Rolling Metal 2017

aw man that Benighted. reminds me of a slightly more accessible and less seething Pig Destroyer.

horror death/grind always has a spot in my heart.

Anwar Sadat
Ersatz Living
(Broken World Media)
Release Sate: 1/27/2017
Formats: Digital, LP, Cassette

http://s0.limitedrun.com/images/1212999/v600_BWM127_anwar_vinyl_mockup.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/4Yxw756aOB7J7E63bmtjR7
http://anwarsadat.bandcamp.com/album/ersatz-living

Came across this title on a Rate Your Music search - it's currently listed as the #82 album of the year and more importantly the #2 Post-Punk album of 2017, second only to Priests. However unlike Priests, this Louisville, Kentucky group's sound should definitely appeal to those of us of the metal persuasion - comparisons to Godflesh, KMFDM, the more angsty-guitar moments of Trent Reznor's cannon, Peste Noire and some of Iceage's heavier stuff can be made. The result is really unique and fucked up in all the best ways.

For the last track, "Todestriebe," the band made an extremely NSFW video which Brooklyn Vegan posted late last year. It involves someone having his cock cut off as the first thing you see and doesn't get much tamer from there.

This is inspired stuff, right in my wheelhouse, and despite that it's almost too scary even for me! Almost...

So far this year I like the Apostate Viaticum, Immolation and Lorn albums.

i'm bout to spin the new Lock Up

God Dethroned have reformed and are now back with a new album and a single, again WW1-themed, seems they've shifted down a few gears and are now full-on Bolt Thrower-worship:

Youtube

A good list of good songs. If you say you don't like anything here, you are posing. (Personally, I'd have put "Round and Round" at #1, and found room for Junkyard's "Hollywood" and W.A.S.P.'s "I Wanna Be Somebody" or maybe "Wild Child.")

I will stan for:

"Get the Funk Out" (I was a fan of Pornograffiti, lol)
"Gypsy Road"
"Shot in the Dark"
"Yankee Rose"
"Animal"
"WElcome to the Jungle"
"18 and Life"
"Still of the Nite"
"Turbo Lover"
"Sweet Child O Mine" (though I'm sick of it)
"Poison"
"Jump"
"Photograph"

the rest I either haven't heard, feel "meh" about it, dislike, or outright hate

Neurosis + Converge are doing a short tour together.

and coming nowhere near me.

to think I was in NYC when they were there on the same day in 2012 and balked at going cos I wanted to see Book of Mormon instead

they being Converge

checked out the new Crucified Mortals while browsing Hell's Headbangers website, was only $5.

very little interesting about this album except for the occasional lead. they churn out so much of this generic 80s lo-fi soundings hit it's hard to tell who is good and who isn't.

third song manages to rip off "Black Magic" and at least two other Slayer songs. also the drummer sucks balls.

and coming nowhere near me.

to think I was in NYC when they were there on the same day in 2012 and balked at going cos I wanted to see Book of Mormon instead

― Neanderthal, Wednesday, April 5, 2017 7:10 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they being Converge

― Neanderthal, Wednesday, April 5, 2017 7:10 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was this the show they did with rorschach? bc i was there and it ruled, sorry

lol I can't remember.

I was listening to mostly showtunes and hip-hop at the time.

Wow!

Also, new Völur announced for June. No tracks up yet but

http://volur.bandcamp.com/album/ancestors

Appreciate the Anwar Sadat posted above, it's a little uneven but when they lock into a good groove it is extremely satisfying; manic pummeling that reminds me of Girl Band and Daughters

Revisited Brazilian female thrash trio Nervosa's two albums this morning while proofreading. They're basically a Destruction clone band, but I love Destruction, so I'm fine with that.

The idea of Enslaved covering Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" on their new Roadburn Live album is hilarious in theory, but the actual thing, bloated out to seven minutes (the original is 2:25), is not nearly as much fun.

They already did a studio recording of it too right? Couldn't sit through it then. Folk metal dudes Heidevolk did it simpler and better (and with the original length), see here.

Yeah, it was on that split with Shining (the shitty one). There is a version on YouTube that's even longer - almost 10 minutes - and/but that one includes a drum solo.

finally catching up w/ the latest Defeated Sanity and it's like they produced it to be hard as fuck to follow (even by their production standards).

guitars merge w/ bass to sound like molasses

ok I see that was just for the first EP "Disposal of the Dead", whereas Dharmata is kind of a proggy bit of weirdness.

Who's up for some instrumental prog-metal with a lead violinist? Think Jean-Luc Ponty meets Dream Theater:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUAl4FaXaf0

Saw Astronoid tonight! Despite technical difficulties cutting about a quarter of their set, it was a lovely time!

I have not been able to get excited about the King Woman album yet, but I'm sure it'll happen. I loved their EP and cassette.

I do really like the Bathsheba album though.

there are no mentions of it above to my surprise but the new Obsessed record is pretty great. Not all doom, all the time either.

Saule
Saule
(Avantgarde Music)
Release Date: 5/13/2017

http://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17862455_10158502094115597_6360095141923206270_n.jpg?oh=152c0a4f10b7648bb675795b439f642a&oe=5953F20D

http://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/saule
http://www.invisibleoranges.com/saule-vi-song-premiere

Even if you're getting tired of this sort of things, Poland's Saule do the post-metal thing so beautifully it's hard to ignore it. The songs on the album are numbered roman numerals; "II" which is on the label's BandCamp page, is lilting and epic; "VI," which is streaming at Invisible Oranges, starts off that way but gradually gets a lot louder. As Chris Rowella says:

there’s more ISIS and Altar of Plagues than Immortal going on. The slow buildup teases at first, with light instrumental flourishes and vocals floating along the edges, until the band kicks on the distortion with a droning, monstrous riff that builds and builds…until it doesn’t. Saule doesn’t dwell on one theme for too long.

After “VI” has its ‘metal’ moment, it just as quickly pulls back, fading in and out with a restrained drum pattern and delayed echo-drenched guitars, until the screeches and distortion come roaring back in unannounced, over and over. The ensuing album follows similar patterns, exploring peaks and valleys within this somewhat-new genre while still managing to stake out a singular sound. Much like “VI”, the rest of the album sounds purposeful; it’s still metal at its core, and metal tends to be carefully crafted much of the time. Overall, Saule sounds like a band taking what they do seriously. That’s a good thing, and should lead to greater things.

Also at Invisible Oranges, the full album from Pyriphlegethon who I mentioned above, is streaming.

Says Jon Rosenthal:

Heralded by eerie keyboards, this more “frightening” manifestation of Pyriphlegethon bears its teeth and slinks with sinewy guitars and hollow, barbaric rhythm. Akin to early Samael and Manes, the haunting atmospheres here more closely resemble Mories’s other works, albeit condensed and pushed through a pinhole.

"The Coldest Grave" is still my jam. Mories briefly explains each song on the disc and of that he says, "You can never go wrong with Under the Sign of the Black Mark Bathory worship. I like the lyrics on this one." He doesn't mention bubblegum, however.

this year's Sinister is hardly Cross the Styx level but it's p fun

http://agitreader.com/wp2/space-the-metal-frontier

The first published music criticism I have done in six years... A concert review from Astronoid and Coronal Mass Ejection and album reviews for Slagmaur and Medico Peste.

speaking of Astronoid ... who can point me to a band (or bands) that truly do what they do. not so much bands that have elements of what Astronoid does, but a very similar combination of elements.

like, is Alcest the closest thing? or are there closer examples?

basically, i'm testing my theory that Air is this band doing something totally unique. which is rare.

i also might be talking out my ass. i fucking love this band.

they are pretty damned unique AFAIK, to get what they do you have to do some arithmetic involving multiple existing bands or styles, though some Devin Townsend stuff I've heard gets close

worth noting, i guess: i have never listened to Devin Townsend. probably should.

Mesarthim are pursuing a parallel course, maybe

But of course quite different

Melting Sun by Lantlos is somewhat similar I reckon

It's hard to find a band that compares to Astronoid in all facets. Bands that are as spacey as they are tend to come from a black metal sensibility whereas these guys are more pop/thrash as a background. Not sure where they get the atmospheric side of what they do to be honest. I don't think they sound like Deafheaven or Alcest but I love all of those bands for similar reasons if that makes sense.

i listened to the earlier Astronoid stuff today and heard the song or two with the screaming. i'm glad they decided to avoid that altogether on Air. not that i mind it, but if you're gonna do those Air vocals, might as well go all the way in. adding screaming parts makes you like all the other bands.

though some Devin Townsend stuff I've heard gets close

That pretty much nails why I don't like that Astronoid album, 'cause I never liked Devin. I'm sure they're good live, though.

probably more likely to find an band from the emo world that sounds close to Astronoid than a metal band

actually i'm gonna say that's even harder

maybe it's just that they remind me of coheed and cambria, or more accurately what I would like coheed to sound like

Digging these preview tracks:

https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/dysangelium

Invictus also put out the Apostate Viaticum album I've been enjoying from this year, as well as last year's Head of the Demon and Occult Burial.

New Suffo has a release date of June 9, and some odd (for them) cover art:
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/suffocation-to-release-of-the-dark-light-album-in-june-artwork-track-listing-revealed/

Also new Impetuous Ritual on June 16:
https://youtu.be/ByydxD2P9wE

There's also new Dying Fetus coming, a band I've not really thought about for many years, but the ridiculous title and reversion to the old logo has me at least a little intrigued:
http://www.metalinsider.net/releases/dying-fetus-will-release-wrong-one-to-fk-with-in-june

Apparently June will be the month of crushingness.

Are Suffocation still using a different singer for out-of-town gigs? Anyway, I like the new album cover a lot and I'm sure it'll be great. I see they're continuing their tradition of re-recording one Breeding the Spawn song on every album ("Epitaph of the Credulous"), too...

Can't wait for the Suffo/Morbid show

I thought this interview with Locust Leaves was really interesting. Mostly about what conventions do/don't benefit HM/BM. Convinced me to spend more time with their new release.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/04/13/locust-leaves-interview/?utm_source=twitter

Looking For An Answer's Dios Carne is a good grindcore album if you're looking for one. Big 'n' beefy, in the Kill the Client/Rotten Sound/Nasum zone.

Really like the new Northumbria album, so I wrote about it. Along with a new video. And an interview with one of the two guys in the band.

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/northumbria-translate-the-harshness-of-the-canadian-arctic-into-instrumental-bliss

Testament were great last night. even survived a mini-depressive meltdown at beginning of the set (for unrelated reasons, not cos I didn't like the setlist).

pulled out "Urotsukidōji".

For those who don't know, Sweden hands over control of its Twitter account [@sweden] to a different Swede every week. This week's curator is a Finn living in Sweden, and he's decided to spend Easter Sunday posting links to old-school Finnish death metal bands. So far, we've gotten YouTube links to Convulse, Demigod, Purtenance, Demilich, Abhorrence, Necropsy and Rippikoulu.