Hallow's Eve

Do you need something to do on Halloween other than making a fool out of yourself in a costume? You can head over to the ever-so-queer Club Europa at 9PM and catch the official release show for NEGATIVE PLANE's new album, Stained Glass Revelations!

Some new NATUR

Thursday, September 9. Save that date.

Why? Brooklyn's defenders of true fuckin' steel NATUR will be playing at the Cake Shop to celebrate the release of their first single 7", Decion b/w Spider Baby. It's a pretty monumental occasion since this band is meant for vinyl and the newly founded The Year is One Records (started by Mark from the Casualties, who is a huge vinyl freak) is putting it out. Hail! "Decion" is a brand new cut while "Spider Baby" was given the re-recorded treatment. Of course, in trueness, it was laid down on 2" tape. Can't get better than that, really.

Also on the bill is Mutant Supremacy, who will also be having their record release party. I guess this will be literally a "record" release party since the last one was for the CD version of their debut full-length, Infinite Suffering. I hope you like your death metal extra deadly because these guys bring it. And I hope you enjoy Morbid Angel.

A nice surprise to this fun-filled evening is MR's featured black metalers: Rhode Island's Nightlore! They're one of the very few black metal bands (even American black metal, no less) that I enjoy and I'm really stoked to be seeing them. Fuck!

Sorry kiddos: 21+ only. But that won't stop you, now would it?

NO EMPATHY

I've been in a very black metal mood as of late and even though I don't exactly like many newer black metal bands (or what some people call "black metal"), I'm really digging this new find from Germany - Leipzig's NO EMPATHY. It's pretty obvious after listening to "Chalice of Vaus" and "Rust" that these guys totally understand the black metal aesthetics: raw, gritty, unpolished, riff-based and bleak as hell. I sense some influences from early Watain and Secrets of the Moon and the tortured vocals are just perfect (not over-the-top). Their debut full-length, Rust, seems to have come out earlier this year and is available through Iron Bonehead but I guess you can probably get it from the band as well. Enjoy!

NIGHTLORE

Could it be...?! Quality black metal from, of all places, Rhode Island?! Yes, my friends, it's true. Jamestown's very own NIGHTLORE has the spirit of early black metal of the Swedish kind and though they don't exactly turn heads with their originality (or, rather, lack of), they can bust out convincing and authoritative black metal far better than almost all American wannabe's - and even some Scandinavians. There's a lot of variety in the riffs here and the playing is quite skilled. There should be enough elements to satisfy every metal fan, and they left me pretty fucking satisfied.

I'm guessing the songs on their MySpace are quite new, and if so, a good musical future is ahead for them. Check these guys out - they are definitely worth a listen or three!

Supreme Brutality, part VIII - WATAIN

Uppsala's black metal horde WATAIN will finally return to these damned shores for Maryland Deathfest and I couldn't be more stoked. I kinda stopped paying attention to that whole scene for a few years simply because a lot of the shit that's coming out is really whack but a handful of bands, like Watain, really keep it exciting. Their upcoming album, Lawless Darkness, is gonna blow some heads...! I saw them at Wacken in 2008 and seeing them live was a total trip! Really excited for this one.

INFERNÄL DEATH

And here we have yet another band from Germany: the blackened thrash metal horde INFERNÄL DEATH! If you like bands like Old, Nifelheim, Trench Hell or, of course, Venom, you'll feel right at home (or hell) with these guys. They've a tape out, Gods of Chaos, which you can get on the band's MySpace or Hell's Headbangers Records.

OLD

Finally! Germany's OLD finally gets a place here! As their name suggests, these dudes play a very ancient and sinister style of speed metal in the vein of early Bathory, Celtic Frost, Sodom and Destruction... you get the idea.

I was first introduced to them by my friend Anton a while back and these guys totally blew me away. If I can recall, Old were the first band in this style that I really liked. Anyway, much thanks to Anton!

Anyone know what's going on with these dudes? They've been keeping silent for months and the Metal Archives listed them as "On Hold". Interestingly enough, it appears that 2 of the guys play in Nocturnal now (!), another fine German thrash band. Great, but... we need more Old!

You can get Down With The Nails at Peaceville Records. Do it!

Supreme Brutality, part II - SODOM

Here's the second installment to Supreme Brutality, the MDF special: fuckin' SODOM!







And of course...

Post Apocalyptic Inquisition, part I

I woke up this morning sore as hell from carrying around a crate full of records, but it was damn worth it. Thanks to Tooth and Ryan for hookin' it up! If you haven't heard already, they're in a sick old-school heavy metal band called Natur. I wish they can play their own music on their own show. That would be something.

As for me, it was an experience DJ-ing for the first time. I got some pretty good feedback and allow me to use this post as a doorway to check out some of the bands I played. "Pick your poison" is the phrase but I say, "fuck it - pick 'em all!" You'll find some new bands, not-so-new bands, and everything in between.

*****

Ketzer - this is a band that Tooth was raving about when I played them, and he has every reason for it. These German youngsters play an insane style of blackened thrash metal that is as sinister as their debut album's artwork. You can get Satan's Boundaries Unchained on Kneel Before The Master's Throne's distro. If you're into Nifelheim or early-1349, you'll dig these guys.




Midnight - Here's a band from a few of Ohio's black rock n' rollers. Basically, these guys play 100% pure blackened rock/metal in the vein of Venom and Motörhead with some punk-feeling splashed on top. I blind-purchased their great EP Farewell To Hell a while back and it's still being spun around here. You can find it on Nuclear War Now! Productions' distro.



Skitsystem - Sweden's finest crust band! They broke up a while ago but thankfully reformed and will play shows again. Whew! These guys were the first crust band that I listened to back in like '05 and there was no turning back. Tomas Lindberg from At The Gates/Disfear and Adrian Erlandsson of At The Gates was in the initial line-up but have long since quit. These guys are as brutal as ever and you can get their albums at Havoc Records.



Ulysses Siren - These fucking guys! For those of you not aware of the glory that is Ulysses Siren, let me give you a heads up. These Bay Area thrashers only released 2 demos in their entire career and lasted for maybe 2 or 3 years total. Relentless Records just put them out in one package called Above The Ashes. You can get the super-limited vinyl version at The Omega Order. Do you like your trash fast? Look no further.



*****

Look for part II soon...

BLACK ANVIL

Just a few moments ago, I was informed that New York City's very own Black Anvil just got announced as the opening band for Norway's kings of northern darkness: Immortal. I've been following Black Anvil for quite some time now, and I'm more than happy for them for landing this gig.

For those of you who don't know these guys, let me fill you in. Black Anvil was formed after the demise of Deathcycle, and saw bassist/vocalist PD and guitarist GWB II get heavier and heavier from their Kill Your Idol days. If you know any of those 2 bands, don't expect Black Anvil to sound like them. Instead, expect a full-on blackened thrash attack with hardcore (think Cro-Mags) influences tastefully peppered in. That's a fact most idiotic journalists in the metal "underground" twist.

Listen to Time Insults Insults The Mind and you'll see what I'm talking about. There are Dissection-like passages, Celtic Frost tendencies and a good chunk of Motörhead-worshiping within their music. Stand out cuts with said things are "LTHLTK", "Margin For Terror" and "Ten Talons Deep".



Relapse Records just signed these guys and the album should be easily available at every independent record store. The LP version is on Monumentum Records and I'm pretty sure it's limited.

Finally, if you're from around New York, you've probably seen a flyer or two with them on it. They'll play any show that's heavy and they've recently finished a tour with Marduk on both coasts. With their upcoming album Triumvirate finished, expect them to play a lot more shows. The next confirmed gig for them is at the Scion Rock Fest in Ohio with Cannibal Corpse, Voivod, D.R.I., and a shitload of other bands and at S.M.B. Fest with NYHC stalwarts Merauder and Ringworm in Brooklyn on May 29. You know where I'll be.

Black Anvil on MySpace
Black Anvil in the studio

New DARKTHRONE Track

Leave it to fuckin' Darkthrone to back up their beliefs with amazing songs!!!

According to the latest update on the Darkthrone blog, Fenriz has mentioned that a brand new track, entitled "Eyes Burst At Dawn", is now available. You can find the link via his blog above.

What can I say about this? It's awesome, of course! It's a bit different from the last 2 albums, F.O.A.D. and Dark Thrones And Black Flags in that it's much more traditional heavy metal in the sense of guitar melodies and the last riff - which sounds quite triumphant. I mean, I can get all pretentious and technical (not really, which is why I'd be pretentious) by making up all of these adjectives to describe how much I like the song... but I won't. Listen to it and we can discuss it.

Their new album, Circle The Wagons, can NOT come any sooner! All info for it can be found through the link on Darkthrone's blog.



*****

Be sure to check out Banished Force who Fenriz mentioned! I'm listening to them now and I must say, these guys must like Forbidden quite a whole lot. I never would have guessed that they're from Germany. Well done, kiddos!

ANNUNAKI

It's pretty exciting to be writing the first real post for Morbid Rupture. I think that the atmosphere is just right: sitting in a pretty brisk room with one of the biggest blizzards to hit New York City in a long time. Actually, it's the perfect scenario to introduce (or re-introduce) New Jersey's Annunaki. I bet some of you are wondering, "what does Annunaki have to do with blizzards?"

Three years ago, I saw this band open for Immortal at B.B. King's to a sold-out audience. They went on right before the Blizzard Beasts themselves and I can assure you that the crowd was getting restless. However, when Annunaki went on, everyone there ate 'em up. They were that great. People still talk about that particular performance and they definitely won a number of new fans. This was one of them.

Annunaki put out their debut album, Throne of the Annunaki, in 2007 on the band's own Militia Records - a sign that this band is the real deal. Their sound can be best described as "death-thrash", with a hint of black metal. My personal favorite on the disc, "Blunt Scalpel Extraction", sums up the band quite well. Vocalist Tony Stanziano's raspy growls remind me a bit of the legendary Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg's (At the Gates, Lock Up, Disfear) and the riffs and solos brought to the table by John Blicharz are top-notch. The man can rip solos that puts the entire ESP roster to shame and can knock riffs that are, most importantly, cold, heavy and memorable - at the same time! On the other end of the sonic spectrum, cuts like "Dysphoria Delirium" and "Torture" display the band's fine ability to play a great blend of black and death metal while the title track and "March of the Militia Dead" shows the band's excellent execution of the two aforementioned styles thrown into a thrash metal tornado. Prepare to have your head BANGED!



In terms of production, they really pulled out all the stops. Throne of the Annunaki was tracked at the famous Trax East Studio and mastered by the even more famous Alan Douches. Expect the sound to be pretty clean-cut and modern, but don't worry: THE RIFFS BACK IT UP! The only complaint that I have is the length of the album, which clocks in at a little over 50 minutes. The tracks on their own stand out and shouldn't be seen as filler in any way. However, when everything is put together, it might feel like it drags on at first listen. I guess this is something to weed out the amateurs from the start. I typically like my thrash records to be a bit shorter, but every time I come back to Throne of the Annunaki I can hum back the melodies and it feels like I'm returning to familiar territory. If an album can do that to you, you know something is right.

Of course, for all of you underground freaks out there, you might recognize the drummer's name: the one and only Kevin Kuzma of the cult thrash metal legends Blood Feast. Yes, he is back and thank goodness for it. As you might have suspected, he took part in the founding of Annuanki alongside bassist Karl Odenwalder and John after the breakup of their previous band Lament.

Since that hot summer night playing with Immortal (ironic?), the band has played with countless bands legendary in their own right. To drop a few names: the Swedish Panzer Division Marduk, tech-thrash titans Believer, legendary Floridian brutes Vital Remains, masters of death from the Czech Republic-via-Chicago Master, Finnish black metal horde Horna and Norway's hellish 1349, just to name a few. Talk about impressive.



So where can you purchase this intense slab of brutality? Where can you listen to some tracks? Check the links below. After all is said and done, this band is the real fuckin' deal.

Annunaki @ MySpace
Throne of the Annunaki @ Abyss Records and CM Distro

Check out MetalKult's review of Annunaki's set with 1349 over here. Check out some photos from that show by Piercing Metal over here.