SYNCHRONY is a weekly feature focusing on relevant heavy music news, new releases, upcoming releases, as well as a week in review to help folks keep up with all of the content on Grizzly Butts. This’ll also include a list of upcoming releases and some preliminary notes on upcoming reviews or coverage. If I can’t hear it, I won’t cover it! If you have New Releases, show announcements, or important heavy music news that’ll be relevant or interesting to folks contact me at: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com
THIS WEEK IN NEWS (9/12/20 – 9/18/20)
- Brutal Australian death metal band DEPRAVITY have announced the official date of their upcoming second full-length ‘Grand Malevolence‘ for December 4th via Transcending Obscurity Records. The mantra for this one appears to have been to just go bigger, better, and faster which’ll be a big promise if you’re already familiar with their debut ‘Evil Upheaval’. So far I’m liking the production sound more on the new one. Check out the first preview track, the title track “Grand Malevolence” over on YouTube, Bandcamp pre-orders etc. are upcoming: [MORE INFO]
- Russian death metal band INFILTRATION have announced their debut album ‘Point Blank Termination‘ will be released through Time to Kill Records this coming October 9th. You know it’ll be a brutal monster when the first preview track is premiered via Slam Worldwide. “Radiation Storm” isn’t slam but definitely a hard-hitting death metal song that introduces the compressed delirium of their brutal sound. Check out “Radiation Storm” over on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Unhinge the godhead jaw and collapse the skull with chthonic riffing maelstrom! Invictus Productions have set November 13th as the day of thrashing redemption, the release of OMEGAVORTEX‘ debut full-length ‘Black Abomination Spawn‘ on digipak and vinyl. Riffs, as far as the mind can reach there will be riffs in ear and stars in eye. Stunned in disbelief? Hear it for real over on SoundCloud via the first preview track “Cosmic Horror Maelstrom” and breath deep the legacy of late 80’s death metal attack in relentless, timeless form. Love this song and can’t wait for the album! Listen to “Cosmic Horror Maelstrom” over on SoundCloud: [MORE INFO]
- Can’t remember what happened a month ago? A week ago? Last night? Well, surely you’ve not forgotten how fuckin’ good Indiana-based death metal band OBSCENE‘s ‘The Inhabitable Dark‘ is and if you’re scratching your self-buzzed quarantine haircut head at the thought, let the music video for “Black Hole of Calcutta” remind you! If you’re not familiar with Chariot of the Black Moth’s style of video think black and white Hell and rotting, burning humanity for the gist. Check out the video for “Black Hold of Calcutta” over on YouTube: [MORE INFO]
- Speaking of incredibly solid United States death metal bands kickin’ it old school but keeping up, OF FEATHER AND BONE have announced their second full-length album ‘Sulphuric Disintegration‘ will release via Profound Lore Records this coming November 13th. The first preview track they’ve launched at us is an odd-timed Immolation-esque slasher with some serious barreling grooves and wails as it unfolds. “Entropic Self Immolation” already feels bigger, nastier and more menacing than their last album, which I’d personally loved. Check the song out over on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Purity Through Fire have set October 30th as the release date for the latest demo from German black metal duo SLAGMARK entitled ‘Radical Malice‘, which will be released on a diabolical budget priced digipack CD. Expect austere melody and ruthlessness from these folks, who represent key membership of Sarkrista and Totenwache. The first preview track “Behold the Raging Darkess” can be heard over on YouTube: [MORE INFO]
- WITCHTRAP rules! and Hell’s Headbangers Records agrees, I mean they’re putting out another one of their records this October 30th, the fifth and most recent one, ‘Evil Strikes Again‘, was self-released back in March of this year and now we’re getting it on CD, vinyl and cassette! If you’re a fan of witching metal, blackened thrash, violent speed metal with huge riffs and plenty of actual speed in their kicks you want this stuff. High recommendation on my end, go check out the whole thing on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Screaming silver-whet wounds become ridged scars. By way of Werewolf Records we’re given clairvoyance for the debut album from Finnish black metal duo YMIR, which will be self-titled and due out on CD and vinyl this coming November 13th. The history of this project stretches back to the early 90’s so, for many folk who’d been eager for their pagan black metal realization this debut is truly long anticipated. Behold “Ymir” by Ymir from ‘Ymir’ over on YouTube: [MORE INFO]
- How long I’ve been yearning for some wintry depression and something malevolent and black metal enough to kick my head while I’m down. The fin folks at Purity Through Fire have announced Greek black metal duo SAD‘s seventh full-length album ‘Misty Breath of Ancient Forests‘ for release this coming October 30th. The intent of this album is Nordic fury, a middle finger to modern bastardization of classic black metal forms and man, have they hit upon something destructive with the first preview song “White Death”. Check it out on YouTube: [MORE INFO]
- Claw at the walls, choke on the fumes of a dying world, and when you’re tired from a long day of defying existence check out this first track from French death metal band SKELETHAL‘s second album ‘Unveiling the Threshold‘. “Sidereal Lifespan” is a sideways-lookin’ Swedeath blood and bone-grinder full of Grave-like lunges and divebombing hair-in-the-eyes riffing and it is just the first taste of what Hell’s Headbangers Records is tossing our way this November 20th on CD, tape, and vinyl. If you’re a fan of the early stuff from Horrid, Carnage or Interment (Sweden) definitely check this one out and hit up “Sidereal Lifespan” on YouTube or Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Get out your PS3 steering wheel out, download Slipstream on Steam, flip your living room LEDs to Neon Pink and use your nearby PDA device to set a reminder that October 15th is gonna ooze via BERGETON vibes worldwide with the head-back, top-down driving throb of ‘Miami Murder‘. Get it digital like a nerd or, taste the bright pink vinyl as it was intended. Future synth, synthwave, OutRun… you know the feeling and uh, the guitarist from Mayhem made it? Yeah man, I’ve been sitting with Teloch‘s outrun album for about four days and it drives, it just goes. Doesn’t sound like bedroom bop either, big roomy thump to it that works at ‘too much molly’ volume. Check out the first preview track “Lambo” on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Caligari Records have set October 30th as the release date for the debut EP from avant-black metal angular void-conjurers KYRIOS, entitled ‘Saturnal Chambers‘. Their skronking dissonant electricity arrives with some vile urgency on cassette tape and is sure to mystify all with its crawling, claw-plucked fever dreaming attack. Definitely grab this if you’re a fan of Krallice, Thantifaxath, and uh, Nocturnus? Awesome use of keyboards on the first preview track “The Utterance of Foul Truths”, give it a vortex-worthy whirl over on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Witching metal gods and eternal Terutonic thrashers SODOM have announced their sixteenth studio album will be titled ‘Genesis XIX‘ and release via Entertainment One/Steamhammer SPV this November 27th. No preview tracks yet. The Joe Petagno cover art is pretty wild and it’ll definitely be a slick double LP, which you can pre-order here: [MORE INFO]
- Were you frickin’ bummed that that ‘Chasm of Aeons’ four way split sold out? Well, Blood Harvest Records has you covered they’ve picked up an offical run of the 12″ EP featuring CRYPTIC SHIFT, REPLICANT, INOCULATION and ASTRAL TOMB. Great news! Keep and eye out for the CD and 12″ vinyl digs this November 27th. Love all those bands but Hell, I’d buy anything with that cover art on it. Listen to the whole frickin’ thing over on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- Last but so, so absolutely not least WHORES. *gasp* have covered Black Sabbath’s *gasp* “Cornucopia” *cheers* and actually kinda made it their own thing. The noise rock/sludge band give the song a straight-faced run, cutting the odd time signatures and making a Floor-esque dirge of it. “Cornucopia” isn’t a song I like to hear covered but I like this type of interpretation where the artist has essentially kept the mood and the main riffs but flattened it all into apocalyptic freak rock. This is the second single released from ‘Volume 4 [Redux]’ a compilation that covers the full length of Black Sabbath’s ‘Volume 4′. I’m dying to hear the Green Lung and The Obsessed songs! Check out WHORES.’ cover of “Cornucopia” over on Bandcamp: [MORE INFO]
- NOTABLE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: USA Nails, Omegavortex, Slagmark, The Kryptik, Distant, Nuclear, R.I.P., Sad, King Parrot, Dropdead, Celestial Season, Gong Wah, Vultor, Skelethal, Kyrios, False Gods, Horncrowned, Cryptae, Somnus Throne, Sepulchre, Chasmdweller, Carnal Ruin, Witchwood, Ymir, Gridfailure, Godsend, Concede, Descend to Acheron, Bergeton, Infiltration, and several more. Look for coverage in the near future. Don’t see your album listed? Send it to me: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com
GRIZZLY BUTTS‘ WEEK IN REVIEW (9/12/20 – 9/18/20)
FEATURES:
- …From the Tomb 9/14/20: “…géométrie synthétique du céleste.”
- This year Ten From the Tomb changes to …From the Tomb and is no longer limited to ten releases. It will post every Monday with a list of at least ten new releases coming out during that current week and a short review will be included for each one.
- This week I chose to cover 11 New Releases from September 4th-September 18th. There are too many things releasing on September 25th, and that’ll mean next weeks entry will deal solely with albums released that day!
- Favorites: Offset, Polymoon, Vatican Shadow.
- REQUESTS – Part IV (July, August, September)
- In an attempt to cover independent bands, bands in formative stages, and the die-hard do it yourself maniacs out there as much as possible I am making an effort to feature at least ten artists in a bi-or-tri-monthly column this year. This is Part four and frankly not the strongest group for my own taste. Part five will be the final part and I will not repeat this feature next year due to lack of engagement from most of the bands featured throughout the year, I’ve got other shit I’m happy to do otherwise!
- Favorites: Eternal Bloodshed, Kratornas, Kato.
- TERMINUS Extreme Metal Podcast #19 – Evaporated Sores, Dephosphorus, Katavasia, Sale Freux (2020) | PODCAST
- Great episode from The Death Metal Guy and The Black Metal Guy this week focusing on a killer Sentient Ruin-backed avant-black/doom horror, a masterful astrogrinder, a black/heavy metal dropkick, and a drunken wandering hermetic French fellow on the verge of collapse.
- Reviewed: Evaporated Sores, Dephosphorus, Katavasia, Sale Freux.
- An early stream of AFFLICTION VECTOR’s “Abandoned Into the Madness” from ‘Death Comes Supreme’ (2020) | PREMIERE
- Affliction Vector is a black/death metal duo from Italy featuring members/ex-members of sludge and blackened grind bands you’ll likely recognize but musician Ans focuses intently on his own brand of personal dissonance, a collapse into chaotic self-ruin that drives this incredible debut EP ‘Death Comes Supreme’, which is out next week. So, it was an honor to premiere (alongside Metal Italia) the second single from the EP, “Abandoned into the Madness”.
- Please check it out and support their efforts, I’d love to hear much more from this project. Thanks to Argento Records, Wolves of Hades label/distro, the band and their representatives for the early preview.
REVIEWS
Big releases this week from Novae Militiae, Evoke, and Dynfari for my own taste. For bigger label and legacy groups: I don’t know why folks enjoy Carnation, that sort of death metal is just starting to sound like 2000’s tough guy hardcore and it is so boring and riffless. Napalm Death still sound like themselves, Plague Years are experiencing pure gains and (to me) it sounds like Hatebreed, and I haven’t heard the new Heathen but man, I used to live for their second album. Metal Blade have released a 2CD digibook/2LP version of Behemoth‘s ‘And The Forests Dream Eternally’ EP with a bunch of extras, if you didn’t get the limited Back on Black version back in 2018 or if you haven’t yet realized how good Behemoth were as a black metal band… Get on it, seriously. Also, make sure you don’t miss out on Perversor‘s latest EP ‘Psicomoro’, nobody is talking about it but if you’re a riff-hound them Santiago dudes do it best! Otherwise I’ve been focused on stuff coming out on the 25th of this month, there are so many great releases packed into the end of this month it is ridiculous!

RELEASED/RECOMMENDED THIS WEEK (9/12/20 – 9/18/20)
NOTE: This small sample includes overlooked releases that are either not yet reviewed or covered but nonetheless recommended. Some of these will still be featured in other coverage. An asterisk (*) indicates that a review is drafted or in preparation. A plus (+) indicates that the album has already been reviewed. Click/Tap on RECORD LABEL name for preview, stream, or store.
- NOVAE MILITIAE – Topheth [September 15th, Goathorned Productions]*
- DYNFARI – Myrkurs er þörf [September 18, Code 666]+
- PLAGUE YEARS – Circle of Darkness [September 18th, eOne Records]
- EVOKE – Seeds of Death [September 18th, Pulverised Records]*
- VATICAN SHADOW – Persian Pillars of the Gasoline Era [September 18th, 20 Buck Spin]
- HRAE – Þar sem skepnur reika [September 15, Goathorned Productions]
- ILLKYNJA – Sæti Sálarinnar [September 15, Goathorned Productions]
- KARITI – Covered Mirrors [September 18, Aural Music]
- OFFSET – Bent Benevolence [September 18, Pulverised Records]
- CROSS BRINGER – The Signs of Spiritual Delusion [September 18th, Consouling Sounds]
- V/A – Dirt [Redux] [September 18, Magnetic Eye Records]
- ASTEROID NO. 4 – Northern Songs [September 18th, Cardinal Fuzz]
- BIG BLOOD – Dark Country Magic [September 18th, Cardinal Fuzz]
- PRANA CRAFTER – MorphoMystic [September 18th, Cardinal Fuzz]
- HIIDENHAUTA – Riivin [September 18th, Inverse Records]

UPCOMING RELEASES (9/19/20 – 9/31/20)
NOTE: This is not a comprehensive list, some titles are already reviewed and/or covered and some have yet to enter the final queue for consideration and processing. An asterisk (*) indicates that a review is drafted or in preparation. A plus (+) indicates that the album has already been reviewed. Click/Tap on RECORD LABEL name for preview, stream, or store.
- UADA – Djinn [September 25th, Eisenwald]+
- TRANSCENDENCE – Towards Obscurities Beyond [September 25th, Blood Harvest]+
- SERPENT COLUMN – Kathodos [September 30, Mystiskaos]*
- MADROST – Charring the Rotting Earth [September 25th, No Life Til Metal Records]*
- SPELLBOOK – Magick & Mischief [September 25, Cruz Del Sur Music]*
- INFESTICIDE – Envenoming Wounds [September 25th, Blood Harvest]*
- HATEFUL – Set Forever On Me [September 25, Transcending Obscurity Records]*
- MARCHE FUNEBRE – Einderlicht [September 25th, Hypnotic Dirge Records]*
- PROSCRIPTION – Conduit [September 24, Dark Descent Records]*
- HEXECUTOR – Beyond Any Human Conception of Knowledge [September 25th, Dying Victims Productions]*
- OBSIDIAN KINGDOM – Meat Machine [September 25th, Season of Mist]*
- DROPDEAD – Dropdead [September 25th, Armageddon Label]*
- JUST BEFORE DAWN – An Army at Dawn [September 25th, Raw Skull Recordz]*
- MIASMAL SABBATH – Ominous Radiance [September 25th, Unholy Prophecies]
- INDOCTRINATE – Antilogos: Arcane Transmutation in the Temple of Flesh [September 25th, Unholy Prophecies]*
- VARATHRON – Glorification Under the Latin Moon [September 25, Agonia Records]*
- OSSUARY ANEX – Obscurantism Apogee [September 22, Xtreem Music]*
- ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF – All Thoughts Fly [September 25th, Southern Lord Records]
- BLAZON RITE – Dulce Bellum Inexpertis [September 25, Gates of Hell Records]
- RUMOURS – Neither Innocent Nor Wavering [September 25, Lupercalia Records]*
- SVALBARD – When I Die, Will I Get Better? [September 25, Translation Loss Records]
- BLACKEVIL – Forever Baptized in Eternal Fire [September 25th, Dying Victims Productions]
- EARLY MOODS – Spellbound [September 25th, Dying Victims Productions]
- CRÉPUSCULE D’HIVER – Par-Delà Noireglaces et Brumes-Sinistres [September 25th, LADLO]*
- ONIRIK – The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity [September 25, I Voidhanger Records]
- NOITE – A Cor do Fogo [September 25, I Voidhanger Records]*
- -S- – Zabijanie Czasu [September 25, I Voidhanger Records]
- REALIZE – Machine Violence [September 25th, Relapse Records]
- AFFLICTION VECTOR – Death Comes Supreme [September 25th, Argento Records]*
- DYSTOPIA – Geen Weg Uit [September 25th, Wolves of Hades]
- EGREGORE – Thought Form [September 25th, Sentient Ruin]
- THE ELECTRIC MUD – Burn the Ships [September 25th, Small Stone Records]
- SAMMAS’ EQUINOX – Tulikehrät [September 28, Signal Rex]*
- NUBIVAGANT – Roaring Eye [September 30, Amor Fati]*
- HÄXENZIJRKELL – Die Nachtseite [September 30, Amor Fati]
- HORDE OF HEL – Döden Nalkas [September 30, Blooddawn Productions/Regain Records]
- FATE – II [September 30th, Caligari Records]
- ARDORMORT – The Desolation Letters [September 29th, Pacific Threnodies]
- AGATHOCLES / GROG – Smashed Hammer Feast [September 30th, Murder Records]

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