EXPECTED - 2014.37
METAL/HARDROCK/THRASH/DOOM/SOUTHERN ROCK - Single (7")
YAWNING SONS/WATERWAYS - SPLIT 7"
A great limited split 7-inch on heavy blue vinyl! YAWNING SONS is the UK band SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI plus Gary Arce of YAWNING MAN. Here they present the track 'Garden Sessions'. WATERWAYS features the three members of YAWNING MAN who contribute the two tracks 'Bows And Arrows' and 'Memorial Patterns'.
METAL/HARDROCK/THRASH/DOOM/SOUTHERN ROCK - LP (Album)
AMENRA - AFTERLIFE (BLACK)
Gentle acoustic guitars instead of distorted amps, wandering beauty instead of raging brutality, wailing melancholy instead of desperate fury. Opposed to the mercilessly grinding doom/sludge mantras of their renowned 'Mass' releases, Amenra chose a more subtle approach on the painful darkness that is 'Afterlife' - spreading a lugubrious and melancholic atmosphere. Post-hc pioneers Amenra deliver an album with completely acoustic songs, far removed from the long, repetitive and hypnotizing songs they made their trademark off. The A-side holds three melancholic acoustic tracks whereas the B-side is composed of their mirror-reflections, all of them sharing emotions of infinity. Edition of 250 copies on black vinyl.
BEYOND CREATION - (BLACK) EARTHBORN EVOLUTION (2LP)
Feel the onrush of sweeping arpeggios, crushing waves of fretless bass, complex rhythmical patterns and erupting scales peppered with jazzy feeling and masterful execution under the mark of 'Earthborn Evolution', which names the sophomore full-length of BEYOND CREATION. The French part of Canada is home to a vibrant culture of technical Death Metal fostered by outstanding acts such as GORGUTS, CRYPTOPSY, MARTYR, and NEURAXIS. This illustrious family tree has produced many sprouts in the past, yet none of them are as brilliant as Quebec's new amazing scion: BEYOND CREATION! 'Earthborn Evolution' now catapults the Canadians into the top league of their genre, right among such giants as ATHEIST, DEATH or CYNIC. Prepare for the lightning evolution of the progressive technical death metal revolution! Recommended if you like OBSCURA, NECROPHAGIST, GORGUTS, BEHEMOTH, ARCHSPIRE, CRYPTOPSY, IMMOLATION, GNOSTIC.
BLEEDING UTOPIA - DARKEST POTENCY
Hard, aggressive and simple riffing with deep growling vocals, big choruses and epic solos... that is what BLEEDING UTOPIA is all about! The music is inspired by both the early Swedish death metal scene, with that characteristic Gothenburg sound, as well as the more aggressive American style which in the end ties together into an exciting and potent mixture.
GHOST BRIGADE - (BLACK) IV: ONE WITH THE STORM (2LP)
Gatefold black 2LP. Progressive rock, death and doom metal into a highly emotional musical experience. Yet the changes in their line-up can be felt such as new keyboard patterns by Joni Vanhanen. Adding to this, singer Manne Ikonen's hard work on his performance reveals itself remarkably in the enhanced clear vocal passages. 'IV: One With The Storm' furthermore comes with a state of the art production by the band and Tuomas Kokko at Electric Fox Studios, Finland. Recommended if you like CULT OF LUNA, AMORPHIS, KATATONIA, SWALLOW THE SUN, THE OCEAN.
HAIKAI NO KU - ULTRA HIGH DIMENSIONALITY
Following last year's outstanding debut, 'Sick On My Journey', this three piece release the follow up, a 40 minute pilgrimage through 5 mind-altering tracks. By now avid fans of doom and psychedelia will be familiar with Mike Vest's (Bong, 11Paranoias, Blown Out) patented hyper fuzz guitar shrieks and damaged feedback. In Haikai No Ku he is joined by Jerome Smith (Female Borstal, Charles Dexter Ward) on bass and Sam Booth (Foot Hair, Bin, Obey) on drums to deliver a burgeoning psychedelic doom trip of the highest grade.
KHUNNT - DEAD EYES
Formed in 2006, Khunnt have fervently explored the boundaries of esoteric music, from minimalist noise to live improvisation and psychedelic mantra. Focusing exclusively on a more aggravated and blighted composition, 'Dead Eyes' reflects the band's most recent forages into noise and sludge. Comparable to works by Corrupted, Khanate and Noothgrush, the bleak and at times unbearable landscape of 'Dead Eyes' is a passage of hypnotic despair. "Dead Eyes displays a fearsome mastery of their sound, erecting walls of feedback and distortion only to tear them down with bare-fisted riffs and wraith-like howls. Powerful stuff - Highly recommended!" - Boomkat
MANDRAKE - BREAKING OUT (BLACK) (LP+7")
A Hand numbered edition of 150 LP's on black vinyl, with a gatefold cover, an insert and a bonus 7-inch. Along with the legendary Mercyful Fate and some considerably more obscure acts such as Alien Force and Crystal Knight, Copenhagen's own Witch Cross must rate as one of the best Danish heavy metal bands ever.
MOJAVE LORDS - UNFUCKWITHABLE
MOJAVE LORDS features Dave Catching, Bingo Richey, Brian O'Connor and Barrett Martin. There also are appearances from Chris Goss, Joey Castillo and Danny Franke. These gentlemen are essentially Members of Queens Of The Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal, Masters Of Reality, and Screaming Trees. This LP contains over 40 minutes of music, randomly pressed on two vinyl colours (Desert Fire and Bone Marrow). The cover has an embossed skull, logo, and album title on the front, along with UV gloss explosion (almost all of the jacket front is layered with UV gloss). The full colour inner sleeve presents lyrics, band photo and credits. Nice!
MONOLORD - EMPRESS RISING (2LP/BLUE)
Limited BLUE VINYL version. Sweden's psychedelic doom band Monolord releases its first full length 'Empress Rising'. The five-song album clocks in at almost 50 minutes of skull crushing heavy grooves and heavy guitars that summon the spirits of Norse gods when played at loud volumes. Monolord is for more than just doom-metal fanatics; this is an epic record for all fans of guitar driven rock and roll, stoner roc, and heavy riffs. 'Empress Rising' has all of the flavours of an iconic doom record and follows in the footsteps of Sleep, Holy Mountain, Pallbearer's 'Sorrow and Extinction', Electric Wizard's 'Witchcult Today' with melodic vocals and harmonies that are super psychedelic and easy to sing along to.
NECROPHAGIA - (BLACK) WHITEWORM CATHEDRAL (2LP)
Gatefold black 2xLP, alternative cover. NECROPHAGIA are back to haunt you! The masters of death metal horror invite you to bang to the Sabbath on a coffin night, when the evil priest and the rat witch raise the dead among us! Three years in the making, 'WhiteWorm Cathedral' underwent a number of setbacks which hindered the recording sessions, but the result was well worth the wait. NECROPHAGIA have generally taken another step back to a more straightforward approach. Although their latest full-length 'Deathtrip 69' (2011) was generally met with roaring applause, the band decided to reduce the atmospheric samples to the necessary, while focusing on songwriting and catchiness to deliver more old school death metal with a blasphemous groove and killing hooks. The time has come to light those black candles, chant the incantations and watch the 'WhiteWorm Cathedral' rise! Amen, Brother Killjoy! Recommended if you like POSSESSED, MORBID ANGEL, AUTOPSY, DEATH, INCANTATION.
NERO DI MARTE - DERIVAE (2LP)
Italy's widely acclaimed NERO DI MARTE release a sprawling 60 minute epic of intelligent, dynamic and atmospheric metal. It's an engaging, heavy hitting tour-de-force for appreciators of Gorguts, Mastodon, Tool and Neurosis.
PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND - LOWGAZERS (2LP)
Predominantely black metal out of Toulouse, France. Fusing a good deal of black metal and hc, exploding with explosive energy and blisteringly epic compositions, this is a killer release!
POSTHUM - THE BLACK NORTHERN RITUAL
Posthum (founded 2004) is in no way a band that hide themselves in a scene, nor a constellation of members you will see in other bands. They've carefully created their own unique sound and way of thinking as an isolated band, located in the forests north of Oslo. Their self-titled debut record is highly acclaimed as a hard, but yet atmospheric and beautiful album, with a cold sound and strong arrangements constantly growing on the listener. Combined with their introvert and honest image they continue to make a distinct impression on the scene.
RIWEN - RIWEN
Riwen decided to write 14 songs in 14 days, inspired by the bands they worshiped as vegan straight edge punk kids, f.i. Judge, Battery, Integrity, ACME and Damnation AD. The concept is to not spend 1000 days in the studio and nitpick over every drumbeat and production details. The musical destruction has to be alive and direct, tailor-made to induce mosh mayhem and walls of death.
SAN ANGELUS - SOON WE'LL ALL BE GHOSTS (+DVD)
The debut physical full-length from SAN ANGELUS, a project featuring Larry Herweg (Pelican, ges, Tusk, Lair Of The Minotaur), Kim Kinakin (Sparkmarker, Skinjobs, Strain), Mark Von Holcomb (Undertow, Shift, ges, Dust Moth) and Jason Craig (Sparkmarker, Dust Moth, Narrows). Reflecting the band's obvious foundations, but with a maturity and progression that doesn't feel stale or 'stuck in the past', SAN ANGELUS pulls from a myriad of influences projected through a familiar phonic landscape.
SATAN - TRAIL OF FIRE
British heavy metal legends SATAN are releasing their first official live album to celebrate their live debut appearances on the North American soil in support of their latest and very successful album 'Life Sentence' released on Listenable in April 2013. Originating from Newcastle, England in 1980, known as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement. Though generally obscure throughout their career, the band is considered influential for playing a form of proto-thrash metal that was fairly advanced by the standards of the early 1980s, influencing major acts like METALLICA, EXODUS, DEATH ANGEL.
SNAILKING - STORM
Following their critically acclaimed 2012 debut album 'Samsara', Swedish doom and sludge trio Snailking return with their sophomore album 'Storm'. The band took their time to craft a steamroller of an album that takes off where 'Samsara' stranded. This music is low, slow, crunchy and fuzzy doom, combined with pounding muddy riffs, all meticulously pieced together. 'Storm' showcases a band in top shape, confident of their skills and building torrential tracks.
TEXTURES - POLARS
In 2003, the year of the launch of TEXTURES debut album 'Polars', the first reactions started to stream in: "This is the best metal album thats ever come out of the Netherlands" according to Major Dutch music magazine Oor. The band remembers: "Coming from the south of The Netherlands we started as a group of friends from the same neighbourhood in a small village named Etten-Leur. Our ideas were big and pretentious from the start. All raised with music from every corner of the musical spectrum we were bound to make an eclectic sound. State of the art as well. Looking back, we had so many ideas, we were in fact overflowing with inspiration, we just had to deliver this thing the best way we could. (...) So, in the freezing last days of 2001 we camped for two weeks in our temporary studio we had built to create the basis of our debut album. No shows were done, no press, no promotion. On purpose. In silence we worked for three more years to launch everything that we had in one single blast." This metal classic album is now available with a completely different design and lay out, remastered by ex-guitar player Jochem Jacobs of Split Second Studios who also played on the record. For fans of Meshuggah mixing with Opeth.
