Gruesome
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Born from their involvement with the Death To All tours, the members of Gruesome got together to create a celebration of sound, the sound of early Death records. It is without a doubt so eerily close to the sound of a real death record, you could easily pass it off as “the missing 1989 Death album”. They’re still in the infant stages with a debut album on the way (which may wind up on Relapse Records), but you can check out the demo track below and see what I mean.
Dead Empires
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Dead Empires are an instrumental 3 piece that uses just the right Shred To Jam ratio. Whenever someone asks me about this band I usually say “It’s sort of like Russian Circles, with more balls”. I recommend you see them live to get the full effect, and to see their massive balls.
Void Ritual
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When I first heard the dark, cold, and vacant sounds of Void Ritual I somehow imagined them to hail from an unheard corner of earth. Perhaps a dark cave in Norway where they get 2 mins of sun light per year? Nope! Who would have guessed I’d be writing about the best new black metal band I’ve heard, coming from Albuquerque, New Mexico! Holodomor is my favorite black metal release of the year. So good I purchased it from the band to take it everywhere with me, and you should buy it too!
Priapus
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If you’re into great death-grind bands like Magrudergrind, Maruta, Assuck, etc then this is a band you need to keep on your radar. They’re face pummeling of the worst kind; unapologetic face pummeling! Download everything they have, DO IT NOW!
Fixtures
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I saw this band at my favorite Richmond VA venue, Strange Matter, and they managed to hook me before the end of their first song. They have this distant melodic trance thing going on reminiscent of bands like ISIS, and Mose Giganticus. That sort of thing doesn't always work for me, but Fixtures kills it and are usually the breath of fresh air to whatever line up they’re on. I'm not entirely sure if this band is active or on hiatus, but they ought to get their shit together and release an album already!
