🌶️ To The Teeth: Don't ask why Gaahl revived Trelldom, just go with it
Plus: Satan (said slowly while holding a glass of wine), Winterfylleth, Papangu, Oceans of Slumber, Lambodon, Black Curse & 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
🌶️ Trelldom
Avantgarde black, Norway (Prophecy Productions)
FFO: Dødheimsgard, Arcturus, Ihsahn
A first new Trelldom album in 17 years. I don’t know what I expected, but not this. Trelldom, a Gaahl (ex-Gorgoroth, Gaahls Wyrd) project with guitarist Stian ‘Sir’ Kårstad (Nidingr, ex-Myrkur), left us in 2007 with two hair raising harsh black metal records. Hearing they got drummer Kenneth Kapstad (Thorns, Spidergawd, Motorspycho) and Kjetil Møster (Royksopp) on sax and klarinet on this album, made clear: this is not your father’s black metal. I don’t know why Gaahl thought Trelldom would be the best act to revive for this spacey, weirdo sound, but I’m not complaining. Trelldom anno 2024 is a layered affair with depth and adventure that has more in common than last years Dødheimsgard (my aoty), than true black metal. I’ll be revisiting …By the Shadows… a lot.
🌶️ Satan
NWOBHM, UK (Metal Blade Records)
FFO: Angel Witch, Pariah, Diamond Head
Riffs man. These geezers still know how to write ‘em.
🌶️ Winterfylleth
Black, UK (Candlelight Records)
FFO: Saor, Wodensthrone, Vanum
This album sounds exactly the way it looks like: majestic, icey, windy, snowy, mountainy. Straightforward black metal, with a folky undertone. I don’t think we’re in Manchester anymore.
🌶️ Papangu
Prog/avantgarde, Brazil (Repose Records)
FFO: Kaatayra, Magma, Kayo Dot, Vórtize, doing drugs in rainforests
Big hat tip to René from Dead Neanderthals (check out their new collaboration in the playlist!) for sending me this. I remember really liking Papangu’s debut from 2021 but I missed this one last week. This is so wild, so free of any conventions, theatrical and zeuhl-ish and totally unpredictable, that I don’t think this will find a very large audience. Who wants their death metal stomps powdered with jazzy and lush tropicália? I don’t know about you, but I fucking love that.
There’s more: Ketamine Wizard (🌶️ stoner/doom, USA - speaking of unpredictable and wild), Öxxö Xööx (🌶️ avantgarde gothic/doom, France), Oceans of Slumber (prog, USA) and Apep (death, Germany), a split from Jade & Sanctuarium (atmospheric death & death, Spain), Vafurlogi (🌶️ black, Iceland), Neighbours Burning Neighbours (🌶️ noise/postpunk, The Netherlands), Stryper (heavy, USA), Aethyrick (black, Finland), an ep from Father Befouled (🌶️ death, USA), Crobot (stoner, USA), Siderean (death, Slovenia), a demo from Omegavortex (black/death, Germany) and Agrypnie (prog/post-black, Germany). The rest is in the playlist!
Seven new songs
🌶️ Black Curse (death/black, USA - w/ members of Blood Incantation/Primitive Man/Khemmis/Spectral Voice)
🌶️ Mastodon + Lamb of God (prog/sludge + groove/metalcore, USA)
🌶️ Divide & Dissolve (drone/doom, Australia)
🌶️ Deadbody (death/hardcore, USA - doing a split with Tribal Gaze, see below)
🌶️ Tribal Gaze (death, USA)
🌶️ Mother of Graves (melodic death/doom, USA)
🌶️ Ensiferum (epic folk, Finland)
The rest is in the playlist!
Not-so-heavy & next week
Not-so-heavy album of the week: Eefje de Visser (indiepop, The Netherlands)
I’m looking forward to next week because of: Nightwish, Unto Others, Charlotte Wessels, Coffin Rot & Mork.
What is your favourite? What did I miss? Let me know!
Ketamine Wizards is one of my new favorite band names
That Black Curse song blew me away. Their last album was one of the most evil things I’ve ever heard, and this new one threatens to top it, somehow.