rolling 2024 heavy metal and boutique blast beat thread

I thought the last two were a bit boring, as they dropped too much of the heaviness, but this new one really works, even though they haven't really brought it back? It's just noisy and powerful.

I wrote about the new Deicide album in this week's Burning Ambulance newsletter.

Patrick Shiroshi and Marisa Anderson on there too by the looks of it.

yep! listened to it again today and I am starting to think it really might be their best.

Weird thing about new Deicide, which I like a lot, is riff-wise they seem to be trying to approximate their 90s sound without going all the way there and leaving just enough of their post-Hoffman melodic sound intact.

But also this is the first album I heard Glen growl and wonder "are his chords aging". Not that they don't sound good, but a wee bit more effort required

Well, they're clearly not abandoning their melodeath side if they've got the guy from The Absence on guitar. But yeah, there are some songs where they're definitely trying to have it both ways.

new Inter Arma is... heavy heavy heavy.
recent Devastator album super enjoyable! hitting the same pleasure centres as the last Hellripper.
also really into the new Couch Slut - oh and the new Haust lp is very fun.

on deathier side, the recent Dipygus and Slimelord both rule.

The new Ulcerate songs have me excited.

Inter Arma AOTY

yeah it's awesome

really need to get high and listen to it

this thread needs more rap beef

Corpsegrinder vs Chris Barnes

I really like this Big Brave, are they supposed to be metal? Reminds me more of a heavier Scrawl (a good thing)

yeah, stoked for the new ulcerate as well

nothing new by any means but the new unearthly rites is doing it for me:
https://unearthlyrites.bandcamp.com/album/ecdysis

a little over 30 minutes of big, dumb chugging riffs. parts made me think of coffins.

Kim Kelly has an interview with Unearthly Rites in her latest newsletter. Not about music, but about politics and environmental issues in Finland. Worth reading.

oh, hell yeah

interesting about the nsbm scene in finland too. I'd, uh, assumed that it was still thriving...

K.K.'s Priest books co-headlining tour with Accept.

message received - it truly doesn't matter what you put out as long as you have a decades-long reputation to coast on.

I tried listening to all the previous Tornillo-fronted Accept albums last year. They were so bad. I haven't gone anywhere near the new one.

And just for the record, Udo's albums are pretty bad, too. But he's still fuckin' Udo, and the voice still does it for me just as much as it did when I was 14.

The first two Accept reunion albums were really, really good, but the last three are just recycling riffs, and EGADS the lyrics are embarrassing. I don't know if it's because Wolf ran off with some skinny woman half his age, but Accept has made some questionable choices lately. That symphonic thing? GTFO.

Both Accept's new one and KK's record are two of the year's dumbest albums so far, but I'll probably see the Montréal show to hear the classics and deep cuts.

And for the record, that new Inter Arma is a revelation through headphones. You've got the right idea, Neanderthal.

Not exactly metal (and even less so given what I've heard about its Italian giallo influences), but anyone heard the new Uncle Acid?

Rise Above absolutely botched this one. First new album in six years and it is impossible to get on day of release. Out of stock in every format direct from Rise Above, "unavailable" from Amazon, I've searched dozens of US based records stores and either it doesn't exist in their database or it's listed as "out of stock, rare item". No Bandcamp option, either from the band or label. I would be furious if I was in a band and my label failed so miserably.

I admire the effort that went into the new Uncle Acid, it's a fun idea. The attention to detail is spot-on, faithful to Giallo/Poliziotteschi films of the 70s. I hope the physical product, if we can ever get our hands on it, helps flesh out the story, because without the little plot summary journalists were given, it would have been confusing as hell.

Ha yeah, I was wondering about that with it being all in Italian. I've been a fanboy for these guys ever since I first played Blood Lust and when I caught them on the Mind Control tour. I thought the concept sounded like a cool new path for them and I've dug the artwork so far.

Oooh child. I finally feel old for the first time. Was at the Welcome to Rockville festival the past two days. This is one of those Wimmer festivals that really celebrates rock mediocrity, so I don't go often, but this year, both Judas Priest decided to do their only Florida appearance at this festival, and MR BUNGLE....same.

Plus some other funsies like Nitzer Ebb, Anthrax with Dan Lilker on bass, etc.

Priest were incredible as always and it was great to hear the new stuff live. Condensed set meant a lot of staples cut out.

Anthrax with Lilker was just a standard Anthrax set, but it was cool to see Danny on the bass.

Bungle was a fuckin riot. Part of me is still disappointed that they're still mostly just doing Easter Bunny tracks (and don't get me wrong, I like that re-recording a lot), but we DID get "My Ass is on Fire", as well as his typical 70s AM nerd covers ("Hopelessly Devoted to You", "I'm Not in Love", and "True", which in ace trolling fashion came after the intro to "Hell Awaits"). He also sang the Pepto Bismol "upset stomach diarrhea" jingle after MAIOF , and legitimately farted into the mic. Multiple times. Incredible set and oddball behavior, now one day I hope I get to hear classic Bungle!

Nitzer Ebb were a fun EBM trip in scorching daylight.

Kerry King's set featuring his solo act was kind of disappointing. First of all, only one track released, so majority of the set nobody knows. He did end with two Slayer covers, which of course got the biggest response, which I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about (but whadya expect dude).

Not sure what I think of his solo material yet....I need to hear it in headphones, not outdoors at a festival w dodgy sound. But y'know some of it was good.

Anyway my gout flared up today so I walked back to the car on a toe I can't bend and recuperating at home, just having soaked in the bathtub.

Metal up yr tushy!

Apparently Nuclear Blast spotted a nickel at the bottom of the barrel and has signed Marilyn Manson.

oof, rough

gross

He's heading out on tour with Five Finger Death Punch, too, which says a lot about who his audience is at this point.

Christ, just imagine the type of people that'll show up to that thing

You could not pay me enough money to be within 1000 yards of that crowd of knuckleheads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIqcEiaOpM8

probably not gonna get much love here (not knocking ilm, i get it, besides which their current sound kinda lurks between deathcore and nu-metal) but i'm soooo excited for the new kittie record

I don't need to hear a whole album, but that's a good song. Their current lead guitarist is pretty good. I still remember meeting them at Irving Plaza in 2001, opening for Disturbed; the sisters' dad was there with them.

all of the new (nu?) kittie tracks have been cool. I'm also looking forward to it!

I am admittedly very picky when it comes to what I like and don’t like about metal; I’m definitely out of step with the genre overall.

Nevertheless! The band that consistently does everything exactly in line with my tastes is Ufomammut. Their new album today is GREAT. Since last year they’d released 4 out of the 6 songs here but they all sound better as part of a sequenced whole. Absolutely loving it.

Ufomammut is band I thought about with the Albini discussion, but I dunno if it would work because of the laptop loops they play along with. The electronic flourishes are more forward on this one, I think. Which I love.

I saw this on Twitter and pulled it up on Tidal mostly because I thought it would suck and I could move quickly on, feeling superior to people I saw praising it. Well, it fucking rules. Ten Ton Slug, Colossal Oppressor. Get some.

https://tentonslug.bandcamp.com/album/colossal-oppressor

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3691132613_10.jpg

that slug looks like it would weigh more than 10 tons.

Didn't you know? Slugs have hollow bones, which is why/how they can fly.

This Ten Ton Slug is fun. Some great grooves.

Kerry King album is kind of what I felt like when I heard the shit live a week ago. not terribly exciting.

Mark Osegueda can be REALLY annoying when he overdoes it, even on Death Angel songs, and he's in his worst tendencies here, over-elocuting/over-emoting to the point of cheese.

some of the songs are decent but literally nobody would give a fuck about this if it wasn't KK. not to say it's bad. there's good moments here and there. but live, we felt a bit letdown and halfway through this disc, it's kinda confirming it wasn't just 'festival fatigue'.

btw, for Nocturnus AD fans, they put out a (not very well-publicized) new one. i haven't gotten to all of it yet but...in case you are a fan of og Nocturnus's "The Key", it's still in that vein

I listened to about 2/3 of the Kerry King album earlier and...the cover art looks like a streaming service's "modern metal" playlist, and that's kinda what the album sounds like. Kerry and a bunch of thrash lifers doing songs that aren't quite as good as Slayer songs, but frequently sound close enough to make you perk your head up for a second. And Osugueda is trying really hard to sound like Tom Araya on several tracks. But I gotta admit, when I heard his guitar on the opening instrumental, it almost gave me the same thrill I used to get from classic Slayer.

Heresiarch - Edifice
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4232526190_10.jpg
Doesn't totally sound like Ulcerate, but the vocals remind me of them--great riffs IMO, RIYL the blast sections in Formulas/Gateways-era Morbid Angel but also the suffocating Aussie/NZ 'war metal' sound I assume? (Still v much a metal newb, pls forgive me)
https://heresiarchofficial.bandcamp.com/album/edifice

Melanie Loves Death Metal review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_pqeyf-fh8
The-reviewer-formerly-known-as-Grizzly-Butts review (now Mystification Zine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4qzAOJ50ks

The new Unleash the Archers album is great, and if that’s your kind of thing, check out the new Elvellon album, too.

Update: the Nocturnus AD is great and you should listen. Little more leaning into the cosmic stuff and slightly less death. Browning speaks lyrics often on this one.

But it's not a great departure.

Also enjoying the new Pallbearer, which is somewhat shoegazy in comparison to older Pallbearer

that heresiarch album is great

was almost turned off enough not to check out the new Vale of Pnath because metalheads were calling it 'symphonic deathcore' and comparing it to Lorna Shore (one person compared it to Dummy Burger, which was completely wrong), but on listening to half of it thus far, I actually like it a lot? it's more black metally, less techy.

I find the deathcore label completely wrong, there's no breakdowns, nor are the vocals deathcore, nor did Lorna Shore invent the pairing of symphonic music with death metal. but I'm the wrong guy to talk LS with, I feel like their music sounds like it was created by AI and has zero human touch at all.

i caught vitriol on tuesday night. great show. their stage presence at the start was very "pro metal guys" but they revealed over the course of the set that at heart they're sensitive and ambitious. kyle broke a string halfway through which threw them off a bit but they finished strong. matt kilner's drumming is something to behold.

oh killer! would love to see them live