I’m in a hurry at the moment, with barely enough time to throw these five new songs and videos at you along with some basic background info, but not enough minutes to provide my usual introductory impressions. Enjoy the music — I sure as hell did.
POUND
The Seattle duo Pound (who used to go by Lb!) have turned in some of the most electrifying live performances I’ve seen here in the Pacific Northwest. The sights and sounds of guitarist Ryan Schutte delivering a tornado of chaos and groove on a baritone 9-string guitar while David Stickney switches back and forth between two drum kits in riveting displays of percussive vulcanism is the kind of mind-blowing experience I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of. (You’ll get an idea of that experience in the second video below, but without the bowel-liquefying volume that comes in a live Pound performance.)
I’ve been waiting many years for these two to put out a proper full-length release, as have all their many other friends and fans in Seattle, and finally it’s happening: Their debut self-titled album, which was mixed and mastered by Dave Otero (Primitive Man, Cattle Decapitation), is coming out on July 13th via Silent Pendulum Records.
Yesterday Metal Injection premiered a track called “x.x-.x-x.-x.x“, and before that the label released a track identified as “x.—.x.—.x.—.x.—” — each title consisting of a symbolic representation of a rhythm contained in the song. Videos for both are below.
“Grind/math/sludge/dbeat” is Pound’s shorthand for what they do. Given that a unique label for what they do hasn’t been invented yet, that will have to satisfy us for now. As the press materials say, “This is instrumental irreverence capable of dazzling tech-heads and Neanderthals equally”. I’ll have more to say about the album soon.
Pre-order:
Digital + vinyl: https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pound
Digital + merch: https://pound.bandcamp.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PoundBand/
SOREPTION
Monument of the End is the third album by the Swedish tech-death crew Soreption. We’ve showered praise on the first two albums, and hence we’re intensely titillated by the prospect of this new one, which features guest appearances by Matt McGachy (Cryptopsy) and Travis Ryan (Cattle Decap). It will be released on August 3 by Sumerian Records. The cover art is by Caelan Stokkermans.
I love the name of the first song they revealed today: “King of Undisputed Nonsense”. The music is very good too, but may leave your cerebral neurons scrambled into strange new configurations. Probably best not to drive, operate heavy machinery, or execute legal documents right after listening to this.
Pre-order:
http://soreption.net
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/soreption/
Track List:
1. The Anti-Present
2. Children of the Automaton
3. King of Undisputed Nonsense
4. Nothingness Becoming
5. Architects of the Apocalypse
6. A Mimic’s Ignorance
7. Virulent Well (ft. Matt McGachy)
8. The Entity (ft. Travis Ryan)
HADAL MAW
Thanks to a message from Rennie of starkweather, I learned that the Australian death metal band Hadal Maw (from Melbourne) released a new single yesterday. Named “Idolatry“, it’s the opening track on the band’s new five-track EP, Charlatan, which will be released on August 3 and can be pre-ordered now.
Once you listen to the song, I think you’ll understand why I thought it would make a good follow-on to the Soreption track. It may further scramble your neurons, but it’s a vicious creature too. As Rennie wrote, “Absolutely crushing. More aggro and brutish than material from Olm while still retaining the technical touch they’ve set from the jump”.
Pre-order:
https://www.hadalmaw.com/
https://hadalmaw.bandcamp.com/album/charlatan
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/hadalmaw/
GRAVEWARDS
Ruinous Ensoulment is the debut album of the Greek death metal band Gravewards. It will be released on July 27 through Unspeakable Axe Records. Seeing that label’s name is usually a good omen for an album, and based on the advance track revealed yesterday, it sounds like Ruinous Ensoulment will perpetuate the trend. (The cover art is damn cool, too.)
“Sworn In Denial — Omega Syndrome” is the song’s name. Absolutely vicious and vibrant old-school mauling, with the kind of savage, braying vocals that are somewhere between a roar and a hoarse howl, and with unexpected twists and turns. It pummels and it incinerates, and it keeps the listener pleasantly off-balance.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Gravewards/
Track List:
1. Intro
2. Sworn In Denial – Omega Syndrome
3. Souls Twisted Beyond Recognition
4. Crypt Spawned Psychosis
5. Deconstruction Of Logic
6. Thresholds Of Lunacy
7. Abyssal Soul Devourment
8. Devoid Of Life