Babalon Vs Spring 2023
I thought, instead of going over a band's discography or doing recommendations, this week we go into albums I'm looking forwards to. Im only doing albums that are confirmed to be released this year because I have trust issues with anything without a release date. It's kind of like the Zodiac thing.
Prophecies Ablaze
Unpure
Black-Thrash
Sweden
It's been more than half of my short existence since Unpure has released an album and, in the Swedish tradition, they seem to have made it worth our while. "Prophecies Ablaze" sounds like a vicious return from one of the unsung legends of Swedish Black-Thrash. Evil and brutal riffs just ooze from this one, provided by a lineup bolstered by members of the indomitable Watain and Degial, and Kolgrim's vocals have not become any less ferocious with the passage of time. The first two promo tracks, "Northern Sea Madness" and "Small Crooked Bones" already show promise and are well worth your time in and of themselves.
Apocalypse
Rotten Sound
Grindcore
Finland
I might catch shit for this, but luckily I don't care - Rotten Sound is probably my favorite Grindcore band of all time. I too love Napalm Death, Nasum, and Repulsion but Rotten Sound is unique in both their immediacy and talent. I'm well aware "talent" in Grindcore sounds like an unsanitary proposition, but the mix of Swedish-Finnish death metal sound with the blistering brutality, to quote Goniloc, "touches you in the touchiest of places." The new opus "Apocalypse," is Rotten Sound's first full length album in 7 years and it sounds worthy of their already storied discography.
Nostalgia
Enforcer
Heavy Metal
Sweden
Remember a few years back when classic heavy was thin on the ground? Sure there were the legendary acts still ripping, but traditional metal was very much on life support (I promised to not make a Mötley Crüe pun) as far as new material for a few years. If you ask me, or read a piece I am writing, this changed with In Solitude and Enforcer. While In Solitude broke my heart and ceased to exist in 2015, Enforcer published their debut "Into The Night" in 2008 and have released some of the greatest records the genre has seen in quite a while.
Anyway, the Aarvika giant Olof and company are back and if the singles are anything to go by, this record is going to see the band continue their reign.
72 Seasons
Metallica
Thrash Metal
USA
You know who Metallica are, you've heard what's coming and you don't need me to tell you about. You might want me to but you don't need me to. However I am too excited to leave them off my list.
Rock Releases
Plagueboys
Grave Pleasures
Post-Punk
Finland
It is no exaggeration to say that after "Motherblood," I did not envy Grave Pleasures' position one bit. They always seem to have the monumental task of topping themselves, but it pays off when your track record is this strong. Grave Pleasures are one of the few acts that have me going " a new album you say dear fellow? Well I know whatever it is, it'll be great."
With good reason too, as "Plagueboys" seems to continue the extremely high standard laid by its forebears. It's desolate, it's emotional, it's extremely well written lyrically and musically, and its one of the few bands you could both dance to and cry to. Maybe even at the same time if you're Billy Eliott enough.
The Old Ways Remain
Blood Ceremony
Occult Rock
Canada
Canada's Blood Ceremony are often seen as The Devil's Blood Lite™️ but this is a very narrow way of looking at it. Beyond the blood and being Occult Rock groups headed by women, they have very little in common with one another. The vibe is different to the point I'm not sure they'd really fit a bill together. I could see TDB playing alongside, say, Candlemass but I see Blood Ceremony being much more at home with acts like Windir or Skyclad.
What I'm trying to say, inarticulately and with foam running from my rabies infested mouth is that the band has a more Folk edge to it. All three of their previous records left me with a taste for more, walking that tightrope of being psychedelic and classic without being derivative and "retro." Their new one has no songs out yet, possibly as a conspiracy to antagonize me, but I have every reason to believe it'll be worth checking out.
Unsolicited Recommendations Part 1
As you could tell from my previous post wherein I opened saying I have no right to tell anyone how to write and spent the whole blogpost telling you how to write, I'm very fond of giving unsolicited recommendations (and hypocrisy in general.) Usually this totals in Metal music recommendations, but in this new segment, we're going to talk about everything but metal. Two to three unsolicited recommendations a week of what scholars and learned men in far off shores call "cool stuff."
The art of Franz Ritter von Stuck
Starting off with something dark but not audible (unless you're listening to Tribulation's The Formulas of Death's included poster somehow) is the art of Bavarian painter Franz von Stuck.
The first thing that always gets me about his paintings is that, if the eyes are the gateways to the soul, then his subjects are some fucked up motherfuckers. Which, granted, is to be expected from his mythological work, but even his more innocuous paintings have a sense of melancholic grandeur to them.
Personal favorites - Pluto, Salome and The Murderer.
2. Rocky Erickson's Don't Slander Me
Alright so anybody who knows their pinky from their ring finger would immediately ask "why not The Evil One? " So here's the deal- The Evil One is the better album, plain and simple, but it's in fact so good that many never talk about Don't Slander Me and that's an act of slander against Rocky. The one thing he expressly said not to do, you heartless bastards.
Whereas The Evil One beautifully captures a sense of paranoid dread and delusion, Don't Slander Me is a more straightforward rock n' roll affair but Rocky's personality shines through in subtler ways. The title track in particular will get stuck in your head for the rest of forever and the snarly, raspy vocals describing everything from Bermuda Triangle legends to particularly foxy apples of his eye lend a sense of attitude to what is a classic record.
TL/DR? No it's not The Evil One but very few (only one actually) records are and it's fantastic in its own right