NINE SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM – APR 28 – MAY 4
Another hectic week, with a slight sprinkling of actual positivity. My kids are awesome (the youngest is entering the cutest age of all), my wife is awesome (had her birthday this week, and I may not have fucked it up as I usually do) and writing is getting done. All in all grateful for what I have while dreading the moment it all goes up in a nuclear mushroom. So, just the normal shit. 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. Wormed – "Automaton Virtulague," from Omegon (Tech Death Metal / Grindcore – Season of Mist). Eight years after their previous full-length, the high priests of creative, forward-thinking, crushing technical and/or brutal death metal are motherfuckin' back for your souls and for the soles of your feet. I have been praying for this, I was considering learning Spanish for this, and here it is. No one does it quite like them. Also very happy they have been wise enough to keep the tasteless techy album cover tradition alive. So important. FFO: Afterbirth, Artificial Brian.
2. Ceremony of Silence – "Serpent Slayer," from Hálios (Disso Death Metal – Willowtip). Speaking of waiting too damn long for some sweet-ass blastbeats, Slovakian demons Ceremony of Silence have come the fuck back, five long years after their beautiful and somewhat unsung Oútis (not unsung here, son, one of my faves of that year). And what is our reward for patiently waiting? A full on mayhem of weird guitars, drums that go "boom" very fast, and the kind of atmosphere that makes you feel devoured by acid. In an already disso-tastic year (Convulsing, Ulcerate, Cave Sermon, et al), this is another stellar – and surprising – addition. FFO: Altarage, Ulcerate.
3. Aquapocalypse – "Mr. Mist," from Aquatopolis (Heavy Metal/Alt Metal – Independent). Did you think 90s alt rock/metal and heavy metal was a good thing to smash together? Nor did I! But that's what this beautiful album by American group Aquapocalypse does. Kind of like listening to Hum if they were into Black Sabbath and Killing Joke. Does that makes sense? Probably doesn't, but this track is one of the catchiest things I have heard this year. FFO: Tony Iommi with a short haircut, a bowling shirt, and a baggy pants.
4. Hyperdontia – ״Death's Embrace," from Harvest of Malevolence (Death Metal – Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent Records). One of the GOATs of modern death metal are back with their third full-length album. No surprises on this front, nor should there be any surprises from these dudes ever – just the best old school death metal money can buy. FFO: Buying old school death metal with money for some reason.
5. Lust Hag – "Dagger of Magdalene," from Lust Hag (Black Metal – Fiadh Productions). The best black metal I've head this week comes courtesy of the inimitable, the indelible, the never-ending source of knowledge and inspiration over at the Black Market. I was actually debating whether this would be the most representative track, but they're all good. Eviscerating, emotional, atmospheric, raw-ish, creative, and just overall awesome black metal with a dash of medieval wankery. Wonderful. FFO: Spectral Lore, The Black Mysteries.
6. Pentagram – "The Portal," from Eternal Life of Madness (Black Metal/Thrash – Listenable Records). Gotta say, I was not aware of the Pentagram (Chile) lore, and was only aware of this release thanks to the presence of two fiends on South American metal in my digital life (Ryan and Jonathan). Am very happy I checked it out, though. I guess it makes sense given how long these dudes have been at it, but it seriously sounds like a mashup of basically every era of metal for the last 40 years in a very good way. Rockin' black/thrash that sounds like heavy metal and death metal all at the same time. That riff/moment around 0:16 onward is one of my favorite moments this year. FFO: Sarcófago, Celtic Frost.
7. Kréen – ״Lápidas,״ from Ecos de Olas, Céfiros y Llamaradas (Atmospheric Black Metal/Doom – These Hands Melt). Staying in Chile for a moment with this shimmering gem of a thing. And "shimmering" is the best word to understand before diving it – it's pretty, polished, moody and feels at times like 90s Paradise Lost being filtered through 2010s Alcest with Spanish lyrics. All of it is beautiful, and it constantly jumps from one genre or mood to another seamlessly and, again, beautifully. Music for cloudy weather. FFO: SAD BOYZ.
8. SECT – "New Low from Plagues Upon Plagues (Hardcore/Post-Hardcore – Southern Lord Recordings). A new, moody offering from the merry bands of hardcore legends who decided to bless this cursed year of someone's lord 2024 with both emotion and – one would imagine on the whole album – riffs. The expected thing would be to drop some kind of riff monster as your first single in five years. But SECT don't move like that, which makes me VERY curious as to the possibility of how fucking sick this album is going to be. My bet is on "very sick." FFO: Trap Them, Filter.
9. Glassing – "Ritualist," from From the Other Side of the Mirror (Screamo/Post-Metal – Pelagic Records). This was a busy week, and, as always, the nine spot is always controversial because so many tracks are vying for that last, sweet place on the MACHINE MUSIC MONEY TRAIN YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN but Glassing had to be the one. Because of the variety, because of the completeness of its art (just look at that cover, God damn) and because of the replay value. A band that is always out there, making great music and keeps getting better. Have to love that. FFO: Cult of Luna, Envy.
FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ONE: Imperial Triumphant went ahead a pulled a Dusk and Her Embrace: The Original Sin. Meaning they went back to a transitional, very important record in their catalogue – 2018's Vile Luxury and, to me eyes, corrected the historical mistake that was going forward while completely ditching the raw chaos that was the source of all that magic on (AOTD alum warning) Abyssal Gods. The result is that Vile retains all that proggy jazz cred that IT has been known for, while sounding absolutely nuts. NUTS. Why in the demon's name would anyone want to sound any different?
TWO: 200 Stab Wounds released the first single from a new album and it sounds so good I might be into 200 Stab Wounds now.
THREE: Speaking of AOTD alums, Rivers of Nihil are coming with a new record and the new single sounds pretty good.
FOUR: Loek, a good person and a Patreon supporter (which makes him the best kind of person) sent such a nice message of support that it made my day, week, month, and possibly year. This might not be the most populated readership in the history of music blogs, but GOD DAMN do y'all rock.
FIVE: In keeping with the hardcore-ish tone of some of this post, the new album from Urzah is pretty great too.
ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: Don't sleep on the new Funeral Leech. But do sleep in general. Sleeping is very important.
