terraasymmetry Features

SYNCHRONY: Music News, Week in Review, & Upcoming (6/21/2019)

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

  • Does the endless pursuit of knowledge and idyllic ‘perfection’ lead to madness? Pulling from the symbolism of Romanian Orthodox Christianity for a conceptual debut album, London based Black Metal sextet TABLEAU MORT seek to explore this them on their newly announced debut album on Loud Rage Music, ‘Stigma Book I: Mark of Delusion‘ to be released on June 28th. The preview tracks have an interesting Rotting Christ or early Nergal (Greece) kind of vibe. Check it out on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Edinburgh, Scotland progressive rock/sludge metal band DVNE have now officially signed to RidingEasy Records for future releases. They’ve detailed plans for a second album that’ll be recorded this summer and ideally out at the end of this year. This is great news as ‘Asheran’ was underrated and they’ve found a good home on such an eclectic and tasteful label. Check them out at Psycho Las Vegas this year and follow ’em on Facebook: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Turn the cross upside down and chug a beer while you’re at it because Helldprod Records have set September 5th as the release date for Portuguese satanic speed metal band ALCOHOLOCAUST‘s debut album, ‘Necro Apocalipse Bestial’, on all formats. Poser-killing metalpunk mayhem! Flip the fuck out while you listen to the first preview track on SoundCloud: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Legendary Bad Brains vocalist and longtime solo artist Paul “HR” Hudson has announced a new solo album, ‘Give Thanks’, to be released on Hardline Entertainment on October 18th. ‘Charge’ (1990) is my personal favorite HR record but ‘Jah Family’ (2017) EP was a fine return to form just after the Finding Joseph I documentary had released, check that out too. Can’t wait to see how this new one sounds! [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Detroit grindcore band SHOCK NARCOTIC are a whole lotta heavy to look out for with Dillinger Escape Plan’s guitarist, Child Bite’s vocalist, and The Black Dahlia Murder’s former drummer. Well shit! You’ll only have to wait until August 16th when Housecore Records releases their their debut full-length, ‘I Have Seen The Future And It Doesn’t Work’. The disintegration of humanity becomes palpable! ’02 Napalm Death meets the first Tusk album, kinda? Hear how hard they’re slam-dunking this brand new sound on the first preview track “Pray for Paralysis”: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Birds fly from the safety of our burning forests as the sun’s relentless death bears down, the cooling waves of VELNIAS‘ naturalist craft arrive as gifts (with Maestus alongside) for a July tour of the west coast United States. No doubt new material is on the horizon as they teased their third blackened folk/doom metal album back in 2016. I’ll be at the Highline show, wouldn’t miss either band! Facebook: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Hey, remember that video of that guy brutal-moshing by himself at a (very early) DEVOURMENT show before the band was popular? Well, I do. The now legendary Texan brutal death metal band returns with a new album August 16th, it’ll be called ‘Obscene Majesty‘ on Relapse Records. What’ll it sound like? Well, the tone is more serious and it looks like they’ve got their original drummer back, so he and (vocalist) Rosas have cooked up something explosive and sludgy as hell. Check it out for yourself on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Just for posterity, since this sold out within hours of announcement: SUNN O))) and EarthQuaker Devices have created the Life Pedal. A limited, hand numbered, tube amp octave fuzz and distortion with boost. The idea is that you’ll have the full spectrum of extreme options used to create the well-received ‘Life Metal’ album. If you missed out on this, no worries as EarthQuaker has some already comparable pedals in thier wheelhouse, this was just a novel branding tuned to the extremity of the band. Go listen to ‘Life Metal’ and wait to see if they’ll produce more of the pedal: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • If you were all geared up and like “Haha, cool!” for the new CHERUBS thinking they weren’t going to go nutso smasho on ‘Immaculada High’, which is out July 26th on Relapse Records, well shit… This latest song “18 the Number” is a jolt of their early sound, totally scuzzed and fuzzed out noise rock insanity at under two minutes. Pretty cheesed up for the whole thing! Check out the video on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Spanish death metal band COME BACK FROM THE DEAD return with their second full length, ‘The Rise of the Blind Ones’, two years after their highly acclaimed EP on Transcending Obscurity Records, who’ll be releasing this album as well. Their style is a mix of old school Swedish death metal and stuff like Autopsy. So far I really like the guitar tone, doesn’t go HM-2 and instead sounds a bit like ‘Acts of the Unspeakable’. The album will be out September 13th so hey, check out the first preview track on YouTube in the meantime: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Not only have Unbounded Terror reformed this year but some good news from Vincente Paya’s death/doom metal band GOLGOTHA, who have just signed a deal with Xtreem Music for the release of their fourth album, which comes fourteen years after their third album ‘New Life’ (2005). The new album is nearly finished and is expected for an October release. Follow the band’s progress on Facebook: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • HYPE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: Epitaphe, Cherubs, Total Hate, Lord Gore, Hagzissa, Detach the Islands, Ecliptic Vision, Reign in Blood, Kamikaze Zombies, Tovarish, Dead Neanderthals, Pando, Come Back From the Dead, VHS, Allone, and several more. Look for coverage in the near future. Don’t see your album listed? Send it to me!

GRIZZLY BUTTS‘ WEEK IN REVIEW (6/08/19 – 6/14/19)

WEEKLY FEATURES:

  • Ten From the Tomb 6/17/19: L’esprit hantant le sol.
    • This week I opted to do mini-reviews for ten ‘modern’ black metal albums that I felt were ambitious or particularly atmospheric. Not every release his hugely avant-garde so much as  tending towards ideas that are progressive, different, and sometimes made accessible.
    • Must hear: Mavradoxa, Se Lusiferin Kannel, Verwoed.
    • Next week’s theme will be decided by Patreon Patrons, if I have remembered to do a poll in time. Otherwise it will be requests from independent bands.
  • Thrash ‘Til Death #25: Agressor (France) 1986-1994
    • A well known underground band in France that never quite got recognized after the trends had moved on to groove metal, they reached a very cool peak of almost progressive death in 1994 and the journey there is amazing. One of the most brutal thrash metal bands and a surely important death/thrash metal band for the history books. Also one of the first death metal bands to explore science fiction themes in an interesting way..
    • Next week (6/25) will feature Greek thrash-gone-death metal obscurities Stigma from 1987-1993. It’ll be obscure enough that nobody will ready it!

REVIEWS: A busy week in life but I’ve done my best to keep up with the site in the meantime. I’ll be moving out of the city to a home in the suburbs at the end of the month so, expect the first week of July to be slow if the internet hook-up hitches for any reason. This week was spent basically working through some of the great albums I missed in the last few weeks as well as the stuff from June that hadn’t gotten a ton of attention, next week will largely the same. There are some big releases coming in the last week of June but July will be a bit more exciting. If I haven’t gotten to your request for a review understand that no amount of urgency will encourage me, I go at my own pace and by my own will. Wormlust / Skáphe collaboration review might drop today/this weekend.

UPCOMING SHOWS: [That I’ll likely attend]

  • SUPERSTITION w/Spectral Voice, Mortiferum 6/30/19 @ Highline – Seattle, WA
  • VELNIAS w/Maestus 7/17/19 @ Highline – Seattle, WA
  • ACID KING w/Wizard Rifle, Warish 9/21/19 @ Highline – Seattle, WA
  • VOIVOD & REVOCATION w/Skeletal Remains 9/25/19 @ El Corazon – Seattle, WA

RELEASED/OVERLOOKED THIS WEEK (6/15/19 – 6/21/19)

a0751418500_10

NOTE: This small sample includes overlooked releases that are not yet reviewed or covered but are recommended. Some of these will still be featured in other coverage. An asterisk (*) indicates that a review is drafted or in preparation. Click/Tap on RECORD LABEL name for preview, stream, or store.

UPCOMING RELEASES (6/22/19 – 6/30/19)

55776255_10157153128619031_2987860416836665344_n

NOTE: This is not a comprehensive list, some titles are already reviewed 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.

<strong>Help Support Grizzly Butts’ goals with a donation:</strong>

Please consider donating directly to site costs and project funding using PayPal.

$1.00