Skeletal Remains have built up a reputation for being a reliable source for some of the best death metal around where old school feel and fury and the ‘raw’ stuff manages to coincide with technical aspects without the scales being tipped. Plenty of stuff your Death or Massacre addict could vibe with and champion while still retaining the attention of people looking for something new, The Entombment Of Chaos is a must hear record for anyone who wants to properly get a grasp on a comprehensive list of the best stuff that came out this year. Despite some upheavals, the current incarnation of the band have released their most essential, confident and potentially career defining release yet! Even if you are not some scholarly metal cleric in a dusty tower, you can casually pick this up and find a killer outlet to both channel rage and have fun.
I spoke to Mike about the new album, coping with Covid, being part of the storied history of death metal, love for the fans and more RIGHT HERE!
‘Each song is teeming with rancor and a profound disgust with the things we see happening every day in the world, in the news, in our cities, in our backyards… the title, Detest is violently appropriate for the mood of this EP. Music is art and art has always been a non-bastardized, unfiltered version of history as told through those who lived it in their own words.’ – Matthew (vox)
Hell’s Teeth have made an explosive statement on their new DETEST EP. This metallic hardcore infused deadly extreme metal band could be huge if they get the right support, but either way they will make powerful and corrosive, heavy art. Fans of everyone from Power Trip to The Black Dahlia Murder to Turmoil to Baptists could hang hard with this release. Honestly though, with a band this legit and driven it is lazy to simply compile easy ‘sounds a little like sometimes’ points. You’d be selling yourself and the band very short if you didn’t hear their original vision for yourself free from bias.
Made up of scene die hards from the Hudson Valley area, Hell’s Teeth are just the shot in the arm the scene could use to keep things enthusiastic, no bullshit and venomous. I spoke to some of the band about this exciting release, tracked by Sean Paul Pillsworth (of Nightmares For A Week, The Inevitables) at Nada Recording Studio in beautiful Montgomery, NY. You wouldn’t believe such a serene setting could produce a recording this hostile!
Ghösh are raising the bar for exciting acts to follow in 2020. “Nu Junglism. Digital Hardcore.”Whatever you wanna call it, this Philly duo have a fierce and kinetic, living punk energy that is a refreshing mutation of numerous styles into an explosive and vital sound. The tracks on their Bandcamp blew me away with a fresh poetic attack and a DIY vibe of anarchic, creative freedom. Party starting and with something subversive to say. Plus an unexpected take on a Limp Bizkit classic.
I really can’t rave about this group enough. Not many acts can pry me out of my current Entombed, Pink Floyd and Sun Ra rabbit holes, but when it happens of late I am probably listening to these freak flag flyers. Please check out the full convo with Symphony and Zach below.
‘I’m using a black metal format with an intro piece and ending piece (ala Bathory) and how Mortician uses their intro and outros on tracks with movie excerpts, except I tune them down for a more trippy freaky effect’. – Scott Harris
Welcome to Hororhaus. A blend of 80’s synth, horror creep, goth and black metal inspired elements, the Scott Harris helmed project released one of the best EP’s of 2020 with the low key underground banger Entrance EP. Check out a full stream below and an exclusive interview about this sophisticated mercurial marvel of murky and menacing body moving music below. It is one of the best and most haunting escapes you could take during this surreal time.
Enchantya are a progressive, gothic metal group from Portugal who have been growing their fan base and making a mark on the world scene. “Mother Hope”, their latest single, is a rallying cry to remember our common humanity and to not abandon our principles or forget the fragility of our shared ecosystems. In other words, this is just the song for 2020 and great to have come out of a genre that people often just associate with death worship. Enchantya is so much more than that.
It was an honor to communicate with their vocalist Rute about her band’s coping skills during Covid-19, her musical background, the metal scene in Portugal and how she is keeping hope alive with the band and fans during this time.
KILLVEIN is one of those inspiring rare types of artists who seem fueled by a frenzy to create, a high level of passion that palpable in the air like when you know there will be a storm soon. The self-taught producer and multi-instrumentalist charges up everything with purposeful intent and has released a lot of material the last few years, drawing from a diverse pool of sounds ranging from hooky trap to black metal to rock.
Recently Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe fame was impressed enough by the up and coming artist to feature KILLVEIN on two tracks from the forthcoming Tommy Lee solo release ANDRO. I heard a rowdy rock cut. “Knock Me Down” is so ripe with pent up, ready for the mosh pit bravado that it is more closely resembles an explosion than a song (while still, in actuality, being a good song).
Bleed From Withinhave built upon their humble origins with each release, nowadays a powerhouse of kinetic energy and irresistible groove heavy metalcore that draws as much from NWOAHM as deathcore. Fifth album (!) Fracture is their most cohesive release yet and the metalcore standout release thus far in 2020. It is certainly an album that ought to generate a lot of excitement.
A few weeks ago I sent questions to the Scottish band’s own Steven Jones who shares thoughts about recent global events, the new album and more! Be sure also to join the ambitious group on Facebook this Friday from 7pm BST as they go live, discussing all things Fracture listening to the album, and answering your questions!
Stitched Up Heart are a hard rock/alt metal band who have been absolutely exploding the last few years due to their high energy, melodic power and connection with fans. With numerous top 30 mainstream rock hits, over twenty million worldwide streams and a lot of fresh eyes on them, this band is not only headed places but ALREADY somewhere many acts never reach. New album Darkness explores a dynamic range of emotions while managing to be huge, catchy and electrifying. It is sure to appeal to those enduring angsty growing pains or older rock fans looking to feel new energy.
Singer Mixi took some time out during this crazy and horrible pandemic to talk about the new album with me, her approach and some philosophy as well as getting through this time as a planet, animal fostering and vegetarianism.
All the best to this band and make sure to check out Darkness. They sound better than ever.
Thrash act BONDED released a pulverizing debut Rest In Violence back in January via Century Media that you will want to make sure you get to hear a little of before it burns your skull to cinders. It is actually now a German stamina test to see how much of the record you can withstand before your ears burst into flame, at least in my quarantined imagination. This album will make you feel passionate about the bonds in your life, keep the fire in your step and help give you the will to fight through the clouds in your mind.
Formed by scene veterans Bernd “Bernemann” Kost (Guitar) and Markus “Makka“ Freiwald (Drums) in 2018 after their exit as longtime members of SODOM, musical partners Marc Hauschild (Bass) and Destroy Them / ex Suicidal Angels member Chris Tsitsis (Guitar) were quickly added to the ranks in order to continue working on new own song-material as well as to develop the concept for a new entity, which was finally completed with the addition of Assassin frontman Ingo Bajonczak (Vocals) and consequently named BONDED.
Get to know this amazing project and read our exclusive new interview with Bernemann BELOW!
Dark Fortress social distance by staying 666ft. apart and of course dwelling in dark fortresses.
Dark Fortress have sculpted a new masterpiece of black metal drenched with the blood squeezed from a death metal shroud. Spectres From The Old World is a significant piece of work and surely due a lot of attention from the metal community if there is any justice left on this plague-ridden rock.
The band was just forced to cancel release shows due to Covid-19 in March but we are pleased to publish at last a recent conversation with musical genius Morean (also of Alkaloid and Noneuclid renown) about the new record to help lift some of the sting or perhaps steer people towards this great 2020 Century Media release if they were unaware. (Buy merch HERE)!
MYE. Spectres from the Old World is an intense and powerful album, highly anticipated by fans. I loved the album title. Do you think we are always haunted by the past or sometimes we actually forget it too quickly and repeat tragic things? It is also good to know where things come from, like musical styles. Some older bands like yours and also God Dethroned come to mind as having great new music this year, still fighting for the dark metal legacy!
Morean: As a species, that’s definitely true. Just look around you and what mankind is discussing right now. I remember that at the turn of the century, I felt like the human race might be at the eve of an evolutionary quantum leap. Now, twenty years later, it’s obvious that the monkey part of us that throws feces at the monkeys in the other tree is not actually that far in the past. At the same time, we can transform the Earth into one giant telescope to take pictures of black holes, land probes on comets, genetically engineer organisms and so on. I think our technical evolution is so far ahead of our mental and emotional evolution that it’s still a big question if progress will have the upper hand in the near future, or if we just go to some dystopian Mad Max-like society, only postponing its last degenerate breath. Time will tell, but we’re far from being able to relax about it. The “old world” of this album is something else entirely though; it refers to the universe of the previous album, where the protagonist has transformed into a being of pure light and reincarnates here as the sentient fabric of a newborn cosmos, in great agony. It’s black metal after all.
“Going dark” in theatre speak means a show is closed down whereas it is “lit” when the production is up and running. Some things manage to be both lit and embrace the dark at the same time (Kerli’s recent confident electro-spooky wub wubbing “Where The Dark Things Are” track from the awesome as hell Shadow Works album comes to mind). Tribulation, one of the most darkly theatrical and grandiose yet no nonsense musical bands in any era of metal, certainly also could count as both “lit” and very dark, indeed. You might even call them creatures of the night.
Now Tribulation are unveiling their first official live album, the marvelous new Alive & Dead at Södra Teatern. This is a major moment for this acclaimed band from Sweden who have wowed so many with their deep dives into the inner fears of humanity. Invited by ex-Nirvana 2002 vocalist and curator Orvar Säfström, who served as master of ceremonies, Tribulation’s first-ever Södra Teatern (Southern Theatre) main hall gig was a very special night of black celebration.
Founding member Adam Zaars took the time to speak to me through mists of swirling terror (actually through email) to attempt to illumine what the chemistry, moment and import of this release means to the frighteningly talented band behind it. Read MORE below.
New album alert! The Agonist are back… faster, harder, and darker than ever. Their new album Orphans is a thesis in evolution: After 5 years, 2 albums and countless international gigs (with the current lineup), the band have gelled into a paragon of extreme music. In this spectacularly dark work of art, The Agonist combine the melodic death you know and love with an array of other elements (including groovy prog metal and metalcore) that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Each component shines: In addition to Danny Marino’s multilayered guitar parts, expect pulsing bass lines, machine-gun drums, harmonic clean vocals, and even vocalist Vicky Psarakis singing in Greek. This album is sure to please longtime fans as well as pull in new ones.
And speaking of Vicky Psarakis, this week we had the opportunity to speak with her about Orphans, The Agonist’s upcoming tour with Jinjer, and more.
Posted by Metal Riot on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 5:15 PM (PST)
“Whatever you may see. The change resides in me. Fluidly. Any genre any dream sphinges, sibling selves and queens. A rollercoaster for each moment mood or picture frame. Please love me the same.’ from “Observation Deck/Shinges Sibling Selves And Queens”
I identify as multi-gender at this point, after a lot of research and therapy and trans groups and not feeling quite like what other people were discussing wrapped up my experiences similarly in a bow. I know that can be confusing for people. They are like ,”what do you want? It has to be this or that.” Nope. MYE.
This is a lengthy interview conducted in July by Kriegmaster Hatesturm of the great anti fascist agitators Neckbeard Deathcamp, kind enough to inquire into the guest artists, overall album background and the reasons behind prominent multi-gender/non binary themes on my new Walking Bombs album Sphinges, Sibling Selves and Queens. The album is out now via Nefarious Industries HERE.
In my experience the underground music world doesn’t necessarily reward being a good person and lifting people up or whatever, but you should still do it because it’s the right thing to do. -Boone Epstein
Sorry for the light amount of posts this week, metal family. My doggo best pal of 14 years passed away a week ago today. She was basically my fur daughter and I have been a flat out hot mess of sads, so only got up an Angel Witch post this week. Y’all know the new Slipknot is out already so let me assume some of you have already headbanged today and let myself off the hook a little. Regardless, We have a great interview with a rock solid cosmic death metal mutation known as Grogus for you kids to make up for a slow week around here. Because it never hurts to have more metal goodness!
This Minneapolis band of real deal musicians have released a new tape with our friends at Tridroid Records (grab it HERE). Entitled Four Kings, the release is one of the most satisfying excursions into the wonderful weirder side of sludgy experimental death. I love how taken out of a musical context that just sounds like falling into some Gotham lab ooze. Anyhow, let’s check in with Boone Epstein and get the lowdown BELOW.
Mumbai’s Pacifist released one of the absolute banger EPs of the year in the form of the must-hear Greyscale Dreams.How often do you get to hear a hardcore band that actually makes you still want to be a better person these days? People are so cynical that it takes a lot of spirit to cut through the Godforsaken fog of modern malaise. It will take you about fifteen minutes to finish the entire EP and I hope it will move you as much as it made me feel inspired. “Double Down” at the 2 minute mark from a crazed diagonal sounding edgy hardcore riff suddenly melting into a wash of brief almost shoegaze guitar and careful cymbal work paired with poetic, youthful musings is an exhilarating thing to have reach your ears and stir the blood.
I reached out to the band’s contact and they graciously agreed to an interview about hardcore, India, the EP and their influences and goals.
California thrash upstarts Warbringer have returned to settle the score and cement their long term legacy fully with sixth album Weapons of Tomorrow. "Firepower Kills" probably ought to open all their future shows, just a complete stage setter for chaos. "Crushed Beneath The Tracks" and "Power Unsurpassed" in particular show this band would have ruled 1988 with ease and contain maximum neck injuring/ fist pumping potential (along with notable Slayer-worthy wraith shrieking). I am not 100% on the semi-thin snare sound but it hardly distracts the band's performances are all monstrous on this bad boy. Exodus, Annihilator fans or of course fans of more new school speed thrash bands should get all over this one. \m/
