WHAT I’M LISTENING TO SO FAR THIS YEAR – PART 1

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  37 Responses »
Feb 262014
 

(Guest writer, deluded NY Giants fan, and hard man to please KevinP rejoins us with the first installment of what may become a series.)

 2013 was a high water mark for metal releases. Seemingly it would be hard for 2014 to match up. But we are already off to a damn good start. Here’s a few things that have ‘wet my whistle’ so far.

MORBUS CHRON – SWEVEN

After carving out their own identity as more than just a “Sweden meets Autopsy” via their A Saunter in the Shroud EP, I was pretty excited for their follow-up sophomore full-length. Much to my surprise, they’ve taken a left turn and kinda gone the route that Tribulation did with The Formulas of Death. A brave move by a young band that’s willing to take chances, stick its neck out, and not just be “another old school death metal band”.

Sweven is out now in Europe and will be released in North America on March 4 by Century Media. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ALFAHANNE, INTEGRITY, DYSCARNATE, MORBUS CHRON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 162014
 

I intended to post this round-up of recommended new things yesterday, and even then the news and new music included herein was a bit dated. But life got in the way and I wasn’t able to finish it until now. In the meantime, even more new things hit my fractured radar screen. And so, if life will just stay out of the way, I’ll have another round-up for you later today.

ALFAHANNE

According to a press release I received, Alfahanne are a Swedish band formed in 2010 with members who have been in the black metal scene since the early 90’s in bands such as Vinterland and Maze of Torment — Pehr Skioldhammer (vox and guitar), Fredrik Sööberg (guitars), Niklas Åström (drums), and Jimmy Wiberg (bass). They released a split named Grym with Sweden’s Shining last year, which I haven’t heard. They’ve now recorded a debut album, Alfapokalyps, which is due for release via Dark Essence on February 10 in both CD and vinyl formats (orderable here).

In addition to featuring eye-catching cover art (above), the album includes guest vocal contributions from Niklas Kvarforth (Shining), V’gandr (Helheim), and Hoest (Taake). Recently, the band started streaming an advance track named “Såld På Mörkret”, which includes Hoest’s contribution as a vocalist. It’s a helluva song. Continue reading »

SATURDAY SINGLES FROM MORBUS CHRON AND ERIMHA

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 072012
 

In this post are two new tracks I came across at different times this week that I thought were worth sharing, and now is as good a time as any.

MORBUS CHRON

I never got around to reviewing this Swedish band’s 2011 debut album, Sleepers In the Rift, but I sure as hell did enjoy it. It was a real throw-back, as in throwing all the way back to Autopsy’s first couple of albums. It had a genuine air of authenticity, and the songs were really varied and just a whole helluva lot of fun to hear.

In March of this year, Century Media announced they had signed Morbus Chron, with plans to release a second full-length in 2013. To tide fans over until then, Morbus Chron recorded a three-song EP — A Saunter Through the Shroud — that Century Media will be releasing in limited numbers on July 23 as a 10″ vinyl. The cover art is above. For now, it appears the EP can only be obtained by pre-order from the European site for CM Distro here.

Earlier this week, the German Rockhard magazine web site (here) premiered a song from the EP called “Channeling the Numinous”. It begins with an attention-grabbing drum roll and a blast of chainsaw grinding and then it falls off a cliff into a pit of slowly boiling gore, spiced with death-prog guitar leads, ghastly mid-range vocals, and a head-whipping solo. Awesome song. Give it a spin after the jump.

Continue reading »

MORE 2011 SICKNESS (PART 10)

 Forthcoming Albums  40 Responses »
Oct 012011
 

September is behind us. Here in Seattle, it was such a beautiful month that it seemed like nature’s compensation for how late the summer started. Unfortunately, with September’s end, we’re on a short track to the onset of winter, which means about six months of short, cold, grey, ceaselessly wet days. Ain’t that just fuckin’ great?

Well, bitchin’ about the winter ahead won’t change one fucking thing. I prefer to think instead about the deluge of new metal that’s headed our way and try (momentarily) to forget about the deluge of rain on the horizon. Which brings us to the latest monthly edition of METAL IN THE FORGE.

You know the drill:  In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album before August, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. As usual, also feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that you’re stoked about. Continue reading »