As a lifelong, perpetually suffering fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the idea of prospects or young players who are supposed to be world beaters and save us all is a little bit of a tired theory. Heard it all before. Almost always disappointed. Yes, things are going along pretty damn well now, but that doesn’t erase the years of hearing about how so-and-so would be the next great star. You lose faith quickly.

Applying that to the metal world, there are situations when I think sometimes bands get into situations they are not ready to tackle or are not suited for. I heavily questioned Mastodon’s move to Warner Bros. because I assumed the label would have no clue how to handle the band or get them over to a larger audience. Who knew the band would morph into something more palatable and do just fine. I also wondered about Watain jumping to Century Media, not because they couldn’t do just fine there but because of the reaction their underground heathens would have to them jumping to a large major. So far, that has come to pass, even though it’s ridiculous.

I had the same reservations when I learned Vattnet Viskar, the relatively new New Hampshire-based band that really had a very small, albeit wildly impressive resume, signed with Century Media. Their incredible self-titled debut EP was brought into the world by Broken Limbs Recordings, which seemed like the perfect place for the band to cultivate their sound and approach for a smaller label that would let them have the time they need to expand without unneeded pressure. They would get love and nurturing there. It seemed really early in their career for such a huge jump, especially since it was like a jump from Class AA (and I mean that as lovingly as possible) to the big leagues, and I wondered if the band would be able to respond to such a huge platform or if they’d try to cater their sound too much to appeal to a larger audience. Now that their debut record “Sky Swallower” is in hand, let me offer up a huge … “Um. Never mind.” This record is a fucking steamroller, and you know it from the opening strains of the album, from that mammoth growl to the walls crashing down musically, and this example probably proves why I’d need a lot more brushing up before pursuing a career in A&R. These guys were ready for the platform Century Media provided, and this record delivers in every way possible. It’s a total triumph, one that every person who helped this band get to this point should gush with pride to hear and one that should establish this band for a long, productive run.

The band is made up of vocalist/guitarist Nicholas Thornbury, guitarist Chris Alfieri, bassist Joey Perron, and drummer Seamus Menihane, and they sound like they’ve been playing together far longer than the three years they’ve been a unit. Yeah, the band might still be in its formative stages, which is scary considering how good they already are, and might have been a reach of a signing for Century Media because of their lack of experience. Instead the label was ahead of the game and signed up a budding force that could be one of the stronger bands in metal going forward, totally able to live up to every ounce of the hype behind them. Good for them.

“New Alchemy” bursts moments after you hit play, with the band already in a chaotic lather and Thornbury’s vocals opening like a storm cloud looking to drench you and pulverize you with its thunder. Eventually it slips into an ISIS-like dreamy sequence and nicely transitions back into bumpier terrain. This track instantly pays off all the high hopes I had for this album right off the bat. “Fog of Apathy” is properly named and takes a little while to get off the ground while it sets a mood. “Sew your eyes shut!” Thornbury howls as the song hits its violent high gear, and gazey soloing and blistering blasts place the track between atmospheric post-metal and black metal. “Monarch” is the first of a series of reflective interludes that not only give you a breather but start to dig a path toward what’s next, which is “Breath of the Almighty” in this case. The song opens with brighter, more colorful melodies, but that doesn’t last long when the track takes a turn for the dark and pulverizing. The growls are vicious, the playing is channeled and passionate, and the madness is only tempered once acoustic guitars come in and wash away the ashes.

“Ascend” is another interlude piece, and it leads into “Mythos,” that completely ignites from the start and threatens to become the record’s most explosive track. While the music is ferocious, it’s also poetic, as the guys blend beauty and texture into their punishment, and the monstrous vocals that bleed forth mix nicely with the fluidly played composition. “As I Stared Into the Sky” is your final, quiet mini section, and it’s the lead in to the titanic closer “Apex” that spits and pours sparks down on you while you listen. The song is chaotic, yet emotive, and it’s a final chance for the band to blow your walls down with their sheer power, before giving way to a long, contemplative acoustic section that drones and flows, lets a drum beat drop here and there, and alows the record dissolve into a mysterious mist.

I never doubted Vattnet Viskar for a second, but perhaps I underestimated just how fast they would grow as a band and be prepared for a stage such as this. “Sky Swallower” is a phenomenal, breath-taking record that should tear your eyelids open due to the sheer intensity and quaking devastation, and while the band explores sonic areas traveled many times over by other musicians, they ravage it, reseed the land, and grow something entirely new and re-invigorating. Vattnet Viskar is a band you need to know right now, and “Sky Swallower” is their powerful opening statement.

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

To buy the album, go here: http://www.cmdistro.com/index.aspx

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

I’m sure for a lot of untested people metal can sound scary and uninviting. The devil’s work, right? And for the most part, those people are wrong and just don’t understand a genre on which they pass blind judgment. Yet, depending on what they’re hearing emanating from wherever, they’re not always wrong on both it being scary and the work of Satan.

Yesterday I mentioned that we were going to take a two-day look at modern black metal and two bands in particular with wildly different approaches to the craft. Today brings us A.M.S.G., which stands for Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam, or translated, “for the greater glory of Satan.” So, you know where this bands stands from the start, right? No questions from anyone? Good. Let’s move on. Now, unlike yesterday’s Loss of Self story, we’re going back to the basements and dungeons, to a sound that’s primitive, primordial, and yes, pretty fucking evil. No doubt if the progenitors of the second wave of black metal heard “Anti-Cosmic Tyranny,” the debut from this furious act, they would feel they’re in the presence of brothers. This music is out and out devoted to Satan and spits black vomit at anything remotely Christian or representative of that religion’s (or any other’s, for that matter) God. This is blackness through and through, sounding like it was hand delivered from hell.

Yet, as menacing as this sounds–and this is the type of stuff that, if you heard someone listening to this somewhere, you would try to avoid eye contact with the person out of fear of what’s assaulting your ears and that person’s devotion to the cause–there are hidden layers of creativity that branch just as bit beyond black metal’s rigid borders. You have some WOLD-like static nightmare soundscapes and saxophone passages that might make you think of Ihsahn’s progged-out solo work, so while this is intentionally raw and abrasive, it also has a mind that is free to wander elsewhere if need be. Those elements are what help “Anti-Cosmic Tyranny” rise from black muck into something that’s far more fascinating and baffling, in the best possible way. But even with all that, you just can’t avoid how evil, ill-intentioned, and scorching all of this madness truly is.

A.M.S.G., in case you are not aware, is the brainchild of Angelfukk Witchhammer, who played in other bands in the past such as Ouroboros and Rites of Thy Degringolade, and has gone to prison for several years on a number of charges including weapon possession and drug trafficking, all the further his cause as a Satanic warrior and black metal soldier. In fact, this album was written behind prison walls. It’s not exactly stabbing a guy in the head and leaving him for dead, but crime is crime, he went away, did his time, and now is back to terrorize us anew. His sensibilities and chops are definitely from the old school of black metal, and his creaky vocals can have a Gollum-like effect, but he has something the kids just do not, that being a true calling to his fire, an innate understanding of the music he is making, and a hunger for horrors that isn’t designed to sell colorful shirts but scare the living holy fuck out of you because he means the shit. Remember that when you’re perusing this thing.

These six tracks get off to a sick, deranged start with “Rites of the Black Shadow,” a track that opens with a storm of noise and chaos, vocals that sound like a lost, dead soul screaming to get out, and raw, mangled melodies that crawl beneath the surface. We get some of the aforementioned saxophone, which provides a real head-tilting moment, but one that makes it feel like a message floating through space. “Reincarnation of the Sun” sounds ceremonial at times, as if it’s setting the stage for a grandiose ritual, but the punk-fueled guitar work blasts out, the vocals continue to blister, and an eerie clean section that seems to hint at calm instead leads to an agitated hiss that brings to song to a violent end. “Sacrificial Chants of Cosmic Separation” has weird, bubbling science lab noises lurking, monstrous shrieks, more clean guitar intended to lead you down the wrong path (and possibly leave you disoriented), alien effects, and monstrous howls declaring God an abomination and nothingness.

“Gnosis Granted From the Bloodline of Fire” opens with pastoral-style chants and death bells, something that’s been done before but not this startlingly, and that leads into more punk chaos and strange transmissions that could make your organs turn cold. The sax returns, again letting these thoughts simmer, and the song closes out in a manner that’s damn near jazzy. Imagine that. “Heretics and Ashes” has distorted samples layered into the cacophony, but it’s not long before it blows up in your face, with goblin-like vocals, a fast, clubbing pace, and frightening declarations such as, “Into the fire I must go.” Closer “Blood, Bone and Blackthorn” has a slow, droning opening, making you feel every ounce of its disgust and fury, and its tempo stays at a deliberate, muddy pace through most of the song. But then another bomb blasts rips the side of your face off, the thrashing begins anew, and song crumbles along with you into a pit of tentacled madness, never intending to let you free of its grasp.

A.M.S.G.’s debut was supposed to make you feel the hideous intent of its music, the burning path of its mission, and the pure violence it intends to use to make it so. It’s not good time music. It might not even be bad time music. It’s a declaration of war, if anything, one of the most warped, perverse statements black metal has made in a long time, and no matter how you feel about Angelfukk Witchhammer, his past, and his philosophies, there’s no doubting his will and his razor-sharp intensity, designed to slash his enemies’ throats clean through.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSG-Ad-Majorem-Satanae-Gloriam/110719362296013

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

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

If I may go against purist grains here today, there are many, many ways to play black metal, and it’s one of the things that fascinates me so much about the style of music. Yes, I know that there are many camps that disagree with this, and that black metal is to be played one way, with certain philosophies in mind, or it isn’t true. I can appreciate that way of thinking even if I disagree.

Today and tomorrow, we’re going to look at a pair of bands that have diametrically different ways of interpreting and presenting black metal, with two of the genre’s more interesting and provoking new releases this month. One has a more wide open, new age style, while the other takes things back to the basements and dungeons. However, each band also has elements that set them apart from like-minded artists in black metal, making each band pretty unconventional. Today we’ll look at Australian quartet Loss of Self, a band that made a huge impression with their first demo and now are getting their music released on a wider basis, something they deserve very much.

I remember first reading about Loss of Self on a blog somewhere last year and being intrigued by what I read about their sound. I tracked down their demo and instantly was captivated by what I heard, with their full range of melodies, sounds that defy and leap-frog standard black metal, and passion that, sadly, you don’t hear enough from artists today. In any genre. Those three songs really stuck with me, and when I learned Flenser Records was working with the band, I instantly was excited to hear the next evolution of their sound. Sure enough, with their new effort “Twelve Minutes,” we hear just that, a band entrenched in a sound and confident in their approach, but not afraid to change things up and add different colors. This release is as exciting as I hoped it would be (it’s also much longer than 12 minutes), and they instantly turned into one of those bands you need to hear right now.

Yes, black metal is at the base of Loss of Self’s sound, and their harsh vocals, blasts, and outward aggression they exhibit speak very clearly to that. But they also have a post-punk and even indie rock side, making me think a lot of Bosse-de-Nage, Alcest, and Deafheaven musically, with enveloping melodies, deep pockets of beauty and color, and something that grasps things other than fury and anger in your soul. Their music can be cleansing and relaxing, even when they’re drubbing you, but your mind always is swept away and your inner emotions allowed to bleed forth, which can be a pretty healthy way to experience music. I get that every chance I get to spend time with “Twelve Minutes,” and I haven’t had a similar journey with it twice. That’s another way you know the music you’re hearing is growing and mutating in front of you, which can be a real rush.

The first portion of the record is made up of six brand-new tracks, the first out of the gate being “Isolt,” a song with an indie-style kick, rich, colorful melodies, and eventually some abrasive vocals and a solemn but bruising finish. “Paradise Overgrown” lets Loss of Self show their uglier, more violent side, with warbled vocals, guitar violence, and drums that are beaten to a pulp. It’s one hell of a change of pace. The title track is a bit more melancholy, with shoegaze fire and vocals that go from sing-singy growls to demonic shrieks. “There Must Be a Great Wisdom With Great Death” sounds like it would be a trip through relentless mashing from its title, but it’s more reflective and atmospheric, with creaky vocals and a dreary disposition. “()” is an ambient, eerie piece that’s a stage-setter for “The Free Intelligence,” that’s somber, cloudy, and watery, with the band releasing their darkest, most damaged emotions into the air when the song finally bursts and the vocals pierce like glass. These six songs are fantastic pieces of work, and this only sets my anticipation ablaze for what’s ahead for them.

If you haven’t gotten your hands on the band’s demo yet, you can relax. The three songs appear here at the end of the release in their remastered form. Obviously they sound better and a little fuller, though they were pretty great tracks to begin with. “The Inheritance” is soulful and bursting with energy, even taking a few turns toward what sounds like a Midwestern U.S. approach to indie rock, though that could be by accident. “The Mind; Its Form and Function” feels more punk rock, though it shimmers and shines in places, something Loss of Self do quite well. “Seidlitz” has a college rock feel, to use an archaic, albeit fitting, term, and and as the track gets moving, it gets rowdier, with the shrieks growing more manic.

I had high hopes for this Loss of Self album, and they’ve definitely been surpassed. This is a band that’s overflowing with emotion and talent, and they don’t mind pushing past black metal’s walls to the overgrown fields beyond. This is one of those bands that just grabs you and changes your mood, no matter how hard you fight, and you mind find their work soothes what ails you on your darker days when you just want someone to understand.

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

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

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

There are few things as satisfying as hearing a band grow up. That’s an odd sentence, I know, but you know what I mean. Hearing a band progress through their time together can be similar to watching someone grow up and become a more mature, aware adult, and as talents the person has you don’t even know about begin to sprout. It can be mind-blowing.

I felt that same wonder and excitement the very first time I listened to “Eros/Anteros,” the latest album from Oathbreaker and the follow-up to 2011’s incredible “Maelstrom,” so much so that as soon as I was finished listening the very first time, I had to go back again. Immediately. And even with all of the other records I have on my plate for review both for this site and elsewhere, I have found time to come back to “Eros/Anteros” with alarming consistency. And every time I hear it again, I can’t believe the leaps and bounds the band has taken, and that’s with Oathbreaker already being an impressive band to begin with. They’ve lived up to that cliche of “taking it to the next level,” as this record destroys walls and boundaries and declares they have arrived.

This Belgium unit is hard to really pinpoint as far as sound is concerned. Certainly there is plenty of volcanic, emotional hardcore. There are post-rock and post-hardcore influences. There certainly is a lot of metal and punk rock to be heard as well. But, and brace yourself for this if your mind is closed, there even is a sprinkle here and there of indie rock and even pop tendencies (that’s mostly in the vocals), making Oathbreaker a more well-rounded and deadly machine, one that refuses to adhere to boundaries. They slip so seamlessly into all of these areas as well, making the entire record feel like an organic trip through these emotions on display. The record examine the themes of love, loss, and death in a way you can feel both in the vocals and the music, and by the time the album is over, you can’t feel anything but spiritually spent, yet there you go for the repeat button. That’s the sign of a great band, which Oathbreaker surely is becoming, and a devastating record, which “Eros/Anteros” definitely is.

Caro Tanghe is in front of the band, and while her vocals already were pulverizing, she takes things even further on this album, growling and screaming like her life hangs in the balance, and even singing more extensively, showing a whole new dimension to what she does. Rounding out the band are guitarist Lennart Bossu, bassist Gilles Demolder, and drummer Ivo Debrabanderen and like their vocalist, they find new ways to express themselves, doing so both savagely and delicately. They hit all the right moods, set off explosions when the need arises, and perform like a band not just on the rise but fully realized. This is one awesome record.

The record opens fairly quietly on “(Beeltenis),” which is Dutch for “portrait.” The song contains lines of poetry by Maurice Maeterlinck and trickles slowly into a detonation at the hands of “No Rest for the Weary,” a song with relentless energy and punishing shrieks but also a lot of atmosphere and melody. “Upheaval” slams directly into hardcore energy, with harsh vocals, propulsive playing, and an intent to draw blood. That takes us into a duo of companion pieces, starting with “As I Look Into the Abyss,” a song with a construction that reminds me of Converge and At the Drive In doing battle in a warehouse, and it’s kinetic pace spills right into “The Abyss Looks Into Me,” the record’s first epic track where Tanghe lets loose with clean singing and reminds a bit of Kim Deal in the process. It’s a different side of the band, one that shows they could deliver just a good a rock album as they could one teeming with metal and hardcore, and it’s one of the most impressive songs in their catalog so far.

“Condor Tongue” lets the record rip open again, with a post-hardcore-style act of aggression and speedy savagery that lets the fire burn high. “Offer Aan de Leegte” is slow driving and ominous in tone, and also shadowy and cold as song trickles and chugs into “Agartha,” a gritty and massive song where Tanghe pushes her singing voice again and the light and dark elements are balanced just right. “Nomads” is total demolition from start to finish, a song looking to do as much harm in as little time as possible, with ferocious thrashing that’s as fiery as anything on the record, and throaty growls that sound directed right at you. The band closes with the impressive, 11-minute-plus “Clair Obscur,” which means the contrast of light and dark, something that is a major theme of the record. The song feels rainy and reflective, with Tanghe’s voice buried a bit behind the fog (on purpose to trigger the mood), and as she fades further and further into the distance, the band rises up with a simmering, boiling finish that eventually gives way to eerie noise and a ghostly exit.

Oathbreaker still are at the beginning of their run, yet they’ve already delivered a classic with “Eros/Anteros.” This record is a true epic, one that takes you on an emotional journey and forces you not only to witness their tumult but to examine all the storm clouds in your own life. The fact that this band already is this damn good is frightening, and the fact they easily could surpass what they accomplish here on their next record is enthralling. This is one of the most exciting bands in hardcore, one you can watch develop before your eyes, and years later you might tell the next generation of fans where you were the first time you heard “Eros/Anteros.”

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/theoathbreakerreigns?ref=ts

To buy the album, go here: http://deathwishinc.com/estore/category/OATHBREAKER.html

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

People tend to envy music writers because we get to hear records earlier than the general public and basically are swimming in new music that would enthrall and excite! I’d say it’s more like we’re drowning in promos. It’s to the point there I have certain key words that, when I seem them in a bio, I immediately hit delete without ever thinking of it again.

I’m only partially complaining because, yes, it’s great to hear new music before having to wait until it arrives in a store, and having tons of new music at my disposal is the cliched “good problem to have.” But it limits what we can do here, which is why we pick and choose stuff we really like to expose to you, so not everything we get is going to get attention. That posed a problem when a huge digital offering from Pesanta Urfolk, a label I really like and am intrigued by, arrived with six goddamned promos in it. Even that is a tall order, but I have been wanting to do more on the label for a long time now, so now seemed as good a time as any to get some words on here about their releases, which are anything but ordinary and predictable.

Peasant Urfolk certainly put out a lot of cult, underground metal, and recently they issued vinyl helpings from Ash Borer, Hell, and Lux Interna that are all worthy of going out of your way to hear. In fact, you can find reviews of two of those records in the archives of this site. That’s just scratching the surface, by the way. They also have put out records for bands such as Velnias, Fauna, and Skagos. Yet, they don’t limit themselves to just purely metal releases, as you’ll learn a little later on in this piece, and what they put out always is worth getting immersed inside of for long periods of time, for you’ll need that for full absorption.

We’re going to get a little more in depth with two of the releases Pesanta Urfolk sent over, and the rest we’ll give you a roundup so you have an idea of what else they’re putting out there. One of today’s albums is by a funeral doom band Merkstave that passed well before its time and absolutely burned with morbid, solemn potential before they faded into the night. The other is a solo record by the wondrous Leila Abdul-Rauf, who has dominated your life in bands such as Vastum, Hammers of Misfortune, Saros, and others, but has something that reaches further back to her Amber Asylum days on her mesmerizing debut record. These albums could not be bigger polar opposites sonically, and I’ve spent a lot of time letting each soak and sprout, which has been a rewarding experience.

We’ll start with Merkstave’s three-track swan song, a gorgeous and destructive collection that fills me with sadness that this strange, shadowy unit no longer makes music together. Made up of four individuals who also play in bands such as aforementioned Hell, Abysmal Dimensions, Elu of the Nine, and Total Darkness, among others, they put together a pair of demos before this full-length collection came together. If you have an affinity for sorrowful, emotional, slow-moving doom, you are likely to mourn this band’s demise as hard as I am, but at least we have this record to remind us of what was.

The first two cuts are the dual-part “Lament for Lost Gods,” a pair of powerful, calculating, downtrodden tracks that might make you think of Pallbearer or Lycus from time to time, and that also can be violent and punishing. Growls spew forth but sometimes are balanced by clean vocals that sound hauntingly detached, which actually makes the presentation more chilling, and the band speeds up their approach in pockets, allowing them time to crush bones into dust. Actually, when they do speed up it takes you by surprise and jerks your head around, proving a stunning change of pace. The second part is more melodic and enchanting, even turning into an infectious piece in parts, with chunks that’ll stick in your head and play back in your mind. Closer “Spawn of a Lower Star” has a purposely weary start that trickles a while before it really comes to life, rolling along with slurred melodies, full-bodied expression, and the torrid crunch eventually melting into its final minutes of melancholy.

Every moment of this album is captivating, and it’s already slipped into my personal heavy rotation. With the colder months not that far away, I imagine that will only continue as we seek shelter from the winds and chill, something this band’s music practically personifies. Too bad we won’t get any more from Merkstave, a bright funeral doom star that burned out too soon.

For more on the band, go here: www.metal-archives.com/bands/Merkstave/3540325807

Abdul-Rauf certainly keeps herself busy when it comes to her music, and her addition to Hammers of Misfortune’s lineup was a brilliant move, one that added even more depth and soul to their classic-style metal. She’s proved an awesome guitarist and vocalist, and everything she’s involved in is worth your time not only because she’s such a good artist but because she only aligns herself with quality bands.

“Cold and Cloud” is Abdul-Rauf’s debut solo outing (the first for Urfolk imprint Saadi Saati), and you might and might not be surprised by what you hear on this record. The compositions are more like what she did with Amber Asylum, as I mentioned, and they’re gentle and atmospheric, with her voice coloring in these pieces with reflective, emotional flourishes. The songs are steeped in a lot of ambiance and can make for a calming, thoughtful listen, and while we miss out on any guitar thunder here, there’s enough of that in her other projects to tide you over, I’m sure. Oddly, a lot of my visits with this record have come during the recent rain and fog spell in these parts, and this album has proved a perfect partner for those times, especially songs such as the drone- and horn-dressed opener “In This Dream,” that mixes New Age mysticism with desert loneliness; “Will I Be Sane?” a song that lets noise bubble a bit and Abdul-Rauf sing like a ghost in the attic; “Tears in White Fluid,” that is pumped with air and a dreamy aesthetic; and the deep sense of finality on closer “Separation,” that has drilled itself deep into my head and heart.

Abdul-Rauf’s album is only available in limited vinyl quantity (we’re talking 100), so if you’re interested in this, you better jump. I’m always pleasantly surprised by everything this great musician does, though not really shocked because I know how capable she is of just about anything musically. Here is more proof, and is it ever beautiful and numbing.

For more on Abdul-Rauf, go here: http://leilaabdulrauf.bandcamp.com/

Pesanta Urfolk have a few more releases ready for you that aren’t necessarily down the metal path but should pique the interest of our more ambitious readers out there. The Sterling Sisters make dusty, compelling country rock that would sound perfect during a Western murder film, and that band’s singer Scout Pare-Phillips also has a 7-inch out. There also is the dark Americana of Munly & the Lee Lewis, as well as the spiritually-devastating neo-folk of Sangre de Muerdago, who made people take notice at last year’s Stella Natura festival. All of these records might take a special listener to fully understand and embrace them, and if that’s you, prepare to be surrounded by musical riches.

To buy any of these albums, go here: http://pesanta.bigcartel.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://f-consortium.com/pesanta/

Photo by Heather Mull

OK, so it’s mid-week. Who’s ready for a beer? Everyone? For a site with the word “mead” in its title, we don’t do nearly enough stuff on choice brews, but we do supply you with musical accompaniment options for your own drinking adventures in case you need a companion. It’s never fun to drink alone, so if you have someone or something making racket in the same room with you, it’s more fun.

Pittsburgh’s Carousel, while not a band making songs about drinking per se, is perfect fodder for what ails you. Their steady grasp of late ’70s/early ’80s heavy metal is as tight as anyone else trying this same thing, and maybe it’s just me who feels this way, but it’s the perfect match for when I want to pop open some cold bottles with very high ABVs and see where the night takes me. It certainly doesn’t hurt if you like the classic NWOBHM bands such as Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, as well as the Scorpions and Thin Lizzy, because these guys take those influences, roll them into one propulsive cauldron and rock out all over the place. It’s a good time.

Pittsburgh is a town that bleeds classic rock, but not necessarily in a good way. The local stations play the same goddamned songs over and over again a million times until you want to punch someone next time to year “Gimme Back My Bullets” or some Steve Miller shit, and the local bands they serve up pretty much are intolerable. Yet, for the more adventurous types in town, and all over the world for that matter, Carousel would make perfect sense on those airwaves and would be something fresh and compelling to get people off their asses. They have incredibly fun lead guitar work, that blends into twin leads and pure classic metal glory, the vocals are a little gruff but melodic enough for you to sing along to, and the drums bash the sides of your head in. But you will have had 30 beers, so you won’t care you’re being beaten up. It’ll just make the whole experience that much more rewarding.

Carousel take their name from the death contraption from “Logan’s Run” (as if you needed another compelling reason to check out this band), and their ranks are made up of dudes who have been plying their trade locally and nationally who have combined to form this great monster. Vocalist/guitarist Dave Wheelers and drummer Jake Leger (who plays for the equally tremendous Karl Hendricks Trio) started the band three years ago, and they’ve since been joined by guitarist Chris Tritschler (of Pittsburgh metal titans Lady Beast) and Jim Wheeler on bass to complete this band of crazies who are taking guitar rock to ridiculous new levels and are infectious and bombastic playing together.

We get right into our title track from the word go, with chugging guitar thunder, NWOBHM thunder, and catchy chorus with Wheelers bellowing, “I can’t deny the spell you’ve got me under.” Trust me, that line will stick in your head for a while. “Long Time” is just as catchy, and it has vintage-sounding opening that could have you pining for early ’80s radio rock, if you go back that far, and the dual guitar lines should be enough to whip you into a frenzy. The song is just a blast, especially since it also has a rock solid chorus. “Crippler” keeps the momentum going with more charged up riffs, leaning heavily toward the Thin Lizzy side of things, and they hit a shuffle that might make you want to throw the couch into the yard. “On My Way” sounds like what it might if you put Motorhead and Diamond Head in a blender, as it’s fast, rowdy, and headed right toward your face.

“Waste of Time” teases you at the start with a start-stop riff, but then it melts with wah-infused guitar lines, drubbing drums, and some psychedelic backwash. “Light of Day” unloads the cowbell, the cymbals get a good workout, and the fellows hit a shuffle-heavy riff that could make air guitar acceptable just this once. This song would sound great coming from an old beat-up car that hasn’t had air conditioning in 25 years. Just sweat that shit out. It’s totally worth it. “Nightfall” pulls the reins back just a bit, as they embrace a mid-tempo pace, but they keep the thunder coming with strong guitar work that gets a little mesmerizing at times, even-keeled vocals, and presentation that could bring a tear to the late Ronnie James Dio’s eyes. “Contrition” is an acoustic interlude that sets the stage for album closer “Penance,” a hard rocker that doesn’t seem like it’s all that concerned with making good for some wrong, and it’s an ideal album topper for this killer collection.

Carousel might not fit rigid metal standards for some people, but that’s their problem. If you love classic metal, want to have a good time, and care to have beer outside by a backyard fire, you pretty much need “Jeweler’s Daughter” by your side to make everything just right. That doesn’t mean you need to be trashed to hear them, because they sound just as mauling if you’re in your right mind (many of my listens, I have been clean as a whistle). Whatever your state of mind, Carousel are more than ready to knock you down, laugh at you, help you up, and do it all over again. Ah, you can’t stay mad at them.

For more on the band, go here: www.facebook.com/pages/Carousel/220084014687656

To buy the album, go here: teepee.hasawebstore.com/

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

We’re all guilty of being miserable people to deal with now and again. Or maybe all the time. I don’t get those people who go smiling through life, and I think they’re living a lie. It’s OK to feel like things are shit, and if you can’t admit that now and again, then you’re lying to yourself.

Those happy-all-the-time liars probably hear bands like Primitive Man, the new hulking bastard heathens out of Denver and probably wonder what their collective problem is. Can’t they just see the bright side? Can’t they smile? Can’t they just hug a puppy or something and get over it? The puppy thing being great advice aside, the answer is no. Some people have times when they’re overwhelmed and can’t take anymore and just want to know someone feels as miserable as they do. And once again, we round back to Primitive Man, a band of miserable fucks. Or so it seems from their tumultuous debut record “Scorn.” I mean, come on. It’s called “Scorn”!

The band is muddy, mucky, and devastating, and the seven songs on this debut album won’t make you feel good if you’re looking for something to make you all bright and cheery inside. It’s mean and ugly, it’s warped and damaged, and it’s another pummeling signing for Relapse, a label that’s on an absolute tear this year.

But while the band may be new as a unit, its members are not. Vocalist/guitarist Ethan Lee McCarthy plies his horrible trade in the criminally under-appreciated Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire and now is wailing away for Withered, while bassist Jonathan Campos (Reproacher) and drummer Isidro Soto (Kitezh) back him up with hellacious noise that backs up the madness lurching out of their singer’s mouth. It can be scary shit at times, and it’s also one hell of a fascinating, cataclysmic record that spills blood in a way that offers no mercy.

The album kicks off with the 11:44-long title cut, one that’s cold, calculating, and chillingly slow for its first half, as the band mauls you with mean, menacing drubbing, and McCarthy sounds like a deranged man who, while completely off his rocker, still has his wits about him. The final few minutes are crushing and fast, as the band hits high gear out of nowhere and shows they can be a total war machine. “Rags” begins its assault right off the bat, punching and bloodying your face, and gurgling vocals rising to the surface and releasing poisonous emissions into the air. That leads to the unsettling and strange “I Can’t Forget,” a song packed with weird, eerie noise, bizarre chants, buried shrieks, and demented lurching. The track is a total nightmare to behold and could haunt you to your core.

Nine-minute “Antietam” is grinding and simmering at the same time, with the band stepping up and mauling you like a hungry bear out of the woods. The sludgy areas even out, letting the band pick up some speed and throw blind elbows at your temples, and it’s a sizzling, violent, extended piece of carnage that drowns out in a storm of noise. “Black Smoke” is similar to “I Can’t Forget” in that it’s an ambient slab of horror, with odd noises, a loop of crazed heavy breathing, and the sense that things are about to go really wrong. “Stretched Thin” is another mauler that’s faster and shorter than most of what’s on the record, but it’s no less effective. Closer “Astral Sleep” picks up the pieces, starting with clobbering doom and relentless feedback before the song hits a crunchy, slow-driven pace. Then, before you have time to think, it gets turned on its head and the crunch and thrash overwhelms. Noise spits out, and the final salvo of aggression proves to be what buries you, driving you as far underground as humanly possible. Just brutal.

Primitive Man’s debut is ugly and terrifying in the best possible way, and they add a much-needed sense of danger back to the metal world. If you suspend your sense of disbelief, you might find yourself convinced these guys are killers, waiting around the bend for you just to exact some revenge on the rest of rotting society gone awry. You shouldn’t feel safe, you shouldn’t feel good, and if you don’t, Primitive Man have done their jobs.

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

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

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

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/