Sh*t That Comes Out Today: April 15, 2014
Ever feel like you wanted to be underground? (Not this kind of underground). Well, this is a week of nasty, weird releases that you’ve never heard of — but that’s a good thing. Because new shit is kind of the point of STCOT, and because lesser-known bands often evoke pinpoint emotions from inside their niches. It takes a dedicated jam to bring out those real, deeply embedded feels inside you. So at least one of these will give you goosebumps. Or herpes.
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Anti-Mortem
New Southern (Nuclear Blast)
On a playlist with: Pantera, Alice In Chains, Down
Listen “Words Of Wisdom” (here) “Truck Stop Special” (here)
Watch “100% Pure American Rage” (here)
Win The MetalSucks Photo Caption Contest (here)
YouTube comments are, uh, their own special sort of thing. But every once in a while, a commenter gets something so right that you end up quoting theirs: “Geez guys, do every metal band have to play one hundred different chords or have overly intellectual bullshit thrown in as lyrics to please you. Whatever, I like this band, and I don’t give a fuck if you don’t.” That sums up Anti-Mortem and their righteous, humping, feel-good music with a lovely southern twang.
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Thantifaxath
Sacred Noise (Dark Descent)
On a playlist with: Ulcerate, Sortilegia, Rahu
Listen Sacred Noise full stream (here)
If looking for a soundtrack for your new pyscho-thriller horror movie, look no further. Sacred Noise is lots of noise, most of it discordant, eerie, and vertiginous. It’s admirably unabashed about eluding the guidelines of what we might call “listenable music.” Still, it’s the opposite of unbearable — quite the opposite. It enchants and teases like how a murderer tickles you with the tip of a knife!
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Anubis Gate
Horizons (Nightmare)
On a playlist with: Textures, Myrath, Zero Hour
Listen “Never Like This” (here)
Horizons has the feel of Textures meets Uneven Structure, but with worse vocals. And after running the first half of “Never Like This” (above), maybe you’re all like, “DLR WTF, those vocals rock, man!” And yeah, the guy’s got pipes! And the intro sounds great. But that’s only until the song kicks in. I bet chorus vocals aren’t always the easiest thing to land (although, Uneven Structure, damn), and that kind of stumble can easily ruin a song — or an album. Fear Factory had the same problem.
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The Drip
A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics EP (Relapse)
On a playlist with: being pummeled by a planet
Listen A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics EP (here)
I love metal at its intersection with hardcore, and The Drip is so on the line between the two. All mega riffs and howling screams, it comes off hardcore — but when it gets rave/slam-worthy, it rears back to technical metal. Not to mention the whole “wall of sound” ethos, which was purposeful, as my ears feel violated. In the good way.
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I Declare War
We Are Violent People By Nature (Razor & Tie)
On a playlist with: Disfiguring The Goddess, Fit For An Autopsy, Carnifex
Listen “Quiet” (here)
Drop-z slamcore only goes so far. Not very far at all! So slamcore bands have to pick up some specialties. Like I Declare War and their black-metal bits and riffs that wouldn’t pale in comparison to The Acacia Strain’s. And despite tons of self-aware breakdowns, WAVPBN‘s drum-action and other fun stuff (no spoiler) keeps ears interested. Brute honesty characterizes not only the album’s title — there’s little deceit in the music.
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Stoneburner
Life Drawing (Neurot)
On a playlist with: pre-Mastodon, Javelina, Eagle Twin
Listen Life Drawing full stream (here)
Sometimes there’s a leisureliness to the construction and performance of a song. It can exist outside of pure “stoner” metal, and bleed a bit into progressive and grind. That’s exactly what you like about Life Drawing, because it’s raunchier than all the post-metal we listen to, but not too whittled down. Also it has just the right amount of bar/amateur feels, which definitely helps this style of music come across.
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OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell Check ’em Before You Wreck ’em (Rise Above) listen listen review
Below Across The Dark River (Metal Blade) listen
Black Sabbath The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1978) box (Rhino) listen
» Bokluk Taphonomy (Memento Mori) listen
Brainstorm Firesoul (AFM) listen
Breath Carolina Savages (Fearless) listen
Clawfinger Deafer Dumber Blinder 20 Years Anniversary Box 1993-2013 (AFM) listen
Countess Ancient Lies And Battle Cries (Barbarian Wrath) listen
Cult Leader Nothing For Us Here (Deathwish) listen
Dark Days Ahead North Star Blues (Inverse) listen
Department Of Correction, C.O.A.G., Miserable Failure, Unsu, Infected Society: Monsters! (Six of a Kind) split (Kaotoxin) listen
Desecresy Chasmic Transcendence (Xtreem) listen
E-Force The Curse (Mausoleum) listen
Emmure Eternal Enemies (Victory) listen listen listen listen listen
Enthroned Sovereigns (Agonia) listen listen
Gamma Ray Empire Of The Undead (Armoury) listen
Impetuous Ritual Unholy Congregation Of Hypocritical Ambivalence (Profound Lore) listen read
Kyng Burn The Serum (Razor & Tie) listen listen
Lillian Axe One Night In The Temple acoustic live (CME) infomercial
Memories Of A Dead Man Ashes Of Joy (Send The Wood) listen
» Morbid Flesh Embedded In The Ossuary (Unholy Prophecies) listen
Mos Generator Electric Mountain Majesty (Listenable) listen
The Oath The Oath (Rise Above) listen
Pact The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night (Moribund) listen
Pet Slimmers of the Year Fragments of Uniforms (Candlelight) listen
» Polar Shadowed By Vultures (Prosthetic) listen
Reality Grey Define Redemption (Bakerteam) listen
Sevendust Time Travelers & Bonfires (7Bros) listen listen listen
Seventh Circle Seventh Circle EP (Dead Chemists) listen
Sinbreed Shadows (AFM) listen
Sleeper Effect The Hero Clone EP (The Orchard) listen
Teramaze Esoteric Symbolism (Nightmare) listen
» T.O.M.B. Pennhurst/Xesse reissue (Crucial Blast) listen listen
» The Tower Hic Abundant Leones (Bad Omen) listen
Triptykon Melana Chasmata (Century Media) listen read
» Tuomas Holopainen The Life And Times Of Scrooge (Nuclear Blast) listen
Turbo The Fifth Element (Metal Mind) listen
Words Of Farewell – The Black Wild Yonder (AFM) listen
Wormreich Wormcult Revelations (Moribund) listen
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