SEEN AND HEARD: ARTILLERY, THE OCEAN, “AUTUMN ANNIHILATION”

Here’s a collection of recent items that seemed worth sharing with our esteemed readers, as well as you.

ARTILLERY

I know we have thrash heads in the audience, and for you we present as a public service a new song from Denmark’s Artillery. For those of you born after 1982, Artillery have been recording music since before you were born. For those of you who don’t look both ways before crossing the street, they may still be recording music after you have left this veil of tears. Their seventh album, Legions, will be released by Metal Blade in the US on November 26, and on somewhat earlier dates elsewhere. It features a new vocalist, Michael Bastholm Dahl, and a new drummer, Josua Madsen, along with original guitarists Morten and Michael Stützer and longtime bassist Peter Thorslund.

Yesterday, an advance track was made available for streaming. The introduction to “Chill My Bones (Burn My Flesh)”, with its hand drums and exotic melody, is a surprise, and an immediate hook into the rest of the song. Thrash lives or dies by the power of the riff, and this song has got some good ones going on. I’m also told by a long-time fan of the band that the new vocalist is reminiscent of former vocalist Flemming Rönsdorf, last heard from on the band’s fourth album in 1999.

Legions can be pre-ordered here. Artillery’s Facebook page is at this location. Here’s the new song:

 

THE OCEAN

Thanks to a tip from BadWolf, I learned about this announcement by The Ocean: At some point between now and the end of this year, they intend to drown their fans in 500 minutes of audiovisual content. That’s right, Collective Oblivion is a three-CD set that the band plan to release and have now made available for pre-order here. It includes film of three complete concerts (21 songs in all), tour documentaries, 130 minutes of band history as told by past and present band members, previously unreleased video clips for two tracks off Anthropocentric, and more. There’s also a 30-page booklet. Holy shit, that’s a lot of stuff. Here’s a trailer for Collective Oblivion:

 

 

AMERICAN AFTERMATH: “AUTUMN ANNIHILATION”

This morning I saw that the American Aftermath blog has assembled a compilation of songs from 12 bands in the general territory of doom and sludge that they’ve just made available for free download on Bandcamp. I’m making a note about it here not simply because the music is free — because who wants to lard up their hard drive with crap even if it’s costless? — but because what I’ve heard on this so far is really good. I was already a fan of four of these bands — Vulgaari, Nonsun, Primitive Man, and National Sunday Law — and this comp is proving to be a good introduction to others as well.

You can see the track list below and then stream the music. To download Autumn Annihilation, go here:

http://americanaftermathsound.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-annihilation

Love Sex Machine – “Fucking Battle”
Vulgaari – “Battlestag”
Cowards – “Smell Of An Addict“
Red Apolllo – “Transgression I: The Obsession Of The Earth”
Mammoth Salmon – “Magnetic Fields Of Radiant Light”
Olde Growth – “Tears Of Blood”
Montezuma’s Revenge – “Anti-Entity”
Nonsun – “Rain Have Mercy”
Primitive Man – “I Am Above You”
Wizard Fight – “Wizard Of Black”
National Sunday Law – “Theriocephalic”
Verdun – “Last Man Standing”

 

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