Between last night and this morning, I finally found a little time to resume my usual spelunking through the interhole in search of metal nuggets of interest worth sharing. And here are a few of the items I found.
FINNTROLL
I found that Finland’s Finntroll have been rolling out versions of the cover art for their forthcoming, as-yet-untitled 2013 album. The artist is Samuli “Skrymer” Ponsimaa (whose FB page is here). They began with a pencil sketch of the cover and today they added the fully inked version that you see above. Presumably, we will eventually get the color version (the images are appearing on Finntroll’s FB page). Fuckin’ cool, no? To see a larger version of the art, click the image above.
NECROWRETCH
I first discovered (and wrote about) this French duo a year ago when I saw they had been based solely on two demos (in 2009 and 2010) and a four-song EP in 2011 — Putrefactive Infestation, which I reviewed in that first post. Later, I also reviewed a two-song 7″ named Now You’re In Hell. I’ve been looking forward to their debut album, Putrid Death Sorcery, scheduled for release in North America on February 5 (order here). I previously featured the eye-catching album art by Montenegran artist Milovan Novakovic (which you can see again next).
The new thing I found this morning from Necrowretch is a stream of the new album’s title track, which premiered on the DECIBEL site. It’s loaded up with brutally grinding guitars, rumbling percussion, and clawing, blackened vocals. It’s tempo-dynamic and also includes a melodic guitar solo that oozes occult atmosphere.
As DECIBEL noted in its introduction, the music is “decidedly violent and altogether evilly incandescent”. It’s as impressive as I have been hoping and expecting. This album has the earmarks of one of the new year’s best blackened death releases. Go HERE to check it out and then come back and let me know what you think. And below you’ll find another track from the album that premiered in December.
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SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP
This really is a day for killer album art. What you see above is the cover for a new album named Opium Morals by California’s Seven Sisters of Sleep. This will be the band’s second full-length, and it’s scheduled for a March 20 release on 12″ vinyl and CD by A389 Recordings. Having been captivated by the album art, I took the next logical step and checked out a song from the album that has recently been lifted onto Bandcamp.
“Reaper Christ” is powerful music, a genre-straddling creation that includes elements of sludge and hardcore, acid and concrete. It’s brutally heavy and as caustic as lye. It’s also pretty fuckin’ infectious. Check it out below.
http://www.facebook.com/sevensistersofsleep
http://a389recordings.bandcamp.com/album/a389-125-seven-sisters-of-sleep-opium-morals-12-cd
[bandcamp track=3482289534 bgcol=000000 linkcol=4285BB size=venti]