NINE SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM JUN 18 – JUN 24

Life is hell! Music time!

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. She – "Bullshit Portent," from Goodpaster (Metallic Hardcore – Independent). If you needed some HM-2-driven hardcore to buzzsaw it's ugly face into your world then: a) You're a freak and b) You're a pal. And regardless of how you feel about the results of my short analysis, you need to get your ass over to Bandcamp and listen to the new album from Alaskan (yes!) band She. Ruthless, melodic at times, and fucking awesome. FFO: Nails, Black Breath, APMD.

2. Disimperium – "Blade Obfuscation," from Grand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars (Disso Death/Black – Sentient Ruin Laboratories). I spent some time this week pining away at the possibility of a new Mylingar album when I fell head first into the new Disimperium. No, they're not the same band, and in fact very different, but both seem to scratch that "way too much heavy shit is happening at the same time and I am simultaneously disgusted, confused, and delighted" itch. And as good as this track is, and it's amazing, the effect of the album as a whole is a fantastic-feeling sense of being overwhelmed. One of the year's top albums, no doubt. FFO: Hissing, Mylingar, Portal.

3. Passéisme – "Ominous Bravure Chant," from Alternance (Black Metal – Antiq Records). Grandiose, larger-than-life, somewhat-melodic, tremendous black metal. Way too many notes, way too much drama, and all in the best possible way. Kind of has a Euro Panopticon feel to it. Cool. FFO: Panopticon, Sühnopfer, Vimur.

4. Swans – "Paradise Is Mine," from The Beggar (Experimental Rock – Young God Records). Michael Gira has managed to etch his legacy into some kind of cliched rock or granite more than once at this point. This run of Swans, in fact, might count as a third or fourth time. And yet he somehow finds a way to exceed already lofty expectations every time. I wish I know how to do that. Perhaps he eats babies. Does he eat babies? It's impossible to know. But those are some amazing babies if this is the type of music the man continues to produce so late in the game. FFO: Swans.

5. Miserere Luminis – "Le sang des reves," from Ordalie (Post-Metal / Atmospheric Black Metal – Sepulchral Productions). Every time I count the whole post-whatever metal vibe out, it drags me back in with its tender, frail, wet-from-just-crying, white, soft hands. Not to say that this enticing album by Montreal band Miserere Luminis comfortably sits in that lane, but who the hell sits comfortably in a lane? Sounds dangerous too. Anyhow. Very cool post-rock/metal black metal with plenty of ringing guitars and just enough "sudden" guitar swells to get your emo going for at least a couple of weeks. FFO: Celeste, Rosetta, Witte Wieven.

6. The Mosaic Window – "Comatic Burial," from Plight of Acceptance (Melodic Death/Black Metal – Independent). The whole "melodic death metal revival" has, for the most past, failed with me. I was so into that shit in real time that if I just sense the whiff of same-same shit I automatically switch off. This, however, is EXACTLY what I need my melodeath to be. A lof is super modern here, especially the production, but that vibe, that anguished "oh my I wish to weep while growling as drums are chasing my like fucking unleashed steeds" is absolutely giving me life. Just stupendous grandiosity. FFO: Dark Tranquility, Panopticon, Iravu.

7. Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze – "Suffocate O Earthen Lungs; They Now Lungs of Ash," from The Fractal Ouroboros (Black Metal – Independent). The stunning debut by Colorado black metal project Bulls of Apis Bull of Bronze was just that, stunning, for several reasons. It was a bombastic assault on mind and heart, and it had some of the absolute best cover art this millennium. Safe to say many of us freaks who have anxiously waiting for more music from this wonderful thing are very happy that signs of a new album are indeed coming, complete with a first "single" that is just momentous, effervescent black metal. So fucking good, I actually cannot wait. And another iconic cover from Carlos Agraz. FFO: Mare Cogitum, Woe, Falls of Rauros.

8. Decoherence – "Closed Timelike Curves," from Order by (Industrial Black Metal – Sentient Ruin Laboratories). Speaking of bands near and dear to my heart, and as teased last week, the incomparable Decoherence are fucking back to unleash your worst nightmares in a musical form that would make those nightmares slightly more bearable in that they provide nightmarish form to what would otherwise be abstract voids of terror and nothingness. All hail Stroda now, and forever. FFO: Nightmares?

9. Colloidal Heart – "Body Clock," from Incarnations (Raw Black Metal – Wrought Material). Few things have brought me joy in life as much as the excellent New Zealand label Wrought Material has in the last few years. They don't release that much, but when they do they make gold records. Or very dark records that are beautifully put together, beautifully presented, and, most important, beautiful. In this case it's the debut from a brand-new and somewhat-hip-hop inspired Colloidal Heart. It sounds mean, it sounds sad, and it sounds like it was made by nonhuman forms. Which is the fucking best, isn't it? FFO: Gnaw Their Tongues, Xasthur, Moon.

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: Not the coolest statement to make, but the new Queens of the Stone Age albums if fuckin' brilliant.

TWO: A REMINDER THAT: Jason Oberuc, who plays the drums for the perfect Suffering Hour, but who also seems like a genuinely awesome dude, has gotten some bad news on the health side of things and could appreciate your help. Give what you can, if you can.

THREE: I would like to attend those sick Full of Hell, Inter Arma, END, and Wake shows. But I won't.

FOUR: Being a father is such a draining and incredible experience. At any given time I'm either pissed off, tired, or in absolute awe. Very hard to remind myself that whatever it is I have going in life is also in service of those amazing little things, but I think I need to do that more. Remind myself. They're still annoying, though.

FIVE: If you're in the business of nasty music made by beasts then new Tel Aviv-based project Ash would like your money and your souls.

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: claustrophobic black/death? Check out Isvara.