Shit That Comes Out Today: January 25th, 2019
Jesus Christ there is so much snow here. It snowed well over a foot in the past couple days, and there are snowbanks up to my thighs bordering the roads. [insert comment about Montana being soooo cooold here.] I fucking love it.
While this week’s catalogue hopefully won’t melt all the beautiful powder on the ground, it sure as hell melts face. It seems to be making up for last week’s lack of br00tality — in fact, pretty much everything on the list that’s worth listening to is absolutely wild. But before I get going with stuff that drops today, I’m gonna leave a plug for the new Noctambulist debut up here. It technically came out on Monday, but it’s the most insane thing I heard all week, if not all year (haha lol get it?). Give it a listen once you’ve dug through today’s offerings:
Swallow The Sun
When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light (Century Media Records)
RIYL Woods of Ypress, My Dying Bride
Listen “Firelights”
After their three-part magnum opus released back in 2015, Swallow The Sun have been pretty quiet — understandably so, since guitarist and founder Juha Raivo lost his partner Aleah Stanbridge the following year. When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light is a delicate, bittersweet tribute, and while there’s still moments of crushing death-doom, most of the weight is purely emotional.
Altarage
The Approaching Roar (SoM)
RIYL Portal, Ulcerate
Full Album Stream
In a society where bands like Cannibal Corpse have lost their shock value, it’s a miracle there’s still untapped vessels of creative nightmare fuel to be found. When I (belatedly, like, yesterday) found out that Altarage were dropping a new album, I knew I was in for a sp00k-fest involving less blood ‘n guts and more mind-breaking turmoil. The Spanish metallers continue their upward trajectory in a whirlwind of sonic obliteration, writhing itself into a mass of cosmic torment and profound horrors best enjoyed at a nursing home or your local animal shelter.
Desecravity
Anathema (Willowtip Records)
RIYL Archspire, Inferi
Listen “Impure Confrontation”
Just to keep things interesting, here’s some Japanese tech-death. It’s not boring tech death, either. While many bands in the genre seem to favor fretboard jackoff-ery over musicianship and flow, Desecravity mange to find the perfect balance in Anathema. There’s actually a lot of musically pleasing things going on in this album, like, recurring themes and shit, to say the least. Wow!
Vessel of Iniquity
Void of Infinite Horror (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
RIYL Gnaw Their Tongues, Infernal Coil
Full Album Stream
The Bandcamp page reads, “Void of Infinite Horror is a claustrophobic, abominable, twisted, and horrific mosaic of modern and visionary extreme metal,” and I really couldn’t have said it any better myself. This shit is nuckin’ futs, y’all. My itch for bludgeoning blackened death and wacked-out industrial nose has been scratched all the way to the bone, and it’s safe to say I don’t even know what music is anymore.
Ars Magna Umbrae
Lunar Ascension (I, Voidhanger Records)
RIYL Blut Aus Nord, Dodecahedron
Full Album Stream
Do you possess a pair of ears that’ve endured enough abuse to enjoy the dissonant black metal thing that’s happening right now? If so, this record will be right up your alley. Ars Magna Umbrae is a one-man project that fits nicely among the other crepuscular bands on I, Voidhanger’s roster, drawing inspiration from dark occultist themes and twisting them into a celestial-yet-corrupted icon of the void. Lunar Ascension is a jaw-dropper, friends. It’s weird, it’s fucked up, yet still incredibly musical — everything I love about the current state of metal.
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Malist – In the Catacombs Of Time (Northern Silence Productions) listen
A Secret Revealed – Sacrifices (Lifeforce Records) listen
Judiciary – Surface Noise (Closed Casket Activities) listen
Seed of the Sorcerer, Womb of the Witch – Spell Book I: Ceridwen (self-released) listen
Together to the Stars – An Oblivion Above (Northern Silence Productions) listen
Ceild – A View (self-released) listen
Sofy Major – Total Dump (Deadlight Entertainment) listen
Incite – Built to Destroy (Minus Head Records) listen
Carnal Forge – Gun to Mouth Salvation (ViciSolum Productions) listen
King 810 – Suicide King (self-released) listen
Evergrey – The Atlantic (AFM Records) listen
Insanity Alert – 666-Pack (Season Of Mist) listen
SHIT THAT COMES OUT AGAIN TODAY
NunSlaughter / Throneum – Bedeviled (Hells Headbangers) listen
SHIT THAT CAME OUT EARLIER THIS WEEK
Noctambulist – Atmospheres of Desolation (Blood Harvest Records) listen
Mar – Pressed in the Earth (self-released) listen
Mendel – The Blood, The Sin, and The Djinn (self-released) listen
McClane – Tamerlapüth (self-released) listen
Csejthe – Lycanthropie Misanthropie (self-released) listen
Worn Thin – Worn Thin (self-released) listen
Întristare – Vestiges I (self-released) listen
Blasphematory – Depths of the Obscurity (self-released) listen
No Vale Nada – Alter Ego (Vox Project) listen
