Event Horizon October 2019
Well, there goes September! What a month for Metal! Mizmor, Atlantean Kodex, Actos, Cult of Luna, Exhorder, Opeth, Borknagar and many more! Did you succumb? Well, if were hoping for some Metal respite, the news isn’t good for your bank account. October promises to be an even more prolific month of new metal releases.
Resistance is futile, succumb to your Metal needs – you know the truth! With only a selected sample of what the next month will offer, welcome to October, the 7th installment of Event Horizon.
VUKARI – Aevum
RELEASED: October 1st
STYLE: Black Metal
LABEL: Vendetta Records
LINK: Bandcamp
Chicago-based quartet VUKARI releases their upcoming third full-length Aevum. Based on a couple of taster tracks I’ve heard, all signs and feedback point to this being a monster release – if you’re partial to the sound of Atmospheric Black Metal (and one that is becoming an increasingly saturated corner of the market) then Vukari will convince you that there is much more that can be achieved. Huge Dawid Figielek included.
IN MOURNING – Garden of Storms
RELEASED: October 4th
STYLE: Progressive Melodic Death/Doom
LABEL: Agonia Records
LINK: Bandcamp
“Garden Of Storms” is IN MOURNING‘s fifth studio album and last part of the trilogy started with “The Weight Of Oceans” (2012) and followed by “Afterglow” (2016).
The band commented on the new album: “We made a new album! It’s called The Garden of Storms and it is the final piece in a trilogy which started with The Weight of Oceans. We’ve headed back.. and forward, at the same time. We’re back recording with Jonas Kjellgren who made the sound of our earlier albums, yet we have a lot of things that are new with this album. The band constellation is new with Sebastian and Jocke, we’ve worked in ways we’ve never done before, new vibes and new songs even if we planted the seeds to some of them a long time ago. In times where things kind of seem to scatter and change a lot around us, this still feels like our most solid, honest and complete album to date”
IN MOURNING‘s last album, “Afterglow”, was released to critical acclaim in 2016. In 2018, the band’s line-up went through a change; drummer Daniel Liljekvist (ex-Katatonia) was replaced by Joakim Strandberg Nilsson and bassist Sebastian Svalland filled in for Pierre Stam (ex-October Tide). Together with founding member, guitarist and vocalist Tobias Netzell, as well as guitarists Björn Pettersson and Tim Nedergård, they recorded “Garden Of Storms” between March and May 2019 at two different, Swedish studios – Black Lounge (drums & bass) and Beckasinen (guitars, vocals and keyboards). Jonas Kjellgren took care of mixing and mastering.
“Garden Of Storms” features seven new tracks replete with artwork from Kristian Wåhlin (Bathory, At The Gates, King Diamond).
Hailed by many as the heir to Opeth’s melodeath throne, IN MOURNING was formed in the Swedish woods in the year 2000. Since then, the band has evolved, striving to refine its sound to what it is today. Musically, the group blends a broad spectrum of influences into a foundation of melodic death metal. Thrusting from doomy metal-riffs, blasting drumbeats and deep growling vocals, to calm breezes of clean flowing melodies and harmonies. (From IM bio)
SCREAMER – Highway of Heroes
RELEASED: October 11th
STYLE: Swedish Heavy Metal
LABEL: The Sign Records
LINK: Bandcamp
Screamer never strays far from the proven sound of roaring guitars and pounding drums that’s just as powerful in the pit as when it’s blasting through your stereo. In Screamer’s music, you can hear the classic foundations laid down by the hard rocking heroes of old. With a combination of straight-forward choruses of the likes of Dio, guitar work in the style of Maiden or Lizzy on speed, and the pounding beat of Judas Priest, Screamer has carved out their very own essence of heavy metal that stands the test of time. Their new album Highway of Heroes is set to be released the 11th of October though The Sign Records.
Highway of Heroes is the fourth studio album from the Swedish heavy metal band. It was produced by Gustav Hjortsjö from Bullet, recorded by Ulf Blomberg in The End Studio, mixed by Tomas Skogsberg in the legendary Sunlight Studio, and mastered by Patrik W. Engel in Temple Of Disharmony. The album holds nine tracks plus a CD/Vinyl exclusive intro. Screamer is set to tour Europe in November following the release of Highway of Heroes. (From Screamer Bio)
HOLY SERPENT – Endless
RELEASED: October 18th
STYLE: Heavy Psych/Doom
LABEL: Riding Easy Records
LINK: Bandcamp
ARTWORK: insert here
The forthcoming third album by Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent could likely be its defining moment. Seemingly bottomless in its relentless heft, with billowing and suffocating riffs leading glistening melodies, it’s the sound of a band that has locked on to something unique. Endless is fully conceptualized throughout, encapsulating an oceanic theme from the lyrics and art, even to the very structure of the sounds themselves.
“Lyrically, it’s heavily influenced by the ocean,” explains vocalist/guitarist Scott Penberthy. “Lots of ocean metaphors and imagery was used. Also the title of the album Endless, is an homage to the ocean: Its mystery, power and its ability to give and take life.” The album loosely follows the lyrical theme of two lovers, oceans apart, waiting for each other on the shores of eternity. Their love is so strong, they eventually walk into the water, ending their lives to be together in the afterlife.
Fitting to these themes, the band experiments with sound throughout the album, such as layering in a wobbly synth sound reminiscent of tape push and pull, mixed just loud enough to blend with the instruments. “It’s sort of a haunting sound which gives the album an ebb and flow, much like an ocean’s current or tide,” Penberthy says.
The 6-song, 40-minute album finds Penberthy, guitarist Nick Donoughue, bassist Dave Bartlett and drummer Lance Leembruggen expanding their melodic hooks while simultaneously taking listeners on a rigorous journey. It was written over the course of 2 months, then recorded in seclusion at Beveridge Road Recording Studios near Australia’s beautiful Dandenong Ranges with head engineer Marc Russo and mixed by Mike Deslandes. Surrounding themselves with nature and no distractions allowed the band to focus on every detail of the album as a coherent whole.
In the time since their self-titled RidingEasy debut in mid-2015, Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent have gained a lot of attention for their rather punk version of heavy psych and metal. Their 2016 skate-metal leaning album Temples further defined their more experimental blend of early Soundgarden, Saint Vitus and Kyuss that eschews simplistic 70s-worship in favor of shimmering sonics and uncommon production techniques. Nonetheless, Endless is like all of the band’s earliest visions fully realized and honed into an album beyond easy classification.
Starting with the slow, exaggeratedly compressed 4/4 drum lead in to “Lord Deceptor” — something of a hi-dive anticipation before we plunge headlong into the ensuing depths — crushing and crackling guitars burst in as Penberthy sings in low baritone, “ocean grave, carry me upon a wave / I’m hypnotized in prophecy, what Is left for you and me?” Harmonies drift in and out of the main motif as it sways along into the tempest of “Into The Fire.” Here, a churning riff gathers intensity as the rhythm section builds to a lurching 3/4 time. Reverb-soaked vocals sing, “where the ocean meets the sand, I’ll be waiting, I’ll be waiting there.” Elsewhere, on “For No One,” impossibly low droptuned guitars slink along as the music swells with space rock abandon. Album closer, “Marijuana Trench” is a play on the Mariana trench, the deepest place on earth. Appropriately, the song plunges from gently strummed acoustic guitar into a tsunami crest that pulls the listener under the dark and enveloping weight of sound as Penberthy’s soothing vocals seem to ease us into the end, subsumed in the album’s powerful allure.
Endless will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on October 18th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. (From Riding Easy bio)
1349 – The Infernal Pathway
RELEASED: October 18th
STYLE: Norwegian Black Metal
LABEL: Season of Mist
LINK: Bandcamp
Norwegian black metal titans 1349 have returned with their long awaited seventh full-length: ‘The Infernal Pathway’. The album promises a journey through chaos and madness, darkness and peril, terror and annihilation.
1349 is AURAL HELLFIRE. That has been, and continues to be, the primary concept since the band first rose from the ashes of Alvheim in 1997. Conceived around the founding members – vocalist and former drummer Ravn, guitarist Tjalve, and Seidemann on bass – 1349 completed their line-up with the addition of guitarist Archaon in 1999 and SATYRICON drum-legend Frost in 2001.
When their debut ‘Liberation’ was unleashed in 2003, the Norwegians took the world by storm with their intense blend of old school black metal soundscapes and ultra-fast aggression. Further assaults followed in rapid succession. ‘Beyond the Apocalypse’ (2004) and ‘Hellfire’ (2005) cemented the band’s reputation as one of the strongest acts in the scene.
Upon the departure of founding member Tjalve, who decided to focus on his band PANTHEON I, 1349 have since continued as a four-piece – occasionally adding guest guitarists. Extensive touring aided the growth of their now massive following when the four piece opened for reunited metal legends CELTIC FROST in North America in 2006.
Impressively demonstrating that holding true to the principles of the genre do not mean nostalgia and stagnation, 1349 widened their sonic palette with ‘Revelations of the Black Flame’ (2009), which was co-mixed by CELTIC FROST mastermind Tom Gabriel “Warrior” Fischer. This inspired a newfound ambient darkness from the band, which was further explored on ‘Demonoir’ (2010).
‘Massive Cauldron of Chaos’ (2013) was the next milestone in the Norwegians merciless advance, scoring excellent reviews and a nomination for a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen). The release sparked more festival shows as well as extensive touring, bringing 1349 to Australia and New Zealand. In 2018, the Munch Museum and Innovation Norway chose 1349 as one of four bands to create a song based on the paintings of Edvard Munch. As a result, the single ‘Dødskamp’ was released earlier this year.
After performing a fiery show at Norway’s Inferno festival this year, 1349 started recording in Amper Tone studios and Studio Nyhagen with engineer Jarrett Pritchard. Thus, ‘The Infernal Pathway’ was born, a sonic parallel to summoning and unleashing the beast of the abyss in all its fearsome, ferocious and powerful splendor.
Gearing up for a full U.S. tour in the fall, and a European tour with ABBATH and VLTIMAS in 2020, more events will unfold, making this a banner year for 1349. (From 1349 Bio)
ORODRUIN – Ruins of Eternity
RELEASED: October 25th
STYLE: Epic Doom Metal
LABEL: Cruz Del Sur
LINK: Bandcamp
The wait is finally over! American doom legends Orodruin return with their first studio album in 16 years, the masterful Ruins of Eternity.
One of the most highly-regarded names in American doom metal picks up where they left off from their classic Epicurean Mass debut with Ruins of Eternity, an epic showing time-honored and epic doom!
Sixteen years have passed since Orodruin’s lone studio album, Epicurean Mass. The album is a veritable American doom touchstone — the almost perfect intersection of Black Sabbath heft and the slow atmospheric churn of Saint Vitus. And while those two bands are a proper frame of reference for Orodruin and the American doom scene at large, the Rochester, New York-based outfit immediately proved itself to be its own unique, formidable entity, the creative unit of John Gallo (guitar), Mike Puleo (bass/vocals), Nick Tydelski (guitar) and Mike Waske (drums) writing an album equally as epic as it was forlorn.
Such an elongated span of time between releases often condemns lesser bands to the memory bank gallows, never to be seen or heard from again. Yet, the Orodruin name has only grown in stature since the release of Epicurean Mass, with the doom scene at large pining for new music from the band as they remained active on the live front. The wait is finally over — Orodruin has returned with a brand-new studio album and their first for Cruz Del Sur Music, Ruins of Eternity.
Tracked throughout 2018 at Wicked Squid Studio, Ruins of Eternity is the result of a two-year songwriting burst from the band, who are now a trio after the departure of Waske. (Puleo pulled double-duty on the album and handled the drums.) Exploring lyrical themes of “loss, departure and rebirth,” Ruins of Eternity finds Orodruin already in full doom-stride, employing their trademark heavy riffing, guitar harmony interplay and the emotive vocals of Puleo, who turns in an impassioned performance on the title track, as well as “Into the Light of the Sun” and “Hell Frozen Over.” The band even reached back into their song archives for “Letter of Life’s Regret,” which was written in 2005 and deemed too good not to include on Ruins of Eternity.
The album’s cover art is the combination of various images pulled together by Gallo, including the Thomas Cole print “Expulsion of Eden.” It’s all part of a meticulous, highly thought-out package from Orodruin, who prove on Ruins of Eternity that the passage of time is no match for sterling, honest doom metal done right. (From Orodruin bio)
MAYHEM – Daemon
RELEASED: October 25th
STYLE: Norwegian Black Metal
LABEL: Century Media
LINK: YouTube
Norwegian black metal veterans MAYHEM will release their sixth studio album, titled “Daemon”, on October 25.
By the power of darkness and with the might of black-hearted will no two MAYHEM albums have been or will ever be the same. Over the course of MAYHEM‘s storied and groundbreaking 35-year career — from “Deathcrush” (1987) through “Esoteric Warfare” (2014) — the Norwegians have continuously challenged the orthodoxy of the genre they helped create. Originally informed by greats HELLHAMMER, VENOM, BATHORY and SODOM, MAYHEM eventually imbued its damnable attack with influences from all over the music extreme spectrum, indicated first on the harsh and angular “Wolf’s Lair Abyss” (1997) EP and foremost on the enterprisingly brutal and revolutionary “Grand Declaration Of War” (2000).
“Daemon” isn’t a direct follow-up to “Esoteric Warfare”. Like all MAYHEM albums of their time, “Daemon” is unto itself. The wolf solitary and singular. Indeed, “Daemon” also isn’t a new chapter in MAYHEM‘s storied career. Rather, it’s a new tome, authoritative yet wild in character. Composed and decomposed with the same lineup — Necrobutcher (bass), Hellhammer (drums), Attila (vocals), Teloch (guitars) and Ghul (guitars) — that handled “Esoteric Warfare” and performed “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” in its entirety over the last few years, “Daemon” isn’t a retrofit of classic songs like “Freezing Moon”, “Pagan Fears” or “Buried By Time And Dust” either. That’s what the live album, “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive” (2016), was for. “Daemon” is change, an opportunity for the maw of hell to open wider.
“MAYHEM will always be MAYHEM,” says guitarist/songwriter Teloch (a.k.a. Morten Bergeton Iversen). “If we put the genre game aside a bit, no one else sounds like MAYHEM. Even when ‘De Mysteriis’ came out, it was not at first considered to be a black metal album, if my memory serves me right. Tricky to label this band. Metal would be the most fitting; it’s not pure black metal, in my opinion. Not sure it has ever been actually, despite what the general opinion is. People can call it whatever they want. If it’s black metal to them, then fine. We don’t really care. To me, it’s important to keep some sort of black metal vibe at least.” (From Mayhem Bio)
CLOAK – The Burning Dawn
RELEASED: October 25th
STYLE: Black/Sludge Rock
LABEL: Season Mist
LINK: Bandcamp
Unyielding darkness and brutality emerge from the deep south of the United States. Atlanta, GA based quartet CLOAK blend the sounds of black metal, rock ‘n’ roll, and homegrown Southern sludge to create their own unique and menacing sound.
Their debut full-length, ‘To Venomous Depths,’ (2017) was met with critical acclaim upon its release. Decibel Magazine placed it at #20 among their “Top 40 Albums of 2017,” solidifying the band’s place among the heavy metal elite. Now, CLOAK is back with ‘The Burning Dawn,’ a riff-heavy and groove-laden follow-up that proves the band are still rife with fresh ideas.
Conceptually, the record comes from a place below the surface where the sleepless and sinister dwell, and is absorbed by the darkest of dreams and the most primal desires. Musically, this exploration takes the gothic nuances of its predecessor while abandoning any hesitation in exchange for a more aggressive and vehement spirit.
While rippers like “On Poisoned Ground” and “Into the Storm” deliver a fury of soulful aggression, songs like “Lifeless Silence” and “The Fire, The Faith, The Void” offer a darker, gothic essence, ultimately displaying CLOAK’s multi-faceted and dynamic musical diversity. So, raise your fists and set fire to the world; this is ‘The Burning Dawn’. (From Cloak Bio)
Carefully selected by KMaN
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