Month: June 2022

Municipal Waste, Electrified Brain (Nuclear Blast 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

The seventh album from Richmond, Virginia’s Municipal Waste is Electrified Brain.

Municipal Waste just passed the twenty-year mark in their career, and they are just as irreverent and rowdy as they were at the beginning. Tony Foresta (vocals), Ryan Waste (guitar), Philip “Landphil” Hall (bass), Dave Witte (drums), and Nick Poulos (guitar) return now for the seventh long-player amongst the long list of splits and EPs they’ve sown over the years. I always geta kick out of listening to a Municipal Waste record and seeing them live is a party every time. Looking over a few photos of the last show of theirs I attended, I could tell where it was by the brand of beer can flying through the air in half the pics. Carling’s Black Label – name that festival!

There are fourteen short and tight tracks on the new album. Every one of them packs a punch. You just never know from which direction it’ll be coming. The title track is the first song, and the punk and thrash are strong in it. Ripping pace and blistering lead guitar complement perfectly Tony Foresta’s urgent singing. The pace shifts to a groove hook toward the end and lays down an homage. Great start. “Demoralizer” continues without missing a beat on a different thrash trajectory, and “Last Crawl” feels like a high-speed chase. We are rolling now.

Every song is a new crack and always a good ride. Look out for “Ten Cent Beer Night,” “Putting On Errors,” “High Speed Steel,” and “Restless And Wicked.” These are the ones that stood out for me, but you might find you have other favorites instead. We can debate it at the next show.

Municipal Waste at Pure Filth Festival 2022

This new album is one of their best – a great Municipal Waste set. Highly recommended.

Electrified Brain is out on Friday, July 1st through Nuclear Blast Records.

Municipal Waste at Pure Filth Festival 2022
Municipal Waste at Pure Filth Festival 2022

Band photo by Corey Davenport. Live band photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://municipal-waste.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Municipalwaste

Municipal Waste website, https://www.municipalwaste.net/

Nuclear Blast Records, https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/band/municipal-waste

© Wayne Edwards

Municipal Waste at Heavy Montreal 2019
Municipal Waste at Heavy Montreal 2019

Municipal Waste, Electrified Brain (Nuclear Blast 2022)

Inkcarceration is coming up in a couple weeks — Set times released.

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Inkcarceration happens July 15-17 at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Some tickets are still available to see headliners Korn, Breaking Benjamin, and Disturbed, along with a strong second line of Black Label Society, Evanesence, Papa Roach, Seether, Lamb of God, Black Veil Brides, and many more.

Grab Inkcarceration tickets here: https://inkcarceration2022.frontgatetickets.com/

Inkcarceration is coming up in a couple weeks — Set times released.

Thūn, II (Eat Lead And Die Music 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

The second album from Thūn features Nile’s Karl Sanders on lead guitar.

Thūn is a “Bull Elephant offshoot” that focuses on thunderous and cracking doom metal. The people responsible for it are Jon Higgs (guitar, vocals) and Hugo Wilkinson (bass), with James Knoerl (drums). Returning as guest lead guitarist is Karl Sanders of the legendary band Nile.

As with Bull Elephant, the story that goes along with the music (and/or vice versa) is complex. Here is a brief description. “The narrative concept is Bull Elephant adjacent … drawing from the same loosely Lovecraftian mythos but following the present-day adventures of an eco-witch-terrorist … The enemy is every person or corporation that puts profit before preservation of the natural world. With tentacles.” Uh-huh.

In case you are a little fuzzy on the whole Bull Elephant situation, here is a refresher. “Bull Elephant is the story of a slain African elephant that occultist Ahnenerbe SS attempted to bring back from the dead as a new form of battle asset. However, before re-animation could be completed it was intercepted by a mysterious witch-shaman, pursuing her own agenda and redirecting the undead creature’s purpose.” There have been two Bull Elephant albums so far, with the capping third due out later this year.

So, let’s leave it that there is a lot going on in the realm of Thūn and Bull Elephant. But what about the music?

As with the first Thūn album, there are seven tracks on II. The opening song is “Where All Truths Lie,” a heavy and mysterious affair. There is a very spacey feel to the music, and that could be inner or outer space, for all we know. The music shifts and pauses, turns its focus from mountain to valley to sky, taking in all it surveys. “Look To The Sea” is more directly melancholy, in my ears anyway, and the sorrowful character is enhanced by the variegated tempos and tucks, and of course the brilliant lead guitar work.

“Kiss The Ground” has a raucous, charging movement and a campaign of delights that fulfills the journey. There are two short pieces then, “I Have Failed You,” a sort of punk-like song, and “Completely,” a beautifully light interlude. And then the final push of “Zero Growth” and “Final Cut.” The music, especially the last two tracks, is complex and at times dense. There might be a tendency, too, to get lost in the narrative because it is content-heavy and compelling.

The best approach is to listen the album straight through the first time without thinking about it too much because the music is great. Go back and ponder it all on the second pass. I predict that on both listens you will like what you hear. Recommended.

Thūn’s II is out on Friday, July 1st through Eat Lead And Die Music. Links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://thundoom.bandcamp.com/album/ii

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ThunDoom/

Bull Elephant review at FFMB, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2019/11/15/bull-elephant-new-release-review/

Bull Elephant, Part 2 review at FFMB, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2020/08/13/bull-elephant-created-from-death-review-eat-lead-and-die-music-2020/

Eat Lead And Die Music, http://www.supermetal.net/

© Wayne Edwards

Thūn, II (Eat Lead And Die Music 2022)

Hellfire Deathcult, Al Nombre De La Muerte (Regain 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The new album from Hellfire Deathcult screams from a deep void, Al Nombre De La Muerte.

Hellfire Deathcult is a black metal band from Chicago that perpetrates death and doom metal as well as part of the heavy music they create. Their first EP came out in 2014, Ave Mors, followed by their debut long-player two years later, Culto A La Muerte. The sophomore album was the well-received Black Death Terroristic Onslaught (2018). Fans of the black metal trio have had their longest wait yet for new music, and they are rewarded with a voracious, pillaging record of blight.

After the mood-setting introductory song “Grand Invocation Ov Black Death,” there are ten searing tracks on the album. First up, “Consumed By The Eternal Darkness Ov Death,” a song that delivers on the promise of its title. Dripping with blood, pain, and black ichor from the deepest realms, this music intends ill. Black metal indeed. “Devoted To The Order Ov The Black Light” continues the ideas, fostering no hope and no regard for the well-being of the universe. Here the cosmos faces relentless blackgrind metal and can do nothing to stop it.

Other tracks to look out for include “Divinities Damnation,” which starts on deep notes of doom (and I always appreciate that), and “Beneath The Black Moons Incantation” that pairs slower moments with the raking black metal speed so prevalent on other songs. As I think back on it now, “Ritualistic Sacrifice Ov Sacred Blood” might even have the edge over these two in my mind. The music is sinister, filled with fear-inducing chaos and dreary, soaking moments of gloom. Recommended.

Al Nombre De La Muerte is out on June 30th from Helter Skelter Productions through Regain Records. A vinyl version will follow later in the year.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/al-nombre-de-la-muerte

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/HellfireDeathcult

Regain Records, https://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Hellfire Deathcult, Al Nombre De La Muerte (Regain 2022)

Blasphemous Creation, Beyond The Grave (HPGD 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

Reno’s Blasphemous Creation re-records four classic tracks on Beyond The Grave.

Blasphemous Creation is a death metal / thrash metal quartet centered in Reno, Nevada. Since 2009 they have been handing fans a steady flow of full-length albums jam-packed with searing metal. The new EP is a blast from the past. The band has gone back to the early days from 2006-2009 and cherry picked four of their favorites to re-record and re-celebrate.

“Diabolical Kingdom” is a high-speed invocation. The vocals are grumbled and run so quickly you have to put your ear into it to get it all. The lead guitar is a whirlwind, a bladed assassin’s weapon that has you down before you even know it has hit. “Beyond The Grave” has percussion that seems to be beating directly onto your defleshed skeleton. This song is a ravaging in every sense of the word. The guitar here is speedy and sour, with more than enough bite to make you squeal. There is an extended groove passage in the middle that is completely unexpected, and it rolls back into speeding metal with little concern for your equilibrium.

“Shadows Of Evil” is creepy, as the title implies it should be. Don’t worry, though, because the gleeful pummeling and the hooks are in here as well, along with shocking moments of belligerence. The final track is “Black Winter,” and it is my overall favorite of the four. It contains all the elements I like about the band, and they are executed with insistence. The darkness combined with the groove is a beautiful thing. Recommended.

Beyond The Grave is out now through Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. Bandcamp is the quick place to pick it up.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-grave

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/BlasphemousCreation/

Horror Pain Gore Death, https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Blasphemous Creation, Beyond The Grave (HPGD 2022)

Chaotian, Effigies Of Obsolescence (Dark Descent 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Death metal trio Chaotian renders their first full-length album from the depths, Effigies Of Obsolescence.

From Denmark, Chaotian is a fairly new band having come together in 2017. They released a couple of demos in the ensuing years, and fans have been on edge for a long-player as time has passed along. And now here it is: Effigies Of Obsolescence. This is death metal music turned up past ten. Prepare yourself before dropping the needle because this band leaves nothing on the stage. Chaotian is Søren Willatzen (guitar, vocals), Jonas Grønborg (bass), and Andreas Nordgreen (drums, vocals).

There are seven tracks on the album, each one a new revelation. A sense of suffering and hopelessness is established immediately with “Gangrene Dream.” The feeling of chaos hits hard on “Into Megatopheth” with the unpredictable guitar injections ripping into the status quo. The title track seals the tomb with its irrepressible growling vocals and crushing guitar riffs, its pulverizing percussion. If you are a death metal fan and you hear this song you know you have reached a pinnacle. It is stunning.

“Adipocere Feast” inveigles you with its speed and misdirection, its stabbing guitars. “Etched Shadows” plays a longer game in a deadly slow pace at the front that gets paired with breakneck speed that sends you over the edge of the abyss. “Fustuarium” and “Festering Carcinolith” are the final two turns on this wheel of devastation. The presentation and combination of elements are delivered with expert hands, ultimately leaving you without breath.

I have not enjoyed an album this much since the last Tomb Mold record. Chaotian has changed my expectations for death metal, ratcheting the bar up. Highly recommended.

Effigies Of Obsolescence is out on Friday, June 24th through Dark Descent Records and Me Saco Un Ojo Records.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/effigies-of-obsolescence

Chaotian store, https://chaotian.storenvy.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ChaotianOfficial

Dark Descent Records, https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/shop/

© Wayne Edwards

Chaotian, Effigies Of Obsolescence (Dark Descent 2022)

Radian, Discordian (Elburno Records 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Ohio sludge upstarts Radian are back with a new record, Discordian.

Akron, Ohio is Radian’s hometown. The band formed in 2017 and released its debut studio album in 2020, Chapters. They play sludge and doom metal with an ear toward listenability sometimes absent in other bands. Discordian is a long EP with compelling songwriting that is sure to expand Radian’s fanbase. The band is Mike Burns (guitar), Jeff Sullivan (drums), Bill Govan (bass), and Jeff Fahl (vocals).

There are six tracks on the new album. Interestingly, the lyrics on “The Discordian” remind me a little of the approach Alice Cooper took on Flush The Fashion, style-wise. It is a great opener, fast and clippy – a rousing slap in the face to get your attention. “To Light and Know” is more direct-to-scene doom than the opener, and it is spacey, a little disorienting. So to with “Painless Void,” the longest track in the set. The flavor of doom is rich here.

“The Sun Spoils” turns the earth on side two with a methodical beat and riff. Wonderfully dreary, this one is my favorite on the album because Jeff Fahl’s vocals really sink in here. “At The End Again” makes you feel like the clock as about to strike midnight and, when it does, something terrible is going to happen. There is a significant dirge factor present that I respect. “They Look Like Good Strong Hands,” despite the clear reference, does not sound like a song you would hear in The Neverending Story. The sentiment of that scene in the movie (we’ve all seen it, right?), however, comes through with no mistake.

I am on board with this new Radian album. I am already looking forward to the next one. Recommended.

Discordian is out on Friday, June 24th through Elburno Records.

Band photo by Josh Fitzjarald.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://radianakron.bandcamp.com/releases

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RadianAkron

© Wayne Edwards

Radian, Discordian (Elburno Records 2022)

Pure Filth Festival, Sharkey’s, Liverpool, New York, June 18th 2022

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Pure Filth Festival went down at Sharkey’s Event Center in Liverpool, New York last weekend. What a day. I tell you all about it in an up-coming Ghost Cult Magazine article (link below). Meanwhile, here are a few photos to whet your appetite. The bands were Year of the Cobra, Savage Existence, Bewitcher, Extinction A.D., Carnivore AD, Integrity, Voivod, Municipal Waste, and Exodus. There are one or two (or three) photos of each band that won’t be in the Ghost Cult article. Links to info for each band are at the bottom of the post.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Year of the Cobra
Year of the Cobra
Savage Existence
Bewitcher
Bewitcher
Bewitcher
Extinction A.D.
Extinction A.D.
Carnivore AD
Carnivore AD
Integrity
Integrity
Integrity
Voivod
Voivod
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus

Links.

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-pure-filth-festival-at-sharkeys-event-center-liverpool-new-york/

Exodus, https://exodusattack.com/site/

Municipal Waste, https://www.municipalwaste.net/

Voivod, https://www.voivod.com/

Integrity, https://www.facebook.com/INTEGRITY.HT

Extinction A.D., https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionAD

Bewitcher, https://www.bewitcher.us/

Savage Existence, http://savageexistence.com/

Year of the Cobra, https://yearofthecobra.com/

Sharkey’s Event Center, https://sharkeysbarandgrill.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Pure Filth Festival, Sharkey’s, Liverpool, New York, June 18th 2022

Perdition Temple, Merciless Upheaval (Hells Headbangers 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Perdition Temple returns with their fierce fourth album, Merciless Upheaval.

Tampa’s Perdition Temple came together in 2009 with a musical mission first articulated on Edict of the Antichrist Elect (2010). An EP followed, then in 2015, The Tempter’s Victorious. Each new release was a step forward in the band’s formidable history. Rough seas ensued for a couple of years, followed by a renewed, solidified front on 2020’s Sacraments of Descension. The band is Gene Palubicki (vocals, guitar), Alex Blume (bass), and Ron Parmer (drums).

The new album has four original songs and four covers. New songs first. The title track breaks the ice, and my first thought is that the title is perfect. It is like a soundtrack to chaos with percussive savagery, willfully violent guitars, and Palubicki’s coarse and commanding vocals. “Execution Swarm” continues the death metal attack. The short lead guitar segments are like dive bombers aimed at your brain.

“Redemption Abattoir” might be my favorite track because of the turns it takes throughout. Every corner it explores fills in the picture a little bit more. “In Thrall of Malevolence” is clandestine in the way it circles around you, ultimately coming at you from every direction.

The covers are fascinating choices including classic bands all fans will know together with names that are less recognizable to some: Infernal Majesty, Pestilence, Shub Niggurath, and Morbid Angel. “Skeletons In The Closet” and “Blood On My Hands” are fantastic and especially wonderful to hear in these new renditions. I am delighted to see Perdition Temple offering respect to these storied bands with such reminiscences. The structure of the album is a winner, with half original tracks and half covers, the band has hit on a memorable combination. Recommended.

Merciless Upheaval is out through Hells Headbangers on Friday, June 24th. Have a look at the label’s shop and the band’s links.

Photos by Wayne Edwards, Higher Ground, Burlington, Vermont, 2019.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://perditiontemple.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/perditiontemple

Perdition Temple website, http://perditiontemple.com/

Hells Headbangers Records, https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Perdition Temple, Merciless Upheaval (Hells Headbangers 2022)

Paganizer, Beyond The Macabre (Transcending Obscurity 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Beyond The Macabre is the twelfth studio album from the death metal menace that is Paganizer.

From its earliest days, Paganizer has been a welcome presence in the death metal world. The music is always filled with hooks and crushing riffs, dizzying pace and unstoppable percussion. Every new album is an event, and the latest is no exception. Founder Rogga Johansson (vocals, guitar) and long-time regular Matte Fiebig (drums) are joined by Kjetil Lynghaug (guitar) and Martin Klasén (bass) who have played on the last couple of albums.

Beyond The Macabre takes its cues from the band’s history and wraps itself in classic forms of Swedish death metal. As with recent albums, there are many melodic elements but no one would call this music melodic death metal. It is heavy and charging throughout, and the hooks and melodies that are in play make the music memorable while never taking away from its power. The guitar work is exemplary and Rogga sounds great, as always.

There are no low patches to be found on this album, and it gets off to a vigorous start by focusing on the band’s strengths with “Down The Path Of Decay.” Other tracks that stood out for me are “Raving Rhymes Of Rot” for laying on the extra heavy and “You Are What You Devour” for its plain speaking declarations.

I have been a Paganizer fan all along. For me the new album maintains the accessibility of recent work by the band and holds the death metal line fast. I will be spinning this one a lot in the coming weeks. Recommended.

Beyond The Macabre is out on Friday, June 24th through Transcending Obscurity Records. As always, there is a great collection of variants and merch available to go along with the music.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://paganizer.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/paganizersweden/

Transcending Obscurity Records, https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Paganizer, Beyond The Macabre (Transcending Obscurity 2022)