SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY (TOO MANY NAMES TO PUT IN A POST TITLE)

 

Over the last few days my NCS comrades (well, mainly DGR) have been shoveling links at me for new songs and videos, in anticipation that I would put together a round-up by today — which is a Bandcamp Friday. Most of those links were for music by bigger-name bands. The thought was that I could also add more obscure names, and that the allure of the bigger names might help introduce the lesser-knowns to more fans.

The problem is that the pile of links has grown to gargantuan proportions, which has made it tougher for me to insert as many other discoveries as I might want and still write up some thoughts about everything. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow. Here’s the A-to-Z deluge I have for today, in alphabetical order.

ARCHSPIRE (Canada)

Prepare for relentless high-speed bludgeoning and crazed fretwork mania as a big rabid mastiff barks in your face at equally high speed. Exhilarating!

The album is Bleed the Future, set for an October 29 release by Season of Mist.

https://www.facebook.com/Archspireband

 

 

 

CROSSBOW SUICIDE (Sweden)

Håkan Stuvemark and Jon Skäre‘s grind project is back with a new single (which follows this one that debuted in July). The new one includes guest lead guitar by Matti Moliti from Sentient Horror.

The song is a heavyweight mauler made of Swedish chainsaw violence, riotous drumwork, and the kind of feral roaring and gagging that channels serial killer insanity — but further includes diseased and demented slithering riffage, a solo with a creepy supernatural aura, and doses of pile-driving punishment — which of course you deserve!

https://www.facebook.com/crossbowsuicide

 

 

 

ENSLAVED (Norway)

Next up is an engrossing video for a new Enslaved song that’s both mysterious and maniacal, with big compulsive grooves, ski-high singing, grand bombastic chords, a fret-burner of a solo,  soft strumming and gravelly spoken words, panoramic sweep, and twitchy bass notes and booming beats at the channel-shifting finale. In other words, a lot happens!

This song is from the EP Caravans To The Outer Worlds, set for an October 1 release by Nuclear Blast.

https://www.facebook.com/enslaved

 

 

 

FIRST FRAGMENT (Canada)

The opening guitar and bass instrumentals are sprightly and sublime, and then things get kind of funky. But make sure you hold onto your head because the band will eventually start spinning it like a top with all the ebullient, high-speed string-slinging, jet-fueled percussion, and delicious bass and dual-guitar soloing. A wild and wondrous genre-crossing thing this is, whose adventurousness leaves most tech-death in the dust….

The album is Gloire éternelle, set for an October 29 release by Unique Leader.

https://www.facebook.com/FirstFragment

 

 

 

FRONTIERER (Scotland)

Prepare for an unhinged racket of screaming guitars, screaming vocals, bunker-busting detonations delivered at strafing-run speed, and Bizarro-world fretwork dementia. Sheer madness… which seems to say, “You can run but you can’t hide”.

From the album Oxidized, which will be released on October 1st.

https://www.facebook.com/frontiererband

 

 

 

FULL OF HELL (U.S.)

Speaking of madness, the new Full of Hell song is definitely that — obliterating and hallucinatory, unpredictable to the point of derangement, and as violent as an active war zone.

The album is Garden of Burning Apparitions, set for an October 1 release by Relapse.

https://www.facebook.com/fullofhell

 

 

 

HELHEIM (Norway)

And speaking of unpredictable, this next song (accompanied by Costin Chioreanu‘s fascinating video animation) is definitely that. It veers from uncomfortably needling your mind to whirling like an exultant dervish and flowing like a glittering mountain stream high up near the clouds. The episodic booming vocals are a very cool accent, as is the glorious heroic singing that trades off with the barbed-wire snarls. Forgive me for calling this one “epic”… but it is!

The album is Woduridar, set for a September 29 release by Dark Essence.

https://www.facebook.com/helheimnorway

 

 

 

INTERNAL BLEEDING (U.S.)

After that heart-swelling last track it’s time to run you through a gauntlet of brazen, mind-boggling savagery. Yes, it will brutally beat you senseless with start-stop hammer blows and wreck your neck with its rapidly jolting grooves, but the song is a fret-work head-spinner too and includes bits of exotic and eerie melody that give it added character.

This one is a stand-alone single from these slam OGs that’s being released by Unique Leader.

https://www.facebook.com/InternalBleeding

 

 

 

INFERI (U.S.)

I’m not sure I need to say anything more about this next song other than… it’s Inferi. You should know what you’re in for, but I will say that in addition to all the turbocharged technicality, this tracks soars to towering heights of ominous grandeur, and the fluid soloing is wonderful.

The album is Vile Genesis, set for a September 10 release by The Artisan Era.

https://www.facebook.com/Inferimetal

 

 

 

PLAGUEFEVER (U.S.)

And here we have one of the lesser-known names I promised, with a song that begins as a lurching, moaning death metal monstrosity and segues into a diabolical carnival of sinister swirling fretwork, scalding blackened howls, and skull-busting stomps. A fantastic debut by these Virginians….

The album is Crude Implements, set for release on October 14th by Elvte Kvlt Records.

 

 

 

SWALLOW THE SUN (Finland)

The next song, compared to the last, may give you a case of whiplash. It’s an instrumental rendition of a new Swallow the Sun song that’s performed with classical strings, booming timpani, and piano — tragically sad of course, but completely enthralling.

The album is Moonflowers, set for a November 19 release by Century Media.

https://www.facebook.com/swallowthesun

 

 

 

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM (U.S.)

This video, like the one from Enslaved above, is a feast for the eyes and involves a sword. The music is incredibly dramatic, an experience of sweeping and bombastic power, but also soul-striking in its translation of torment and sorrow.

The album is Primordial Arcana, set for an August 20 release by Relapse.

https://www.facebook.com/wolvesinthethroneroom

 

 

 

WORMWITCH (Canada)

Wormwitch swings swaggers, and scampers in this next song, channeling feral lust and ecstasy, and it also races, on the hunt with fangs bared. It’s not hard to imagine wolves in their realm….

The album is Wolf Hex, set for an August 27th release by Prosthetic.

https://www.facebook.com/wormwitch

 

 

 

ZETAR (U.S./France/Ecuador)

And to close, I chose another lesser-known name, a death metal project based in Texas (founded by Austin-area musician R.G.) but with additional members from both France (vocalist T.P.) and Ecuador (drummer David Lamas). The first song from their album is completely electrifying. It draws together truly scorching vocal hostility, pulse-pounding rhythms with a ton of eye-popping drumwork dynamism, and riffing /soloing that generates feelings of menace, mayhem, and black magic — but will give your neck a good workout too.

The album is Devouring Darkness, set for an October 15th release by Spirit Coffin Publishing.