NOTE: We are starting a new weekly feature every Friday, simply our Pick of the Week. This is our first selection of many! By the way, thanks a million times over to Sam Panico for the fresh, cult new logo. Hailz!

Extreme metal goofs Strapping Young Lad had an album many years ago called “Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing.” It was heavy. And, as the Devin Townsend-led band tended to do, it slammed its tongue directly into its smart-assed cheek regarding some of the clichés of heavy metal, and made me think about some of the very obvious ways we discuss this music.

But sometimes describing something as unforgivingly, massively heavy is the only true way to convey a band’s music and approach, and that’s always been the way I’ve felt about Northless, the gargantuanly devastating sludge metal based in Milwaukee (Algonquin for “the good land”). How else should one describe what these guys create? Is it a fairly uncreative way of talking about music? Sure it is, and it gives me hives doing so because I strive to be better, but holy living fuck, is Northless ever heavy. Stupidly so!

OK, yes, Northless do weave a lot of interesting post-rock melodies into their sound and even take some swift stabs at hardcore, so we’re not talking meat-headed skullduggery or anything. You can always tell how much time and effort went into the band’s music, and they strive to be something a little different than every other band that popped off the hulking mass that is Neurosis. Yes, that influence is there, but more so as loving devotion than trying to mimic a sound, but where you really dig into what’s fascinating about Northless is what’s under the surface. Their music, especially what’s on their incredible new album “World Keeps Sinking,” by far the best sludge-based record to bubble to the surface this year, is so complex. It’s like two different forces working together—the mean, menacing doom pit where all the mucky battle happens, and the more delicate, melodic, supremely atmospheric part that ties together beauty and beast. To me half the fun is hearing those two sides come together and, not clash, but meld to form a greater whole, one with an impressive grip on emotion and tumult that I’m not sure any other band out there is doing any better.

“World Keeps Sinking,” being co-released by Gilead Media and Halo of Flies, is the follow-up to 2011’s “Clandestine Abuse,” though they’ve had some smaller releases since then, including a split with Light Bearer and last year’s “Valley of Lead” EP. While the band—vocalist/guitarist Erik Stenglein, guitarist Nick Elert, bassist Jerry Hauppa, and drummer John Gleisner—always has been impressive and exploded with promise to be one of the new standard bearers for sludge metal, and this new record is the one that should help them ascend to that leadership position. It’s hulking, massive, and beautiful, and while it may take some time to fully grow on you, once it does, you’ll never again shake its massive power and world-shaking dominance. This band has fucking arrived.

“Last of Your Kind” opens the record, and it takes a little while to get warmed up, but once it does, it is massive. It’s burly and a little bluesy when it comes to the guitar work, and once the hammer drops, things start stomping. Get your hands and feet out of the way, because they’re getting smashed by these guys, and Stenglein’s monstrous growl proves both intimidating and commanding. “Let the Earth swallow them whole!” he bellows as the band keeps punching away, eventually settling into a nasty swagger that takes them home. “Kuru” is an unreal track, one you may have heard previewed online, and is a great example of all of their many parts coming together, including crushing violence and soaring melodies, some strange twists and turns you won’t see coming, and a nice psychedelic voyage toward the end that seems like the band is trying to out-Sleep Sleep. The killer title track sounds like it takes influences from both Neurosis and pre-fame Soundgarden, especially with the whinnying guitar work, and there are parts of this song that are so impossibly heavy, I can’t really put it into words. You have to experience the power for yourself.

“Communion” lasts more than 11 minutes, and each one is filled with drama. Melodies rollick, while somberness slips in and darkens the room. The song is very weighty and complex, incredibly emotional, and even has some prog-friendly sections that open up and show an even more creative side to the band. Yes, it’s heavy, but it’s also full of bright colors you don’t normally get from Northless. “Passage” is a mammoth epic, stretching to nearly 16 minutes of adventure. The first few minutes trickle cleanly, taking its time to set the mood and prepare you for the storm clouds, which eventually arrive with a vengeance. The vocals are gruff and meaty, searing hardcore-style stabbing shows up, and the song finishes on a psychedelic high that positively sizzles. This track works and comes together so organically, you won’t even realize 16 minutes have passed. “Wither and Escape” is the shortest cut on here, at just 3:16, and the band drops a ton of bricks, leaving you bloody in no time at all. It’s a nice change of pace from all that hulking, and it bridges the gap to closer “Returnless,” the punishing closer that grounds and pounds with relentless fury. The track bubbles like it’s a pocket of lava ready to break through the surface and scorch the land, the steam and smoke that rises is the return of psychedelic wonder, and the damaged melodies that slam the door on the album make you feel off balance but well served.

This is an astonishing step ahead for Northless, a band already impressive before this record dropped but now that deserves to be at the front of the conversation when it comes to bands doing sludge and post-metal right. “World Keeps Sinking” is one of the most satisfying doses of demolition released this year, and any year-end list without this included in December should be deemed invalid. Yeah, I say that in August. Not only is it supremely exciting to see what this band has created with this record, but their next steps should be just as enthralling.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NORTHLESS/111496092214579

To buy the album, go here: http://www.gileadmedia.net/releasedirectory/northless-world-keeps-sinking-2lp/

Or here: http://www.halooffliesrecords.com/label-releases/halo60-northless-world-keeps-sinking-dlp/

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

Or here: http://www.halooffliesrecords.com/

There’s a debate in many circles as to how certain types of metal are supposed to sound. Can power metal be raw and rough? Can death metal be shiny and polished? Must doom metal always feel like something awful has crawled out of a tomb? Is there only one way of doing things, or can there be many that are acceptable?

Black metal is one that, in its second stage in the early ’90s, grew increasingly primordial, rough, and unpolished. Some of that came from the artists’ choice (the purposeful use of the worst, cheapest mics possible to record early Burzum albums, for instance) and some from wear, tear, and decreasing quality of tape dubs that made the music sound like it was recorded in a full fish tank 10 copies later. Whatever the reason, black metal often is held at its lovers’ hearts for being so underdeveloped sonically, like it was vomited from the recesses of hell itself. Wait for the eruption once the whole world hears the new Watain record. I stand by, ready to be amused.

If you ask me, there’s no right or wrong way to do black metal as long as it’s true and honest, which is something you can just feel. And I dare you to listen to Xothist and tell me you can’t feel every single second of the music. Oh, Xothist, by the way, is a project by Daniel Bouse (also a member of Vocivus), who handles all instrumentation and vocals, joining a wide list of solo black metal artists who don’t need an entire band to make enough hellacious noise to pulverize your hearing. He initially released a self-titled effort on cassette only (on Bleak Environment), in very limited numbers. I know that’s not new for music, putting out a couple hundred or couple thousand of something. But there were only 46 copies made of Xothist’s debut, so if you claim to have a copy, there’s an excellent chance you’re lying.

Luckily, Fallen Empire snapped up this hidden gem of dark hell, remastered it for a vinyl reissue, and is putting 330 more copies out there for your greedy, filthy hands, and if you know what’s good for you (and you love charred basement black metal), you need to get your hands on this. You can hear Side A for free on Fallen Empire’s Bandcamp site (see below), and if that doesn’t convince you, then I no longer can be of any help.

This effort is made up of six songs, with the whole thing lasting a little over 40 minutes, and it’s a riveting ride. Yes, it’s a harsh listen, the production values would make high-level producers blush, and it demands you pay close attention so you can pick up on every shard of pain and disillusionment. The tracks are simply given Roman numerals as names, which is probably best since each side’s cuts act as one large piece. The first side (made up of three tracks) has a dark, eerie first few minutes, as the dark shadows pick themselves off the ground and begin to haunt, and eventually synth and drone creep up and darken the room, with Bouse’s harsh vocals sounding like those of a desperate man in the night. What’s surprising about the music is its emotional and musical depth, which you might not pick up on at first because of the raw production, but there’s a certain magic to making that discovery for yourself. As rough and scuffed up as this music is, you get caught up in it and swept off into the night. Or at least I did every time I spent time with it. The last portion of Side A hits an abrasive grind and simmers as it settles into ambient drone and slowly fades away. Excellent dose of pain.

The second side, also built on three tracks, is barely audible for the first few minutes, as the atmosphere settles into a hushed drone.  Then it blows up without warning, with speed, aggression, and wailed vocals that instantly grab your attention. The song reaches a fiery glory, and melody returns again to give the music an unexpected shimmer, and then the whole things fades. But it rises again, as you might expect, and guitars charge back up, things burst with life (albeit under a thick, suffocating blanket), and the vocals bubble back up, powered with more vitriol to spew forth. The storm hits an uncomfortable level that, if it was an actual weather event, would rattle your windows, but just as it seems it’ll rip apart your foundation, an ambient pocket re-emerges, and the song ends in as spooky a manner as possible.

Xothist’s music deserves to be heard by more people, and with a few hundred copies of this first release heading out into the world, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. This is dark and depressing on one hand, but surging and weirdly uplifting at other times. It’s not for all audiences, especially if you like thick gloss smeared over your music, but for those who things as bleak and dreary as they come, Xothist is a hidden treasure you’ll be glad you pulled to the surface, bloody fingers be damned.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Xothist/301859639849570

To buy the album (available soon), go here: http://store.fallenempirerecords.com/

To hear Side A of the album, go here: http://bandcamp.fallenempirerecords.com/album/xothist

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

For announcement on when the record is available for purchase, follow here: https://www.facebook.com/FallenEmpireRecords

Death isn’t really supposed to be funny or pleasurable or exciting, and with good reason because it means our demise. Funerals aren’t parties, for the most part, and plenty of people have crippling bouts of anxiety just thinking about one’s life actions ceasing. That’s why it’s so fascinating that something like metal, so obsessed with death, can be such a comforting thing.

Funeral doom is just one sub-category of the ever-branching doom metal world, and it’s grown in popularity and membership with awesome bands such as Mournful Congregation, the late Asunder, Loss, and Lycus, just to name a few. The music tends to be slow and miserable, and every fiber of your being is bombarded with the fact that we all one day will expire. There is nothing we can do about it. We’re out of here one day, and who knows what’s next, if anything at all? Try to think about that all day long and see if you don’t start to shiver at your core. But if you do, bands such as these can identify with that emotion, as well as the general pain of just being alive and facing insurmountable obstacles. Life can suck sometimes, and these bands fucking know it.

That brings us to Ephemeros, the Portland, Ore., based band that’s made up of members of other notable acts such as Graves at Sea, Uzala, Nux Vomica, and Elitist who have formed an already devastating band that brings the depression and anxiety that is death right in front of you. Their style of funeral doom is elegant and atmospheric, feeling like a long, cold journey you take to the end of the world, where you just drop off, never to be heard from again. And maybe no one even cares. It also has a sense of craziness and lack of being able to deal mentally. I feel all of that and more on “All Hail Corrosion,” the band’s debut full-length record that was righteously scooped up by Seventh Rule. Over these three, epic, pain-ridden songs, you feel every bit of burn, anger, fear, and sadness these fellows jammed into this thing, and while it won’t fill you with happiness and hope inside, it might help you face and identify your inner fears, maybe even toppling them. Or you’ll just discover a great piece of doom metal from a new, very promising band.

The ranks of this Ephemeros doom machine goes like this: You have Joshua Greene on vocals, Jesse Aspy and Chris Trumpower on guitars, Garrett Bagniefski on bass, and Chuck Watkins on drums. Together, they’ll make you feel really bad, conjure thoughts you would prefer to keep buried, and destroy your senses with sounds that make it seem like your soul is being ripped apart.

The title cut is the first thing that greets you, and it has a liquidy, foggy sound that wobbles slowly and creepily, feeling like deathrock at times. But any cleanliness or serenity is completely destroyed when the song explodes, and Greene’s tortured wails take center stage, feeling ominous and horrible. Somber melodies float beneath the chaos, instilling the proper amount of sadness into what’s heavy and unforgiving elsewhere, and it lets streams of black and blue trickle together and carry you under the waves. Deranged ranting at the song’s conclusion gives the sense of mental breakdown, that sense of something horrible that perhaps is a little too much for the psyche. It’s effective and disturbing.

“Stillborn Workhorse” drives slowly, with low-level growls rumbling, ceremonial-style melodies, and eventually Greene having another mental explosion with wild growls and shrieks. The song slips into an extended period of mournful funeral doom that’s easy to get lost inside of and suffocated by the oppressive power, but it’s also gorgeously played and melodic as well, unafraid to let some beauty into the room. Closer “Soilbringer” is the culmination of everything you’ve heard so far, and then some. Greene completely loses it on this one, as he growls, in as deranged a voice possible, “I watched the world die!” He isn’t being dramatic as a put on. You really feel like you’re trapped inside the mind of person losing grip with reality and about to fall forever into an abyss, never to touch ground again. The rest of the song unfurls with great power and deathly glory, and before it expires, it gives you another reminder of why this band’s already got a massive, steady grip on their artistic output and exactly how they want to make you feel.

Ephemeros is a mighty new addition to the funeral doom world and another strong signing for Seventh Rule. This band culled their years of experience in other challenging bands and poured everything they had haunting them into “All Hail Corrosion,” a record that, along with Lycus’ debut album, is the most impressive funeral doom platter to drop all year long. This thing will upset you, scare the shit out of you, and make you wonder if the artists behind it aren’t revealing a little too much about their frames of mind. It’s nice to feel uncomfortable with your music now and again, and Ephemeros certainly won’t let you get comfy.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Ephemeros

To buy the album, go here: http://shop.seventhrule.com/

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

When I was in high school, we were able to pick up Pitt’s student-run radio station out in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, and every Sunday afternoon, it would be a two-hour block of the rawest death metal on the planet. Now this was the early 90s, so the genre hadn’t quite exploded yet, so we felt like we were getting in on the ground level of something ugly and charnel.

The bands sounded totally different than what we’d hear out of the thrash and power metal scenes we’d normally treat ourselves to, and it even differed from some of the more well-known acts at the time like Cannibal Corpse and Obituary because this stuff sounded like it bubbled straight out of hell. Problem was the DJs rarely ever told you who they were playing, and because the Internet wasn’t a thing yet, we couldn’t really Google the fragments of lyrics we could understand, so a lot of what we heard remains a mystery. But I know that sound, I know how cold it made me feel, and I know when I hear that same thing again in another band.

That takes us to Vasaeleth, the destructive duo that captures the essence of that ugly early death metal sound as well as anyone. They lurch and blow low-level fire, making their music sound as underground and worm-ridden as they possibly can. The band also has been relatively silent since their 2010 debut album “Crypt Born and Tethered to Ruin” dropped, with the exception of a couple split efforts, and now they’re finally crawling back with “All Uproarious Darkness,” a five-track, 19-minute affair that should satisfy some of your hunger pangs for true, dark death metal and should remind you of just how good these guys are. The muck and horror they churn out over this short but effective collection is powerful and deadly, and the duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist O.A. and drummer Antinom sound as possessed and charred as two guys can possibly be. And it’s funny, because even for how raw and primitive this sounds (which is a good thing), it’s astonishing this isn’t the product of more people. But who needs an undead army anyway? They guys boil enough flesh and make enough racket on their own, and this album is in a disturbing joy.

The title track gets this disgusting mess going, with filthy, doomy death, music sounding like it’s coming out of a hellish furnace being fueled by human flesh, and the scream/growl tradeoffs sets the right pace and aims to bruise you. The song finishes on a black metal-tinged melody line, and it sets you up for “Paradise Reconsecrated,” a fast, grim tale that, once the quaking subsides, also takes time to slither in a calculating and threatening manner when they decide to grind the gears. The song bathes in violence and utter hopelessness, and if you come away feeling uplifted, you may have heard this wrong. “Fathomless Wells of Ruin” is raw, with drum blasts falling like boulder-sized hail, and gruesome guitar riffs causing the bile to rise and just about choke you. O.A.’s growls sound like deranged hisses at some points, like words trying to rip through bubbling tar at others, and the song melts back into the dust as it comes to its end.

“Black Curse Upheld” is mean and not neighborly, with a crushing, drubbing melody that could leave you with an unforgivable migraine from all the jostling around you’ll experience. The growls lurk beneath the swath of metallic chaos, and once again a hint of black metal rolls in to cement damnation. Closer “Throat of the Grey Watcher” begins with piercing drone that could cause dizziness and nausea, and then O.A.’s growls explode in agony, sounding like the final words of a man being slowly tortured. Your skull takes a serious pounding due to Antinom’s furious drumming, and the band sounds like a demon-spawned machine moving and slicing its way through anything standing in front of it, with mercy never even entering into the equation.

If you’re looking for hooks and gloss, you’ve come to the absolute wrong place. You seriously could not have done any worse. And that’s a huge compliment I’m paying Vasaeleth because their ugliness and terror is what I don’t get enough from death metal’s ranks, and hearing the total lack of compassion and emotion for human suffering is oddly uplifting. This feels like the sticky, stinking death that originally turned me onto the genre, and as long as bands like Vasaeleth are still here to drag death metal’s corpse around, I’ll be there to feast happily.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Vasaeleth

To buy the album, go here: http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/

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

Night Demon

Deep appreciation for true, classic heavy metal runs deep at this site for a variety of reasons. First, it’s what I grew up listening to, being lucky enough to have cut my teeth on what emerged in the mid-1980s when I was an impressionable youth. Second, it’s the foundation for what we enjoy today, and even though so many bands these days try to recreate it and fail, that respect remains.

That’s a huge reason I’m always excited to get Shadow Kingdom releases for review, because they’re pretty much the go-to stop for bands dripping in classic metal lore from a time before everything branched off into a million sub-genres. Sure, that branching out expanded metal’s reach, for which I’m eternally grateful, but there’s always something about going back to the roots, especially those who rode the wave of NWOBHM and early power metal that always ignite some excitement in my gut and help me remember the glory days of Iron Maiden, Dio, Saxon, Raven, and Judas Priest. They planted the seeds, and when bands come along that channel that essence perfectly, it’s something to behold.

Already boasting a great roster of talent that includes the likes of Manilla Road, Altar of Oblivion, Revelation, and Ritual, Shadow Kingdom has two more bands to continue their campaign of metal glory: Night Demon, a band continuing the influence of the NWOBHM assault on a debut EP that might make you want to take up arms, as long as those arms are swords. The other is Sinister Realm, a band based in Allentown, Pa., that focuses on doom and power metal and are on their third platter full of epic wonder and true metal precision. If it seems I’m going on a little too much about the greatness of bands that capture the essence of true metal, you probably have a point. But it’s just great to hear musicians that actually capture the spirit of what I grew up with and don’t just mimic it. Actually, it just occurred to me that in 20 years, some writer probably will go on and on about some new band that perfectly captures the intent and mission of August Burns Red. I am going to go vomit before I finish the rest of this tale.

We’ll start with trad metal soldiers Night Demon, whose ranks include members of sludgy beats The Fucking Wrath and have a pretty fun self-titled EP to their name. Guitarist Brent Woodward and drummer John Crerar play in that aforementioned band, and they’re joined by bassist/vocalist Jarvis Leatherby in a group that should make you happy if you enjoy metal’s simpler times and, funny enough, when bands concentrated on musicianship and memorable hooks and songs. Yeah, those out there who need things brutal and serious at all times might roll their eyes at some of this, but that’s their problem. This EP is a blast, and Night Demon make the most of all 14 minutes of this thing.

We lead off with, obviously, “Night Demon,” because you need to have an ass-kicking anthem, and this track delivers with classic-style guitar lines, a killer tempo, and promises such as, “We’ll drink up all the beer.” You might be compelled to do the same during this thing just because it seems like the right thing to do. By the way, the one drawback to this one is the singing is stretched a little thin, but that problem goes away with the other songs. “The Chalice” has a Scorpions-style shuffle built into it, and promises of an encounter with “the unholy grail” are in your future. “Ancient Evil” is punchy and catchy, with enough Lovecraftian references to draw Cthulhu from his watery grave, and it’s a true tribute to evil. Closer “Ritual” reeks of early Maiden, as it gallops and simmers, and it compels you to sing back with them as they round up their troops for the evening’s services.

This EP reminds me of my early days as a metal fan, where every day meant a new discovery and adventure into something dark and mysterious. Night Demon are fun to hear over your headphones or in your car, and I’d imagine live they’re a beer-soaked good time.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.nightdemon.net/fr_demonslair.cfm

Sinister Realm

Sinister Realm have been going a little longer as a band, having formed in 2008 and put out three full-length records now. Comparisons can be made to artists like Dio, Candlemass, Judas Priest, and fellow Pennsylvanians Argus, and they sound like they are crafting metal specifically for Wacken festival stages. Included in the band are vocalist Alex Kristof, who manages to be powerful but not over the top; guitarists John Risko and John Kantner; bassist/keyboard player John Shams Gaffney; and drummer Chris Metzger, and they make a glorious, pure-sounding assault on their new “World of Evil” that will be friendly to classic metal fans. There are a hell of a lot of Johns in the band, as you can see. That’s got to make communication aggravating.

Anyway, the album is perfectly put together, with eight songs clocking in at 43 minutes, which feels like an ideal serving size for this type of metal. The record kicks off with “Dark Angel of Fire” that’s both gruff and melodic, with Kristof howling, “Rise, rise all those who threaten me,” and dual guitar lines setting fires. “Bell Strikes Fear” has a killer chorus that’ll stick in your head for hours after you hear it and is good as classic metal gets these days, while “World of Evil” and “The Ghosts of Nevermore” both remind of Ronnie James Dio’s glory days, with the latter featuring Kristof observing, “A thousand black ships are sailing.” “Prophets of War” is heavier and really chugs along, letting the band show a menacing side. Following interlude “The Forest of Souls,” the album’s only sputtering point occurs with “Cyber Villain,” a track that’s a little too silly and formulaic, but they save face on the pace-destroying “Four Black Witches,” an 8:42-long slurry, prog-ridden epic that’s solemn and heavy, with Kristof pleading, “Show me things I don’t want to see.” Interesting closer that really hammers home their point.

Sinister Realm have been a solid performer for Shadow Kingdom during their run, and they keep improving and getting sharper with each record. I find the heart of summer to be the perfect time for this kind of metal, so Sinister Realm will be soundtracking each hot day to come as I relive memories of my metallic youth.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/SinisterRealm

To buy either album, go here: http://store.shadowkingdomrecords.com/

Or here: http://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ShadowKingdomRecords