New Music Roundup: Imperial Triumphant, Defeated Sanity, Yellow Eyes, Sannhet
This New Music Roundup has a theme: music I was late to the party on. If you’re reading this website (spoiler: you are) you’ll be able to impress your friends and neighbors with your extensive knowledge of dissonant death metal, brutal death metal, black metal, and instrumental post-black metal. Don’t be like Edward. Stay up to date on all the hot new song streams and upcoming album release dates in a single post. Be forewarned: this post contains a lot of opinions.
Imperial Triumphant are a band I recently discovered, and boy was I glad I did. Some time last year, I remember coming across their page on Metal Archives because they share two members with Pyrrhon, who released my favorite album of last year. I meant to check them out but then I listened to ten other things instead. The world kept turning. Decibel recently premiered a track from Imperial Triumphant called “Dead Heaven” which I heard – and which I flipped for. Imperial Triumphant self-label as a black metal band. They were labeled by Decibel as “urban black metal”, whatever the heck that means. They have been promoted by friends and New York colleagues as a black metal band. What I heard in “Dead Heaven” was a tasty slice of dissonant death metal, more tech-y and less vile than brother band Pyrrhon. I went through their back catalog, and began emailing my friends and colleagues in an effort to get to the bottom of the Imperial Triumphant black metal conspiracy.
During that time “Krokodil” hit the web. “Krokodil” made me (ever so slightly) consider my campaign to get this story straight. This song features a slow-building, dramatic introduction and riffs that straddle the fence between rapid black metal and angular dissonant death. Black metal, or not, I’m pumped to hear Abyssal Gods in full and I suspect it could place come EOTY time. You can stream “Krokodil” below (insert krokodil face-melting reference).
Abyssal Gods will be released on Aural Music/Code 666 on March 10th, 2015.
Defeated Sanity released Passages Into Deformity in 2013, to much fanfare and acclaim. It even landed spots on a couple of best of 2013 year end lists. The homey Tyree (the Grindprophet) alerted us to a premier of a new Defeated Sanity song on Tuesday. This song “Generosity of the Deceased” is Defeated Sanity’s half of a recently released 7″ split with Mortal Decay. This track finds Defeated Sanity continuing in excellence after Passages Into Deformity. In my mind this is brutal death metal done right – you can flush a lot of these other brutal death metal poser hacks. Pay special attention to the break at 1:29. You can stream “Generosity of the Deceased” below.
This split comes out in anticipation of Defeated Sanity’s fifth full length album due out some time in 2015. Defeated Sanity have described the album as a “split with themselves“. I have to admit, at first I was skeptical. After hearing “Generosity of the Deceased”, I can’t wait to hear their next album. The last official statement from the band estimated a summer of 2015 release for this yet untitled album on Willowtip Records.
This next bit of news comes to us from Toilet Ov Hell regular Celtic Frosty. It’s exciting news for music that isn’t exactly “new”. USBM favorite Yellow Eyes released their cassette only release Stillicide digitally on Bandcamp this week. This was very exciting news for me for two reasons: I don’t own a cassette player lol, and Yellow Eyes is a band that shows great promise and tremendous potential. I can confidently say Stillicide (and The Desert Mourns) show Yellow Eyes releasing their finest work to date, despite both albums each being a two track EP. Stillicide features gorgeous tremolo picking, smart changes in tempo, and catchy melodies. It’s also mixed in a way that allows the riffs, drums, and harsh screams all room to be heard. I could keep fanboying the fuck out on this one but you should just stream these two tracks below, or head over to that Bandcamp to pick it up for $5.00.
In 2013, a then little-known band called Sannhet released their debut album and captured the attention of the metal blogosphere almost overnight. Known Flood showcased a band expertly playing math-y instrumental post-black metal. I have never been super interested in instrumental music. I mostly passed on instrumental hip hop during a lifetime of underground hip hop fandom, I don’t know shit about jazz, and while I like a bit of Pelican and Russian Circles they aren’t often the first things I’m going to jam. Sannhet surprised me with their debut. Admittedly I was late to that party, partly because they are an instrumental band, but I knew they were on to something special the first time I played Known Flood.
I have been eagerly anticipating the followup to Known Flood in 2015’s Revisionist. My colleague Christian emailed me to let me know they had released the first track from this year’s upcoming album. We chatted about it and shared opinions. Don’t go breaking my heart now, Sannhet. Their second single from Revisionist seemed more promising, and remember I hadn’t heard either in the context of the album.
Pitchfork Media’s Brandon Stosuy landed an interview with Sannhet, and they have an exclusive full album stream of Revisionist. You can read the interview and stream the album here. PR for the album compared it to Deafheaven and Alcest; there is definitely a buildup on these songs approaching Deafheaven territory that I didn’t catch on Known Flood. Check out the album – let us know how you think it stacks up against Sannhet’s debut.
Revisionist comes out on The Flenser on March 3rd, 2015.
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