Let All The Blood Soak Your Flesh...

Dopethrone - "Host" / Fister - "The Failure" (2016)

Horror movies, fittingly, drench the cover art for the new split between Dopethrone and Fister. This stellar cover was designed by Alexandre Goulet and promises to be "the last thing you ever hear" as the clenched knife comes out of a speaker for Dopethrone and an execution by a guitar driven through the mouth and neck of a man for Fister. We're in for a Hell of a ride. 

Dopethrone took on a huge responsibility by naming themselves off what many to be the quintessential doom metal album by Electric Wizard. They've always knocked it out of the damn park. Their track "Host" begins with a field recording layered deep within vicious guitars and black metal vocals by Vincent as they flow recklessly with the bass of Vyk. The only thing holding everything together is the powerful and precise drumming of Carl. The grooves are a rowdy fuzz filled carousal that only become less tangible with each listen. I swear there are ghosts in this track.  

Fister delivers their signature take on black metal on "The Failure" with upped aggression the likes of which their home state of Missouri has never seen before. Marcus Newstand is a powerhouse vocalist, and guitarist, who carries his shrieked vocals and layers them so much it's dizzying. Marcus draws out each word so much I have to imagine he's just hoarse almost to the point of coughing up blood at the end of each session. Nearing the middle of the track the bass of Kenny Snarzyk, who normally splits vocal duties with Marcus, and the drumming of Kirk Gatterer slow dramatically into an almost funeral doom paced clashing with pure sludge that marches along until the song slowly dissipates into nothing.  

A vinyl release is slated for later this year by Riff Dealer Records.
~Richard

For Fans Of: Behexen, Mayhem, Electric Wizard, Leviathon, Xasthur

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Taking New Forms...

Abaton - We Are Certainly Not Made Of Flesh (2015)

The long-in-the-making follow-up to 2011's Hecate is finally nearing release, and the band was kind enough to provide us with an advance copy of what they're planning to unleash on the world towards the end of September.  Whether you're already familiar with the Italian band or this marks your first time hearing of them, go ahead and start anticipating this album's release, because it's got something for just about every type of metal fan.  Death-driven drumming and clawing guitar chords, sludgy storms of high-interference amping, doomed-out stretches of melancholy reflection, and a blackened sizzle to the more vicious moments come together with damn strong unity.
We Are Certainly Not Made Of Flesh is one of those albums that gets its hooks into you with the first listen, and pulls them deeper and tighter each time you revisit it.  Allowing Abaton to guide you through the labyrinthine twists of the darkness they've put together is something you have to kind of surrender yourself to, as getting too attached to any one of the styles they put to use comes with sharp punishment.  Once you can hand over control, though, you'll be amply rewarded with sludgy deathly doomy metal 'til you can't take it anymore.  The band has not yet announced the formats on which they intend to release WACNMOF, but however it arrives, you'll want to get your hands on this one.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Coffin Torture, Dead Existence, Eibon, Electricjezus, Heavydeath

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Burst Loose From Hell...

No Trust - The Cycle (2015)

After the late-2013 release of their first LP, Unfound, the sludgy duo of No Trust buckled down to work out some new material, and this resulting album will be released in just two more days.  What you'll hear once you get the chance to grab your own copy and fire it up is a highly aggressive blending of metal styles, with an emphasis on sludgy death underscored by doom-accepting pushes of (very) heavy melody and big bass presence (and to my ears, some blackened harshness also joins the fray).  For a two-piece band, No Trust generate an impressive amount of noisy belligerence, with cascades of percussion and grimy guitar serrations tearing away almost as soon as you hit play.  Meanwhile, the vocals come in with a savage assault, though the band has a good ear for when to back off, ensuring enough restraint to keep the impact of their vicious guttural nature landing firm.
No Trust show a strong command of their music in all of the different ratios into which their genre-mixing fury is distilled, covering the 'seize you by the neck and shake you' blitzes, the 'let's fuse your spinal segments' slow sludge grinds, and the 'gnash your teeth to bloody pegs' abandonment with damn good commitment to pushing each form out to well-deserved extremes.  There's very little of that inadequacy you can get when a band too firmly rooted in one style tries to throw in an failed experiment past their ability/familiarity to land; No Trust pull off all the varieties with fire in their veins and a death-grip on the execution.  In short, if you like your sludge with a big splash of death (or if you don't, but have any amount of curiosity about that combo), get yourself a copy of The Cycle.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Weapon, Trees, Earthling, Uroboros, Hesperian Death Horse

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No Trust - Wolves (320 kbps)

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