🌶️ To The Teeth: the legendary Khanate returns to entertain your nightmares

Plus: The Ocean, VHS, Botanist, Frozen Soul, Outer Heaven, Pa Vesh En, Mutoid Man, Shadows, Within Temptation and much more!

Welcome to the To The Teeth newsletter! Your weekly update of new heavy music. You can listen to almost everything in the playlist on Spotify. If you like what you read: Patreon (get a patch!) or Bandcamp (buy a patch!). Peppers are hot 🌶️!

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New Albums

🌶️ Khanate (drone/doom from the USA. FFO: Sunn O))), Ehnahre, The Body)

Almost 25 minutes into this album, Alan Dubin shrieks: “Here we go!” A Korn-ish call to an infectious groove? No way. “Dooowwn!” Dubin howls, while guitars scratch themselves into being, under sporadic drum hits. A legendary band returns, maintaining their nightmarish and visceral sound despite a 14-year hiatus. This is no easy return (just look at those song lengths): it’s all incredibly dense, slowly deteriorating into irreparable sonic damage.

🌶️ The Ocean (progressive post/sludge from Germany. FFO: Cult of Luna, Isis)

This is The Ocean finding new ways within their own sound. They dive deeper, if you will. It’s dark and heavy, with a large roll for electronics, synths and other effects. Does it work? It’s The Ocean, of course it works.

There’s an even synthier counterpart to this album: SHRVL.

🌶️ VHS (death/thrash/grind from Canada. FFO: Macabre, Fulci, Exhumed)

This band embodies they guys you’d want to have as buddies in school: creative, funny, laid-back, huge nerds, always sharing the best stash. I loved their last super weird album (Deep Gashes and Long Lashes) and although this new release tones down the eccentricity slightly, it remains mega cool. Just wait for the passages of unadulterated (well..) heavy metal.

🌶️ Frozen Soul (death from the USA. FFO: Undeath, Bolt Thrower, Tomb Mold)

Brrrrr.

🌶️ Shadows (heavy from Chile. FFO: Mercyful Fate, Ghost, Ozzy)

Whenever I discover a band hailing from Chile, my ears immediately perk up. I believe that it is the South American country with the highest density of metal bands per capita, and it’s evident across all subgenres. Case in point: Shadows, they fucking rock. Their music embodies a captivating blend of dark and dreamy heavy metal, featuring exceptional leads and unforgettable compositions.

🌶️ Botanist (experimental post-black from the USA. FFO: Kaatayra, Wreche)

It took Botanist 9 albums to finally get admitted into the rock ‘n roll hall of huge nerds: the Metal Archives. The band around main man Otrebor, who is not only brave enough to just use his first name backwards as a moniker, he also sings about plants, and he turned his back on *guitars*. Botanist uses hammered dulcimers instead and only for that they should be praised. Even better: the music is great, and every album is completely unique.

There’s more: Sacred Outcry (🌶️ heavy/power from Greece), Pa Vesh En (🌶️ raw black from Belarus), Thulcandra (meloblack from Germany), Vomitheist (death from Switzerland), Supersonic Revolution (heavy/hardrock from The Netherlands - a new Arjen ‘Ayreon’ Lucassen project), Hail Conjurer (black from Finland - member of Hooded Menace), Blindfolded and Led to the Woods (tech/avantgarde death from New Zealand), Nattehimmel (black from Norway - this comes saturday), an ep from The End of Six Thousand Years (atmospheric sludge/melodeath from Italy), Charonyx (🌶️ heavy/thrash from the USA) and a covers ep from Ghost (heavy from Sweden). The rest is in the playlist!

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New songs

There are new songs out from: Mutoid Man (🌶️ prog speed/hardcore from the USA), King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (🌶️ it’s complicated, from Australia), The Halo Effect (🌶️ melodeath from Sweden), Within Temptation (symphonic/alternative from The Netherlands), Shining (prog/experimental from Norway), Outer Heaven (🌶️ death/hardcore from the USA), An Autumn For Crippled Children (post-black from The Netherlands), Saturnus (melodic doom/death from Denmark), Helleruin (🌶️ black from The Netherlands), Gateway (🌶️ death/doom from Belgium) and Evile (thrash from the UK). The rest is in the playlist!

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Non-heavy & next week

Non-heavy album of the week: Slowspin (folk/ambient from Pakistan)

I’m looking forward to next week because of: Immortal, Mournful Congregation, Kostnatění, Cloak, Vomitory & Olkoth.

What was your favourite? What did I miss? Let me know!