The most interesting releases of the last 3 weeks!
Super group Arise From Worms released their debut full-length release, A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction, on Church Road Records. This technical death metal band includes death metal legends Flo Mournier and Steve Tucker, and apparently they were given absolutely no guard rails whatsoever, for the benefit of everyone. The production sounds a bit odd at times. I’d have preferred greater dynamic contrast and a different guitar tone in some places, and some of the passages sound stapled together rather than played through like one song. However, those are easy sins to forgive when it comes to the songwriting. A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction is just one solo, breakdown, and unnecessary flourish after another. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a band this dedicated to showing off with seemingly no other goals. But they’ve earned it and they make it work. Arise From Worms is an absurdly fun death metal experience that I return to whenever I need a jolt and a smile.
The Arsonist was released on Season of Mist. Gothic rock band Wailin Storms repeats an odd songwriting technique throughout their newest release: First they intrigue with a nifty hook at the beginning of a song, then they spend the next couple of minutes boring the shit out of me and generally stagnating, and then they build to an amazing climax that absolutely blows me away and stays in my mind forever before then going on to the next track and repeating the process. I don’t know if the middle step is strictly necessary, but it works out in the end. Vocals shine brightest on The Arsonist, with tons of range kept under tight control. Having nearly spoken whispers and the anguished cries from the height of the song both sound this good is a rare experience.
For Eternity is Black Sites‘ independently released fifth full-length. Throughout five albums of throwback heavy metal over the course of nine years, Black Sites has yet to release a bad song, with their absolute nadir consisting of some tracks on Untrue and The Promised Land? sounding entertaining but without as much bite as the band’s early material. On For Eternity, Black Sites continue their savant-like path through life of writing absolute killer hooks and marrying them to tight songwriting with just enough of a progressive char around the edges to turn heads. If you didn’t like their last few releases, nothing will change here, but this run of consistency and excellence deserves celebration. I wish more people knew about this band.
Passage To A Neutron Star was released on Transcending Obscurity Records. Carbon Tomb plays dissonant death metal with a lo-fi black metal feel and a production style that sometimes sounds like they left a mic in a different room on purpose. The songs themselves consist of relatively safe verse-chorus structures. This allows Carbon Tomb to really go ham with some of their other songwriting choruses, including cramming syncopated black metal-esque riffs in with their dissonances on the breakdowns. This blend ends up sounding unique and rugged, and somehow the band managed to pull off dissonant lo-fi death metal while still sounding catchy and immediate. Passage To A Neutron Star was quite the welcome surprise.
Nowhere Speaks, released on Season of Mist, is the least-accessible new album I listened to this month. Emptiness play a subdued, introspective version of dissonant death metal, like if Portal or Ulcerate started an antidepressant and were trying to make amends, but the dose wasn’t quite right yet. This is the exact opposite of gym music. But Emptiness know what they’re doing. Riffs slither around the drumbeats, as vocals whisper slightly off of where they should be and jarring major or augmented moments come out of nowhere to make you miss a step. Nowhere Speaks is an album that just sits with you and metastasizes over weeks, worthy of repeat listens over years. I imagine plenty of people will be talking about Emptiness again in December and January.
The Ringing Bell was released on Trible B Records. The band’s production approach appears to be “snare drum,” and the hardcore approach in the vocals and breakdowns will turn off some death metal freaks. Fuming Mouth play death metal with heavy hardcore influence similar to Creeping Death. The band’s biggest strength is their ability to keep the listener anchored in their beat. Every drum hit feels immense, and whenever the guitars switch up the riff it feels like something important is being said. The occasional sustained high pitches in the guitars are excellent at creating suspense before the band crashes into another hardcore breakdown. On its face, The Ringing Bell is a standard death metal album that you’ve heard before, but Fuming Mouth give every moment such intensity and such grandiosity that the band earn their spot in regular rotation.
Parable Of The Sewer, released on Apocalyptic Witchcraft Records, sounds like someone crammed various black metal and death metal tropes into a blender and then sifted out the highlights. Faustian‘s members have quite the pedigree, with Akercocke and Psycroptic credits in their past and present as well as the obvious connection to Werewolves. This experience shows up in the songs. Throughout Parable Of The Sewer, Faustian take simple concepts that shouldn’t work, jam them together, and create something that sticks to your ears. The best I can say about the riffs is that they’re entertaining, but they also form the backbone of a fully fleshed out sound that must have taken tremendous effort to construct. The spoken word sections sound eerie, the guitar dissonances clash off of each other well. The production helps as well. Parable Of The Sewer sounds full and complete. As I was writing this, I drifted off by accident and paused for several songs, just letting the waves of black metal crash over me. It’s one of the better ways to spend an evening.
Horns Of Abomination‘s self-titled demo reminds me a lot of Affliction Vector‘s excellent 2020 EP, except with a more pared-down songwriting approach and even less forgiving production. That’s high praise. This band sounds like they set out to create the least melodic thing they could imagine while still keeping a beat, and it has me excited for what they can do next. Fans of the least friendly war metal album you can imagine should check this out.
