To The Teeth: Vader, Umbra Vitae, Havok, Bell Witch
New albums
My favourites this week
Vader (death/thrash from Poland) weren't really for me for a long time, until I saw them live. Like a tank that get's launched from a stage into the crowd, starts shooting it's cannon until the show's over. That band is a machine. In times where live shows are gone for who knows how long, it's nice to at least have a new record from these guys.
Jacob Bannon, frontman of the mighty Converge also heads Wear Your Wounds, his introvert, melancholic side. But after that he wanted to venture more into metal and started Umbra Vitae (death/grind from the USA) with members of The Red Chord (also in WyW), Twitching Tongues and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. Great energy!
Golden Ashes (atmoblack from the Netherlands) is one of the many interesting projects of Dutch musician Maurice de Jong, most notably known with Gnaw Their Tongues. His music can be harsh and jarring, but within Golden Ashes' thick layers of synth it glows like the end of a hot summer day - a day where something went terribly wrong...
There's more
New albums, demo’s, splits and ep’s are out from Havok (thrash from the USA), Alkymist (prog sludge/doom from Denmark), Vainaja (death/doom from Finland), Head of the Demon (doom from Sweden), Thrawsunblat (melodic black/folk from Canada), An Autumn For Crippled Children (post-black/shoegaze from The Netherlands), Keverra (sludge/doom from the USA - members of Goatsnake, ex-16), Nero or the Fall of Rome (epic black/doom from Italy), Lesoir (prog from the Netherlands), Chronus (heavy from Sweden), Black Pestilence (black/punk/noise from Canada), Witchcraft (doom/psych rock from Sweden), JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland (avant-prog from the USA/Sweden), Pyre (death from Russia), Hallowed Butchery (experimental black/doom/folk from the USA), Ancient Burial (raw black from Portugal), Mulla (black from Iraq), Abduction (black/death from France), Abrams (sludge/post from the USA), Aether Realm (melodeath/folk from the USA), a split from Evilfeast & Uuntar (atmoblack from Poland and pagan black from the Netherlands), Order of Orias (black from Australia), Dwaellicht (funeral doom from Belgium), live records from Gold (post/dark rock from the Netherlands), Ex Eye (experimental prog/jazz from the USA), and there's a new old Death live record online, this time from Tijuana, 1990. We already had Chicago 1988 and Montreal 1995. And because Reveal! (black/death/thrash from Sweden) finally has their Scissorgod on Spotify, I've added a song from that one too.
New singles
There are new songs, singles and advance tracks out from Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin (funeral doom/dark folk from the USA - a new collaborative project), Haken (prog from the UK), Deep Purple (heavy/hardrock from the UK), Defeated Sanity (tech brutal death from Germany), Ahab (funeral doom from Germany - it's a live song), Lantern (black/death from the USA), Esoctrilihum (avantgarde black from France), Revenge (black/death from Canada), Mora Prokaza (I really don't know what to call this... industrial.. trap rap/black? from Belarus), Acarash (black/doom from Norway), Cauldron Black Ram (black/death from Australia), Neptunian Maximalism (drone/free jazz from Belgium), Behold The Arctopus (tech prog from the USA), A.A. Williams (post rock/dark rock from the UK), Khthoniik Cerviiks (death/black from Germany), Creature (prog black from France), Thecodontion (avantgarde black/death from Italy), Irae (raw black from Portugal), Karabulgar (folk from Bulgaria), Yarrow (sludge/doom from the USA), Aphonic Threnody (funeral doom from Italy/UK/Chile), Entartung (black from Germany), Pale Divine (trad/doom from the USA), Exgenesis (melodic doom/death from Sweden/Colombia, plus Paysage d'Hiver (black/ambient from Switzerland - this is from a compilation of demo era material), a trailer for the new Draconian (gothic/doom/death from Sweden), and a teaser for new Primal Fear (speed/power from Germany).
Next week
I’m looking forward to next week because of: Forgotten Tomb, Sojourner & Winterfylleth.
Non-metal album of the week: Austra - Hirudin
Have a great weekend, please stay safe - Peter.