This Toilet Tuesday (7/4/17)
Welcome once more to This Toilet Tuesday! This week is the best kind of new music week: relatively lean, but with a lot of solid releases. Our ever-expanding crew has picked out a couple of the best to check out, but there’s a lot more where that came from. Don’t skimp on that list this week.
Strike Master – U.F.T.M. (Plat-D Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “UFTM”
Raging thrashers Strike Master have been around since the mid-00’s, but this was my first contact. They expertly ride a line between technicality and moshability; enough of the former to keep things interesting, enough of the latter to not seem wanky. U.F.T.M. is a re-recording of the band’s 2006 debut Up For The Massacre, and the first question a re-recording begs is whether it was necessary. I’m not sure about this one, as listening to both versions side by side seems like a bit of a case of tomayto/tomahto. The rough edge of the original brought it closer to Demolition Hammer or even Sadus, whereas the new version cleans things up and perhaps highlights the techy side a bit more without dialling back the brutality too much. Either way, you’re in for some excellent dynamic songcraft. 7/7/17 (Hans)
Party Cannon – Perverse Party Platter (Gore House Productions) [SLAM]
Listen to “Soft, White, Gelatinous Body”
It feels like its been an eternity since the release of Bong Hit Hospitalisation, but it’s only really been like a year and a bit. While it doesn’t mean much to say common tropes like “top-tier slam metal band,” “leagues away from the competition,” or “you’d be an idiot to not like this band and if you don’t, it’s likely that you listen to, void forbid, Dream Theater,” let me just say that Party Cannon are a top tier slam metal band that’s leagues away from the competition. You’d be an idiot to not like this band and if you don’t, it’s likely that you listen to, void forbid, Dream Theater. This is a point in the review where the reviewer would name drop bands using phrases like, “I get hints of this” and “subtle flavor of that”, “with a splash of so and so” and “It finishes with some coffee notes” but I don’t listen to slam. I listen to Party Cannon. So, when I listen to the new singles “Keg Crusher” and “Soft, White, Gelatinous Body”, I get hints of Bone Crushing Riffs and a subtle flavor of Blasts with a splash of Really Fucking Grimy Gutturals and it finishes with some coffee notes. If that doesn’t sell you on the new Party Cannon, just know there is a limited tape release and they have a badass snap back that you can order… unlike a certain blog I know. Not mentioning any names… Joe. FFO: Devourment, Gutteral Slug 7/7/17 (Bert Banana)
Seer – Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void (Independent) [Sludge/Doom]
Listen to “Acid Sweat,” “They Used Dark Forces”
Seer continues their numbered tale, by following up their two EPs with a combined full-length debut. Vol. III showcases Seer’s heavier side, while Vol. IV will take a more mellow route. The two pre-release tracks focus on Vol. III’s heaviness, with “Acid Sweat” swaggering along with sludgy riffs and alternating clean and harsh vocals. While “They Used Dark Forces” brings doom and a touch of post-metal to the fore, with glacial riffs making way for a gloomy, synth driven outro. 7/7/17 (Ellipsis)
Solanum – Judge-Mental (Unspeakable Axe Records) [Crossover Thrash]
Listen to “Control”
I’m going to level with you: if the riffs at about :37 and 1:27 in “Control” don’t convince you that you need Judge-Mental in your ears now and forever, you are beyond help, and I’m not sure I’d even want to anyway. This year has had its fair share of punky thrash albums, but Solanum’s is the first to instantly click with me; it’s light on the crust and heavy on the thrash, no riff feels recycled, and it sounds fantastic. If nothing else, just look at who’s publishing it, and let any remaining doubts drift away. 7/3/17 (Spear)
Apothesary – Accept Loss Forever (M-Theory Audio) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Elizabeth,” “Tempest (Even Tide)”
Awaken Solace – Mythandriel (Independent) [Symphonic Power Metal]
Preview
Beyond Grace – Seekers (Independent) [Prog/Tech Death]
Listen to “Oracle”
Review
Blackevil – The Ceremonial Fire (FDA Records) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “Between Fire and Fire,” “Heavy Forces Marching On”
Bliss of Flesh – Empyrean (Listenable Records) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “Penitent”
Bütcher – Bestial Fükkin’ Warmachine (Babylon Doom Cult Records) [Speed Metal]
Definitely Not Thundersteel
Concrete Age – The Totem of the Great Snake (Pt.I) (Independent) [Thrash/Melodeath]
Listen to “The Black Wings of Shaman”
Dead – A Dirty Mind Is A Joy Forever (FDA Records) [Deathgrind]
Listen to “Snakey Brown” (NSFW)
Decapitated – Anticult (Nuclear Blast Records) [Groove/Death Metal]
Listen to “Never,” “Earth Scar”
Die like Gentlemen – Distinguished Company (Independent) [Sludge]
Listen to “The Nod”
Diminished 7 – Bats (Independent) [Gothic Metal]
Listen to “Adorned (Insidiously)”
Dreams of Agony – A Forgotten Tale (RockCD Records) [Symphonic Metal]
Listen to “The Crown of Fate”
Earthling – Spinning in the Void (Forcefield Records) [Everything Metal]
Listen to “Howl”
Ecnephias – The Sad Wonder of the Sun (My Kingdom Music) [Gothic Metal]
Listen to “Quimbanda”
El Camino – Cursed Congregation (To The Death/Night Tripper) [Doom]
Listen to “Crooked Wand”
Ereb Altor – Ulfven (Hammerheart Records) [Viking Metal]
Listen to “En Synd Svart Som Sot”
Excalion – Dream Alive (Scarlet Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Divergent Falling”
Heavens Fire – Playing with Fire (Independent) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “Restless Sleep”
Heresiarch – Death Ordinance (Dark Descent Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Storming Upon Knaves”
Kassad – Faces Turn Away (Hypnotic Dirge Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Void,” “Broken”
Lifeless – The Occult Mastery (FDA Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “The Occult Mastery,” “From Chaos Our Order Shall Rise”
Limbonic Art – Spectre Abysm (Candlelight Records) [Symphonic Black Metal]
Listen to “Ethereal Traveller”
Magistina Saga – Reingrimonation (Starwave Records) [Power Metal]
Preview
Massive Assault – Mortar (FDA Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Deranged Humanity”
Melvins – A Walk with Love & Death (Ipecac Recordings) [Whatever]
Listen to “Christ Hammer”
Misanthrope Monarch – Regress to the Saturnine Chapter (Independent) [Death Metal]
Listen to “The Brotherhood of Destruction”
M.O.D. – Busted, Broke & American (Megaforce Records) [Crossover Thrash]
Listen to “You’re A Fucking Dick”
Nadimač – Besnilo (Xtreem Music) [Crossover Thrash]
Stream
Next to None – Phases (Inside Out Music) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “The Apple”
Nicumo – Storms Arise (Inverse Records) [Goth Rock/Doom]
Listen to “Death, Let Go”
Orden Ogan – Gunmen (AFM Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Gunman,” “Fields of Sorrow”
Parasitic Ejaculation – Isolation (Amputated Vein Records) [SLAM]
Listen to “Global Decimation”
Phylactery – Necromancy Enthroned (Unspeakable Axe Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Eyes of Fear and Flame,” “Unholy Empire”
Sensor Motorik – Anatomy of the Human Vasculature (Valist Records) [SLAM]
Listen to “Anatomy of the Human Vasculature”
Tanakh – Chameleonic (Independent) [Death/Doom]
Listen to “Tempered Glass,” “Geneticide”
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
