OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 17): MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY, REBEL WIZARD, SIELUNVIHOLLINEN

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  2 Responses »
Feb 092021
 

 

There’s not much rhyme or reason as to why I grouped these three songs together. Other than the fact that each of them includes some really nasty ear-shredding vocals, they’re very different from each other musically. I guess it’s a matter of me realizing that I’m running out of time to finish this list (though it’s more a matter of making myself stop than really finishing), and I just want to pack in as many of the songs that really grabbed me last year as I can. Hope you like them too.

MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY

This slasher-film side-project of Anaal Nathrakh’s Mick Kenney, Fukpig’s The Void,  and perhaps other members of those bands, certainly struck a chord with listeners last year. Make Them Die Slowly released not one but two albums in 2020 (Ferox and The Bodycount Continues…), plus a hell of a good Christmas single (“Silent Night, Murder Night“), and as far as I can tell, people loved the shit out of all of it. I sure as hell did. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS, SIELUNVIHOLLINEN, KANGEHEET, PROSANCTUS INFERI, FIDES INVERSA

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
May 242020
 

 

As you can see, I’ve managed to complete the second Part of today’s column in time to post it in its usual Sunday space. I hope you’ll find everything here as exciting as I have.

ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS

2020 has been a miserable year in most respects, but a great year for the Icelandic/German band Árstíðir lífsins. They contributed a tremendous song to Aldrnari, the tremendous album-length split with Carpe Noctem (reviewed here) that was released in April, and on Friday they digitally released their new album Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir (physical editions will follow from Ván Records). It is (you guessed it) tremendous. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEVOID OF THOUGHT, SLAVES BC, EXCRUCIATION, AMBER TEARS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Mar 272019
 

 

I wasn’t sure I would have a time for a round-up this week, given the continuing press of my day job, but I did manage to pull this one together based on some late-night listening over the last couple of evenings. If I stay up late enough and wake up early enough, I find that I’m still able to squeeze in something like this, despite having a lot fewer daylight hours to call my own. Here we go:

DEVOID OF THOUGHT

In October 2017 we premiered a demo named Astral Necrosis by the Italian band Devoid of Thought, whose name I thought would also describe the mental state of listeners exposed to the demo’s three tracks. The music was a whipsawing amalgam of death metal and thrash, with the kind of fireball instrumental performances and brain-spinning intricacy that might lead one to slap a “progressive” label on the ingredients as well — except the music seemed too maniacal and vicious for that word. It was insanely good, and also just insane. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): GODS FORSAKEN, KĀLA, SAMHARA, TARGET, SIELUNVIHOLLINEN, ULTRA SILVAM

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Feb 052019
 

 

Yesterday I learned of the postponement of an album premiere I had expected to write for today. If I had a less obsessive personality, I would have used that unexpected free time to go for a walk through the uncommon snow that turned the forested area where I live into a wonderland (because most workplaces, including mine, were closed down yesterday — because a little snow works like a paralytic agent on the City of Seattle). Instead, I spun my way through a couple dozen new songs… while occasionally staring out the window at the brilliance of that uncommon snow.

As you can already tell, since this is Part 1 of something I worked up, I liked quite a lot of what I heard, and thought you might too. I’m confident there will be a second Part… but not sure about a third… it depends on whether the snow melts and the paralysis loosens.

GODS FORSAKEN

What a very nice coincidence. Almost exactly one year ago we were anointing a song from this Swedish band’s debut album (In A Pitch Black Grave) as one of 2017’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs, and a year and a day after that event they released the first single from their second album. And damned if it isn’t already a contender for the 2019 edition of that list. Continue reading »