Shit That Comes Out Today: June 21st, 2019
Metal road trips are the best! Not only is it the ultimate test of patience, spending twelve hours in the tour van also comes with its own unique blend of therapeutic aromas. Between the B.O., weed, stale ball farts, and the gremlin in the back eating jalapeño bologna, it’s… stimulating, to say the least. Anyways, if you’re at Litha Cascadia this weekend, let’s get high or something.
Beauty in Chaos
Beauty Re-Envisioned (33.3)
FFO Ministry, Marilyn Manson
Listen “Un-Natural Disaster”
Throwing a siqq solstice dance party, but Nine Inch Nails is the only thing on your playlist? No worries — Beauty in Chaos has got you covered! This “supergroup” type project, featuring members of The Cure, Ministry, The Mission, Cheap Trick, and more, came together under the creative direction of Michael Ciravolo to record their debut album, Finding Beauty in Chaos, which came out last year. Beauty Reinvisioned is a collection of re-mixes from that record — everything from “4-on-the-floor dance club mixes” to “stripped down ambient mixes and techno mixes”. The single above, “Un-Natural Disaster”, boasts the contributions of none other than dUg Pinnick (King’s X), Ice T, (Body Count), and Zakk Wylde. I really, really want to hate it, but I honestly can’t help gettin’ down. YMMV.
Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze
Offerings of Flesh and Gold (A Moment of Clarity + Tridroid)
FFO Evergreen Refuge
Full Album Stream
The growing Rocky Mountain metal scene never ceases to amaze me. Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze are a Colorado ritual black metal act who are using the inherent power of extreme music to empower the oppressed and take a stand against the bullshit that divides the human race. They can tell you about it better than I can, though: “[We are] against hierarchy, domination and systems of power seeking to perpetuate the two . . . The proletariat has been too long abused by powers that be, and has been stripped of the ability to make a future that benefits themselves . . . [We must] move towards a world where there are no kings and no waste and the only ones who fear the next day shall be the ones that bring hardship to that day.” That’s some heavy shit to tackle, and their debut Offerings of Flesh and Gold gets fhe point across loud and clear without being aggreasively political. However, while the message and the music itself are both dope as hell, what really drew me to this album right off the bat were the cover art (by Alex CF from Fall of Efrafa, Morrow, Lightbearer, etc.) and, most importantly, the lyrics. I’ll leave you with a snippet: “We will melt the thrones to cast bowls and spears, so man may know the true god, themselves. And none shall ever go hungry again.”
Superstition
The Anatomy of Unholy Transformation (20 Buck Spin)
FFO Genocide Pact, Witch Vomit
Listen “Highly Attuned Beasts of the Dark”
One can usually assume any death metal release from 20 Buck Spin is gonna be solid no matter what, and the latest from Superstition is no exception. Does it reinvent the genre and defy every death metal expectation we’ve ever had? Not really, though there’s some synth work that’s pretty fun. But it sure fucking rips.
Howling Sycamore
Seven Pathways to Annihilation (Prosthetic)
FFO Dream Theater, Dio
Listen “Initiation”
I’m trying to listen to this over Dystopia that’s blasting in the van, so bear with me cuz’ my ears are a little confused. The worst part is it kind of works. If you’ve heard Howling Sycamore’s last self-titles record, you’ll be familiar with their eccentric not-quite-prog-but-definitely-proggy sound combined with the frenzy of more extreme styles. Seven Pathways to Annihilation seems to be a just a tad lest bombastic, but also more sinister, if that makes any sense at all. The band elaborates that the album explores “shamanic and metaphysical principles displayed with crude and sometimes brutal imagery. The title, in particular, is tied to the idea of self-destroying one’s ego in order to live a more enlightened existence.” If this is your first encounter with the band, you’re in for a wild ride. Howling Sycamore’s lineup consists of members from Dysrhythmia, Obscurca, Alkaloid, and way more big names than would be suitable to list here. The soaring clean vocals fall along the lines of Dio and Bruce Dickinson, but it’s hars to predict what style the other instruments will be going after at any given moment. It’ll take a couple listens, at which point you’ll either become obsessed or wish the band never existed.
Abyssal
A Beacon in the Husk (Profound Lore)
FFO Mitochondrion, Ævangelist
Listen “Dialogue”
Face-melting fearmongers Abyssal are back with their first full length since 2015’s Antikatastaseis, which was applauded for its unpredictable take on death metal. Their newest release, A Beacon in the Husk, is still very recognizably Abyssal, but adds on a new layer of blackened ambience that’ll consume you from the inside out. Looming towars the “cavernous” production that’s become quite popular lately, A Beacon in the Husk takes on a massive, all-encompassing, absolutely crushing aesthetic without ever becoming too sterile, nor too raw. Last, but certainly not least, the vocals will DESTROY you. I’ve never heard anything so preposterous. Prepare your body!
OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY
Bokassa – Crimson Riders (Kings Of Stonerpunk) listen
Eskapism – Ancient Songs of the Wind (Wolfspell) listen
Feeble Minded – Collapsing Existence (Bizarre Leprous) listen
Flesh of the Stars – Mercy (N/A) listen
Glare of the Sun – Theia (Lifeforce) listen
Gygax – High Fantasy (Creator-Destructor) listen
(Hed) P.E. – Stampede (Pavement) listen
Hive – Night Cats (Horror Pain Gore Death) listen
The Hollywood Vampires – Rise (earMusic) listen
Itheist – Itheist (N/A) listen
Lightning Born – Lightning Born (Ripple) listen
The Meads of Asphodel – Running Out of Time Doing Nothing (Godreah) listen
Memoriam – Requiem For Mankind (Nuclear Blast) listen
Moonlight Haze – De Rerum Natura (Scarlet) listen
Old Forest – Black Forests of Eternal Doom (Dusktone) listen
Ordeals – Choose Death (Stygian Black Hand) listen
Organectomy – Existential Disconnect (Unique Leader) listen
Rivers like Veins – Z iskier srebrnych orszaków (Werewolf) listen
Sanity Control – Sanity Control (Seeing Red) listen
State Faults – Clairvoyant (No Sleep) listen
Stromptha – Endura (N/A) listen
Temple of Nihil – Schadenfreude (Grimm) listen
Ulvdalir / Ars Veneficium – In Death’s Cold Embrace (Immortal Frost) listen
Useless – Fall into Extinction (Werewolf) listen
Valaraukar – Demonian Abyssal Visions (Iron Bonehead) listen
SHIT THAT COMES OUT AGAIN TODAY
Def Leppard – Volume Two Box Set (UMe/Virgin)
Ministry – The Land Of Rape And Honey (Vinyl) (Music On Vinyl)
Silverchair – Frogstomp (Vinyl) (Music On Vinyl)
SHIT THAT CAME OUT EARLIER THIS WEEK
Anup Sastry – Illuminate (N/A) listen
Murk Rider – Exile of Shadows (N/A) listen
