This Toilet Tuesday (1/27/15)
You wake up alone and confused, not knowing where you are or how you got there. Your head is spinning; you feel hung over, but you know you weren’t drinking last night. A quick glance of your surroundings suggests that you are in the attic of an old house. Molding boxes and bits of debris are illuminated by the sparse pale light streaming through the floorboards beneath you. Dazed, you get to your feet and make your way down the narrow staircase before you. The lower level is similar in appearance; old shattered furniture litters the floors and hallways, and tattered paintings of people without faces adorn the walls. You shudder and move on, eventually making your way to a door with a much brighter light shining beneath its crack and a low thrumming coming from beyond.
As you open it, you are greeted with a rush of air and a revolting stench. Black mold has filled the cracks in the ceiling and tiles of this bathroom, the shower curtain shredded, the broken mirror caked with dust. A desiccated corpse slumps over the bowl of a smashed toilet, its finger pointing to the wall opposite. You follow its direction with your eyes and, scribbled on the wall in what you assume to be the corpse’s feces, read:
IT CANNOT BE FLUSHED
IT CANNOT BE FLUSHED
IT CANNOT BE FLUSHED
IT CANNOT BE FLUSHED
Next to the hastily scrawled message, you notice a small window. Trying your best not to vomit, you step into the small room, over the corpse, and peer out. You see now that this shack sits at the edge of a tall cliff. Far below you lies a vast, barren wasteland, sickeningly yellow sands and small hills stretching as far as the eye can see. In the blackened sky above you, galaxies and stars swirl, explode, reform with unnatural speed. But what catches your eye is what lies directly ahead: an unfathomably tall monolith of shit. This fecal column stretches upwards further than you can follow; it also appears to be the source of both the light and the now-deafening droning sound from earlier. It is physically painful to behold, your body screaming at you to look away, but your mind is enthralled. Upon the gargantuan turd’s surface are folds within folds within folds, massive canyons of impossible shapes; every now and then you swear you can see a pained face emerge from one side, but it vanishes as quickly as it appears. Finally unable to withstand it anymore, your eyes burst, and you slump back against the wall. Exhausted, your body’s muscles all loosen, and you feel your pants fill with filth. You feel the jellied remains of your corneas slide down your cheeks and drip onto your chest, but it doesn’t matter; the repugnant glory of the monolith is etched permanently upon your sightless eyes. As you feel your last breath approaching, you reach your hand into your soiled trousers and add your own line to the shit-script on the wall:
THIS IS TOILET TUESDAY
Lord Dying – Poisoned Altars (Relapse Records) [Sludge]
Listen
After a fairly successful debut in 2013, sludge bludgeoners Lord Dying return with their new long player, Poisoned Altars. There are still strong hints of High on Fire in their sound, but Poisoned Altars finds Lord Dying sounding like a band coming into their own. It riffs, it stomps, it infects your brain, its a pretty damn good album. If you’ve come here looking for the jamz, you’ve found them. (Leif Bearikson)
Xibalba – Tierra y Libertad (Southern Lord) [Hardcore/Death Metal]
Listen to “Enemigo,” “Invierno”
Xibalba is music to pummel to, and with Tierra y Libertad that statement rings true more than ever. Everything here sounds tighter, cleaner and possibly even angrier than anything the band has recorded so far. That’s a hell of a statement. The album art might bring to mind Artificial Brain, but the music is much more akin to being beaten to death with a bag full of hedgehogs. (Leif Bearikson)
Exgenesis – Aphotic Veil (Naturmacht Productions) [Black/Doom/Ambient/Fuck]
Stream
I didn’t know anything about Exgenesis going into this, but I figured they’d be pretty good as they’re signed to Naturmacht Productions (whose roster is astonishingly solid). Holy god damn was I right. Aphotic Veil opens with a massive foreboding chord that grabs you and drags you into a spiraling, muddy abyss. The album’s few quiet moments make the rest of the experience that much more suffocating; it is at once crushing and beautiful. Do not miss this record. (Spear)
Napalm Death – Apex Predator – Easy Meat (Century Media) [Deathgrind]
Listen to “How the Years Condemn”
My good friend Edward is going to tell you how awesome this is in a full review, but I can’t restrain myself from commenting. Napalm Death have managed to craft something amazing on this, their 15th (!) album. And after more than three decades in the game, no less. What really impresses me about this album, though, is the way Shane Embury, Barney Greenway, Mitch Harris, and Danny Herrera keep finding ways to add more to their sound. Many veteran acts are content to rest on their laurels and sort of phone in later albums, but Napalm Death have been on a progressive upward trend for quite some time now, and Apex Predator –Easy Meat is no exception. But lest you worry that the grind is brushed to the side, fret not. This. Album. Goes. Hard. This thing is unrelenting. My pal Edward is going to tell you why this record is one of the first great albums of 2015, and I back that. Napalm Death have written the deathgrind album to beat in 2015. Let’s see how Cattle Decapitation respond. FFO: Phobia, Cattle Decapitation, OMAAF. (W.)
Melmak – Pig Songs (Independent) [Sludge]
Listen to “Live Dead,” “Suffering is a Pleasure”
I simply couldn’t pass up an opportunity to jam tracks from an album called Pig Songs, and Melmak certainly bring the filth. Composed of deadly duo Jonan and Igor, Melmak know how to write catchy and heavy as all hell sludge. Both tracks from Pig Songs I’ve gotten a chance to hear beat you about the head and neck with a gritty assault and fuzzed out vibe. “Suffering Is a Pleasure” is most definitely the stand-out track of the two, hulking and battering like some porcine monster. I look forward to hearing the rest of this. (W.)
Abyssgale – Hegemon (CD release- Immortal Frost) [Black Metal]
Listen
Against Myself – Odyssey to Reflexion (Santo Grial Records) [Symphonic Metal]
Listen to “Through the End of Times”
Alborea – Alborea Part I (Independent) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Destierro”
Ancient Wind – The Chosen Slain (To The Head) [Blackened Death/Thrash]
Listen to “With Hate in Their Eyes”
Arcano Arconte – Spirituum ad Mortuos (Misanthropic Luciferian Onslaught) [Black Metal]
Archgoat – The Apocalyptic Triumphator (Debemur Morti) [Black Metal]
Stream
Atomic Flower – Ungrateful… (7hard) [Hard Rock]
Atomicide – Chaos Abomination (Iron Bonehead) [Blackened Death]
Stream
Black Cilice – Mysteries (Iron Bonehead) [Black Metal]
Listen to “To Become” (WARNING: RECORDED IN ALL CAPS. REDUCE VOLUME IF YOU VALUE YOUR EARS) (EDITOR NOTE/ADDITIONAL WARNING: Stay tuned for Masterlord’s review).
Black Whispers – Essence of Nothingness (Independent) [lolbuttz]
Listen to “Negative Essence”
Black Sheep Wall – I’m Going to Kill Myself (Season of Mist) [Post-Hardcore]
Stream
Callisto – Secret Youth (Svart Records) [Post-Metal]
Listen to “Backbone”
Cóndor – Duin (Independent) [Death Metal]
The Cyon Project – Tales of Pain (Pavement Entertainment) [Hard Rock]
Listen to “Mr. Creosote”
Deafest – Alpine (Primal Relics Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “The Waterfall in the Woods”
Deathbreed – New World Order (Rogue Records America) [Death Metal]
Listen to “New World Order,” “Surveillance”
Deathtopia – Caesarean Section (Splatter Zombie Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Necro Massacre”
Defiant – Ночь (Independent) [Power Metal]
Listen
Deprive – Into Oblivion (Memento Mori) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Catacombs of Betrayal”
Discourse – Sanity Decays (Closed Casket Activities) [Metallic Hardcore]
Listen to “Cure”
Dødsfall – Kaosmakt (Osmose Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Forakt For Livet”
Eradicator – Slavery (Yonah Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “Manipulhate”
Ethereal – Opus Aethereum (Candlelight Records) [Epic Black Metal]
Listen to “Unholy Ungodly”
Hate – Crusade:Zero (Napalm Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Valley of Darkness”
Hic Iacet – The Cosmic Trance into the Void (Iron Bonehead/Necroshrine) [Black Metal]
Listen to “The Cosmic Trance into the Void”
Ill Neglect – Reality Tunnels (Ecocentric Records) [Grindcore]
Stream
Implode – Terra Pericolosa – I of Everything, Chapter II (Cramada) [Melodeath]
Insepulto – The Necrodex (Memento Mori) [Death Metal]
Listen to “The Chaos the Ancients Spoke Of”
In Lacrimaes Et Dolor/The Blessed Hellbrigade/Aphonic Threnody/Y’ha-nthlei – Of Poison and Grief *Four Litanies for the Deceased* (split- GS Productions) [Funeral Doom]
Stream
Magi – Forget Me Not (Argonautica Records) [DOOOOOOM]
Stream
Mudbath – Corrado Zeller (Lost Pilgrims Records) [Sludge/Doom/Drone]
Stream
Obrero – The Infinite Corridors of Time (To the Death Records) [Doom]
Listen to “Lunar Eclipse,” “The Infinite Corridors of Time”
Obsidian Tongue/In Human Form/Autolatry/Infera Bruo – Northeastern Hymns (Acephale Winter) [Black Metal/Avant-garde]
Obsolete Incarnation – New Breed of an Uncurable Disease (Independent) [Brutal Death]
Listen to “Beheading the Desecrator”
Ontogeny – Hymns of Ahriman (Independent) [Progressive Death Metal]
Stream
Perdition Temple – The Tempter’s Victorious (Hell’s Headbangers) [Black Metal]
Listen to “The Tempter’s Victorious,” “Scythes of the Antichrist”
Periphery – Juggernaut Alpha/Omega (Sumerian Records) [Djent]
Stream Alpha Stream Omega Review
Reason – The Deception of Dreams (Skyrocket Records) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “Sacrifice”
Ruthless – They Rise (Pure Steel Records) [Heavy Metal]
Sadistikus – The Ancient Mutilator (Independent) [Black Metal]
Stream
Saor – Roots (reissue- Northern Silence Productions) [Folk/Black Metal]
Stream
Satyrasis – …Of the Dead (Seventh Door) [Death Thrash]
Stream
Shadowquest – Armoured IV Pain (Independent) [Power Metal]
Listen to “All One”
Shallow Rivers – The Leaden Ghost (Solitude Productions/BadMoonMan) [Doom]
Preview
Shoah – Beyond Madness (Independent) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Mindloss”
Skygge – Antiqua Ignis (Immortal Frost) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Draconis Serpentis”
Soul Rape – Endless Reign (Punishment 18) [Death Metal]
Preview
Story of Jade – Loony Bin (Black Tears) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Psychosis in a Box”
A Swarm of the Sun – The Rifts (Version Studio Records) [Post-Metal]
Stream
Sweet & Lynch – Only to Rise (Frontiers Music) [Rock]
Listen to “The Wish”
Tank86 – Obey (Rising Magma Records) [Instrumental Heaviness]
Listen to “Obey”
Tear Out The Heart – Dead, Everywhere (Victory Records) [Flushcore]
Stream
Thou/The Body – You, Whom I Have Always Hated (Thrill Jockey) [Industrial]
Listen to “Terrible Lie” (NIN Cover)
Thulcandra – Ascension Lost (Napalm Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Exalted Resistance”
Total Death – The Pound of Flesh (Punishment 18) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Downers”
Venom – From the Very Depths (Spinefarm Records) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “Grinding Teeth”
Veonity – Gladiator’s Tale (Sliptrick Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Into Eternity”
Virulent Gestation – Nephropathic Lysogenesis (Broke Beezy/Kill the Hippy) [Goregrind]
Stream
Visigoth – The Revenant King (Metal Blade) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “From the Arcane Mists of Prophecy”
Vivus Humare – Einkehr (Eisenwald) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Auf mordendlichen Pfaden”
Voices – London (Candlelight Records) [Progressive Metal]
Stream
The Voynich Code – Ignotum (Independent) [Bornofosiriscore]
Listen to “Antithesis,” “Decoding of Life”
Wardenclyffe – Control All Delete (Van Records) [Doom]
Listen to “A Journey through the Major Arcana”
Warkvlt – Merdeka (Persetan Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Soldiers of Pajajaran”
Youth Funeral – See You When I See You (Twelve Gauge Records) [Hardcore]
Listen to “Confidante”
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
(Photos VIA, VIA, VIA, VIA, and VIA)
