This Toilet Tuesday (5/10/16)
Welcome to this, the most Toilet of Tuesdays. It’s unfortunately a bit of a slow one, but we need those sometimes to catch up on all the other shit we throw at each other throughout the week. Nevertheless, W, the good Mr. Molenaar, Stockhausen, and I have teamed up to bring you some of this week’s choicest cuts. Jam these bad boys and peruse that list to see if I overlooked anything that deserves to be heard.
Grand Magus – Sword Songs (Nuclear Blast Records) [Viking Metal]
Listen to “Varangian”
“I hate peasant life,” you whine to your father after shoveling your fourth full handcart of your noble’s horse dung for the day. “Our pay sucks, all we get to eat is runny stew made from pigeon meat, and all my cousins have died of the Plague. I imagine that I’d be upset that I smelled like dung all day if everything else didn’t already smell like dung.” Your father shrugs, gets kicked by the noble’s horse, and dies. You go back to your hut after throwing his body in the creek from which you draw your drinking water and contemplate your life. That night, as you lay in bed thinking about that hot piece of noble lady you’ll never be clean or rich enough to attract, a vision comes to you in a dream. Like a bolt of lightning, a mighty riff cracks down to you from heaven, setting your pathetic dung hut ablaze, but within the ashes, you are reborn. Your muscles swell, your stench transforms into musk, and a glorious mane of manly chest fur bursts forth from your pecs. From the crater of the smoking riff, you pluck an axe and ride forth to slay your odious liege lord. You are the grand magus, and your righteous campaign of whoring and pillaging begins now. FFO: Beer wenches, riffs, not smelling like dung. 5/13/16 (W.)
Warfect – Scavengers (Cyclone Empire) [Thrash]
Listen to “Purveyors of Cadavers”
There’s not really a whole lot to say about Scavengers, because it’s all stuff we’ve heard before. This is very much meat-and-potatoes thrash, but it’s not bad. It’s like Evile; familiar, but better than average. If all you’re looking for is some super-fast thrash with ripping solos and solid riffs, then look no further. 5/13/16 (Spear)
Seiches/Pneuma Hagion – Immeasurable Suffering [Split] (Independent) [Industrial Black Metal/Death-doom]
Stream
Ignore the Bandcamp release date; this split by one-man Chicago black metal/noise project Seiches and one-man Texas death/doom project Pneuma Hagion was only uploaded in full yesterday. Each contributes a side showcasing their own idiosyncratic approaches to extreme metal (or something around there) united only by their shared affinity for musical darkness. Pneuma Hagion’s side, featuring two re-recorded tracks from last year’s Trinity demos alongside one new song, is the more straightforward, though hardly the worse for it. Seiches, meanwhile, combines otherworldly black metal with industrial synthscapes and ends up sounding like a darker, less psychedelic Cloak of Altering. Keep an eye out for a physical release later this year. 5/8/16 (Christian)
Modorra/Bodybag – Modorra/Bodybag (split- Plague Island) [Grindcore]
Listen to “My Name is Luka (Magnotta),” “G.A.S.” (Modorra), “Post-mortem Partner” (Bodybag)
Plague Island Records has whipped out a solid split that gives us all a much needed gut grinding. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of an album opening with a movie sample before blasting off at warp speed. Modorra does just that, using a trashy wall of cymbals to great effect. There may not be much riffing for you to hang on to, but the sheer fury and energy of Modorra’s death-driven-grind tunes are enough to hook me. Plus, I’m fairly certain they use a chainsaw instead of a bass, and that’s fine by me. Bodybag dials back the fury slightly, leaning heavily on OSDM influences with big, mean chords and low, nasty growls. The urge to beat my chest while listening to these guys is nearly irresistible. Jam some tracks below, yo. 5/11/16 (Suckhausen)
Avatar – Feathers & Flesh (Independent) [quite something ahead]
Listen to “Regret,” “House of Eternal Hunt,” “For The Swarm”
Black Absinthe – Early Signs of Denial (Independent) [Southern Metal]
The opening riff is the Chrono Trigger battle theme
Blakk Old Blood – Greed (Clavis Secratorvm) [Blakk Old Metal]
Listen to “Blakk Old Blood”
Blakk Old Blood/Black Devotion – Blakk Old Blood vs Black Devotion (split- Clavis Secretorvm) [Blakk Old Metal/Black Metal]
Bright Curse – Before the Shore (HeviSike Records) [Doom]
Listen to “The Shore”
Carnifloor – Process of Disorderly Conduct (Rotten Music) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “Obscene Intentions”
Destruction – Under Attack (Nuclear Blast Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “Under Attack,” “Second to None”
DevilDriver – Trust No One (Napalm Records) [Groove Metal]
Listen to “Daybreak”
Ethereal Riffian – I AM. Deathless (Robustfellow) [Psychedelic Doom]
Listen to “Drum of the Deathless”
Fallen Apollo – Dethroned (Independent) [Core-y Death Metal]
Listen to “Acid Bath Burial”
Formless – Eon (Independent) [Tech Death]
Listen to “Tech Death,” “Prism”
Gallows Pole – Doors of Perception (Pure Steel Records) [lolbuttz]
Listen to “Burn It Down”
Gorguts – Pleiades’ Dust (Season of Mist) [Weird Death]
Stream
Helhorse – Helhorse (Spinefarm Records) [Doom]
Listen to “Hell of a Ride”
Hypersonic – Existentia (Revalve Records) [Power Metal]
Locus Animae – Prima che Sorga il Sole (Independent) [NO ANIMAE]
Listen to “Orizzonte”
Mercury Falling – Introspection (Independent) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Of Sinners & Saints”
Narcotic Self – Cut the Chord (Independent) [Thrash]
Listen to “Generation Victim”
Nympholepsy – Nympholepsy (Independent) [Brutal Snare Metal]
Listen to “Nympholepsy”
Phobocosm – Bringer of Drought (Dark Descent Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Ordeal”
Planet of Zeus – Loyal to the Pack (Independent) [Southern Metal]
Listen to “Loyal to the Pack”
Primitai – Night Brings Insanity (Independent) [Thrash/Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Black Rider”
Rebaelliun – The Hell’s Decrees (Hammerheart Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Legion”
Saratoga – Morir en el bien, vivir en el mal (Maldito Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Como El Viento”
Silent Moriah – Wise Murders and Natural Evil [Death/Doom]
Listen to “Natural Evil”
Soilid – Into the Ruins (MDD Records) [Groove Metal]
Listen to “Eternal War”
Spell – For None and All (Bad Omen Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “River of Sleep”
Subliminal Fear – Escape from Leviathan (Inverse Records) [Melodeath]
Stream
Transilvania/Kafirun – Transilvania/Kafirun (split- Destruktion Records) [Black Metal]
Preview
Veil of Mist – Disenchantment (Valkyrie Rising) [Gothic Metal]
Listen to “Ghosts of Winter”
Vulto Abissal/Përgamo/Bloody Lair – …nas Raízes do Metal Negro (Diabrura Distro) [Black Metal]
Preview
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
