Sh*t That Comes Out Today: April 9, 2021
A lot of accurate album titles in this week’s new releases.
Årabrot
Norwegian Gothic (Pelagic)
Årabrot don’t really make it easy to pigeonhole their sound; usually they give off the vibe of Norway’s biggest Mike Patton fans, but that inherently involves blindsiding the listener. Norwegian Gothic nods to their favorite 80s cave lurkers while reflecting the blacklights in broken funhouse mirrors. To their credit, they capture the jarring unpredictably that the 90s gothic-industrial practitioners missed and a lot of that comes from the Faith No More influence. Bela Lugosi’s still dead. Apparently his Scandinavian counterpart is still exsanguinating virginal maidens.
Horndal
Lake Drinker (Prosthetic)
Horndal’s second album almost has more tracks than their eponymous hometown has streets, so they have a vested interest in telling the story of the myriad ways capitalism completely fucked over their birthplace. I see the “sludge/hardcore” tag applied to this, but I mostly hear death ‘n’ roll-era Entombed, which is by no means a bad thing — that’s at least their second best era! Normally I assume stuff that sounds like this is about dumb stuff like Satan. Here’s some pointed social commentary with your OSDM beatdown.
Kauan
Ice Fleet (Artoffact)
A post-metal epic about a fleet of ships frozen under permafrost seems like a gimme, doesn’t it? A Russian band based in Estonia that sings in Finnish, Kauan have charted a seemingly random course across the stylistic map over their career, but here they’ve made port solidly on post-rock island. The chilly beauty fits the subject matter perfectly. This type of music is usually made for listening in solitude, but Kauan are kind enough to include an honest-to-goodness role-playing game with the CD in case you want to depress your friends as well!
The Limit
Caveman Logic (Svart)
So we have Pentagram’s Bobby Liebling (Mr. Self-Destruct himself), a fill-in bassist for the Stooges, a first-wave NYC punk rock also-ran, and two members of a decent Portugese doom act — what the heck does that sound like? Mostly the Hellacopters, actually, which makes sense in a lateral kind of way. Liebling still has that weird charm on record, and there’re enough twists and turns to the songs themselves to keep the listener guessing. The chemistry works even if it realistically shouldn’t.
Wheel
Preserved In Time (Cruz Del Sur)
“Preserved in time” is both a cool title and a mission statement of sorts — Wheel for sure don’t reinvent themselves here. This is epic doom as forged by Candlemass, Trouble, Solitude Aeturnus, et al. It also perfectly captures all the qualities that make those acts so indelible. Like, there are none of the concessions to modernity made by acts like Pallbearer or Khemmis. Just slow cathedral construction. Hard to go wrong with that, really.
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Devil Sold His Soul – Loss (NB) Listen
The End Machine – Phase2 (Frontiers) Listen
FM – Tough It Out Live (Frontiers) Listen
Johan Kilberg’s Impera – Spirit Of Alchemy (Metalville) Listen
Heavy Feather – Moutain of Sugar (The Sign) Listen
The Lion’s Daughter – Skin Show (SoM) Listen
Motorjesus – Hellbreaker (AFM) Listen
Nad Sylvan – Spiritus Mundi (InsideOut) Listen
Sweet Oblivion – Relentless (Frontiers) Listen
The Treatment – Waiting For Good Luck (Frontiers) Listen
Zao – The Crimson Corridor (Holy Mountain) Listen
