A FEW SONGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE EXISTED THIS WEEK JAN 12 – 18

Another week of useless uselessness, and another week of the human soul transcending and/or dealing with said uselessness with music. It was also a week of another track premiere, this time a new single from the melancholic perfection that is Zeresh, that also features the talents of Euski of Roma Amor and LYS of 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) and Hull of Light. Keep safe.

If you're new to this metal blog of bones you can also check out the various interview projects I have going on as well as the weekly recommendation posts. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever I may roam (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Bluesky, etc), and listen to my, I guess, active? (no) podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You could also possibly 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. It's probably a bad idea, but to each their own. ON TO THE LIST.

Délirant – "Thoughteater IV," from Thoughteater (Dissonant Black Metal – Sentient Ruin Laboratories). My fandom of everything D.B., the enigmatic soul behind Délirant, Negativa, and Hässlig, erupted in earnest with the release of Negativa's 03, an album that still to this very minute is one of the great classics of modern black metal. And I've followed everything D.B. has done since, including the most recent Negativa that came out in 2022 and the most recent Hässlig. But I'm here to say that the second album under the Délirant name isn't only good, it's incredible, and probably my favorite outing by the multi-projected Spaniard since the aformentioned 03. I'll do you one better: It's one of the best of its kind – and by "kind" I mean Wormlust, Skaphe, Rebirth of Nefast, Drastus – in a very long while. Essential. 

Trauma Bond – "Wolfing the Lamb to Mutton," from Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone (Grindcore/Industrial). Friends of the show Trauma Bond are back with a new full-length (finally), and have morphed into a very different kind of beast. Will you still get enough riffage and pure brutality to make you forget how bad the new Nails is? You sure will. But you're also getting something different – a dose of nihilistic, post-industrial rage that sounds less like powerviolence gone wild and more like Godflesh-meets-Uniforn-meets-Jesu-meets-hell-on-earth. It might take a second to reorient yourself when those moments arrive, but not that much longer since it fucking rules. 

Lehavoth – "Kamai," from Leviathan (Death Metal – Independent). Speaking of things that are underrated, the shapeshifting Lehavoth pretty much have to be one the most underrated things ever. Shapeshifting because they began as a 90s black metal band, morphed into a death metal band, morphed again into a unique amalgam of death metal and industrial that actually sounds like no one on earth (such as in the amazing Grinder) and with their upcoming new release (the first since said Grinder, almost nine years ago), they are venturing into the atmospheric, borderline ritualistic vibe of bands in the Deathspell Omega orbit. You can count on whatever they do to never be wishwashy, always on point, and always superb. Don't sleep.

Gout – "Bed Sores," from Born Rotting (Sludge/Post-Hardcore – Independent). A new project out of misty mountaintops of Glasgow, that is if Glasgow has misty mountain tops, and if it doesn't well I think this short EP just built new ones. Nothing really beats music that sounds like a few lost souls hooked up to instruments they can hardly control and unleash a holy fury of all man, beast, plant, and mineral. Getting that sludgy emotional fury isn't an easy thing to master, mainly since the mastering of it is in fact the admission of mastering nothing, but Gout has that magic in spades. Every second is dynamic, every transition meaningful, and a refreshing, wonderful surprise. 

Beware – "Talos," from Never End for None of Us (Hardcore/Post-Hardcore – Independent). I guess this was the week for very angry new bands from the United Kingdom. Take whatever route you need from Scotland to northern England (Google Maps says take the M6, I'm assuming that's a highway), and descend from my made-up misty mountaintops into the height and unhinged emotional violence into the melancholy pit of unhinged emotional violence that is also kind of sad. Beautiful stuff, that is, again, super dynamic, though the spectrum is here very clearly from the muscular angst of pure hardcore, even grinding at times, to the soft suede pillow of post-punk. Really great shit. 

Uulliata Digir – "Omni Dirga," from Uulliata Digir (Avant-Garde Death/Black Metal – Independent). Poland, the land of potatoes and unchecked creativity, strikes again. This thing has basically everything I love about the bizarreness of the Polish extreme-metal scene in the last decade or so, manic in both though and execution, it reeks of people being way too smart while making albums for way too few people. A release out of seeming nowhere, I basically guarantee this album to charge it's way deep into some sick hearts throughout this year. Twisted, brainy, and at times pretty fucking scary. 

Maud the Moth – "Siphonophores," from The Distaff (Experimental/Neo-Classical – The Larvarium). The etherial voice and talent of Maud the Moth are back to haunt your nights and darken your days [luck has it that as I was writing that sentence an aid-raid alarm went off, so darkened indeed]. Unsettling sounds clash with divine music and one of the most unique, heartfelt voices you will ever hear. A must. 

Bong-Ra – "Death#2," from Black Noise (Noise/Doom – Debemur Morti Productions). The newest installment of musical insanity from the great Bong-Ra finds the one-man project shifting. Firstly to a new a label, Debemur Morti, but, more importantly, into the murky depths of what feels like last 80s Godflesh and Pitchshifter. Gone are (at least in the first two singles) the wide expanses and soundscapes of Antediluvian and Meditations and in their stead a head-on attack of sonic violence. I mean, I loved those records and that sound, but this direct approach has me intrigued. I hope there's at least a little sax?

Ruinous Power – "What of Sacred Mars?," from Extreme Danger: Prototype Weaponry (Avant-Garde Black/Death Metal – I, Voidhanger Records). It was no easy task choosing one track from the recent four-album announcement from I, Voidhanger, and, really, the Sleep Paralysis single seems the most up my proverbial alley, but this weird thing from Ruinous Power grew on me in unexpected ways. It seems a bit too much at first, too much going on at the same time, but as the nine-minute monster track unfurls is gives out wonderfully varied shades of awesome. That also, I should say, make the sections of breakneck insanity seem a bit closer to the Ulthar kind, which, you know, is as good as it gets. Highly intriguing, very dynamic and very rewarding. 

SHORT FACTS ABOUT THINGS

Fact #1: Against all odds, with a second Imperial Triumphant single now out, the new albums looks to be a real threat to my listening habits (I wrote more extensively about the first single here).

Fact #2: For ye post-metal/sludge lovers, the Guiltless LP looks to be incredible.

Fact #3: Samsara, the Tzadik project involving some of the biggest names in weird – i.e. John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris – released a new album for the first time in a lot of time. 

Fact #4: Molchat Doma released a short live album.

OH OH ALMOST FORGOT: Weeping Sores album coming this year, fucking finally.