Shit That Comes Out Today: September 13th, 2019

It is Friday, my dudes. Whatever that means to you — whether it’s an excuse to get hammered, maybe the start of a much-needed weekend getaway, or even if it’s just another day of benign existence — we’ve got a compendium of the latest heavy tunes to keep you going.

There’s a metric fuckton of good music out today that makes up for a rather dull August. I’m way too lazy to write about all of it, though, so I put a ‘lil star next to other shit that’s awesome. It ain’t much, but it’s honest work. 

Chelsea Wolfe 
Birth of Violence (Sargent House)
Listen “Deranged for Rock & Roll”

What did we ever do to deserve this woman? Singer/songwriter Chelsea Wolfe initially found her niche in the world of heavy music, but her new record Birth of Violence highlights her more mellow, folksy side. Intimate acoustic pieces bring difficult emotions to the surface as Wolfe hypnotizes us with her surreal charm, phantasmic vocals, and raw talent, while the rich production job adds another dimension of eerie strange-ness to the mix. This is Wolfe at her most honest, and though it’s a few steps away from her doomy roots, it’s an incredibly mature record that will move most anyone with the capacity to feel.

Korn
The Nothing (Roadrunner)
Listen “You’ll Never Find Me”
Read the MetalSucks review

While, over the years, Korn have fallen to the barrage of jokes from metal journalists and fans alike, I think at the heart of those jabs there lies a fascination with the household name status of such an unapologetically bizarre band. However, while The Nothing definitely sounds like Korn, they’ve moved past the sex jokes and teenage angst towards actual adult subject matter. Johnathan Davis mourns the loss of his wife, diving headfirst into his misery as he comes face-to-face with the darkest aspects of himself. “It’s an expression of grief as much as it’s a collection of songs, and you’d have to be dead inside not to feel for Davis.”

Haunter
Sacramental Death Qualia (I, Voidhanger)
FFO Opeth, Abyssal
Full Album Stream

Summoned from the depths of a Lovecraftian catacomb, Haunter’s sophomore album blends the cryptic, deranged aesthetic of many other acts on the I, Voidhanger roster with the finest Opeth worship this girl’s ever heard. Intricate blackened death morphs from one musical extreme to the other, with gentle acoustic interludes serving as transitions between cataclysmic mind-fucks. I’m all for your run-of-the-mill occult cosmo-gore project, but Sacramental Death Qualia is lightyears beyond anything else in its league, shining through the murk with a refreshingly progressive and tasteful light.

Weeping Sores
False Confession (I, Voidhanger)
FFO SubRosa, My Dying Bride
Full Album Stream

Members of Pyrrhon, Septus, Tchornobog, and Hell have come together to find a home for their unsatisfied creative urges, and the result is Weeping Sores: baroque death/doom that follows a melodic, stream-of-consciousness flow without sacrificing an ounce of weight. False Confessions makes Gina Eygenhuysen’s violin work a focal point that never becomes cheesy or distracting, creating a sense of allure and wonder as the strings dance with the sickening riffage they accompany. It feels almost improvisational, pulled straight from the ether of inspiration, yet at the same time brimming with purpose and melodramatic intent.

Cloud Rat
Pollinator and Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff EP (Artoffact)
Listen “Webspinner“, “Thrust”

Cloud Rat’s forward-thinking grind has never failed to impress. Pollinator is by-and-large their quintessential effort, bringing everything they’ve accomplished thus far to the fore and imbuing it with sophistication and grace. Furious, frantic, yet restrained, the record takes an empowering sociopolitical stance on the mental torment that’s deep-rooted in modern society. And, while Pollinator is strong enough on its own, the band apparently decided that a counter-balance was needed, as they tap in to their inner goth kid with the bonus Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff EP. Gloomy, synth-drenched darkwave is about the last thing I’d expect from Cloud Rat, but here we are. What’ll they think of next?!

OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY

The 69 Eyes – West End (Nuclear Blast) listen
Absence of Despair – Desolate (self-released) listen
Alice Cooper – Breadcrumbs EP (earMusic) listen
Apparatus – Yonder Yawns the Universe (Seed of Doom) listen
Asagraum – Dawn Of Infinite Fire (Edged Circle) listen
Baest – Venenum (Century Media) listen
Betraying The Martyrs – Rapture (Sumerian) listen
Black Fucking Cancer/Gloam – Boundless Archane Invokations (Sentient Ruin) listen
Blackrain – Dying Breed (SPV/Steamhammer) listen
Cold – The Things We Can’t Stop (Napalm) listen
*Crypt Sermon – The Ruins Of Fading Light (Dark Descent) listen
The Defiants – Zokusho (Frontiers) listen
Dold Vorde Ens Navn – Gjengangere i hjertets mørke (Soulseller) listen
Endseeker – The Harvest (Metal Blade) listen
Eschaton – Death Obsession (Unique Leader) listen
Eternity – To Become the Great Beast (Soulseller) listen
*Eye Flys – Context (Thrill Jockey) listen
The Hu – The Gereg (Eleven Seven) listen
*Kostnatění – Hrůza zvítězí (self-released) listen
Masters Of Ceremony – Signs Of Wings (Frontiers) listen
Mike Patton and Jean-Claude Vannier – Corpse Flower (Ipecac) listen
Mob Rules – Beast Over Europe (SPV/Steamhammer) listen
*Nightfel – A Sanity Deranged (20 Buck Spin) listen
Pixies – Beneath The Eyrie (Infectious/BMG) listen
Puddle Of Mudd – Welcome To Galvania (Pavement) listen
Ram – The Throne Within (Metal Blade) listen
Sinner – Santa Muerte (AFM) listen
Starset – Divisions (Fearless) listen
Tom Keifer – Rise (Cleopatra) listen
Ufomammut – XX Box Set (Supernatural Cat) listen
Visceral Disgorge – Slithering Evisceration (Agonia) listen
Void King – Barren Dominion (Off the Record Label) listen
Void Of Vision – Hyperdaze (UNFD) listen
War of Ages – Void (Facedown) listen
Workshed – Workshed (Rise Above) listen
Woundvac – The Road Ahead (Corpse Flower) listen

SHIT THAT COMES OUT AGAIN TODAY

Brant Bjork – Jalamanta Re-Release (Heavy Psych Sounds)
The Cult – Sonic Temple 30 (Beggars Arkive)
Winterfylleth – The Siege Of Mercia DVD/CD (Candlelight)