NINE SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM SEP 3 – SEP 9
Wow, whoa, hey. Another week of not dying, hurray! Also had a very pleasant conversation (read: interview) with Damián Antón Ojeda (Trhä, Sadness) and if you're a Patreon supporter you can go ahead and see the video of that lovely convo. If not, fret not, it'll only take me about six months to transcribe. KEEP SAFE Y'ALL!
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1. Jute Gyte – "Hesperus Is Phosphorus," from Unus Mundus Patet (Avant-Garde Black Metal – Independent). I've been, admittedly, slow getting into Jute Gyte over the years. On one had, they really just fit in with so many other bands that scour the borderlines of black metal, modern classical, and pure insanity. At times it was just too much for me, too overwhelming, too whatever. But something happened to me with this newest release, I think something along the lines of an epiphany. Is it still terribly obtuse and awfully inhospitable? It is. Does it make any sense whatsoever? No, it does not. But, listening to Unus Mundus Patet, allowing it to wash over me, until it crescendos with this unbelievable outburst of energy, has been one of the most unique and most rewarding listens I've had all year. This is Liturgy's Aesthetica taken to an illogical extreme. Absolutely essential. FFO: Liturgy, Krallice, Victory Over the Sun.
2. Melancholia – "Yersinia in Bloom," from Book of Ruination (Sludge Metal – Brutal Panda Records). First of all, let's recognize how long it's been since I've written about a Brutal Panda release. I quite enthusiastically wrote about Melancholia's wonderful 2021 EP, Static Church, and so a debut full-length is a very nice surprise. Another surprise, at least with this first single, is that gone is the mid-tempo witchery of that release, replaced by a tripping-over-yourself sludge energy that sounds almost like hardcore or mathcore, if you squint enough. Drums still kill. FFO: Indian, Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, ISIS.
3. Cognizant – "Dissension," from Inexorable Nature of Adversity (Grindcore – Nerve Altar Records). A mere seven years since their brilliant self-titled debut, one of the best modern grindcore acts is back with a new record and some more Bryan Fajardo pillaging your ears with the best blasts in the game. And like all S-Tier grindcore – a topic on which I have harped quite a bit over the years – it sounds like a whole album's worth of ideas and dynamics in an inhuman 57 seconds. Rain your riffs down on me. FFO: Discordance Axis, Gridlink, Chepang.
4. Seraphic Entombment – "Angel's Entrail," from Sickness Particles Gleam (Death Doom – Everlasting Spew Records). So, if I may begin at the end: the best death doom of 2023 so far, without question. I know it's quite uncool (at least, uncool to me) to go on and on about an album before it's officially released, but allow me to break my own weird code and say that this is just an album of pure magic. Those riffling, slo-mo riffs, that tame-yet-powrful drum performance, that immaculate atmosphere and production, they all make my heart sing. And when I mean "sing" I mean feel like an ancient cave packed with stalactite of death. If you love death doom this is basically a musit-listen. FFO: Vastum, Fossilization, Void Rot, Mortiferum.
5. Multicyst – ״Accrid Rub," from Maggot Knife Insertion (Grindcore – Independent). It seems that the last few years have, quite inadvertently, made me into a Salt Late metal fan. It began with Throat Breah, the wonderful death metal project, and continued with bands such as the amazing Pagan Moon (raw black metal) and Moray (atmospheric black metal), the latest release from latter of which was even featured on this very site. So, now we can add another, quite related, entry: the fantastic new grindcore entity Multicyst, which is basically Throat Breach's Ian Turpin, with a few maggots sprinkled in. Riffy, weird, and awesome. FFO: Gnaw Their Tongues, Pharmacist, FesterDecay.
6. Ghorot – "Dredge," from Wound (Doom/Stoner – Lay Bare Recordings + King of the Monsters). The crushing vemon of Ghorot, whose Loss of Light was one of my favorite albums of 2021, is back. And not only has it returned, it has done so bearing quite a hefty load of spaced-out sloppiness, which, to me, really echoes the kind of unique atmosphere created by bands such as Saturnalia Temple and…. Well, just them, really. Kind of if stoner metal was evil and not, you know, distracted. Awesome shit. FFO: Saturnalia Temple, Werian, Ufomammut
7. Zeresh & Ketoret – "The Yawning Gate," from Zeresh & Ketoret / Wyatt E. Split (Atmospheric/Folk Black Metal – Shalosh Cult). A tale of borders and borders crossings, one situated, fittingly, in the "Yawning Gate." Zeresh, the spellbinding Tel Aviv-based doom/folk project was always heavy, even without stepping on the overdribe switch – or not as much. Conversely, Ketoret, the post-rock/atmospheric black metla project, always felt human in that folky way, without ever really crossing over. What their beautiful collaboration achieves, then, is a middle ground that serves both and expands both. To the extent that I can envision a whole album of this kind of Aglloach-esque music. Perhaps more. FFO: Agalloch, Zeresh, Alcest.
8. Białywilk – "Zmora," from Zmora (Atmospheric Black Metal – Vendetta Records). I was in such a state of anticipation for this album that it somehow turned sour to the point of not caring about it. Weird. I did mention it was coming, on more than one occasion, but I just didn't feel like listening. And then I caught myself being stupid and said to myself: "Ron! You're being stupid!" And then I listened. Piercing atmospheres and melodies that leave the heart simultaneously cold and somehow more loving. A gorgeous, rough-around-the-edges release that feels just, I don't know, real. Very apropos the interview I mentioned in the introduction above. Just real. FFO: Sadness, Agalloch, Fen.
9. Circle of Ouroborus, "Jaata Pohjaan Asti," from Lumi Vaientaa Kysymykset (Black Metal – His Wounds). Another wonderful Circle of Ouroborus release coming, as per usual, out of nowhere, and probably preceding about nine other albums. Not sure I'm still digging the entire thing yet, but this opening track is quite special. Has an almost medival/trad metal feel to it, in that "this dude is probably out of his mind" black metal Circle of Ouroborus way. Magical stuff. FFO: Malokarpatan, Baazlvaat, Spider God.
FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ONE: Perhaps the world doesn't know it, but what it needs is a grindcore tribute album to Type O Negative.
TWO: Some early, never-before-digital Burning Witch stuff was put on Bandcamp a while back.
THREE: Convulsing's Errata AKA one of the greatest modern metal albums ever, is getting a reissue via Total Dissonance Worship. Get it.
FOUR: Some positive shifts this week, along with an absolute deluge of financial, emotional, familiar, and financial (again!) stress. Most people say it'll sort itself out. It might, and it might be the aftershock of moving into our first real home. But, speaking as the person who pretends to see a nuclear mushroom cloud basically at least once every day just to act out on his most insane anxieties, I'm skeptical.
FIVE: ISIS are reissuing Mosquito Control and The Red Sea in a one-package type deal. ISIS rule.
ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: So I mean, I obviously missed the boat on this one LONG AGO, but I got into the debut EP from melodic death metal project Rökkr this week, and it's fucking awesome.
