NINE SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM JUN 4 – JUN 10

No sleep = No intro. Keep safe.

As always, check out my various interview projects and other cool shit. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever I may roam (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and now also a tape-per-day series on TIK TOK!), and listen to my, I guess, active (?) podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You can support our unholy work here (Patreon), if you feel like it. Early access to our bigger projects, weekly exclusive recommendations and playlists, and that wonderful feeling that you're encouraging a life-consuming habit.

1. Jerome's Dream – "Pines On The Hill (With Guests)," from The Gray In Between (Screamo/Noise Rock – Iodine Recordings). The whole purpose of this format is that it allows/forces me to be brief about new music. But every now and again a release comes that shits on that format, and feels like trying to fit a octagon into my mouth hole. This is one such release. But, since the format is what it is, I'll just say this: One of the best albums of the year, easy. One of the best screamo/hardcore-adjacent albums I have heard in a very long time, and an absolute instant-classic type masterpiece. No joke. FFO: Orchid, Pg. 99, Frail Hands.

2. Udr​ę​ka – "Mi​ę​sem," From Zgnij (Avant-garde Black Metal – Masters of Chaos). I don't know if it's just my mind is going, but as incredible as this year has been in music it has also been dominated, for me, by known entities. Maybe I don't roam around the back-corners of Bandcamp as much as I used to, maybe it's just what it is, but my reaction to this absolutely fantastic demo from Polish act Udr​ę​ka is just what I loved and love about making those kinds of discoveries. It's weird, melodic, catchy, harsh, and reminds me of some of my favorite weirdo Polish bm bands. Lovely shit. FFO: Odraza, Biesy, Medico Peste.

3. Trhä – "da​́​jbule​̈​hh a​́​mhe​̈​lcoma taomseg Imhajl e​̈​f Olbi gunahh," from Sankaku // Trhä (Black Metal – Independent). My journey with prolific, idosyncratic black metal project Trhä is basically unprecedented. I don't remember ever being so off a band, not getting it at all, and slowly transforming to accepting it, liking it, and my current stage, being absolutely obsessed by it. Every subsequent release by them/him is, to me, even better than its former, which makes the tracks on this amazing new split my favorite Trhä track to date. Which is just nuts. It doesn't make any sense. Fucking mandatory listening. FFO: Lamp of Murmuur, Sëht, Thy Dying Light.

4. Altarage – "Cataract," from Cataract EP (Dissonant Death Metal – Doomentia Records). Apparently the Spanish gods of all things sounding like a cave of bad emotions are going to release a new full-length album later this year, which is stunningly beautiful news. In celebration of said event they have decided to go ahead and release a few tracks off of that album as a kind of promo EP. Which is both nice, because that's a nice thing to do, and horrible, because the first two tracks of this thing dented my skull in such a way that I have since been unable to consume solid foods. As heavy as humanly possible. FFO: Portal, Mylingar, Hissing.

5. Spectral Voice – "Craving Final Impasse," from Spectral Voice / Undergang (Death Doom – Dark Descent Records). In the "naming our tracks with a death-doom thesaurus" portion of the evening's entertainment we have a brand-new track from elusive legends Spectral Voice who have seemingly acquiesced to a life playing in other bands and never releasing music. This may seem bitter on my part, perhaps because I am. Especially when the odd track they do release every now and again is as good as this. Rumbling along, evil-sounding, and void-creating. May they let they let of thesaurus long enough to release an actual album. FFO: Lycus, Void Rot, Mortiferum.

6. BILAR – "נ​ח​ש ק​ד​מ​ו​ן" (Black Metal – Independent). A new entity rears its ugly head from the unholy burnt soil of Meggido, the site and namesake of the seemingly fast-approaching Armageddon. I mean, my guess is that they're from a much less sexy locale, I'm guessing a basement with some carpeting, but you get where this is going. Tremendous, raw, and pissed black metal in that war-metal/bestial vibe, that makes you feel like the wished-for end of the world has actually already arrived, only orchestrated with super-tight drumming. FFO: Blasphemy, Beherit, Diocletian.

7. Lament of the Phanotm – "Descend" (Melodic Black Meatl/Post-Black Metal – Independent). I needed some pretty in my life after all that nasty, and this two-track release from what seems to be a Chinese one-man project hit the softy nail right on its softy head. The sonics of it all sound really late 90s melodic black metal, only charged with the Agalloch-Ethereal Shroud power pack. Very grandiose, very theatrical but in a very tasteful and nice way. Hopefully there's a whole album of this coming at some point. FFO: READ!

8. Orment – "Diluvium," from Orment (Doom Metal – Transylvanian Recordings). Take a second to look at that artwork. Hod damn that's beautiful, the way the hot yellows contrast with the cool blues, and how the rock rises and pierces the sky creating a wonderful balance of both, as if the sheer rock face was itself a sublime mixture of earth and sky. A great image, and big up to its creator Ted Nasmith. Oh, and, by the way, that was also a pretty good description of the music. Beautiful. FFO: Evoken, My Dying Bride, 

9. Colin Stetson – "Long Before the Sky Would Open," from When We Were that What Wept for the Sea (Experimental/Modern Classical – 52Hz). Colin Stetson is one of the most important, awe-inspiring and mind-bending artists of our time. There isn't a piece of music he has made or collaborated on that hasn't completely broken my brain, and made me feel as if I was trapped in a phone booth filled with insects made of swirling sax. So, anything by his is a true blessing, and a new album even more so. Keep em coming, oh Colin who won't read this. FFO: Bees, flies, gnats. 

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: Papangu, the miraculous Brazilian prog metal outfit, is recording a new album.

TWO: If you don't already own it, 20 Buck Spin put up some vinyl copes of one the greatest death metal albums ever, Vastum's Hole Below.

THREE: Imperial Triumphant released a horrifying cover of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android."

FOUR: Apologies to my dear, dear Patreon people. I have been slacking lately since life has been just impossible lately. Baby's being a baby, about to move from our home of the last 16 years, and work. Just insanity. But promise a gargantuan rec post is coming. 

FIVE: Didn't have room this time, but if you want head-ripping grindcore a-la Swarrrm/World/Chepang, do yourself a damn favor with this sick three-way split featuring Little Puppy Princess, Rancho Relaxo, and Sewage Grinder. It's from 2021, so I guess I'm stupid. But it's awesome. 

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: Have I really not written about the new Pupil Slicer yet? Yes.