This Toilet Tuesday (5/2/17)
Welcome to This Toilet Tuesday! Our diligent crew has been hard at work sifting through rivers of sewage in search of everything that needs to be saved from the flush. We’ve found a few things worthy of rescue, but we can’t find it all on our own. Dive in with us and get your hands dirty!
Vhäldemar – Old King’s Visions (Fighter Records) [Power Metal]
Listen to “Howling at the Moon”
I have to thank Vhäldemar for helping quell my hunger for the power metal I’ve been missing these past few months; there might only be one song out right now, but it’s absolutely brilliant. There are all kinds of shreddy keys and guitars over some excellent riffs (and it definitely helps that the opening lead sounds like the rebel army theme from Final Fantasy 2). It’s very much like a slightly toned-down Galneryus musically, and the little bit of grit in the singer’s voice helps cut back on the cheese factor. Based on this song, I’m very excited for the rest of the EP; now I just have to find somewhere to buy it. 5/4/17 (Spear)
Sentient Ignition – Enthroned in Gray (Independent) [Prog/Tech Death]
Stream
Sentient Ignition put out a rad little demo just over a year ago, showcasing a penchant for catchy melody and creative songwriting. With their first full-length album, they’ve doubled down on the progressive side of their sound, adding all sorts of new layers and nuance to their already impressive toolkit. I’m also pleased to hear the variety in the vocal performance remains persistent, with multiple singing and screaming techniques employed wherever extra texture or melody is needed. If you like your tech death more on the melodic side (or your melodeath on the technical side), then you’re going to love Enthroned in Gray. 5/1/17 (Spear)
Eruption – Cloaks of Oblivion (Xtreem Music) [Thrash]
Stream
It’s been a pretty great year for thrash already, and so far there’s no indication of this trend stopping or even slowing down. What’s especially exciting about Slovenia’s Eruption is that they lean in a very classic speed/thrash direction, which in my opinion is harder to pull off well when compared to say, your typical crossover pizza thrash band of the last several years. Not that I don’t enjoy that stuff plenty, but this is a real treat. I’m getting a bit of a Heathen vibe from these guys, just off the top of my head, but also a bit of classic Sanctuary. If you know me (or even if you don’t, but you’ve got any amount of sense) then you know that’s one hell of a compliment. As much as I would like to go on about the riffs, the vocals, or even the production, I’ll save you some time and just say they’re all really good, and then you can use that time to listen to this album, which you ought to do if you’re a fan of pretty much any classic thrash/speed/or just plain heavy metal. 5/2/17 (DumpsterLung)
Mudbath – Brine Pool (Troffea Records) [Sludge/Doom]
Listen to “Burn Brighter,” “Fire”
With a name like Mudbath, you could probably guess the band’s overall genre might be doom or sludge, and you’d be mostly right, but that’d be selling these guys quite short to simply leave it at that. They do tend toward heavy sludge riffs with harsh vocals, but they also veer into black metal, then they even throw in some slower, cleaner melodies to add to the atmosphere and make the whole thing feel more dynamic. The black metal in their sound, while most evident in the closing track–which begins with straight up tremolo riffing, is present throughout the entire album in more subtle ways, lending a bleak atmosphere to the whole thing, belied by the album’s colorful artwork. I coincidentally happen to be currently wearing a Cobalt shirt, but as it turns out, I think fans of theirs will definitely enjoy Mudbath, so I’m glad to have made the connection. 5/2/17 (DumpsterLung)
Andy James – Exodus (Urban Yeti Records) [Instrumental Prog]
Listen to “Never Back Down,” “Made of Stone”
Appalling – Secrets of the Adept (Independent) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “On the Backs of Horses,” “Secrets of the Adept”
Arakara – Shadow of Violence (Independent) [Thrash]
Listen to “Black Magic Marionettes”
Avulsed/Mercyless – Avulsed/Mercyless (split- Xtreem Music) [Death/Thrash]
Bleed Again – Momentum (Sliptrick Records) [Metalcore]
Listen
Burning Shadows – Truth in Legend (Independent) [Heavy/Power Metal]
Listen to “Day of Darkness”
Call of Charon – Long Forgotten Memories (Kernkraftritter Records) [Melodeath/Metalcore]
Listen to “Essence of Memories”
Cerebral Extinction – Necro Parasite Anomaly (Amputated Vein Records) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “Necro Parasite Anomaly”
Dead Season – Prophecies (Dissonances Records) [Prog/Melodeath]
Listen to “The New Man,” “Prohibition of God,” “Guidestones”
Demoniciduth – Enemy of Satan (Vision of God Records) [Black Metal]
Listen
Deus Otiosus – Opposer (Great Dane Records) [Death Thrash]
Stream
Dezperadoz – Call of the Wild (Drakkar Records) [Can we be done with this?]
Fuck
Distillator – Summoning the Malicious (Empire Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “Summoning the Malicious”
Drug Honkey – Cloak of Skies (Transcending Obscurity) [Intensely Uncomfortable Death/Doom]
Listen
Echotime – Side (Rockshots Music) [Prog Metal]
Preview
Eisregen – Fleischfilm (Massacre Records) [Death/Dark Metal]
Elbereth – Karma (Basque Metal Country) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Nikomedes”
Evil – 邪悪を讃えよ (Rites of Evil) (Nuclear War Now!) [Black Thrash]
Listen
Excalibur – Humo Negro (Fighter Records) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Excalibur”
Extinction – The Monarch Slaves (Independent) [Thrash]
Artwork of the year
Façade – Loathe (Independent) [Death/Doom]
Stream
Freiheit – Безумие. Ненависть. Смерть. (Grimm Distribution) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Волк”
ghUSa – Öswedeme (White Square) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Flying in a Dark Dream”
God Dethroned – The World Ablaze (Metal Blade Records) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Annihilation Crusade,” “The World Ablaze,” “On the Wrong Side of the Wire”
GraVil – No More Forgiveness (Independent) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Decommissioned”
Gurt – Skullossus (When Planets Collide) [Party Doom]
Listen to “Jon Garseeya Later,” “The Ballad of Tome Stones and Reg Montagne”
Hate – Tremendum (Napalm Records) [Blackened Death Metal]
Listen to “Asuric Being,” “Numinosum”
Helker – Firesoul (AFM Records) [Discount Firewind]
Listen to “Fight”
Hero’s Last Rite – Wasted Prayer (Independent) [Metalcore]
Stream
Impending Annihilation – Delirium Tremens (Independent) [Japanese Brain Drill]
Stream
Imperial Dusk – The Book of Morbid Tales of a Blackened Past (Vision of God Records) [Black Metal]
Stream
Infinitas – Civitas Interitus (Independent) [Folk/Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Samael”
Integral – Resilience (Ghastly Music) [Progressive Death Metal]
Listen to “In(Earth),” “Mechanical Existence Construction”
Iron Attack! – Keep Your Faith (Independent) [Power Metal]
Preview
The Monolith Deathcult – Versus 1 (Hammerheart Records) [Groovy Death Metal]
Listen to “This Inhuman Place Makes Human Monsters”
Morfin – Consumed By Evil (FDA/Soulfood) [Death Metal]
Stream
Murderline – Evil Has No Shape (Independent) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Blooswamp” (sic)
Nagaarum – Homo Maleficus (Grimm Distribution) [Blackened Doom]
Listen to “Az elvhű”
Nythis – Dis (Independent) [Black/Death Metal]
Listen to “The Agony Feeds,” “Demagogue”
Odraedir – Legends of the Dark Times (Independent) [Folk Metal]
Listen to “Path of the Wolf”
Oniku – Way to Live (Grindfather Productions) [Meatgrind]
Stream
Pictura Poesis – Miseriae Mundi (Independent) [Symphonic Death Metal]
Listen to “Persephone”
Reptilian Civilian – It’s Impossible That Reptilians Don’t Exist (Independent) [Deathcore]
Listen to “Panspermia”
The Ruins of Beverast – Exuvia (Ván Records) [Black/Doom]
Listen to “Towards Malakia”
Scrotoctomy – Born to Eviscerate (Gore House Productions) [Brutal Death Metal]
Listen to “Through Maggots and Entrails”
Skinlepsy – Dissolved (Independent) [Death Thrash]
Listen to “The Hate Remains the Same”
Slægt – Domus Mysterium (Ván Records) [Black Thrash]
Listen to “I Smell Blood”
Slagduster – Deadweight (Waterlow Audio) [Progressive Metal]
Stream
Spätjahr Melancholie/Rotten Light/Drowning Deeper – Misery Among Ourselves (split- Cvlminis) [DSBM]
Stream
Spoil Engine – Stormsleeper (Arising Empire) [Metalcore]
Listen to “Stormsleeper”
Stheno/Facada – Primitive (split- DIY Kolo Records) [Deathgrind]
Stream
Suns of Sorath – Flowers of the Lily (Independent) [Progressive Black Metal]
Viscera/// – 3 | Release Yourself Through Desperate Rituals (WOOAAARGH/Drown Within/Unquiet) [Sludge/Post-Metal]
Listen to “Über-Massive Melancholia,” “In The Cut”
Zaklon – Viatry Karačunavaj nočy (Possession Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Adal (Viecier nad Kryŭjaj hałosić…)”
Zmrok – Achviara (Possession Productions) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Addaju Baham Ja Płoċ…”
Zombie Lake – The Dawn of Horror (Iron Shield Records) [Thrash]
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
