This Toilet Tuesday (9/8/15)
You are startled from your restless slumber by the sharp closing of a door. Still groggy and not entirely sure of where you are, you gaze bleary-eyed at your surroundings. White walls. Curtain to your right. Sterile smell. A heart rate monitor quietly beeping to your left. That’s right, you think; the hospital. You lie withered and placid upon a stiff mattress, crippled by disease and a sedentary life. A life of waste; you talked big, you dreamed big, but you accomplished nothing. No friends or family have come to see you in your final hours. Your only company is a painfully overworked nurse, and she’s nowhere to be found right now. You await your end alone and forgotten.
No, you decide. No more waiting. The cancer that riddles your body has caused you enough pain. Mustering the last of your energy, you feebly shuffle over to the machine that keeps your lungs operating. It’s a Herculean feat, but you make it there before collapsing breathlessly upon it. You slide down its side to the floor and yank out its power cord. It beeps loudly for a couple seconds before shutting off; it seems its power supply wasn’t fully charged. Relieved, you lie your head on the cool floor. This is it. You have no-one left to impress; you can relax completely. You feel a warm spot spreading across the back of your gown, its acrid, ferrous stench indicating it’s more blood than feces. “Well,” you wheeze through a rattling last breath. At least whoever has to clean this up won’t forget anytime soon.
Die in obscurity on This Toilet Tuesday.
Nightfell – Darkness Evermore (20 Buck Spin) [Black Metal]
Stream
In what was starting to look like a year destined to be dominated by outstanding black metal, death metal has started firing back with a slew of great new releases. The latest shot fired in this war I just made up for no reason is Nightfell’s Darkness Evermore. Nightfell, like a lot of bands, combine death and doom into one crushing concoction, but do so with a fair amount of clean atmospherics that really elevate their music to the next level. If Autopsy are the mullet of death doom (just pure goddamn filth and nastiness) then Nightfell are the undercut (sleek, refined…brooding?). Please justify my haircut by pressing play and rocking along. 9/11/15 (Leif Bearikson)
Hercyn – Dust and Ages (Independent) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Of Ruin”
Hey, would you like to hear some trees’n’such black metal mixed with a wee bit of Bathory-worshipping folksy bleakness? Of course you do! Well head on over to No Clean Singing and preview “Of Ruin” by Hercyn. Those melodic riffs leading up to that old school beat that kicks in at about 2:35 brings all the feels. Expect soul-wrenching tremolos and transcendent crescendos. This is one to watch. FFO: Agalloch, Antlers, Slechtvalk 9/11/15 (W.)
Sangus – Pedicabo Mundi (ForzaMorte) [Black Metal]
Stream
You might remember Sangus as the runner-up for our best unsigned band contest in Rhode Island. Well the band is back to smash your dong with a new EP called Pedicabo Mundi. Expect unrelenting buzz-saw riffs, more-rabid-than-Cujo vocals, and gut-busting change-up at the 1:30 mark. This EP will be one of the nastiest short releases you hear all year. FFO: Kreator, Black Anvil, Destroyer 666 9/6/15 (W.)
Stratovarius – Eternal (earMusic) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Shine in The Dark”
I get the feeling this might be cheesy even for some of the other nerds in here, but screw you, I like it. Stratovarius returns with all kinds of electronic hooks, soaring choruses, and by god, some mighty riffage. “Shine in The Dark” is exactly the type of upbeat ballad you’d expect from the band, and I believe this is their most solid offering since 2009’s Polaris. It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s perfect if you just want something uplifting. 9/11/15 (Spear)
Acid Death – Hall of Mirrors (7hard Records) [Prog Death]
Listen to “Hall of Mirrors”
Aenaon/Virus of Koch – Ultima Momentum/Voro: Forma Mentis (split- Ill-Damnation Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen
Alpha Drone – For Ana (Independent) [Drone, surprise surprise]
Stream
Avulsed – Altar of Disembowelment (Xtreem Music) [Death Metal]
Listen to “To Sacrifice and Devour”
Catacombs – Sin (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “I”
Chiral – Night Sky (Independent) [Post-Black Metal]
Preview
Coffins – Craving to Eternal Slumber (Hammerheart Records) [Death Metal]
Stream
Cronic – Kundalini (Indpendent) [Thrash]
Dawn Ray’d – A Thorn, A Blight (Moment of Collapse Records) [Black Metal]
Stream
Drakum – Trollmin (Independent) [Folk Metal]
Listen to “Wall of Deadly Trolls”
Elferya – Eden’s Fall (Independent) [Symphonic Metal]
Listen to “With All My Love”
Frade Negro – The Attack of the Damned (Kill Again Records) [Thrash]
Preview
Goatpenis – Apocalypse War (Pagan War Distro Rex) [Death Metal]
Preview
Haiduk – Demonicon (Independent) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Azyr”
HellLight – Journey Through Endless Storms (Solitude Productions) [Funeral Doom]
Listen to “Journey Through Endless Storms,” “Distant Light That Fades”
Human Desolation – Mind Grind Paradigm (Independent) [Melodeath]
Hypoxia – Despondent Death (Ultimate Massacre Productions) [Brutal Death]
Listen to “Schizophrenic Killing”
I, Legion – Pleiona (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Sirens”
Into Darkness – Sinister Demise (Rising Nemesis/Sevared Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Left Behind”
Kai Flood – Ilmutus Surm (SLL Records) [Black Metal]
Kaiserreich – Cuore Nero (De Tenebrarum Principio) [Black Metal]
Preview
Leaves’ Eyes – King of Kings (AFM REcords) [Symphonic Metal]
Listen to “Halvdan the Black”
Macbeth – Imperium (Massacre Records) [Melodic Metal]
Listen to “WN62”
Majestic Downfall – …When Dead (Pulverised Records) [Doom]
Listen to “The Brick, The Concrete”
Manipulation – Ecstasy (Satanath Records) [Death Metal]
Preview
Orkan – Livlaus (Dark Essence Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Livlaus del 2: Dødens Dal”
Поезд Родина/Funeral Tears – Frozen Tranquility (split- Symbol of Domination) [Funeral Doom]
Listen to “Eternal Tranquility,” “Мертві квіти”
Sakrificer – Desolate Darkness (False Cause) [Death/Thrash]
Sardonis – III (Consouling Records) [Sludge/Doom]
Listen to “Battering-ram”
Speedtrap – Straight Shooter (Svart Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Straight Shooter”
Stormy Atmosphere – Pent Letters (Metal Scrap Records) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “The Menippeah,” “Gothic Dread,” “Outcome”
Slayer – Repentless (Nuclear Blast) [Thrash]
Listen to “Repentless”
Tarja Turunen – Ave Maria – En Plein Air (earMusic) [Classical/Opera]
Preview
Vials of Wrath – Days Without Names (Independent) [(un)Black Metal]
Listen to “Revival of the Embers”
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
(Images VIA, VIA, VIA, and VIA)
