Oct 282014
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by Hadal Maw from Australia.)

While I had recently featured Hadal Maw in my latest Recalcitrant Roundup article, it was not as in-depth a write-up on their debut album, Senium, as I would have liked due to time constraints. So, when the band hit me up after my post offering to send me a physical copy all the way from Australia, I gladly agreed and now give it the full review it deserves.

Before sending the album, the band mentioned that it was “meant to be listened to and viewed”. I could not fathom what they meant by that until it arrived — and I was blown away by the packaging. The album is not a typical jewel case. Instead, it folds out from all sides, leading to a stunning array of other art pieces beyond the cover, on both the front and back sides once unfolded. The proper term for this type of packaging is Maltese Cross Digipak. I have never seen anything like it before. It’s truly impressive, and a real reason to invest in the physical version of this album if you like what you hear. Continue reading »

Oct 282014
 

Here’s part two of a round-up post I began earlier today. Collected here are the best of the new songs and videos that I saw and heard over the last 24 hours.

THE CROWN

We reported last month that after the passage of four years since Sweden’s The Crown released their comeback album Doomsday King, which Andy Synn praised in one of his earliest posts for our site as “a masterpiece of wild fury and calculated aggression, blurring the lines between razor-sharp thrash and full-speed death metal”, they will be returning in January with their eighth album, Death Is Not Dead.

Century Media has also just released a 7″ vinyl single from the band that includes one of the new songs — “Headhunter” — plus the band’s cover of “Unfit Earth” by Napalm Death. And yesterday the band unveiled a music video for “Headhunter”. Continue reading »

Oct 282014
 

 

Portland, Oregon’s Bastard Feast (formerly Elitist) released one of my favorite records of 2014 — Osculum Infame, which Season of Mist put forth last July. The band are about to embark on a nationwide tour, and I decided to fire a few questions their way by e-mail, and received these answers (the tour dates can be found at the end of this post — and if you have a chance to catch one of these shows, DO IT!).

*******

I guess the uppermost thing in your minds at the moment is the tour you’re on the verge of starting. And you really didn’t fuck around with this schedule — by my count, 19 dates spanning six weeks and 14 states. Are you sure you’re ready for this? 🙂

Actually there’s ten more dates — we just didn’t have them all ready by the time we needed to start promoting the tour. And we’ve been here before touring as Elitist, so this isnt anything new for us at all. This one has come together a little tougher.

 

Do you have hopes of adding any more dates to the schedule (the last one I saw was in Season of Mist’s Oct 23 press release)?

As above, we have added more dates and more will probably roll in till we leave, not gonna name names but we let a booking agent work for us and he didn’t get it to come together so we had to jump in and salvage 2 weeks of tour with 2 weeks until we left. Continue reading »

Oct 282014
 

 

While wading through the interhole yesterday I discovered quite a few gems floating shining like tiny beacons of light in the ever-present fecal flow. To avoid over-taxing your attenuated attention spans I’ve divided this collection of nuggets into two posts, this being the first.

PSYCROPTIC

Psycroptic and Prosthetic Records announced their union yesterday. Prosthetic will be released the band’s new self-titled album worldwide next spring (EVP Recordings will be handling the release in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan). And once again we can begin scratching our heads about the decision of a band with a full and widely admired discography to self-title an album. What do that mean?

Although next spring is very far away, yesterday’s announcement also included the news that on November 4 the band will release a digital single from the new album, a song named “Echoes To Come”. And there’s a teaser of music from this single as well — which you can hear right here (all 19 seconds of it): Continue reading »

Oct 272014
 

 

The House of Capricorn from Auckland, New Zealand, describe their music as “apocalyptic devil rock”. To date, they’ve released two albums — Sign of the Cloven Hoof (2010) and In the Devil’s Days (2011) — and on November 7 Svart Records will be releasing their third, Morning Star Rise. As a sign of what’s coming, we bring you the premiere of “Ivory Crown”.

A site with a name like ours might not seem the most obvious match for The House of Capricorn, whose vocals are usually not the growly or shrieking sort, but I’ve been thoroughly captivated by this album, and “Ivory Crown” is one of my favorites in a collection that’s very strong from start to finish. Ironically, the clean vocals have much to do with the music’s appeal.

Relatively speaking “Ivory Crown” is one of the more subdued tracks on the album — if you’re looking for tracks that drive harder on the mayhem end of the spectrum, then I’d recommend “The Road To Hell Is Marked” or “Our Shrouded King”. But “Ivory Crown” is built around such killer melodic hooks that it’s powerfully addictive. Continue reading »

Oct 272014
 

 

Demons, the new second album by Bloodshot Dawn from the UK has now been officially released, and with the release has come a full stream of the album on Bandcamp.

We’ve been singing the praises of this album since the first advance track appeared, culminating in an enthusiastic review of Demons by TheMadIsraeli, who calls it “the pinnacle of what melodic death metal could still strive to be, but seems largely unwilling to be at the moment” and his likely album-of-the-year winner.

But you don’t have to take our word for it — right after the jump you can listen to Demons in its entirety. The album is available on CD at this location (along with related merch), and a digital download can be obtained here: Continue reading »

Oct 272014
 

According to Metal-Archives, Cleveland-based Nunslaughter have released more than 140 recordings, only four of which have been full-length albums, the rest mostly consisting of splits, EPs, and live albums. Hells Headbangers is releasing two more splits this fall, and I spent some time with both of them this past weekend. I reviewed the first one, a split with Perversor, here.

In this second split, with Columbia’s Witchtrap, Nunslaughter spit their poison in Spanish for a change, with tracks named “La Ofrenda” and “Altar De La Muerta”. “La Ofrenda” is a meat-grinder on steroids, a venomous death metal romp with a breakdown guaranteed to produce sore-neck syndrome and thoroughly disgusting vocal filth. “Altar De La Muerta” is another jet-fueled riff-rampage that’s groovy as hell and never backs off the gas. Both songs will light a bonfire under your butt. Continue reading »
Oct 272014
 

Here are a couple of items that were brought to my attention this morning. I thought you might want to know about them, too.

NE OBLIVISCARIS

This Australian band’s eagerly anticipated second album Citadel will be released by Season of Mist on November 7. Through a timely e-mail from one of our supporters, I learned that the entire album is now streaming on KillYourStereo.com. I presume the album will eventually be streaming at other sites scattered around the world, but this seems to be the first one. Go here to listen:

http://killyourstereo.com/news/1037625/ne-obliviscaris-citadel-au-album-stream Continue reading »

Oct 262014
 

I’m still in Texas visiting family and friends and not listening to much new metal, but before I once again leave the interhole for the real world for the rest of the day, I thought I would share a few things that have been wrecking my earholes this morning.

THE DEATHTRIP

The Deathtrip are a two-man band consisting of UK guitarist Host (Thine) and vocalist Aldrahn (Thorns, Dødheimsgard, ex-Zyklon-B). Their debut album, which was mixed by ThornsSnorre Ruch, is scheduled for release by Svart Records on November 14 and its title is Deep Drone Master. It includes session drums by Dan “Storm” Mullins and Jon Wesseltoft on bass.

Two songs from the album are available for listening — “Flag of Betrayal”, which premiered two days ago on Metal Hammer, and “A Foot In Each Hell”, which surfaced earlier this month. They’re hell-ripping storms of vintage Norwegian black metal with razoring riffs that penetrate deeply and a monstrous offering of inflamed vocal passion — searing music surrounded by the flames of arcane energy. Continue reading »

Oct 262014
 

 

According to Metal-Archives, Cleveland-based Nunslaughter have released more than 140 recordings, only four of which have been full-length albums, the rest mostly consisting of splits, EPs, and live albums. Hells Headbangers is releasing two more splits this fall, and I spent some time with both of them this past weekend.

In this split with a relatively new Chilean band named PerversorNunslaughter contribute two tracks — “Impure Thoughts” and “Bless the Dead”. “Impure Thoughts” is a thick, black, boiling cauldron of riff liquor, a mix of d-beat rhythms, skin-flaying black thrash, and grisly corpse-crawling death metal. “Bless the Dead” switches up the beats and the styles, too, and at its core is a head-wrecking chug-stomp, catchy as fuck and impurified with a wash of vocal pollutants. The songs are gone before you know it, but it’s a sweet trip while it lasts. Continue reading »