Unsigned and Unholy: Young Hunter, Tear Light From Matter, Yliaster

Young Hunter remind me of what Urge Overkill might’ve sounded like if Nash Kato were born twenty years later (or maybe just ten) and grew up listening to Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult instead of Neil Young. Their fuzzed-out tones and laid back vibe are as inspired by grunge as their song structures, and keyboardist Sara Pinnell’s background vocals lend Benjamin Blake’s leads a touch of the occult. Stream their self-titled record below and buy it on Bandcamp.

Tear Light From Matter drummer Toby Ellis sent two very short but sweet emails to the MetalSucks Mansion Inbox over the past few months. They read as follows: “I am the drummer for this band. It is very special. You should write about it.” And: “About 50% of the music is improvised.” I like your style, dude! But what I like most is that, unlike Toby’s emails, Tear Light From Matter’s music is anything but simple or brief; it’s a complex stew of jazz, metal, experimental, psychedelia and I-don’t-even-know-what-the-fuck, and you can definitely feel that a huge chunk of it is improvised (and that’s a good thing, so rare in heavy music). Dig on their latest album Fœtal Præyers below.

If ever you have the urge to death metal the way Morbid Angel and Gojira death metal — that is, with tons of elephants marching riffs, ample dissonance and plenty of pick scrapes / whammy dives — but you’ve worn each of the latter’s discographies to pieces, then it’s high time you check out Yliaster. For now the Polish outfit is comprised of just two members, but founder Marcel Polit is the driving force here, handling vocals, guitar and bass, while Dariusz ‘Daray’ Brzozowski (Vesania, Dimmu Borgir, ex-Vader) handles drums on this recording. Oh, also: there’s theramin! Fuck yeah. New album Soliliquy just came out and can be streamed below or bought on Bandcamp.