Quantity and quality from the more underground side of metal this week friends. this week's edition includes the reunion album from a band that really liked reuniting live, deathcore finest, (perhaps) one of the greatest releases of the year, and many many more. To the metals…
Dog Fashion Disco – Sweet Nothings
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal
Origin: Rockville, Maryland
Label: Razor to Wrist
Buy now on Amazon.com
Maryland's favorite serial killer obsessed ska/metal/circus music band has returned with their new album since their 2007 demise. Mind you, they basically had a reunion show every year and some members remained very active with Polkadot Cadaver, which can sound pretty similar. Having said that, fans of early-mid DFD should be pretty stoked.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqi43SuoGhY[/youtube]
Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails
Genre: Atmospheric death metal
Origin: San Francisco, California
Label: Unique Leader
Buy now on Amazon.com
You'll be sick of hearing about how great this album is soon enough. Few bands, if any, can match the blend of beautiful ambiance, crushing death metal and technicality that Fallujah presents on this album. I'll have a full review on the site soon (or now?) and you can read my gushing further.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLPHSpHvSUA[/youtube]
Fozzy – Do You Wanna Start A War
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Atlanta, Georgia
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon.com
I remember when Fozzy was just some novelty band that Y2J had in the WWE (WWF at the time). The band has really grown into a legit band that walks the line between power metal and driving heavy metal. The included track isn't their best, but the band's previous material gives the rest of the new album some potential.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9aKjbRIJ_k[/youtube]
Ill Nino – Til Death, La Familia
Genre: Latin metal
Origin: New Jersey
Label: Victory
Buy now on Amazon.com
You know how bands mature with age? They'll usually become more poetic or tactful with their words as they grow older and wiser. If "Not Alive in My Nightmare" is any indication, Ill Nino has regressed a lil' bit. Musically, they don't stray much from what works, and why would they? It does kinda work well for them. Sidenote: I fucking LOVED Confession so there is a bit of a guilty pleasure fueled curiosity for the rest of this new album.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6AaLQuZYKg[/youtube]
King of Asgard – Karg
Genre: Viking metal
Origin: Mjolby, Sweden
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
It's amazing how so many Viking bands can sound fairly similar, and the good ones have just enough different about them to make them worth sticking with. King of Asgard sound like if Amon Amarth had more of an affinity for black metal song progressions and attitude. Fucking awesome without needing to reinvent the wheel.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4U2H2KgThE[/youtube]
Mutilation Rites – Harbinger
Genre: Black metal
Origin: New York City, New York
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now on Amazon.com
I wasn't expecting this. That whole book by its cover thing really rings true with this band. Their album cover doesn't really make me thing I'm about to get an earful of straight-up grim black metal. I expected more psychedelic weirdness than NYC Kvlt.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKDpXO0NSN0[/youtube]
Nidsang – Into the Womb of Dissolving Flames
Genre: Black metal
Origin: Sundsvall, Sweden
Label: Pulverised
Buy now on Amazon.com
This band's first album in seven years is just as icy and evil as their last. Also, let's compare Nidsang to Mutilation Rites. These bands are perfect examples of how similar approaches to a similar idea can still turn out completely different. Both bands have blasting, similar song transitions, attitude, etc, but they sound completely different. I love metal for this sort of thing.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB0AYx8HUeE[/youtube]
Overkill – White Devil Armory
Genre: Thrash
Origin: New York City, New York
Label: eOne
Buy now on Amazon.com
These long-running fist-pumping metal titans are here with their seventeenth album of their thirty-plus year career. Their one of few bands that can sound like the grizzled veterans they are, while remaining modern enough to stay relevant.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZD8VIyj95Q[/youtube]
Within The Ruins – Phenomena
Genre: Deathcore
Origin: Westfield, Massachusetts
Label: eOne
Buy now on Amazon.com
Innovation often transcends a band in their genre. The guitar work of Joe Cocchi, and this band's overall song writing prevents them from being just another deathcore scene band. Yes, they still totally are a deathcore scene band, but they're the one band of their type you should give a shit about. Nate has a full review here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RCBA2Q0LLM[/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Ancient Altar – Ancient Altar (Midnite Collective)
Bastard Feast – Osculum Infame (Season Of Mist)
Boneyard – Fear of a Zombie Planet (HPGD)
Corrupt Moral Altar – Mechanical Tides (Season Of Mist)
Crown the Empire – The Resistance: Rise of the Runaways (Rise)
The Dagger – The Dagger (Century Media)
Downset – One Blood (Self) Echoes – The Pursuit (Universal Warning)
Electric Funeral – Total Funeral (Southern Lord)
Empyrium – The Turn of the Tides (Prophecy)
Entrails – Resurrected From the Grave (Demo Collection) (Metal Blade)
Exxxekutioner – Fear The Priest (Ulthar)
Forevermore – Telos (Solid State)
(Hed)pe – Evolution (Pavement)
Keitzer – The Last Defence (FDA Rekotz)
Martyrdod – Elddop (Southern Lord)
Monarch – Sabbracadaver (Profound Lore)
Monolithe – 0 (Debemur Morti)
Monolithe – II Re-Release (Debemur Morti)
Omnihility – Deathscapes of the Subconscious (Unique Leader)
Provoke, Destroy – Vulture (Indianola)
Rage Nucleaire – 'Black Storm of Violence (Season Of Mist)
Schammasch – Contradiction (Prosthetic)
Silent Screams – Hope For Now (Artery)
Spina Bifida – Ziyadah Re-Release (Memento Mori)
Varga – Return Of The Metal (Vargantuan)
Vices – New Breed (Melotov)