Hello, readers!
Feeling the quarantine fatigue yet? Enjoying all those ads for branded masks? Pumped for you next Zoom call? Ready to start laughing maniacally out your window at the nearest unfortunate animal?
I hope your time in (relative) isolation is passing by decently and that this message finds you well. To help you in this effort, here are five selections from this week’s glut of new releases.
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ACxDC – Satan Is King
I love this band for a few reasons. First and foremost, their insanely violent form of grindcore is just so obnoxious. It’s the perfect embodiment of the run-of-the-mill complaint against this music. “It’s all just angry thrashing and screaming!” “How can you call that music!” Ha Ha, distortion pedal go brrrr. Also, I love the stones on these guys for picking their name. What a great way to scramble search algorithms.
Stream: Apple Music
Ashtar – Kaikuja
Eisenwald strikes yet again with another serving of black metal glory for 2020. Ashtar is a Swiss duo that takes hypnotic black metal riffs and inserts moments of crushing doom to mix things up. Kaikuja is their follow-up to their 2015 debut, Ilmasaari.
Horisont – Sudden Death
When it comes to straightforward rock music, I tend to look on new bands with a cynical eye. The genre is mostly spent, and we’ve been burned over and over again with false revivals. But man, bands like this really know how to keep the faith and fire burning. Horisont’s got it all: great vocals, perfect production, solid writing, and a fun mix of Thin Lizzy, Queen and Boston to bring that spirit back. Their use of piano flourishes in just fantastic as well. It’s a crowded marketplace of pretenders out there, but hopefully this leaves a mark.
Stream: Apple Music
Paradise Lost – Obsidian
Giants, heroes, gods. We’re big devotees of Paradise Lost here at Decibel, and the band keeps rewarding us with it’s late-career Renaissance. The songs have all the heaviness you could want as a fan of the early albums, yet retain a thoughtful, deeply touching quality that has always made Paradise Lost more than “just another doom band.” Nick Holmes alternates between growls and cleans at all the right moments, and uses melodies to help craft songs that carry all the weight of our present grave moment. It’s also very cool of the band to retain the initial release date as well. It’s just what we all needed right now.
Stream: Apple Music
Voodoo Gods – The Divinity of Blood
Corpsegrinder really just makes everything better, doesn’t he? Ok, maybe some styles wouldn’t work so well, but I’m yet to have that proven to me. The Divinity of Blood is the latest serving from this somewhat proggy blend of death, power and thrash. Check out our interview with drummer, Alex, from earlier this month!
Stream: Apple Music
