DEI Metal: Sorry, Not Sorry, Cis Straight White Guys (PART III)
In which I listen to new songs by bands that are not entirely made up of cis straight white guys and bestow upon the reader my thoughts. You’re welcome.
Artist: Sign of the Jackyl
Album: Heavy Metal Survivors
Song: “Breaking the Spell”
“Breaking the Spell” opens sounding like Too Fast For Love-era Mötley Crüe, but instead of having to endure Vince Neil’s nasal drone, we get Laura “Demons Queen” Coller, who is a better singer (although, who isn’t a better singer than Neil?). Italy’s Sign of the Jackyl make snarling Sunset Strip-style metal perfect for fans of Crüe, Poison, and Dokken. “Breaking the Spell” isn’t the only song on their latest album, Heavy Metal Survivors, that borrows from Crüe. I suspect that when they wrote the song “Buio Omega” they’d been listening to “Kickstart My Heart” on repeat. But who cares? Crüe haven’t made music worth listening to in decades. “Breaking the Spell,” with its devil-nightmares, screaming, and blood drinking is nothing but a good time.
Artist: Mahnwache
Album: Der Weg zum Frieden
Song: “Mahnwache”
This is the first single by Mahnwache, an atmospheric Black Metal band from the Netherlands. Mahnwache is Maria the Sinner on vocals and Jurran van den Brink on guitar. According to Bandcamp, “The melodic intro with guitars and synths takes you away in a dream that later on will be filled with brutal screams and siren vocals” resulting in “a feeling of inner peace and loss.” I mean, sure? Why not? There is a dreamy quality to the song and Maria the Sinner’s vocals cut through it like shards of broken glass. I can’t find much information about the band as they formed in 2024 and have only released one song. But it’s a very compelling song that makes me want to hear more from them.
Artist: Hatefulmurder
Album: I Am That Power
Song: “Call Out Your Soul”
https://youtu.be/BuLHyZYU0qs?feature=shared
Brazil’s Hatefulmurder have been around since 2008, but “Call Out Your Soul” from their latest album is the first song I’ve ever heard from them. Hatefulmurder—named to differentiate itself from, like, nice murder—is fronted by Angélica Burns. I’m not sure what genre this is, but I feel confident saying it’s a mix of death, thrash, and redheaded growling (Burns growls and has red hair, so). I don’t mind growling, though I do like some clean vocals for balance, but I didn’t hear any in the few songs I listened to. Still, I can get behind lyrics like, “There’s always someone to throw the first stone. The preacher is also guilty.” There are a lot of people doing very shitty things out there, like demonizing trans kids and banning abortion, claiming they were called by the lord to do so. Somebody ought to call out their souls, so why not Hatefulmurder?
Artist: Sungoose
Song: “Stone Cold Walls”
If you’ve ever found yourself with a hankering for more saxophone in metal, have I got the band for you. Sungoose is a prog metal band from Norway who have thus far released one song, “Stone Cold Walls,” and it is drenched in saxophone, played by Jenni Øiom Askvig. Lead vocals and bass are handled by Nathaniel Loke Bendixen. The sax and Bendixen’s voice mesh perfectly and there’s a kind of interplay going on as if there are two lead vocals. Bendixen’s voice is smooth and plaintive and has sort of a crooner quality, à la Dean Martin or k.d. Lang. According to their Instagram, more music is on the way, possibly a debut EP? I am eager to put whatever they release next into my ears, though if the rest of the songs aren’t also saxophantastic, I will be disappointed.
Artist: Doro
Song: “Rock ‘N’ Roll Christmas Party”
Question: How many heavy metal Christmas songs need to exist? Answer: Zero. But the Metal Goddess can do whatever she wants (as can Metal God Rob Halford who has put out two Christmas albums. Also Doro and Halford’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” duet on Doro’s last album is one of the most magical things to ever happen). What to make of “Rock ‘N’ Roll Christmas Party?” I believe the lyrics to this song are, “Rock ‘n’ roll Christmas party, with metal and wine. Rock ‘n’ roll Christmas party, such a good time.” What did you expect, Shakespeare? It is, like all Doro songs, earnest and straightforward. She definitely has a formula. If you like one Doro album, you’ll like them all. You don’t ever have to worry that she’s going to suddenly put out, like, a goregrind or post-metal song. I’m not saying that all of her songs sound the same, I’m just saying that they all sound like Doro. Her enthusiasm for metal is infectious and I’m here for it.
Artist: Slomosa
Album: Tundra Rock
Song: “Battling Guns”
Norway’s Slomosa make “tundra rock,” their term. According to their bio on StickMan Records they merge “the pop sides of modern rock with heavy desert rock.” Bassist and backing vocalist Marie Moe has called the band’s music “stonerpop,” which fits, and there’s some grunge and post-punk in there, too. Vocalist/guitarist Ben Berdous describes “Battling Guns” as “an anti-war, anti-fascist track,” which I certainly appreciate. “Shape our hands as our whole world burns,” Berdous sings, “Like animals, we dig the earth.” Albums like Tundra Rock are why I don’t even try to get my Best of 2024 list done before the end of the year. It’s really fucking good. Looking Slomosa up online, I see that they’re doing a U.S. tour with War On Women and Helmet in February. I’m gonna have to get me a ticket to the tundra rock show.
Artist: Witchorious
Album: Witchorious
Song: “Eternal Night”
Doom metal from Paris! I went to France once. My favorite part was going underground into the catacombs, walking through damp tunnels with low ceilings, walls lined with neatly stacked bones from approximately 6 million people. I thought it would be scary, but it was more awe-inspiring. With their self-titled debut, it’s as if Witchorious aimed to create the perfect soundtrack to skulking underneath the Paris streets surrounded by death. Take the opening of “Eternal Night,” for example: “Surrounded by these empty souls,” sings bassist and vocalist Lucie Gaget, “spouting their meaningless words, hollowed bodies playing their roles.” Gaget’s voice reminds me a little of Messa’s Sara Bianchin, though while Bianchin handles lead vocals for Messa, most of the lead vocals on Witchorious are by guitarist Antoine Auclair. The band also includes Paul Gaget, Lucie’s brother, on drums. Happy and willing to let this band take my soul.
Band: Shards of Narsil
Song: “Dust to Dust”
I didn’t know that Shards of Narsil had to do with The Lord of the Rings until I started poking around online for info on the band. One website called the band “Tolkien-themed metal warriors” and they refer to themselves as “your metal nerd friends” on YouTube, so it all checks out. Shards of Narsil apparently began a couple of years ago as a “husband-and-wife metalcore duo,” per Bandcamp, with Andrew Koch (guitars and harsh vocals) and Navya Prakash (clean vocals and keyboards). They’re now a “pop-metal 5-piece” and include Preeti Mohan (bass), Danny Tormoen (guitar), and Harrison Nealley (drums). Navya cites Spiritbox, Jinjer, and Paramore as her influences and other band members cite bands like Trivium, Symphony X, Seven Spires, and Swallow the Sun. I think if you put all of those bands into a machine it would create a song like “Dust to Dust.” Looking forward to seeing what else this band does no matter how nerdy it is.
Band: Nine Layers Deep
Album: Bummer Nation
Song: “Bummer Nation”
Nine Layers Deep’s Bandcamp page says that they play “crushing doom metal” that is “firmly rooted in underground filth.” They are a three-piece from Buffalo, New York, with Alaysa Dale on vocals and two dudes named Jim and Dan (I could not find their last names and I really did look). They’ve been putting out music since at least 2017. “Goddamn, this shit is such a fuckin’ bummer. I wanna bail but I don’t have that kinda cash,” roars Dale at the beginning of “Bummer Nation.” That this song was released just three days after the reelection of Trump does not seem to be a coincidence. “Bummer Nation” definitely has doom vibes, but its fury and Dale’s delivery sound pretty fuckin’ hardcore. When Dale says that that shit is “bad all around and it’s only getting worse,” you believe it not just because of her compelling delivery, but also because it’s true.
Band: Witch Club Satan
Album: Witch Club Satan
Song: “Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy”
Witch Club Satan is Victoria F. S. Røising (bass and vocals), Nikoline Spjelkavik (guitar and vocals), and Johanna Holt Kleive (drums and vocals) and “Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy” sounds like “haunting Norwegian feminist black metal by resurrected witches.” And it should, because it is. At least that’s how Witch Club Satan describe themselves. The song could be about menstruation (the lyrics begin, “My face turns pale every fourth week. Scratch a hole in my stomach. Dress in my blood”), but it’s definitely about blood. Lots and lots of blood. The video for this song is very extra extremely bloody in case you don’t believe me. But they don’t care if you’re offended. In an interview with Cadaver TV, Røising said, “I’m not interested in provoking just to provoke, but if the provocation comes from a place that feels necessary and that is in line with my values, I think it is important to not fear the provocation.” From what I’ve seen and heard from WCS, they seem to fear very little. Hail Satan, witches.
