Unsigned and Unholy: ESM, Ion, One Hundred Thousand

ESM — who we’ve featured before — sound like what happens when kids who were teenagers when Suicide Silence and Job for a Cowboy first came out grew up and discovered old Morbid Angel and Gorguts. And I mean that in the best way possible: there’s nothing wrong with downtuned breakdowns as long as they’re used tastefully, and surrounding them with Gorgutsian death-skronk and Morbid Angel elephants marching riffs, as ESM have done, is about as classy an approach as I can imagine. Jam their 2012 album Less Joke, More Lye:

You won’t hear a whole lot in the first 1:45 of “Abolished” to set Ion apart from the atmospheric black metal pack, but it’s what happens after that really impressed me: a furious, psychoticly energized, grind break, followed by some mid-paced atmospherics. “Waters of Dusk” starts with some gorgeous atmospherics, but then we’re back to more typical black metal-y stuff. I really like the concept of what this band is, even if the execution is a bit lacking — the nucleus of potential is there, and I’d love to hear them highlight the elements that make them different instead of those that make them the same. Also, drummer has some timing issues.

MS contributor John Myungotta sends in his band One Hundred Thousand‘s newest video for their track “Type Stolen.” If you’re hell-bent on only the most extreme of the extreme then this probably isn’t for you, but if you can appreciate hard rock with flecks of metal that’s incredibly well-written — think Dark New Day, Call Me No One or Shinedown’s heavier tracks — then you’ll surely be reeled in by their gigantic hooks.