SEEN AND HEARD: GODLESS ANGEL, LIGHT OF THE MORNING STAR, DECOMPOSED, ADVERMIX

 

If you look at what I posted at the site this past weekend, you’ll see that I was caught up in the throes of a blogging frenzy and threw a large amount of new music at your head. Having done that, I took some deep breaths — and then almost immediately discovered a bunch of other new songs that had appeared while I was scribbling thoughts about all the others. From that batch of new discoveries I’ve sifted these four — in part because I really enjoyed all of them and in part because they make for a diverse playlist of new metal with which to start the week.

GODLESS ANGEL

A very good friend of our site, Derek Neibarger from Lawrence, Kansas, has just released The Conjuring of Four, the third album of his solo project Godless Angel. It follows last year’s Harvester of Shadows (released by Inverse Records). For a pretty complete narrative of the interesting musical journey that led to the creation of Godless Angel, peruse my interview of Derek from last October (here). And for a taste of this new album, check out our stream of the album’s first single — “The Worms Are Eating Him Now”.

 

 

The song begins with a series of gruesome howls, morbid notes, and rumbling beats, and then evolves into a high-speed death/thrash tank attack. It’s a groove monster, but also includes eerie lead guitar excursions and serpentine soloing that conjure supernatural images in the mind. (And in my humble opinion, the extensive soloing on this song is the best yet that I’ve heard from Godless Angel and a real highlight of this track.)

The Conjuring of Four is available as of today for digital download and on CD via Bandcamp. Here’s the track list and album credits:

1. The Conjuring of Four
2. Twisting Chaos
3. Dusk
4. The Worms are Eating Him Now
5. Midnight
6. The Flames of Eternity
7. Dawn
8. JawZ

Derek Neibarger – vocals and all instruments
Chrissy Neibarger – album and art concepts, colors and photography
All music by Derek Neibarger
All lyrics by Derek Neibarger and Chrissy Neibarger except track 4 by Chrissy Neibarger
Recorded and mixed in Lawrence, Kansas between July 2015 and March 2016.

https://godlessangel.bandcamp.com/album/the-conjuring-of-four
https://www.facebook.com/godlessangel/

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIGHT OF THE MORNING STAR

Light of the Morning Star is a new one-man band, location unknown, identity unknown (at least to me). I learned of the band only by spotting a link to a song stream that Iron Bonehead Productions posted yesterday. Obviously, I’m digging the song a lot. It’s called “An Empty Hearse” and it will appear on an EP named Cemetery Glow that Iron Bonehead says it will release on CD and vinyl in July of this year.

The song reminds me of my favorite tracks on the 2014 album Morning Star Rise by New Zealand’s House of Capricorn — which is a very good thing. It’s a heavy, largely mid-paced song with a strong occult aura and deep, clean vocals that give it a gothic air. And the song’s melodic hooks are sharp as scalpels. Wicked music that stays with you.

https://www.facebook.com/lightofthemorningstar/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DECOMPOSED

Even in our digital age, I think most of us will acknowledge that cover art for new music releases is important. I’m sure I’m not the only listener who has explored new releases from bands I know nothing about because I was attracted and intrigued by the cover art. That’s exactly what led me to this next piece of music.

The cover art in this case was created by Misanthropic-Art, and it adorns the third album of Sweden’s Decomposed, Wither, which will be released by Chaos Records on vinyl and CD.

Below I’ve included  one song from the album that was recently posted for streaming, a track called “By Nothingness Crowned”. If you’re in the mood for grisly, bone-grinding, pavement-splitting, head-hammering death metal, this piece of morbid thundering will fix you up nicely. A very catchy piece of destructiveness, too.

https://www.facebook.com/Decomposed-184061241645341/
https://www.facebook.com/chaosrecords/

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADVERMIX

Here’s another band whose music I had never heard before until I spotted the cover art. I mean, take a look at the background imagery of our page. How could I resist a big fuckin’ pile of skulls?

The band’s name is Advermix and they’re from Murcia, Spain. On May 31 their debut album Pandeathmic will be released by Pennsylvania-based Born of Chaos Records. The new song that you can hear below is “The Power of the Perfect Line”.

This a throw-back style of groove/thrash that some of our readers may dismiss too quickly, but the thing is so damned catchy and such a strong headbang trigger that I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t feature it here.

I’m also including a previously released song from the album named “Inside the Wall”, which Advermix released as a single. It’s still available as a name-your-price download here. The album is available for CD and digital pre-order at this location:

https://bornofchaosrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pandeathmic

https://www.facebook.com/ADVERMIX-300508743453/