This Toilet Tuesday (7/23/24)
O Tumultuous Turd Tamer, O Shiddy Swami, cleanse us ov mind, body, and hole. This week we’ve got witches galore, NASCAR speed, and a Red Giant. The Bowl is full on this humid summer day, and the riptide is in full effect—explorers of the sea may find they’ve drifted quite far from the genres they dove into. Let us know which meaty morsels we missed in the comments!
Mayhemic – Toba (Independent) [Blackthrash]
Going into a blackthrash record expecting to learn something is inadvisable (unless you’re looking for the address of a giant rusty nail vendor). However, Mayhemic‘s debut LP, Toba, taught me several things in quick succession: 1) The Toba Supereruption occurred around 74,000 years ago and was one of the largest volcanic explosions in the history of our planet, 2) the Neanderthal and Denisovan lineages were still around at the time of the explosion, and 3) mixing melody with the rabid energy of South American extreme metal is exactly what I needed to get back into thrash. The break halfway into “Olduvai’s Lullaby” combines melodeath riffing with whammy bar abuse and quasi-blasts in a moment that should clash like tectonic plates, but somehow remains coherent; like Toba‘s kaleidoscopic artwork, the band excels in making chaos legible and enticing. Whenever a large-scale catastrophe like Toba occurs, ecological niches open up for scrappy species to invade and flourish in—only time will tell what strange shapes the band’s evolution will lead to. -Roldy
Absorb – Smog (Hypaethral Records) [Death/Doom]
Abyssielle – Through Sun and Stone (These Hands Melt) [Meloblack]
Aquelarre – Aldebarán (Independent) [Power / Heavy Metal]
Art of Attrition – …and It Will All End Forever (Independent) [Symphonic Deathcore]
ColdCell – Age of Unreason (AOP Records) [Black]
Culled – Psycles (Independent) [Sludge/ Deathgrind / Doom]
Death Racer – From Gravel to Grave (Dying Victims Productions) [Blackened Speed]
Disloyal – Divine Miasmata (Black Lion Records) [Death]
Dream Evil – Metal Gods (Century Media Records) [Power / Heavy Metal]
Duskwalker – Underground Forever (Black Lion Records) [Deathrash]
Dødskvad – Krønike III (Caligari Records) [Raw/Lo-Fi Death]
Ehnahre – El Perro (Independent) [Experimental Doom]
Famine – Baptism (Independent) [Blackened Death]
Ghost of Agony – Ashen Kingdom (Independent) [Death]
Gods & Punks – Death (Electric Valley Records) [Space Rock / Stoner Doom]
Grotesque Desecration – Dawn of Abomination (Inherited Suffering Records) [Brutal Death / Slam]
Imperia – Dark Paradise (Massacre Records) [Symphonic Folk Metal]
Incessant – Entropic Aeons (Repose Records) [Black]
Intolerance – Waking Nightmares of an Endless Void (Godz ov War Productions) [Death]
Ironflame – Kingdom Torn Asunder (High Roller Records) [Power / Heavy Metal]
Ivory Primarch – The Portrait (Cursed Monk Records) [Death/Doom]
Jugulator – Imperator Insector (Witches Brew) [Deathrash]
Krypt – Great Spawn of the Worms of the Earth (Terminus Hate City Records) [Blackthrash]
Krypticy – The Non-Return (Violence in the Veins) [Death]
Laceration – I Erode (20 Buck Spin) [Deathrash]
Madame Frankenstein – The Eyes of the Mountain Are Mine (Independent) [Stoner Doom]
Man Daitõrgul – G’sviatve (Tsevarga) [Black]
Marquis de Sade – Marquis de Sade I (Independent) [Black]
Monument of Misanthropy – Vile Postmortem Irrumatio (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Brutal Death]
Morcaint – Mornië Utúlië (Nordvis Produktion) [Atmoblack]
Mountaineer – Dawn and All That Follows (A Thousand Arms) [Doom / Sludge / Alt Metal]
Nebula Orionis – The Long Path to Nowhere (Independent) [Post-Black / Ambient]
Oathless One – ...And There Came Hail and Fire (Independent) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black / Noise]
Orpheus Omega – Emberglow (WormHoleDeath) [Symphonic Melodeath]
Pagan Impaler – Buried Alive (Independent) [Blackthrash]
Powerwolf – Wake Up the Wicked (Napalm Records) [Symphonic Power]
Santa Cora – Elementum (Independent) [Symphonic Prog Metal]
Season of the Witch – Vol. 2 (Independent) [Stoner Doom]
Summoning the Lich – Under the Reviled Throne (Prosthetic Records) [Melodeath / Deathcore]
Tears of Tragedy – Wonder Arts (Walküre Records) [Symphonic Power]
Tomb Dweller – Rest in Pain (Iron Fortress Records) [Death / Hardcore]
Tyrans – Mar de sangre (Independent) [Blackthrash]
Überserker – Ineffable Force of Will (Independent) [Blackthrash]
Verni – Dreadful Company (M-Theory Audio) [Thrash / Heavy Metal]
Void Witch – Horripilating Presence (Everlasting Spew Records) [Death/Doom]
Wormwitch – S/T (Profound Lore Records) [Meloblack]
Wraithfyre – Of Fell Peaks and Haunted Chasms (Naturmacht Productions) [Symphonic Black]
Wurm Flesh – Teratogenic Malformation (Comatose Music) [Death]
Zombie Ritual – Day of the Zombie Demons (Bang the Head Records) [Deathrash]