From the time human civilization could tell stories, there have been tales about the gods. Every civilization has them from the Vikings to the Greeks to the Romans, and so many people have had their lives shaped by the essence of these mythologies. Many of them endure today—sometimes to our detriment—and those stories have been a part of heavy metal lore from the start.

Austin-based doom quartet Witchcryer jumped headfirst into the tales of the deities on their excellent new record “When Their Gods Come for You,” an eight-track collection that is powerful and sultry, their finest moment so far. This concept piece visits with the aforementioned sagas we’ve heard from multiple civilizations throughout history, touching on Faustian tales, Anglo-Saxon and Greek stories, and even the origin of the Blackfoot creation god among a rich batch of tracks that open up all kinds of portals. The band—vocalist/lyricist Suzy Bravo, guitarist Jason Muxlow, bassist Marilyn, drummer Javi Moctezuma—maintain a doom baseline but push that in other directions, mixing in bluesy steam and even some power metal stomp into this killer collection.

“The Devil & the Deep Blue See” opens with some dark energy and Bravo’s powerful vocals, all circulating in a strange sheen. The bass unloads and the riffs tangle, the verses are just killer, and things bubble up, rounding back as the song sinks in its last dagger. “Hellmouth” pummels as the guitars chug, slaying as Bravo’s vocals slip into psychedelic power. The chorus is simple but effective, one that’ll be huge live, and the playing is smoking, delivering gut punches that send ripples and bury you in that energy. “Sisyphus, Holy Roller” has guitars churning and a daring pace, with Bravo declaring, “I am your holy roller, baby.” The track delves partially in doom rock but also in bluesy allure as Bravo promises, “I can give you what you want, I can set you free,” calling out before the song punches away.  “Nemesis, the Inevitable” feels dangerous and dark, letting things get steamy before Bravo wails, “I am vengeance and retribution,” and later jabbing, “I will take you down.” The pace keeps picking up, getting more sinister and stirring, driving you into hellish waves that rips out into huge amounts of power.

“Quetzalcoatl” starts with Aztec chants before the energy kicks in, feeling a little like an Iron Maiden battle anthem. The theme of fighting for one’s people permeates this track as Bravo calls, “They knew their time was ending, prepare to die with dignity,” as the band keeps adding fuel to the fire, making your blood surge as the fighters are paid the ultimate homage. “I Rise!” has slick bluesy leads and pummeling verses, with the dirt kicked straight into your mouth. The chorus soars, the band thickens the mud flow, and the track ends with a fiery, great finish. “Blackfoot Creation Story/Spirit Power” has warm psyche riffs and Native American-style melodies that get into your cells and fill you with that spirit. It’s an ancient storyteller on a record full of great tales, touching on the theme of passing on tradition to the next generation and calling out the “big black bird,” with Bravo pleading, “With the strength of your wings, lift me up,” as the track ends in solemnity. The title track ends the record with a slow-driving, bass-driving pace and leads that just fly for the sun. Bravo delivers a warning about retribution as she cuts, “The righteous fall just like the fools,” a sobering thought for us all. The track is defiant and sweltering, the guitars burn brightly, and the track ends in smoldering piles of ash.

Witchcryer really catapult themselves into a new level with “When Their Gods Come for You,” an absolute blast of an album that gets better with every listen. Bravo’s vocals and lyrics are a real highlight, as she’s stepping forward as one of the great voices in metal, and the rest of the band more than hold their own, lighting fires and tending them to make these tracks explode. This is one hell of a strong effort, one that should jerk open eyes and ears everywhere to this awesome doom force.

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

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/products

Or here (Europe): https://en.ripple.spkr.media/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.ripple-music.com/

Without dumping 200 words about my current life situation and the absolute hell I’ve lived in for the past nine months, let’s just say I’ve gotten a sobering battle with handling stress and trauma, trying to figure out how to live without crushing anxiety and complete lack of safety eating away at me. It’s a major reason why people trying to give advice like “suck it up” is particularly infuriating.

It was an ideal moment for “Fawn” the new EP by Disemballerina (their fifth studio release overall) to fall into my lap, because when art tries to dig into the darkness and find meaning, it can be cathartic and massively helpful. The band describes their music as “queer outsider chamber music,” and the three tracks on here can both soothe and help identify with the shadows, working their way into your bloodstream. The band—Jennifer Christensen (cello, harp), Ayla Holland (bajo quinto, electric and acoustic guitars, ebow), Myles Donovan (viola, harp, marxophone, glass harp)—uses each of the tracks to highlight fight, flight, and freeze, the three survival modes when one is facing a panic or trauma event that can be crippling to one’s everyday life. The music here feels like it embodies each level, helping you face them and make sense. And while the band is not metallic in the traditional sense, there’s a heavy sense of doom at the heart of this, creating a jarring aesthetic with which many heavy music fans are bound to identify.   

“Pancada” gets started as the strings trickle, and sounds grow and spread like a mysterious fog, quivering in calm but foreboding spirit. Things pick up as the strings lean and strike, slowly plodding the steps as the dramas swells underneath. Dark waters wash over wounds, the ambiance swells and darkens, and calls pulsate with chimes as the track fades out. “Somnambulist” has strings shivering as acoustic guitars add a new texture, and a woodsy folk flourish sends shivers down your spine. Then, gentle waters sooth wounds, your flesh cools off, and echoes rumble as the final moments bring balance. “Garnets” closes the EP with melodies dancing and the power rushing along, flushing into ominous haze. Elements pelt like tiny ice daggers, shadows thicken and get more immersive, and everything slowly ashes into the horizon, delicately letting go of your hand.

The elements of fight, flight, and freeze are things many of us can understand, and our reactions to trauma can be quite varied, which Disemballerina focus on with the hushed and lovely “Fawn.” Their chamber-friendly instrumental creations can border on doom at times and definitely simmer in clouded waters, but the music  can be helpful for anyone going through these struggles who just need a place to reflect. These three songs are the perfect bed in which to lie, connect to what’s challenging your mind, and give yourself some space to understand the struggle and figure out a way to fight again.

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

And here: disemballerinapdx.bandcamp.com

To buy the album, go here: https://riffmerchant.bandcamp.com/album/fawn

For more on the label, go here: https://riffmerchant.bandcamp.com/

I’ve been to exactly one movie at a theater this year, and it was a socially distanced work event where we rented out a screen and watched “Godzilla vs Kong,” a gigantic battle you really should see on a big screen with a supreme sound system. I have a soft spot for the old Japanese Godzilla movies because they’d play on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid, and they both terrified and enthralled me.

Seattle titans Oxygen Destroyer capture a lot of that monster movie mayhem in their music, which is very much on point, and that rushes to the surface on their explosive new record “Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind,” a title long enough you likely need a breath after saying it. Their pummeling death metal pays homage to the old titanic battles that could consume entire cities (their name comes from the weapon used to destroy Godzilla in the original 1954 movie), and this new record focuses half on Japanese kaiju films and half on American and UK movies such as “The Giant Claw” and “Gorgo.” The band—vocalist/guitarist Lord Kaiju, guitarist Joey Walker, bassist Paul Wright, drummer Chris Craven—packs these eight tracks and 29 minutes with enough vicious power to make you wonder if you haven’t just watched two behemoths tangle.

“Merciless Embodiment of Everlasting Death” gets things off to a horrific start with animalistic battles and screams before the track drills open, and splattering fury just goes off. Savage chaos rips through you, the leads ignite, and speed is unleashed before the track comes to a furious end. “Possessing the Putrified Remnants of the Unholy God Incarnate” rips apart with vile growls and stampeding thrashing that makes the earth feel like it’s imploding. The growls hurl buildings while the drumming destroys with the leads heating up and charging. Fluid guitars clear your mind for a moment before the torment returns in full and explodes. “Slaughtering the Guardian Monsters” has beasts snarling and a punchy tempo that comes right for you. The vocals do significant damage while the pace feels like a battering ram, and then great guitar work emerges and blocks the sun, as everything comes to a menacing finish. “Sons of the Necrobeast” is awash in insanity as it dawns with the growls blazing and the playing turning rock to rubble. Nasty violence explodes, the drums maul, and vicious riffs take over and smash lights.

“Enduring the Maternal Rage of the Amphibious Monstrosity” has a strange, disembodying open before the riffs arrive and the drums rumble, with mauling growls leading the way. Chaos stampedes over everything, the band mangles you, and every element does its job to smash away at buildings. “The Plague Spreading Horror from 20,000 Fathoms” dashes amid monstrous growls and playing that stomps innards as the drums come unglued. The guitar work dizzies as the bottom end thickens and spacious hell envelopes your mind, destroying everything in its path. “As Big as a Battleship” starts off with the ominous UFO reports from the aforementioned film “The Giant Claw,” and then the madness is realized, and things fire up in a hurry. Guitars sizzle and send fire as the blasts jam your insides, and the lava bubbles and flows forcefully, raining down devastating blows as the song ends. “Their Reign Has Begun” is the closer that mashes massively as the guitars twist and mangle, and fierce wails send seismic waves. Total slaughter is achieved as the band keeps battling, the tempo packs on some nasty firing, and the final moments shroud everything with smoke and fire, with the city being given its last rights.

There is no way to hear “Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind” and not envision great beasts doing battle in the center of a major metropolis, with human forces scrambling to figure out how to save humanity from the aftermath. And that’s just the point of Oxygen Destroyer’s music, which is purposely heavy and utterly terrifying in the best way. This is great, cataclysmic fun and a total beast of death metal hell.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/

Or here (cassette, coming soon): https://headsplitrecords.storenvy.com/

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

And here: https://www.facebook.com/headsplitrecords/

For the past several months, I felt like I had lost the ability to dream. I’m sure I had some rapid-fire visons as I slept that don’t recall, but the presence of full-bodied, strange stories my brain tells me felt like they had disappeared into the back if my mind, robbing me of one of the highlights of sleep where I could travel into weird labyrinths as I lie motionless all night.

Things have changed a bit recently as lucid dreaming has returned, and I’m wondering if it has to do with having to cut out THC due my weird anxiety. This is relevant to what we’re talking about today, namely “Deconsecrate,” the second record from death metal ghouls Ænigmatum. These eight songs spread over 45 minutes made my brain charge and the morbid ends of my imagination start to fire, almost like I could have a dream during the day as I took on their mind-rumbling, progressive death metal. The band—vocalist/guitarist Kelly McLaughlin, guitarist Eli Lundgren, bassist/synth player Brian Rush, drummer/backing vocalist Pierce Williams—keeps you fully engaged as they drag you through warped horror rooms, past carnival mirrors, and into the strangest mental stimulation you can handle as they unleash some of the most ridiculously proficient, heavy sounds they can manage.

“Forged From Bedlam” is led in by drum rolls before things are torn apart, the growls shred, and the music is propulsive and exciting. Ugly carnage mauls hard, the bass playing crumbles time, and the leads calculate and attack, heating up with nasty growls and disarming speed. “Undaunted Hereafter” pounds away as the bass slips in, and the carnage explodes. The drums unload as the playing gets more daring and thrashing, tearing into your flesh and even lighting some progressive fires. The track chugs anew as a massive assault is mounted before the phantom releases its grip. “Disenthralled” is disorienting and tangling as the growls scorch from behind. The leads jolt as things get even trickier, charging through your mind into fluid, fertile terrain before the track gets thrashier, the growls mar, and the chaos bleeds into “Fracturing Proclivity” that basks in ominous tones. Speed later makes your head spin as absolute insanity lands, completely scrambling your brain as the guitars jettison off into the horizon. The drums clobber, the skies darken, and the piles of ash dissolve into the earth.

“Floods Within a Splintered Cortex” is a weird, spacey instrumental piece that lets the clouds slowly burst, the pace crumble, and the synth jolt before pulling into “Larker, Sanguine Phantom” that has the guitars stabbing from the start. Things gets relentless and frantic, which feels frightening at times, and the crushing madness spills into great intensity and chaotic charging that makes your blood rush. The back end clobbers as throaty growls reign, ending everything in ravenous crunch. “Despot of Amorphic Dominions” is whirring and strange as it greets you, exploding in rubbery ferocity and explosive leads that ignite with energy. The power suddenly pulls back as hypnotic strangeness overtakes the ambiance, numbing before the daggers fly again, and an insane tempo forces you to try to make sense of what you’re experiencing. The playing topples, a spacey vibe stretches, and everything tumbles into an ashen abyss. “Animus Reflection” closes the album, starting with break-neck power and stirring madness, with a zany atmosphere to boot. The playing carves bone as your limbs are tested, the bass slinks and slips, and the leads both ignite and chill, churning your bones and ending things with intoxicating fumes.

“Deconsecrate” is one of those albums where on one hand you can lead a listener on a path of expectation with these eight songs, and on the other it’s like I don’t know what the fuck to say that’ll make this make sense, which I love. Ænigmatum brings imaginative, jarring death metal that is challenging and progressively devastating, music that you likely won’t fully absorb the first time through and maybe not even the 10^th. This album is further proof that death metal hasn’t been fully mastered yet because artists such as these still generate sounds and auras not yet discovered, proving there’s still so much left to unearth.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063560651573

To buy the album, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/collections/aenigmatum

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

Operating in mystery can be frustrating or exhilarating in your music, depending on where you come from as a listener. As a writer, it can give you something on which to dig your teeth a little deeper because you’re not necessarily bound to a philosophy or set of themes, so you can delve into the art in a different means so that you can gleam some of your own meaning.

Multi-international force Qrixkuor, named after a bird from Kenneth Grant’s 1997 book Against the Light, unleash “Poison Palinopsia,” a record engorged with occult leanings and outright strangeness that are packed into two epic-length tracks. They aren’t directing you to specific topics, they’re not commenting explicitly on the state of the world, and it’s easy to just simmer in their thunderous gloom and let that shape your own journey. Its members—vocalist/guitarist S, bassist VK, drummer DNH—populate other bands such as Temple Nightside, Grave Miasma, Vassafor and plenty others, but here they focus on truly dark death metal that soars into the deepest caverns, travels through madness, and tests your will as you take on this mentally ravaging experience.

“Serpentine Susurrus – Mother’s Abomination” starts things off, running 24:11 and basking in sound beams before strange growls and mind-altering playing make your blood race. Guitars soars and twist as your psyche is squeezed, chaos swirls, and animalistic shrieks do damage to your mind. The playing keeps rounding back, assaulting your guts, and the guitars start fires they’re not necessarily keen to control before things take a doomy turn. Smoke thickens, the drums break through the earth, and the playing begins to smother, pairing up with the mangling growls. Everything builds into a weird fury, the drums turn stone to dust, and the intensity spikes before the track melts away.

“Recrudescent Malevolence – Mother’s Illumination” is the closer and the longest of the two, running 24:31 and starting in a strange haze with synth clouds and eerie sound warps. Melodies slowly melt, taking on a plodding pace that’s nevertheless heavy as hell. The pressure builds as the vocals get nastier, the leads charge, and the playing just melts, rumbling in echo. Orchestral synth sweeps hard, the hellish tones get dizzying and brutal, and the growls begin to kill as the punishment heavily crumbles. The playing shifts to slurry and strange, cavernous pounding penetrates, and the power overwhelms the senses, mixing into synth weirdness before the final moments bend to warped hell.

Taking the plunge into “Poison Palinopsia” is not something to be taken lightly as it’s not a collection of songs you’re encountering, it’s a full-fledged psychological experience. Qrixkuor are not opening a portal into sinister sounds that any other death metal band could own and operate. This is a full commitment to the void, a trip through the unseen that might be unmanageable for some, intimidating for others, but something that’ll leave its mark long after you’ve left its warped kingdom.

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

To buy the album, go here: http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/store/

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

Let me potentially clear the room here a bit: Today we’re going to talk about love songs. Cool. I assume what we have left are the listeners with an open mind, and the folks who left don’t realize we’re not here to get all sappy and talk about torch power ballads. Instead, love is merely the central theme, the guts of the record, and there remain thorns even amid gazey and atmospheric sounds.

“Beautiful Ghosts” is the new album from post-black metal band Unreqvited, a band we’ve come to like a lot around here, and this collection of tracks jumps right into topics of love, devotion, and passion, subject matter this genre tends to avoid. Sole member 鬼 boldly goes where many don’t, in that more delicate sounds and philosophies are woven into music that still can rumble and dice when the need arises. I just had a detailed dental appointment last week and was under nitrous oxide, and I realized during that procedure that this record would have been perfect to hear at that time as my colorless gas-induced euphoria and comfort peaked. This music isn’t going to get you where you need if you require all-out brutality. But remember, vulnerability and identifying with the heart are human things, and we should not have to shy away from that, no matter how metal we think we are.    

“All Is Lost” rushes open with a synth burst, shrieks pillowed behind the sound, and sweeping drama that sweeps you up. Later, the track chugs harder as the emotions explode, your heart races, and a colorful assault dashes into the sky. “Autumn & Everley” has keys dripping into a foggy, dreary morning as everything slowly unfurls, and stylish playing blankets you as the shrieks ignite your nerve endings. Huge melodies and propulsive playing unite as the energy and atmosphere mix as things then ease into the ambiance, calming your sore muscles before the guitars pick up and gust you away. The playing heats up, warm waves wash over, and everything melts into stars. “Reverie” floats in serenity, making the hairs stand up on your arms, and then the numbing increases. It feels like an oxygen rush as all the elements crash together, and the final moments ice down your wounds.

“Funeral Pyre” also basks in tricking keys and synth haze as the shrieks unhinge, and cool riffs work with the simmering melodies that overtake you. The keys become a major factor again, sometimes soothing to the point of disarming, the guitars add elegance, and everything flutters in the air as the track is sucked into a vortex. “Cherish” is a quick instrumental with orchestral synth, flowing into your heart and oxygenating your body, paving the way for the title track that just swings open. Blood rushes as the shrieks explode, punching a hole in the haze, and beams of energy cut through even deeper. Hearty “ah, ah, ah” calls fill your lungs, the dream state thickens, and cries wrench, leaving a glistening sheen on your skin as lush power encircles all. “All Is Found” ends the album by dripping in with a calculated push and calming guitars working into your nervous system. Gothy rushing mixes with softer playing, emotions tidal wave, and your imagination is filled with colors you never dreamt before.

It takes some guts to enter the heavy music terrain and present a record about love, something that probably makes the more extreme listeners want to run and hide. But every emotion and feeling are legitimate, and Unreqvited jump into the deep end on “Beautiful Ghosts,” an album that is arresting and magical, taking you on a journey every time. This is some of the band’s finest, most imaginative art, and if you’re intimidated by being vulnerable, that likely says something about you.   

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

To buy the album, go here: http://lnk.spkr.media/unreqvited-beautiful-ghosts

For more on the label, go here: https://en.prophecy.de/

If you’re not interested in having your stomach turn and confronting some of the vilest sounds and aromas in all of death metal, maybe today’s entry isn’t for you. No shame. I was trying to eat dinner the other night and could not handle the surgery scenes in the “Dr. Death” series on Peacock (the Wondery podcast on the subject is great), so who am I to judge? We’re all people trying to get by.

While they haven’t roamed the earth as a band for a terribly long time, Danish death/gore band Septage has gotten a firm grasp on the morbid and disgusting after having formed last year, one of the worst in our planet’s recent history. But in a short amount of time, the band—vocalist/drummer Ugur, guitarist Tobias, bassist Malik—has cranked out two EPs, with the latest coming in the form of “Septisk Eradikasyon,” a four-track, 12-minute effort that’s being given various forms of release, one a 7” record. This is monstrous and foul, but it also is a blast of energy and carnage, a bleeding, puss-secreting experience that might not be for every listener. And that’s OK. We don’t judge you on that.  

“Of Gangrene Limbs” unloads the carnage early, setting an ugly tone of punishing death and gurgling growls. Everything splatters wildly, the guitars slur, and we’re neck deep in the muck, some of it getting in our mouths. The madness gets zany, and filthy clobbering takes the track to its end. “Perpetual Fetid Odor” launches infernal growls and mauling, disgusting playing, soaking in blood and piss. The tempo stomps guts as the leads dice, the world implodes, and everything crashes to the ground. “Sick Possessions” is packed with animalistic growls and savage ferocity, with a freezing bassline ushering in some progressive tendencies. Things get even more twisted as the track winds down, ending in a splattering pile. “Simmered in Mephitis” ends the record by punching into flesh and the hammering guitars just going off, making you go dizzy. Fast and frenzied, the leads burst, the guitars slaughter, and we swim into murky synth and horror that spirals out into space.

Septage’s insanity might have just been planted into the ground to grow, yet “Septisk Eradikasyon” festers quickly, turning your psyche into mush. This is a disgusting, morbid collection of songs that might only last 12 minutes but lays in its claws before you know what hit you. We’re only two EPs into this band’s run, and it’s scary to think how warped they’ll get as they head toward a full-length assault.

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

To buy the album, go here: http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/store/

Or here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/shop/septage-septisk-eradikasyon-vinyl/

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

And here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/