It’s Friday, which means two things: giving this week the finger, and new music! Tune in every Friday for The Pit’s round-up of new releases, from singalong hard rock to pus-drenched underground death metal. Keep those ears bleeding!
FEVER 333, Wrong Generation EP (Roadrunner Records)
For fans of: Stray From The Path, Skrillex, downset
Standout track: “WALK THROUGH THE FIRE”
What’s especially powerful about FEVER 333’s Wrong Generation EP is that the fury behind it is totally justified. Jason Aalon Butler isn’t screaming about some abstract enemy, some they or system who’s out to get him, he’s referencing the real-life murders of unarmed black Americans that have occurred during the last six months and the uprisings born out of them. In “WALK THROUGH THE FIRE,” the dude literally spits, “Please understand, another man is lying dead, and he looked like me.” Given all the gaslighting and cultural revision that has gone on among hardcore conservatives in the past four years, it’s important we hear this rancor from the hearts of a band who are actually experiencing this struggle.
Zeal & Ardor, Wake of a Nation EP (self-released)
For fans of: Ihsahn, Emma Ruth Rundle, Emperor
Standout track: “At The Seams”
If FEVER 333’s new EP is the outraged protest for the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Zeal & Ardor’s Wake of a Nation is the crushing, soul-deep vigil. Merging black metal, doom, R&B, drum-line beats, and piano-driven soul, the EP is the ripped-out heart of black America, using its more kvlt moments to express frontman Manuel Gagneux’s sorrow over the face the world has shown him in the past year — and, on further thought, over the past three centuries. At its most honest, extreme metal is about giving voice to emotions so powerful they cannot be expressed quietly, and with this EP Zeal & Ardor have done just that, creating a sonic landmark of a year none of us will ever forget.
Pallbearer, Forgotten Days (Nuclear Blast)
For fans of: Weedeater, Rwake, Conan
Standout track: “Forgotten Days”
Hot damn, Pallbearer aren’t messing around here! The Arkansas doom merchants are renowned for their more ethereal moments — which, to be fair, are very present on Forgotten Days — but man, if this album doesn’t kick off with a real churlish, antisocial riff. Even when the record takes a spacier vibe, it never loses that darkness that’s unique to their home state. Those of us who are more flowers than edibles will appreciate this updated vibe, which will undoubtedly keep the band alive in the hearts of those smelly, old-school heads (this author included).
Carnal Ruin, The Damned Lie Rotting (Redefining Darkness Records)
For fans of: Witch Vomit, Ossuarium, Autopsy
Standout track: “Scholomance”
FFFFUCK YES. Life is too short to listen to false metal, which is why we’re so happy Florida’s Carnal Ruin are making the kind of rending, disemboweling, taint-stomping death metal that’s present on The Damned Lie Rotting. This isn’t to say it’s all technicality and punch — these guys add a lot of melody to their music, making each song a pleasure to suck down, it just never sounds too flowery or polished. You know when you go to a death metal show, and opener you’ve heard of but don’t know blows you away so hard that you buy a shirt mid-set? This is that band.
Other crushers:
- Sevendust, Blood & Stone (Rise Records)
- Mors Principium Est, Seven (AFM)
- Strangelight, Adult Themes (self-released)
- Defecto, Duality (Black Lodge Recordings)
- Vessel of Light, Last Ride (Nomad Eel)
- Solitary, The Truth Behind The Lies (Metalville)
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Words by Chris Krovatin
