SEEN AND HEARD: BELL WITCH, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, CLOAK, UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

 

The unwelcome intrusion of non-blog life has forced me to truncate my usual verbose reactions to the music I’ve selected in this mid-week round-up (cue the weeping and the gnashing of teeth), but I wanted to be prompt in spreading the word about the following items, all of which appeared either yesterday or this morning.

I picked these five new songs in part because they provide a quite varied array of what metal in the modern era has to offer.

BELL WITCH

The new Bell Witch album, Mirror Reaper, will be released by Profound Lore on October 20, with an album cover by Mariusz Lewandowski that we won’t soon forget. The album consists of one continuous 83-minute piece that unfolds as a single track.

Photo by David Choe

The first selection of music in this post is a nearly ten-minute excerpt from that album-length song, and it’s a slow, soul-plundering, bone-fracturing experience, with skin-shivering vocals that range from distant horrifying roars to soaring monastic chants. Can’t wait to hear the rest….

Pre-order:
https://www.profoundlorerecords.com/bellwitch

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BellWitchDoom/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

The new album by The Black Dahlia Murder is named Nightbringers, and item two in this round-up is the title track presented through a video filmed at a live performance. As you’ll discover, the song is a real head-wrecking crowd-pleaser.

P.S. BDM has also announced a North American tour with Suffocation, Exhumed (on select dates), Decrepit Birth, Necrot, and Wormwitch. That’s a hell of a line-up. Dates are on the flyer below the video.

Nightbringers will be released on October 6th by Metal Blade Records.

Pre-order:
http://www.metalblade.com/tbdm/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/theblackdahliamurderofficial/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLOAK

I’d recognize Adrian Baxter’s handiwork anywhere, and the debut album by Georgia’s Cloak features his artwork. Its title is To Venomous Depths. The song below, “Beyond the Veil“, premiered earlier today at DECIBEL.

This is a staggeringly good, genre-bending song, steeped in sorrow but also a fierce rush of jolting and hard-rocking aggression, with melodic currents that are fiery, anthemic, and mystical. Here’s a comment from vocalist/guitarist Scott Taysom that was quoted in DECIBEL’s introduction:

“‘Beyond The Veil’ has a very specific place on the album. It’s a song of high and low, both musically and lyrically. We could even call it a song of celebration or praise, one that represents a continuous cycle of growth, death, and rebirth. It serves as an adoration for the source that provides us with inspiration and purpose.”

To Venomous Depths will be released by Season of Mist on November 10.

Pre-order:
https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/list/cloak?mc_cid=dbeb8984e2&mc_eid=f6b90648dd

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/cloakofficial/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION

The UK death metal band Unfathomable Ruination reached back to their 2016 sophomore album Finitude for the new video they released yesterday (which was yet another DECIBEL premiere). The video consists of footage from various live performances by the band.

Excellent track from an excellent album, which our Andy Synn named to his Critical Top 10 list for 2016, calling it “without doubt one of the most ear-bleeding, face-meltingly violent and punishing releases of the year”, yet one that’s “also somehow incredibly catchy”.

Bandcamp:
https://unfathomableruination.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Unfathomable.Ruination.Official

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

As previously reported, Wolves In the Throne Room have a new album coming our way on September 22 named Thrice Woven (which includes cover art by Dennis Forkas), via the band’s own label Artemisia Records. The final song in this collection is a riveting one called “Angrboda“. The debut was accompanied by this statement by the band:

“We release this song to honor our beloved friends in the Katabatik community who died in the Ghost Ship fire. Wolves in the Throne Room was born in the mountains in celebration with these same brothers and sisters.”

Bandcamp:
https://wolvesinthethroneroom.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/wolvesinthethroneroom/