This Toilet Tuesday (1/23/24)
O lustrous loo, o shining shidder ov Styx, gather within your yawning maw the offal ov a species most awful. This week we’ve got Farmer Maggot metal, trog death to club and holler to, and a long-submerged corpse floating to the surface. Looks like the toilet trickle has become a tumultuous tidal wave! The bowl will only be getting deeper from here, folks.
Cognizance – Phantazein (Willowtip Records) [Tech Death]
If you’re going to have an album cover like this, the music needs to be suitably unhinged. (Otherwise, you’ve utterly wasted your once-per-discography allowance of stoned cephalopods.) Thankfully, Phantazein‘s lead single “The Towering Monument” matches this chaotic collage—beginning with a burst of grind, the song layers on crusty d-beats, tech breakdowns, and melodeath leads without splitting at the seams. This unpredictable songwriting bodes well for overall memorability, and Ronnie Björnström’s dynamic production frames the album in museum glass; without smudges and glare, individual elements draw the ear’s attention, and we can enjoy the smattering of techniques that make up the work as a whole. -Roldy
Abyssius – S/T (Independent) [Tech Death]
Ad Unum Omnes – Shattering Bones (Independent) [Blackthrash]
Almost Dead – Destruction Is All We Know (Innerstrength Records) [Crossover Thrash]
Bajo Tierra/Fenix/Interceptor/Rustica – Metalfusion (Total Desaster Productions) [Heavy Metal]
Barbarian/Bunker 66/Camera Obscura Two/Doomraiser/Kryptonomicon/Necrodeath – Mesmerized – A Tribute to Celtic Frost (Time to Kill Records) [Blackthrash]
Blood Red Throne – Nonagon (Soulseller Records) [Death]
Boarhammer – II: Chemognosis – A Shortcut to Mushrooms (Naturmacht Productions) [Black]
Bombarder – Sa dna groba (Grom Records) [Thrash / Speed Metal]
Boris/Coaltar of the Deepers – Hello There (Fangs Anal Satan) [Doom / Sludge]
Burning/Sad Iron – Back to Back (Independent) [Heavy Metal]
Byron – Chapter II: The Lotus Covenant (The Goatmancer Records) [Heavy Metal]
Caligula’s Horse – Charcoal Grace (InsideOut Music) [Prog Metal]
Carnal Savagery – Into the Abysmal Void (Moribund Records) [Death]
Command – Resver (Jawbreaker Records) [Blackthrash]
Corpse Pile – Hardgore Deathmetal (Maggot Stomp) [Brutal Death / Slam]
Corrupted – Felicific Algorithm / Mushikeras (Cold Spring Records) [Drone / Doom / Sludge]
Desecation – Left to the Trogs (Brutal Mind) [Brutal Death / Slam]
Dipygus – Dipygus (Memento Mori) [Death]
Dissimulator – Lower Form Resistance (20 Buck Spin) [Tech Deathrash]
Drowned – Procul His (Sepulchral Voice Records) [Death]
Eye Flys – S/T (Independent) [Sludge / Hardcore]
Forlesen/Lotus Thief – Split (I, Voidhanger Records) [Doom / Black / Ambient]
Gravislatro – Cognitiva disonancia (Independent) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black]
Greengoat – A.I. (Argonauta Records) [Doom / Stoner Rock]
Hellman – Born, Suffering, Death (Black Lodge Records) [Death ‘n Roll]
Hiraes – Dormant (Napalm Records) [Melodeath]
Hyloxalus – Make Me the Heart of the Black Hole (Independent) [Symphonic Prog/Power ]
Innerload – Mater Tenebrarum (Great Dane Records) [Thrash / Melodeath]
Isvara – XXXIV: Unorthodox II (Independent) [Blackened Death/Doom / Ambient]
Jenner – Prove Them Wrong (Fighter Records) [Thrash / Speed Metal]
Kanseil – Vaia (Bagana B District Music) [Folk / Melodeath]
Knoll – As Spoken (Independent) [Deathgrind / Noise]
Korkvak – Angeli Descencus (Masters of Kaos Productions) [Black]
Kult Mogił – Fenêtres de l’enfer (Independent) [Death]
Lucifer – Lucifer V (Nuclear Blast) [Doom / Heavy Metal / Hard Rock]
Madder Mortem – Old Eyes, New Heart (Dark Essence Records) [Prog Metal]
Manticora – Mycelium (Target Group) [Prog/Power / Melodeath]
Mega Colossus – Showdown (Cruz del Sur Music) [Power / Heavy Metal]
Midjungards – When Empires Fall (Dark Rails Records) [Heavy Metal]
Midnatt/Overture – Swedish Metal (Gates of Hell Records) [Heavy Metal]
Mountain Caller – Chronicle II: Hypergenesis (Church Road Records) [Prog / Post-Metal]
Mägo de Oz – Alicia en el Metalverso (Warner Music Spain) [Folk / Heavy Metal]
Necrotum – Defleshed Exhumation (Memento Mori) [Death]
Nemesis – Embrace Reality (Grom Records) [Melodeath]
Offret – Затмение (War Productions) [Atmoblack]
Olhava – Sacrifice (Avantgarde Music) [Atmoblack]
Onryo over October – Last Night I Saw a Ghost (Independent) [Atmoblack]
Onslaught Kommand – Visions of Blood and Gore (Godz ov War Productions) [Death]
Pandora’s Key – Yet I Remain (Independent) [Symphonic Heavy Metal]
Powerhouse – Darkest Before Dawn (Independent) [Thrash / Heavy Metal]
Prognan – Sjene nad Balkanom (Independent) [Blackened Death]
Rhûn – Conveyance in Death (I.K. Productions) [Blackened Death]
Rituals of the Dead Hand – The Wretched and the Vile (Immortal Frost Productions) [Black]
Sacrofuck – Święta krew (Godz ov War Productions) [Deathgrind]
Savaged – Night Stealer (No Remorse Records) [Speed / Heavy Metal]
Serpents Oath – Revelation (Odium Records) [Black]
Show n Tell – The Ritual Has Begun (No Remorse Records) [Heavy Metal]
Soulcarrion – Enthrone Death (Godz ov War Productions) [Death]
Stone Horns – Chimaira (Rockshots Records) [Groove Metal]
Svitogor – The Howling Void (InsArt Records) [Black]
Tanin’iver – Dark Evils Desecrate (Morning Star Heathens Music Group) [Blackened Death]
The Infernal Sea – Hellfenlic (Candlelight Records) [Black]
Vanessa Funke – Lament (Independent) [Atmoblack / Gothic Metal]
Vitriol – Suffer & Become (Century Media Records) [Death]
Vzor – Storm Bringer (Independent) [Blackened Death]
Winter ov Thanatoz – The Wrath Ov Amun-Ra (Masters of Kaos Productions) [Black]
