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!
Sodom, Genesis XIX (Steamhammer)
For fans of: Exodus, Dark Angel, Possessed
Standout track: “Euthanasia”
Aw, FUCK YEAH. Sodom were always the Slayer of the Teutonic Three, and Genesis XIX shows how they’ve continued making confrontational thrash while so many other bands are just content to have a good time. Tom Angelripper’s in especially good form on this one, snarling away with nihilistic vigor. Fans of the masturbate-to-kill-myself era of the band might call this false, but any fan of thrash who isn’t trapped by their own trveness will absolutely adore this snarling rager of an album. Hail Knarrenheinz!
Hatebreed, Weight of the False Self (Nuclear Blast)
For fans of: Throwdown, Terror, Biohazard
Standout track: “Let Them All Rot”
If you assume the new Hatebreed album confronts complicated political issues and modern group therapy techniques, you came to the wrong part of Connecticut. Weight of the False Self brings what you expect and crave — brolic, swingin’ anthems to not giving up and trampling assholes. That said, there’s also a bit of death metal guitar here and a few changes in production that might have even Hatebreed diehard raising their eyebrows. Sometimes, steak and potatoes are the most delicious thing on earth.
Revolting, The Shadow at the End of the World (Transcending Obscurity)
For fans of: Revel In Flesh, Krypts, Necrophobic
Standout track: “Sorrow As Companion”
More bands should embrace the party of death metal as much as Revolting do on The Shadow at the End of the World. Sure, the tracks on this record are about murder, horror, blasphemy, and the sound of human entrails squelching underfoot. More the riffs on tracks like “Defleshed,” “Dragged Back to the Cellar,” and “Sorrow as Companion” are the kind of sonic feast that make you want to get some friends in denim jackets together for a violent, drunken BBQ. Full volume, claws up, summoning the god of something disgusting.
Cadaver, Edder & Bile (Nuclear Blast)
For fans of: Pungent Stench, Profanatica, Machetazo
Standout track: “Death Machine”
Edder & Bile is a solid reminder that while Norway is better known for black metal, its death metal bands are equally unrelenting. Cadaver bring some atmosphere to the album at times, but the songs thereon are overwhelmingly misanthropic and cacophonous. Tracks like “Feed The Pigs” and “Deathmachine” are thorny at their softest, while even mid-paced tracks like “Years of Nothing” leave acid burns in their wake. A tough one for sure, but worth a listen if you’re not too squeamish.
VHS, Gore From Beyond The Stars (Grindhead Records)
For fans of: Fulci, Phobia, Children of Technology
Standout track: “Steve’s Back From Space”
Each new album by Ontario bloodfeasters VHS takes on a different aspect of horror cinema, and this time around it’s space. Gore From Beyond The Stars is definitely as rubber-jointed and garbage-fed as the rest of the band’s grody death metal jams, but this time around a step up in production and songwriting makes the tracks sound a little more twisted and menacing than those on previous albums. That said, it’s a VHS record, so if you don’t know what you’re in for, you’ll either love it or throw up.
Other crushers:
- Within The Ruins, Black Heart (eOne)
- Psycroptic, The Watcher of All EP (Agonia Records)
- Glorious Depravity, Ageless Violence (Translation Loss Records)
- Avlivad, Avlivad (Invictus Productions)
- To Dust, Nightmare Cycles (Seeing Red Records)
- Ceremonial Castings, Salem 1692 (MMXX) (Eisenwald)
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Words by Chris Krovatin
