PATHOGEN, NONEXISTENCE, AND DEVIL

Hey there dudes and dudettes. I’m just quickly checking in from the bottomless pit of my day-and-night job with a few goodies I discovered on a break early this morning.

PATHOGEN

Pathogen are based in the Philippines. Since forming in 2001 they’ve release an assortment of demos and splits and three full-length albums. The second one, Miscreants of Bloodlusting Aberrations, was self-released on tape in 2010 but was recently picked up for re-issue today (on CD and vinyl) by the German label Dunkelheit Produktionen. The release includes new cover art, which, as you can see, is fuckin’ aces.

This morning I came across a song from the album named “Atrocity Exhibit” that Dunkelheit put up on YouTube, and that led me into the rest of the album. Listening to Pathogen is like cracking open a subterranean vault and finding a tape created in the late 80s or early 90s in a rehearsal room. It has an authentic old-school sound reminiscent of Autopsy and Morbid Angel, with maybe a little Celtic Frost in the mix, too, and it’s catchy as hell.

“Atrocity Exhibit” is full of grinding tremolo’d guitars, a snare-heavy drum attack, and scalding guitar solos that erupt from the dank murk like acetylene torches. The vocals have a grisly, full-throated tone; you can imagine that blood is being vomited.

As of today, the entire album is also now streaming at StereoKiller. I’ve listened to more songs while typing this post, and everything else I’ve heard is just as solid as “Atrocity Exhibit” — the riffs are killer, the songs are magnetic, the pacing varies from thrash speed to maggot crawls, the blood flows . . .

The album was recorded on analog gear without a lot of digital trickery, and it sounds like it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The sound quality enhances the authentic, throwback feel of the music. Delicious.

Order here. The album is also available on Amazon mp3 and iTunes. Find Pathogen on Facebook via this link.

NONEXISTENCE

Nonexistence is a one-man project, and the man is Austrian Philip Santoll. This morning I saw a notice that Nonexistence was signed by Candlelight Records for the release of the band’s second album, Antarctica. What prompted me to explore the music was the news that Tuomas Saukkonen of Before the Dawn not only produced the album but also performed on bass and drums and provided guest vocals on a song called “Starless Aeons”.

“Starless Aeons” is streaming on SoundCloud, and it has really hooked me. The music is a cold, stately melding of doom and death metal, with a lush, keyboard enhanced melody and a contrasting air of bestiality, courtesy of Saukkonen’s familiar vocal style. Without meaning to take away from Nonexistence’s own accomplishments, the song should appeal to fans of Before the Dawn as well as another Saukkonen project, Black Sun Aeon.

I was curious about how Santoll himself would sound on vocals, and I found a stream of the Nonexistence debut album from 2007, Nihil. I’ve only listened to a couple of songs, and on those Santoll switches from higher-pitched blackened vox to deeper death-metal styled growling. I’ve included that album stream below as well.

Antarctica will be out on March 25.

http://nonexistence666.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Nonexistence666

DEVIL

Here we have an Exception to the Rule (you know the rule I mean).

Norway’s Devil will be releasing their second album via Soulseller Records on March 22. Its name is Gather the Sinners, and it follows this band’s 2011 debut Time to Repent. It sports a cool album cover, which makes a nice bookend with that Pathogen cover at the top of this post.

This morning Devil and Soulseller premiered a track from the new album called “Southern Sun”. I like it. It’s primitive and stripped-down, with a garage-band production quality.  The music is a lumbering piece of stoner-doom, and the song title is fitting because the aroma of a Southern swamp also wafts through the track.

Yeah, the singing is clean, but I like the sandpapered quality of Joakim Trangsrud’s voice, and although the song is pared to the bone it’s a memorable motherfucker.

http://www.facebook.com/Devilband