“O Zorn! plays a fairly straightforward style with elements of stoner and post-metal. Texturally the band has some similarities with a simplified Mastodon, not in the least due to the somewhat nasal drawl of the vocals. The big differences are the structure and pacing. Shying away from progressive leanings, the music is staunch in its adherence to verse-chorus constructions.” Stone the crow (and rabbit).
“After the slamaissance of 2023 which brought us genre-blended success from Afterbirth and Wormhole, the prospect of slam bringing the same kind of heat in 2024 felt hopeful, but as an enjoyer of the hammer-dropping arts, I remain ever so. You see, sometimes a name and cover say it all, and in a genre like slam, those kinds of gaudy statements may be the most worthwhile attributes of the sonic whole. So when I saw festering in our full and plump sump the name Mutilation Barbecue and the fanciful display of human consumption that adorns their debut full-length Amalgamations of Gore, I slapped my name on it with equal parts wonder and fear.” Eat the poors.
“It must have been 2005 or 2006 that I first came into contact with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, one of the most beautifully bewildering bands to ever grace the globe. Constructed around a narrative of a fictional dadaist and futurist performance troupe, the one-of-a-kind group from Oakland gained a loyal cult following over the span of three records.” Monkey business.
“As I gazed upon the purple-toned maze—which, does not appear to be a very well-designed maze in its hissing sculpture—and heard the early, shimmering notes of what Civerous brought to the table for this sophomore release, Maze Envy, my mind raced. This Los Angeles-based act’s 2021 full-length debut, Decrepit Flesh Felic, filled a snarling, buzzing diSEMBOWELMENT-shaped niche of pounding, shifting death metal that supplies ample kicks to the seat. Though Civerous never turned quite as doom-laden and tortured as that Australian novelty, they pushed into the bounds of long-form tumble in their cavernous lane with a proud stomp.” Maze stunners.
“2021 saw Stress Angel belch forth out of Brooklyn with a hideous sound marrying Autopsy-core with punky d-beatery and crust-encrusted doom. Bursting Church was a slippery, slimy, nasty piece of work and the duo behind it was effective at throttling throats and sacrificing goats. 2024 comes around and the gruesome twosome returns with sophomore outing Punished by Nemesis, and with it a more expansive palette and grander vision.” Punishment is overdue.
“After the immensely affecting self-titled debut released at the end of 2018, Acathexis rapidly became one of my more closely watched new acts. A dream team of Mare Cognitum’s Jacob Buczarski (drums), Déhà (guitars, bass), and Los Males del Mundo’s Dany Tee (vocals, lyrics) comprises the talent, and melancholic black metal rife with weeping melodies and misty atmosphere makes up the content.” Super groups, man…
“As I get older and hopefully wiser, I find myself wanting life to become simpler and less cluttered. When it comes to my death metal, I want more caveman idiocy with a greater emphasis on scuzz, murk, and swamp. Based on these sage guiding principles, Apparition’s sophomore opus Disgraced Emanations from a Tranquil State seemed a safe flyer for me to grab out of the promo sewer. Hailing from the City of Angels, their sound is anything but heavenly, ripe as it is with the ghastly cavern creeping of Incantation and early Tomb Mold.” Swamp n’ pomp.
“There’s that strain of black metal, straddling if not disregarding boundaries between atmospheric, post, melodic, dissonant, and second-wave, where the music, true to its occupying the less-mainstream corners of the genre, sits like a shadowy presence in peripheral vision—preoccupying itself not with Lovecraftian horrors, or overt, antagonistic portrayals of Satanism, but with terrors less far-fetched and obscure. An occultism of an introspective, existential bent, premised on the human mind. Sacrificial Vein, comprised of fragmented members of Nothingness, Aegaeon, and a mysterious JU, follow this dark trajectory.” Tapping some veins.
“International supergroup Vltimas crashed upon the Earth early in 2015, dropping their well-received debut roughly four years later. Comprised of Morbid Angel’s very own David Vincent at the mic, Cryptopsy’s Flo Mounier manning the kit, and Aura Noir’s Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen slinging axe, the project deals in grooving, swaggering blackened death metal singing Satan’s praises and glorifying the destruction of all the world. You know, the usual.” Super epic?
“Grey Skies Fallen have managed to fly under the radar here at AMG, despite releasing music for nearly a quarter century. While previous albums saw the band leaning into the more aggressive side of death-doom, the return of founding guitarist Joe D’Angelo has yielded a record steeped in the weepy sadboi doom of My Dying Bride and November’s Doom.” Three shades of Grey.
