Extreme and Progressive Metal music legend Ihsahn will release the first of two five-track EPs inspired by and dedicated to his home county of Telemark on February 14, 2020 via Candlelight Records. Watch the video for the first single ‘Stridig’ now.Continue reading
Ghost Cult caught up with the great Ben Ward of the venerable Doom Metal overlords Orange Goblin! On the eve of their first US tour in five years, Ben was gushing about coming back to the states, his excitement to play at Muddy Roots Festival, his personal festival highlights of his career like Download Festival at Castle Donnington, the Mercyful Fate reunion, choosing sick opening bands such as The Skull, Mothership and WoFat, incorporating left-turns musically, and his love of beer and pizza! Orange Goblin’s current album The Wolf Bites Back is available now from Candlelight Records.
Orange Goblin – US Live Dates
Tuesday, August 27th – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre # https://livemu.sc/2G0Fzzl
Thursday, August 29th – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall #* http://bit.ly/2K4fEKU
Friday, August 30th – Cookeville TN @ Muddy Roots Music Festival http://bit.ly/2FQOZfc
Saturday, August 31st – Dallas TX @ Gas Monkey #^ http://bit.ly/2Vo5B4I
Sunday, September 1st – Austin TX @ Come and Take It Live #^^ http://bit.ly/2Iabq1P
Monday, September 2nd – Los Angeles CA @ Regent Theater ## http://bit.ly/2YPQ14a
# – wsg The Skull
^ – wsg Mothership
* – wsg Weedeater
^^ wsg Mothership & Wo Fat
## – wsg Black Cobra
Legendary Japanese avant-garde band Sigh has announced details of their new album Heir To Despair set for release on 16th November via Candlelight Records. Better still they have also shared new track ‘Homo Homini Lupus’ which features the one and only Phil Anselmo! Jam the track out right now!Continue reading
In what is sure to be one of the highlight tours this fall, Corrosion Of Conformity has locked down UK tour dates with fellow stoner-doom mashers Orange Goblin for a co-headline tour. Direct support will come from Fireball Ministry and Black Moth. All dates go on sale on June 15th . Orange Goblin’s new album The Wolf Bites Back drops next week via Candlelight Records, while COC continues to tour in support of 2017’s No Cross, No Crown (Nuclear Blast). COC plays Download festival tomorrow,.Continue reading
“Come live with me and be my love” are not the kind of opening lyrics you expect from a veteran Black Metal band. But in new album, The Hallowing of Heirdom (Candlelight) the UK’s premier Black Metal act Winterfylleth have gone full acoustic. No blast beats, not screaming howls, no buzzsaw riffs. Just beautiful acoustic warmth.Continue reading
Ihsahn‘s seventh solo album, Ámr, is now confirmed to be released on May 4th via Candlelight/Spinefarm, and it’s going to be the legendary Norwegian’s most eclectic and challenging to date. Continue reading
2017 is shaping up to be quite a year for heavy music as Shores of Null are back with their sophomore release, Black Drapes For Tomorrow (Candlelight). Track by track, I found a similar theme across the entire record. While I can headbang through each song, there is also this overwhelming sadness that comes out from the riffs and the vocals. This is truly an emotionally polarizing experience which deserves everyone’s time of day.Continue reading
Vision of Disorder unleashed their incredible new record, Razed To The Ground, last year to the masses, and they have some good news for you vinyl fans today. Continue reading
US Black Metal leaders Abigail Williams have booked a headline tour of the east coast. Wolvhammer and Amiensus will act as direct support on all dates. Abigail Williams are working on a new album, due for release in 2017. Further info will be announced as it is available in the months ahead. Continue reading
So, to recap: evil Chicago entity Lord Mantis spawns from three-quarters of Blackened Sludge quartet Indian. In 2014 the band split spectacularly with troubled yet horrifically effective vocalist Charlie Fell: upon which the parent band folds and becomes the new incarnation of the progeny, Indian vocalist Dylan O’Toole assuming the role of the heinous rasp. Moreover, since the recording of new EP Nice Teeth Whore (New Density), guitarist Scott Shellhamer and bassist Will Lindsay have also departed, with Alletta Ergun moving in.
Got all that? The debris from the Fell departure has finally settled and it’s now time to see if the Mantis can silence those who doubt the credibility of the band without him. Initially Nice Teeth Whore seems something of a return to the excellent days of sophomore album Pervertor (Candlelight Records): the slurring, quickened Black boom of ‘SIG Safer’ swelling to a final crescendo and highlighting O’Toole’s hostile bark, spearing the mind yet missing that sense of ‘serial killer’ depravity Fell exudes so effortlessly.
The title track runs at a more familiar and ominous, Doom-laden pace: the sheer violent malevolence of O’Toole’s delivery complementing Bill Bumgardner’s colossal drums; the switch between rumbling riffs, shimmering Blackened passages and some wonderfully emotive yet spiked leadwork utterly compelling. It’s this reined-in brutality, desperately attempting to break free yet unable to escape from the choke-hold, that is the essence of both bands and leaves the listener fraught, nerve-shredded and exhausted in a blissful fashion
Bumgardner’s drums are again to the fore in ‘Semblances’, pummeling their way through a savage, sawing chorus from which screams resonate and slice the skin. It’s the languid, funereal hostility of ‘Final Division’, however, where the heady days of this terrifying outfit truly return: vocals so oppressive as to clog up the throat; a hateful, slow-burning intensity crawling lazily through the gut, leaving hungry leeches in its wake.
The warm, beefy production and undercurrents of howling leads may steal a little menace, but make no mistake: Lord Mantis are back to their punishing best. Let’s now hope that some stability can allow this febrile ferocity to fester…
8.0/10
PAUL QUINN
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