BEASTMILK

I've been meaning to write about this odd band for a while but, of course, I slept on it. Fenriz of Darkthrone featured these guys in his blog a few weeks ago but they were so good to my ears that I just had to put them here, for whatever it's worth. I just ordered their cassette tape just now which I highly recommend you doing. Basically, there's no accurate way for me to describe them. Imagine Samhain (a favorite of mine!) mixed in with the classic post-punk sounds of Joy Division and Killing Joke, but in a super gritty manner. Listen closely for some not-so-obvious influences... Oh, and can you ask for more reverb? The spirit of the late-70's and early-80's lives on through BEASTMILK!

Welcome To the Wasteland

Oh, look what we have here! If you're in the NYC-area, especially Brooklyn, it is mandatory to come to this show. Here we have New York's defenders of true steel NATUR along with New England's recent gem HESSIAN (who has just been Fenriz-approved) and Brooklyn-based doom trio BAD DREAM. This will be happening at The Acheron and will go down October 12. You're pretty much a false metal poser if you don't attend. Just sayin'.

THE PIST

Here's a band that was tipped on to me last night by Weibs of the Metal Inquisition Radio Show/Natur. Whilst discussing hardcore and punk bands, he mentioned THE PIST: a band I'm surprised I never listened to! Early-Eighties British punk/hardcore "piss off" attitude played by a bunch of old East Coast dudes. They formed in '92 and only lasted four years, with only one full-length, Ideas Are Bulletproof, to their name. If Kill Your Idols, Poison Idea, Negative Approach and early Bad Religion mean anything to you, this is a band to listen to.

The Druid

I just came back from SLEEP's comeback NYC show at the horrible Brooklyn Masonic (Hipster) Temple. It was about as good as the following video.



90 minutes of SLEEP is a bit overwhelming.

THE WANDERING MIDGET

Guess what? I have some more doom for y'all! And this band is yet another fine doom group from the land of a thousand lakes (AKA Finland). Here we have THE WANDERING MIDGET, and they pretty much play traditional, Candlemass-y doom very, very well. Listen to Samuel Wormius' singing...the music wouldn't be complete without 'em. They only have one album (so far, hopefully) called The Serpent Coven and it's worth a couple of listens, and more. Thanks to Pat from Theater of the Absurd for the tip!

Labor Day

To celebrate this fine American holiday, here are some classic American tunes for your barbeque (or whatever you do today).









And of course...

VOMITORY (USA)

As usual, Sundays are boring. Like, insanely boring. To kill time, I decided to look up Vomitory on Metal-Archives. Of course, I was referring to the well-known Swedish death metal band and I always thought they were the only band with the name. To my surprise, I saw a couple of bands with the name and I decided to click on the American one.

And I'm fucking glad I did!

This hidden gem, VOMITORY from Louisiana, only has two demos under their crusty belts which automatically makes them great. Death metal bands from the late-Eighties/early-Nineties are usually the most vicious at their demo stages and when a band only has demos, it's guaranteed to be good.

This southern death horde plays death metal the way it sounded like back then: doomy, brutal, morbid, etc. You know the drill by now (I hope). Anyway, enjoy these tracks!

CHRISTIAN MISTRESS

Doro? Warlock? Acid? Stos? No! This is fucking CHRISTIAN MISTRESS from Olympia, WA! This band plays heavy metal of the highest order and is a giant middle finger to all the wimpy modern metal bands out there today. I get a strong feeling of the Belgian/French scenes (Mausoleum Records, basically) and it's been a long time since any band has done this. Listen to "Desert Rose" in the 20 Buck Spin player. If your mind isn't blown, I don't want anything to do with you. Get their debut LP, Agony & Opium, NOW! Thanks Shadow Kingdom Records!

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?

PHLEGETHON

It appears that Hooded Menace's highly-talented multi-instrumentalist Lasse Pyykkö is in every kick-ass Finnish death metal bands these days, and PHLEGETHON is no exception. No sirree. In fact, this is one of Lasse's earliest bands (dating back to 1988), which explains why he can't do wrong in the death metal realm.

Basically, what we have here is pure fucking death metal, just the way all of us real death-freaks like it: organic, raw and putrid as fuck. I mean, look at the band name. The band's latest offering, a discography disc entitled Drifting in the Crypt, is the perfect gateway into Lasse's sick history and it even includes the group's latest demo track, "Circle of the Hybrid Statues," which shows the band still going strong with fresh ideas. This is worth checking out!

INFERNAL BLASPHEMIES

A while back, we covered the incredible upcoming Swedish-via-Holland death metal group ENTRAPMENT. There were only a few songs available through the band's MySpace (including a great Nihilist cover) and their only physical appearance was in the recent Invocation of Death Vol. 1 compilation tape from Death Invocation Records...until now.

Belgium's Detest Records (finally) just put out the debut demo tape this morning (EST time) and, of course, everyone needs to order it! It's limited to a mere 350 copies and I reckon it will sell out soon. This is only the beginning for this incredible band!

Also check out Guitar World Magazine's MetalKult blog for a cool feature on Entrapment as part of their Notes From the Underground series!

CAUCHEMAR

How the fuck did I not feature this incredible band here before? Of course, I'm talking about Montreal's upcoming, super-fine doom band CAUCHEMAR. Their EP/mini-LP, La Vierge Noire, is now out on the Bay Area's incredible Nuclear War Now! Productions and it's absolutely mandatory that you order it. I'm not shitting you. Go listen to the two tracks up on their MySpace and worship them. Great, haunting and eerie female vocals courtesy of Annick Giroux (who also provides the bass playing), fantastic riffing and soloing by François Patry and Patrick Pageau holding it down Dave Holland-style. The best part is that everything is in French, from the lyrics to the layout of the album. I dunno about you guys, but I get a kick outta foreign things. It leaves everyone else in mystery and it's pretty rad.

Like Pagan Altar or Seventies-Judas Priest? How about some Black Sabbath or Mercy? It's a no-brainer, really.

MIDNIGHT RIDER

Sorry for the giant gap between updates. There really isn't any excuse I can say for this other than me being super busy with my "real job" and other things.

Anyway, I'd like to introduce to you people Germany's heavy/doom rock/metal band MIDNIGHT RIDER. The core of the band is made up of Wayne, Cliff Bubenheim and fronted by Blumi (also of Metalucifer Germany). That in itself is pretty great since we all know how amazing and credible one must be to be in the ranks of Metalucifer. Rounding out the band as session members are Shinji "Samm" Tachi (of course, of Metalucifer) and Kenji Naruse from Japan.

Sound-wise, we get a really hard rockin', doom-tinged type of heavy metal much like the Seventies Pentagram stuff and all of the bands of that style. I also get a feeling of a little psych-rock in there, as well. Think Hawkwind.

Interested yet? You should be, since you can't really go wrong with bands that play in this ancient style. Unless, of course, you're The Sword.

HELLBRINGER

A little thrash ain't gonna hurt no one...right? Australia's HELLBRINGER deliver thrash metal of the highest order, in which they successfully encompass all styles (Bay Area, East Coast, German, etc.) into one. The band, formerly known as Forgery, go from Destruction (outfitted with Schmier-like shrieks) on "The Rapture" to some East Coast, Demolition Hammer-ish style on "The Hammer" to all-out South American on "The Banished". Old-school Sepultura fans take note. To further add to their credibility, their debut EP was mixed by none other than Harris Johns. This guy has mixed Coroner, Exumer, Kreator...you know, the thrash greats. If those 3 tracks mean anything, we might see a potential re-revitalization of thrash metal - with these guys sitting on top. Yep, L.A.'s pretty much run its course.

Oh, and I love how they don't have a logo yet.

EDIT: Josh of Hellbringer has informed me that the EP is still under the Forgery name. Just a little heads up!

MAUSOLEUM GATE

I'm not exactly sure of what to say about Finland's latest NWOBHM-inspired speed demons MAUSOLEUM GATE. They're just fucking awesome! They kind of remind me a bit of their neighbors in Enforcer - fast, catchy and heavy metal as all fuck. I stumbled upon these guys while browsing Shadow Kingdom Records. I guess I found something to put in my shopping cart. They have a demo out (on CD) so you best get it.

Supreme Brutality, part VII - OBLITERATION

I've been waiting a long time for a death metal band like this one! Norway's OBLITERATION's debut album, Perpetual Decay, blew me the fuck away and one of the very few death metal albums today that I can listen to over and over again. Do you like the first Suffocation album? You're gonna love this band. Their latest release, Nekropsalms, isn't much different though they went full-on with the psychedelic/Autopsy feeling. I must point out that their drummer, Kristian Valbo, is fucking AMAZING!



By the way! They will be playing a free show in New York City at Fontana's with Nekromantheon and Unearthly Trance on June 3rd. Highly suggested...

Garage Days at Lucky 13 Bar

Here's something I don't see very often here in New York City...

My friend Mike from Inhuman has been DJ-ing at Lucky 13 Bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn every Wednesday night as part of the Garage Days event. He spins the best old-school hardcore, death metal, heavy metal, punk, etc. and Johny of Brooklyn-based Candiria will be tending the bar. Next week's installment will feature the go-go dancers that Lucky 13's famous for so I suggest you attend this!

I know all of you have a Facebook. Click here for more information!

Obscure Old School Metal Playlist MySpace

So this dude Arjan has an AWESOME thing going on in the form of the Obscure Old School Metal Playlist on MySpace. It's basically a MySpace page set up with a flash playlist thing with the best (and obscure, duh) old and new-old bands covering all styles. The latest bands on this recent list includes Winterhawk, Gun, old Immolation and Samael, Hellshock... the list is pretty extensive. Check it out! Also refer to the top friends section for some more wicked awesome bands, such as Natur from New York City and Ghost from Sweden!

SWALLOWED

Yet another young death metal band in the vein of Autopsy from northern Europe, this time it's SWALLOWED from Finland. I think you know the drill by now. They have a 7" out so definitely contact them if you're interested!

It always amazes me how every band within this field sound so unique and execute the doom-laden death metal sound so well...

More new stuff!

Following the previous post about the new track that Entrapment posted, Sweden's MIASMAL has a new track up, entitled "Creation of Fire" from their upcoming 7" EP, on their MySpace page! What can I say? D-Beats, punishing riffs, morbid production, punk-ish attitude... all of this makes killer death metal and Miasmal knows how to include them. Look for their 2-song 7" EP on Detest Records this month.