Listen To Now: New Tracks From Secrets of the Sky and Altars

Does the descriptor “six-piece progressive doom ensemble” get you horny like it does me? Fortunately it’s not all press copy talk: this band fucking RIPS, and the music sounds exactly like you’d expect it to given that choice of words. I’d say it’s more rooted in death metal than doom, but the plodding pace certainly brings it down to a doomian-tempo and feel. Progressive, check: the band’s new album To Sail Black Waters contains just four tracks, and this is the shortest one at “only” 8 minutes. Ensemble, yup: the band’s got 6 members, like I already told ya. It’s also melancholic and aching in the same way that bands like Insomnium and Swallow the Sun are, but it’s not as melodic as either. Italian metal label Kolony Records will release To Sail Black Waters throughout Europe on October 4th and 5th, and in North America on October 8th. Check out “Sunrise”:

Now, Altars: they kind of sound like Portal might sound if Portal decided to write actual songs with discernible parts instead of just a wall of indecipherable noise. Which is to say deep, churning, powerful BRUTAL AS FUCK grooves and lots of Morbid Angel worship. Here’s “Husk” from their new album Paramnesia, out September 6 via Nuclear Winter Records, courtesy of Cvlt Nation: