ENDTYMER is the inevitable weekly “music news blog” series I’ve been working to avoid for some time. It hits at the end of every week with the intent of covering notable new releases, sharing news of new releases, and musing over various personal listening habits. It is a largely informal blog, has opinions, etc. so chill out a bit. I do my best to cover as much of everything I receive in some form regardless of genre or representation, don’t hesitate to send anything and everything my way: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Slow week for release announcements on my end but hey, there are a bunch of standout releases to choose from this week. The obvious choice is Ulthar‘s ‘Anthronomicon‘ if you are a weird-ass death metal fan first and foremost — I am. Hellripper‘s latest album is particularly good, if not front loaded with new and interesting ideas, Hail the Void‘s second album strikes into stoner/doom metal with abysmal subject matter delivered with quality songcraft and if that isn’t quite your thing we’ve got a new one from stoner/doom rock group Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs who put on a bigger show, very fun album. Underground black metal has a couple of stunners in the periphery as well with the debut LP from Theophonos (ex-Serpent Column) which offers a more personal take on blackened mathcore influenced aggression and the latest EP from Finnish black metal group Sielunvihollinen, ‘Sielunmurskaaja‘ is of course exceptional in its neatly staged melodic knack. What did I end up picking? Eh, Ulthar is the clear choice as the best thing out this week, but I’d wanted to also highlight the eerie fixation of German black doom/sludged duo Hexer on their latest LP ‘Abyssal‘, their sound is fairly unique and I’ve been stuck on the haunted, drowned feeling of it lately. Anything I’ve mentioned is a pretty safe bet.

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“NEWS”

Portland, Oregon-based witching black/funereal doom metal band USNEA have announced their long-awaited fourth full-length ‘Bathed in Light‘ will arrive on Translation Loss Records and releases this coming May 11th. With six years of setbacks and trials beyond a world gone mad here in late-stage capitalism’s horrified downturn these folks are suggesting they’ve put a lot into this record, allowing themselves to more ambitious landscapes. Part of this suggestion is their taking on heavy influences from deathrock and post-punk, which I can confirm after listening to it this morning though there is more to discover on the full deal. You can’t hear it yet but you can pre-order and look at the album art, no doubt a single is coming soon. The band’s vocalist/guitarist comments: “It has been a brutal 6 years making this record with one of our members developing a serious chronic illness, me breaking my wrist in a motorcycle wreck, and the impacts of a global pandemic. Our previous material was already inspired by the continued decline of our global society but that has only accelerated since our last record, 2017’s ‘Portals Into Futility’.” On board, thumbs up, glad they’re back.

https://usneadoom.bandcamp.com/album/bathed-in-light

More doom, less magick!?! Wizard protests are brewing, multi-sided dice are being angrily pocketed, the legions are marching as Finnish doom metal titans ASTRAL SLEEP announce a new album once again through Saarni Records. ‘We Are Already Living In The End Of Times‘ heaps the scorn upon we endtime dregs as a fourth and thus far stunning in preview full-length from the Turku-based group looms imminent (April 21st) and the proposition from all parties is “more doom, more gloom” on the provided opener/title track. At about nine and a half minutes they’ve kicked this album off with an incredible dirge. The vocals feel like they are rising out of the mud, finally breaking through with some leading harmony around five minutes in. Huge song. Go check that out now:

The debut full-length from Swedish death metal band DEATH REICH, ‘Disharmony‘ has been announced for a March 17th release through Non Serviam Records. This band features members of Grief of Emerald and Runemagick but the style here is straight forward and somewhat brutal, classic in its thoughtful aggression. The band commends on the title of the album: “Even though humans are considered by many to be the most intelligent species on earth, we have proven over and over again that we can not coexist with anyone or anything without there being carnage, famine, eradication, suffering and so forth. As long as this continues there will always be disharmony.” The first official single is “Dissimulation”:

Brazilian ‘old school’ death metal band NERVOCHAOS continue to examine fear, emptiness, despair and the horrors of death on their latest record ‘Chthonic Wrath‘ and they’re getting the word out with a new song/video for “Taphephobia”. The fear of being buried alive is the subject here and I’ll say straight up, I think there are worse things to fear but I like where their heads are at. Learned about these guys when they did a Headhunter D.C. tribute/cover (2014?) and have been a fan since. ‘Chthonic Wrath‘ will be release on CD and digitally via Emanzipation Productions on March 31st. 

Norwegian black metal act MORK have finally released the first single from ‘Dypet‘, their latest full-length which releases via Peaceville Records this coming March 24th and “Bortgang” is nothing short of a bummer… At least in the sense that it is a somber, steady and I suppose something a bit different in terms of what sort of mood it drums up. About the song, per the bandleader: “One of my most beautiful poems, to date. Written whilst on a roadtrip in Norway, in a beautiful fjord somewhere in western Norway (ca. 2020). The poem is about passing away and what that might mean to you and the ones left behind. The music was also something I was very pleased with, feeling it was the most beautiful piece of music I’ve written thus far. One day I figured to combine the two, and there you have the song.” Death to all, without peace:

Popular Winnipeg, Manitoba-based noise rock/post-hardcore trio TUNIC are back for another full-length with Artoffact Records titled ‘Wrong Dream‘ which’ll land on April 28th this year. They’ve provided proof of this with a short music video for the first single “Whispering”. They’ve suggested that beyond the dissonant post-hardcore hulk of anxietous dread there’ll be some bravely melodic stuff in there too. The main songwriter wasn’t so stuck on his guitar this time around and this lead to, uh, more stuff happening: “The biggest breakthroughs came from me trying to break out of my shell. It’s an evolution in songwriting that really shows our versatility in a way we haven’t done yet.” And if you like bands like USA Nails as much as I do, you’ll get hot for this stuff too:

Rope or Guillotine have announced their split LP between sludge groups LEECHFEAST and NIGHTFUCKER will release this coming March 3rd on vinyl and digitally. If you’ll recall I was a fan of Nightfucker‘s self-titled debut back in 2019, it’d felt like real-ass sludge metal album caked with appropriate levels of misery and a few of their own ideas. For now you can preview Nightfucker‘s “Causeways” since the Leechfeast song is just one big 20 minute thing:

Iron Bonehead Productions have announced April 14th as the release date for KAAL NAGINI‘s debut EP release. ‘Refracted Lights of a Blind God‘ arrives on CD and 12″ vinyl formats and arrives in the brutal tradition of Kolkata’s supremely violent black/death rituals. Catch the title track “Refracted Lights of a Blind God” over on YouTube:

Argento Records have announced April 7th as the release date for a mLP from Zwolle, Netherlands-based solo black metal artist OSSAERT. ‘Offerdier‘ is the third official release from the project and I’ve been a fan of his last two full-lengths enough to be stoked on this one. Check out track “De Lichtkrans en de Waan” over on the label’s Bandcamp:

In addition to Beastmaker being back in action, Trevor William Church‘s traditional heavy metal band HAUNT are still kicking, still prolific as they’ve recently announced their upcoming seventh studio album ‘Golden Arm‘ will release this coming May 5th via Iron Grip Records. The materials suggest that “Golden Arm is a new beginning for the leather-clad metallers.” and while I haven’t heard the full thing I think that means we’re getting a bit more shred on this album based on the first single, check it out the lively video for “Fight the Good Fight” (which is not a cover, btw):

Babylon Doom Cult Records have announced April 14th as the international release date for atmospheric black/doom metal project WITTE WIEVEN‘s debut album, ‘Dwaallicht‘, on vinyl LP. The post-rock influenced band aim for a balance of eerie, ghastly atmospherics and plodding compositions. Check out “Drogbeeld” over on YouTube:

THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE seem to have slowly transformed into operatic progressive metal bent on theatrical discourse, approaching each album with an increasingly urgent list of subjects to cover as further concerns for humanity and the planet itself are raised. Their latest full-length ‘Holocene‘, which releases May 19th via Pelagic Records, follows up on one of their biggest, most ambitious concepts to date so, this one feels like it needs to be something a bit new. At the very least the video for “Parabiosis”, which finds the band accessing the medical ‘fountain of youth’ and Benjamin Button-ing as a result, presents a clear theme and message. The Berlin, Germany-based post-metal group explains the concept: “The cult of eternal youth has lead to death being hidden from our everyday lives. You literally see no old people in our modern inner cities anymore, everyone is young and healthy and the sick and dying are locked away in clinics and retirement homes where they won’t remind the general public of the fact that we are all going to die one day, which keeps us stuck on a hamster wheel of spending the time of our lives working jobs we hate to afford things we don’t need…” And this is definitely the most “felt” quote of the week on my end. Check out the video for “Parabiosis” here:

Hypnotic Dirge Records have announced ‘Spleen‘, the debut full-length album from Australia/New Zealand borne gothic doom metal act ORPHANS OF DUSK, will release this coming April 28th, roughly eight years beyond their first release. The synths sound pretty rad on this song, great logo for this style of music but otherwise not really my thing. A damned catchy song nonetheless:

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THIS WEEK’S VIDEOS / REVIEWS

Catch up with the latest YouTube video review/features and written reviews here. New videos post Thursday/Friday of each week for the most part. You can click on the link provided to read the review, each review has the related video embedded in the original post as well. Videos are fairly casual and meant to accompany the written review with some extra context and a few quick notes.

Check out Bloodjob, dummy! — An Early Stream of “Nano-Based Inconsistency” from BLOODJOB’s ‘Metastasis’ EP (2023) | PREMIERE

SUCKLING – Suckling (2023) | REVIEW

ULTHAR – Anthronomicon (2023) | REVIEW

ULTHAR – Helionomicon (2023) | REVIEW

STREET TOMBS – Reclusive Decay (2023) | REVIEW

NECROVATION – Storm the Void/Starving Grave (2023) | REVIEW

HAIL THE VOID – Memento Mori (2023) | REVIEW

BODYFARM – Ultimate Abomination (2023) | REVIEW

Short Reviews | February 16th, 2023

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COMING UP NEXT WEEK:

Here is a tentative list of what is coming up next week in terms of reviews. The following records have been listened to extensively, a preliminary review has been drafted (or completed), and I’ve locked them in for coverage. In terms of the “Short Written Reviews + Video” column, these are more tentative, some of them may be cut if I do not have enough time to get around to everything.

LONGFORM WRITTEN REVIEWS / VIDEO REVIEWS:

IRON CURTAIN – Metal Gladiator [February 24th, Dying Victims Productions]
PUTRED – Repulsie Post-Mortem [February 10th, Cavernous Records]
THEOPHONOS – Nightmare Visions [February 15th, Mystiskaos/Amor Fati]
MAJESTIES – Vast Reaches Unclaimed [March 3rd, 20 Buck Spin]
BASTARD GRAVE – Vortex of Disgust [March 3rd, Pulverised Records]
YAAROTH – The Main in the Wood [March 3rd, I, Voidhanger]

SHORT WRITTEN REVIEWS + VIDEO:

ENSLAVED – Heimdal [March 3rd, Nuclear Blast]
VERMINOTH – Grotesque Manifestation [March 3rd, Grand Vomit Productions]
WITCHTHROAT SERPENT – Trove of Oddities at the Devil’s Driveway [March 3rd, Heavy Psych Sounds]
WITCH TIPPER – The Flight After the Fall [March 3rd, Magnetic Eye Records]
TERVEET KÄDET – Kaikki kaikkia vastaan [March 3rd, Svart Records]
SORCERESS – Beneath the Mountain Reissue/Vinyl [March 3rd, King Volume]
RUNDGARD – Ulvmonddom​ā​nen [March 1st, Inferna Profundus Records]
TOMBSTONE – To the Existence of Light [March 1st, Gutter Prince Cabal]
TEMPTRESS – See [March 3rd, Metal Assault Records]
71TONMAN – Of End Times [March 3rd, Transcending Obscurity]

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