This Toilet Tuesday (10/26/15)
You pop open a pumpkin beer and sigh inwardly. Your friend promised this Halloween party would be a blowout, but thus far, it’s been a bit of a disappointment. You were looking forward to seeing what he was going to do in his big new house in the country, but the decorations are sparse and cheesy at best. There’s hardly anyone else here, either; just yourself and about ten other mutual friends. Your friend needs this, though. He’s grown more and more distant over the last year, and this is the first time in almost a month that he’s been actively social. Still, he’s usually had better taste than this. You step out of the kitchen and flag down your friend, who’s wearing a stereotypical slasher costume. “Where’s the bathroom? This is going straight through me,” you ask. He points you to a hallway with orange and black streamers hanging over the entrance. You step through and shake your head. Streamers.
The decorations on the other side prove to be much better. The hallway is dimly lit by a handful of candles, illuminating a series of small crooked portraits lining the walls. You inspect the closest one and grin; it’s a picture of the two of you from a trip you took last year, but both your faces have been scratched out. All the other portraits appear to be the same, featuring all the other guests, plus a handful who haven’t arrived yet. Looks like he’s got a haunted house planned. Now excited, you step into the bathroom at the end. The mirror has a single large dent in the center, as though it was punched. Maybe he really did go all out. You turn your focus to relieving yourself when you hear the door open behind you. “Hey, I’m-” you begin, but you’re cut off by a blow to the back of your head. Your face slams into the wall in front of you, and you drop to the floor. Reeling, you start to push yourself up. Before you can arise, your assailant takes a fistful of your hair and jerks your head back. Still dazed, you feel a tickle at your neck that abruptly bursts into white-hot pain. Blood sprays against the wall and floor, covering the toilet in brilliant crimson against the stark white porcelain. You clutch feebly at your throat and drop to the floor. “Nothing I ever did was good enough for you,” you hear your friend whisper in your ear. “Not for any of you pricks.” He pulls back on your hair again; you sputter and choke on your own blood. “Don’t worry, though; this isn’t the last anyone will see of you.” He holds a newly-sharpened hunting knife in front of you before pressing it into the incision on your neck and carving upwards. “I think your face will make a great mask.”
Bask in the bloodshed. This is Toilet Tuesday.
Abyssus – Into the Abyss (Memento Mori) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Those of the Unholy”
“Those of the Unholy” sounds like straight-up Obituary worship, but if you’re into that sort of thing, this should have everything you crave. Alternating rhythms, gravelly vocals that reek of the funk of 40,000 years, and a loose, jangly bass resembling the shambling gait of a monstrous zombie all work to make Abyssus a fun headbanger. FFO: Autopsy, Obituary, Massacre 10/31/15 (W.)
Saviours – Palace of Vision (Listenable Records) [Speed Metal]
Listen to “Burning Shrine”
I once saw Saviours in a dank bar with A Life Once Lost, Rwake, and High On Fire. That sounds like a pretty diverse bill that wouldn’t fit a band that thrashes as hard as Saviours, but if you press play on Palace of Vision, you’ll see how it all works. Saviours blend tasty riffs with a stoner buzz to create an excellent crossover between weed and speed certain to please heshers everywhere. FFO: High on Fire, Maleveller, The Sword 10/30/15 (W.)
Horrendous – Anareta (Dark Descent Records) [Death Metal]
Stream Review
As you’ve probably noticed, the hype for Horrendous’ new album Anareta is reaching critical mass. The crazy part? It’s warranted. The death metal trio have returned just a year after Ecdysis with a release that runs proggy circles around it while keeping their decidedly Swedish leanings. Grab your favorite pair of headphones and hail death. 10/30/15 (Leif Bearikson)
Grave Ritual – Morbid Throne (Dark Descent Records) [Death Metal]
Stream
OSDM feels like one of the most oversaturated subgenres in the metal world today, second only to black metal. Every week a new band pops up trying their hand at copying Severed Survival with little to no room for innovation. Luckily you don’t have to be innovative to be good, and Morbid Throne is good. It’s Grave Ritual’s first album in five years and it shows. The band sounds rejuvenated, laying down a thick and sludgy guitar assault with all of the bombastic drumming you expect from such an album. If you prefer your death metal rooted in the filth of the old ways, Morbid Throne is right up your alley. 10/30/15 (Leif Bearikson)
Tombstalker – Black Crusades (Shadow Kingdom Records) [Death/Thrash]
Listen
Sometimes, even I need to take a break from all the tech and just kill something. In desperate times like these, I turn to bands like Tombstalker. Part Entombed, part Bolt Thrower, and all crushing. Blasts and d-beats abound, and that classic buzzsaw tone cuts through everything. Reach out and hurt someone. 10/30/15 (Spear)
Abhorrent Deformity – Entity of Malevolence (Comatose Music) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “Entity of Malevolence”
Abigail Williams – The Accusor (Candlelight Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Path of Broken Glass”
Ambush – Desecrator (High Roller Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Possessed by Evil”
Arkaik – Lucid Dawn (Unique Leader Records) [Tech Death]
Listen to “Awaken the I”
Atrocia – Dystopia: The Machine Murders (M&O Music) [Death Metal]
Listen to “The Machine Murders”
Bastard Grave – What Lies Beyond (Pulverised Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Awaiting Rebirth”
Bedowyn – Blood of the Fall (Independent) [Doom]
Stream
Bevar Sea – Invoke the Bizarre (Independent) [Doom]
Stream
Birth Through Gore – The Culmination Conquest” (Sevared Records) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “All Teeth & Fury (Insane Deeds)”
Burn the Chapel – The Mystic (Independent) [Doom]
Listen to “The Mystic,” “The Monolith”
Cage – Ancient Evil (Sweden Music Group) [Power Metal]
Listen to “The Procedure”
Ceremonia – La existencia humana debe ser un error (LCRecords) [Death/Doom]
Stream
Crimson Dawn – At the Cemetery Gates (Independent) [Doom]
Cryptopsy – The Book of Suffering: Tome I (Independent) [Tech Death]
Listen to “Detritus (the one they kept)”
Dementia 13 – Ways of Enclosure (Memento Mori) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Room 36”
Doomsday Ceremony – Black Heart (Cogumelo Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Black Heart”
Draconian – Sovran (Napalm Records) [Doom]
Listen to “Rivers Between Us”
Enbilulugugal – Fukkin Fat As Fukkin Fukk (Skull Dungeon) [Noise]
Stream
Ende – The Rebirth of I (Obscure Abhorrence Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Den glemte skogen”
Erimha – Thesis ov Warfare (Victory Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “The First Law”
Everthrone – The Dawning (Divebomb Recordings) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “Under a Burning Sky”
Evil Whiplash – Beyond Dimensions (Iron, Blood & Death Corp.) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “Flight of Satan’s Whores”
The Fifth Alliance – Death Poems (Consouling Sounds) [Doom/Sludge]
Listen to “Your Abyss”
Fungus – Predatory Harvest (Ultimate Massacre Productions) [Tech Death]
Listen to “Computerized Humanity”
Gama Bomb – Untouchable Glory (AFM Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “She Thing”
Grey Heaven Fall – Black Wisdom (Aesthetics of Devastation) [Black Metal]
Listen to “The Lord is Blissful in Grief”
Grumo – Fallimento (Earthquake Terror Noise) [Deathgrind]
Listen to “Blood Spilling”
Hatchet – Fear Beyond Lunacy (The End Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “The World Beyond”
High Heeler – Force and Finesse (Swords and Chains) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Au Revoir,” “Midnight Angel”
Hooded Menace – Darkness Drips Forth (Relapse Records) [Death/Doom]
Listen to “Elysium of Dripping Death”
Humanure – Harsh (Subnoise Production) [Grindcore]
Preview
Invokation – Ascending From Aeons Passed (CCP Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Phoboscope”
Invoker – Aeon (Non Serviam Records) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “Aeon”
Kerion – Cloudriders Part 2: Technowars (Beyond the Storm Productions) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Riding Clouds”
Lost Soul – Atlantis: The New Beginning (Apostasy Records) [Tech Death]
Stream
Mad Architect – Hang High (Wunderwurld Music) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Hang High”
Millennial Reign – Carry the Fire (Ulterium Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Men Stand Alone”
Netherfell – Between East and West (Noizegate Records) [Folkcore]
Listen to “Kónik Zmók”
Nevercold – Rebirth (Independent) [Metalcore]
Listen to “Under My Skin”
Nyx – Home (Agonia Records) [Black Metal]
Preview
Omniverse – Repel Lament Destroy. I: Repel (Independent) [Progressive Thrash]
Stream
On Thorns I Lay – Eternal Silence (Sleaszy Rider Records) [Doom]
Listen to “Eternal Silence”
Ophicvs – Pale Motorider (Hota Rex) [lolbuttz]
Listen to “Badass”
Psyco Drama – From Ashes to Wings (Pride & Joy Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “To Live Again”
RAM – Svbversvm (Metal Blade Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Eyes of the Night”
Rapture – Crimes Against Humanity (Witches Brew) [Death/Thrash]
Listen to “Laboratories of Infection”
Repulsive Aggression – Preachers of Death (Schwarzdorn) [Death/Thrash]
Listen to “Preachers of Death”
Sacred Few – Beyond the Iron Walls (Shadow Kingdom Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen
Sacrificium Carmen – Ikuisen tulen kammiossa (Saturnal Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Verialkemia”
Satanika – Total Inferno (Osmose Productions) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Schizoid”
Satan’s Satyrs – Don’t Deliver Us (Bad Omen Records) [Doom]
Listen to “Creepy Teens”
Scala Mercalli – New Rebirth (Art Gates Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Time For Revolution”
The Silent – Tales of Dystopia (Independent) [Death Metal]
Listen
Sturmfolk/Asenheim – Nur ein Flügelschlag ins Dunkel (split- Narbentage Produktionen) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Der alte Geist des Waldes”
Subsignal – The Beacons of Somewhere Sometime (Zyx/Golden Core Records) [Prog]
Listen to “A Myth Written on Water”
Svartby – Swamp, My Neighbour (Sound Age Productions) [Folk Metal]
Preview
Teramaze – Her Halo (Music Theories Recordings) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “Out Of Subconscious”
Tester Gier – Muzyka przeciwko przeglądom muzycznym (Spook Records) [Crossover/Thrash]
Listen to “Muzyka przeciwko przeglądom muzycznym”
Thor – Metal Avenger (Deadline Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Metal Avenger”
Torian – Phantoms of the Past (Independent) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Phantoms of the Past”
Twitching Tongues – Disharmony (Metal Blade Records) [Metallic Hardcore]
Listen to “Disharmony”
Under The Church – Rabid Armageddon (Pulverised Records) [Death Metal]
Stream
Vanhelga/Razörschrieck – Get This (Contraomnes Records) [Black Metal]
Preview
Verjnuarmu – 1808 (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Verjvirta”
Verräter/Sxuperion – Verräter/Sxuperion (split- Bloody Mounatin Records) [Black Metal]
Preview
Virial – Organic Universe (Independent) [Tech Death]
Listen to “The Ultimate Fate”
Visceral Throne – Those Who Have Fallen Beyond the Grace of God (Comatose Music) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “The True Sin,” “Indulgences”
Wilt – Moving Monoliths (Bindrune Recordings) [Atmospheric Black Metal]
Listen to “Illusion of Hope”
Wonderland Syndrome – Prelude III: View from the Outside (Independent) [Avant-garde Metal]
Listen
Wrath Sins – Contempt Over the Stormfall (Raising Legends) [Thrash]
Stream
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
(Images VIA, VIA, VIA, VIA, and VIA)
