Shit That Comes Out Today: July 19th, 2019

Fire In The Mountains was fucking lit, fam. Everybody should go next year. EVERYBODY. And what a great pile o’ music to come home to!

Falls of Rauros
Patterns in Mythology (Gilead)
FFO Aggaloch, Alcest
Full Album Stream

Between False, Yellow Eyes, and this new entity from Falls of Rauros, it seems like Gilead have really outdone themselves this year. Patterns in Mythology is a delicate, sentimental offering from the Portland (Maine) metallers that actually brought me to tears at one point (that’s not hard to do, but still). “Patterns in Mythology was conceived during a period of dramatic change and transition in our lives, and every drop of anxiety, dread, frustration, and hope that we’ve felt these past couple years can be felt at turns on this LP,” Aaron Charles told Metal Injection. “We strove to find some sort of balance between purposeful, measured songwriting and absolute emotional nakedness and honesty; we would rather move people to tears than stimulate the intellect, but if we can do both then surely we have something to be proud of. That’s our greatest wish for this record, and it’s become our modus operandi in a sense; rest assured we will continue to explore such an exacting dynamic in the years to come.”

Wreck and Reference
Absolute Still Life (The Flenser)
FFO Skinny Puppy, Portishead
Listen “Irony of Being Something”

This cover art is giving me some serious Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared vibes and I kinda hate it. The music isn’t too far off, either, except instead of getting roasted by an anthropomorphized notebook, we’re hit with with the chilling electronic fuckery of Felix Skinner and Ignat Frege. It’s like they took a “lofi beats to study/chill to” playlist, layered it with the worst glitchy, industrial sounds they could think of and slapped some poetic spoken word on top. It’s unnerving, but also oddly relaxing. I’m confused. Send help.

Sabaton
The Great War (Nuclear Blast)
Listen “The Great War”
Read the MetalSucks review

I sure don’t give a shit about this band — the whole machismo shtick rubs me in all the wrong ways, and at the end of the day I find everything else about them quite boring. But hey, I know whole lot of people do get off on cheesy sing-along power metal, so knock yourselves out! And check out the recent MetalSucks Podcast episode featuring bassist Pär Sundström, while you’re at it.

Wormed
Metaportal EP (Season Of Mist)
FFO Artificial Brain, Veil of Pnath
Full Album Stream

We haven’t heard much from Wormed since they dropped Krigshu back in 2016. Not long after, founding guitarist J. Oliver left the band, and their drummer Guillermo Calero tragically passed away last year. Still, the band decided to push forward, adding Gabriel Valcázar on drums but opting to continue without a second guitarist. It makes sense, then, that their new offering sits at just over 15 minutes long as they experiment with the new era of Wormed. Fun sized, but highly sophisticated and stupid heavy. Metaportal continues the narrative explored on their last album: “Krigshu (who is the very last posthuman being in a robotised galaxy, mind you) voyage to the vast void. Krighsu must ingress a colossal metaportal of unknown origin, in order to help a galactic system endangered by an abysmal nano-technological war meant to wipe out the last human-derivative being.” as The Sludge Lord so concisely put it.  The music-as-a-machine business stimulates both the intellect and our carnal human desire for siqq riffs, perfectly suited for raiding Area 51 if that’s on your agenda! I mean. . . what, who’s raiding Area 51?!

Lingua Ignota
Caligula (Profound Lore)
FFO The Body, Chelsea Wollfe
Listen “Butcher Of The World”

Kristin Hayter (the woman behind Lingua Ignota) has inspired my personal musical philosophies and aspirations more than any other artist alive today. First and foremost, she’s a bad fucking bitch. Never before have I encountered shameless, venomous rage displayed with such vulnerability and elegance — Lingua Ignota’s “survivor anthems” show us what it’s like to suffer, but also to heal and be free. I’ve never had an exorcism, but I’d imagine that experiencing one would offer a similar sort of catharsis. Second of all, she made a point to ensure Caligula came out to be precisely 66.6 minutes long, so that’s pretty kvlt. What sets her apart from the rest, though, is the way she seamlessly ties together metal, classical, noise, and electro-acoustic sounds into something that actually makes sense. It wouldn’t work if she didn’t have the pipes of ten thousand goddesses, but Hayter was gifted with a voice that can switch from ear-splitting screams to opera in an instant, making her story that much more convincing. However, while All Bitches Die was a very personal account of abuse, Caligula’s message covers a broader spectrum: “Caligula took on all these other connotations and became less about me, and more about surviving in the world at-large that we live in, as well as under the political climate that we exist.” I think we can all agree that we’re living in some pretty fucked up times, but maybe artists like this are what we need to finally push us into a higher state of existence.

Tomb Mold
Planetary Clairvoyance (20 Buck Spin)
Listen “Planetary Clairvoyance”
Read the MetalSucks review

Did anyone really think that this album somehow wouldn’t be greatest musical work ever created? Of course not — these Nova Scotian death-dealers are well on their way to finding a spot among the legendary greats. Just like Wormed’s album above, Planetary Clairvoyance creates a mind-boggling, sinister sci-fi realm that sucks you into a black hole and doesn’t let you go till you’re a plate of intergalactic spaghetti. The record is still very much Tomb Mold, but this time around, they’ve left behind a bit of Manor Of Infinite Forms’  signature groove ‘n stomp in favor of the most ripshit leads and riffs they’ve written to date. And it’s all composed and presented with absolute integrity, like everyone involved was tapped into the same cosmic forcefield, siphoning energy from the very cores of the planets and stars. Far out, bro!

OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY

Cancer – Ballcutter EP (Peaceville) listen
Chamber – Ripping / Pulling / Tearing (Pure Noise) listen
Crown The Empire – Sudden Sky (Rise) listen
Cult of Extinction – Ritual In The Absolute Absence Of Light (Iron Bonehead) listen
Enforced – At the Walls (WAR) listen
Flaw – Vol IV: Because Of The Brave (Pavement) listen
Halshug – Drøm (Southern Lord) listen
Jeromes Dream – Jeromes Dream (self-released) listen
Obey – The Brave Balance (self-released) listen
Rogga Johansson – Entrance to the Otherwhere (Transcending Obscurity) listen
Sabaton – The Great War (Nuclear Blast) listen
Sekkusu – Satyrömania (Horror Pain Gore Death) listen
Through Fire – All Animal (Sumerian) listen
Valis Ablaze – Render (Long Branch) listen

SHIT THAT COMES OUT AGAIN TODAY

Sarah Longfield – Collapse / Expand (Reissue) (Season Of Mist) listen
Sarah Longfield – Sum (Reissue) (Season Of Mist) listen
Silverchair – Freak Show (Vinyl) (Music On Vinyl) listen