KNOLL, VEGAS, DRUNK MOTHERFUCKERS

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 052022
 

 

I’m still in post-Northwest Terror Fest catch-up mode for the new songs and videos I missed over the last 5 days, which is kind of like a Dachshund trying to catch up with a Bugatti that’s moving at top speed. The chase will fail, but still can’t be resisted, so here’s a few more picks to go along with the two I chose yesterday. These three all happen to be recently released complete records — of very different kinds — and I have greedily bought all of them.

KNOLL (U.S.)

To begin, I chose an album named Metempiric that was released by this Tennessee band on June 24th. It’s their second full-length, following 2021’s Interstice. It includes 13 tracks, most of them short, building to an 8-minute closer named “Tome”.

And this is where I tell you to take some big gulps of air before you begin, because you will definitely need the extra oxygen. Continue reading »

TERMINAL NATION/KRUELTY – THE RUINATION OF IMPERIALISM

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Jun 062022
 

(Andy Synn drops some heavy thoughts about the heavy new split EP from Terminal Nation and Kruelty)

Let me tell you something, I have always wanted to do a split with another band. I’ve just never been able to get the timing right or find the right collaborators.

And “collaborators” is certainly the key word here, because the very best of these sorts of releases (and some are definitely better than others) have a real collaborative spirit to them – whether that’s in the form of bands covering each others’ songs, guesting on each others’ tracks, or simply inspiring each other to be better.

Case in point, the new split from the USA’s Terminal Nation and Japan’s Kruelty certainly showcases both bands at their very best, offering up five phenomenally heavy tracks of caustic, crushing and cathartic “Hardcore-influenced Death Metal” (or “Death Metal-influenced Hardcore”… the difference is largely academic) which are practically guaranteed to inspire both neck-wrecking bouts of headbanging and some serious civil unrest.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SACRILEGIOUS CROWN — “FORBIDDEN VESTIGES OF VENERATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 012022
 

Life is fear. Of course it’s other things too, but fear is inescapable. It always lurks, and sometimes dominates. Every living thing is prey, even if sometimes also predator, and that condition is rooted in our genes. How else could it be, when death eventually comes for all?

Music can channel fear, just as life is haunted by it, and sometimes it dives into esoteric dimensions where fear might be extinguished, because what causes it may be illuminated and embraced.

Well, these are obviously heavy thoughts, but what spawned them today is the hideous hypnosis created by a new EP named Forbidden Vestiges of Veneration from the Italian one-man raw black metal band Sacrilegious Crown, which is set for a June 3 release by Xenoglossy Productions. As the label describes, this new work is a concept release “about forbidden and forgotten religious cults, their mysticism blending occultism and religion with rituals involving hypnosis and underground processions”. Continue reading »

GHOST OF MIRACH: “SOL REGEM”

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May 292022
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of the debut EP by the Dutch death metal band Ghost of Mirach, which was released in April 2022.)

Taken at face value Ghost Of Mirach‘s debut EP Sol Regem is a weird fucking entity. There is no groundwork laid and no explanation provided within the songs of what exactly is happening here. The group just launch you right into the deep end and from there you either pick up what’s happening or it whips right past you, given that Sol Regem is only twenty minutes long.

However, given this website’s tendencies to pull bands from nowhere and place them in front of you, at the very least we should explain what the hell the Ghost Of Mirach project is. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: GALUNDO TENVULANCE — “TENVULANCY”

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May 272022
 

 

(For his latest review, DGR decided to time-travel back into this time a year ago. What did he find?)

Yes, gaze upon the cool album art and embrace the fact that this EP hit in June of last year when we were all busy trying to brainwipe 2020 from our heads.

At last count my private review archive had 14 releases that were hitting this year that I’ve meant to keep an eye on and look at. I assure you, none of your favorite bands are in there nor is the latest and greatest underground phenom. Don’t panic, we’ll get to it eventually… maybe. But, there are a few that have been sitting here for a very long time and there’s a very mischevious part of me that just wonders ‘well what if we tackle it now in the midst of a lot of high profile releases hitting all at once?’

Japan’s mouthful of a name symphonic melodeath/deathcore project Galundo Tenvulance is one such group. Because their four-song EP Tenvulancy hit in June of last year, it’s highly likely that by the time this review runs on the site this EP could very well be *gasp* a year old. Since we’re known for being the most up to date and recent with everything, you can imagine how much this is going against the grain here. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HARVESTED — “HARVESTED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 052022
 

Harvested are an Ottawa-based quartet (with members from Quebec as well as Ontario) who are on the brink of releasing their self-titled debut EP, and it is indeed an explosive debut. Drawing influence from the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Hate Eternal, Harvested blast their way through five ferocious tracks that combine visceral destructive power, megawatt vocal intensity, and the kind of high-speed technically impressive performances that tend to pop eyes wide open.

That melding of speed, savagery, and technical fireworks makes the run through the full torrent of the EP an electrifying (and indeed breathtaking) experience, and it’s an experience we’re providing today through our premiere stream of the EP in its entirety. So, take some deep breaths, and proceed…. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: HOLY DEATH — “MORAL TERROR VOL. 1”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 282022
 

It’s fair to say that we’ve been following the L.A.-based death-doom outfit Holy Death very closely ever since discovering their second EP in 2020 — following them like a panting dog scampering after a moving car, tongue wagging and slobber flying. In fact, the post you’re now reading marks the sixth time we’ve written about them in barely two years. Yes, we are big fans.

The occasion for today’s slobber is a new Holy Death EP, a two-song discharge entitled Moral Terror Vol. 1, so-named because it’s the first in a three-part series that the band plan on releasing this year. It’s set for digital release on April 29th, but we’ve got a premiere stream of its two diabolically punishing tracks today. Continue reading »

SOLUS EX INFERIS: “EXOGENESIS”

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Apr 192022
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of a new EP released on April 15th of this year by the New York-based death metal band Solus Ex Inferis.)

Sometimes you land on a new release simply because you were curious as to what a certain musician might’ve been up to at a given moment. There are absolutely other avenues to discover music, but sometimes it’s just fun to go down the internet rabbit hole and see what other projects someone might be involved in. That is what led me to the death metal group Solus Ex Inferis and their newest release Exogenesis.

Every once in a while the thought that superhuman drummer Marco Pitruzzella has contributed work to something like twenty-plus projects will cross my mind. For the past few years he’s had credits on at least two-to-four releases, with Solus Ex Inferis becoming the latest project to which he’s contributed, adding to the vast body of work for this prolific musician.

Solus Ex Inferis are also one of a recent slate of death metal projects that have truly embraced being from all over the world, with Demonic Resurrection‘s Sahil Makhija (the Demonstealer) joining the fray alongside guitarist Dave Sevenstrings for their latest EP, while also calling in help from bassist Sean Martinez of Decrepit Birth/Muldrotha as well as some guest soloists.

What this translates to is the latest EP Exogenesis hailing from all over the world in the name of bulldozer brutality. You’ll know whether the twenty-five odd minutes of Exogenesis are for you if this statement gets you excited. Continue reading »

CHOKE ME: “DEATH LIKE A SUNSET”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 182022
 

(The California fastcore band Choke Me have quickly become a favorite of DGR, and thus he has enthusiastically dived into their music again with this review of their latest release.)

Choke Me‘s releases seem to appear with the suddenness of a high-speed car collision. It wasn’t that long ago we were talking about the three-piece group’s Hauntology EP,  and prior to that it didn’t seem that long ago that we were discussing the group’s full-length debut The Cousin of Death.

Then again, given the shared ideologies between the group’s punk, grind, and ‘fastcore’ collision of sound, it doesn’t shock that the crew manning the good ship Choke Me have also embraced the rapid-fire release schedule and record length of the grind contingent as well.

We’re probably a few months out from suffocating under an avalanche of splits and single releases if the patterns hold true. April 1st saw the release of the latest music from Choke Me, seemingly forming out of a static-charged aether into one quick explosion under the name of Death Like A Sunset, and like its immediate predecessor in late 2021’s Hauntology it discharges another six songs and sub-twenty minutes worth of music. Continue reading »

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