Reissues, to me, serve two purposes. For one, it lets listeners get up to speed on a band perhaps he or she didn’t get to the first time around. Second, in the digital and iPod age, it gives the consumer a better version of an older album that perhaps didn’t translate so well to your little hard drive you’re carrying around. I also understand some people who complain about reissues, especially if it’s a record that’s only a few years old and is being re-released to cash in on a band’s popularity. But no one’s forcing you to buy the new version, right?

Anyhow, I happen to be a fan of reissues, for both of the reasons listed above. For example, I made sure I got the new, re-done versions of the Carcass and Death albums because the packaging is awesome, it comes with tons of extra content, and they sound way better on my iPod than the versions I had. Relapse just put out a couple of reissues that serve me better in the other category, giving me more exposure to bands that, for whatever reason, don’t comprise much of my collection.

First up are San Jose death thrashers Dekapitator, not to be confused with Polish death metal fleet Decapitated. For now, the band is listed as on hold, and not dissolved, but they haven’t hit us with a new record since 2007’s “The Storm Before the Calm,” and even though the group has been together since 1996, that was only their second album. Of course, their frontman/guitarist Matt “Hellfiend” Harvey was and is again consumed with his death grind outfit Exhumed (we discussed their awesome new record “All Guts, No Glory” a couple weeks back), so it’s understandable that Dekapitator has to sit on the sidelines for the time being.

If you discovered the band with “The Storm Before the Calm” or are new to them altogether, there’s a fantastic document out now in the form of their reissued debut album “We Will Destroy … You Will Obey,” originally released in 1999 and long out of print. So you’ve either been hunting for this thing or you’re simply intrigued by the band’s vintage black thrash sound, which does sound a bit dated today, but in such an awesome way. You can tell by listening to much of the new wave of thrash bands that this style is kind of what those groups were going for, but Dekapitator is the real thing. None of these newcomer groups come close to matching them, and even with the slight cheeseball factor, it’s such a great, pulverizing debut. There’s hell, war, bloodshed and carnage all over this thing, and sometimes Harvey does his best falsetto, like he’s dreaming of thrash’s glory days in the mid-1980s. I grew up in that period and listened to all that stuff, so this is like a nice nostalgia trip, at least philosophically. The whole album has been repackaged altogether, and included are four bonus cuts. Plus, the album art completely, totally rules.

If you’re into vintage thrash, some of death metal’s earliest power, and a little bit of horrific silliness, you’ll want to grab a copy of this. It’s just a bad-ass record that reminds listeners sometimes it’s cool for a heavy album to just be fun. Best heard drunk while holding a battle axe.

For more on Dekapitator, go here: http://www.facebook.com/Dekapitator

To buy, go here: http://relapse.com/store/

I already mentioned Carcass, and a band that gets a lot of grief for being a clone of theirs is Swedish band General Surgery. There’s a damn good reason that happens, basically because the people that accuse them of such blatant copying are pretty much correct. They sound a hell of a lot like a band trying to be Carcass. But that doesn’t mean their music isn’t good and worth your time, because I’ve always found it is decent listening. It’s OK not to take every metal record you hear as seriously as the U.S. Constitution, you know? Just listen to it, and if you like it, then like it. Sorry, that’s just always irritated me. As many bands that are in existence, some are going to sound alike even if that isn’t the intent. Focus on the quality of the music. You’ll live a happier life that way. And by the way, Carcass’ Jeff Walker has said some complimentary things about General Surgery. Anyway, I kind of dug the limited amount of stuff I heard from this band over the years, and was looking forward to revisiting “Necrology,” a deluxe reissue of their 1991 EP (now with three bonus tracks, all alternate versions of “Necrology” cuts). By the way, the lineup you hear on this reissue is totally altered from the one that lives on as General Surgery now. So know that going in, just in case you got into the band with their more recent material.

Anyway, this 10-track effort is sticky with blood and disgusting as hell, as the dual vocals lurch out like a combination of belching and choking on bile. It’s heavy, thrashy, monstrous, and a real blast to absorb, even if it triggers that gag reflex. This is all figurative, of course. If the music literally was sticky with blood, I wouldn’t touch it. Germ freak, right here. The vocals on “The Succulent Aftermath of Subdural Haemorrhage” sound like a lion and demon battling for the stick. It’s ridiculous. “Crimson Concerto” fuses both classical music geek and flesh eater hunger in the same package; “Slithered Maceration of Ulcerous Facial Tissue” is a brow-beater, especially when it comes to the rapid-fire drumming; and “Grotesque Laceration of Mortified Flesh” has a pretty sweet grind groove and those blood-curdling growls you’ve come to love from this band. It’s like being operated on while you’re awake. Who doesn’t love that?

If you can’t shake the Carcass thing, then you probably won’t like this or give it a chance. If you just appreciate a total splatterfest of grindcore and death metal that turns your stomach as much as it pleases your ears, this reissue just might make your heart fill with joy. Just don’t be surprised if you can’t eat for a few days after you’re done with “Necrology.”

For more on the band, go here: http://generalsurgery.se/

To buy “Necrology,” go here: http://relapse.com/store/

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

Sometimes some innocent exploration can lead you somewhere you never expected but that ultimately brings you to treasure. That happened to me recently when a simple band search led me to Parasitic Records, a label I had heard of before but with which I never really had any tangible contact. A couple of e-mails later, and that became a thing of the past.

The band is question is Anhedonist, who I’d read about online, and since I’m a sucker for just about anything doom, I knew I needed to hear them right away. So quite simply, I bought their demo on cassette through Parasitic’s web shop, and all of a sudden, I had run headlong into an exciting, violent new band whose career I decided I would follow with great interest from here on out. That also made me wonder what else Parasitic had up their sleeves, and days later, the new Aldebaran disc showed up in my mailbox.

We’ll start with Anhedonist, since they led me down this path initially. Their demo “The Drear” was released on cassette only a year ago, and from there, they leveled audiences live with their death metal-powered doom, that’s both gloriously melodic and packed full of sorrow. You can’t get your hands on the tape anymore (unless you get lucky or hit eBay or something … of you offer me $10,000), but Parasitic is now offering the vinyl version of the demo, which if you’re hungry for lo-fi, dingy, suffocating doom, you’d do yourself a real favor by grabbing a copy of this thing.

The Seattle-based band has been doing its thing since 2008, and I know how clichéd-ridden this is going to sound, but if you think of the drab, rain-soaked, muddy pit of depression most people think that city embodies, you’ll have a good idea on what you’ll hear on these three songs. They’re unforgivably slow-driven for the most part, though “Despond” does have more speed and steamrolling, but it, too, settles back into those lurching, abrasive tones before it runs its course. The vocals are pretty deep in the mix, though the brush-burned growls certainly are audible (V.B.’s shrieks at the closing of “The Insatiable Hole” are damn-near inhuman sounding), and while there’s a lot of gloom to digest, they lace everything with flavorful guitar melodies that don’t exactly brighten the terrain but do add more depth to their sound.

The band recently finished up a run of dates with like-minded bands such as Vastum, Ilsa, Thou, Loss, Hour of 13, and Pallbearer, and anyone into that spate of bands probably will dig Anhedonists’s sickness. I could see Anhedonist eventually becoming a Southern Lord or Rise Above band in the future, as they’d fit right into those two rosters, and they certainly should be a major player soon with more exposure and more time slaying live audiences. Hopefully this entry will help at least a little bit in getting them there.

For more on Anhedonist, go here: http://anhedonist.blogspot.com/

As for Aldebaran, the band just put out its new EP “Buried Beneath Aeons,” which follows a couple of splits with Unearthly Trance and Zoroaster, as well as their debut 2007 full-length “Dwellers in Twilight.” The band is described as sludge doom, and that fits to an extent, but there’s something about “Aeons” that makes me think more along the lines of atmospheric funeral doom. Of course, with a one-cut, 27-minute track, you’d expect the band to visit all kinds of different sounds, and they do that with post-metal and some death. I just keep coming back to that spacious funeral doom feeling, with its often slow tempo, like it’s meticulously scraping its way across the land, and the overall pall of hopelessness and decay. It’s a really incredible listen, too, and it never feels nearly as long as its running time, which should quell the fears of anyone who doesn’t like long songs (hey, those people are out there, believe it or not).

The guys who comprise the band – bassist/vocalist Josh Banke, guitarist/vocalist Todd Janeczek, guitarist Kody Keyworth, and drummer/vocalist Tim Call — have a wealth of experience, not only with this band, but with other notable acts such as The Howling Wind, Tusks of Blood, Anger Management, Oakhelm, and plenty of others. They open this opus on a clean, relatively calm note, kind of finding their way through a mist before launching with all sledgehammers down on a crushing doom note that meanders just as it should. It reminds me a lot of Aussie band Mournful Congregation and the Bay Area’s Asunder, and that perhaps, it what led me to describe this as funeral doom.  The music can trigger trances and deep meditation, which heavy music often isn’t capable of achieving, and when this journey drones out in front of you, it’s not hard to imagine a dark, stormy expedition over a mad sea, with sickened and dead bodies stowed away, or even standing by ages ago and watching a train carrying deceased soldiers or national leaders. There’s such a dread hanging here you practically can reach out and grab it. Not that you’d necessarily want to do that.

It also should be noted this effort was recorded and mixed by doom studio extraordinaire Billy Anderson, who has worked alongside bands such as Neurosis (you also can sense their influence on this album), Orange Goblin, Ludicra, the Melvins, Brutal Truth, Cathedral and a ton more, and his fingerprints are very obviously on this thing. As for Aldebaran, they seem to be as hungry and driven as ever before, and a second full-length from these guys would be a fitting and long overdue gift. But it’s cool to have this EP for now, because it is about as good as any doom recording that’s bubbled to the surface this year. And there’s been a ton of good doom in 2011.

For more on Aldebaran, go here: http://aldebarandoom.blogspot.com/

Admittedly, this is just scratching the surface of what Parasitic offers. A trip to their site, a link to which you can find below, has the full gamut of what you can get from them, and it’s a pretty killer selection, in my opinion. You can grab both the Anhedonist vinyl and the Aldebaran disc from them, as well as a wealth of other things.

For more on Parasitic and to buy their products, go here: http://parasiticrecords.blogspot.com/

It’s been a busy week at the homefront this week. Lots of vegetation to cut back, helping a family member get some work in order. I’ve hardly been able to pay attention to what’s going on in the metal world this week (though I did get a chance to absorb new records from Whitehorse and Caina all the while, and we’ll get to those next week), so here are some interesting things that dropped this week that might excite you as well.

Also, make sure you come back Monday for a look at some new efforts from Parasitic Records, a label that certainly deserves to get added attention because their stuff is more than stellar and the two records I’ll discuss have been in heavy rotation in my home. So be sure to stop back.

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Cormorant are an interesting band, and their style is kind of hard to explain. There is some black metal, some doom, some progressive dashes, and even some power. Their 2009 record “Metazoa” is one that flew under a lot of radars but was one I always really enjoyed and went back to from time to time since it was released. Something about them also felt a bit Medieval to me, like you could imagine the music playing over swords clashing, chainmail being struck, and blood surging from open chest wounds. The music could be both savage and soaring, and maybe my castle dreams are stupid and unfounded, but whatever. That’s what I always think about when hearing “Metazoa.”

Now the band is back with their new effort “Dwellings,” which is scheduled for a fall release, and from just an initial listen, it’s a little thornier and heavier, and it should make for fine listening once it gets a little bit colder outside. The band self-financed the album and recorded straight to analog with producer Justin Weiss, who worked with notable bands such as Agalloch, Hammers of Misfortune, the recently disbanded Ludicra, and plenty of others. It’s going to be one you’ll certainly want to get your hands on if you like things organic and true, and anyone who was into “Metazoa” should be intrigued to hear what these guys bring to the table when they go darker. We’ll have more on this album in the future for sure.

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

To grab some of their music, go here: http://cormorant.bandcamp.com/

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Candlelight Records has had a good year with new records from Sourvein, Anaal Nathrakh, and Cruachan, as well as upcoming releases from Falloch and Absu, but they also have a few new things in store for you that will take you back to grind, punk, extreme metal and hardcore’s roots when they reissue some classics. If you’re trying to polish up on your history, this will do the trick, or if you have ragged old copies of these albums, you now can get fresh, new versions. I’ll turn it over to the Candlelight press release, because it gives you plenty of details. This certainly is an exciting venture, one that will give you stunning exposure to the roots.

Candlelight Records will continue its previously launched classics series confirming releases from Discharge, Extreme Noise Terror, and The Varukers. New to the series, the label will release “Disensitise” and “War Is Hell” from Discharge on Aug. 23, followed by “Holocaust In My Head” by Extreme Noise Terror on Sept. 27 and the 2CD “The Damnation Of Our Species” by The Varukers.

England’s Discharge are considered one of the first hardcore punk bands that significantly merged metal with their punk stylings. Characterized by a heavy, distorted, grinding guitar sound, the band’s raw, shouted vocals and insightful lyrics made them a favorite on “anarcho” lists from the start. Formed in 1977, the band enjoyed a number of charting albums in the UK in the early ‘80s.Reunited in 2000, the band currently features founder Anthony “Rat” Martin, Tony “Bones” Roberts, Roy “Rainy” Wainright, and Dave “Proper” Caution. “Disensitise” and “War Is Hell” feature all new packaging and include previously unavailable songs.

Extreme Noise Terror’s trademark noise has done very well for the UK bevy over their fifteen-plus year career. The band’s abrasive, dual-voiced, grinding brutality maims, pulverizes, and simply destroys all in earshot. Formed in 1985, grindcore’s founding unit fiercely rallied an international fanbase with sharp lyrics and a piercing sound. Regular guests on John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 Program, the band has featured vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway (Napalm Death), guitarist Gian Pyres (Cradle of Filth), and drummer Mick Harris (Napalm Death/Scorn) among their various line-ups throughout the years. Original vocalist Phil Vane passed away in his sleep earlier this year due to a cerebrovascular accident. He was 46 years old. “Holocaust In My Head” compiles 21 tracks of government overthrowing crust/punk all served up in pummeling doses.

Dating to 1979, The Varukers are considered part of the “UK82” or second wave of English hardcore punk. Alongside their peers (Amebix, Chaos UK, GBH), the band’s sound was heavily fueled by the energies and ideologies of 1977-era punk. The band would tour heavily before splintering for several years. Reformed since 1991, the five-piece have continued to impress and keep a loyal and passionate fanbase. “The Damnation Of Our Species” features 44 songs on a special 2cd set, including selections from their “One Struggle One Fight,” “Murder,” “How Do You Sleep” and “Killing Myself To Live” albums.

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

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Landmine Marathon have their second album for Prosthetic Records, and their fourth effort overall, coming at you Sept. 27, and just from the initial sounds of it, this thing will be a ripper. The record is called “Gallows,” and the artwork is done by Rob Middleton, who’s responsible for classic album covers from Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death and his own band Deviated Instinct. You can see that cover below, and you can preorder the thing already (with a T-shirt, too, if you’d like). The band also is on tour, and the band’s live performances are a sight to behold. Also, singer Grace Perry WILL kick you if you get too close to her comfort zone, but it’s all a part of the fun.

Here’s the track list for “Gallows”

1. Three Snake Leaves
2. Cutting Flesh and Bone
3. Knife From My Sleeve
4. Liver and Lungs
5. Dead Horses
6. Cloaked in Red
7. Beaten and Left Blind
8. Morbidity

To catch the band live, here are their summer dates:

LANDMINE MARATHON – Summer US Tour:
July 29 – Canoga Park, CA – The Cobalt Café
July 30 – San Diego, CA – The Shakedown
July 31 – Ventura, CA – Zoey’s Café
Aug. 2 – Fresno, CA – The Ranch
Aug. 3 – Reno, NV – Jub Jub’s Parlor
Aug. 4 – Sacramento, CA – The Fire Escape
Aug. 5 – Oakland, CA – Sub/Mission
Aug. 6 – Arcata, CA – The Alibi
Aug. 7 – Medford, OR – Musichead
Aug. 8 – Portland, OR – East End
Aug. 9 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon Lounge
Aug. 10 – Boise, ID – The Shredder
Aug. 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Salt Lake Recording Services
Aug. 12 – Denver, CO – The Rockaway
Aug. 13 – Santa Fe, NM – The Underground

AMERICA TORN ASUNDER – Warbringer, Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Diamond Plate:
Oct. 3 – W. Hollywood, CA – Key Club
Oct. 4 – Anaheim, CA – Chain Reaction
Oct. 5 – Las Vegas, NV – Cheyenne Saloon
Oct. 6 – Tempe, AZ – Clubhouse
Oct. 7 – Gallup, NM – Juggernaut
Oct. 8 – Oklahoma City, OK – Pour House
Oct. 9 – Austin, TX – Emo’s Alternative Lounge
Oct. 10 – New Orleans, LA – The Hangar
Oct. 11 – Tampa, FL – Brass Mug
Oct. 12 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
Oct. 13 – Charlotte, NC – The Casbah
Oct. 14 – Baltimore, MD – Sonar
Oct. 15 – Frederick, MD – Krug’s Place
Oct. 16 – Kingston, NY – The Basement
Oct. 17 – Trenton, NJ – Championship Bar
Oct. 18 – New York, NY – The Gramercy Theatre
Oct. 19 – Albany, NY – Bogie’s
Oct. 20 – Hartford, CT – Webster Underground
Oct. 21 – Rochester, NY – Montage Music Hall
Oct. 22 – Buffalo, NY – Broadway Joe’s
Oct. 23 – Toronto, ON – Wreck Room
Oct. 24 – Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s
Oct. 25 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
Oct. 26 – St. Paul, MN – Station 4
Oct. 27 – Chicago, IL – Reggie’s Rock Club
Oct. 28 – Detroit, MI – Blondie’s
Oct. 29 – St. Louis, MO – The Firebird
Oct. 31 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theatre
Nov. 1 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
Nov. 2 – Reno, NV – The Alley
Nov. 4 – Vancouver, BC – Funky Winker Bean’s
Nov. 5 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Nov. 6 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
Nov. 7 – San Francisco, CA – Thee Parkside

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

To buy “Gallows” or any of their other releases, go here: http://prostheticrecords.com/?p=2934

Or here: http://prostheticrecords.bigcartel.com/

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

If you haven’t taken time to check out Deafheaven as of yet, here’s your chance. Their excellent debut album “Roads to Judah” was released earlier this year, and if you scroll down a bit, you’ll be able to find our review of that album. It is highly recommended (the record, that is …).

Now comes a freebie from the band and their label, as they offer up “Live at the Blacktop,” the latest in a download series, that are offered up for free, from Deathwish-related artists. So yeah, you have no excuse now because you don’t have to part with your hard-earned cash in order to hear these guys. Their atmospheric, melodic, scream-heavy black metal is a mighty force, and if you like what you hear on this live album, do check out the rest of their stuff. I’ll add links, as usual, below in order for you to check out the band or buy their stuff.

Above is the album cover of the EP, recorded at a dock-turned-venue site called the Blacktop in Bell Gardens, Calif.,along with Low Places, Joyce Manor and labelmates Touche Amore. They plays songs from both their eye-opening demo as well as their “Judah” debut, so you get a good sampling of everything the band does. OK, I’ll shut up. Go download this. They actually want you to do that. Nice folks, those Deathwish people.

To download “Live at the Blacktop, go here: http://www.deathwishinc.com/news/628/

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

To buy “Roads to Judah” and other Deafheaven-related stuff, go here: http://deathwishinc.com/estore/category/DEAFHEAVEN.html

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that In Flames were one of the most important bands in metal. How times have changes. And In Flames have not.

The band just put out its 10^th record “Sounds of a Playground Fading,” their first for Century Media and the follow-up to 2008’s very blah “A Sense of Purpose.” There was a time that I was really excited about In Flames, but that was more than half a decade ago, and since that time, they’ve put out mundane album after mundane album, and my tastes have completely changed. They have sounded uninspired and just kind of there, like they’re putting out albums for an excuse to tour, not because they have anything special or new to say. I keep reading about the new Opeth and how it’s a huge departure from their normal sound because they just didn’t feel the spark in going back and doing the same thing. I wonder if In Flames have that switch.

Anyhow, “Sounds of a Playground Fading” is more of the same, but one positive is the band sounds inspired. The music at least has a spark to it, and it’s probably the best thing they’ve put out since 2002’s “Reroute to Remain,” an album that was maligned by some, but I always liked it. It’s up to you to decide if that means this record is worth your time and money. Below, find my review that went live at Lambgoat.com today. And make sure you leave a snide remark below the review. Haha.

To review the review of “Sounds of a Playground Fading,” go here: http://www.lambgoat.com/albums/view.aspx?id=2936&band=In%20Flames&review=Sounds%20of%20a%20Playground%20Fading

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

To buy “Sounds of a Playground Fading,” go here: http://www.cmdistro.com/Search/in_flames

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

A few weeks ago, I got a gigantic package from Earache Records. I had typically been in regular contact with the legendary metal label for the past decade or so, but this year, things broke off and I was left wondering what happened.

Well, it was simple. The person I used to deal with at Earache wasn’t with the company anymore, my e-mail address changed (not by choice), and their promo delivery switched in the meantime.  So there’s the paper trail. But with a ton of help from their new U.S. press contact (as well as their U.K. publicist), I ended up not only back in the loop but with the big package of material to sift through. This is one of the reasons I enjoy dealing with metal labels a million times more than any others. They go out of their way to make sure you’re connected.

I’m sure I don’t need to rehash Earache’s entire history, and I won’t. But quickly, the label was started by Digby Pearson in 1985 in Nottingham, England, and Earache has been incredibly influential and helped give a name to bands such as Napalm Death, Carcass (Jeff Walker designed the original logo), Bolt Thrower, At the Gates, Morbid Angel, Sleep, Cathedral, Godflesh, Hate Eternal, and more recently, Municipal Waste, Bonded By Blood and Evile (new album out in September, by the way). While the label has kind of taken a back seat in the U.S. the last few years while others flourished, they’ve recently struck back with some quality new signings such as Singapore grinders Wormrot, throwback doom warriors Hour of 13, and modern thrashers Diamond Plate, whose “Generation Why?” drops Aug. 9.

Another of Earache’s stronger signings of late is Canadian doom/black metal mopers Woods of Ypres, who had their most recent album reissued, with a new record “Woods 5: You Were the Light” tentatively expected to drop this year or next. If you can imagine the cascading black metal power of Agalloch mixed with the bloody, wounded hearts of Type O Negative or Katatonia, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this band. It’s dark, depressive and dingy, though at times, they absolutely soar. Each of their records have come out on fairly small independent labels, with their first three out on Krankenhaus Records, and the one we’ll discuss now unleashed by Practical Art.

“Woods 4: The GREEN Album” gets off to a pretty weird, initially off-putting start with “Shards of Love,” a post-relationship, what-happened piece that lyrically is so raw that it sometimes feels undercooked. But the more you listen, the more it sounds like two people having a true-to-life conversation about a love that is dead with no chance of resuscitation. And it’s all downhill from there. Emotionally, that is. The music is riveting, often gothically morose, other times atmospherically savage. It sometimes sounds like two completely different bands adding their own pieces to the same document and everything somehow working out. Frontman/guitarist David Gold can toggle his vocal approaches seamlessly, and the rest of his mates – guitarist Bryan Belleau (he’s since been replaced by Joel Violette), bassist Shane Madden, drummer Evan Madden – setting the perfect tone. There are some crushing moments on here, such as letter-from-the-grave “By the Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead”; swollen-in-death “I Was Buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery”; and awesome existence-is-shit anthem “Wet Leather,” where Gold states, “Life is just pain and piss, and everything is a scam.” It’s not a wrist-slasher of an album, but one that’ll help you relate and perhaps feel a little stronger in its wake. Tremendous signing.

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

To buy “Woods 4”or any Woods merch, go here: http://earache.com/uswebstore/index.php/cPath/667_674_745

The Earache band that best represents the label’s earlier days is SSS, which stands for Short Sharp Shock. The band is a thrash crossover quartet from Liverpool that sounds shockingly like early Slayer without Kerry King’s and Jeff Hanneman’s guitar histrionics but with all of their attitude. You also can hear some Suicidal Tendencies, Agnostic Front and, naturally, Napalm Death (their frontman Barney Greenway guests on their new record “Problems to the Answer”) in their snotty, attitude-laden power.

“Problems” is the band’s third full-length record, and they whip together 25 songs that last just 41 minutes combined, which is a similar template the early grindcore and punk bands followed. Naturally, it’s tough to keep up with the track count at times, as cuts such as “Birdshit,” “Laughing Leads to Crying,” “Roar” and “What Would Cards Do?” blast by in a minute or less. There even are songs you won’t realize exist if you’re not paying close mind, such as six-second “Direct Action” and 26-second “Quick Fix,” but it’s all a part of the fun. Where the band really shines is when they stretch things out a bit, such as on awesome opening track “The Kill Floor,” where frontman Foxy sounds almost exactly like a young Tom Araya; “White Bread,” which is fast as hell as has hardcore genes; “Sick Pleasures,” a fun, splattering song that’s full of venom; punk-powered instrumental “Future Primitive,” a song that’s four times as long as most of what’s on here but manages to stay interesting; and curveball closer “Strange Notes,” another instrumental that sounds more like them screwing around rather than making some hifalutin artistic statement. It’s a fun blast of an album that you should take to your next keg party.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.earache.com/bands/sss/sss.html

To buy “Problems to the Answer” and other stuff, go here: http://earache.com/uswebstore/index.php/cPath/667_673_97

The band The Soulless might sound like a new one, but they really aren’t. You might know them better as Ignominious Incarceration, the name the group used before they selected their new moniker. Granted, their old name was a mouthful and didn’t really have much of a ring to it, but it was better than the generic new thing they came up with. Then again, they also changed their sound to something, well, pretty run of the mill, so perhaps The Soulless actually suits them better now.

Instead of sticking to melodic death metal they served up on 2009’s “Of Winter Born,” they decided to take things back half a decade on “Isolated” and trudge the well-worn, overly beaten metalcore path. If Ozzfest was still a thing, these guys would be ideal for that 10 a.m. timeslot, where most of the fans are just filing in and people haven’t had their energy drinks yet. Not to be totally insulting to this band, because they actually play the metalcore thing just fine, it’s just a tired sound that’s been stale for so long that I really don’t see the point at all. They do OK on songs such as “New Perspective,” despite unearthing the cliché of clichés with the “what doesn’t kill us …” thing, and they prove pretty explosive on “Revelation” and “Unite Us,” where some of their past shines through. But they do themselves no favors elsewhere, especially on “Clones,” where frontman Andy Wardle proclaims, “No one wants to be a clone.” Oops. It’s not too late to turn back, guys. It might be a wise choice.

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

To buy “Isolated” and other stuff, go here: http://earache.com/uswebstore/index.php/cPath/667_673_743

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

We’ll certainly have more from Earache moving forward, and I’m excited to add this label back into my coverage. Expect reviews of Diamond Plate and Evile in the near future.

The metal, oh how it’s building up in the corner of my room. This is one of those times of year when getting a handle on everything new that’s either in stores or on its way is growing burdensome. I am losing track. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, really, because it keeps me busy and it puts fresh music in my ears. So off we go with a quick look at a few new records that explore different subgenres in the ever-growing metallic universe.

“Inside Room” is the debut from British doom band 40 Watt Sun, an effort spearheaded by former Warning leader Patrick Walker, who did some great things with his former band, not the least of which is 2006’s amazing “Watching From a Distance,” the last full album of their lifespan. Like Warning, this music is dark and somber, but a little less aggressive, and Walker’s emotional outpouring is what makes this excellent record shine.

Now, unlike most doom bands these days (and I’m certainly not complaining about this) whose vocals tend to be uglier and deathier than what the roots groups employed, Walker instead emotes cleanly, clearly and succinctly. 40 Watt Sun are more in the vein of other British doom bands such as Anathema, My Dying Bride, Candlemass and Katatonia, and they’d be an excellent opening act on the upcoming Opeth/Katatonia jaunt in the United States. That audience would eat this up. The five songs on “The Inside Room” are earnest and direct, and it sounds as if heartbreak, relationship struggles and misunderstandings fueled a lot of what inspired Walker and the rest of the band – drummer Christian Leitch (also ex-Warning, The River) and bassist William Spong – to create these epics. The music is doom-encrusted for sure, and the pace is mostly mid-tempo and downtrodden, but Walker’s voice just soars as if his heart is trying to disengage from his chest to tell his story to the rest of the world.

“Between Times” is the track mentioned as the focus cut in the bio information supplied by Metal Blade (who are releasing this in America … what a year for Metal Blade, by the way), and it’s a great song, but I get so lost in the two opening tracks “Restless” and “Open My Eyes” that everything that follows seems to pale in comparison. And those other songs are really damn good. This will make great listening for damp fall weekends when soaked leaves blanket the ground. I know it’ll still be in my rotation when those days arrive.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.40wattsun.com/

To buy “The Inside Room,” go here: http://www.indiemerchstore.com/b/40-watt-sun/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.metalblade.com/english/content.php

The debut EP from Flourishing “A Momentary Sense of the Immediate World” was one of those last year that ripped my eyelids open and forced me to take notice. It was a great mini-effort and an explosive first volley into the metal world from a band that seemed to be interested in doing things a little differently and with a more volatile attitude. That made the wait for their first full-length an anxious one, but now that platter has landed by way of “The Sum of All Fossils” (released by A Path Less Traveled). It seemed almost impossible, but they managed to come up with something more earthquakingly heavy and experimentally challenging, and chances are you won’t hear anything quite like it the rest of 2011.

Flourishing’s ranks are made up of vocalist/guitarist Garrett Bussanick, who is one of the guitarists for Wetnurse, a band you should go out of your way to hear now if you’re not familiar with them, bassist Erik Rizk, and drummer Brian Corcoran. When you tackle “Fossils” and are baffled that only three guys can make this much noise, chances are you’re not alone. There’s an industrial suffocation to what these guys do, and by that I don’t mean, like, Ministry or something. Their music sounds like it was constructed by cranes, heavy-load dump trucks, steaming cement trucks and crews of folks putting in hard labor underneath an unforgiving sun. It’s steel bridge heavy. You’ll need a hard hat and a tool belt. Of course, there’s also an off-kilter weirdness to what they do, and a lazy person (that’s me!) might chalk it up as math metal, but it’s really more than that. “A Thimble’s Worth” has a hardcore flare to it, and its tempo is dizzying; “The Prospects of Rejection” has a thick bassline and spiraling guitars that leave you reaching for a steady wall; “In Vivid Monochrome” is all smashing chaos and doom-and-zoom guitars; and “As If Bathed in Excellence” caps the record on a stunning, baffling note, almost warning you that if you’re reeling from what you heard here, you have no idea what’s coming next.

It may take some listens to fully absorb and digest “The Sum of All Fossils,” because there’s a lot to chew here. But each trip back is rewarding, painful in a good way, and enveloping in a manner so many metal records these fail to achieve. Great first full-length.

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

To buy “The Sum of All Fossils,” go here: http://tpltr.bigcartel.com/

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

We haven’t heard from Oakland, Calif., sludge maulers Brainoil since their 2003 self-titled debut (released by Life Is Abuse), but eight years later, here they come blazing back again with “Death of This Dry Season,” released by the always reliable 20 Buck Spin. Since then, its members haven’t exactly been dormant, as they played with other notables bands such as Laudanum, Scarecrow, Watch Them Die, Dead Language, and that’s just some of them. But over the past few years, Brainoil’s members got back together, started playing music again, and that path is what led us to this seven-track, 25-minute effort that their longtime fans probably wondered if they’d ever see or hear.

The trio that is Brainoil – guitarist/vocalist Nathan Smith, bassist/vocalist Greg Wilkinson, drummer Ira Harris—still pay homage to Eyehategod, Buzzov*en,  and Corrosion of Conformity with their muddy, sometimes groove-laden thrashing that is easy to get into and has enough groove to keep your fist pounding on the table. These guys waste no time getting started, as they hammer through the opening title cut and “Gravity Is a Relic,” with its steamrolling pace and throaty screaming. “Feet Cling to the Rotting Soil” is a faster cut and has a punk spinal column; “To Bury the Pages of Existence” also hits like lightning but also has a bluesy base; and “Crimson Shadows” is relentless and vicious, showing their willingness to draw blood. One drawback is some of the riffing, especially the opening parts of these songs, has a bit of samey-ness, which is probably more noticeable because the record is so short. Then again, that seems to be the punk rock spirit coming out of them, and it’s not tiring and distracting or anything. It’s just noticeable. Nonetheless, it’s a rousing, bruising comeback album, and it’s great to have this band back in the conversation, especially since the sludge subgenre has grown so steadily the last half-decade.

For more on Brainoil, go here: http://www.brainoil.com/

To buy “Death of This Dry Season,” go here: http://www.20buckspin.com/site/releases/spin041-brainoil-death-of-this-dry-season-lp/

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

Before we begin this week, I want to extend my sincerest condolences and good thoughts toward the people of Norway after the horrific terror attacks of last Friday. It was an unspeakable, horrible tragedy sparked by what it seems is a very troubled, very hate-filled individual, and I hope all the readers here at Meat Mead Metal send thoughts, prayers, good feelings, or whatever to the Nordic people. We sure enjoy enough of their contributions to the metal world, and we hope everyone there, especially those directly impacted, can find healing and peace.

Be back shortly with a neat, tidy album review capsule edition of MMM.

This week I’ve been highlighting some of my favorite labels and their recent submissions to the metal world, and we wrap that with the one piece I’ve been itching to write for some time now and finally can bring it to you.

Gilead Media doesn’t put out a ton of records each year. They’re about as DIY as it gets, and like a Profound Lore or a Flenser Recordings, you know you’re getting something that label head Adam Bartlett truly believes in and doesn’t just see as a cash grab. He puts what he makes back into running Gilead Media, and their products always look fantastic, sound even better and usually are packaged with extra goodies such as pins, patches, etc. That’s another major reason I never think twice when buying from the label because I know I’m getting my money’s worth. I also basically trust what they put out, and from a mere description of the band on Gilead’s site, I’ll purchase something I think will be up my alley. I actually did that with one of the albums we’ll discuss today. Gilead Media also is who introduced me to Thou, one of my absolute favorite bands whose frontman Bryan Funck also has a hand in the two bands you’ll read about below (they are joint releases with his Howling Mine label).

I’m going to start with FALSE, a black metal band from Minneapolis that was discovered when opening a show for Thou, whose members were utterly blown away by what they heard. When I first read that statement, I knew I had to hear this band immediately, and I was instantly aggravated when I couldn’t find a thing about them online. Nothing at all. It was by design, it turns out, and there was an effort to build an aura of mystery behind this amazing new find that is about to rip the lid off black metal and extreme music in general. I know this will sound hyperbolic, but whatever: FALSE is the most exciting new band I’ve heard this year, and perhaps the most riveting I’ve heard in a few years. In fact, Thou is the last band by which I remember feeling this utterly blown away, and immediately upon hearing their untitled debut, they spread through me like a fever.

I still know very little about FALSE other than what I detailed above, as well as that they’re a female-fronted band, and that they’re utterly, violently relentless. For anyone out there who thinks black metal’s gotten too safe, too sanitized, you’ll find that FALSE agree with you and are doing something drastic about it. This two-track album, that runs about 25 minutes, is the freshest, most exciting explosion of chaos you’re bound to hear in 2011. The band, from the moment first track “The Key of Passive Suffering” starts, goes right for your throat, with claws and teeth exposed for the kill. Their singer warns of an era of “brother against brother, sister against sister” in the first section of this song, before moving on to a mesmerizing passage that sounds inspired by Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” era, especially with the thick fog of synth. The cut explodes again minutes later with an accusation of, “hell is what you reap, hell is what you sow,” and eventually rumbles to its cataclysmic conclusion. “Sleepmaker” is built on the same philosophy and ideas, rich with ripping riffs, rich keys, and even some piano trinkling later that teases a sense of calm amid a suffocating cloud of smoke.

I cannot say enough good things about this band. It would be impossible to highly recommend this record and band any more than I have right here, and if you have the money and want to hear something that may alter your life, by all means buy this thing. This band revives my hope in the future of black metal, and I cannot wait to hear what FALSE come up with next. This is the future, and those coming years will be awash in Armageddon and total, unstoppable chaos.

We move now to Barghest, a four-piece black metal band from Louisiana, who might remind you of the glory days of Darkthrone, Burzum and Mayhem. I mentioned earlier about a band whose record I bought before hearing even a note of music, and this would be that band. I got a download from Gilead Media not long afterward, and after hearing the music, I didn’t regret my purchase in the slightest. Now that I have the vinyl in my possession and have had time to spin it many times, I get more and more intoxicated by this thing with each listen. It should be noted, if you have the cassette version of this album, the songs have since been re-mastered and do have a bit of a different sound.

The record tears open with “Mourning” and its raw, primitive riffing, a death bell, and an eruption of beastly black metal that sounds lo-fi and grimy as hell, and that leads the way for “The Rite of Isolation,” a song that rides on tidal waves of melodic runs by guitarists Matthew Thudium and Jason Thorning, as drummer Terry Gulino keeps a frantic pace and frontman Dallas Smith howls away like he’ll have no future use for his voice beyond this recording. “Pain of Days” is both surging and vicious, with Smith’s vocals taking on more of a guttural death growl instead of a banshee-like shriek; “A Gray Vision” has a bit of an old-school punk feel to it, as some thrash also is thrown into the mix; while closer “Reduced to Ashes” is machine gun-like in its delivery, eventually paving the way for a section where the guitar work becomes almost hypnotic in its assault.

Certainly fans of the second wave of Nordic black metal could find themselves moved by Barghest, but even those who were into then tired of the current black metal crop could find salvation here like they will with FALSE. The band is unrepentant and devastating, sometimes blindingly fast, but always honest and passionate. This is a bad ass album, one that sounds way better on vinyl, and one that might make you consider that corpse paint all over again, if only for the spiritual connection.

Gilead Media has plenty of other bands worth your while, from more metallic entries such as Northless, Krallice, and Fell Voices,  to groups that lean more toward punk and hardcore such as Arms Aloft, Get Rad and mewithoutyou. Check the Gilead label link below to find out more, and go spend some damn money.

For more on FALSE,  well, you’re kind of screwed. But you can see them live. Those dates will appear at the end.

For more on Barghest, go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barghest/114603505268187?sk=info

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

To buy the new records from Barghest or FALSE, go here: http://www.gileadmedia.net/store/

To read an interview with Adam Bartlett, go here: http://www.cvltnation.com/a-conversation-with-gilead-media/

For more on Howling Mine, go here: http://noladiy.org/howlingmine.html

FALSE on tour:

8/1 – IOWA CITY, IA – APHQ
8/2 – ST. LOUIS, MO – THE HEAVY ANCHOR
8/3 – COLUMBIA, MO – HAIRHOLE COLLECTIVE
8/4 – DALLAS, TX – THE PHOENIX PROJECT
8/5 – SAN ANTONIO – THE A&A DRIVE-INN
8/6 – HOUSTON, TX – THE DEATHSTAR
8/7 – BATON ROUGE, LA – PERKINS PARLOUR W/ THOU
8/8 – NEW ORLEANS, LA – NOWE MIASTO W/ THOU
8/9 – BIRMINGHAM, AL – THE FIREHOUSE
8/10 – NASHVILLE, TN – THE LITTLE HAMILTON
8/11 – LOUISVILLE, KY – THE 3RD STREET DIVE
8/12 – BLOOMINGTON, IN – RUSSIAN RECORDING STUDIO
8/13 – CHICAGO, IL – THE VOID
8/14 – MILWAUKEE, WI – THE IRISH KNOT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I get a record from Bindrune Recordings, almost without fail my first reaction is, “I wish I was listening to this in the woods.” Of course, their web site is emblazoned with the motto “Woodland Denizens … Unite,” so that feeling I get inside of me certainly is by design.

Over the past few years, the Michigan-based label has come at us with some incredibly interesting and equally dark bands such as Blood of the Black Owl, Nechochwen, Wodensthrone, Celestiial, and Forest of the Soul, and it probably takes some split appreciation of savage, primitive metal and some forest folk rock in order to embrace this brand of music. Or if you’re into the nature worshippers such as Darkthrone, very early Immortal, and sadly defunct Swedish act Bathory, or the North American bands that pay homage to the elements such as Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch, you might want to find out more about this label if you haven’t already.

Two new records are fresh in stores for you, and while they hold the Bindrune philosophy intact, each take things in a different direction and explore entirely separate terrains. Both are exciting albums and provide something of a change-up for metal audiences, and it’s nice that this style and attitude hasn’t become something that a hundred millions bands have jumped on and beaten into the ground. At least not yet.

Maine’s Falls of Rauros obviously latch onto Tolkien for their moniker, and they’re on their third full-length effort with “The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood,” the follow-up to 2008’s “Hail Wind and Hewn Hawk.” Listening to this record, it’s easy to envision being around a crackling fire in the middle of the woods, with owls calling behind you, and even though it would take a good bit of cords draped through the trees to accomplish this, the band’s colorful, melodic black metal being dropped over you like a drape. It would be the ideal setting.

The six cuts on this new album are rustic and folk-friendly, but they also have a majesty and power to them to please even the most finicky of black metal fans. The quartet, who take on simple first names and no surnames, are a bit of a mystery, as they’re not Internet darlings and they don’t have their photos all over every metal web site going, but that only lends credence to their desire to blend into nature. Their music is labeled “North Appalachian Heathen Black Metal,” and that’s a pretty excellent way to describe what you’ll hear on songs such as “Banished,” which is atmospheric and airy, though smeared with fury when need it needs to be; “Awaiting the Fire or Flood That Awakes It,” which has acoustic strumming behind the prevailing thunderstorm; and “Silence,” a song that is anything but that after its misleadingly quiet guitar and piano intro, and is an excellent example of emotionally charged, wholly human black metal. It’s a fantastic album for a summer walk, a quiet boat ride, or a date with your backyard fire pit, and while it may not fill you with rage, it will help you get in touch with your animalistic spirit in other ways.

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

To buy “The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood,” go here: http://bindrunerecordings.com/distro/newarrivals.html

Obsequiae may seem like a new band to most since their album “Suspended in the Brume of Eos” is their first official full-length, but this group is anything but a couple of rookies. The band actually has been around since 1998, when they were called Autumnal Winds, and they released a handful of demos and a compilation before they went on hiatus from 2005 to 2007. Now under their new moniker, guitarist/vocalist Blondel de Nesel and drummer/bassist/guitarist Neidhart von Reuental unleash their dark, Medieval-flavored castle metal with hands clearly grabbing pieces from late ’70s/early 80s’ power metal. It’s a pretty cool combination that I’ve found a nice setting for tackling the “Game of Thrones” books that I’m a decade and a half late in reading.

“Suspended,” which follows their well-received 2009 demo, sounds like what it might if early Iron Maiden and Emperor (minus the orchestral stuff) were sucked into some sort of wormhole and found themselves mashed together in the studio. Much of the guitar work is glorious and riveting, making it easy to envision a horse-back adventure toward the nearest tournament, and the vocals are savage and screeching, keeping the black metal aesthetic very much in the picture. One slight drawback to me is there are a few too many acoustic interludes in the 12-track count, and they sometimes feel like they’re there to bloat the running time. But really, that’s a minor quibble for me, because when they’re letting the axes fly, it’s pretty damn exciting. Opener “Altars of Moss” has solid lead lines and intricate melodies that sound like they were born for air guitar; the title track had a mid-section that just crushes you with manic thrashing and could be the one moment in a live setting where you might get your knee ligaments torn shredded; “Arrows” blows right up from the start, and it’s the most aggressive thing on this whole collection, leading headlong into “The Starlit Shore.” It’s a kick-ass record that’s more up-tempo and in your face than most Bindrune albums, but it’s nice to have them on the roster. I think you need that screaming hellion that interrupts your mental tranquility so you don’t get too soft. Obsequiae provide that like a spiked metal ball to your exposed rib cage.

For more on the band, go here: http://bindrunerecordings.com/pages/obsequiae_body.html

To buy “Suspended in the Brume of Eos,” go here: http://bindrunerecordings.com/distro/newarrivals.html

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