(Andy Synn kicks off the new year in style with down-under death-dealers Resin Tomb)
Almost exactly twelve months ago my first review of 2023 was for the debut album by an Australian band (whose previous EP had already impressed me) which I declared the first truly great Death Metal record of the year.
And while they say (quite incorrectly, as it turns out) that lightning never strikes twice and that history never repeats… here we are again in precisely the same situation.
When we see the name Resin Tomb the first words that come to mind, based on the previous releases of these Australians, are “bombardment”, “fragmentation”, and “incineration” — music used as weaponry — followed by thoughts of “agony” and “mental breakdown”. “Hellish terrors” is another phrase we’ve used in descriptions of their previous noise.
Of course, most surface-dwellers would recoil from anything so-described. In our case, it just makes us eager for more — and more is what we will have when Transcending Obscurity Records releases this harrowing band’s debut album Cerebral Purgatory next month, to help usher in the New Year with ruination.
So far, two tracks from the new album have surfaced (“detonated” is probably a better word), and today we’ve got a third one for you, one that is indeed destructive but one that also brings shivering chills. Its name is “Purge Fluid“. Continue reading »
This makes three days in a row where I found enough time to compile a roundup of new music and videos. I can’t remember the last time that happened, but it was surely long ago. And not only was I able to do this three days in a row, but time also allowed me to pack an extravagant amount of music into this third compilation.
I also think it’s fair to say that what I picked ranges far and wide — and I’m not just talking about the bands’ global locations. I suppose it’s possible there’s someone out there who won’t find one damn thing to like among these seven songs, but I’d be surprised if that were true.
LIGHTLORN (Sweden)
I don’t usually lead off these collections with an unknown band’s very first published song, but this one dropped my jaw. I became so enthusiastic about such a welcome surprise that I would have been ashamed at myself if I hadn’t put it in the starting position. Continue reading »
If you’re an extreme metal band and you name a song “Bestial“, you’d better be prepared to back it up. You’d better find your inner animal and uncage it, and that animal had better be terrifying. Let’s put your mind at rest right away (before we give you a chance to wreck your mind): Resin Tomb back up that song title to the bloody hilt.
This death/grind formation from Australia have clearly found their higher calling, which is the delivery of stunningly ruinous sonic savagery. The band features members of Siberian Hell Sounds, Descent, and Snorlax, so it’s not a complete shock that they’re capable of the shocking assaults you’ll find on their self-titled debut EP, which will be released on July 31st by Brilliant Emperor Records. But we hasten to add that, as “Bestial” itself proves, they’ve not burned the playbook of effective song-writing, even though they do such a frighteningly good job of incinerating and fragmenting everything in their path. Continue reading »