What follows is a collection of new songs and videos that different people messaged me about today, plus a few I had noticed in preceding days. With apologies to anyone who might care, I unfortunately don’t have the time to provide as many stumbling brilliant verbal descriptions of the music as I usually do, but nevertheless hope you enjoy all the sounds, as I have.
GOJIRA (France)
“Born For One Thing“: feverish tumult with slightly industrialized grooves, trademark atonal pounding, and gripping rhythmic interplay, plus eerie melodic accents… definitely in their comfort zone, and very good….
ALBUM: Fortitude
RELEASE DATE: April 30
LABEL: Roadrunner Records
PRE-ORDER:
http://gojira.lnk.to/fortitude
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/GojiraMusic
THE CROWN (Sweden)
“We Drift On“: mainly mid-paced and menacing, with moody and mysterious melodic interludes that prove to be enthralling, in juxtaposition with jackhammer jolts and seething savagery….
ALBUM: Royal Destroyer
RELEASE DATE: March 12
LABEL: Metal Blade
PRE-ORDER:
http://www.metalblade.com/thecrown
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/thecrownofficial/
VREID (Norway)
“Wild North West“: We get a gothic organ intro, but it’s more than just an intro, as its haunting mood re-surfaces in the midst of this diabolical rocking jam, along with buzzing and flickering chords that add to the song’s sinister atmosphere… this one gets its fiendish claws in your head, and the conjunction of singing and growling along with that glimmering melody makes for a real high point…
ALBUM: Wild North West
RELEASE DATE: April 30
LABEL: Season of Mist
PRE-ORDER:
https://shopusa.season-of-mist.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=vreid
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/vreidofficial
DORDEDUH (Romania)
“Desferecat“: The opening percussive patterns, united with gigantic booms and wailing voices, makes for an attention-seizing intro…. and the song doesn’t release its hold, revealing dark, momentous chords and demonic snarls as well as jabbing and writhing riffage that builds to a crescendo of madness….
ALBUM: Har
RELEASE DATE: May 14
LABEL: Prophecy Productions
PRE-ORDER:
https://dordeduh.bandcamp.com/album/har
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Dordeduh
KOLLAPS\E (Sweden)
“The Pandemic Sessions“: In this two-track EP, Kollaps\e draw upon inspirations from the likes of Breach, Cult of Luna, and Neurosis to create music that’s unnerving and punishing in equal measure. The rhythmic power and ferocity threatens to rupture spleens, and the vocals are rabid.
The riffing and the shrill, squirming leads in “Radiant / Static” will put your teeth on edge with their dissonant, seething, tension-filled sounds — and yet there indeed is a kind of magnificent radiance that shines through as well. The tumbling, booming drumwork and scratchy bass torture at the outset of “Murrain” keeps the band’s teeth in your neck, and as the song slugs and slithers, whines and blares, it becomes more and more fearsome. There’s a frightening, hallucinatory interlude before a further dose of pile-driving brutality, and then an utterly deranged crescendo that threatens to overwhelm the senses.
One listen isn’t enough, because this EP won’t leave you alone. If it doesn’t put you in a hospital for long-term orthopedic treatment, it will send you to a mental institution. (Thanks to Rennie (starkweather) for giving this one a strong push in my direction.)
RELEASE DATE: January 29
BUY:
https://kollapsemusic.bandcamp.com/
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/kollapsemusik/
VALDAUDR (Norway)
“Kom, Bestig Vaare Fjell“: The lilting acoustic intro is entrancing; the crack and thunder of the drums that follow, and the raw, frantic fretwork will break the trance, but that’s just the first of many changes to come, which include folk choral singing as well as cracked croaks and wild cries, and turn-on-a-dime variations in the hard-hitting drumwork. What an interesting piece of audio witchery… right up through the beguiling instrumental interlude and devilish chants near the end, and the whirling riffage that brings it to a close.
ALBUM: Drapsdalen
RELEASE DATE: February 26th
LABEL: Soulseller Records
PRE-ORDER:
https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/drapsdalen
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/valdaudr
DECLINE OF THE I (France)
“The Veil of Splendid Lies“: Soaring choral voices and ominous detonations give way to grieving solitary melody and then the power of titanic bass, skull-cracking drums, demented guitars, and scorching screams. A mountainously heavy and mind-mauling experience — theatrical in its frightening grandeur, multiply textured in its vocals, tormented (and sometimes dreamlike) in its melodies, and earthquaking in its low-end impact.
ALBUM: Johannes
RELEASE DATE: March 26
LABEL: Agonia Records
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.declineofthei.com
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/declineofthei
8 Responses to “SEEN AND HEARD: GOJIRA, THE CROWN, VREID, DORDEDUH, KOLLAPS\E, VALDAUDR, DECLINE OF THE I”
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The recent Gojira outputs haven’t been doing much at all for me but fuck is that album cover cool. As for Vreid, I’ve always rooted for these guys but they’ve never seemed to put out anything above generic Windir worship, which is too bad because they’re talented musicians, the preview track does sound pretty cool and I’m hopping this is the album where they find a more original sound.
Ha, I couldn’t disagree more about Vreid. They were great for the first five-or-so albums – far spikier, thrashier, and more militaristic than Windir – but then they started to get soft and tried to be all things to all people and lost their way. I’m hoping that the new one regains some of the edge of their earlier stuff but… only time will tell.
yeah that is funny, different strokes and all that. But yeah, I do hope that this album is killer
Having heard it all in full now… my initial impression is that it’s MUCH better than the preceding two. Has a lot more bite and energy and feels a lot more confident (they’ve obviously got a better sense of direction and a lot more confidence).
There’s still a few bits and pieces where their desire to be… something else… causes issues (there’s a song where they clearly aim for a more Tribulation-y sound, that just falls flat, despite some good riffs, and another instance that stands out where a great track is stopped dead by a really awkward bit of what they clearly think is proggy “cleverness”) and that kind of reminds me of modern Sepultura, where they can’t seem to get out of their own way and just write a killer record without tripping over their own ambition(s).
But overall… it’s definitely an upswing. I’ll probably give it a proper review closer to the release date, just because (for the first time in a while) my response is pretty positive.
I didn’t get as down on them as Andy did with their most recent releases, but I especially like the way this new song sounds.
Getting a really heavy Insomnium vibe from “We Drift On,” which is interesting–it’s not something I’d necessarily expect from The Crown. Looking forward to the release of Royal Destroyer!
It surprised me too, but I think it’s extremely cool.
It’s been 13 (holy fuck) years since I’ve truly loved a Gojira album, but if the two singles they’ve put out in the past few months are any indication, that drought may be ending in April.