Metal Riot

Many death metal disciples are rightfully rejoicing over Axis Mundi, the return offering from tech death vets Decrepit Birth. ‘Hieroglyphic’ is one of the most intimidating musical performances of the year and so what could be more perfect for the band to release as a playthrough track? You can check out the dizzying spectacle of complete and utter sickness below.

“We’ve gone through an evolution throughout the years” says founding member and primary songwriter Matt Sotelo. “The last couple of albums we had, Diminishing Between Worlds and Polarity, were more progressive death metal. They were different from …And Time Begins, which is a different genre of death metal. It’s more brutal. I’m the type of guy who likes to experiment. …And Time Begins has no solos. It’s all really fast palm-muted riffs. The other albums breathed more with the guitars. I let chords ring out on Diminishing Between Worlds and Polarity. Axis Mundi is combination of all the stuff I’m into. I like it a lot right now. It’s more melodic. The riffs repeat intentionally. I want to have fun with these songs”.

Bandcamp has released a statement announcing that they are doing a fantastic pro trans rights campaign this week:

This Friday, for any purchase made on Bandcamp, we will donate 100% of our share of the proceeds to the Transgender Law Center, who support and protect trans rights on multiple fronts. Please read more about why we’re doing this, and help us spread the word. 

As two of our writers are trans (myself included), it means a lot to us. I am starting my transition and am crowd funding HERE if you would care to support. I have found some love and support from various parts of the metal community (shout out to Karyn Crisis, My friend Drew Smerdon who was in Merauder and Unbalanced, Mina Caputo , Hammercult and Blake Judd for being extra awesome and supportive when I told them), but it would be a lie to say it feels like society as a whole is accepting. As Bandcamp elaborates:

Bandcamp is a platform for artistic expression, and all manner of variance in experience and identity, including gender and sexuality, is welcome here. We support our LGBT+ users and staff, and we stand against any person or group that would see them further marginalized. This includes the current U.S. administration, and its recent capricious declaration that transgender troops will no longer be able to serve in the military. That this announcement was motivated in part to help fund the border wall exposes it as part of the administration’s cynical, discriminatory agenda.

In response, we will be donating 100% of our share of every sale on Friday, August 4th (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time) to the Transgender Law Center, a nonprofit organization that works tirelessly to change law, policy, and culture for the more equitable. TLC does critical policy advocacy and litigation on multiple fronts, fights for healthcare for trans veterans, defends incarcerated trans people from abuse in prisons and detention centers, supports trans immigrants, and helps trans youth tell their stories and build communities.

A few great recent releases or just damn good purchases I would recommend for you music lovers are:

Cretin‘s Stranger.

Downtown Boys‘ Cost Of Living 

Car Bomb‘s Meta

Astari Night‘s Dreams Of Majesty 

Less Art‘s Strangled Light

or whatever your heart fancies. Just get something.

Gloomy and introspective yet contrarily heavy and distorted tribal extroverts Atriarch spread their black wings on the timely monickered Dead As Truth (Pre Order from Relapse HERE). Imagine some of the barren dirge of older My Dying Bride if filtered through a West Coast penchant for organic punk and extreme metal scene history, harsher vocals and crescendos to match bands like Intronaut and Inter Arma (albeit with a much more sinister dynamic to the dynamics).

Dead As Truth could have been a two song with the opening crusher “Inferno” (one of the most compelling pieces yet from the group) and the almost Death Rock meets New Order by way of Rudimentary Peni sounding bassline genius of single length “Dead”. These songs are going to make the band really able to flex their muscle and range live in a way that I bet will be hard to ignore. Atriarch have refined their sense of dirge here while audibly coming together more as a unit. Their past work is great but there are certain jaw dropping moments of synergy here. 1:50 or so into “Dead” when the sheets of melting glass noise solo starts and into the next, more subdued nest verse is a key example, the band treating each section with respect and then exploding into the next heavy section due to the emotional weight of it all rather than for heavy style points.

These kind of tricks, authentic reaction versus trying to be “brootal”, makes this band or Deafheaven or even older bands in very different modes like the early stuff from The Used or Blood Brothers more interesting at times than some of their peers past and present in that whatever you say about the band’s various sub-genres or career preferences, you can’t deny they are/were feeling it.

“Devolver” is ok but kills the pace a little bit. The song is like banging an anvil with a sledgehammer and that is certainly awesome. Maybe it is because I chilled out with a joint before really digging into it. I am sure it will clobber with a certain early Swans/ Neubauten brutishness live. It isn’t bad just les original than the two songs before it which managed to subvert expectations while tipping the cap to predecessors.

Whatever your take away from this record, if you didn’t know the band’s earliest stuff you will still as a newer fan be stoked that the group are able to match the quality of “Bereavement” and prove their staying power. Check out “Inferno” for a song that uses the space of the intro to cast a thick spell, like clinging to a buoy in a foggy night as ghosts, regrets and the vague outlines of ships and memories pass you in the lonely night. The song conjures personal hells quite literally and would almost give Neurosis a run for their money in places. I am glad “Inferno” was a single because you won’t forget it and the song absolutely punishes. Some people might not like the growled spoken vocal style in the verses, but I think it works very well.

The record streets on August 11th and is an eye opening, ear bleed inducing morass of knotted emotion, leaving you feeling like old tree roots, tight in the shoulders and tired but braced to endure. You’ll likely wonder at impermanence and the things we can and cannot change about others and yourself.

Toilet Ov Hell is one of the cooler blogs in the clogged plumbing of the interweb. Today they premiere the new single from tech death outfit Inanimate Existence. Tech death outfit sounds like if Iron Man went like full blown evil and just started blasting people’s heads off when Tony Stark gets too wasted. Hmmm…tangent.

Anyway, Inanimate Existence recently announced their forthcoming fourth album, Underneath a Melting Sky. If that bad ass album title doesn’t make you want to take shrooms and lose your mind reading Lovecraft immediately, perhaps you are currently visiting the wrong website?

Says Toilet Ov Hell regarding today’s song premiere:
“In Moonlight I Am Reborn” is the unification of the old and new, bearing the strong, full riffs of the band’s earlier efforts with the ethereal synths of their most recent. The beginning of the song illustrates this perfectly: you’re immediately greeted with a big meaty triplet riff backed with a subtle layer of synth and effects-laden clean guitar. The haunting atmosphere has the subtlety of their older work, but with the multilayered complexity of Calling. The two halves of their sound work together now better than ever before, and the resulting effect is something akin to meditating under a waterfall: relentlessly pummeling, but surprisingly contemplative.”

You can listen to “In Moonlight I Am Reborn” HERE

Pre-orders for Underneath a Melting Sky are now live at these locations:
Merchandise/Bundles: http://smarturl.it/INANIMATE-MERCH
Bandcamp: http://smarturl.it/INANIMATE-BANDCAMP ​

Unprecedented reigning tech death champs Origin have posted a playthrough for a new song “Accident and Error”. The song is from the band’s latest ear fuck Unparalleled Universe.

Unparalleled Universe was recorded and mixed at Chapman Studios in February 2017 alongside longtime collaborator and engineer Robert Rebeck (Tech N9ne). The band emerged with ten new songs including a cover of Brujeria’s “Revolución”, that were mastered in March 2017 by Colin Marston at Menegroth – The Thousand Caves (Altar of Plagues, Jarobe, Krallice) and wrapped in a cover prepared by Filip Ivanovic (Dismember, Cryptopsy, Heavy Montreal, Gorguts).

“It feels like an Origin album, but it’s unparalleled to what you might expect if you haven’t heard us for 10 or 15 years” says Paul Ryan. “To me, it’s a true reflection of ourselves. I compare it to an action movie. Our earlier material is filled with action from beginning to end. Now, the idea is to add a little more depth and dynamics. You could say there are some twists in the plot musically”.

Holy shit. How do SepticFlesh always manage to top themselves? From art to musical execution, they truly never leave a stone un-turned. This freaky ass Aliens meets LoTR looking art gave me chills and along with the new Cormorant Diaspora art shows that the best bands care about everything from visual to musical impact.

The Greek legends SF’s new album is called Codex Omega you can hear a completely stunning new symphonic extreme metal masterpiece called “Dante’s Inferno” HERE. It sounds even heavier than some of the most intense stuff they have released in recent years! The drums are absolutely insane.

Available September 1, 2017 in North America on Prosthetic Records, Codex Omega will be available as a 2-CD set, on purple wax vinyl as well as a US indie retail store exclusive on white wax vinyl, and on all digital outlets. Preorders are up now and available at http://smarturl.it/SepticfleshCO.