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This Week's Recommended New Releases...

7/30/2014

This week's recommended new releases (07/29/14):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]

Abolition A.D. - After Death Before Chaos (Pulverised)

Singapore quartet’s debut album features 7 tracks of punishing sludge/doom.

Krigsgrav - The Carrion Fields (Naturmacht)

Third full-length release from Texas atmospheric black metallers.

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This Week's Recommended New Releases...

7/23/2014

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This week's recommended new releases (07/22/14):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]

The Dagger - The Dagger (Century Media)

The debut album from this Swedish band takes the listener back to the weird time in between the creative apex of Sabbath and before the NWOBHM turned heavy metal on its head. Combining the riffs and bombast of late-70’s Priest with the melodic leanings of Blue Oyster Cult, The Dagger truly nails that classic metal sound. They even have a song titled “1978”, in case you weren’t sure where their heads were at while writing this record. “Nocturnal Triumph” might be the catchiest metal song you’ll hear all year. This is just an incredibly fun album.

Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails (Unique Leader)

I usually stay away from “-core” stuff, but on their second album, San Francisco’s Fallujah brings enough technicality and brutality to catch my ear. I wasn’t aware that atmospheric death metal was a thing, but I’m certainly intrigued. It veers close to metalcore territory, but strips out all of the pathetic, whiny elements that make metalcore unlistenable. Tons of riffs here, with killer vocals, loud production and soaring atmosphere in spades.

King of Asgard - Karg (Metal Blade)

The Swedish quartet returns with their 3rd album, a 50 minute affair chock full of classic melodic death riffage with Norse mythology themes and Viking metal atmosphere. Think Amon Amarth, but slightly less formulaic. The riffs are a little more blackened, the production colder and the vocals a little raspier than the typical release in this genre, but these guys definitely hold their own in the Viking metal world.

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This Week's Recommended Release...

7/16/2014

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This week's recommended new release (07/15/14):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]

Novembers Doom - Bled White (The End)

The Chicago quartet returns with their 9th album, a massive affair full of classic death-tinged doom but with some additional melodic aspects and atmosphere galore. They kind of took the original Peaceville sound and updated it for the 21st Century. This is pretty much what I always wish My Dying Bride sounded like.

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This Week's Recommended New Releases...

7/8/2014

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This week's recommended new releases (07/08/14):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]

Goatwhore - Constricting Rage Of The Merciless (Metal Blade)

Pretty standard fare from the New Orleans quartet on their 6th album. They haven’t changed up their sound much over the years, but they had a pretty strong sound to begin with. Fast paced blackened thrash with snarled vocals is the name of the game with Goatwhore and that’s pretty much what you can expect album after album. This one is a bit more interesting than some of the back catalog, so there is that, but don’t expect anything new.

Mortals - Cursed To See the Future (Relapse)

The Brooklyn trio has moved away from their hardcore/sludge roots into more of a blackened doom territory on their 2nd album. There is still plenty of sludge to be found, but the pace is slowed down a bit and the vocals are in that raspy black metal range, which suits the music just fine. For what it’s worth, I was surprised to find out that the vocalist is female (as are the other members). This second album is definitely a huge step forward for these ladies.

Vintersorg - Naturbål (Napalm)

The Swedish duo returns with their 9th album, delving back into the world of folk/Viking metal after a slight deviation into prog metal territory. The folk meolidies are pretty standard, but the black metal elements really set this album above the folk metal pack. Intricate arrangements, raspy vocals and shredding riffs dominate much of the album. The entire thing is performed in Swedish, so I'm not sure what kind of theme is present, but I'm digging it regardless. If you're already into folk metal, this album won't disappoint.

Wolvhammer - Clawing Into Black Sun (Profound Lore)

The trio from Minneapolis serves up a delicious platter of blackened sludge with a side of doom on their 3rd full-length release. Aside from some interlude parts, the album is fairly unrelenting in its heaviness. The doom riffs really set this one apart from the typical played-out sludge sound. The shouted vocals are both intelligible and intelligent, which is a nice change of pace. If you’re just looking for heavy fucking riffs and misanthropy this week, this is your best bet.

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This Week's Recommended New Releases...

7/1/2014

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This week's recommended new releases (07/01/14):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]

Desecration - Cemetery Sickness (Metal Age)

The Welsh trio returns with their 8th full-length album and first since 2008. By now, you know what to expect from Desecration, but that doesn’t make the output any less fantastic. Short songs with ridiculous titles, brutal death metal riffage and pounding double bass drums are the main ingredients. The vocals are typically fashioned in the standard guttural death metal style, but the band sounds in top form when the singer crosses over to a screechy vocal style reminiscent of the later Death albums. It’s nice to hear some solid death metal these days that stands out from the tired 1993 format.

Electric Citizen - Sateen (RidingEasy)

The debut album from this Cincinnati band is full of Sabbath-meets-Jefferson Airplane, retro occult rock. Actually, the fuzzed-out riffs owe as much to 60’s California psych bands as they do Sabbath, but the vocals do borrow liberally from the Grace Slick toolbox, especially when the singer drags out those vibrato notes. The drummer nails the retro vibe instead of just bashing away and the few bass runs that appear here and there are fantastic. Catchy stuff, definitely on par with the rest of the female-fronted occult rock revival of the last couple years.

Trudger - Dormiveglia (COF / Sell Your Soul)

The debut album from these English sludgesters harkens back to the early Mastodon sound with a bit of Neurosis added in. You have a lot of the standard sludge ingredients here, with the six minute songs, pounding drums and shouted vocals, but Trudger also throws in a couple of instrumentals and varies the pace just enough to keep things progressing throughout the record. There’s a bit of doom and black/death metal here, but this is a sludge record through and through. For anyone looking to get their skull caved in this week, this one’s for you. Strong debut.

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This Week's Recommended New Releases...

This Week's Recommended New Releases...

This Week's Recommended Release...

This Week's Recommended New Releases...

This Week's Recommended New Releases...

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