Shit That Comes Out Today: March 19, 2021
Here’s your guide to the best reggae of mid-March.
Dvne
Eternen Aenka (Metal Blade)
Dvne with a “v” write music about Dune with a “u,” so they were probably hoping to capitalize on Timothée Chalomet’s beautiful space face so people would be more familiar with the source material. Alas, the pandemic wrecked all that, so you’ll have to read the Frank Herbert novel or watch David Lynch’s 1984 production — probably the latter, since Lynch’s ornate vision of the world matches the clockwork precision of Dvne’s technical post/prog metal mastery. He who controls the spice controls the universe, and right now these Scots have it firmly in their grasp.
Enforcer
Live By Fire II (NB)
Not that I didn’t miss concerts already, but Enforcer officially just shot to the top of the list I shows I need to catch while standing in the back of the venue with a beer in my hand. Neat Records would’ve snapped up these Swedes in 1980 for sure. This is the kind of NWONWOBHM that sounds good on record but comes alive in concert, and this double-live doc from 2019 captures that. The cover instructs that it be played on maximum volume level, and it is definitely recommended for use in testing your city’s noise ordinances.
Midnight Odyssey
Biolume Part 2: The Golden Orb (I, Voidhanger)
At first glance, the hour forty-five runtime of Biolume Part 2 seems positively punk rock compared to Midnight Odyssey’s previous output, but combine it with part 1 and you have a more appropriate three hours of cosmic black metal excellence. Sole quester Dis Pater continues to seek out new horizons of all-enveloping atmospherics here — the doom metal tempos add another level to his achingly gorgeous melodies. It’s so engrossing that I’ve listened to twenty-minute albums that feel longer than this.
Olde
Pilgrimage (Seeing Red)
Quality Canadian sludge as black and viscous as the fruit of the oilfields staining their beautiful northern wilderness. Olde get their swing from Sons of Otis’s skin-striker, an essential ingredient that drives their long trudge to the riff-filled land. Some doom is magesterial, some groovy, some full-contact body check — this is the latter. Throw in some saxophone and a Voivod guest solo and you got yourself a real party.
Reaper
The Atonality of Flesh (Iron Beonehead)
If you’re gonna go full stupid, press the pedal to the metal and blast that rusty muscle car right off the edge of the cliff. Reaper’s love of first wave black metal shines on the edge of their scythe, their determination to stick to their speed-kills aesthetic almost admirable. Their mission? To d-beat Hellhammer to death with sick riffs and Satanic shred. They succeed.
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Adamantis – Far Flung Realm (Cruz del Sur) Listen
Agent Steel – No Other Godz Before Me (Dissonance) Listen
Cosmic Reaper – Cosmic Reaper (Heavy Psych) Listen
Depths Of Hatred – Inheritance (Prosthetic) Listen
Devin Townsend – Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live In Leeds (InsideOut) Listen
Fuath – II (SoM) Listen
Herzel – Le Dernier Rempart (Cruz del Sur) Listen
Lunar Shadow – Wish to Leave (Cruz del Sur) Listen
Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm (I, Voidhanger) Listen
Saxon – Inspirations (Silver Lining) Listen
Serj Tankian – Elasticity EP (Alchemy/BMG) Listen
Trollfest – Happy Heroes EP (Napalm) Listen
U.D.O. – Live In Bulgaria CD/DVD (AFM) Listen
