism have a similar ritualistic, pounding pagan-apocalypse thing going on, with heavy guitars doing battle with roaring saxophones, and when they say maximalism, they mean it. This is a 3-hour 3CD set that’ll send you out of your body by the time it’s over.

5 Behold the Arctopus, Hapeleptic Overtrove (Willowtip): Tony Oxley is not a name one expects to see dropped as an influence on an extreme metal band. But this instrumental trio modeled the percussion on their latest album on his work, as well as classical compositions by Xenakis and Varèse. This means lots of wood blocks, small gongs, and tympani, and percussion that’s on an equal plane with the guitars and bass, not a mere timekeeping device. Complex, head-spinning, and brilliant.

6 Faceless Burial, Speciation (Dark Descent): The third album from this Australian trio is a giant leap forward from their earlier work. The music crawls along like a bus-sized caterpillar, the Immolation-esque riffs squeezing your head till your brain comes out your ears. Wild, almost prog-rock guitar solos and fascinatingly busy drumming keep it from being just punishment, though.

7 Xythlia, Immortality Through Quantum Suicide (I, Voidhanger): Xythlia is a one-man technical grindcore project that piles layer upon layer of Slayer/GridLink riffs and squiggly, shredding solos atop programmed blast beats. It packs 12 tracks into 23 minutes and is relentless, developmentally arrested, and brilliant, with vocals that sound like he recorded them from the weight bench in his garage.

8 Devangelic, Ersetu (Willowtip): This Italian quartet’s third album is based on Annunaki myths about human creation based on alien DNA. That doesn’t really matter, though. All you need to know is that the vocals sound like a broken toilet, the guitars sound like a chain saw, the drums sound like a belt-fed machine gun, and the guitar solos soar skyward in triumph.

9 Vader, Solitude in Madness (Nuclear Blast): Poland’s Vader are death metal legends for a reason. They hear the mixing engineer’s dictum that you can have big drums or big guitars, but not both, and say “f*ck that.” This album is maybe the most bludgeoning, cathartically aggressive thing on this list, built for savage headbanging and absolutely nothing else.

10 Abysmal Dawn, Phylogenesis (Nuclear Blast): Abysmal Dawn, from California, released their first album in six years in 2020, and honestly, it could have been recorded a week after its predecessor. Their chugging, knuckle-walking style of death metal is extremely traditional, but there’s a reason people still listen to AC/DC, too, you know? As snack food goes, this is tasty stuff.

5 ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Maria Golia, The Territory and the Adventure (Reaktion): An excellent book about Ornette Coleman (partly a biography, but much more) that places his own playing into the larger context of the Fort Worth scene and offers a lot of inside info about the Caravan of Dreams, which the author worked on back in the ’80s.

The Crew (original title: Braqueurs), dir. Julien Leclercq. Available on Netflix, this 2015 French heist movie is very much in the Michael Mann tradition, about a group of professionals who let one weak link into their crew and then have to recover when things inevitably go wrong. The lead actor, Sami Bouajila, is terrific (and Leclercq has used him in two other movies, The Bouncer and Earth and Blood), the action is incredibly well done, and the movie as a whole is a marvel of efficiency; it gets in and out in 81 minutes.

Martha Wells, The Murderbot Diaries (Tor): A series of five books (so far) about a cyborg that would much rather be hanging out in a storage container watching downloaded soap operas than saving the humans in its charge from the corporation out to prey on them. The books are fast-paced and exciting, and often quite funny, but they also delve deep into issues of identity in ways conventional literary fiction doesn’t bother with, or isn’t built to do.

Autechre, PLUS & SIGN (Warp): Two 2020 albums from the avant-garde electronic duo, released within weeks of each other (and nobody knew about the second one till the first was out). Some of the most thrilling and emotionally resonant music they’ve ever made.

Ivo Perelman / Nate Wooley, Polarity (Burning Ambulance Music): A CD released this year on my own label. Sax-trumpet duos, exploratory and lyrical at once. One of the most beautiful things Ivo’s ever done; I’m incredibly proud to be putting it out into the world. Available exclusively on Bandcamp. http://burningambulancemusic.bandcamp.com

I'm on board with most of those. Alas, I found the Beast of Revelation immensely frustrating, due to the uninspired songwriting. Everything else on that record is 100% on point, though, starting with the top-tier production.

Ulcerate, Neptunian Maximalism and Faceless Burial are the ones I'd rep for the hardest, if they needed my help (maybe the latter a wee bit?).

Yeah, I"m hoping Faceless Burial place relatively high on the ILM Metal EOY Poll--I placed them high on my ballot (which is a weighted one), so I guess I did my part to try to push them further up the pack...

New Dordeduh out in May. While we wait, here’s a single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZFmx82Dg2I

Really looking forward to it

thx for the heads up. there's a new LP pressing of dar de duh on the prophecy shop as well.

so this new Suffering Hour is quite good but did the guitarist leave his chorus pedal on for the entirety of the album or did LAME just encode this poorly

i appreciate the audacity but i almost wish he had gone for an Only Theatre of Pain level of chorus where it feeds back and detunes

It's a feature not a bug imo. Great album.

Vindsval (aka Blut aus Nord) is dropping a new one next week under his latest atmoblack moniker, Forhist.

No discussion of the Th1rt3en record that came out in January?

I concede it's more rap than metal but there's definitely some crossover here - "666 (Three Six Word Stories)" uses a Sabbath sample as a backbone, there's a ton of Eddie Hazel-gone-skrong guitar too.

I know it's kinda "Old man yells at clouds about a rap album he likes" but so is RTJ and this does a much better job of hitting the same rap/metal hot spots.

The Ad Nauseam album is excellent, probably the best skronk-metal I've heard in quite some time. It's also kind of melodic for its type!

It’s very good and scratches that post-Gorguts itch but I haven’t been able to get into it completely. It’s only a matter of time.

Just got a promo of the new album from The Crown, Royal Destroyer, which will be out March 12. It sounds like The Crown. The first video is for "Motordeath":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP8YfOSu2Dc

There’s a new Furia out and I can’t imagine it being of much interest to non-Polish speakers due to all the theatrical declamation involved. I liked the musical bits, at least.

Re: Ad Nauseam, their first album is equally excellent, I'm finding it hard to choose between the two.

On a completely different note, here's some shoegazey/ambient/drone metal for solo guitar:

https://gauntemperor.bandcamp.com/releases

It's quite beautiful, really.

Serena from Svalbard has apparently made a black metal album about Skyrim. I kinda dig how clean-sounding this is, her vox are great, and you gotta respect the sheer dorkiness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUnxqczBQoA

i really like the Daius record and appreciate how well woven-in the "folk"/"atmospheric" elements are -- such a contrast with "here's the soft part, now here's the loud part"-metal

Glad you liked the Gaunt Emperor, NYCNative, and the Daius, roxymuzak. The year is still young but there's a good chance both of these will make it onto my EOY list.

paranorm's empyrean is essential listening for progressive thrash likers, one of the more accomplished and fun takes on this style I've heard in a minute

In an uncharacteristic move, Krallice just posted the following on Facebook to give us something to look forward to:

"Demonic Wealth"
the 10th album
written in isolation, recorded in isolation, listened to in isolation, released in isolation.
out next week, hopefully..

Maybe some day Krallice will fully click for me. Some day.

I haven't really cracked the recent releases tbh, but I always give the new ones a pass or two just to check in

ooh very cool. Krallice/Marston has been very active with promoting and releasing music on Bandcamp Friday's. seems like thats the idea for this one too. its been great. he's been promoting a ton of awesome projects throughout all of this.

Not metal, exactly, but it doesn't fit anywhere else: Lucifer have covered Dust's "Pull Away/So Many Times" for a split single with Kadavar (who cover Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi"). It's pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7OMvGoMTMQ

Much of the new Melvins sounds like a superannuated comedy rock album. The opener is a Beach Boys send-up whose 'humour' is derived from its copious use of the word 'fuck'. Uh...

'I Fuck Around', geddit? Geddit?

wah wah oooooh

Tbf 'much' is a bit of an overstatement.

Yeah, this is not good. Curious to hear what the Gen X crew makes of it.

Melvins have sucked since they let the Big Business guys walk away.

New Big Brave LP out in April. Here’s an appetizer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CgK5w6E2ns

Love it, can't wait for the album.

Same. I can’t wait to see them live, hopefully next year?

I'm a total sucker for Jón Aldará's vocals, so much so that I find myself otm'ing Angry Metal Guy for once:

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/iotunn-access-all-worlds-review/

There's a new Abominable Putridity album, their first since 2012. (When that album was reissued in 2015, I reviewed it for The Wire.) Parasitic Metamorphosis Manifestation has Ángel Ochoa of Disgorge and Cephalotripsy on vocals, and it rules.

https://inheritedsufferingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/abominable-putridity-parasitic-metamorphosis-manifestation

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0851292490_10.jpg

I just bought it, u gotta stop feeding my addiction

God help me I'm actually kind of enjoying this one. I thought I hated brootal death stuff.

Speaking of Brootal SLAMZ, the new releases from Korpse and Insect Inside are both excellent scratchers of that itch as well.

Yeah, the Insect Inside album is really good. I reviewed it.

Abominable Putridity album is dope. vocalist sounds like like Sylvester Stallone if he had 47 years of black tar in his chest and was also slowly decaying from within

there is a band called Anal Stabwound on the same label. and the "n-a" is censored, so it appears as "A**l Stabwound".

is this some "google for ***** and find Jorel" shit?

"Weird A**l" Stabwound

Don’t forget to vote, folks!

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until March 5)

The Ad Nauseam is very impressive. Thought I might lose interest amid the sheer technicality, but it's full of interesting turns and textural variety, and obviously an enormous amount of production care.

If you liked that Ataraxy debut from like a decade ago -- and the sort of Finndeath that it channeled -- this Chinese death metal band should appeal to you

https://mvltifission.bandcamp.com/album/decomposition-in-the-painful-metamorphosis

or if you just like death metal generally, I guess; it's very good

and I just realized Mefitis has not been mentioned in this year's thread (can't remember if the new album was anticipated at the end of 2020)

https://thetruemefitis.bandcamp.com/album/offscourings

They're both (sort of) in that same bouncy, shimmery, slimy ecosystem

Don’t forget to vote in the 2020 poll! We need *you* to keep the flame alive.

Knoll
Interstice

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/92TjD7Z6lkg/mqdefault.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/6UKXm1UJNFttknobiabdNy?si=ov0eBFvRT_OemJ6QpwWlPg
http://knollvhs.bandcamp.com/album/interstice-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92TjD7Z6lkg

Grindcore from Memphis, Tennessee. Reminds me of a modern take on Brutal Truth what with varied tempos and nods to influences outside grind but in Knoll's case, those influences are sludge and mathcore. It took me by surprise how damn good this was.

Nice--that Knoll has been on my wishlist docket for a few days now. Smart slam FTW! On a related note to some aspects of their approach (instrumentally, not really vocally--esp how they incorporate Black trem riffs w/o being orthodox BM), am looking fwd to the new Krallice set to drop this Friday.

That Mefitis above is a real frontrunner/standout for me so far this year--am a sucker for the thrashy/early-death (and also a bit early [early-mid?] Death, in their case?) approach to riffs and production, especially when it's done as well as that.

Everyone who's posted itt (and everyone else, e.g. Siegbran – where art thou?): please help us uphold our yearly metal poll tradition by voting for your 2020 favourites. Don't worry about the length of your ballot:

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until March 5)

Also, prompted by the posts upthread from a couple days ago, I looked into the band Anal Stabwound on a lark and not only is their debut from a few weeks ago a pretty good example of techy brutal death that doesn't wear out its welcome over an epic for the genre 55 minute runtime, but the band itself is just one kid from Connecticut who plays all the instruments himself (apart from a couple guest vocal spots) and who recorded and released the album while he was still just 15 years old. His youtube channel is worth a look if you want to feel humbled about your own musical accomplishments when you were in high school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QZU7Ri7y6o

hahahahha really? goddammit i was hoping for an excuse not to listen cos it's so obviously something i would listen to but I feel silly cos of the name.

welp...guess i will!

Trying to imagine the whirlwind of parental emotions. On the one hand, my kid is an incredibly talented musician who plays at least three instruments and wrote and recorded an entire album of his own music at 15. On the other hand, he did it under the name Anal Stabwound.

maybe that's why it's censored on his bandcamp

"now sweetie, I love you, and I love your....."music"...and I will give you everything you need. but I am not giving you any money to record this album unless you blot out the naughty medical word on your site. this is a dealbreaker, Junior, I won't be associated with an anus!"

fuck, at 15 I could play a few power chords at most

Plot twist: his dad, who plays bass in a Cannibal Corpse tribute band, suggested the name.

Anal Stabwound kid is apparently in a high school jazz band, is in three other bands as a drummer right now, and released this.

jesus fuck, in high school I was in three bands for a total of three days.

the riffs on this are pretty good!

not rly my genre but this is a staggering achievement ngl

it is genuinely a great song

I don't know why I never listened to it last year but I am currently listening to the Megaton Sword album Blood Hails Steel - Steel Hails Fire and it is exactly what I need right this minute.

Last call for the 2020 metal poll:

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until March 5)

Given the pathetically low amount of ballots we've received so far despite the extra time we've all been afforded, I don't know whether we'll be doing this again next year.

fewer metal loving posters around, everyone's old and no new young metalheads joining ilm.

Same problems as general ILX

"only" a ballot of 30 this year but it's coming

30 is more than solid imo.

not being able to go see live music must have hurt sales of new bands

and with so many being furloughed and money being tight, i think people only bought albums by bands they knew they liked and may have slipped into comfort food of listening to old albums?

New Krallice out today. and new Jute Gyte comp. both sounding great. looking forward to diving in more later tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGsRiUHYwZw

Neptunian Maximalism are putting out a live album, Solar Drone Ceremony, in April; it's an LP/DVD set, which IMO kinda sucks since it's a single long track that has to be split for vinyl. Anyway, here's the link:

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/solar-drone-ceremony

wow uh what's going on with krallice

Yeah, LP seems a weird option, but I'm excited to hear a live set from them.

Fair enough, Brad--am holding off on buying that new Krallice to see how well or not that keyboard palette chosen by Marston ends up sitting with me; on the other hand, I am liking McMaster's bass tone and parts on what little I've checked out

Also, it's hilarious that it seems like Mick Barr is sitting this one out on guitar, and contributed his vocals by recording them in a car

i too have always dreamed of recording extreme metal vocals while driving in traffic

Neanderthal, did you vote in the metal poll/do you plan on it?

Brad?

Dissociate... Trauma cleaves the mind into shards...Compartments formed in self defense... STAY IN YOUR FUCKING LANE ASSHOLE...

no xp

poms I'm gonna do it after work today! slipped my mind yesterday

Thanks! Just checking so I can get a better sense of what to expect.

actually excited to vote in this one cos I had time to listen to music for once.

Brad are you going to vote?

We only have 17 ballots

Brad already said no.

:(

got to play through the full Krallice album. it's less of a departure overall than the above video and RYM comments seem to let on. I dunno, i found the whole album pretty exciting. digging the new production techniques too. weird that Barr isn't on guitar and curious to see how they play these live (if they ever do) but I like it

Krallice "liner notes"

solation recording sessions:
Drums recorded at the Mouth 3 on a phone
Vocals recorded in the car by the swamp
Bass recorded.
Guitars, keyboards, other bass, reamping, mixing, mastering at Menegroth the thousands cave.

Yeah, that explains the weak drum sound.

That said, I'll likely buy it.

Waiting for the CD though.

Last last call before seandalai closes the poll:

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until March 5)

I really like the Krallice. it feels like an 80s synth/black metal nightmare

The closer is excellent and the prominent synthwork is a great fit for them. The other tracks leave me emotionally cold, however (as usual). Everything about Krallice is right up my alley except for the songwriting, which I can't bring myself to love. A very frustrating band, alas, but I may yet come around completely.

i wasn't huge on Mass Cathexis like some were last year (didn't even make my ballot), but this one is kinda fun. the synths remind me of Summoning at times ....but it's not the same type of music.

actually now I want to listen to Summoning

I recently came across a one-woman BM band who calls herself Brouillard ('Fog' in French) and whose music is very much in the vein of Paysage d'Hiver. Every single one of her albums *and* tracks is titled 'Brouillard', which I think is pretty cool. I liked 2019's Brouillard a fair amount, but this year's just blew me away:

https://transcendance-bm.bandcamp.com/album/brouillard-brouillard-5

bit hard to request songs at concerts

I preferred Brouillard myself

'Freebird' still works.

but it was no Brouillard

Everything about Krallice is right up my alley except for the songwriting, which I can't bring myself to love. A very frustrating band, alas, but I may yet come around completely.

pretty similar experience here. I dutifully check out new releases and have even seen them live a few times. nothing really sticks tho.

then again, summoning you say? I guess I'll go see what this new one is about...

Has everyone voted in the metal poll that wants to?

i wish i listened to enough in this world to join in but i'm very much a dilettante at best

That doesnt matter. Look at the list of nominated albums. If you see albums you liked then vote for them!

therein lies the problem

Just vote for Judas Priest - British Steel 50 times

The new Stargazer seems like it loses a little bit of weirdness and heads back towards The Scream That Tore The Sky-era sound... and that's great!

I also semi-masochistically enjoy the challenge of dealing with the power-metal clean vocals on the ballad-y last track of the new Stargazer album...

RIP LG Petrov. Gonna be listening to a lot of Entombed today.

RIP to one of the best

RIP to a legend.

Oh goddammit

The rollout hath begun:

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS – Top 100 Countdown

maybe the new eyehategod has good songs but the production is horrible. turns out--brace yourself--that if you put mike's vocals real clean way up in the mix he's a terrible lyricist with a weird petulant inflection. keith morris as mentioned upthread is a good comparison.

the riffs are good and big but sit way down under the vocals.

Yeah, the production really is bad on this one. It's not just the foregrounding of the vocals — the guitars seem really compressed and lacking in nuance; they're like a wave of distortion with no underlying riff, and the drums are super muffled and blocky. It's really too bad, because their last album — the self-titled one from 2014 — was one of their best.

the final countdown from 20 has begun
2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS – Top 100 Countdown

definitely wasn't wowed by the Eyehategod on first listen. will listen again later.

Disappointed to hear its not good. Was really really looking forward to it

some of the riffs were dope, but agree with the production concerns. it's very weird.

but it could be a grower. definitely wasn't 'bad' by any means.

new lovebites single/anime theme/super accurate representation of the romanian countryside totally rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsE4Ub_Pjh8

well, not that new but the whole EP just dropped

Human Impact, the "American noise rock supergroup made up of members from Unsane, Swans, Cop Shoot Cop and Xiu Xiu" according to Wiki, released a new EP digitally today with vinyl coming in August.

http://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3409365642_16.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/0FHiuFZn3IewRCOd1OWuTj?si=mvTrRNk8T3-g-T073DI1hQ
http://humanimpact.bandcamp.com/album/ep01

I liked their album that came out last year so it's not a shock I dig this as well. Of interest to some metal folks.

Also, the new Crown record rips. Neanderthal, methinks you will approve.

The last two Rob Zombie albums kinda sucked, but the new one is...good? I'll have a review on BA next week, just to fuck with the editor of Avant Music News (an aggregator site that regularly links to my stuff).

Agree on the Crown.

That Crown record was a fun listen today. Might be their best.

NYCNative thanks for the tip. weirdly I only ever owned one album of theirs (Possessed 13), which I liked a lot, but I was thinking of checking this out. so now I'll check this and Deathrace King (how I never heard that one, idk!)

still think it's hilarious that they were sued by a Christian death metal band which is why they had to change their name back in the early 90s

Yeah, the new Rob Zombie album is a lot more fun, reminds me of the White Zombie days with all the movie samples.

Not sure I'll buy it, but good on him for showing a bit more creativity.

will this be the year I get into powerviolence

https://worldfuckingpeace.bandcamp.com/album/come-and-see

I wish the lyrics on the new Eyehategod were unintelligible.

The Crown newie is indeed sweet af

Timely title also.

Lol yes

If you're in the mood for Candlemass-esque trad doom with female vox, allow me to draw your attention to, uh, Witchtit:

https://witchtit.bandcamp.com/album/intoxicating-lethargy

Thank you for the Brouillard recommendation! It, eh, fit right into my (this is seriously what I came up with when trying to think of another way to say "I like it") black metal hole.

Any time. There's always a Paysage d'Hiver-shaped hole somewhere…

Witchtit

Would definitely not have been in a hurry to listen to a band with this name w/o the recommendation and description and it's great stuff, thanks! I'm super picky about vocals in trad doom and Reign's are excellent.

I'm super picky about vocals in trad doom

This is the correct attitude imo. They nearly make or break a trad doom band for me.

I mean they do kinda tend to be pretty dominant in the mix for starters

I guess what I meant to say, after Gott Punch, is that trad doom activates my pure subjectivity centres even more than other metal subgenres. For instance, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is one of my favourite albums of all time, but I can't stand most of the band's discography due to Messiah Marcolin. It feels unfair somehow, but how I am supposed *not* to reel from his singing?

Speaking of trad doom (post-trad doom? if such a thing exists), I also enjoyed this admittedly more depressing album by Seed:

https://seedma.bandcamp.com/album/dun-pageant

really hoping for a new 40 watt sun album this year

One more for the road, from the windswept shores of Brittany, and possibly the trad-est of them all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U30WDDgXLKs

Tempted to describe this as New Wave of Breton Heavy Metal.

Caio Lemos aka Kaatayra just released a new LP under his Bríi alias:

https://brii.bandcamp.com

Name your price, as usual.

New Mare Cognitum is out tomorrow and it's typically stellar. You can stream it here if you're in a hurry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzK0fp1ZJ18

I wish I liked the forthcoming Genghis Tron record. Alas...

I like the advance tracks :shrug:

I'm liking the two GT songs well enough so far, but neither have knocked my block off like their last two albums did. I'm hopeful the rest of the album delivers.

Just now getting around to the Iotunn record that pom mentioned last month, really scratching an itch as far as progressive metal goes. Really hard to nail this kind of combination of epic scale space rock with actual death metal intensity, it's not just patching death vox over bog-standard prog metal.

Also finally received my copy of the new Ruins of Beverast, I really like how open and spacious that one is.

Glad you like the Iotunn, jon. Speaking of prog metal – this time with a post-metal bent – holy shit is the new Dvne ever amazing:

https://songs-of-arrakis.bandcamp.com/album/etemen-nka

This one's going to rank very high on lots of people's EOY lists, I suspect.

Ooh, thanks for the tip. That does sound promising.

Speaking of prog metal, I've been seeing a couple people saying really good things about the new Chevelle record, of all things. Anyone brave enough to check that out? I don't think I've knowingly heard anything from them since their alt-rock radio songs around the turn of the century, but I've seen it being called very good TOOL inspired stuff.

I don't recall them from back in the day, and I can't tell whether this should make me more or less likely to check out their latest.

"Send the Pain Below" was their big hit, I don't recall ever hearing a full album by them but they were sold as kind of the "brainier" nu-metal band at one point.

new archival release of old decomposed material:
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/demos

hope finally died is top tier death doom, so I'm excited for this one

Max Cavalera and his son Igor have a new band, Go Ahead And Die. The first song, "Truckload Full Of Bodies," is pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjCMyT4Bsm4

pic.twitter.com/qkluksJ4sQ

— Acid House Hospital (@darkmusick_) March 19, 2021

Sorry, start of thread:

Gorguts album covers as different kinds of salad, a thread pic.twitter.com/y8BCnVKni0

— Acid House Hospital (@darkmusick_) March 19, 2021

So that's where they got their name.

Checked out the Serj Tankian EP that came out today.
Sounds like Dead Kennedy's meets Electric Light Orchestra.
Which is to say it didn't do it for me though I like System of a Down.

Eeeeeeeevil Sugarrrr

Sounds like Dead Kennedy's meets Electric Light Orchestra.

Heh, I was tempted to give it a shot but this definitely sounds like it's Not For Me.

Two great tastes that do not go great together.

DK is mostly his voice and delivery, you know how he sounds.

Serj Tankian singing over ELO actually sounds potentially good.

I haven't heard it yet but there's a new Salqiu for those who care about such things (aka imago & tt):

https://salqiu.bandcamp.com/album/lazarus-denied

Also of note, a very solid debut by Escumergamënt, featuring members of Setherial, Stilla, Svederna and Bergraven:

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/ni-degu-fazentz-escumergam-nt-e-mesorga

If you liked the first Sur Austru LP, you will almost certainly enjoy their second effort:

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/ob-r-ie

Last but not least, some high quality atmoblack courtesy of Koldovstvo (Russian for 'witchcraft'):

https://koldovstvo.bandcamp.com/album/-

the abythic release from last month has really been growing on me lately:
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/abythic-dominion-of-the-wicked

I was initially disappointed by the major (complete?) reduction of 'death' in their death/doom sound vs the older releases that I've heard. but it's blossoming now that I'm over that.

things I was pleasantly reminded of at times while listening on a morning walk today - asunder, cathedral (forest of equilibrium-era), the dirgey deathspell omega track on crushing the holy trinity, katatonia

Tasty new Coffin Rot single:

https://coffinrotofficial.bandcamp.com/album/reduced-to-visceral-sludge

I am really liking the new Emptiness. It's all a kind of dark ambient goth sound, not metal at all, but a natural evolution for them.

It makes me think of In Rainbows, for some reason.

Damn, RYM really hates it, even more than the new Eyehategod. I'll give it a shot out of pure curiosity.

here for the extremely odd permutations of pandemic metal. first track on this emptiness record reminds me of... the last lambchop album

lmao yes i love this

sounds a bit like teethed glory and injury with all the metal taken out

by which I mean, I dig it!

On the more obscure end of 2021, Patriarcha (lol) are an excellent mildly blackened melodeath band from Slovakia, if you're into that kind of thing (I very much am):

https://patriarcha.bandcamp.com

the Dvne record is really good, reminds me a bit of anciients in terms of extended sludge jams that actually go places

Bits of it are genuinely beautiful, which is no mean feat. Even its running time is justified imo.

I'm totally on board with the new Emptiness btw. The haterz are rong.

It's fine not to like this style. I'm guessing the hate is mostly a function of expectations. The same listeners probably wouldn’t go out of their way to rate a band that started as goth or post-punk and put out this album.

I think it's a fascinating turn, though. Very strange, subtle, and creepy. The whispery demonic vocals have even gotten kind of seductive.

That's fair (full disclosure: I haven't heard their previous albums).

Stop Funding and Covering These Metal Labels

A handy list of labels with NSBM bands, owners or ties. Organized by country in case you’re interested in your own scene specifically. Constructed for the purpose of being able to use CONTROL+F to search for a specific label so you can avoid funding the far right (And for me to use to vet black metal submitted for review). The links go to their Metal Archives page as it has all the info in one place: current roster, past roster, links, email etc and people can explore it to see for themselves (Plus this page won’t direct traffic to the label sites). I only bother with labels releasing in the last couple of years, I don’t care about old labels that have stopped and many other less complete lists that include long-defunct labels. My focus is on labels that are still active and will continue to be active. Considering that qualifier, it’s intense how many NSBM labels are going right now.

Before anyone gets upset over this, YOU CAN STILL LISTEN TO THE MUSIC LOL no one is taking anything away from you. I’m just trying to service people who already want to avoid nazis. Are you a labelhead annoyed that you are on this list because it’s only a few bands from your roster? I don’t care, either way you made money from National Socialism or helped it spread, it’s not my fault you can’t vet bands for your roster… come on, we really know.

If anyone upset by what I have done here then you are weak and I now own your frustration, I have become more powerful. You stupid snowflake fuck.

I wish good bands that I'm interested in hearing would stop signing with Profound Lore, though I do think even that has slowed in recent years.

Surprised to see Season of Mist on that list, but I guess Inquisition was enough to do that.

At least Pillard got kicked out of Disma in 2019. Not that this excuses Profound Lore’s stubborn decision to stand by him over the years.

That's a good resource. I've actually spent money on some of the higher profile ones, some of which I've since learnt to steer clear from buying even if I do listen to one or two bands that they distribute. I did actually find out about volahn of the black twilight circle hanging out with nazis recently and that fucking sucked. I need to stop giving these people the benefit of the doubt.

profound lore being on there was a surprise to me given their roster. Fuck, even I, voidhanger has a band where one of the members plays in an openly fash band even though the label have more than one openly left-wing bands signed to them. This shit's so pervasive.

iron bonehead huh? bummer

At least Pillard got kicked out of Disma in 2019.

According to Enc. Metallum he's back in on vocals and guitar as of 2020?

yeah, looks like when their drummer left in December 2020, their announcement of the new drummer came along with Pillard being quietly re-listed as singer on their website (which they failed to mention it at all in the new drummer announcement post, trying to be sneaky I guess). Now their being booked the next month in a Nazi metal fest (discussed upthread) makes a lot more sense.

Yep, that festival appearance suddenly makes a lot more sense, in a bad way. Awful.

So apparently Brouillard 5 isn't getting a physical release because it's not good enough, she's saying during this short anniversary video for her Transcendance label: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExoTV624DJc

That’s just wrong. I’ve been listening to the entirety of her discography over the past few weeks and I’m pretty sure Brouillard 5 is my favourite.

Also happy to see that on her label’s contact page, she straight-up says ‘if you are a nazi, get the fuck out’.

maybe cool that shawn eldridge steered clear of this disma reunion or whatever this mess is? his drumming is def one of the best parts of the formula there, funebrarum, etc. would be nice if he weren’t a maga chud or worse.

the false metal crv is going to really dig this genghis tron album I think. or at least I do!

much more in line with perturbator, late NIN, etc than the last genghis tron album

any cool melodic-but-not-power-metal stuff out there these days? (high spirits, spirit adrift etc etc)

just getting around to the newish deiquisitor record:
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/humanoid

RIYL immolation. their 2019 record was worthy stuff too, I'll have to spin it again now.

On the melodic side, the new Evergrey album is excellent. They're always a really tasteful metal band.

Genghis Tron is hopefully showing up shortly, super anxious to hear that.

Yes, this Genghis Tron sounds sick.

I don't know their '00s stuff very well, but this feels more my thing. I'm happy for the absence of grindy parts.

big news !! I’m excited to announce my upcoming microtonal experimental metal album, Nowherer, will be out on 4/23, with preorders starting next Friday, 4/2!!! ANDDD the lead single is available to stream now, on my bandcamp! pic.twitter.com/CrmmMWUDfj

— Virtual Trobairitz (@bastard__wing) March 26, 2021

could have posted to the Branca Metal thread but nah you're all invited

Cool. I warmed up to A Tessitura of Transfiguration so I'll be sure to check it out.

I know nothing about Genghis Tron's previous albums but I greatly enjoyed their newfangled synth jams!

In other HYPE news, a new Esoctrilihum is on the way. It's titled… Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath.

I’ve only heard a bit of the Genghis Tron; I wasn’t sure at first, but once I realised they sound like Trans Am now it sits better with me.

I have heard all of the new BIG|BRAVE out next month and it’s fantastic. Robin Wattie’s vocals are more foregrounded this time, without the gauze of effects, and all the stronger for it.

any cool melodic-but-not-power-metal stuff out there these days? (high spirits, spirit adrift etc etc)

I am really loving the band Herzel which pom posted upthread. Great NWOBHM sound, great playing, and all sung in French.

https://herzel-music.bandcamp.com/album/le-dernier-rempart

Continuing with the straight up heavy metal recommendations, Possessed Steel, Megaton Sword, and Midnight Dice all had very good releases in this vein last year.

Glad you enjoy the Herzel, jmm. Do give it a chance, ums.

In other news, Neptunian Maximalism have another album on the way, Solar Drone Ceremony, out on April 23.

I've heard it and musically it's pretty good — it's a live performance, a single long track. I'd kind of like to have the DVD, but have no use for the LP, obviously.

There’s some live footage floating around on YT but not that particular performance, alas.

Also, they (well, two of them, at least) look exactly the part:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVxNlLe7fxs

Thanks to pom for the DVNE tip, absolutely loving this. Whoever mentioned the Anciients vibes upthread is also otm.

I wound up liking the new Crown album enough to review it.

Yeah, this Genghis Tron is decidedly less "metal" than they've been previously, but once you can accept that, it's a terrific record. Love when "Ritual Circle" goes all krautrock in the back half.

^ Probably my favourite album of Q1 at this point.

looks like it could be extremely My Shit, will check shortly

‘Tis quite good, and Not Metal.

but is it My Shit lmao

feel like it's a little too streamlined/smooth to be imagocore

Not enough herky-jerky, it’s true.

Board Up the House is probably more your speed imago

Just a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Corpsegrinder, who have apparently been married for 33 years.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExFhu7hWQAMeqCu.jpg

^aww

wtf this Genghis Tron is sounding GREAT

current track is like metal Ulrich Schnauss I cannot even

That photo is peak metal imo, and I say this unironically. I hope Neanderthal’s seen it too.

that picture is like Anal Cunt's Picnic Of Love album cover except real lmao

https://d1ixbvo4t6c1w.cloudfront.net/cannibalcorpse/img/cover.jpg

How awesome would it be to pull off the slip cover with this image, only to find unperson's from above as the actual album cover?

xpost - thanks for the trad metal recommends!

I’ve only heard a bit of the Genghis Tron; I wasn’t sure at first, but once I realised they sound like Trans Am now it sits better with me.

ok this sounds good, there's nothing wrong with heavy metal that sounding like trans am wouldn't fix

people itt showing they don't truly know imagocore

this GT is...kind of incredible, 2nd listen now

I remember seeing Pole open for Trans Am on the Surrender to the Night tour...one of the loudest shows I've ever seen and just insane sternum-cracking bass

ok maybe not INCREDIBLE but def at least v good

Started to pre-order the new Gojira album, but their website charges $7.50 for postage on a single CD within the continental US. Fuuuuuck that. I'll buy it from a third party site that has it cheaper anyway.

So...have a question: why is Genghis Tron considered metal?

Because they once were a metal band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqGU6YuBjOc

(Sort of.)

Ah cuz yeah hearing this I think more of Trans Am as mentioned or Battles or something like that

Good stuff really like it

Same. I listened to Red Line a lot in my late teens and Dream Weapon brings me back a bit.

hmm red line is a great record, guess i’ll check this out tho i’m sour that they dropped the grind

moral collapse teaser tracks have def piqued my interest:
https://moralcollapse.bandcamp.com/album/moral-collapse

some real head-nodding tech death and tablas and saxophones and guitar feedback and shit for kicks too, excited to hear the whole thing

For April Fools' Day, metal-archives.com has replaced band photos with cat pics. Make sure to check out the last one.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mot%C3%B6rhead/203

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Iron_Maiden/25

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mercyful_Fate/182

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Judas_Priest/97

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Metallica/125

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Slayer/72

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Iced_Earth/4

Haha, well played.

This one also got a sensible chuckle out of me:

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/basement-dwelling-black-metal-artists-voice-frustration-with-bigger-bands-recording-in-basement-during-pandemic/

The new Cannibal Corpse album is a very good Cannibal Corpse album. Erik Rutan is on lead guitar throughout, and wrote three songs, though you can't tell; they sound like Cannibal Corpse songs, not Hate Eternal songs. Lots of slow and heavy stuff in the vein of "Scourge of Iron," no grindcore-ish blasts in the vein of "High Velocity Impact Splatter."

Just realised what Genghis Tron reminds me of: Secret Machines!

oh yeah good call!

title track also basically giving a slightly chilled-out version of what The Armed are soon to purvey upon our helpless souls

There are parts where I feel like the GT could have benefited from a softer mix. It's still mixed like a loud metal album. I keep wanting to fiddle with the volume.

Ballou definitely knows what he was going for, ofc.

https://lddsm.bandcamp.com/

reaally digging Polaris, the new one from Les Disidentes Del Sucio Motel (LDDSM) - the clean radio-rock vox will be an instant dealbreaker for some but the songs are solid as hell and I like the blend of big soaring alt-metal hooks and moody space rock they're up to here

Not bad. His accent is less distracting than I expected.

Steel Bearing Hand - Slay in Hell

Just bought the CD from @Carbon_Forms. I caught these sooted thrashers in a West Philly basement show five years ago and the new one rips. Meet the new Cowboys from Hell (all the riffs, none of the baggage). https://t.co/JIIorRhqpN #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) April 2, 2021

I think New Standard Elite has figured out exactly what it takes for a brutal DM album to hit the pom spot if this and last year’s Putrescent Seepage album are anything to go by:

https://newstandardelite.bandcamp.com/album/metharoma-pipe-dreams-through-the-alley

Thanks for the tip. Bought all three of their new releases.

Speaking of the brutalness, this one just blipped onto my radar and subsequently sent me zooming. Enough curveballs in the songs to keep things interesting, but not techy.
https://shownomercyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/incubation-in-the-parallel-dimension-snm011

Also I've been on a Blood Harvest Recs kick the last few days and found this to be at the top of the heap. I guess it's just "death metal" but the dude brings the riffs like mad and knows how to stack a song into a comprehensible shape. Almost reminds me of Abbath's style in places, like "Mountains of Might" gone total death. Drum sound's kind of whack but ehhh. Really hope a full length is in the works.
https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/altered-state

re: the latter

https://i.imgur.com/I80u7cj.jpg

oh yeah Xantam rules

I got a Bandcamp email from Sentient Ruin and the dude used "⚡️⚡️" runes as bullets on his list of releases and like... dude. Really?

another vote for this genghis tron album... good stuff!

Speaking of the New Standard Elite releases, I'm digging the Asphyxiate. Just enough hints of Old-school in their brutalness, and they're from Indonesia!

This T-shirt is fantastic, though I don't think it's a good color for me.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0537/4221/products/MensTee-Mockups-FRONT_1c0624dd-80dc-4914-8e1e-077617351a3c_800x.jpg

Some fuckin' awesome tech death from Bangalore feat. Kevin Hufnagel, among others:

https://moralcollapse.bandcamp.com/album/moral-collapse

yes! that one really delivered on the promise of the teaser tracks. the whole record is sweet as hell.

speaking of which, new altarage incoming:
https://altarage.bandcamp.com/album/succumb

those two teaser tracks bode very well imo

the odd production choices, hints of grind, and overall speed and density of the sound all make me think of knelt rote (who I love) without really sounding like them. great band.

Really enjoyed their previous LP so I’ll definitely be checking this one out.

How shall we know? We shall not. Not in a million years. Unworthy of grace. We shall see nothing. Unworthy of life. How shall we know? We shall not. Not in a million years. Not in the face of the end. We shall see nothing. Unworthy of creation.

some very solid new polish bm, opens with a sample from the devils which can only bode well

https://manbryne.bandcamp.com/releases

"Recorded Anno Pestis MMXIX - MMXX"

heh

I'm systematically revisiting some older stuff before dipping back into the unending flow of 2021 releases but that small detail makes me even more hyped to hear it.

Of course it's sponsored by/presented at a gym.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eyyb6SLWEAIBpkF.jpg

"OK, first things first — that whole thing about how if you ask them if they're a cop, legally they have to tell you? That's a bunch of bullshit, man, take it from me."

The new Xasthur song is hilariously awful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf7fqGVorVg

I mean the music's not terrible but the lyrics and lyric video are certainly...a lot. Maybe the other 21 (!) songs will be less cringey.

So that's what he sounds like now, huh. I hadn't heard anything by him since 2009's All Reflections Drained.

Anyway, I had the same reaction as Simon.

at least 'the prison of mirrors' was existentially bleak in its simplistic view of the world eh lol

at least he doesn't seem to have gone fash so that's nice?

This is more hard rock than metal, but it will likely be my favorite album this year barring something else blowing me away.

Rubbery Lips by @hotbreathgbg (@TheSignRecords)

This Swedish hard rock is crunchy, catchy, and easily my favorite record of the year thus far. Think Runaways, old Riot, original Alice Cooper Band, with a metallic sheen. https://t.co/bkSWNkCBtN #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) April 9, 2021

Yeah this is a lot of fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzftRferCLc

reminds me of...eagles of death metal?

I had All Reflections Drained on the other week and was pleased how well it had stood up.

That, on the other hand, is dreadful.

even tho the direction he's taken xasthur is... not my thing, I do respect that he seems to be doing exactly what he wants to be doing. a name change might have been good tho.

and speaking of going fash or not, thought this review was a little too charitable:
https://grizzlybutts.com/2021/04/04/sielunvihollinen-teloituskasky-2021-review/

DTB isn't just some vaguely sketchy black metal label, it is pretty openly what it is and it seems weird to mention the label but not mention that

maybe the combined dogwhistle power of namedropping Horna and Goatmoon back to back is supposed to do that heavy lifting for them.

Këkht Aräkh is making me smile. Bedroom black metal with a forlorn, romantic sensibility by a guy who calls himself the Crying Orc. Pretty close to Under a Funeral Moon at times.

https://kekhtarakh.bandcamp.com/album/pale-swordsman

Regarde Les Hommes Tomber stream of Ascension live is hitting HARD @ https://www.roadburnredux.com/

the new lion's daughter album is absolutely fucking awesome. I liked their last one, it was super intense, this one is...poppier? I mean the singer's still roaring like the dude from Darkane in '99. but the riffs are tight and the synths are soundtrack-y, they're kind of reaching for something beyond "overwhelm you with force." great band imo

lulz

THIS PIECE OF SHIT IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE METAL COMMUNITY! First he shames us with his terrorist actions on in DC, and THEN he becomes a rat to his own people for a lighter sentence! MAN THE FUCK UP! Own your shit! If you do the crime, do the time!https://t.co/jTo6EFVSDN

— Dee Snider🇺🇸 (@deesnider) April 18, 2021

Corpsegrinder called him out too. much more gently but still

I reviewed the new Cannibal Corpse album, which is very good.

late pass but THE NEW CRYSTAL VIPER ALBUM IS SO GOOD!!!

if you are not into trad 80s metal take a pass but otherwise the is ABSOLUTELY THE BUSINESS IN THIS STYLE.

I love Crystal Viper, and yeah, the new album is really good. (CW: It's a Lovecraftian concept album.)

This video — a newly married couple doing their first wedding dance to Napalm Death's "You Suffer" — is...well, I just described it. But you should watch anyway, because it rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjd_gUaM74s

Would've been ever better had they sung along.

loving the new Spectral Wound

so melodious at times

Monster Magnet is covering Dust as part of their covers record and I'm here for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC-UwU8xK68

at least he doesn't seem to have gone fash so that's nice?

Oh. :(

ugh

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

noticing that the 'minorities' are really the majority

When will this die.

He was always sus from the moment years ago he talked about 'techno morons' in an interview tbh

wack, I used to think it was kind of cool that Xasthur was from the same town as me, but not any longer!

new altarage is gooooooood:

https://altarage.bandcamp.com/

huge sound

seems to be brutal death metal focused on drug abuse as a general topic. a lot of the tags say deathcore/slam, but a lot of it sounds like traditional brutal dm with occasional slam moments. there are actual riffs for one. vocals are kinda typical.

I dig. and it's name your own price.

https://newstandardelite.bandcamp.com/album/metharoma-pipe-dreams-through-the-alley

Me too, which is why I posted it upthread. :p

(I'm just messing with you. This one definitely bears repeating.)

lol totally missed that!

yeah, the Metharoma record, like pretty much all New Standard Elite releases, is good as hell.

It even inspired young Nikhil to emerge from his post-Anal Stabwound album release hibernation and/or grounding for a new cover vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYx-52lQ9zk

That whole label is awesome. I'm gonna have to explore their other 2021 releases.

Also, this is going to sound sacrilegious, but I revisited Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten a few days ago and I've come to the conclusion that I actually prefer their contemporary copycats in terms of performance (often tighter and more virtuosic) and recording technique (a fuller, beefier sound that suits the subgenre better).

xp

go to your room

the other thing I discovered today

https://anthropophagous.bandcamp.com/album/death-fugue

starts with a horror movie synth (makes sense, Anthropophagous was a movie), this is very much the old school 80s/early 90s death style. lots of blasts, hollow guitars that are crisp and crunchy, vocals that are unique, lots of tempo changes.

also chorus drenched guitar solos that sound like evil spectres

thrashy bits too

Just bought a bunch of things that just came out:

Amigo The Devil- Born Against

http://glide-assets-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15005902/AmigoTheDevil_BornAgainst_Cover.3000px-1536x1536-1-578x578.jpg

Not metal, but metalheads definitely love the guy. The new one has a cabaret feel to the thing, for example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRsftCQezFo

Big|Brave - Vital

http://i0.wp.com/www.musicomh.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Big-Brave-Vital.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1

A little more metal than their other stuff, which is fine with me, and I still love the powerful vulnerability of Robin Wattie's delivery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CgK5w6E2ns

Paysage d'Hiver - Geister

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Paysage_dHiver-Geister.jpg.webp

Songs are condensed into actual songs now, using more traditional song structures, making the whole thing the most accessible blizzard yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgjt_rBkIEo

S.H.I. - 4 死 Death

http://imagestore.ffm.to/link/7b8b883c697227eaaaef9f142316c632.jpg

Ever wonder what Ministry would have sounded like if Al Jourgensen was a Japanese crusty instead of an American junkie? Wonder no more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5kX_l7PeT0

I really dig the Big Brave but it seems less overtly heavy than the last one? I don't really know any of their older stuff but will get to it eventually.

New Crust (the Russian band)

http://crustband.bandcamp.com/album/stoic

One of those bands I never quite know how to describe but descriptives could include blackened, sludgy, death, doom.

Dusk In Silence
Beneath The Great Sky Of Solitude
(Flowing Downward)

http://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/250x/album/359958-beneath-the-great-sky-of-solitude.jpg

http://duskinsilence.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-the-great-sky-of-solitude
http://flowingdownward.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-the-great-sky-of-solitude

I really like this one-man atmospheric black metal project from Indonesia. Not groundbreaking but very uplifting and with more melody than usually found in this kind of stuff. "Towards the Infinite Horizon" is the song I would add to my 2021 Spotify Playlist it it were on Spotify.

It is available digitally and also on CD from Italy (the label is a subsidiary of Avant Garde Music) however it should be getting a CD release here on 6/4 based on what I am seeing online so I am gonna pick it up then.

New Standard Elite is a label with a clear sense of their own aesthetic. I keep a list of such labels and generate automatic Spotify samplers for them...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3gF4jmXoQcpuvthDQJiruL?si=ajUF4bzkSyKOmLt4AJmk0A

I recently bought three New Standard Elite releases, but somehow overlooked Meshum's Enigmatic Existential Essence (which honestly could just as easily have been a mid '70s Jean-Luc Ponty album title).

https://meshum.bandcamp.com/album/enigmatic-existential-essence

One-man slam from a Turkish dude who plays every instrument, including real drums. Good stuff.

That S.H.I album posted upthread is really good. It's like a Japanese cross between Ministry's "W Trilogy" and Motörhead's Orgasmatron, with some utterly unpredictable weirdness thrown in. Really needs to be heard as loud as possible.

The new Gojira album is very good. On first listen I might like it better than Magma, about as much as L'Enfant Sauvage.

Art hipster false metallers rejoice, Spectral Lore is here again!

https://spectrallore.bandcamp.com/album/-

Unsurprisingly I think it's amazing. The mixing on this one gives the guitars more bite than most of the guy's other stuff, if you enjoyed Mystras from last year do check it out.

anybody else like Evile here? their new one just dropped, and it's still their typically high quality thrash (that refreshingly isn't of the 'lol crossover revivalist circuit' variety that we have 70,000 of)

I have to admit I was surprised to see them covering Mortician's "Zombie Apocalypse". Not sure that song benefits from decipherable vocals, but go off, fellas.

lol yeah that was a weird choice

just gonna go ahead and plug this: some friends of mine make excellent drone-rock (strictly guitars, vocals, and fx, I believe) that gets heavy enough to qualify as of interest to at least some metal thread dwellers, and they have a new album out today recorded remotely in quarantine. it's great and I am proud of them. it should be hitting bandcamp with a cassette issue next week.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0Wx8GWLOy9RWrtfRpPdeRs?si=YsSWyP49QK2wp8TH4bTU3g

Answering my own question from way upthread, I actually listened to the new Chevelle and it's really not bad. A lot of Tool worship at times, but if Tool was told to wrap up all of their songs in less than 5 minutes.

Finally getting around to the Suffering Hour album. I often have a problem with the same-yness of melodic black metal, which often seems to cycle endlessly through the same three chords. This takes enough twists and turns to keep my interest up. Good stuff.

Axewitch's Out of the Ashes Into the Fire wins Album Cover of the Month IMO. (Power metal-ish hard rock from Sweden.)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81kB4Bgzz7L.jpg

Infernal Power by Lucifuge

Everyone compares them to Venom & early Bathory, and that's not wrong, but to me this rips like Fearless Undead Machines-era Deceased, similarly upping the aggression from the originators. Killer G.I.S.M. cover too! https://t.co/GpL2e91Oxb #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) May 3, 2021

FED era Deceased? Sold

Sorry FUM

Check it out, I think it's fucking excellent!

oh man, I used to listen to that deceased album all the damn time. pretty nostalgic thinking back to when a metal album about a zombie apocalypse was at least sorta novel. also remember some serious poser accusations leveled at slayer and for their then current undisputed attitude record in the liners <3

i saw Deceased a few years ago (wanna say 2018?) and the weird thing was they were the headliner, but local death/doom act Druid Lord got a much bigger turnout, and there couldn't have been more than 20 people left by the time Deceased took the stage.

they didn't care, Fowley and company tore it up with a fairly eclectic setlist.

new Amenra album De Doorn, June 25th on Relapse Records (first one not following their Mass I-VI naming scheme)

https://amenra.bandcamp.com/album/de-doorn

btw: Caro Tanghe, Oathbreaker's female singer, is listed as being part of the band

ooooh love Amenra

Agreed, always stoked for more Amenra.

there'a a video as well. Pretty weird to hear Flemish vocals to be honest (even though they've had South-West-Flemish dialect titles before, like "Némelèndèlle. Twuhste en Tljiste." (that was "heaven and earth, the highest and the lowest") )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEI5tJDD2fc

newish split with earth federation - a grind band with hevi from corrupted and the drummer from 324 - on one side is out there via a few distros. here's one track:
https://rsrhap.bandcamp.com/album/rsr-203-earth-federation-noizegoat-lp

got mine yesterday and it's definitely nice to hear that voice again.

noizegoat is not a band I'd heard of before but seem pretty cool. the corrupted influence noted in the promo copy doesn't seem like an exaggeration, their side is similar to their early splits. but maybe without that mysterious x factor that made their stuff so special...

also, I'm pretty certain that the "New album will be released in the autumn 2021" wasn't there a couple of days ago: http://www.skepticism.fi/

nice

I mean

nice

haha

wait a minute! what!

not terribly interesting but switched to this DN for a variety of reasons a while ago but am also stupid and sometimes post from the wrong one by mistake

oh ok - you're your own sock account then, I suppose

new Solstice (the Rob Barrett one!)

spinning now, let's see if it's any good

(to be clear, he isn't in the band anymore lol, just clarifying Solstii)

second song steals the Slayer "Dittohead" riff

There's absolutely nothing new or innovative about Inhuman Condition, but if you like early '90s Florida death metal as much as I do, you'll like them.

https://inhumancondition.bandcamp.com/album/rat-god

Out today...

#NowPlaying @ArtilleryMetal - X (@MetalBlade)

Old dogs have no use for new tricks when the old ones are still so potent and seared with the blueprint of classic-metal majesty.

"In Thrash We Trust," they say. Me too. https://t.co/S7fBI9rSgT

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) May 7, 2021

Oooh I love Artillery!

Pretty sure you will enjoy the new one then!

Oh the new Spectral Lore is sounding gooood

the Evile album, I thought sounded much diff than the Evile I'd previously heard, then I realized their vocalist left and they hadn't recorded anything in 8 years, and they kinda went more deathy with it.

I approve.

it's holding up after many listens.

Mortician cover, as mentioned upthread, out of place af.

Just finally getting around to the new Big|Brave but, holy crap, it is wonderful - especially the second half.

Yeah, it absolutely rules.

Big Brave is cool, almost like a metal Scrawl or something

Through most of the first half, I was thinking, "okay cool, another great album", but from the second half of "Of This Ilk" it really took off to a whole new level of greatness.

this doesn't really feel like metal to me? though i know being metal doesn't have much to do with being metal anymore

i hear a lot more, like, later period swans or something

i think part of it is the indie rock industrial complex made it hard for heavy underground bands so i guess saying it's metal is probably easier for marketing, getting ahead

Oh yeah, they aren’t very metal but they’ve always had a good reception in the ilx metal threads, which is why I mention it here. Swans isn’t a bad reference point and they have some ties to the GYBE post-rock scene in Montreal, which is a huge influence. But I’d imagine being on Southern Lord helped their reach and rep among metal fans. Fwiw, and it isn’t much, the metal archives black listed them as “not metal” long ago for, iirc, “no riffs”.

the vocals on this one are so so great, slightly-restrained-julie-christmas vibes

fucking great record!

yeah def heavy but not metal.

the metal archives black listed them as “not metal” long ago for, iirc, “no riffs”.

this is very hilarious that they do that and kind of interesting from a conceptual perspective, no riffs = no metal is an interesting idea i've never thought about

Main genres according to RYM: drone metal, post-metal. Seems right.

Like I said I think in the 90s this would have fit in with tons of underground U.S. post punk but we as a society have lost the ability to talk about heaviness in non-metal contexts, so voila drone metal, post metal, etc

this could have been on thrill jockey or something back in the day

haha also in my mind LJ is the big boss man of RYM

not untrue

He's more like the final boss.

oh, the new fucked up album is the most metal thing they've ever done and should appeal to at least some metal thread peeps

This new Paysage d'Hiver is pretty good! It definitely feels more "accessible', but I still dig it. The people that post reviews to the metal archives seem to haaaaate it though.

hadn't realized there's a new Panopticon record out Friday!

Anybody else remember The Absence? They were a super-Swedey melodeath act from Florida who made three albums for Metal Blade between 2005 and 2010, then disappeared. They came in 2018; they're on M-Theory Audio now, and their new one is coming out in late June. It sounds exactly like their old stuff, which is to say it sounds exactly like At The Gates and/or The Black Dahlia Murder. I like them probably more than I should.

https://theabsenceofficial.bandcamp.com/

This new Paysage d'Hiver is pretty good! It definitely feels more "accessible', but I still dig it. The people that post reviews to the metal archives seem to haaaaate it though.

haven't heard it yet but I smell gatekeeping...

this is very hilarious that they do that and kind of interesting from a conceptual perspective, no riffs = no metal is an interesting idea i've never thought about

yeah, agreed! had the same reaction where I laughed and then was like hmmmm🤔 and took a look at the guidelines, which I'd never read before:
https://www.metal-archives.com/content/rules

the "side projects" thing already seems like a bit of a cop out. I guess that's why stuff like abruptum stays but those records wouldn't really fit otherwise. then there's this:

Additionally, there will be some non-metal bands featured on the site that we feel are still part of the metal scene despite not being metal themselves (usually darkwave, ambient, neo-classical and/or folk bands, examples being Mortiis, Elend, Autumn Tears, Stille Volk, etc). These bands are selected by the moderators in an admittedly arbitrary fashion, and their submission by normal users is discouraged. Please bear with us on this.

which is just funny

haven't heard it yet but I smell gatekeeping...

Yeah, it definitely seems like a case of this.

I tend to be unduly harsh on USBM, especially that of the one-man variety, but this is some good shit courtesy of Mick Barr and imo better than Demonic Wealth:

https://beastlor.bandcamp.com/album/galaxies-of-death

if like me you find atmospheric, melodic BM to be top tier comfort food, this one's for you. confident and polished.

‘La Morsure du Christ’ is the phosphoric sequel to Seth's acclaimed 1998 debut ‘Les blessures de l'âme.'

A grand recrudescence composed in alexandrine metre, these progenitors of French black metal celebrate the conflagration and demise of Notre Dame de Paris as the end of the Christian reign and the ultimate betrayal of God, with the grandeur of orthodox black metal.

https://innomineseth.bandcamp.com/album/la-morsure-du-christ

i had no idea the dude from Vattnet Viskar and the dude from Astronoid had started a project together ... but they have, and there is an EP: https://kataan.bandcamp.com/album/kataan

Ooh, now that's an intriguing collab. Thanks for the tip.

Ooh, I was just listening to Kataan and liking it, but hadn't yet looked up who they are!

It's true, I've yet to overdose on cavernous death/doom, but this hangs with the best of them and the fact that it was recorded live gives it an unpredictable edge that serves the music well:

https://transylvaniantapes.bandcamp.com/album/civerous-live-promo-mmxxi

It's name your price btw.

Unlikely press release:

SUNBOMB is a highly anticipated new musical alliance between two steadfast warriors of the U.S. hard rock/metal scene, Tracii Guns and Michael Sweet. They have put together an absolute blinder of a heavy metal album, melding influences of classic metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest with Tracii's love of metal subgenres, specifically doom metal.

When I think Tracii Guns, I definitely think of specifically of doom metal, that's for sure.

I'm listening to the Sunbomb album right now and it's really fucking good. Full-on Trouble/Heaven and Hell doom/power metal. Unequivocal recommendation.

Those vocals!