🌶️ To The Teeth: Ustalost, Funeral Mist, Matt Pike, Star One, Beast, Celeste, Night In Gales & more
New albums
🌶️ Ustalost (black from the USA)
I've been looking forward to this for a year, and it was worth it. Ustalost is the solo project of Will Skarstad, one of the main figures in one of the best active black metal bands around, Yellow Eyes. Ustalost is all him (with some help from his brother Sam in the lyric and production department), and it's maybe emotionally the most emotionally powerful project he's involved in. This is his second album and it's a dream and an adventure. It's not so much experimental or left field, it's more that the songs feel otherwordly; even for the already pretty alien world of black metal. Where his (also excellent) debut (I have the only signed copy!) was a stream on which I wanted to endlessly flow, this is a wild river that takes me to places I never knew existed, where new details emerge with every listen and depths are deeper than they appeared before. The rumbling bass, tingling guitars, dense synths, intense shrieks, the choirs... it just resonates with me on a different level. This would've looked very, very good on my Best of 2021 list, but I'll take it on to next year.
There's more: Funeral Mist (🌶️ black from Sweden) Arkhtinn (🌶️ atmospheric black from who knows where), Voidsphere (atmospheric black from the same hole in the sky as Arkhtinn, they're both Prava Kollektiv), Myrdød (black/death from the USA), Wound (death from Germany), a split from Celestial Sword & Trhä (raw black from the USA & atmoblack from Anonymous-Nerdistan), a split from Night In Gales & Nyktophobia (🌶️ both melodeath from Germany), Obscurial (death from Kuala Lumpur), Charnel Altar (death/black/doom from Australia), Ifernach (black from Canada), Flatus (death from Australia), Enevelde (black from Norway - dude from Misotheist), Mega Colossus (heavy from the USA), Iron Fate (power/thrash from Germany), a demo from Petbrick (noise from the UK/Brazil - feat Iggor Cavalera) and a live(stream) album from Behemoth (🌶️ black/death from Poland).
New singles
There are new songs out from: Star One (🌶️ prog from The Netherlands), Pike vs The Automaton (sludge from the USA - solo project from the High on Fire/Sleep frontman), Baest (death from Denmark), Destruction (thrash from Germany), Nite (black/heavy from the USA), Sarcasm (🌶️ melodic/blackened death from Sweden), Celeste (🌶️ black/sludge post-hc from France), Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (death/heavy from Germany), Deserted Fear (death from Germany), Arise From Worms (tech death from the USA - with Steve Tucker, Flo Mounier and, in this track, Dallas Toler-Wade), and a teaser for the new Mizmor (black/drone/doom from the USA).
Next week
Non-metal album of the week: Jeff Parker - Forfolks (jazz from the USA)
I’m looking forward to next week because of: releasing your album the day before Christmas is a good way to not be listened to (there's a good chance I'll skip next week)
Have a great weekend people, stay safe! - Peter