RED THINGS SEEN AND HEARD TODAY: SATAN’S WRATH, RED DESCENDING, P.O.O.R., AND MARK RIDDICK

In browsing today’s happenings in the world of metal and pulling together items to share with you in this post, I noticed a coincidence: All of these items have something to do with red. I don’t know what that means. Probably nothing. I hope I’m not bleeding inside.

ITEM ONE: SATAN’S WRATH

I saw that Metal Blade had established a landing (or launching) page for a new album entitled Galloping Blasphemy by a two-man Greek “Satanic blackened thrash” band by the name of Satan’s Wrath. It’s due for release on September 25 in North America and a few days earlier in Europe. The album cover is above. It’s red.

I was intrigued by two things about this release. First, the band’s bio claims that they are “the only band in the world in communication with thy master through ceremonial black magic and necromantic rituals” and that “one member alone controls 13 satanic covens worldwide and organizes the most hideous sabbaths which our lord graces in the form of the black goat.” It also seems to dedicate the album to the glory of Belial, Lucifer, and Astaroth. I’m guessing you probably won’t find this CD at Walmart.

Second, I saw this quote from Brian Slagel, the founder and owner of Metal Blade: “When I first heard Satan’s Wrath it transported me back three decades to the early days of the label when I loved bands like Slayer . . . and Possessed . . . . What will always impress me about the heavy metal genre is its ability to borrow from the past and boldly wear it’s influences on its sleeve, while still sounding fresh and relevant to the time it was created. Satan’s Wrath are one of those bands . . . .” 

So all that got me curious, and fortunately Metal Blade today unveiled a track from the album called “Between Belial and Satan”, so I got a chance to hear what a wrathful Satan sounds like. It sounds good: stripped down, primitive speed metal, faster than bats out of hell, with vitriolic, flamethrower soloing and ugly vocals proclaiming the glory of you-know-who. The soloing really is a grabber. Check it out:
 

 

Visit that Metal Blade site for the band (here) to get more info, including how to order. I haven’t found any social media pages for Satan’s Wrath.

ITEM TWO: RED DESCENDING

Red Descending are an Aussie band. They have red in their name. I discovered them in January 2011 through a tip from my blog brother Niek at Death Metal Baboon. I included them in a MISCELLANY post on our site, sampling two songs from their first album, Where Dreams Come To Die (2008). Somehow I overlooked the fact that they released a second album, Kingdoms, later in 2011, though I’ve now read Niek’s glowing review of the album (here, where he awarded a score of 9.5 out of 10).

What grabbed my attention today was the debut at Death Metal Baboon of an extended-cut music video for a song from Kingdoms called “Burned To Death”. The video appears on a DVD by the same name (which can be ordered here) that the band released earlier this summer, but until today it had never appeared in its full length on the web for viewing.

To use an overworked word that absolutely suits this song, it’s epic. It’s a hard-driving riff-and-keyboard fest of blackened (or paganized?) melodic death metal with an effective combination of harsh and clean vocals and memorable melodies. The video meshes with the song and is well-made (amazingly, it was directed by the band’s vocalist/bassist Bernard Shaw and produced and edited by him and the band, though it certainly looks like they got some professional help with the cinematography, acting, and stuntwork).

Eventually, you’ll see the connection to the song’s title.  Wait for it.
 

 

Check out Red Descending’s FB page here.

ITEM THREE: P.O.O.R. and Mike Fisher

I saw that album cover up there by an artist named Mike Fisher. It has red in it. It’s for  an album entitled Extinction of Trust, which will be released on September 22 by Get Pissed Stay Pissed Records. The album is billed as 24 songs of grind in 33 minutes. The band is named P.O.O.R. (Point of Resistance), and they’re from Ventura, California.

I thought that artwork was really fuckin’ cool, so I hunted for some P.O.O.R. music to hear and found their debut album (self-released in March 2012) up on Bandcamp (here).

I’ve been letting that album kick the living shit out of my skull while writing this post. I really like it. It’s heavy-as-fuck bulldozing death/grind with massive radioactive tone, murderous riffs, dam-busting breakdowns, and cranium-cleaving groove. If you’re a fan of early Carcass, Napalm Death, or Cattle Decapitation, you need to check this shit out:

[wp_bandcamp_player type=”album” id=”1478420020″ size=”grande3″ bg_color=”#000000″ link_color=”#4285BB”]
 

P.O.O.R. is on Facebook here.

ITEM FOUR

Okay, there’s not any actual red in this artwork, but that’s because it’s in black and white. You look at it, and you just know that what’s dripping from those skulls is RED!

Also, I really love this artwork. It’s by the instantly recognizable Mark Riddick and it’s for a tour t-shirt for an Argentinian band named Infernal Curse. I haven’t yet tracked down any of their music, but I plan to.

That’s it for all this red stuff. Enjoy the rest of your fucking day.