This Toilet Tuesday (7/25/17)
Welcome once more to This Toilet Tuesday! We’ve dived deep this week, getting up to our necks in the offal. There’s a lot of good stuff coming out, so let’s get to it.
Scalpel – Methods to Delusion (Independent) [Deathgrind]
Listen
Scalpel definitely emphasize the “death” part more than the “grind,” and they present it with a lot of technical flourish. In fact they’re almost too tech for my taste, but the blistering drum and guitar work stop just short of being too ridiculous, and the grind elements on display ease a newbie in. Whereas the debut seemed intent on sounding br00tal and gory, the three preview songs here sound less forced and find time to breathe often enough to not become overwhelming blastfests. “Labors of Loathing” is a prime example of this, shifting quickly between “over-the-top” and “jam” mode without losing intensity for a second. 7/25/17 (Hans)
Sangue Nero – Viscere (Third I Rex) [Weird Black Metal]
Stream
This is weird. Some black metal evokes a feeling of depression or misery, some channels hate and rage, but Sangue Nero just sounds like utter madness and horror. Imagine being abducted and awakening in the middle of a bizarre and terrifying ritual, surrounded by cultists, and knowing there’s no escape. Seriously though, check this out if you’re looking for something equal parts intriguing and unsettling. It’s furiously noisy and dissonant, with vocals that are best described as simply “unhinged,” and with little bits of sludgy, almost-noise-rock thrown in alongside the black metal blasting and ominous atmospheric sections. Go listen to this when you’re extremely tired, then nod off during it like I did, and be startled awake by the vocalists inhuman howling. 7/23/17 (Dumpster Lung)
Celesterre – The Wild (Naturmacht Productions) [Blackened Heavy Metal]
Stream
Seeing this referred to as “blackened heavy metal” definitely caught my interest, and I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe something along the lines of that one-off Between Two Worlds album from I in 2006, but instead of black metal vocals atop more traditional riffing, Celesterre takes the opposite approach, and pairs somewhat Mike Scalzi-esque (Slough Feg, old Hammers of Misfortune), dramatic vocals atop riffing that varies from traditional to straight up black metal, often somewhere between. Celesterre doesn’t quite remind me of any one particular band or project off the top of my head, though if you were to mash the newest Slough Feg with the oldest Hammers album, that might sound similar some spots here and there. Regardless, check this one out if you’re a fan of the more melodic side of black metal or folk-influenced metal (not that this feels overly folk-ish), and want to hear something different. These guys definitely stand out, and while I already liked it well enough on the first listen, I think this album will continue to grow on me even more with time. 7/23/17 (Dumpster Lung)
Couch Slut – Contempt (Gilead Media) [Grind/Noise]
Listen to “Funeral Dyke,” “Company Picnic With Dust Off”
Everything I’ve heard so far from the follow up to My Life as a Woman has lived up to expectations. This is heavier, rawer than the last record. The production is on point. It sounds cleaner, especially the drums, but it still has that grit to it that I loved so much from the first album and it sounds so much more focused. Take a song like “Snake in the Grass”, it’s such a well-rounded, powerful track. You have those brutal, riffs that get you jacked but then it moves into this groovy, catchy, melodic flow…I can’t help but put it on repeat. I love how in a time where we’re getting force fed albums that are so forward about how “tough” they are (I’m looking at you Nails and Dying Fetus), this album slaps them. Maybe it’s the state that I’m in, with all the work stress and personal bullshit that’s overflowed my life right now mixed with the lack of social life and exhaustion…but I can’t think of a time where I needed a record like this than right now. I can’t wait to get my hands on this. 7/28/17 (BertBanana)
Abhorrent Decimation – The Pardoner (Prosthetic Records) [Death Metal]
Stream
Adagio – Life (Zeta Nemesis Records) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “The Ladder”
Afterbirth – The Time Traveler’s Dilemma (Unique Leader Records) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen
Review
Aziza – Council of Straitjackets (Independent) [Hardcore/Sludge]
Listen to “Super Predator”
Beyond the Dark – Unspoken (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Retune Your Mind”
Blazing Rust – Armed to Exist (Pure Steel Records) [Heavy/Speed Metal]
Preview
Blood of the Prophets – The Stars of the Sky Hid From Me (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “The Confrontation and the Resistance”
Byzantine – The Cicada Tree (Metal Blade Records) [Thrash/Groove Metal]
Listen to “New Ways to Bear Witness,” “Trapjaw”
Contrarian – To Perceive Is to Suffer (Willowtip Records) [Prog/Tech Death]
Listen to “To Perceive Is To Suffer”
Divinity Compromised – Terminal (Independent) [Power Prog]
Listen to “Terminal”
Dvne – Asheran (Wasted State Records) [Sludge]
Listen to “Thirst”
DxUxS/Vomit Monster – DxUxS/Vomit Monster (split- Independent) [Electronica/Sludge]
Preview
Esoctrilihum – Mystic Echo from a Funeral Dimension (I, Voidhanger) [Black Metal]
Stream
False – Hunger (Gildead Media) [Black Metal]
Stream
Fractured Spine – The Price of Retribution (Inverse Records) [Death/Doom]
Listen to “Vision of Tartarus”
Garoted – Abyssal Blood Sacrifices (Sordid Curse Productions) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Cannibalistic Witchery,” “Scourge Of Thy Flesh”
Gastrorrexis – …Until the Abysmal Torture Ends (Brutal Mind) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen
Loviatar – Loviatar (Prosthetic Records) [Doom]
Preview
Make Them Suffer – Worlds Apart (Rise Records) [Deathcore, Kinda]
Listen to “Fireworks”
Nexul – Paradigm of Chaos (Hells Headbangers) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Hexecration,” “Dark God of Paradox & Eternal”
No Limited Spiral – Into the Marinesnow (WormHoleDeath) [Melodeath]
Preview
Northern Plague – Scorn the Idle (Independent) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Man of Glass”
Order – Lex Amentiae (Listenable Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Prophet,” “Torquemada”
Phantom Excaliver – 幻の聖剣 (Insulin Records) [Melodeath/Power Metal]
Listen to “幻の聖剣”
The Privateer – The Goldsteen Lay (NoiseArt Records) [Power/Folk Metal]
Listen to “Where Fables Are Made”
Prong – Zero Days (Steamhammer) [Groove Metal]
Listen to “Divide And Conquer”
Rage – Seasons of the Black (Nuclear Blast Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Blackened Karma”
Rings of Saturn – Ultu Ulla (Nuclear Blast Records) [Deathcore/Tech Death]
Listen to “Parallel Shift,” “Inadequate”
Review
Shadowside – Shades of Humanity (Ellefson Music Production) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Alive”
Sinmara – Within the Weaves of Infinity (Independent) [Black Metal]
Stream
Soul Secret – Babel (Pride & Joy Music) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “What We’re All About”
Suaka – Tiga (Money Fire Records) [Thrash]
Listen
Temple of Void – Lords of Death (Shadow Kingdom Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Wretched Banquet”
Transport League – Twist and Shout at the Devil (Rodeostar/Soulfood) [Trailer Park Metal]
Listen to “Cannibal Holobeast”
…Under a Full Moon – In the Black Calm (Independent) [Black Metal/Doom]
Listen
Urn – The Burning (Iron Bonehead Productions) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “Sons of the Northern Star”
Venomous Maximus – No Warning (Shadow Kingdom Records) [Sludge]
Listen to “Return of the Witch”
Whalesong – Disorder (Old Temple) [Sludge/Industrial]
Listen to “Parasites,” “Juggernaut”
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
