Recommending Hot Weird Metal While Being Unsure of What Month This Is
Living through the anxiety of having just released a book. So that's my life. That and wanting to sleep. I want to sleep. Also, haven't been posting as much. So it goes. 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, TIKTOK 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.
Citrinitas – "The Infernal Hunt," from Telestic Ekstasis (Death Metal – Caligari Records). That famous Caligari-immaculate-taste thing is back – it had never left – with this stunning demo from Finnish death doom project, Citrinitas. Being splattered on a cave wall, having your loved ones try to figure out what part of that splatter are your hopes and dreams (it's that sticky thing to the right). Atmospheric, ruthless, and fucking terrifying.
Auzawandils – "When þe Moone Did Unbutton Her Pallid Flesh," from Laste Eclipse Ouer Golgothas Pytt (Psych Black Metla – Mystiskaos). Friend of the show, and yet somehow the enemy of all that is light and pretty, Alex Poole is back at his bullshit, wherein "bullshit" means "soul-transporting weirdo black metal." And while I'm still angry/sad that Skáphe are no more, there's some comfort in this first full-length album from Poole-tastic project Auzawandils. That comfort, other than, you know, more music from one of the greatest black-metal songwriters of all time, is that Auzawandils traces the path of what I have come to realize was Skáphe at its absolute zenith, namely in the collaborative album with Wormlust. There was something about that strange, strange record that makes it somehow the one with the most longevity for me, and while we won't get another one, this new album feels like a worthy spiritual successor.
Regulator Watts – "It's Gonna Happen," from kWh (Indie/Post-Hardcore – Solid Brass Records). In the desert of no inspiration and no trust in music that was the early 2000s in my life the post-hardcore-leaning Dischord discography was the well in the desert. And in that well were many brilliant bands – Abilene, Hoover, The Crownhate Ruin, The Nations of Ulysses, and others. Regulator Watts was, for me, among the very best, and The Aesthetics of No-Drag one of the best, most important albums from that whole era. So, while saying I'm excited about new Regulator Watts would be correct, it would also be the understatement of the millennium. What a treat. And they sound so fucking good. This album might fuck around and make me feel human again.
Archive Dystopia – "Ink into Silence," from Under the Black Sun – Chronicles of the Hollow Realms II (Drone/Ambient – Orko Productions). This was the ambient find for me for those few weeks I took a *breather and stepped down from being a music-recommendation pest. I first chanced on this project via this unreal and quite humongous compilation of ambient/experimental/noise. Minimalist, powerful, wordless storytelling of the highest order.
Fournier – "Constructing the Ark," from Self-Titled (Death Metal – Caligari Records). Caligari strikes again, this time with the most startlingly excellent death metal debuts of the year. If you head fails to bang to this track then, I'm sorry to say and this may be a very inappropriate way to break the news to you, but you might be paralyzed. Gross and intelligent death metal that also just so happens to sound perfect. Sticky perfection.
Nothingness – "Skull Evulsion," from Godslaughter (Death Metal – Everlasting Spew Records). One of the world's best contemporary death metal bands is back to fuck your neck up and alienate your loved ones. I am a proud day-one Nothingness person, and ever prouder to say that this new shit sounds fucking sick. If you like things that are sick, if you are a sicko, per se, then buy this. Now. Also, that fucking cover. My god.
Nailvillage -"There Comes the Night," from Godbless This New Me (Synth/Drone – Independent). Maurice de Jong continues his ceaseless drill-down into the bottom of the human soul. And whereas what he usually finds is some pretty bleak shit, this time he strikes shimmering beauty that seems to envelope the mind, leaving it milder, more at peace and yet somehow, at the same time, still more disturbed.
Fen – "Tectonic,: from Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth (Black Metal – Prophecy Productions). It may have only been three years since the previous Fen album, Monuments of Absence, but given everything that's been going on in the cosmos it feels like decades ago. Which isn't to complain about the rate in which these fine people release new music but moreso to state how badly I've felt like I needed a new album from these English masters of modern black metal. And this first single from what appears to be a much wider, multi-volume work is everything you might want and expect from them. Quietly melodic, epic in fact, while retaining that desperate, menacing edge. Very much looking forward.
Dangerous Thing – "Venerable Mycelial Uplink," from Dormant Spore (Death Metal – Independent). The wonderful Dangerous Thing are back, seemingly sans Paulo Paguntalan. Which, admittedly, is a shame, because few humans can gurgle death like that human, but the Justin Waaland-led techy death metal project returns blasting away all doubt. The riffs? They shall pummel. The songs? They will be freaky. All is well and very sick.
Bridge Burner – "Victim of Victims," from Funerary Void (Hardcore/Black Metal – Independent). Yet another return, though of a less joyous kind. The positive aspect is that the wonderful New Zealand-based bridge-burning enterprise is back, and sounds as bridge-burningly excellent as always. So that's nice. The downside is that apparently the band is no more, and this wonderful release will be their final farewell. Never say never, I guess, but this rules regardless.
FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ONE: New Krallice album coming.
TWO: The most recent Nur album, the excellent Shock Mentality, a song of which was featured on my most recent compilation, is getting a tape release via the always-wonderful Fiadh Productions. Get it.
THREE: Sutekh Hexen and Hissing, two legends of nasty sounds, are releasing a noisey split. Check it out.
FOUR: Speaking of primo, excellent noise: This from Gotgha (Kashev Tapes).
FIVE: Excellent Australian black metal weirdos Graveir have a new album out. Maybe more on this later.
ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: Have ye been yearning for instrumental, demented, sax-laden metal? OK. That's on you, but here's a new and very interesting release from Antagoniste.
