🌶️ To The Teeth: Dark Throne Affiliation
Plus: Inter Arma, Arð, Dystopia, Fluisteraars, Deicide, Candy, Hail Spirit Noir & 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 🌶️!
New Albums
🌶️ Darkthrone
Black/heavy/doom, Norway (Peaceville)
FFO: Celtic Frost, Bathory, Venom
Daaaarkthrooooone! New Darkthrone day: good day. Although their last few albums were a biiiiit on the medium side for me, they’re always always always good and this new album is really good - it’s a big improvement over the past three. This is album number 21, which is amazing, and they’re still just doing what they want, going where they want and how they want. I love that.
🌶️ Inter Arma
Sludge/black/death, USA (Relapse Records)
FFO: Thou, Neurosis, Primitive Man
I’ve seen this fucking band playing this fucking album in full at fucking Roadburn. I loved every fucking minute of it and I’ll love every fucking minute of listening to this fucking album. It’s a lot more complex and knotty than what we’re used to, which I think is cool. It’s even more heavy, which I think is even cooler. I also saw them play a set of Neil Young covers by the way, where I could see how much shots of whiskey that drummer could handle in between fills. I’m just bragging by this point and I realize this is not my best blurb ever, but what the fuck, that was so cool. What a great fucking band.
🌶️ Arð
Melodic doom, United Kingdom (Prophecy Productions)
FFO: My Dying Bride, Funeral, Shape of Despair
What if Obsequiae was a funeral doom band not interested in baroque but earlier, stately medieval music. Well… it probably wouldn’t sound anything like this. But Arð does bring to life a part of history within their music, I feel, even if it’s just a cosmetic feature. Those vocals pull me up and carry me away like few others.
🌶️ Dystopia
Black, The Netherlands (Immortal Frost Productions
FFO: White Ward, Altar of Plagues, Grey Aura
I thought the Dutch black metal scene was kind of stretched to its capacity. There are so many good bands on such a small surface. But lo, I didn’t count on the most northern tip of Holland, which brings us Dystopia. They’ve been around for quite some time, and I did hear the previous album but I don’t think I really registered them. Well, until now. This is ambitious, dynamic, very entertaining black metal. With Thomas Cochrane, who also does trumpet duty ánd live bass with Fluisteraars.
🌶️ Deicide
Death, USA (Reigning Phoenix Music)
FFO: Cannibal Corpse, Krisiun, Sinister
This band got a lot of flack for their stupid AI cover, and even more when Glen Benton defended the choice with “I have two iMacs and MacBook Pro and iPad Pro. So I'm a little versed with the whole computer age and in Photoshop and all that stuff and that.” That’s dumb. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to make a good slab of death metal anymore.
🌶️ Exhumation
Death, Indonesia (Pulverised Records)
FFO: Venenum, Obliteration, Morbid Angel
But this is the death metal banger you’re here for this week. Let’s just go and listen to this and say hell yeah.
🌶️ Fluisteraars
Post-black/ambient, The Netherlands (Eisenwald)
FFO: Drudkh, Turia, ambient music by metalbands
I also saw Fluisteraars at Roadburn, their very first proper metal gig for a big audience (with Dystopia’s Thomas Cochrane!). It was cathartic, beautiful and moving, and a pure celebratory moment for the whole Dutch (black) metal scene. They played a few of my favourite tracks, and did a few that have become favourites since the gig. Anyway, this release is not that and I had to miss them playing this. But this is also Fluisteraars, giving into their more experimental leanings with a completely ambient release.
(read my interview with them, in Dutch)
There’s more: Full of Hell (grind/noise/death, USA), Morgul Blade (heavy/black, USA), Accept (heavy, Germany), Pentagram (Chile) (🌶️ thrash/death, Chile), Amiensus (prog black, USA), Glassing (🌶️ post/doom/black, USA), Coffin Curse (death, Chile), Dolmen Gate (epic heavy, Portugal), Diocletian (black/death, New Zealand), Black Tusk (🌶️ sludge, USA), Candelabrum (🌶️ raw black, Portugal), ACxDC (powerviolence, USA), a split from Draghkar & Helcaraxë (both death, USA), Lust Hag (🌶️ raw black, USA) and Walg (melodic black, The Netherlands). The rest is in the playlist!
Bonus highlights from last week:
Dool (🌶️ psych doom, The Netherlands), Bongripper (🌶️ bongs/ripping, USA), My Dying Bride (🌶️ gothic/doom, UK), Dvne (prog sludge/post, UK), High on Fire (stoner/sludge, USA), Kawir (pagan black, Greece) & Big|Brave (post/sludge, Canada).
Six new songs
🌶️ Candy (hardcore, USA)
🌶️ Hail Spirit Noir (prog/psych black, Greece)
🌶️ Hammerfall (heavy/power, Sweden)
🌶️ Strychnos (black/death, Denmark)
🌶️ Tzompantli (death/doom, USA)
🌶️ Fellwarden (atmoblack, UK)
The rest is in the playlist!
Not-so-heavy & next week
Not-so-heavy album of the week: Iron & Wine (folk, USA)
I’m looking forward to next week because of: Agriculture & Wheel.
What is your favourite? What did I miss? Let me know!
Hey man, first of all thanks for weekly dose of metal, I've just run into new album from band im following and checked for last 3 issues of newsletter and its also missing in the playlist, so i thought you might like it. Its Death/Doom from NY City called Funeral Leech. They released new LP on 2024-04-05 "The Illusion of Time"
EDIT: I have double checked and its in the playlist so nevermind :P
Awesome music ! Thx for new music recommendations (at least for me this is new) ha!