ENDTYMER is the semi-weekly recap, blogspace, and new release round-up column. It hits at the end of (most) 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, might contain 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 THIS WEEK

[#1] SPECTRAL VOICE (‘Spectral Voice‘, Dark Descent)
[#2] CHAPEL OF DISEASE (‘Echoes of Light‘, Van Records)
[#3] THEOPHONOS (‘Ashes in the Huron River‘, Profound Lore)
[#4] MORBID SAINT (‘Swallowed by Hell‘, High Roller)
[#5] HULDER – (‘Verses in Oath‘, 20 Buck Spin)

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NEW RELEASES

Catch up with the latest new release announcements for albums I am most likely to cover here.

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Peaceville Records have announced they will release the debut full-length album from a new project from members of Kolbotn-borne legends Aura Noir, Infernö, and Darkthrone this coming March 29th. ‘Arcana Rising‘ will be the title of the debut from COFFIN STORM. Vocalist Fenriz describes the origins of the band: “Kolbotn is a hilly forest-y place directly south of Oslo, Norway. When Ole Jørgen and Olav and me grew up there in the 80s we had easy access to all the metal in the massive amounts of record stores in Oslo. Olav and Ole Jørgen started playing doom metal together in the 90s (Lamented Souls) but in 2020 they teamed up again and making riffs in the slow thrash/doom/classic heavy metal style. When the songs started to take form, Ole Jørgen took his place on the drum throne and soon started to record them. Wanting it to be a 100% Kolbotn project, they asked if I wanted to lay down vocals for it and after a couple of sessions in 2021 and 2022 COFFIN STORM was born.” Thee Apollyon adds “Me and Bestial Tormentor have been playing together since we met in college in 1990 and formed the doom metal act Lamented Souls. However with most members being busy with other bands LS kind of faded away. Our last rehearsal was around 2007. After I had stopped playing live with Aura Noir we decided to meet up weekly and play guitar together. It was not going to be Lamented Souls and we had no serious plans of any kind. – but as songs were starting to emerge I switched to drums and we made recordings that Bestial Tormentor played to Fenriz, who apparently approved! I would never have dared to ask him to do the vocals! I was considering doing them myself but he was secretly our first choice. Fortunately Bestial Tormentor popped the question and he said yes, so we recorded 3 songs with an extra pair of drum mics(4 in total )in the rehearsal place. Added bass and guitar in my house and went to Fenriz’ to record the vocals. Then we had two more sessions before the album was finished. Initially I was assuming the music would be doom metal .I think all of us had “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus” in mind but even if our songs are slow/mid tempo, the riffs ended up being more thrashy than I had expected. Only the title track is pure doom simply because it’s a song me and Bestial Tormentor made some 20 years ago that we were über eager to hear Fenriz’ ravishing vocal lines on.” Sounds like they’ve manages a doom/thrash sort of deal here. Listen for yourself:

Cleveland black/heavy metal band MIDNIGHT have announced their sixth full-length album, ‘Hellish Expectations‘, will release on March 8th via Metal Blade Records. Athenar suggests: “Probably the most concise and straight to the point MIDNIGHT album to date, and all written in a weekend. The album was written on pure reaction upon leaving the studio after listening to raw tracks from the previous album Let There Be Witchery. The final mix of that album was good, but at the time of laying it down in the studio, I didn’t like what I was hearing and demanded a new leviathan of an album to be written that weekend.” I’m not sure what to think about that quote but the new song sounds solid enough:

Athens, Greece-based black metal band LUNAR SPELLS continue their pursuit of “old school” Scandinavian black metal on this latest full-length album. ‘Sacraments of Necromantical Empires‘ will release by way of Northern Silence Productions this coming March 1st on all relevant formats. I was a big fan of their prior releases so I’m stoked to talk about this one in a couple of weeks:

Louisiana-borne thrash/groove metal band EXHORDER have announced their fourth full-length album is on the way this coming March 8th by way of Nuclear Blast Records. Expect the sort of groove metal they’re known for beyond the early 90’s upon their return and you’ll notice right away that they’ve now got former Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O’Brien on lead guitars this time around. Check out the first preview song “Year of the Goat”:

Profound Lore Records have announced they’ve welcomed long-running New York City-based melodic death/doom, dark metal band GREY SKIES FALLEN to their roster for a March 8th release of their latest album. ‘Molded By Broken Hands‘ will be released on LP, CD, and digital formats. I was a big fan of their self-released full-length album back in 2020 so I’m glad to see they’re back at it with another record. There are two singles up for it thus far:

Sun & Moon Records have announced a March 11th release date for Hungarian black metal/post-punk and death rock influenced band SVOID‘s latest album ‘Neptunian‘. This third album from the band already sounds like a step up from their previous record, check out the two preview songs up on Bandcamp if this sounds like your kind of thing.

I, Voidhanger Records has announced ‘Metaphysical Engines Approaching The Event Horizon‘ the second full-length album from Italian trio HADIT will release this coming March 15th. Formed from a basis of death metal and stretched to various extremes this band features production/engineering from Gabriele Gramaglia (Cosmic Putrefaction, Vertebra Atlantis), who also plays bass, guitar and synth on the album. Check out the first preview song for now:

Me Saco Un Ojo Records have announced March 29th as the release date for Danish deathgrinding gorelords SEPTAGE‘s debut full-length album, ‘Septic Worship‘. MSuO will handle the vinyl release while Dark Descent will release the CD version, and Extremely Rotten the cassette tape. I’m not the biggest fan of gore but these folks definitely have riffs so I’m into it.

Burgos, Spain-based death/doom metal project ORNAMENTOS DEL MIEDO have announced their latest album will release this coming March 15th via Meuse Music Records and Tragedy Productions. You’ll recall I had a lot of great things to say about his 2023 LP ‘El cosmos me observa en silencio‘ so I’m looking forward to his latest batch of misery. Check out the latest song preview “Flores Muertas”:

Helsinki, Finland-based extreme doom metal band ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have announced their second full-length album ‘Echoes‘ will self-release this coming March 22nd. This album purports to deeper incorporate their death-doom and traditional doom metal sides while losing some of the stoner doom edge of their previous album in favor of something darker, more miserable.

Soulseller Records have announced a new album from Norwegian black metal band KHOLD will release this coming March 22nd. ‘Du dømmes til Død‘ is described as “a concept album about henchmen and various people being condemned to the death penalty throughout Norwegian history.” and otherwise we can expect the great consistency that these guys always manage.

Stygian Black Hand and Dying Victims Productions have announced a March 15th release date for the sophomore full-length from death/thrash metal band STRESS ANGEL. ‘Punished by Nemesis‘ will be released on LP United States per Stygian Black Hand and in the EU on Dying Victims Productions who are also handling the CD. I was big on the simple and raw harass of their debut ‘Bursting Church‘ and I’m glad they’re keeping it degenerate on this second one.

Osmose Productions have announced they will release ‘Nomad‘ the seventh full-length from black metal band DARKESTRAH who have long described their music as “Epic Shamanic Black Metal.” Focused on traditional Central Asian melodies and Kyrgyz epic poetry it looks like a lot of their discography is available via the French label and this new album promises their classic sound with some new musicians involved. No preview tracks until late February but pre-orders and info is up:

https://osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com/album/nomad

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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. Please subscribe, share, and leave a comment, etc. if you feel like it.

NOTE: Right-click and “Open in New Tab/Window” to view on YouTube or try youtube.com/@terraasymmetry

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MORBID SAINT – Swallowed By Hell (2024) | REVIEW

THEOPHONOS – Ashes in the Huron River (2024) | REVIEW

PETRIFICATION – Sever Sacred Light (2024) | REVIEW

HULDER – Verses in Oath (2024) | REVIEW

MORCOLAC – Drawbridge to Citadel of No More Dawn (2024) | REVIEW

SPECTRAL VOICE – Sparagmos (2024) | REVIEW

The Top 20 Albums of January | 2024

An Exhaustive Study: Melodic Black Metal Redux [Pt. V] – ‘Newborn Sorrows From the Ancient Spheres’

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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:

CHAPEL OF DISEASE – Echoes of Light [February 9th, Van Records]
BORKNAGAR – The Fall [February 23rd, Century Media Records]
MORTEM AGMEN – The Path to the Abyss of Evil [February 23rd, Nachzehrer Records]
IRON CURTAIN – Savage Dawn [February 23rd, Dying Victims Productions]
FARSOT – Life Promised Death [February 16th, Lupus Lounge]
MORTA SKULD – Creation Undone [February 23rd, Peaceville Records]

SHORT REVIEWS + VIDEO:

Short Reviews arrive every TWO weeks this year. Next entry: 2/10/24 (Feb. 10th)

GOLDEN CORE – Kosmos Brenner [February 2nd, Helvetes Indre Kretser]
HAYSTACK – Doomsday Goes Away [February 9th, Dogma Repertory Institute/Threeman]
SUNDRIFTER – An Earlier Time [February 16th, Small Stone Recordings]
AUREOLE – Alunarian Bellmaster [February 9th, Lupus Lounge]
ELDAMAR – Lost Songs from the Ancient Land [February 2nd, Northern Silence]
DRUADAN FOREST – Dismal Spells Part 2 – The Night Circus [February 23rd, Werewolf]

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