With paying work still leaving me alone, at least for the time being, I’ve found time to compile another roundup of new songs and videos. I can’t remember the last time I was able to do this on back-to-back weekdays. I have high hopes for three in a row tomorrow, though I did see that a refrigerator-sized satellite is supposed to fall to earth soon.
Like yesterday, we’ll go in alphabetical order.
DISRUPTION (SWEDEN)
To kick things off I’ve picked something that will kick you in the teeth but get your sluggish motor running hot too.
In this song Disruption dial up a high-octane thrash attack, replete with swirling, skittering, and blaring riffage, neck-snapping beats, and howl-at-the-moon vocals. Moaning chords and fret-melter soloing are also in the mix. The kicks in the teeth come from abundant jackhammer grooves.
“Rebirth” appears to be the first single from an upcoming EP by this re-born Swedish band, who trace their birth to 1999 but whose last record came out almost 20 years ago. The video was filmed at Brinova Arena in Karlskrona, Sweden, last December.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/26g2gTr9Derumj9VrRDUDX
https://www.facebook.com/Disruptionswe/
HIDEOUS DIVINITY (Italy)
On this next new song in today’s collection Hideous Divinity make ruthless war against the sovereignty of mankind. Their armaments include full-bore drum-obliteration, thunderous bass-lines, dense gales of slashing and swarming riffage, cruel roars, and crazed howls.
Shrill fretwork frenzies and wailing (but also convulsive) soloing light up the song, and the band also launch a start-stop bout of pulverization as the backdrop for melodic eeriness, a brief but unsettling pause in their rabid and ravenous tirade, but that haunting melody flows through the upheavals to the end.
As some people say, this is the kind of song that will wake the dead — as well as pile the corpses high.
“Against the Sovereignty of Mankind” is from HD’s new album Unextinct, which will be out on March 22nd via Century Media. The Dracula tale seems to have inspired the cover art, and perhaps the album title.
https://hideousdivinity.lnk.to/UnextinctID
https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/unextinct-24-bit-hd-audio
https://www.facebook.com/hideousdivinity
KAWIR (Greece)
More than 30 years into their career, Kawir are still going strong. Witness the next song and video I’ve picked for today.
Backed by steady beats and double-kick rumble, the sizzling guitars manifest like the writhing of vipers, and then they begin to burn, just in time for the vitriolic vocals to scorch.
That manic-serpent of an opening riff gets its fangs in deep, but a different kind of reptile emerges, through an exotic melody that sways like a cobra and rings like chimes, a small spell that re-surfaces after the drums open up in torrential blasts and the vocals scream for blood.
“ECHETLAEUS” is the name of the song. It’s from a new Kawir album entitled Kydoimos that’s due for an April 19 release on Soulseller Records.
https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com
http://soulsellerrecords.aisamerch.com
https://www.facebook.com/kawirofficial
SELBST (Venezuela)
Though the life of Selbst isn’t as extensive as that of Kawir, the music is just as demanding of attention whenever something new appears on the horizon, and there’s a new Selbst album now on the April horizon.
From that album we have “Chant Of Self Confrontation“, presented yesterday with a video, one that reflects the lyrical themes of the song — in the words of Selbst‘s alter ego, “the internal struggles that an individual must endure, on how guilt, fear, or feeling tormented by a past event can pursue you”.
There’s torment in this unconventional black metal too, in the tension that coils within the rapidly whirring guitar and in the hammering drive of the drums. Much darker and more depressive moods come forth in a wailing melody whose chime-like and dream-like tones contrast with the scalding intensity of the vocals, the bursts of percussive riot, and the marrow-deep bass throb.
That ringing melody begins to sound like fervent yearning, just before the vocals also elevate into a wrenching wail. A gorgeous solo lies ahead, one which soulfully draws out the yearning until it begins to seem like desperation, and drives the song to a breathtaking finale.
The song had its premiere at Decibel yesterday, with an introduction from none other than Albert Mudrian. It’s from a new Selbst album (the third one overall) named Despondency Chord Progressions. It will be released on April 19th by Debemur Morti Productions.
P.S. Here’s what Selbst‘s creator N. had to say about the album’s unusual cover art:
“When it comes to the artwork: From the very moment of conception, all creatures are condemned to the overwhelming indifference of nature, and because of this, to death. This is something that we, as humans, cannot escape, being even weaker than many other species. I believe that the innate fragility of our species is reflected in this art, in addition to the indifference with which nature and life itself treat us along our tortuous path. This is why this artwork represents both the beginning and the end of our journey. All at once.”
https://debemurmorti.aisamerch.com/band/selbst
https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/403-selbst-shop
https://selbst.bandcamp.com/album/despondency-chord-progressions
https://www.facebook.com/selbstbm