Anathema - Weather Systems

In 2010, Anathema released album of the year in We’re Here Because We’re Here, now just less than two years on, its follow-up Weather Systems has arrived, an uncharacteristically short space of time for the band to release a new record. But how does it fare against its monumental predecessor? Click HERE for the full review.

Good Friday Massacre fundraiser show next week

Good Friday Massacre takes place next week on…. well, Good Friday at Subground Fortythree, on 43 Gardiner Lane. A fundraiser gig for the establishment of an independent DIY venue in the Dublin, the bill includes noise punks Contort, the ferocious Disguise, Fag Enablerz and one of those so very unique cover sets from Complan Complan. Also, there’s Guerrilla Trash Disaster – a slot dedicated to those to form a band for the night. Following all that, there’ll be DJs into the night.

Suggested donations are €8, and if you’re feeling generous to give more, you’ll surely not be refused. Food at 7.30 with bands kicking of 8.30 and of course it’s BYOB and remember to pick up your fine beverages on Thursday as no alcohol can sold on Good Friday. Thanks, Intoxicating Liquor Act 1962.

Facebook event page

New Wolfbrigade track

Wolfbrigade have posted another new song. The first taster was released a few weeks ago and this time around we’re treated to ‘Feed The Flames’, which Blow The Scene are streaming right now. Taken from their Southern Lord debut, Damned, ‘Feed the Flames’ has all the hallmarks of the band’s searing d-beat with Micke Dahl sounding utterly pissed off, spitting out his corrosive vocals. Just what you want from a Wolfbrigade song really.

Disguise demo online

The latest filth ridden spawn from Dublin’s hardcore scene Disguise, featuring members of Crowd Control and ZOM, have posted a two song demo online. They made their live debut back in January with an utterly ferocious and hostile set and this demo is just that. Grimy riffs and fierce reverb drenched vocals are all in tow, all with a nod to noisy Japanese hardcore punk. The two, as expected, short songs can be streamed below. There’s still no news on a physical release of the demo or any other tracks yet.

New Sigur Rós track

It’s been nearly four years since Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, Sigur Rós’ last album. Where does the time go? Well, finally the band is set to release their new album, Valtari, in May and have been so kind as to post a new song online – ‘Ekki Múkk’. Supposedly this album will be even more electronics and strings based. This new song is littered with affecting strings and synths all accentuated by Jónsi’s instantly recognisable soft croon. It’s beautifully minimalist; a sound that often sees Sigur Rós at their finest. Have a listen.

Valtari tracklisting

1 Êg Anda
2 Ekki Múkk
3 Varúð
4 Rembihnûtur
5 Dauðalogn
6 Varðeldur
7 Valtari
8 Fjögur Píanó

Damnation 2012 announces first band

…and it’s a doozy. Pig Destroyer will play the festival in Leeds on November 3rd, their first UK show in eight years. The grindcore legends are the first of what is sure to be another stellar bill for Damnation. Click HERE for more info.

New Horseback track

I’m a little bit late getting on this, but last week was pretty hectic. But the wonderfully weird Horseback posted a new song, ‘Ahriman’, from their new album, Half Blood, their first album with Relapse Records, after the label re-released some of their older records last year. If you’re unfamiliar with Horseback… where to start?

‘Ahriman’ is just hypnotic with sleek, meandering guitars, which are met by harsh, corrosive vocals. This is a band that can be beautifully atmospheric and ambient but strangely, get into your face at the same time. It’s psychedelic and strangely meditative. There really aren’t that many other bands that sound like Horseback. 

Trevor de Brauw (Pelican) interview

Photo: Andrew Weiss

Pelican have been a little quiet for a while now, especially after the touring ended in support of last album, 2009’s What We All Come To Need. In that time, the instrumental outfit regrouped and prepared for a new chapter to open, and now with a new EP due for release on April 10th, entitled Ataraxia/Taraxis, the band is fully back in our consciousness. Guitarist, Trevor de Brauw speaks about how the EP came together and where Pelican stand in the future.

First of all, what is the meaning behind the title of the new EP, Ataraxia/Taraxis?

Like all things, title wise, it’s sort of a nebulous concept. It’s not meant to mean anything specific and meant to be open to a range of interpretations. Ataraxia and Taraxis are more or less of contradictory meaning. Ataraxia is one of the basic elements of the Epicurean philosophy, one of the Ancient Greek schools of thought. Ataraxia is to be free from fear or anxiety. Taraxis is more like its opposite.

For all of us, there’s this mounting anxiety in the world that’s come on from over exposure to information, not that that’s a bad thing but that in the post-information age, there’s such an overwhelming sense of information coming at you that’s too fast to process. In a way, the title is a yearning for something a little more simplistic. That impulse is not always a good thing because you may shut yourself from the wave of information coming over you. [It’s] an anti-progressive stance. The title is supposed to be a philosophical conundrum of sorts.

When did you start writing for this EP? Was it a long process?

Yeah, I would say so. Some of the songs have their basis in stuff we were working on when we were writing the last album [What We All Come To Need], but we didn’t start initiating anything until really recently. After the last album came out, we reached a wall in terms of touring and we all needed to step away and take a break and take stock of what was going on, not only with the band, but with our personal lives because touring continuously for the better of seven years had taken its toll on us, psychologically.

The band is not all located in the same city. During the writing of this EP, Bryan [Herweg, bass] and Larry [Herweg, drums] both lived in California and Laurent [Schroeder-Lebec, guitars] and myself live in Chicago. Since we weren’t touring, we didn’t see each other as much. In the past, on tour, we would find time to write, or before and after the tour. With this outing, it was less centralised. It did take quite a while to figure out what a new writing process could look like in this band. With the aid of technology and file trading, everybody had access to it, and we have some sort of home recording set up, we were able to piece together [the songs].

Former Isis drummer Aaron Harris was involved in the recording of the EP. How did you come about working with him and what was he like to work with?

That’s what’s interesting about this EP; I actually never worked with Aaron. The recording of this EP was very fragmented and it was very different from anything we’ve done in the past. We’ve had elements of trading files back and forth to learn each other’s parts and we’d always have moments where we learned the songs together and play in a room together and then go to a studio, but with this recording, it wasn’t like that at all. Larry literally went to the studio with Aaron Harris and recorded his drum parts and sent them to us and then we recorded our parts in Chicago. We never entered a studio with Aaron or Larry at all. We’ve known Aaron for a really long time and he has done live sounds for us in LA on a couple of occasions, so Larry and him are really close friends. It really made sense to do the drums with him because we needed the sound to be good.

You released an EP called Ephemeral in early 2009 and followed it with an album later in the year. Is something similar planned for 2012?

We definitely had a sense that we wanted to precede the next album with an EP, which is something we’ve done on all of our albums except for City of Echoes. In this case, unlike the other times, we don’t have a recording date set up for the next record. We aren’t done writing the new album. In some ways it’s meant to set up the next record but in other ways it’s meant as a standalone piece because we’re not exactly sure when the next record is going to happen.

Just how much of the next album is written?

We have a couple of songs done and many other things that we’re hashing out. It’s coming together in pieces, but it’s starting to have some form to it.

You’ve got some European touring coming up soon, including a set at Roadburn. What will be your touring plans for the rest of the year?

Not that much, honestly. When we hit our wall with touring, all of us had to go and get jobs [laughs], because there was no other way to sustain ourselves. It’s harder to make time for touring than it used to be. We can’t really get out on the road for several months of the year. So this European tour is rather brief, it’s two weeks, which is one of our shortest journeys over there. We’ll try to do something else; we’re trying to find means to go back to other places, like Japan and Australia. Obviously, we would like to play in the States as well. In terms of longer tours, it’s not as possible as it used to be.

You’re currently running a contest for a fan to create a music video for the track ‘Lathe Biosas’, which is open until April 3rd. Why did you decide to open up the making of the video to fans?

People are always coming to us with their art and suggesting that we work with them. More often than not, it’s visual art for record sleeves or t-shirts. With regards to those things, we have a very tight knit network of people to work with. Whereas with the videos, we know a few people that do that. We wanted to open it up to people and see what they had, because we know that we have so many creative fans. It just seemed like an interesting idea and something that would engage our fan base. We wanted to see what was possible. People always offer their services for things that we don’t really have an opening for, so maybe we could make an opening available.

Have you seen any of the entries yet?

I haven’t had a chance to see any yet but I’m looking forward to looking over everything.

Regarding the cover of Ataraxia/Taraxis, who did the artwork for this release?

We went back to the same guy who did the photography for What We All Come To Need, a friend of ours from Arizona, Andrew Weiss. The photography was strong so we just had Aaron [Edge] from Southern Lord do the whole layout over the photography untouched. It was supposed to tie back to the Ephemeral EP; it was also just photos that were relatively untampered with. We kind of wanted to develop an untampered with photography theme for our Southern Lord EPs, where in some of our other artwork there’s a lot more affecting the photography.

Outside of Pelican, some of you are involved in other projects. Larry is also in Aeges who have a new record out next month too. Do you or the rest of the band have other projects that you’re working on?

Bryan and Laurent, not much. I have an ambient group called Chord, we’ve done a couple of records and we have more records coming out in the spring on a UK label called MIEMusic. Then I have a band that’s kind of hard to classify that I play in bass in. They’re kind of a gothy pop band called Let’s Pet. We’re actually recording but I don’t know what we’re going to do with the recordings.

Ataraxia/Taraxis is released April 10th on Southern Lord. Click HERE for Pelican’s full European tour dates for next month.

Arms of Ra - Unnamed

You’ve all heard those albums that straight away exude a certain feeling, often the most palpable being the most negative like hopelessness and nihilism. Arms of Ra’s Unnamed is an album that portrays a lot of this. The Parisians’ first album is an incredibly bleak work of sludge, branded by a blackened drape over the short 31 minute running time. For the most part, Unnamed is agonisingly slow and pummelling, but can take in moments of pace, drawing from the band’s hardcore tendencies. It’s the perfect complement to the album’s doomiest elements.

It’s a record that sounds possessed, all attributed to vocalist Mathieu. His searing screech is the record’s focal point and commands the listener’s attention as he draws you into Arms of Ra’s harrowingly desolate world.

A concept album, Unnamed features six “independent” songs that converge for one grander scheme, detailing the “story of a man trying to deconstruct himself and disappear from society”. The vague plot of this tale actually goes a long way in capturing the essence of this album’s sound. Each of the six songs has their own unique edge, but this is still an album that requires you listen through, with undivided attention.

Unnamed may conjure up a lot of emotion and vitriol, but that’s not to say that it is not without its flaws. Firstly, at only 31 minutes, the album is criminally short, leaving behind a feeling of vacancy after the agonisingly slow doom of closer, ‘To Be Acknowledged is to Exist’. In that time though, Arms of Ra accomplish quite a bit. ‘Personnalite décharnee’ cascades with dissonant vibes throughout giving way to the short title track and the wounding passages of ‘Write My Name and Forget It’.

Definitely some interesting things afoot with this band, it’s nothing to stop the press for yet but most certainly one to keep an eye on in the future.

7/10

New Black Monolith song to stream

California’s blackened d-beat outfit, Black Monolith will release a new EP called Passenger later this year, with no release date confirmed yet. However, the band is streaming a new song now called ‘Adhere’. What’s different straight away from the demo released last year is the length of this new song. It’s over eight minutes long, quite a breakaway from the one and a half minute or four minute bursts of fury on the demo. The track is a rumbling mammoth of dissonance from start to end, very much in the same vein as the demo but of course elongated, but not losing anyone’s interest in the slightest.

Black Monolith released their three track demo last year to much praise. Its devastating and caustic tracks were a crushing delight, and was definitely one of the most austere and belligerent hardcore demos released in 2011, up there with Hexis and Crows. The demo is still available for free download HERE.

So, a third new Meshuggah song

Scion A/V are streaming a new Meshuggah song right now, the opening track off their stunning new record, Koloss. ‘I Am Colossus’ is also available for free download so by all means, check out this crushing, slow burning number from the influential Swedes and read what drummer, Tomas Haake had to say about the song below. My full review and thoughts on the record will be in the next issue of Molten Magazine. It appears that this download was hurriedly made available in response to the record leaking online this week. Perhaps this will sate the people that are still waiting for their copy to arrive in the mail or whatever but realistically, they’re a tiny minority. Regardless, Koloss is monumental record for Meshuggah in a time where they needed to reassert their greatness and it may be an album that kickstarts a new era for the band as a creative entity.

“'I Am Colossus' is way more straightforward than the thrash metal we grew up with. At the same time, it does pose its own difficulties for us as players. It will probably be one of the first songs we attempt to play on tour. The solo - which is basically two long notes that are slow bends - just turned out beautiful. Such an understatement as a guitar solo. Sometimes a slow song is just as aggressive as a fast one.”

Old Man Gloom are back...

Old Man Gloom, the ‘supergroup’ of sorts featuring Aaron Turner of Isis, Nate Newton of Converge and Cave In’s Caleb Scofield amongst others, are back, with a short string of shows confirmed for May in the US, including dates in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Hamden, CT and Brooklyn. The band has been inactive, and sorely missed, for some time now. There is no news beyond this run of shows but Old Man Gloom’s re-emergence is something to celebrate. Will there be a new album? Who knows. For now, reacquaint yourself with this song.

New Cattle Decapitation track

Cattle Decapitation are streaming a new song now called ‘A Living, Breathing Defecating Piece of Meat’, and it’s taken from their new album, Monolith of Inhumanity, coming out in May. The band played this song live last Friday in Dublin during their ferocious set, which included plenty of new songs and this was one vicious example, and the recording here now only reinforces that. The band’s brand of deathgrind is firmly intact with the rich production that has featured on their most recent output, but it serves the song well, which also sees vocalist Travis Ryan utilise his manic, almost (I said almost) clean vocal style in the chorus. Check it out below.

Happy Paddy's Day

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than with one of the finest to come from this isle? Tuck in.

Death to All: Members of Death to tour together

Yes, you read that right. Former Death members Paul Masvidal, Shannon Hamm, Bobby Koelble, Steve DiGiorgio, Scott Clendenin, Gene Hoglan and Sean Reinert will play five exclusive shows to celebrate the life of legendary Death founder Chuck Schuldiner and raise funds for Sweet Relief, a charity that helps musicians with no insurance to get the medical help and care they may need.

This once in a lifetime tour will take in five shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Orlando. Check out the teaser video below. More names and bands are expected to be announced. Whatever way you look at it this is a good cause, even if only 20% of ticket sales are going to the charity when they perhaps should be getting a bigger slice of the cake.

Since Chuck’s passing, Death’s legacy has lived on triumphantly but has been abused from time to time with shameless reissues. This however is something I can get behind.

Consent - Conception EP

Nick Dellacroce from Bongripper has a new powerviolence band called Consent and they’ve released an EP called Conception. Check it out by clicking HERE for the review.

New Gorod song

French tech death metallers Gorod are preparing the release of their new album, A Perfect Absolution and are currently streaming a new song, ‘Carved In The Wind’. The storming track is just one of the ludicrously technical barrages that feature on the record. Have a listen to it below. There’ll be a full review of the record in the next issue of Molten Magazine. This album is tight and as hell definitely one of the best tech death records of recent years.

Dylan Carlson interview

Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Earth’s Dylan Carlson again. Having just released the new Earth album Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II and commenced touring, Dylan spoke quite a bit about the album and how it relates to part one, and playing it all live. Most interestingly though, he gives some insight into the work he begins soon on his first solo record as well as confirmed collaborators. Click HERE to read the full interview feature.

Irish BM: Sodb debut demo track

Yesterday’s serving of new Irish black metal from Eternal Helcaraxe just wasn’t enough because Sodb have premiered a new song now too. The still relatively new black metal outfit, featuring Altar of Plagues drummer Johnny King as well as former and current members of The Dagda and Fuck You Written in Shit, are preparing the release of their first demo and have debuted this new song, ‘Old and Withered Form’. With some pretty impressive gigs under their belt over the last year, this demo has to be a rather anticipated one. It is for me anyway. Of all the times I caught them live they were just killer. This razor sharp offering is a beast from start to finish, doing them some justice both in brutality and the eerie shades of melody that scamper underneath. The four track cassette will be available soon and the band is playing at The Siege of Limerick.

TRVE Cavan black metal: New Eternal Helcaraxe tracks

Cavan black metallers Eternal Helcaraxe will release their first full-length album, Against All Odds, in the coming months on US label Abyss Records. Currently, the band is streaming two new songs from the record, which you can hear below. The first, ‘Invictus’, is an epic in every sense of word, its true meaning that is. With beautifully lush string arrangements, the whole orchestral feel to this song is its greatest strength alongside the searing riffs and towering vocals.

‘Shadow of the Wolf’ is much more on the brutal end of things with a pummelling drum sound, the song is shorter and more focused on belligerent riffage than ‘Invictus’. It’s definitely not as gripping as ‘Invictus’, but nonetheless a powerful song.

   Invictus (New) by eternalhelcaraxe

   Shadow Of The Wolf (New) by eternalhelcaraxe

New issue of Molten out now

Finally, after some delays, issue seven of Molten magazine is on sale now, with cover stars Cannibal Corpse. This issue features my five-page special on the Hail the Gods of Winter show back in late January. On the record reviews front, from me, there’s Soulfly, Goatwhore, Chimp Spanner, Terrorizer, Desaster and The Last Twilight. Pick up your copy in Eason.

Unsung #2: Daturah - Reverie

The Grind That Annoys is jumping on the bandwagon of regular posts on underrated records. Hell, why not? Unsung will take a look at those albums, EPs, demos or whatever that are largely overlooked, whether it’s a discarded gem in the catalogues of legends or the finest hour of an underground band with a fan base countable on one hand. This instalment looks at…

Daturah - Reverie

Back in June of last year, German post rock band Daturah announced their split, thus putting an end to any hopes of a follow-up coming to their last album, 2008’s Reverie. It’s a crying shame really; Daturah’s swansong record was a stunning, grandiose piece of instrumental post rock, heavy in both sound and atmosphere.

Opener, ‘Ghost Track’ instigates with a series of odd, almost nonsensical spoken word passages. The topic is physics but several different sound bites have been clipped together to create a mire of voices overlapping each other at various points, making it hard to follow. It sets such an eerie tone only for the absolute avalanche of massive guitars to come crashing in.

Typically, all the tracks are lengthy arrangements and, for some, follow a trusty “post rock formula” – big crescendos preceded and followed by long meandering and hypnotic passages. The band has no fear of exploiting this formula to benefit them greatly. Sure, they didn’t reinvent the wheel or do anything particularly innovative but Reverie is a gripping, captivating album. Five songs but with an hour running time, this record has a lot going on within its vast boundaries. 

The sleek, mellow guitar tones wash over the listener with such beauty while the cavernous, distorted riffs drag you away from serenity into a harrowing space, even if only for a brief moment. The darker moments briefly combat the mostly charming feel to Reverie and it’s this spanner in the works, if you will, that keeps you on your toes.

Closer, ‘Vertex’ is the stunning highlight though. The near 13 minute epic opens so calmly and building so very slowly, scales and scales to that all-important crescendo to pull the curtains on this record.

Supposedly the members of Daturah are all involved in various other projects since their split, but there’s been little or no news on that front since last summer.

Kólga - Demo CDr

Kólga is the raw atmospheric black metal band featuring members of Panopticon and Seidr, who recently released this, their first demo, on a very limited run of 50 CDrs, which unsurprisingly sold out quite rapidly. Released by The Flenser and Lundr Records, the former also offers the demo for free download via their bandcamp.

The demo consists of three lengthy tracks. The production is, as one would expect, steeped in the mire with a coarse guitar tone and vocals submerged deep in the mix. The raw sound serves the overall delivery of the demo quite well; demonstrated by Seidr’s Jack Hannert and his deathly screeches and howls. Meanwhile, Austin Lunn gifts this demo with dashes of beautifully implemented clean vocals that complement the wounded shrieks that dominate the demo, vocally. He has spent years crafting a reputation for himself for poignant and melancholic atmospheric black metal under the guise of Panopticon and he certainly brings that element to the forefront in Kólga.

‘Fires on the Shoreline’ instigates with a haze of distortion and a wash of ambient atmospherics gleaned over it. The melancholic vibe is dripping with desolation and despair, a theme that repeats all throughout this demo and it’s all accentuated by the distant pained shrieks all buried beneath the morass, crafting a feeling of hopelessness.

‘Out of the Wood’ then strangely combats the despondency prior with affecting clean guitar work. Meanwhile, ‘Sky Wheel’ utilises the hypnotic clean vocals to superb effect once again, after the heaving intro of near catchy riffs. Like the distant howls, they complement the desperate, emotive feel of the demo without ever dampening the raw aggression of the pummelling drums. 

Kólga’s demo is such seething hail of discord for the most parts that’s opposed several times by moments of eerie, creepy melody. This dichotomy is what makes Kólga so utterly enthralling and even menacing, and whatever they have planned, album wise, couldn’t come around sooner.

8/10

Wage Slave streaming two new songs

Californian grinders Wage Slave have been quiet for some time but that silence has been broken tonight. The band will release their first full-length later this year, entitled Career Suicide, the follow-up to 2010’s self-released EP. Currently, they are streaming two new pre-productions songs.

The EP was an average listen at best. It just didn’t alight like these new songs because these two tracks just slay. It’s strange to think that these are the pre-production offerings as their delivery is unavoidably slick and avoiding the grimy production that often typifies grindcore. The two songs, ‘Ninety Nine to One’ and ‘Everyone’s Always Dying On Mondays (A Tale of Privatized Healthcare)’ can be streamed below and here’s hoping that the post-production versions don’t suck them of an vitality as often the studio sheen can do. The LP will be released by Cult of Melancholia.

Protest the Hero - Whelan's, 6/3/12

Protest the Hero played their first Irish headlining set last Tuesday in Whelan's, only their second time having supported Propagandhi a few years ago. This time around, they brought a full touring line-up, which included Long Distance Calling, Blood Command and Uneven Structure. Click HERE for the review.

Earth – The Button Factory, 5/3/12

Earth returned to Ireland last Monday on their current tour with a show at The Button Factory alongside tour support, Mt. Eerie and O Paon. Click HERE for the live review now on Drop-d.ie. Once again, it was another splendid show.

Stream a new OSI track

OSI, the prog rock duo of Jim Matheos and Kevin Moore, are preparing the release of their new album, Fire Make Thunder and are now streaming a new song from the album, the seven minute powerhouse, ‘Cold Call’. With big imposing riffs and Moore’s chilling, eerie singing the song is the usual brooding air that characterises OSI. Have a listen to the song over at Decibel now for a taster of the new record.

Another new Anathema song

Yes, another new Anathema song. ‘The Beginning and the End’ was released a few weeks ago and simply delighted. Now, PopMatters are streaming another new song from Weather Systems called ‘Untouchable Pt.1’, listen below. Simply put, this grabs you right away. Those dancing acoustic guitars greeted by Vincent Cavanagh’s always affecting vocals are just stunning. When the distortion begins to kick in along with ethereal vocal textures from Lee Douglas, you know something special is unravelling. Weather Systems has a huge task ahead of it in trying to top We’re Here Because We’re Here, but things look beautiful on the horizon.

Christopher Ammott leaves Arch Enemy

Long-time guitarist, Christopher Amott has left Arch Enemy. The band has swiftly replaced him with former Arsis member, Nick Cordle. The split was amicable according to a joint statement from the band and Amott, saying “Thankfully, there is no drama behind the scenes here. This is the best way forward for all involved. Christopher simply isn't into playing extreme metal anymore.”

Arch Enemy are still touring in support of last year’s Khaos Legions record.

Three years old today

Today is The Grind That Annoys’ third birthday. It’s kind of weird to think I’ve been rambling on here for that long, it doesn’t feel like three years, but then again from others’ perspectives, three years probably isn’t that long at all. Anyway, if you’ve read this far into the post, then thank you. You’re all right. Cheers also for reading any ol’ post that gets thrown up on here. I’m back to regular posting tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

New Conan song streaming

Liverpool’s sludgy doom band, Conan, is streaming a new song right now, which you can check out below. ‘Hawk as Weapon’ is taken from their next album, Monnos, coming on April 2nd, via Burning World. Simply put, Conan is loud. Last August, I saw them in the tiny confines of The Lower Deck, where frankly, ears were devastated. Their droning doom is simply a crushing listen and ‘Hawk as Weapon’ is no different. Their split with Belfast’s Slomatics last year was a magnificent release too so expectations are high for Monnos. Check out the song now.

What The Blood Revealed - Harbour of Devils

Scottish post rock band, What The Blood Revealed, will soon release their first full-length album Harbour of Devils. Click HERE for the full review now.

New Wolfbrigade song

Swedish crust veterans, Wolfbrigade, who recently signed to Southern Lord has posted a new song online from their next album Damned. ‘Peace of Mind’ is streaming on Southern Lord’s website HERE or can be heard below. The band signed a three album deal, so two more records are too far off in the distance. It’s going to be relentless, much like this song. The strong, sleek production sounds on paper like it wouldn’t work at all but the very opposite is true.

New High on Fire track

High on Fire are back this year with a new album, De Vermis Mysteriis, the follow-up to 2010’s gem Snakes for the Divine. The stoner metal three-piece, led by Matt Pike are teasing us with this new number ‘Fertile Green’. Straight after the drum intro, the track hits you like a ton of bricks with rumbling bass guitars and Pike sounding like a haunted Lemmy while he peels off some dirty, powerful riffs and a shredding solo. This song is pretty killer, top to bottom and with Converge’s Kurt Ballou at the mixing desk for this one, the production is suitably gritty.