SEEN AND HEARD: FEARED, BLAZE OF PERDITION, SHRAPNEL STORM, KILLING ADDICTION

 

Here are a few excellent new songs (and one superb video) that I spotted yesterday in my ramblings through the interhole, presented in the order in which I found them, plus one feature contributed by our guest Grant Skelton.

FEARED

Synder is the name of the new album by Sweden’s Feared and it’s due for release on May 25. I previously wrote about the excellent first single from the album, “My Grief, My Sorrow”, but I think the second one that premiered yesterday may be even better.

 

 

It’s difficult to divorce the impact of the music from the impact of the animated video that was made for it. The combined power of the two is striking. The music is dark and intense, and so is the story that’s told through the animation.

The song is both savage and memorable, loaded with potent riffs, pummeling rhythms, atmospheric melody, and a vocal performance by Mario Ramos that’s terrifyingly ferocious. The piano outro is also well worth waiting for. In a nutshell, Ola Englund, Mario Ramos, Jocke Skog, and Kevin Talley have delivered another winner.

And please give a round of applause to the makers of the video, which tells the story of Pierre, a father who’s trying to rescue his daughter from their apartment in Dunkirk (France) before the German soldiers raiding the building find her: Thibault Barbaroux and Quentin Nigues.

http://thibaultbarbaroux.weebly.com
http://niguesquentin.carbonmade.com

Synder will be released digitally and on CD. It can be pre-ordered on iTunes, Amazon, or directly from the band (here).

https://www.facebook.com/fearedband

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLAZE OF PERDITION

Near Death Revelations is the name of the new album by Poland’s Blaze of Perdition, which is scheduled for release by Agonia Records on June 26. Yesterday the label unveiled a Bandcamp page for the album along with a stream of its first single, a track named “Into the Void Again”.

At the outset it’s a mid-paced wrecking machine. Huge, stomping riffs blend with dissonant, arcane tremolo melodies. Acid-bath vocals are mixed with the earthquake rumble of double-bass assaults. And then, just past the mid-point, the music turns into a tornado of sound before the pace drops again (though the intensity of the music doesn’t diminish). A really excellent offering of dynamic black metal with galvanizing riffs and a doomed atmosphere.

You can pre-order the album via the Agonia web shop or through the Bandcamp link below.

https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album/near-death-revelations
https://www.facebook.com/blazeofperdition

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHRAPNEL STORM

Shrapnel Storm are from Finland, and their debut album Mother War will be released by the German label Witches Brew on May 29. Yesterday I spotted a recently released lyric video for an advance track from the album named “Radars Down” — and it sounds goddamned massive!

This is war-themed old-school death metal that hits like a tank brigade, with gargantuan guitar tone, catchy-as-hell riffs, a head-wrecking rhythm section, and monstrous vocals. Check it out:

www.shrapnel-storm.com
www.facebook.com/shrapnelstormband
www.witchesbrewthrashes.eu

 

 

 

 

 

 

KILLING ADDICTION

Here’s Grant Skelton’s contribution to this round-up:

Special thanks to bassist/vocalist Pat Bailey for sending me these tracks!

Florida death metal looks to have been disinterred in the digital age. I recently discovered one resuscitated cadaver of this moribund musical era. Hailing from Ocala, Killing Addiction were formed in 1988. Their debut album, Omega Factor, was released in 1993. If you’re someone whose collection includes old trophies like Pestilence’s Consuming Impulse, or Malevolent Creation’s Retribution, then Omega Factor should be your next purchase. You can find it easily on iTunes or Amazon.

Killing Addiction released an EP in 1998 called Dark Tomorrow before disbanding. They re-formed in 2006, churning out their sophomore effort Fall Of The Archetypes in 2010. Their newest output comes in the form of a two-track EP called When Death Becomes An Art. Within the first few measures of “Promethean,” I found myself convinced that Killing Addiction have no trouble living up to their name. The initial fifteen seconds alone are enough to motivate you to reach for the nearest bladed object and wield it to do… things that aren’t nice. Expect this track, along with its incendiary counterpart “Legacies Of Terror”, to batter you mercilessly about the skull before pulling your tongue through your throat. Pure, straightforward, incising riffs from a state so hot that it would be Hell if not for the humidity. Highly recommended.

Killing Addiction’s When Death Becomes An Art is available in CD format for only $3. Alternatively, you can purchase the two tracks individually for $1 each. The EP is also available on iTunes and Amazon. Bandcamp streams are below.

 

 

 

When Death Becomes An Art” on CD:
https://killingaddiction.bandcamp.com/album/when-death-becomes-an-art

Connect with Killing Addiction on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/killingaddiction