Event Horizon January 2020

2020. The start of a new decade. As I sit and write this introduction I can’t help but wonder where Heavy Music will be in another 10 years. Personally, I enjoyed the 2010-2019 period way more than the previous decade. There’s also been a renaissance of sorts for the style over the past 5 years and as far as I can tell at this point, 2020 looks to continue the trend. Looking over the Horizon we have some stellar bands with albums coming our way – in the upper echelons, the old guard are going to be amongst it all – Sepultura, Annihilator, Armored Saint, Anthrax, Carcass, Dark Angel, Decapitated, Enslaved, Exodus, Faith No More, Helloween, King Diamond, Megadeth and Testament just to name check a few! Of course, as is the objective of this feature, the underground is where we will focus our attention. The month of January kicks in to full gear around the 10th of the month with Jan 24th and 31st being especially loaded with new material. As a starter, the 6 titles featured below would as good as place as any to kick off your year. Enjoy!

UNBOUNDED TERROR – Faith in Chaos
RELEASED: 02 January 2020
STYLE: Death Metal
LABEL: Xtreem Music
LINK Bandcamp

Mallorca’s UNBOUNDED TERROR was one of the very first Spanish death metal bands. They formed from the ashes of band Toxic Waste, and after that they were called Putrefeact Monstruosity until April 1991, when they adopted the name UNBOUNDED TERROR. They released their debut album ‘Nest of Affliction’ in 1992 and then promptly disappeared. 28 years later, we get ‘Faith in Chaos. For lovers of classic Death Metal in its purest form with influences in the vein of IMMOLATION, MEMORIAM, MASSACRE, INCANTATION, MORBID ANGEL, BENEDICTION.

HAUNT – Mind Freeze
RELEASED: 05 January 2020
STYLE: NWOBHM/Heavy Metal 80’s style.
LABEL: Shadow Kingdom
LINK: Bandcamp

It would be an understatement to suggest that Trevor William Church and his Haunt outfit are prolific songwriters. “Mind Freeze” is the bands 3rd album and comes hot off the heels of this years ‘If Icarus Could Fly’ – that’s two albums within a 10 month period. Throw in a couple of split ep releases within that time also. “Mind Freeze” sounds harder and tad catchier in the melodies this time around. Clearly a band a massive upward trajectory.

PORTA NIGRA – Schöpfungswut
RELEASED: 17 January 2020
STYLE: Avant-garde Black Metal
LABEL: Soulseller Records
LINK: Bandcamp

With a stunning Markus Stock production and striking artwork German Black Metallers Porta Nigra returns with their third album that leads them back to the roots of more straight-forward, furious and monumental Black Metal art of the glorious era of the nineties. To present the lyrics in the necessary manner the band’s core duo decided to work together with a new vocalist: Tongue, guitarist and creator of German Black Metal outfit CHAOS INVOCATION.

DOOMRAISER – THE DARK SIDE OF OLD EUROPA
RELEASED: 24 January 2020
STYLE: Doom Metal
LABEL: Time To Kill Records
LINK: Bandcamp

Active since 2003, Rome based Italian Doom Metallers return with their 5th album ‘The Dark Side of Old Europa”. Exploring Europa’s darkest events, according to the band, they has conceived an obscure sound relying on the Doomraiser ‘heavy drunken doom’ trademarks: heavy metal played at a monolithic pace, where fast and slower, gloomy introspective parts often collide. The final result is very ‘live sounding’, every instrument breathes with vicious abandon while building a tight wall of sound. The band has also stressed some self-editing has taken place and that the song length has been reduced in order to strengthen their impact and intensity.

THY CATAFALQUE – Naiv
RELEASED: 24 January 2020
STYLE: Avant-garde/Progressive Metal
LABEL: Season of Mist
LINK: Bandcamp

This band is phenomenal. Naiv is the the fourth THY CATAFALQUE album in five years from the prolific and is yet another style-blending tapestry of progressive metallic rock. With their 9th album overall, mastermind and sole member, Tamás Kátai has taken another huge step in THY CATAFALQUE ’s ever evolving and shape shifting musical development. Pursing an eclectic amalgamation of Metal, Folklore, Rock and even some Pop, but branded Avant-garde Metal by Tamás, the songs and sounds drift and swirl between beautifully fragile crystalline structures into harsh and sombre soundscapes.

HAZZERD – Delerium
RELEASED: 24 January 2020
STYLE: Old School Thrash Metal
LABEL: M-Theory Audio
LINK: Bandcamp

In forging their 2nd album follow up to 2014’s “Misleading Evil’ Alberta, Canadian Thrashers HAZZERD have matured and developed 10 fold in pursuit of making a mark in the Re-Thrash Metal market. Featuring the artwork of Andrei Bouzikov (Skeletonwitch, Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust), ‘Delirium’ sounds like a band that clearly wears their hearts on their sleeves, yet I detect a slight tempering of their speed in favour of some more melody in the lead work and groove in the bottom end. As a result, this is not as predictable as it might look.

Carefully considered and selected by K-MaN

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