The element of mystery is something that’s largely gone in the world of heavy metal as social media has stripped away a lot of the puzzle (remember when we didn’t know who was in Ghost?), and therefore we get to know more about the individuals behind the music and what makes them tick. It’s a nice quality, but it’s also alluring when we can’t see behind the curtain.

Australian black metal force EOS are like phantoms in the night, albeit really loud and terrifying ones, and their debut record “The Great Ascension” is horrifying and nightmarish. In fact, if you look at the band photo, they kind of look like they’re about to drop a rap album, but don’t let that fool you. These three masked figures have been working on their great opus for several years now, and it is a savage, yet thought-provoking work, something that mars your psyche and drags you on a strange journey through the excesses, tragedies, and evils of humankind that have their hooks in all of us.

The title track hammers open, splattering the walls with blood as the vocals gurgle, and grisly playing increases the pressure. The playing allows trickles of melody into the DNA as maniacal howls devastate, and group wails sicken as the song blazes out. “Valkyrie” has gruff vocals and the drums utterly pummeling as melody spills into the darkness. Vicious howls destroy while guitars flood the senses with gigantic ruffs, wrenching hell heats up dangerously, and everything ends in brute force. “Amour Propre” opens in grinding chaos as insane howls spit shrapnel, and black metal-level melodies darken the skies. Detached calls open a trance as shadows thicken, and everything burns to ash.

“Draugar” simmers in its juices as the vocals tears open flesh, and the relentless pace puts you in imminent danger. Heavy and slurry, the track turns you inside out, leaving battered limbs behind as the roars push and the leads heat up, stabbing toward an abrupt end. “Memento Mori” heats up as glorious riffs glimmer, and then shit just rams open the castle walls. Drums hammer as the vocals are delivered through gritted teeth, and then the playing loses its mind and swings sharpened blades. Leads spiral, making the room spin, while everything barrels toward a vicious end. “Black Winter Bloodbath” brings choked riffs and drums drubbing hard while the growls creak out as if from a dusty crypt. The ferocity then multiplies as the melody rushes in waves, the playing stampedes, and everything ends in a pile of muscle and sinew. “Illumination and Will” ends the record and delivers a sprawling assault that causes disorientation. The vocals unleash hell while the black metal streaks smear grease, bringing a grittier pace as throaty vocal snarls poke wounds. The heat continues to increase while the pace takes apart skeletal structures, ripping out its own guts and blasting to the end.

EOS’s mysterious guise and relentless black metal make “The Great Ascension” a perplexing but rewarding listen. It took me a few visits to really explore the peaks and valleys these Aussie freaks have woven into this creation, and ultimately that amplified my enjoyment level. Black metal has been at oversaturation for quite some time now, but EOS prove that it’s still possible to make morbid waves in this subgenre and create something creepy and memorable.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/eos.black.metal

To buy the album, go here: https://brilliantemperor.bigcartel.com/product/eos-the-great-ascension-lp

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

Forgive the brutal assault on the dead horse, but December is not a dead zone for music, and a major reason why I don’t rush my final top 40 of the year is I wait until I have properly processed everything I need to hear. I’m lucky in that way in that this is a site and not a print publication with a long lead time on getting lists done, so I can fully appreciate everything that comes deep in the year.

One of those records that definitely should not be allowed to fly under the radar is “Radiant Abyss,” the debut from New Orleans-based maulers Kavyk who pile doom, death, and strange atmospherics into their five-track, 42-minute assault. Formed with members of Barghest, the band—vocalist/guitarist Troy Bennett, guitarist Max Kimmons, bassist Brian Eiermann, drummer AJ Martinez—combines similar elements of filth and chaos you find with that project, but there’s such a heavy cosmic vibe to all of this that it manages to capture the imagination while also delivering heavy bludgeoning. That makes this crusher a pretty damn great time, and a smothering one at that.

“Radiant Abyss” opens with a drubbing rumble and vicious death growls ripping from Bennett’s bowels. The track then adds a heavy dose of space dust, one of the factors that makes this record as fun as it is vicious, as a huge charge comes from the stars. The drums crumble wills as the vocals ramp up, and melody combines with a feral surge to add an exclamation point at the end. “Cathartic Voices” runs a healthy 9:40 and starts with warmth before the tempo is torn to shreds, and chaos begins to reign. Vicious growls and a trucking pace lead into muck pockets and then a psychedelic fog, and out of that, things heat up in a hurry, the playing trudges, and everything hurtles toward a hungry black hole.  

“Civilized” is a beefy 8:58, and it rips through the atmosphere, bringing menace and trudging haymakers. The playing pounds away and promises bruising while that washes over planetary force, jarring you awake with the drums clobbering. Bennett’s shrieks mar time, leveling into atmospheric pressure, sweltering guitars, and a mangling finish. “For Those Who Long to Die” combines doom and progressive winds at the start, and that slowly loosens rock and sediment as the growls gut you. Both mystifying and troubling, the track adds intensity as it weaves its way toward a sound vortex. Closer “Comatose Simplicity” is the longest track here, running 10:41, and it totally explodes, blasting into calculated heaviness. The vocals rip through rocky paths as the storming envelopes, and the playing plasters. Proggy weirdness works its way in before things are surrounded by alien strangeness that surges and finally finishes off with trance-inducing violence.

It’s great that the end of the year no longer is a burying grounds for records that didn’t cut it, and Kavyk’s monstrous debut “Radiant Abyss” is an album on which you definitely should not sleep. Cosmic death and doom are all over this five-track beast, and every single inch of this thing will leave you bruised and battered. This is a titanic debut that brings brute force and entrancing creativity in equal, twisted doses.     

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

To buy the album, go here: https://caustichollowrecords.bandcamp.com/album/radiant-abyss

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

I’ve never been to Hawaii before, and I’m just going to guess I never will be because I don’t want to fly, and that sounds like a long time to be in the air. Oh well! But I’d imagine it’s amazing there, a place that just takes your breath away, surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean that makes it hard to get there and difficult to leave.

Yet, there’s a darkness in what seems like paradise, and that bubbles to the surface on “II,” the first full-length release from Verlust. Helmed by single musician J, the music on this effort does pay homage to the artist’s home in these isolated islands, including the rich nature surrounding everything there. There also is a history of religious persecution and violence done over the ages by missionaries (a topic we also broached last week with Heretical Sect), so J’s anger and violent lash back against Christianity based on that history also is woven in with blood into the music. This release is filled with second-wave black metal power, with a nice dash of melody for good measure, and the fury and ill intent that fuels the music is apparent and striking from the moment the initial sparks feed the fire.    

“Introduction” starts with birds chirping and nature unfurling as guitars slowly awaken, and the world comes alive as it heads toward “Vision of a Mighty Serpent” that rushes to life with as flood of melody. The drums crush as J’s savage growls eviscerate, while the pace stomps guts before settling into calm. The music trickles along before a new gust bursts and delivers rage and power, with J wailing, “The serpent crept forth, transformed to a new entity, androgynous and baphometic, goat and serpent, man and woman.” “Mountains” gasps open as great riffs encircle, and vile cries go hand in hand with the raucous blasting. The playing tumbles violently toward earth as the track turns relentless, jarring to the very end. “Promethean Fate” has raw melody jolting and growls tearing away. The drums rumble out of a brief respite with an explosive burst and J howling, “The mountains echo our insignificance, silent monoliths of eternity,” as the track comes to a fiery end.

“A Sword Turned Towards Heaven” punches in and crushes right away, drilling through rock and unleashing spellbinding guitars that leave you dizzy. That enrapturing tempo keeps building as the war is raged with great gusto, with J declaring, “Spew forth blasphemy! Ye are the true traitors! We destroy your sacred spaces, desecrating the remains, as we build monuments to your demise.” The force is storming and driven while assault continues its push until it crushes through the front gates. “Deep Dark Waters” wrenches with raw menace and a hammering approach that keeps wielding violent tools. The track slows a bit but remains impossibly heavy, though speed is a factor again later, the drums power the ship, and gears continues to spin until the smoke collects and chokes out everything. “A Door into Emptiness” tears open as guitars stir and the vocals scrape, while black metal majesty spirals into a volcanic attack. The pace is sweltering as the guitars play tricks with your mind, and the fury is complete madness, dismantling systems and heading into monster riffs. The track eventually begins to relent but only after earth and flesh are scorched, leading toward closing track “Outro (Farewell).” The instrumental piece has waters rushing, guitars trickling, and the force of nature at the forefront again.

J packs a lot of emotion, disgust, and homage into the eight tracks on “II,” an album that sharpens its blades and heads right into the heart of war. For a first record under the Verlust banner, this establishes them as another strong foot solider in the battle against oppressive faith and those who seek to continue harming the earth. Verlust see you as the enemy, and the only acceptable outcome is your total and unquestioned demise.   

For more on the band, go here: https://verlust.bandcamp.com/

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

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

It took almost the entire year, but we finally have a record that completely defies logic, explanation, and reason to a degree where I just sat there the first time this record ended and wondered what had just happened to me. Sure, there have been other records that stand out creatively and challenge mentally in 2020, but I don’t know there’s anything anywhere that could match Folterkammer.

The Swiss/American black metal band (and that’s a very rigid description for a beast so wild) delivers “Die Lederpredigt,” which translates to “The Leather Sermon,” a seven-track adventure that mixes dark theatricality, operatic fury, and metallic ferocity in such a strange way, it’s hard to even describe. A lot of that is because of ridiculously savage and flexible vocalist Andromeda Anarchia, whose voice needs to be heard to be comprehended, and I won’t do her justice here at all, hard as I’ll try. She’s such a force, a tornadic wave of insanity and dramatic terror that you cannot take your attention from her, and you’ll only understand her words if you speak German. She’s joined by guitarist Zachary Ezrin (of Imperial Triumphant, who also are no strangers to challenging, mind-defying music), bassist Darren Hanson, and drummer Brendan McGowan on a record that conjures the evil spirits of black metal, exposes the abusive nature of religion and authoritative power, and comes from the perspective of a scorned goddess looking to shed blood.

“Die Nänie” dawns with organs swelling and Anarchia’s hushed singing before she goes operatic and tears paint from the walls. Her shrieks cause muscle spasms as the pace goes nuclear, delivering spellbinding madness as the chorus wooshes back for more, and the track ends in a sticky pool. “Die Hymne” arrives with Anarchia going for the stratosphere vocally, as the playing lands heavy punches, and her shrieks are nuanced by her theatrical hacking and splintering, which is just a morbid joy. The pace hammers away as the track gets vexing as hell, with some outright extraordinary singing pumping blood, and the final moments gurgling out. “Die Elegie” is gently psychedelic as it gets started, with the words coming in ghostly speaking as the foundation explodes. Her growls mar while choral backing sends chills to your soul, as everything that comes from Anarchia’s mouth, even if you don’t understand the words, displays her alien range. The playing unravels further while also soaking up a pastoral vibe before disappearing into darkness.

“Das Gebet” enters the room frantically as Anarchia mixes operatic singing with vile speak-like growl bursts that crawl up your spine. It’s madness. As the song progresses, it actually turns a really catchy, almost pop-like display that explodes like sugar in your blood, and Anarchia’s playful, manic gush of words is both utterly charming and completely terrifying, calling out for dark forces that likely cannot be controlled. “Das Magnificat” has riffs sweeping and creaky growls crawling through blood before the singing gets more breathtaking (if that can be believed). The playing thrashes as evil is allowed to operate without constraint, with wild shrieks crushing glass, and the whole thing storming to a gut-wrenching finish. “Das Sinngedicht” starts mystically and has a chamber music feel, while the singing surges, and the fog thickens. The guitars charge up as Anarchia hisses in dark tongue, sprawling into wild fury and twisted organs. The guitars jolt as the singing dares the gods, blasting shut and canceling the light. “Das Zeugnis” closes this experience with organs signaling doom, and slow, dark tidings bleeding ever so slowly. The singing pushes, starting with a glimmer of hope before turning ugly, and the song unloads with ill will, bringing with it pumps of Gothic soot and black waves of horror. Anarchia’s singing flutters before turning into growls of rage, crushing throats and adding to the claustrophobic suffocation of the album’s final moments.

With mere weeks left to go in the year, 2020 dropped one final destroyer in “Die Lederpredigt,” a record that has no equal when it comes to ambition, metallic ingenuity, and hellish character. Folterkammer deliver something completely different from anything else you heard this year and likely will for a while, and it’s an incredible experience. This record lashes back against power structures, does so with horrifying and gorgeous horror, and it’s something that you won’t be able to get out of your head well after the music ends.

For more on the band, go here: facebook.com/folterkammer.music

To buy the album, go here: https://gileadmedia.net/products/folterkammer-die-lederpredigt-lp

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

Our roles as stewards of nature and the entire world around us is a bloodied ballad that’s been suffocated by certain members of the United States government, treating our woes as a hoax, while others continue to fight to save the place we live so that it’s here for generations beyond us. There are some signs of hope moving forward, but the struggle against science deniers looks unending.

And it’s not just them. We all have a role in how healthy the environment is, and all of us fail in some way. But having a caring, nurturing attitude toward our world could play a major role in keeping it inhabitable. We are caregivers for this planet, a major theme on “Mothers Weavers Vultures,” the excellent new record from Grayceon, one their most sobering and vital to date. Musically, the band’s progressive doom sounds as rich and powerful as ever five records into their run. Their words always held a lot of weight, but what Grayceon—vocalist/cellist Jackie Perez Gratz, guitarist Max Doyle, drummer Zack Farwell—bring on this record involves us all and serves as a reminder that even as many of us try to do our best for our surroundings, we also can be destroyers if we drop our guard.

“Diablo Wind” dawns with Gratz’s cello scraping as guitars open up, and the energy kicks in. “The fire winds are coming strong, the future is dark, future is dark,” she warns ominously before the track sweeps, and Gratz’s vocals go from ethereal singing to piercing shrieks. The playing jolts and loosens foundations while sludge enters the mix and muddies the waters, and wordless calls soar and pull closed the doors. “The Lucky Ones” bursts through the gates with Gratz calling, “If you want the moon don’t hide from the night, if you want the rose don’t hide from its thorns.” The track plays with light and dark, softness and heaviness as the riffs darken, and the cello pours the drama generously. “Open your eyes,” Gratz prods repeatedly as harsh shrieks rain down, and the cello swelters, sparking an aggressive burst of playing. Doom drives, the playing gets heavier, and the track rips again before resting easily.

“This Bed” is punchy and agitated, and it has a strange Alice in Chains vibe, or at least that’s how it strikes me. “Yesterday is gone, is it too late to say sorry?” Gratz wonders as trouble is battled, regrets and pain confronted. The strings feel dusky later, taking on a classical vibe while the singing floats amid darker progressions, as Gratz calls, “Let us fade away in this bed we’ve made.” “And Shine On” is burly and punchy, as Gratz demands, “Don’t let them break you down.” The melody stirs as the playing carves away, muddy riffs add muscle, and everything is shaken and stirred before dissolving into mystery. “Rock Steady” is your closer, and it’s a heartfelt love letter as cello adds blankets of sound, the playing is slower and solemn, and Gratz lures, “Somewhere under the rainbow, that’s where you’ll find me.” The track then is shredded at the seams about four minutes into this seven-minute cut as shrieks devastate, and the guitars storm. “We won’t be together forever, but I’ll love you until my days are done,” Gratz vows as waves lap, the earth quakes, and a warm glaze bleeds over the track’s last moments.

Grayceon spend their riveting “Mothers Weavers Vultures” reminding us we are the protectors of the place in which we live, and too often we let our responsibilities dissolve into nothing. The line, “We are all mothers of this place we call home,” is that urgent message on “The Lucky Ones,” and as you visit these songs and the words, it turns into a needed warning that might be too late to answer. Powerful music and environmentally urgent messaging long have been a part of Grayceon’s creativity, and never have those been more important and needed than right here, right now.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://translationloss.com/products/mothers-weavers-vultures?_pos=1&_sid=f9f2505bb&_ss=r

Or here (digital order proceeds will be donated to Defenders of Wildlife and the Wildlife Conservation Society): https://grayceon.bandcamp.com/

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

That dumb clown fuck that just lost the election and keeps getting beaten like a drum in baseless court challenges pushed forward an idea about patriotic learning curriculum he wanted forced through that would serve to whitewash this country’s horrifying moments from history and basically stand in as an America fuck yeah woo retelling of shit that always gave this nation a really foul reputation.

People who want knowledge always will be able to find it no matter what kids are taught (man, was my historical education slanted as fuck), because the bloody paths left behind are what help us learn and hopefully prevent those things from happening again. American Southwest-based black metal force Heretical Sect are seeing to it that atrocities in their region never are swept under the carpet, and their massive debut “Rapturous Flesh Consumed” tells the story of Salvador de Guerra, a Catholic padre who is responsible for vast amounts of death and torture of the Hopi tribe in New Mexico in the 17^th century, all fueled by his visions of Christianity. By the way, it’s not an easy Google search to find information on what happened, but dig deeply and you can learn the horrifying details. The band—vocalist/drummer Death Warg, guitarists Coffin Beast and Crypt Hammer, bassist Demonic Haze—eschews revealing their identities (though members play in other bands such as Superstition and Predatory Light), with the goal of getting people to concentrate on the music and the madness they retell rather than who they are. Even had they stepped out of the shadows, there’s no way you can take your mind off their violent mission and path of destruction.

“Rising Light of Lunacy” opens pounding away as growls entangle, growing utterly filthy as they crawl through the dust. The riffs then kill with stunning precision, the bass recoils, and the drums destroy, ending the track with a warped assault. “Baptismal Rot and Ash” runs a healthy 10:34, the longest track on the record, and it opens in sooty fury and doomy slurring, with strange growls breathing down your neck. The track then paralyzes with brutal growls and dark emissions flowing through spiraling guitars and animalistic attacking. The track turns darker and burly as snarled dialog pushes into a strange sound cloud that eventually dissipates. “The Depths of Weeping Infinity” starts with the drums making paste of your bones and growls rumbling through a mauling pace. Hypnotic guitars cause strange feelings as growls simmers, the pace destroys, and confounding melodies slam shut the door.

“Degradation Temple” runs a meaty 7:08 and has guitars rising before burning off fuel. Detached vocals swim in the ether, and the intensity then gives way to a slower, though no less heavy, pace. Bizarre calls twist your brain as speak-like growls stomp, and the riffs catch fire again. Another dose of alien oddity sends pulses as guitars tangle, and the track blasts out. “Resurrection Sky” is a quick one, running 2:27 and leaving you mentally steamrolled. Synth fog rises, deep growls cut into your guts, and the noise blares to its finish, spilling into closer “Ritual Inversion” that sends chills before the guitars blast to life. Cosmic impulses hammer while the vocals sprawl, with the manic pace continuing to confuse and crush. The playing then torpedoes as the drums go for throats, the intent is vicious and bloodthirsty, and the final moments melt into a dream haze.

Heretical Sect’s demonic haze of southwestern-inspired death and black metal rages with blood and fire on “Rapturous Flesh Consumed,” their great debut record that refuses to bury the region’s blood-soaked history. This is 36 minutes of relentless power, a record that’ll grind you down to your basic essence and erode you into the earth. This end-of-year destroyer jars you out of your autumnal slumber and reminds you there remains deadly metal left to arrive in cursed 2020, and this sure as fuck is some of it.

For more on the band, go here: https://hereticalsect.bandcamp.com/releases

To buy the album, go here: https://gileadmedia.net/products/heretical-sect-rapturous-flesh-consumed-lp

Or here: https://heretical-sect.bandcamp.com/

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

And here: http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/

The night can be mysterious and frightening to many people, as I recall times spent as a kid cowering under my covers, wondering what strange noises outside were, always worrying there was a strange face peering back at me in black corners of my room. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown friendly with the night, a time when I feel most at home with my own psychosis and unsteady thoughts.

Chad Davis, veteran of many, many bands of the metallic realms from Hour of 13 to the Sabbathian to the Ritualist to tons more, used the night as the ultimate inspiration for “To Walk the Path of Sorrows,” his harsh but atmospheric black metal project Obscurae. This record, his second full-length effort under this banner, is a true revelation this time of year when daylight is at a minimum and the nights are darker and colder than what we just witnessed with spring and summer. This music feels like it hisses beneath the earth’s crust that also happens to be covered by inches of snow and ice, and is a gruff, noise-infested creation that might sound foreign to people who have grown more accustomed to polished sounds. But Davis never holds back on the melody or majesty; you just have to work through each morbid layer to find the sweet spots driven so low beneath your feet. It’s worth doing to work.    

“Upon the Shadowthrone of Night” begins sending phantasmal impulses to your central nervous system as keys rush and then the hammers fall. Davis’ shrieks tear into flesh, ripping viciously even as they’re buried under several feet of snow and ice, jackhammering as the synth adds layers of frost. The chaos continues to gain intensity while the riffs cripple, and everything disappears into the night. “Amidst the Blackfrost Towers” unloads a beastly assault while the vocals lurk in the shadows, and the guitar work confounds. The drumming clobbers as the pace grows hypnotic and disorienting, adding generous amounts of murk as the track devastates to the end. “Into Fullmoon Descent” spills opens with Davis’ shrieks splattering and savage punishment leading the way. The melodies feel like they’ve been warped by moonlight as an awesome sprawl leads to the fog collecting, and shrieks are obscured by noise. Things continue to get more violent from there, finally subsiding by being guided into the sky.

The title track then emerges with an eruption as sorrowful heaviness brings an avalanche, and the vocals lay waste to everything. Majestic firing continues to collect and bring added pressure, while stunning power does a number on your muscles, and the riffs encircle you, filling each pore with the mysterious essence of the nighttime air. “Eerie Freezing Winds” is pulverizing as is starts as the vocals blind, scraping your soul of all its blackness. Synth manages to add chill to the fires as the track keeps pounding away, letting new bursts spit chaos. The track explodes violently as majestic storming adds more nocturnal power, bringing the track to a bruising end. “Stillheten” is the closer on the physical editions of the album, an instrumental that slowly bring a thaw to the freezing branches and waterways, haunting and giving the sense of despair and loneliness that slips into the forest and amplifies your sense of terrifying solitude. The digital version contains two instrumental bonus tracks, the first being “Ensomhet,” which was the title track on Obscurae’s 2016 full-length debut, and “Nocturne,” a shorter cut that bring synth vibrations, glowing ambiance, and mysterious spirits leaving tracks in the snow.

Davis already was a grizzled veteran before launching Obscurae, and “To Walk the Path of Sorrows” is a powerful step forward for this project that’s eternally shrouded in darkness and ghostly apparition. The honor pledged to the night on this record practically can be tasted and digested, as every visit with this music, no matter the time of day, has the left the feeling of absolute absence of light. This is perfect for when the final hours of one day bleed into the next, and your own inebriation gives you a gateway to explore ideas that might terrify you otherwise.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://obscuraebm.bandcamp.com/merch

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

I was just watching “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” the other night, and the part when Uncle Eddie is pouring liquified human waste into a storm sewer not only is super disgusting, but it also made me think of the last thing on our agenda for the week. Naturally, that would be death metal that sounds like it emanates from where that excrement goes to rest and rot forever.

Danish crushers Undergang are the ones who labeled their sound “sewer death metal,” so it’s not like we’re coming down on them for their sound. But honestly, they absolutely nailed it with that descriptor, something that has perfectly summed up their approach ever since their start some 12 years ago. The band has returned with their fifth full-length effort “Aldrig i livet” that lands in our final month of the year that’s usually noted for its majesty, not its level of filth. Nonetheless, these maulers arrive with a 10-track, 31-and-a-half-minute beast designed to turn your stomach as the band—vocalist/guitarist D. Torturdød, guitarist/backing vocalist Mads Haarløv, bassist Martin Leth Andersen, drummer A. Dødshjælp—drags you through the muck, with a lot of it getting in your mouth. Be warned.

“Præfluidum” is an eerie way to start the record before it tears open as gross growls and muck collect, working their way toward “Spontan bakteriel selvantændelse” that brings lurching vocals from Torturdød’s guts. The band sludges along and pulverizes minds as the leads charge, and ugly fury burns off with disgusting fumes. “Indtørret” ramps up with burly death and gargled vocals, landing punches along the way. The track melts down as Torturdød’s vocals scuff, exploding toward the gates. “Menneskeæder” starts with drums destroying and the leads wailing, while the growls belch horrifying messages. The guitars confound as they chew up bodies, and that leads toward “Ufrivillig donation af vitale organer?” that revels in strangeness and unsettling vibes. The pace crushes as gritty riffs have their way with you, and the thrashy vibe and warped chaos end in slurry misery.

“Sygelige nydelser (Del 3) Emetofili” brings more stomach-turning growls and power that looks to ruin lives as the guitars blaze by. Everything stampedes and loosens screws while the track ends in thrashy, wiry viciousness. “Usømmelig omgang med lig” has stirring riffs and Torturdød just stirring vocally, manically toying with you. Electricity is sparked as the tempo hammers, working into a super heavy pocket and eventually a trancey ambiance before the Undergang train grinds you into the tracks. The title track starts feeling like it’s entering you into a fever dream before guitars drizzle, and the playing drubs. Dark mashing punishes your flesh before the guitars wander in the dark, and the back end is choked into submission. “Rødt dødt kød” starts quivery and unbalanced before the growls start to bubble, and the violence is handed out liberally. The band keeps hitting back, stampeding viciously as growls mar as they puke their last. “Man binder ikke et dødt menneske” closes this horror show with growls caving and the riffs heating up. The band then punishes with fire, adding more fuel to the blaze, unleashing alien torment, and ending with a nuclear blast.

Undergang are the epitome of stomach-churning, ugly death metal that sounds like it originated in the underground filth and flooded to the surface to infect us all. “Aldrig i livet” is another incomprehensibly vile collection from this Danish destroyer that’s been smothering us for the past decade. You’re not going to find another record is any genre quite as sickening and devastating at the same time as this one, and you’ll be repulsed by how many times you want to go back for more.

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

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

Or here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/shop/undergang-aldrig-i-livet-lp/

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

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

You know how busy you think you are right now? Eh, maybe you are. Who am I to judge? Anyway, if you’re not running a website based on metal albums, carving out time to actually listen to one record front to back actually can be a challenge if you don’t have enough time. You don’t have that same excuse when it comes to a 7” release, so get your shit together, we’re about to discuss some.

Worcester, Mass., crossover crushers High Command are going for their swords and shields again on a two-track EP “Everlasting Torment” that’s their first new stuff since last year’s killer debut “Beyond the Wall of Desolation.” This has its share of epic glory, sludgy chaos, and grimy vocals, a devastating collection that’s out now digitally via Southern Lord and will be released on a 7” next year by Triple B. These tracks might make you want to get suited up to take the fight to a battlefield near you, though there likely isn’t one, so you’ll just look like a fool. Listening to this music won’t let you feel those weird, embarrassing thoughts, though.

“Everlasting Torment” brings heavy riffs and plodding bass, like they’re just teasing you before they launch the true assault. Great leads charge as the nasty howls devastate, blistering with savage shrieks, while the open thrashing begins to powder bones. The track turns back into a wrecking machine, and the command of, “Go!” brings awesome soloing that brings the track to a smashing end. “Sword of Wisdom” has synth rising up and riffs trudging before the vocals explode. The pace races dangerously, while Kevin Fitzgerald’s vocals punch through walls. Insane soloing whips into a frenzy before things slow down but remain heavy. Glory and devastation bubble to the surface while the leads crackle, and the track bleeds out into the winds.

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

To buy the album (digital), go here: https://southernlord.bandcamp.com/

Or here (physical): https://triplebrecords.limitedrun.com/store?view=f22907

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

And here: http://triplebrecords.limitedrun.com/

Times are shit, everything is hopeless, and luckily death metal is here to catch you in its disease-ridden arms to suffocate you into the next world. Or it’ll make the chaos feel a little more manageable. Olympia, Wash., doom-encrusted death squad Mortiferum teamed up with internationally based beasts Hyperdontia (they make me feel a little uncomfortable since I have a tooth infection right now) for a two-track split that offers one deadly cut from each band. These are two of the better bands still kind of creeping a little deeper in the underground, but this appetizer with both should have any newcomers feverishly going back to Mortiferum’s debut “Disgorged From Psychotic Depths” or Hyperdontia’s multitude of smaller releases and 2018’s sole full-length “Nexus of Teeth.”

Mortiferum enters with “Abhorrent Genesis” that delivers strange vibes and slowly burning rage before the pressure explodes. Creaky vocals snarl while the pace unloads, and absolutely sooty death growls rub your face in decay. Things slow to a doomy hell, boiling in guts before things ignite, the playing decimates souls, and hypnotic leads send the track to its grave. “Punctured Wound” is Hyperdontia’s foul offering, and it roars out of its hole in hell. Burly playing unites with mind-altering guitar work as the track surrounds you and pushes you to your psychedelic limit. Guitars explore before zapping into space, hammering heavily as the assault regains its fury, with the track ending in a sticky pool of plasma.  

For more on Hyperdontia, go here: https://www.facebook.com/hyperdontia

For more on Mortiferum, go here: https://mortiferum.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://carbonizedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mortiferum-hyperdontia

Or here: https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-3

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

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

Chevalier’s “Destiny Calls” made our top 40 albums of 2019, and that’s for good reason, because it’s metal that takes us back to our own formative years. I recently described them to someone by saying, “Imagine pre-Bruce Maiden with pre-Kiske Helloween soloing, and a Doro Pesch on vocals who sounds like she wants to kill you.” The band didn’t let 2020 expire without their deadly mark, as they have two-track EP “Life and Death” hammering at you. The band maintains their roots of power metal vibe, while vocalist Emma Grönqvist is in total command, waving a flaming war hammer overhead as her words rain down and leave you satisfyingly battered afterward.

“Deathstalker” pummels open as the guitars rise to the surface, and Grönqvist’s singing tears away at the fringes. The playing stampedes as the vocals pierce your sides, settling into steamy bashing that opens into a lava flow. Great power and fluid melody unite as the vocals continue to land shots, wild playing charges, and the track smashes shut. “Lifegiver” starts feeling like an early Maiden track, while Grönqvist’s vocals blast their way into your chest. Vengeful verses pave the way for a disruptive chorus that’s a blast to withstand, and then soloing slices in with a riveting, smashing spirit. Another sweep through by the band brings Grönqvist back in with force, and the band spends the final moments making sure they make their presence is known and never forgotten.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://chevalier.bandcamp.com/album/life-and-death

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

This is a lot of music from a bunch of bands, but luckily these 7” releases are easy to get through, and everything here is worth the price of admission. There’s something for everyone, or if you’re well rounded in your heaviness, a bunch of tastes to satisfy your ravenous appetite. Each one also is available digitally right now, so go hibernate and destroy your hearing all at the same time.

On one of the more iconic episodes of “Seinfeld,” Kramer bursts into Jerry’s apartment to ask if he and George want to have some fun. They’re not sold because it’s just driving golf balls into the Atlantic Ocean, which I honestly don’t think sounds like a good time. Anyway, we bring the same offer of fun today, and chances are you’re going to be into this.

“Ravening Iron” is the crushing second record from Texas-based epic fantasy metal band Eternal Champion, and if you take this thing on and don’t find yourself having the time of your life, you might need a quick reevaluation of your priorities. There definitely are a ton of bands revisiting the formative years of heavy metal, but Eternal Champion are ahead of the pack, which we discovered on their great 2016 debut “The Armor of Ire,” and that carries over here. Over eight pumping tracks and a compact 37 minutes, the band—vocalist Jason Tarpey, guitarists Blake Ibanez and Nujon Powers, bassist Brad Raub, and drummer Arthur Rizk—sharpens their swords, heads into mythical battlefields, and delivers infectious glory that will fill your chest with the unquestionable power of heavy metal.

“A Face in the Glare” opens with a hammer striking steel, no doubt a nod to Tarpey’s profession in his forge, before the track opens in glory, stomping its way over bodies. “The moment I land is the moment he sends the storm my way,” Tarpey wails before a chorus that etches itself into your brain forever, with the track ending in tempered fury. The title track has riffs bursting and synth creating a sheen while Tarpey calls, “The smoke reveals the gathered gods, their favor won by slavish pawns,” amid a pace that rises with power. “Protected by fire, the Armor of Ire, thousands of swords, no one can take them from me,” Tarpey belts over the chorus while the soloing cuts, and group “woah-oh-oh” calls remind of metal’s glory days. “Skullseeker” charges open before the band leans into a calculated pace, while more strong vocals pump inside your chest. Soloing lights up, a simple chorus strikes, and the track ends in charring embers. “War at the Edge of the End” smokes with charging riffs, while the powerful verses make your adrenaline surge. “For my price, I’ll roam my wretched world ’til the end of all time, I will serve as thine guard,” Tarpey blasts over the killer chorus while things get faster, the soloing destroys, and the steam that explodes from each corner burns your flesh.

“Coward’s Keep” gets going quickly and lands heavy blows, while the vocals push in and bring a hearty essence to the track. The leads are muscular as hell, teasing fire, while the plying chugs with force, as Tarpey wails, “The seas will roll, the mountains shield the battle,” over a powerful chorus. “Worms of the Earth” has an unreal open, a vision of people dying on Roman crosses as the guitars explode with life. The riffs agitate as the entire thing opens up with harder vocals and the soloing killing, with yet another awesome chorus that drives to the stratosphere, and a thrashy finish that will leave your skin stinging and red. “The Godblade” is an instrumental piece that feels like it belongs in the middle of an early 1980s fantasy film, which is probably a little obvious on my part. Its warmth and thick mist floats, heading right toward closer “Banners of Arhai” that lights the torches and heads toward the bloodshed. “Pray your gods, but know there is one less for you, I wear its blood upon my blade,” Tarpey declares as doom feels like it’s right over the horizon. Humidity thickens as the bass drives, the drums increase the intensity, and the track ends in a haze of echoes.

Eternal Champion have, in a small amount of time, become one of the go-to bands for epic heavy metal, which they spread all over the glorious and infectious “Ravening Iron.” This thing is so much fun, such a huge burst of traditional metallic power, that it’ll be impossible not to visit with this thing over and over again. This is a tremendous second effort that pays off the promise of their debut and keeps their fires raging toward a promising future.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://www.noremorse.gr/products?searching=eternal%20champion%20ravening

For more on the label, go here: https://www.noremorse.gr/