🌶️ To The Teeth: Cold weather < new Panopticon
Plus: Varathron, Krallice, Sakis Tolis, Eitrin, Arkthinn, Departure Chandelier, Këkth Aräkh & much more!
Welcome to the To The Teeth newsletter! Your weekly update of new heavy music. You can listen to (most) everything in the playlist on Spotify. If you like what you read, go to Patreon (receive a patch!) & Bandcamp (buy a patch!). Peppers are hot 🌶️!
Just 492 Bandcamp notifications this morning? Must be Bandcamp Friday!
New Albums
🌶️ Panopticon (atmoblack/folk from the USA. FFO: Wolves in the Throne Room, Agalloch, Saor)
Right in time. It’s getting cold here, and there are not a lot of bands who make such a perfect soundtrack to the creeping onset of winter as Panopticon. Main man Austin Lunn - the man who made walks in nature with battlejackets cool again - has made a lot of it by now, and I don’t know how much more albums with more of the same wonky black metal I really need - after all, another Autumn Eternal he won’t make and I wish I was a little more excited with this new one than I am. But that is not to say new record isn’t worth your time. Lunn always pours his heart in, and it’s always good to hear what comes out.
🌶️ Krallice (avant-garde black from the USA. FFO: Weakling, Liturgy, Serpent Column)
First half is a sequel to the excellent Mass Cathexis that I didn’t expect and don’t deserve. Second half is bonkers Krallice I can’t fathom and I like that.
🌶️ Varathron (black from Greece. FFO: Necromantia, older Rotting Christ, Mortuary Drape)
Another band that thrives on atmosphere, although a completely different vibe than the band above. Varathron is a classic ‘hellenic black metal’ group, a scene that had a hard to overstate impact on extreme metal. Together with Rotting Christ and Necromantia, these guys defined the blend of traditional and black metal, pushed up to epic heights. It’s amazing that they’re still churning out albums this strong.
🌶️ Sakis Tolis (gothic/black from Greece. FFO: Moonspell, Paradise Lost, newer Rotting Christ)
And while we’re talking Greece, here’s a surprise new solo album from Rotting Christ-frontman Sakis Tolos, under the χ ξ ς' moniker.
There’s more: Full of Hell & Nothing (powerviolence & shoegaze, both from the USA), Cobra Spell (🌶️ heavy from The Netherlands), an ep from Locrian (experimental drone from the USA), Eitrin (black/industrial - with members of Mütterlein, Blut Aus Nord & Throane), Arkhtinn (🌶️ atmoblack/ambient from ??), Mahr (atmoblack from ??), Pharmakeia (black from ??), Voidsphere (atmoblack from ??), Hwwauoch (atmoblack from ?? - yeah you guessed it, this is all from the same ‘Prava Kollektiv’), Oniricous (death from Spain), ORO (post/sludge from Sweden), Rüyyn (black from France), Helfró (black from Iceland), and a two-track demo from Atomic Witch (thrash/death from the USA). The rest is in the playlist!
New songs
There are new songs out from: Këkht Aräkh (🌶️ black/ambient from Ukraine/Germany 🌻), Bruce Dickinson (heavy from the UK - hey hey it’s Bruce!), Chapel of Disease (🌶️ death from Germany), two new tracks from Departure Chandelier (🌶️ black from Canada/USA), Drowned (death from Germany), Dissimulator (death/thrash from Canada - w/ members of Atramentus, Chthe’ilist, Beyond Creation), Riot V (heavy/power/speed from the USA), Unaussprechlichen Kulten (🌶️ death from Chile), Mayhemic (🌶️ blackened thrash from Chile - I believe the full album should be here, but alas, it is not), Narzissus (black from Austria - Erech Leleth alert), Witherfall (🌶️ heavy prog/power from the USA), Leaves’ Eyes (🌶️ symphonic from Germany) and E-An-Na (folk metal from Romania). The rest is in the playlist!
Non-heavy & next week
Non-heavy album of the week: Eefje de Visser (indiepop from the Netherlands - a live album, my favourite Dutch artist)
I’m looking forward to next week because of: Troll (full stream), Phobocosm & Slow.
What was your favourite? What did I miss? Let me know!