SENDING YOU AWAY: MAN’S GIN, SIGHT OF EMPTINESS, ELDKRAFT, AND KATECHON

We like having you around here, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave. That’s because a quartet of new songs debuted yesterday that I’m recommending to you, but you’ll have to go elsewhere to check them out. They’re exclusively streaming at other sites, so I can’t embed them here. Actually, I could, because no page code is safe from me, but I’m being atypically respectful.

MAN’S GIN

Man’s Gin is the brainchild of New York-based Erik Wunder, who is also one-half of another band I like a lot — Cobalt. He’s joined in Man’s Gin by New Yorkers Scott Edward and Josh Lozano. I thought Man’s Gin’s debut album Smiling Dogs (2010) was fascinating, and it seems the same will be true of the second one, Rebellion Hymns. It’s scheduled for release by Profound Lore on June 25. The new song that premiered yesterday is “Deer Head & The Rain”.

This song isn’t our usual fare. The vocals are more clean than unclean and the music is more folk than metal, though it’s not exactly folk music either. There’s a disturbing undercurrent in the music, and from the acoustic-guitar-and-hand-drum intro straight through to the discordant electrified finish, it’s been relentlessly tunneling through my head since yesterday.

To hear the song, go to Pitchfork via this link.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mans-Gin/163217557044788

 

SIGHT OF EMPTINESS

We’ve been backing Costa Rica’s Sight of Emptiness going all the way back to January 2010, and have included a couple of song and video premieres from the band along the way. (To see all of our previous features, click here.) Now they’ve finished a new album named Instincts, the theme of which concerns the abundant flora and fauna of their region and humankind’s inability to respect and co-exist with them. The album includes an eye-catching list of guest appearances:

Christian Älvestam (AtomaA, Miseration), Glen Drover (Megadeth), Ralph Santolla (ex-Deicide, ex-Obituary), Ole Halvard Sveen (Lengsel), Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe), and — last but not least — the Costa Rican Minister of Culture, Manuel Obregón, who contributes a Central American ethnic rhythm called Tambito via piano and marimba at the end of the song that premiered yesterday.

And that song is named “Paradox”. It’s a lush but lashing dose of melodic death metal, both sweeping and savage, and sublime. It includes some cool guitar solos (both electric and acoustic) and a sweet little bass guitar lead, and Mr. Obregón’s contributions are outstanding.

Sight of Emptiness are looking for label backing for this release, but will self-release the album if that search is unsuccessful. We’ll be following their progress. To hear “Paradox” and read an interview with SoE, jump over to the DECIBEL site via this link.

https://www.facebook.com/sightofemptiness

 

ELDKRAFT

I was first drawn to yesterday’s song premiere from this Swedish band by the cover for their debut album, Shaman, which will be released by Metal Blade on May 28 in North America and a bit earlier in Europe. I was further tempted by reading that the band is the discovery of Primordial’s vocalist A.A. Nemtheanga, who has responsibility for the Metal Blade imprint called Poison Tongue. He says this about Eldkraft:

I was turned on to Eldkraft by Mortuus from Marduk and instantly recognized even in its raw demo form, here was something genuine, and it had the potential to be a massive pagan metal album. Not the cartoon stuff but the real deal, immersed in ancient shamanism and traditions with the spirit of Bathory somewhere deep in its bones…Eldkraft!

Well, I was hooked, and proceeded to listen to the song that debuted yesterday, “Patterns”. It’s one of those songs that defies easy classification. There is indeed a pagan/folk metal cast to the mid-paced music — in the melody, in certain acoustic elements, in the sound of some of the percussion, in the harmonized clean vocals.

But the music is also filled with slicing, distorted guitars, a heavy, prominent bass line, and enough double-bass action to smash you flat. The site where the song premiered makes reference to vintage Borknagar, and there’s some merit to that comparison. Cool music . . . and after hearing it I found an earlier song premiere (“Gammal Krigore”) that I’m including below. To hear “Patterns”, go to this location. The album is up for pre-order here.

https://www.facebook.com/Eldkraftband

 

KATECHON

Katechon are a band from Trondheim, Norway. They produced a four-song demo in 2012, and Nuclear War Now! is planning to release their debut album, Man, God, Giant on June 6.

Once again, I was drawn to explore music from the new album by its cover art. Three tracks from the album began streaming at CVLT Nation this morning, and I like them a lot. The music is caustic, corrosive, catastrophic death metal — well-composed, well-played, and with the right kind of production. It’s jolting and horrifying, and man, am I enjoying dat bass!

Go HERE to listen to the songs streaming at CVLT Nation, and you can check out two more that I found on Bandcamp below.

http://katechon.bandcamp.com/album/man-god-giant
http://www.facebook.com/Katechonband