Sh*t That Comes Out Today: January 7-14, 2014
Welcome, y’all, to two-thousand and fourteen. Flying cars? Nope. Cyborg maids? Nope. The multiple male orgasm? Nope. The second coming (lol)? Nope. World peace? Hardly. New metal albums from the far corners of the universe to keep all the real-life disappointment away? Fucking yes. It’s your Shit That Comes Out Today.
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Altar Of Betelgeuze
Darkness Sustains The Silence (Memento Mori)
On a playlist with: Decaying, Decayed, Decay
Listen “The Approaching Storm” (here) “Darkness Sustains The Silence” (here) “The Spiral Of Decay” (here)
We open-minded, heartfelt, goddamn decent human beings want to avoid judging bands by their cover (or name). But sometimes it happens! And the moment I heard Altar Of Betelgeuze, I was like “Oh great, here’s another Finnish black metal band to fill the spitbuckets full of the rest of ’em.” But nope. Nope, nope, nope. I was way off! What we have here is dark, earthy, rocky, pestilent noise-fuck from up north where the temperatures are this cold much more often. And the distant spaciness of Darkness Sustains The Silence cannot go without mention — nor can its unabashed, temperate originality — and it sure as hell shouldn’t go without your listen during this apocalyptic fucking week.
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Legion Of The Damned
Ravenous Plague (Napalm)
On a playlist with: Goatwhore, Watch Them Die, Sodom
Listen “Summon All Hate” and “Mountain Wolves Under a Crescent Moon” (here)
We at MS already wrote wonderful things about Ravenous Plague. Mostly that it reminded us of Goatwhore! And I enjoy Goatwhore, but I don’t love them. Dare I say that Ravenous Plague has a bit of authentic edge with that gritty, out-of-bowels thrash amateur ethos? Hm, food for thought. [Suddenly: A brisk knock at the door of David Lee Rothmund, and the entire staff of MetalSucks on horseback with pitchforks and other weapons poised to punish his ass for this treachery. His only escape: a well-timed (edit: poorly-timed) Dave Mustaine joke.]
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We All Die (Laughing)
Thoughtscanning (Kaotoxin)
On a playlist with: Ihsahn, Opeth, Shining
Listen Thoughtscanning full stream (here, here)
From the land of baseless stereotyping (America) to the land of chocolate, beer, government, and waffles (Belgium): Thank you. Thank you for We All Die (Laughing). Thoughtscanning is familiar for its long, drawn-out chorus rides and serious-sounding strumming riffs to build up oceanic feelings. Definitely post-metal territory, been there done that! But WAD(L)’s vocals are distinct in a way I haven’t heard in a while, this kind of screaming in actual pain, like when your first-born son perishes in a horrible smelting accident, or your 15-year-old dog Faithful doesn’t survive a pheasant hunt. It’s painfully real. Feeling traumatized lately?
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Lionheart
Welcome To The West Coast (Fast Break!)
On a playlist with: Alpha & Omega, Thick As Blood, First Blood
Listen “Rat” (here)
I think my 2014 goal is this: Listen to more hardcore. Metallic hardcore, that is. Cause it fucking has so much energy. Lionheart’s Welcome To The West Coast is fantastic by the way — but I want to pose a question that’s been bouncing around my brain for a while: Does the West Coast really make the best hardcore? Bicker in the comments section below please and jam out to the painfully short track above. I want more, more, more.
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The Isolation Process
The Isolation Process (Version Studio)
On a playlist with: Junius, Constants, City Of Ships
Listen “Underneath It All” (here)
There’s a fine balance that bands like The Isolation Process have to find between hard and soft. Yeah, that desperate, vulnerable feeling can manipulate a listener’s mood and attention. But then you risk selling out to flimsy tropes and no longer making metal. But The Isolation Process can balance hard and soft because its transitions are so effortless. During the course of any TIP song, you almost forget when you were being sung to and when you were being screamed at. And it’s all wrapped delicately with a nice little bow-tie. A fantastic belated Christmas present.
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Gnaw Their Tongues & Alkerdeel
Dyodyo Asema EP (Consouling Sounds)
On a playlist with: ???
Listen Dyodyo Asema EP (here)
If you successfully watch the entire clip (about 19 minutes) in the link above, I’ll give you a cookie. It’s definitely worthy of exhibition at your local modern art gallery and/or bloodletting palace. What a peculiar start to 2014.
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OTHER SHIT THAT COMES OUT TODAY AND NEXT WEEK
January 7
¤ Cannabis Corpse/Ghoul Splatterhash split EP (Tankcrimes) listen listen
Exhumed/Iron Reagan split EP (Tankcrimes) listen
Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock Bridge The Gap (Inakustic) listen listen
» Nausea Condemned To The System (Willowtip) listen listen
Nigromante Black Magic Night (Shadow Kingdom) listen
Run After To Run After To/Gjinn And Djinn reissue (Shadow Kingdom) listen
» Suffering In Solitude A Place Apart (Domestic Genocide) listen listen
January 10-14
AC Angry Black Denim (Dust On The Tracks) listen
Altitudes & Attitude Altitudes & Attitude EP (Megaforce) listen
Backtrack Lost In Life (Bridge Nine) listen listen listen listen
De La Tierra De La Tierra (Roadrunner) listen
» Hexis Abalam (Halo of Flies) listen listen
James LaBrie I Will Not Break EP (Inside Out) listen
Kataplexis Downpour (Galy) listen
Leaf Hound Live In Japan (Ripple)
Magenta Harvest Volatile Waters (Inverse) listen
Relief In Sleep Godspeed reissue (Imminence) listen
Self Defense Family Try Me (Deathwish Inc.) listen
Set To Reflect Artificial Sun (Standby) listen
Stuntman Incorporating The Excess (Solar Flare) listen
Waldgeflüster Meine Fesseln (Bindrune) listen
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