Voidhaven, Lithic (Ardua 2023)

June 7, 2023May 3, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAnubi Press, Ardua Music, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Germany, Heavy Metal, Lithic, Voidhaven

German doom metal band Voidhaven release their first full-length album, Lithic.

Voidhaven started out eight years ago in Hamburg, Germany. They are a doom band that infuses a doses of death metal into the mix. Prior to the new album, all we had to listen to was the two-song self-titled EP that came out in 2018. In that sense Voidhaven a band of mystery – unless you have seen them live, you don’t know what their music sounds like. The musicians are Simon Schorneck (vocals, guitar), Phil Kruppa (guitar), Marcos Lege (keys), Jakob Gozdzielewski (bass), and Norman Müller (drums).

There are six big tracks on the new album. First up, “Resting on Tombs.” The music is somber and almost mournful to begin with, in sort of a melodic doom kind of way. The heavy guitar riffs get more serious soon enough, and we hear the vocals step in, rough yet decipherable. Quietening bars come back and then the music shifts toward a reflective piano, with sounds of destruction in the distance, a voiceover, and finally back to the established earlier presence. It is quite a journey. “Sermon of Scorn” has many of the same elements, but it is more mysterious, more otherworldly. High marks for that. “To Walk Among Ghosts” finishes the side, and it is the clearest presentation of doom so far. Melodic vocals give a funereal, hymnal feeling, and deepen the impression of finality. It is an excellent song – my favorite on the album.

“The Everblazing Picture” fits in with the others, and has an expansive burst toward the end. “The Desolate Throne,” on the other hand, is more reserved and serious, with grand expressions. “Something Cruel Within” brings the set to a close. The vocals emit suffocated suffering and the placing of the shifts and changes barely rescues you in time. The keys here are even more expressive, and the death metal elements are honed to match the hopelessness of the adjoining music. Well done. Recommended.

Lithic descends upon our planet on Friday, June 9^th through Ardua Music. Get yours at the links below.

Links.

Voidhaven website, http://voidhaven.de/

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

Ardua Music, https://www.arduamusic.com/

Ignominy, Imminent Collapse (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

June 5, 2023May 4, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAvant-garde Metal, Canada, Death Metal, Dissonant Metal, Heavy Metal, Ignominy, Transcending Obscurity Records

Canadian dissonant death metal band Ignominy present their first full-length album, Imminent Collapse.

Formed in Quebec, Canada ten years ago, Ignominy create dissonant, avant-garde death metal that is an all-out attack on your senses. The EP Fear The Living (2019) established the fundamental ideas the band wanted to deal with. The new record, their first long-player, takes these notions further, and deploys them with fuller force. The band is Philippe Gariépy (guitars), Marc-Antoine Lazure (drums), Alexandre Desroches (vocals), and Alexandre Préfontaine (bass).

There are six primary tracks on the album plus two short transition pieces. “Frantic Appeasement” starts the show with a clank and a bang. It is a noisy affair that does lay down a riff and rhythm to guide the vocals in their guttural exertions, screams, and howls. Chaos breaks out now and then, like a sudden, unexplained stabbing. “Defaulting Genetics” is a bit more linear in a Primus kind of way. It feels like an expression of mindless violence and/or hatred. “Reminiscence of Hatred” starts quietly, but you know it is a trick, a lure. Given what has come before, you know that something heavy this way comes. There is less raggedness in this track, although some is there. “Premonition of a Dead End (Interlude I)” is an airlock between side one and two.

“Nightmare Bacteria” speaks to me most, perhaps because of the doomish interiors. There are long spaces of heaviness drawn across the ground with periodic eruptions of abstract activity. “Visceral” cleaves a way through the hedge and is reminiscent of Tool for a short while. Sour clangs beat insurgent order into submission. “Prélude Vers L’angoisse (Interlude II)” is the sound of placidity in the distance, leading to the final track, “Visuals.” It is the longest piece by a hair, and stands out for its creativeness in a set that is defined by creativeness. It goes out on a scream. This music is work for you unless you are into avant-garde metal, and if you are, you will revel in it.

Imminent Collapse is out now through Transcending Obscurity Records. Have a look at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://ignominydeath.bandcamp.com/album/imminent-collapse

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

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

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 9

June 4, 2023May 3, 2023 Wayne EdwardsBlue Ridge Rock Festival, Cannibal Corpse, Carnivore AD, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Down, Heavy Metal, Higher Ground, In This Moment, Live Music, Muddy Roots Festival, Primitive Man, Pure Filth Festival, The Monkey House, Thrash Metal, Underoath, Unearth, Whores

**In This Moment at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Underoath at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Singers, Part 5

June 3, 2023May 3, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAmon Amarth, Andrew J. Brady Music Center, Black Tarpoon, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Body Count, Day of the Sun, Death Metal, Gatecreeper, Heavy Metal, Higher Ground, Images Of Eden, Live Music, Muddy Roots Festival, Nekrogoblikon, Piere's Entertainment Center, Spiritbox, The King Of Clubs, The Webster Theater

**Amon Amarth at Andrew J. Brady Music Center**

**Black Tarpoon at Muddy Roots Festival**

**Spiritbox at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Body Count at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Corpsessed, Skeletal Grotesquery (Krucyator 2023)

May 31, 2023May 31, 2023 Wayne EdwardsCorpsessed, Death Metal, Finland, Heavy Metal, Krucyator Productions, Live Music, Skeletal Grotesquery

Finland’s Corpsessed bring their live performance from Braincrusher in Hell Festival to the wide world: Skeletal Grotesquery.

Ask any diehard death metal fan about Corpsessed and you will get an earful. Formed in Finland in 2008, Corpsessed has released four full-length albums and a couple of EPs (plus a split with Solothus and Undergang that is really hard to find these days). The latest record, Succumb To Rot (2022), is one of their very best, and I think the band is performing at the highest level of their career now, fifteen years in. Corpsessed is N. Matilainen (vocals), M. Mäkelä (guitar, vocals), J. Lustig (guitar), T. Kulmala (bass, vocals), and J-P. Manner (drums).

Skeletal Grotesquery is a live recording from Corpsessed’s performance at Braincrusher in Hell Festival in Hirschaid, Germany, on November 25, 2022. Reportedly, there are no overduds on this set, which is amazing when you listen to it. The precision and execution is beyond impressive. The set list is “Succumb to Rot,” “Relentless Entropy,” “Death-Stench Effluvium,” “Spiritual Malevolence,” “Sortilege,” “Ravening Tides,” “Demoniacal Subjugation,” “Forlorn Burial,” and “Pneuma Akathartos.”

The recording starts out with some crowd noise so you can get the feel of a live performance, then plows right into “Succumb To Rot.” The music was captured directly from the soundboard, so the large presences as well as the nuances come through exceptionally well. There aren’t any issues with the sound to report at all. The crowd rumblings in between songs gives you the feeling you are in a club and they enhance the experience measurably. Live recordings do not always live up to our expectations because they frequently do not really sound the way the band sounds live. This one is done right and does make you feel like you were actually there when it all went down. Recommended.

Skeletal Grotesquery becomes real on May 29^th through Krucyator Productions on digital and CD. Get yours at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://krucyator.bandcamp.com/album/skeletal-grotesquery

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

Krucyator Productions, https://krucyator.com/

FFMB review of Succumb To Rot, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/04/21/corpsessed-succumb-to-rot-dark-descent-2022/

Tombstalker, Age Of Darkness (Boris 2023)

May 30, 2023May 3, 2023 Wayne EdwardsBoris Records, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Kentucky, Lexington, Thrash Metal, Tombstalker

Death metal thrashers Tombstalker are back with a new EP, Age Of Darkness.

From Lexington, Kentucky, Tombstalker came together in 2008. In the first couple years of their existence, the band dropped two demos and two splits (one with Glass Coffin and one with Dawn Of Wolves), working up to their self-titled EP in 2011. The full-length album Black Crusades hit the streets in 2015, and since then they have slowed down on the music publishing side. Fans are going be thrilled with the new EP, the band’s first new music in six years. There have been a few line-up shifts over the years, which is a regular thing for long-lived groups. The band is now Conqueror Horus (vocals, guitar), Defiler (bass), Gruftspüre (guitar), and Contagion (drums).

The four-song EP begins with “Astral Combat,” an avalanche of thrash with the powerful growling threat of death metal. It is an overwhelming musical attack. Toward the middle, the music heads along groove territory where you can catch your breath for a minute. The metal builds then to flurry, adding heavy riffs and savage snarling to finish. “Titan Warlord” blazes with just as much ferocity, putting a groove in as well, establishing a memorable precedent.

“Age of Darkness” runs at radio length and begins quietly with acoustic guitar. The sentiment is preserved throughout, finally fading into the distance. The finish is “Final Night,” a calamity of guitars roaring at a blistering pace. It is speeding metal with a nice glide, combining rough death metal with polished composition and production – a winning combination. Recommended.

Age Of Darkness is out on vinyl and cassette on May 29^th through Boris Records, and on CD from Morbid Aggressor Productions. Bandcamp is a good place to start looking at your options (link below).

Links.

Bandcamp, https://borisrecords.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-darkness

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

Boris Records, https://boris-records.com/

Photo Gallery: Shredders, Part 4

May 28, 2023May 2, 2023 Wayne EdwardsBlue Ridge Rock Festival, Buckcherry, Cannibal Corpse, Death Metal, Down, Halestorm, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Kittie, Live Music, Municipal Waste, Shadows Fall, Thrash Metal

**Buckcherry at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Cannibal Corpse at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Municipal Waste at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Halestorm at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Shadows Fall at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 8

May 27, 2023May 2, 2023 Wayne EdwardsBad Wolves, Black Anvil, Black Metal, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Death Metal, Devil Be My Judge, Doom Metal, E Street Pub, Hard Rock, Hath, Heavy Metal, Integrity, Live Music, Nile, Overkill, Piere's Entertainment Center, Pop Evil, Pure Filth Festival, Tennessee Metal Devastation, The Vogue Theatre, Thrash Metal

**Pop Evil at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Hath at the E Street Pub, Richmond, Indiana**

**Devil Be My Judge at Tennessee Metal Devastation**

**Bad Wolves at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Vexing, Grand Reproach (Ordovician 2023)

May 23, 2023May 23, 2023 Wayne EdwardsDeath Metal, Denver, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Ordovician Records, Sludge, Sludge Metal, Vexing

Denver sludge trio Vexing launch their debut full-length album, Grand Reproach.

Vexing is a sludge and death metal band with progressive tendencies and the regular scent of doom. In 2020 they put out an EP, Cradle, and before that was a demo that presaged the new album with early versions of some of the songs we find on Grand Reproach. I like the rough and ready feeling of the music that clearly is well thought-out and carefully prepared. The band is Clayton Whitelaw (bass, vocals), Garrett Jones (guitar, vocals), and Jeff Malpezzi (drums).

There are eight songs on the new record, starting with “The Mold.” We get half a minute of crackling and noise before the guitars kick in, and the growling huff of vocals. It’s like a back-alley bar fight. “Vanquishing Light” originates in the distance, a faint sound growing louder, bringing with it those menacing guitars. This song is longer than the opener, allowing for a middle section of spacy otherness, and a grand exit. With “The Invisible Hand,” the tempo slows and the mystery grows. The unseen world has just as much aggression as the visible. “Shallow Breath” is a raft adrift on a body of water of unknown size. There is confusion and desperation that leads to lashing out. Ultimately some resolution is found, and, while it might not be a panacea, the waters calm until, near the end, a leak is discovered in the raft.

On the flip we get “Howling,” as in wind, and the sounds of distant space. “Blunderbuss” corrupts the solitude with suggestions of evil deeds, and then the actual deeds themselves. The longest track is next, “Small Black Flame,” edging toward the ten-minute mark. I like this one as a standard-bearing piece because it has all the elements we have been hearing and digging on so far, laid out with both patience and ferocity. It is my favorite track on the album. The set closes on “Red Skies,” a somber reminiscence that will bring different emotions to different people. This is sludgy death metal grown with deeper roots than you usually hear. Recommended.

Grand Reproach is out on Friday, May 26^th through Ordovician Records. Bandcamp is the quick get – touch the link below.

Links.

Vexing website, https://vexing.net/

Bandcamp, https://vexing.bandcamp.com/album/grand-reproach

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

Rose Funeral at Black Circle, Indianapolis, May 7, 2023

May 21, 2023May 21, 2023 Wayne EdwardsDeath Metal, Hardcore, Heavy Metal, Metalcore, Indianapolis, Deathcore, Black Circle, Hard Graves, Homicyde, Fleshbore, Rose Funeral

Rose Funeral wrapped up their Father Death Midwest Tour at Black Circle with a Sunday Metal Matinee.

Here is something you don’t often see: a heavy metal show in the afternoon. And on a Sunday, no less. Sure, if you are at a festival, bands do play in the afternoon, but the main show is in the evening. With Sunday Metal Matiness at Black Circle, the feature show goes on before the sun goes down.

There were four bands on the slate for the May 7^th show, starting with St. Louis’ own Hard Graves. They are a hardcore / metalcore act with enough energy and aggression to keep the room spinning all afternoon. All the music that day was loud and rugged, but I think Hard Graves was the harshest. They have a new EP out, Consequence Of Action, which you can listen to at the usual outlets and you can pick up a physical copy if you like their music as much as I did on Sunday.

Homicyde rolled up from South Carolina. They are a death metal band that formed in 2010 and have so far released two albums, Taken (2010) and The Sickening Tales (2022). Twelve years might seem like a long time between records for an active band, but however they are doing it, they are making it work. The five-member band almost spilled off the stage at Black Circle, so large was their presence. They muscled through thirty minutes of music and looked to have more in the tank when they had finished.

Hometown death metallers Fleshbore were greeted with rousing enthusiasm when they stepped up and hit the first note. Their most recent album, Embers Gathering, came out from Innerstrength Records a couple years back, and there is reason to believe new material is not far off. There are five musicians in this band, too, and when you add in lead singer Michael Ohara’s wingspan, there was no place to hide during their set. The music they create lies along the melodic shore of heavy, often structured on technical musical pilings. Their set was tight and menacing.

The big news was the appearance of Rose Funeral. The band formed in Cincinnati playing deathcore in 2005. They got off to a roaring start, releasing their first album, Crucify.Kill.Rot. (2006), independently, then signing with Metal Blade Records for two more, The Resting Sonata (2009) and Gates of Punishment (2011). Since then, there had been radio silence until the emergence of the single “Father Death” last year. Even more music is in the offing with the band teasing another major drop for the end of May.

The Midwest mini-tour has been in support of the new single and to set up more new music. They will be playing at the resurrected Milwaukee Music Fest over Labor Day Weekend in a crowded field and, if their performance is anything like it was on Sunday at Black Circle, they are sure to gain a whole new tranche of fans.

Look for these bands to show up in your travel radius, and seek them out whenever you can. Meanwhile, browse the Bandcamp pages for all four bands and pick up some of their music and merch. Links below.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Rose Funeral, https://rosefuneral666.bandcamp.com/track/father-death