Nov 022015
 

Ara Kra-self titled

 

There’s a ton of new music in this round-up that I really like, most of which I discovered over the weekend. I thought about dividing up this post and leaving some of the songs until tomorrow, especially since we’ve delivered so much other music to you on this Monday. But I’ve learned the hard way that when I defer something I want to do, sometimes it doesn’t happen at all. So I’m including music from eight bands in this post, and to make it somewhat less daunting I’ve tried to minimize my own linguistic spewing.

I’m presenting the music in alphabetical order by band name. I do hope you’ll find time at least to sample everything.

ÄRA KRÂ

I’m cheating on this first song — because I’ve already written about it, back in May to be precise. But this talented band have just established a Bandcamp page for the self-titled EP on which it will appear, and that gives me an excuse to repeat what I said before (and yes, I’m already going back on what I promised about minimizing linguistic sewage): Continue reading »

Nov 022015
 

Coma Cluster Void-mind cemeteries song premiere artwork

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of the title track to the new album by the multinational group Coma Cluster Void.)

In a way it’s very fitting that I’m here today writing about the premiere of the first full Coma Cluster Void song. Because it was Islander himself who first tipped me off to this multinational atonal 10-string death metal band in the first place. At the time he alerted me to them over a year ago, the band only had some very short song snippet clips up. But even those were strong enough to make me realize this band was going to be something special. So as I said, being here today to help premiere the title track from their forthcoming debut album Mind Cemeteries definitely feels like things have come full circle.

As for what the song “Mind Cemeteries” offers your ears, it’s a massive rumbling from the abyss right from the start, heaving with a mechanical, uneven gait that easily induces vertigo. There is a suffocating heaviness to “Mind Cemeteries”, which mercilessly strikes and jabs at you in shrill volleys of noise and disturbing dissonance. Continue reading »

Nov 022015
 

Pyromancer-Demo MMXV

 

(Our old friend Black Shuck provides this guest review of the excellent new demo by Kentucky’s Pyromancer.)

Greetings, denizens of the infernal region. Popping in here once again to put the spotlight on another underground band worth getting to know.

Pyromancer are a two-man black/death metal band from Lexington, Kentucky, consisting of Master of Graveyard Torment on drums and Conquerer Horus on guitars. The band have no bass player, and switch off on vocal duties, with Torment performing the high shrieks while Horus does gutturals. Their first demo tape, Demo MMXV, has been released via Grim Winds Records.

The demo takes the grim, lo-fi atmosphere of second-wave Norwegian black metal bands and combines it with the aggressive bestiality of bands like Archgoat. When Master of Graveyard Torment is shrieking over Conquerer Horus’ tremolo riffs the band sounds very traditionally black metal indeed. However, thanks to Torment’s relentless drumming, the music is fierce and fast rather than gloomy, and when Horus takes a turn on the mic, deep, distinctly un-Norwegian growling fills the air. Continue reading »

Nov 022015
 

Witrhered 2015

 

(Andy Synn presents the 65th edition of THE SYNN REPORT, reviewing the discography of Withered — who have a new album on the way.)

Recommended for fans of: Ulcerate, Krallice, Lord Mantis

Ugly. Raw. Nihilistic. Harrowing. These words — and many more besides — can all be applied to the work of bile-spewing troubadours Withered, who have so far produced three particularly stellar (if also particularly underappreciated) albums blending the raving savagery of Black Metal, with the wrenching heaviness of Death Metal, and the slime-drenched grooves of Sludge, each one bathed in a scalding miasma of acid-rain atmospherics and bleak, bitter misanthropy.

If you’ve encountered the band before, and/or have read any other reviews of their work, then I’m sure you’ll have noticed just how much of a struggle it is to adequately categorise the Georgian quartet (recently reduced to a three-piece after the departure of guitarist/vocalist Dylan Kilgore – who’s been replaced by Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy – as well as both long-time bassist Mike Longoria and his interim replacement Zach Harlan, with bass duties on the upcoming album being handled by a certain Colin Marston).

It’s not that the basic elements of the band’s sound are wholly unique – I, and others, have picked out references to everyone from (early) Mastodon to Morbid Angel, from Dissection to Neurosis, from Deathspell Omega to Entombed, underpinning their particular brand of Blackened Death-Sludge (or, possibly, Ensludgened Death-Black). It’s just that the resultant cacophony, this grim and godless entity that calls itself Withered, rises above these comparisons to stand defiantly on its own two feet.

Some people call them Death Metal. Some people call them Black Metal. Some people call them Sludge Metal. But whatever we all decide to call them, I’m sure we can all agree that they’re awesome. Continue reading »

Nov 022015
 

Viscral-Egocentric Underneath

 

(Our friend Vonlughlio provides this guest review of the 2015 album by Indonesia’s Viscral.)

Viscral is an Indonesian death metal band that was formed in 2007 in Bekasi. The band line up is Eggi Pradia (vocals), Yogi Praja (drums), Adrel Jatnika (guitar), Dwiky Dzarendrastyo (bass), and Liga Radensha (lead guitar). The band play brutal death metal with influences like Pyaemia, Disavowed, and Suffocation.

In 2012, Viscral released a promo with five songs consisting of older versions of “From Their Carcass Arise”, “External Proletar”, “Pareidolia Haze of Illusory”, “Suffer Resurrection”, and “Worldviews Mechanical”. The promo was not released by a label, but in 2014 Rottrevore Records announced the signing of Viscral and subsequently released Egocentric Underneath Of Horror in 2015. Continue reading »