terraasymmetry Features

SYNCHRONY: Music News, Week in Review, & Upcoming (4/5/2019)

SYNCHRONY is a weekly feature focusing on relevant heavy music news, new releases, upcoming releases, as well as a week in review to help folks keep up with all of the content on GrizzlyButts. This’ll also include a list of upcoming releases and some preliminary notes on upcoming reviews or coverage. Some Seattle, Washington area live shows will be intermittently featured. If you have New Releases, show announcements, or important heavy music news that’ll be relevant or interesting to folks contact me at: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com Priority to PR/label submissions and straight up if I can’t hear it, I won’t cover it.

THIS WEEK IN NEWS

  • California doom collective CHRCH has announced a short run of Pacific Northwest shows this June. The trip runs from June 20th through June 23rd and includes an appearance at Litha Cascadia, a summer solstice gathering featuring performances by Don Anderson, Isenordal, Aerial Ruin, JWW, To End It All, Sataray, and many others. CHRCH rules and I’d go just to see Aerial Ruin on the same bill! [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Following the release of French death metal band AD PATRES‘ second full-length, ‘A Brief Introduction to Human Experiments’,the band have released a new music video for the song “Led by Flesh“. The band features former members of Seth, Asgard, and Havenless. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Denver progressive doom act DREADNOUGHT have confirmed a stretch of US live dates this summer supporting Montreal’s Big|Brave, as well as Psycho Smokeout in Los Angeles, California alongside Elder, Monolord, Belzebong, Amenra, Uada, and more. DREADNOUGHT will release their anticipated new full-length, Emergence, on May 10th via Profound Lore. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • The third installment of MASS DESTRUCTION METAL FEST will take place November 1st and 2nd at The Loft at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia and include performances from Nile, Sigh, Demolition Hammer, Terrorizer, Nunslaughter, Thantifaxath, Deceased, and more! [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Seance Records sets June 3rd as the international release date for the definitive, worldwide edition of BLACK CRUCIFIXION’s fourth album,  ‘Lightless Violent Chaos’, which had its preliminary release as a limited edition in the band’s homeland in 2018, and the album has not been available outside Finland. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Krakow’s resident Doom Lords MONASTERIUM are set to release their sophomore opus Church of Bones May 6 on Nine Records. Expect nothing less than superb traditional doom metal, especially if you liked that last Evangelist album. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Sweden’s melodic death/doom metal band OCTOBER TIDE release a guitar playthrough video for the first single off their forthcoming album ‘In Splendor Below’, due out May 17th worldwide via Agonia Records. The playthrough is performed by the band’s guitarists & former Katatonia members, brothers Fredrik and Mattias Norrman. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Instrumental Post-Doom quartet CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC is set to release their fifth album on April 30, 2019 (Walpurgis Eve). Entitled ‘Evil Eye‘, the new record features two 20-minute songs on two sides of vinyl and is the first of two CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC records coming out this year, the second being ‘Second Sight‘, featuring two more 20-minute songs and will be released on October 31, 2019 (Halloween). [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Today, Swedish heavy metal heroes SABATON reveal the title and artwork for their new studio album that will be released in Summer 2019. This ninth full length record, that will see the light of day right in time for the band’s 20th anniversary, will be a concept album named ‘The Great War’ covering stories from the First World War and will be available worldwide through Nuclear Blast Records on July 19th, pre-orders start on April 19th. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Arizona’s SPIRIT ADRIFT prepares to release their anxiously awaited third LP, ‘Divided By Darkness’, through 20 Buck Spin on May 10th. Find preorders including multiple [already sold out] vinyl color variants, and more at 20 Buck Spin’s webshop. Preview songs rule! [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Today, Ordo MCM sets June 28th as the international release date for Portland, Oregon doom metal band TAR PIT‘s striking debut album, ‘Tomb of Doom’, on CD and vinyl LP formats. They finally put something out! Self-released and now signed, great. You can bandcamp it for now: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Ventura, California fantasy metal warriors GYGAX – currently uniting former and current members of Gypsyhawk, Skeletonwitch, Annihilation Time, Huntress, Sorcerer, and more – have announced a run of West Coast tour dates for this May with fellow Californians, the ale assassins in Pounder. The news comes as the band is currently recording their upcoming third LP for release later in the year [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Port Orchard, Washington’s MOS GENERATOR spent most of 2016 and 2017 on tour supporting their ‘Abyssinia’ album. During a special night on the tail end of the tour, an entire set was recorded at Rebellion, in Manchester England on October 4th, 2017. Mixed and mastered at his HeavyHead Recording Company in January 2019, guitarist and vocalist Tony Reed, states: “Many months after the European leg of the Abyssinia Tour was over, I was cleaning out my guitar case and found a flash drive that I had forgotten about. Upon inspection, I realized it was a complete multi-tracked live performance, date and city unknown. After listening to some of the banter in between songs, I figured out that it was from Manchester, England. I distinctly remembered that show, because we played a Mahavishnu Orchestra/King Crimson medley that night and I think we only ever played it live three or four times. Sold! ‘Night Of The Lords’ will be available on May 3, 2019, from Devil’s Child Records. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Portland, Oregon-based progressive death metal/progressive rock faction THE ODIOUS is proud to officially announce the upcoming June 21st release of their second full-length album, ‘Vesica Piscis’. It is the highly anticipated follow up to their late-December 2012 debut album, Joint Ventures. [Click/Tap HERE for a very dumb trailer for the album]
  • U.S. technical death metal giants ORIGIN will release their anniversary album ‘Abiogenesis – A Coming Into Existence’, featuring early & unreleased pre-ORIGIN era material, on May 3rd worldwide via Agonia Records. Watch founding member Paul Ryan explain the concept behind this release: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Part of the very first wave of Romanian Extreme Metal bands (from the beginning of the ’90’s) Suceava based Black Metallers MERCY’S DIRGE have set the release date of their first full-length album, “Live, Raw & Relentless“, for the 22nd of April release in collaboration with Loud Rage Music. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Chilean black/death vanguard SLAUGHTBBATH reveal the new track “Resuscitated by Immortal Scorn.” The track is the second to be revealed from the band’s long-awaited second album,  Alchemical Warfare, which is slated for release during the second half of 2019 via Hells Headbangers. It rips! [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Kaos Kontrol and If Society will release the fourth album, ‘Death Star‘ by the Finnish noise/indie rock band FUN on April 26th on vinyl/digital. “After four years off the band realized that time is actually running quite fast, the world will end and everyone will most likely die at any given moment so there really is no reason to not continue their journey. Shortly after, during one weekend in winter of 2018, six new songs were recorded at the band’s practice space directly to 2-track stereo reel.” [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Emerging out of Porto, Portugal, in 2012, blackened death metal band NIHILITY preaches the doctrine of nihilism through their debut album ‘Thus Spoke the Antichrist’ releases on May 24, 2019 on CD via Black Lion Records. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Greyhaze Records, as part of its exhaustive, review of SARCOFAGO’s entire recorded output, is proud to reissue ‘Crust’, the highly sought-after extreme metal gem, on vinyl and cassette formats. The album’s audio has been carefully sourced from original master tapes and all artwork has been restored honoring this EP’s great importance. The reissue will be released June 14, 2019. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Nuclear War Now! Productions have announced the opening of Eastern Front Records for April 13th, a brick and mortar storefront in Oakland, California looking to be the Bay Area’s only record store with an exclusive focus on underground music, specializing in Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Punk, Hardcore, Noise, Industrial, and all other varieties of extreme sound. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Today, Hells Headbangers sets May 31st as the international release date for FUNERAL STORM‘s highly anticipated debut album, ‘Arcane Mysteries’, on CD format; the vinyl LP version will follow later this year. Featuring Necroabyssious of Varathron/Katavasia/Zaratus, Funeral Storm deliver truly ancient – and truly authentic – Greek black metal in the most classic early ’90s style, full of mysticism and might. It smokes! [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • 16 years after the release of their highly acclaimed debut album ‘From Womb To Tomb’ it´s time for the furious comeback of Berlin’s SINNERS BLEED! ‘Absolution’ comes with new members Henrik Fuchs and Arne Maneke and will be released May 24th on War Anthem Records. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Swedish melodic death/doom metallers IN MOURNING have started recording their new studio album, successor to “Afterglow” from 2016. Their choice fell on Black Lounge recording studio and producer Jonas Kjellgren, with whom the band recorded their first three studio albums. Recordings commenced early March, with bass guitar tracking already completed, and cover artwork finished by Kristian Wåhlin. [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • HYPE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: Appalling, Deus Mortem, Python, Neolithic, Death Angel, Death Hawk, Itheist, Mutilate, Funeral Storm, Sinners Bleed, and tons more. Look for coverage in the near future. Don’t see your album listed? Send it to me!

GRIZZLY BUTTS‘ WEEK IN REVIEW (3/29/19 – 4/05/19)

WEEKLY FEATURES:

REVIEWS: Almost entirely death metal this week, and a huge spike in readership.

UPCOMING SHOWS: [That I’ll likely attend]

  • BRAINOIL 5/04/2019 Highline – Seattle, WA w/ Bell Witch, Fetid
  • HORRENDOUS w/Of Feather and Bone 4/21/2019 The Highline – Seattle, WA
  • Northwest Terror Fest 5/30/2019 – 6/1/2019 – Seattle, WA [Spirit Adrift, Inter Arma, Thantifaxath, Wayfarer, etc.]
  • GREAT FALLS 5/03/2019 Substation – Seattle, WA w/ Sourvein, -(16)-
  • THE WELL 05/10/2019 Seattle, WA @ Substation
  • LORD DYING w/ Year Of The Cobra 5/08/2019 Substation – Seattle, WA

RELEASED/OVERLOOKED THIS WEEK (3/30/19 – 4/05/19)

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NOTE: This small sample only includes overlooked releases that are not yet reviewed or covered but are recommended. Some of these will still be featured in other coverage. Streaming (or store) links will be included when available, Click/Tap on the record label name to access those links. 

  • WEST OF HELL ‘Blood of the Infidel’ [Self-Released] POWER/THRASH, Shred and wail! Drum sound is kinda thug-chunky but a solid record overall. Watch the video for “Infidels”.
  • KRIGERE WOLF ‘Eternal Holocaust’ [Lower Silesian Stronghold] MELODIC BLACK, duo playing in service to the classics including a solid Dissection cover.
  • FORDÆRV – ‘Knep Dig Selv Ihjel’ [Self-Released] GRINDCORE, ear-fucking Danish grindcore, heavy on the crust, powerviolence and messy feedback.
  • VIUDA NEGRA ‘Al Final/In the End’ [Fighter Records] HEAVY/SPEED/POWER, classic Spanish heavy metal band providing English and Spanish versions of their latest record. I like it better in Spanish.
  • VANANIDR ‘Vananidr’ [Purity Through Fire] BLACK METAL
  • DECOHERENCE ‘Decoherence’ [Sentient Ruin Laboratories]* BLACK METAL/NOISE, rip off your Portal brand panties and let the Hell in, this self titled 7″ is pure suffocating blackened hellnoise.
  • SWORN ENEMY ‘Gamechanger’ [M-Theory Audio] HARDCORE, if you’re a die-hard Madball fan I feel like Sworn Enemy have been aiming for ‘Ball of Destruction’ for years now.
  • GODHEAD MACHINERY ‘Aligned to the Grid’ [Inverse Records] BLACK/DEATH, Swedish band with a very modern style.
  • OBZERV ‘Acherontia Atropos’ [Self-Released]
  • THE FOREIGN RESORT ‘Outnumbered’ [Artoffact Records]* POST-PUNK, Catchy goth wave stuff from this well regarded band, incredible production sound and some great songs but most of it is pretty samey.
  • LIGHTFOLD ‘Deathwalkers’ [Pitch Black Records] PROG-POWER METAL
  • THE PHANTOM OF PHOBOS ‘From a Dead Channel / Uninvited’ [Concorde]
  • KEHRO ‘Urdiala’ [Ektro Records] FINNISH LOUNGE ACT, I liked Katu Kaiku better but this is still good livin’. Organic, breezy, tropical.
  • CELOPHYS ‘Fried Chordata’ [Robustfellow Productions] SLUDGE METAL, kind of like if a modern crust band signed to Black Bow and listened to Neurosis.
  • THREE DEAD FINGERS ‘Breed of the Devil’ [Bleeding Music Records] DEATH/THRASH
  • BLIND MONARCH ‘What Is Imposed Must Be Endured’ [Black Bow Records]* SLUDGE METAL, dark and funereal sludge/doom with an extreme metal edge.
  • ORSO ‘Paninotecha’ [Czar of Crickets Productions]* SLUDGE/POST-METAL, Sandwich themed atmosludge, very good with a very dumb theme.
  • CEREMONY OF SILENCE ‘Oútis’ [Willowtip Records]* BLACKENED TECH-DEATH, a really nice album that reminds me of Portal and Ulcerate but without any atmospheric barriers imposed, very tightly wound and loud as hell.
  • ELUVEITIE ‘Ategnatos’ [Nuclear Blast Records] CELTIC FOLK METAL
  • CULTIC ‘High Command’ [Eleventh Key Records] DEATH/DOOM, strange blackened death-doom that reminds me of Usurper and Cianide a bit at times. The Celtic frost death/doom thing is buried by the loud and maybe live in studio sound.
  • CONJURER ‘Sigils’ [Self-Released]* SLUDGE/DOOM METAL, very heavy and shouty stuff. Got this a day ago so, wait for deeper thoughts.
  • HEAVY FEATHER ‘Debris and Rubble’ [Freight Train] HEAVY ROCK, female-front boogie from The Sign. Lovely blues guitar tone and a carefree 70’s summer rock festival vibe.
  • GLOSON ‘Mara’ [Black Lion Records] POST-METAL/DEATH DOOM
  • RED MOON ARCHITECT ‘Kuura’ [Vinyl Division] MELODIC DOOM METAL
  • PAK ‘Bestial’ [Nefarious Industries] PROG IMPROV MATH, Fantastically dark freakout rock from Ron Anderson (The Molecules) featuring Steve Blanco (Imperial Triumphant) on bass and Larry Kwartowitz (Cleric) on drums.
  • LATITUDES ‘Part Island’ [Debemur Morti] POST-METAL/ROCK, a frickin’ oceanic wave of emotive post-whatever bemoaning in earnest, with a enormous sound from Skyhammer Studios/Audiosiege.

UPCOMING RELEASES (4/06/19 – 4/12/19)

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NOTE: This is not a comprehensive list, some titles already review and/or covered and some have yet to enter the final queue for consideration and processing. An asterisk (*) indicates that a review is drafted or in preparation. Click/Tap on RECORD LABEL name for preview, stream, or store.

Did I miss something important this week? Send me an e-mail and tell me about it. It is always worthwhile to speak up for the lesser known stuff. Please remember you can contribute to my Patreon @ only $1 USD per month ($12 a year) to help keep me in front of the computer writing about metal. Thanks.

 

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