Rolling 2020 Metal Thread

'Lyrics from Pierre Lanchantin’s Imaginary proto-languages' – sold.

The climax of this track is an amplified sitar being madly plucked over amplified baritone sax and two drummers. It is perhaps even more awesome than that sounds

xp Beat me to it! :)

Yeah this sounds great.

this really is the year of marathon album lengths huh

anyway this track is unreal so I'm not complaining

Mere appetizers before next year’s mammoth one-man sextuple quarantine albums start dropping. Morton Feldman’s 2nd String Quartet is about to get dwarfed.

Expecting nothing less than an eight weeks long Jute Gyte lockdown album

tbf he did just release a 90-minute ambient piece

Baby steps. Next up I want him to do an uninterrupted soundtrack to accompany screenings of Sátántangó.

I ordered that Paysage d'Hiver album and got a free download included from The Vision Bleak - it's kinda like Ghost but even more fun, I'm enjoying this :-)

I interviewed the drummer from Ulcerate for Bandcamp Daily.

Yeah, that NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM is pretty awesome...

Thanks for that Saint Merat interview - Ulcerate are so awesome - I caught the shrines US tour & I'm really looking forward to seein em again someday.

Century media is having a free Isolation Fest on May 14 streaming on YouTube - line up looks great - Voivod!

xp Yeah, nice interview. It took a few listens to open up for me but this album is really delivering.

The Dola record is indeed quite tasty!

who was that Southeast Asian drone-metal band everyone loved last year? i'm blanking on the name

Senyawa?

Always going to confuse them with afro-rock band Edzayawa and there's nothing to be done about it

xpost YES! thanks a ton. was drivin' me nuts.

anyone know who the editor is at Stereogum that would handle a metal pitch?

Just send it to pitches at stereogum dot com.

Thanks!

Not really feel the new Cirith Ungol – my introduction to the band, incidentally. Beyond the dilapidated vocals, the playing is too noncommittal to justify such slow tempos throughout – maybe doom metal isn't for them? There are some appropriately compelling retro guitar solos here and there, and 'Stormbringer' is a standout track, but I can't say I'm too impressed overall. How does it compare to their previous material?

As far as this year's trad doom contingent is concerned, I prefer King Witch's Body of Light: bluesy, female-fronted Sabbath-esque slow burners buoyed by impassioned singing and more memorable songwriting. To wit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56FIteIsSnQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyaPy-Ug6dA

Okay, I might be the only one, but I'm really excited for Inter Arma's covers album, Garbers Days Revisited:

https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2020/05/Inter-Arma-Garbers-Day-Revisited-1589384677-640x640.jpg

1. Scarecrow (Ministry Cover)
2. Southern Man (Neil Young Cover)
3. Hard Times (Cro-Mags Cover)
4. March Of The Pigs (Nine Inch Nails Cover)
5. The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill (Hüsker Dü Cover)
6. In League With Satan (Venom Cover)
7. Runnin Down A Dream (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Cover)
8. Purple Rain (Prince Cover)

I actually came to post about it, Jon, so count me in for beingh excited!

If brutal tech death is your thing, the new Defeated Sanity delivers in spades:

https://defeatedsanity.bandcamp.com/album/the-sanguinary-impetus

Just added this to my Wish List. Their CD was limited and sold out but they have reasonably priced vinyl in July...

"Dola" by Dola --- Polish trio repurposes Caspar Brötzmann Massaker's skronk and Stephen O'Malley's drone as ambient black metal. Adventurous sheets of doom cascade from the speakers with repeated listens revealing new textures every time. https://t.co/1NRFE8IXFd #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) May 14, 2020

Nice!

I like Defeated Sanity but hated the last thing they put out. but i'll pick it up when it's released

oh shit the Triptykon roadburn thing is out tonight?

Thanks for that NYCNative, that Dola album is pretty fascinating. So much going on here it sounds like a mixtape at times! :)

I am glad that some people like the Dola!

Earlier today Oranssi Pazuzu did a Livestream of their new album.
You can watch it in its entirety on YouTube even though it'sover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfANRKPnC8M

Pretty fucking amazing, actually; well worth an hour of your time if you're into the band.

Admittedly, openly folksy pagan-esque meloblack is pure pap to my ears, but the new Horn is phenomenal. I didn’t get much out of Retrograd so this comes as a complete surprise.

the new Okkultokrati is more metal than I was expecting on first listen

enjoying the new Mekong Delta. the riffs definitely fit in the "staccato prog thrash" mode, but they rock out now and then, lots of tempo changes. some moments feel James Horner-y.

though it does seem funny that this is basically the same place "prog thrash" has been stuck in for years.

It’s hardly as if there’s a million bands mining this territory tbf.

True.

I also like Artillery

A few things that just came out that I wrote about within Twitter character lengths...

"Mohngang" by Horn (@BoneheadIron) --- There are bigger bands in the genre but not many that embrace all the trappings and don't come off as cheesy. Don't get me wrong; I love Amon Amarth! But Horn is almost as anthemic and way more authentic. https://t.co/O4wTzHT9h8 #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) May 17, 2020

"Obsidian" by @OfficialPL (@nuclearblastusa) --- Probably the most Sisters of Mercy album, at least sonically, though still using the band's patented melancholic doom blueprint. It peters out a little at the end but there's still a lot to like. https://t.co/4dC48eCsnG #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) May 17, 2020

I really loved the album before this one. gonna have to get around to this one.

It's quite good when it steers clear of the Sisters influence.

A really good folk-metal jam just up came on my weekly playlist, and I thought "Oh, I should tell those ILM people who think Horn is good about THIS." But as you may immediately have guessed, it WAS Horn. So: Horn: count me in.

Enjoying the "Metal Section" version of Voivod's End of Dormancy that popped up on my Release Radar today.

Listening to the new Enslaved single now, can't say I'm in love with it but it's pretty solid. Most of it is in 7/8 but it's not exactly prog, although there are places that sound like the interplay is more complex than the ear will pick up on easily, in particular some stuff in the fast section around 3:00. Also I haven't heard an Enslaved album in ten years, and I don't know what "prog" means, obviously.

enjoying the Cauldron Black Ram, and its dank-ass atmosphere, and the occasional doom-y tempos

the new Cosmic Putrefaction album is f'n killer and a huge step up from their last one (which was still v good).

Even if you don't listen to the Cosmic Putrefaction album, the album and song titles are great.

The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
1. Between Awe and Fear upon the Burst of the Ominous Star
2. This Landscape Sublimates Oblivion to Obliteration
3. The Glooming Murk of his Telluric Shrieks
4. Abysmal Resonance Projection
5. The Arcane Soothsayer Carefully Sculpted His Demise
6. Utterance of the Fall of Man

Looking forward to that one.

In the meantime, the new Esoctrilihum is the best thing he’s done so far. More tonal than his previous albums, which better highlights the (relatively) unorthodox chord changes. And minimalist baroque fiddles spinning out of control will always have my approval.

Valhalla by @wolftoothmetal (@RippleMusic)- Indiana heshers got riffs, languid Ozzy vocals, riffs, good songs, and riffs. Some are recycled, but like Grand Magus, early Khemmis, and The Sword (whom they most resemble) they borrow from the best. https://t.co/yD6lW997Ul #NowPlaying

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) May 22, 2020