OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 3): SPEEDTRAP, SPELLJAMMER, TSJUDER, VHÖL, WINDHAND, GOROD

 

(Here’s Part 3 of Leperkahn’s round-up of new music for this Friday. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here.)

SPEEDTRAP

Prior to finding a full stream of their new album Straight Shooter on Noisey, I hadn’t heard of Finnish troupe Speedtrap. If you’re in the same boat that I was in, I’ll tell you that these guys sound pretty much exactly like you think they will, in that they love Motörhead, as everyone should. This thing is chock full of blazing riffs and cheesy lyrics sung by an oddly bluesy power-metal-type singer — I’m in love.

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/speedtrap-straight-shooter
https://www.facebook.com/speedtrapmetal
https://speedtrap.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPELLJAMMER

I had a passing familiarity with the Swedish doom of Spelljammer prior to finding a stream of their eleven-minute track “Borlung” at Decibel a few days back, but I’ll surely be rapt to hear more from them now. The intriguing cover art for their upcoming album Ancient of Days, due October 2 on RidingEasy, pretty effectively prepares you for what you’ll get on “Borlung” – this brand of doom has a ton of space in it, and feels like it’s being transmitted from some distant corner of the cosmos by a lost, hopeless, lonely wandererer, drifting amidst the space junk. The guitar tone manages to be fuzzy and massive, yet also reigned in and smooth, like it’s coming out of an ‘80s boombox that fell out of the spaceship. It’s truly a track you can get completely lost in. I can’t wait to get even more lost in the rest of the album.

And you can hear another track from the album below.

http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2015/8/28/j-a-m-m-e-r-spelljammer-talk-to-us-and-premiere-borlung
https://www.facebook.com/Spelljammer-9965633340/timeline/
https://spelljammer.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TSJUDER

We recently brought you the North American premiere of the new track “Djevelens Mesterwerk”, the second track to premiere from the new album by these Norwegian black metal mainstays, Antiliv. Stereogum premiered a third track, “Slumber With the Worm”. Here we have yet another dose of Tsjuder’s remarkably consistent brand of scathing black metal, replete with alternating sections of blazing speed and head-pumping groove. Put succinctly, it’s yet another reason to dive for this release like a loose football come September 18.

http://www.stereogum.com/1829424/tsjuder-slumber-with-the-worm-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/
https://www.facebook.com/tsjuderofficial

 

 

 

 

VHÖL

I’ll admit I still haven’t gotten around to checking out this veritable supergroup’s debut, but the cover art for their sophomore effort, Deeper Than Sky (out October 23rd on Profound Lore, with vinyl from Gilead Media coming later) made me stop in my tracks. Frankly the involvement of Mike Scheidt (YOB), John Cobbett (Hammers of Misfortune), Aesop Dekker (Agalloch, Ludicra), and Sigrid Sheie (Hammers of Misfortune) should make any red-blooded metalhead excited.

We were treated to the first advance track, “The Desolate Damned”, via NPR a few days back, and good lord, this track is a goddamn RIPPER. It’s got elements of weird Quebecois thrash a la Voivod, and I gotta say again that I get the feeling of space, though this time we’re burning rubber down a space highway (just go with the mixed metaphor). Scheidt sticks to his higher-range vocals on this track (as opposed to the cavernous roars he also employs when in YOB), but frankly his voice fits in very nicely, even though it’s still odd for me to hear his voice outside the context of doom or folk.

At its core, this is a high speed barn-burner, at least for its first half, before a break comes at around the three-and-a-half minute mark as you steer off the space highway, floating into a sort of ‘70s prog-type solo juxtaposed against ‘80s thrash. Frankly, for a bit it sounds like Jon Lord joined a thrash band on lead guitar. The song closes with the same blazing energy that started it all, leaving you begging for more (or at least another listen of “The Desolate Damned”).

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/09/09/438308865/vikings-choice-vh-l-the-desolate-damned

https://www.facebook.com/vholisvhol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WINDHAND

I’ve been highly anticipating the release of Windhand’s newest album, Grief’s Infernal Flower, ever since it was announced (got me some purdy color vinyl the day preorders launched). The advance tracks and video certainly have not disappointed for me, but now the moment of truth comes, as the album is now streaming in full via NPR. I’ve only had the chance to listen to it once thus far, but I definitely love what I’m hearing. There’s certainly a subtle grunge influence, but the backwoods despair Windhand conjured on Soma still reigns supreme, which is welcome and comforting (as much as I like the subtle grunge tick, too much of it wouldn’t have helped the band very much).

Dorthia Cottrell’s voice is much more present this time as well, though it still has a haunting ethereal quality to it, as it is buttressed by some heavy-as-hell guitar tone. The acoustic tracks on the album, “Sparrow” and “Aition”, once again are stunning, as “Evergreen” was on Soma. I can’t wait to get lost in my vinyl copy of this when I get back to my turntable in Chicago in a couple weeks.

Grief’s Infernal Flower is out September 18th on Relapse.

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/09/438655152/first-listen-windhand-griefs-infernal-flower

https://www.facebook.com/WindhandVA
http://windhand.bigcartel.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

LATE, SOMEWHAT BREAKING NEWS: GOROD

I was about to finish up this long string of posts with Windhand, but just as I was about to start writing about them I saw that a new Gorod track had premiered from A Maze of Recycled Creeds, “Temple of the Art God”. Andy Synn just published a review of the album, so I’ll just direct you there, and say that this song certainly has the funky weirdness he was looking for, and to great effect.

A Maze of Recycled Creeds is out October 16 on Unique Leader and Listenable.

https://www.facebook.com/GorodOfficial?fref=ts
http://gorod.free.fr/