Sh*t That Comes Out Today: September 4, 2020
Stacked week this week! No, I’m not covering En Minor, and it’s for the reasons you think, so have fun bitching about that in the comments — or, since there’s another Bandcamp fee-free day going on, feel free to use the comments section for good and let us know about any surprise drops.
All Them Witches
Nothing as the Ideal (New West)
Because you guys put in a specific request for more psych rock bullshit, here’s the latest from Nashville mindbenders All Them Witches. While their sound is a little more laid-back, it’s not not heavy — these guys definitely know how to strike out into the desert with a generator and a cooler filled with edibles and magic mushrooms. While they generally lean more towards the QOTSA or Mammatus end of the spectrum, they know how to effect a Mastodon-style beatdown. Their bullshit psych rock ain’t no BS.
Dead Lord
Surrender (Century Media)
For this week’s requisite Thin Lizzy homage band, we have Dead Lord. These Swedes claim that they shall rock us with their rock, and they aren’t wrong. Their rock definitely rocks. This ain’t the kind of music you listen to for its originality; the riffs are there, though, and the dual guitar harmonies always please. Who can argue with a mustache like Hakim Krim’s?
Deafkids & Petbrick
Deafbrick (Neurot)
And you thought digital hardcore was dead! All it took was a fence post stabbed into its chest by Brazilian polyrhythmic punks Deafkids and a lightning bolt from industrialized noise rockers Petbrick and ZAP!, Jason lives. Oozing with atmosphere while somehow simultaneously smashing in your face with a hydraulic piston, this is some intense stuff. The kind of cyberorganic hybrid that makes everything else seem obsolete. Also maybe the best thing Iggor Cavalera has been involved with since leaving Sepultura.
Foretoken
Ruin (Prosthetic)
Foretoken come out swinging on their debut full-length. This swirling vortex of symphonic black metal and melodic tech-death works surprisingly well. It 100% shouldn’t. Kinda like Arsis (whose James Malone shows up here) getting in a fistfight with late-period Abigail Williams but the best version of that. It’s pretty unbelievable that it’s only two dudes — it seriously sounds like a six-person band. Get hip to these guys before they get huge.
Oceans of Slumber
Oceans of Slumber (Century Media)
Goddamn is Cammie Gilbert’s voice a national treasure. Why would you want to listen to some Vitamin D-deprived dork rasp about wolves when you can have deeply emotive singing like hers (combined with her deeply personal, heartfelt lyrics)? Thankfully, her collaborators do her voice justice. A varied, dynamic record that never grows old despite its lengthy runtime, OoS’s self-titled fourth album continues their dominance of the progressive gothic death metal genre (if that’s even a thing).
Persekutor
Permanent Winter (Svart)
A band fronted by a masked man that is definitely not frequent Decibel/Revolver contributor J. Bennett pretending to be Romanian, Persekutor play the kind of black metal that you could only get behind the Iron Curtain in the ’80s by trading internal organs for fifth-generation bootleg cassettes. It’s very dumb, but it’s the kind of dumb I can get behind. Killer riffs and ridiculously catchy choruses (many involving the word “fuck”) go a long way towards justifying a shtick.
Zakk Sabbath
Vertigo (Magnetic Eye)
You can probably guess what a slavishly faithful rerecording of Black Sabbath’s legendary self-titled debut spearheaded by Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime solo guitarist Zakk Wylde sounds like. So much guitar squeal! Still, if you really want to know, Wylde has gone ahead and done it for you. Available only in physical formats, it’s a fun curio — it’s not like these songs ever get old. I’m not really sure what to make of this, to be honest, but I enjoyed the listen.
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Black Magnet – Hallucination Scene (20 Buck Spin) Listen
Cult Of Lilith – Mara (Metal Blade) Listen
Diesel Machine – Evolve (Metalville) Listen
Dunwich – Tail-Tied Hearts (Caligari) Listen
The Hawkins – Silence is a Bomb (The Sign) Listen
The Pineapple Thief – Versions Of The Truth (Kscope) Listen
Polymoon – Catepillars of Creation (Svart) Listen
Rikard Sjoblom’s Gungfly – Alone Together (InsideOut) Listen
Watertank – Silent Running (Atypeek) Listen
