This Toilet Tuesday (8/23/16)
You drift numbly through the thick fog permeating the world, your destination unknown, your origin long forgotten. Muffled voices surround you, their sources distant and obscured. Why do I do this? you ask yourself, the reason for your journey as shrouded as the ground in front of you. All you know is that you must walk, so walk you shall.
Eventually you find yourself at the edge of a precipice, the fog giving way below to reveal the face of a massive snake, its long, scaled body stretching far deeper into the haze than your eyes can pierce. A similarly colored tail- presumably its own- emerges from its mouth, also disappearing into the fog in the opposite direction. It’s truly monstrous; its length must span the whole world to be able to meet itself. The Ouroboros regards you silently with its glassy eyes, and you return its gaze in kind. It shifts forward slightly in an attempt to swallow more of its tail. Why does it continue to suffer? you ponder bemusedly. All it has to do to end this is bite down. A voice from over your shoulder quietly reminds you of your worldly attachments and of your need to keep moving. You nod slowly without breaking eye contact, and the Ouroboros shifts again. You cross the bridge to the other side of the ravine; you can’t stop now.
The cycle continues. This is Toilet Tuesday.
Astrophobos – Enthroned in Flesh (Triumvirate Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Blood Libation”
The year of the EP marches on with this triumphant black metal monolith! “Blood Libation” finds the Swedes chopping butts and spilling blood with an entire asteroid belt’s worth of riffs. Things get a bit chaotic here and there, but the band always keeps this meteorite rocking with big hooks and subzero melody. Plus, that goofy album art is fantastic. FFO: Necrophobic, Sacramentum, Naglfar 8/26/16 (W.)
Kuolemanlaakso – M. Laakso – Vol. 1: The Gothic Tapes (Svart Records) [Doom]
Listen to “The World’s Intolerable Pain”
Kuolemanlaakso is just about the cream of the crop when it comes to death/doom. Which is why I’ve been waiting for their third album for quite the time – and will have to keep waiting. Despite its name, The Gothic Tapes Vol.1 isn’t a fully fledged Kuolemanlaakso album, but a solo record by it’s mastermind Markus Laakso. Recorded mostly with the same line-up and produced again by V. Santura – who also plays guitar on the album. The biggest changes are the vocals performed by Laakso himself, now in English and completely clean, and in the riffs that now carry a strong Gothic vibe. While I’m extremely glad that this doesn’t mean an end to Kuolemanlaakso the band – instead being something to work on while vocalist Kotamäki keeps himself busy with Swallow The Sun. Anyone looking for heavy, catchy songs that put more weight to the riff than the chorus – but forget neither, should find themselves very satisfied with this. 8/26/16 (Karhu)
Dark Forest – Beyond the Veil (Cruz del Sur Music) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Where The Arrow Falls,” “The Undying Flame”
Hark, my brothers! A light has finally appeared in these dark days! Though it seems like ages have come and gone since we crossed paths with worthy warriors, Dark Forest have proven themselves with Beyond the Veil. They have infused their power metal with the spirit of folk metal (and maybe a bit of Chrono Trigger) in exultant celebration of all things sword- and forest-related. Their joyous melodies have brought hope to my weary ears, signalling a reprieve from this power metal drought. Hail! 8/26/16 (Spear)
ZQKMGDZ 10.000 km² gegen die Zeit – Orbit Dualkraut (Pink Tank Records) [Stoner/Psych]
Listen to “Hypergiant,” “Monokraut Jupiter”
Early last year I planned to write a mini-review for the previous album by this German band with the fucking bizarre name, but every time I spun it things got real hazy and I couldn’t see the characters on my keyboard. This was a bit of a shame as Dimension Plasma was a pretty rad offering of doom-tinged psych/stoner rock. Orbit Dualkraut seems to pick up exactly where things left off – inside the Brainsnail Octopus. The band’s use of vocals tends to be sporadic, taking a backseat to the guitars, which give off a strong improvisational jam vibe as they experiment mixing blues with noise, letting the warm solar winds guide their course through interstellar space. FFO: Acid King, Deep Space Destructors, Waking up next to a canal in Amsterdam covered in assorted breads to the sound of 386 feasting pigeons with no recollection of your prior existence.
Ablaze My Sorrow – Black (Apostasy Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “One Last Sting,” “When All Is…”
Asguard – Hidden God (Possession Productions) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “Daemon Cavalcade”
Coma Cluster Void – Mind Cemeteries (Independent) [SKRONK]
Listen
Contemplator – Sonance (Independent) [Instrumental Prog]
Stream
Crowmorph – Aversion (Independent) [Death/Thrash]
Preview
Dawn of Demise – The Suffering (Unique Leader Records) [Slambeau Field]
Listen to “Deride the Wretch”
Delain – Moonbathers (Napalm Records) [Symphonic Metal]
Listen to “The Glory and the Scum”
DGM – The Passage (Frontiers Music) [Dream Theater, but better]
Listen to “Animal,” “The Secret, Pt. 1”
Die like Gentlemen – The Quickening Light (Independent) [Doom]
Listen to “Cerberus Sleeps,” “Drought”
Die Young – No Illusions (Good Fight Entertainment) [Hardcore]
Listen to “Bear Witness,” “Mortal/Eternal”
Door into Emptiness – Wave (Possession Productions) [DSBM]
Listen to “Sady mir”
Fiendlord – Neuromancy (Independent) [Symphonic Black Metal]
Listen to “Neuromancy”
Frigoris – Nur ein Moment… (Hypnotic Dirge Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Himeros,” “Trúwen”
Gloryful – End of the Night (Massacre Records) [Thrash/Heavy Metal]
Listen to “This Means War”
Happy Days – Save Yourself (Talheim Records) [DSBM]
Listen to “Will We Make It?”
Hæresiarchs of Dis – Tria Prima Diabolica (Moribund Records) [Black Metal]
Human Compost – From the Grave They Crawl (Horror Pain Gore Death) [Goregrind]
Ideology – Ideology (Independent) [Prog Metal]
Stream
Imperium Dekadenz – Dis Manibvs (Season of Mist) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Dis Manibvs”
Inquisition – Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith (Season of Mist) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Wings of Anus”
Lesbian – Hallucinogenesis (Translation Loss Records) [Doom/Sludge]
Listen to “Aqualibrium,” “Kosmoceratops”
Maleceptor – Chapter 2: The Flesh Harvest (Rotten Roll Rex) [Miranda Slambert]
Preview
Martyrion – Our Dystopia (Boersma Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Genozenith”
Massacrator – Everlasting Nightmare (Independent) [Thrash]
Stream
Motorowl – Om Generator (Century Media Records) [Progressive Doom]
Listen to “Om Generator”
Myriad Lights – Kingdom of Sand (Punishment18 Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Abyssal March”
Nekro Drunkz – Lavatory Carnage (Moribund Records) [Grindcore]
The Noctambulant – Advocatus Diaboli (DGRecords) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Goddess”
Nox – Ancestral Arte Negro (Forever Plagued Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Ancestral Arte Negro”
Oncology – Infinite Regress (Rising Nemesis Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Infinite Regress”
Raven Throne – Šliacham zabytych (Possession Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Pakiń… (Desine sperare qui hic intras)”
Running Wild – Rapid Foray (Steamhammer) [Heavy/Speed Metal]
Listen to “Black Bart”
Seventh Son – Arc of Infinity (Black-listed Productions) [Heavy Metal]
Preview
Sodom – Decision Day (Steamhammer) [Thrash]
Listen to “Caligula”
Solution .45 – Nightmares in the Waking State – Part II (AFM Records) [Groove Metal]
Listen to “The Faint Pulse of Light”
SubRosa – For This We Fought the Battle of Ages (Profound Lore Records) [Sludge/Doom/Post-Metal]
Listen to “Wound of the Warden,” “Killing Rapture”
Twilight Force – Heroes of Mighty Magic (Nuclear Blast Records) [Symphonic Power Metal]
Listen to “Battle of Arcane Might,” “To the Stars”
Unbegotten – Proem of the Unborn (Forever Plagued Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Dreadful Lethargy of the Unstable”
Vahrzaw – Twin Suns & Wolves’ Tongues (Blood Harvest Records) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “Arrows Pierce the Fog,” “Twin Suns and Wolves Tongues”
Valiant – Spellbound (Independent) [Symphonic Black Metal]
Listen
Vicious Rumors – Concussion Protocol (Steamhammer) [Heavy/Power Metal]
Listen to “Chasing the Priest,” “Take It Or Leave It”
Visions of Disfigurement – Abhorrent Extinction (Independent) [Son of Slam]
Listen to “Fecaluria”
While Sun Ends – Terminus (WOOAAARGH) [Djent/Prog]
Listen to “Cycles,” “Measure”
Winterhearth – Resettlement (Independent) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “Cultural Genocide”
Winterstorm – Cube of Infinity (NoiseArt Records) [Folk Metal]
Listen to “Through the Storm”
Worshipper – Shadow Hymns (Teepee Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Place Beyond the Light”
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
