January Music Roundup
What's new in the rotation for me this month...
Demonstration MMXXVII by Sulphuric Deity
Recommended by Phil. Phil and I go back years in our metal journey and whilst we share a lot of crossovers we've taken different paths. Phil likes short, punchy, heavy somethingCore music at the minute. He's joked that "Grindcore bands will have 28 tracks on a 22 minute album". That isn't going to work for me - I tend towards post-metal and atmospheric black metal which takes its time in setting up a journey that it then spends the next hour pushing, pulling, tempting, and crushing you along.
Demonstration MMXXVII is somewhere between the two. They're still what I'd broadly categorise as "ADHD metal" but it's not all fire and forget. It's good music, I just wish it didn't end as abruptly as they did.
Alas, Phil has an agenda, "I’m trying to get you into the 2 minute songs as a segue into the 40 second songs".
I will never surrender.
Hatred for Mankind and Widowmaker by Dragged Into Sunlight
More from Phil. This is actually on the back of an invite to see them live, not new music per se. Just new to me.
Really loving these. Brutally heavy but also brooding and elaborate. There's definitely journey and mystery in here. Which reflects what I understand of their stage show which is masked and facing away from the audience because they all have important day jobs that probably wouldn't mix with extreme metal without some degree of raised eyebrows and explanations.
The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy by Lamp of Murmur
This came from listening to 2 Promotors 1 Pod.
On the face of it you're getting a deliciously heavy blackened death metal album and that was worth the entry price alone.
The wife and I don't share taste in music, but she's usually tolerant of what I have on when we're in the car and I'm driving (that's the rule: driver chooses the music). This record is one of the rare exceptions where she straight up turned it off. I think it's the vocals she couldn't get on board with. I love them - it's got that "being shouted at by a God" quality to it that I should probably spoend some time with a therapist getting to the bottom of, but it just fits really well.
But beyond this initial onslaught and ungodly telling-off, it starts to evolve into so much more as you give it time. The blackened side of it really shines through bringing in dark, synthy melodies and washes, and then the vocals introduce more nuance. Suddenly I'm immersed in so much depth of texture and warmth that the pay off continues to hit over the whole record.
Camgirl by Crippling Alcoholism
What a terrifying and accomplished record this is. From the soul-crushing lyrical content to the vast array of ways the music seeks to hurt you in their delivery. I described this as "weirdly excellent" and I'm sticking with it.
These guys dropped out of Damnation Festival last year and were replaced by my ongoing obsession Dimscǔa. Decided to give them a listen and wasn't disappointed.
Stop. Just stop.
To borrow a phrase I heard on 2 Promotors 1 Pod: "fucking atrocious".
I missed seeing these at Damnation last year. Not sure why - maybe a clash, maybe just because I hadn't heard of them. Another mistake I will come to rue and lament. More blackened death metal and provides another fierce wave of punishing riffs. A lot of fun. Probably good live.
Welcome My Last Chapter by Vinterland (new for me on vinyl)
I've loved this record for a little while now, but got it on vinyl as a birthday gift so it's had a bunch of spins there.
I think this classes as melodic black metal. I've long said that when a band has "melodic" tagged in front of its genre style this generally translates as "these guys aren't messing around" and that's the case here too.
It's a beautiful black metal record from the nineties I think. From what I remember these boys dropped this masterpiece and then disappeared. They seem to be back together fairly recently and I think they're playing Fortress Festival this year. I'm holding out hope that this isn't their only gig in the UK, and hope-beyond-hope that maybe they'll also play Damnation later in the year. Probably not, but there ya go.
Absolutely one of my favourite records. Stunning.
Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle (new for me on vinyl)
There's little I can say about this record that probably hasn't been said. A Perfect Circle have long been established as one of my favourite bands and this album is arguably their best - and that's among strong competition with the rest of their output.
Not like the others on here, and a firm wife-friendly spin. Firmly alternative rock, with hints towards metal very occasionally. It's one of those records that manages to be more than the sum of its parts despite every single component part of it being flawless. An absolute masterpiece.