SHORT BUT SWEET: GALUNDO TENVULANCE — “THE DISRUPTOR DESCENDS”

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Jul 202022
 

(DGR enjoyed the first EP by the Japanese band Galundo Tenvulance, released last year, and as recounted in the following review he seems to be enjoying the second one too.)

Only a handful of months ago while in a fit of caffeinated pique did we check in with Japanese -core band Galundo Tenvulance. The young group were on their second EP way back in ye’ olden days of 2021, yet for some reason the idea of reviewing it right before jetting out to go catch covid see MDF this year was very, very funny. It’s not the bands fault at all, just the fun of finding something that was fairly good – if full to the brim with style and genre-tropes – from a group who were clearly still finding their feet style-wise. So much so, that this is the sort of early state a band can be in where sounds differ drastically between releases as they add new influences to the overall course.

Not even a month and a half after we ran that review though, which we did in an attempt to buttress the site while we were out standing in one very long line of Edison Lot shade courtesy of a billboard pole, laughing about how some people forget that Coroner get kind of weird at times and have long keyboard breaks, or dodging thunderstorms, did the crew behind Galundo Tenvulance release a new EP in the form of The Disruptor Descends.

The question with The Disruptor Descends is that with a whole year between their releases and now functioning as a four-piece, what sort of stylistic jump did the band make? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: REVOCATION, WOLFBRIGADE, TEETHGRINDER, HELLFUCK, CONSUMPTION, AURIFEROUS FLAME, ASTRAL HORROR

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Jul 082022
 

 

The theme of today’s collection of new songs and videos is: THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES!

Today is my birthday, and as a gift, my employer has decided to beat me until my morale improves. Therefore, this collection isn’t as large as I would wish, but tomorrow is another day, and I expect I’ll have another collection then.

REVOCATION (U.S.)

We may love Revocation around here (we DO love Revocation around here), but they have repaid all our affections with “Diabolical Majesty“, a merciless new song that invokes champions of hell “to crush the cursed creatures of the Christian right”. “Onward to victory! Set their commandments ablaze!” Continue reading »

KNOLL, VEGAS, DRUNK MOTHERFUCKERS

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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 »

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