Metal Riot

“Someone ate my Cashewtopia and I can’t go on” – Me, probably

Hello, friends.

While we watch liberal media get co-opted by right wing seeded transphobia and children lose their parents to 4chan shooters for lulz before our horrified and tired eyes, it is safe to say everyone needs some fucking good music to keep from not losing our minds right now.

I know that escapism is viewed as not as integral as direct action or whatever, but while we NEED direct action it is also ok to need mental health breaks or to dip into the new Coheed album or Stranger Things or The Priory Of The Orange Tree or literally whatever gets you through the night (as the song goes) right now. I alternate from deep twitter arguing for hours to writing to reading Natasha Lennard articles and weeping to Wishsong of Shannara and singing to my cat, so…thank god for estrogen and gaba.

Anyway, fucking don’t give up the fight and here are some ragers to help you… uh, stay calm is the wrong phrase. Get your fucking rage sharpened or bang yourself some cathartic release.

We all know the new Conjurer album PÁTHOS might be the heavy release of the Summer, so let’s just get that out of the way. The UK uprisers remain fully engaged with creating a completely savage but welcoming experience, ensuring no one will “Suffer Alone”. The top notch recording and balls out performances are remarkable. The artwork will make you meditate on existential shit and get emo. They also have sick tote bags now.

Revocation’s new Netherheaven has their best cover art yet (well, Deathless still has a special place in my bitter heart) courtesy of Paolo Girardi. While you have to wait til September to hear the whole shebang, you can certainly rage all Summer to the new thrashing single. For a first preview of the album, a video for the new single “Diabolical Majesty” (directed by David Brodsky // http://www.mgenyc.com) can be viewed at: metalblade.com/revocation

Revocation remain one of the very best in the game, just 100% at all times. Hitting album number eight is no easy task these days, especially when it is always hard to top yourself. A band that has always deserved the hype, they will be touring this Fall with w/ Krisiun, Alluvial and Inoculation.

Medusa comin’ at ya with the universal insights

Now for some non-metal: The 2021 Wavy Awards was an invite-only red carpet event celebrating historically excluded artists, such as women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and artists who identify as having disabilities. Supported by The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), the Wavy Awards took place at the Abrons Arts Center in New York City on October 23rd, 2021. The event was the first awards show to fully incorporate self-description for low vision audience members. It also featured ASL interpreters, and live-closed captioning by SignNexus. 

Get Wavy Volume 1 is a compilation of songs which include several of the 2021 Wavy Award winners and nominees.
75% of proceeds go towards supporting the 2022 Wavy Awards this upcoming October 2022. 25% goes to Grimalkin Records.

Medusa is an artist on the comp I am digging. They combine an eclectic production style with meaningful lyricism and a fresh, colorful pop fluidity. “I Saw God In The Waiting Room” is a deep cleansing purge for anyone really sad right now who can relate to dealing with heavy shit and trying to shake off the numbness. It isn’t exactly “feel good’ but you’ll certainly feel something.

From Medusa about this song: In the spring of 2020, my partner’s mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. The first time I met her, she was going through chemotherapy; the next time I saw her, she was dead. We dug her grave, then spent the next year thousand-yard-staring because of earth shattering existential dread.
I Saw God in The Waiting Room” is the story of how we dealt with losing not only her, but also our youthful ignorance. The track is lyrically literal and sonically bare, a departure from my usual character voices and abrasive production. The only way I can think to explain this choice is by asking: in a film, what is the only thing more gut wrenching than hearing a scream? A cut to silence.

Ok, that wraps up my energy for today. Back to thrifting and Facebook Marketplace posting and waves of despair. Hang in there, heroes. You are loved and valuable to this world. Oh, support the Seed and Rong tour kicking off tonight! One love, pma.

Alt-metallers As I May give us a big, catchy groove heavy hard rock tune today with “Traitor” and the song’s official video below. The Finnish band recall early Filter, Korn and even some Load-era Metallica on this Nu-anced and gnarly Nu-mber.

“Traitor” is accompanied by a colorful performance video to enhance the listening experience. You will want to jump up and down but also probably will experience too much neon-induced vertigo.

Directed by Kimmo Pulliainen, the music video for “Traitor” was shot at As I May’s rehearsal place, which is an old military bomb shelter. The band’s concept was to have cyberpunk feeling to compliment the use of synth on the single. Starring in the video as the character of “Milana” is band friend Leevis along with all the light work and atmosphere planned by the band’s own light engineer Mikko Harju.

As I May is:
Lasse Hiltunen – Vocals, Guitars
Jani Valhola – Guitars, Vocals
Tipi Nokelainen – Vocals, Bass
Leevi Räsänen – Drums

New York based solo/collaborator projects GRIDFAILURE and MEGALOPHOBE unveil their third collaborative album together, Harbinger Winds, confirming the jazz-influenced record for early September release through Nefarious Industries.

Culminating nearly five years of unpredictable progression, regression, erosion, and transformation, Harbinger Winds was finally completed in February of 2022, a wide array of guest contributors helping shape this album’s post/avant lo-fi jazz direction. Engineered, recorded, and mixed by GRIDFAILURE’s David Brenner at The Compound in Rockland County and MEGALOPHOBE’s Benjamin Levitt at Forked Audio in Brooklyn, the two contribute a wide array of vocals, guitars and basses, keys and synth, drums and percussion, accordion, theremin, cello, harmonica, and more, electronics/effects, tape manipulation, nature recordings, and more.

Joining Brenner and Levitt on the album are platinum session musician/performer Mac Gollehon (Duran Duran, Chaka Khan, Buddy Rich, David Bowie, Blondie, Onyx, more), Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Ionophore), Sally Gates (Titan To Tachyons, ex-Orbweaver), Christian Molenaar (Those Darn Gnomes), Morgan Evans (Walking Bombs), Matt Bacon, Rosa Henriquez, Rob Levitt, and Denise Fillion. The cover art, photography, and videos for Harbinger Winds were created by Brenner, with additional photos and video by Levitt, the album then mastered by Dan Emery at Black Matter Mastering (Kool Keith, Lost Dog Street Band, Thetan).

Levitt writes, “This one was a long, long time in the making. We gathered up the original recordings and gathered them together because we heard something like a coherent record in there somewhere. Some years, and a whole other collaborative record later, we finally went back and listened to what we had. We stripped everything down and, for me at least, that was when the sound and the vibe of Harbinger Winds really emerged. Everything we added after that point — instruments, field recordings, vocals, all of it — was all chasing that vibe. Moody, sexy, dark with some shards of light piercing through. Then to have so many friends and collaborators add their sounds elevated the whole thing. We are so lucky to have these amazing musicians listen to these strange tracks and know just what they needed to do. We’re stoked to have them on the record and are incredibly excited to finally, after all this time, put this out into the world and have everyone else hear it.”

The fourteen-plus-minute title track closes Harbinger Winds with a massive amalgamation of sounds where all nine outside collaborators who appear on the album converge, the song presented to the masses through an intense, psychedelic video.

Watch GRIDFAILURE & MEGALOPHOBE’s “Harbinger Winds” video and find other streaming options for the single RIGHT HERE.

Harbinger Winds will see release September 9th through all digital providers and as a limited Opaque Red cassette. Find preorder/merch options at Nefarious Industries HERE.

PC: Florian Moritz

Melodeath-charged thrashers Katapult has dropped the video for the “Nihilism for the Gods” single. The track serves as the first preview of the Basel/Umeå outfit’s debut album, Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes, which arrives on 25 November 2022 digitally and on digipak CD via Discouraged Records [Pre-Orders Available AT THIS LOCATION].

Comments Florian Moritz (Guitars) on the track:
“‘Nihilism for the Gods’ started as a song about total exhaustion from fighting your everyday battles and being vulnerable. Then it turned into something bigger about the human duality and sheer disgust of people’s behavior and how the big picture is connected to our very own and personal battles we have each day.”

“Nihilism for the Gods” is available on DSPs RIGHT HERE.

Album Track Listing:
01. The End
02. Comfortably Numb
03. The Hands of the Devil
04. Sweetheart Come
05. The Arsonist
06. Nihilism for the Gods
07. Litany of Spirals
08. Invite the Sin
09. Schädel
10. All This Because of Greed
11. 21th Century Gladiator Boy
12. Bränn bilder och minnen (feat Fredrik Lindkvist)
13. Oh God for One More Breath

The World Without Us. What’s in a name?

I was at a spiritual Goddess-centric event the other day and was talking with someone about how the Earth will  likely survive humanity, even as we destroy ourselves. The sad part is we need more people to witness for the planet in thankfulness and kindness, reverence for creatures, etc.

So, Body Forth.

The band tries to compress a lot into 4 self-released songs and mostly succeed in both giving you a taste of their potential and leaving you wanting more, though some sections can be a little fatiguing. With even more dynamics ala Periphery, this group could really break out.

TWWU name made me at first think of The World We Knew, but this band is their own entity. I was actually startled to hear such prominent clean vocals first when “Eden” kicks in (after a Meshuggah-esque thuddy but sophisticated intro), expecting harsh vox the whole time. I actually like the cleans better in the case of this band. Screams aren’t bad but Mario excels as a clean singer in a way some bands can’t (and without it getting too whiny range-wise), so I would rather hear that. It kind of reminds me of how Veil of Maya just became so much more impactful the last few albums by dropping the tough guy shit as main emphasis over otherwise intelligent arrangements, lol.

Personal taste aside, this 4 songer is a banger. Complex arangements meet the excellent  Kevin Antreassian production and come out both intense AND polished to a fine point. “Cult” roars with faster and precise murderous intent. “Weeds” is not a Life Of Agony cover but rather a venemous and abrasive math-core bruiser that doesn’t let up, even while going interesting places. “Peril” clobbers in with an opening riff that hits like Coal Chamber /Acacia Strain, in some punishing weird way.

This record has some heavy moments but also will mainly appeal to fans of BTBAM, The Contortionist, Septa etc.

The World Without Us – Body Forth Tracklist
1, Eden
2. Cult
3. Weeds
4. Peril

The World Without Us – Body Forth Line-Up
Mario Paulo Canavarro – Vocals
Christopher Fenimore – Lead Guitar
James Sundwall – Rhythm Guitar
Zach Strouse – Bass (Burial In The Sky/Rivers of Nihil)
Drums- Stephen Campbell

*Additional bass guitar writing on some tracks by Tyler Capone-Vitale of Cognitive (Metal Blade Records)

Death Metal wrecking ball force Tomb Mold have dropped Aperture Of Body today. “Prestige Of Rebirth” is worth the price of admission alone, but this whole three songer is a serious entry that shows the group continuing to flex and grow their sound since Planetary Clairvoyance.

Tomb Mold – “Aperture of Body” CS available now!! 3 new songs for grand glorious gathering, available only from us. The rumours are true, the winds of death still blow on Earth!https://t.co/RqsiW8FlGw pic.twitter.com/whhJ4H1Hxv

— Max (@slowgrid) June 10, 2022