Gimme Metal's Brian Turner plates up this week's mandatory listening.
Battle Born – "Blood And Fire"
The sheer sorcery of Battle Born, bathed in blood in this video, scales some grand heights. Flashing swords, leads, and art direction by Stan-W Decker (Blue Öyster Cult, Powerwolf, etc.) leave little to the imagination as to where these guys are galloping: crisp production, soaring vocals, an all around blast of the power metal cannon for 2023. Blood, Magic, Fire and Steel is out in May on Prosthetic.
Haunt – "Fight the Good Fight"
The ever-prolific Trevor Church and company have been churning out LPs (six since 2017 plus some EPs!) and the latest blast shows Haunt at continued best taking all the great signposts of traditional heavy metal and wrapping them up with a big bow. Live guitarist Andy Lei chimes in with some amazing contributions to Church’s almost scientific songwriting skills, Rock steady output, always welcome on the Gimme netwaves.
Cattle Decapitation – "We Eat Our Young"
Cattle Decapitation swing directions this time around, swooping in with a lot more ambiance/dramatic flair to augment their gutpunch. Bright as well as brooding, Dave Otero runs the production once again, but extra synths appear courtesy Midnight Odyssey's Tony Parker. It’s to powerful effect, and we should garner some more insight when ‘Terrasite’ hits on Metal Blade May 12. PLUS! The band is back for yet another guest DJ blast on Gimme, so mark your cals for Wednesday April 5 and pre-order the record first in the Gimme store!!
Jesus Piece – "Tunnel Vision"
Unlike most metalcore, Jesus Piece enhance their brutish/hard-as-nails attack with a surrealist blanket of discord and nebulous confusion. Disorienting you out of the gate, “Tunnel Vision” quickly gets down to biz with every thwack and squeal amplified to illuminate their hyper-precision, all the while putting the equal spotlight on chaos. Vocal delivery mirrors the instrumental blast of no-holds-barred violence, these Phillyfolk are on a rising star with no doubt. So Unknown hits April 14 on Century Media.
To The Grave – "Cut Off The Head"
Director’s Cuts (out on Unique Leader) is the sophomore album from Australia's latest deathcore champs To The Grave. For fans of Chelsea Grin, Brand of Sacrifice, Thy Art is Murder and Vulvodynia, there’s no lack of power, vocals hissing and gurgling at the switch of a knob while some doom keys flank an outrageous rhythm crew. Check them out for a group guest DJ blast on Monday, February 27 3 ET/12pm PT (Tuesday 7 Oz time).
