SEEN AND HEARD (OLD SCHOOL EDITION): ASPHYX, MEMORIAM, NERVOSA, WOLFHEART, MELVINS

 

We had a rare day with no posts yesterday. I spent most of my free time clawing through the hundreds of mostly un-read e-mails that had piled up in our in-box last week, and made a gigantic list of new music to check out, and then attempted to do the checking. I didn’t finish listening to everything because the list was so long. But of the new stuff I heard, the following collection kind of assembled itself.

I don’t think any of these bands require an introduction. All of their names are prominent. And all the songs until the last one have a pronounced old school death metal flavor. They’re also all heavy on the chugs, and the death metal tracks include uniformly ferocious vocals. Melvins obviously aren’t a death metal band, but their new song is also heavy on the chugs, and there’s also another reason why it fits in an “old school” round-up.

P.S. If you came here today expecting to find a SHADES OF BLACK column, be patient. It’s coming.

ASPHYX

As mentioned above, there are a lot of powerhouse vocalists in this collection I’ve assembled, beginning with the inimitable Martin van Drunen (a lot of people do try to imitate him, and to be honest, some do so with some success, but there still ain’t nothing like the original).

 

 

The video is fun, and the up-tempo song is too. It’s a savage gallop but, as forecast, also includes skull-busting chugs when the music takes a bleak turn. Highly infectious too.

Song: “Botox Implosion”
Album: Necroceros
Release Date: January 22nd
Label: Century Media
Buy: https://asphyx.lnk.to/NecrocerosPR
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialasphyx

 

 

 

 

 

 

MEMORIAM

Next we have a lyric video for a bleak, mid-paced tank attack that has an eerie imperious mien but also oozes misery from every pore. Karl Willetts‘ voice is absolutely spine-tingling. It alone will revive visions of Bolt Thrower, and it’s not the only feature of the song that will do that. Also, enjoy the chugs…. and don’t forget to KEEP PUSHING ON.

Song: “Onwards Into Battle”
Album: To the End
Release Date: March 26th
Label: Reaper Entertainment
Pre-Order: http://www.reapermusic.de/memoriam-end/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Memoriam2016/

 

 

 

 

 

 

NERVOSA

Last spring bassist/vocalist Fernanda Lira and drummer Luana Dametto left the Brazilian thrash metal band Nervosa and later announced that they had formed a new band named Crypta along with lead guitarist Sonia Anubis (Burning Witches, Cobra Spell) and guitarist Tainá Bergamaschi (ex-Hagbard). Meanwhile, Nervosa’s sole remaining member, guitarist Prika Amaral, filled out the ranks of Nervosa with vocalist Diva Satanica, bassist Mia Wallace, and drummer Eleni Nota.

Crypta hsvrn’t yet released anything, but on Friday Napalm Records discharged a new album by the re-formed Nervosa. The next video below is for the last death-thrashing single revealed in advance of the album release. Like the Memoriam track, it includes its fair share of morbid misery, but combines that with thrashing mayhem and doses of jittery, jabbing riffage. And fast chugs.

Diva Satanica has a hell of a voice too. As further proof, I’m going to include a bonus video below (just released yesterday) in which she collaborated with Alan Cassidy (The Black Dahlia Murder), Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain (Voivod / Martyr), and Colin Marston (Gorguts / Krallice) on a cover of Death‘s “Trapped In A Corner”. It’s a blast to see and hear.

Song: “Under Ruins”
Album: Perpetual Chaos
Release Date: January 22nd
Label: Napalm Records
Pre-Order: https://www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/nervosa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nervosa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOLFHEART

Wolfheart has a variety of musical guises, but the one revealed in this next lyric video is warlike and hard-charging. Yet another great vocal performance in today’s collection, as well as neck-wrecking drum battery, eerie and soaring keyboard accents, invigorating soloing, and of course jolting riffage.

Song: “Skull Soldiers”
EP: Skull Soldiers
Release Date: March 5th
Label: Napalm Records
Pre-Order: https://wolfheart.bandcamp.com/album/skull-soldiers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WolfheartRealm

 

 

 

 

 

 

MELVINS

The new album by the long-running Melvins features a reunion by the 1983 iteration of the band: Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, and original drummer Mike Dillard. The song below is the latest of several singles released so far. Get your neck limbered up because this one wastes no time in getting it in motion. Red meat for a headbanger, and Osborne‘s wail is in fine form, and the solo is trippy as hell, and basically becomes a grand mal seizure.

Song: “The Great Good Place”
Album: Working With God
Release Date: February 26th
Label: Ipecac Recordings
Pre-Order: https://lnk.to/MelvinsWWG