Written by: Blackie Skulless
Ever since The Affair Of The Poisons dropped in 2020, I’ve been saying Hellripper are due for an alteration in sound, as the black/thrash genre can run stale fairly quickly if action isn’t taken. Boy, did they ever deliver! Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags came in clutch, completely blowing away anything they'd done prior to this album. This isn’t to say that McBain’s brand was never good, it was great; but this was exactly what the latest recipe called for! First, it’s important to address the fact that the foundation isn’t lost at all. Longtime fans should still find the appeal; “Goat Vomit Nightmare” makes this quite obvious. However, now the blackened element is laid on in a fashion far more in line with the traditional tropes of the black metal genre. When it isn’t running in that vein, more melodic leads are clearer than they’ve ever been. Speed metal still exists, but it is no longer the backbone needed to carry the entire album. Instead, it’s a nice feature along with these other notable traits.
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Written by: The Administrator
Each year, I inevitably spend a whole lot o' time with EPs. Is this due to my bafflingly short attention span? Yes. Is it also because EPs often feel like the perfect vehicle for a band to flaunt their strengths in a concise and well-trimmed manner? Also yes. Listening to a well-constructed EP is perhaps my favorite way to spend time with music, and so here I am, an eclectic collection of favorites gripped in outstretched grubby fingers. But first, some housekeeping! There are, assuming I counted correctly, 30 entries. I was planning on 20, but have no real interest in trimming a list of untrimmable favorites. In that spirit, hopefully you find something here that worms its way into your favorites as well. This list is not sorted by genre despite featuring a lot of different genres. I apologize for the whiplash, but sorting feels antithetical to the overall notion that listening habits should not be confined for the sake of convenient lists. And lastly, this is utterly unranked--if something appears here, please know that it comes highly, highly recommended! Anyways. Let's get into it. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Continuing the recent trend of dropping an album every half-decade or so, Germany’s thrash masterminds Kreator prove what proper amounts of time can do for a new record. 2017’s Gods Of Violence wound up taking album of the year for me. While I may not go that far now, Millie and Co. have conjured up a solid follow-up to it with Hate Über Alles. It follows a similar path to what they’ve been doing since 2001’s Violent Revolution, yet twenty-one years later they’ve still managed to keep it interesting. Admittedly, this one didn’t snatch me in as quickly as the prior two records did. But after a few listens, I was able to capture plenty of interesting ideas being offered. The previous record saw a bit more melody, and while Hate Über Alles doesn’t dial that in as hard, it still remains a prominent factor. “Strongest Of The Strong'' is absolutely loaded with traditional metal hooks with their Teutonic thrashy touch, and the same can be said about “Pride Comes Before The Fall'." The latter cakes on some beautiful singing amongst keys and melodies. “Midnight Sun” certainly focuses on that as well, featuring German new-wave vocalist Sofia Portanet on vocals, adding all sorts of atmosphere. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Basically making a name for themselves as one of the modern thrash giants, Municipal Waste have gone through some subtle changes throughout their two decade career. In 2019, they gave us a short taste called The Last Rager, one that I was actually rather disappointed in. So it came as a relief that the latest Electrified Brain didn’t leave nearly as much to be desired. Tony Foresta and Co. make a brand of thrash that after too long needs at least subtle stylistic shifts to remain relevant. On that front, Electrified Brain is unsurprisingly the sharpest record they’ve ever released. Focusing the tiniest bit more energy on melody while cleaning the delivery on the hardcore-dense tracks is the name of the game here, but doesn’t stray too far from the previous full-length. A few standouts that really beat the “crossover” aspect fit nicely while breaking up the cleaner aesthetic. “Blood Vessel-Boat Jail” reigns in some blast beats, while tackling a more abrasive front. “Putting On Errors” may be the only other tune that goes as hard or fast as this one. 
Written by: The Administrator
Doom and thrash might not be the most common (or expected) bedfellows, but there's a certain appeal to the confluence of, say, Motörhead's breakneck bombast and Sleep's fuzzy weight. On their debut 4-track EP–Thrice Majestic, for those taking notes–LA's own The Cimmerian taps into the implicit speedy thrust and plodding gravitas of component genre parts, riding the pendulum betwixt the two with a delightful barbarism. The tracks herein do an excellent job of maintaining variation in terms of sonic makeup, which makes avoiding a track-by-track analysis difficult. It also makes selecting a favorite track near-impossible, as everything feels fresh and essential to the overall picture. In that spirit, let's dive right in!
Every Friday, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance. Today is the day we must offload all this new music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be--and have been--listening to today here at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so!
On the docket for today, June 24th, 2022: PAGANIZER, Horned Wolf, Tabahi, and 10,000 Years
Every Friday, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance for the following week. Today is the day we must offload all this new music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be--and have been--listening to today here at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so!
On the docket for today, June 10th, 2022: Yatra, Dust Prophet, Adamantis, and Pillärs
Written by: The Administrator
I love when the comments under a release on Bandcamp demonstrate a unified point of view. In the case of Here Comes Hell, the debut 4-track EP from WARPSTORMER, that point of view across the listening base is pretty damn clear. In a word: this thing has riffs. Riffs on riffs on (dare I say) more riffs. As it happens, I'm a bit of a riff connoisseur myself, and after listening to this EP for the third time today, I find myself agreeing with the consensus. This thing packs 'em in and unleashes 'em with the confidence of a seasoned act and the haste of a band excited to parade their entire arsenal in a single 20 minutes span. That said, the four tracks here are quite varied. The first three lean in varying degrees towards the thrashier end of the self-described "stoner-thrash" genre tag, and closer "Reap What You've Sown (Devourer)" carries itself with a slower and more melancholic air. WARPSTORMER serve up a very nice mix of elements, and their willingness to shake up the pace and mood demonstrates potential for a wide array of sight and sounds in subsequent work. I certainly hope a full album of this stuff is on the horizon...but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. While the future of the band is indeed exciting, Here Comes Hell deserves time to shine on the basis of its own merits. 
Written by: The Administrator
When it comes the (admittedly ill-defined) bingo card of stuff that I like, Portland's own Soul Grinder ticks a lot of boxes, and have been doing so from their inception back in 2018. Their debut EP Terraflesh impressed with a uniquely unhinged energy, and follow-up LP The Prophecy of Blight proudly demonstrated a similar excitement and viscerality, albeit with enough refinement in the songwriting department to lend the band a clear maturity and sense of direction. Continuing the trend, the Queen Corrosia EP, released this May, subtly substitutes a sense of measured confidence for the sense of breakneck urgency that permeated their earlier work.While undoubtedly aggressive and rash, the title track isn't particularly unhinged--it is not restlessly scrabbling at it's own boundaries. The solo, for example, sits comfortably within the forward canter, and the vocals, while powerful, aren't chaotic to a blistering degree. As a result, this track, and those that follow, feel more settled--although in the grand scheme of exciting punky melodic thrash, Soul Grinder are still sitting comfortably at the more vigorous end of the spectrum. And when you're talking about the carnivalesque world of punky melodic thrash, that's saying a lot. Fear not: the riffs still thrash and stomp in familiar fashion, and Prilzor's vocals still shred through the instrumentation with a rabid yet gloriously dynamic freneticism. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
While hardly ever anything overly new or standout, blackened thrash is something that manages to pull me in time and time again. South Carolina’s Demiser is a fresh act that once again reinforces my sentiment of being able to have identity without having originality. Taken formation a few years back, last year was when their first full offering hit the menu. Through The Gate Eternal is yet another record that looks the way it sounds, and I’m here for it. Forming an obvious sum of its ideas around fast riffing and fuming harsh vocals, the bottom level is business as usual. There’s a helping of classic sounding speed metal here, vulgar poetic flow there, and noodly solos that jump above an otherwise dry soundscape. What manages to sell Demiser is the ability to capture steady flow for a typically furious and fiery genre. “Deathstrike” moves into its outing leads so wonderfully from its galloping rhythm, and “Offering” manages to sneak in a bit of melodic catchiness resting in the chorus. The latter is probably the most memorable track. |
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