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

The final week of May and the quasi-first week of June brought us one last great release from last month with Tombstalker‘s latest EP ‘Age of Darkness‘ and a couple of records which I’m still drafting: Order of Decay‘s death/doom metal debut ‘Mortification Rites‘ and a righteous heavy metal showing on Portland, Oregon group Leathürbitch‘s latest ‘Shattered Vanity‘. I was interested in new albums from Saint Karloff, Tyrann, and Hellwitch but I did not get them until today, so far they’re all beyond solid. At the very least I will review ‘Annihilational Intercention‘, which technically comes out digitally tomorrow but releases its physical editions on the 30th. Otherwise the album of the week is THANTIFAXATH‘s second LP ‘Hive Mind Narcosis‘, an important release for 2023 per my own taste:

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UNKNOWN SOLDIERS

Eyes crossed from your narrow screen-gazing, thoracic vertebrae bowed from goblin mode induced curled posture, and skull rotting from the artificial intelligence weaponized against all senses through this direct channel… the true illness at hand is less the device but rather the willful thirst for the womb of isolation it creates. Willing participation in the unreal narrative generates a sense of purpose within the armchair dolt, a pod-encased and deluded hog squealing at the perceived chaos of everyday life — a non-participant without agency in their own unmanageable reality. Confusion, or, vexation when faced with a daily barrage of misinformation in cyclic reveal is a perfectly modern form of captivity for those unwilling or incapable of nuking away the idiotic noise permitted. How can your free yourself?!?! Consume more music, all of it, starting with these albums you’ve likely missed, or recently released:

FIGHT THE PLAGUE

The first four full-lengths from PESTILENCE have been remastered by Haldor Grunberg at Satanic Audio and on June 30th Agonia Records will release each on cassette tape, CD, and vinyl LP. Essential stuff and the remastering is particularly good in this case.

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“NEWS”

Progressive sludge metal duo RADIANT KNIFE will self-release their fifth full-length album ‘Pressure‘ on vinyl LP and digitally this coming July 14th. I’ve been a fan of these folks since their second LP and it has been incredible to see them morph and spasm with each record since. ‘Pressure‘ is “a crusty-eyed gaze into the crushing weight of the modern world with the energy of each song progressing to the ultimate exhale and final track” and that means you can expect kinetically charged, technically sound sludge with math metal and noise rock hints in its DNA. The band commend on the theme: “While not every song deals with it, a lot of the album’s lyrics center around being sold on the American dream, but also realizing it’s oftentimes used as a thin veil to cloak a dubious system/entity aimed at bleeding you dry, even after death. A lot of ‘pressure’ comes with that, and a means of dealing with it could be taking a nihilistic mindset as expressed in the song ‘Give Yourself Away,’ or trying to outrun the rat race as expressed in the aforementioned song, ‘Demon Legs.’” love these guys and already huge on this album:

One of my favorite death metal bands since the early 2000’s MITHRAS have released a rehearsal video as they prepare for their first live dates in quite some time. This was just the coolest thing I’d seen/heard all week, sorry for the boomer share:

The latest mLP from INHUMAN CONDITION is set for a July 21st release on their own Listenable Insanity Records. ‘Panic Prayer‘ features three new songs, four live songs, and a cover of the Blue Oyster Cult‘s “Godzilla”.  Their grooved-out hardcorish death/thrash sound came from working with Kam Lee on a new Massacre LP a few years back and basically defecting when it was clear that wasn’t worth it. They’ve been pretty solid every since. What does ‘Panic Prayer’ mean? Jeremy Kling explains: “When you are face to face with the crushing weight of darkness, what will you reach for? Your wits? Your talisman given to you by an old family member? Or will you embrace the end? This thought will run through everyone’s mind. How you handle that moment is individualistic at best. Believe me, it’s coming. Let’s see your panic prayer.” In my case it’d just be diarrhea I guess, handfuls of panic plurts flowing from every orifice.

Me Saco Un Ojo Records and Dark Descent Records have announced July 14th as the release date for a new mini-album from Danish black/death metal horror crew ASCENDENCY. ‘A Manifest of Imperious Destiny‘ will release on 12″ vinyl, CD, and digitally. If you don’t recall their savaged demo back in 2019 then you probably caught their more substantial mLP a year later, I wasn’t sure how to peg it so, looking forward to squaring up with this one. They’ve put up a preview track, “Domitor Invictus”, over on Me Saco Un Ojo’s Bandcamp:

Iron Bonehead Productions have announced August 11th as the release date for THE RITE‘s second full-length album, ‘The Astral Gloom‘. It will arrive on on CD, digitally and on vinyl LP. This band, now a quartet I believe, is a collaboration between songwriter A.th (Black Oath) and lyricist/vocalist Ustumallagam (Denial of God) who have promised more guitar solos and even some keyboards in with their slow, heavy and mystic black metal sound. So far they’ve shared a single, “Nosophoros”, which you can hear over on SoundCloud:

Arriving exactly one year after ‘Null‘, KEN MODE‘s ninth full-length album ‘Void‘ is ready to complete the diptych of pandemic era suffering as a companion album inspired by the same events, and written and recorded within the same time frame. Artoffact Records will release the album this coming September 22nd. Jesse Matthewson states: “This album is the companion piece to 2022’s NULL album. Both were written and produced at the same time, throughout the pandemic, and recorded by Andrew Schneider in the fall of 2021. The two-album arc was written with the intention of being two separate works that could be coupled together to make one full album. VOID conveys the overwhelming sadness and disappointment of 2021, after the initial crazed shock of 2020. We saw our circumstances continue to be held up by the lowest common denominator, as we attempted to move forward with our lives.” They’ve shared the third single and album opener “The Shrike” more recently, and so far I like this one more than ‘Null’, check it out:

If you remember Danish death metal band PANZERCHRIST from the 2000’s they’ve revived the band with mostly new members after ten years and announced a new full-length. ‘Last Of A Kind‘ will be released on CD, vinyl LP, and digital formats through Emanzipation Productions on July 27th this year. New vocalist, new drummer, and new second guitarist so we’ll see how this one turns out:

Taking incredible inspiration from Richard Brautigan’s 1968 surreal, minimalist post-apocalyptic novel In Watermelon Sugar we find an equally abstract interpretation from Czech black metal quintet SOMNIATE who announce their return with a brilliant sophomore full-length record. ‘We Have Proved Death‘ releases July 14th this year by way of Lavadome Productions. “A psychedelic mixture of harmony and dissonance, both unpolished and elegant; black metal visions from the realm behind our eyelids.” can be found on this first preview track “Black Soundless Sugar”, already promising one of the more intense black metal releases of the year:

‘Ambula ab intra‘ is the debut album from Italian artist LORENZO STECCONI who presents it as his first work for solo guitar to be released by Subsound Records on June 9th, 2023. Recorded only and exclusively with electric guitar, the musician “explores the threshold of subconscious with heavy drones, fragile soundscapes and haunting melodies, realizing a work between ambient and high-volume drone music.” and I suppose I thought this preview track/title track was certainly worth sharing:

Greenville, South Carolina heavy/prog-doom trio AURALAYER have announced they will release of their debut album, ‘Thousand Petals‘ through King Volume Records on LP, CD and digitally on July 14th. Philip Cope of Kylesa engineered, mixed, and mastered the album while providing a guiding hand. I think this was already announced a while ago but I didn’t get it until this week and I’ve been enjoying it. There are three singles available at the moment:

Blues Funeral Recordings have announced the latest piece from their limited vinyl PostWax series with a collaborative album between Chicago avant-garde doom outfit REZN and Mexico City instrumental cosmic metal band VINNUM SABBATHI. ‘Silent Future‘ will be released on August 11th with preorders and the first single available now. Rezn comments: “Ever since we played a show in Mexico City with Vinnum Sabbathi, we knew we wanted to find an opportunity to incorporate their cinematic style within the REZN soundscape. The Postwax creative concept helped guide us into making an album that stands out from the rest of our catalog, which was a really refreshing challenge for us. After the songwriting flowed freely, we intentionally left space so we could collaborate together on each song and explore the many shades of psychological cosmic horror.” Vinnum Sabbathi adds: “We feel honored to be part of the Postwax series with this special collaboration with our Friends Rezn, the creation of “Silent Future” gave us the opportunity of experimenting with new ways of composing and recording, but also adding our own touch to the concept with the use of samples and this is very well represented in the first single“. And that first single is “Hypersurreal”. Stoked for this since I’m a big fan of Rezn, check that out over on Bandcamp:

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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 each week for the most part. You can click on the link provided to read the review/article, 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 generalized notes. The written review and the video review are complimentary -not- interchangeable. Subscribe, share, leave a comment, etc. if you feel like it.

Short Reviews | June 1st, 2023

THANTIFAXATH – Hive Mind Narcosis (2023) | REVIEW

TOMBSTALKER – Age of Darkness (2023) | REVIEW

The Top 20 Albums of May | 2023

LOOSE SUTURES – Sado Sex for Dummies (2023) | REVIEW

RUÏM – Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino da Igreja (2023) | REVIEW

GAROTED – Bewitchment of the Dark Ages (2023) | REVIEW

Short Reviews | May 25th, 2023

AGE OF THE WOLF – A Pilgrimage to Nowhere (2023) | REVIEW

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION – The Exuviae of Gods Pt. II (2023) | REVIEW

TEITAN – In Oculus Abyss (2023) | REVIEW

Short Reviews | May 18th, 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. These choices are subject to change as the final drafts evolve and other releases might potentially take priority:

LONGFORM REVIEWS + VIDEO:

TORTURE RACK – Primeval Onslaught [June 9th, 20 Buck Spin]
HELLWITCH – Annihilational Intercention [June 3rd, Listenable Records]
AODON – Portraits [June 9th, Willowtip Records]
ALTAR OF OBLIVION – Burning Memories mLP [June 16th, From the Vaults]
SARMAT – Determined to Strike [June 16th, I, Voidhanger Records]
SAMMATH – Grebbeberg [June 16th, Hammerheart Records]
PASSÉISME – Alternance [June 18th, Antiq Records]

SHORT REVIEWS + VIDEO:

IMPERISHABLE – Come, Sweet Death [June 9th, Hammerheart Records]
I, DESTROYER – Cold, Dead Hands [June 9th, Eternal Death]
MIASMES – Répugnance [June 9th, Les Acteurs de L’Ombre]
DEAD QUIET – IV [June 9th, Artoffact Records]
BLACK RAINBOWS – Superskull [June 9th, Heavy Psych Sounds]
TENHI – Valkama [June 9th, Prophecy Productions]
BRAHMASHIRAS – Brahmashiras [June 9th, Caligari Records]
KING HOWL – Homecoming [June 9th, Electric Valley Records]
LORENZO STECCONI – Ambula ab intra [June 9th, Subsound Records]

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