Sh*t That Comes Out Today: March 4, 2014
Today is Fat Tuesday! Or “Mardi Gras,” as it’s called in the land of Goatwhore and Eyehategod. It means many things, including tits, intoxication, stupor, shiny beads, and an eventual glut of Facebook photo deletion requests. I love it! But I’ll tell you one thing: Mardi Gras is nothing without music. Nothing. It’s gotta push you to act out.
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Ready, Set, Fall
Memento (Lifeforce)
On a playlist with: Fleshgod Apocalypse, Betraying The Martyrs, Attila
Listen Memento full stream (here)
I blurb about Memento not because it’s anything particularly amazing but because it incorporates strains of Fleshgod with some nifty clean-sung choruses and just the right amount of knee-bopping beat. These things are very important when you’re trying to 1) make a record that you can fucking mosh to, and 2) remain catchy enough to remember but not so catchy to be obnoxious. So while I’m not ankle-grabbing at the sounds Ready, Set, Fall have made, I’m definitely impressed that they’re solidly right up the right alley for this week’s theme: party!
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Fossils
Flesh Hammer (Indisciplinarian)
On a playlist with: Godheadsilo, Death From Above 1979, Local H?
Listen Flesh Hammer full stream (here)
Not really sure what to make of Flesh Hammers other than it sounds totally freshman and vacuous and was definitely recorded using actual flesh hammers. However, song titles like “Crackhorse” and “Lard Obstacle” definitely sign toward a higher intelligence here. Maybe it’s way over our heads? Maybe this drum and bass duo — not drum ‘n bass duo — that’s body-painted bright red (like, opposite of Blue Man Group, yeah) are our almighty saviors? Because fuck Lent, now we’re members of the Church of Fossils.
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Ektomorf
Retribution (AFM)
On a playlist with: Fear Factory, Soulfly, Throwdown
Listen “Face Your Fear” (here) “Numb And Sick” (here)
Who the hell is Ektomorf? How fit for radio they are! Most people are like, “yeah, I never listen to the radio, all they play is commercial shit.” But here that for-sale sound can plays to a band’s advantage. Like as background throwdown music, or as slam material for when you just give zero fucks for a few hours. Well, that’s Retribution, and it’s nothing more and nothing less and wisely not aspiring to be something it can’t?
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Scars Divide
Scars Divide EP (Tenacity)
On a playlist with: The Safety Fire, Misery Signals, Darkest Hour
Listen Scars Divide EP full stream (here)
Hot damn, metalcore has officially reached the next plateau. It’s been spiced up by the progressive strains of Dillinger Escape Plan and The Human Abstract (and others). Take the opening riff Scars Divide’s EP: Big, long discordant chords peppered with little guitar noodles, insistent drumming, decisively core vocals. Not to mention the rest of the EP which is, well, fucking loaded. And from a brand new band.
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Carnifex
Die Without Hope (Nuclear Blast)
On a playlist with: Whitechapel, Chelsea Grin, Fit For An Autopsy
Listen Die Without Hope full stream (here)
So I like a few bands that bridge deathcore and slamcore, but I haven’t caught on to Carnifex. But just as Fit For An Autopsy reinvented themselves with their newest album, Carnifex has via Die Without Hope. Neither album offers anything revolutionary to their genres or to metal, but damn, each redefines the bands themselves.
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Destrage
Are You Kidding Me? No. (Metal Blade)
On a playlist with: The Haunted, Kvelertak, Vanisher
Listen Are You Kidding Me? No. full stream (here)
If you’re not familiar with Destrage’s 2010 album The King Is Fat’N’Old, then educate yourself. Destrage soaks old Swedish melodeath in 120% drunk-rave-juice (they’re from Italy). And so Are You Kidding Me? No. is like totally wild, unpredictable, and good fun. You get some nutty riffs and solos here and there, but AYKM?N.’s focus is on the groove and rhythm which Destrage has more or less perfected. Best Mardi Gras release of all time!
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OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
¤ Acheron Kult des Hasses (Listenable) listen
Anarchos Descent Into The Maelstrom (Vic) listen
Battleaxe Heavy Metal Sanctuary (SPV) listen
Bruised But Not Broken Fragment (Standby) listen
Colossus Lobotocracy (Klonosphere) listen
Comeback Kid Die Knowing (Victory) listen listen
Crematory Antiserum (SPV) listen listen
Freedom Call Beyond (SPV) listen
Hammercult Steelcrusher (SPV) listen
Hirax Immortal Legacy (SPV) listen listen
I Am Heresy Thy Will (Century Media) listen listen listen
Intervals A Voice Within listen listen listen
Kayser Read Your Enemy (Listenable) listen
» Kuolemanlaakso Tulijoutsen (Svart) listen listen
Morbus Chron Sweven (Century Media) listen listen listen
» Mount Salem Endless reissue (Metal Blade) listen listen listen
Nothing Guilty Of Everything (Relapse) listen
The Overseer Rest And Let Go (Solid State) listen listen listen
» Prizehog Re-Unvent The Whool (Eolian Empire) listen listen
Profezia Oracolo Suicida (Moribund) listen
Ribspreader Meathymns (Vic) listen
Silver Snakes Year Of The Snake (Bridge Nine) listen listen listen
The Strigas A Poisoned Kiss To Reality (Southern Brigade) listen
Suffer In Silence Behind The Truth (Sliptrick) listen listen
Vanishing Point Distant Is The Sun (AFM) listen
Wild Throne Blood Maker EP (Brutal Panda) listen
Wolves Like Us Black Soul Choir (Prosthetic) listen read
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