Marking 35 years of boundary-shattering existence, Japanese avant-garde metal pioneers Sigh returned with I Saw the World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV) – a fully re-recorded, reimagined version of their 2007 cult opus. Released last Friday via Peaceville, the album arrives alongside a brand-new video for the blistering track ‘Me-Devil,’ produced by Matt Vickerstaff.
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Peaceville – 1st November 2024
Christopher Nosnibor
The claim that ‘New Skeletal Faces cast their own black light onto the long dormant corpse of Death Rock, shattering the mirror of modern Heavy Metal into fragments that reflect back a fresh new take on this form of music with an energised & outlandish conviction’ is a bold one. Ominous, menacing, perhaps, or deluded and deranged?
California may be known for its sun and sand, but it has a long history or dark currents which run contra to its popular image, perhaps most notably Charles Manson’s Family being based in The Golden State – which in turn drew Trent Reznor for the recording of The Downward Spiral. In between, Christian Death spawned the proto-goth / nascent death rock sound which, while evolving in parallel to the scene in the north of England, was unique and distinct, and the early eighties saw California home to a thriving hardcore punk scene. I suppose that wherever there is affluence and clean-cut TV slickness, there is bound to be rebellion, a counterculture which stands at odds with it all. No doubt some of these factors drew New Skeletal Faces to California for the recording of Until The Night, the follow-up to 2019’s Celestial Disease.
They proffer an ‘effortless blending of the spirits of old; with the seductive & spellbinding gothic prowess of bands such as Christian Death fused with the raw unbridled energy of early Swedish black metal legend, Bathory to create a bold new statement of intent, in stark contrast to the often overly-refined polish of contemporary metal. Until the Night is, as a result, something more akin to listening to the 1980’s Sunset Strip in an alternate universe from hell.’ For good measure, and to really clarify their position, there’s a cover of Bathory’s ‘Raise The Dead’.
In all, it’s apparent this is destined to be dark from the outset. Across the album’s eight tracks, they paint everything darker shades of black with densely-woven layers of sound. The guitars, while overdriven, are reverby, and quite smooth, and while the riffs take their cues from black metal, there are some overtly gothy licks, and the atmosphere is very much reminiscent of Only Theatre of Pain but with the dial cranked a few notches further over into the ‘metal’ domain for the most part. Then again, the title track, with its thunderous tribal percussion, spindly guitar laced with flange and chorus, and thumping bassline, encapsulates the sound of goth circa 1985, only with shouty vocals which belong more to the hardcore sound of the same time.
Titles such as ‘Ossuary Lust’, ‘Wombs’, and ‘Pagan War’ are fully invested in the trappings of gnarly metal and its themes, but ‘Zeitgeist Suicide’ reflects a self-awareness which may not be immediately obvious.
As I touched on in my recent review of Vessel’s cover of ‘Body and Soul’ by The Sisters of Mercy, while there is a clear interface between goth and metal – even if it does tend to be primarily a one-way street, which finds metal fans embracing goth bands, in particular The Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim – its rare to encounter a particularly successful merging of the genres. In the main, goth-metal is cliché and cack. Despite appearances, Until The Night is neither, and is perhaps the most potently-realised stylistic synergy since The End of Mirrors by Alaric in 2016.
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Chiming guitars swirl around relentless, barrelling beats on ‘Wombs’, before ‘Zeitgeist Suicide’ leads with a weaving bassline and some fizzy, treble-dominated guitar, and they go at it hard and fast. ‘Enchantment of my Inner Coldness’ brings together vintage goth with a vocal performance that evokes the spirit of Public Image Limited, and in doing so, succeeds in sounding – and feeling – both expansive and claustrophobic at the same time.
Until The Night scratches and drives its way – all the way – to the Bathory cover which drawn the curtain down on this dark, fiery, and furious album. It may well alienate goths, metalheads, and post-punk fans alike, but it feels very much like their loss, being an album strong on songs and confident in its own identity in the way it positions itself uniquely across the genres.
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Peaceville – 19th July 2024
James Wells
Since their inception as Our Haunted Kingdom in 1995, before transitioning to Orange Goblin and releasing their debut album, Frequencies From Planet Ten in ’97, OG have established themselves as leading exponents of heavy metal thunder.
Science, Not Fiction, explores, as the press pitch puts it, ‘the world as seen through the three fundamental factors; Science, Spirituality, & Religion and how they determine and affect the human condition.’
On the one hand, this is very much hoary old-school metal, with monster riffage cranked up and driving hard with gruff vocals giving it some. But on the other, it’s hoary old-school metal that’s very much more in the Motorhead vein than, say, Iron Maiden. It’s got the heavy swagger of the best of stoner, the monstrous density of slugging, sludgy doom. Fretwanking is kept in check while ball-busting riffery is cranked up to eleven. No shit, this is how it should be done.
‘(Not) Rocket Science’ is exemplary, and brings both the riffs and the cowbell. They sling in some sampled speech on ‘Ascend the Negative’, which offers a solid sense of positivity pushed on by a pounding riff and thunderous percussion. ‘The rich inflate their egos while the poor just foot the bills’, Ben Ward growls on ‘False Hope Diet’, clearly establishing their political position. This enhances my personal appreciation of the band, for certain – but as much as anything because of their up-front engagement with issues, rather than just pumping fists about birds or relationships. That shit just gets tired and has been done to death, as has mystical bollocks for that matter. It ain’t the 70s anymore, man.
Orange Goblin by no means strive to subvert or place a spin on well-established genre tropes: if anything, quite the opposite is true: Science, Not Fiction absolutely revels in them. But, at the same time, in terms of subject matter, Science, Not Fiction is bang-on contemporary and on point.
There’s simply no arguing with this album: Science, Not Fiction is all the meat, there’s no let-up from beginning to end: nothing but riff after riff, delivered with confidence and brute force. Good shit.
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Black metal legends Mork have announced their new album Syv today, set for release on 20th September on Peaceville. Alongside the news, the band have shared the album’s first single ‘Utbrent’. Speaking about the new single, Mork creator, frontman and mastermind Thomas Eriksen said “Utbrent is a depiction of getting burnt out and the struggle of holding oneself standing. Even whilst silently knowing the day will actually come and break you down…the harsh punishment of living as life breaks you down and burns you out”.
Watch the lyric video for ‘Utbrent’ here:
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Following on from Thomas Eriksen’s self-titled Udåd project debut earlier this year; a dark release which explored the more underground & murkier-sounding waters of primitive black metal from a by-gone era, Syv emerges as the new pinnacle of Mork’s and Eriksen’s ever-evolving journey, as well as a creative expansion both sonically & compositionally over all prior works.
Syv also undoubtedly represents Mork’s most expressive and diverse works to date, with exquisite melodies interspersed with brutal and even occasionally progressive riffs amid an ever-present air of melancholy. This forms a perfect backdrop for Eriksen’s thematic dive through the contemplations of looming mortality, and digressions through the depths and contrasts of human existence; from the blackness of despair, to the pride & strength in overcoming, as well as absorbing additional inspiration from tales of old.
“We have reached the seventh chapter of the Mork saga. As I have stated earlier, it has been important for me to let the music evolve over the span of albums. It has really been a rewarding couple of years writing and recording “SYV”. When listening back the finished product I felt a great satisfaction. Brutal riffs meeting melancholy and melodic passages with a slight progressive approach. Lyrically scraping the bottom of human existence and frailty as well as touching an immense pride and strength. This is probably my most varied album to date. Which in my mind makes a perfect outcome and addition to the Mork catalogue.” – Thomas Eriksen
Syv was performed, recorded & mixed by Eriksen himself, with engineering assisted by Freddy Holm (who also contributes with strings and synths). Mastering work on the album was carried out by studio mastering guru Maor Appelbaum (Sepultura) in collaboration with Jack Control at Enormous Door (Darkthrone).
Photo by Daniel Pedersen
After the announcement of their new album Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts, Autopsy peel back the skin of their new record with a bloodied single, ‘Throatsaw’. The track is whirling dervish of razor sharp riffing and serrated vocals that slice through the mix delivering that signature Autopsy sound.
Regarding the single, Chris Reifert had the following to say:
“For this selection we have decided to cast aside musical acrobatics, high-brow labyrinthian showings off of scales, sweeps and noodlings, lush sonic passages and deep audio journeys rare and untold, egotistical trains of thought and neo-classical wizardry and well…just cut your fuckin’ throat wide open and giggle like cretins while the blood sprays in every direction. Doesn’t that sound like fun, kiddies?”
The single is accompanied by an animated lyric visualiser created by Andrea Mantelli Productions.
Watch it here:
Hot on the heels of 2022’s universally lauded opus, Morbidity Triumphant, the US death metal greats now return for a new sermon of sickness, with ‘Ashes, Organs, Blood & Crypts’, featuring brutal bouts of riffery feral attacks, soul crushing doom and all out skull splitting heaviness.
Emerging from their sepulchre comes yet another horrendous piece of art from long time collaborator Wes Benscoter (Bloodbath / Slayer). Inspired by the title, the band let Wes’ imagination run amok, conjuring up yet another horrifying monument to Autopsy’s latest musical offering.
Photo by Nancy Reifert
Following the announcement that the new Darkthrone album, Eternal Hails, is to be released on 25th June, the band have premiered “Hate Cloak” – the first and only track to be revealed ahead of the album’s release. The 9min 17 seconds, Fenriz penned, hallowed epic “Hate Cloak” is steeped in the majestic thunder of vintage heavy doom metal. Fenriz comments “Hate Cloak is certainly the slowest song on the album, there are plenty of “fast" parts on Ted’s songs, middle tempos and slow as well. The whole point of us having long songs is variation in tempos/pace, hence the epicness”
Watch ‘hate Cloak’ here:
Eternal Hails will be released on Peaceville on 25th June
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14th August 2014 – Peaceville
James Wells
The second single from forthcoming album The Affair Of The Poisons, ‘Vampire’s Grave’ follows ‘Spectres of the Blood Moon Sabbath’ and, as the press release points out, ‘continues to explore the themes within the new album – the dark & insidious underworld witchcraft and the occult’ (just in case the cover art didn’t give enough of a clue).
Blending real-life crime with occultism, (the track is based on a real-life event that took place in Glasgow, Scotland in 1954, specifically the tale of the ‘Gorbals Vampire’, where over the course of a few nights in 1954, hundreds of young children descended upon the Glasgow Necropolis armed with stakes and crosses in search of a large, vampiric creature with blood red eyes that they believed was responsible for killing and devouring kids with its iron fangs), it’s pitched as being for fans of Venom, Kreator, Sabbat [JPN] and Metallica.
With its high-octane guitar and speed riffage propelled by thunderous drumming, it sounds more like Mötörhead fronted by Quorthorn, a pounding speed-punk riffery topped by a demonic, rasping snarl. It’s full-throttle, it’s dense, and it’s pretty bloody brutal – just as you’d want.
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The Affair Of The Poisons will be released on CD, LP, cassette and digital through Peaceville on 9th October and is available to pre-order now HERE
Sadly, their autumn European tour with Midnight has been cancelled due to the on-going covid-19 issues but they are still looking forward to three headline shows in the UK.
Headline UK shows
22.10.20 – London, The Black Heart
23.10.20 – Leeds, Boom
24.10.20 – Glasgow, Nice ‘N’ Sleazy
US death metal pioneers Autopsy are set to return on 15th December with new mini album Puncturing the Grotesque set for release on Peaceville to coincide with the band’s 30th anniversary. You can listen to the title track here:
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SikTh have shared a brand new video for the track ‘Cracks of Light’ taken from their recent album The Future in Whose Eyes?. This is also the first ever SikTh track to feature a guest vocalist in the form of Periphery singer Spencer Sotelo.
Watch the video here:
SikTh play summer festivals in August in the UK & Czech Republic – details below:
12/08/17 – CZ – Brutal Assault Festival (https://brutalassault.cz/en )
19/08/17 – UK – Bristol, Arctangent Festival (http://www.arctangent.co.uk )
27/08/17 – UK – Portsmouth – Victorious Festival – Butserfest Stage (https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk )
Like your experimental noise / black metal to be ulra-dark and heavy with sinister occultism and mystical imagery? The new video from T.O.M.B. (Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy) for the track ‘Awake…Darkness’ from Fury Nocturnus should be right up your darkened, blood-slicked alley…
Aural Aggravation 