Sh*t That Comes Out Today: April 1, 2014
I quit. This is my final STCOT. You all are horrible, horrible people and I regret every second I’ve spent listening to your daft music and reading your idiotic comments. The only thing I’ve learned over the past year or so is that metal really does suck. Especially the screaming. Good riddance. Holy meatballs. Anyway, smell y’all later.*
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Plebeian Grandstand
Lowgazers (Throatruiner)
On a playlist with: Ulcerate, As We Draw, Portal
Listen Lowgazers full stream (here)
Take a second out of your day and check out each band on Throatruiner. You’ll notice that Plebeian Grandstand is the best of the bunch, and you’ll notice that many share elements: heavy atmosphere, much doom, such post, very scream. But Lowgazers stands out because there’s some, you know, cohesion between all the abstract parts. Think of the pros like Ulcerate — they’re evil, down, dirty, messy, but in the end you still recognize that you’ve actually heard a song as opposed to a planet made of glass crashing into Billy Mays. Plus it’s French. C‘est de la merde de qualité supérieure.
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Bigelf
Into The Maelstrom (Inside Out)
On a playlist with: Transatlantic, Beardfish, The Flower Kings
Listen “Control Freak” (here)
Even the most die-hard omg metal fans can whip out their jimmies and horns and rock without beating each other to death. It just takes the right trippy jams. And Bigelf embodies that ethos. Into The Maelstrom is good fun with good ol’ boys, but with the perfect progressive/psychedelic twist. I really appreciate it when a band takes itself seriously enough to write actual decent tunes, but no so seriously that they forget that one of the main points of music is having a good time. So have one, please?
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Pilgrim
II: Void Worship (Metal Blade)
On a playlist with: Indian, Pallbearer, Witchsorrow
Listen “The Paladin” (here) “Void Worship” (here) “Masters Chamber” (here)
Read Sammy O’Hagar MetalSucks review (here)
Void Worship is bloody fantastic. Some say that doom is being co-opted by dirty hipsters trying to get away from indie and progressive indie — maybe trying to find a harder side to life? — and yet others say that doom is flat-out dead. Many people say many things, but one thing I always say is: Listen to the fucking album. Who the hell cares what it does or doesn’t fit into a genre or sub-genre or sub-sub-genre or your mom? Just rock the title track “Void Worship” and bathe, bathe, bathe in the soupy, dark glory. Four out of five horns.
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Epistasis
Light Through Dead Glass (Crucial Blast)
On a playlist with: Vaura, Merkabah, Cthulhu Rise
Listen Light Through Dead Glass full stream (here)
“Extreme” to use sparingly. How deaf and blind have we gone to the extreme anyway? We see album covers with all kinds of blown body bits and hear lyrics like Cannibal Corpse’s which are, well, colorful as fuck! But what about the extreme in music’s instrumentation rather than its image — what about harshness, shrill, and total discordance? Very rarely do bands come along which teeter on that edge between incomprehensible and unlistenable, but when they do, they bridge it with mood and progression. I love this album.
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Austrian Death Machine
Triple Brutal (Artery)
On a playlist with: As I Lay Dying, The Terminator, Ghetoda Chopa
Listen “Prepared to be Conquered” (here) “I’ll Be Back” (here)
So apparently ADM formed to expose metalcore tropes and play light on pop culture needs a dose of its own medicine! Like, when Total Brutal launched, I dug it because it was a tongue-in-cheek view on boring metal, making it not so boring. It had humor and levity, but you didn’t think it’d spawn a sequel. And another. Triple Brutal is totally worn out and so I am, but I guess that was the joke all along. Lol guys.
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Nux Vomica
Nux Vomica (Relapse)
On a playlist with: Deafheaven, Altar of Plagues, Have A Nice Life
Listen Nux Vomica full stream (here)
I googled “Nux Vomica” and it got more complicated. Some kind of plant with medicinal qualities? By god, no! But wait, it is! Nux Vomica’s newest, Nux Vomica, (say that five times fast) is actual drugs. It’s wild at heart, but chill around the edges. Kind of in withdrawal, but ready to hop back on the wagon. I love how unbalanced and sudden the tones, switches, and nuances of Nux Vomica are. I definitely love how buttery smooth it is, because right now, it’s melting my brain.
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*April Fools <3
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Alesana The Decade EP (Artery) listen listen
» Boyfrndz Breeder (Brutal Panda) listen
Buioingola Dopo L’apnea (Sentient Ruin) listen
Cauldron Black Ram Stalagmire (20 Buck Spin) listen
Cemetery Fog Shadows From The Cemetery EP (Iron Bonehead) listen
Chiodos Devil (Razor & Tie) listen listen listen
» Circle Leviatan (Ektro) listen
» Daggers It’s Not Jazz, It’s Blues (Throatruiner) listen
Direwolves Aegri Somnia (Throatruiner) listen
Gravehill Death Curse (Dark Descent) listen listen
Hatriot Dawn Of The New Centurian (Massacre) listen
Hellion To Hellion And Back collection (HNE) listen
Human Cull Stillborn Nation (Wooaaargh) listen
Infest Cold Blood War (Xtreem) listen
Lacuna Coil Broken Crown Halo (Century Media) listen listen read
Johnny Wore Black Walking Underwater (Dead Cherry) listen
John Wesley (Porcupine Tree) Disconnect (Inside Out) listen
Khroma Collapse (Inverse) listen
Lost Society Terror Hungry (Nuclear Blast) listen
Magnum Escape From The Shadow Garden (SPV) listen
» Mass Infection For I Am Genocide (Comatose) listen listen
Massacre Back From Beyond (Century Media) listen listen
Neige et Noirceur Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques (Sepulchral) listen
Pyrrhon The Mother Of Virtues (Relapse) listen listen listen
Relief In Sleep Relief In Sleep (Imminence) listen
Sabbath Assembly Quaternity (Svart) listen listen
» Sargeist Feeding The Crawling Shadows (WTC) listen listen listen
Shear Katharsis (Lifeforce) listen listen
Social 66 Social 66 (Pavement) listen
Sonata Arctica Pariah’s Child (Nuclear Blast) listen listen listen
Steel Panther All You Can Eat (Open E) listen read
Various Artists Ronnie James Dio: This Is Your Life tribute (Rhino) listen listen
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