Rolling 2022 Metal Thread

Welcome to a new year of metal, friends!

Here are some releases that are on my radar to listen to and maybe like.

14-Jan Fit For An Autopsy, Wiegedood
21-Jan Battle Beast, Boris, Midnite Hellion
28-Jan Earthless, Sunn O)))
4-Feb Blood Incantation, Korn, Saxon, Venom Prison
11-Feb Author & Punisher, Cult of Luna, Hangman's Chair, Napalm Death, Voivod, Zeal & Ardor
18-Feb Immolation, The Neptune Power Federation, Matt Pike
25-Feb Allegaeon
4-Mar Crowbar, Midnight, Sacred Reich, Sylvaine
18-Mar Dark Funeral
22-Mar Eric Wagner
1-Apr The Hellacopters
8-Apr Destruction
15-Apr Fozzy

(Note that some of these I do not expect to like but I listen to everything.)

Is that Sunn O))) the vinyl release date for the live thing that came out last month?

Already heard the Earthless, and pre-ordered the CD; it rules. Several of their back catalog titles are being reissued by Nuclear Blast in January. I bought those, too.
Definitely looking forward to Immolation and Destruction. Mildly curious about the Matt Pike thing, as I'm unclear why it needs to exist unless High On Fire broke up and I missed it.

Yeah the Sunn O))) is just the vinyl for the live thing.

Of course I have sky-high expectations for the new LPs by Priest and Meshuggah.

One 2022 release I've really been into is the new one by Night Cobra over on High Roller. Excellent early-80s style stuff.

https://nightcobra.bandcamp.com/

oooh Wiegedood, nice

Apparently one needs special headphones to hear metal properly.

https://get.heavys.com/

The new Wilderun. Wow.

is that good or bad

i listened to the first couple songs and got bored and kept moving ... admittedly, did not give it a fair chance

Yeah, curious to hear more Neanderthal. I know Angry Metal Guy gave it a perfect 5.0 which surprised me since usually even their albums of the year rarely even garner a grudging 4.0 or 4.5. Missed the last one completely, but some of the praise has me curious.

from someone who thought Veil Of Imagination was a 10/10 masterpiece...the new one is kind of a crushing letdown tbh

but if you like music that abandons a preceding album's majestic (and unusual) sense of melody and pacing in order to have loads of 'impressive' dynamic shifts, incoherent Opethisms, widdly solos and rAnDOm ChANGeS, and basically none of those awesome melodies at all, then yeah, go for it. Literally put me to sleep when I first tried to listen to it, finished it the next day and felt nothing more than a shrug. AMG easily impressed by showy instrumentation it seems

The debut album by Verbum, a doomy death metal band from Chile, is pretty good — it reminds me of very early Esoteric — but it has eight tracks including an intro, an outro, and two interludes. That's not an album, that's an EP.

http://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/verbum-exhortation-to-the-impure

xpost *shrug*, works just fine for me

lol I thought you meant All Music Guide for a moment, I guess Angry Metal Guy has the same initials

the abrasiveness of last year's newest Concrete Winds is doing it for me right now

We doing a 2021 best of this year?

id certainly participate. but its a lot of work so if it doesn't happen I understand.

vote metal in the main poll

That's never good.

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

^ sounds better than the first mix imho

Whoa, had no idea this was coming.

We doing a 2021 best of this year?

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 13 January 2022 23:44 (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

id certainly participate. but its a lot of work so if it doesn't happen I understand.

― gman59, Tuesday, 18 January 2022 16:06 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I hope so! Will contribute some 60-second charcoal interpretations of album covers as artwork if it goes ahead.

new Druid Lord hits about the same spots as their previous releases, I'm just glad to get new music from them.

https://druid-lord.bandcamp.com/album/relics-of-the-dead

The first album of the year that I am buying is the self-titled debut from Maule.

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/9/9/3/6/993688.jpg?5206

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYCRQGQmFVU
http://maule.bandcamp.com/album/maule
http://open.spotify.com/album/0qM8OXofi6vRqScKipZ0mF?si=riwSTFdRSoWoLRRd16j8fA

Still wishing that last Maiden album was more true to their roots? Looking for a band that sounds like the exact moment Thin Lizzy influenced the NWOBHM? These Canadian bangers got you covered. Hella fun.

Would not have predicted that sound based on that cover art. I would have expected Entombed worship and D-beats. I like this a lot. Thanks for the tip!

new moonlight haze track is fantastic if you go in for dramatic power metal -- this band has been showing great growth and I'm excited for the album

two singles out so far from the new mastercastle who are basically my favorite band and just ~barely~ metal -- more hard rock in the 1981 festival undercard vibe. I can't really be objective about mastercastle, I think they whip so much ass and their bassist looks like he's 65 years old if he's a day, just unfadeable I-fix-cars-by-day vibes, but at the same time "this is just a rock band" feels like a fair read on them so idk? I love their melodies & I think her voice is tremendous -- literally every song just vibes me out to exactly where I wanna be, their choruses are peerless imo, like Puccini arias, the second the melody locks in I'm dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2MqTnhu-XA

YouTube user jimischild13 with the most brutal comment

still got it , but the clock is ticking for us all never forget that , Best Wishes . BTW i missed you all

That was really nice. I agree about the chorus, and the way the guitar solo kicked in after the little keyboard interlude was great.

yes! the solos on mastercastle records are fantastic. very excited for the new one

loving maule and mastercastle!!

I feel essentially the same way about Magnum as you do about Mastercastle. The new Magnum album is their, I dunno, 180th?

https://open.spotify.com/album/286a0luh0FDCtNoPdQh57A

I really love this Magnum

I mean I love being a lurker on this thread and it's interesting to check out LJ type cool death metal bands who want to be Return to Forever and listen to late period Scott Walker or whatever but I truly only love jean jacket and Camaro shit

Sunday deathcore recommendation: Golgothan's Leech, out 2/4 on Lacerated Enemy.

http://laceratedenemyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/golgothan-leech

They cite Aborted, Cattle Decapitation and Bloodbath as influences, but that's bullshit; they're modern deathcore, bass drops and all. They're from Louisiana and they kinda dress like swamp creatures, half alligator, half GWAR. The track title "Teeth to Eat You" pulled me in, but the new single/video is "Bottomless Pit":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJCu12pvGkw

I'll keep up with tradition (had to read about this on a metal site too even though it could hardly be any further from metal) and post it in the metal thread then: https://40wattsunmusic.bandcamp.com/album/perfect-light

Excitement at seeing Coroner is touring America and playing Philly in May somewhat tempered by the fact that they're playing with overrated boneheaded derps Vio-Lence.

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) January 26, 2022

New Mizmor "LP" coming out, but it seems to be a single 20 minute track on side A and an ambient rework or something on side B? Already released digitally, vinyl coming in I believe March.

Most of my metal recommendations I've been getting from metal and DIY Twitter, so I miss a lot of stuff but probably get some weird recommendations by the personal friends of complete strangers. I'll let you know if I come across anything really cool.

Also I think between the relative lack of interest year to year in the metal poll and the time commitment, our usual pollrunners have all elected to take a year off. If anyone else wants to run or co-run, it can still happen, just probably won't be Oor Neechy or Pomenitul doing it.

New Krallice out today:

https://krallice.bandcamp.com/album/crystalline-exhaustion

The new Meshuggah song is...a Meshuggah song. They were genuinely pathbreaking 25 years ago, but they're so firmly entrenched in their own thing at this point they might as well be AC/DC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZH9w-U4WJU

u say that like it's a bad thing

It's neither good nor bad; Meshuggah sounds like Meshuggah. (The only time they pissed me off was on ObZen, when I thought they were trying to sound like Tool.) I'm just not sure how much more of it I need, you know? I could just keep listening to Nothing and Catch Thirtythree for the rest of my life. I guess maybe I should try a little harder to be invested in their last two albums, because they were good when I listened to them, they just felt...unmemorable.

the Mizmor is a heavy-ass 20-minute track and then an ambient rework of a Christian worship song the Mizmor guy wrote many years ago before he ... left the faith or whatever they say.

it sounds nice. it sounds like a lot of that kind of stuff. he could make an album of it and rake in that sweet, sweet ambient cash if he wanted.

What else does anyone who enjoys Meshuggah want than new Meshuggah music that sounds like Meshuggah?!

I get it, their days of innovation are over, but that doesn't mean the new stuff isn't worth hearing. The new track is great. Streamlined and groovy but still with those rotating time signatures that always rope me in. Super catchy. I love that band.

Initially the brainchild of AMENRA guitarist Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove, and NEUROSIS vocalist/guitarist Scott Kelly, ABSENT IN BODY formed in 2017. Immediately recognizing their kinship, and with AMENRA frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout brought in on vocals and bass, what emerged is a reflection of the intervening years of turbulence, extending it's scope as it navigates across five stretches of unstable terrain. From the opening “Rise From Ruins” with ex-Sepultura drummer, Iggor Cavalera’s tribal beat emerging from foreboding, near-subsonic oscillations to explode in a tide of corrosive riffs and feral howls, through “Sarin’s” steadfast, procession-through-purgatory groove, to “The Half Rising Man’s” matrix of organic/mechanic evolution, it’s an album in constant dialogue between the animalistic, the human and the industrial, and a hunger to distill a truth, something unpolluted from the fray.

This is certainly an interesting collaboration.

^ https://www.instagram.com/p/CZcO6rgqzd4/

Ha, thanks, probably more helpful than regurgitating the press release but I was in a hurry.

dammit - Draconian euro tour cancelled :(

New Cloakroom, don't know if it fits here, but it's such a good album. Reminds me of the recent Hum album a bit. Also the Deafheaven from last year. Stonergaze ftw

I dig Cloakroom a lot and my copy of the new one is supposed to arrive later this week, definitely excited for it and comparisons to the recent Hum album only makes me more so.

track from the Amenra/Sepultura/Neurosis side project from a couple of posts ago: Absent In Body

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDhbP2KROJc

Today in streaming services selling me physical music: I wanted to listen to Godflesh, so I pulled them up on Tidal and saw a new compilation called New Flesh In Dub Vol 1. Googled that title and was sent to Justin Broadrick's website, where I found out about Long Live the New Flesh, a 4CD box containing A World Lit Only By Fire, Post Self, the Decline & Fall EP, and a CD containing all the Japanese bonus tracks from the aforementioned, and two new tracks from the Post Self sessions. I bought it immediately.

Johnny Z, aka Jon Zazula passed away. Without his vision and efforts metal would be a lot different now.

aw :(

I'm one of the Venom Prison backers around these parts, and their new one just dropped.

first few tracks a bit surprising in there's occasional clean vocals, use of synths in the background, slightly more accessible riffs, not quite as raw as previous VP.

but it's pretty effectively used overall! this definitely feels like a pivot a bit to more grandiose things, will probably piss off the fans that want them to do Samsara-esque stuff forever.

but so far I'm enjoying them feeling out this new territory. production IS a little antiseptic, but that's....a lot of metal these days.

almost feels like their Heartwork, not in sound, but in scope, and difference in relation to previous material (as well as increased accessibility without 'dumbing down' the material)

Looking forward to listening to the Venom Prison!

I have been listening to the new Saxon album that came out. It's pretty typical of latter-period Saxon releases - very solid, classic metal feel, Biff still has that distinctive voice.

I'll be buying it.

Yeah, this Venom Prison is fucking great!

Anyone know what's up with the Rise Above label? They've never really kept up with social media or updating their site, even at the best of times, but it seems to have gone eerily silent. It looks like they had another Electric Wizard vinyl reissue last year, but otherwise haven't released an album since September of 2020.

New Mares of Thrace! This is really really good sludge/something? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcgzNapaM7I

a few new releases just dropped on the new stanard elite bandcamp:
https://newstandardelite.bandcamp.com/

baalsebub bringing more slamming grooves with their signature pornographic levels of snare ping. find that this all goes down much easier with a 15min runtime. last track rules.

the cenotaph is quite fun too. lots of pinch harmonics, twangin bass, and blast beats.

Good release day last Friday... Napalm Death EP, Voivod, Zeal & Ardor... Some smaller bands put out things I liked as well.

There are about three black metal albums I like. Immortal's Sons of Northern Darkness is one of them. Since it turns 20 this month, I wrote about it.

Foo Fighters did a death metal song as part of that horror movie the band is doing.

Although I have little hope for the movie, the song is... Actually kinda fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj8XbTDBhXc

Holy hell this new Earthless. I love this.

god, the intro on the new Immolation is so fucking sinister. it's not like Atonement, that just begins, it builds to an ominous gong here and then onto what they do best.

abstract riffs and nightmares.

also Ross's voice always sounds great

only thing I'm not so warm about is the production, which is a little too sterile on the geetarz for my liking. but it's been like that for a bit and that's a minor quibble.

i have bought every one of their albums on drop date going back to Close to a World Below and it never disappoints.

immolation is the most consistent metal discog, y/n

hard y

the only album I seem to recall people saying "this is definitely below their usual standard" was Harnessing Ruin, which I didn't quite get, I loved that album, though the cover was stupid looking.

i have to adimt it was fun driving by a Baptist church last night with this blaring

immolation not only the best east coast "shun" death metal band (suffocation, incantation, um... malevolent creation?) but quite possibly the best death metal band

They're definitely the most consistent. Suffocation has higher peaks (Pierced From Within, Pinnacle of Bedlam), and Incantation's Diabolical Conquest is an absolute classic, but Immolation's whole catalog ranges from "really fucking good" to "holy fucking shit". The album before this one was amazing. I think this one is really fucking good but also a little overlong. Eleven songs in 40 minutes would have been fine - fifteen tracks in 52 minutes is too much.

agreed on atonement, that's right up there with close to a world below for me

also, pinnacle of bedlam, hell yeah. feel like that one might get overlooked because it's one of their later records with a goofy cover. but it's incredible.

yeah it is a wee bit longer than I usually like but I'll tolerate it.

I think Here in After is also an underappreciated one. came after their 'classic' (which let's be honest, Dawn of Possession is fantastic, but it was the band playing a completely different style of death metal, which, had they continued down that path, would have eventually made them like literally every other 90s death metal band. Here in After is where they said "lol, it's been five years, and we are completely different now".

Failures for Gods is the weirdest produced one. double bass drum on every beat, and it was clicky, and the guitars sounded a little like farts

it's also one of my favorites

it is a bit weird that it's 15 tracks. that beats their previous high of 12, on Majesty and Decay.

not really any filler tho. hard to complain when every track smokes. “derelict of spirit,” holy moly.

I wrote a full review.

Phil Kusabs aka VK of Qrixkuor, Vassafor, Diocletian, apparently (according to one source) pleads guilty to distribution of child sexual abuse imagery: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300524972/death-metal-musician-admits-sharing-child-sex-abuse-material

oh fucking hell

(he also played bass for the Chills on one tour, just for the record)

If you just heard the Blood Incantation ambient synth record, Timewave Zero, cold, you would have no idea it's by Blood Incantation. It consists of two 20-minute, four-part suites that are pure synth atmospheres, and not even particularly "dark" or "heavy"; they remind me of some of the soundtrack stuff Steve Moore of Zombi has done. Not as melody-focused as, say, Klaus Schulze, and totally drumless. I like it, but I listen to a fair amount of endless cosmic synth stuff anyway. People likely to sit down with this one and just angrily think BUT WHY NO RIFFS? for 40 minutes should just not bother with it at all.

I am anxiously awaiting my copy of that to show up this weekend, really excited for it.

I really, really enjoyed the rage over at Angry Metal Guy over it. The review itself wasn't bad, the writer was pretty fair about how far out of his wheelhouse this was, but the comments are gold.

picked up the new Embryonic Devourment and Corpsegrinder solo album, starting with CG.

That is, uh, some cover art for the Embryonic Devourment album.

so far CG doesn't sound like a CC carbon copy, which is cool. little more melodic.

I was gonna ask if this was the first death vocalist to go solo (which I'm sure it's not), but also Six Feet Under is basically Chris Barnes solo by now

just noticed that two of the lizard people are Trump and Kim Jong-Il

And Putin!

And I think the Queen and I'm not sure if far right guy is supposed to be Biden.

oh is that who it is? I was thinking "dad from Alf"

CG album is fun like I expected. songs a bit verse/chorus/verse-y though.

not really 'necessary' but glad to have it nonetheless.

xpost - haha, I'm actually not sure, it also kinda looks a little like prez Bush senior too

Getting a promo for a new Sabaton album on a day when there's an actual invasion/war happening in Europe really drives home how hard Sabaton's music fucking sucks.

excited for a new batch of inzanejohnny Blood Incantation memes

i'm gonna peep the BI ambient album soon.

Sabaton has been a case of slowly diminishing returns, but Carolus Rex is legit one of the best metal albums of the previous decade.

Listened to the new Scorpions record out of obligation, not expecting much, but hey, it's pretty good!

It runs a little long but has some good high points: "Peacemaker" in particular is a total jam.

I just purchased the 2xLP Isolation released by New Hampshire Post-Metal group KYOTY.

http://i1.wp.com/distortedsoundmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Isolation-KYOTY.jpg?resize=768%2C762&ssl=1

The band spent the COVID lockdown digitally releasing a stream of singles. This LP compiles all of them and tacks on one new song. It's only the second full-length release for a band that has been around since 2010.

Over at @invisoranges, @tednubel hyped me to KYOTY. The New Hampshire instrumental sludgy post-metal has a dark accessibility to it, falling somewhere between Neurosis and Tool; in a world of COVID-compelled darkness, they search for light and find it.https://t.co/RIuflQIkcL

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) February 26, 2022

The band has released a string of videos as well. Clips and links to full album streams below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmIJDPxMGjc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2dlui4G9DI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2dlui4G9DI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Ca65z3XQk

http://open.spotify.com/album/1imbw9BG6kokDfR0enPbPQ?si=fNmUOIIOSe-yPI4wWa31IA
http://kyoty.bandcamp.com/album/isolation

I've always liked Shape Of Despair but this new one, I just can't handle how out of tune she's singing. Is it just me?

news from Kharkiv: Drudkh album on the way

https://metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=45245

Ukrainian metal scene was mainly in Kharkiv, and most of them are now fighting. Here's the Facebook pages of the main Ukrainian metal bands, a few of them now get updated daily:

Kharkiv:
Khors
Nokturnal Mortum
Drudkh
Kroda
Burshtyn
Svrm
Ulvegr

Lviv:
1914
Zgard

Odessa:
White Ward

Kyiv:
Vin De Mia Trix
Raventale
Stoned Jesus
Bergrizen
Ignea

Dnipro:
Severoth

Rivne:
Colotyphus

Thank you Siegbran

Hmm, so Testament announced their new drummer, okay, let's see who got the gig... OH FUCK IT'S DAVE LOMBARDO!!!!

A good choice. I liked The Gathering, the album he did with them back in 1999, and as much as I like them, his talents were being wasted in Suicidal Tendencies given their current punk direction. I mean, why would you hire Dave Lombardo and have him play D-beats?

Maybe he enjoys playing d-beats

fuck like 5 of the bands in Kharkiv are about a degree or two away from NSBM or RAC

Yeah, I was gonna say..

You could add Somali Yacht Club to the Lviv list, on the stoner metal tip. Not aware of any problematic aspects, but maybe someone will come along to disabuse me of that.

New Dysmorfectomy is some beautiful slammy brootal shit. It brings me joy.

Didn't even know there was a new one, and I'm pretty up on that stuff. Thanks for the tip!

200 Stab Wounds were confirmed as being part of an upcoming Rochester festival, and they publicly made a post telling their fans not to buy tickets, that this was not something they agreed to and they have no idea about it, and they and their team were looking into it.

then the promoter putting on the festival publicly shared a screenshot of a cropped portion of the email agreement.

just realizing disputes like these are this much more awkward now on social media.

https://amenra.bandcamp.com/track/amenra-roads-written-by-portishead

single track for bandcamp friday

I interviewed two members of Hath about their excellent new album, which is out today.

Kolovorot metal merch store in Kharkiv destroyed

new Midnight is out. if you like Midnight, you'll enjoy this. if you don't, you won't.

that's my byline, now pay me.

xpost aw fuck, that's so sad :(

A posthumous Eric Wagner solo album was released this week on Cruz Del Sur. It's really good. The band is mostly members of Trouble and The Skull, but Victor Griffin (Pentagram, Place of Skulls) plays guitar on one track.

http://ericwagner.bandcamp.com/

All songs on this release originally adapted from traditional Turkish songs of the same respective names by unspecified authors.

https://kostnateni.bandcamp.com/album/ohe-ho-tam-kde-padl

good stuff

2022 Metal(lic) records I like enough to have purchased (or will be doing so shortly)

Backslider - Psychic Rot
Buñuel - Killers Like Us
Crowbar - Zero and Below
Eight Bells - Legacy of Ruin
Karmanjaka - Gates of Muspel
Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion
KYOTY - Isolation
Maule - Maule
Napalm Death - Resentment is Always Seismic
The Neptune Power Federation - Le Demon de L'amour
Sanhedrin - Lights On
Saxon - Carpe Diem
Scorpions - Rock Believer
Venom Prison - Erebos
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy
Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor

A posthumous solo album by former Trouble/The Skull vocalist Eric Wagner came out last week on Cruz del Sur; I wrote about it because it's really good (without being a major departure from his previous work).

International Women’s Day means lots of things to lots of people. Few will say it’s all about multiple emails on the subject from The Great Kat’s publicist.

To be fair, every day is Unsolicited Messages From The Great Kat’s Publicist Day.

— CSTB (@cstbtweet) March 8, 2022

I kind of admire the dogged persistence of the Great Kat's PR, who have been flooding my email for nearly 20 years. I don't have the heart to request removal from the mailing list.

I am not on that list, which as a former employee of her first label, kinda bums me out a little.

I was not expecting the new Destruction album to end with a cover of GBH's "City Baby Attacked By Rats".

Cavalera Conspiracy tour of all Beneath the Remains and Arise songs, which I've been waiting for since they hinted at it 4-5 years ago, is finally here, and......nope, no Florida or anywhere close. dammit.

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/max-iggor-cavalera-announce-us-tour-of-sepulturas-beneath-the-remains-arise/

Who else is in the band? I know Marc Rizzo has split with the Cavaleras, pretty acrimoniously too.

apparently Iggor and Max are the only permanent members (lol), and they have some touring members, but both of them it says they play bass, and neither lead guitar. guessing they're going to hire someone or switch one of them over?

This review of the new Ghost seriously reads as though the reviewer has only listened to the three advance tracks.

https://www.metalsucks.net/2022/03/09/review-ghosts-impera-is-the-soundtrack-to-a-new-satanic-panic/

I like the Ghost album quite a bit, but then again I LOVED Prequelle. "Twenties" sticks in my craw - I like how Tobias combines the fall of German democracy with the current fall of American democracy, but the lyrics lack his usual cleverness. "Spillways" and "Watcher in the Sky" are phenomenal, and I get a kick out of how "Kaisarion" sounds like a Gamma Ray tune.

Many's the time I've felt like the only person on Earth who likes em but the new Mutterlein is quite good if you're looking for something that has apocalyptic post-Neurosis heft, industrial punch and a little bit of goth.

https://mutterlein.bandcamp.com/album/bring-down-the-flags

Last night I saw Converge in Philly. I am not even the biggest Converge fan but the lineup they assembled - three bands I all love for different reasons - was phenomenal.

Thou played first followed by Full of Hell and then Uniform. Each band played an intense set that really brought out the uniqueness of each of them: Thou's set was sludgier than I ever saw from them, Full of Hell was more eclectic, and the street-industrial sounds of Uniform were grimier.

And it wasn't like I never saw these bands before or knew about them. Between them and their collaborative efforts I probably own over a dozen records between them and saw them all live but they absolutely destroyed last night.

My theory is bands will all be on fire now. They've been cooped up forever, in some cases writing new stuff that never was played before live. Even the inconveniences about touring don't seem like a burden to them right now. And it's better for bands that purvey extreme music because there's also a lot of rage about the last two years that can use an outlet.

And maybe my own tentative steps towards a "normal" concert attending schedule is also playing a part in my perceptions.

Or maybe I caught three bands I love already just "on" it, spurned on by friendly competition on such a strong bill.

Regardless, had a great time.

Sounds like a killer lineup!

That wasn't the Blood Moon configuration, correct?

no, they have specific "Blood Moon" shows booked.

I see they played two songs from Poacher Diaries. makes sense since they're reissuing their half of it.

Ah, thanks!

saw The Armed last night and it was similar. everyone was operating at 100 and it was a lot of fun.

I am unreasonably excited that there's a new Demiricous album coming out in May. Their first album, One (Hellbound), was a blatant Slayer clone, but Two (Poverty) was something else, punky and grimy and exciting. But they never managed to reach an audience and Metal Blade dropped them. Now, 15 years later, they're back, and the new stuff is really good. Plus, it's all the same dudes, so this isn't some shameful one-original-member desperation move.

http://demiricousofficial.bandcamp.com/album/chaotic-lethal

Received a promo for a black metal album called Macabre Damp, which I misread initially as Macabre Dump, and for two seconds I was almost interested in hearing it.

Macabre Damp, I think I had that in my bathroom once.

Why isn't it Damp Macabre?

new MWWB sounding sick as hell folks

enjoying the new messa

The new Haiduk album Diabolica [black / death metal]

Swarm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE9rWWZi7l0

Anyone who wants to own a test pressing of White Ward's "Love Exchange Failure", this is your chance:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353983096370

Current bid is 334 euros.

The new Satan album is friggin great.

xp the lust for test pressings is fucking baffling to me, just weird vinyl cultism i guess

This email was exactly the laugh I needed this afternoon.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPXhv-LXEAUrZPF.jpg

(And yes, I did check it out. It sounds exactly like you'd expect, and I will probably buy it.)

The new Satan album is friggin great.

Really enjoying it. Maybe their best yet?

new Artificial Brain track, album in June

https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/artificial-brain

This Friday, a really fascinating band called Abhorrent Expanse are releasing their debut album, Gateways to Resplendence. It's improvised death metal, basically, and it sounds amazing. I published (did not write) a review of it on Burning Ambulance today. Really good stuff.

If you like Destruction, you'll like the new Destruction album. It's a transitional album for them — the first without founding guitarist Mike Sifringer, who left in mid-2021. It's now bassist/vocalist Schmier and three ringers, but the two-guitar sound (which they started with on their last album, 2019's Born to Perish) is working really well and the songs are good, so I'm in.

There's a new Astronoid song! It sounds like them, but also kinda sounds like what I remember Coheed & Cambria sounding like 15 yars ago? Anyway, I'm into it, but I'm not sure I need another whole album's worth. Their sound is best appreciated in small doses, I think.

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

Good shred solo on that one. Liking the new Satan as well.

The new Golgothan Remains is not a big departure from their previous album, but if you like that sort of churning, murky death metal, it hits the spot. Some nice, new atmospheric touches.

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/adorned-in-ruin

Ordered that one last week, waiting for it to get here.

Enjoying the new Abbath record, even though the guy is basically just black metal classic rock at this point.

Really into the new Nite album, Voices of the Kronian Moon. Classic metal sound with blackened vocals, works pretty well. Scott Hoffman from Dawnbringer and High Spirits is one of the guitarists.

Wow this new Undeath really killing it.

Nice to hear a good-quality upload of Tribulation's "The Dhampir," formerly a vinyl-only bonus track. It's my favourite thing they've done since Children of the Night.

Listening to it now; I like when they indulge their Jim Steinman side. (The whole three-part thing is 19 minutes long.) Kinda sounds like what I wish Ghost sounded like.

new corpsessed is good shit

Any good?

ALGAION

Oimai Algeiou

Shadow Records / Regain Records

22 April 2022

CD and tape release date: April 22nd
Vinyl release date: September 18th

SHADOW RECORDS (distributed & marketed by REGAIN RECORDS) is proud to present a long-overdue reissue of ALGAION’s classic debut album, Oimai Algeiou, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Formed in that fateful, fiery year of 1993, Sweden’s ALGAION took a counter direction to their contemporaries. Right from the start, with their self-titled demo in ’93 and the following year’s Heosphoros Ho Proi Anatellon demo, the duo of Mårten Björkman and Mathias Kamijo created a strikingly different black metal sound that had far more in common with the emergent Greek scene led by the likes of Rotting Christ, Thou Art Lord, and Necromantia. But it was ALGAION’s debut album, Oimai Algeiou, where that sound truly crystallized and etched itself into the hallowed halls of black metal legendry.

Released in 1995 by the pivotal Full Moon Productions, Oimai Algeiou was underground black metal for underground black metallers. Not kowtowing to increasingly trendy Scandinavian sounds, no “romance” or gothic or vampires, and definitely no mosh nor no fun: ALGAION here created a surging and windswept landscape on which to paint dark desires and honor that Hellenic pantheon. It was a raw landscape, to be sure, but one contemporaneous with their Greek brethren and duly emitting a perhaps-colder atmosphere than the duskiness usually associated with that scene. However, above all, it was the songwriting itself which put Oimai Algeiou amongst that hallowed company, pulsing with a simple-yet-sublime melodicism and never-forgotten heavy metal spirit, all dusted with just the right amount of melancholy and the subtlest hint of synth.

Although ALGAION would continue thereafter with a similar but more-polished sound, Oimai Algeiou inarguably stands as the perfect snapshot of a truly special time. Out of print for decades and only ever released on CD, this reissue of Oimai Algeiou features remastering by Devo Andersson at Endarker Studios and will be henceforth available on all formats. The past is forever alive!

Promo EU: jarne at regainrecords.se
Promo US: nathan at suspiciousactivitiespr.com

MORE INFO:
www.shadowrecords.se
www.regainrecords.se
www.facebook.com/shadowrecords.se
www.facebook.com/regainrecords.se

Don't think I've ever heard that but it sounds like it'd be right up my alley.

Ah I remember that album when it came out, excellent record. Got snowed under by all the amazing stuff that came out in Norway/Sweden at the time and it was a bit odd to see a Scandinavian band play the Greek style, but they did it well.

I've only listened to the first 23:46 track of this new 90-minute Reverorum ib Malacht album, and I've only read the first few pages of the title, but so far it's fantastic: cryptic and noisy and abstract and grim and concussive and thought-provoking in the "well, this is not where I thought they were going" sense of "provoking".

https://open.spotify.com/album/0Sc25FtD77U1sPVsd8y9g8
https://malachtunlimited.bandcamp.com/album/vacuum-the-mystery-of-faith-we-proclaim-your-death-oh-lord-and-profess-your-resurrection-until-you-come-again-f-rl-telse-och-levitation
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Reverorum_ib_Malacht/Vacuum._The_Mystery_of_Faith._We_Proclaim_Your_Death_Oh_Lord%2C_and_Profess_Your_Resurrection%2C_Until_You_Come_Again._F%C3%B6rl%C3%A5telse_och_levitation./1034160

Caught Mastodon, Opeth, and Khemmis tonight in Philly.

Khemmis only got a half hour but made the most of it. The place was really packed when they were on, which was pretty cool to see at 7 PM.

I am still baffled by Opeth's popularity. I saw them a handful of times back in the day and they never really had anything memorable to me. I realize some want me to leave the hall, fine.

Mastodon simply slayed and the new material (they played seven songs off their last one) was fantastic live. The band had a little bit of a lull for a few albums but they always delivered live. Now that they have new songs that are compelling ("Tearjerker" was especially sweet).

https://fest.prophecy.de/

Austere!?
(also, The Vision Bleak still exist, and Saturnus too)

Just got an email about a new metal band whose singer's name is Chelsea Manning. I foresee a lot of "(not that one)" in their future.

How do you know it's not that one

There's a photo.

new Devil Master about as fun as the last. feels like the Cure meets black metal and punk

There's a new Orthodox album, Proceed, coming out at the end of June; it features the original trio lineup for the first time since 2014, but they haven't returned to the doom style of Gran Poder or the stoner rock of Baal; instead, they almost sound like a heavy noise-rock band, more Amphetamine Reptile than Southern Lord.

Loving the new Mizmor & Thou Collab

new negative plane!

https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/the-pact

still haven’t listened yet…

No claims or clams ov quality, for informational purposes only:

SHADOW RECORDS

MAY 1ST NEW ARRIVALS!!!!
NEW ARRIVALS!!!!
WWW.SHADOWRECORDS.SE

CD
Affliction Gate – Aeon of Nox (From Darkness Comes Liberation)
Affliction Gate – Shattered Ante Mortem Illusions
Banished from Inferno – Minotaur
Bathory – Satan My Master
Bone Gnawer – Carved
Bone Gnawer – Canale di Carneficina
Countess – Fires of Destiny
Countess – Sermons of the Infidel
Digerdöden – Genom Dödens Svarta Törst
Erscheinung – Gelderse Nachtsagen
The Flight of Sleipnir – Algiz + Berkanan
Forlorn Kingdom – Ancient Winter's Domain
Forlorn Kingdom – Northern Spirits Call from Afar
Forlorn Kingdom – Alpine Black Magick
Fortid – Völuspá Part II: The Arrival of Fenris
Grand Celestial Nightmare – Excluded from Light and the Pleroma
Heinous – Ritual, Blood and Mysterious Dawn
Helleruin – Demo 2016
Helleruin – War Upon Man
Judas Iscariot – Moonlight Butchery
Kladovest – Ignitiate
Kladovest – Winterwards
Kladovest – Escape in Melancholy
Kladovest – Atmosphere
Крошка Нетопырь и Малыш Мёртвая Голова – Волшебные Рассказы о Былом и Небывалом
Kryukokrest (Крюкокрест) - Domovina (Домовина)
KZOHH - IAOLTDOTAD
Leshiy (Леший) – Поганые сны
Lord Wind – Heralds of Fight
Lord Wind – Forgotten Songs
Megaslaughter – Death Remains – The Demos
Megaslaughter – Calls from the Beyond
Moondark – The Shadowpath
Niteris / Kryukokrest (Крюкокрест) – Split
Nokturnal Mortum – Weltanschauung
Nyktalgia – Nyktalgia
Nyktalgia – Peisithanatos
Pest – Desecration
Satanic Warmaster - …Of the Night
Satanic Warmaster – Opferblut
Sinners Burn – Pre-Mortal Autopsy
Those Who Bring the Torture – Those Who Bring the Torture
Udegste – Zwartmagische Brouwsels
Wolfsschrei – The Unknown Spectre of Evil

LP
Blasfemia – Muerte Psicológica en Marcha
Bone Gnawer / The Skeletal – Carved / Remains
Deinonychus – Odes to Acts of Murder, Dystopia and Suicide
Grand Celestial Nightmare – Excluded from Light and the Pleroma
Helleruin – War Upon Man
Kladovest – Escape in Melancholy
Kladovest – Winterwards
Ramón – Resurrección Maldita de los Falsos Egos
Stars & Shadow – Resignation of Light
Taje Skal – Taje Skal
Urgehal – Massive Terrestrial Strike
Urgehal – Arma Christi

MC
Kryukokrest (Крюкокрест) – Demo (Демо)
Megaslaughter – Death Remains – The Demos
Nedelya Dobroty (Неделя Доброты) - Неделя Доброты
To Descend – Exorcism of Hope
Tyrann – Tron af Avoghetens Smärta
Vazal – Obsessed

WWW.SHADOWRECORDS.SE

www.shadowrecords.se

Wow, the Negative Plane is great! I hadn't heard of them before, but I'm listening to this new one and I'm already in love. A really unique, proggy, theatrical style. I don't know if it fits easily into any genre (an RYM poster says "progressive Venom," which does nicely).

yeah, i've listened a few times now and i’m totally into it. the guitars are generally pretty righteous, esp like it when things get a little extra moody, makes me think of, like, tangerine dream michael mann shootouts and repo man LA cruising. not something that happens regularly while listening to black metal otherwise but mean that in a cool way.

saw them live whenever they last toured, maybe 10yrs ago now? really good, would like to catch em again.

4 LP version of Paysage d'Hiver's Im Wald album: https://paysagedhiver.bandcamp.com/album/im-wald

a little underwhelmed by the new Undeath. as much as I want to love it, feels like undercooked Cannibal Corpse. much more into the Corpsessed.

new Destruction is a lot of fun even if not otherworldly.

I was a bit puzzled that Pitchfork were complimenting Undeath on their supposed pop accessibility (even bringing in a Rihanna comparison). To me the big problem with that album is that I can't remember any of the songs.

i liked their last one and the demo before that but their production seems ill-fitting to death metal, too thin and lifeless, and the first track starts out sounding like CC's "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead" but none of the heft or quality songwriting of that one. it doesn't seem to go as hard as it should, and I like a few songs here and there but I can almost never get to the end.

just very disappointed as it was one I was looking forward to, whereas I didn't even know the Corpsessed was due out until the day of and I liked that one better.

Count me as another Undeath skeptic. But when you read the review and count how many times Currin (who I like as a human, but whose critical aesthetic is about 175 degrees from my own) uses words like "fun," "goofy," "absurdist," etc., it's clear that the media narrative on this band is "death metal you can make fun of without seeming like a dick, 'cause the band is in on the joke!" No thanks.

I'm pretty in the tank for Undeath in general, but also found their newest underwhelming and poorly produced, though it sounds like I liked it more than some of you (I'd throw it a 7 out of 10).
Definitely kind of baffled why it got the biannual metal album BNM award from pfork apart from them being in right place in their hype cycle right now.

The new Sentient Horror is working for me right now though.

yeah, I thought the first undeath was really, well, fun. but the teaser tracks from the new one haven't really been doing it for me either. I haven't given it a listen yet. especially since every band in finland seems to have released a record the last two or three weeks.

speaking of which, I think a new slugathor was released yesterday but this is the only place I can find it listed:
https://www.levykauppax.fi/artist/slugathor/crypt_of_the_ancient_fire/

excited for this one

big (good and bad) news from Draconian tomorrow

https://www.facebook.com/draconianofficial :

- Heike Langhans (was their singer for two albums, from 2012 on, also in ISON, Light Field Reverie, Remina, etc) is leaving
- Lisa Johansson (was their singer from 2002-2012, five albums) will return. There will be one final show with both Heike and Lisa at Hellfest (to be streamed by Arte)
- new rhythm guitar player Niklas Nord
- former rhythm guitar player Daniel Arvidsson moves to bass
- new album is in the works

yeah, i've listened a few times now and i’m totally into it. the guitars are generally pretty righteous, esp like it when things get a little extra moody, makes me think of, like, tangerine dream michael mann shootouts and repo man LA cruising. not something that happens regularly while listening to black metal otherwise but mean that in a cool way.

Listening again, it sounds to me like a slightly more extreme take on some of the proggier Mercyful Fate tunes, like “Satan’s Fall” – the constantly shifting sections, spooky occult storytelling, moody melodic parts. Really good stuff.

impressed by Konvent (all woman band - yes, this is a female vocalist)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH0LodMdtwo

I'm super digging this Chilean heavy metal band Vórtize.

https://nubenegraprod.bandcamp.com/album/tienes-que-luchar

Super fast and catchy with great dual male-female Spanish vocals, lots of surprising touches.

Nice to see some love for Konvent, I dig both of their albums so far.

I like the Undeath just fine, it's fun. Not sure I get why that's the band plucked for wider buzz though.

Digging the new Incandescence this morning.

The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist Trevor Strnad has died, and the band included the US national suicide prevention hotline in their post, so...wow. Fucked up. They were really, really good at what they did. I wrote about their last album, in 2020, and I remember getting into some trouble for putting them on the cover of Metal Edge in 2008 or so, when I was the editor; Metal Maniacs was owned by the same company, and their editor claimed TBDM was more of an MM kind of band and got mad at me for stepping on their territory.

oh my god.

wasn't ever a huge BDM fan, but dude was a major celeb in the scene. this is just fucked up

That's a shame, I always liked hearing them, though I'm realizing now I totally missed that they had a 2020 album.

this feels as shocking as Riley Gale's death a few years ago.

just makes me incredibly sad to see these young musicians peacing out so young

this came out last week.

fuckin righteous. prog death/black that isn't just an excuse for endless dissonance. love the vocals also

https://hauntertx.bandcamp.com/album/discarnate-ails

Brutal Truth/Venomous Concept frontman Kevin Sharp on depression, divorce, and suicidal ideation. Might be a rough read for some, but valuable, too.

Thanks for sharing that, definitely powerful. Glad to hear he seems to be on the way towards feeling better.

Maybe not strictly 'metal' but Scott Seward was a big fan of this band as was I, and I know LJ & TT, Simon and Brad will be interested, and I just want to say that after all this time Gospel have finally dropped a follow-up album to The Moon Is A Dead World, and its brilliant.

https://gospel.bandcamp.com/album/the-loser

Moon Tooth and Mournful Congregation albums are awesome.

love the Moon Tooth, they have slowed it down / calmed down on the pyrotechnics, which I did like, but I'm completely in the tank for this band -- love the dude's voice, love the vibe, they're all great players.

new Devil Master about as fun as the last. feels like the Cure meets black metal and punk

I think it might even be more fun than the last one.

yeah it's a good'un

Feel like lots of folks that regularly post itt would love the Tómarúm debut as much as I do, absolutely killer blackened prog metal.

https://tomarum.bandcamp.com/album/ash-in-realms-of-stone-icons

Moon Tooth is super good. They almost sound like they could get on the Mainstream Rock chart.

currently really enjoying the Pharmacist record that came out last month. Its primo Carcass worship from Japan that keeps it entertaining despite (or perhaps because of?) the weirdly long 7.5 minute average track lengths.

came here to hype up the Gospel album mentioned above? maybe its good for the emo/punk thread. anyhow, it rules though. technically proficient post hardcore. back like no time has passed since 2005

sorry my punctuation is all over the place

This NPR piece on Matt Pike is worth reading. Pike is an extremely...frustrating figure at this point.

Ugh such a bummer.

not surprised given what i've read about him in the past. he just seems a little bit like a dude who has smoked too much weed and doesn't get why people are exasperated with his erratic ignorance or why David Ickes is...maybe not a guy to follow.

Neanderthal otm, but it's extra exasperating to watch him being given chance after chance after chance to walk back some of this shittier implications of whatever it is he actually believes, but her refuses to do so in order to keep playing the victim.

A big bummer, for sure.

I would say to Currin "do Wino next," but Wino's stock has already diminished to what's-the-point? levels. It's not like the Obsessed are gonna be nominated for a Grammy anytime soon.

Goddammit, Matt.

This also popped up on Twitter today:

one weird thing about sunn 0))) and related acts becoming fully assimilated into the world of wire-type highbrow experimental music is that i don't think i've seen anyone ever mention how much straight-up nazi shit stephen o'malley published in his descent zine in the 90s

— Jess Harvell (@cheaptrickrules) May 19, 2022

not even exaggerating here either: in addition to the usual pussyfooting are-they-or-arent-they black metal bands, issue five contains an interview with the proudly white supremacist power electronics act control resistance, among others

— Jess Harvell (@cheaptrickrules) May 19, 2022

i knew he'd done a black metal zine but hadn't actually read any of it until recently, and you could maybe write it off as the flirtations of a young man into "extreme" shit, but he designed a burzum box set just two years ago

— Jess Harvell (@cheaptrickrules) May 19, 2022

Jess up to date as ever

Not that I am defending anyone willing to work with Varg at any point, but fwiw, I cannot find anything about O'Malley doing art for him "two years ago". He did artwork for him back in the late 1990s for something that, somehow, keeps being reissued, but nothing that recent.

Again, not trying to defend O'Malley though.

I'd like to perform artwork on Varg's teeth

lol

The new Malevolence album, Malicious Intent, is really good floor-punching chudcore, if that's what you're in the mood for. Out today on Nuclear Blast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqoFbD1xVWM

i considered it until I saw the smoke bombs

new Septic Flesh is good as usual Septic Flesh.

A local promoter put two tours into one small venue that happens to have a second, even smaller stage, for a mini-metal fest tonight, and it's truly a mix or eras and tempos:

http://d1htavafy9m5bl.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcm9kLXNpaC5zZWV0aWNrZXRzdXNhLnVzIiwia2V5IjoiMjRlMTU4MzUtZTVlOC00YTk0LWEyOWItNzE5OWNjNzliNTUzIiwiZWRpdHMiOnt9fQ==

Of course I am going though my plan is to leave before Vio-Lence who I always thought were overrated and I think even less of them now that they're all MAGA.

Exciter and Coroner? Holy hell

That tour (the Coroner one) is hitting NYC tomorrow night and part of me really wants to go, but I know it's not gonna happen.

new heaving earth record is sick:
https://lavadome.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-of-god

it's something like the midpoint between ulcerate and atonement-era immolation

early stream up here:
https://grizzlybutts.com/2022/05/24/an-early-stream-of-heaving-earth-darkness-of-god-lp-2022-premiere/

ok you got my attention by situating it between those two things

well, I was immediately second-guessing myself for dropping atonement (which is such a specific sound so unique to them) but.. it's fantastic. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you like those two things.

A friend asked me about songs re: death w non-English lyrics, and I--overloaded? Plain blanked? German, Greek, Scand tongues, other--suggestions please! Would be good if "Death" in title, but not strictly nec.

Like these?

(Norwegian)
Dimmu Borgir - Dødferd
Gorgoroth - Drømmer om Død
Undergang - Dødshymne
Satyricon- Hvite Krists Død
Trelldom - Min Død Til Ende
Kampfar - De Dødes Fane
Burzum - Jesu Død
Urgehal - Dødsmarsj Til Helvete

(Swedish)
Arckanum - Kri Til Dødha Daghi
Bergraven - Dagen Före Döde
Shining - Död
Manes - Til Kongens Grau De Döden Vander
Sorhin - Tills Döden Er Alla Tar

(Dutch)
Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed
Turia - Met Sterven Beboet

can go on for a while, need more?

(Undergang is Danish not Norwegian btw)

Wow the Pharmacist album from this year is fantastic. Progressive-y death/grind but with serious teeth.

There's a riff that sounds like Living Colour in the midst of carnage on the opening track

ya, that Pharmacist record totally rules

can go on for a while, need more? Your favorites,yeah. Thanks so much!

(German)
Atrocity - Todessehnsucht
Forgotten Tomb - Todestrieb
Falkenbach - Baldurs Tod
Tumulus - Der Grimmig Tod
Wigrid - Hoffnungstod
Farsod - Thematik Tod
Autumn, Leaves, Scars - Tod
Ungfell - Trommler Tod
Rammstein - Stirb Nicht Vor Mir

(French)
Alcest - L’Île Des Morts
Au Champ Des Morts - Le Sang, La Mort, La Chute
VI - Une Place Parmi Les Morts
Foscor - Encenalls De Mort
Trust - Instinct De Mort
Peste Noire - Le Mort Joyeux

(Russian & Ukrainian)
Black Flux - Рефлексия Смерти
Svrm - Подих смерти
Dub Buk - Цену смерти спроси у мертвых...
Культура Курения - Танец Смерти

(Polish)
Furia - Kosi ta smierc
Gontyna Kry - Kruk Smierci
Graveland - w objecia śmierci
Kat - W sadzie śmiertelnego piękna
Strzepy - Śmierć We Mnie, Nicość Poza Mną I-III

These are the two Spanish language ones that popped into mind but a quick search for "muerte" on metal archives should pop up hundreds more.
Parabellum (Col) - Madre Muerte
Reencarnacion - Un minuto de vida y un siglo de muerte

New Imperial Triumphant album due out in July, which apparently features appearances from both guitarist Max Gorelick AND his dad, Kenneth. As in the Kenny G.

haha YES

enjoying this new abythic EP:
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/abythic-eden-of-the-doomed

I don't think it got the warmest reception but I actually really liked their last one specifically for the way it integrated some discouraged ones-isms into their core death doom sound. well, that's basically all gone but this one's fun too!

the new cosmic putrefaction sounding like a step up to my ears too

Decapitated's new album is called "Cancer Culture"

*reads lyrics to title track*

yeaaaaaaah fuck you guys

uughhhh

The Cosmic Putrefaction is good, but didn't quite blow me away like the Haunter did.

Haunter is quite good yes

Decapitated's new album is called "Cancer Culture"

jesus christ

Roaring lion hidden
Behind his wireless mouse

lol

I was already p much done w/ them after they were accused of rape (even though charges were dropped) but ....yeah, way to step in it further.

Omg great recc on Cosmic Putrefaction

The new Kreator album, out in two weeks, is really good. I'm a huge fan — I even like their "weird" late '90s albums — but this one sounds both clean and massive at the same time; quality production really brings out the aggression of the riffs. Lyrically, it's the same old same old (are people really still writing songs called "Killer of Jesus" in 2022?) but musically it's absolutely crushing.

Apparently we've reached the "public sex in the pit at Maryland Deathfest" stage of civilizational collapse.

lol what? I had a few friends that were there. gonna see if they posted about it

https://www.theprp.com/2022/05/28/news/couple-engage-in-oral-sex-in-the-middle-of-the-crowd-during-autopsys-2022-maryland-deathfest-set/

wow this is almost as wild as the ass-eating in the pool incident at the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise

Someone also allegedly committed suicide at MDF by jumping off a parking structure adjacent to one of the outdoor stages. From what I can gather on various Twitter threads, it does appear to be a true story unfortunately.

can concur that friends of mine saw the aftermath and it was quite ugly

Not sure this is the best thread for bringing these guys up, but years ago there was a lot of talk about the prog leaning band Astra in the rolling metal threads so I thought I'd give it a go.

Anyway, Conor and Brian from Astra have a new band, Birth, their debut album just went up for pre-order. Haven't heard the single yet, but really dug their three song demo from last year. I'm excited.

https://birthprog.bandcamp.com/album/birth

Oops, that link was to the demos, the new album link is https://birthprog.bandcamp.com/album/born

Of course I have three mutual friends on FB with the MDF suicide jumper. Fuck, so tragic.

^ amily has a gofundme for expenses

https://www.ghostcultmag.com/a-fan-died-this-weekend-during-maryland-deathfest/

Has anyone seen any sort of official acknowledgement from the festival organizers? (I haven't.) The situation wasn't their fault or anything like that, it just seems odd not to at least acknowledge what happened and pay respects. The guy was a metalhead, it wasn't just some random fluke occurrence.

I didn't see it from them directly, but I wasn't watching closely. I learned of it from a fan who was basically telling everybody due to the impact on traffic o_O

Yeah, yeah, it's owned by the WMG. Still, here is The Pit's top albums of the year so far:

15. Crowbar – Zero and Below
14. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher – Corpsegrinder
13. Shadow of Intent – Elegy
12. Cave In – Heavy Pendulum
11. Septicflesh – Modern Primitive
10. Undeath – It’s Time… To Rise from the Grave
9. Papa Roach – Ego Trip
8. Ibaraki – Rashomon
7. Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor
6. Foo Fighters – Dream Widow
5. Fit For An Autopsy – Oh What The Future Holds
4. Korn – Requiem
3. Meshuggah – Immutable
2. Ghost – Impera
1. Rammstein – Zeit

https://www.wearethepit.com/2022/05/the-best-metal-albums-of-2022-so-far-as-voted-by-readers-of-the-pit

I rep for Crowbar, Zeal & Ardor, that sort of Foo Fighters album, Ghost, and Rammstein.

I really like the Cave In record.

Man, I forgot that Meshuggah record even came out. I guess my favorite metal records of the first half of 2022 are (more or less in order of release):

Maule, s/t
Immolation, Acts of God
Eric Wagner, In the Cold Light of Mourning
Extinction A.D., Culture of Violence
Abhorrent Expanse, Gateways to Resplendence
Analepsy, Quiescence
Demiricous, Chaotic Lethal
Posthuman Abomination, Mankind Recall
Misery Index, Complete Control
Origin, Chaosmos
Orthodox, Proceed (out the end of this month)

in no particular order, here are all of the metal albums from the first half of the year that i would recommend:

Wilderun - Epigone
MWWB - The Harvest
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
Black Death Cult - Diaspora
Haunter - Discarnate Ails
Tzompantli - Tlazcaltiliztli
Messa - Close
Nite - Voice of the Kronian Moon
Slaegt - Goddess
Tomarum - Ash in Realms of Stone Icons
Aeviterne - The Ailing Facade
Somali Yacht Club - The Space
Devil Master - Ecstasies of Never Ending Night
Undeath - It's Time... to Rise from the Grave
Incandescence - Le coeur de l'homme
Hath - All That Was Promised
Pure Wrath - Hymn to the Woeful Hearts
Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion
Voivod - Syncrho Anarchy
Konvent - Call Down the Sun
JIRM - The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam
Absent In Body - Plague God
Earthless - Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

Yeah, I'd add the Hath, Messa and Earthless albums to my list as well.

Did I dream that there's a new Adversarial record releasing this year?

Enjoying the extent to which the new Black Void album Antithesis delivers on the promise of an album called Antithesis by a band called Black Void.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1MrRF4jRDDHLZy45Y6g2WW

There's a new Amon Amarth song and video...and it's got a whole lot of guns and Mad Max-ish vehicles in it. It seems like a pretty big miscalculation, in the season of The Northman, for them to decide that now's the time to come for Five Finger Death Punch's spot. I doubt it'll work out for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-_PW4kzQo

Yeah, that seems like odd timing. It would be perfect to lean even harder into the gritty Viking aspect

oh shit they covered the GNR song?

That would actually have been better, because they'd have to include an opening screen explaining who Bob Guccione, Jr. was, who his father was, that Spin used to be a magazine, that there used to be magazines about music...

Listened to that Heaving Earth on Bandcamp and liked it a lot.

RIP Ken Kelly, the painter who suckered so many kids into listening to Kiss's Destroyer. He also painted covers for Rainbow's Rising and about 16 Manowar albums.

Saw Voivod last night. They were really great; Snake especially just seems pumped to be out and playing again. They played songs from all across their catalogue.

Yeah, they were so good. "Astronomy Domine" the highlight for me, though I don't really know the catalogue.

My brother texted me last night that he took his younger son out to his first show — GWAR, Goatwhore and Necrogoblikon. The kid's gonna be 17 in August, so he should have likely been going to shows for a couple of years already, but...you know. His older son, who's in his early twenties now, was there too. My brother and I took the older kid to his first show back in 2007: Heaven & Hell, Judas Priest, Motörhead and Testament.

Doing a music video shoot for a local metal band (Ginko Balboa). I'm the lead character.

It's bizarre and fun.

Xpost helluva first show!

Jmm, the "Astronomy Domine" cover is on Nothingface, my favourite album of theirs. I was excited to see that one too. They didn't do it when I saw them previously, years ago.

Much thanks to Siegbran and made entirely of styrofoam; I'm the fellow who asked Don for Death tracks in languages other than English. "Death (and the afterlife)" is going to be the theme for the July edition of Tom's twitter polls, and I'm always looking for stuff from outside Anglo-America.

I clicked best with the Norwegian tracks, though I don't have any insight as to why. Also a couple from Sweden and Poland. I put several in the spotify Suggestions Box, though since there are 950 (!) tracks in it I'm not optimistic about any getting nominated. But maybe a handful of people will listen.

Artificial Brain is always dope but there's a song on the new one that has a mid-section that sounds like 70s Steve Hackett era Genesis playing death metal

Came here also to thank yall also for those death songs, and to share an ancient preview I wrote, about even more ancient dogz:

The Godz
In the early 70s, when “heavy metal” was still mostly a fancy rock critic’s term, the Godz fed molten tonnage to the bikers of Columbus, and anyone anywhere who felt the need to drive anything. Singer-guitarist Eric Moore’s ever-combustible crew get a well-deserved overview on Twenty Five Moore Years, but the Godz saga doesn’t stop there. We may get some new songs at this show, we’ll surely get re-fueled.
04/16 @ The LC Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave.
7 p.m.

Think this was a different night:

Darsombra
Sunday @Bernie’s Distillery
Darsombra is the one-man-band incarnation of progressive/doom metal veteran Brian Daniloski, whose baritone guitar builds dense, vivid atmospheres, secret passageways of counterpoint and harmonic accompaniment. Darsombra’s new album, Eternal Jewel, seems set in low-budget sound, but the centerpiece, “Night’s Black Agents,” evokes iron wasps, pressing against the window of a cathedral in which classified industrial, surgical and other activities are well underway. Later, the guitar achieves a droning, vocal intonation, and chants its way toward fugues of feedback, fuzz, and bell-like tones. Pedals and loops should animate the live experience too.

I don't really know the catalogue. Don't sleep on Dimension Hatröss!

Also, Wiki sez:

The master tapes for Voivod's MCA-era albums were long thought to have been destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire; this was later disputed by Blacky, who revealed in late 2019 that the master tapes for Nothingface, Angel Rat and The Outer Limits were located in a facility in Pennsylvania, after persistently questioning Universal staff, and claimed that they are now in his possession.[25][26]

It didn't come up in the thread but former ILM Metal Thread heroes Astronoid have a new album of "dream thrash" that came out last week.

No surprise, it's thrashy and dreamy, though a little heavier on the dream part this time out, maybe. Still like it just fine though.

think I'm the only Symphony X fan here but saw them last night. they were tight as hell. I think I like them as much as I do as I was big into Kansas as a teen and they're basically Kansas meets power metal. met Michael Romeo after.

still got laughs at everybody cheering "one more song" before the encore, because they did play 'one more song', The Odyssey - which is the length of 5 or 6 songs.

I love Kansas, so I will check them out. Thanks!

Phrase I encountered in my work today that would make an excellent brutal death metal band name:
Fetal Shunt

I like Symphony X, too.

wow, new Kreator goes harder than they have in a hot minute. I'm pumping my fist while typing with the other hand

The new Kreator album, out in two weeks, is really good. I'm a huge fan — I even like their "weird" late '90s albums — but this one sounds both clean and massive at the same time; quality production really brings out the aggression of the riffs. Lyrically, it's the same old same old (are people really still writing songs called "Killer of Jesus" in 2022?) but musically it's absolutely crushing.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, May 27, 2022 9:29 PM bookmarkflaglink

Angry Metal Guy review is baffling to me, he makes it sound like they made Endorama again.

They're getting more and more audacious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywcshfrpO3A

Kenny G, but like this. Like this.

Cool song. I love them. Joyously evil-sounding.

Here's another from an old favorite with sax in it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkVCcvQswi8

Thanks beard papa, that led me to learn that KEN mode has a new album due out in September. Always good news.

The new Conan video is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TFwio0Uk28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzG-qji05Lc

Graspop Metal Meeting is happening, livestreams https://events.pickx.be/nl/graspop/

"Bevestigde livestreams" = "confirmed live streams"

List will be updated during the weekend but they're still negociating with the bands I guess

the Steel Panther singer has learned the Dutch for "show us your tits"

Krallice released a new album, their second of the year:
https://krallice.bandcamp.com/album/psychagogue-3

not just because they're from my neck of the woods, but man, Amenra live... don't miss if you get the chance to see them. Even on this graspop livestream they were awesome.

saw them once opening for Yob and agree, they're massive

lots of Hellfest live streams coming up over the next two weekends here https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-014483/hellfest/

"Prochainement" = upcoming. Time zone = France (CET or GMT+2)

If you like your metal classic and riffy, with story-song lyrics about an alien invasion, "Dead London" on the new Jorn album (Over the Horizon Radar) is waiting for you.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4CR7GpwpFdR0nuLeGbxk9A

The Desiccation album is very satisfying. Heavy and immersive black/doom with great production, great drumming.

https://transylvaniantapes.bandcamp.com/album/desiccation-cold-dead-earth

Loving the new Baazlvaat album. Lo-fi black folk-metal with almost mandolin-like clean guitar picking at times, progressive song structures, and memorable, inviting melodies on every track.

The Kansas comparison was the first thing to make me want to listen to Symphony X btw.

Lo-fi black folk-metal with almost mandolin-like clean guitar picking at times, progressive song structures, and memorable, inviting melodies on every track.

Guy is apparently v into Irish folk music, which makes perfect sense.

I was really curious about ordering the new Orthodox album on CD, but when I got to the shipping part of the order process the only option given was almost $23 for shipping via FedEx. Uh, no thanks, I don't want to pay almost double the price of the album itself for shipping.

Yeah, I was confronted with the same dilemma. I wound up doing it, for completion's sake — I have all their previous CDs, except for the one right before this one, which is a single 27-minute sax-bass-drums track. I added that to my order and it came out at I think $49 including shipping.

That's a good call, I see they have the 2xCD comp that I never got, that might make the shipping a little more palatable.

And of course, now that I've already placed my order, they've opened a US store.

haha, not even a full 24 hours after I placed mine.

if you're into that kind of doom/death/goth thing: April 2023 = euro co-headlining tour with Draconian and Swallow The Sun, support: Shores of Null

The new Wormrot album, out this week, is SO FUCKING GOOD. Grind album of the year, possibly metal album of the year. Unbelievable.

Oh shit they're already one of my favs. Thanks for head's up

There's some riffs on this record that remind me of when Pig Destroyer were good. Plus violin solos!

oh man, i’m not in a situation where i can easily grind at the moment but i’m def excited when i will be

Midway Point of 2022
Metal(lic) Albums I Really Like
Abbath - Dread Reaver
Astronoid - Radiant Bloom
Backslider - Psychic Rot
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses
Buñuel - Killers Like Us
Celestial Season - Mysterium I
Cloud Rat - Cloud Rat: Redux
Come to Grief - When the World Dies
Crematory - Inglorious Darkness
Crowbar - Zero and Below
Dark Funeral - We Are The Apocalypse
Dream Widow - Dream Widow
Ecstatic Vision - Elusive Mojo
Eight Bells - Legacy of Ruin
Executioner's Mask - Winterlong
Falls of Rauros - Key to a Vanishing Future
Ghost - Impera
Half/Cross – Throes (7”)
Inexorum - Equinox Vigil
Karmanjaka - Gates of Muspel
Knoll - Metempiric
Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion
Krallice - Psychagogue
Kreator - Hate Über Alles
KYOTY - Isolation
Månegarm - Ynglingaättens öde
Maule - Maule
Mizmor & Thou - Myopia
Napalm Death - Resentment is Always Seismic
Nechochwen - Kanawha Black
The Neptune Power Federation - Le Demon de L'amour
Night Demon - Year of the Demon
Rammstein - Zeit
Roadkiller - Pick of the Litter
Sanhedrin - Lights On
Satan - Earth Infernal
Saxon - Carpe Diem
Scorpions - Rock Believer
Shrouded Infinity - Through Caverns Unknown
Sorcery - Stunt Rock Soundtrack [Reissue]
Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
Specimin - Rotting on the Vine
Ufomammut - Fenice
Venom Prison - Erebos
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy
Vulcano - Stone Orange
Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain
White Ward - False Light
Yatra - Born into Chaos
Yob - Atma (Deluxe Edition)
Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor

An "album I really like" is one I enjoy enough to purchase. All of the above are either on my shelves or have been paid for and will be at some point soon.

Half/Cross is great. thanks for these suggestions. Didn't know Cloud Rat had this redux album either.

Mike Scheidt of Yob has recorded an hour-long solo guitar piece by composer James Romig. I wrote about it here.

Thanks for the heads up on that one, ordered immediately. An hour of Scheidt pumping out riffs? Yes, please.

Finally got that Neptunian Maximalism live set from Roadburn 2021 and it is fantastic. Made me love them even more.

I could have sworn Phil Anselmo already did a tour where he "sang" Pantera songs with his awful solo band backing him, but apparently now he's roped Rex Brown into a tour that will be equally worthless, but they'll get to call it Pantera.

He did, with Phil and the Illegals. He had to lower the keys of so e songs (lolol).

No way I'm setting foot near this

I'd almost like it better if he went out with, like, the Author & Punisher dude and did horrible early-00s Danzig/Morbid Angel industrial-metal versions of the songs, but called that Pantera.

New Krisiun album out at the end of this month. I love all the shots of the drummer in this video. He's got such a light touch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DkV4KEalmY

that wormrot album is UTTERLY DOPE

I've only listened to it once as I've been spinning Wu Tang stuff all week but it was pretty massive on that one listen.

massively stoked for Krisiun's new album and the fact that they're on tour. love everything they do.

So apparently the replacement guitarist and drummer for the "Pantera" "reunion" tour are Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante.

This whole thing would (and will) suck roadkill dick no matter who they get, but I don't even think this is the best possible option. Kerry King and Paul Bostaph would have done a better job of recreating the Pantera "sound."

Wylde is soooo fucking boring. I'd rather have fungus growing in my ass than see this

When I was younger I was repulsed by the abject stupidity of Pantera, ended up revisiting Cowboys From Hell a couple of years ago and I will admit through gritted teeth that it is a fantastic record - but that single thing (ok, and Walk at a stretch) can not redeem the absolute horror show that is the rest of their forty-fucking-year career.

Wormrot album is probably the most I've liked a grind album since Longhena

sorry to post avant-nowave-BM to Rolling Death Metal but the new Scarcity is a rare example of Good Marstoncore; it absolutely goes

https://scarcity-nyc.bandcamp.com/

Aw man, RIP to Mariusz Lewandowski, who did a lot of great album covers:

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/rip-mariusz-lewandowski-painter-who-designed-album-artwork-for-many-metal-bands/

Aww. So many good ones, but that Bell Witch cover is one of my favourites of all time.

I knew without looking which covers he did from that short list. He had a great style.

finally listening to this new wormrot. that mosh part they ride out in “seizures,” hell yeah.

this album rules

why would you post an article about a guy who did a bunch of albums covers and include ... one ... of his album covers? am i missing a slideshow? if ever there was a time for a slideshow...

I don't remember the first Sumerlands album, though it seems like I should have listened to it — the dude from Hour of 13 was on vocals. But he's gone now and the new guy is much more of an '80s screamer. The new album, Dreamkiller, comes out in September and it's totally retro AOR metal, big Ultimate Sin-style hooks and solos, solos, solos. The only thing missing are huge gated Vinny Appice drums. Here's the first video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap2YdhQs3Fc

xpost
One of the guys in Scarcity did some work with the Glenn Branca ensemble, and it shows. Was gonna mention it in the Metal That Sounds Like Glenn Branca thread. I like it a lot.

That new Sumerlands LP is sp great. It's been a very strong year for metal (that I gravitate towards) but this might be my fave. Imitating 80s metal is fun and all, but like Chris Black, Rizk has a very keen ear for the nuance of early-'80s heavy metal, and wow do I ever get Dokken/Ratt/Imaginos vibes on this one. Having Brendan from Magic Circle on vocals helps immensely.

What little I've heard of the new Sumerlands didn't really do it for me, weird cause I love Brendan's voice in Stone Dagger but he just doesn't quite uh fill the Phil void.

new on El Salvador's Morbid Skull label. The second I heard the opening guitar tone I was completely hooked. Fuckin awesome.

https://morbidskull.bandcamp.com/album/morbid-re-incantations-2022

Really late on this one, but can confirm that the new Kreator is awesome. These dudes continue a hell of a late career run.

There's a book of essays from 2020 by the children of celebrities and other notable figures called To Me, He Was Just Dad, and Miles Davis's son Erin contributed a piece which contains this amazing anecdote:

"I remember watching a heavy metal show on MTV and when Slayer came on, I thought, 'Dad’s going to hate this.' He watched for a bit and then said, 'Huh. That drummer is really laying it down, isn’t he?'"

Incantation are putting out a 3LP/2CD compilation via Relapse in October. Track listing is pretty incredible...

Pest Savagery (Previously Unreleased)
Ordained by Night’s Will (Previously Unreleased)
Obelisk Reflection (25th Anniversary LP)
Nefarious Warriors (25th Anniversary LP)
Degeneration (Decibel Flexi)
Absolved in Blood (After Party Massacre OST)
Scapegoat (Scapegoat 7")
Sacrificial Sanctification (Scapegoat 7")
Thieves of the Cloth (Thieves of the Cloth)
Exiling Righteousness (Thieves of the Cloth)
Hell Awaits (Slayer cover)
Horde of Bestial Flames (Diabolical Conquest outtake)
Ethereal Misery (Legions of Iron & Steel compilation)

Incantation 1996 Promo:
Impending Diabolical Conquest
Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish
Nocturnal Kingdom of Demonic Enlightenment
Subjugation Divine

Emaciated Holy Figure (Corporate Death compilation)
Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies (Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies 7")
Profanation (Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies 7")
Intro-Entrantment of Evil (Entrantment of Evil 7”)
Eternal Torture (Entrantment of Evil 7”)
Devoured Death (Entrantment of Evil 7”)
Unholy Massacre (Entrantment of Evil 7”)

Live in Lyss, Switzerland at Carnage Feast (9/27/2014):
Oath of Armageddon (Live)
Portal Consecration (Live)

Live in Cleveland, OH at Peabody’s Night Club (11/21/2010):
Impending Diabolical Conquest (Live)

Live in Montpellier, France at Secret Place (11/13/2013):
From Hollow Sands (Live)
Iconoclasm of Catholicism (Live)

Live in Cleveland, OH at Peabody’s Night Club (11/21/2010):
Absolved in Blood (Live)
Lead to Desolation (Live)

https://t.co/qWhcNLmbNL

We know this is rough to digest, but we will all get through this together. Moon Tooth is family, and we will do whatever it takes to take care of one another. We love you, we're here for you, and as always, we greatly appreciate your support. pic.twitter.com/YkJbr1YKlL

— Moon Tooth (@MoonTooth1) July 29, 2022

Nick Lee of Moon Tooth going through what sounds like a rather scary medical crisis.

Dang, that's scary. Thanks for sharing the Gofundme.

Such a great guitarist. Really hoping he pulls through and is healthy soon. In an alternate universe, Moon Tooth would be huge.

$95K raised in 17 hours. That's awesome. (Never mind the larger context of health care in America, etc.)

is this the place to talk about that new chat pile record? (no rolling noise rock/nu-metal thread afaict)

it's good

I was hoping for a little more nirvana/grunge like on their "brutal truth" single but it's good

WHY

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by that (considering its general unpleasantness). I like the relative plain-spokenness of the vocalist; very Chicago, very 90s.

yeah, definitely chicago/90s.

the bad vibes are really hitting right for me, works the same way a band like dystopia works. between this and that mad god movie, it's been a strong few months for "the world is shit" entertainment.

but I like the little glimpses of humor too. I mean "​grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg" is a hilarious name for a song.

Today in "you say that like it's a good thing," a quote from a PR email I just received:
"...the goal was to play only the darkest and most doomed-out DEATH METAL...with no room for innovation or progression."

That to me is like when actors show up at auditions for shows I'm directing and say they're method actors.

You're already in the hole with me and we just started.

("we're gonna be Incantation but instead really boring!")

I don't want all or even most DM bands to be like that, however I do have some time for it occasionally.

New Midnight Rider song is out, won't bother linking the video for Beyond the Blood Red Horizon because I don't know how many people care about retro old man HM from Germany but they've got a shit-hot vocalist who clocks in somewhere between Halford (he was in a Priest cover band) and Eric Wagner (maybe an octave lower because he's 53). Sounds like they're trying to include a little more heavy prog (Lucifer's Friend and Captain Beyond maybe) this time. Fine with me.

Today in "you say that like it's a good thing," a quote from a PR email I just received:
"...the goal was to play only the darkest and most doomed-out DEATH METAL...with no room for innovation or progression."

I am one of the people whose interest will be raised by a description like this

I love good doomed-out death metal but it's a subgenre that's recently become very oversaturated at the moment and I've heard many bands do it lazily.

Chat Pile album is tedious miserabilism imo, no idea why it has the profile it does (actually I do: people want to wallow)

boo this man. booo

also it’s the opposite, i think you need a sense of humor for the chat pile record

"Why" works a lot better if you assume it's from the POV of a five-year-old asking their dad questions on the way to school.

posts vmic today

"Why" definitely does not make feel like wallowing

“why” is the brain’s automatic and entirely reasonable response to witnessing homelessness, it embodies a rage i feel daily and maybe more ppl older than five should tap back into

ofc and nobody here doesn't feel immense rage at the plight of the homeless, but the music i find to be a thudding reminder to feel bad, with no possibility of transcendence, no left-hand path, no hope and not really much in the way of kickass riffs either with the possible exception of 'anywhere'

Transcendence is so not the point of this kind of music though, it doesn't need to always offer solutions.

yeah sometimes it just needs to be groovy as fuck

i listened to it yesterday sandwiched between helmet meantime and jesus lizard goat and had an amazing afternoon

i can't really explain it but something like Couch Slut mines similar territory but kicks so much more ass, sounds way more alive and amped-up and wild

no left-hand path

not sure how you're using this phrase but "the left hand path" = the way of Satan, not "the road not taken"

https://www.learnreligions.com/left-hand-and-right-hand-paths-95827

was intended in a loose metaphorical spirit, not so much a path not taken as a means of finding hope and defiance - a means of exercising cunning and seeking pleasure - even while the Inferno rages, so despite not having too rigorous a theological grounding, I'd say I did intend it in the manner of Satan being the Alternative, the other half of divinity which can serve to arm oneself against annihilation. ofc one may argue you don't need Satan, whether metaphorical or not, for that, and this is the central question of metal right now imo

Chat Pile do not appear to invoke strength from light nor dark though, which is my issue - if they did, they would join fuckin forces with the purple man

anyway to return to Chat Pile, they remind me quite a lot of Clockcleaner, if anyone remembers them. Definitely a Cramps-y psychobilly thing going on along with the AmRep/Jesus Lizard stuff.

i briefly mentioned it above but the way the band blends those big dumb nu metal riffs in is what makes them stand out for me. works surprisingly well and seems pretty unique.

godlesh is another band I'm reminded of that i don’t normally associate with amrep revival bands. but i’ll admit that i haven’t been following this sub genre very closely since the first few pissed jeans records.

and i love the lyrics + vox on “why” and it seems to be annoying the right type of internet assholes from some comment boxes i’ve observed. “doesn’t have to offer solutions” comment above otm.

yall heard this hill country blues/black metal band??? https://crestfallendusk.bandcamp.com

Haven't heard that yet, but read a review the other day that made me slightly curious. Definitely love the micro-pressing reality of physical media these days that means all physical versions of an album released... checks notes... two and a half weeks ago are gone already though.

The first time I checked out the Chat Pile album, I sampled the first track ("Slaughterhouse"), didn't hear anything too memorable, and left it at that. But seeing how people are still talking about it, I went back and tried a track that has a video ("Wicked Puppet Dance") and surprise, surprise, its kind of good. It seems the album gets better towards the middle.

New Faceless Burial album in October! New song up on Bandcamp:

http://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-foothills-of-deliration

great news, their last record ruled

Was bored, so I wandered over to AngryMetalGuy and discovered the band Early Moods, a doom/trad outfit from L.A. composed of five Latin dudes playing some incredible Trouble/Pentagram/Saint Vitus ultra-heaviness. They have a 2020 EP and a full-length that just came out last week. The latter is what I'm listening to right now and it fucking rips.

This album cover says "early Doobie Brothers," but trust me, it gives no indication of the actual music. Don't pass this one by.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0144175054_10.jpg

http://earlymoods.bandcamp.com/album/early-moods

Apparently Olav Berland (main dude in Forgotten Woods and Joyless) died last month at 45 years of age of an unspecified illness - both bands have been long defunct and somewhat but released excellent dark psychedelic-tinged droning rock-ish black-ish metal records in the mid-1990s.

one or more of the Crestfallen Dusk guys have this bluegrass/black metal thing called Primeval Well that I (or someone) may have posted either this year or last when it came out, and which I've been listening to regularly ever since (they have a few other bands that dabble in varying Appalachian moods)

https://primevalwell.bandcamp.com/

https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Ryan_Clackner/821808

"She Flies Undead" and "Where All Things are Forgotten" are the two that really go straight for the O Black Wizards Where Art Thou vibe, very cool stuff

Finally listening to the new Herxheim and it has their forebears Howls of Ebb's weird and elliptical rhythmic feeling mixed with a cruder, caveman Master/Repulsion kind of vibe. Appropriate for a band named after a site where some people think primitive mass cannibalism occurred.

http://herxheim.bandcamp.com/album/woe-unto-thee-lp

caveprog

the tour I've been hoping for , for 3+ years, is finally hitting my city. Cavalera Conspiracy playing Beneath the Remains and Arise in its entirety.

for this kid who got into Sepultura after Max was already gone, this could be a dream come true.

(I mean classic Sepultura, there are some Derrick era albums that are good, perhaps even great, but none that hit like these two)

both on the same night? that's pretty cool!

Yep

iirc i never cared much about howls of ebb. otoh herxheim sounding extremely right up my alley! thx punch

Good to hear they finally realized that few fans are interested in Chaos AD/Roots groove-metal era Sepultura.

Posted in IMM thread but it fits better here.

Local metal band Ginko Balboa and I have been friends for years (the vocalist, Matt, I've know for 17) so they asked me to be the lead character in their vid.

So here it is. They're good folk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ChDo3l94I

What an awesome video and song! Loved it!

just about every song on the new Soilwork plods at the same boring tempo with the same songwriting patterns.

I liked them better at the beginning of the 21st century when they sounded like Gothenburg by way of 80s synth pop

Night Flight Orchestra has become one of my favorite bands ever, and as much as I listened to Chainheart Machine, Predator's Portrait, and Natural Born Chaos back then, Bjorn Strid will henceforth only matter to me when he wears the white jacket. (I didn't like their new single, sadly, but the last four albums have pretty much been loaded end-to-end with the best pop-rock songs I've ever heard.)

Saturnus + Esoteric November Euro tour

See you all touring Europe in November with our friends Esoteric. Be ready!#music #newmusic #band #metal #musiclife #musiclovers #saturnus #doommetal #melodicmetal #doomovertheworld #nevergiveup #beforethestorm #theflamingartsagency #prophecyproductions #sihi #artbeat pic.twitter.com/85htjGgARD

— Saturnus (@Saturnusdk) August 24, 2022

New album from The Otolith (i.e. SubRosa Mark II) sounds pretty promising.

https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/folium-limina

!

Thanks for that, I really dug SubRosa.

Fantastic news! New track sounds great.

ILM's Top 100 Albums of the 2010s

Ok folks, I was told about some lamenting the lack of rock/metal in the poll, so sund4r & I might run a metal poll for the years 2010-2021 (I didn't run a metal EOY poll last year) but it all depends on whether there is enough interest.

Would anyone be willing to take part?

Up for the albums poll! Tracks already settled ;)

oh man, I'd have to do so much listening

I’d vote in it.

playing the new Sigh rn. lessee how it is

Neurosis' Scott Kelly made a big statement on his Facebook page admitting "several years I have engaged in the emotional, financial, verbal and physical abuse of my wife and younger children."

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbQCzGyWIAIAb3E?format=png&name=900x900

There are two reactions to this online: Many are lauding Scott for his "bravery" while others feel this is just more manipulation from an abuser.

I have to admit I am in the later camp. I hope his wife and children are able to find peace and realize love should never feel the way he made them feel. And I could give a shit if Neurosis never does another thing.

Agree on all points.

A STATEMENT FROM NEUROSIS

We cannot overstate the level of disgust and disappointment we feel for a man who we once called Brother.

As a band, we parted ways with Scott Kelly at the end of 2019 after learning about severe acts of abuse he committed towards his family over the previous years. In the past, Scott had disclosed his marital difficulties and acts of verbal abuse, as well as his intention to get help and change his behaviors. The information we learned in 2019 made it clear Scott had crossed a line and there was no way back. We did not share this information out of respect for his wife’s direct request for privacy, and to honor the family’s wish not to let their experience become gossip in a music magazine. With Scott’s Facebook post of August 27, 2022 disclosing much of this information publicly, we can finally say what we believe needs to be said.

For the last twenty years we have lived far apart from one another and only saw Scott when meeting up to work on music or play shows. We had no idea what the reality was for his family when we were not around. By Scott's own admission, his abuse was intentional, targeted, and a closely guarded secret - even from those of us closest to him.

Once we learned of his abuse it was difficult to reconcile the horrible information with the person we thought we knew. It’s not surprising he hid the abuse for so long because it is a betrayal of our ethics as bandmates, partners, parents, and human beings.

Since 2019, we have made numerous attempts to contact Scott. We wanted to have an honest talk about the status of the band and find out how he and his family were doing, but he has refused to speak with us for three years. And, in what we now see clearly to be a pattern, Scott refused to take responsibility for his actions. Having been through so much with someone for more than 35 years, one would expect some amount of closure, or at the very least a response.

Now, without returning any of the calls, texts, or e-mails of his bandmates and friends, Scott has made a public post about the situation. To us, this decision seems like another attempt at manipulation, another opportunity for his narcissism to control the narrative. Don't allow Scott to make this about himself, it's about the abuse his family has suffered.

Usually, we would view public openness and honesty about mental illness as brave and even productive. We just don’t believe that is the case here.

There is nothing brave about systematically abusing your wife and children.

There is nothing brave about confessing wrongdoing when you have not done the work to change your behavior.

There is nothing brave about refusing to speak honestly, or speak at all, with one’s closest friends and bandmates, people who have supported you and stuck by you for most of your life.

Compared to the impact of Scott’s actions on his family, the impact on our band pales in significance. Nevertheless, with the heartbreak and horror we also grieve for the loss of our life’s work and a legacy that was sacred to us.

Again, our primary concern is for the safety and well-being of Scott’s wife and children, as well as anyone else in a similar situation. If someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or abuse, please reach out to one of the many local or national resources available. One national resource is:

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 www.thehotline.org

If you or someone you know is suffering from mental health issues that could make you a danger to yourself or others, please get help before you hurt yourself or the people you love.

One resource for that is:

www.988lifeline.org

This is the only statement we plan to make about this issue. In due course, when it's appropriate, we will provide more information about our future musical endeavors, but that time is not now.

Good statement from the band.

Sanford Parker's separate statement also key:

https://www.facebook.com/sanford.parker/posts/10221367118952623

The only time I check facebook these days is when someone calls me and says "did you see the crazy shit homeboy just posted?!" which leads me to my next topic.

In response to Scott Kelly’s post I would like to make it crystal clear that during the active years of Corrections House and Mirrors for Psychic Warfare I had no idea the level of abuse Scott was inflicting onto his family. He always talked about his “mental illness” and things he did in the past he regretted, but nothing like this.

Over the last 12 plus years he and I have spent countless time together. I would be with him every second of every day for months at a time, often just the two of us and I have never seen this side of him. Not even close. It’s truly mind-blowing his level and power of manipulation he has on people.

In January of 2020 Scott cut off all contact with me for no reason. I tried repeatedly reaching out via text, emails and phone calls and nothing. I tried several times reaching out to his wife but was told everything was ok. Then in March of 2021 she sent me a lengthy detailed email about the abuse she and the kids had experienced and it was honestly the most disturbing thing I have ever read, it made me physically ill. I wish I could unsee it. By that point though the damage had been done and as far as I knew they were away from him and safe.

I poured my heart and soul into Corrections House and Mirrors for Psychic Warfare and now they are rotten. I will never have the same pride for those bands I once did and that truly hurts. This has been hard for me to process over the past year, but by this point in my life I am used to it and I move on.

I see a lot of people praising him for his honesty and that’s total bullshit, he deserves no praise. I have no sympathy for Scott and neither should you. I do have much love for his family and I really hope they are able to heal and move forward.

last sentence key

I'd vote in a metal decade poll, though my ballot would mostly add more fake black with pink covers.

like Old Man's Child doing "Get This Party Started"?

id vote in a 2010's till now metal poll for sure. i like that too because it gives 2021 a chance to shine.

I realize that trying to parse what the folks over at the Metal Archives consider “metal” is a bit of a fool’s errand, but their refusal to count the Denver Dreadnought as metal is one of the biggest head scratchers.

Their new album is fantastic tho.

some folks here probs know this and others may not give a f but i have a metal radio show called The Unquiet Grave. each episode is a deep dive into a subgenre, label, or a year in metal, or the metal of a particular place. you can listen live at wrir.org/listen at 9-11pm sundays, or you can listen to all the archived episodes here whenever: emilyrobinson.org/radio

i forgot how to make a link https://emilyrobinson.org/radio

Lol Neanderthal

latest ayloss, under the name 'auriferous flame', is typical brilliance from one of the (imo) greatest living songwriters

https://auriferousflame.bandcamp.com/releases

ty for the link roxy btw, will have a browse

Yeah, thanks for the link roxy! Def will check that out.

TBH, I don't think we will be doing a metal poll. Not one person on the album poll rollout said they were interested. Not a single one.

It's not much fun running a poll with only a handful of interested parties at most, and too stressful. So I guess it's on hold for now. If there is not enough interest on the board for metal and/or metal polls, you can't force it. A lot of this thread just hates polls, a lot of regular metal album EOY voters left ILM, and I'm not sure metal has much cache on the rest of the board.

Apologies to those who had their hopes up.

Also, everyone listen to Roxy's show

Another option, if someone wants to run an EOY poll for this year, might be to include both 2021 and 2022.

thank you roxy, early black metal and Swedish death metal episodes were educational af for me

There's a new Faceless Burial out in early October and it is really fuckin' good.

The one track that we proles have access to sounds fucking great, extremely solid band.

The new Megadeth album has a cover of the Dead Kennedys' "Police Truck" on it. Sadly, my first reaction was to wonder if Mustaine had rewritten the lyrics to be pro-cop. (No.)

Hmmm looks like it has Steve Di Giorgio on bass and guests Ice-T and Sammy Hagar? I guess I’ll have to check it out.

Peeping the new Blind Guardian.

Fuck. It's....good.

Like it's still OTT as hell but it's closer to their mid-late 90s output than their recent orchestral bombast.

They're playing at speed metal tempos again, the choruses are big. The Queen-y leads are tasty as ever.

You're not the only person who's praised it. I may have to check it out.

Hmmm looks like it has Steve Di Giorgio on bass

whoa, wonder if he's audible in the mix

Word is spreading that Dave Sherman, a DC/Maryland/Virginia doom legend (he was in Spirit Caravan and the Sacred lineup of the Obsessed, and fronted Earthride), has died.

New Darkthrone already, Astral Fortress due out October 28th.

Carried on the brisk wind of eager rock, with foundations in black, thrash, doom and heavy metal, Astral Fortress is the latest album of stellar, eclectic old metal in the Darkthrone odyssey. With a seemingly endless dungeon full of heavy metal influences channelled through Darkthrone’s dynamic riff-machine, plus also with many increasing inspirations taken from their own past catalogue.

the brisk wind of eager rock

happy halloween

xp - that's exactly the phrase that prompted me to share that paragraph

but the cover is kind of awesome:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3481823854_10.jpg

is he ice skating?!

fuck i love Darkthrone

Darkthrone should enter the Olympics

pairs figure skating

H. Amarillo
N. Culto

New Drudkh..think I like where its headed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9CcjznLS54

An interesting/surprising choice, but one I can respect — The Black Dahlia Murder will continue, with founding guitarist Brian Eschbach moving to vocals and the band's former lead guitarist, Ryan Knight, returning to the lineup.

Don't blame them for wanting to keep it in the group, makes sense on some level, but hard to imagine a non-vocalist stepping into Strnad's shoes like that.

Yeah, he says in the piece that he's not the vocal talent Strnad was (the first time I heard them I thought they had two singers) but it's an admirable effort and at least they didn't bring in fucking Tommy Vext or somebody.

Vocally speaking this might be like when Walkier left Skyclad and the guitarist took over.

Fans lost interest. Throwing Strnad's suicide in the mix, have to imagine fans will have mixed feelings.

But I don't begrudge the decision. May have been what Trevor wanted

Goatwhore have always left me cold, but their new album, Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven (out 10/7), is really getting the job done this morning. I don't know what changed, them or me, but it's a pleasant surprise for sure.

I check in with Soulfly like every three albums or so, feels like I picked a really good time to check in with Totem, this is really solid. Max sounds really energized here.

They've been on a hot streak more or less since Enslaved IMO.

So Vektor (well, David DiSanto and three nobodies) was signed to Century Media for about 24 hours...the social media backlash was so intense that they cut ties with him this morning.

He'll be on Profound Lore by the end of next week, probably.

Well, not exactly three nobodies, he somehow convinced Erik Nelson to come back with him. Disappointing all around.

Digging both sides of this new End/Cult Leader split EP:

https://cultleadermusic.bandcamp.com/album/gather-mourn

If you like your metal with multiple melodic female singers at once, the three lead-vocalists from Elyose, Semblant and Kalidia are all in The Erinyes, with Aldo Lonobile from Secret Sphere writing and producing the album. It's pretty good.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5aqqnUBWFQMFISICmcMsgr

Late in getting around to it, but damn this new Mares of Thrace is incredible. One of the best guitar tones I've heard this year and just riff after riff.

Not listened to much metal this year but stumbled on the Ashenspire album. Scottish avant-garde black metal with (mostly) straight vocals that echo David Tibet, strings, brass, and some heavily politicised lyrics calling out Grenfell among other things. They had me at the song titled 'The Law of Asbestos'. Oh, and Botanist on his Dulcimer. What's not to love?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VWzaH_S4Y

I'm just now getting to this Sunrise Patriot Motion album, from two of the guys in Yellow Eyes - a creepy, trippy mix of goth-rock, dungeon synth, psychedelia, and black metal. I haven't heard a sound quite like this before.

https://sunrisepatriotmotion.bandcamp.com/album/black-fellflower-stream

The new Gaerea, wau

The preview tracks from the new Autopsy are absolute perfection.

so stoked

The new Gaerea, wau

fantastic band

Gaerea G?

https://gaerea.bandcamp.com/album/mirage

not a hoax?

hail autopsy! hail!!!!

god it's so good

I'm sure nobody in this thread cares except me and Brad, but the last Slipknot album was their best record ever and the new one, out today...is not.

I care. Well I liked the last one enough to pre-order this new one, sounds like that might have been a mistake.

“adderall” is great but other parts sound like them moving in place. def not as good as the last one but every knot record is baseline good imo, no exception here

Meshuggah last night was, of course, great. Kinda weird bill, imo, with Converge and Torche, but I appreciated the diversity.

God, Autopsy rules. I think they might by my favourite DM band (mainly on the strength of the early albums - I don't know the whole catalogue.)

This newest one sounds out of a time capsule almost

The vocals, the riffs, the "I'm chained up in the basement without food or water, boy there's a lot I never knew about weird Uncle Ernie" vibe....

New Orm out yesterday. Four tracks in 92 minutes. Only heard one side, but it was typically great.

returning to the new slipknot. it may not be their best as a whole but the last three songs are three of their best

on my first listen of the new autopsy. think i started taking these guys for granted a few years after they came back. if nothing else, it’s nice to get a few death metal records with a reasonably “live” drum sound sometimes.

Still waiting for my copy of Autopsy to get here, hopefully today. Pretty good review on Pitchfork today, although the review itself reads more positive than the score itself.

xp - where is this new Om album you speak of Frederik? I can't seem to find a thing about it, beyond some reddit rumors about a new one in the works.

Orm, not OM, so assuming it is this: https://ormband.bandcamp.com/album/intet-altet

Haha that's what I get for reading on my phone. Oops! Tbf though, four tracks in 92 minutes is absolutely believable for an Om record too.

Thanks for clarifying.

If anyone remembers turntable fm, its relaunching and there's a beta access metal room if anyone is interested here you need Spotify (Premium), Apple, but for cheapskates you can use free youtube. Join here https://tt.live/da/metal-symposium

You can read more here about their plans

https://turntablelive.com/manifesto-open

although the review itself reads more positive than the score itself.

They need to give "evilness of doom riffs" greater weighting.

Yeah the doom riffs are esp weighty on this alb. Not that this isn't always true of Topsy but they're thicc this time

I know it was already given some props upthread, but this Ashenspire album really is incredible. Instant AOTY contender for me.

Yeah it's great

Closing track a great example of how to write a political metal song whose musical reach matches its lyrical grasp

^^ otm

The Moonlight Sorcery EP from back in March is so good. Glacial symphonic black metal reaching to epic heights. I love their sense of melody.

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/piercing-through-the-frozen-eternity

wow yeah that's good stuff, cheers

https://liturgy.bandcamp.com/album/93696

prepare, purify, enrobe

the preview track is on some insane metalcore tip, check out that bass oof

you guys weren't joking about the Ashenspire album

cloud rat cloud rat cloud rat cloud rat

new faceless burial is pretty relentless. there’s always another killer riff around the corner, but for a sound with so much doom in it, they don’t really linger on em for long. with one exception that… well, you’ll know it when you hear it.

this was probably my most anticipated metal record of the year. it’s certainly very good but i imagine it’ll continue to open up as i keep playing it. feels like the connection is deepening already on my second run thru…

It's been all about Sumerlands and Sonja for me the last month or so. That Sonja record is so crazy accomplished, songwriting-wise.

xpost yeah it is quite good. I also appreciate that the production is closer to the death metal I like, the aural sound of the ground shaking and cracking but without sacrificing clarity. too much death metal is sterilized nowadays sonically, where all the instruments have the rough parts sanded off.

true. and i love the heft the production gives some of the slower parts, like that immolation-ey breakdown in “from the bastion to the pit”.

The Cloud Rat album is beautiful and relentless.

They're a band where it's worth reading the lyrics as you listen, imo.

I think the new Imperial Triumphant album is the best thing they've done. One to add to the list of jazz/metal hybrids that actually work.

Also one to add to the fairly short list of things that can be described with the word "jazz" involved and I still like them.

also surprised and delighted by the imperial triumphant

Autonoesis album is really cool, but a lot to take in - I haven't listened much to the second half yet. Progressive black/thrash, full of shreddy solos and beautiful softer passages (the opener is an obvious quasi-cover of Sabbath's "Solitude"). They could fill the void left by Vektor to some extent.

First listen to new Ripped to Shreds

\m/

Goddamnit I should not be loving the Fellowship album this much.

I don't normally go for power metal this bright and jubilant, but man the songwriting and musicianship here totally sells it.

digging from last week:

the new Anal Stabwound,Ripped to Shreds, and Imprecation

DIAMOND HEAD is of seminal importance to heavy metal music, and their debut album Lightning To The Nations is a key influence on the genre.

“We wrote instinctively,” explains cofounding member and riff lord Brian Tatler. “We had an undeniably unique sound. Four young lads, each with an element that, when combined, produced an alloy that was our own heavy metal sound.”

Lightning To The Nations (The White Album) [Remastered 2021] is the ultimate version of this ultimate album, set for release via Silver Lining Music on September 30th. The offering will feature not only the original album from 1/4-inch master tapes which Lars Ulrich helped Brian Tatler retrieve back in 1990, but also alternative mixes of classic cuts “Lightning To The Nations,” “The Prince,” “Sucking My Love,” “Am I Evil?,” and “Sweet And Innocent” never publicly released (or heard) before. There is also brand-new cover artwork based on an idea Brian Tatler had, to show a character referred to as “The Lightning God.”

“In 1990, as a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the NWOBHM, Lars Ulrich and Geoff Barton compiled the double album New Wave Of British Heavy Metal ‘79 Revisited which came out on Phonogram Records. It was Lars who made it his business to track down wherever possible the original master tapes because all he had were the old, often scratched singles,” recalls Tatler. “He told me that he would often call up members of the bands they wanted to feature on the album and the confused guy on the other end of the phone would assume it was wind-up. ‘Who? Lars Ulrich? From Metallica? Fuck off!’ When Lars called me, I explained that the original 1/4-inch masters for Lightning To The Nations hadn’t been seen since they were sent by our old manager to a guy called Horgi at Woolfe Records years back. Apparently, Horgi didn’t return the tapes, so Lars dispatched someone from Metallica’s German label to pay the guy a visit… The tapes were duly returned and after Phonogram had finished with them, Lars made sure they came home to me. I still have them stored safely.”

The original tapes were first quite literally baked — a process which allows degraded tape to be returned to playable quality — then restored and digitized before DIAMOND HEAD frontman Rasmus “Ras” Bom Andersen remastered the tracks, ending up with a pristine edition of the original recordings and the recently discovered alternative mixes. Pure treasure for all fans of both DIAMOND HEAD and the NWOBHM, the restored masters are supplemented by a set of bonus tracks originally recorded in the 1980s. Rounding-out this ultimate edition are a set of deep and detailed notes on both the era and each song by Brian Tatler.

“I don’t really know what inspired ‘Lightning To The Nations,’” says Tatler in his notes. “I can’t think of any other song by any other band that sounds like it and that’s a hell of a claim. Sean got the title from a painting he had seen in an art book somewhere and thought it would make a good title for a song. Once we had the song and it became track one, side one, it seemed like a good album title too. It’s still in the live set after forty-years.”

Lightning To The Nations (The White Album) [Remastered 2021], will be released as a double CD, a deluxe 180-gram gatefold triple-vinyl edition containing the original album remastered, the lost mixes, and the bonus tracks. There will also be a single vinyl edition of just the remastered album, also on 180-gram vinyl. The complete recordings will also be available to stream and download.

Preorders are available now at THIS LOCATION.

DIAMOND HEAD will embark on a string of shows where they will be joining Saxon as special guests for the European and UK dates on their Seize The Day world tour. See all confirmed dates below.

DIAMOND HEAD w/ Saxon:
10/02/2022 Trianon – Paris, FR
10/03/2022 013 – Tilburg, NL
10/04/2022 Capitol – Hannover, DE
10/06/2022 Admiralspalast – Berlin, DE
10/07/2022 Muffathalle – Munich, DE
10/08/2022 Capitol -Offenbach, DE
10/10/2022 Alcatraz – Milan, IT
10/11/2022 Z7 – Pratteln Z7
10/12/2022 Trix – Antwerp, BE
10/13/2022 Patronaat – Haarlem, NL
10/15/2022 Train – Aarhus, DK
10/17/2022 Pustervik – Gothenburg, SE
10/18/2022 Rockefeller – Oslo, NO
10/19/2022 Amager Bio – Copenhagen, DK
10/21/2022 Hedon – Zwolle, NL
10/22/2022 La Bam – Metz, FR
10/23/2022 Les Docks – Lausanne, CH
11/11/2022 Regent Theatre – Ipswich, UK
11/12/2022 O2 Guildhall – Southampton, UK
11/13/2022 De La Warr Pavilion – Bexhill, UK
11/14/2022 St. David’s Hall – Cardiff, UK
11/15/2022 Forum – Bath, UK
11/16/2022 Corn Exchange – Cambridge, UK
11/18/2022 O2 City Hall – Newcastle, UK
11/19/2022 King George’s Hall – Blackburn, UK
11/20/2022 Music Hall – Aberdeen, UK
11/21/2022 Barrowland – Glasgow, UK
11/22/2022 City Hall – Hull, UK
11/23/2022 Barbican – York, UK
11/25/2022 De Montfort Hall – Leicester, UK
11/26/2022 Roundhouse – London, UK

For EU tickets visit: https://www.saxon747.com/tour
For UK tickets visit: https://myticket.co.uk/artists/saxon

DIAMOND HEAD 2022 Lineup:
Rasmus Bom Andersen – vocals
Brian Tatler – lead, rhythm guitars
Karl Wilcox – drums
Andrew “Abbz” Abberley – rhythm, lead guitars

DIAMOND HEAD 1980 Lineup:
Sean Harris – vocals
Brian Tatler – guitar
Duncan Scott – drums
Colin Kimberley – bass

For DIAMOND HEAD coverage requests contact liz at earsplitcompound dot com.

http://www.diamondheadofficial.com
http://www.facebook.com/DiamondHeadOfficial/
http://www.twitter.com/DH_Diamond_Head
http://www.instagram.com/diamond_head_official/
http://sl-music.net
http://www.facebook.com/Silver.Lining.Music.Ltd
http://twitter.com/silverlmusicltd
http://www.instagram.com/silver.lining.music

1. Lightning To The Nations04:15
2. The Prince06:27
3. Sucking My Love09:31
4. Am I Evil07:43
5. Sweet And Innocent03:14
6. It's Electric03:38
7. Helpless06:54
8. Lightning To The Nations (Lost Original Mix)04:17
9. The Prince (Lost Original Mix)06:35
10. Sucking My Love (Lost Original Mix)09:35
11. Am I Evil (Lost Original Mix)07:41
12. Sweet And Innocent (Lost Original Mix)03:15
13. Shoot Out The Lights (Bonus Track)04:15
14. Streets Of Gold (Bonus Track)03:32
15. Play It Loud (Bonus Track)03:29
16. Waited Too long (Bonus Track)03:51
17. Diamond Lights (Bonus Track)03:28
18. We Wont Be Back (Bonus Track)04:18
19. I Don't Got (Bonus Track)04:23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMfa180uE9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBRI3YKwlEQ

The Diamond Head reissue is great save for the cover.

Also, The Sword has broken up.

http://www.instagram.com/p/Cj8J7DKLYOS/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=17be5d91-e3ac-4a0e-ae7f-4fd07436e749

:(

The Otolith's album is out today!

Hm, okay, so the one significant issue I have is that they play the entirety of Chaplin's The Great Dictator speech in "Bone Dust". Nothing against the speech per se, and it's effective in context, but I don't want to kill it by listening to it over and over.

Movie quotes in songs need to fade out over repeat plays.

Greg Anderson's new The Lord album, a collaboration with Petra Haden, is pretty fantastic. Mostly just Haden's layered vocals over Anderson's droning guitar, but hits some pretty hypnotic moments.

There's a new Sahg album out this week, their first since 2016. Fist-pumping trad/doom metal, RIYL Grand Magus, Beastmaker, etc.

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

new Exhumed. always welcome. album cover is ace too.

first two songs sound like they belong on Necroticism, which is humorous as the Carcass influences have been waning over the years, and they were mostly Reek and Symphonies rips back then. specifically due to the mid-tempo riffs they do that sound like the mid-section of "Corporal Jigsore Quandary"

Some 2022 homestretch releases:

28-Oct
Dead Cross
Darkthrone
Show Me The Body
Therion
Devin Townsend

4-Nov
Black Anvil
The Pretty Reckless
Voivod (EP)
Xentrix

11-Nov
Drudkh

18-Nov
-(16)-
Candlemass

25-Nov
High Command

1-Dec
Destroyer 666
Hammers Of Misfortune

16-Dec
Bloodclot

You know I was like "isn't Destroyer 666 Nazi adjacent" and, oh yeah, they are (KK played in a band called Raven's Wing with two blatantly NS skinheads), but I completely forgot about KK's 2016 tedious anti-SJW anti-women rants.

post-rock cinematic w/e metal with a terrible name but I love this new Nomadic Narwhal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QE-QI7AxOQ

You know I was like "isn't Destroyer 666 Nazi adjacent" and, oh yeah, they are (KK played in a band called Raven's Wing with two blatantly NS skinheads), but I completely forgot about KK's 2016 tedious anti-SJW anti-women rants.

Got the Japanese CD reissue of Thorr's Hammer's Dommedagsnatt in today's mail. It comes in a heavy cardboard non-gatefold mini-LP sleeve and has the Live By Command of Tom G. Warrior recording from Roadburn 2010 (originally released on LP only in 2019) as bonus tracks. New cover art, too.

xp did not mean to imply that!

Late to the party maybe, but the Cloud Rat is something else.

agreed

Can confirm the new Ripped to Shreds both rips and shreds.

The second-best metalcore band from Switzerland (Knut will always rule), Nostromo, have released their first full-length in almost 20 years this week, and it's pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp. It rules.

https://hummusrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bucephale

I actually got to see Duma, the Kenyan-Ugandan harsh metallic industrial duo whose eponymous album was a big hit in

It's Duma @kungfunecktie pic.twitter.com/VQIR5pLbVx

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) October 28, 2022

It's Duma @kungfunecktie pic.twitter.com/VQIR5pLbVx

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) October 28, 2022

It was really a unique experience. The duo played in a completely darkened room (really, it made Wolves in the Throne Room's stage seem bathed in sunshine in comparison). It was primitive and brutal and oddly spiritual. Would love to see Justin Broadrick take them under his wings since there is more than obvious Godflesh comparisons to be made, though filtered through the tribalistic rhythms of their homeland.

Oops! I meant to link to Rolling 2020 Metal Thread not link my Tweet twice. :(

There's a new Black Math Horseman s/t EP. It's quite good.

Ooh is that the show Stabscotch played too? xp

Another year, another Lustre album. I disagree with the title, the season for this is now. Gentle autumnal music, at peace with itself and the world.

the Duma stuff I have from Bandcamp is super good, didn't know they were touring.

new Abyssic album is very, very good. much better use of strings than most "symphonic" bands, really engrossing songs.

I love how Lustre is classified as Metal

Funny thing is that as the Lustre dude gradually upgrades his gear and levels up the clarity of his production, it starts sounding more and more like Schiller with guiters - I mean how far is he now from something like this?

Really enjoying Woe, the new album from Swedish progressive deathers An Abstract Illusion. Lots packed into this one, some mid-period Opeth, big guitar solos, lots of synth, a little space rock. All pulled together pretty well, imo.

Some bonkers raw gothy black metal that sounds like Cultes des Ghoules in miniature, hints of ... Scooby Doo? Mad doctor vocals. I dunno. Came out on Halloween on Avantgarde so that's probably a better summation.

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-haunting

I've seen comparisons to Old Nick but idk what Old Nick is. Maybe I should.

BTW returning to Lustre - after now hearing it on a proper system at high volume instead of crappy computer speakers, I've noticed that the guitars are now much, much heavier than on previous Lustre material, looks like he has dropped his tuning and bought a HM-2 pedal for that crushingly heavy buzzsaw sound. It's now bordering on full-on Doom Metal, although the melodies are way to wistful to call it "proper" Doom.

It's nice, yes. I like the extra crunch

If you like modernized versions of the melodic metal/hard-rock thing that I think of as beginning with Lita Ford, there are two new songs from what I assume is an upcoming album by the great Norwegian singer Issa.

https://open.spotify.com/track/10yUHaUegv4jPNNDVysW9e
https://open.spotify.com/track/1S99nbSU0hfsuriiVrHB6Y

Can confirm the new Ripped to Shreds both rips and shreds.

Thirded -this shit rocks.

New Darkthrone is great, these guys have settled into such a good groove of late. Really dig the slightly spacey outro on "The Sea Beneath the Seas of the Sea".

New Obituary album in January! It's called Dying Of Everything, which is awesome. So is the first single, "The Wrong Time":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoKRsHSPfw4

Decibel announced their Top 40 albums of the year:

40. Temple of Void, Summoning the Slayer, Relapse
39. Gaerea, Mirage, Season of Mist
38. Sigh, Shiki, Peaceville
37. Still/Form, From the Rot Is a Gift, Hex
36. Midnight, Let There Be Witchery, Metal Blade
35. Doldrum, The Knocking, or the Story of the Sound That Preceded Their Disappearance, Katafalque
34. Amorphis, Halo, Atomic Fire
33. Imperial Triumphant, Spirit of Ecstasy, Century Media
32. Black Anvil, Regenesis, Season of Mist
31. Municipal Waste, Electrified Brain, Nuclear Blast
30. Castrator, Defiled in Oblivion, Dark Descent
29. Daeva, Through Sheer Will and Black Magic…, 20 Buck Sin
28. Ripped to Shreds, 劇變 (Jubian), Relapse
27. Mother of Graves, Where the Shadows Adorn, Wise Blood
26. Eight Bells, Legacy of Ruin, Prophecy
25. Tzompantli, Tlazcaltiliztli, 20 Buck Spin
24. SpiritWorld, Deathwestern, Century Media
23. Escuela Grind, Memory Theater, MNRK
22. Vanum, Legend, Profound Lore
21. Satan, Earth Infernal, Metal Blade
20. Mizmor + Thou, Myopia, Gilead Media
19. Dream Unending, Song of Salvation, 20 Buck Spin
18. Phobophilic, Enveloping Absurdity, Prosthetic
17. Negative Plane, The Pact…, The Ajna Offensive
16. Sumerlands, Dreamkiller, Relapse
15. Terror, Pain Into Power, Pure Noise
14. Voivod, Syncro Anarchy, Century Media
13. Chat Pile, God’s Country, The Flenser
12. Wake, Thought Form Descent, Metal Blade
11. Oceans of Slumber, Starlight and Ash, Century Media
10. Mortuous, Upon Desolation, Carbonized
9. KEN mode, Null, Artoffact
8. Kreator, Hate Über Alles, Nuclear Blast
7. Nechochwen, Kanawha Black, Bindrune
6. Soul Glo, Diaspora Problems, Epitaph
5. Immolation, Acts of God, Nuclear Blast
4. Blackbraid, Blackbraid I, self-released
3. Sonja, Loud Arriver, Cruz Del Sur
2. Cave In, Heavy Pendulum, Relapse
1. Undeath, It’s Time… to Rise from the Grave, Prosthetic

https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2022/11/10/spoiler-here-are-decibels-top-40-albums-of-2022

Sonja, man. Love that record to bits.

I've heard seven of those (Imperial Triumphant, Black Anvil, Sumerlands, Chat Pile, Oceans of Slumber, Kreator, Immolation) and would maybe put three (Imperial Triumphant, Sumerlands, Immolation) on my own year-end list. I'm honestly surprised the new Goatwhore didn't make the Decibel list; it's the first album of theirs I've ever liked.

Will never understand the love for the new Undeath

New Dream Unending out today. I loved their 2021 album. This sounds exactly the same, melancholy and diaphanous death-doom.

Can confirm the new Ripped to Shreds both rips and shreds.

speaking of which, I dug the first houkago grind time record more than the other RtS records but the new HGT just isn't doing it for me. frustrating but maybe I'm in less of an anime grind mood lately or something? (this would be weird if true tho stranger things have happened I suppose)

classical, jazz & gorenoise thrown in a blender, you say? but a literal blender?

https://effluence666.bandcamp.com/album/liquefied

owns

Beautiful review of Dream Unending today on Pitchfork. Sam Sodomsky is very good.

I loved their 2021 album. This sounds exactly the same

I want to amend that a bit. This is better than the last album. The production feels richer, the textures seem to mesh better. And the album structure makes a difference - this one flows extremely well. There are long moody stretches which are more like Pink Floyd's "Echoes" or something from ECM than anything death-metal.

(an album may be years away, you know with these guys, but) Darkspace still exists & have a new bass player - first their wikipedia page said they were looking for a replacement, but now this has been updated: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Darkspace/13746

this, too: https://www.darkcyberspace.com/incmngtrnsmssn.html

new Candlemass is good as ever. I'm liking their material post Johan's return on vocals. just find it amusing how different his voice is now, and I don't mean "lol he older", like he does a more gravelly thing than he did on Epicus Doomicus

https://rottedlife.bandcamp.com/album/phantasmal-scourge

Digging this Night Hag album, filthy and rotten death doom.

"Piach" was one of my favorite metal albums of 2018, and on first listen, this new one from Gorycz seems every bit as massive:

https://gorycz.bandcamp.com/album/kamienie

Also recommended for fans of Furia.

The title track from the forthcoming Obituary album Dying of Everything is out and it fucking rules:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EhlsxrkzmM

I am unreasonably excited about this album.

Woods of Desolation, Australian melancholic black metal, are (or rather "is" - it's just one guy) back with a new album, out this week: https://woodsofdesolation.bandcamp.com/

his last one - released way back in 2013 - was awesome, imo. i thought that project was done, excited to see it back.