Rolling Metal 2017

One 2016 album I didn't get to hear until 2017 is Khemmis. I guess I was put off by the nerd-friendly artwork. But it turns out the music itself was worth the hype.

What do we reckon to this, then?

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/pillorian-shoot-first-with-a-stygian-pyre/

John Haughm's first foray into music since Agalloch split. Must say I'm not particularly moved either way at this point.

Actually, I like that! I'm surprised at how concise it is.

I think it's... okay. Not particularly distinctive or remarkable but it's not bad. The outro reminds me of the Falling Snow outro a little.

From Malokarpatan:

The final preparations have been done, in March we will be entering the "Dark Ceremonies" Studio Hostivař in Prague to record our new full-lenght album Nordkarpatenland. Same place where Master's Hammer recorded the legendary 1989 demo The Mass, so we hope the spirits of the past will conjure up their magic again during our presence.

To be released by Invictus Productions in Europe and The Ajna Offensive in the US in due course...

Also, I don't even know what this is but it has to be excruciating:
https://musicalexcrements.bandcamp.com/album/antithesis

looks like my first concert of 2017 will be Hellwitch tomorrow, $10

Niiiiice. Have you seen them before? Are they as insanely fast live as on that first LP?

Also new Malokarpatan fuuuck yeeeahhh

I really like the Emptiness album

A couple of promising tracks, album supposedly out today

https://draugsol.bandcamp.com/album/vola-a-land

Dang that's good. But we've really got to have a moratorium on Draug- names.

Niiiiice. Have you seen them before? Are they as insanely fast live as on that first LP?

― 𝐌𝐀𝐁-BAM-O BAM A – 𝐔𝐒-H US SEIN-U.S.-UNITED STATES (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, January 13, 2017 1:09 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nope first time seein' em but I'll let ya know :)

Dude from Black Witchery showed up. He usually comes on good nights

Aluk Todolo are touring Europe with Oranssi Pazuzu

Niiiiice. Have you seen them before? Are they as insanely fast live as on that first LP?

― 𝐌𝐀𝐁-BAM-O BAM A – 𝐔𝐒-H US SEIN-U.S.-UNITED STATES (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, January 13, 2017 1:09 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes, yes they are

the Draugsól is now fully streamable at https://draugsol.bandcamp.com

xp Cool! If they make it to the west coast I'll have to check 'em out. Been a fan since Szyzyzyzyzgizyal Miscreancy!

Aluk Todolo are touring the states with Insect Ark!!!!

Aluk Todolo are touring the states with Insect Ark!!!!

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF)

A festival I desperately want to attend, I might add.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/files/2016/12/Stardust-VI-e1480622322912.jpg

Cool lineup. Who are Slagmaur? I mean, like, why are they topping the bill when I've never heard of them?

according to metal-archives, they're some avantgarde black metal band who have two albums, but none since 2009

Laster
Ons Vrije Fatum
(Dunkelheit Produktionen)
One Sheet
Release Sate: 1/9/2017

http://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3187917951_16.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/6sCLWGWVQRPvTzbRKZK1YV
http://dunkelheitprod.bandcamp.com/album/ons-vrije-fatum

The band bills itself "Obscure Dance Music from Utrecht" to which I can only say, sure. Why not?

Ons Vrije Fatum (literal translation is "Our Free Fatum," so something about free will is my guess, but it's all Dutch to me), the band's second album, is an ambitious but unpretentious blend of atmospheric black metal and post-rock but the real unique facet to the group's sound is the infusion of Joy Division at their most consonant and claustrophobic.

The shortest song on the album "De tijd vóór" typifies this collaboration while the longest, "Helemaal naar huis," is post-punk free jazz replete with saxophone bleat halfway through the eleven minute opus. That's not the only odd instrumentation as "Bitterzoet" includes shimmering strings that perfectly augment the blackgazing guitars, and electronics - especially the percussive kind - round out the sound. Unusual samples from movies I never saw also show up, like noirish interlopers curious what the band is up to.

I have listened to the album at least five times so far and each time something new emerged from the mix, a melody line hidden away here, some cool instrumentation there, and I get the feeling that repeated listens will continue to unearth newly discovered subtleties.

The bio makes comparisons to early Ulver and Agalloch, which is correct in that if you like those bands you will find a lot here to enjoy, but Ons Vrije Fatum is captivating and wonderful and no two people will dance to it the same way.

I have no idea how Slagmaur made it to the top of a bill, nor how their whole thing's gonna go over live in NYC, but they're definitely a unique bunch. Some sort of conceptual black metal-ish band -- crazy costumes, crazy music, crazy artwork -- they sound like half a dozen horror movie soundtracks stacked atop each other and given a mechanical clockwork Blut Aus Nord styled beat. The songs are extremely monotonous, but because of the dissonances and weird details in the layering of sounds, they can become very creepy and affecting. Sometimes it feels like being put into a trancelike state by a hypnotist with very bad intentions.

Speaking of, here is said hypnotist, one "General Gribbsphiiser," lately fashioning himself after a Scandinavian granny who reads nightmarish fairy tales to the kids:
http://i.imgur.com/9XI2MJb.jpg
He seems to be the main force behind the band; I remember reading an interview years ago where he said something to the effect of wanting to create music that sounds like hell's symphony orchestra. He's also a photographer, possibly professionally so, and on the Slagmaur FB page leaves the occasional pic of where I assume he lives, the insanely idyllic Fosen, Norway.

Anyway, curious to see how this whole thing goes down.

http://i.imgur.com/Ed7mcda.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/slagmaurofficial/

*My fav of theirs, maybe because it was the first I heard, is the Domfeldt demo, but really there isn't any great variance between their releases; it all sounds like possessed marionettes marching down from the attic:
https://infernaprofundusrecords.bandcamp.com/album/domfeldt

Actually the little that's been released from their looooong overdue new album does sound somewhat different from the old stuff, but it's been a while since I listened to it. I just want the whole thing.

Def going to buy a Moon Tooth/Astronoid ticket. Reggies is getting all the good shows, I saw Khemmis night before last there. They definitely have the energy of a younger band still, everything enthusiastically turned up to 11, drowning out the vocals. It was fun. I'm looking forward to Truckfighters next on the 24th.

xp wow thanks for the info Dev... I'll check it out later tonight but I have this feeling it won't be my thing.

The new Ruins (Australia) album is my thing, though, or at least in the Celtic Frost-via-Panzerfaust wing of my things.

I'm liking this Laster album

https://laster.bandcamp.com/album/ons-vrije-fatum

― Dinsdale

Hey Dinsdale, did you have new things jump out at you on repeated listens too?

xp ok maybe Slagmaur is my thing. Definitely can see a Blut Aus Nord comparison in the... plodding ethereality of it? They really do like that slow beat though.

Beheaded's Beast Incarnate is out next Friday on Unique Leader - it's floor-punching death metal RIYL Vader, Lost Soul, etc. The first two tracks are streaming on Bandcamp.

Firewind's new album Immortals comes out on Friday on AFM. Here's the first video - say cheese!

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

wow, Beheaded did take a turn toward the Lost Soul sound, didn't they. I went back and checked out their last album, which seems to be when it happened; they used to be one of those errrp errrp errrp brutal bands -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Sounds good.

I'm kind of in an errrp errrp errrp brutal phase now. Going through the New Standard Elite bandcamp to see what the irascible youth of today are vaping to or whatever. And at the newly hatched NSE forum I saw that Brodequin are working on new material. Neat. Can't get enough of the aluminum bat snare sound.

The Afternoon Gentlemen
Still Pissed 2012 - 2015
(Give Praise Records)
One Sheet
Release Sate: 1/13/2017

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0941/5810/products/a2296935364_10_large.jpg?v=1479485767

http://open.spotify.com/album/5YUNKz0EEb5xZsxuWWTTOi

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

Some places have this as a 2016 release but it didn't get much ink that I noticed and other places have it a January release. Not sure it matters except for semantics since it's a compilation from a UK-based self-described grindcore/power violence troupe. I noticed it because it's on the same label that released Columbus crossover crew Killed In Action. It's very solid stuff, aside from the vocals very clean sounding - the guitars are crisp as well as crispy which is not a common thing for this kind of stuff. I am a sucker for discography CDs too which makes it more endearing to me than it might be others, but it's super-fast and super fun.

xp ok maybe Slagmaur is my thing.

hang on, does that imply there's some news about the long rumored new Slagmaur? (I feel like I ask this every year...)

sorry ignore me I thought I'd scrolled back to where I'd left off, but I hadn't.

If you don't mind your metal slathered with pop exuberance, the new Battle Beast song is pretty tremendous:

https://open.spotify.com/track/7eCw8ZXslDD5C5B6bRHc1H

I am listening to the new Immolation album. It is awesome. More later.

Aww fuck yea!

Aargh what a tease

hah this Battle Beast track is great! very false, very fun.

New Mord'A'Stigmata track is pretty hot, weird, epic, Polish:

http://paganrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hope

The Black Anvil album's really good!

just Mick Barr things
https://ocrilim.bandcamp.com/album/srilimia

Iron Maiden touring with Ghost!

I might have to splurge and get good tickets from a scalper. Something I have never done before except for sporting events.

they're coming here again, this time two hours closer! w00h00!

This is the kind of stuff that doesn't really get a genre tag that makes any sense to me, like progressive sludge or stoner prog or something but this new Jagged Vision is shaping up nicely.

http://jaggedvision.bandcamp.com/album/death-is-this-world

Uniform
Wake In Fright
(Sacred Bones Records)
Release Sate: 1/20/2017

http://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16105500_10158094442650597_4408646075777939833_n.jpg?oh=ee3c2cd00e476f01c376491c6c60b941&oe=590B6306

http://open.spotify.com/album/5clvJZcsu9jRhk6S0XFiIn
http://unifuckingform.bandcamp.com/album/wake-in-fright

Although I liked (and still do like) old industrial music, as a self-identified metalhead and punk rock fan I always wanted that stuff to be more evil. This band (duo, apparently) were made with me in mind. The whole record is thrashy with electronic beeps and screeches cutting through the mayhem. If old school Ministry was aping the then-current thrash metal scene, Uniform takes cues from the chaos of our times accordingly. Pummeling Armageddon on the dance floor the way it should be.

Someone mentioned the Lorn up-thread as an upcoming I, Voidhanger release. It's now out and worth a listen. I can't tell if the drums are real or programmed - definitely getting a bit of a Bathory circa "Blood Fire Death" vibe:

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/arrayed-claws

Wake in Fright is both a great movie and a great name for an industrial metal album

that Lorn sounds good

Not metal, exactly, but some folks here will like it: Japanese noise guitarist KK Null and Hungarian grind/free-improv drummer Balász Pándi have just released a collaborative album, Demon Core, on the Ohm Resistance label, for only $2.

https://ohmresistance.bandcamp.com/album/demon-core

nice!

Apropos of not much, I re-stumbled on this earlier. Hell yes.

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

unreasonably excited for the new Rolo Tomassi in March, awesomely titled Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It

xpost - That is one of my favourite songs of the past 10 years.

What version of COC is it these days?

This upcoming tour will be the Pepper Keenan-fronted version. They've got a new album coming out next year. It's OK.

I started the Rolling Metal 2018 thread because nobody else did...

heard it too late, otherwise I would have nominated this for the poll:

Anakim - Monuments to Departed Worlds
https://anakimuk.bandcamp.com/releases

Technical DM that stays catchy all the way through

Dunno how many people follow Evil Spirit in here but they put a new track from their forthcoming (December) album up and it's... weird.

Clean vocals, strings, horns that sound vaguely drunken, drifting guitar leads... it's different.

This seems to be the only mention of this album on ILM! Great album which I've only recently discovered. Kind of occult folk doom with unusual instrumentation.

it's definitely unique

also I didn't notice that Ulrich Krieger plays horns on it! kind of a big get for an obscure doom metal band.