Metal Riot

Welcome to a fresh week of metal news. I am gonna endeavor to give you some cool options other than the very underwhelming new Tool record (seriously, THAT took over a decade? Literally mind boggled at how by the motions it seemed compared to anything pre-10,000 days) which is also overshadowed by the fact that MJK has been defensively sus for awhile and even if they are ‘legal’ you don’t need to allegedly use crew to separate young women from boyfriends, abuse power dynamics and then give a terrible response about it that helps victim blame culture grow. Also, Joe Rogan soft hands the fash. Periodt. Y’all don’t have to agree with me but all this shit ended my support of a band I have enjoyed since the early 90’s and have seen live a half dozen times. Like sick shows and tours you chuds would be jealous of. The fanbase also praise chakra research and Alex Grey and enlightenment and shit on paper but meanwhile now all sound like god damn Alex Jones contrarian fucking morons bullying people. No. Done. Fake jock wading pool goth rock fan base can bug off and go circle j++k a calculator. If you can’t answer for an allegation like a grown man and instead sound pressed and like can barely be bothered or how dare anyone question you, that hurts people and also will make plenty of survivors who maybe formerly supported you wary.

I’m really enjoying the fucknuts mad hatter industrial black metal marriage of sounds on the excellent Wicked Gods by dark sound practitioners Luna13 from Los Angeles. It’s a new offering backed by Cleopatra. The sinister crawl of “Serpent” is severe and hypnotic, perfect harsh dirge to make you wretch and clutch at the sky with hate while “Death Box” has dark poetry and stomping manic moments OTEP fans could love. The torn throat vocals and black metal parts remind me of glorious cross-over moments of yesteryear when bands like BILE and Skrew or Wax Trax acts got into really pushing the range of genre malleability, while “Toxic Black” has a very cool creepy almost hip hop intro that then becomes an anthemic Nu-industrial/blackened hybrid leering over a radioactive wasteland of souls. I guess this band is known for an over the top theatrical live show and they seem pretty damn cool, so I have decided to (sa)stan. I am glad to know there are still industrial influenced West Coast acts like this band, Patriarchy or 3Teeth who are willing to give fans more than just a downcast shrug and a wrinkled t shirt for their live show. Anyway, I am really digging this album and so should you.

In impossibly bad ass death metal news, HATE ETERNAL’s Erik Rutan has shared a guitar play-through video for the track “All Hope Destroyed.” The song is taken from the band’s 2018 release, Upon Desolate Sands. The video can be found at THIS LOCATION and if you can play along to anything by these titans you are a better musician than I am, hahaha.

Speaking about the clip, Rutan comments; “This has been a long time coming, and something many people have asked me about me for years. I’ve always wanted to do a guitar play through. The time has arrived and I’m super excited about it! I could not think of a better song off our new album to release a play through for than ‘All Hope Destroyed.’ It showcases some of my different styles, techniques and approaches that I use as a rhythm and lead guitarist. I hope everyone enjoys it. Cheers!”

Lauded Italian death metallers HOUR OF PENANCE, reveal the first single “Flames Of Merciless Gods”, from their upcoming studio album “Misotheism”, due out on October 25th via Agonia Records. The song is available in the form of a lyric video created by Stefano Mastronicola, below. How about that merciless intro?

The band commented on the new single: “Flames of Merciless Gods” is a song about a new empire built on the illuministic values of reason and equality, who wages war against the wealthy ones hidden in their ivory towers, worshipping their only god: Money. They are the ‘bastard race’, because they have no fatherland and no motherland: their loyalty stands to no one but themselves. Their way of life is a blasphemy to everyone who is exploited by the inequalities created by their greed and is starving because of that. They are so afraid to atone for their crimes that they choose to commit mass suicide rather than face justice”.

Big news today on the murky death metal front as VASTUM‘s new set of deranged arrangements is announced! The first single ‘Reveries in Autophagia’ marches in boldly with not a moment’s hesitation from the get go, lots of Morbid Angel-drenched riffery on this one. Even by the two minute mark on first listen this shit makes a lot of other metal songs this year sound quaint and frankly mouse-like in contrast.

VASTUM ‘Orificial Purge’, the fourth full length album, will be releasing October 25th via 20 Buck Spin. 🔥⚫️🔥

The first track ‘Reveries In Autophagia’ is available today on all platforms.https://t.co/ZVy3Bl4qVthttps://t.co/zMKa8tFiwH pic.twitter.com/5YJaGEmTw2

— 20 BUCK SPIN (@20buckspinlabel) August 26, 2019

DBD are back

Death Before Dishonor are premiering their new album, the first in a long ass time, over at Decibel. If you missed this skull clobbering Boston hardcore outfit, you will NOT be let down by Unfinished Business. The intro to “True Defeat” dropped in and I was instantly head nodding like ,”hellz yeah!”

Stream this ferocious fucker RIGHT HERE via Decibel. I thought the production and performances were great.

Sickbay

Upstate, NY’s Sickbay are a band to watch! This super heavy group are on the rise and will impress hardcore and metal fans of many stripes with their savage sound. The band is self releasing an album called Dissonance August 9th and have a new song called ‘Bloodsoaked’ out to wet your knives and feral appetites on. They have a sort of 90’s proto metalcore with death metal influences sound I really dig and super gruff bad ass vocals that are fun to snarl along with. Heavy mosh factor as well and killer riffs and get the job done with brutal hacksaw efficiency drums.

Recording was done by Mike Usifer of Beacon Soundworks, the guitarist for Prime Evil. The cover was drawn by Keavan Rivers of Doc Rivers Tattoo, who incidentally used to be the drummer for Dissolve. Check them out below! RIYL Skinless, Stigmata, Obituary.

Bummed to hear that WRVTH are calling it a day. Solid and visionary band. Destined to be a cult favorite in the underground, I’d wager. The atmospheric, progressive post metal act have released a lyric video for their new song “Eventide.” The track is off of the band’s forthcoming final album No Rising Sun which will see a digital release on August 23rd through Unique Leader Records. One of those bands like My Epic or Cult of Luna who have some instrumental passages that are just so fucking brilliant but some people STILL have managed to sleep on.

WRVTH offered the following, “This album is about hardships and the contingencies that being in a band brings, just as much as it’s about the pure happiness harbored from fighting in order to follow our passion. In the music you’ll hear our excitement and joy, through the sound of blood, tears, and heartache. In the lyrics, you’ll read the fight against our adversities and the anguish from resisting an impending finality in and of itself. One day everything can be fine and the next it’s over. Not everyone and everything gets to see the light of a new day. This album is a representation of what this band meant to us, as well as the battles we underwent to keep this band alive. Even in the sound, you can hear a coming of age. All the way from our humble beginnings as Wrath of Vesuvius to this living breathing family we called a band. We have seen the world together, through hell and bliss, and made such strong friendships along the way. No matter how big or small the stage was, we always played like it was our last. We remain eternally grateful for any allies, opportunities, and accomplishments this band has brought us, and even more grateful that we were able to share it with anyone that wanted to listen.”

Devourment photo by Paul Moseley

Walking Bombs (aka yours truly)

In grungy/metal/industrial/punk weirdness news, my solo/collaborative project Walking Bombs has my second album of 2019 due out in August via Nefarious Industries. Sphinges, Sibling Selves And Queens is available to pre-order today HERE and the opening track “Pisces Rising Shine” is available, a kind of Melvins/STP-outer space stoner grunge jam featuring myself on bass and vocals, Jay Andersen (Surmiser) on drums and Dava She Wolf (Cycle Sluts From Hell, Star & Dagger, She Wolves) on guitars. While a lot of this album in particular deals with being non-binary, this first single is more of an examination of humanity’s push/pull drive between imagination and exploration or destructive tendencies.

Sphinges, Sibling Selves And Queens (Night variant) by Julie Catona

The twelve-song Sphinges, Sibling Selves And Queens was recorded late 2018 through early summer 2019 at Bohemesphere Studios in Saugerties, New York, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Jay Andersen, who performs the majority of the guitars on the album, as well as some drums and keyboards. The record also features guest performances from Dava She Wolf (Star & Dagger, Cycle Sluts From Hell), Alison Babylon (The Beautiful Bastards, Oblivion Grin), David Brenner (Gridfailure), Elizabeth “Le Fey” Gomez (Globelamp), Jem Violet, Nate Kelley (Shabutie, Laterals, PPSP), Kentro, and Justin Pierrot (Stormland), and is completed with cover art by Julie Catona (Future Illustrations).

Thanks a lot to anyone who has supported this project so far, now heading into (I think) my 12th year as Walking Bombs. Feels good to be building something, however humble, out of what was once just me and an acoustic guitar and some sheets of paper. Read more about the new release in full HERE. 

Wear Your Wounds are preparing to release one of the best things I have had my ears full of all year, Rust On The Gates Of Heaven. The record is out in a matter of days and is going to blow people’s minds, building on the natural strengths of the first record with a more organic confidence. This fascinating group is way too powerful to be stifled by the “post-rock” tag, creating immersive almost impressionistic songs that swallow you whole and can take the form of dream or nightmare. It is very exciting to hear Jacob Bannon expand this initial solo project into a band that really defies limitations and is doing stuff just as impressive as Converge while also pushing Bannon’s creative growth exponentially.

Suffice to say, I am really a fan of this record and you should all check out the new audio for “Rainbow Fades”, one of the more hallucinatory songs on the album that glides through a sort of sorrowful calm with moments that even recall Pink Floyd. Killer shit.