Sh*t That Came Out Yesterday: November 29, 2019
Yesterday was Friday — new metal day! Look forward to my usual idiosyncratic recommendations as well as things people actually want to hear about.
Bölzer
Lese Majesty (Lightning & Sons)
You don’t hear much whistling in black metal, but Swiss extreme metal provocateurs Bölzer never exactly showed much interest in orthodoxy. Their latest EP, Lese Majesty, follows on the heels of the mixed reactions to their first full-length, Hero. I dunno if it’ll please the “their first EP was the best” crowd, but there’s some really cool, iconoclastic stuff going on here as they employ ritualistic and ambient textures. It feels a bit too short, but black metal needs all the unpredictably it can get. More of this, please.
Cattle Decapitation
Death Atlas (Metal Blade)
Read the MetalSucks review
Kudos to whoever decided to release notoriously vegan, anti-capitalist death metal unit Cattle Decapitation’s latest album on the most consumption-centric week of the year. Death Atlas documents humanity’s lemming-like march off the cliff of extinction — and between Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Record Store Day, we stamp a carbon footprint on Mother Earth’s throat. Their seventh album is undoubtedly the San Diego-based outfit’s most ambitious effort.
Öxxö Xööx
Ÿ (Blood Music)
I wonder if the members of Öxxö Xööx even know how to pronounce their name. Like, what do they say when people ask them what band they’re in? Hell, I don’t even know how to pronounce the album title, and it’s one damn letter. As the moniker might’ve clued you in, this French collective prefers its metal firmly on the side of avant garde. I’m not even sure how to describe it — maybe like a more restrained, doom-centric version of Sigh but not as good. If you’re into weird shit, this is definitely 80 minutes of weird.
Red Death
Sickness Divine (Century Media)
Do you like thrash metal? Do you like Robb Flynn-style vocals? Well, here’s Red Death. They’re thrash metal with Robb Flynn-style vocals. Um. I don’t really have anything else to say about this. I like it, but I feel bad for people that have to write a full-length review. It’s totally fun, well-executed thrash. With vocals that sound like Robb Flynn’s. Let freedom ring, etc.
The Wraith
Gloom Ballet (Southern Lord)
It’s Black Friday, gotta include some goth! As their album cover proudly proclaims, The Wraith are a Los Angeles-based deathrock band (despite none of its members actually hailing from the City of Devils). They play super catchy dark post-punk. If you dig Killing Joke, Christian Death, or any of the thousand other doom-and-gloom acts that’ve sprung up recently, you’ll also dig this. Get on your black trenchcoat and get in the mope pit.
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Avslut – Tyranni (Osmose) Listen
Bull Elephant – Bull Elephant (Eat Lead and Die) Listen
Jaz Coleman + St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra – Manga Invocatio… (Spinefarm) Listen
Knasterbart – Perlen vor die Säue (Napalm) Listen
Molly Hatchet – Battleground (SPV/Steamhammer) Listen
Pombajira – Pombajira (Helldprod) Listen
Prong – Age Of Defiance EP (SPV/Steamhammer) Listen
Sartegos – O Sangue Da Noite (Blood Harvest/I, Voidhanger) Listen
Tusmorke – Leker For Barn, Ritualer For Voksne (Karisma) Listen
SHIT THAT COMES OUT AGAIN TODAY
Agalloch – The Grey EP (Reissue) (Eisenwald) Listen
Agalloch – The White (Reissue) (Eisenwald) Listen
Ozzy Osbourne – See You On The Other Side (Vinyl Box Set) (Sony Legacy) Listen
