terraasymmetry Features

SYNCHRONY: Music News, Week in Review & Upcoming (1/24/2020)

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. If I can’t hear it, I won’t cover it! 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

THIS WEEK IN NEWS (1/18/20 – 1/24/20)

  • Swedish melodic death metal legends SARCASM have announced their signing with longstanding metal lords Hammerheart Records! With a new album in their plans for the end of this year or early 2021. Of course I loved their 2019 record ‘Esoteric Tales of the Unserene’ and have been so inspired by this band for years, so this is fantastic news to see that they’ll go on with more material and under the black mark nonetheless! The band have remarked that the next album will likely be recorded in the fall of 2020, and there is no rush since the last record’s release has seen some delays. Send Hammerheart Records your hails, support for their fine work and keep up with Sarcasm on Facebook: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • The Artisan Era have announced the debut full-length from melodic, symphonic technical death metal band SYMBOLIK entitled ‘Emergence’ will release on April 10th. Around a decade in the works with the core concept developed self-actualization through a metaphysical science fiction trek, ‘Emergence’ comes familiar in tone and ambitious in scope based on previews. Check out the trailer for the album on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Californian post-hardcore/sludge rock band HORSENECK have announced their second full-length ‘Fever Dream’ will self-release on February 21st. Horseneck features Will Haven’s guitarist and Chelsea Wolfe’s drummer, though thier sound flips all three stoner, post-hardcore, and sludge-rock switches at once. I’ll never forget the first day of gym class in 6th grade when someone asked to write Pen15 on my hand. Check out “Pen15” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Oakland, California death-thrashers HALLUCINATOR will partner with Carbonized Records for the release of their debut full-length, ‘Another Cruel Dimension‘, on February 14th with the cassette version additionally handled by Headsplit Records. The album has a demo-days Atheist cover so, you know I want it! Blasting, thrashing, wall-dripping necromantic horror, screaming guitar solos and a voice echoed from Hell circa 1985 all await on the first preview track, “Pervader”, check it out on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Italian melodic death/doom metal band TETHRA have announced the release their third full-length album, ‘Empire of the Void’ for March 20th through Black Lion Records. The first single from the record starts off fairly expected, that old late 90’s/early 2000’s Eurodoom feeling, but the pace picks up nicely in the second half. Something to look out for. Check out “Cold Blue Nebula” on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Armageddon Label have announced March 20th as the day they’ll release US grindcore killers ESCUELA GRIND‘s debut album, ‘Indoctrination‘. LP and digital with help from To Live A Lie (North America) and RSR (Europe). This is the grindcore that I like, the old school raging mania of 80’s hardcore punk taken to violent new nigh powerviolent frontiers. Escuela Grind features members/ex-members of Kill the Client, Hearse, and Your Brain on Drugs and they slaughter as a pack! Check out album opener “Inspirational Significance” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Memphis, Tennessee psychedelic blues rock band THE HEAVY EYES, will release their fourth full-length, ‘Love Like Machines‘, on March 27th through Kozmik Artifactz. They’ve added a second guitarist and it sounds like a bump up from their last one back in 2015. Fantastic album artwork too, looking forward to it. Check out the fuckin’ electric fuzz-shocked jam of a first single “The Profession”: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Cruz Del Sur Music have proudly announced the signing of Australian occult doom metal band THE WIZAR’D for the release of  the band’s fourth full-length ‘Subterranean Exile‘ on April 24th. The pairing fits as these Australians are a bit weird and a bit old school as they were one of those killer Barbarian Wraith bands back in the day, but we haven’t heard from The Wizar’d since 2013 or so. Check out the album art and keep up with the band on Facebook: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Transcending Obscurity Records have announced they’ll be releasing the second album from British old school death metal band LIVE BURIAL entitled ‘Unending Futility’ on April 3rd. These guys, among members of Horrified and Plague Rider, hit hard as they channel early 90’s Asphyx and Impaler brutality while adding their own technical flair. Check out “Condemned to the Boats” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Swedish death metal veterans DERANGED will release their tenth full-length album titled ‘Deeds Of Ruthless Violence‘ on March 27th through Agonia Records. This’ll be their second album through Agonia and first with vocalist Johan Bergström who you’ll recognize as the current vocalist from Visceral Bleeding and The Gardnerz. Pre-orders, song titles, and album art are up, no previews yet: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Caligari Records swings open the cabinet doors to reveal the smoke-trailing horrors of MUSCIPULA‘s debut demo tape ‘Little Chasm of Horrors‘. The walls will bleed rancid, black chunk-filled crimson on February 28th when it releases, extruded from boiling vegetal depths on cassette tape! Distorted to hell and eating the flesh of mankind, the whole vibe is like ‘stoner-er Dipygus’ as the first preview song burns into the ear. The band cite early death/doom as key influences, so you know I’m all over it. Check out “Sphagnum Bog of the Depraved Droseracea” on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Let the chills resultant of the mind’s expansion sate the corporeal and soar along trembling blues-noir reverberations towards the gushing, uninterrupted, and free ‘self’. Uncork the ready-lit inner fire with HEXVESSEL‘s “Demain”, the first single from their upcoming sixth album ‘Kindred’. With Herman Hesse in hand and Hexvessel’s core ethos in heart vocalist Mats McNerny makes a grand first argument for the earthen psychedelic folks spiritus of the album o’er equally gorgeous spills of Hammond organ pipes. Psyched out of my skull for the record. You can watch a video for it [HERE] or Check “Demain” out on Spotify/iTunes etc.: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Death metal supergroup BERZERKER LEGION have released another single from their upcoming debut ‘Obliterate the Weak’ (out Jan 31st on Listenable Records) in the form of “World in Despair.” This fairly new band shares members of Hypocrisy, Asphyx, Vader, Wombbath and Dark Funeral and this second single has a more melodic edge to it; Very much in the gear of late 90’s melodic death but cranked up to chunkier modern standards with some of the kick of their associated acts. Album is out next week, I’ve somehow missed it ’til this week so still might work on a review as soon as possible. Check out “World in Despair” on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • French post-black metal band AODON have announced they’ve signed with Willowtip Records for the release of their sophomore full-length ‘11069‘ on March 27th. The first single from the album, “Les Rayons”, gives the impression of chaos unraveling in an intricate directional pulse. I’m not one to jump on anything ‘post-black’ very quickly but the crisp fidelity and snap of the drums illuminate the flow of the song. The record could be quite stirring if they’ve managed pieces of this quality throughout. Sharp cover art, also. Check out “Les Rayons” for yourself on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Nordvis Produktion have unveiled the first track (“Yggdrasil”) from Swedish dark folk artist FORNDOM‘s second album, ‘Faþir‘, to be release on April 3rd. An ambient but intentioned piece at a walking pace, draped in foggy ambient synth “Yggdrasil” feels cast as a bridge between men and their gods. Meditative but proud in expression. Hear for yourself on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • Osmose Productions have declared they will serve as the vessel for black metal chaos spiraling from ENEPSIGOS‘ second full-length album ‘Wrath of Wraths‘ on March 27th. Enepsigos appear displeased with their first album to some degree, and intend to best convey their identity going forward with ‘Wrath of Wraths’ suggesting “Dark, disgusting, twisted, ritualistic, and violent.” acts to come. To be honest, I’d have to agree with their suggestion as this new album sounds much more like something special and new from Doedsadmiral (Nordjevel, Doedsvanger) and Thorns (Blut Aus Nord, Chaos Invocation). Hear it for yourself on the brilliant “Cups of Anger” on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
  • NOTABLE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: Malokarpatan, Necrophiliac, Assumption, Night, Banisher, Maere, Tzun Tzu, Malleus, Tethra, Human Impulse, Live Burial, Grave Bathers, O Zorn!, Insect Ark, Scarab, Akurion, Muscipula, Finnegan’s Hell, Angel Grinder, Aodon, Chains, Primeval Mass, Brass Owl, The Spacelords, Escuela Grind, 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 (1/18/20 – 1/24/20)

WEEKLY FEATURES:

  • Ten From the Tomb 1/20/20: Flailing over the graying edge.
    • This year Ten From the Tomb will post every Monday with a list of 10 new releases coming out during that current week and a short review will be included with each one. This week was full of odd thrashers, noise rock, minimal classical music, doomed deathgrind, demonic drone, an old forgotten classic, and some black metal oddities.
    • Favorites: Vehement Thrower, Chief Tail, Necropsy.
  • I’ll be alternating between work on An Exhaustive Study: Technical Death Metal, and a discography deep dive for Neat Records starting in February. The Neat Records walk-through will land in one piece and the An Exhaustive Study feature will aim for a semi-weekly entry, ideally managing a 25 item list per entry. These will be irregularly published because the formatting, image sourcing, and acquisition of items can be extremely time consuming.

REVIEWS: Big releases this week came from Jordablod, Aethyrick, Worm, Grey Skies Fallen, Doomraiser and Hazzerd. Kirk Weindstein, Blasphemer, and Defiled each put out great records on the 24th but I didn’t receive them for review, I’m not on the list! Enjoying each as I draft up the week’s goods. Also, check out Restless Spirit‘s EP ‘Clarity’ on bandcamp which surprise dropped early in the day, amazing work if you’re into doom metal.

UPCOMING SHOWS:  [That I’ll likely attend]

  • TODAY IS THE DAY w/Child Bite Feb 24th @ Funhouse – Seattle, WA
  • VASTUM March 20th @ The Highline – Seattle, WA

RELEASED/OVERLOOKED THIS WEEK (1/18/19 – 1/24/19)

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

UPCOMING RELEASES (1/25/19 – 1/31/19)

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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. A plus (+) indicates that the album has already been reviewed. 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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