VIDEO ROUND-UP: TALANAS, CATTLE DECAPITATION, THANATOLOGY, AND SON OF AURELIUS

I’ve got four recent videos for you from four very good bands that are worth hearing and seeing. Without further ado:

TALANAS

We introduced many of you to Talanas through Andy Synn’s NCS review of their 2011 debut album, The Waspkeeper, which you can (and should) read at this location. To borrow a few of Andy’s words, their “fusion of raging death-metal ferocity and moody, gothic melancholy – sprinkled with moments of blackened despair – echoes the eclectic, experimental sounds of Septic Flesh, the unerring power and passion of Novembers Doom and the gothic grandeur of My Dying Bride . . . .”

However, The Waspkeeper was not Talanas’ first release. In 2010, they produced a three-song EP titled Reason & Abstract. In recent days, the band released their second official music video, and they reached back to that EP for the song – “Diaphora”.

Andy’s shorthand description of The Waspkeeper fairly captures the blend of styles on “Diaphora”, too. It’s definitely loaded with raging death metal ferocity, powered by jolting low-end rhythms, flashy guitar workouts, and Hal Sinden’s voracious growls and roars. But there are contrasting sections that feature Hal’s clean vocals and a dark, brooding melody. You know what I generally think about clean vocals in metal, but this juxtaposition works for Talanas. Watch and listen right after the jump.
 

 

CATTLE DECAPITATION

I can’t imagine any educated metalhead who’s unaware of this band’s new album, Monolith of Inhumanity. It’s gotten huge buzz in extreme metal circles because it’s hugely good. The next video is Cattle Decap performing a song from the new album on May 9 at The Plea For Peace Center in Stockton, California. Capital Chaos did the multi-camera filming and uploaded this for our collective viewing pleasure.

If you’ve never seen Travis Ryan and company in the flesh, brace yourselves. The song is “Dead Set On Suicide”.
 

 

THANATOLOGY

I found this next video thanks to a recommendation from the afore-mentioned Cattle Decap on their Facebook page (and in fact, rumor has it that Travis Ryan provided some guest vocals on the band’s 2006 demo). I wasn’t familiar with the band before watching it, but have since learned that they’re from Tijuana, Mexico, and they have one release out so far — a 2008 EP titled La Clinica de lo Grotesco. However, they’re on the verge of releasing a second EP, Los Barberos Cirujanos, via a label called Negligent Records, and this video is for a song from the new release called “Eclesia Abhorret a Sanguine”.

These dudes look like they’re ready to operate, and they’re not afraid of getting messy with your blood. The music is a nice blast of raucous goregrind. Sounds like the EP will be fun.
 

 

You can find Thanatology on Facebook via this link.

SON OF AURELIUS

We’ve written about California’s Son of Aurelius multiple times at NCS (those posts are collected here). Their 2010 debut album The Farthest Reaches turned lots of heads, and we’ve been eagerly waiting for the follow-up.

Late last week, the band released a teaser video for a new song that will appear on the next album. This is a “pre-production” video, which means in this case that the song lacks vocals and uses programmed drums, but the music will still spin your head and kick your ass. Unfortunately, it’s less than the full song, but I’m so stoked for the next album that I’ve got to include it here anyway:
 

 

There’s still no definite word about a projected release date for the new album, but it seems likely we’ll have it this year. To keep track of the band’s progress, check out their Facebook page here and their official site here.