SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): MIDNIGHT, KARTIKEYA, IMPUREZA, ENDSEEKER

 

Surprise! Hope your kids or your parents or your bosses weren’t looking over your shoulder when you landed on this post. But hey, we have to have our fun where we find it. Just tell ’em that’s a recently discovered Michaelangelo that’s making news throughout the art world.

Midnight also has a new promo photo that you can view after the jump. Your kids/parents/bosses will really love it!

I’ve got a few bits of additional info about Midnight’s new album to start this end-of-week round-up, plus another piece of album art and news about a long-awaited new album, and then some music. I’ve collected so many new song streams that I’ve decided to break up this rond-up into somewhat smaller bites so your mind won’t choke on it. I’ll probably be posting round-ups from now straight through the weekend.

MIDNIGHT

As you can see, the new Midnight album is named Sweet Death and Ecstasy. There’s some more info about the album that I’ll quote below. Unfortunately, Hells Headbangers didn’t tell us who created the scissor-sisters cover art. Might be William Lacey, who’s done work for these sleazy Clevelanders before, but I’m not sure if he’s responsible for this one. Here’s that new promo shot:

 

 

And here’s an excerpt from the press announcement:

“Granted, upon the first detonating chords of opener ‘Crushed by Demons,’ it would be fair to assume that Sweet Death and Ecstasy is simply classic MIDNIGHT…until the track time nearly doubles what a characteristic track of theirs would be. This is no mere bloat, though: bookended by two of the band’s longest songs to date, Sweet Death and Ecstasy lays bare a more anguished ‘n’ aggravated MIDNIGHT, forever in thrall to the usual subjects (LUST, FILTH, SLEAZE) but speaking a slightly different, altogether-more-poisonous tongue.

“It both charges harder than ever – even harder than the band’s early EP work, arguably – and also puts on the brakes to bang ‘n’ clang in a manner most foul. Indeed, MIDNIGHT truly deliver Sweet Death and Ecstasy in a swift 32 minutes, and it’s absolutely addicting. What’s more, the CD version will feature a bonus disc that’s a 12-song live rehearsal recorded in 2015 by Commandor Vanik. There’s no dawn for MIDNIGHT…ever!”

Joel Grind (Toxic Holocaust) mixed and mastered this beast. There’s no release date yet, or music to hear, but both will be coming. I love this band. You can’t stop steel.

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Midnight-87909491643/

Hells Headbangers:
http://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/MIDNIGHT-Sweet-Death-And-Ecstasy-vinyl.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KARTIKEYA

The Russian ethnic metal band Kartikeya is an old favorite of our site, but they’ve been relatively quiet. Singles are all the band have released since their 2011 EP Durga Puja and their last album (released that same year), Mahayuga. But this week they announced that a new album named Samudra will be released on October 19, celebrating the Hindu festival of lights Diwali. They also disclosed the cover art, created by Darius Alas and Christina Shapiro from Midiankai Arts, and the track list:

1. Dharma pt. 1
2. Tandava
3. Durga Puja
4. Pranama
5. The Horrors Of Home
6. Mask Of The Blind
7. Samudra
8. The Golden Blades
9. We Shall Never Die
10. Kannada
11. Tunnels Of Naraka
12. The Crimson Age
13. Kumari Kandam
14. Dharma pt. 2

I’ll include their latest singles below (both of which will be on the new album) for those who are new to the band — and you can check out all their releases at Bandcamp.

Bandcamp:
https://kartikeya.bandcamp.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kartikeyaband/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPUREZA

While we’re on the subject of old favorites who incorporate traditional ethnic musical elements into heavy music, let’s talk about the Spanish death metal band Impureza (who were actually based in France the last time I paid attention to them).

If you don’t know about Impureza, I’ll quote myself from something written five years ago: “They seamlessly and beautifully combine technically oriented death metal that brings to mind bands such as Nile, Krisiun, Decapitated, and Fleshgod Apocalypse with flamenco music. They combine old and new ways of kicking out the fuckin’ jams.” Their most recent album, 2010′s La Iglesia Del Odio (“the church of hate”), was fantastic (and reviewed here), and they followed that with a two-track EP in 2013 (Leyenda negra / El nuevo reino de los ahorcados), discussed here.

At last, Impureza have a new album. Earlier this year they signed with Season of Mist, and their new album La Caída de Tonatiuh will be released on November 10. Along with this announcement yesterday, Season of Mist also revealed the eye-catching cover art (without identifying the artist, dammit) and a song from the album, though it seems to be one of the two tracks from the 2013 EP.

“Leyenda Negra” appeared yesterday at Invisible Oranges, who tell us that the subject matter concerns “a man who, in death, curses the invaders of his home with divine retribution”, the man presumably an Aztec and the invaders presumably Spanish conquistadors. Musically, it’s a piece of thundering, hammering, roaring, ripping death metal savagery… but it incorporates distinctive melodic elements, enhanced by acoustic guitar and clean vocals. This full-length should be a very good one.

Pre-order:
https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/list/impureza?mc_cid=bf4fe1d593&mc_eid=f6b90648dd

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/impurezaconquista

Bandcamp:
https://impureza.bandcamp.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENDSEEKER

If I don’t get some HM-2 tone on at least weekly basis I get the DTs and the night sweats. My latest fix comes from the Hamburg harrowers in Endseeker. Their debut album Flesh Hammer Prophecy (love the title!) features appropriately ghoulish cover art by Korean artist Albert Che, and it will be released by FDA Records/Soulfood Music on October 20 (LP/CD/digitally).

The first advance track, “Possessed By the Flame“, comes in the form of a video. It was released in late July but I only caught up with it yesterday, and it hit the bullseye in my head, dead center.

These dudes may be natives of Germany, but their souls seem to reside in Stockholm. They’ve certainly mastered the art of stomping and crushing, while infiltrating their music with morbid and melancholy though memorable currents of melody, and the vocals are pleasingly raw and vibrant (and monstrous).

As a trained medical professional (I kid!), I advise you to limber up your neck muscles before you press play.

Pre-order:
https://fda-records.com/gx2/advanced_search_result.php?categories_id=0&keywords=endseeker&inc_subcat=1

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/endseekermusic/