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 largely informal, 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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FIVE BEST OF THE WEEK

This week was split between an old favorite and a new one, of course I err on the side of thrash metal so, [#1] DEMONIAC‘s second album ‘Nube Negra‘ reinforced my fandom with a slicked-back and ungentle exhumation of their weirding, violent and shredding blackened prog-thrash. [#2] TAAKE‘s much anticipated ‘Et Hav av Avstad‘ was equally impressive for its slinging of his signature bent upon black metal, a style I’ve been a fan of since the early 2000’s given a longform, atmospherically charged twist. Otherwise we’ve finally got something out of Finland this summer that has thrilled my brains with [#3] CIRCLE OF OUROBOROS‘ latest ‘Lumi Vaientaa Kysymykset‘ finds the avant-garde/chameleonic group well out to sea with a sombre state of mind. Danish ‘new old school’ death metal band [#4] UNDERGANG‘s latest mLP ‘De syv stadier af ford​æ​rv‘ arrived doomed, grinding-out and cutting to the point quick. Belgium-based black metal quartet [#5] DIKASTERION‘s latest mLP, ‘Chaos as a New World‘ combines their classic black metal sensibilities with some traditional heavy metal interest for an inspired step forth.

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“NEWS”

Alabama-based death/doom metal quartet SERAPHIC ENTOMBMENT have announced they are back with a new record ‘Sickness Particles Gleam‘ which will be released on all relevant formats by way of Everlasting Spew Records this coming October 13th. This 50+ minute debut LP comes by way of members of Ectovoid and Hegemony and is well received at a first glance thanks to the brilliant Karmazid cover art. Check out the first single, its a whopper:

Iron Bonehead Productions have announced November 3rd as the release date for GOATKRAFT‘s second full-length album. ‘Prophet of Eternal Damnation‘ will release on CD and vinyl LP. Expect a half hour bestial black/death metal record, a war kult with traditional influences. I’d really enjoyed their first record so this one is on my radar and the preview song sounds kinda Archgoat’d to me to start. Grind into “Herald of Death”:

Italian thrash metal band GAME OVER have released a video for “Synthetic Dreams”, the first single from their new album ‘Hellframes‘ which is coming by way of Scarlet Records this October 20th. they were kind of on a roll from 2012-2017 and it sounds like they spent a lot of extra time with this one per the chiptune extras and the catchy chorus. Check out the song here:

Hell’s Headbangers have announced October 27th as the release date for CEMETERY URN‘s fifth full-length album. ‘Suffer the Fallen‘ will release on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape. Different rhythm section on this one, though I think this album has Abominator’s vocalist, sounds great either way. If you haven’t heard real death metal in a while, and you probably haven’t, gear up for this Immolation-esque beast “Damnation is in the Blood”:

Revered Swedish heavy rock band GRAVEYARD’s upcoming 6th album, ‘6‘, is due out September 29th from Nuclear Blast Records. The Gothenburg based crew are apparently chilling out a bit after a long step away from music due to the pandemic: The band comment: “Since Peace was a little harder and rowdier, it felt like a good time to have some breathing space. You can’t always choose what to write. You just work it out and see what feels the best. As always we didn’t know what it would sound like, but we trust Don, as we always do when we record with him. He was also producing, so if he had anything that he wanted to change, we gave it a try and we worked from there. I think the songs are built up really nicely on this one.” I like this side of the band especially when they reel it back to blues rock. Check out “Twice”:

Atmospheric black metal duo LUNAR TOMBFIELDS sophomore album ‘An Arrow to the Sun‘ will be released on October 6th once again on cult French black metal collective Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions. You might recall I’d been a big fan of their first album’s emphasis on ambiance, slow-brewing reveals and apparently they’ve written this as a direct follow-up to the first album, suggesting it “is more violent, more direct and more epic.” No preview or anything provided, follow them on social media.

https://www.facebook.com/LunarTombfields/

Finnish death metal band DISGUISED MALIGNANCE will release their debut album, ‘Entering The Gateways‘ on September 29th by way of Prosthetic Records. Vocalist Felix Pennanen comments, “Entering The Gateways’ songwriting approach combined with lyrical concepts and overall aesthetic form an entirety that evolves throughout the album’s runtime. First, the listener is absorbed into the hellish and twisted landscapes known from ’90s death metal, surrounded with existential dread and nihilistic thoughts. As the album progresses, these landscapes and concepts start to evolve, while new ideas are introduced to the music. I think we achieved a great balance between banger riffs and otherworldly atmospheres. Self-producing the album allowed us to make this entirety as close to the vision in our heads as possible. From the way each instrument sounds to the colossal and atmospheric synth soundscapes, the freedom to tweak these things ourselves really added a significant amount of depth to this debut album.” Solid sound, looking forward to seeing how the album plays out, check out the first single over on Bandcamp:

Finnish doom metal trio CARDINALS FOLLY have announced they’ve signed a deal with Soulseller Records alongside a new album titled ‘Live By The Sword‘ which is coming on October 27th this year. Band leader Mikko comments: “After these past few slightly chaotic years, it’s nice to sign with a professional powerhouse like Soulseller Records. We’re ready to go, ready to put this powerful bastard of an album out and show the world what we can do. We’ve done now six albums, and not many bands do six albums. Recently we toured in Norway, USA, Finland, Germany and Italy. It’s true love towards this deranged craft and evolving it that keeps us going. I honestly believe we’re also one of the few bands to steadily improve from day 1 onwards so far. That’s not common either. And right now it seems we’re in good hands. In a world under turmoil, I’m proud of what me, Juho and Joni have now created. This is our best album. There’s no more to tell, and real action beats all words anyway. Crank it up and blast it as loud as you can. The doomed ones ride out again! Our Cult Continues!” Great band, looking forward to hearing this one:

https://www.facebook.com/SOULSELLERRECORDS

RidingEasy records have announced October 13th as the release date for Los Angeles heavy rock crewe DEATHCHANT‘s third LP ‘Thrones‘ and they’re backing it up with a very memorable single. “This is definitely the most honest and mature record Deathchant has ever made. While Waste and our self-titled album touched on similar themes, they were sort of from a problem standpoint. Thrones is full of reflection, self-realization, and solutions for moving forward and conquering those problems.” Check out this first single “Mirror”:

Norwegian black metal band DEN SAAKALDTE are finally readied-up with their first new album in nine years. ‘Pesten Som Tar Over‘ is due for release on September 29th by way of Agonia Records. This music video really does speak for itself but the band is good crossing of classics-minded work and their own narrative style. Check out the opening track, “Av Satans Ild”:

Death metal’s elder gods AUTOPSY are back with, yes, a new album once again. ‘Ashes, Organs, Blood And Crypts‘ will release this coming October 27th by way of legendary crypt Peaceville Records. I’ll assumed this one will follow-up ‘Morbidity Triumphant’ directly based on this first preview. Great to see they’re catching that fire and running with it since their work has been pretty solid of late. Check out a short album trailer below:

Blood Harvest Records have announced October 31st as the release date for Mexican solo death metal project STENCHED‘s debut demo, ‘Gorging on Mephitic Rot‘, on 12″ vinyl format. Previously released last year this tape now makes it to vinyl with two exclusive bonus tracks and bumps the runtime to about 24 minutes. Cool demo, I was going to write about it later this month but I might hold off until the LP comes out now.

Classic Chilean death metal band SADISM celebrate their tenth full-length milestone with ‘Obscurans‘ which is described as a return to their roots, or as the band puts it: “A logbook to the most gloomy part of human history and the madness that shapes our decadent existence.” It will be released by way of Hammerheart Records this coming November 24th. The band comment on the occasion: “It is fair to say that around 1988 it was absolutely crazy to think about recording ten(!!!) albums as a band… and now it is with great pleasure that we can present our tenth studio album “Obscurans”. The record was made with enough time to regain our strength and hit our brutal and simple roots, and above everything else, to connect with our essence and characteristic style, driven by dark chords and blasphemous lyrics… a logbook to the most gloomy part of human history and the madness that pulls the strings to create our own decadent and miserable existence. We are very proud of this production in every way, a great triumph for us and of course we promise that there will be more than ten albums”. For now you can only pre-order/pre-save:

https://sadism.lnk.to/obscurans

Iron Bonehead Productions have announced November 3rd as the release date for TETRAGRAMMACIDE‘s second full-length album. ‘Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an‘ will arrive on CD and vinyl LP. Now a duo the aligned “cosmic power-zones” have entwined discreetly by unregistered topographical phenomena and invisible distortion of the subtle ontological matrices by a warping of occult space-time. I think that means they worked on it remotely. Brilliant band, love the song titles, great sound, check out “Nuit Arches Over The Neither-Neither City Of Cubes; Hadit Meditates While Hanging Upside Down Inside A Tesseract-Ka’aba”:

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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.

The Top 20 Albums of August | 2023

UNDERGANG – De syv stadier af fordærv (2023) | REVIEW

BAXAXAXA – De Vermis Mysteriis (2023) | REVIEW

DEMONIAC – Nube Negra (2023) | REVIEW

DOMKRAFT – Sonic Moons (2023) | REVIEW

MARDUK – Memento Mori (2023) | REVIEW

TAAKE – Et Hav Av Avstand (2023) | REVIEW

URFAUST – Untergang (2023) | REVIEW

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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:

UADA – Crepuscule Natura [September 8th, Eisenwald]
FOSSILIZATION – Leprous Daylight [September 8th, Everlasting Spew Records]
CRYPTOPSY – As Gomorrah Burns [September 8th, Nuclear Blast]
FULANNO – Ruido Infernal [September 15th, Helter Skelter/Regain]
TIDELESS – Eye of Water [September 15th, Chaos Records]
BLOOD OATH – Lost in an Eternal Silence [September 15th, Caligari Records/Raise the Dead]

SHORT REVIEWS + VIDEO:

Instead of multiple Short Reviews columns for the month of September I will have a different feature every week. Next week won’t feature an extra column and will instead be spent working on Mystification as well as some video game related writing.

• Week II: Short Reviews for September (All): 30 releases in total, includes: Strike Master, Luring, Dikasterion, Heims, Bio-Cancer, Kvelertak, Gridlink + many more. Still accepting submissions and late inclusions for this.
• Week III: “Under the Radar Pt. I” a collection of releases I’d missed or overlooked in the first ~six months of 2023 including: Solar Temple, Paroxysm Unit, Sektarism, Ara Solis, and many more.
• Week IV: Noise Rock Pt. I (2023), noise rock, post-hardcore, art rock and experimental works fitting in this realm are included. Everything I’ve missed and liked this year. The second part will publish in early December.
• Week V: 20 Best of September ‘23

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