Aug 032024
 


Opeth photo by Terhi Ylimäinen

Raise your hand if you’re surprised that I’m starting this Saturday’s roundup with Opeth‘s new song.

Okay, I see no hands. Well, almost none; I see my own because I’m a self-taught typist and therefore hunt and peck.

But I’ll try to be more surprising after we talk about Opeth.

OPETH (Sweden)

Based on the small dose of social media I’ve seen, Opeth‘s first single from their next album is proving to be divisive. (I can only stomach social media in small doses, like beets or eggplant). In one camp are people who are unhappy with the dominating return of Mikael Åkerfeldt‘s death growls for the first time since Watershed. In the other camp are those who’ve welcomed the return with open arms and gleeful grins. Can you guess which camp I’m in? Continue reading »

Jun 142022
 

When you begin to hear the music on Maul‘s forthcoming debut album Seraphic Punishment, you’ll realize just how perfect Jason Barnett‘s cover painting really is. The imagery is a macabre bestiary, horrifically detailed and hideous in its manifold visions, and yet crafted with pastel rather than hellish colors to portray its paranormal panorama.

Like that artwork, Maul‘s album is also ghastly, a Pandora’s box of death metal horrors that take various blood-congealing shapes. But it’s also a bone-smasher, and fiendishly infectious, and the songwriting is so dynamically good that it causes the album to stand out, just like the artwork’s color scheme.

Like the name of the song we’re premiering today — “Repulsive Intruder” — Maul present themselves as repulsive intruders, but you can’t help but invite them to stay. They might ruin your home, but you’ll have a fucking great time watching them do it. Continue reading »