Rolling Metal 2017

Stream three tracks from the new Woe, "The Din of the Mourning" is particularly relentless

https://woeunholy.bandcamp.com/album/hope-attrition

This isn't metal the way it's commonly defined in this thread, but it's fairly badass power trio instrumental rock.

https://apeshifter.bandcamp.com/releases

read that as Apeshitter at first

That Woe is pretty good. And gotta love a track called "No Blood Has Honour."

Randomly came across this through someone else's purchases on Bandcamp (one of their best features is being able to stalk peoples' tastes):

http://hyponic.bandcamp.com/album/-

I see that Hyponic were mentioned in Rolling Metal 2010 but this is a new album. RIYL Aluk Todolo, Kadura, Fushitsusha and a little bit of diseombowelment's twangy weirdo atmospheres. Track 5 is kind of reminding me of old Lycia doing psych, though.

OK it resembles Emptiness a bit too.

Wow that's really great. The funeral doom label put me off a bit but I'm glad I listened to it.

Here's some slightly weird folksy black metal that's a bit disjointed at times but usually in an intriguing way:

https://ungfell.bandcamp.com/album/t-tbring-re

The new Benighted album Necrobreed (they've been around forever, but I've never listened to them before) is pretty good. It's kind of a combination of Rotten Sound-style grind, brutal death metal (occasional pig squeal vocals), and beatdown hardcore. Not subtle, but effective.

This made the rounds yet? (The final two paragraphs are the key.)

http://gizmodo.com/this-400-million-year-old-worm-monster-is-metal-as-hell-1792584414

this is cool

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/manetheren-the-end-album-premiere/

A full-fledged concept album, The End tells the story of one man’s almost Nietzschean journey towards godhood as the world comes to an end. Each of the six tracks signifies a different event along the way, starting with Biblical plagues and pestilence and ending with the protagonist ruling over the dystopian wastes left behind. The sheer gorgeousness of the music, however, more than offsets the relative bleakness of the lyrics. Darkly atmospheric and characterized by layer upon layer of guitars, Manetheren’s approach to black metal brings to mind more overtly melodic bands like Woods of Desolation, but they also occasionally veer into the same sort of depressive rock territory as Amesoeurs – particularly on tracks like “And Then Came the Pestilence” and “The End,” both of which have sections that seem to draw influence from The Cure.

(also, no one is talking about the new Immolation album but I guess it's because Immolation making a great album is kind of a given)

i'm stoked for when it hits my Amazon music library. first death meta lband I ever saw live!

Really wanted to see Immolation and Full of Hell last week (they're opening for the Cavalera brothers' "playing Roots in its entirety" tour) but...didn't. New album's great, though.

I found out about the Atlanta show too late - the killer is if an impromptu project at work hadn't come up, I could have probably done it. I would have loved seeing them again (and the Roots set).

they have a headlining set in Arizona but I don't think I can make that work. kills me that the one time they came to my hometown three times in a year and a half, I missed them all three times back in like 2003.

I like that Ross doesn't use his death voice to talk between songs, just his thick Yonkers accent

the Cavalera brothers' "playing Roots in its entirety" tour

Really?! Sweet. That's definitely the Sepultura album we all want to hear live, right?

I know you're joking, but I would be more excited about a Chaos A.D. tour. (That was the tour I saw them on in 1993, with Fudge Tunnel, Fear Factory, and Clutch opening up.)

lol they only picked that one cos the tour was supposed to be all last year and it was 20th anniversary (and then some of the leg got cancelled or somethin idk).

I actually like Roots even if it isn't even the fourth best thing THEY did.

Heh

xp I would be way more excited by a Chaos AD tour! But Arise would be better. Or Beneath the Remains. Schizophrenia. Morbid Visions. Bestial Devastation. The list is endless, really...

I like Roots a lot and I bet it's a blast live

otm

It woulda been fun. And the new Masquerade in ATL doesn't have quite the same feel as the old location but it still rules

I have seen Clutch 3 times never on purpose I swear that band opens for everyone. Chevelle too

I have seen Clutch 3 times never on purpose I swear that band opens for everyone.

Yeah, me too: that '93 show, when they were just starting out, then again in '97 between Neurosis and Pantera, then I got a long break from their plodding asses, until they were the middle band again, this time between Valient Thorr and Motörhead in 2010. Talk about sucking the energy out of the room - Valient Thorr were absolutely on fire that night, and Motörhead were Motörhead, but Clutch came out and slogged through 45 minutes of one-chord boogie until I thought I was gonna lapse into a coma.

god 2 minutes into the new Immolation and it alraedy feels like walkin into an old friend's house for a beer

OK, I have only listened to it all the way through once, but based on that and playing the advance tracks several times each, I'm going to predict that the new Battle Beast is the album of the year.

Light Of The Morning Star
Nocta
(Iron BoneHead Productions)
Release Date: 3/3/2017

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000200749317-s72o5v-t500x500.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHuMdnhTJwg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNeRfAE9mh0

When you hear the term Gothic Metal you likely think of the current crop of bands that have neither the passion of Gothic music nor the power of metal, diluting both genres rather than invigorating them. Leave it to an album whose title literally translates to 'night' to finally have something embrace the darkness that draws in practitioners and devotees of both subcultures. The debut album from UK band Light Of The Morning Star after an EP Cemetery Glow that was released last June, Nocta incorporates enough Black Metal trappings to confuse the corpse-painted into thinking they are being serenaded, but the morose vibe that permeates the album is really far more Andrew Eldritch than Azaghal or Emperor, but being on a label primarily known for underground metal will likely give the band more exposure in that subculture, and that's fine.

The label has unleashed two tracks in advance of the album's release. "Ophidian" shows an actual groove with a post-punk prominent bass line weaving beneath whispered vocals whereas the title track kicks off with keys that could be harpsichord before melting into a mid-tempo anthem. As Cvlt Nation says when it premiered the song, "When I first heard the track... I knew I was going to love this despite not being much of a metalhead. It opens with a slow piano line before the rest of the instruments strike in. The vocals are not fierce and screaming, but rather deep, dark, and chanting. It really has a romantic, gothic (perhaps even vampiric) feel to it without being corny, so to me it’s the perfect blend of goth rock and metal. It’s a truly badass song that pulls you in right away.

My favorite song on the disc has yet to be released; "Coffinwood" is genuinely catchy, something as comfortable on a dancehall as a concert stage - anywhere it's dark, really.

The whispered vocals could be something of an acquired taste for metal fans, but the dynamic against the heavier-than-expected guitars and rhythm section makes it work. I wish that the production actually had a little more deference to those guitars, which might be the headbanger in me talking, but my inner Goth loves it and wants to share some absinthe with the O-A, the mysterious person behind this project, and frolic through a moonlit cemetery.

Junius
Eternal Rituals for the Accretion of Light
(Prosthetic Records)
Release Date: 3/3/2017

http://e.snmc.io/lk/f/l/b0cad9804b24a675e5549fdb7fdf4cda/6380035.jpg

http://junius-official.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-rituals-for-the-accretion-of-light
http://open.spotify.com/album/0LUp8pPrdr60BhFBr2Mdd7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-yN5358-S8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvZddkash0E

It's hard to believe that Junius has been around since 2003 but this is only the third full-length album from the group yet it is the final album of a trilogy though their discography is fleshed out with a slew of EPs and splits. I haven't heard everything they've done but from what I have heard, Eternal Rituals For The Accretion Of Light is likely the most accessible thing they've done to date.

Of the three songs released in advance of the album, "Clean The Beast" sounds like an artier, less organic Mastodon as it juxtaposes clean and harsh vocals. In the same vein is "A Mass for Metaphysicians," available at the Spotify link above, which delves into Deftones territory with a slippery riff and wailing background harmonies.

Rolling Stone debuted the other track from the album, "The Queen's Constellation," of which it says, "it takes the band's alternately soaring and crashing sound to even more diverse places, as can be heard on first single "The Queen's Constellation." Opening with a spiraling keyboard filigree, the song blends seismic riffs and singer-guitarist Joseph E. Martinez's Chino Moreno–esque vocal melodies as it builds to a chugging, upward march of a breakdown."

It seemed every time that Junius came by Philly they were supporting someone I didn't care too much about but in April they are doing a headlining club show that I am looking very forward to seeing.

It's been mentioned above but I have to say the forthcoming Obituary album is a monster! Guttural as hell and I still think John Tardy's got the best death metal pipes you'll find - and he uses them to great effect here.

nice - I didnt' care for the last one, is it similar? I didn't hate it either, just didn't like it as much as previous.

new Immolation is glorious, as is the POwertrip. Midnight, haven't had a great listen yet, but I'm sure I"ll love it.

next week = Inquisition on Friday, Overkill/Nile SAturday. was supposed to go to Suicidal Tendencies Sunday and even bought a ticket til I forgot I had a soccer game across town two hours away so I'm selling it.

humorously, the club (State Theatre in St Pete) is erroneously advertising Exodus as an opener. they have never been part of the tour package, maybe they were in negotiations early on, but they're definitely not going to be there, and part of me wonders if Exodus fans will show up pissed that it's Crowbar/Havok opening instead.

I emailed them to fix it, amazed it's gotten by this long

immortal bird are fuckin serious live

lol the questions starting coming in so frequently that ST's FB page manager had to swoop into the event and confirm, no Exodus would not be there, and yes, it was Havok/Crowbar.

venue STILL won't upset their website or reply to emails from several of ours.

gonna be some pissed Exodus fans lol

Immortal Bird got their van / gear / merch jacked ... have raised 14K in 3 days on GoFundMe ... shitty news / heartening news

https://www.gofundme.com/immortal-bird-stolen-gear-van

https://www.facebook.com/immortalbirdband/

Midnight album is fun as per usual. gonna be great to see them on the Decibel tour

attn Brad, this album has you written all over it I think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjoIXjI7pok

Fuck, this Rebel Wizard album. Vicious, thrashy black metal with some Maiden/Priest guitar heroics thrown in. And it's Australian.

I wrote about Immolation.

If you like your female-vocal metal a little closer to Madder Mortem than to Xandria, check out the new Ravenscry album.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7vMCkszcwn6iLOpwtBcUim

(I just realized that I don't know if that's supposed to be ravens-cry or raven-scry. Kinda hoping it's the latter as an Odin reference.)

oh my god simon WHAT IS THAT SONG

dude the whole album is insane

aaaaaah

ostensibly they're considered a djent band? or used to be? I've listened to it like a half dozen times and I'm still confused

Junius were basically the only listenable djent band when their 1st album was out.

State Theater in St Pete STILL has Exodus listed on their website even after ST THEMSELVES were forced to go into the FB event to clarify the confusion.

People are getting massively confused, I am going to laugh my ass off if a shitload of Exodus fans show up and then start flipping things over when they realize they won't be there.

several of us have emailed them too, so dunno if they're just lazy or they really want to will this thing into existence.

If you say Exodus five times while staring into a mirror they suddenly appear and start thrashing behind u

I wish i hadn't just tried that when i was on the toilet

If your issue with BABYMETAL was that it still sounded too human, you might appreciate this:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5yoy8hzsgNMkAYHb350q7H

(It's vocaloid metal.)

Ha, that's good to hear. I'll have to go and look for it in the dark corners of the internet.

Meanwhile, here's something for anyone who isn't sick of post/atmospheric black metal:

https://violetcold.bandcamp.com/album/anomie

― Dinsdale

Also, for those of us who prefer physical format, there is a CD available and it's relatively inexpensive for US consumption.

For Vocaloid metal, I'll stick with Utsu-P:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7ex8PWSObIK1VQsUpixjnC