SHADES OF BLACK: LORD MANTIS, SKELETHAL, INFESTUS, SARGEIST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Mar 032014
 

This round-up of news and new music is skewed toward the especially dark, depraved, nihilistc end of the extreme metal spectrum, hence the name “Shades of Black”, even though only two of the bands march under the black metal banner.

LORD MANTIS

Once you’ve seen Jef Whitehead’s cover for the new album by Chicago’s Lord Mantis, you really don’t forget it. I splashed it across the top of our site when it became public about two weeks ago, though back then I hadn’t yet heard any of the music from Death Mask. Now I have, and man, it makes a scarring impression, too.

The song that premiered last Friday is the album’s searing opening track, “Body Choke”. Three things about it stand out. First, there’s the visceral pounding of the rhythm section, with Charlie Fell’s bass and Bill Bumgardner’s drumming interacting like men at work on a demolition project. Second, there are Fell’s vocals, which sound like a man drowning in sulfuric acid. And third, there are the doomed, devastating, degraded riffs; they create a choking, noxious atmosphere.

You will want to headbang. You may also want to open a vein. Continue reading »

LORD MANTIS! (“DEATH MASK” IS COMING)

 Metal News  7 Responses »
Feb 182014
 

If Facebook had a problem with one nipple on Benighted’s album cover, I can barely imagine their reaction to this baby (I’m thinking heart attack, stroke, and rectal prolapse all at once). It’s the demented cover art by tattooist/musician Jef Whitehead (Leviathan, Twilight) for Death Mask, the forthcoming album by Chicago’s Lord Mantis. Today, Profound Lore disclosed additional info about the album, which is on my highly anticipated list.

Even before seeing the latest news, the album was already on my mind, based on a brief conversation I had with the band’s bassist/vocalist Charlie Fell following a stellar Abigail Williams set in Seattle last Friday. Fell is the drummer for Abigail Williams on that band’s current tour, and in a turnabout-is-fair-play kind of arrangement, Abigail Williams’ frontman/guitarist Ken Sorceron is the newest member of Lord Mantis. Rounding out the Lord Mantis line-up are guitarist/vocalist Andrew Markuszewski (Avichi) and drummer Bill Bumgardner (Indian).

2012’s Pervertor was horrifying. I shudder to think what this particular foursome have accomplished on the new album.

The additional info disclosed today, in addition to the cover art and album title, is that Death Mask will be released on April 29 and that it consists of 54 minutes of disturbing, nihilistic punishment recorded by Sanford Parker, who seems to record almost everything worth hearing that emanates from Chicago. Continue reading »

THE ABCs OF THINGS I MISSED IN 2012

 Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  25 Responses »
Nov 162012
 

(Guest contributor Kaptain Carbon is getting a head start on year-end listmania with a most amusing review of albums he missed earlier in the year. Despite the fact that I laughed out loud on numerous occasions, I haven’t forgotten that the Kaptain owes me a Russian Nesting Doll. Some things you don’t forget.)

Well, I am now a guest in another person’s house. I should take my shoes off and pretend I eat with my pants on. No Clean Singing put out a call for entries and usually I would be hosting board game night in my basement over at Tape Wyrm but now I am here. What a lovely house you have. I really love your collection of Russian Nesting Dolls. Oh dear, I think this one may be broken. I’ll set it down right here.

2012 is almost done and we will soon all be judged before the great cosmic eye. Before our fate is weighed on the gilded scales at an altar of ivory and blood, we all have to go through our end of the year lists. Yes, before the inevitable reckoning, where December is consumed in an omnipresence hellfire, we have to make our top 10s of 2012. Now, we all know it will probably go to the new Marilyn Manson record, but there is also the matter of the stacks of records which now make a castle on your coffee table. Look at this mess. Look at all of this stuff you said you were going to listen to but never did. You are a horrible human. I found this Abigail Williams record in the vegetable crisper.

I recently went through my library and pulled out all of the 2012 records I meant to review but never got around to doing so because I am a terrible metal-hating human being who secretly loves everything which you hate. I just want to make sure I did not miss anything, so I am going to go through this pile of laundry and rifle through its contents before throwing it back on the ground. Sure, things will still be messy, but there was production involved.

It is time to revisit the forgotten, at least by me, and the never-heard of 2012. Sure, No Clean Singing is giving me a wonderful opportunity to share some of my work with you, but let’s be honest, I woke up late and I am doing my homework while running to class. Thank you No Clean Singing for this opportunity and fuck you, you motherfucking stupid cocksucking alarm WHERE ARE MY KEYS? Continue reading »

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