Shit That Comes Out Today: July 27, 2018

What a fucking week. I’ve been getting my dick kicked in at my day job for roughly a month now and I think it might be time for me to start looking at something new. The days of corporate Boozeman are numbered, folks. Unfortunately for you all, I’ll still be doing this and as you all might remember, you guys failed to give the #firephilboozeman campaign any momentum so it folded. You had your chance! But anyway, this week is pretty decent, minus the first two releases that are laughable at best and trash at worst. The final three, however, are all killer, especially Blasphemous and Inexorum. In case anyone was wondering how the float trip went, I passed out on the raft for the final two hours and I guess you don’t get hangovers when you’re sunburned over 60% of your body. Science! Anyway, onto the music.

Halestorm
Vicious (Atlantic)
On a playlist with Shinedown, Evanescence and Stone Sour
Listen: “Uncomfortable”

Yeah, yeah, I know. Halestorm aren’t metal. They’re hard rock. I know. That being said, I legitimately cannot figure out if I like this band or not. I really dug “Loves Bites” and “A Familiar Taste of Poison”, but a lot of their catalog is the epitome of hit or miss for me. As for the new record, I’m erring on the side of miss. “Uncomfortable” is about as low-risk of a song as I’ve heard from them and it borders dangerously close to pop rock territory. In fact, the edgiest this song gets is Lizzy Hale saying “fuck the Man.” Ground breaking stuff right there.. So I don’t know. I liked this band’s earlier stuff and Lizzy Hale is a great frontwoman, but I think if I feel like listening to hard rock, I’ll stick with their older stuff because it has more bite than Vicious does.

Otep
Kult 45 (Napalm Records)
On a playlist with In This Moment, The Agonist and Butcher Babies
Listen: “To The Gallows”

It’s no secret that we here at MetalSucks despise Donald Trump. We whole-heartedly agree with the anti-Trump themes in Kult 45, which is a play on him being the 45th president. That being said, however, what the hell is this? As far as I know, Otep has always been nu-metalish (feel free to correct me on that if I’m wrong), but for fuck’s sake, at least the older stuff didn’t sound like a political version of what I assume comes out of Fred Durst’s asshole after a Taco Bell run. I’m serious, this is bad. I made it roughly. I made it about 20 seconds into the single before I started laughing so at this rate, it looks like this album’s biggest accomplishment is making the Statue of Liberty weirdly sexy. Maybe the rest of the record will be better but the single is absolutely atrocious and I can’t imagine myself listening to more of Kult 45 than that.

Shed The Skin
We Of Scorn (Hells Headbangers)
On a playlist with Decapitated, Dyscarnate and The Kennedy Veil
Listen: “Serpentspawn Upheaval”

Shed The Skin are a death metal band with a few black metal elements tossed in just for good measure. If we were to call them a cake, they’d be a gloomy death metal for the cake itself, topped with the production from The Black Dahlia Murder’s Unhallowed for frosting, and black metal sprinkles on top. Please not that this band is not similar to TBDM, just the production value of the one album. Although I wouldn’t say this is exactly up my alley, the galloping riff around 3:30 is super catchy and the title track of the song is pretty killer, even if it focuses on more melodic elements that aren’t used as much in “Serpentspawn Upheavel”. So if regular death metal with a little blackened spice — emphasis on the little — is your cup of tea, you’ll like these dudes a lot.

Blasphemous
Emerging Through Fire (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)
On a playlist with Behemoth, Misery Index and Belphegor
Listen: “Mouth Of Lies”

I’ll admit that I almost wrote Blasphemous off because the production on this album is umm… very D.I.Y., we’ll call it. However, I am incredibly glad that I didn’t because holy shit are these guys good. Blasphemous are a killer blackened death metal band that warrants a check out if you’re a fan of any band I mentioned in the playlist line above. The music is so aggressive and well-written that by the end of the song you’ll have completely forgotten that you’re listening to basement-quality audio. And of course there’s nothing wrong with that as according to their Facebook, Blasphemous are “Laying waste to the fakeness of the ‘underground,’” so I’d imagine this was more of an artistic choice rather than one made out of necessity. But who knows. Really all that matters is that this album is going to tear your dick off and fuck your eye-sockets with it. This is 100% worth a listen. Don’t pass this album up. I can’t wait to hear more from Blasphemous.

Inexorum
Lore Of The Lakes (Gilead)
On a playlist with Naglfar, Sacramentum and Dawn
Listen: Full album stream

In the likely event that you’re not familiar with Inexorum, allow me to change that. Inexorum is a one-man black metal project from Minnesota, which in case you didn’t know, has and absurd 11,000+ lakes. So we have lake black metal. Interested yet? If not, fret not. Inexorum’s brand of black metal falls more on the melodic and epic side than it does the harsh/grating side so it’s both easy and enjoyable to listen to as you picture yourself soaring above and under the lakes of Minnesota. Although I haven’t dug into the music all too much, it sounds like mastermind Carl Skildum writes about the nature of Minnesota in the same way that Panopticon’s Austin Lunn writes about the landscape of Kentucky. I wouldn’t call the sounds particularly similar as there is no bluegrass/folk to be found with Inexorum, but if you like one band, then chances are you’ll like the other. The final word ? Lore Of The Lakes is an incredible debut album and just like with Blasphemous, I absolutely cannot wait to hear more. Inexorum gets my pick for best release of the week.

OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Atavisma Chthonic Rituals (Memento Mori) listen
Avola Zone (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia) listen
BC35 The 35th Anniversary of BC Studio (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia) listen
Black Space Riders Amoretum Vol. 2 (Cargo) listen
Coarse I (Zegema Beach Recordings) listen
Decline Of The I Escape (Agonia) listen
Dee Snider For The Love Of Metal (Napalm Records) listen
Derdian DNA (King) listen
Hangman’s Chair Banlieue Triste (Spinefarm) listen
Invocation Spells Spread Cruelty In The Abyss (Hells Headbangers) listen
Plini Sunhead (N/A) listen
Redemption Long Night’s Journey Into Day (Metal Blade) listen
Rise Against The Ghost Note Symphonies, Vol. 1 (Virgin) listen 
Ritual Aesthetic Wound Garden (Cleopatra) listen
Tarja Act II (earMusic) listen
Thou Rhea Sylvia (Deathwish Inc.) listen
Ultra-Violence Operation Misdirection (Candlelight/Spinefarm) listen
Venues Aspire (Arising Empire) listen

SHIT THAT COMES OUT AGAIN TODAY
Saxon Destiny (Reissue) (BMG) listen
Saxon Innocence Is No Excuse (Reissue) (BMG) listen
Saxon Rock The Nations (Reissue) (BMG) listen