Circling the Bowl (4/22/23)

April 22, 2023

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As highly esteemed music journalists at this prestigious Toilet ov Hell, we hear a lot of new music day to day. But what are we actually listening to? “Circling the Bowl” is a weekly series where we get to share the jams we’ve been truly been jamming, and we invite you all to share as well.

A Spooky Mansion – I went on vacation to see my parents in their sunny retirement game preserve. Getting unfettered beach access for the first time in many years helped me to remember: Running Wild is the single greatest band that power metal ever produced. I’ll even extend a friendly hookhand to their pre-eminent ripoff, Blazon Stone, just for keeping the banners hoisted. Aside from the trip, I got plenty of time on the drive over to take in some demo material from bands I never quite sank into otherwise, plus some sunnier thrash bops that I missed and a hardcore band that does the Motorhead cover everyone else is too chickenshit to try. You talk about being students of the game? Ballista is the [bleep] game, JR.

Running Wild – The Ballad Of William Kidd
Running Wild – Renegade
Blazon Stone – Raiders Of Jolly Roger
Tomb Mold – Cerulean Salvation [demo]
Putrescine – Child Size Coffins [demo]
Take Offense – Awake In A Dream
Turn Cold – Ball Of Fire
Drain – Character Fraud
Ballista – The Game

Rolderathis – Ahh, it must be that part of the year once more—I can finally stop whining about not liking anything and start drowning in promising new releases. The ol’ BC wishlist has grown quite tumescent these last few weeks; I’m pretty sure that’s mostly due to working on TTT, and if that’s the case, I wish I’d become more involved a lot earlier!

Hatalom – In Situ (Fav track: “In Situ”)
Pestifere – Hope Misery Death (Fav track: “Cormorant Tree”) (DUH)
Altari – Kröflueldar (Fav track: “Djáknahrollur”)
Daydream Flights – The Garnet Bracelet (Fav track: “Protection”)
Omut – Лыхыj (Fav track: “Лыхыj”)
Zeit – Ohnmacht (Fav track: “Schatten”)

Joaquin Stick – I’ve fallen a bit behind my album-per-day average for a few reasons this month, but these few bangers have helped me get back on track. So far I’m up to 105 this year (of 2023 releases only), and I’m not burnt out! Let’s see how long that lasts.

Dawn of Ouroborus – Velvet Incandescence (Proggy blackened stuff, maybe like a White Ward. Rules.)
Lethvm – Winterreise (Pretty decent black/post/doom thing)
Altari – Kröflueldar (Experimental stuff that sometimes reminds me of Oranssi Pazuzu)

Megachiles –

Hole Dweller – With Dreams of Hereafter: WARNING: Dungeon Synth! Only attempt listening if you like beautiful and melancholic atmospheres and bitchin’ Rush tributes (see track 11: Up and Over)
Liquid Flesh – Chair Liquide: Groovy French death metal in the vein of Descanting the Insalubrious/Heartwork, all for a measly dollar. Get hype for their 3rd album dropping in May!
Steve Roach & Michael Shrieve – The Leaving Time: Ambient master Steve Roach teamed up with Santana’s ex-drummer in the late 80s to write a funky, drum-heavy electronic album. Effortlessly cool, cinematic, and also only a dollar on BC.
VoidCeremony – Threads of Unknowing: Ope, I’ve had this pretty much on loop for like a week and am now writhing in the façade of time.

Spear – Ahhh shit, here we go again. I’ve been slacking even harder on my ToH duties for the past couple weeks, but presentation season is over at work, and I once again have time to think about other things. On a related note, I’d like to thank whichever deities are listening for death metal, because that’s the only thing that’s kept me going for the last month or so.