One does not just shake the tension, pain, and total upheaval that the global pandemic forced us all to experience. Lives changed, some ended, the world was torn apart even further, and people’s purposeful stupidity made matters even worse and put others in jeopardy. We can’t just shake those times. They’re a part of us, and our recovery will last far into the future.

Canadian metallic noise veterans KEN mode have been dealing with that time period over the course of their art, and we get a second serving of that with “Void.” A companion piece to last year’s stunning “Null,” this eight-track bruiser isn’t a retread of that album at all. It’s very different sonically and personality wise, and its songs are the result of the sadness and disappointment that resulted from dealing with the height of the pandemic. The band—vocalist/guitarist/synth player Jesse Matthewson, bassist/backing vocalist Skot Hamilton, saxophone/synth and piano player, backing vocalist Kathryn Kerr, drummer Shane Matthewson—created this album at the same time as “Null,” and they make for an excellent one-two punch that features some of the band’s most inspired work to date.

“The Shrike” opens and slowly builds, but before you know it, the intensity has spiked. “There’s no escape from our mistakes,” Jesse seethes, the steam rising and aggravating wounds, a muddy haze suddenly developing hanging over as the drumming mashes its body into the dirt. “Painless” prowls with a thick bassline, flexing muscle as the drums drive the verses, the sax playing bringing equal measures of calm and panic. “You are all alone,” Jesse pokes, “Most wish you were never here,” as the heat wilts, blurring your vision. “These Wires” is an incredible piece, a 7:54 slow burner that’s the most different thing on either of their most recent two records. The guitars are moody, keys dripping, and Jesse speak singing, unloading the burden with, “I do not feel like this will ever end.” Things ignite as Jesse howls, “Why would anything feel right again?” a sentiment that weighs down hard, the ominous tones making it clear that things are not comfortable. “I can’t feel like this much longer,” Jesse admits, seeming on the verge of defeat, slowly draining into the ground. “We’re Small Enough” is a strange one, a track that slips into sci-fi synth fog, the band feeling as proggy as they ever have. The alien terrain sucks blood from your veins, sweltering in the thick air, slipping out into darkness.

“I Cannot” is sinewy and wastes no time doling out punishment, the shrieks blasting away, guitars catching fire and amplifying the heaviness. Scathing pressure adds to the torment, Kerr’s sax crawls in and adds noise squalls, chewing at your nerve endings as it makes your brain sizzle. “A Reluctance of Being” is impossibly dark, Jesse dourly admitting, “I’m never going to be OK,” a sentiment he repeats as the playing sinks deeper into the soot. Noise kicks up as the sludge factor becomes more pronounced, the howls carving away at you. The pace picks up as the bass thickens, Jesse changing the thought to, “I’ll never let you be OK,” as sounds sizzle, sax swings hard toward the unsteady, and the final stab of, “We’re never going to be OK,” uniting us in misery. “He Was A Good Man, He Was A Taxpayer” brings stinging guitars and an overcast pall, the track slowly battering as you fall apart. “We will never learn,” Jesse levels, synth wafting into a ’70s style vibe, fire finally raining down as everything ends with the pronouncement, “Now that I’m gone, you’re free.” “Not Today, Old Friend” brings the record to an end by toying with your emotions, speak singing jabbing, the darkness thickening as the sax wafts like a ghoul. Isolation builds as the walls close in, Jesse biting back with, “And isn’t that what matters? That you’ve been thanked? Whether or not I even remember your name?” as sadness pulls us under forever.

“Void” finishes off an incredible two-album trip that has given us some of the most combustible, memorable songs on their entire run, which is saying something considering the weight of their catalog. This record is even more indicative of what they can accomplish in this form, Kerr really leaning into the record and dashing it with some of her own colors. Every moment of KEN mode’s music is deep and personal, and records like these linger, sticking in your mind for days on end.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://kenmode.bandcamp.com/album/void

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

Christianity is a weird thing. It has a much darker side than its followers are willing or maybe even are able to admit, and its claws are in everything. For example, in this country, more and more public policy is using the Bible as a guiding force, despite its tenets not applying to all of the people it would govern. This is hardly a new phenomenon, as we’ve seen this same thing repeatedly for centuries.

Roots of the Old Oak aren’t explicitly pasting that message all over their thunderous debut full-length “The Devil and His Wicked Ways,” but those lessons sure are baked into the DNA. Over eight doom-drenched, death-driven pounders-, the band—vocalist/guitarist Pete Rowland, bassist Mike Rowland,
drummer/vocalist Stuart R. Brogan—pay homage to the old gods, to whom their reverence remains, and stand in defiance with those who fought the arrival of Christianity so many years ago and had it rammed down their throats. The music here is powered by the refusal to give in and is painted generously by metal’s great history and the sounds that made it a force with which to fight back.

“I Defy Thee” opens with wind whipping, whispers riding the waves, and the power crashing down, a doomy and dark storm making the beginning foreboding. The playing feels ceremonial at times, regal at others, always devastating as the funereal pace storms and dissolves into the earth. “Cheating the Hangman” brings buzzing riffs and muscular growls, the playing even leaning toward gothy at times. “I will not beg, I will not scream,” Rowland howls rebelliously, the drubbing and lurching fire eating away at your physical well-being. “Forest Dweller” has the bass crawling through fire, the growls churning, and the melodies brawling with precision. The pressure builds as the playing hisses, snarling over churning guitars and a battering ram force that can knock down walls. “A Ballad of Two Ravens” is a quick instrumental piece with birds cawing, clean guitars feeling like ice melting in early spring, spilling back in time to a place you feel like you’ve visited before.

The title track has keys draining, doomy death growls crawling through the puddles that are increasingly growing larger. The guitars slur as organs disorient, the mucky pace bleeding from wounds that won’t congeal. The growls add menace, the title is howled and chews on bone, and everything drains into “Cosmic Dark Age” that mangles and crushes from the start. Muscular and steely, the playing adds to the ferocity, a wicked dialog gives a nightmare vibe, and the wail of, “No light, a starless void,” pays even more respect to the horrors over the horizon. “Allfather (A Wanderers Tale)” just smokes, the guitars adding to the heat, a swampy vibe making your body quickly lose all strength from your muscles. The misery always seems to be over your shoulder, spreading as the cloud cover increases, keys glaze, and thunder pummels as this instrumental piece boils under the emerging sun. Closer “Take the Throne” is trudging and hot, retching growls spilling stomach acid on the ground. Persistent blasts make for a muscular display as ominous winds begin to blow, the guitar work turns warmer, and the final embers glimmer and succumb to the storm.

“The Devil and His Wicked Ways” is a record that might delve into history but feels awfully relevant today as the intrusion of religion never seems to lose its fire. Roots of the Old Oak spend their meaty, driving debut record reliving the scourge and treating it with doomy, drubbing power that refuses to give an inch and is hungry for the battle that’s to come. This is a punishing record with a warning about events that took place in the past that can rebound and attack us any time, any place if we’re not ready and willing to confront that oppression.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://napalmrecords.com/hammerheart

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

Holding anger inside for a long time is a bad way to go through life. It’s awful for your mental health, and it’s likely to push some people to unthinkable acts because they have no way to release such energy. You need an outlet for something like that, and if it’s productive, it could actually have net positive results when all is said and done.

It’s been nine long years since we heard from Gridlink, and it sounds like in that time they’ve built up enough aggression and negativity that it had to come out again. On “Coronet Juniper,” their first record since 2014’s “Longhena,” we’re waylayed by 11 tracks spread over a bit more than 19 minutes, and everything here is molten and pissed. The band—vocalist Jon Chang, guitarist Takafumi Matsubara, bassist Mauro Cordoba, drummer Bryan Fajardo—is as vicious and frightening as they’ve ever been, blending your brain and guts in such a manner that you’re feeling like the contents of your body are dripping through your cells. And if you can connect your own venom with the band’s, this record also can be a productive outlet to exorcise what haunts you.

“Silk Ash Cascade” begins manically, instantly grabbing you by the throat and mercilessly squeezing. The vocals choke and shriek while the playing maims, spattering blood and heading into “Anhalter Bahnhof” that thrashes right off the bat. It’s a blast that doesn’t stay long but makes its impact felt, shrieks dusting, the playing rattling, the force coming at you and twisting you into something unidentifiable. “Pitch Black Resolve” opens in a melodic haze before forcefully unloading, the screams working their way down your spine. The playing zaps and dashes, strong riffs flexing their muscles and scrambling your brains like a milkshake. “Nickel Grass Mosaic” attacks with mammoth riffs, approaching you angularly, stabbing with fire as all of the playing tangles, blasting before choking with pulverizing smoke. “Ocean Vertigo” has the heat rising dangerously, hanging before the track busts open, the shrieks killing your entire cell structure. The chaos slaughters as the playing makes your insides quakes, blasting into a weird deep haze.

“Octave Serpent” is the first of a four-track assault that drives in, devastates, and leaves. Shrieks mangle along with shocking speed that ravages your body and leaves you heaving. The title track is an urgent crush of fast riffs, panicked screams, and mashing horrors that feel like all of your veins are being pressed together. “Zygomatic” feels like it has somewhere to be very soon, and before that appointment, the band chews with metal teeth, the guitars race with scorching tenacity, and at the end, it feels like your flesh has been pulled from muscle and bone. “Refrain” is calm at first, disarmingly so, and then we’re suddenly in full speed, making it impossible to catch a breath. The viciousness smokes as shrieks smash, and the exclamation point is stabbed home. “The Forgers Secade” starts with the drums slaying, vicious shrieks falling like acid rain, the guitars lathering with lava. The menace multiplies, the guitars toy with your mentality, and the track exits in a strange fog. Closer “Revenant Orchard” is tornadic and slashing, the pace knifing its way through your ribcage, the drumming turning rock into dust. A dreamier sequence sets in, only to be disrupted by horrifying shrieks, the last gasps melting planets.

For those times when our frustration gets to be too much, when we want to physically take something apart but know we can’t, there’s always Gridlink to help us get out that pain. “Coronet Juniper” is almost comically heavy and angry, something that seems like it’s having a hard time dealing with what is chewing at the nerves yet finding a way to contain the violence into something constructive. This band always finds a way to shock your system, and this record, as brief as it may be, never fails to dig into your brain and pull out all of the negative energy.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/GridLink512

To buy the album, go here: https://www.willowtip.com/bands/details/gridlink.aspx

For more on the label, go here: https://www.willowtip.com/home.aspx

I went outside today, and the heat and humidity were just uncompromising. Walking any length made the lightheadedness strike hard, as I was trying to find a place to catch balance. Nothing felt good about it, and considering we’d just come out of the nicest temperatures all summer, this was almost an insult. The earth is beginning to lay waste to us for our sins.

Brazilian death metal crushers Fossilization discovered a way to make that oppressive temperature come through in their music. The band’s debut record “Leprous Daylight” is a filthy, sludging, and violent, an eight-track pounder that this band—vocalist/guitarist/bassist V, drummer P—builds off the strength of their debut EP “He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten” and split with Ritual Necromancy to make things more viscous, more unforgiving, and more intense. These 37 minutes might feel like they blast back in no time, but once the music is done, you’ll realize you’re paying a dear price that won’t resolve easily.

“Archæan Gateway” is a doomy, sweltering intro track that trudges its way into “Once Was God” that is ominous and dark as it arrives. Murky, burly hell unloads, the guitars catching fire even amid all the soot. Massive heat exhales, the fuzzy guitars engorge, and things manage to get even more sinister before bowing out to the finish. “Oracle of Reversion” is thick as hell as the growls land like blades, the guitars scorching as a death metal assault gets fully under way. Growls curdle as the tempo digs in its heels a little, grinding you down with power instead of speed. The exhaust coming off the guitars weighs down on you, the snarls twist your muscles, and the mashing pace ends in suffocation. “At the Heart of the Nest” brings spiraling guitars and rumbling growls, the heat penetrating as the smoking pace turns molten. The growls manage to get even dirtier, the pace bleeding over, trucking over plasma, bone, and nails before fading into the soil.

The title track ignites with vile howls, a heavy haze hanging over everything, jolting with ugly and immoral intent. Melodies tidal wave and unite with the infernal assault that chokes out all oxygen, the track burning to its finish. “The Night Spoke the Tongue of Flames” splatters as the chaos builds, the slow-driving madness leaning into steamy, stewy chaos. The guitars explode all over, blistering with lurching growls and blasting wills. “Eon” slowly catches fire and hangs overhead like a poisonous cloud. The deathly assault staggers and keeps landing bigger blows, and the guitars start a hypnotic push that brings thing to a boil. The drums kick hard, and the elements totally fucking destroy until everything is dust. Closer “Wrought in the Abyss” is nasty and scarring, the humidity spreading, warping and piling on the ugliness. The pressure mounts and the leads scorch and spread, savaging with a calculated pace and a sinister intent that goes out in smoke.

Fossilization certainly create doomy death metal that feels like being stuck inside a loaf of hot bread, just gasping steam while you strive for some sort of vision. “Leprous Daylight” is a mangling, disgusting slab of death that makes it impossible to feel comfortable and always make it feel like you’re face first in the mud. This is a pulverizing debut, one that promises only broken bones and blood to its victims.  

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

To buy the album, go here: https://everlastingspew.com/21-everlasting-spew-releases

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

Taking a journey within one’s mind to get a greater understanding of who we are can be an incredibly rewarding experience but also a stressful one. As many things we can learn about ourselves and our journeys that gives us what we need to have a fuller existence, the exploration and the path can be strenuous both mentally and physically, leasing to exhaustion. Even if the effort is a fruitful one.

Taking on “Evolvement,” the debut full-length from progressive death metal force Tegmentum, lets you take that trip and also levels you with their creative powers. Progressive death metal is a section of extreme music that has exploded well beyond its bounds, and honestly, it’s a style of music that wears on me and rarely gives me something for which to be excited. But then there are bands like this one where its members—vocalist Chelsea Murphy, guitarist Michael Ball, bassist Kenji Tsunami, drummer Andrew Baird—obviously are incredibly capable players but never just lean into that alone. There’s a lot of heart and soul woven into this intergalactic sojourn, so you actually feel the music rather than absorb the virtuosity. These four bring experience from other forces such as Worm of Ouroboros, Ontogeny, Fallujah, Cailleach Calling, and plenty of others, and they use those skills they sharpened there to make Tegmentum an even more intense beast.

“Innocuous” features Yvette Young of Covet and cellist Jerry Liu, so we’re already neck-deep in a lot of great players combining for what’s essentially an intro track, and an immersive one. The track is breezy and spacey, gently spilling as the clouds part, strings ache, and we’re headed into “Moments Ago” that surges and explodes with shrieks from Murphy. The playing is monstrous and crushing, guitars swelling as giant melodies swallow you up, and scorching heat comes on the back-end, crushing and then bleeding away. “Accolades” features Young again, and the track lands punches, the leads taking off for the stars. Roars destroy as the base rumbles and scathes, mauling as molten chaos feels like it bleeds from your pores. The track turns muddy and jarring, the strings pull at your guts, and clean singing jars muscles, everything ending in a burly blast. “Amygdala” (side note: mine is commonly not my friend) twists with anxious tension, the raw howls bruising, down-tuned power spitting mud and drubbing brains. Clean guitars drip as the playing smooshes, the menace creeping down your spine, howls piling up, the guitars then going off. The track goes on a prog-infested zap into the cosmos, tangling and speeding, the calm then coming in doses, crushing out into a haze of sound.

“Emergent Properties” is a jolting, manic display, stretching and retching, a violent interlude that turns into “Genetic Assimilation” that includes Nik Sampson (of Devilment and also the current bassist for the legendary Benediction), and it dawns with beastly howls, crushing with power, the sounds twisting and contorting as your own mental edge is frayed. The leads take off and coil around your brain, the pace steamrolling and electrifying, exploding with brutality that’s doubled by Murphy’s ferocious vocals, everything ending in universal panic. “I Remain” contains contributions from Noah Frank and opens in blistering fire, the growls snarling in your belly, tricky and furious playing having its way with your mind. The heat doubles and becomes impossible to handle, and then Frank’s horns wash in and add a sense of calm, adding a sultry element to twisted devastation. The pace completely darkens, the playing turns grisly, and hellish howls round out into terror. Closer “Gospel of Sand” is an interesting one, beginning tricky and proggy, spiraling and slaying as vile intentions become apparent. The playing mauls as the soloing chars, leading into colder waters that bring down the temperature, but that’s a trick as madness is waiting behind the door. The playing comes unglued and manages to scramble your senses even further, and the final stretch sounds like an unsettling and freezing horror soundscape, the one that makes you feel like danger is nipping at your security.

Tegmentum’s impressive debut “Evolvement” rises many levels above many of the other gray, faceless bands that have tried this same style and don’t resonate much beyond the impressive playing. This band has a creative, fiery heart that keeps you tuned into everything going on, and Murphy has proved time and again to be a compelling, dexterous vocalist capable of many twists and turns. This is a firebreather of an album that hints that as good as this is, the future might be even more exciting.  

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

To buy the album, go here: https://www.m-theoryaudio.com/store

For more on the label, go here: https://www.m-theoryaudio.com/

It’s the middle of the night, total darkness, and your body is resting, trying to recharge from the day you just finished. But something grabs you out of the slumber and you awaken, only you can’t move. At all. You’re perfectly aware you’re awake and this isn’t a dream, and your anxiety suddenly begins to thunderstorm through your system, crippling you with fear.

Sleep paralysis is a horrifying trauma, an event that only lasts a minute or two, but if you don’t know what’s happening, it can be a petrifying event that scars you horribly. It’s a real-life incident that’s scarier than demons and devils and blood, and it’s the theme of “Zmora,” the new full-length album (his second overall) from black metal force Bialywilk. The project is solely helmed by Marek Cimochowicz (formerly of Vukari), and his dive into this phenomenon is oddly serene at times even when it’s raining down with nails. But for the rest, the intensity squeezes and storms, making you try to grip to your remaining psychological wellness, hanging on just so you can move and speak again when consciousness returns.

“NDE” starts feeling like it’s floating in space, synth surrounding you and immersing your mind in a dream land that’s about to become a terror. The title track awakens with guitars driving and swelling as the growls flex and merge into a strange transmission. Howls barrel out of that as the force stings flesh, melody builds and glazes, and everything boils with ferocity, the atmosphere thickening and adding pressure to your skull. “Fever Dreams” is punchy and aggressive as growls emerge, melodies release smoke, and the wildness triples and echoes. The vocals wrench as the playing increases its grip, slashing away as the sonic violence buries you in power. A gusty surge breaks as vile growls reemerge and challenge your physical and mental well-being before disappearing into a fog.

“Nine of Swords” has a massive open as the melodies barge their way through the doors, and the pace is plastering, making it impossible to find steady footing. The playing has great, even infectious energy, punishing and pulsating, the drums laying waste to everything laid before it. The beast turns and gushes with power, the growls hammer anew, and a gigantic avalanche crushes bones before fading away. “The Apical Drive” has growls bursting from the seams, tornadic forces sending shrapnel flying, and a storming, blistering pace that becomes a force with which to be reckoned. The drums send pulses rippling through your veins, a heavy melodic surge tears through the fabric of time, and the guitars sting, leaving flesh prone and writhing. “NDE II” closes the album with synth enveloping, the stars coming back and chilling your brain, bleeding and blurring into time, your body releasing you from your prison.

The thematic elements of “Zmora” is more terrifying than what is on so many other black metal records because waking in the middle of the night, crippled, panic racing through your body is about as horrifying a concept as anything. The fact that Cimochowicz makes this music so captivating and even exciting is a credit to creating something so horrible yet believably palpable. Bialywilk’s journey has just gotten started, and with records as strong and emotionally provoking as this one, we’re merely on the precipice of what Cimochowicz is capable with in this project.

For more on the band, go here: https://bialywilk.bandcamp.com/track/nine-of-swords

To buy the album, go here: https://vendettarecords.bigcartel.com/category/vendetta-records-releases

Or here: https://vitadetestabilisrecords.bandcamp.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://vendetta-records.com/

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

There are different ways to go to outer space, considering just about all of us will never be able to physically go into the stars. But your imagination, especially when your brain is enhanced by controlled substances, is the next best thing, and I have spent more time than I care to admit thinking about taking an adventure beyond and also how it would be really cold.

Swedish doom explorers Domkraft also can get you there off the strength of their new record “Sonic Moons,” and having the aforementioned substances alongside only can help this journey be even more dynamic. Over seven tracks and 47 minutes, the band—vocalist/bassist Martin Wegeland, guitarist Martin Widholm, drummer Anders Dahlgren—deeply immerses you in the doom haze that lives in thick blankets of smoke and psychedelic madness, pulling you deep into the great beyond. Nailing that universal vibe happens early and often, and it makes your brain tingle with drubbing excitement.

“Whispers” opens the record with fuzzy riffs, which is basically a recurring theme. The singing warbles as the playing slithers through the murk, snarling and building ominously, melting into a desert feel, the guitars smoking and bleeding. The singing slinks back as the mystical heat explodes, blistering and driving before fading away. “Stellar Winds” scorches from the start, but Wegeland’s singing is a little softer at the outset, bringing calm before shit explodes. Contortion and power unite as the singing remains pulled back, ominous tones blacken the skies, and the vocals turn to shrieks, leading to smoky skies and the chance to breathe easily dashed thoroughly and forever. “Magnetism” slowly warms up before fiery howls strike, abrasive melodies carving into flesh. The guitars then glimmer as Wegeland’s ferocious vocals sink into bone, a psychedelic storm having its way, blazing with infectious energy, tearing with burning precision and jolting madness that makes your brain burst with energy.

“Slowburner” has guitars igniting and the singing scarring as burly, steely pathways are forged. The yells echo as the singing seems to crescendo, then we’re met with catchy riffs and a goddamn smoking solo. Stabbing howls fight back as the intensity builds, and the tension finally lifts. “Downpour” brings swelling singing and encircling playing, the wildness building and hinting at the turmoil ahead. Wild howls singe the flesh on your arms as a shock of power scorches, the smog thickens, and an electrifying jolt brings you to your knees. “Black Moon Rising” bathes in static as mauling riffs flex their muscles, and the singing floods along with the pressure. Doom bursts as the guitars ripple with psychedelic energy as Wegeland wails, “Can you feel it turning?” as the final embers char and then fade into darkness. Closer “The Big Chill” runs a healthy and well-used 9:42, beginning with fiery intent, the singing floating and the humidity building. Guitars melt as the melodies trickle over your brain, lathering you with wooly might. Everything cools as the sounds numb before the riffs flatten everything, and the leads glow and buzz. Wild calls reverberate while melodies ice your wounds before being absorbed by the hungry earth.

“Sonic Moons” is perfect fodder for late-night listening when the mind is put to rest with the gift of flower, and you’re looking for something to stretch you mentally. Domkraft’s pounding but inviting doom is always there to bring you in and enhance that adventure, making sure you have a place to exercise your mental tools. You also can be sober and get devastated by a truly electric serving of molten doom, but you’ll have to find alternative ways to elevate beyond our skies.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://en.merhq.net/en/Artists/Domkraft/Domkraft-Sonic-Moons.html

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

Do you remember what made you fall in love with heavy metal? I had a slow climb from starting with lighter bands (I’ll fuck up anyone who shits on Cinderella’s “Night Songs”) and then had two peaks. One was buying Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere in Time” on a recommendation and sitting at my grandmother’s house astonished. The other was seeing the video for Testament’s “Trial by Fire” on Headbangers Ball.

I don’t know the personal journeys experienced by the members of thrash crushers Colony Drop, but it sure sounds like they also has several high points themselves. That’s apparent when taking on their thrilling debut album “Brace for Impact,” an 11-track, 35-minute display that keeps thrash as a spine but also visits many other areas of the metallic spectrum. The band—vocalist/effects Joseph Schafer, guitarist/keyboardist Ryan Moon, guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Burton, bassist/vocalist Ari Rosenschein, drummer Eric Harris—entrenches you in a futuristic nightmare that doubles as a fiery rebellion, pushing you to your limits and punching back with the power and glory of heavy metal.

“Colony Drop (Brace for Impact)” opens with the synth playing tricks and the guitars going off, mixing speedy thrash with punk, sizzling and glowing. Schafer, a charismatic and showy vocalist in the best possible way, snarls they’re “remaking the world in our image” as the playing chugs, soloing goes nuclear, and the playing bleeding away. “Remade” charges in with gritty vocals and glorious power, the guitar work coming in so bright you have to shield your eyes. “Here in the punishment factory, you suffer under the blade,” Schafer howls as the bass slinks, and the guitars heat up and melt everything in front of it. “Stand Against the World” smashes and thrashes, the twin guitar attack bringing heat, trudging and making its presence felt. Maniacal calls and laughs send chills down your spine, the guitars work flexes, and everything disappears in the night. “Supplicant” brings gurgly howls, splattering play, and guitars that wield weaponry, packing a tasty classic rock feel. The song is rousing and fun, the leads exciting as the howls corrode, everything smashing to a vicious end. “The Clockwork Grip” wields some hardcore threads, and it also packs in cool riffs, grimy speak howls, and the power igniting. The guitars work brings flesh-wilting heat, the vocals turn more growly, and the thick steam leaves you sweaty and gasping.

“Heartfelt” is a quick instrumental built with echoing drums, acoustics, and dual guitar action, getting your brain ready for “Heartwrench” that immediately explodes with speed and thrash madness. The playing is pounding and exciting, absolutely slaying with fire, strange spoken chants getting into your bloodstream. The guitars then head to the races, exploding with charred pathways, coming to a crushing finish. “Patient Xero” begins with the drums leading the way and crashing through boundaries, mangling howls grabbing you by the throat, and the gas pedal jammed into the floor and permanently stuck in throttling mode. It just gets more bruising from there, great riffs making your heart race, the drumming gutting you, and fiery explosions increasing the levels of danger. “The Guillotine” taunts from the start, Schafer warning, “We’ve cut off heads for less,” the guitar work finding new ways to be exciting and dangerous. The playing basks in filth as the tempo punishes, everything ending as abruptly as it entered. “Fantasize the Beast” chugs as the riffs scorch, feeling like a close cousin to the main guitar line from “Barracuda.” Big woah-oh calls add even more adrenaline, the cowbell should put smirks on faces, and the immersion into sleaze is a really nice touch. The guitars sizzle before the pace hits a slow drive, mangling before bleeding out. Closer “(MS-07) The Gouf” opens with Schafer declaring, “War is in session!” as the chugging thrash begins to tighten its grip around your throat. “Close quarters! Ground combat!” is howled as the playing is bludgeoning, the leads searing flesh. The band chants, “MS-07!” as everything smokes with oppressive strength, burying you in the throes of battle.

Colony Drop feel like a band removed from 30 years ago and dropped into today’s metallic kingdom, its forces informed of the advances that have taken place in that time so they easily can adapt. “Brace for Impact” certainly shows its influences in its recipe, but it never comes off as a product of any of those influences and instead stands as something newer and deadlier. This is an album from which it’s impossible to divert your attention, a reminder metal can be dangerous and fun at the same time without sacrificing a single ounce of heart.

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

To buy the album or for more on the label, go here: https://www.namelessgraverecords.com/

Album also available here: https://wisebloodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/brace-for-impact

Unimaginable horrors and cosmic terrors are things that likely would wipe most of our brains and leave us drooling messes on the floor with our ability to do anything productive completely devastated. Can you imagine seeing something so frightening that your brain could not even conceive of such a thing, and here you are staring it in the eyes? If it has eyes.

We’ve written a ton about Blut Aus Nord during this site’s existence, and every time they arrive with a new record, we face something we never knew was possible. The band’s 16th full-length album is upon us in the form of “Disharmonium – Nahab,” and even if you’re well versed in their musical universe, you’ll still find that you’re horrified and surprised. The band— guitarist/vocalist Vindsval, bassist GhÖst, drummer/keyboard player/electronics master W.D. Feld—started the “Disharmonium” path with last year’s amazing “Undreamable Abysses,” and then they came back super fast with “Lovecraftian Echoes.” BTW, totally acknowledge Lovecraft was a racist shitbag, but he did create some timeless horrors. At least he’s dead and is broke forever. “Nahab” continues on a similar vein but feels like a different alien being that originated from the same DNA, only mutated beyond control.

“Hideous Dream Opus #1” opens the record ominously, noise steaming and floating, hurtling through the cosmos into “Mental Paralysis” that is named for good reason since that’s how this feels. The track bursts through clouds and is immediately menacing, a beastly, warped phantom working through the night, the growls shrouded by fog. Guitars induce heat while dreams swarm, and then it’s on to “The Endless Multitude” that begins a little punchier. It also plays with your mental well-being, snaking through mental tributaries, smearing your subconscious with strange messages. The playing is disorienting as it builds its way up, threatening and boiling, swirling through pressure zones, eventually fading into a damaged corner of space. “Hideous Dream Opus #2” is another short instrumental that’s oddly calming and quivers in its place in the sky, making your head swing toward “The Crowning Horror” that immediately ruptures and bleeds profusely. The riffs lure you into their trap as deep growls mix into an overcast haze, the hissing feeling threatening. A monstrous burst sinks in its teeth as cloud cover thickens, and we head right into “Queen of the Dead Dimension” that’s slurry and feels like it’s staggering in the dark. Hissed growls and warm leads mix, the playing hanging over your head. As the track goes on, you can’t help but feel like you’re having an out-of-body experience before an explosion of sound brings you back, spinning through space and into your shaking psyche.

“The Black Vortex” instantly blends brains, a zany, dizzying assault that is impossible to get a hold of first time you hear it. If you’re ever able to gain any control over it. Growls lurch as the playing sweeps and then enters a state of total hypnosis, which you won’t see coming. The shots then jolt anew, the growls feel like electricity pushing through wires, and the track barrels out into numbness. “Nameless Rites” brings marring growls and a pace that batters your senses, glorious synth coming off like the horns of Armageddon. The playing pumps cosmic majesty, storming through the universe, sweeping out into the edge of time. “Hideous Dream Opus #3” is the final interlude, and it’s murky and milky, sweeping and then burning away. “The Ultimate Void of Chaos” is savage as hell as it begins to recklessly divebomb, the growls sizzling as the rubbery base squeezes marrow from bones. Mystical powers make the waters crystal clear but also poisonous, your head suddenly is spinning out of control, and then the thing pulls back and retches filth, burrowing out into time. Closer “Forgotten Aeon” storms and contorts, mesmerizes and engorges, acting like a phantom out of control. The playing is storming and disarming, bleeding chaos that sheds mechanical cells, a sound assault that brews in a galactic cauldron that spills all over time and changes the makeup of the earth.

There’s no such thing as a normal Blut Aus Nord record, nor is there one that’s easily digestible and simple to approach. Which is what makes this band so memorable in the first place. “Disharmonium – Nahab” is the ideal companion to their Lovecraft-inspired work, the portrait of an unspeakable beast stretching its tentacles and pulling to its greedy mouth anything in its path. Blut Aus Nord remain prolific and untouchable, a band that’s as much an alien species as anything, always changing and shifting to keep things interesting and full of abject terror. 

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

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://debemurmorti.aisamerch.com/

Or here (Europe): https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/12-eshop

For more on the label, go here: https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/

It’s not very cold right now. Actually, this week, in my hometown, we’re pushing the upper 80s and a huge wave of unclean air. Thank fuck all the corporations told us the environment is doing OK! I even miss massive, frigid winters where we were guaranteed a handful of crippling snow storms that would relegate us to our homes for days and that would look like a majestic wintry landscape.

It’s been about as long as those types of winters happened as we’ve heard from Imperial Crystalline Entombment, who have remained silent for nearly two full decades. The planet has gotten noticeably warmer (again, lack of actual winter for years), but taking on this band’s electrifying new record “Ancient Glacial Resurgence,” their first since 2004’s landmark “Apocalyptic End in White,” is like facing a destructive blizzard head on. The band—vocalist IceSickKill, guitarist/backing vocalist Bleak, bassist Blisserred, drummer Mammoth—runs frigidly roughshod over 10 tracks and 44 minutes of power in a way few bands not named Immortal have captured, celebrating the most unforgiving season we have. This is exciting and coursing, music that’s both icy and scalding in a way that makes total sense once you hear it.

“Into a Frigid Bleak Infinity” tears open with the melodies whipping with power, driving into blinding winds as the shrieks peel at prone flesh. Chaos rains down as the guitars swell, a huge burst blows you backward, and the final blows leave bloody marks. “Eternal Subzero Torment” blasts as the riffs race, and blackness pours out of cosmic wounds as screams smash with urgency. The guitars rip through and manage to add some heat to the glacial freeze, thrashing and dashing before ending in fury. “Cataclysmic Glaciation” is crunching and calculated, ramping up as it goes, eventually rampaging and splattering with power. “The end is near!” IceSickKill wails as guitars jolt and wrench, and clobbering blasts stretch your muscles cruelly. “Of Blizzards and Banshees” rams open, tearing down ramparts, the melodies rippling through the sky. The howls crush as the guitars char, savagery spewing from every opening, a devastating and mystical storm breaking spines in two. “Ravaskeith’s Crystalline Return” bring embroiling guitars, menacing storms, and generous amounts of power. The riffs cut down the middle as the drums come alive and plaster, shrieks storm and pay off the fury, and all elements pile on dangerously, racing to a finish that dissolves in static.

“Petrified Cadaverous Wastelands” starts like a dream, immersing your brain in wonders as the bodily damage is being done. Moody weirdness spirals as a punishing force emerges and stains psyches, IceSickKill urging, “Accept our offerings we have brought you,” as the twisted forces eat away at minds. “Savage Blizzard Stabbings” is a strange journey at first, the dream state giving off an unsettling aura. Cold and forceful, the riffs bring a stinging backlash, the guitars carving through ice and overwhelming as it pounds away. It’s like being in the midst of a blast furnace, a psyche wash making things disorienting, your breath present in front of you as your extremities tingle from the punishment. “Opening the Imperial Gates” is warped, and you’re greeting by devastating shrieks and confounding guitars, smoke mixing with the freezing winds. “Open the arctic gates!” IceSickKill demands as the playing thrashes away, sweeping into madness as the track spins into the ground. “Ancient Lords of White Death” explodes with stabbing guitars and dramatic swipes, grisly violence destroying mentally and physically. Classic black metal riffs arrive and freeze your beating heart, the howls coat with darkness, and the guitars zap, leaving the room spinning. Closer “Born to Freeze” begins ominously before the howls arrive and darken the sun, the chaos welling and bringing vile elements. It feels like you’re being gutted as the playing adds pressure, and then things seem to end as the power fades. It’s a trick as seconds later, everything restarts, howls scrape, and a glorious burst buries you under the ice.

It’s been a long time since Imperial Crystalline Entombment have haunted our world, and despite our globe experiencing higher temperature than normal, this band finds a way to deliver painful ice burns. These 10 tracks are maniacal and filled with a warped energy that feels like the band letting loose and making up for lost time by contorting our brains and bodies. This is a record and band that show no mercy, and once you’re in their clutches, your cries for mercy will go unheeded as you’re taken apart and submerged in ice piece by piece.

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

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://debemurmorti.aisamerch.com/

Or here (Europe): https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/12-eshop

For more on the label, go here: https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/