Sh*t That Comes Out Today – June 24, 2022
It’s my birthday today, meaning there are about 17 minutes left before I get so high I’m unable to type properly. Better review some new music before then…
Coheed and Cambria
Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind (Roadrunner)
A progressive space opera — from Coheed and Cambria?! We kid, of course, but we also want to take a moment to acknowledge how much we love that Coheed have fully embraced their nerdy side, both topically and musically. Vaxis II is an epic of emo-leaning hard rock, and even if that’s not your thing — it ain’t mine, honestly — how very hard the band are going in that paint is incredibly endearing. If you were just here for the pop hits, you might be disappointed; beautiful losers, welcome.
Knoll
Metempiric (Self-released)
I was pretty vocal in my amazement at Memphis grindcore act Knoll after catching them at this year’s Mutants of the Monster fest in Little Rock. Now, listening to their latest full-length album Metempiric, I’m somehow more impressed than I was witnessing their jarring live show. Both inspiring and disgusting, the album is misanthropically perfect, a summoning forth of one’s most unpleasant and honest thoughts. Without question a year-end-list inclusion.
Werewolves
From the Cave to the Grave (Prosthetic)
Australian death metallers Werewolves are speaking my language. This is in part due to their extremely entertaining brand of death metal, which is sort of like how the genre sounds in my dreams. But more than that is their hilarious, razor-edged contempt. These song titles are triumphs — “Oedipus Tyrranus,” Pride and Extreme Prejudice,” “We Are Better Than You.” Just incredible. Any album that opens with a song called “Self-Help Book Burning,” and kicks off with the lyrics, “FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU,” is a gem in my esteem.
Candy
Heaven Is Here (Relapse)
Man, talk about a band who have been living up to their hype. Candy have definitely been discussed a lot in the underground lately, and Heaven Is Here is a firm reminder as to why. Packed to the gills with the hardcore crew’s patented gutting riffs and crashing electronic accents, this record is a fitting soundtrack to the emerging new metalcore scene. Or whatever you call this genre that sounds like several punches to the sternum in quick succession.
Darkane
Inhuman Spirits (Massacre)
Anyone who’s read my previous Darkane posts know this band could release an album of armpit farts and I’d call it a masterpiece. But it speaks to their dedication to their craft that they didn’t. No, Inhuman Spirits is an album in the same vein as Darkane classics like Rusted Angel and Insanity, reveling the band’s love of late-’80s thrash even as it remains rooted in melodic death metal. Another jewel in the crown of these kings of the underworld.
Other Shit That Comes Out Today:
Alexisonfire, Otherness (Dine Alone) Listen
Final Light, Final Light (Red Creek) Listen
Guillotine A.D., Born To Fall (M-Theory) Listen
Khold, Svartsyn (Soulseller) Listen
Limbs, Coma Year EP (UNFD) Listen
Paganizer, Beyond The Macabre (Transcending Obscurity) Listen
Philosophobia, Philosophobia (Sensory) Listen
Porcupine Tree, Closure/Continuation (Music For Nations/Megaforce) Listen
Projected, Hypoxia (Rat Pak) Listen
RXPTRS, Living Without Death’s Permission (Metal Blade) Listen
Saor, Origins (Season Of Mist) Listen
Volcandra, Border World EP (Prosthetic) Listen
