ENDTYMER is the inevitable weekly “music blog” series I’ve been working to avoid for some time. It hits at the end of every week with the intent of covering notable new releases, sharing news of new releases, and musing over various personal listening habits. It is a largely informal blog, has opinions, etc. so chill out a bit. I do my best to cover as much of everything I receive in some form regardless of genre or representation, don’t hesitate to send anything and everything my way: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
This week there are a lot of obvious choices to grab from: Ripped to Shreds are at it again and hitting their stride at the exact right time, Rhythm of Fear have put out a pretty exemplar modern crossover tinged thrash metal record, we’ve finally heard more from black/thrash metal Daeva and they continue to rule, Imprecation‘s latest is a monster (review for that, soon) and newcomers Cavernous Gate and Vacuous provide two very distinct renderings of atmospheric, doomed and tormented death metal. But hey, of course I’m leaning towards the weird and wild cosmic brain of technical thrash meets modern progressive metal act VORBID and their second full-length ‘A Swan by the Edge of Mandala‘, simply because it is so different, infectious as a full listen, and just an impressive sluice deeper into their inner unknown. Don’t overlook GEVURAH‘s ‘Gehinnom‘ which sorta just surprise dropped today, I’ll review it next week.
Thank you, ahead of time, for reading. I am eternally grateful for the support of readers and appreciate friendly and positive interactions. Think my opinions are trash and that I suck? Want to totally tell me off, bro? Click away and let’s all live more sensible lives full of meaningful interactions.
“PIERNAS VIEJAS”
Seattle by way of Alabama stoner-sludge quartet LOGGERHEAD are aiming to balance out the post-metal drift and dredge of their previous album ‘Depths‘ (2018) with a more earthly, open-aired sound on this latest one, ‘Terrestrials‘. They’re onto something on the first two pieces here, approachable and relatively pain free stuff with a great sound but they lost me on the 9+ minute struggle through “Chains”, which I believe is a cover of Fleetwood Mac‘s “The Chain”. Over the last ten years or so I’ve basically landed upon the opinion that cover songs don’t need to exist unless used to unearth an old gem, this one is such a huge chunk of the album right at the point where it was getting good. The last two songs incorporate some keyboards a bit with their sort of late 90’s rock roots showing on the closer, leaving the best vocal performances on the album ’til the end doesn’t make much sense but it’d been a nice enough surprise. Not a hundred percent my thing overall but I liked where the first few songs were headed.
Russian death metal band PYRE have announced a vinyl reissue of their debut album ‘Human Hecatomb‘ is coming by way of Dawnbreed Records and Nuclear Winter Records this October 14th (today). Originally released in 2014 by Chaos Records, Fans of Swedish death metal’s original impurity will immediately recognize the aim of this album. Just a shout out on my part, everything from the band smokes.
MONOVOTH is an instrumental experimental doom metal project with extreme and post-metal influences. I’m not usually one to bother with this sort of music when it doesn’t include vocals but the Argentinian musician Lucas Wyssbrod manages an interesting enough ride through the idea. The running order is kind of all over the place but the sound design and some of the more funereal/surreal pieces caught my ear in preview. ‘Monovoth‘ released October 7th through Trepanation Recordings.
M-Theory Audio recently announced their reissue of classic thrash metal band PANIC’s debut album ‘Epidemic’ which originally released in 1991. The Seattle-area group’s debut hit Metal Blade Records after Gary Holt discovered the band, looking to produce their debut. Due to vinyl delays it had to be a 31st anniversary edition but either way this is a cool one from the near dead-zone era of thrash which folks should definitely know. You might recognize the lead single:
‘In League With Death‘, a sampler CD originally released in Legacy Magazine #138 from Swedish death metal band DEMONICAL is now up on Bandcamp for free by way of Agonia Records. he sampler features a single from their latest album ‘Mass Destroyer‘, “Death Metal” from ‘Servants Of The Unlight‘, “Revel In Misanthropia” (‘Bloodspell Divine‘, 2006) recorded in Italy back in 2014. A cool thing to grab if you’re a big fan of the band, I particularly like their version of “Death Metal”.
“NEWS”
Swedish atmospheric death gloom trip SPEGLAS have announced their second EP release ‘Time, Futility & Death‘ will release through the good folks at Pulverised Records this coming November 18th 2022 on CD, mLP, tape and digitally. If you loved that Sweven record you should already know who these guys are as two of the members featured on Robert Andersson‘s 2020 opus. Of course I’m stoked for the release, having already spent about a week straight spinning through. For now you can listen to the first single “Avow”:
Chaos Records has announced December 9th as the release date for the debut album from Salt Lake City, Utah based melodic death metal crew SACRELEGION. ‘From Which Nightmares Crawl‘ will be released on CD and cassette tape formats with a vinyl version following next year. You might have heard of Connor G. Carlson‘s other group Unceremonial if you’re always trawling for brutal yet melodic elite stuff but his work in Sacrilegion is arguably more rooted in melodic death rather than No Fashion-esque black/death, naming At the Gates, Intestine Baalism, The Chasm, and the especially deep-cut of Amorbital when introducing his intentions. This is the kind of stuff I get way too excited about and I’m not about to hold my chill for this one, it definitely rules and has been well worth the wait. They’ve got a preview track up on Bandcamp:
One of my own personal most anticipated releases of the year, ‘The Pacification of Death‘ is finally announced as the debut album from the immersive atmospheric death metal trio JADE who have announced the album will be released on November 25th this year through Pulverised Records on CD, LP and in digitally. Breathe deeply of their smoke and trust the trip! The opening song/title track is available on Bandcamp/YouTube:
Cleveland, Ohio based freakout crew ATOMIC WITCH have a pretty wild debut LP coming up early next month, sounding like Macabre doing death/thrash on ‘Crypt of Sleepless Malice‘ which arrives by way of Redefining Darkness Records this November 4th. A lot of personality coming from Gorg the Impaler on this one and I’m into it. Give ’em the skulls they need to re-animate:
DREAM UNENDING pass through the second layer of their internal voyage to infinity on ‘Song of Salvation‘ their second album, which releases on November 11th. They’ve put out an audio sampler for the album on YouTube instead of another single and I think it does a pretty good job of letting you know where it goes, a big more “progressive” in terms of intricacy and expression, continuing the thread with bigger swings and a focused narrative. Guitarist Derrick Vella comments: “If Tide Turns Eternal is a bungalow, then Song of Salvation is a high-rise… big, glacial, heavy riffs and exploratory clean sections that stretch out a bit more. It feels like a hyper-detailed account of the quest for joy and meaning but still exploring the pitfalls and hiccups along the way. It’s an album about answering your own cry for help.” pre-orders are up and the long-sleeve + cassette designs are too damned hot.
New Orleans black/death metal duo ABYSMAL LORD have revealed the first preview song from ‘Bestiary of Immortal Hunger‘ their upcoming third full-length album. I believe this is their first record as a duo, which kind of has their sound leaning a bit more into their South American proto-black/death interests, maniac stuff from what I’ve heard so far. Hell’s Headbangers will release the album in December, near the end of the year, that’s all I know. Check out the song on YouTube:
JONATHAN HULTEN has announced their ‘The Forest Sessions‘ CD+DVD/LP will release through Kscope on December 16th this year. I was kind of confused by what this was exactly but it seems ‘The Forest Sessions‘ collects experimental versions of songs from both ‘Chants From Another Place‘ and ‘The Dark Night of the Soul‘ EP, which are delivered as a short film composed of music videos, interludes with animated illustrations and poems all from Hulten. The artist explains: “It all began with an idea of live streaming a concert from the woods! I got a team together, a plan was worked out and eventually the project morphed into the making of 8 unique music videos based on the setlist of a live performance.” So, you might’ve seen videos of the fellowe in the forest performing but these were alternate versions, I think, and we also get the Roadburn Redux versions as part of the package. Though I’m not a big fan of Tribulation after their 2015 record I’ve long been a fan of his larger body of work and this seems to be who this is for. We’ve gotten a trailer thus far:
Transcending Obscurity Records have announced they’ve signed Turkish death/black metal band SERPENT OF OLD. He has described their music as something like “Ulcerate covering The Chasm” and yeah, I’m on board for that. The band comments: “We are relieved to be able to finally present to you our debut album. A lot of thought, time and effort were put into this one. It really brings out the fire in each member as it intertwines compositional elements of black metal with structures of death metal that is unique to our breed. Truly a special album for us with a lot behind. That is why we are glad to be a part of this very talented Transcending Obscurity Records roster where the spirit is made flesh and alive.” You can listen to one of the songs, “The Fall”, from the album which will be titled ‘Ensemble Under The Dark Sun‘.
Profound Lore Records have dropped GEVURAH‘s second full-length album today (October 14th) so you can go listen to the whole thing today, and should. Somber, fervent with religious affect the black metal group’s second album is highly anticipated on my end. They’re calling it “a journey through the physical and metaphysical desert, the realm of death and transformation.” Wherein they intend to negate the flesh, and ensure the fall of Man. As I’d suggested earlier, I’ll review it next week.
Ukrainian thrash metal trio REABILITATOR have signed a deal with Xtreem Music for the release of their third full-length album titled ‘Mentally Defected‘ which is scheduled to be released on November 10th on CD and digitally. Solid stuff, plenty of energy and a decent guitar sound. Looking forward to it. They’ve released the first single over on YouTube:
Cheap drugs, serious blasphemy, and ugly-ass fuzz on display Helter Skelter Productions have announced December 9th as the release date for MEPHISTOFELES‘ fourth LP, ‘Violent Theatre‘, on CD and cassette tape. The vinyl LP version should release on January 27th, 2023. If you’re big on the raw, evil garage doom/heavy rock beyond the peak of Electric Wizard you’ve hopefully not missed out on this bands discography. Listen to the whole thing over on Bandcamp for now:
Thrash/speed metal crew STEEL INFERNO have announced their latest full-length ‘Evil Reign‘ will release this coming October 21st on CD, LP, and digitally by way of From the Vaults. Their sound is typically aimed at true 80’s power metal while also crossing over into early power-thrash metal ideals, think along the lines of ‘Ample Destruction‘, early Helstar and you’re on the right track.
On December 16th Dying Victims Productions and Unspeakable Axe Records will release the third full-length album from Chilean black/thrash metal band HELLISH. ‘The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents‘ will get the vinyl treatment from Dying Victims and the CD version will come from Unspeakable Axe. I wasn’t sure how the band would sound after 2020 when their longtime vocalist/bassist left the band, but they’re still on it sounding incredible on this new song. Grab it over on Bandcamp:
From November 2nd through mid-December MGŁA will embark on a 30+ date European tour with special guests ULCERATE, the six week tour will also include Mord’A’Stigmata (Poland) and Sisyphean (Lithuania) for select dates. I am mostly posting this out of envy, particularly that folks will get to see performances of songs from my favorite album of 2020, ‘Stare into Death and Be Still‘. Definitely check a show out if they’re in town,
https://www.instagram.com/lefthandsounds/
Iron Bonehead Productions have announce ‘Necronomical Mirror Divination‘ a split album between Greek black metal duo CULT OF EIBON and CEREMONIAL TORTURE will release this coming December 9th on CD and vinyl LP formats. They’ve posted preview tracks from both sides and hey, you should basically just buy everything Cult of Eibon releases on sight anyhow:
Greek noise rock/post-hardcore band MAMMOCK will release their second full-length album ‘Rust‘ this coming November 4th on vinyl/digital via Venerate Industries. They premiered a new track “Boiling Frog” this week, bassist Klearhos G. had this to say about it: “The main idea for ‘Boiling Frog’ came from two riffs we left out of ‘This Letter,’ the closer of our debut album, Itch. It was the first song we composed for Rust and we consider it probably the most in-your-face material we’ve ever made. Lyrically it deals with the matter of domestic violence, in the context of all forms of abusive behaviors and relationships.”
The documentary film Don’t Fall in Love with Yourself will be making its world premiere on Sunday Nov. 13th, at the 23rd Annual Sound Unseen Film + Music Festival taking place November 9-13, 2022 in Minneapolis, MN. The long-running docu/short film/music video festival also showcases panels and exclusive footage along side live events. The documentary from TurnStyle Films focuses on Justin Pearson (The Locust, Dead Cross, Some Girls) and his record label Three One G and San Diego music scenes in general. This looks like it might be a pretty good catch for anyone who’d enjoyed Pearson‘s books, I’d recommend ‘From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry‘ if you aren’t already aware.
Ordovician Records have announced the upcoming release of ‘Malbum‘, the debut album from Minnesota-based eclectic noise rock band MAL. They’ve described it as “saxophone-infused” and “angular pop that […] no one will like” which bodes well for my own taste. It releases October 21st and we’ve got a preview track to dig into for now:
Recently reformed (with members of Daughters and Made out of Babies) UNSANE recently announced the dates for their upcoming 2023 North American tour starting in February. Commenting on getting the band together, Chris Spencer explains: “During the pandemic, me and my friends Cooper and Jon started playing the early UNSANE material for fun. Now that the lockdown is over, we’re super excited to get out and play this stuff for people. The new line-up is much more high energy as is the early Unsane material. We’re fucking psyched to get out there!” Consider the forever bummer about their calling it quits officially lifted, the goat lives again. I’ll more than likely be at the Seattle gig, doing my best to avoid using El Corazon’s bathrooms.
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