SEEN AND HEARD: BOTCH, THE OTOLITH, OMEGAVORTEX, PIOUS LEVUS, CIMMERIAN POSSESSION, BLACK ROYAL

 

Maybe you noticed that I posted no round-ups last weekend, neither the usual Saturday SEEN AND HEARD nor the usual Sunday SHADES OF BLACK. An annual two-day event connected to my day job proved to be too disruptive, even though it was a shitload of fun. So, the grab-bag of new music has swollen, continuing to fill since the weekend. I kind of blindly stabbed into the bag this morning until my hands filled up, and here’s what I chose from those handfuls.

I imagine these selections will cause people to feel like they’ve been blindfolded, spun around a dozen times, and then let loose to stumble about and run into hard objects at every turn. It’s a fun thing to think about.

BOTCH (U.S.)

Okay, I fibbed a little. It wasn’t blind groping that led me to this first song and video but a surprising press release and a torrent of “Holy Shit!” from assorted friends online. About what you’d expect when you get the first new song in 20 years from an influential and much-beloved band like Botch (especially beloved up here in the U.S. Pacific Northwest where they originated).

The new song, “One Twenty Two“, sets the hook with a winding serpentine riff, a thumping beat, and vocals that burn like an acetylene torch. That hook burrows deeper until the whole thing breaks open in screaming guitars, clobbering drums, gut-punching bass, and even more superheated vocal fury. It’s as if the band have been stockpiling rage and bleak fevers for the last 20 years and finally let it all out.

The song accompanies the reissue by Sargent House of the band’s second (and last) album, We Are the Romans.

https://found.ee/Botch-Romans-122
https://found.ee/Botch-122
https://botch.bandcamp.com/track/one-twenty-two
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063594105431

 

 

THE OTOLITH (U.S.)

There are still lots of people wearing sackcloth and ashes in mourning over the demise of SubRosa. To console them in their grief, we have The Otolith (which includes four of SubRosa‘s members) and their new album Folium Limina.

The next selection today is a long track from that album named “Sing No Coda“. Mysterious and glittering, but with a throbbing pulse, the song begins casting a spell from the very beginning, and continues to weave it with twining violins and vivid voices. Of course, things get a lot heavier and darker, and even more immersive. The throb and lurch of the grooves work the muscle reflexes; the violins swirl the mind. The music also becomes soft and lonely in a poignant mid-song digression, joined by haunting voices that add to the grieving.

Folium Limina will be released on October 21st by Blues Funeral Recordings.

https://fanlink.to/theotolith
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/folium-limina
https://www.facebook.com/otolithic

 

 

OMEGAVORTEX (Germany) / PIOUS LEVUS (U.S.)

I know most of you don’t come here for the kind of music represented in my first two choices today. So let’s throw some bloody red meat at the slavering jaws of those folks. What better way to do that than with the first two tracks revealed from a new split by these two evil black/death bands?

The Omegavortex track, “Mutilation Paradise“, is true to its name, and also true to this band’s preference for high-speed, flame-throwing madness. The guitars and vocals scream in savage delirium, the drums are equally crazed and even more unpredictable. The song spins like a vortex of fire, and is just as discombobulating as it is scorching. Even when the drums start skipping and jumping, the guitars create a wild spectacle of mind-broiling sound.

Pious Levus (a new name to me) follow our whirl through Omegavortex‘s electrifying sonic madhouse with “Miscreant Diablous“, and it keeps the heart-rate at a high level, discharging brazen thrash riffage, deranged soloing, skull-hammering and furiously battering percussion, and gargantuan growls. There’s an air of savage ecstasy in the song, but a new dimension emerges when the savagery ebbs a bit and the guitars squirm and swivel in a semblance of sorcery.

Both songs leave me hungry for all the rest, 11 tracks in all. The split will be jointly released by Invictus Productions and Dark Descent on October 21st.

https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/omegavortex-pious-levus
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/omegavortex-pious-levus
https://www.facebook.com/OMEGAVORTEXblackdeath
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100033418397473

 

 

CIMMERIAN POSSESSION (Mexico)

When I saw references in a press release to the music of this band evoking the likes of Wolfbrigade, Skitsystem, Warcollapse, Axegrinder, and Prophecy of Doom, as well as Bolt Thrower and early ’90s Swedish and Finnish death metal, I had no choice but to check out the first song from their debut EP.

That song, “Flames“, bears out many of those reference points by presenting a thunderous and slaughtering rampage of heavy-weight crust and blast-filled, disemboweling death metal, replete with humongous, crypt-dweller roars, bleak spoken words, and tormented howls. The riffing is broiling and blizzard-like in its derangement, but also shifts and becomes steeped in misery, and the punk beats and brazen, slashing chords bring out the crust ingredients in compulsive fashion. It’s a hell of a dynamic, multi-faceted song.

The EP is named Sadistic Storm, and it’s set for release by Personal Records on October 14th.

https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/sadistic-storm
https://www.facebook.com/CimmerianPossession

 

 

BLACK ROYAL (Finland)

I assume it’s evident to frequent NCS visitors that my fandom for Black Royal reached the drooling stage a long time ago, and so there was no chance I was going to omit a new song and lyric video from that band before closing today’s roundup.

True to form, in “13th Moon” Black Royal have pulled together fat ear-worm riffs and hard-hitting grooves, but this time they do it in an up-tempo rocker augmented by vocals that scald like getting a face-full of boiling water and bellow like a bull. Once they’ve got you locked in, they start embellishing — with a weird and wailing guitar solo, spacy keyboards, and mood changes that bring in feelings of sinister menace

The song comes from comes from Black Royal‘s forthcoming album Earthbound, which will be released by M-Theory Audio on October 21st. If you missed the title track when it emerged in June, I’ve left that one for you too.

http://www.smarturl.com/blackroyalfinland
https://blackroyal.bandcamp.com/album/earthbound
https://www.facebook.com/blackroyalmusic