NINE-ISH SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM – MAR 10 – MAR 16

Life still not great, but not as bad is it could be. 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 (FALSE!) (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 my 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. Ulcerate – "The Dawn is Hollow," from Cutting the Throat of God (Death/Black Metal – Debemur Morti Productions). When you write about bands with an audience of 50 there's this tendency to want to get all snarky when you're about to write about bigger bands. It's a human trait, perhaps, but it's an annoying one. So, allow me to get straight to the point (after doing the opposite until now): The first single from the recently announced Ulcerate album is already miles better than anything on Staring into Death and might be my favorite Ulcerate track since Shrines if not earlier. Unreal. FFO: Unreal shit. Also I'd like to point out that I did not write the word "dissonant" anywhere here as a sign of personal growth.

2. Trembling Void – "Cloud of Flies," from Terrifying Vistas of Reality (Black Metal – Inferna Profundus Records). Friends of the show, MILIM KASHOT alums, and overall weirdos Trembling Void are back to paint your nightmares a cooky kind of black. Aggressive. evil-sounding black metal of the "let me just record this shit on my double-cassette tape under three blankets" variety that still manages to sound crisp and forceful (great bass). FFO: Thy Dying Light, Lamp of Murmuur.

3. Dauþuz – "Wüst die Heimat," from Uranium (Atmospheric Black Metal – Amor Fati Productions). German mining black metal geniuses Dauþuz are back with more sweeping melodies, blasting drums, shrieked vocals, and dynamic tracks all in the service of that grand of all songwriting topics – chipping away at rocks. But, boy, let me tell ya, if this is what chipping away brings about I might as well let these dudes chip away at me as well. Whatever that means. Tremendous, atmospheric, awesome. FFO: Friisk, Ossaert.

4. Trauma – "Cancer," from Bloodthirst (Black Metal – Independent). More black metal, though this time slimmer on atmosphere and fatter on those sweet riffs and weird angles that make black metal great just on the merit of, ah, writing good songs. Shrieky, almost punky vocals, a slight dashing of thrash, and the overall sense of a fantastic new project being born into an undeserving world. FFO: Early Cradle of Filth (?!), Amebix.

5. Slimelord – "Gut​-​Brain Axis," from Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (Death/Doom Metal – 20 Buck Spin). I wasn't ready to love an album this week the way I ended up loving the new Slimelord. And yet, here I am, standing outside Slimellord's motel door, holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates, coming my greasy hair, ready to take it all the way. I really have no idea why I had to make it as creepy as I just did, but regardless of that – apologies – this is, simply put, one of the best albums released so far in an already stacked year, and I'm not just saying that because I want to sleep with it. What. I do not. I mean, I might. Just those Marty Friedman-worshipping licks alone have me all hot and bothered. What is wrong with me. FFO: Worm, Blood Incantation.

6. I Am The Intimidator – "Eat My Smoke," from I Am the Intimidator (Heavy Metal – Miserable Pyre). Speaking of shit I was not supposed to be into, this hard-rocking, heavy-metalling, Black Sabbath-ing piece of NASCAR-themed (what?) gold has dominated my week, my waking hours, and my sleepy time. As catchy as the flu or whatever some other disease that might be catchy and as good a heavy metal album these ears have heard since Wytch Hazel's 2018 masterpiece, II: Sojourn. Holy damn this is so good I want to buy it dinner and take it… Whatever, this post is just not doing very well is it? FFO: Eating smoke, I guess. Or, better yet, feeding your smoke to the losers who are eating it.

7. Srefa – "A Letter to Self," from Solstice (Black Metal – Satanath Records). Do I want to make sweet, sweet love to this track as well? Well, kind of. I think this is more of a entering an incense-filled room occupied by a shadowy figure that torments and manipulates your soul until you are nothing but a husk of stunted desire and awe. So, more of a marriage plot, really. In all seriousness, or, realistically, with a tad more seriousness, this is not only the best track Srefa have released in their short-ish history, it's the best sung/performed vocals by Srefa, ex-Zad vocalist Dorin Hajon which makes it one of  the best vocals performances ever by anyone, because she's fucking awesome. An amazing track from what has become, this very second, one of my most anticipated albums of the year. FFO: Urfaust, marriage.

8. Shum – "Ölt​é​sek k​ö​zt," from Pulz​á​ló Dobok Tiszt​í​tj​á​k Meg Az Eget (Industrial black/death metal – Independent). This one's an interesting one, brought to me attention (which is a phrase, to be sure, I fucking hate) by the wonderful Marie of the wonderful Mesa and/or Hypomanic Daydream and/or Putrescine. Interesting for many reasons: for its mix of industrial, almost Blut aus Nord style percussion with both black and death metal grandeur, as well as, as in this case, the bonkers use of HM-2 when painting a pretty and sombre picture. Interesting to me, personally, also because of my dear Hungarian grandmother, a pillar of wisdom and cynicism in my life that has been slowly fading into dementia and who has just celebrated her 90th birthday, a festive occasion she undoubtedly forgot about in give or take 20 seconds [Note: By freak chance I figured out she shared a birthday with Dan Swanö so I sent him a belated happy birthday and he actually replied, ha]. Her relationship with her Hungarian-ness was also ambiguous, in that it was her culture (well technically Serbo-Hungarian culture) and her language, but also a country she detested deeply for reasons unspecified but obvious. This is all happening – by this I mean being recommending excellent music as another birthday looms, that of her father – March 19 – who  was taken away on that date precisely in 1944 near Keleti Statipon in Budapest, never to be seen again. It also happened to be the birthday of his grandson, my grandmother's nephew, born in Israel on that date and given his name. One day after her 90th birthday her baby brother, the father of the second coming of her father, who was six in 1944 and 86 just a month or so ago, died in the early morning hours just this week. This all is naturally very besides the point given I'm only supposed to be writing about what a special album this is, but the derailment is almost automatic, one made that much more poigniant since the band's name – Shum – means both "some" and "garlic," and because I keep reading the song titles with my grandmother's accent. Garlic, death, and beautiful riffs. RIP Imre/Dov, and welcome into my life some kind of Shum. FFO: Decoherence, Entombed.

9. Paprika – "Peace Talks," from Let's Kill Punk (Punk – Iron Lung Records). I swear I never intended to weave the previous entry's "garlic" with this "paprika" to complete some kind of imaginary full circle, but then again maybe I am. Pulsating, forceful, angry punk that has that POCKET and that rage we all crave in our subverting the imaginary in favor of some real. Nor can I ignore the poignancy of the song's lyrics given my current, un-1944 very 2024 situation. Whatever. Let's listen to distorted guitar and die, I guess. FFO: Peace Test, Rabbit.

BONUS: Wormwitch – "Spells of Tartarus," from Wormwitch Sadistic Ritual Split (Black Metal – Boris Records). I was actually going to write about this in the below notes section but fuck that, it's too good. Wormwitch are back and grander than ever, with atmospheric-ish black metal that makes you want to scale a desolate mountain and throw yourself off a cliff. In a good way, maybe. Awesome. FFO: Mare Cogitum, Panopticon.

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: Scarcity, who released one of the best albums of this current shitty decade, have emitting new music from their upcoming album next week. So, that's nice.

TWO: The wonderful French everything-metal project Epitaphe has a new improvised electronic/jazz thing going called Eventide.

THREE: The always-wonderful Calvin suggested this slab of hardcore called Locktender and was correct in doing so.

FOUR: It's easy to assume the worst in the people you meet, whether in life or online, but it's not a thing I would like to do anymore. 

FIVE: Vomit Spell are a very good, very kind of underrated death metal band, and they have a new and awesome split with Barren.

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: In the "to check out" section, a new project from some very good people – Sacrificial Vein. More thoughts, I hope, next week.

OH AND: Bossk are fucking back.