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

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THIS WEEK IN NEWS (1/25/20 – 1/31/20)

• If the natural beauty of the Wyoming wilderness had never captured your attention before, perhaps Neurosis guitarist/vocalist STEVE VON TILL‘s recently announced solo acoustic performance as part of this year’s Fire In The Mountains Festival will get you out in the great yonder. This year Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved is guest curating some of the featured artists (a la recent Roadburns) for the festival for an ‘On the Wings of Utgard’ portion of the festivities including Enslaved as well as recently announced appearances from Yob and Von Till. The bill also includes a newly concieved collaboration between Bell Witch & Ariel Ruin, as well as performances from Hexvessel, Obsequiae, Wayfarer, Dreadnought and several more. Basically some of the best black and dark folk musicians on the planet. Fire In The Mountains MMXX is happening July 10th-12th. Check out the details on their website: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• New York based black/death metal band RUIN LUST are back for another trip with their third album, ‘Choir of Babel‘, and it’ll for sure be the one folks’ll notice because they’ve gigged up with 20 Buck Spin for its release on March 13th. Cavernous war metal that leans into their death metal riffing hard is whats up if you don’t know ’em. I’d not known about them until this past December thanks to Sentient Ruin‘s vinyl issue of the previous album. The first single from ‘Choir of Babel’ is totally along those lines, the brutal rip of “Prison Of Sentient Horror” should be convincing enough on it’s own, check it out on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Dying Victims Productions have announced German metalpunks CRYPT DAGGER’s second mini-album, ‘From Below‘, will release by their hand on March 27th. Punk energy cranked up for a raw speed metal attack, this one has a slightly UK82 feeling to it at times, love the shrieks when they kick in. Check out the first single “Devastation” on their Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Classic death/thrashers THANATOS have released a lyric video for the title track/opener for their upcoming ‘Violent Death Ritual‘ album due out March 20th on Listenable Records. First thing I noticed was the mix from Dan Swanö, it lets the leads sing through the heavy rhythm sound from this otherwise self-produced album. Love the scream at the end and all of the solos throughout, feels like classic Thanatos but not obsessed with the past. Check out the video on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Denver, Colorado based sludge rock band ABRAMS will release their third full-length, ‘Modern Ways’ through Sailor Records on May 1st. Their sound is a bit more straight alternative rock than comparisons to Baroness and Torche might suggest. Check out the title track/opener “Modern Ways” on Bandcamp and decide for yourself: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Blood Harvest Records have announced they’ve set March 13th as the international release date for ANTHROPOPHAGOUS‘ debut 7″ EP ‘Spoiled Marrow‘. They’re just as filthy and riff-gunked as that melty cover art suggests. Listen to that murderous bass tone on “Memento Mori”, gross! Maggots coiling in your eye sockets? Excellent first gasp for a death metal band. Check out the whole killer EP on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Stain your ‘self’ and weakening soul with a thousand cracking layers of dried sacrificial blood! Edged Circle Productions raises the dagger high and plunges it upon time, knifing March 27th on the wall as the release date for Peruvian black metal cult ARCADA‘s moving debut album, ‘Projections‘. Grace your sullen ears with their incantations over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]

• Greek black metal band NOX FORMULAE descends upon we enfeebled masses once more with a second album in service to the Grand Grimoire! ‘Drakon Darshan Satan‘ will release on March 27th through Dark Descent Records. Alongside the announcement of this truly occult fascination’s second gift we’re treated to the opening track “Psychopath of NOX”, an epic blast of a song with multiple grand arcs of melodic depths encased in their crimson coffined sound. Highly anticipated stuff on my end. Check it out on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]

• A blur of red lightning upon the skull, black/death metal thunderers PERDITION TEMPLE have rendered all witness uncleansed by way of “Desolation Usurper”, the first glimpse of their upcoming third album ‘Sacraments of Descension‘. This mark of death rains down upon all by way of Hell’s Headbangers Records this Spring, I’m guessing early April since late March is packed. More details on that as it is announced but for now, check out the brutal terror of “Desolation Usurper” on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Long-standing Greek occult black metal maestros ACHERONTAS have revealed the details surrounding their eighth full-length album entitled ‘Psychic Death – The Shattering Of Perceptions‘ along with a trailer video containing clips of each song. It will reach you on April 24th through the keen cabinets of Agonia Records. Sounding vigorous and violent as ever! Love the part where the organ/keyboards ring in on what sounds like the ~third or so song. Watch the trailer with previews on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Their excellencies return, draped in runic cloth. Eisenwald have announced they’ll be the font to pour the earthen dirge of VELNIAS from when they return on March 27th with ‘Scion of Aether‘. This third album from the band already inspires a crown of resplendent thought by way of the first preview offered, “Aurora Rune”; A 9+ minute song that echos as if it had mile-long hills to resound across, stunning reintroduction to the power of this band. Check it out on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Another sadistic barrage against humanity! Helldprod Records have announced that they will release Portuguese death metal band NECRO CHAOS‘ debut cassette tape EP ‘Spiral of Obscurity’ on March 20th. A raw and savage death-thrash chunk of it (“Internal Flood”) can be witnessed over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Keepers of the blood-spraying buzzsaw cult Testimony Records have announced their latest signing is Finnish death-punk brutalists NERVE SAW. You might know the band from their 2017 or by association with cult death/thrashers Sadistik Forest. Their debut album, ‘Peril’, will release on March 27th. Watch for flying chunks as the two minute grind of “Last Verse for the Buried” hits over on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]

• It would’ve been entirely fair to suggest that Swedish metal/rock legends KATATONIA were due some change or, at least a break at some point. Well, they had a few years off beyond 2017 and seem to have picked up where they’d left off in late 2019, recording their eleventh full-length, ‘City Burials‘. It’ll be out on Peaceville Records on April 24th. What to expect? Something a bit more succinct and impactful compared to ‘The Fall of Hearts’, recalling some of the experiments of ‘A Great Cold Distance’. The first single “Lacquer” finds Renkse‘s vocals lucid as ever though his lyrics peel away at the self in remarkably caustic fashion. See what you think over on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]

• Kentucky death/doom metal band ROTTING KINGDOM have announced their full-length debut is ready to portend the apocalypse as, ‘A Deeper Shade Of Sorrow‘. It will be released on March 13th through the fine folks at Boris Records. Riveting stuff, gracing their own trance-like sickness upon early melodic death/doom heights ah via Paradise Lost. There are two songs from the album available for preview on their Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Topeka, Kansas born brutal death metal band UNMERCIFUL are set to unleash their third album, ‘Wrath Encompassed‘, through their new home, Willowtip Records, on April 24th. They’re suggesting it is their “angriest and most destructive” album to date so, considering how brutal they’ve been it should be a damned blast. Check out the first track from the record, “The Incinerator”, on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• NOTABLE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: Arcada, Temple of Void, Ygg, Nox Formulae, Angerot, Vernon of Persia, Radian, The Night Flight Orchestra, Anthropophagous, Enepsigos, Midas, Lucifer Star Machine, Crypt Dagger, Zalmoxis, Vectis, Horseneck, Amnutseba, Grift, Abrupt Demise, Like Rats, Velnias, Rotting Kingdom, Necro Chaos, Ossaert, Unmerciful, Hallucinator, Ergodic, and several more. Look for coverage in the near future. Don’t see your album listed? Send it to me: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

GRIZZLY BUTTS‘ WEEK IN REVIEW (1/25/20 – 1/31/20)

FEATURES:

• Ten From the Tomb 1/27/20: By lightning, or some profound nervous shock.
  • 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 not amazing but featured a ton of great black and death metal releases overall.
  • Favorites: Mære, Blasphemer, Krypta Nicestwa.
• The Top 20 Albums of January | 2020
  • Hey! Thanks for reading this month and I hope I’ve provided some real options that’ll argue against the cynicism most folks wrongfully place upon January releases. It was a fantastic month for heavy music if you’ve dug around a bit.
  • List includes short reviews, links to full reviews, links to labels, and I’ve started putting direct bandcamp embeds into features from this point on.
  • BANDS: Kawir, Coffin Curse, Jordablod, Aethyrick, Monolithe, Ironsword, Worm, Proscrito, Grey Skies Fallen, Elder Druid, Doomraiser, Hazzerd, Odious Mortem, Hazzerd, Android, Ad Vitam Infernal, Empire of the Moon, The Cult of Dom Keller, Mavorim, Acid Mammoth.

REVIEWS: Apologies for the light review schedule during the weekdays, I’ve got a cold and just been playing Fallout 4 and coughing it up for a couple days. Coffin Curse, Elder Druid, and Nattverd reviews are upcoming, they’ll drop into this list tonight or this weekend. Big releases this week came from Monolithe, Yatra, Coffin Curse, Ad Vitam Infernal, Mavorim, and hey surprise! Belgium based death/thrashers Schizophrenia released their ‘Voices‘ EP today, check it out if you love late 80’s death/thrash. Also, I missed the promo for Zalmoxis‘ EP somehow until today, complete accidental omission.

• Monolithe – Okta Khora (2020) | REVIEW
• Summon – Helios (2020) | REVIEW
• Reaper – Unholy Nordic Noise (2020) | REVIEW
• Ad Vitam Infernal – Infernal Comedy (2020) | REVIEW
• Defiled – Infinite Regress (2020) | REVIEW
• Coffin Curse – Ceased to Be (2020) | REVIEW
• Elder Druid – Golgotha (2020) | REVIEW

UPCOMING SHOWS:  [That I’ll likely attend]

• TODAY IS THE DAY w/Child Bite February 24th @ Funhouse – Seattle, WA
• LORD DYING w/Black Label Society, Obituary March 3rd, @ Showbox SODO – Seattle, WA
• VASTUM March 20th @ The Highline – Seattle, WA

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

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.

• PROSCRITO – Llagas y Estigmas [Memento Mori] DEATH/DOOM METAL+
• REAPER – Unholy Nordic Noise [Iron Bonehead Productions] BLACK/THRASH METAL+
• MONOLITHE – Okta Khora [Les Acteurs de L’Ombre] PROG MELODIC DEATH/DOOM+
• COFFIN CURSE – Ceased to Be [Memento Mori] DEATH METAL+
• BÜTCHER – 666 Goats Carry My Chariot [Osmose Productions] SPEED/THRASH METAL
• NATTVERD – Styggdom [Osmose Productions] BLACK METAL+
• MAVORIM – Axis Mundi [Purity Through Fire] BLACK METAL*
• TSUN TZU – The Forbidden City [Lavadome Productions] DEATH METAL*
• MÆRE – I [Lavadome Productions] AVANT-DISSONANT DEATH METAL
• AD VITAM INFERNAL – Infernal Comedy [Lavadome Productions] DEATH METAL+
• GOATS OF DOOM – Tie on Hanen.. [Purity Through Fire] MELODIC BLACK METAL
• MALIGNAMENT – Demo I [Purity Through Fire] BLACK METAL
• KRVSADE – Judgement Day [Self-Released] MELODEATH/THRASH METAL
• MUVITIUM – Evighetens Cirkel [Purity Through Fire] BLACK METAL
• PANTHEON OF BLOOD – Voices Rooted in Blood [Signal Rex] BLACK METAL Compilation
• SAMMAS EQUINOX / EMANATING VOID – Temples of Ice [Signal Rex] BLACK METAL
• MOLOKEN – Unveilance of Dark Matter [The Sign Records] SLUDGE/POST-METAL
• INTO PANDEMONIUM – Darkest Rise [Self-Released] MELODIC BLACK METAL
• GREVE – Nordarikets Strid [Purity Through Fire] SYMPHONIC BLACK METAL
• FORMER WORLDS – Iterations of Time [Init Records] POST-METAL/DOOM
• FOLIAN – Blue Mirror [Anima Recordings] EXPERIMENTAL POST-METAL
• BRENNER & MOLINAR – Uninvited Savior [Nefarious Industries] EXPERIMENTAL
• KRYPTA NICESTWA – Sarkofagi nocnych zjaw [Signal Rex] BLACK METAL
• E-MUSIGRUPPE LUX OHR – Non Plus Ultra [Svart Records] KOSMISCHE/ELECTRO
• ZALMOXIS – A Nocturnal Emanation [Signal Rex] BLACK METAL

UPCOMING RELEASES (2/01/19 – 2/07/19)

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.

• DARK POETRY – Specimen [Deathhammer]
• WILCZYCA – Wilczyca [Godz ov War]
• NECROCHAOS – Crawling Through Cadavers [Godz ov War]
• BANNWALD / URUK-HAI / DRUADAN FOREST – Kingdoms Long Gone [Antiq Records]
• KROSIS – Solem Vatem [Unique Leader Records]*
• DRAPSNATT – I Denna Skog [Nordvis Produktion]
• SERPENT NOIR – Death Clan OD [World Terror Committee]*
• THOREN – Gwarth II [Drylands Records]
• GOREVENT – Fate [Comatose Music]
• DRITTMASKIN – Sosial Prolaps [Edged Circle Productions]*
• SOUL DRAGGER – Soul Dragger [Time to Kill Records]
• SEVEN PLANETS – Explorer [Small Stone Recordings]
• MACHINATIONS OF FATE – Machinations of Fate [Redefining Darkness Records]
• CODEX SERAFINI – Serpents of Enceladus [Halfmeltedbrain Records]
• ATAVISMA / VOID ROT – Split [Everlasting Spew Records]*
• GOBLINSMOKER – A Throne in Haze, A World Ablaze [The Sludgelord Records]*
• KARG – Traktat [AOP Records]*
• NUCLEAR WINTER – Night Shift [Self-Released]
• THE SPIRIT – Cosmic Terror [AOP Records]
• LOATHE – I Let it in and it Took Everything [SharpTone Records]
• JOZEF VAN WISSEM – Ex Mortis [Consouling Sounds]
• GOATREICH – Godfetor [Ashen Dominion]
• YGG – The last Scald [Ashen Dominion]

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.