AN NCS PREMIERE: MUTILATE — “DECAPITATOR”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 032019
 

 

There’s a cold, cruel, primitive quality in the music of New York-based Mutilate, like the death-metal parallel to some massive night-stalking predator that can’t be escaped and can’t be reasoned with, and then there’s the added fear factor that the red eyes you see just before being mauled aren’t a product of the natural world.

The band’s new album, Contagium, follows hot on the heels of their 2018 full-length Tormentium, and is set for release on June 7th by Iron Bonehead Productions. A couple of songs from Contagium have surfaced so far, and we have one more today — “Decapitator” — which is a prime example of the primeval monstrousness that dwells within Mutilate’s music. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: OCTOBER TIDE, NOCTURNUS AD, MUTILATE, THE CORONA LANTERN, ATARAXIE, EVEN VAST, PLAGUE WEAVER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Mar 242019
 

 

Yes, I know it’s Sunday, but I did listen to all the selections in this round-up on Saturday. I just didn’t get this post finished in time to launch it yesterday.

I listened to a lot of other things yesterday, too. Some of that will find its way into the usual SHADES OF BLACK column later today. Other songs and videos were also interesting, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Drawing lines gives me a headache, especially because I know that Monday will begin another week filled with new songs and videos on top of those from last week that I failed to get to, and another week when my day job (again) probably won’t leave me enough time for round-ups.

Doom plays a role in all of the following songs, which factored into my line-drawing, but the sounds of suffering play quite different roles from song to song.

OCTOBER TIDE

In their 25th year October Tide are releasing a new album, which founding guitarist Fredrik Norrman describes as “a bit more aggressive, a bit more death metal, and with an overall colder feeling than previous records”. His brother, guitarist Mattias, is still in harness, as is vocalist Alexander Högbom, but since the band’s last album they’ve added a new bassist (Johan Jönsegård) and a new drummer (Jonas Sköld), both of whom are also members of Letters From the Colony (who seem to have a lot of Meshuggah in their DNA, at least based on this live video from last summer). Continue reading »