Sh*t That Comes Out Today: February 4, 2014
The word “shit” in Shit That Comes Out Today can mean, ya know, just general stuff. Like, “Hey, grab that shit” or “Dude, check out this shit I stole from that masked swingers party last night.” Sometimes, though, shit means shit. (Like that only somebody like Goldblum could pull off.) Here, the former is our focus each week. The good stuff. But some shit you can actually start to smell seeping in all around you. It infects you, like a shit virus. Know that as you click to listen below: Sometimes that flaming porch bag isn’t empty.
·
Behemoth
The Satanist (Metal Blade)
On a playlist with: Ulcerate, Vader, Immortal
Listen “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” (here) “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer” (here)
Read Sammy O’Hagar MetalSucks review (here)
Yow, Behemoth is about as evil as metal gets. Pair The Satanist with last year’s Ulcerate release, and you suspect that this decade could be the darkest ever. Or the best, depending of course on your musical tastes. The Satanist is so wonderful for its ability to so easily make room on anyone’s plate — whether or not you’re a huge fan of blackened death, death, deathened black, or straight-up black metal. Behemoth raves with simplicity and power and might and just the right amount of hail Satan.
·
Caliban
Ghost Empire (Century Media)
On a playlist with: Threat Signal, Heaven Shall Burn, As I Lay Dying
Listen “Devil’s Night” (here) “King” (here)
Rule #1: Never hate on solid metalcore. Crap all over the bad stuff day and night, but spare the quality big-named leaders and small-time acts. But what happened to Caliban? I mean, 2004’s The Opposite From Within was by no means a trendsetter, but it was solid at the core and didn’t have some of the worst fucking choruses ever recorded. They used to kind of be hardcore, simple, straightforward, with the slightest of European sensibilities and enough niche appeal to sell a few t-shirts. But Ghost Empire? Sigh.
·
Truckfighters
Universe (Fuzzorama)
On a playlist with: Firestone, Greenleaf, Dozer
Listen “Convention” (here) “The Chairman” (here)
Keep it earthy, down-home, gritty, and real with Truckfighters. Their 2009 album Mania is arms-length rock wrapped up into a cute little package with proggy trimmings. It’s good, transparent, except for the pub-load of exhaled smoke. Universe is much of the same, which is great, and this consistency means each and every song is a hit. And if you are lucky enough to see them live, you know they’ll put out. Money’s worth, baby!
·
Exmortus
Slave To The Sword (Prosthetic)
On a playlist with: Winds Of Plague, Revocation, Diamond Plate
Listen “Slave To The Sword” (here) “Immortality Made Flesh” (here) “Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Movement” (here)
Hello, left field. Exmortus came out of it. Okay, they’re not that new — their debut full-length dropped in 2008 — but my god they fucking rip: straight-up shred with touches of classic thrash and plenty of non-lame viking fist-pumping hale-yeah riffs. Even the solos are wicked, often diminished, and totally edgy. But what sells Slave To The Sword — and other sexellent modern thrash albums — is that upbeat, consistent, never-gonna-stop feel. I mean, please spin “Immortality Made Flesh” if it’s the only thing you do today. Tell me you don’t love it <3!
·
Heikki Hautala
Pyövelin Vaatteet (Ektro)
On a playlist with: Brendan Perry, Scott Kelly, Leonard Cohen
Listen “Pyövelin Vaatteet” (here) “Ajastamme Vieraantuneet” (here)
Ever listen to another language and find that you’re glad you don’t understand it? Like, the more you you would know, the less mysterious and strangely pretty it becomes? I’m going to have to agree and give a blind word of support for Heikki Hautala. It sure seems that the lyrics are profound and meaningful and all that — and it sounds like he prides himself on that — but I’m having such a good time with just the sound of the guy’s voice and the beauty of Finnish. Can’t pronounce it for shit, though.
·
Grand Magus
Triumph And Power (Nuclear Blast)
On a playlist with: Wolf, Candlemass, Manowar
Listen “Steel Versus Steel” (here) “Triumph And Power” (here)
Read Kip Wingerschmidt MetalSucks review (here)
If there’s just one band who can perfectly capture what it’s like to ramp off a martian volcano into a supernova at 400 mph in a bright green Lamborghini Countach while eating crocodile steaks and painting your fingernails, it’s Grand Magus. Rock on, you hairy bastards.
·
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Abyssal Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius 2LP (Iron Bonehead) listen read
Battle Beast Battle Beast (Nuclear Blast) listen read
» Corpsessed Abysmal Thresholds (Dark Descent) listen
Down From The Wound Violence And The Macabre (Comatose) listen listen listen
For Today Fight The Silence (Razor & Tie) listen listen listen
» Lie In Ruins Toward Divine Death (Dark Decent) listen
¤ Mayan Antagonise (Nuclear Blast) listen listen
Metal Noam Avram (Mountastic) listen
Omnizide Death Metal Holocaust (Carnal) listen
Prostitute Disfigurement From Crotch To Crown (Willowtip) listen listen listen
Shrapnel The Virus Conspires (Candlelight) listen
Sunn O))) & Ulver Terrestrials (Southern Lord) listen
Within Temptation Hydra (Nuclear Blast) listen listen
·
