Portland progressive sludge masters Lord Dying will release their long-awaited new full-length, Clandestine Transcendence, on January 19th, 2024 via MNRK Heavy, today unveiling the record’s first single, cover art, and preorders. Watch Lord Dying’s “I Am Nothing, I Am Everything” now!
Ask anyone to name their all time favourite Irish metal bands and Primordial will likely sit near the top, if not at the very summit of the list. Formed three decades ago but with roots that date back further to when they were known as Forsaken, the Dublin based act have only ever made the barest minimum of changes to their line-up over the years, their most recent move seeing them return to operating with four members after nearly twenty years as a five-piece.
Allow me to go out on a limb here: the bathroom floor of a frat house on a Saturday night/Sunday morning has less bacteria and filth than Thorn’s newest record. But don’t be fooled into thinking Evergloom (Transcending Obscurity Records) is solely reliant on gag-inducing landscapes. The collective is armed with an innate ability to devise structured songs that possess personality and conjure truly frightening thoughts.
Gothenburg might be famous for its renowned death metal scene, but few might have heard of doom metal bands hailing from the said town of At the Gates and In Flames. Say no more, because the doom outfit Monolord return with their new EP It’s All the Same (Relapse Records), shining a light once more on the Gothenburg doom scene!
And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Blank canvas. Blank page. No words. Then came … Poetry. Psalms. Hymns. The power and the glory. OMG – Oh My Godthrymm! This is the one, my good brothers – one for the ages, one for the rampages, the spillages, the courageous.
Melancholy, death, doom, gloom, sorrow, these are words that come to mind the instant I hear about a band that is categorized as death/doom metal. No mom, metal is not all about anger and expressing it in violent manners! Northern Ireland’s own, The Crawling, have released their third full-length album, All Of This For Nothing (Grindscene Records), and it is a depressing but heavy voyage. Seven tracks averaging around six minutes in length each is a surefire way to make each track just hit harder and stay with you long after the album is over.
Check out our preview of the new metal and rock releases coming out this week for New Music Friday 7-28-23!
Distortion and volume alone do not equate to heavy. Heaviness is the feeling these sounds invoke. Sonic alchemy can be oppressive, horrifying, depressing, creepy or somehow unsettling; Gateway finds themselves touching on all of these feelings on their new album Galgeendood (Transcending Obscurity Records). Belgium is not at the top of my list when it comes to places I might expect this kind of subterranean death doom to emerge from, but here we are. This album is the follow-up to Robert Van Oyen’s 2015 debut, under the Gateway moniker.Continue reading
Anyone can make a concept album (which is not to say that it’s easy, but that it doesn’t depend on a particular musical style). That said, when it comes to the rock-opera-style concept album, the tendencies towards elaborate instrumental explorations and grand, dramatic spectacle often found in progressive rock and metal, provide particularly fertile ground. Pink Floyd, Queensryche, The Who, and many others have followed this path (coloured by their own particular musical approaches).
Ghost Cult caught up with Bruce Lamont of the long-running Chicago-based avant-guard Doom Metal band Yakuza! Their new album “Sutra” was recently released via Svart Records, and we chatted with Bruce all about the album, the current lineup’s contributions as a team, Bruce’s evolving approach to saxophone and vocals, his lucrative other gig in the Led Zeppelin tribute band Led Zeppelin 2, vinyl releases, and much more! Continue reading