This Toilet Tuesday (3/5/19)
It’s Toilet Tuesday once more, and we’ve got a big ol’ pile of new music for you. Karhu and I have picked out a few notable releases this week, which probably contains a little more melodeath than you’re used to (one which is fucking sweet and the other of which is fucking not), so be sure to hit the list afterwards. You’ll need something to wash those flowery synths out of your ears.
Brymir – Wings of Fire (Out of Line Music) [Symphonic Melodeath]
Listen to “Wings of Fire”
Brymir started out playing the pagan/viking/mythology inspired melodeath often referred to as folk metal, not entirely dissimilar to Ensiferum. Already their second album presented a far more ambitious band with the intent to carve their own, small niche of symphonic, bright melodeath. It would appear their third record pushes further into this territory with even happier melodies, heftier guitars and more careful keyboard arrangements. Their effect is felt even when not they’re not present, thus leaving plenty of room for the other instruments without having to make scarce arrangements, or haggle from the melodic spotlight of the guitars, which seems a standard solution. Feastem’s Patrick Fält makes certain the record doesn’t lack in powerful blasts either. 3/8/19 (Karhu)
Kings Destroy – Fantasma Nera (Svart Records) [Doom]
Listen to “Fantasma Nera”
Doom bends into many shapes. Like Kings Destroy’s atmospheric groove rock, which closely resembles stoner doom/rock but steers far away enough from this least of all genres in 2019 to make for a genuinely enjoyable listen. The songs are concise as not to wander towards inane jam territory, the songs, despite more focused on the mood conveyed than the riffs, never let go of the driving beat that forms the backbone of the band, and the vocals instead of your usual goat-whine added as an afterthought are well sung and arranged, and include hooks imperative to the song. It seems impossible to write a review about anything related to stoner in 2019 without bashing it, but we can get a few more adjacent bands like Kings Destroy we might be able to work something out. 3/8/19 (Karhu)
Children of Bodom – Hexed (Nuclear Blast) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Under Grass and Clover,” “Platitudes and Barren Words”
Having once been a big Children of Bodom fan (they were a formative band for me), a small part of me always gets excited when they put out a new release while the rest of me insists that I’m setting myself up for disappointment. On paper, this band should be amazing: high energy riff-driven melodeath with a zero-fucks-given punk attitude and a penchant for neoclassical shredding sounds like the perfect backdrop for getting wasted and smashing into strangers. And for a brief glorious moment, it is; the first third or so of Hexed reminded me why I was so nuts for this band in the first place. The riffs are plentiful and varied, the shredding sublime, the singing… questionable, but it’s easy to look past that. The problem is that after that initial burst of energy, the rest of the album feels like filler, songs thrown together to meet the terms of a contract. They’re not really bad, per se- none of Hexed is truly abomination (I think the band learned their lesson after Relentless Reckless Forever)- it just feels like the band is going through the motions, and the songs are a bit too on brand, for lack of a better term. I think it might be time for Alexi and friends to hang it up; this is the type of music that demands conviction from its performers, and Children of Bodom clearly don’t have it anymore. 3/8/19 (Spear)
0N0 – Cloaked Climax Concealed (Transcending Obscurity) [Weird Death/Doom]
Listen to “The Crown Unknown”
Animals Killing People/Gorepot – Maleficis de Saltu (Sorcery of the Jungle) (split- CDN Records) [Brutal Death/Grind]
Anomaly – Planet Storm (Independent) [Tech Death]
Stream
Awakening Sun – Into the Light (Independent) [Melodeath/Groove Metal]
Listen
Bergraven – Det framlidna minnet (Nordvis) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Minnets melankoli”
Black Anvil – Miles (STB Records) [Black Metal]
Stream
Black Kalmar Skull – A Night of Silence (Independent) [Black Metal, Probably]
Pffff
Black Lung – Ancients (Ripple Music) [Doom]
Listen to “Ancients”
Efreeti – Man of Sand (Independent) [Prog Black/Death Metal]
Listen
Equipoise – Demiurgus (The Artisan Era) [Tech Death]
Listen to “Waking Divinity,” “Alchemic Web of Deceit”
Forged in Black – Descent of the Serpent (Fighter Records) [Thrash/Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Descent of the Serpent”
Foul Body Autopsy – The Unquiet Dead (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Consumed by Decay”
Fullmoon Night Ritual – Cold Breath of Winter (Morbid Chapel Records) [Black Metal]
This label doesn’t understand Bandcamp
The Haunting Green – Natural Extinctions (Hypnotic Dirge Records) [Death Doom/Post-Metal]
Listen
Herbstnebel – Inner Catharsis (Independent) [Black Metal]
Stream pt. 1
Stream pt. 2
I.N.C. – Terrible Things (Independent) [Thrash]
Listen to “Fist Go Rek”
Insecurity – Demo 2019 (Independent) [Thrash]
Listen to “HSHT”
Iron Fire – Beyond the Void (Crime Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Beyond the Void”
Leather Glove – Perpetual Animation (Sentient Ruin) [Doom/Sludge]
Listen
Locus Animae – Luna (Independent) [Symphonic Metal]
Listen to “All’Imbrunire”
Lucian the Wolfbearer – Old Roots (Independent) [Death Doom]
Stream
Mägo de Oz – Ira Dei (Warner Music) [Folk Metal]
Preview
Malakhim – II (Iron Bonehead) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Triumphant Spears”
Meadows End – The Grand Antiquation (Black Lion Records) [Symphonic Melodeath]
Listen
Mileth – Catro Pregarias no Albor da Lúa Morta (Darkwoods) [Folk Metal]
Preview
Misery Index – Rituals of Power (Season of Mist) [Death Metal]
Listen
Mustan Kuun Lapset – Valo (Inverse Records) [Melodic Blackish Metal]
Listen to “Kohti valoa”
Myopic Empire/Lucifer’s Fall – split (Independent) [Doom]
Listen to “Calm Before the Storm”
Mystifier – Protogoni Mavri Magiki Dynasteia (Season of Mist) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “Weighing Heart Ceremony”
От Туман – От Туман (Independent) [Folk/Black Metal]
Stream
The Raven Age – Conspiracy (Independent) [Melodic Metal]
Listen to “Betrayal of the Mind”
Repvblika – The Insurgent (Metal Realms) [Death Metal]
Sinmara – Hvísl stjarnanna (Van Records) [Black Metal]
Stream
Sins of the Damned – Striking the Bell of Death (Shadow Kingdom Records) [Speed Metal]
Listen to “Take the Weapons”
SkeleToon – They Never Say Die (Scarlet Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “They Never Say Die”
Sores – Sores (Independent) [Black Metal]
Stream
Stonecast – I Earther (Pitch Black Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “The Earther”
Stone Leaders – Stone Leaders (Vanity Music Group) [Prog Rock]
Listen to “Toxic Guide”
Temple of the Fuzz Witch – Temple of the Fuzz Witch (Independent) [Stoner Doom]
Thormesis – The Sixth (MDD Records) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Thy Morbid Drunken Ways”
Týr – Hel (Metal Blade Records) [Prog/Folk Metal]
Listen to “Fire and Flame,” “Sunset Shore”
Varkan – Varkan (Independent) [Power Metal]
Listen
Vircolac – Masque (Dark Descent Records) [Death Metal]
Listen
Vita Imana – Bosa (Independent) [Proggy Groove Metal]
Listen to “No en mi Nombre,” “El Duelo”
Wake of the Blade – The Flesh Ephemeral (Independent) [Sludge/Post-Metal]
Stream
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments!
