SEEN AND HEARD: SUMAC, ELEMENTAL NIGHTMARES II, THE HAUNTED, PYRE, SONNE ADAM, MORNING MODE, FALLOCH

I haven’t written one of these round-ups since late last week, and much has happened on the metal front since then, so I’m cramming quite a few items into this post that I thought were worth sharing. It’s a jumbo-sized playlist that should appeal to many tastes (and I still didn’t include every good thing I found!).

SUMAC

In late July, the super-talented drummer of Vancouver’s Baptists, Nick Yacyshyn, gave an interview to CVLT Nation in which he mentioned that he had recently spent a week writing, rehearsing, and recording with Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, Mamiffer, and Isis [the BAND, ferchrissakes]. He also posted a photo of Aaron Turner’s drum kit on his Facebook page, and he further mentioned that Brian Cook of Russian Circles, These Arms Are Snakes, and Botch was also involved in the project.

This juicy piece of news wasn’t widely reported, but yesterday brought further details via a Facebook announcement by Profound Lore. According to that announcement, the project’s name is Sumac; its core members do indeed consist of Yacyshyn, Turner, and Cook; and Profound Lore will be releasing Sumac’s “monumentally heavy debut album” in early 2015.

I’d call that some hot shit news.

It’s also news that gives me an excuse to alert you to a Baptists single from their next Kurt Ballou-produced album, Bloodmines. The song is called “Harm Induction” and it premiered at Terrorizer late last week. The album’s due on October 13 from Southern Lord. Listen to the song here:

http://www.terrorizer.com/news/streams/listen-baptists-new-song-harm-induction

 

 

ELEMENTAL NIGHTMARES

Yesterday the Elemental Nightmares vinyl project about which I’ve written frequently released the second 10″ record in the series, with a companion Bandcamp digital release. Each album in the series is a four-way split, and this new one includes songs by Feared (Sweden), Montecharge (Switzerland), Dead River Runs Dry (Australia), and Satyros (Germany).

We’ve written previously about all of these bands except the second one, and all four songs on the split are dynamite. Listen below, and go here for ordering and download info:

http://elemental-nightmares.bandcamp.com/album/elemental-nightmares-ii

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HAUNTED

Yesterday The Haunted premiered an official video for a song named “Cutting Teeth”. It’s from their new album Exit Wounds, due from Century Media on August 25 in Europe and September 2 in North America. As my comrade DGR said after watching it, “This gentleman seems particularly angry about something”. No shit.

The song is a full-bore ass-kicker, too. It’s built around a ridiculously catchy riff, it includes a drum-filled break that I really enjoyed, and Marco Aro really does sound (and look) angry about something.

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedofficial/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PYRE

I’ve been writing about Russia’s Pyre with some frequency over the last year since discovering their 2013 split with Entrapment. I’m pleased to report that their forthcoming full-length album Human Hecatomb is expected in late September. In recent days they’ve revealed the cover art and disgorged a song from the new album named “Merciless Disease”. Love that bass intro! This baby chugs, rips, and scorches — old school Swedeath done right.

http://pyreofdeath.bandcamp.com/track/merciless-disease
https://www.facebook.com/pages/PYRE/183665955062494

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SONNE ADAM

While we’re in the realms of death metal, let’s move next to a brand new video of Israel’s Sonne Adam performing “The Day I Chose To Rot”, recorded live at the Levontion venue in Tel Aviv on June 28, 2014.

I really like the way this video looks — the performers shrouded in shadow and smoke against a backdrop of red. And it appears that the vocalist, guitarists, and basis performed while facing the drummer (I’m not sure where the audience was). The song is absolutely crushing, with a bleak, eerie atmosphere. Ooof!

https://www.facebook.com/sonneadam/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORNING MODE

Now let’s take a turn into more sublime territories.

Morning Mode are a German instrumental progressive / post-rock band whose stunning video for a song called “The Ocean” I featured here in June. It was created by visual artist Yola Stahl.

Yesterday Morning Mode released a new video for a new song named “The Epilogue”. This video is not as arresting as the last one — it’s a Go-Pro-filmed montage of the band performing the song in practice spaces. I still enjoyed watching them — and the song is wonderful. Within their chosen genre, these dudes are really excelling. I’m still not sure when Morning Mode will be releasing a record of some sort, but I bet it will take off whenever that happens.

https://www.facebook.com/MorningMode/timeline
http://www.morningmode.de/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FALLOCH

Okay, one last item, again in the more sublime territories of metal.

Glasgow, Scotland’s Falloch have a new album coming out on Candlelight Records. The name is This Island, Our Funeral, and it will be released September 14 in Europe and October 21 elsewhere. Over the weekend I saw that a teaser video for the album had been released on YouTube, and it peaked my interest in the album. It’s an excerpt from a song named “Sanctuary”. Mayhap it will peak your interest, too.

https://www.facebook.com/falloch/