Event Horizon
So, how did we all fare in the month of July? Thoughts on The Outstrider? Did Abbath work for you? And surely Burial Remains, Tomb Mold and Disemtomb are your new favourite Death Metal affairs? It was a busy month. Nothing is about to change.
So what’s up in August? Yep, the fifth instalment of Event Horizon is upon you. Follow the path of least resistance. Read on!
Give solace to the following Nine album. There is no respite!
EXCUSE: Prophets From The Occultic Cosmos
RELEASED: 02 August 2019
STYLE: Old School Thrash Metal
LABEL: Shadow Kingdom Records
LINK: Bandcamp
One of Finland’s hottest newcomers, EXCUSE began to make a name for themselves with the second, Goddess Injustice. Release to critical acclaim in 2016 by SHADOW KINGDOM, Goddess Injustice largely introduced the fierce foursome to the international metal underground – with a nuclear-powered bang! A finely honed missile of speed metal majesty, EXCUSE’s sound on that EP in many ways recalled the classic Canadian gods Sacrifice and Razor, but there were hints of greater glories to come. And at last, they’ve arrived with the presciently titled Prophets From the Occultic Cosmos.
Whereas Goddess Injustice suggested some darkly melodic leanings, EXCUSE’s first full-length expands that arsenal considerably. Here, the six songs comprising Prophets From the Occultic Cosmos stretch out to epic lengths – one even hitting double digits, the climactic 10-minute closer “Watchtower of the Trans-Dimensional Pathway” – and take the listener on a wild, winding ride. The evil ‘n’ sleazy surge on which EXCUSE made their name still exists, but has now been finessed into a wholly more dynamic beast, able to reflect haunting moodiness and spacey horror alike. Suitably, co-guitarist Oskar Lindström’s vocals have a conspicuous amount of echo placed upon them, suggesting the inter-dimensional struggles of a narrator literally lost in space. Likewise, fellow guitarist Anselmi Ahopalo’s leads take center stage here and weave an almost storytelling aspect, much in the way that classic heavy metal songwriting should, evoking both triumph and tragedy but remaining equally hummable throughout. Completing the totality is album’s production, which locates the perfect balance between grit and gleam.
So many young bands blow their proverbial wad during the demo/EP days and peter out by the time their debut album comes. Not so for EXCUSE, who have been able to transform their earlier youthful energy into enviably advanced maturity with Prophets From the Occultic Cosmos. Behold these Prophets’ coming! (From SKR Bio)
SWARN: Black Flame Order
RELEASED: 02 August 2019
STYLE: Death/Crust
LABEL: Raw Skullz Records / Redefining Darkness Records
LINK: Bandcamp
SWARN are a young Death-Crust act from the stone cold crypts of Estonia.
While SWARN cite bands such as Dismember,Disfear, and Wolfbrigadeas influences, there is much more to SWARN then meets the eye. While the band definitely fester in the trenches where D-Beat and Crust meet Death Metal, they also bring a Death/Doom vibe not unlike the mighty Asphyx.
There are some darker moments here that almost venture into a Black Metal-like atmosphere, but again,only in moments. The great thing about newer bands are that many of them seem to be crossing the imaginary lines between genres which is quite exciting. Black Flame Orderis never dull and there are many ear-perking moments sprinkled within. Enjoy!
The Black Flame Order will wait in the dark forgotten corners of the world, dying, dreaming and infinitely chanting… (from Raw Skullz Bio)
DESTRUCTION: Born To Perish
RELEASED: 09 August 2019
STYLE: Thrash Metal
LABEL: Nuclear Blast
LINK: YouTube
Born to Perish? This statement does not apply to the Thrash Metal legends DESTRUCTION, though their new album »Born To Perish« will certainly create a furore on August 9th. The brand-new line-up featuring the Canadian drum animal Randy Black and Swiss shred-master Damir Eskić, together with veterans Schmier and Mike, is here to bring you musical destruction. This is a new chapter in the long, impressive history of the band.
The recordings for »Born To Perish« took place from January to March 2019 in the Little Creek Studio in Switzerland under the aegis of long time intimate VO Pulver. “We have browbeaten ourselves once again because we wanted to finish the recordings before we hit the road with OVERKILL in Europe”, Schmier laughs. The result proves their efforts more than worthwhile. Within a few seconds, »Born To Perish« is no doubt identifiable as a DESTRUCTION album, but there are also some experiments lurking, having lured them outside of the box. The guitar work has especially developed. “We have two guitarists in the band now which wouldn’t make sense if the people couldn’t hear it. Our goal was to raise massive walls of guitars. And I think we succeeded.”
»Born To Perish« starts like a thunder clap, immediately hitting you with the title song – skipping any intro or frippery. This is classic Thrash Metal, like the following bone breaking ‘Inspired By Death’, the heavy but catchy tune ‘Betrayal’ and the raised middle finger ‘Rotten’. Since 1982 when DESTRUCTION was first founded, they’ve never once lost their aggressiveness. On the second part of the album one can expect some surprises like ‘Butchered For Life’, which starts out like a rock ballad ending up as a real Thrash Metal monster. In ‘Fatal Flight 17’, outstanding with its exceptional riffing, Schmier both tells a personal story and pays tribute to his old hero Gary Moore.
Lyric wise, »Born To Perish« is a statement against power-hungry politicians, senseless hate, and all the world’s madness. Schmier explains: “The vulture on the cover is something like an “anti-eagle” that symbolizes the insatiable greed of people. I always wonder what drives these people: wealthy people want to be millionaires; millionaires want to be billionaires, and so on. This seems to be an endless spiral.”
Likewise, DESTRUTCTION seem to accelerate endlessly forwards – in 2019 more than ever. (From Nuclear Blast Bio)
CEREBRAL ROT: Odious Descent Into Decay
RELEASED: 16 August 2019
STYLE: Death Metal
LABEL: 20 Buck Spin
LINK: Bandcamp
20 Buck Spin continues its 2019 campaign of carnage, presenting the tumultuous “Odious Descent Into Decay”, the debut LP by Seattle US death metal outfit, CEREBRAL ROT.
Continuing to extract the deadliest beings from the dankest corners of the Northwest, 20 Buck Spin summons from the festering swamp-soaked murk the revolting mutation that is CEREBRAL ROT. Like sewage winding its way through tunnels below the street, the band’s music reeks with the stench of vulgarity and noxious body fumes. The band shares members with other acts from across the region including, Fetid, Crurifragium, Cauterized, Caustic Wound, Excarnated Entity, and others.
Embalmed in an analog toxic dump, the debut CEREBRAL ROT LP “Odious Descent Into Decay” follows the well-received Cessation Of Life demo, released in 2018. The new LP melts the skin with radioactive brutality and gurgling bursts of punishing cruelty. Virulent subterranean death metal glistening with pustular fallout and obscure rotten air left too long on the morgue table, the skin peels off and the last gasp of life echoes terrifyingly within. A rank abomination of disgust, Odious Descent Into Decay relies not on over technicality but disfiguring physical violence and battering submission in its quest for the true embodiment of sub-underground death as it morphs from one wet distorted monstrosity to another. Like the miserable mess of decayed forms on the cover, the septic sickness of CEREBRAL ROT has only just begun to spread.
Odious Descent Into Decay will see release on LP, CD, cassette, and all digital platforms via 20 Buck Spin on August 16th. Fans of Fetid, Undergang, early-Carcass, and huffing embalming fluid, tune in.
CEREBRAL ROT will also tour across the US in support of the LP alongside 20 Buck Spin kin Fetid. The tour will run from August 29th through October 11th. (From the 20BS Bio)
ISOLE: Dystopia
RELEASED: 16 August 2019
STYLE: Doom Metal
LABEL: Hammerheart Records
LINK: Bandcamp
Gävle doomsters Isole have announced their forthcoming studio album, to be entitled “Dystopia”. The album will be set free on August 23rd, 2019 via Hammerheart Records, and will be available on vinyl, CD and cassette
Fans of classic Doom Metal should beg, steal, or kill to get their hands on “Dystopia”. This is a big album, with big songs and a big sound! (From Hammerheart bio)
SACRED REICH: Awakening
RELEASED: 16 August 2019
STYLE: Thrash Metal
LABEL: Metal Blade
LINK: Bandcamp
Twenty-three years after dropping their last full-length, SACRED REICH is returning in force with the towering “Awakening”, effortlessly demonstrating that they remain a formidable force in metal. Showcasing everything a fan would expect and hope for from the Phoenix, Arizona crew, it is a timeless collection comprised of blistering thrash, crushing grooves, killer solos and socially conscious lyrics that demonstrate a true understanding of everything that matters most in the world today. “Going into it, we had a loose idea as far as knowing that we wanted some fast, heavy songs to honor the old school fans that have supported us and gotten us to this point,” states vocalist/bassist Phil Rind. “We wanted everything to happen naturally. We didn’t want to force anything and we are super stoked with every song. It is easily the best thing we have ever done.”
Formed in 1985, SACRED REICH were an integral part of the 80s and 90s thrash movement, dropping four albums before splitting in 2000. They would go on to reform in 2006 but strictly as a live act, dropping the Live At Wacken DVD in 2012, but it was only in 2018 that they started to work on new material. “Over the last year, we wrote and demoed the songs for the new record. Our drummer Dave (McClain, ex-Machine Head) was still on tour with his old band so our buddy Tim Radziwill played drums on the demos along with his son, Joey, and they recorded it all at their studio. We wouldn’t be here today without their help, they helped get down the basic framework of the songs. They rule, and the whole process of recording was so positive, cool and fun.” Being very much aware of how their approach to the record affected the outcome definitely played into the finished product. “Leading up to it, we talked about the fact that you can’t separate the process from the result. Everything you do, how you do it, your attitude while you do it, all comes out in the end. So we tried to do things the right way – and by the right way, I mean, being open to what came.”
Always having been drawn to album titles that work on multiple levels, Awakening is no different, referring to not only the band recording again for the first time in more than two decades, but also the lyrical themes on the record. “It encapsulates what I feel is the most important thing we all can do: we can all do a better job of simply paying attention.” Lyrically, though there is a lot of aggression scattered across the tracks, there is also a great deal of positivity and hope, most notably in “Manifest Reality” and “Revolution”, the latter referencing the importance of maintaining a positive mental attitude, not giving up and plainly stating “it’s time for revolution”. Given the current state of the world, Rind believes staying positive is more important than ever. “There is a lot of fear, anger and division going around. At the same time, there are plenty of beautiful, incredible things happening right in front of us, day after day. So if we choose to be optimistic, focus on positive things and understand that it’s all temporary, good and bad anyway, we can enjoy our lives and be more kind and loving to each other. ‘Manifest Reality’ says, ‘Be the change you want to see’. I really can’t say anymore than that.” With “Something To Believe” the record ends on a particularly uplifting high, both in terms of mood and richness of melody. “It was never intended to be the closing track, but it is wonderful that it worked out that way. The fact that I can sing ‘Love’s the only way to live our life each day’ in the last verse is a perfect encapsulation of what the record is about.”
WITCH VOMIT: Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave
RELEASED: 30 August 2019
STYLE: Death Metal
LABEL: 20 Buck Spin
LINK: Bandamp
Following the reckless barbarity of 2017’s Poisoned Blood MLP, Portland, Oregon-based death cult WITCH VOMIT digs deeper into the ground than ever before, disinterring Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave, their second full-length torrent of skull-bashing, worm-ridden horror from beyond.
On their new LP, WITCH VOMIT — featuring members of fellow Portland crushers Torture Rack — moves toward perfecting the surgical fusion between the driving Scandinavian style violence and subconscious terror that they’ve previously established and the gore obsessed smashing of their American forbears. Subtlety is abolished for a savage attack, imprinted on your withering mind like an impulsive stab to the throat from a crazed stranger, all the while a dreadful sense of eerie melody rings throughout the album.
With the permanent addition of second guitarist C.L., WITCH VOMIT achieves heightened levels of primal regression and blood-soaked madness. Recorded and mixed by Evan Mersky (Mournful Congregation, Hellshock, Nightfell), mastered by Dan Randall (Meatwound, Necrot, Ghoul, Vivasick), with artwork by Matt Stikker (Outer Heaven, Power Trip), Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave is a deadly addition to the growing WITCH VOMIT catalog of atrocity. Fans of Entombed, Necrophobic, Exhumed, Dismember, and Carnage pay heed. (From 20BS bio)
IMPERIUM DEKADENZ: When We Are Forgotten
RELEASED: 30 August 2019
STYLE: Black Metal
LABEL: Napalm Records
LINK: Bandcamp
Where most of us might think that everything has been said and done in a genre, IMPERIUM DEKADENZ boldly seek new horizons: The highly atmospheric and emotionally dense soundscapes of this duo shun a simplistic tag like “Melodic Black Metal” and have done so for ages – so Horaz and Vespasian seize the moment with When We Are Forgotten and delve deep into a complex cosmos made of anger, loneliness, melancholy and pure destruction. Their musical progression is palpable throughout the album. Triumphant shadowplay ‘Bis ich bin’ lets the old school BM flames rise high and then indulges in iridescent, melodic riff cascades. Both parts of ‘My Solace’ pose as solemn monoliths framing surprisingly catchy and driven tracks such as ‘Transcendence‘. The sixth record of the duo from the Black Forest in Germany convinces with a dynamic, energetic and organic production and sounds by no means polished, but rough and dark as their home itself. In contradiction to the album`s title: This is unforgettable. (From Napalm Bio)
SORCERY: Necessary Excess of Violence
RELEASED: 20 August 2019
STYLE: Death Metal
LINK: Bandcamp
One of the oldest Swedish Death Metal bands, SORCERY, has just finished the process of recording and mixing their new album, the 4th of their career. This new work will be entitled “Necessary Excess of Cruelty” and, like its previous three albums, will be released through Xtreem Music on August 20th on CD and 12″LP formats.
SORCERY is perhaps the oldest Swedish Death Metal band, formed back in 1986, having released several demos and EP’s between ’87-’90 before their classic debut album “Bloodchilling Tales” in ’91. SORCERY has always maintained their style of aggressive, brutal and intense Death Metal, and with this new work, they consolidate their position as one of the most respected Swedish bands in their genre. “Necessary Excess of Violence”, again with cover art by Juanjo Castellano, is, along with their debut (how not!), the best work of the band and will not disappoint any of his followers (From Xtreem Bio)
Carefully selected by KMaN
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