SEEN AND HEARD: DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER, ΛΔΛΜ, ANHARAT, GO AHEAD AND DIE, CHADHEL, TOOTH AND CLAW

 

Since we’ve only had two posts today, and because I found myself with a little extra time this morning, I decided to get a head-start on the usual Saturday round-up of new songs and videos. As is sometimes the case, there’s not a lot of rhyme or reason to why I chose the following items, and there’s a risk of whiplash as you make your way from one to the next. There’s also a greater-than-usual percentage of videos included here — I think they’re all very good in different ways.

I will come back later when I have a bit more time and add the rest of the usual artwork and links.

DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER (Germany)

Savage, crazed, blazing, and viscerally propulsive in its tribal rhythms — those are the immediate impressions of this first song, though I must admit that the wild and transfixing video that accompanies the song is a big reason why I picked it. It suits the music supremely well.

The song, “Tiki“, comes from a new album named The Divine Horsemen, which Nuclear Blast describes as “a unique musical experiment: A session that has been recorded without any rehearsals or preparations during two days in autumn 2020”. It also includes such atypical instrumentation as didgeridoo, djembe, Doumbek, gong, frame drums, and jaw harp. Fantastic cover art too.

PRE-ORDER:
https://reitermania.bfan.link/the-divine-horsemen

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Reitermania/

 

 

 

 

 

 

ΛΔΛΜ (ADAM) (Greece)

In the next video a bunch of glum-looking dudes in a red-lit, slow-rocking car come across an arresting vision that gradually envelops them — and the experience certainly arrested my own vision, to the point that I felt compelled to include it here.

Moreover, the visuals well-suit the music’s amalgam of menacing, lead-weighted heaviness in the low end and glittering guitar intensity high above. The singing is clean, and thus an exception to our rule, but is a vital element in the music’s eerie seductiveness.

“Super Silver Haze” comes from an album named Sun that was originally released in August of last year but will get a physical re-release on June 4th via Venerate Industries.

PRE-ORDER:
https://adamwolfpack.bandcamp.com/album/sun

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/adamwolfpackcult/

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANHARAT (U.S.)

Speaking of menace, “Strigoi Mort” is packed with it. As the riffing seethes like poison in a cauldron, gruesome gutturals elevate from some dank abyss. The measured pop of the snare keeps time over rumbling low-frequency upheavals and cold, stomping chords, which together augment the increasing oppressiveness, the sulphurous malevolence, and the crushing hopelessness that radiates through the music. Blood-freezing death/doom that by the end wails like specters and groans in agony….

The song is the opening track from an EP named Blood Sorcery that will be released on April 30th, with a cover image by Warhead Art.

PRE-ORDER:
https://anharat.bandcamp.com/releases

 

 

 

 

 

 

GO AHEAD AND DIE (U.S.)

The adjectives that immediately sprung to mind in listening to this next song were brutish, bludgeoning, diseased, and infuriated (thanks largely to the blood-raw vocal diatribes and the acceleration that kicks the momentum into a ravaging gallop, accompanied by screaming riffage). It’s presented through Costin Chioreanu‘s animated video, which picks up the lyrical themes — and those themes seem tailor-made for what’s been dominating the headlines in the U.S. this week.

“Toxic Freedom” is from the self-titled debut album of this Arizona band, which will get a release June 11th via Nuclear Blast. As you may already know, the band consists of Max Cavalera (Soulfly), his son Igor Amadeus Cavalera (Healing Magic), and drummer Zach Coleman (from Black Curse and Khemmis).

PRE-ORDER:
https://www.nuclearblast.com/goaheadanddie

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/GoAheadAndDieBand

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHADHEL (Canada)

What I chose next is a sequence of the 8 songs that make up Chadhel’s side of a split with the California band Assiduous Assault (which includes Bryan Fajardo on drums). These eight songs fly by in a fury and will give your pulse rate a big fuckin’ kick into overdrive.

This is grindcore that’s a murderous barrage of weaponized drumming, ruinously unhinged riffage, and a tandem of skin-melting screams and horrid roars. It veers from vicious, blaring, thoroughly crazed mayhem to neck-ruining jackhammer jolts at the drop of a hat, and generally hits like a blast-front of megaton warheads (even though it’s executed with vacuum-tight precision). Very nice bit of poetry to open the last track too. 🙂

The split is being released today by Terrain Vague.

BANDCAMP:
https://terrainvaguerecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-with-assiduous-assault

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Chadhelist

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOOTH AND CLAW

And to close, I decided to pick another video, which accompanies a song that makes for a fitting conclusion to some of the musical themes ancompassed by the preceding music in this collection. It is, on the one hand, absolutely enraged, and inflicts a merciless and methodical beating (coupled with eviscerating riffage). On the other hand, it segues into something that’s cold, eerie, ond oppressive (augmented by a vocal change from furious screaming to haunting chants). And so it’s both exhilarating and chilling.

The song, “Your Crucifixion“, is from this metallic hardcore band’s debut album Dream of Ascension, which is coming out on May 21st via Good Fight Music. The line-up includes Scott Crouse (Earth Crisis, Sect), Daniel Austin (Die Young), James Chang (Undying, Catharsis, Sect), and Cameron Joplin (Magnitude).

PRE-ORDER:
https://toothandclawriffs.bandcamp.com/album/dream-of-ascension

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/ToothandClaw