SEEN AND HEARD: BRUTALLY DECEASED, MAGOA, BALANCE INTERRUPTION, HELLWAFFE, TAIGA

 

Last night and this morning I listened to all or parts of 21 new songs. Most of them I found in e-mails we received over just the last 24 hours, others from browsing my Facebook feed. Most of the bands I knew nothing about. With varying degrees of enthusiasm, I enjoyed 16 of them. What to do?

This is why these posts are tagged “Random Fucking Music”, because little more than chance determined what I chose to include here (as is often the case) — plus a desire for a bit of variety in the sounds while including some of those bands I’d never heard of before.

BRUTALLY DECEASED

This first band I have heard of before, but haven’t thought about in years. In fact, the last time I wrote about them was January 2011 in a review of their debut album Dead Lover’s Guide, which I accompanied with photos of gigantic chainsaws. Instead of massive chainsaws, this time I have an image of one of Paolo Girardi’s most monstrous artistic creations, which appears on the cover of this Czech band’s new album, Satanic Corpse.

 

 

The song below is the only one streaming so far, a tender ode called “The Art of Dying”. And by “tender”, I mean “mauling” — because this is a vicious piece of work, packed with furious hornet swarms of riffs and pummeling drum and bass assaults, plus tyrannical vocal pronouncements. There’s also a very nice guitar solo in here, which moves from fluid and sinuous to boiling.

Satanic Corpse will be released by Doomentia on September 30.

https://brutallydeceased.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/brutallydeceased

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAGOA

Magoa are another band I’ve written about before, but not since 2012 — when I devoted three separate posts to three different videos for their EP Animals. Since then, these Frenchmen released a 2013 album named Topsy Turvydom and now they have another one named Imperial that’s headed our way later this year. Yesterday they released a music video for a new single from the album called “Resistance”.

Metal-Archives doesn’t think Magoa belongs in the Encyclopedia Metallum, apparently because they are too “-core” or “djenty” or something. I don’t care. I get a kick (in the head) out of Magoa’s groove and intensity, and this song in particular includes a very seductive and moody melody that glides through all the pneumatic hammering, the screams, the roars, and the yells.

The video, like all of Magoa’s others, is also well-made and fun to watch — at least if you have a taste for a beautiful woman smearing heaping quantities of blood all over herself. It was produced by Ten To One Records and directed by Benjamin Cappelletti.

The single is available on iTunes, and the album can be pre-ordered here.

https://www.facebook.com/Magoaband/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BALANCE INTERRUPTION

Now I’m leaving behind the bands I knew something about and turning to three new discoveries. The first of them is Balance Interruption from Ukraine. Their third album Door 218 will be released on September 28 by the Russian label Satanath Records (who have rapidly become one of my go-to underground labels, as you may have noticed). The song below is the only one now streaming from the album and its name is “Suicidealer”.

I think “Suicidealer” is a very interesting song, with a dark and dissonant beginning that soon grows into something ferocious and eccentric. At about the 2:00 mark, it kicks into an instrumental jam, pierced by a strange lead-guitar melody, that’s electrifying. And after that comes a dreamlike saxophone solo, more frenzied explosiveness, and an unexpected sampled conclusion. It’s an unpredictable ride, to say the least, but a fascinating one.

https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat159-balance-interruption-door-218-2016
https://www.facebook.com/balanceinterruption/

 

 

 

 

 

 

HELLWAFFE

Despite their Germanic-sounding name, Hellwaffe are a trio from Chicago. Their second album Peace Offering is due for release on October 11 by the Polish label Hell Is Here Production. I learned about a song from the album streaming on Bandcamp named “T38”, which is available as a “name your price” download.

What you’ll find here is a warlike, barbaric, black metal blitzkrieg, but with riffs that become quite addictive (as well as blazing drumwork and caustic vocal savagery). This ought to get your blood rushing.

http://hellwaffe.bandcamp.com
http://hellwaffe.com
http://hellishereprod.republika.pl

 

 

 

 

 

 

TAIGA

The final songs in this collection come from another band with a connection to Satanath Records. Taiga are from Siberian Russia, and their new third album Sky will be released on September 16 by Symbol of Domination, a sub-label of Satanath who have also become an increasingly frequent source of my recommendations to you. You can listen below to two tracks from the album, “Вверх” and “Небо ещё не погибло”.

The music is a form of black metal that I guess would be classified as dark and depressive, but it glimmers with gloom-shrouded, keyboard-enhanced beauty while also feeding the listener bursts of grim, scything hostility (with very high, banshee shrieking in the vocal department); ominous, unsettling, processionals; and sorrowful, slow rocking. Both songs may get their hooks in your head, as they did mine, and the heavy riffs may get your head moving, too.

Sky can be pre-ordered at Bandcamp:

https://symbolofdomination.bandcamp.com/album/sodp072-taiga-sky-2016
https://www.facebook.com/Taiga-304322026388096/