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Sorry, probably came off harsher than intended. They definitely have moments, especially on the early stuff. I've always found the vocals pretty off-putting, and musically I think they fell apart over time, but the way the guitars and drums clicked in on the earlier records was pretty awesome.

FYI - there was supposed to be a link in my Skeletal Remains bleb. Drums: stomp my face hard enough to do this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUnhctEXQAc-65v.jpg

If you need some bonus tracks, I had planned to write about these before life intervened: Palace of Worms - new sick demos, perhaps the first release since shifting away from schizoid black metal to Peaceville-3-style gothic death/doom. I think it's all still played by Balan on the record, but the live band now includes folks from Vastum, Ulthar, and Necrot, so death is clearly in the air. https://palaceofworms.bandcamp.com/album/through-the-dark-arches Khthoniik Cerviiks - supremely sick thrashing black/death from the same dysfunctional corner of the galaxy that gave us Voivoid, with some time dilation warping the production values to sound righteously raw. Hopefully revisiting this un next month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQdZPskVE9k Necrot - they're back, doing what they always do, with all the charm of a rusting knife sawing through rancid steak. Precision death riffs set to hair trigger drums, produced to sound like the brain dead OSDM I crave. None better. https://necrot.bandcamp.com/

Apologies for missing this month, folks, and mega thanks to Wyatt and Ian for all the heavy lifting. (Can't wait to read this when I have 3 spare hours!) Hoping to return next month with a pile of deathly spuds, buttchugs for everyone, etc.

new Paradise Lost is an odd one... I'm a huge fan in general but haven't connected with this one yet. Seems to swerve back to the mid-90s gothic metal sound a bit more than the last couple records, which is fine but I absolutely loved the last two, and this one has a different balance of sounds. Need to circle back and explore further.

Respectfully on my end, too -- I think we're just hung up on semantics. There's so much overlap between various slow and low subgenres, these terms don't mean a whole lot in a vacuum. You could describe a ton of bands as some combination of doom, stoner (stoner metal, stoner rock, desert rock), traditional heavy metal (NWOBHM, US power metal, trad doom), drone, sludge or whatever else. I think of Saint Vitus as a doom band first and foremost (which is how I first described them above), one of the the cornerstone bands of American doom along with Trouble and Pentragram. The SoCal punk and hardcore influence is definitely there, but like every doom band, their whole shtick is just extrapolating certain aspects of Sabbath and building a sound around it. I tossed off "stoner murk" as shorthand to illustrate how vastly different they are from the epic doom of Candlemass, more to do with the riffing style than anything. For what it's worth, Vitus is most often discovered on Spotify through the "Stoner Rock" and "Stoner Metal" playlists; not that those descriptors are correct, either. These terms get thrown around a lot.

Not stoner rock like Kyuss; it’s an early take on stoner doom, which is a pretty wide genre stretching from Sabbath to Yob, with a lot of space in between. We can debate semantics but Saint Vitus pretty much epitomized the burnout / stoner doom vibe on Born Too Late. Like scuzzed up Master of Reality jams, very weedian.

I hear you. Something shifted, and they pulled the vocals to the fore in a way that highlights his voice in a way that doesn’t really work, or it doesn’t work nearly as well as it used to. I came close to covering it anyway this month because the riffs still rule, but it feels like a step in the wrong direction.

King of the Dead and One Foot in Hell are the two best, although Paradise Lost rules in its own way (better production, slightly different style, only marred by a few clunkers). Frost and Fire has more of a 70s metal vibe; it's good too, but less representative of their style. To be honest, the new one might be the easiest to get into for a new listener. It has the beefy production of Paradise Lost and the songwriting covers every style they played in their heyday, with no bad tracks. Pretty remarkable record.

The reddit thread describing the PdH listening party, with some chud chiming in to condemn the poster who dared describe it on the internet, had me in stitches the other day. But I'm with you; can't wait to hear the new one.

As the resident Katatonia supporter, that's on me. I will listen to the new Katatonia because I generally love them, but I'm really not feeling this one. I'd rank it down around Dead End Kings. I don't mind them mixing things up and points for ambition, as always, but it's pretty obvious Jonas wrote the entire thing by himself. Too soft overall, and the attempts to graft on some '80s metal guitar heroics are more interesting from an observational perspective than actually entertaining. But the second single is definitely solid, I'll give 'em that.

Agh. Several days back I wrote a full 200 word blurb for Autumnfall, complete with links and cross references, but it looks like it got swallowed by the void. Here's a crappy bullet point version because I'm lazy: - Autumnfall is the first new metal project in decades from the original guitarist of Fall of the Leafe. -Fall of the Leafe was a sick Finnish band that cranked out 2 magical albums in the late 90's--think melodic black/death stuff with strong pagan folk vibes. -FotL are barely remembered nowadays, but they were kind of a Finnish contemporary and immediate predecessor of Agalloch (FotL's first LP dropped a year before Pale Folklore arrived, and it slays). -More importantly, they basically invented the Obsequiae sound, or at least pulled together a lot of similar influences and landed in the same exact place a full decade earlier. -Autumnfall is a more squarely black metal, but the same melodic sensibility emerges as you get deeper into the demo. (tbh track 1 is kinda weak; everything after is way better). They're currently unsigned and seeking an interested label...

Have to pop back in to comment on the Autumnfall demo, which was one of my oddball discoveries back in January that's been kicked around since without getting the love it deserves. For some context, this is the first new metal project in decades from Jussi Hänninen, the original guitarist for mostly forgotten Finnish gothic/folk/doom/death hybrid Fall of the Leafe, who dropped a couple perfect records just before the new millennium before shedding their metallic skin and morphing into something softer. The reason this matters in 2020: Fall of the Leafe effectively invented the Obsequiae sound (sometimes described as "dark metal," it's a fusion of medieval sounding melodies, constantly cycling lead guitars, and an overall style that flits between melodic black, death, doom, and pagan metal). There were a few bands mixing similar sounds before that, namely Aeternus, Hades (and Hades Almighty), Jester Race-era In Flames, some of the melodic Swedish black metal bands (Sacramentum, Dawn, Dissection) and perhaps some of the Hellenic black metal bands (Varathron, Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Macabre Omen, etc). But Fall of the Leafe crystallized all of it into an even more distinct thing, which wouldn't really resurface until Obsequiae revived the sound and ran with it. (You might also detect some Agalloch vibes.) Fall of the Leafe split for good in 2007, and most of their members have been quiet since. Autumnfall marks a pretty stellar return, considering it's just a demo, though it's more explicitly 'black metal' than FotL. Full disclosure: the first track on this thing is by far the least compelling (but still fine), and everything that comes after rules way harder. If anyone with the means or interest happens to come across this, you should also know that these guys are actively shopping for a label... Fall of the Leafe - Evanescent, Everfading (first album) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrVfvMUuQyE Fall of the Leafe - August Wernicke (second album) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiD3U5Vg49M&list=OLAK5uy_m89WqP8QmA3ETjO66eTP1Pidl1r0F5DdE And for the truly insane (like me), Hanninen has released something like 15 albums worth of demos drawn from every stage of Fall of the Leafe's existence, as well as some related Autumnfall content, all available for name your price or free streaming via bandcamp. Some of the FotL stuff is on spotify, also. https://jussihanninen.bandcamp.com/

I may have missed out on contributing this month due to plague times, but I can't miss the opportunity to plug new Doug tunes. The new Pyrrhon utterly slays, easily their weirdest, noisiest, and most schizophrenic shit to date, and probably their best (though I'm very much still digesting). First single rules, despite NOT being an update on the Phil Collins classic of the same name. https://youtu.be/rtUpHSLbllM

First single had me nervous, second one killed me dead

Killer record. Pretty spot-on emulation of Modern English and Sad Lovers & Giants, tbh, which is kind of its own sub-strain of melancholy guitarcentric post-punk. Tons of bands attempt this and just miss (thinking Soft Kill and their ilk)--but these guys nail the details and it works. From the guitar tone, fluid drumming, and just the right vocal affect without overdoing it, yeah, this is a good one.

Good call, I forgot about that one! I was fortunate enough to see Anhedonist with Aldebaran and Mournful Congregation back in 2011, and they impressed enough to make me buy a shirt. Still sad they broke up. Another one to keep an eye out for is the incoming LP from Black Curse, which has dudes from Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, Khemmis, and Primitive Man. Nothing streaming yet, but what I've heard seems exceptionally gnarly.

It's been awhile, so how about some BONUS TRACKS. new one from Elder. haven't listened yet, but they now live in Berlin, which is an odd home for a Massachusetts band. https://beholdtheelder.bandcamp.com/album/omens new Winterfylleth. my interest in this band has declined as my disinterest in bands with lyrical themes about "heritage" grows, but whatever. back half of this slays https://winterfylleth.bandcamp.com/ LORD VIGO! yes, they're named after Ghostbusters II. epic doom from Germany. slays, clearly https://lordvigo.bandcamp.com/album/danse-de-noir now expanded with a full band lineup featuring Tom Warrior (not that one) of Death Fortress and Siege Column and Justin Bean of Daeva and Trenchrot, Ripped to Shreds is back in full force. the guest shredders on this thing are NUTS but i'll let you dig up the details https://rippedtoshredsdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/ new CIRITH UNGOL single off the forthcoming comeback LP! and it slays. we held off on coverage in the hopes of covering a longer / slower epic, but the first single is excellent for what it is: uptempo ass rippage from the gods of trad doom https://cirithungol.bandcamp.com/ here's a fun one: Nerve Saw, yet another outlet for the weirdo behind Sadistik Forest, formerly of Hooded Menace. it's supposed to be an homage to Six Feet Under, or "pick up truck" death metal as he describes it, but it's 1000x better than that, with extremely fat tones and riffs for days https://testimonyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nerve-saw-peril new Hyperdontia! slays, rips, kills, all the death metal superlatives. this month was total overload; a lesser month would have seen a ton of these prominently featured. https://hyperdontiaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/excreted-from-the-flesh excellent, excellent new 2-track single from Damian Master of A Pregnant Light and all the others. this rules more or less on par with APL, who came it at #3 on our 2019 year end list. and yes, "Cop Killer" is a cover. (of a John Maus song, not Body Count, sadly) https://colloquialsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/cop-killer-b-w-lookin4luv new Napalm Death EP. the original track is in the slower, experimental Swans worship mode they've been exploring more in recent years, and it's solid, if not quite what I want from new ND. the b-side is a Sonic Youth cover, which sounds ill-advised but rules. enjoy https://youtu.be/HhJBXs-m-2I new Katatonia! the first single is decidedly non-metal, and somehow reminds me of that terrible Coldplay breakup album from a few years ago even if it's much better, but rumor has it the new album will have a newfound return to metal riffs. here's hoping this is the quiet interstitial bit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGvZhRFBQ_I new Candlemass! sounds like Candlemass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUp4tSTPU1I new Vader! sounds like Vader, with exceptionally dumb lyrics, meaning it slays. (I need more Vader in my life) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1_SREPVPT0 Karg is back, as in the side project from the singer dude of Austrian post-black gods Harakiri for the Sky. sounds very much like HftS, which is a good thing. if you're need of some gorgeous guitaring, hit this one up https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/traktat omg new Hatebreed is fucking hilarious. here's hoping Tom's (excellent) new monthly hardcore roundup gives Hatebreed the love they so clearly deserve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNwly-1Zlt8 new PSYCHOTIC WALTZ. damn. ancient progressive metal gods returned from cryosleep, seemingly intact. some of the new stuff sounds great, some less so... curious to hear the rest of the album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhoWwHMp5o THE SPIRIT: i'm bummed we missed covering these guys for this, their sophomore LP. nails that early 90s melodic black/death sound exemplified by Necrophobic, Sacramentum, and Dawn (less overtly black metal than Dissection, but still quite similar). many excellent riffs contained herein https://thespiritmetal.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-terror here's an odd one. AKURION. quebecois tech death, featuring the middle-era singer of Cryptopsy, plus current members of that band, Neuraxis, and Cattle Decapitation. despite that, this is surprisingly progressive and melodic... and quite good. https://akurion-ca.bandcamp.com/album/come-forth-to-me nothing properly streaming yet, but there is a new ORANSSI PAZUZU around the bend, and it rules. gone are the psychedelic black metal flourishes, or mostly gone, as the band fully embraces the nihilistic deathkraut sound they've been working towards for the past two records. there's a riff on here that reminds me of Ministry, and that's a good thing. here's the bandcamp link for future use https://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/album/mestarin-kynsi also nothing streaming, but way too interesting not to mention: the frontman of fallen death prog gods Morbus Chron has resurfaced with a new album, now going by the name... Sweven. yes, he named himself after his old band's final album. it's much, much proggier, and the guitars are not particularly heavy, although he retains the death growl for the vast majority of the record. sounds a bit like a more experimental take on Tribulation, but quite a bit better. readers of this column will likely dig this one here's a news item on it: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/morbus-chron-frontman-starts-new-band-sweven-releasing-debut-lp-in-march/ possibly the best of the recent wave of hardcore / death metal crossover bands, Like Rats more or less steamroll the competion in bands like Gatecreeper, Outer Heaven, Fuming Mouth, and Creeping Death. the secret to their success? minimal hardcore, maximum death. works wonders https://hibernation-release.bandcamp.com/album/death-monolith new Ruin Lust. black/death mastery on 20 Buck Spin that rips so fucking hard. excellent record, one we may revisit next month https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/choir-of-babel and the oddest and most welcome surpise of 2020 comes from an unknown, unsigned act from Finland called AUTUMNFALL. who cares, you say, rightly. it turns out this is the metallic resurrection of the guitarist behind forgotten pagan/melodeath legends Fall of the Leafe (who more or less invented the Obsequiae sound with their first two perfect records). FotL morphed into a fairly doofy form of conventional radio rock in later years (though they still had riffs throughout), and they eventually called it quits in 2007. this appears to be the first tentative steps back towards the metal of old, and dude still has it. the first track is passably fine but nothing special; tracks 2, 3, & 4 fucking rule. hopefully someone signs them soon. (if you're curious about Fall of the Leafe, the second album is finally on spotify, and the first is posted in full on youtube; the bandcamp channel below features incredibly extensive demo tracks for almost all their albums, all of whcih can be downloaded for name your price. even the demos are surprisingly sick) https://jussihanninen.bandcamp.com/album/autumnfall-demo-20

Probably best to approach each phase of ND as a separate band and sample one from each era: Phase one (sick 80s grindcore): From Enslavement to Obliteration. Phase two (sick early 90s death metal): Harmony Corruption Phase three (weird experimental 90s shit): Diatribes Phase four (modern death/grind ND): Time Waits for No Slave The most recommended album is usually Scum, which is the debut and the sloppiest album-length collection of pure grindcore they ever put out; it's very good, and a definite grind classic, but it's not particularly fun to listen to. FETO sounds better and is more cohesive. Most folks will also tell you to skip phase three, but I think they were doing some of their most interesting stuff around then. My personal favorite is still Fear, Emptiness, Despair, which sits on the cusp of phases 2 and 3. Wonderful band.

The new Ancient Empire is pretty damn good. We've covered some of their past releases, and this is every bit as good. Almost made the cut this month. https://ancientempire.bandcamp.com/album/wings-of-the-fallen