It’s the first day of the New Year, and a Sunday on top of that, and except for the poor motherfuckers who have to work on Jan 1, I’m guessing most people are having a lazy, drag-ass kind of day — or they’re still in bed with eyes closed and drool coming out their moufs. But not us. No sir, we actually have a crapload of posts scheduled for today, starting with groverXIII’s wake-up call with some Cut Your Teeth loudness and the latest round of Trollfiend’s deathmatch with Amorphis.

I’m following that raucous video and the Amorphis bowel-perforation with the eye-catching album cover up there. It’s for the next full-length release (the 8th) by California’s Deeds of Flesh, Portals To Canaan. It reminds me a lot of Par Olofsson’s work, but the artist in this case is Raymond Swanland. It’s the first time I’ve come across his name — he seems to do a lot of his work for games such as Magic the Gathering and World of Warcraft. After the jump, I’ve got more of his striking artwork, plus a “pre-production teaser” for the new Deeds of Flesh album.

If you’re a follower of Cameron Argon (a/k/a “Big Chocolate”), Disfiguring the Goddess, and/or Burning the Masses, we’ve got treats in store for you today: breaking news updates, a mini-interview with Big C that includes some info we haven’t seen anywhere else, some hot-shit music to stream, and a cool tour poster. If none of these names means anything to you, but you like innovative, brain-cleaving death metal, then stay the fuck with us and expand your musical horizons!

THE BACKSTORY: Back in 2008, we stumbled across a 6-song DIY EP (still available on iTunes) by a “band” called Disfiguring the Goddess. It immediately grabbed us by the throat and wouldn’t let go — a raw, distorted vortex of brutal, slamming death metal marked by some truly distinctive vocals. We hunted around for more info and discovered that DTG was pretty much the alter ego of a young dude named Cameron Argon.

Since the EP, Argon has generated a handful of additional DTG songs with ex-Misericordiam blaster Phil Cancilla on drums and Joe Broodle on guitar. (We wrote about DTG‘s most recent output back in early December in a post you can find here.) All the music is absolutely cool shit, and it has spawned a cult following based largely on the vocal work of Cam Argon, who the inimitable Sergeant D over at Metal Inquisition has called “quite arguably the best guttural death metal vocalist on the planet.”

Lots of DTG‘s devoted followers have wondered when the band would actually release an album, and others have wondered if Argon would hook up with some other, more established band in need of a vocalist. That speculation was fueled at one point by Argon’s decision to join the Russian brutal slam metal band Abominable Putridity for some live shows in Moscow last summer, and he appears to have recorded one-off vocals for some other bands, including this one for unsigned Indiana blasters Dissever the Tyrant. But Argon has been in no hurry and seems just as dedicated to finishing his education as expanding his death metal horizons. (continue reading after the jump . . .)