DEATHRATTLE PODCAST ~ Dirty Dozen (September 2022)

September was quite possibly the strongest month of the year so far for death metal releases which is reflected in the saturation of that particular genre in this months 'Dirty Dozen' with brutality being the requisite option. Even doom had to be heavily influenced by death metal to make my 'best of' and death/doom remains my most favoured of underground genres. It was also a strong month for thrash releases but, although there were plenty of contenders, only one made this list. One of the most notable patterns that has emerged over the course of the year is the lack of new stoner albums making the list. I still love it but I've found that they have to border on doom, or be suffocated in fuzz to fully grab my attention. That being said, there were still plenty of stoner albums released in September that are on repeat play.

Wayward Dawn ~ All​-​Consuming Void

With elements of punk, doom metal and grindcore, the band takes the soundscape to its extremes with the fast parts being faster and the slow parts sinking even further down the abyss of mankind.

Destroy My Brains ~ Tormented

Destroy My Brains, are a hard hitting aggressive Doom/Sludge Metal band from the frozen prairies of the North. Their harsh songs of pain, misery, drugs, and suicide fully corrupt the mind and ears of the unsuspecting listener.

Mortuous ~ Upon Desolation

Features eight tracks of sheer twisting brutality

Spectrum Mortis ~ Bit Meseri- The Incantation

SPECTRUM MORTIS transcends the listener with its inspired ceremonial occult death metal

Revocation ~ Netherheaven

Boston death metal

Bloodbath ~ Survival Of The Thickest

Sweden’s undisputed masters of old school death metal. Formed by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström (both of Katatonia), Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity)

Reincarnated ~ Of Boötes Void Death Spell

Indeed, that sick music for sick people quickly reaches its apotheosis with Of Boötes Void Death Spell, Reincarnated's full-length debut. To enter into this five-song/31-minute furnace is to step into a soundworld of utter sliminess, humid frequencies unhealthily spawning malodorous tendrils of tension and terror. Or, one could simply stand back and be summarily CRUSHED by the ceaselessly rolling tank-tread of DOOM that Reincarnated so effortlessly dole out.

Hellfuck ~ Diabolic Slaughter

OldSkull Thrash Speed BloodMetal band

Members of Embrional/Azarath/Stillborn/FAM/Squash Bowels

Slaughterday ~ Tyrants Of Doom

Rotteness meets melancholy meets brutality and melody.

Heads For The Dead ~ The Great Conjuration

Horror-fixated death metal supergroup Heads For The Dead are back with their third full length to transport you once again to the realm of classic horror movies and they do it most convincingly this time around, with a sound that has been suffused with all the necessary elements, including spine-chilling atmospheric parts and truly terrifying vocals

Otus ~ Torch

The "Torch" is an allegory on illumination through a work on our darkest and deepest self, where its fire will constitute the alchemical catalyst capable of deconstructing, purifying and then coagulating our new synthesis.

Omophagia ~ Rebirth In Black

Swiss-Brazilian Death Metal

Gaul ~ Taken by the Twilight Tide (2022)

 The first track is called 'Corrupted' which pretty much sums up this noxious slab of  blackened doom/sludge. Any joyous emotion has been trampled on by dissonant sludge, traumatized by disheartening post black metal and buried under a virulent atmosphere of  toxicity.

This is ground zero of extreme metal!

SLAUGHTER THE GIANT ~ Depravity (2022)

The album is called Depravity and contains various levels of it throughout, from pummelling technical influenced brutality to passages of operatic grandiose clouded by raging black metal sin. I haven't heard a band managing to marry both negative and positive emotion within the same album as successfully as Slaughter The Giant for a long time, maybe The Black Dahlia Murder influences helped. The tracks aren't overly long but because of their complexity they seem a lot longer, however, the really clever thing is how the band manages to keep the album flowing seamlessly despite the chaotic extremity.

For fans of: The Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Obscura

OVERSHOOT - Arbitrary Diagnosis (2018)

 Arbitary Diagnosis  is the only release so far from Indonesian band Overshoot. There is the occasional nod to the likes of Stormtroopers of Death with the staccato vocals of  Wahyu Andryan sounding similar to Billy Milano in parts. However, Arbitary Diagnosis is a more aggressive affair, the crunch of thrashing riffs causes inner ear trauma and don't lose their potency when hurling at hyperspeed and the faint 'crossover' influence steps tentatively into the path of death metal rather than hardcore or punk.

EARTH OF DISTRUST ~ Victimology (2013)

 

Bandcamp reveals yet another gem from its bosom, this time its Earth Of Distrust from Greece. The overriding influence on Victimology  is the rich vein of thick globs of humid, sludgy doom which allows all the other gnarly elements of crust, hardcore and punk to orbit the planet sized riffs without the album disintergrating into unruly chaos.

TRANSCENDENT BARRIER ~ Divided (2022)

Thoroughly miserable sludge doom that crackles with dissonant funereal pain. No songs slither above snails pace and all leave trails of tortured, mucous riffs bereft of light. When you think the band can't get any heavier, a key is turned, the bottom drops from the floor and you're sucked into an emotionless vacuum of bereavement. 

BLOODSOAKED MACHETE ~ Blood Soaked Machete (2022)

Carniverous death/thrash with Slayeresque solos shrieking in agony. The songs are mainly mid paced but accelerate with maniacal ferocity before frequently impaling the listener on colossal groove barbed hooks.

MORBID STENCH ~ The Rotting Ways Of Doom (2022)

 

Six glutinous tracks of leprous doom death, congealed into a carciogenic mass of  zombiefied riffage. The monstrously viscous production gives the feeling of (very) slowly sinking into a deep pit of steaming offal. The Rotting Ways Of Doom is gloriously loathsome from start to finish, shambling from track to repugnant track, heavily laden with corpulent doom and virulent death.

Music from the Charnel Pit

SEA OF SNAKES ~ The Serpent & The Lamb (2022)

The Serpent & The Lamb the new album from Sea Of Snakes is one of the snappiest albums I've heard so far this year. The album is lathered in groovy, fuzzy stoner riffs, lubed with AiC like sleaze and swollen with Sabbath influenced doom often blemished with a darker, funerealistic taint.

BRETHREN HOGG ~ Relative Swine (2022)

There's nothing soft and mushy about Brethren Hoggs's brand of stoner. Fuzz has been stripped away leaving rusty bare metal that rocks hard. Each face Brethren Hogg shows us is uncompromising, stoner riffs have a grungy groove, forays into doom are lean and heavy with slow paced thrash like riffs laced with a faint whiff of Mastodonish prog.