Rolling 2023 Metal thread

i am listening to this album "Portal of I" by Ne Obliviscaris for this podcast i have to do...

it's crazy like some kinda "if dream theater and jean luc ponty were in a black metal band together" kinda thing, so over the top and dramatic

xpost over/under on how long it takes for Max to try and sue to get usage of the name Sepultura back

some folks swear by Ne Obliviscaris, I just don't get the hype. to each their own, not here to hate... but to me it felt like the violin is used more like a gimmick than effectively.

At a Mortician show at Saint Vitus right now and the drummer for Immortal Suffering is none other than Nikhil T of Anal Stabwound fame. I’m starstruck.

Sounds like many of yall would enjoy Hell's Heroes VI in Houston, Mar 21-23, 2024. V was a lot of fun. Sodom, Queensryche (doing debut EP and The Warning), Candlemass (doing Nightfall), Solitude Aeturnus, Eternal Champion, Watchtower, Sumerlands, Traveler, Girlschool, Wytch Hazel, Bloodstar, Early Moods, Dawnbringer and many more.

https://www.sonicperspectives.com/news/hells-heroes-festival-announces-2024-line-up/

I got to see all of Chris Black's bands during my years in Chicago, including one show where he played, as Professor Black, songs from all his projects, including Dawnbringer and High Spirits. Brilliant.

A couple metal YT channels I started following this year doing their countdowns:

Melanie Loves Death Metal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo2cZW6TPQM

The Heavy Metal Journal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7JtxWXmTg

Sorry bout the embeds, I thought I used the correct versions but apparently not. Will try again with Cassette Cult on Banger with Sarah from Smoulder for top 10 underground metal picks. Was happy to see Mansion finally get some attention, they've been in my year-end lists since their first EPs. She also created the Last Fanzine before Doomsday (https://bit.ly/LastFanzine) to accompany this which I may order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTbOEedmD4M

I've been stuffing death metal in my brain the past week, much of it from Melanie's recs.

Mealanie Loves Death Metal

1. Afterbirth - In But Not Of
2. Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite
3. Cruciamentum - Obsidian Refractions
4. Tetragrammacide - Typho Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an
5. Disguised Malignance - Entering The Gateways
6. Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
7. Fires In The Distance - Air Not Meant For Us
8. Fuming Mouth - Last Day Of Sun
9. Outer Heaven - Infinite Psychic Depths (JR Hayes, Steven Tucker, Derek Vella)
10. AHAB - The Coral Tombs
11. Cannibal Corpse - Chaos Horrific
12. Astiferous - Pulsations of the Black Orb
13. Fossilization - Leprous Daylight
14. Nothingness - Supraliminal
15. Nithing - Agonal Hymns
16. Suffocation - Hymns From Apocrypha
17. Dying Fetus - Make Them Beg for Death
18. Organ Dealer - The Weight of Being
19. Neurectomy - Overwrought
20. Sulphur Aeon - Seven Crowns and Seven Seals

Bubbling under:
Abyssal Rift - Extirpation Dirge
Ascended Dead - Evanfall of the Apocalypse
Autopsy - Ashes, Organs, Blood & Crypts
Body Void - Atrocity Machine
Celestial Sanctuary - Insatiable Thirst for Torment
Depraved Murder - Unethical Terrestrial Collapse
Dripping Decay - Festering Grotesqueries
END - The Sin of Human Frailty
Festerdecay - Reality Rotten to the Core
The Glorious Dead - Cemetery Paths
Gravesend - Gowanus Death Stomp
Gridlink - Coronet Jupiter
Grotesqueries - Vile
Incantation - Unholy Deification
Jarhead Fertilizer - Carceral Warfare
Left Cross - Upon Desecrated Altars
Lipoma - Odes to Suffering
Majesties - Vast Reaches Unclaimed
Nuclear Remains - Dawn of Eternal Suffering
Obituary - Dying of Everything
Reverence To Paroxyms - Lux Morte
Seeping Protoplasm - Exhale Extinction
Sentenced 2 Die - Parasitic Infection
Sulfuric Hatred - Sulfuric Hatred
Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit
Ulthar - Anthronomicon & Helionomicon
Vastum - Inward to Gethsemane
Grotesqueries- Vile Crematory
VoidCeremony - Treads of Unknowing
Vomitory - All Heads Are Gonna Roll
Whore Of Bethlehem - Ritual of Homicide

shame about Sepultura, last few albums have been great with the latest lineup...lineup includes Obituary and Jesus Piece in UK too so can't resist that.

re: the Max thing... saw the Cavalera - Morbid Devastation tour recently and it RULED. there were 2 or 3 times where Max asked the crowd to chant 'THE REAL SE-PUL-TU-RA!!!!' back at him.... kind of awkward to be honest and crowd were laughing a bit but playing along. so I wouldn't be surprised at all if he somehow managed to grab the name back, even if it was a 'Cavalera Brothers' SEPULTURA' sort of thing.

*bill includes Obituary and Jesus Piece i mean

The Heavy Metal Journal (linked above) completed last EP with top 10. "This recurd blew me wee face off!"

the two albums krallice released this year put the rest of the metal world to shame

Stuff I have heard and liked*

Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium
Tanith – Voyage
Danava – Nothing But Nothing
Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament
Shadows – Out for Blood
Moonlight Sorcery – Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
Tyrann – Besatt
Behold the Arctopus – Interstellar Overtrove
Gridlink – Coronet Jupiter
Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit
Meurtrières – Ronde de Nuit
The Night Eternal – Fatale
VoidCeremony – Threads of Unknowing
Hellripper – Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
Smoulder – Violent Creed of Vengeance
Air Raid – Fatal Encounter
Megaton Sword – Might & Power

*caveat: my listening dropped off sharply around August

late catching up to some stuff from this year, but the Crypta and Hellripper records both rule

yeah co-sign the Hellripper, one of my earliest favs this year

Yeah, me too; I conducted a short email interview with the main dude for Bandcamp Daily. And since they only used a few words of it, I'll paste the whole thing here!

How would you describe the evolution of the music from the last album to this one? What are you better at (as a writer, as a player) in 2023 than you were in 2020?
I think that the overall sound is perhaps more diverse on this album. In order to keep things interesting for myself, I wanted to branch out and bring some new elements into the sound from bands that typically wouldn't influence Hellripper's music. The only rule I set for myself was that the album would stay true to the black/speed/thrash style at the core, and so the goal was to incorporate these new things in a way that would compliment that style while being careful not to dilute the end product.

I think that I am better as both a writer and as a player, as well as a producer. With the many live shows we've played over the past couple of years and the amount of time I spent writing the tracks on this new album, I feel like I just naturally improved as a musician. But, I feel like I have improved as a songwriter and perhaps more importantly, I have grown more confident as a songwriter. As I mentioned previously, I wanted to bring in some different influences, and I don't think I would have been able to do some of the things that I've done here on the last album. It all comes from experience I guess.

I think the album is the best sounding Hellripper album to date also, and again that comes from experience in recording/mixing my own music over the years. Like with the songwriting, I wanted to try some new things production-wise on this record, and a lot of these ideas came from albums outside the black/speed metal genre. The process involved a lot of trial and error and there were some things that just didn't work out, but it was a really fun process for me.

Your lyrics are a mix of history, pre-Christian religion and anti-Christianity, but you've avoided drifting into bonehead "cultural nationalism" disguised as headbanger misanthropy - what advice do you have for other metalheads, to help them avoid that pitfall themselves?
Well, first of all, I'm not a bonehead, so I guess that helps!

From having conversations with my non-Scottish friends, I've gathered that what you describe may be the case in other countries, but this is not the case in Scotland, and Scotland may be an exception in this matter. People may want independence for example and enjoy the culture, but in general it has no connotation to right wing views - in fact it's usually the contrary.

I don't know what advice I would give to other metalheads other than to do research and know what you're reading about/listening to. Don't fall into the trap of "National Myths" - where history is twisted or reappropriated to make a point that fits a personal opinion.

You play almost everything yourself on the records, but you have musicians you use for shows. Why not use them in the studio? Is it a question of geography/logistics, or something else?
I just prefer the process of working alone mostly. The convenience, cost, and ability to change things myself at any point also play a part in that! I guess geography would be a factor also!

I am constantly changing things throughout the whole process and replacing/removing songs at all times. With about one month or so to go until I had to submit the album for mastering and to the label, I realised that one of the tracks just didn't fit and I wasn't 100% happy with it. So I made the decision to remove the track (which was almost fully recorded and mixed) from the album, and work on another half-written track instead. I was able to do that because everything is done at home by myself. That just wouldn't have happened if I had to go through the process of contacting other people, getting them to learn the track and hiring a studio for them to record it, and I would have been left with an album that I wasn't completely satisfied with.

It's a hobby and my passion, so I just really enjoy being able to write or record something whenever I want to with little thought for anything else.

Not a question, an observation: Good for you, using real bagpipes and not a keyboard on the title track!
Thank you! I wish I could have played them myself, but I'm just no good unfortunately (or fortunately for my neighbours)! Antonio did a great job on the recording and I think they fit with the track nicely.

new Vemod and Darkspace early next year (finally! x2)

https://shop.season-of-mist.com/darkspace-dark-space-ii-2024-cd-digisleeve-digital
https://shop.season-of-mist.com/vemod-the-deepening-cd-digipak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBSHIR_5kVs

!!

the Darkspace album is one 47 minute track apparently, they played it at the Prophecy Festival - first impressions: some people will say it's all the same/boring but I think there's definitely clear different parts & progression: youtube watch?v=5XFJkDFvyRM

^ don't want to spoiler too much so I didn't embed it

Baring Teeth are a Dallas, TX based trio. Their latest album is a slab of atonal avant-metal that still manages to have memorable songs. Recommended for fans of Imperial Triumphant:

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-path-narrows

Vemod sounds promising too, don't know why it took them 11 years since Venter På Stormene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLh6yNFMcE8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnvMxclmUYQ