Rumblings From the Underground: Rising (Premiere), Graves at Sea, Interment + More
Hey, hey, hey! I've got some goodies for all of you this week! In addition to album reviews from Graves at Sea, Haxen, Ill Omen, Interment and Novembre on top of the usual news coverage, the first thing you'll see — and hear — below is a brand new track from Danish groovy sludge lords Rising! The track, "All Dirt," opens their forthcoming album, Oceans Into Their Graves, out April 29 on Indisciplinarian. Enough from me! Check out what the band had to say about the song and start jammin' it before you get to that saucy news and those sizzling album reviews!
"'All Dirt' has become a centerpiece of the new album musically, lyrically and in regards to the overall vibe. It was one of the first songs we wrote with the new line-up, and it encaptures every musical element, that we wanted: The heavy, the aggressive, the melodic, the progressive and the dark and sinister."
Also, the lyrics set the overall theme for the record, being death in all shapes and forms, the personal, existential as well as the unpersonal, cosmic death. This particular song was sparked by the biblical sentence of 'the way of all flesh' and it deals with the certain path we all must go - and with those after us taking over our burdens and heading the same way. For us, life is now and not some otherworldly place. Death is just a natural part of life and should remind us to make every minute count - and remember to play and listen to some f--king good music."
U.S. pre-orders for Rising's Oceans Into Their Graves can be placed here and click here for international pre-orders.
News
It's been six years since sludge bearers Cough gave us a studio album, but the wait is over! Still They Pray is out June 3 on Relapse and the new song "The Wounding Hours" can be heard here.
Mantar are building some hype around Ode to the Flame, out next week on Nuclear Blast and they've just unleashed "Praise the Plague." Upbeat and vicious, this duo sounds unstoppable so far and you can click here to check out the new track.
The Black Cult Ejaculate of Profanatica will be releasing the fourth full length disc, The Curling Flame of Blasphemy later this year. The artwork and track listing has been released and can be seen at Hells Headbangers.
Reviews
Graves at Sea, 'The Curse That Is'
Ever since I heard the Graves at Sea song "Pariah" off their split with funeral doom act Asunder, I've been waiting for a full length. The group disbanded from 2008 to 2012 and after four more years of activity, their debut is here!
The Curse That Is, like any truly great album, takes a few listens to sink in, but your efforts will be fruitfully rewarded when the intricacies of crushers like "Dead Eyes" and "The Ashes Made Her Beautiful" play out in sonic context of the record on the whole. Nathan Misterek's voice drips with regret and scorn, employing a low guttural and menacing shrieks that sound like they were recorded in a torture chamber. Slow, plodding, strong-armed and beautiful, The Curse That Is makes it well worth the wait.
Haxen, 'Haxen'
Rhode Island's Haxen have been kicking around for over 15 years and have finally released their debut record on Eternal Death. The eponymous album is a collection of 10 necro, lo-fi black metal hymns that should see all churches within a five mile radius spontaneously combust with the inflamed spirit of Norway circa 1992.
Haxen is a primal effort from the quartet, featuring members of war metal purveyors Sangus and Ash Pool. "Black Fire Suicide" opens the record, foregoing any sounds the genre has produced in the last two decades. From the Blasphemy-tinged "Cryptic Fire" to the longest cut, "Abismo," Haxen displays their adept songwriting prowess and a deft balance of culter-than-thou riffing melding with subtle melodies at times, making for a record more diverse than its surface divulges.
Ill Omen, 'Æ.Thy.Rift'
Ill Omen is a one man outfit of brainchild 'IV,' who is a staple of the Australian metal scene and has spent time in Nazxul, Austere, Pestilential Shadows and an ongoing list of others. Æ.Thy.Rift is his third full length offering under Ill Omen, comprised of four tracks of trance-inducing, droning black metal that's as asphyxiating as it is claustrophobic.
Each track is labeled with a Roman numeral to correspond to its place and are all given the same title as the album. Æ.Thy.Rift is best listened to from start to finish as no singular track bests another, but the atmosphere is calculated, building on each preceding song to create a swirling mass of pure audio terror.
Interment, 'Scent of the Buried'
Holy buzzsaw tone, Batman! We all know the classic Boss HM-2 Swedish guitar sound made famous at Sunlight Studios during death metal's advent. Interment have managed to pry themselves from the overcrowded sea of imitations and turned the clock back to 1991 on Scent of the Buried.
They said the wheel couldn't be re-invented, but Interment's sophomore effort not only figures the wheel out all over again, but it rediscovered fire as well. From opener "Death and Decay" to closer "Nailed to the Grave," this record rivals any of the finest Swedeath albums ever recorded. The producer responsible? Tomas Skogsberg, the man behind Sunlight Studios who has been largely quiet in the new millennium. Twisted melodies and pulverizing rhythms bring Dismember closest to mind and since they split up it's about damn time someone filled their void! Hats off, Interment!
Novembre, 'URSA'
It's nearly been a decade since we last heard from the Italian progressive melodic death doom (got all that?) outfit Novembre. Their last album, The Blue, was a stellar addition to their catalog and now they're back with an even more impressive record in URSA.
Novembre are masters at conjuring a myriad of emotions from tranquil, soothing soundscapes and clean vocals that teeter on the edge of ethereal to gorgeous melodies colliding with mid-ranged growls against a double-kick backdrop. Whether it's "The Rose," "Umana," Oceans of Afternoons," "Bremen" or any track on URSA, each song is a journey in itself that gets more vivid with each successive listen.
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