Get Prep’d: The Second Coming
Get Prep’d – An exercise in priming you up with bands you can get down to, just before you ask “who?” and invoke the chagrin of the collective bowl.
KING PARROT
Dead Set – out on May 15th through Housecore Records
As some of you may be aware, King Parrot are releasing their second album titled Dead Set on the 15th of May (pre-orders available). For those of you who are not familiar with this intense Australian band, now is the time to get yourselves ready for what promises to be a crazy ride.
King Parrot don’t just bring intoxicating metal to the table, they mount the table, pissing all over everything in sight, shrieking heretical verses and grinding in the face of the masses whilst laughing hysterically. In short, they will rip you a new anus, only not of the metaphysical kind.
Hailing from Melbourne (Victoria), where they procured the production skills of Jason Fuller from the legendary Victorian filth merchants Blood Duster, King Parrot’s first LP Bite Your Head Off (released in September 2013) showcased the band’s ability to seamlessly combine thrash, grind, hardcore and punk, along with a good dose of humour, which can be witnessed on pretty much any of their videos.
Having just toured North America, they have been signed to Phil Ansemlo’s Housecore Records and have recently released a video for their lead-in track Like A Rat.
Get prep’d by buying Bite Your Head Off, pre-ordering Dead Set or by tucking into your favourite brew and checking out their videos (Shit On The Liver is my personal pick, or click here if you are impatient/humourless) for an early shot of uneasy laughter followed by a sore neck chaser. (Lacertilian)
Skinless
Only the Ruthless Remain – Out June 2nd on Relapse Records
“I want you to sit back, relax. Grab your girl, grab your pole, let’s take a trip to the ol’ bunghole. Roll ’em.”
Our dear sweet Edward recently brought you the good news that the indomitable lords of brutality are finally returning. That’s right, pit ninjas. Skinless is back. So what do you need to know before Only the Ruthless Remain drops and turns whatever town you call home into a smoking crater of twisted metal and charred masonry? Saddle up, buttercup, because I’m going to slam dance you into the ground with some knowledge. Skinless first appeared on the New York death metal scene in 1992, though it wouldn’t be until 1998 that the world got to mosh to a proper full-length. During those early days, they helped put brutal death metal on the map with fellow East Coasters Suffocation and Dying Fetus by playing a loose, heavy as all hell blend of death metal replete with A-bomb slams and vocals that sounded like vocalist Sherwood Webber was gargling raw sewage. Progression Towards Evil is raw, sloppy, and impossibly hateful; it has everything you could want in a brutal death metal album, and “Confines of Human Flesh” remains a frequent headbanger for many to this day.
After such a colossal debut, the band would experience a number of line-up changes and would implement increasing technicality and progression in musicianship until the “final” line-up released Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead. This album, with its violent, nihilistic lyrics and imagery, and well-oiled- with-the-blood-of-your-enemies-Maginot-line-machinegun-heavy-technical-devastation would cement itself as a modern classic in brutal death metal. Some may decry the tighter production and pig squeals of vocalist Jason Keyser, but this album remains a favorite of many. Check out the title track for one of the most heinous exercises in technical slam. Alas, the band would go on to hang up the fabled “Logs of Brutality” for several years, but not even undeath could keep the Skinless ones down. After reuniting with Sherwood Webber, the band teased new material for quite some time before finally releasing “Serpenticide” officially as an advance track. But now the crypt has been opened, and the meat wagon has been set in motion once again. Prepare yourself by jamming Progression Towards Evil, From Sacrifice to Survival, and Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead. (W.)
Blurring
Blurring – out May 1st on Handshake, Inc.
Even though this self-titled LP is their first full length, Blurring have been grinding away since 2012 (you can check out their back catalog of singles and demos on Bandcamp). Hailing from Rochester, NY and sporting a pretty fucking formidable lineup (ex-Anthrax, Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault, Kalibas, Warblade), these seasoned vets play a unique atmospheric brand of grind with riffs that wouldn’t feel out of place on a skronk-infested death metal record. That is if they weren’t being played at bullet-train speed. The prose-like lyrics tell bleak metaphorical stories of societal ills, dreams destroyed, and seething self hatred. The anger and disappointment are almost palpable as the guitars gnarl and twist and the drums shake the dirt loose from some abandoned upstate warehouse floor. Blurring will be available for purchase on May 2nd at Handshake, Inc.’s Bandcamp page. In the meantime, listen to an advance track below. (Celtic Frosty)
House Of Atreus
The Spear And The Ichor That Follows – out May 5th on Dark Descent Records
Minneapolis death metal quartet House of Atreus are set to release their full length debut titled The Spear and the Ichor that Follows, to be released on May 5 in both physical and digital form on Dark Descent Records. Their 2011 demo and the followup EP Into the Brazen Bull showed the band having a talent for crafting exceptional songs with catchy galloping riffs and epic solos serving as a fine backdrop to tales of historical horror and decadence. Having listened to Invisible Oranges exclusive stream of the album, It’s apparent that they have decided to up the ante on pretty much everything (the main riff to first single Messenger of a Shaken Host is as triumphant sounding as anything the band has done.), while making even more varied and heartfelt songwriting, particularly placing more of an emphasis on mid-paced headbanging anthems such as Heir to the Crown of Sodom and rewritten demo track Throne of Chariots. If you like a tasty blend of death metal blended with just the right amount of thrashy candor and trad metal born melody, Simon says jump on the inevitable bandwagon and get this record. (Simon Phoenix)
Mamaleek
Our good friend Stockhausen wanted to include a piece about this upcoming album from Mamaleek but alas, he has been short of time. All I know about this outfit is that they hail from San Fransisco, have been playing experimental black metal since 2008 and that the legendary composer rates them highly, is that not enough for you to check them out? If not, we have ways of dealing with you and your willful ignorance.
The band had this to say about their upcoming release –
“It is at once, a solicitation and renunciation of the genres that are blended together to create something other…Traditional music turned against itself, in treasonous alliance with the barbarians at the gate whom it once hoped to keep out. May the acoustic ruin here documented compel you to turn to your lord. You may take these songs to your judgement day as a protest against the filthy oil pumping in your veins.”
Check out their previous work below –
