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 Grizzly Butts. 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 (5/30/20 – 6/05/20)

• Nebular Carcoma in conspiracy with Satanik Requiem (and Putrid Cult) have announced July 2nd as the release date for Polish-Australian pagan black metal majesty BLOOD STRONGHOLD‘s third full-length album ‘Spectres of Bloodshed‘, on vinyl LP format. Their gig should be clear from the moment the riffs begin to trounce about, a style heavily interested in creation of classic ’90s Polish black metal, perhaps leaning more Graveland than Christ Agony if that makes sense. The duo features Nightwolf of the underrated Runespell as well as drummer Krew, who is a prolific artist to say the least. The first preview track “Crowned Virtue” is available on SoundCloud: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Sentient Ruin Laboratories now include black/death/doom metal band DIABOLIC OATH into their venerable ranks and announce their debut LP ‘Profane Death Exodus’ is will be released this June 26th. Diabolic Oath features members of the incredible and underrated Shroud of the Heretic but they’re also notable for using both fretless guitars and bass, an anomaly for an extreme metal band and to add to the liquid chaos of their music all three  members provide distinct vocals. Check out the first preview track “Opening the Gates to Blasphemic Domination” over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Frisian blood-fiends TEMPLE OF DREAD are back already! For another round of sacrificial old school death metal via their sophomore full-length album ‘World Sacrifice‘ which will once again release via the brutal folks at Testimony Records this July 24th. I’m actually stoked to hear them fire back this soon because it indicates they’re driven with this project and their first album killed! Also they’ve covered Morgoth’s “Sold Baptism” and I can’t wait to hear that. Check out the title track/opener over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Unable to negotiate future live performances as well as the drum recording of their upcoming album ‘Exitivm’ long-running death  metal band PESTILENCE have parted with drummer Septimiu Harsan, indicating that these logistics are partly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. His replacement is Carac Angren’s live drummer Michiel van der Plicht. So, the album will go on for tentative release later this year through the fine folks at Agonia Records. Harsan is a fine drummer and perhaps one of the best extreme metal drummers from Romania in some years so, here’s hoping he doesn’t duck out from music entirely as indicated by the notification. I’m also not sure if this affects Disavowed as well, not up to date on the roster for that. Follow Agonia Records on Facebook to keep up to date with Pestilence: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Werewolf Records have announced June 26th will be the day and date for the return of FÖRGJORD on their fifth full-length album, ‘Laulu kuolemasta‘. As with any black metal gem these guys are perhaps unjustly well-hidden but appropriately esoteric in their raw and oft melodic vision of 90’s black metal carried through the ages since, a frozen corpse bearing an admirable curse. Their last album was far less raw in terms of guitar tone and as you’ll discover, this one is icy as hell. You can listen to the opener “Laulu Murtuvan Niskan” over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Hell’s Headbangers Records have announced June 26th as the day to grab Cleveland death metal veterans SHED THE SKIN‘s third album, ‘The Forbidden Arts‘. I’d discovered this band through their fantastic second album ‘We of Scorn’ (2018) and I’m geared up to hear what they’ve done here on the third. Shed the Skin comes from the minds of Kyle Severn (Incantation) and Matt Sorg (Soulless) and in the spirit of the Satanic death metal that hit Ohio like a blood-spraying lightning bolt in the early 90’s. I could name drop about ten relevant bands that’ll twist your tits over this one but that isn’t the reason to grab this one — the riffs are the reason and they’ve outdone themselves on this one! The brain-storming wallop n’ slime-grooved “Archons of the Final Creation” has all I riffing needed to be sold on this one. Check it out over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Swedish doom/sludge metal band SERPENT OMEGA have announced the long-awaited release of their second full-length ‘II’ via Icons Creating Evil Art this coming September 4th. It has been a full seven years since their last album and I’d figure only the dedicated few who’d snagged a copy remember their punkish, swinging stoney style which sounds doubly dramatic and loud on the first preview track “Orog Nurr”. Check it out over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Set your gaze for the gleam of the knight’s sword! You’ll feel no fear for the coming storm of blades this August 28th if you are guiltless! As Dying Victims Productions continue their fantastic 2020 with the announcement they’ll release SOULCASTER‘s inspired debut EP ‘Maelstrom of Death and Steel” on CD and 12” vinyl. The first glimpse we are given of this fine record comes by way of the majestic hoove-beaten strides of “From Abamabar To Urithiru“. Huge song, check it out over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• French post-black metal project DECLINE OF THE I have re-entered the studio to record their yet untitled fourth album. The concept of this new frontier suggests a trilogy in the works, this time moving to the subject of Danish existentialist Søren Kierkegaard. I am all for early existentialism and I am looking forward to seeing the proposed Dehn Sora album art for the new album. Follow Decline of the I on Facebook to keep up to date: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Spanish stoner/doom metal band BISONTE have signed a deal with Xtreem Music for the release of their debut ‘Ancestral Punishment’ to be released this November 24th on all formats. Bisonte is a mystic strike into the darkness via rumbling stoner/doom style by way of Vicente Payá (Unbounded Terror, Golgotha) and vocalist Maria J Lladó, who you may recognize from her guests on the most recent Golgotha album. Lladó‘s vocals are quite distinct with a bit of quivering vibrato applied to the ominous lumbering fuzz of “Our Home”, the first preview track from the album. There are some death growls in the background so I’m hoping the album goes even darker as it’ll really stand out in the Spanish modern  doom scene of today. Check out the song and that gnarly album art over on YouTube: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• Perhaps the most exciting news so far this month, Costa Rican astral death metal band ASTRIFEROUS have announced their debut EP ‘The Lower Levels of Sentience‘ will see release on Me Saco Un Ojo Records this August 7th on 12″ vinyl format. Pulverised Records will release the CD version, while Desert Wastelands Productions will release the cassette tape. I went nuts over their ‘Raise High the Scepter of Indulgence’ demo back in 2019 and I am glad to see they’ve managed an official release! If you’re familiar with Bloodsoaked Necrovoid those two guys are also in this band so expect cryptic, cosmic, necro death with their own imaginative outsider twist. Not sure what that means? Previews coming soon but for now check out thier previous tape over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• I’ve been following Finnish black/death metal band LANTERN since their first album back in 2013 so it is great news to see their third album ‘Dimensions‘ will release this July 10th, once again through Dark Descent Records. In my experience Finnish folks don’t respond well to praise and enthusiasm, so I figure the first preview track “Strange Nebula” will be convincing enough. Amazing album opener, tons of riffs, great guitar sound, everything a Lantern fan will die for and does it remind anyone else of the second Alchemist album or… Mithras? Might just be me. Listen over on Bandcamp: [Click/Tap HERE for more info]
• NOTABLE ALBUMS AT PRESS THIS WEEK FROM: Lantern, Nug, Cardiac Arrest, Blood Stronghold, Silure / Feretro, Osi and the Jupiter, Enhailer, Black Pyramid, Instigate, Diabolic Oath, Forgjord, Shed the Skin, Dawn of a Dark Age, Temple of Dread, Casket Grinder, Parkcrest, Vassafor, K.F.R., Blackballed, Vaki, Poema Arcanvs, The Devil Legba 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 (5/30/20 – 6/05/20)

FEATURES:

• …From the Tomb 6/02/20: “Invoking those old infernal ghosts.”
  • This year Ten From the Tomb changes to …From the Tomb and is no longer limited to ten releases. It will post every Monday with a list of at least ten new releases coming out during that current week and a short review will be included for each one.
  • This week I chose to cover 11 new releases from March 29th-June 5th.
  • Favorites: Witches, Youna, Gridfailure.
• The Top 20 Albums of May | 2020
  • Includes: Cryptic Shift, Ara, Cosmic Putrefaction, Occlith, Esoctrilihum, Devangelic, Wailin Storms, Tyrant, Cauldron Black Ram, Feral Light, Toronto, Xibalba, Astral Sleep, Vader, King Witch, Evoker, October Falls, Armagedda, Barren Womb, Paradise Lost.

REVIEWS: Big releases this week from sludge legends -(16)- and German death metal killers Sanctifying Ritual. Other notable records from death/thrashers Witches, and a covers album from Chilean death metal legends Sadism ‘The Sadistic Key Elements’ are also well worth grabbing. Reviews for Armagedda, Front, Sorge, October Falls, Barren Womb, and Throneum have hit slight delays this week, they’ll still get done.

• Obscene – The Inhabitable Dark (2020) | REVIEW
• Ulthar – Providence (2020) | REVIEW
• Winterfylleth – The Reckoning Dawn (2020) | REVIEW
• 16 – Dream Squasher (2020) | REVIEW

RELEASED/OVERLOOKED THIS WEEK (6/01/20 – 6/05/20)

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.

• -(16)- – Dream Squasher [Relapse Records]+
• INSTIGATE – Echoes of a Dying World [Everlasting Spew Records]
• DEATH COURIER – Necrotic Verses [Transcending Obscurity Records]
• ORMSKRIK – Ormskrik [Fysisk Format]
• WITCHES – The Fates [Mighty Spells Records]
• YOUNA – Zornvlouch [Into Endless Chaos Records]
• WITCHING – Vernal [Self-Released]
• THE HALLOWED CATHARSIS – Killowner [Lacerated Enemy Records]
• GRIDFAILURE – Sixth M.E.S. II [Nefarious Industries]
• SARPA – Solivagus [Self-Released]
• EVERYDAY HEROES – A Tale of Sin & Sorrow [Self-Released]
• SORGE – Sorge [Self-Released]*
• BLIGHT – Temple of Wounds [Svart Records]
• FRONT – Antichrist Militia [Iron Bonehead Productions]*
• AZZIARD – Liber Secondus – Exégèse [Malpermesita Records]
• RE-ARMED – Aeternum Ignis [Black Lion Records]

UPCOMING RELEASES (6/06/20 – 6/12/20)

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.

• SXUPERION – Omniscient Pulse [Bloody Mountain Records]*
• FORNICUS – Sulphuric Omnipotence [Negative Earth Records]*
• GREYHAWK – Keepers of the Flame [Fighter Records]*
• VALDRIN – Effigy of Nightmares [Blood Harvest Records]*
• TERRESTRIAL HOSPICE – Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds [Shadow Records/Regain]
• FLAGG – Nothing But Death [Purity Through Fire]
• BARBARIC HORDE – Axe of Superior Savagery [Godz ov War Productions]
• LJOSAZABOJSTWA – Gloryja Smierci [Godz ov War Productions]
• THIS WILL DESTROY YOU – Vespertine [Dark Operative]
• ELM – The Wait [Bronson Recordings]*
• ALMYRKVI / THE RUINS OF BEVERAST – Split [Van Records]*
• FERMENTOR – Continuance [Self-Released]
• BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS – Hapeleptic Overtrove [Willowtip/P2]
• MOONLIGHT HAZE – Lunaris [Scarlet Records]
• ARABS IN ASPIC – Madness and Magic [Karisma Records]
• ORDO SANGUINIS NOCTIS – Chthonic Blood Mysteries [Eternal Death]
• TIA CARRERA – Tried and True [Small Stone Recordings]
• NEMESIUM – Continua [Black Lion Records]
• LORD – Chaos Raining [Self-Released]
• MALIGN – Demo 1/95 [Shadow/Regain]
• LIGHT SCREAMER – Reap [Nominata Records]

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.