THINGS I HEARD TODAY (AND YESTERDAY, AND THE DAY BEFORE): NORSKA, OBSCENITY, AND MENDEL

I didn’t hear all the songs in this post today, because my nuts are clamped in a day-job vise and I’m spending more time squirming with the agony than I am listening to new music. Actually, that’s been true since Friday. But even though my listening time has been viciously pinched, I have heard some tunes over the last three days that I wanted to pass along — from Norska (U.S.), Obscenity (Germany), and Mendel (The Netherlands).

NORSKA

About two weeks ago I came across the name of this band for the first time (and mentioned them in this post) because they were listed as participating in a new tour headlined by YOB and also featuring Cormorant. What I knew about them then (which was not much) I put in that earlier post: “Norska features YOB bass player Aaron Rieseberg and his brother Dustin and is described as a ‘progressive tech-sludge rock band.’”

Well, guess what? Today, MetalSucks premiered a song from Norska’s self-titled debut album, which is due for release on September 18 by Brutal Panda. The song is called “Nobody One Knows”, and man, I’m diggin’ it. Listening is like being beaten . . . slowly . . . with sledgehammers . . . wielded by a crew that’s staggering relentlessly toward the brink of insanity.

The bass chords on this song are so pronounced that they sound like the vibration of a massive gravity well. Counter-balancing that gruesome low end are ringing guitar notes, but they’re decidedly more creepy and crawly than airy. The mixed vocals don’t sound like the utterances of a well-balanced mind either. Go here to listen.

You can pre-order this album on vinyl here or a digital copy here. You can find Norska on Facebook via this link.

OBSCENITY

Obscenity is a German death metal band who’ve been around, in differing incarnations, since 1986. Apostasy Records is planning to release the band’s 8th album (and their first since 2006), Atrophied in Anguish, on September 14. It will feature the delicious cover art that you see above (created by Remy at Headsplitdesign).

Yesterday I heard a one-minute snippet of one song from the album (which seems to be the title track). It sounds good. By which I mean it sounds vicious and bloody. Have a listen:
 

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/55253312″ iframe=”true” /]
 

Obscenity is on Facebook here.

MENDEL

I heard a song by this “band” thanks to a Facebook message I got from Austin S-K, and it just completely floored me. I decided I needed to listen to the whole album from whence it came and write a review — and maybe I will. But to be honest, I’m so fucking backlogged with albums I want to review that I just don’t when or even if that will happen, and I think it’s better that I spread the word now through a post like this than wait . . . and wait . . . and maybe eventually say nothing at all.

“Mendel”, as it turns out, is Mendel bij de Leij, a guitarist based in The Netherlands who is currently a member of the band System Divide and formerly a touring member of Aborted. He created a solo instrumental album called Subliminal Colors and self-released it on Bandcamp in May. The song I heard is called “Messengers”.

This song is heavy and bone-crunching and it also displays some genuine fire-breathing shred, not to mention an array of sweeping guitar melodies. It gallops and romps and backs off into slow, soulful excursions, and it hammers, and blazes, and . . . oh hell, just give it a listen. Mendel is really talented.
 

 

You can stream the whole album and download it (“name your price”) at Bandcamp via this link, and you can find Mendel on Facebook here.

P.S. I’m such a dick. I was just reminded that TheMadIsraeli sent me a strong recommendation about Mendel back in May, and I must have been in the middle of something important, like staring blankly out the window, because I didn’t follow up.