A FEW SONGS THAT SPILLED LIKE WATER ONTO MY LAPTOP THIS WEEK FEB 23 – MAR 1
Don't feel like doing an intro as the news has again made its way into my lizard brain and paralyzed me. But, as the kinda-great Kurt Vonnegut once said, even pillars of salt can write blog posts about grinding black metal. Pretty sure he said that. Please take some time to check out the mammoth interview I did with the equally mammoth Mitochondrion about Parasignosis. It was conducted a few weeks before the release of their wonderful new album, Vitriseptome, and so it touches on that too a bit, but mostly about making art. Cool guys, had a blast.
As always, 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.
The Overmold – "The Overmold," from The Overmold (Avant-Garde Black/Death/Doom Metal – I, Voidhanger Records). It should be said up front that this is just a tiny snipper from the massive title track of this equally massive album. It should also be said that this is a new project masterminded by a couple of certified geniuses – Mick Barr (Krallice, Ocrilim, Beastlor, etc), and Tim Wyskida (Khanate, Blind Idiot God, Jodis, and recently also Insect Ark). I then have to say, from beyond the depressed stupor that the news has blanketed on my brain like a sea turtle caught in a tuna web, that this album, to which I have had the privilege of listening in full several times recently, is not only one of the best released so far this year but one that has the very real potential of being the best one still when it's all said and done and I'm probably dead since that seems to be where we're heading as a race. Incredible music, anyway.
Abduction – "Vomiting at Baalbek," from Existentialismus (Black Metal – Candlelight Records). I've been covering the excellent Abduction for quite some time now (probably since around 2018-ish) in this useless waste of space of a "music blog," and have appreciated all their incarnations, from the raw to the cooked. And I don't know if this is the bad mood part, or whatever, but the recent untimely passing of the great Trånn Ciekals and the way this album sounds and feels makes me say something like Abduction are the torchbearers for "black metal that obviously patterns itself on second-wave Norwegian stuff and yet despite that isn't copy cat and rules" now that Djevel are no more. Aggression coupled beautifully with harmony and melancholy in a pretty great way. Possibly their best work yet.
Living Creature – "Victory Over Happiness," from Total Majesty of Depression (Black Metal – Northern Doom Records). The mastermind behind the excellent and raw and kind of nuts Heáfodbán is back under their other guise, the excellent, raw, and kind of nuts in a much sadder way, Living Creature. If you've even been a fan of the melancholy bits in late 90s black metal (looking at you Cradle of Filth), and really wished they were funneled through a 1972 transistor radio and recorded in a big room with no apparent sound treatment, then this is basically as good as your dream can get. A shrieking beast trapped in a bomb shelter with musical instruments and a whole lot of talent and flair for drama.
Sadness – "Secrets in Layers of Abstraction," from Magogaio / Sadness (Electronic/Black Metal – Flowing Downward). There were also a bunch of Trhä drops, one of which I really liked, along with news of a first Trhä live show soon. But Sadness takes the DAOFU (Damián Antón Ojeda Fictional Universe) award this time around. Same angle, same feelings, and basically the same kind of song, but refreshingly done and with an interesting view toward a new way forward. Not that that will happen, nor do I anticipate it or want it, but just pretty and a bit different.
Morast – "Aratron," from Fentanyl (Black/Doom Metal – Ván Records). Another foray into a more traditional way of metal that still gets me going. This time via the German project Morast, who released a pretty great album last month. If you're into Fyrnask, which you really should be, then this should feel somewhere in that general neighborhood – spacey, atmospheric, agressive, and very "clean"-sounding black metal. Cool shit.
Cabinet – "Iatrogenesick Defloration / Anhedonia (room 1.b)," from Anhedonia (Death Metal – Bloodymountain Records). Cosmic riff-spewers and a frequent object of fascination, Cabinet, are back to, well, spew riffs and fascinate with a new album coming later this month. Walls inhuman sounds emanating from what feels like every human orifice and pooling in your ears like a weird disease. Love the output (last year's album was great), and love all the associated acts releasing too – Oreamos, SXAP – but, if you're reading this, oh mountain dwellers, which I doubt you are – where's a new Sxuperion!? Anyhow, amazing and haunting as always.
Rýr – "Flung," from Dislodged (Post- Metal – Moment of Collapse Records). This is, one the one hand, one the face of it, as post-metal-by-the-numbers as it gets. I'm not rattled by the introduction of the trombone or the excellent use of a wild goose. But everything flows so beautifully, and the dynamics – whether in terms of heavy-to-melodic parts, or volume and atmosphere are basically perfect. Not to make any useless comparisons, but this is 2000s Pelican crossed with Geneva-era Russian Circles in the best way.
Ritual Ascension – "Consummation Rites," from Profanation of the Adamic Covenant (Death/Black Metal – Sentient Ruin Laboratories). I've been vibing to this here album for a while now, and yet have failed to mention it here – fail no more! I have to say, I loved basically everything about this – the feel, the progression, the uncomfortable atmosphere – without even knowing that the members of this new project are some of the fine people responsible for some of my favorite USBM ever – Suffering Hour and Feral Light, especially. So, that just goes to show I know what I like. I guess. Mold-carrying, disease-spewing, riff-expanding music for the darkest parts of your soul.
Sepulchral Curse – "Beneath the Dismal Tides," from Crimson Moon Evocations (Death Metal – Dark Descent Records). I was very much prepared to not like this record, and, truth be told, since I am now writing from my wife's computer after spilling a whole glass of water on my laptop while writing this post, I was very much not in the mood to even BE HERE TODAY. And I actually don't remember what made me even click the album art, since I distinctly remember checking it out and not liking it. But, as it turns out, past me was a fucking idiot since this rules. There has been a lot of great metal coming out lately (Chaos Inception, Grave Infestation, Toughness, to name but a few), but this really hits me in the "kind of sounds like a scary Tomb Mold" spot. Which, frankly, might not actually be a thing, but, again, my wife's computer. Killer record.
Blastanus – "Class Warfare," from Land Of The Weak, Home Of The Slave (Sax-Crazed Brutal Grinding Death Metal – Independent). Again, the context is not what you might call "writing ideal," but I had to include fan favorites and anus blasting Blastanus. They made a huge splash with me with their previous release, which led, I believe to them also being noticed by Sludelord who them released their tape. Now their back, their sax in toe, ready to steamroll your brain and generate anus-based jokes from your friends. Relentless music in the best possible way. With, of course, sax.
FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ONE: I mentioned Toughness in passing, but here's another mention not in passing. Listen to this bass-happy death metal, now.
TWO: New Neptuniam Maximalism album coming. Rejoice.
THREE: The Dragged into Sunlight Youtube page seems to be very busy posting things lately. Should I take that as a sign of maybe things to come?
FOUR: New Teitanblood coming, and soon.
FIVE: A whole bunch of cool shit I didn't get to this week, including new Homeskin, Ancient Death, and Cepheide (with some gothy feelz).
ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: I hate water.
