Written by: Blackie Skulless
Leave it to Trevor to take me out of review retirement, huh. Year after year, I have found myself writing (at least) a review for Haunt annually. Anybody who has followed me knows how much I love everything from Mind Freeze and before, and how much I love different things about each following record without my mind needing to be blown. Well, I guess Dreamers is the one to break that trend, because boy do things actually take a turn here! Not to say that Haunt has stepped away from the heavy metal genre, but this is the most significant deviation from their classic core that we’ve gotten thus far. Rather than being another cut of stripped-down traditional metal with mildly varying toppings, this lifts up different layers to take the forefront. Strangely, the vocals and guitars swap taking a backseat despite still being a vital ingredient, depending on the track. The drum clashes pop harder than ever, and the synths feel like a tool to cast a mistier atmosphere rather than being another outlet for melody like on former records.
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Written by: The Administrator
We slumbering scribes are nothing if not considerate. In that spirit, here's a relevant public service announcement: if you choose to fire up Terror Labyrinthian, the debut album from Baltimore's Nuclear Tomb, please know that you are willingly subjecting yourself to an undiluted sonic onslaught. Real face-melting stuff. Prodding and squirmy and barbed and apocalyptic and absolutely ripping. Representing a particularly weird and wild variant of death-oriented thrash, Nuclear Tomb have perfected a brand of chaos that appears, at first blush, quite unhinged. In reality, their approach is as calculated as it is contorted. In a case of promo material feeling exceptionally accurate, Nuclear Tomb do indeed skillfully integrate an old-school blistering aggression à la Sadus alongside a more punky off-kilter Voivodian approach to dynamics. That's a win/win combination in my book.
Written by: The Administrator
No time for a superfluous introduction. Here is a collection of things I love about Principality of Mechanical Violence, the latest album from death metal duo Soulmass. Let us begin. Firstly, I love the album artwork. I am inclined to judge a book by its cover, and the case of this gorgeous piece by Samuel Nelson, I was immediately struck by the evocative palette and setting. Here, Samuel has captured a moment in time so articulately as the moon rises over a prone gundam. This is the gloaming; the moment where dusk becomes night. I generally adore heavy usage of pinks and purples, and the color of the logo is warm and wonderful, full stop. The color scheme in general feels quite unique in the world of death metal, and stands out from the crowd. It is by far one of the best covers I've seen this year.
Written by: The Administrator
Let's clear this up right out of the gate: Trocar are gross. Not cutesy gross, but fundamentally and irrevocably gross. Repugnancy has been the name of the game for these (literal) organ grinders, and their debut full-length is accordingly stomach-churning. If you're unfamiliar with Trocar, just consider that the band composition consists of two members of Fluids (Jan Grotle and Walter Hale) alongside death metal connoisseur Schuler Benson, who you may know from @deathmetalradio infamy. Given the lineup, please extrapolate. The sum of the component parts is bound to be bloody, unsettling, grotesque. Anyways. The bluntly and accurately entitled Extremities was released April 5th via Selfmadegod Records, and if you've enjoyed Trocar's work thusfar across various splits and EPs, you'll enjoy this. Indeed, in my opinion, this is their best work yet. A genuine level up. It may be the sonic equivalent of a garbage bag filled with medical waste left in the sun for, oh, a couple of decades, but Extremities is the finest grind I've had pleasure of consuming in quite some time.
Written by: The Administrator
After spending a long day trudging through a world that seems fully intent on chewing me up and spitting me out, the first thing I want to do is listen to a band that seems fully intent on chewing me up and spitting me out. No, literally, the very first thing. I get in my car, crank that angry spiteful music, and enjoy life for a little while. Enter Kingston-upon-Hull's Mastiff. Prime candidate for a wholeheartedly cathartic commute. Deprecipice, the band's fourth full length, marks a shift into more overt hardcore waters, allowing the grind, sludge, and deathier elements of their prior work to take more of a back seat. That's not to say, of course, that those qualities have dissipated--more that they have been more fully and organically incorporated into a (somehow) meaner and harder Mastiff sound. We can churn out descriptors all damn day. Deprecipice is seething, ugly, belligerent, harrowing, punishing, relentless, crushing, bleak, vengeful. There's an implicit curiosity that arises from the band's uniquely gnarly intimidation factor: just what level of violence are Mastiff actually capable of? They can howl and roar and batter the flimsy wooden fence in Beast-esque fashion, but what happens when they actually get their hands on you? There's tension in the implication. This is a massive album, rage-fueled and roiling, and as good as their discography is thusfar, I consider it to be far and away their best work to date. Written by: Crypt Tender Another edition of ON THE HORIZON? The fact that this oft-forgotten segment is experiencing a sudden limelight indicates that A. there is a lot of good music in the pipeline, and B. we inhabitants of the Sleeping Village have tapped into a mystic pool of motivation, becoming, I can only imagine, annoyingly prolific in the process. We have a strict policy that any crypt-related items are sent directly to me, the illustrious and revered Crypt Tender [break for polite applause, sounds of fearful admiration]. As such, the entities that oversee the promo pit have gifted me this release announcement and accompanying lead single from heavy metal doomsters Crypt Sermon. I haven't yet had the pleasure of drinking deep of the forthcoming The Stygian Rose, out June 14th from Dark Descent Records, but I have played "Heavy Is The Crown of Bone" no fewer than ten times since receiving. Which, if we're being honest, makes me a bit of an expert on the matter.
In a continuing attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we slumbering scribes are making an effort to publish short reviews at a greater frequency, thereby shining our very small spotlight on more cool shit. Here's a mini-review of a new single from the one and only Cult Leader.
Written by: The Administrator
A Cult Leader drop is always cause for celebration 'round these parts. I was a massive fan of 2018's A Patient Man, and was quite pleased with 2022's Gather & Mourn split EP with END as well, particularly the braying and discordant "Ataraxis." I can only hope the release of this latest single, "Learn To Love It," is a harbinger of another album to come. The fact that it originates from the Gather & Mourn sessions may imply that it is a genuine standalone, but any case, I'll happily throw this single track on repeat. It's already done a serious number on my workout playlist. From the sheer ferocity to the thematic focus on catharsis and religious oppression, "Learn To Love It" is a classic Cult Leader track through and through. We're talking churning and crusty hardcore. Bestial and furious. The riffs are bludgeoning yet bleak. Anthony Lucero's howled roar is truly animalistic, verging on rabid. In the world of loud and raging music, he's one of my favorite vocalists by benefit of that mighty feral gravitas. At a succinct two minutes and fifteen seconds, "Learn To Love It" is a brisk affair. My favorite part of the track is the fake-out outro, which erupts magnificently after a false conclusion and second of silence. It is not as if the track is subtle up until that particular moment, but Cult Leader nevertheless drive home the point with an admirable and fearsome fury. Check out the single below, and find it on bandcamp here! Cult Leader - "Learn To Love It" was released March 29th, 2024 via Deathwish.
Written by: The Administrator
Whomst among us is ambivalent about the ocean? I may be way off the mark, but it seems as though opinions towards the deep blue sea trend towards the extremes. Representing a certain landlubbery perspective, several of my fellow inksplattered scribes experience an abject terror when it comes to the ocean's vastness. As for me, I'm smitten by the serene chaos of breakers, the lushness and oddity of aquatic life, and the eventual call of the sodden void. Representing perhaps the pinnacle of oceanic fandom, Into The Deep demonstrates a deep fascination and reverence for the ocean. This is a fact that is immediately apparent--everything from their moniker to their artwork to their track titles and band bio and beyond reeks of brine. I absolutely love a band with a singular focus, and when they play music this good, I can't help but sing their praises. Blackfin came out Jan. 3rd, and I haven't stopped listening yet. It is my favorite EP of 2024 thusfar.
In a continuing attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we slumbering scribes are making an effort to publish short reviews at a greater frequency, thereby shining our very small spotlight on more cool shit. Here's a mini-review of a doooomy album.
Written by: The Administrator
After a week of genre-hopping, it's high time for us slumbering scribes to return to our roots. That's right, folks: we're firing up some doom. More specifically, some long-form riff-centric darkly occult doom, courtesy of Italian doom mountaineers Cancervo. III is, well, their third outing, and I'm firmly of the opinion that it is their best work yet. With one organ-heavy intro followed by four thick tracks, this album is built on a solid bedrock of droning monolithic riffs and a notably dragged-from-the-crypt vocal style. The whole affair feels ritualistic and borderline hypnotic--some of these tracks could be twice as long and I'd happily sink into their ample presence. Cancervo's approach is antiqued, albeit in a way that feels more referential to traditional doom and less like mere imitation. They've certainly cranked up the spooky factor, for one. III is coated in a thick patina of mildew and dried blood. No bones about it: this album is impressively dark and unequivocally evil. Listening transports you to a candlelit catacomb, strapped to a sacrificial slab surrounded by hooded cultists. Or perhaps a moonlit forest, tied to a funeral pyre. A real witches-at-black-masses atmosphere. As it were. In terms of favorite tracks, "Sacrilegious Mass" and "Burn Your Child" are stone-cold bangers, and serve as near-perfect representations of the style. While each track herein is very solid in an individual light, the album does feel increasingly formulaic over the runtime. After each track's respective intro, the vocals are largely used to deliver mantra-like repetitions of a key phrase, and by the fourth track a little deviation would be nice to hear. That said, nothing here is worth skipping, and the notably short runtime was a smart move. For fans of old-school doom, I absolutely recommend checking this one out. Cancervo - III was released March 29th, 20244 via Electric Valley Records. Find it here!
Written by: The Administrator
Welcome back, dear readers, to another track premiere! Pull up a chair, take off your boots. Get comfortable. Forget your worries. Stay a while. If the name Negative Bliss sounds familiar, it may be because we slumbering scribes refuse to shut up about them. Indeed, we're doing everything in our power to make sure you know what's up at all times. I reviewed their debut single a few weeks back, and now, after firmly establishing myself as a fanboy, we're honored to premiere their second single ahead of its release this Friday, March 29th. Entitled "The Good Life," this track demonstrates the band's right-out-of-the-gate willingness to show a different side, a different sound. As they are so new on the scene, a formal introduction feels in order. According to the band: "Negative Bliss formed when Jon--a drummer who had not played music in many years--put out an open call to find musicians and find a way back into music. A father of two small children, he hoped to find people with a similar passion for heavy music, a desire for camaraderie, and a shared understanding of middle-aged parenthood. He succeeded, and Negative Bliss was born. Formed in January 2023, the members of Negative Bliss quickly became close friends, and a tightly knit musical unit." And here we are. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Give "The Good Life" a listen below, and, as always, we'll meet you on the other side! |
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