This Toilet Tuesday (8/2/16)
Welcome to another round of This Toilet Tuesday! The summer rolls on and the music continues to flow; you need your fix, and we’re here to provide. Stockhausen, Lacertilian, and I have picked a couple of our favorites, but there’s a lot more in the list below. Pick out a couple and share with the group!
Voidspawn – Pyrrhic (Independent) [Weird Death]
Stream
Hark! The sickly strains of death do sing! Lean down thine ears, yon skronkodiles, that discord may lay her sweet and terrible path o’er thine hearts and minds. Then rise! Rise and stagger! Stagger down yonder path (oh discord, say thankya!), for the haunted tones of Voidspawn guide thy drunken steps. Drink deep of that thick and venomous air, where mayhap the lingering stench of Gorguts, Teeth, and Abyssal finds thou prostrate at the end of the path, short as it may be, begging for sweet misery from Voidspawn again. 7/30/16 (Stockhausen)
VTTA – On the Vortex of Chasing the Abyss of Despair (Death Knell Productions) [Weird Black Metal]
Listen to “Moon Dances Lead Into the Void,” “Through the Veil of the Light”
VTTA, which stands for Vessel Through The Abyss, is a fascinating beast to behold. The new EP On the Vortex of Chasing the Abyss of Despair is my first experience with the Russian trio, and I was pleased to find that their brand of black metal is anything but typical. I was distantly reminded of the fluid structure and melodicism of Bloodway, but with a vastly different vocal style. Most of the vocal passages are delivered in a bold declamatory style, with forays into harsh screaming and tense, layered spoken word. With four EPs but no full lengths to their name, VTTA is a creative force to keep an eye or two on. 8/6/16 (Stockhausen)
Necromancing the Stone – Jewel of the Vile (Metal Blade Records) [Movietitlepuncore]
Listen to “The Siren’s Call,” “The Descent”
Behold, ladies and gentlemen: the reason we haven’t heard from Arsis for the past year and a half or so. I’m still not sure how to feel about this; on one hand Necromancing the Stone definitely brings the riffs. On the other, vocalist John Williams brings the whole experience down. It’s not that his voice is bad; it’s just that he doesn’t deliver on the “power” portion of what is ostensibly a darker-than-usual power metal band. If you can get past the vocals, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. Otherwise, you can be like me and force yourself to acclimate, or just ignore it altogether and listen to this instead. 8/5/16 (Spear)
A Diadem of Dead Stars – Kingdoms Bathed In Golden Light (Independent) [Atmospheric BM]
Stream/Buy
Do you yearn for that familiar post-rainfall smell? Some Australian nerds decided to call it petrichor, which is Greek for “Dank Stench.” The smell comes from plant oils and terpenes sequestered within rocks, which are drawn out by water. Greece’s A Diadem of Dead Stars is the sonic equivalent of that smell. Previously, I covered (and thoroughly recommended) this relatively new one-man instrumental artist’s two-part release titled The Mist Bearer. Here, The Pilgrim’s second LP Kingdoms Bathed In Golden Light is a slight departure from his previous work, in that it is a little crisper, features sporadic vocal use, and has some darker shades in places. In particular, the final half of “A Crown of Clouds On The Mountain’s Brow,” which shows the valleys which adorned The Mist Bearer(s) are not always as serene as they appear. FFO: WITTR, Skaur, Mesarthim. 7/15/16 (Lacertilian)
Ablaze My Sorrow – Black (Apostasy Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “One Last Sting”
Acicula – Where Eden Once Lied (Independent) [Melodeath]
Acolyte – Shades of Black (Ditto Music) [Prog Metal]
Listen to “Perceptions”
Adhaia – Desolación (Independent) [Thrash]
Listen to “Llamado a Las Armas”
Aeranea – The Fading Ones (Independent) [Gothic Metal]
Listen to “Any Other Way”
Bloody Hammers – Lovely Sort of Death (Napalm Records) [Chill Doom]
Listen to “The Reaper Comes”
Carnage, Inc. – Fury Incarnate (Transcending Obscurity) [Thrash]
Listen to “Defiled”
Carnifex – Slow Death (Nuclear Blast Records) [Deathcore]
Listen to “Drown Me In Blood”
The Company Corvette – Never Enough (Independent) [Stoner Doom]
Listen to “Foot In Mouth”
Dead Nexus – Bound by Flesh (Independent) [Death/Thrash]
Listen to “Conduit of Consumption”
Decayed – The Burning of Heaven (Hellprod Records) [Black/Speed Metal]
Listen to “War of the Gods,” “Night of the Demons”
Denominate – Those Who Beheld the End (Inverse Records) [Progressive Death Metal]
Listen to “Degradation,” “Apeirophobia”
A Diadem of Dead Stars – Kingdoms Bathed in Golden Light (Vendetta/Pest Productions) [Atmospheric Black Metal]
Stream
Eat the Turnbuckle – The Great American Bash Your Head In (Horror Pain Gore Death) [Hardcore]
Listen to “Suplex City”
End Xian – Soft Rock (Halfpear Records) [Noise/Drone/Electronic]
Listen to “You Can Find Fault and Call Off the Dogs”
Excellion – Unsean (Independent) [Djent]
Listen to “Unlucky Charms”
From Blue To Gray – Abstention of Interference (Luxor Records) [Metalcore]
Stream
Hati/Alptraum/Grabschänder – Verschüttete Werke Part I (split- Narbentage Produktionen) [Black Metal]
Listen to “Leichen” (Hati), “Abscheid vom Leben” (Alptraum)
Hell Gate – 6T (Independent) [Death Metal]
Listen to “La Face Cachée”
Hibria – XX (King/Urubuz/Test Your Metal) [Heavy Metal]
Listen to “Leading Lady”
Hizaki Grace Project – Rosario (Warner Music Japan) [Symphonic Metal]
Howling Giant – Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 (Independent) [Prog/Doom]
Listen to “Mothership”
Islander – Power Under Control (Victory Records) [lolbuttz]
Listen to “Darkness”
MaidaVale – Tales of the Wicked West (The Sign Records) [Rock]
Listen to “(If You Want the Smoke) Be the Fire”
Mist of Misery – Absence (Black Lion Records) [Atmospheric Black Metal]
Listen to “Absence,” “Epitaph of Penitence”
Paganfire – The Executor Is Back (Eerie Hint Productions) [Thrash]
Stream
Paganizer – On the Outskirts of Hades (Transcending Obscurity) [Death Metal]
Listen to “Angry All The Time”
Rie a.k.a. Suzaku – Seven Seas (Poppin Records) [Happy Metal]
MY EYES
Sick Feel – Sick Society (Cepa Records) [Thrash]
Listen to “Utopía”
Stormtide – Wrath of an Empire (Metal Hell Records) [Folk Metal]
Listen to “Wrath of an Empire”
Tarja – The Shadow Self (earMusic) [Gothic Metal]
Because we needed two Tarja albums this year
Temple Nightside – The Hecatomb (Iron Bonehead Productions)
Listen to “Adrift in Sepulchral Entropy”
Review
Unalei – Taedium Vitae (My Kingdom Music) [Progressive Metal]
Stream
Veldes – Ember Breather (Pest Productions) [Folk/Black Metal]
Stream
Vukari – Divination (Bindrune Recordings) [Blackgaze]
Stream
Review
Wired Anxiety – The Delirium of Negation (Transcending Obscurity) [Death Metal]
Stream
Woodrue – Low on Luck (KRH) [Sludge/Stoner Metal]
Listen to “Borrowed Time”
Zephyra – As the World Collapses (Inverse Records) [Melodeath]
Listen to “Words of a Demagogue”
Zlaterna – Legerdemain (Independent) [Doom]
Listen to “Holy Man’s Crook”
Did we forget a new release? Is there a way we could improve this list? Let us know in the comments below!
