🌶️ To The Teeth: hopeless romanticism

Lacuna Coil, Délirant, Vermilia, Septicflesh, Mantar, Blood Abscission, Tower, Pelican and a lot more!

Feb 14, 2025

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 🌶️!

“That’s when the riffs started pouring in. And it still hasn’t stopped.”

New Albums

🌶️ Lacuna Coil

Alternative/gothic, Italy (Century Media)

FFO: Within Temptation, Theatre of Tragedy, Tristania

True love never grows old. Lacuna Coil are hard to hate, thanks to the strong connection to my growing up in the late nineties/early zeroes they have. Moreover: previous record Black Anima was really good. Still, I can’t say I’m over the moon with Sleepless Empire… too many songs are predictable, many of the ideas are overdone and - worse - overproduced (it’s borderline unlistenable). Luckily there are moments and slices of tracks here and there (plus Scabbia!) that are redeeming, to a hopeless romantic at least.
Nobody is going to believe that I wrote this long before this 14th of february and that I had absolutely no intention to reference a Christian / middle class commercial bullshit holiday.

🌶️ Délirant

Black, Spain (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

FFO: Rhinocervs, Entheogen, Deathspell Omega

Suffocating, intense black metal typical for the lamented Mystískaos label, where this project was birthed. Black metal to listen to standing still, serious face. No fun, no mosh. Good music.

🌶️ Vermilia

Atmospheric/pagan black, Finland (self released)

FFO: Myrkur, Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room

I thought the folky, tree-hugging, facepainting, bone-bleaching, deodorant dodging, Vikings watching, openly larping, incense sniffing black metal was kind of done enough. How many ghostly howling women can we reastically bear? Have we seen enough bearded nerds with braids and moss in their moustaches, looking deadpan into a camera? Did we hear enough faux-Celtic melodies with wonky piano and screaming people romanticizing an awful time with made up symbolism? Well, obviously, yes. And still I like Vermilia’s take on the genre.

There’s more: an ep from Reeking Aura (death, USA), an ep from Septicflesh (symphonic death, Greece), Decline of the I (post-black, France), Mantar (sludge/black, Germany), Hangman’s Chair (gothic/doom, France), an ep from Raven (NWOBHM, UK), Pothamus (post metal, Belgium), Warlung (🌶️ stoner/doom, USA). Out last week, great tip from a reader: Uulliata Digir (🌶️ avantgarde, Poland). The rest is in the playlist!