Jul 102019
 

 

Dictionaries define “catharsis” as the purification, purgation, or cleansing of emotions, primarily through art — a process that results in renewal and restoration, or perhaps merely  a release of tension. Although those references usually refer to pity, fear, or grief as emotions purged through artistic catharsis, fans of extreme metal know that rage is also a subject of catharsis — and that rage is itself often the driving force in the creation of violent cathartic music.

Which brings us to Serpents Athirst, a decimating Sri Lankan black metal band whose music we’ve recommended in the past and whose discography consists of a 2011 split, a 2012 demo named Prevail, an EP entitled Heralding Ceremonial Mass Obliteration, and the new song we’re presenting today — “Poisoning the Seven“.

This new track appears on a punishing new split set for release by Cyclopean Eye Productions on July 26th. On this split, Scorn Coalescence, Serpent Adrift are joined by three other ferocious trans-continental groups, all of whom specially recorded the songs for this split — Genocide Shrines (also from Sri Lanka) and the New Zealand bands Trepanation and Heresiarch. Continue reading »

Apr 212015
 

 

If you’re new to our site, “Shades of Black” is the name I put on round-ups of recommended new music when everything I’ve found coincidentally happens to have some connection to black metal. As you’re about to find out, my definition of “connection” covers a big swath of territory.

Some of the songs featured in this post come from albums that are already available for streaming in their entirety. I’m mentioning them now because I’m afraid if I defer writing anything until I can listen to the whole album and prepare a review, there’s a chance I won’t write anything at all.

SWARÞ

The fact that my tastes in metal are so wide-ranging has good and bad consequences. I think it’s good for the site, because without trying very hard I can contribute variety to the music we feature simply by writing about what I like. It’s bad because I don’t have the kind of depth of knowledge that comes from really immersing myself in just one or two sub-genres. Continue reading »

Mar 302015
 

 

With a weekend of listening behind me, I’ve got a stack of new songs I want to recommend that rivals the height of a mighty redwood. Unfortunately, my brain is only the size of a mighty walnut, and I didn’t get enough of a head-start to pull them all together for a round-up today. So, here are three, and more will come tomorrow.

ENTRAILS

As regular readers know, I have a debilitating weakness for old-school Swedish death metal. If I don’t get my fix on a regular basis, I start to get the shakes and have even more trouble formulating complete sentences. Fortunately, one of the best of the current purveyors of obliterating Swe-death has a new album coming our way via Metal Blade, and this past weekend I caught up with the first single. The band is Entrails, the album is Obliteration (of course it is), and the song is “Beyond the Flesh”.

The roots of Entrails in this style of music go deep, the band having achieved their first incarnation in 1990. And despite moldering in the grave for a full decade, they’ve turned in one winner after another following their reanimation with 2010’s Tales From the Morgue. If “Beyond the Flesh” is a good indicator, the new album will be another one. Continue reading »

Nov 272014
 

Those vicious Canadian purveyors of Total Death, Vault of Dried Bones, have been preparing once again to open their bomb bay doors and rain destruction from the skies, and their new weapon of choice is a Sri Lankan band appropriately named Genocide Shrines.  This new release from the Vault Cult’s label will be the band’s first full-length album, and its title is Manipura Imperial Deathevokovil (Scriptures of Reversed Puraana Dharmurder).

As an introduction to what this album holds in store, we bring you today the premiere of the album’s third track, “Subterranean Katacomb, Termination Temple (Henotheistic Primal Demiurge)”. Those who may be familiar with the band’s 2012 Devanation Monumentemples EP or the Mahabharat Terror Attack split with Manifestor released last spring may still not be prepared for what it will do your peace of mind (it will leave it in pieces).

Continue reading »