ALSO, our man Damien Master continues to be on a tear this year.
Just this month he's released: All Saint's Day 2 (A Pregnant Light), Honeyhole 4 (Damien Master), and Tropik of Plum (Purple Light). I haven't heard Tropik of Plum yet, but I'm inclined to believe he's still digging through that endless pile of hooks he has. I'm inclined to give musician of the year to the guy, just for the consistency alone. How the hell is this guy writing so many songs at such a high quality? It's great to see him continue to stretch these sounds out too.
Unfortunately, I'm with you on the Converge record. There are moments I really like, but after one listen I haven't felt compelled to go back at all. I've been saying this, but I think the record works best when Converge is being Converge.
The albums I've listened to the most in November have been CHRISTFUCKER and April Sunset. They don't sound anything like each other and I don't think they sound like much of anything else. I think they're both bold, inventive works that don't give a shit about what has come before them. I don't think PoG or Sadness are all that concerned with what may come after them either. But in a good way, of course.
I’ll drop this here in case he gets a little curios about Manson’s history https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/marilyn-manson-abuse-allegations-1256888/
WARNING: it’s an extremely difficult read
Which is my problem with Decibel. It’s a publication I enjoy checking out, I respect what they’ve done for metal, and I’m reading Choosing Death right now. But man, I’d love more focus on the contemporary bands killing it. Why not have Blood Incantation or Spirit Adrift headline their festivals? One of the guys from Infant Island wrote a piece about the state of metal. He talked about how it’s the legacy acts that get the most play and how that’s a bit of a barrier to get new generations interested in diving into metal. I don’t totally agree considering that extreme metal is pretty much the biggest underground genre in the world, but there’s something to that for sure.
Yeah the lyrics are cartoonish, but I'm into that. My favorite death metal album of the year is XXI by Succumb. A very, very serious album. 200 Stab Wounds on the other hand is fun. Good album to help close out the metal year imo. Those riffs are serious though.
It’s CHRISTFUCKER day. There’s much to discuss. Apologies if I run too long.
For those that don’t know and ought to know: Portrayal of Guilt have been steadily releasing music since at least 2018 when their debut album Let Pain Be Your Guide dropped. It’s fucking great. After that they released an EP that might even be better than the album. From there they released splits with Soft Kill and Slow Fire Pistol. Each new piece seemed to improve on what came before it. Which is wild considering how impressive LPBYG was and still is. They also got heavier each time. It was hard to say if that was the direction their music was going or if these were some one off exercises they needed to get out. LPBYG reminded a lot of people of bands like Converge and Deafheaven. It would make sense if they wanted to make bigger, anthemic songs like “Daymare”.
Late last year, they announced their sophomore record We Are Always Alone. They recorded that one with Will Yip whose most known for working with punk and emo bands. One would expect that PoG were looking to soften the edges and bring in more ears. But one would be very wrong. WAAA doubled down on the black metal in their sound and got way heavier than what they’d been doing previously. I love that record. Its 100% better than LPBYG. I compared them to Deafheaven, Converge, Neurosis, and Inter Arma in the way they were a singular band that didn’t sound like anyone. And now we’re at CHRISTFUCKER (all caps please).
For starters, that title. What a fucking title. That might be the harshest album title I’ve ever heard (vocalist/guitarist Matt King said they were going to call it Fuck You before landing on CHRISTFUCKER). Just looking at the title, I admire how much they want to be Portrayal of Guilt. They don’t want to be Deafheaven or Converge. Could you imagine if New Bermuda was called CHRISTFUCKER? This is a band who knows who they are and are very good at being themselves. They didn’t work with Will Yip this time. The production on WAAA is great. It sounds huge and dense, but I think Ben Greenberg (from the hardcore band Uniform) captured what PoG sounds like. There’s so many gnarly guitar tones throughout and they don’t seem to stick to one. So much so I can actually pick a favorite. That comes on “Master/Slave” when it sounds like King’s stretching out a noise rock riff on a torture rack. There’s tons of noise happening throughout the mix, bass lines that sound like they’re dripping over the floor, and Matt King’s vocals are at their most evil.
They’ve said they wanted to make a record that sounds like you’re in hell or a record that sounds like it’s haunted. I’d say they’ve accomplished both. It sounds like it’s dying. There’s a rotted, sickness quality to it all. And I realize that sounds extremely unappealing to a lot of people. But this album actually has grooves. PoG have managed to work stoner metal and noise rock into their sound now. It’s strange to go from bobbing along to “The Sixth Circle” then go right to blast beats that feel like the world crashing down on your head.
To me, this feels fresh and innovative without trying to be. They’re a 3 piece (a power trio, really) so there’s going to be limitations. There isn’t tons of flashy playing (except for that drummer) or elecrtonics (except for whatever the hell “Bed Of Ash” is). But I don’t think any other band is capable of writing these songs. What band in their right mind would put an actual skank part on “Fall From Grace” (which features the most viscous Jeremy Bolm performance we’ve heard in a long time)? I don’t know, but let’s hope they keep being Portrayal of Guilt.
Tl;dr: the best band dropped their best album.
Absolutely. On paper, this should be miserable experience. But there's actual groove happening on the record. And enough variation where it's not just constant blasting. And I'm locked in because I have to see how extreme this all is gonna get.
I’m blown away by this thing. There’s punk, black metal, death metal, noise, and stoner metal all through it but I’ve never heard all of that put together like this. It rips, slams, and obviously fucks.
Whether she's screaming or almost whispering, she's intense. Hayter's got such a great grasp on atmosphere. Love the field recordings too. This and CHRISTFUCKER on the same day? What a blasphemous Friday.
I had Blonde On Blonde on in the car when I was like 15 once. My mom then did one of the most cutting Bob Dylan impressions I've ever heard "He spooooke to me, I took his fluuuuuute". You know what it sounded like. It's hard to listen to "I Want You" without hearing that.
I am here to talk about WORM.
All caps when you spell there name, please. WORM are a Florida funeral doom band. They have a whole lot of death metal in their DNA. I wouldn't argue if you just called them death doom. Florida is the U.S. capital for death metal. It's where Death, Morbid Angel, and many others hail from. WORM takes a lot of pride in the history. Their new album is called Foreverglade. I can't lie. I had no idea who WORM was before this album. I'm know I'm not alone in that. But Foreverglade is where they're demanding we pay attention. I don't know where to start with the music. For one thing, I think they're trying to fool you. They're called WORM, they're using some pretty wild album art, and their album is (once again for the people in the back) called Foreverglade. It's almost like they're trying to temper you're expectations. I was expecting it to be a satisfying if boneheaded slice of death metal. Not at all what's happening here. Just listen to "Subaqueous Funeral". It's an absolute motherfucking shredfest of a song, but it takes it's time. It's patient. Someone spent time with these guitar notes. Meticulously placing them but also letting them spill out every which way. Someone loved them that's for sure. If you have any interest in guitar solos, I'm begging you to drop what you're doing and get on this. I can't stop listening to it. The album itself manages to be beautiful, graceful, ugly, and massive all at once. I'm not sure how they pulled this off. It feels pretty substantial to me.
I'd say go with Susperia. Candy colored horror about a witch coven posing as a ballet school. I haven't seen Opera but I trust Ian. My warning is Argento can be, well, a lot.
My eyes bugged out of my head when I heard those vocals from Jenna Rose. I get some Celtic Frost vibes, at least in the beginning. This reminds me of early death metal. Which isn't to say it sounds like early death metal. It reminds me of a time when artists were making heavy, grimy music brimming with possibilities. PoG is very much their own genre.
I wish this band the best, but this might be where I step off. Granted, I've never been the biggest WoD fan, so you can take my critique with a grain of salt. What really grabs me about past WoD material is how impressionistic it all feels. It doesn't sound like classic rock. It sounds like someone's idea of classic rock or someone's faded memory of Springsteen or Petty songs. It's all the little details and ambience filling out the mix. Or like how I have no idea what he's saying on "Red Eyes". I just know "WOOO!". The new stuff's a bit too direct for me. I'm sure this will go over well playing bigger rooms and maybe even stadiums some day. And that's cool. No backlash from me, just not what I'm looking for here.
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