Sh*t That Comes Out Today: April 17, 2020

It’s probably not great that I’m starting to relate to the narrator of “Sweating Bullets,” is it? Here are some new metal releases to stave off inevitable insanity.

Abysmal Dawn
Phylogenesis (SoM)

You gotta love any album that starts out with insane drum acrobatics and a shrieked “Fuck you!” The SoCal brutal death metallers’ first album in six years crams 2190 days’ worth of riff wizardry and rage into 43 minutes of head-spinning insanity. If you’re looking to give yourself whiplash, look no further — and frankly, the techno-organic hellscape on the cover looks more appealing than our current hellscape.

Black Dahlia Murder
Verminous (Metal Blade)
Read the MetalSucks review

Axl really likes this one! “So yeah, I can tell you that Verminous rules, that it has another batch of songs that are so good I can’t even fathom how the group makes their set lists at this point without disappointing someone, and that it’s gonna be on countless Best Of lists at the end of the year, and you can say, “Yeah, no shit, tell me something I don’t know”… but that would be doing Verminous a serious disservice. The Black Dahlia Murder deserve a goddamn motherfucking parade, motherfuckers.“

Hexvessel
Kindred (Svart)

They may look like extras from Midsommar, but if you need some heavy prog-psych in your life, look no further than Finnish anachronists Hexvessel. The melancholic sylvan hymns found here range from psychedelic stomps to mournful folk ballads. Weird instruments and discordant sounds help add to the unsettling nature of their nocturnal broadcasts. Fenriz probably loves listening to this on his walks through the woods.

Khemmis
Doomed Heavy Metal (NB)

Yes, this EP consists of two covers, a Decibel Flexi b-side, and three live tracks. It’s not exactly an essential purchase. That said, I think we could all use a great interpretation of one of the best songs by one of the best metal singers by one of the best current metal bands right now. Like, it seems like it’s a straightforward cover, and then that solo hits and WHAM. Talk about riding the tiger.

Midnight Odyssey
Ruins of a Celestial Fire (Self-released)

Incredibly prolific Australian artist Dis Pater must’ve been bored during quarantine, because this week he surprise dropped a new release from his brilliant ambient black metal act Midnight Odyssey. This album drops the “black metal” part, which, yeah, makes it a pure ambient album, but what else do you have going on? Nobody captures that depth of space quite like Pater. Although the shrieks and blast beats normally help create dynamics for the lovely Kosmische vibes, sometimes it’s nice to let go and float off into the void.

Oranssi Pazazu
Mestarin kynsi (NB)

I’m in the weird position of having to highly recommend this record and also suggest you hold off on listening to it for a while — Oranssi Pazazu’s latest is amazing but can also cause intense anxiety. The Finnish psychonauts have an impeccable track record so far. They seriously up their game here, weaponizing their blackly metallic Krautrock rhythms into Kafka-esque paranoia generators. It’s a trip… just not one that’ll help curb isolation-induced freakouts.

OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT THIS WEEK

Aborted – La Grande Mascarade EP (Century Media) Listen
Asenblut – Die Wilde Jagd (AFM) Listen
Cemetery Filth – Dominion (Unspeakable Axe/Boris) Listen
Danzig – Danzig Sings Elvis (Cleopatra) Listen
The Ditch And The Delta – The Ditch And The Delta (Prosthetic) Listen
Enter Shikari – Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible (So) Listen
Jarboe – Illusory (Consouling Sounds) Listen
Myrath – Live In Carthage DVD/CD (earMusic) Listen
Turmion Katilot – Global Warning (Nuclear Blast) Listen