German deathcore metallers Mental Cruelty have released a guitar play through for their song “God Hunt.”
“God Hunt” is off of the band’s Unique Leader debut Inferis.
Mental Cruelty will be a part of the Bloodletting North America Tour in September and October with Disentomb, Visceral Disgorge, Signs of the Swarm, Organectomy, and Continuum.
Check out tour dates and the guitar play through for “God Hunt” here.
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.
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Portland death metallers Witch Vomit are preparing to release their newest album Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave on August 30 via 20 Buck Spin.
Ahead of that release the band, earlier this week, released “Dripping Tombs.”
Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave was recorded and mixed by Evan Mersky (Mournful Congregation, Hellshock, Nightfell) and mastered by Dan Randall (Meatwound, Necrot, Ghoul, Vivasick), with artwork by Matt Stikker (Outer Heaven, Power Trip).
Witch Vomit will appear at a handful of fests in the coming weeks including Stardust VII in Brooklyn, New York alongside labelmates Fetid, Daeva and more.
Check out “Dripping Tombs” and Witch Vomit show dates here.
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Swedish metallers In Mourning are preparing to release their latest album Garden of Storms.
Garden of Storms is due out October 4 via Agonia Records and will be the follow up to 2016’s Afterglow.
The band commented on the new album:
“We made a new album! It’s called The Garden of Storms ans it is the final piece in a trilogy which started with The Weight of Oceans. We’ve headed back.. and forward, at the same time. We’re back recording with Jonas Kjellgren who made the sound of our earlier albums, yet we have a lot of things that are new with this album. The band constellation is new with Sebastian and Jocke, we’ve worked in ways we’ve never done before, new vibes and new songs even if we planted the seeds to some of them a long time ago. In times where things kind of seem to scatter and change a lot around us, this still feels like our most solid, honest and complete album to date.”
In Mourning will be heading out on tour in October in support of the album. Check out those tour dates plus album art here.
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Swedish death metallers Bastard Grave are preparing to release their newest album Diorama Of Human Suffering via Pulverised Records.
The album, which will be the band’s sophomore effort, is due out on August 16.
Diorama of Human Suffering was recorded, mixed and mastered by Ulf Blomberg (Crawl, Age Of Woe, Inevitable End, etc) and features an artwork by Australian artist Stewart Cole (Contaminated, Noisem, Scorched, etc).
Check out the title track, the track listing and the album art here.
UK metallers Venom Prison have announced a North American tour with Homewrecker. The tour will also feature Call of the Void, Joy, and Great American Ghost.
The tour runs from September 13th through October 13th.
Regarding the official tour announcement, Venom Prison commented: “We are pleased to announce our return to the USA and Canada this Autumn with the hellish union of Ohio’s Homewrecker & select dates with Joy, Call Of The Void & Great American Ghost. We will be visiting some new places and soon to be regular haunts – bring yourself to a date and show us how it’s done.”
Check out tour dates, including some European dates, here.
Hey friends. So, the “President” thinks the Moon is part of Mars. Congrats to the tech death scene for being more scientifically accurate on weird space album covers than the fucking President at this point. Anyway, let’s get some weekend metal news going for ya on this fine Saturday.
First, go see Dark Phoenix. It was not perfect but was better than like 4-5 other X films (I didn’t personally like Deadpool 2 much cuz of the egregious excessive prison rape jokes). Sophie T was friggin’ X-cellent as a younger more insecure Jean coming into hard truths. I am confused since she already had the Phoenix Force in the Apocalypse movie, so that was weird. That said (SPOILERS), it is character driven, female focused, Nightcrawler goes HAM, there’s a Dazzler cameo, friggin’ Magneto has an amazing dirt of your shoulder train crunching scene that is almost as good as Luke’s shoulder brush off moment in The Last Jedi, there’s a Dazzler cameo and we finally have a good X film not overly dependent on Wolverine. While the alien villains are underdeveloped, I thought the Prof X/Beast/Magneto dynamics and the backstory childhood Jean stuff was very well done, the action was amazing, the ending was a beautiful send off to these films and overall while obviously not the classic comic the TONE very much suited and fit great with this particular franchise and what it needed. Jean’s protective motivations near the finale and love and emotion as strength mantra was beautiful and well done, the trippy Phoenix effects at the climax were super cool on a huge screen and I actually would go see it again today if I had the cash.
And the big weekend news is…Despised Icon are going to kick some major ass on their upcoming tour with slammers Ingested plus the very heavy Kublai Khan, and no joke Shadow of Intent. As if that wasn’t enough fucking legends Suffocation and Devourment plus Angelmaker, I Am, and I Declare War will appear on select dates. That’s a lot of mosh for anyone.
Ingested drummer Lyn Jeffs commented, “We’re stoked to be touring with our buddies in Despised Icon. This is something we have talked about doing with each other for nearly 13 years and we can’t wait to smash it with the boys in Canada and the USA this Autumn. What an awesome line up too, we’ll be joined by Kublai Khan, Shadow of Intent and in selected cities with the boys in Suffocation, Devourment, Angelmaker, I Am & I Declare War.”
Dates below –
9/20 Saskatoon, SK @ Coors
9/21 Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
9/22 Calgary, AB @ Dickens
9/24 Seattle, Wa @ El Corazon
9/25 Portland, Or @ Bossanova Ballroom
9/27 Sacramento, Ca @ Holy Diver
9/28 Anaheim, Ca @ Chain Reaction
9/29 Las Vega, Nv @ BBB
9/30 Salt Lake City, Ut @ In the Venue
10/1 Denver, Co @ Oriental Theatre
10/2 Albuquerque, Nm @ Launchpad
10/3 Dallas, Tx @ Gas Monkey Bar n’ Grill
10/4 Houston, Tx @ Warehouse Live
10/5 New Orleans, La @ Southport Hall
10/6 Atlanta, Ga @ Masquerade (Hell)
10/8 Philadelphia, Pa @ TLA
10/9 New York, Ny @ Grammercy Theater
10/10 Worcester, Ma @ The Palladium
Dallas, Texas metallers Baring Teeth have announced a tour with Cognizant. The band is continuing to tour in support of their 2018 release Transitive Savagery.
Baring Teeth frontman Andrew Hawkins said of the tour, “”We’ll be going through a few cities we’ve never been to before, so we’re really happy to bring Transitive Savagery to the masses!”
Head on over to Baring Teeth’s Bandcamp to experience the full crushing weight of Transitive Savagery.
Check out the full list of tour dates here.
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The Bloodletting North America Tour will be coming this September and October. Headlined by Disentomb, the tour will also feature Visceral Disgorge, Signs of the Swarm, Continuum, Organectomy, and Within Destruction.
The tour, in it’s thirteenth year, will cover the US and Eastern Canada.
Unique Leader Records commented,”We are beyond excited to unveil the lineup for the 13th Bloodletting North America tour! We are incredibly happy to have the mighty DISENTOMB headlining alongside so many of our artists. This is definitely one of the most insanely brutal lineups of the year so don’t miss out!”
Check out dates for the tour here.
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Malta’s own Beheaded have released a new lyric video for their song “The Charlatan’s Enunciation.”
“The Charlatan’s Enunciation” comes from the band’s upcoming album Only Death Can Save You due out on June 14 via Agonia Records.
The track, coming in at just under four and a half minutes, is a lyrically dense tomb laid over a driving instrumental.
Check out the lyric video for “The Charlatan’s Enunciation” here.
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We are pleased to announce “The Last Atonement Tour – North America 2019” this fall. Joining us as direct support is BLOOD INCANTATION!
Tickets on sale now at all fine ticketing outlets. Dates at https://t.co/oxjQhp867H pic.twitter.com/3FwbsfGkOR
— Immolation (@Immolation) May 21, 2019
Wow, death metal freakers. I think I can safely say we can all rejoice today at this fierce news! One of the all time greats and some fresh and important new blood, both combining innovation and tradition. This is not a tour any extreme metalhead should want to skip out on.
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On May 10th, Abnormality will release their third full-length, Sociopathic Constructs, via Metal Blade Records. For a preview of Sociopathic Constructs, the new single, “A Catastrophic and Catalyzing Event”, can be heard below.
Fans of Cannibal, Aeon, Despised Icon and more will eat up the latest tune from the wildly talented very brutal tech death band, by far one of the most talented acts in the death metal world. I would lose my shit to see them tour with Venom Prison and Rivers Of Nihil, so let’s make that happen – ok, world?!
“I think this record we felt free enough to just go where we wanted to within a song,” states guitarist Jeremy Henry. “We had no qualms with switching styles and approaches from riff to riff. To have a whole section grinding away and then just switch gears, hit the brakes and drop a slow, old school Morbid Angel warship groove in there. We felt free to follow our instincts, and just let our influences shine through.”
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This Friday (April 19th), Allegaeon will release their new album, Apoptosis, via Metal Blade Records. A near-perfect symbiosis of technical, progressive, and melodic death metal, Apoptosis is a record that is as crushingly heavy as it is inventive, lithe and intelligent, and marks a significant leap forward in the band’s songwriting. To hear the new single, “Exothermic Chemical Combustion”, please visit HERE.
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Italian orchestral-death metal giants Fleshgod Apocalypse have revealed the next single, “Carnivorous Lamb,” from the band’s forthcoming, highly-anticipated album, Veleno, that’s due on May 24th from Nuclear Blast Records. Fans can stream the new track via a lyric video below.
I am very excited for this release, as it seems the always ambitious band have really stepped things up in many departments.
Add to My RadarOur new album #VELENO is coming… May 24th! Pre-order it here: https://t.co/LYiAPWec9z pic.twitter.com/a5CeZct9by
— Fleshgod Apocalypse (@FApocalypse) March 8, 2019
For those who struggle with depression and mental baggage, it can be hard to look on the bright side sometimes. A chance to reflect and laugh at old memories or art that made you enjoy life more is an appreciated channel to allow better feelings. For that reason, I want to thank Inhale The Heavy for featuring me in their popular My Vinyl Offering series HERE. It was fun to talk about old memories growing up with my sister Cambria and talking about selections from my vinyl collection including Huggy Bear, Big Black, Van Hagar’s 5150 (we stan), Big Eyes and more. Hope some regular readers of this blog will check it out and maybe chuckle at a few of the stories.
Let’s get into some bad ass heavy music news for today.
If you were only allowed to pick one black metal album to hear for the rest of 2019, I would strongly suggest you choose False's Portent. A dizzying leap forward from an already very talented and rightfully well regarded act, it does not take long into ten minute opener "A Victual to Our Dead Selves" for the song to grab your undivided attention and never let go. Dedicated to the memory of several friends, the record is professional, passionate, heartbreaking and exhilarating. "Rime On The Song Of Returning" is an exceptionally poetic ode to natural abandon that seems to question our size in the scope of the march of time. The band have never sounded more precise, empowered and fiery, like there is a fortune teller at band practice urging them to claim destiny's heights. If this album holds significance of metal's future it is one that honors the best of the past while boding very well for the genre's horizons.
