New Music Roundup: Thanatos, Cult of Fire, Hierophant, Cretin & more
It’s that time of week where we round up a bunch of new music and get shit for missing your favorites!
I try my best though, guys. Let’s get to it, shall we? Let’s do some Thanatos trivia. Thanatos:
- is Greek for “death” (θάνατος).
- was the very first death metal band from the Netherlands.
- has been releasing killer death/thrash since 1984’s Emerging from the Netherworlds.
- features members of Asphyx and Hail of Bullets.
- rules.
Now that’s information you can use. About a month ago, they released the first single from their upcoming album, Global Purification. If you missed “Feeding the War Machine,” stream it here. This week, they unleashed the title track, a slew serrated riffs aimed roughly at your brain stem/skull. That general region. Check it out:
Global Purification drops on November 17th via Century Media. The label says this:
“With Stephan Gebédi’s (guitar, vocals) and Paul Baayens’ (guitars) duties with their other bands – Hail of Bullets and Asphyx – it has become a bit quiet around Netherland’s longest running extreme metal band. But 2014 marks Thantaos’ 30th anniversary and their return to full power. And what would be better than to celebrate this event with the release of Thanatos’ fiercest, most merciless and mature album to date? Global Purification contains 10 tracks of exterminating death/thrash that bring back memories of the days when metal was about breaking rules– instead of creating them.”
Need more reasons to worship at the altar of Iron Bonehead Productions this year? Here’s one. They’re set to release Cult of Fire‘s new 7″ on December 8th. It’s called “Čtvrtá Symfonie Ohně,” which is actually less frustrating than what they called their last album: मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान. In it’s defense, it was really great record. And somehow it managed to make sitar work in the context of black metal. Anyway, the band just released the first single from the EP, called “Vltava.”
After almost two minutes of mesmerizing-but-still-headbangable build-up, “Vltava” bursts into a cascade of wandering, sinuous tremolo riffs, and the remainder of the song is a seriously transcendent experience. I don’t really know what transcending entails, but I’m pretty sure I did that shit. This song is beautiful. Stream it below and try not to become the universe or something.
Less than an hour after last week’s roundup, Hierophant released a new song from their upcoming and highly anticipated new album Peste. As you may well know, Hierophant like to get in, crush your soul into dust, snort lethal doses of it, and get out. “Inganno” is 1 minute and 39 seconds of pure, distilled Hate. For the safety of your co-workers, do not listen at work. If you must, for the love of God stop it before it gets to 1:10. Peste is out on November 25 on Bridge Nine Records. Here‘s what they want you to know:
It was hard to fathom Hierophant harnessing the potential to create a record heavier and more malicious than Great Mother : Holy Monster, an already pummeling whiplash of American D-beat-inflected metallic hardcore. Lo and behold: Peste manages just that as a superior, succinctly crushing assault, its tendencies largely erring on the side of European death metal. Hierophant spell out the desolation and desperation leveled by a war amid the id, ego and super-ego, all torturous, violent imagery and morbid, damning assertions that make it a pleasantly grim nightmare to suffer through.
Stream this monster below:
Cretin plan to release their new album Stranger via Relapse Records on December 5th. It’s been 8 years since their full-length debut. In a total dick move, they released their first single one day after last week’s roundup. It is called “It.” It destroys. “It” destroys. It took approximately 11 seconds for “It” to win me over. Most of you have probably heard “It,” but if you haven’t, listen to this deadly deathgrind grind below.
Last-minute update: UK ambient/black metal project Halo of the Sun just released a digital EP called 850MA for free. Apparently it contains tracks from their upcoming full-length, Cryogenian. The band says:
The album is concept piece inspired by the Cryogenian geological period from 850-635 million years ago when the Earth experienced some of the most severe glaciations in it’s history. Imagine 215 million years of a winter so harsh even the equator was frozen and primitive life struggled to survive in isolated refuges beneath cold, dark oceans.The EP is available now as a free/pay what you want download and Cryogenian will be out as soon as it’s finished but hopefully before the next glaciation.*
*we make no guarantees.”
I don’t know shit about what happened 850-635 million years ago or if this sounds even remotely similar to it, but I do know that I think that I like it. I also know that it’s free. Which means I can still afford to buy milk, flour and vitamins and boil them down into energy balls to sustain me.
