terraasymmetry Features

SYNCHRONY: Music News, Week in Review & Upcoming (10/11/2019)

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

  • Finnish black metal band SHADOWS MORTUARY have announced their forthcoming full-length, ‘Kuoleman Portit’, will be released on Purity Through Fire on November 30th for all formats excepting vinyl, which will come later. Definitely has a bit of classic Satanic Warmaster in their sound among other regional delights of the dark. The first single “Ruoska” is worth checking out, they’ve got it up on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • German underground first wave black metal primitivist FRONT BEAST are slated to release a special EP through Helldprod Records on November 15th. If you’ve not heard of them then surely you already know Avenger‘s other projects Nocturnal and Angel of Damnation! This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the project and ‘Shadows’ is fittingly auld and rotten black metal horror. Check out the first preview track “Morbid Visions” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Tech-melodeath/thrashers EXMORTUS have a fuckin’ goofy Halloween themed EP up for grabs on October 25th through M-Theory Audio and it’ll feature covers of everything from the theme to Psycho to this latest single, a cover of Danny Elfman’s theme song for the movie Beetlejuice. Not into it? Well, there are a few original songs included so fans of their shred-happy style of fantasy tech-thrash should check it out. They’re also on tour with Death Angel, I’ll be at their Seattle show in mid-November. Here’s the cover of the Beetlejuice theme on YouTube : [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • The ever-tasteful folks at Corpse Flower Records have announced they’ll be putting none other than desert-boogie doomed noise rock act DEN‘s ‘Iron Desert’ album on the map around November 22nd. These guys are kind like, stoner metallic Lightning Bolt but, not somehow totally different from Wizard Rifle. The lead single, “Taste For Blood” is a head-thumper. Get on it over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Dormant for over a decade and surely forgotten by all TRAGEDIENS TRONE have returned with new pieces and alliances here in 2019. A self-titled debut is in order, and it sounds a bit like the Norwegian artists’ former/current (not sure?) avant-black metal band Slagmaur through a slightly less unorthodox eye. Osmose Productions will release the record on November 29th, for now you can listen to the first preview track “Entrance” on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Italian dark metal band FORGOTTEN TOMB have announced they are are currently working on their yet untitled tenth studio album for a first quarter release in 2020 through Agonia Records. Recording sessions will commence at the heart of winter. I’ll be curious to see if they’re going to change course at all since it does seem to be time for a paradigm shift for the project. Follow Agonia Records on Facebook for updates: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Hell’s Headbangers scores yet another auld master of true black metal as the abominable HAVOHEJ returns with ‘Table of Uncreation’, his third full-length, on November 15th. Primitive, unexpected, violent, and cretaceous in atmospheric values the first single “Seven Jinn” is a gasping ritual amidst the storm conjured. Breathe in these infernal fumes over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Long running Canadian thrash metal act ANNIHILATOR have announced their seventeenth album since forming in 1984 entitled ‘Ballistic, Sadistic’. This one sounds balanced, technical, and very aggressive perhaps one of the better vocal performances from founder Jeff Waters yet. It’ll be released on Silver Lining Music on January 24th, 2020. For now you can listen to the first single “I Am Warfare” on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Denver, Colorado based melodic death/thrashers NECROPANTHER are ready already with their third full-length, a Logan’s Run inspired epic entitled ‘The Doomed City’ slated for self-release on November 15th. Their balancing act of blackened thrash and Gothenburg melodeath reminiscent guitar harmonies has been further refined, eased in some areas and more tension-propelled in others, loving the bass sound in particular. So far I’m into this snarling opener “Renew”, check it out on their Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Finnish record label Svart Records further expand their preservationist ‘record nerd’ ethos with a new sub-label, the MONDO SVART imprint that will focus on ultra-rare vinyl reissues. So far they’ve announced some incredible 70’s heavy psych from Argentina and some well-hidden jazz records as well; The first batch will release on November 22nd, on vinyl of course. I’m way into the Ave Rock record! Keep up with what they’re up to on this curated SoundCloud playlist: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Progressive death  metal act HORRIFIED, wait… progressive? Well, they were kinda melodic black/death last time around but yes! British prog-death quartet Horrified are back for a second round and this time on Testimony Records for the December 13th release of ‘Sentinel’. It’ll once again be balanced and boosted by Damian Herring and well, the album opener “The Pessimist” sounds eerily adjacent to that last Horrendous album. I’m beyond excited to hear the full record! Check out “The Pessimist” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Even more good news from Testimony Records for December with the official announcement of German old school death metal band NIGHTBEARER‘s debut full-length ‘Tales of Sorcery and Death’ slated for December 13th release. Their sound is a bit of classic early 90’s Swedish death metal buzz with some of Necrophobic’s more modern nasty bombastic melodicism. Check out the mosh-heavy opener “Beware the Necromancer” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Look at these fuckin’ goofs in CYBERNETIC WITCH CULT on their latest video “The Myth Of Sisyphus”! Well, its a fun video but the song jumped out at me more for its kinda Cathedral-esque vocal melodies and proggy psychedelic rock movements. Sounds like it could be a beast of a psychedelic doom record and they’re not dummies, smart dudes actually. Looking forward to the release of ‘Absurdum ad Nauseam’ on December 6th, as a self-release. Check out the song on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Freshman year of college in my Biology class we all watched this video that was intended to give us a sense of the scale of the universe and it actually wasn’t that different from BLOOD INCANTATION‘s video for “Inner Paths (to Outer Space)”, the first ‘single’ from this epic progressive science fiction themed death metal album ‘Hidden History of the Human Race’ which’ll be out November 22nd on Dark Descent in North American and Century Media for the rest of the world. I couldn’t be more impressed with what the band have come up with since they’d hit my own radar back in 2013-ish, sounding a bit like a side project at the time. This song feels a bit more like an interlude, and features a growl from the magnate himself Antti Bottman of Demlich himself towards the end. It is a trip and something outside-the-box for death metal, and I totally appreciate the conveyance of concept. Here’s hoping the hot takes lighten up in the month we’ll have to wait for the official release: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • No, not again! They’re screaming from the walls and scraping away the thoughts that’d been stuck in my mind. The blood in my extremities bursts into my lungs, I cannot shake the urge to choke and cough and sputter and puke out what they’re strangling me with. Hjälp! REVEAL are everywhere, they’re in my head and my ears and my eyes (see the video) and now my fucking mouth. The plot is just thickening, but it’ll be the end of November (the 29th, on Sepulchral Voice Records) before I can open my bloated guts upon it and spill every last worm. Let the video for “Clevermouth” do the talking, now: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • HYPE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: Bolzer, Blot & Bod, Cryptic Brood, Blood Incantation, Iron Curtain, Grylle, Warsenal, Throatsnapper, Qayin Regis, Havohej, Mystagos, Oniricous, Nightgoat, Psychomancer, Nachtig, Hellehonde, Astralborne, Front Beast, Dimaeon, Witch Trail, 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 (10/05/19 – 10/11/19)

WEEKLY FEATURES:

  • Ten From the Tomb 10/07/19: No death left to dance with.
    • This week I chose to cover ten requests from independent bands.
    • Must hear: Molten Chains, Hadron, HAR.
    • Next week (10/14) will cover some of September’s overlooked gems.
  • Thrash ‘Til Death #41: Vacant Grave (United States) 1985-1990
    • Vacant Grave are too fucking cult to even remember for many folks, I mean nobody has make a collection of their demos or remastered their fantastic full-length and it’ll only boggle your mind when you’ve heard the LP. Yes, the demos basically suck but holy damn if ‘Life or Death’ isn’t a cool-ass rarity to bite into. They’d never go fully death metal but I still felt this was an overlooked entity that deserved some mention as it approaches its thirtieth anniversary.
    • Next week (10/15) will feature a look at the enigmatic amorphous mass of Excruciation (Switzerland), whom I’d only known about from a bootleg demo compilation until about 2005. I’m hoping their 1984-1991 stuff isn’t going to be as much of a challenge to source as Vacant Grave was.
  • The Surge 2 (2019) REVIEW [Video Game]
    • Been burning through video games lately and the sequel to The Surge (2017) is probably one of my favorites of 2019. Hoping to complete at least ten games that I actually enjoyed for my end of the year list but between a few major disappointments (Sekiro, Rage 2) we’ll see what sticks when I look back.

REVIEWS: The big releases this week were from: Kadavar, Mortiferum, Entrails, Blut Aus Nord, and Profanatica. I did not receive promos for Entrails or Profanatica so if you’d like to know my thoughts, send an e-mail and I’ll consider each. Additional mentions for albums by Dysangelium, Blackwater Holylight, and Opium Lord. Trying to attack October head-on so that I have time to work on end of the year lists on the side. The last two weeks of the month are completely insane!

UPCOMING SHOWS: [That I’ll likely attend]

  • ORANSSI PAZUZU w/Insect Ark 10/27/2019 @ Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
  • KING DIAMOND w/Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats @ The Paramount 11/25/19
  • HIGH ON FIRE, Power Trip, Devil Master & Creeping Death – 12/02/19 @ Neumos – Seattle, WA

RELEASED/OVERLOOKED THIS WEEK (10/05/19 – 10/11/19)

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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 (10/12/19 – 10/18/19)

cover Djevel - Ormer Til Armer Maane Til Hode

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 donate to help keep me in front of the computer writing about metal. Thanks.

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