Lömsk
There’s again a lot to see and hear today, so much so that I again divided the collection into two Parts, with Part II coming in an hour or two from now. But rather than default to alphabetizing the picks, I organized things based on what I was hearing, to create a little flow, a river of greater and lesser turbulence and gloom.
P.S. Happy Día de los Muertos.
P.P.S. If you live in the U.S., don’t forget to roll your clocks back an hour before you go to sleep tonight. Also, fucking plan to vote if you haven’t already voted early!
LÖMSK (Sweden)
I put this Gothenburg band’s debut EP (Act I) first because its first song grabbed me so fast. “Si vis pacem, para bellum” (“If you want peace, prepare for war”). The writhing and wailing riffage is immediately magnetic, and so are the rumbling, thundering, and whip-cracking drums. The music also rings like chimes and booms like bombs. Augmented by raw, jagged-edged howls, it swirls and sweeps, channeling moods of blazing defiance, frenzied desperation, and terrible anguish.
The other three songs also seem to have lyrical themes relating to warfare, as suggested by Misanthropic-Art‘s cover art, and they’re also emotionally intense. “Shovels and Ropes” is more downcast and doomed in its mood, but it catches fire too, seeming to capture the chaos of combat. The wildly flickering lead guitar spears the mind every time it surfaces, and synths elevate it to heights of tragic grandeur.
“Spetälsk“, which surfaced through a video as the EP’s first single, in no way recedes from the dark moods, the towering dramatic intensity, or the harrowing vocal expulsions demonstrated in the first two songs.
“The Eternal Return” doesn’t pull back either. Its overture provides the most grim and oppressively hopeless experience on the EP. The song then unfolds like a staggering death march, and orchestration expands its scale as it bleakly forges forward. But that paves the way toward a ravishing eruption of intensity, heavily throbbing and hammering in the low end and setting the skies above on fire — yet naught but tragedy awaits at the end.
As a debut EP, this is a damned powerful mission statement. I hope there will be more in the future, though it may be a challenge for Lömsk to find more ways to let their listeners breathe.
Act I was released by Vendetta Records on November 1st.
https://vendetta-records.bandcamp.com/album/act-i
https://www.facebook.com/LomskOfficial
https://lmsk.bandcamp.com/
DJEVEL (Norway)
Until yesterday I had managed to miss the fact that Djevel have a new album headed our way in mid-November, and after a bit of digging I also discovered that they released a song from it in July. I do have the album, but today I’ll just focus on that single, “Bespottelsen” — and I think you’ll see why I thought it made a fitting follow-on to the Lömsk EP.
With Faust in the lineup, the drums often rattle and roar faster than most things entirely dependent on human propulsion, though also moderated with rocking beats and stalking gaits. Fronted by goblin snarls and tormented screams, the riffage is also intense, burning and writhing in sounds both demented and dismal.
But the music also softens and grieves, and then becomes more expansive as it does, flying high and sweeping the senses in its vast waves of anguish — or at least that’s how I feel it.
Djevel‘s new album is named Natt til ende. It will be released by Aftermath Music on November 15th.
https://djevel.bandcamp.com/track/bespottelsen
https://www.aftermath-music.com/en-us
https://www.facebook.com/djevelmakt
DEUS MORTEM (Poland)
Staying with black metal, I’ve next provided the latest song revealed from Deus Mortem‘s forthcoming third album, Thanatos.
Vocalist and guitarist Necrosodom has explained that the creation of this song — “When the Creation Tastes of Dionysian Wine” — “was accompanied by the long and deep contemplation of the Art tarot card,” and represents the cycle of destruction that leads to new creation.
Like the first two selections in today’s roundup, the song begins in a way that sets the stage for drama on a larger-than-life scale, but then it surges into ferocity, with drums blasting at light-speed, the bass thundering, the guitars feverishly twisting like a nest of vicious vipers, and the vocals screaming in madness, and doubled for added impact.
Though punctuated by short stops and starts and bursts of percussive variation, there’s no relent from the song’s fiery intensity until about mid-way through, and then the music shifts into a kind of feral and swaggering romp, back-beat-driven and devilish in its aspect, followed by another surge — of glorious, heart-hammering exultation — and a sorcerous and seductive finale.
Thanatos is scheduled for release on November 15th by Profane Spirit Productions.
https://www.facebook.com/deusmortemofficial/
https://www.instagram.com/deusmortem_official/
https://deusmortemofficial.bandcamp.com/
GHOULHOUSE (Sweden)
Now it’s time for our musical river to turn away from black metal and propel us into the exhilarating savagery of Swedish death metal. The introductory bludgeoning and gutting is handled by the veteran Ghoulhouse ghouls Rogga Johansson and Håkan Stuvemark (and whatever skins-basher they roped into this romp).
The first song from their new album is “Graveyard Drive Thru“, and oh what a deliciously diabolical (and catchy and punky) romp it is. With drums galloping and frolicking, the gnashing chainsaw riffage revels in creating carnage while ghastly gutturals belch the words. On top of that, the song also delivers doses of massive, pounding chugs and a burst of freaked-out soloing.
I’m not sure if this song will ever be played live, but it’s fun to imagine the bruising and frothing mayhem it would stir up in the pit.
The new Ghoulhouse album is Fresh Out Of Flesh (oh no!). It will be released by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions on December 6th.
https://shop.horrorpaingoredeath.com/
https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/fresh-out-of-flesh
https://www.facebook.com/horrorpaingoredeath
SVARTKONST (Sweden)
Staying in Sweden but charring the death metal, my next choice is the latest musical monster from the Svartkonst solo project of Rickard Törnqvist (and friends). This makes the fifth time I’ve spilled words about Svartkonst music in the last four years, touching on each of the band’s three albums to date.
The new song, “Wretched Earth“, is a stand-alone single released on Halloween. It wastes no time inflicting a pulverizing beating and discharging viciously distorted riffage that venomously swarms and ravenously bites, coupled with ugly, savage growls.
The music also supernaturally quivers and swirls, like gleaming wraiths have become manifest, and fires up the jackhammers too. The soloing is gloriously and deliriously ecstatic, but the final movement is damned sinister. The dragging chords gouge like an enormous heaving beast, and the wailing wraiths make a return appearance too.
This thing’s visceral grooves will get pulses pounding, and the music will heat up the blood and put evil spells in the mind. (Rickard Törnqvist gives a shout-out to: “Henrik for pummeling on the drums. Anton from @haradrim_666 delivering a gut wrenching guitar solo. Alex for the haunting screams from the beyond. And to Axel for the wicked theremin inspiration and guidance.”
https://svartkonst666.bandcamp.com/track/wretched-earth
https://www.facebook.com/Svartkonst