rolling 2024 heavy metal and boutique blast beat thread

A gimmicky trad heavy/speed metal concept album about the last day of Dale Earnhardt's life shouldn't be as catchy and legit as this, but I've been enjoying it a bit these last couple of days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eprtpa5VDcU
https://iamtheintimidator.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-the-intimidator

also been digging this album from Noor, a Canadian 80s style heavy/power metal band, that has a rather inexplicable cover and title, but is riffy and epic as heck:
https://noorband.bandcamp.com/album/mothers-guilty-pleasure-part-one

So The Pit, the metal news aggregator and website that was operated by Elektra/Roadrunner are calling it a day.

Not sure who here cares but I liked the emails, sometimes I got useful news and they put together lists and dug up old things that were entertaining.

Also, my guess is those writing for it are out of work which is never fun.

Debatable as to just how much "metal" they are, but a new album coming out in June from Sumac (Aaron Turner, Brian Cook, Nick Yacyshyn), The Healer.

Also, if you want the CD version, hurry - less than 10 copies left according to Thrill Jockey.

https://thrilljockey.com/products/the-healer

Chapel of Disease is the kind of thing that should make me very happy. Idk, that album doesn't seem to hit for me the way Tribulation or Morbus Chron do.

Got that Chapel of Disease on my "to play" pile, just haven't had a chance yet.

Is Metal Archives purposely trying to make the site look more like Wikipedia, or is broken code or their idea of an April Fools prank?

def an April Fool's prank, they do one every year

Kinda figured since I know they've done them in the past, but this one is kinda lame. Like, haha we made our site ugly?

definitely feels like an 'out of ideas' thing

Going to this on Saturday

https://www.monochromebristol.co.uk

This week's BA newsletter is a Q1 Metal Roundup with my thoughts on Judas Priest, Iron Curtain, Chapel of Disease, Vitriol, and Mean Mistreater. I thought about also including the new albums by Coffins and The Absence, which are both great, too.

NEW CRYPT SERMON SONG

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-stygian-rose

Stoked, already smashed the pre-order on that one.

xp- enjoyed that roundup, i need to check out that Iron Curtain record

That song rules.

so happy for Crypt Sermon putting another out. I was just talking about them the other day. they killed at Decibel Metal and Beer Fest back in 2021

xp- enjoyed that roundup, i need to check out that Iron Curtain record

I thought for sure that one or the Mean Mistreater would be the ones my wife would go for, but her favorite turned out to be Vitriol, which I really did not see coming. She also said the vocalist for Chapel of Disease was a total mismatch for the music, which I kinda get.

some recent doom and stoner adjacent stuff I've been digging:

Witchorious - self-titled debut from Paris doom band https://witchorious.bandcamp.com/album/witchorious-2
Hashtronaut - debut album, No Return, from Denver https://wearehashtronauts.bandcamp.com/album/no-return
Wicked Trip - Cabin Fever, latest from Tennessee "heavy occult doom" https://wickedtrip.bandcamp.com/album/cabin-fever

also really happy new REZN on the horizon:

https://rezzzn.bandcamp.com/album/burden

hyped for this friday - Napalm Death / Primitive Man / Pig Destroyer / Wormrot about 20 mins walk from my house.

― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Sunday, 3 March 2024 11:33 bookmarkflaglink

oh how was this btw? was thinking of going but it sold out (and was pretty ill at the time so thought probably for the best I didn't have to get to London and back)

Oh, that new Crypt Sermon album is SO GOOD. Along with the expected Candlemass influence, I also hear King Diamond's band in the 1980s, 80s Savatage too. First class.

Wow, that sounds like my AOTY.

I always like doom with a heavy metal backbone. Having a vocalist that sounds like a neo-Dio helps.

Plus their album covers are dope

in news probably only relevant to unperson and myself, the new Tantric Bile is so far a gleefully horrible listen

https://tantricbile.bandcamp.com/album/cursed-conception

please ignore at least one of the tracktitles

okay but it's kind of hilarious to read all of those other song titles and then see, "The Insidious Lamp That Was There All Those Years".

like, dude, I get it! I need to pull together a garage sale myself to get rid of things like that!

Iron Curtain is sweet, thanks for the rec.

One of my Bandcamp Friday purchases today is gonna be the whole discography (3 albums) from the German band Attic, who play trad shred metal with an extremely King Diamond-y vocalist. They have an awesome band photo:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0004303157_10.jpg

the new Austere album is out

file Witch Vomit and Hour of Penance under "bands who are always reliable and knocked it out of the park again".

ok Witch Vomit is an incredible band name

one of the many that lead my friends to say 'you're just trolling now, right'

it always amuses me when bands have goofball juvenile names like that and you expect they're just going to be caveman shit and it's actually well-crafted, like the aforementioned WV, Anal Vomit, and Bathtub Shitter

similar to Detroit's Shitfucker, who are actually really well put-together 80s metal/punk but they're also called Shitfucker so who in the hell am I ever going to talk to them about

Bathtub Shitter is, for real, one of my favorite band names ever. Instantly alienating, instantly memorable, a disgusting but totally vivid image...it's perfect.

It's always hilarious to type, but honestly, big Shitfucker fan right here.

Shitfucker's "Suck Cocks in Hell" is an album title for the ages too

I had a pretty great time at Monochrome, would have been better if I hadn't been struggling with the flu which meant I had reached my limits after Gnaw Their Tongues (so only 10 bands). Pace was relentless though, one thing finished and the next started in the other room immediately afterwards, and there was no neutral space except out in the street so pretty full-on.

Highlights were the absolutely immense Gnaw Their Tongues, who delivered Lustmord death ambience with guttural screeching over the top - let's face it, every music festival needs a 50 year old overweight guy stumbling about on an unlit stage - and the other noise act Distraxi, who were heavily Masonna influenced.

Guttersnipe and Cuntroaches both unfortunately let down by the sound on their stage, the former with not nearly enough top end and the latter with gtr and bass way too low in the mix, but enjoyed both hugely despite the issues. Guttersnipe sound much less like Rudimentary Peni than they used to but also seem less keen on writing things that sound at all like traditional songcraft so very much swings and roundabouts. Cuntroaches are like a crust version of The Ex, and much like them are at their best when they try something totally different - their take on a disco track could have been epic if the mix was right.

I really wanted to like Psudoku a lot, given how they'd been written up but it smacked of jazz guys putting together a grindcore band as an experiment, and reminded me more of Battles than anything else - more interested in the technical difficulties rather than the songs.

Human Leather were my favourite non-noise thing, kind of sludgy but with a sort of Killslug undercurrent. Huge lots of the appeal is down to the singer though who (without wanting to trot out tropes about large non-conventionally-attractive women, but finding them very accurate in her case) has the best personality on stage all day and is funny and disarming in a way that overcomes some of the technical shortfalls (both in sound and ability).

The remainder were fine at what they did but were straight down the line and didn't do anything interesting with it, although thanks to Cavalerie and their bog standard death I did at least have one spell outside.

Would have liked to have stayed for Aluk Todolo but just wasn't up to it.

I really wanted to like Psudoku a lot, given how they’d been written up but it smacked of jazz guys putting together a grindcore band as an experiment, and reminded me more of Battles than anything else - more interested in the technical difficulties rather than the songs.

I’ve liked the solo Psudoku stuff, but I prefer Brutal Blues, the Psudoku guy’s collab with one half of MoHa!. So your view is understanable; the jazzbo tendency has been there for a while.

And now I’ve just learned that the j-word is actually racist, so I wholeheartedly retract it.

xxxxp add Attic to the "legitimately good band promo photos" thread!

"Evil is Everywhere" on the Iron Curtain album is such a jam.

new replicant out today:

https://replicantband.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-mortality

more metalcore slammin groove parts than i expected but not complaining. a couple moments bordering on meshuggah circa catch 33 too. im guessing the band members may have some history with moshy hardcore, but theyre from NJ, so might just be in their blood.

I pre-ordered that but listening to it at 8 AM was a mistake; I thought it had been on for about 40 minutes and it turned out I'd only heard the first three songs. Might go back to it tonight while I'm editing a truly awful manuscript.

Just got a promo of the new Six Feet Under album and...it's...not...completely...terrible? Jack Owen's in the band now, so the guitars at least rule. The second guitarist, Ray Suhy, is a jazz player who put out a really good album with pianist Lewis Porter, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Rudy Royston a couple of years ago:

https://sunnysiderecords.bandcamp.com/album/transcendent

Also, there's a song on this album called "Neanderthal," so I'm predisposed to like it.

How did I not know until today that there's a new Necrot album coming out tomorrow? Mortal, from 2020, was amazing, and on first listen this is just as good.

https://necrot.bandcamp.com/album/lifeless-birth

yeah I"ve been excited for it.

I went to see them open for Muni Waste despite not liking Muni Waste, only to find out they're doing a headlining US tour a few months from now. lol...welp, cool!

also excited to hear it. not just because i liked the other one but but because, as the old saying goes, “if the cover has a giant demon with an evil devil crotch sucking up naked guys, its gotta be pretty cool”

I read it exactly the opposite way — that the demon was giving birth to those guys, and then eating them.

🤔

fuuuuuuuuuuuck, the Necrot cooks

dude's leads are underrated too, the solos r tasteful as hell

"Winds of Hell" has the most triumphant melodeath riff in recent memory, even though melodeath isn't even remotely what Necrot do, they just threw it into the song and it worked