This Toilet Tuesday (11/1/2016)
You awaken from a night of revelry and marital consummation in a cold sweat. Something isn’t right. This isn’t your hotel room. “Where am I? Why can’t I move my hands?” you ask yourself. You try to crane your neck to get a better look at your surroundings, but it’s no use. Your entire body is paralyzed. Is this a dream? Sleep paralysis? Suddenly you hear a deep and guttural moaning from the foot of the bed. “Good morning, hubby,” the demoniacal voice cackles. “I’m so happy that we are finally together. Let us be of one flesh.” A pain like a thousand needles shoots through every nerve strand in your legs, searing your mind as a grotesque slurping sound slowly inches ever upward from the foot of the bed. Still, try as you might, you cannot move.
Surrender to the void of bliss. This is This Toilet Tuesday.
Spear, our mighty saint of new releases, is enjoying a few well-earned days of marital bliss. So, just like the good old days, I’m going to take the credit for all his hard work and bring you Toilet Tuesday from my ranch in Crawford. Stockhausen, Link, Karhu, and I have dug through Spear’s dowry to bring you a number of presents, so glut yourself in our musical revery.
Nashgul – Cárcava (Independent) [Grindcore]
Listen to “Progeria Inducida,” “Del vientre a la basura”
Nashgul is undoubtedly grind, but it’s the kind that non-grindheads can really sink in to. The songs aren’t too short, and the production is clean enough without being polished. The drummer does his best to screw that up anyway (that’s actually a compliment), providing a wild ride of chaotic fury in the fast sections before the whole band slows to a satisfyingly steady stomp when the time is right. It’s like 50 Bruce Lee clones lined up and sprinted by, all punching you in the face at a furious speed before 50 clones of Andre the Giant lumber by and kick your crumpled body in the balls. But, you know, in a good way. 11/1/2016 (Stockhausen)
Bahrrecht – L’aube glacée (Ketzer Records) [Black Metal]
Stream
Apparently things didn’t work out between Mr. Harvey and Ketzer, as the former bailed with the latter’s money and left the latter with no choice but to withdraw from making music, instead releasing music and signing superior bands (or at least, that’s what I’ve heard). Bahrrect is one of those bands. Their sophomore L’aube Glacee strikes a perfect balance between 90’s black metal worship (via Windir and Taake rather than Mayhem) and a more complex modern take. Both fury and melancholic reflection have their moments here. Bahhrecht’s sophomore is a triumphant demonstration of black metal’s current state. 10/31/2016 (Karhu)
Dark Tranquillity – Atoma (Century Media Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Atoma,” “The Pitiless”
Atoma seems to be the logical conclusion of Dark Tranquillity’s last era. Electronic experimentations expanded their sonic palette and pushed their traditional melodic death metal styling to a darker territory, splashed with Gothic elements and a philosophical edge in the lyrics department. So far, the three songs the band has released show to their fans how the overall record can be: an emotive ride through the human nature and experience, commanded by precise drumming, tearful melodic guitar work, pounding bass presence and the dual charm of Mikael Stanne’s charisma. In summary, if you like your metal with shades of melancholy, introspection and sorrow, you can wait for this record to dominate your end-year list; like I am doing, of course! 11/4/2016 (Link
Orthank – Orthank (Independent) [Black Metal]
Stream
I clicked play on that Orthank stream thinking I’d be greeted by some swords’n’sorcery power metal and instead was slammed by absolutely grotesque black metal. However, the mad Russians in Orthank have far more than just filth up their sleeves, and in between the walls of bestial noise and putrid growls, you’ll find gothic chanting, doomy riffs, and a surprising amount of nuance. This is pagan black metal like you’ve rarely heard it before: violent, dangerous, and downright nasty. FFO: Thy Grave, Rites of Thy Degringolade, VRTA 11/1/2016 (Dubs)
Arkona – Lunaris (Debemur Morti Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Ziemia,” “Śmierć i odrodzenie”
Aversed – Renewal (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Renewal”
Avulsed – Deathgeneration (Xtreem Music) [Death Metal]
Preview
Binary Creed – A Battle Won (Rockshots Music Management) [Power Prog]
Listen to “In a Time to Come”
Black Citadel – Ancestral Shadows (Les Fleurs du Mal Productions) [Black Metal]
Burial in the Sky – Persistence of Thought (Independent) [Tech Death]
Listen to “Galaxy of Ghosts”
Circle of Beings – Sacred Ground (Independent) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Monoliths,” “Among the Dead and the Yew”
Civil War – The Last Full Measure (Napalm Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Road to Victory”
Dead End – Slaves to the Greed (Inverse Records) [Melodeath]
Stream
Deathkin – Kohti kotiani kaaosta (Independent) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Iänkaikkinen”
Deus Ignotus – Hexapterygon (III Damnation Productions) [Black Metal]
Stream
Devoured Flesh/Squirm/Thanatomorphose/Cannibal Feast/Dysmenorrhea – Faces of Death II (split- Independent) [Brutal Death/Goregrind]
Disharmonic Orchestra – Fear of Angst (Independent) [Funky af Death Metal]
Listen to “The Venus Between Us”
Dorre / Bethmoora – Dorre / Bethmoora (split- Independent) [Death/Doom/Sludge]
Preview
Earth and Pillars – Pillars I (Avantgarde Music) [Atmospheric Black Metal]
Listen to “Pillars”
Esperoza – Aum Corrupted (Wormholedeath Records) [Uh, Operatic Death Metal?]
Listen to “Blame It On Me”
Fornicus – Hymns of Dominion (Negative Earth Records) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen
Forsaken Age – Vengeance of the Slain (Independent) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Vengeance of the Slain”
Goya – Doomed Planet (Opoponax Records) [Sludge]
Graveyard Ghoul – Slaughtered-Defiled-Dismembered (Go Fuck Yourself) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Born Without Bones”
HammerFall – Built to Last (Napalm Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “The Sacred Vow”
Hierophant – Mass Grave (Season of Mist) [Death Metal/Sludge]
Listen to “Mass Grave”
Hoath – Codex III: Crown of the Mind (Saturnal Records) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “Crown of the Mind”
Holocaust Lord – Violence Beyond Death (Barbarian Wrath) [Black/Speed Metal]
Stream
Holocausto – War Metal Massacre (Nuclear War Now!) [Thrash]
Huldre – Tusmørke (Gateway Music) [Folk Metal]
Listen to “Fæstemand”
Intricated – The Vortex of Fatal Depravity (Permeated Records) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “Spawn of Fatal Depravity,” “The Bipolarized Leviathans”
Junior Bruce – Endless Descent (A389 Recordings) [Stoner/Sludge]
Listen to “Lapis Philosophorum”
Kastrated – Surge of Festering Spasticity (Inherited Suffering Records) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen
Katedralen – Two Song Demo (Independent) [Black Metal]
Kingdom – Sepulchral Psalms from the Abyss of Torment (Godz ov War Productions) [Death Metal]
Stream
Kladovest – Ignitiate (No Colours Records) [Black Metal]
Kyy – Beyond Flesh – Beyond Matter – Beyond Death (Saturnal Records) [Black Metal]
Preview
Lost World Order – Tyrants (Ragnarok Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “Combat Zone”
Masquera di Ferro – Stalactites (Wormholedeath Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Stalactites”
Mystica Girls – Verónica, la Cortesana del Infierno (Independent) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Vida O Muerte” (pre-production)
Nagual – Self-Conqueror (Putrid Cult/Tour De Garde) [Black Metal]
Preview
Nebrus – Exta Malorvm (Razed Soul Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Relaying on Madness”
Nekrokraft – Will o’ Wisp (The Sign Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Will o’ Wisp”
Nordic Frost – Jeg er blitt død (Independent) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Skal Du Ikke Se Solen”
Paganland – From Carpathian Land (Svarga) [Black Metal]
Listen to “At the Heart of Carpathians”
Partholón – Follow Me Through Body (Independent) [Sludge/Post-Metal]
Stream
Path of Desolation – Where the Grass Withers (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Saeclum in Favilla”
Pentagoat – Serpents of Annihilation (Burn In Hell Records) [Death Metal]
Pighead – Until All Flesh Decays (Rising Nemesis Records) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “Exterminating the Unworthy”
Pretty Maids – Kingmaker (Frontiers Music) [Heavy Metal]
These people are neither pretty nor maids
Profanal – Supreme Fire (Iron Tyrant) [Death Metal]
Stream
The Real Massacre – Tragica Humana Magica (Independent) [lolbuttz, probably]
Preview
Sarcoma – Illusion Inhumane (Independent) [Thrash]
Senior Fellows – The Christened Remains of an Evolutionary Catastrophe (Dead Tank/Damnatio Memoriae) [Sludge]
Listen to “Dominance, Vanity, Suffering and Desolation”
Sensles – Monkeys Will Be Back (Independent) [Thrash]
Preview
Sereignos – Desecration Era (Death Portal Studio) [Obnoxiously Raw Black Metal]
Listen to “Kitab Radikal,” “Negator”
Slegest – Vidsyn (Karisma/Dark Essence) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Wolf”
Spectral Apparition – Manifestation (Invictus Productions) [Blackened Death Metal]
Stream
Spiritual Cloak – Shadows Growing in the Soul (Cvlminis) [Drone/Doom]
Stream
Starkill – Shadow Sleep (Prosthetic Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Burn Your World,” “Through The Darkness,” “Shadow Sleep”
Straightout – Phobia (Armstretch Records) [Melodeath/Metalcore]
Stream
Temple of Demigod – The Great Old Ones (Black Lion Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Embodiement Of Chaos”
Torture of Hypocrisy – RBMK-1000 (Independent) [Industrial/Groove Metal]
Stream
Trallery – Spiritless (Art Gates Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “Spiritless”
Treurwilg – Departure (Independent) [Death/Doom]
Listen to “As His Final Light Is Fading”
Tzun Tzu – The Decay of Golden Gods (Dissident Records) [Death Metal]
Stream
Uburen – Frå døden fødes liv (Via Nocturna) [Black Metal]
Listen to “I Become”
Unearthed Elf – Into the Catacomb Abyss (Independent) [Symphonic Doom]
Stream
Unlight – Antihelion (War Anthem Records) [Black Metal]
Preview
Vader – The Empire (Nuclear Blast Records) [Death/Thrash]
Valhalla – Victory Awaits (Independent) [Prog Metal]
Vircolac – The Cursed Travails of the Demeter (Dark Descent Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Lascivious Cruelty”
Void Meditation Cult – Utter the Tongue of the Dead (Hells Headbangers) [Blackened Death Metal]
Stream
Vornth – Black Pyres (Iron Tyrant) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “Black Pyres”
Warfist – Metal to the Bone (Godz ov War Productions) [Black Thrash]
Stream
Wasted Theory – Defenders of the Riff (Independent) [Stoner Metal]
Stream
Wędrujący Wiatr – O turniach, jeziorach i nocnych szlakach (Werewolf Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Wołanie Z Granitowych Twierdz”
Xternity – From Endless Depravity (Independent) [Melodeath]
Stream
Zenobia – Alma de Fuego II (Maldito Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Ángel Negro”
