Month: August 2020

SVNTH, Spring In Blue review (Transcending Records 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Seventh Genocide returns with a sweeping new album that wraps a shroud around the twitching world and draws out both instance and meaning from the complex non-ness of our contemporaneous existence.

SVNTH, the shorthand for Seventh Genocide, is an Italian band that blends many musical styles into their compositions. Most often referred to as Atmospheric Metal or Post-Black Metal, you must expect to have a variegated listening experience when you drop the needle.

Spring In Blue is the third full-length album from Seventh Genocide, and the current line-up includes founder Rodolfo Ciuffo (bass, vocals, acoustic guitar), Valerio Primo (drums), Stefano Allegretti (guitar), and Jacopo Gianmaria Pepe (guitar). There have been many musicians who have played in the band over the years, but the arc of the musical evolution has been consistence since its formation in 2006 due to the constant presence and direction of Rodolfo Ciuffo. If you want to know more about where the band is coming from spiritually and thematically, check out their Facebook page.

“Who Is The Dreamer” is the overture, and as such it is theatrical, segue to mystical then dramatic. Over the course of the next four long pieces, the purpose of the music is made clear, and the center of the conflict is transparently demonstrated. Apparitions, hallucinations, and frightening visions manifest in the building and bursting aural landscapes. The show closes with “Sons of Melancholia,” a song that has four minutes of light, pop-oriented instrumental to calm your nerves before the bolt gun is placed firmly against your forehead for a sudden blast of deathness. Eight minutes in there is a 70s-style guitar jam – very BÖC. And then there is a doom trudge to the captive end where you hear the siren call for the last time. This song encompasses, encapsulates, really, my experience with the entire album as a witness to events that mean more in truth than they seem to mean on the surface. You will not come away from even a single listening of this music without having seen or understood something differently than you did before. Recommended.

Spring In Blue is out now and ready for the taking at Bandcamp, Transcending Records, and all the other places you are used to for your musical needs.

Band photo by Void Revelations.

Links.

http://seventhgenocide.bandcamp.com

http://www.facebook.com/pg/seventhgenocide

http://www.youtube.com/user/SeventhGenocide

http://transcendingrecords.com

http://www.facebook.com/transcendingrecords

SVNTH, Spring In Blue review (Transcending Records 2020)

Brain Corrosion / Ripped To Shreds, Exhumed From Eastern Tombs split review (Horror Pain Gore Death 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

A Grindcore / Death Metal split to raise your weekend from the dead: Exhumed from Eastern Tombs.

Brain Corrosion is a Grindcore band from Taiwan. There is not a lot of information about them besides their Facebook page which reveals they are a trio and they have released an EP, a demo, and two splits since 2009. On the new one, they contribute eight short brutal hammerings with loud brittle percussion, elaborate coarse vocals, and a few audio clips to fill out the episodes. Three of the songs are also on an EP available at Bandcamp called Legal Innocence from 2017 (I am not sure if these are new versions on Exhumed). They are ripping it up and cleaning out your pipes for about 13 minutes – it’s a treatment you need some time to recover from before taking again.

Ripped to Shreds is a San Jose Death Metal band that is the creation of mastermind Andrew Lee who has different bands for live performance in the US and in Taiwan. There are several Ripped To Shreds albums out, including the new full-length Luan that was released in April this year. For Exhumed, there is one new track, “Rotting Stenches Unknown,” and three short covers of well-known Hard/Grindcore songs. The new song is in the Death Metal vein, and it is right on the edge of Hardcore as is rears back and splits your cerebellum with intense ectoplasmic energy.

This is the first time I have listened to either band. Exhumed From Eastern Tombs is a worthy introduction and puts you on the right path to find out more about these bands if you like what you hear.

Out now, you can joined the excavation at Bandcamp. CDs, t-shirts, and bundles are there, too. If you go specifically to the Ripped To Shreds Bandcamp page for the split (second link below), there are also vinyl variants for sale that are scheduled to ship in October.

Links.

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/exhumed-from-eastern-tombs

https://rippedtoshredsdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/exhumed-from-eastern-tombs

https://www.facebook.com/braincorrosion

https://braincorrosion.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/rippedtoshredsband

https://rippedtoshredsdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

Brain Corrosion / Ripped To Shreds, Exhumed From Eastern Tombs split review (Horror Pain Gore Death 2020)

The Atomic Bitchwax, Scorpio review (Tee Pee Records 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , ,

The New Jersey groove metal trio celebrates beyond the twenty year mark of TAB with the band’s eighth full-length studio album, Scorpio.

I became acquainted with The Atomic Bitchwax segue Monster Magnet. Indeed the current line-up of Chris Kosnik, Garrett Sweeny, and Bob Pantella all play in Monster Magnet now, too. TAB material is different, though, being more jam-like, bluesy, and improvisational-feeling…and with a lot more lead guitar work than Monster Magnet.

The first TAB album came out in 1999, and the second was released the following year. For some time after that, commitments to other bands and a little line-up shuffling lead to an irregular recording schedule. But in 2015 there was Graviton, and in 2017 there was Force Field, and now there is Scorpio.

The new album is ten meaty cuts, starting with a reworking of one of the band’s earliest songs, “Hope You Die.” The new version has a fuller sound with the treble dialed down a mite. The groove metal is on full display from beginning to end. I have always had a soft spot for instrumentals and we get three this time: “Ninja,” “Crash,” and “Instant Death.” Damn can they rip out a jam! Could-be radio songs are there, too, like “Easy Action” – “Let’s get some satisfaction / Any kind of easy action.” I hear you. And “Super Sonic.” And “Betting Man.” This is rock and roll as far as I am concerned. One of the weirdest things about my life in music is I have never seen TAB live. I am all about fixing that. Wherever they are at next, I will be in the front row.

Scorpio is out on Friday, August 28th from Tee Pee Records at all the usuals. There is no way I can recommend this as much as it deserves and as much as I want. Go get it now. Highest recommendation.

Links.

https://theatomicbitchwax.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/The-Atomic-Bitchwax-86002001659

https://teepeerecords.com/

https://teepeerecords.bandcamp.com/

The Atomic Bitchwax, Scorpio review (Tee Pee Records 2020)

Psychosomatic, The Invisible Prison review (Nefarious Industries 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , ,

Sacramento Thrash Metal band Psychosomatic roll out lucky number seven, The Invisible Prison.

There should be more Thrash, I think. The heavy music landscape has tilted toward Doom and Death over the past many years. Thrash is still out there, though, alive and well and personified by bands like Exodus, Testament, [insert your favorite Thrash bands here], and Psychosomatic who keep putting out great music. This band has been around for more than thirty years, and they are just as fierce as ever. The lineup is founder Jeff Salgado (bass, lead vocals), Daniel Mills (guitars, vocals), Viktor Hansen (guitars, vocals), and Toby Swope (drums).

The album is twelve towering tracks, starting with “We Don’t Trust You,” which is enough to make me remember this one forever. You know it is all fast, loud, and thrumming, with the pedal to the floor all the way through so I don’t have to tell you that. Picking over the songs for highlights is something of a chore because of the solid nature of the entire set. Along with the opener, the title track stands out as being to most frenetic of the bunch in both rhythm and lead. It’ll ring your ears. There is an excellent cover of the Vio-lence song “Serial Killer” which is not to be missed – Decibel magazine is premiering that track so you can hear it in advance of the album’s release if you head over to their website. “Agents of Surveillance” is the shortest song and it might also be the most savage in a stabby kind of way. When you listen to the album you will find your own favorites and make a list to add to your saved songs on Spotify. It is going to raise your blood pressure.

August 28th is the drop date for The Invisible Prison with all the usual attributes of download, physicals, and bundles at Bandcamp and the Nefarious Industries sites. Trust might be thin on the ground but this album is a thrash-fest guarantee. Recommended.

Band photo by Michael Alvarez.

Links.

http://officialpsychosomatic.com

https://psychosomatic.bandcamp.com

http://www.facebook.com/NefariousIndustries

http://nefariousindustries.com

https://www.facebook.com/officialpsychosomatic

Psychosomatic, The Invisible Prison review (Nefarious Industries 2020)

Necrot, Mortal review (Tankcrimes 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , ,

The second Necrot full-length delivers on the promise of the first, and raises the bar well up in the process.

I first found out about Necrot by listening to Mortuous because Chad Gailey plays drums in both bands (and he has actually been in Necrot longer). After I heard The Labrynth (2016), which is a compilation of demos, I immediately hit 2017’s Blood Offerings and I was hooked. Not only was Gailey’s drumming a monstrous pummeling, Luca Indrio (bass, vocals) and Sonny Reinhardt (guitars) completed the trinity in such a superlative fashion I had to have more. And now we all do with Mortal.

Coalescing in Oakland almost ten years ago, the early music of Necrot was infused with an elemental, volcanic energy that burst out like an exploding lava flow. In more recent years the feral zeal has found a more defined form and the band has developed into a Death Metal agency with an outer crust of punk.

Mortal begins with “Your Hell,” a story of suffering and revenge rendered at the speed of a roaring river and colored deep black. “I’ve built a grave for your dreams, I’ll make it your home.” A vivid image that cuts right to it, and no mistake. Every song has this collider push with boulder crushing percussion, psyche twisting vocals, and ravening guitars. “Asleep Forever,” “Stench of Decay,” and “Your Hell” were issued during the lead up to the full release, and they show you a big part of the story, but not everything. While “Stench” might be the representative track, you have to listen all the way through or you’ll miss the triumvirate closing sequence of “Sinister Will,” “Malevolent Intentions,” and “Mortal.” Whether they are meant to go together or not, I heard them as a suite that tops off the megalith the music created. The lead guitar in “Sinister” is positively searing, the rhythm of “Malevolent” is charging and unstoppable, and “Mortal” is a final permanent seal that entombs human arrogance – “Mortal dies. Everything fades away.” We’ll all be gone one day, but not this music. It will live on. Highly recommended.

Preorders are up now in many forms and variants (links below), and the full album drops Friday, August 28. Hearing the music is the most important thing, but if you also want a physical memento, you better hurry because they are selling fast.

Band photo by Chris Johnston.

Links.

https://tankcrimes.merchtable.com/

https://necrot.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/cyclesofpain

https://downloads.tankcrimes.com/

https://www.facebook.com/tankcrimes

Necrot, Mortal review (Tankcrimes 2020)

Dokken, The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 (Silver Lining Music 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , ,

Directly from Don Dokken’s vaults to you, the earliest recordings that lead to the internationally famous Glam Rock band Dokken have come to light.

The bands that followed after the early heavy music pioneers like Black Sabbath are typically referred to as Hard Rock – think Judas Priest, early Scorpions, and so on. Glam Rock (or Hair Metal of Glam Metal) came a bit later, in the early eighties, with bands like Mötley Crüe, Vandenberg, Hanoi Rocks, and, of course Dokken. {I am leaving Alice Cooper out on purpose because he was his own thing.} The difference between what I am calling Hard Rock and Glam Metal is that the latter was known for guitar-driven music with heavy riffs but with a pop music radio-play sensibility Hard Rock did not have. Glam Rock is also known for stadium anthem-ballads. Glam Metal was a major musical driving force through the 1980s into the 1990s, and Dokken was there at the beginning.

Dokken’s first album was Breaking The Chains in 1981 so the music on the new release was what lead up to this debut. The story is that Don Dokken recorded these early songs at Media Arts Studio in Redondo Beach in the late seventies then took them with him to Hamburg, Germany where fate and hard work eventually conspired to bring together producer Michael Wagener and Dokken. They hit upon a sound based on these demos and Dokken went on to extraordinary success selling millions of records. These earliest songs have not seen the light of day until now.

You can hear elements from the pieces on The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 on Dokken albums that came later and occasionally, the principal song itself, like “Felony” which made its way onto Breaking The Chains (1983) and “Prisoner” which showed up on Back For The Attack (1987), both in dramatically different forms. Songs like “Hit and Run,” “Step Into The Light,” and “No Answer” to me show that Dokken’s unique hallmark sound was there at the very beginning. The music developed, matured, and became more polished over the years but the early inspiration stayed with Don Dokken all the way through. Listening to this collection is nostalgic, sure, but it is also fascinating to discover how hard wired the Dokken sound was from the start. If you are a fan of Dokken or any of the 1980s Glam Metal bands, you are going to be excited to hear this album. Recommended.

The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 comes out this Friday, August 28th. You can get the music by itself or a merch bundle at the Dokken Store link below.

Links.

https://dokken.stors.co/

https://www.dokken.net/

https://www.facebook.com/DokkenOfficial

http://sl-music.net/en/

https://www.facebook.com/Silver.Lining.Music.Ltd/

Dokken, The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 (Silver Lining Music 2020)

Concrete, Free Us From Existence review (Black Voodoo Records 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Concrete, the hardcore band from Albany, returns with devastating aggression on Free Us From Existence.

The first music I heard from Concrete was the 2014 split they did with Hammerfist. The song “Born Lost” made a big impression on me especially, but all four of them smoked. Deadlock was before the split and Everything Ends Now came after in 2017. Over the years the band has been accumulating an impressive catalogue and gaining attention and respect from fans and the heavy music community at large. Free Us From Existence casts a sharp eye on the dismal situation that exists now and condenses it into loud bursts of disapprobation and condemnation in the form of ravaging hardcore music.

The new album opens with “Executing Vengeance” which sounds like climbing a ladder that is airborne and swirling in a tornado. “Starving Serpent” starts with heavy thumps and reveals twisting urgency in the tempo, cadence, and voice: “Fed to snakes / In the abyss / Left to rot / Starving serpent, oceans black / Take my eyes, take my eyes.” The menace and threat in the guitar line that runs along beside the vocals in one of the choruses tightens in your throat when you hear. “Path of Fire” has big doom riffs at the front with rolling rapid percussion, then a shift to thrash-speed before going back to heavy thumps like a stomping sauropod.

The landscape is broad and differentiated with Black Metal, Death Metal, and hardcore throughout. It is notable how much ground the band covers in just under thirty minutes, all the while keeping their own brand of menace intact and the thematic focus narrow. This overarching dispatch is demonstrated perfectly by the back-to-back entries “Psychological Crucifixion” and “World Tomb.” Listen to it all the way through and then hit it again because you don’t want to miss anything.

Available now for download at Bandcamp, with physical versions on the way from Black Voodoo Records. This album is going to be on a lot of Best Of 2020 lists. Recommended.

Band photo by Chantel Roberts.

Links.

http://concretehc.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/concretehc

http://www.bloodblast.com

http://blackvoodoorecords.com/

https://merchnow.com/catalogs/concrete-hc

Concrete, Free Us From Existence review (Black Voodoo Records 2020)

Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Blitz Sessions review (2020)

Wayne Edwards, , ,

Blitz Sessions is like a healing treatment, a therapy from the post-rock instrumentalists Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

“Instrumental love-letters to arctic ecosystems” is the entire entry in the ABOUT section of the band’s Facebook page. Brief and to the point. I can’t think of a better one line summary of this young Norwegian band’s sound. I lived in Alaska for ten years and I have been to the namesake site. This music would absolutely fit in there.

Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is a five-piece band: Karl Løftingsmo Pedersen, Gunnar Christian Blix, Eivind André Imingen, Joakim Storeide, and Bjørn Trygve Skjerstad. The music relies heavily on synthesizers and steady guitar insinuations and pleas. Think Godspeed You! Black Emperor and you will be on the right track. Long passages with subtle variation or repetition and returning musical themes are the mainstay. There are three long pieces with one of them being split in two so count four if you like at seven+ minutes each – long enough to lull you. The music is like salve in that way that can be applied lightly (in the background while you are doing something else) or more liberally and with determination if you are looking for the somber tones to draw your daily anguish out of your mind like a slowly ebbing tide.

Out on Friday August 21, there is a cassette available at Bandcamp as well as the download option. I do not listen to this kind of music all the time, but when I want to hear it, this is what I am looking for.

Links.

https://yukondeltanational.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/YukonDeltaNational

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/yukon_delta/

Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Blitz Sessions review (2020)

Atramentus, Stygian review (20 Buck Spin 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , ,

The debut album from Funeral Doom virtuosos Atramentus is called Stygian and it is a dark, nonpareil wonder.

Atramentus is from Longueuil, Québec, which is immediately east of Montréal across the river. If you are unfamiliar with the music scene in the beautiful Canadian city of Montréal you should acquaint yourself with the amazing variety of metal and the consistent quality of the bands.

It is worth listing the credits for the musicians in the band so you can get a sense of what sounds you will be hearing when you listen: Phil Tougas: throat, chants, screams, guitars; Claude Leduc: guitars; François Bilodeau: synths, piano, dark ambient elements; Antoine Daigneault: bass; and Xavier Berthiaume: drums. The basics you need for Doom are in there with the guitars and bass and drums, plus there are those others which surely contribute to the atmosphere such as well, “chants” and “dark ambient elements.”

The music is Funeral Doom, so you know it is ponderous and ominous. The album has three songs, two long pieces and a bridge (or chasm) piece sandwiched between. Here again let me list some information that clues you in to what the music is all about, the song titles: 1. Stygian I: From Tumultuous Heavens… (Descended Forth The Ceaseless Darkness), 2. Stygian II: In Ageless Slumber (As I Dream In The Doleful Embrace Of The Howling Black Winds), and 3. Stygian III: Perennial Voyage (Across The Perpetual Planes Of Crying Frost & Steel-Eroding Blizzards). The titles are like a libretto.

Each composition has its own separate theme and feel, while of course they are all dark and foreboding. Set on an alternate Earth, part of the story is, “Granted immortality through the gift of the God’s sword, the nameless knight eventually witnesses the death of the sun and the end of all life on Earth. Surviving the great deluge, he is left to wander amongst the ruins of a now frozen earth under a sunless sky for eternity, alone and unable to die even by the scorching-cold blizzard winds around him, enduring perpetual physical torture while haunted by the memories of his past life and everyone he once knew buried under miles of ice.” You can see this story in the song titles, and you can hear the progression of it in the music. Each entry carries the sentiment of the events that are occurring, the calamity of it all, and the crushing sense of loss and loneliness. And abandonment. Listening to this music requires openness and patience to appreciate fully, and it is well worth it. Recommended.

Available Friday, August 21 from 20 Buck Spin, there is the download plus many physical formats (although some of the vinyl variants are already sold out).

Links.

http://www.20buckspin.com

https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/stygian

{An aside … if you are going to Heavy Montréal, here is a pro tip: stay in Longueuil because the hotels are cheaper than Montréal and it is only one Metro stop to Parc Jean-Drapeau from Station Longueuil – Universitié-de-Sherbrooke.}

Atramentus, Stygian review (20 Buck Spin 2020)

Incantation, Sect Of Vile Divinities review (Relapse Records 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , ,

Death Metal legends Incantation return with their eleventh studio album, Sect of Vile Divinities.

It would be hard to overestate the impact Incantation has had on heavy music, and on Death Metal in particular. One of the early entries in the field and among the giants of the New York scene, their first album, Onward to Golgotha (1992), was a pivotal moment in music history. Guitarist John McEntee has been there since the beginning, directing the progression of the band and channeling a path that helped shape the landscape of Death Metal today.

There have been many big albums from veteran bands this year like Testament, Vader, Ozzy, Sepultura, My Dying Bride, Cirith Ungol, and others that were highly anticipated. I am every bit as excited about the new Incantation release because the music on Sect Of Vile Divinities shakes the planet.

We are told in advance that each song on the new album is about a different ancient evil from various places in history around the globe. That sounds like a good place to start and it fits in well with the band’s style and legacy. A good example of a representative song from the set is “Entrails of the Hag Queen,” which has the primary elements of musical creation: heavy decadence, massive riffs, driving percussion, and guttural growls flowing in a thick river darkness. The song slows down and speeds up as the story is told and the theme demands. Some songs are dirge-like throughout, like “Ignis Fatuus.” Others establish a blistering pace at the front and never relent, like “Chant of Formless Dread” and “Fury’s Manifesto.” The song I have listened to the most so far is “Shadow-Blade Masters of Tempest and Maelstrom” because of the way the lead guitar acts like a second voice forming a sinister, twisted duet, and because of the relentless nature of the driving momentum in the rhythm. The closer is “Siege Hive,” and it is an all-out assault on your senses that will make you question your place in the universe. This is a great album.

Out on Relapse Records this Friday, August 21, there are many formats and bundles to choose from that you can grab at the Relapse site or Bandcamp, and the band has their own webstore, too. The new music is as fresh and relevant today as their original work was back then. Highly recommended.

Links.

https://www.incantation.com/

http://incantation666.bandcamp.com

http://www.relapse.com

Incantation, Sect Of Vile Divinities review (Relapse Records 2020)