It’s been a particularly terrible week that, weirdly, began for me on Saturday. I’m not going to go into detail because you’re not here to hear me complain about my life, and honestly, who gives a shit? There are enough people on the Internet complaining about their lives, so why add to that confusing chorus?

But it’s important that I at least point out the particularly crappy, anxiety-filled last few days because it leads me to what I’m going to discuss today. The new effort by San Francisco’s progressive metal band Giant Squid called “Cenotes” hit me at the right time. I needed to hear it right about now. I’ve had the promo for a few weeks now, so it’s not like I just got into the thing, but it really was essential listening as I sifted through the garbage that is life this week. Odd how those things work. It’s not that when hearing the record that, thematically, it struck me like it was speaking exactly to what I was experiencing. Well, it did a bit, but it was more that the music on this gorgeous, emotional 35-minute release (sort of like a pumped-up EP) sort of led me to the water, urged me to lie down and let me float with the current. It was a release and a distraction.

Giant Squid, the brainchild of Aaron Gregory, always tackles aquatic life but in a way that it relates back to our existence as humans. The band’s last record “The Ichthyologist” is a concept album they originally released on their own (Fact: I bought mine through the band, and my copy is labeled with number 0001) before having the amazing epic picked up by Translation Loss for a wider audience. The protagonist finds himself separated from humanity and lost at sea, forced to deal with new, unfamiliar surroundings and coming to grips with this new world in which he must survive. Obviously that can be translated into so many aspects and paths in our everyday lives, whether that’s in an urban, suburban, country or aquatic setting. “Cenotes” takes those adventures of the Ichthyologist character even further, and like their last album, Giant Squid let you live along with this person.

Cellist Jackie Perez Gratz (who is a brand-new mom!) is the other star of this band and this album. Her strings bob and weave through these five tracks, sometimes taking on gentle, calm tones, other times blowing up like a storm that’s threatening any ship in its wake. Her cello play surges and excites and adds that extra element of drama that really elevates these songs. Of course, we’ve grown used to that from her work with other bands such as Grayceon, Amber Asylum, and Neurosis. When she adds her vocals, be it by herself or harmonizing alongside Gregory, the songs get an enhanced heart and soul.

Like the songs on “The Ichthyologist,” each track title is accompanied by genus/specie names that, unless you’re intimately familiar with aquatic life, likely will require some research. I totally had to do that, I freely admit, but I learned a lot of things I didn’t know and kind of got an idea of how they relate to their respective songs. At least I hope I did. But deeper meanings aside, the music on here is riveting, sometimes pulverizingly sludgy, often beautiful, and always water-colored. Opener “Tongue Stones” has a bit of a Middle Eastern feel melodically, with Gregory eventually unleashing his guttural growls, and it hits a high point with the lines, “The world as we know it will flow past their teeth/When new shores lap up at our highest peaks.” That’s a pretty deep sentiment, whether you weigh it against the story or your own journey. “Mating Scars” is mystical at points, with a darker pall over it, and at times the intricacies whirlpool around you; “Snakehead” begins feeling more like a folk song before it evolves into Rush-like progressive interplay and eventually some punk thunder; “Figura Serpentinata” is the shortest cut here, but it makes its mark in its tiny window, with Perez Gratz providing soulful, reflective vocals; and the closing title cut is destructive and delicate, with both voices contributing to the tale. It feels like both a natural ending to the record but new beginning of sorts for the character. And I have to say I gave pause at the line, “Each set of waves smarter than the last/Climbing tides never recede.” There are so many different ways to dissect that line of thought, and you can look at it both positively (life continues to regenerate and offer greater possibilities) and negatively (there’s no way to overcome what’s next, which could be greater and stronger than you). I go back and forth depending on my mood.

I just realized the themes may have had a greater effect on me than I originally thought. That’s why I like to write so extensively on records because no matter how much you prepare, sometimes at the end of the album and/or review, things dawn on you that didn’t see until that moment. I was swept away by the music, which Giant Squid always manage to do to me, and “Cenotes” provided a nice escape at a time that hasn’t been so soothing. No matter what, life continues, and those waves will crash onto your shore over and over whether you want them to or you don’t. Absorbing this record gave me time to reflect upon that, and no matter how things turn out, life will require adjustment and adaptation. It’s nice to know a band such as Giant Squid always can be depended on to move me musically and spiritually.

By the way, a vinyl edition and comic book will be released next year. We’ll let you know more when it’s available.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.facebook.com/giantsquidband

To buy “Cenotes,” go here: http://translationloss.com/store.htm

Or here: http://giantsquidlives.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://translationloss.com/store.htm

The end of the week comes with some loose ends that need a tying. Basically, there are a few things to get out there that I’ve been trying to squeeze into the schedule, and now seems as good a time as any to make sure these things don’t go unwritten.

Yes, it’s time for another record roundup, and as usual, we’re keeping this thing as diverse as we can so that, no matter what you prefer, you might find something of interest here. We have an upcoming release from a death metal supergroup that is sure to be one of the autumn’s most talked-about records, an offering from a Bay Area black metal band who keep things as DIY as possible, and one from a melodic death band whose new work sounds suspiciously like another group’s output. But not in a bad way. So let’s get to it.

Greg Mackintosh is used to making music that can be utterly moody and depressing in his role as guitar player for legendary Paradise Lost. But the material he drums up on Vallenfyre’s debut record “A Fragile King” makes much of his other band’s work seem practically jovial in comparison. Mackintosh, who handles guitar and vocals here, was moved to create this music following the death of his father after a bout with prostate cancer. In fact, he was on tour with Paradise Lost in support of their “Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us” album when his father took a turn for the worse. Mackintosh credits his dad with helping him discover and appreciate more extreme forms of metal. I mean, who else out there has a father who would willingly listen to and enjoy the Bolt Thrower Peel Sessions? So in his dad’s honor, he went back to his roots for “A Fragile King.”

The music is deadly and reeks of old school crust and death metal, something we don’t get in quality amounts anymore. But Mackintosh knows how it’s done because he grew up with and absorbed these sounds, and with him is a solid backing of other musicians who also understand such things, including guitarist Hamish Glencross (My Dying Bride), bassist Scoot (Doom, Extinction of Mankind),  drummer Adrian Erlandsson (At the Gates, Paradise Lost), and guitarist Mully. Yes, three guitar players, so you can imagine this is riff heavy and outright destructive. But if you listen closely to the vocals – the growls are quite decipherable – you can hear Mackintosh’s sadness and mourning. It’s heart-wrenching.

The crusher “All Will Suffer” opens this beast with a doomy, downtrodden feel that just revels in filth, and that takes us to thrashy and punchy “Desecration” and the D-beat infested “Ravenous,” that just rips you right open. “A Thousand Martyrs” deals both in classic doom and death metal, as Mackintosh confesses all the world’s martyrs “will never know the grief that I feel,” which certainly is without doubt, and he pays his father further homage on “Seeds” when he offers, “Farewell, my king, you must rest your head.” He also revisits both his dad’s suffering and the dread that weighs on his mind on closer “The Grim Irony,” where he recalls being “condemned to a living hell.” It’s a relentless and crazy-awesome record that’s had me overly excited ever since I heard it the first time. And I hope Mackintosh and his family have found their peace. No doubt his father would be proud of this special piece of work, a death metal album with a true heart and soul, as bruised as both may be.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.vallenfyre.co.uk/

To buy “A Fragile King,” go here: http://www.centurymedia.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.centurymedia.com/

I’ve had Embers’ new double-album “Shadows” at my disposal for a few months now, and I even did a lot of listening to this impressive piece of black metal when sitting on the shore on Rehoboth Beach while reading about kings and knights opening each other’s throats. Um, this isn’t really beach music, though. Not sure why it worked for me in that setting. Anyway, while this is black metal at heart, it also had some punk and thrash trappings, and while I hate to label this as symphonic considering where most people’s heads will go, there are those elements here. But the rush of keys and strings are not overwhelming and don’t claim this record as their own. They simply play their own roles and serve to enhance these songs.

Embers formed when bassist/vocalist Kelly Nelson and guitarist Steve DeCaprio’s old punk outfit Lesser of the Two dissolved in 2002. They planted the seeds along with drummer Jerry Buchanan, and eventually brought in guitarist Timm Kennedy to round out the lineup, and from there they set out on a journey of independent creation, tirelessly bringing their music to both local and international audiences, and keeping a keen eye toward arresting visual design that you can see on their album covers and T shirts. They’re one of those bands that, as much as they may want to remain on their own, I don’t see how they can’t be on some kind of major indie metal label. They have the chops, and they certainly have a very marketable sound that doesn’t betray any underground aesthetics.

Their new record is one you’ll need to set aside some time to digest fully. There are 10 cuts here, and other than the droning intro and outro pieces, demand a good chunk of your time. Putting together essentially eight epic cuts is a challenge for most bands, but Embers do it pretty well. It helps that there isn’t an extreme metal sound they won’t allow into the mix as long as it works for them, and that’s what keeps this album so fresh and exhilarating. “Eucharist” balances itself on surging black metal melodies, creaky growls (it’s a guy/girl vocal deal, and you’ll have fun deciding who’s more brutal) and some doom, and every moment is worth it; “Forsaken” is rich in synth orchestration, and moments remind me a lot of Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” (an album I love); “Shadows” and “Plague” are both gnarly and nasty, letting in almost no beauty; “Malediction” has an awesome, vintage Bay Area thrash feel and is my favorite on the collection; while “Awakening,” that features viola player Nine, who has since passed away, is an incredible track that continually robs and restores your breath. If you’re into Emperor, Slayer, more recent Celtic Frost and the early days of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir before both turned into what they are today, you’ll love “Shadows.”

For more on the band, go here: http://embers-music.com/

To buy “Shadows,” go here: http://embers.bandcamp.com/album/shadows

Finnish melodic death juggernauts Insomnium have been around for quite some time now, and “One for Sorrow” is their first for metal powerhouse Century Media. But even with the impressive, well-worn back catalog that they have, never did I think they’d make a turn toward sounding like their nation’s version of Amon Amarth. I don’t really think it was on purpose or anything, as their last effort “Across the Dark” (out on Candlelight) didn’t really sound that way, so it would be a weird time for the band to start aping such as well-known outfit. My guess is this is just the way things happened. And really, this isn’t a bad record, and any fan of this band probably will be all about this.

No one can accuse this band of skimping on the melody, because they have so much here, they almost could have saved some of it for other bands who fail to achieve such pleasurable stickiness. The guitar work surges, the drums bash you in the chest, and the vocals are made for live sing-alongs, that is if you don’t mind screaming most of the words. And most people probably won’t mind. This is a full-bodied, well-produced piece of work that even sounds majestic on the fairly low-fi digital version of the album that’s at my disposal. If you give this thing a run on your home stereo system, you’ll probably be able to see colors gushing from your speakers.

Following intro cut “Inertia,” the band blasts into “Meandering Through Shadows,” a punishing song that also has some power metal in its DNA and probably would sound great emanating from the hull of a ship. The big chorus should inspire much fist pumping, be it in your living room or some music hall. “Song of the Blackest Bird” is fiery for the most part but also has moments of delicacy; “Only One Who Waits” is chunky and blistering (the double kick drums are massive) but ends in a rush of whirring keys; “Every Hour Wounds” also has a great hook for the chorus, one that makes me make that Amon Amarth comparison; and “Lay the Ghost to Rest,” while a tad too long, offers a change-up and a chance to breathe a little bit. Honestly, melodic death metal really isn’t my thing (well, AA aside), but Insomnium always offer up something tasty and worthwhile, with “One for Sorrow” is no exception. Now let me go get my plastic sword.

By the way, I have reviews of both Vallenfyre and Insomnium in the upcoming Issue 62 of Outburn, due by the end of the year. The write-ups are totally different than what you read above and address some things I don’t above, so please check them out.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.insomnium.net/

To buy “One for Sorrow,” go here: http://www.cmdistro.com/Search/insomnium

For more on the label, go here: http://www.centurymedia.com/

Improvement is something that probably should be expected from a band moving from first to second album. The band most likely has done a ton of touring, got a better idea of how the group works, and has a stronger grasp of its sound and what direction is right for them. So when the sophomore album drops, one should expect a sharper, more effective band.

Yet, that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes that first record is all a band really has in its arsenal, and it’s all downhill from there. That’s why it’s nice when a group such as Harpoon returns with a new record that not only indicates a group of musicians who have matured and improved but also completely blows away their first piece of work. They’ve done just that on “Deception Among Birds,” set for release on Seventh Rule, and this new platter should open up a whole lot of eyes and ears.

The band’s first effort “Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide” wasn’t a bad record by any means. The record title is pretty bad, but the music is convulsive and violent.  But it didn’t really stand out much from the rest of the grindy, power-mad crowd. There seemed to be ideas floating around in the mire, but they didn’t take time to, or perhaps they didn’t care to, flesh out their creations. So what we were left with was a 23-minute assault that, while fun enough, didn’t leave much of a lasting impression. That is not the case with “Deception Among Birds,” a noisier, nastier album that’s about twice as long as their debut and stays with you much longer once you’re done listening. It’s an impressive sophomore strike.

There are eight tracks on this flaming beast of a record, and the band branches out some of their ideas, going beyond simply playing fast and aggressive songs. Not that these are cupcakes, because they are not. But there’s a flush of newfound melody, some stabs into post-rock and black metal, and a greater sense of atmosphere that, in turn, gives the listener more room to move and explore. It just sounds great from front to back, and the guitar playing from Dean Costello is practically worth the price of admission alone. He also handles the drum programming that sounds a hell of a lot better than it did on their debut, when it was really obvious a human wasn’t behind the kit. Toney Vast-Binders remain savage and throat exploding, but his cleaner work gets time here and works to the music’s advantage. Bassist D.J. Barraca rollicks and rumbles freely, adding a nice deep texture beneath all of this storming.

The record opens with a hardcore-minded explosion called “To the Tall Trees” that also calls to mind doom and mud, and that leads to “Prequel to a Lifetime of Disappointment,” that has some of the aforementioned post-rock stylings but also remembers to kick your ass. Both “Dreadnought” and “Phlegm” have deep markings of black metal guitar openness, the former eventually embracing more melody and some of Vast-Binder’s most impressive vocal work, the latter taking on dizzying, hypnotic tones that eventually thrash you into a punk rock frenzy. “Troglodite’s Delight” has an old Mastodon feel to it, and considering the Atlanta band is busy exploring outer space stoner rock, perhaps Harpoon can take their old throne. The closing title cut has some of the most ambitious and exploratory work on the entire disc, but they also settle into a frosty metallic storm that reminds you not to get comfortable. “The Cut of His Jib” and “Shit Wizard” are as close to what the band pumped out on their debut, only they’re richer, more memorable cuts.

Each time I listen to “Deception Among Birds,” I can’t believe this is the same Harpoon that didn’t leave an indelible impression on me with their debut. In fact, I never really considered this band would become a major player and a huge force in my regular music rotation, but this record really floored me. It’s another album that keeps impinging on my review schedule because I want to keep listening to this instead of other things that eventually I need to review. But that’s a good thing. I am wholly impressed by how good this band got in such a short time, and I’m excited to hear where this Chicago trio goes next. I know that next time around, a new record from Harpoon will be on my most-anticipated list.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.facebook.com/harpoonchicago

To buy “Deception Among Birds,” go here: http://www.seventhrule.com/store/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.seventhrule.com/

Despite how influential they were to some bands and how highly many in the metal underground thought of them, Noothgrush seemed doomed to become a footnote in history. The band only was active from 1994 through their dissolution in 2001, and while they produced plenty of split and mini-efforts, they’re only credited with one true full-length.

Some recent developments look to be changing Noothgrush’s profile, and the sun certainly hasn’t set on the band’s career. The group reunited this year for a series of live performances, including playing the Power of the Riff fest, and Southern Lord has a special new CD/vinyl release to capitalize on the resurgence of Noothgrush called “Live for Nothing.” The colleection is made up of from two live radio performances – a 1996 set from KZSU and a 1999 show from KFJC – and for anyone new to the band’s sludgy fury, or who need another excellent piece to add to their collection, this is an incredible compilation.

The double-CD/vinyl set runs about an hour and 20 minutes, and the set gives you a great view into what made the band so special and why their music moved the people who followed them. Any listeners new to Noothgrush who have an affinity for better-known doom/sludge pioneers such as Burning Witch, Winter, Buzzov*en, Sleep and Eyehategod likely won’t know what hit them and probably will wonder where this band’s been all their lives. It’s understandable to feel that, and if you feel the need to start collecting this Noothgrush’s music, I’ll give you some links at the end of the story to help with your treasure hunt. It’s a monetary and artistic venture in which you’ll definitely want to invest.

The band’s lyrical content deals with misanthropy and self-loathing, as one might expect from this genre, but they even tossed in a little “Star Wars” fun just to keep things interesting. After all, the first set kicks off with the song “Sith,” and eventually they hit back with “Jundland Wastes”  “Dianoga,” and short, simple “Evazan,” where vocalist/bassist Gary Niederhoff howls, “He doesn’t like you/Sorry/I don’t like you either.” Anyone instantly familiar with that line surely won’t be able to stop from smirking. I know I couldn’t help it. It’s one of those kooky elements to an otherwise heavy-as-hell unit that realized there needs to be some levity in the pit of hell that is their music. All of those tracks, by the way, are found on the first disc/record, the ’96 set.

The first set is eight cuts of low-end, bruising and drubbing doom that’s downright suffocating at times. Neiderhoff’s grumble and growl sounds both depressed and aggravated, drummer Chiyo Nukaga keeps a calculated, punishing pace, and guitarist Russ Kent (otherwise known as Mr. Hate) keeps things sweltering and morbidly dark, occasionally leaning in with some banshee-like vocals of his own. By the way, Kent’s also currently plying his trade with Oakland dark punk band Alaric, with whom we visited yesterday.  Other than the Star Wars-related cuts from the KZSU performance, we also get “Erode the Person,” which Neiderhoff jokingly calls the band’s “other short song” (it’s the longest cut on either disc/record at 8:56); the NOLA-style groove of “Derrell’s Porn Song”; and a completely bad-ass cover of the Celtic Frost classic “Procreation of the Wicked” that this band makes sound even more ominous.

The KFJC portion practically is an entirely different run of cuts, with “Derrell’s Porno Song” as the only bit of overlap, and it’s the more apocalyptic of the two sets. “Oil Removed” kicks off the festivities with a healthy serving of muddy riffs and slow-drubbing pain, and that leads into the ultra-lumbering “Made Uncomfortable By Others’ Pain”; the sludgy, groove-laced “Starvation”; the swampy drowning of “Useless,” where Neiderhoff and Kent do a nice bit of vocal tradeoff, each trying to convince you he’s more off balance than the other guy; “Hatred for Species,” a song that basically describes itself; and closer “Friends of Mine,” that is born into feedback and noisy power, hangs in the air for a while, then beats you to death slowly. It’s a fitting end for such an expansive, brutal collection.

If you like what you hear on “Live for Nothing” and want to find more stuff from Noothgrush, it isn’t the easiest feat to accomplish. But you do have some options listed below in their “Erode the Person” vinyl, recently released by Blind Date Records that stands as what the band hoped to release originally under this title, along with original artwork. If you live in the U.S., you can get it through Parasitic Records. If you want something really early from the band, Fuck Yoga Records is releasing a self-titled CD/record that culls songs the band recorded shortly after their formation and only were available on cassette up to the point. There also is a special T-shirt you can grab with it that looks pretty impressive. Southern Lord also offers a T with the vinyl package that will not be sold separately.

“Live for Nothing” is a comprehensive history lesson and a trip back to doom/sludge’s formative years, and clearly this band should be far more well-known and embraced than it is. But it’s better that their glory comes late than never, and their reformation, along with this excellent release, should act as a launching point for one of the best, yet unheralded, doom bands of all time.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.myspace.com/noothgrush

To buy “Live for Nothing,” go here: http://www.southernlord.com/store.php

For more on the label, go here: http://www.southernlord.com/

To buy their re-released 1994 self-titled effort, go here: http://www.hellmilitia.com/

To buy “Erode the Person,” go here: http://www.blinddaterecords.de/index.php

If you live in the U.S., but “Erode” here: http://parasiticrecords.blogspot.com/

I have countless promo albums both floating in my inbox and taking up a glut of space on my hard drive. There are records that have been serviced to me digitally that I’ll never even get to digest only because there’s not enough time in a week. Nothing personal. I’m just one guy.

Anything I do download and add to my iTunes, I make sure I spend a proper amount of time absorbing and analyzing, and having a giant notebook to keep it all straight helps. Usually. Except that the items I planned to visit this week kept throwing me off, even though I’ve had my calendar planned for months. On my docket were records from Alaric and Alarum. Even though I listened to both albums multiple times and knew neither band sounded anything like each other, I’d still have to pause when looking at both names in my book. Wait, which one is which? It would take me a second to realize who was who (and Alarum have been around for a long time), but I imagine it might be tougher for a listener who sees both names on an “upcoming releases” list and his/her mind melts down.

So we’re going to do both albums at once instead of doing one today, one tomorrow. Just in case the similar monikers confuse you. Sorry if I’m treating you like babies. It’s also for my mental well-being, which often needs soothing. As noted, the bands aren’t even playing the same sport, and I’d imagine two separate audiences will celebrate these records.

Oakland’s Alaric are a new band, but the group’s members aren’t newcomers. This band is comprised of players (and long-time friends) who dotted lineups such as Noothgrush, Enemies, Dead & Gone, Cross-Stitched Eyes and others, and their sound visits the late ’80s/early ’90s run of death rock bands such as Christian Death, Killing Joke, Amebix, and Rudi Peni. Their self-titled debut album certainly pays far more homage to punk, post-punk, goth rock and even New Wave than it does to pure heavy metal, but they are charged up enough that if you live and die on gutsy riffs, you’ll finds something to like on this record. It’s also overrun with emotion and melody, and while the subject matter is rather dank, don’t be surprised to find yourself physically getting into this music. If you are so inclined, you could dance to these cuts. Just expect to mope as well.

The eight-cut record is heavily guitar-bass-driven, with maniacal, yet completely decipherable vocals from Shane Baker. It sounds dangerous and swelling, cynical and head-splitting, and the songs are both full of anger and somewhat emotionally defeated. It’s not going to make you smile or feel jovial, but it might help you reconnect with some old scars you perhaps passed over but never really resolved. It sounds like that’s exactly what Alaric are doing here. “Let’s crawl through the razors,” Baker snarls invitingly to anyone in the audience in need of a bloodletting on “Eyes,” and that drives the album into religious nose-thumber “Your God,” which is as poisonous and chest-jabbing a song as anything else on this album; ominous and depressing “Alone”; damaged and plodding “Laughter of the Crows”; the doom goth of “Shadow of Life”; and “Tribute,” an aptly titled, darkly fluid song where Baker offers, “To our absent friends/We remember you.”

Listening to this album, I couldn’t help but think back to my high school and college years and times when I sift through my tapes of “120 Minutes” to find something that could match my mood and sadness and that wasn’t some sort of major-label fodder. Now and again, I’d land on a dark gem I’d feverishly try to track down because it identified with me in a way none of the other video clips could. Alaric would have been that type of band had they existed then, but better late than never, right? It’s also cool 20 Buck Spin jumped on this, and it certainly stands apart stylistically from the other music they released and will produce in 2011 (for example Vastum and Mournful Congregation). It’s a much-appreciated curve ball.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alaric/201671150715

To buy the album, go here: http://www.20buckspin.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=999

For more on the label, go here: http://www.20buckspin.com/site/

As for Alarum, they’ll be more your thing if you’re down with the early ’90s progressive death metal movement. You know, bands such as Death, Cynic and Atheist. You might even like this record if you get into the more recent bands who do similar things such as Obscura. This Australian trio is a jazzy, dreamy, challenging band, and they haven’t put out new material since their 2004 effort “Eventuality,” that, like their new opus “Natural Causes,” was released by Willowtip. That label home always made complete sense for this band, as Willowtip specializes in that mind-altering, genre-defying death metal that leaves you dizzy and whipped.

“Natural Causes” isn’t the heaviest, most brutal death metal album on the market, and like Cynic, there’s a lot more air and atmosphere in their music. It’s not a tough listen, really, and while it has its harshness, there’s a ton of melody in these songs, and the vocals are extremely approachable. In fact, vocalist/bassist Mark Palfreyman sounds more like he’d be a natural fronting a classic, ’80s-era thrash band than a modern death unit. But whatever, it works just fine. The opening title track and “Shifting Skies Like Nothing” kick off the album just right, with an effective one-two punch that should generate excitement among listeners. “The Signal” is built on a flurry of chugging riffs, some jazzy clean guitar work and eventually lush, Rush-like synthesizers, and it’s my favorite cut here. “Silent Betrayal” is the heaviest, fastest song on the album; and “Undivided” ends the disc on an equally explosive note.

The band does, at times, get a little too bogged down in their musical prowess, sometimes at the expense of the music. “Non-Linear Parallels” gets off to a promising, fairly violent start, but it eventually devolves into a cowbell assault that lets the air out of the track; “Interface” is very similar, and things just never really get going; and “Sensory Endeavour” is a little over the top in its grandiosity, like it should soundtrack an air show. But that’s not a major drawback, and it might just be a personal sticking point. To be honest, this album didn’t really light my world on fire, though considering I’m cool with Alarum’s back catalog, I’ll keep working on it to see if it eventually has its way with me. Wouldn’t be the first time.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.myspace.com/alarummusic

To buy “Natural Causes,” go here: http://www.willowtip.com/releases/details/alarum-natural-causes.aspx

For more on the label, go here: http://www.willowtip.com/

Seeing as how we’re now in October, the time is nigh to revisit the best metal albums that were released in the third quarter of 2011. I like and don’t like doing these stories. I always enjoy going back to the records that lit my world on fire the past few months, but considering I wrote about all of these discs, it always feels like these stories are practices in redundancy.

Then again, I can’t pretend that all of you readers have been here every single day of Meat Mead Metal’s coverage, so maybe you missed some of these albums. So I’ll try to keep each one brief, as not to bore return readers to tears, but hopefully this will be informative enough so that if you’re unfamiliar with any of these albums, I can perhaps entice you to give them a stab.

We’ll kick off with those ugly bastards you see at the top of the entry. No offense, dudes. Anyway, Brutal Truth are back with their second album since their reformation in 2006. “End Time” sounds like the soundtrack to the apocalypse, and considering all the craziness going on just in the United States alone, one would be hard-pressed to fight back against their cynicism and pessimism, packed into a mind-mangling blast of grindcore madness. The music, as one should expect from this band, is astonishingly earth-quaking, furious and darkly comical. “End Time” leaves no room for avoiding roundhouse punches, and Kevin Sharp’s direct, bloody diatribes are the monstrous emissions of a  crazy man out of control, who wants to let the rest of the world know to take cover. Maybe he’s not so mad after all. This thing peaks on the title track, “Fuck Cancer,” “Gut Check,” “Killing Planet Earth” and my personal favorite cut “Butcher.”

For more on the band, go here: http://www.facebook.com/brutaltruth?v=app_178091127385

To buy “End Time,” go here: http://www.relapse.com/label/artist/brutal-truth.html

For more on the label, go here: http://www.relapse.com/

If I had to make a decision right now on my favorite album of 2011, it would be the untitled debut release from black metal warriors FALSE. Ever since I got the digital promo, and even better the vinyl, it’s been in constant rotation. I absolutely love this album, and this is one of those first shots from a band that could go down as one of the greatest debuts in metal history. No, I don’t think that’s being hyperbolic or knee-jerk, because I’ve had several months to decide if I really feel this way. There is a fury and a passion behind this band’s delivery that is rarely heard these days because the thing that seems most important to groups is to just sound evil. But most miss the heart and soul, and this band has that in spades. Just hearing the vocals should send you into a frenzy. The power and majesty of these two songs (yeah, only two cuts, but they’re damn long and physically exhausting) go a long way toward establishing FALSE as one of the finest bands in the entire black metal genre and one that should be a hugely coveted entity in the future by any label that has a clue. Thankfully, the combination of Gilead Media and Howling Mind gave this band their first real exposure, and for that, we have to dub those folks geniuses.

For more on the band (sort of), go here: http://noladiy.org/howlingmine.html

To buy the album, go here: http://gileadmedia.net/store/

For more on the label, go here: http://gileadmedia.net/

Wolves in the Throne Room had something of a spiritual rebirth on their new record “Celestial Lineage.” They’re recaptured the epic glory of their “Diadem of 12 Stars” and “Two Hunters” days after offering up a somewhat mundane and droning third record “Black Cascade.” That wasn’t a bad album, by the way. But I just like it and don’t love it. Yet that made this fourth record, the final in a trilogy that began with “Hunters,” that much more satisfying because it’s WITTR as I like them best. Melodies burst out of the trees, the vocals are dark and savage, the drumming is relentless, and the gorgeous pipes of Jessika Kinney are back to give lush color and a female voice to this madness. The record also has the most cuts ever on a Wolves album, largely because of the shorter interludes that are on here to act as passages between storms, and it’s one of the most enjoyable albums in their canon. I’m curious as to where, if anywhere, this band travels next, but at the same time, I’m in no hurry to get there. I’ll be spending a lot of time absorbing this foggy, misty black metal dream for some time to come, and I imagine it’ll sound even better when I land a vinyl copy. Go ahead and call me a dork. I deserve it.

For more on the band, go here: http://wittr.com/

To buy “Celestial Lineage,” go here: http://www.southernlord.com/store.php

For more on the label, go here: http://www.southernlord.com/

Certainly the most bizarre and head-scratching record from the last quarter, hell, the entire year, comes from one-man project Botanist called “I. he Suicide Tree/II. A Rose From the Dead.” It’s weird, it’s unconventional, and if you let sink in the theme of plant life rising up and choking out the human species that give them no regard, it’s scary. It’s a far-fetched idea, sure, but considering we live in a world where a group of politicians won’t even consider global warming as a possibility, it’s also a real thought-provoker and a challenger that refuses to back down from its stance. The two-disc album also stands out from the rest of the metal world by featuring only hammered dulcimer, drums, and creaky, garbled vocals as its instruments. It takes some time to adjust to what’s on this piece of work, and it’s not easy to make the adjustment, but it forces you earn it. It’s also so intriguing that, no matter how you feel the first time through, my guess is you’ll return for more just to see how you react on subsequent visits. It’s black metal at heart, but there’s plenty of chamber and baroque influences, as well as some goth pop strains, whether that was intentional or not. Go get this thing and prepare to have the way you think about metal, and the world, re-programmed.

For more on the band, go here: http://botanist.nu/

To buy “I. The Suicide Tree/II. A Rose From the Dead,” go here (you’ll need to do a search): http://aquariusrecords.org/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.tumult.net/

Some other notable best-of releases are: The Atlas Moth, “An Ache for the Distance” (Profound Lore); Rwake, “Rest” (Relapse); Falloch, “Where Distant Spirits Remain” (Candlelight); 40 Watt Sun, “The Inside Room” (Metal Blade); Disma, “Towards the Megalith” (Profound Lore); Baring Teeth, “Atrophy” (Willowtip); Decapitated, “Carnival Is Forever” (Nuclear Blast); Barghest, untitled (Gilead Media); Old Silver Key, “Tales of Wanderings” (Season of Mist)

The final quarter of the year should be an active one, with many potential high marks, including new stuff from: Leviathan, Dreaming Dead, Mournful Congregation, Cormorant, Locrian, Wolvhammer, Giant Squid, Heartless, and Blut Aus Nord. We’ll have something on every one of those releases, you can be sure.

There are many good reasons to put down some cash and buy the fourth full-length effort “Invernal” from doom/sludge metal duo Black Cobra, but perhaps the best of all of them is this: It’s ridiculously heavy.

Does that sound a little redundant since this is, after all, a metal site? It might. But it shouldn’t. Sure, all metal is heavy by definition, but some groups take that to a whole different level, and these guys always have done just that. Their records are devastating, and while they might not be the most evil-sounding, the fastest, or the nastiest, they are one of the heaviest. And they accomplish such burly greatness with just guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian (formerly of Cavity) and drummer Rafael Martinez (also of Acid King), who manage to make all of this sound so effortless. It’s stunning, really, and they make it so without wowing you with technique or dorkery. They just steamroll your ass.

“Invernal” follows 2009’s “Chronomega,” which was their first effort for Southern Lord after spending time with At a Loss. I didn’t really get into the album for some reason. I didn’t dislike it either; I just never really found my place with the thing. That came as a bit of a surprise considering how much I was into their “Feather and Stone” album and how many times I played that bastard. But whatever. That did give me a bit of trepidation when I first encountered “Invernal” (recorded at God City Studios with Kurt Ballou) because I thought perhaps I’d feel the same way about this new platter. But from my first listen on, the thing grabbed me and dragged me underwater, bringing me up now and again to choke at the air.

It’s not like the band did anything different on “Invernal,” because the formula’s basically the same. Landrian’s guitars chug and truck like always, mixing doom, sludge, some black metal and thrash into the mix, and he barks away over the compositions, always equally understandable and maniacal. Martinez keeps pace and bashes everything home, proving himself one fine clobbering machine. Basically, if you’ve been with the band since the beginning or picked up anywhere along the way, you really won’t be surprised. It’s Black Cobra being Black Cobra, and it sounds pretty awesome. If you haven’t stumbled across these guys yet but dig High on Fire, Saviours and early Slayer, by all means, get on board.

So, if the band basically sounds as they did on “Chronomega,” then why is this record getting higher praise? I just like the songs and the grooves better, and I like that Landrian interjects some riffs that remind me of Death From Above 1979 such as on “Somnae Tenebrae” and “The Crimson Blade.” Both of those songs also have major stoner rock aesthetics as well, so there’s kind of a laid back assault mixed into the scene. “Avalanche” opens the album and could not be more aptly named, as they dump a mountainside of chaos on top of you with near-black metal riffing, punch and filth. “Corrosion Fields” actually opens quietly and atmospherically before it launches into a down-tuned fury, complete with some of Landrian’s shreikiest vocals; “Beyond” kicks off with some doom drone smoke that eventually morphs into a vintage thrash attack that should shame all those young upstarts who are trying to emulate their heroes; “Abyss” is a cool instrumental piece that continually changes faces from destructive to lovely; and final track “Obliteration” is just that, complete carnage packed into the album’s shortest, yet perhaps deadliest, cut.

By the way, this entire album is about a post-apocalyptic trip to nuclear-ravaged Antarctica (who ever would have thought that continent would be meltdown central?) based partially on the work of English researcher Ernest Shackleton. So while I still think you’ll come here for the weight and the thunder, you also can stick around for the adventure lurking beneath the surface.

Black Cobra is getting to hit the road with Kyuss Lives and The Sword, and without question, this duo will be the heaviest beast on the stage. In fact, since they’ll be kicking off these shows, audiences will be tone deaf by the time the main eventers arrive. I base that solely on the devastation etched into the grooves of this album (and burned into a disc) because it’s so massively pounding. You won’t even need to turn up the volume all that loudly to get that effect, but make no mistake, you shouldn’t listen to it in that manner. This isn’t gentle listening, kids, it’d designed for maximum volume, and you won’t believe how much better Black Cobra sound in that setting. Hope you don’t mind tinnitus.

For more on the band, go here: http://blackcobra.net/

To buy “Invernal,” go here: http://www.indiemerch.com/blackcobra

Or here: http://www.southernlord.com/store.php

For more on the label, go here: http://www.southernlord.com/

A good friend of mine doesn’t understand why bands select names that often are unprintable in many publications, potentially limit their career possibilities and could get younger fans slapped in the mouth if they even utter the group’s moniker. And I understand where this person is coming from, and that line of thinking does make some sense. Except for one thing: Topping the Billboard charts and selling out hockey arenas isn’t everyone’s primary goal. Sometimes there’s a little bit more to what a band does.

But having what is, in some people’s minds, a questionable name doesn’t have to limit one’s success. It all depends on what the person creating the art considers a success, and not every band can have the No. 1 record in the country. Some bands and their members find it more important to maintain their integrity, do whatever they want, and be able to sleep at night knowing they called their own shots and made the statements they find important to them. Fuck the Facts always have come across as one of those bands whose art comes before any monetary reward, and while I’m sure if one of their records exploded and dominated the sales charts in any country they wouldn’t curse such success, they likely won’t tweak any parts of their machine to do so.

Having stuck it out for more than a decade and created a comprehensive discography that’s intimidating to try to compile in its entirety at home if you’re a fan, Ottawa grinders Fuck the Facts already are a major success story. They may not be the biggest name on Relapse and they might not play your town’s largest club, but they’re survivors and road warriors, and with each release, they just get better. Their ninth album “Die Miserable” is about to drop, their first full-length since 2008’s “Disgorge Mexico” (they’ve offered up countless other mini releases in the meantime, it should be noted), and the results are nothing short of totally impressive. I’m blown away by this band once again.

Something I’ve always admired and appreciated about FTF’s music is that, while it’s grindcore at heart, there’s so much more going on besides that. Yes, you’re going to get demolished, there’s no question, but that’s not all they do. On “Die Miserable,” you clearly can pick out pieces that sound like thrash, black metal, punk, and even classic rock. Now, that’s musically speaking. Vocally, Mel Mongeon unleashes a savage, relentless attack that refuses to release its grip on your throat. Oh, and that thing locked around your throat that’s drawing blood and robbing you of precious oxygen? That’s her mouth. She’s one of best, most unforgiving vocalists in metal, and she brings it even harder live. She drops the hammer over and over again on “Die Miserable,” only changing paces during the closer “95,” when she speaks in French over the conclusion.

The album rips open on “Drift,” a song that splatters all over you with grind and mathcore DNA, and that leads right into the waiting clutches of “Cold Hearted,” where guitarists Topon Das (FTF originally was his solo project) and Johnny Ibay bring the thrash and jangly noise. “Lifeless” has more of a hardcore feel, and the chugging gets your blood flowing and that feeling of wanting to destroy lawn furniture in front of your neighbors moving to the front of your mind. “Census Blank” is a bit more atmospheric after its steamrolling opening, with Mongeon using more guttural tones in spots, and the rest of the band settles into some post-rock fog and that aforementioned classic rock thunder when they’re not in volcanic mode. “Alone” initially takes things down a notch, with a clean intro that includes some quiet piano, but it’s a red herring as the song eventually detonates into a pipe bomb with a keen sense of melody. The title cut and “A Cowards Existence” are awash in fury, while closer “95” has a punk rock vibe, soaring lead guitar lines, and a doomy, post-rock finish.

Just about every time I’ve taken on “Die Miserable,” I’ve hit repeat when the whole thing ended. That’s tough to do for me since I have so much music to sift through each week in order to drum up coherent, hopefully relevant thoughts. But this record has claimed me, and I’ve listened to it dozens of times since it arrived digitally a few weeks ago. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise, though, as I always found myself doing that same thing with their other releases. I’ve also found this is excellent treadmill music, because it has the proper peaks and valleys for warm up and cool down moments. Can’t believe I just wrote that.

“Die Miserable” is another in a long line of success stories for a band who might have too vulgar a name for a magazine cover, a T-shirt you wear to the grocery store, or a topic of interest you drop into conversation when talking to your mother on the phone. But my guess is a decade from now, when everything that’s so relevant to pop culture now is relegated to VH-1 talking head shows, that Fuck the Facts still will be mauling audiences somewhere. Someone will be seeing this band somewhere and going home exhausted. So what is success when music and pop culture is so disposable? Fuck the Facts have shown time and again they aren’t a flash-in-the-pan commodity that’s here today, gone tomorrow, and “Die Miserable” is another entry on a laundry list of proof of that … fact.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.facebook.com/FuckTheFacts

To buy “Die Miserable,” go here: http://www.relapse.com/die-miserable.html

Or go here: http://fuckthefacts.bigcartel.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.relapse.com/

The sludge and post-metal communities are crowded ones. Blame everyone geeking out on Neurosis and ISIS (or their fan-appointed associative term NeurISIS) if you’d like, but there’s just a ton of this stuff out there, and more often than not, the music isn’t terribly enlightening.

One of the bands that seemed to have a brighter light bulb than most is Brooklyn’s Hull, who debuted on initial, single-song EP “Viking Funeral” and their first full-length “Sole Lord,” released in 2009. While their first two entries didn’t exactly change the direction of the sub-genres or make them one of the first band names that popped out of people’s mouths when discussing sludge and post-metal, they made a positive impression and seemed to indicate that while they had some good ideas, they were going to be capable of much more down the road. Now that their second album “Beyond the Lightless Sky” is in our grasps, we have our answers as to whether they built on their potential.

This new entry from Hull is impressive, thoughtful, full-bodied and satisfying through and through, so yes, what I suspected when I heard “Sole Lord” is confirmed, in that the band had better days ahead. The nine-track record has an interesting structure that other bands have tried and failed to make compelling, in that they put together five epic cuts that are broken up by four wind-changing interludes. So you get mashed and then you get a breather. But the interludes aren’t just there to bloat the song count and stretch what could be an EP into an LP (1349 suffered that accusation on “Demonoir”), because they all play their parts really well and logically and sonically lead you into what’s next. I don’t think the record would be as seamless without these pieces in place.

Another change that I like is they used far less clean singing on “Beyond the Lightless Sky.” My only qualm with them using cleaner tones is theirs didn’t do them any favors. They always sounded like they were designed for a Linkin Park track and didn’t seem to make the songs any better. There still are moments on this album when they’re used, and they’re not any better than they were on “Sole Lord,” but they also don’t detract from my enjoyment of the songs. For the most part, guitarist Nick Palmirotto’s howls and growls are all over the place, giving a monstrous personality to these often spacious, psychedelic-minded songs, and the cleaner stuff makes up maybe 5 percent of the singing.

Things rip right open on “Earth from Water,” a song that runs more than 11 minutes and shape-shifts itself into atmospheric adventures, bluesy guitar licks and eventually destructive corrosion. The title track is a devastating piece of chaos that hulks and slithers over the land but eventually settles into a cool little thrash groove halfway through the cut that you never hear coming; “Fire Vein” blows open from the start, with monstrous growls, mind-bending guitar work and some of that wide-open outer space travel they do so well; and closer “In Death, Truth” is a burly beast that settles deep into the mud pits, with guitar screeching that recalls the early Soundgarden madness and that levels your senses in a calculating, mid-tempo pace. As noted these songs are set up by ambient cuts such as the Western-flavored, acoustic-led “Just a Trace of Early Dawn” and quiet, serene, nature-colored “Curling Winds.”

Yes, Hull’s music should satisfy those who have surrounded themselves by bands such as ISIS and Neurosis, the pioneers of this type of thing, and even those who get into early Mastodon and the more recent work by The Atlas Moth could find a ton of enjoyment in “Beyond the Lightless Sky.” This band clearly is not just satisfied with being your run-of-the-mill sludge and/or post-metal band, and they prove their ambition is beyond that rigid designation. This record is a very positive step forward for the band, and I hope their next album takes things ever further. This is a band that deserves your attention now and going forward, and my guess is they’re never going to deliver something you expect 100 percent. They do have the sludge/post-metal spine, and that’s important, but their willingness to bloom beyond is what should keep Hull special and relevant well into the future.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.hullandhighwater.com/

To buy “Beyond the Lightless Sky,” go here: http://www.theomegaorder.com/HULL-Beyond-The-Lightless-Sky-CD-Shirt-Bundle

For more on the label, go here: http://theendrecords.com/

As mentioned from Day 1 of this site, we’re here for meat, mead, and metal, but we also reserve the right to visit some music that isn’t necessarily metal but that we like and that maybe you’ll like as well. Sometimes there’s some really obvious crossover, and sometimes there isn’t. But whatever.

Today, we have two bands to talk about, one of which could be right up the alley of a doom and drone fan, while the other … well, let’s just say I’m going to have a tougher time justifying its presence on this site but that I’m going to tie to a record that certainly DOES have a clear home on Meat Mead Metal. Again, metal absolutely rules my life, and I’m sure there are many of you who frequent this site daily who feel the same way. But I also have interests that go elsewhere, and for those who also have a wide variety of tastes, check out either, or both, of these albums because they are highly recommended.

First up is Dallas, Texas, trio True Widow, who we discussed earlier this year when they dropped their excellent full-length “As High as the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth,” a record that’s a serious contender for my year-end top 10 list and is one hell of a mouthful to say. The band’s shoegazey, slo-core, droning rock sound is intoxicating, and the dual vocals of guitarist Dan Phillips and bassist Nicole Estill make their mix even more satisfying. Their singing is fairly laid back, by the way, and you don’t get a lot of energetic volts from the band, but you’re not supposed to get that here. Instead, the adrenaline comes from how they make your mind wander.

True Widow are now releasing a new EP called “I.N.O,” made up of songs from the “As High as the Highest Heavens …” session, as well as some material they drummed up in their practice space. It’s only five songs long and runs about a half hour, but it’s another glimmering collection from the band that’s certainly worth your while. The piece kicks off with a folk acoustic instrumental piece that leads you into the 14 minute, 25 second title cut, which Estill leads vocally and that bleeds at a blissful mid-tempo pace before eroding into noise as the song concludes. “Bathyscaphe” has Phillips in control of the singing, and the piece is a fuzzier, more up-tempo number that reminds a bit of Sonic Youth. “S.Y.B.” rumbles and plods along, feeling warm and sugary; while closer “S.F.H.D.” has more of a ’90s college rock feel, with both Phillips and Estill blending their voices and drummer Timothy Starks driving them home.

This is a fantastic stop-gap release from a band that’s become one of my favorites this year. You can find their stuff on Kemado, a label that houses metal powerhouses such as The Sword and Saviours, bands whose music sound nothing like True Widows’ but certainly makes sense being played next to theirs.

NOTE:  The original post said the band is from Austin. They’re from Dallas. I corrected it above. I suck.

For more on the band, go here: http://truewidow.com/

To buy “I.N.O.,” go here: http://www.kemado.com/shop/true-widow-i-n-o/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.kemado.com/home/

So, the sophomore album from Dum Dum Girls probably doesn’t scream headbanging magic, and it shouldn’t. I also admit I’m really pushing it by including them on what’s mainly a metal site, my tastes aside, but I can’t help but champion this album. “Only in Dreams” is a great collection, one that takes the band’s girl-group throwback aesthetic and adds more elements, such as ’70s and ’80s rock such as the Go Go’s and the Pretenders, punk, and even shoegaze cloudiness reminiscent of Mazzy Star. I admit I’ve gotten caught up with a lot of other artists often related to the Dum Dum Girls, such as Vivian Girls and Frankie Rose, but these ladies just go above and beyond here and rise well above those other acts.

Noticeable right away is the focus placed on Dee-Dee Penny’s vocals, which have a far greater presence this time around and often just soar out of your speakers. She sounds amazing here, and her singing is back to what is was like when she was with Grand Ole Party, only with more confidence and a total grasp of pop sensibility. Much of the record, thematically, focuses on Penny’s mother’s death to cancer, and in case you’re not aware, a vintage photo of her mom was on the cover of the band’s first full-length “I Will Be.” So as bustling and hook-filled as much as this sounds, and as great as it would feel playing loudly at a party, there’s an inescapable sadness that permeates the mood. Listen closely to songs such as “Caught in One” and “Hold Your Hand,” and it becomes clear she’s in mourning. Now, a loose association to the metal world is what, thematically, comprises the debut album “A Fragile King” from death metal supergroup Vallenfyre. That band’s singer Greg Macintosh (Paradise Lost) lost his father to cancer, and much of what you hear on this record also is awash in mourning.  I’m not suggesting the two bands’ fans will want to party down together, but what you hear lyrically on both records aren’t all that different from each other.

Yes, as noted, “Only in Dreams” is poppy and uptempo, with the exception of crushing gaze ballad “Coming Down,” but anyone with an open mind who likes great songwriting and powerful hooks should be able to get into “Bedroom Eyes,” the buzzy, dancey “Wasting Away” and hand-clap powered “Just a Creep.”

For more on the band, go here: http://wearedumdumgirls.com/

To buy “Only in Dreams,” go here: http://www.subpop.com/releases/dum_dum_girls/full_lengths/only_in_dreams

For more on the label, go here: http://www.subpop.com/

OK, so hopefully I didn’t lose you on this one, and if I did, then that’s just silly. Great music is great music. But if you’re still uncertain, come back tomorrow when we discuss a cement truck explosion of a sludge metal album.