DAEMONICUS, HUMANITY DELETE, YELLOWTOOTH

I’m still catching up on new music and videos that I noticed over the last week. The songs from the three bands that I’ve collected in this post share a certain something, a death metal kinship, a bond forged with massive hammers and tempered in the fires of a crematorium. It’s music that is un-tempted by the flash and fireworks of modernity, quite happy to simply smash bones into splinters and scatter blood spray like a driving rain.

But although all of the songs have a primarily primal appeal, they’re all really good, really powerful, highly capable of awakening the reptile brain that dozes in all of us and getting it moving and shaking. And they each bring a special flair and style that elevates them above your standard old-school pummeling. Hope you enjoy these holiday goodies from Daemonicus (Sweden), Humanity Delete (the one-man project of Sweden’s Rogga Johansson), and Yellowtooth (U.S.) as much as I have.

DAEMONICUS

Daemonicus came together in 2006, and have recently released their second album, Deadwork, via Abyss Records. Stupid me, I’ve had the promo for this album since September but failed to pay attention until yesterday, when I heard two of the album’s tracks via the internet — an official video that debuted at the end of November for “Nothing But Death” and another song named “The Grandeur of Total Termination”. I fear that I may never manage a proper review given how backlogged I am, but I’m at least going to say something about these two songs.

They pull in big fistfuls from the beefy smorgasbord of Entombed and Dismember, with galloping rhythms, down-tuned riffs, grisly leads, and excellent growls and shrieks. Daemonicus also know how to enliven their chainsaw carving with memorable melodies and fist-pumping beats. As long as their are bands this good carrying the torch, classic Swedish death metal will never die.

Deadwork is available on CD from Abyss Records, and I also found it on Amazon MP3 and iTunes. You can visit Daemonicus on Facebook here, and for a full review of the album, check out the one by Steel Druhm at Angry Metal Guy. Below, you can get neck sprain from the songs discussed above, and one more is streaming at Gun Shy Assassin.

HUMANITY DELETE

In various capacities, Rogga Johansson has bulldozed his way through so many death metal projects that it’s hard to keep track of them all. My personal favorites are Ribspreader, Bone Gnawer, and Demiurg. But until two days ago I didn’t realize that he had created a solo project named Humanity Delete. Now I know, and now so do you.

Humanity Delete’s debut album, Never Ending Nightmares, was released earlier this month by Rogga’s label, Dead Beat Media. Just a couple of days ago, Humanity Delete premiered a music video for “Necromantic Sorcery”, and that’s how I discovered the existence of this project.

“Necromantic Sorcery” begins with the sound of ghosts whispering in an eerie netherworld before the chainsaws start cutting and Johansson’s distinctive growls fire up the music. Rhythmically dynamic and shrouded with a dank air of ghoulish menace, the song will get your head banging and your heart pumping. And it includes a sweet guitar solo from Lasse Pyykko of Hooded Menace fame, who makes a guest appearance on the album.

 

 

Never Ending Nightmares is out now on Dead Beat Media and can be ordered via the Dead Beat web store.

http://www.facebook.com/HumanityDelete

YELLOWTOOTH

I wrote about Yellowtooth back in September. They’re from Indiana and are a relatively new band, though populated by veteran musicians. Their debut album, Disgust, was released on September 11 by Orchestrated Misery Recordings and can be acquired here.

Last week, on the eve of the ephemeral Mayan apocalypse, Yellowtooth unveiled a music video for the aptly titled song “The 11th Hour”. When I wrote at the outset of this post about these three bands sharing a death metal kinship, I chose the words carefully. Yellowtooth’s music isn’t strictly death metal, but the kinship is there in the ghastly vocals and some of the big low-end chugging.

But there are a lot of other old-school metal and heavy rock influences at work in this song, and throughout Disgust, which is one reason why I’ve enjoyed it so much. “The 11th Hour” is infectious as hell — if you don’t get hooked by the chiming guitar lead and the ass-burning solo, not to mention the gut-rumbling bass line, I’ll be surprised. I like what they’ve done with the video, too.

If you’re a FB user and get a charge out of this music, go give Yellowtooth some like.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yellowtooth/216048345074088