SEEN AND HEARD: THOU, PIG DESTROYER, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, SEPTEKH, WAXEN, PARTHOLÓN

 

I mentioned late last week as I was headed off to New Mexico for the weekend that I’d be gone from Seattle all this week, too. And that has come to pass.

I’ve been in Atlanta since Tuesday for my fucking day job, cranking away from early to late, with little time to check out new music and even less time to write about it. To keep from falling abysmally far behind I threw together this round-up, but am too pressed by my job to write much about these new tracks and videos. You’ll like them anyway — at least I hope you will.

THOU

Yesterday Louisiana’s Thou released a video for a song called “The Changeling Prince” off their new album Magus (cover above), which will be released by Sacred Bones Records on August 31st. It was directed by Bryan Funck and Mitch Wells.

 

 

About the video we have this comment by the band:

“We shot this video on the hottest day of summer in a small room in New Orleans with one barely working AC unit. We want to thank all the punks, hunks, and freaks who came out to help us get this done. Every person in the crowd was important, and we more than appreciate them putting up with the heat, our lack of competence, and listening to the same song all day long.”

Thou do not disappoint, not ever. This song is, of course, heavier than a meteorite plowing into your home from the heavens above, and riveting in many other ways as well. And the video, which is full of changelings, is easy to get into.

Pre-order:
https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr205-thou-magus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIG DESTROYER

Also yesterday, via Consequence of Sound, Pig Destroyer released a video for the song “Torture Fields“, the second single from their new album Head Cage. The video was directed and edited by Frank Huang (Maximum Volume Silence), who did tremendous work capturing live performances at the NCS-sponsored Northwest Terror Fest earlier this year.

The particular video features live footage from Decibel Metal & Beer Fest and Southwest Terror Fest. The live photos in the video are by Mark Valentino, with additional live footage by Jeff Grindstopher.

I’m really digging what Pig Destroyer are doing on this new album — still recognizably PxDx, but with some interesting twists. One write-up I saw referred to this new advance track as “a spastic, angular ripper”, and that’s a decent summing up.

Pre-order:
https://store.relapse.com/

Pig Destroyer:
https://www.facebook.com/TheRealPigDestroyer/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUTHOR & PUNISHER

The next item is a video for a track called “Nihil Strength” from the new album by Author & Punisher. Entitled Beastland, it will be released by Relapse on October 5th.

Goddamn, this is a bone-crusher and a brain-mangler. The video is a hell of a head trip too.

Pre-order:
https://authorandpunisher.bandcamp.com/album/beastland
http://bit.ly/AP-Beastland

Author & Punisher:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorandPunisher/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEPTEKH

I’m an old fan of the Swedish band Septekh, and a steadfast one, because their music never fails to kick my ass up between my shoulder blades and put a big smile on my face. This new song “Damned“, presented through a lyric video, did exactly that. It’s a gloriously incandescent death-thrashing bastard of a track.

“Damned” is extracted from Septekh’s new album Pilgrim, which will be released on August 24th by Mighty Music. About this first single, vocalist Nils Meseke had this to say:

“Every day I see their little smiles like question marks. I listen to their subconscious lies like an unacknowledged confession without forgiveness. And I know that I will always be alone. If they can’t see themselves, how could they possibly see me? I don’t expect martyrdom, pity or reconciliation. If they seem to be looking for me they are just looking for their own image.

“So I become a mirror. Glossy and hard. I reflect your light back to you because I don’t want it. I am the many-colored. The Paramensch. In crowded isolation. Counting you. Divulging what I see.

“I am GRZNLS and I am Damned.”

Pre-order:
https://goo.gl/JJzbYX

Septekh:
https://www.facebook.com/septekh/
http://septekh.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WAXEN

On September 28th Moribund Records will release Terror Decree, the new album by Toby Knapp‘s solo project Waxen. If you’re not familiar with Knapp’s previous Waxen releases, you need to get on them. And, because the title track (below) is so damned good, you ought to put this new one on your radar screen, too.

If you go to Bandcamp, you can also check out a second song, also killer: “Conflagration Elite”.

Pre-order:
https://moribundrecords.bandcamp.com/album/terror-decree

Waxen:
https://www.facebook.com/Waxen-510997875753080/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PARTHOLÓN

The song I selected to close this round-up is the only one that isn’t brand new. I happened to come across it early this morning, and it grabbed me good and hard.

The song is “All We Are” by the Irish band Partholón, who describe their name and inspiration as follows:

“Partholón is based on a semi fictional character represented in Irish history & mythology. He is said to have spearheaded the second settlement of Ireland (Muintir Partholóin).The settlement was eventually decimated by plague inside a single week. No God, just life, and then, Death.”

“All We Are” comes from Partholón’s split with Soothsayer. It was released on April 27th. It’s an amalgam of post-metal and sludge, both dreamlike and crushing, searing and oppressive, brutally battering and bleak, and even a bit beautiful, with tremendously intense vocals. It has a way of sticking in your head like a spike, too.

P.S. We premiered Soothsayer’s track on this split last April, and it is well worth your time. You can find it on Bandcamp here.

Bandcamp:
https://partholonian.bandcamp.com/album/all-we-are

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