Baxaxaxa
Today is the 199th day of 2023. On this day in history, among many other instances of idiocy and abuse, the First Vatican Council decreed the dogma of papal infallibility and Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf. It’s also the birthday of Nelson Mandela, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Hunter Thompson, Vin Diesel, Geno Suarez of the Seattle Mariners, and maybe you, as well as the death-day of Caravaggio, Jane Austen, Benito Juarez, Machine Gun Kelley, and hopefully not you.
It also happens to be a rare weekday when I had time to pull together a roundup of recommended new songs and videos, which has nothing to do with commemoration of any of the preceding events. There’s so much here that I’ve throttled my usual descriptive verbosity (Satan knows there’s more than enough hot air in the atmosphere today already) and left aside some of the cover art until I can upload it later today. (Presented alphabetically by band name, which led to some interesting juxtapositions).
BAXAXAXA (Germany)
Prepare for: low-end rumbling and thrumming plus grim vibrating riffage, immense jolting chugs and ethereal gothic synths, dragging tones of agony and fanatical serrated-edge yells. The experience is menacing and morbid, feral and ferocious, infernal and infectious….
“Above the Stellar Gateway” is from Baxaxaxa‘s second album, De Vermis Mysteriis, which will be out September 1st on The Sinister Flame label.
https://www.thesinisterflame.com/
https://www.facebook.com/UNGOD-Baxaxaxa-1037290856315377
BLUT AUS NORD (France)
Prepare for: earthquake upheavals and eerily ringing siren-pulses, tension-torquing sizzling and shrill guitar dementia, cracking drums and massive heaving undertows, harrowing roars and vampire screams, and synths that radiate an unearthly gleam. It’s almost like a dream… a monstrous yet mesmerizing one….
“Queen Of The Dead Dimension” is the latest single from BaN‘s new album Disharmonium – Nahab, out on August 25th via Debemur Morti Productions.
https://bit.ly/blutausnordEU
https://bit.ly/blutausnordUS
https://bit.ly/dnahab
https://www.facebook.com/Vindsval.official
CELESTIAL (Indonesia)
Prepare for: not one but three tracks, which will put your brain in a whirligig. They include radio-friendly singing, as well as ferocious gutty growls and crazed screams, and music that riotously veers all over the place, from techy and thrashy to deathly, proggy, and post-rocky, and with some blasting blackened viciousness in the mix too. Compositionally inventive, technically impressive, and altogether dazzling.
The songs are from the album Broken Vows & the Unspoken Truth, which will be out August 9th on Harsh Productions. Thanks for the tip on this one go to Rennie Resmini, who tells me the band used to be named to be named KillAthena, though their sound has changed since then.
https://harshproductions.bandcamp.com/album/broken-vows-the-unspoken-truth
https://www.facebook.com/celestialband.official/
DECOHERENCE (UK)
Prepare for: tectonic-plate-shifting far below, broiling madness high above, the screams of the tortured, black sonic visions of chaos and apocalypse, and harrowing glimpses of the barrenness that follows. Be afraid… be very afraid….
“The Future Behind Them” is the latest single from the album Order, coming out July 28th via Sentient Ruin.
https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/order
https://www.facebook.com/decoherence.uk
FABRICANT (U.S.)
Prepare for: twisted technical death metal that squirms and squeals, slithers and spasms, anchored by some regular hammer blows to the neck (as well as lots of inventive percussive athleticism) and augmented by constant tempo shifts, madhouse vocals, and freaked-out soloing. (Best heard with headphones to catch the channel-shifting.)
“Until The Heavens Grow Dark” is from the album Drudge To The Thicket, coming out September 15th on Profound Lore.
https://fabricant.bandcamp.com/album/drudge-to-the-thicket
https://www.facebook.com/fabricant.band
FORTIÐ (Iceland)
Prepare for: reverent and heroic singing coupled with bestial snarls, thunderous drumming and jackhammer low-end grooves, riffing and soloing that’s both frantic and forlorn, and mythic melodies of distress that sweep and soar — plus a stunning video.
“Uppskera” is from the album Narkissos, coming out October 13th on Prophecy Productions.
http://lnk.spkr.media/narkissos
https://fortid.bandcamp.com/album/narkissos
https://www.facebook.com/fortid
FREYA (U.S.)
Prepare for: a heavy-grooved, hard-knuckled bruiser laced with spurts of lysergic-acid melody and soloing, and vocals that yell out the ultimate question: “Nothingness of God?” Pretty sure I know where these hardcore sluggers come down, though the lyrics focus much more on the question than the answer.
The song is from the band’s sixth album, Fight As One, coming out August 22nd on Upstate Records New York. The album includes guest spots from Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed, Scott Vogel of Terror, and Freddy Cricien of Madball.
https://upstaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/freya-fight-as-one
https://www.facebook.com/freyahardcore
HARM’S WAY (U.S.)
Prepare for: percussive cranial trauma, pile-driving spinal trauma, scissoring riff-flurries, howling fury, and a general atmosphere of disgust.
“Silent Wolf” is from the album Common Suffering, coming out September 29th on Metal Blade.
http://www.metalblade.com/harmsway
https://www.facebook.com/harmsxway
MANTAR (Germany/U.S.)
Prepare for: a megaton spine-shaker and a head-moving slasher and swarmer, with two-tone vocals, both raw and ragged and almost clean. One of the best bands you’ll ever see live, and some hints of that in the video….
The video is a playthrough of “Egoisto” from Mantar‘s latest album Pain Is Forever And This Is The End, out now on the Metal Blade label.
https://www.metalblade.com/mantar/
https://www.facebook.com/MantarBand
SKÁLMÖLD (Iceland)
Prepare for: a rocking and swinging dance that still manages to be mythic, a time-traveling jaunt that’s equal parts folkloric and heavy-metallish, with pleasingly raw, gritty, and shrieking vocals (and some clean-sung harmonies) — and an interlude that’s soft and musing, which leads into a phase that’s even more mythic than what has come before. Fill your horn-flagons with ale and drain them with joy, my friends….
“Verðandi” (named for a Norn) is from the album Ýdalir, coming out August 18th on Napalm Records.
https://lnk.to/SKALMOLD-Ydalir
https://skalmold.bandcamp.com/album/ydalir
https://www.facebook.com/skalmold
THY CATAFALQUE (Hungary)
Prepare for… a treat for fans of this band, of which I’m a big one. This is a a 6-song video of the band’s live performance at Budapest Park back in May. And that’s all I’ll say — just enjoy it.
https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/band/thy-catafalque
https://www.facebook.com/thycatafalque
One Response to “OVERFLOWING STREAMS: BAXAXAXA, BLUT AUS NORD, CELESTIAL, DECOHERENCE, FABRICANT, FORTIÐ, FREYA, HARM’S WAY, MANTAR, SKÁLMÖLD, THY CATAFALQUE”
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Great to see Tamas seem to really enjoy himself on stage – he appears to be a natural at playing live! Very little sense of ego, comfortable not to take the limelight and to let others shine. And the audience is blissed out! Who says metal can’t make people feel happy. It’s noteworthy that you’ve also included Mantar, although I’ve never seen them live, the energy they portray reminds me of Tamas, no ego, really sincere.
I was also going to mention re a previous post that there’s a rare-ish interview with Chris from Deadspace at https://blackmetaldaily.wordpress.com/category/interviews/ (just need to ignore the interviewer’s cringe-worthy attempts to bro-bond with Chris).