For those that know me solely from writing Wrestling With Extra Sleaze, this may be a change of pace. As much as I like wrestling and shitty things, I also like Heavy Metal music. However, I’ve totally dropped off of the metal radar, not knowing anything that’s been coming out over the course of 2011, save for a few notable releases here and there. So, in an effort to not only get back into the current metal scene, but to provide FAN a bit of a public service in shedding light on some music that you FAN-enites may not give a chance on immediately, I present to you the first installment of This Month In Metal.
Ryno’s Random News
I’ve been struggling to find anything that happened this past July that was newsworthy and notable. Oddly enough, some very big news just came to me while writing this. One day, I was at work thinking to myself “You know, Mastodon is about due for a new album soon.” That very same day, I log onto Rate Your Music to put some new CDs into my collection and discover that Mastodon has a new album coming out on September 27 called “The Hunter”. I was thinking 2011 was going to be a weak year in Metal but it just got substantially better (along with another release I didn’t know about right away, which I’ll mention later). Check out their newest single “Black Tongue” with some behind-the-scenes video for the making of their badass album cover, which is actually a badass sculpture.
Metal Album Release Dates For August
Source: About.com
August 2, 2011
Battlecross – Pursuit Of Honor (Metal Blade)
Beherit – At The Devil’s Studio 1990 (Hells Headbangers)
Bitch – Be My Slave/Damnation Alley Re-Release (Metal Blade)
Brainoil – Death Of This Dry Season (20 Buck Spin)
Bury Your Dead – Mosh N’ Roll (Mediaskare)
Chained and Desperate – Divine Authority Abolishment (Pitch Black)
Cianide – Gods Of Death (Hells Headbangers)
Denial Fiend – Horror Holocaust (Ibex Moon)
Dir en Grey – Dum Spiro Spero (The End)
Excruciator – The Devouring (Heavy Artillery)
Flourishing – The Sum Of All Fossils (The Path Less Traveled)
Hexentanz – Nekrokrafte (Agonia)
Last Winter – The Heart & The Broken Compass (Lifeforce)
Malefice – Awaken The Tides (Metal Blade)
Powerwolf – Blood Of The Saints (Metal Blade)
August 9, 2011
Arsis – A Celebration Of Guilt Re-Release (Willowtip)
Fleshgod Apocalypse – Agony (Nuclear Blast)
Goreaphobia – Apocalyptic Necromancy (Dark Descent)
NewBreed – NewBreed (Metal Mind)
Skalmold – Baldur (Napalm)
Svartsot – Maledictus Eris (Napalm)
Trivium – In Waves (Roadrunner)
Vale Of Pnath – The Prodigal Empire (Willowtip)
August 16, 2011
Aliases – Safer Than Reality (Basick)
All Pigs Must Die – God Is War (Southern Lord)
Assassin – Chronicles Of Resistance (SPV)
Attila – Outlawed (Artery)
Chimaira – The Age Of Hell (eOne)
The Cleansing – Feeding The Inevitable (Deepsend)
Moab – Ab Ovo (Kemado)
Psychostick – Space Vampires vs. Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D (Rock Ridge)
Revocation – Chaos Of Forms (Relapse)
Today Is The Day – Pain Is A Warning (Black Market Activities)
Totimoshi – Avenger (At A Loss)
Voices Of Extreme – Break The Silence (Metalville)
White Arms Of Athena – Astrodrama (Prosthetic)
YOB – Atma (Profound Lore)
August 23, 2011
Black Tide – Post Mortem (DGC)
Ghost Brigade – Until Fear No Longer Defines Us (Season Of Mist)
ICS Vortex – Storm Seeker (Century Media)
Leprous – Bilateral (InsideOut)
Minushuman – Bloodthrone (Season Of Mist)
August 30, 2011
Century – Red Giant (Prosthetic)
Eat The Gun – Runner (Metalville)
Hackneyed – Carnival Cadavre (Lifeforce)
Nocturnal Fear – Excessive Cruelty (Moribund)
Shadowside – Inner Monster Out (SHP)
Ryno’s Pick of the Month: Dir en grey – Dum Spiro Spero
Even if I wasn’t such a Dir en grey fan, there really isn’t that much competition to me. I’m sure there are fans of the likes of Today Is The Day or YOB who probably think I’m a dumbass but oh well. I am interested a little bit to hear Trivium’s new one as I felt they were getting back to their potential with 2008’s Shogun. It seemed to me that Trivium wanted to be like Metallica so badly that they tried following their career path in less than half as many albums. They started off strong with Ascendancy (ie Metallica’s first four albums) then their quality went down a bit with The Crusade, which I consider Trivium’s “St. Anger”, then showed they could kick some ass again with Shogun. Also, I’d like to hear what ICS Vortex has to offer since leaving Dimmu Borgir, as I sorely missed his presence on last year’s Abrahadabra. I understand Dimmu was going in a different direction with their sound and all but it just didn’t feel right to me.
But other than that, I don’t really see anything else standing out other than Dum Spiro Spero. And honestly, I didn’t even realize that Dir en grey had a new album coming out until about a month or so ago, where I stumbled onto The End Records’ website and saw it was available for pre-order. Of course, I jumped at that opportunity. I realize that they’ve been releasing singles for a while since their last, and arguably best, album Uroboros from 2008. But even though main single (*deep breath*) “Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami” was released in December 2009 and have had other singles since then, I never really heard any news of a new album, just new songs. If “Hageshisa to…” is any indication, it sounds like it may be heavier than previous albums but considering how musically diverse and eccentric Dir en grey can be, that’s probably not indicitive of the rest of the album. Personally, I prefer songs from the albums Withering To Death and Vulgar to be my favorites but I do believe that overall, Uroboros was their best album as a whole so it’ll be interesting to see if Dum Spiro Spero can top it.
And for a bonus video, Dir en grey used to look and sound like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbLLrt2d_BI&feature=related
Ryno’s Recommendation: Ghost – Opus Eponymous
For my monthly recommendation, it’s only fair that I suggest practically the only album I’ve been listening to for the past few months. I’m not lying when I say that either. Other than a few other discs here and there, I’ve pretty much been listening but nothing to Ghost’s debut album Opus Eponymous since I bought it. I haven’t listened to an album this addicting in a long time and that worries me a little, considering that I feel like I’m damning my soul to Hell with every single listen. You see, Opus Eponymous’ lyrical content is so Satanic that the entire album could be a hymnal for the Church of Satan. And I’m not even talking the “Anti-Christianity” type of Satanism that is so prevalent in metal today. In fact, I don’t think that Jesus or God are mentioned even once. The lyrics mostly center about how Satan is such a swell guy that women should carry his seed and give birth to the Antichrist and damn the world for all eternity. And I’m sure that by labeling this band as “Satanic” would conjure up comparisons to such bands like Deicide or Gorgoroth but Ghost’s sound couldn’t be any more further.
In fact, Ghost comes straight out of Sweden with a retro ’70s prog-rock sound with simple riffs and organs that, if it weren’t for the lyrical content, their songs sound almost happy and peppy in comparison to most stereotypical metal bands. The lead singer (who like the rest of the band refuses to be credited, leading many to believe that Ghost consists of members from other bands) has been getting comparisons to King Diamond, which I don’t think is quite accurate since he can’t quite hit the high notes but his voice is still melodious and catchy. In fact, this whole albums is just plain catchy that you’ll be hooked within the first listen. Just goes to show you that you don’t need blast beats and Cookie Monster vocals to be evil.
If you’re interested in what Ghost has to offer, here is their recent appearance at a music festival in the Netherlands on July 2nd. And reportedly, they’re set to embark on a small US tour with Enslaved starting in September. Dates and venues haven’t been announced yet but if they’re coming near my area, I’d love to check them out for myself.
Of course, I can’t exactly recommend Ghost to just anyone, considering their Satanic lyrical imagery and stage getups so someone out there is sure to become offended. But any metal heads out there looking for something completely new, yet harkens back to the beginnings of heavy metal should pick up this album immediately. Technically Opus Eponymous was released last year but was picked up by Metal Blade for wider distribution at the beginning of the year, so while it’s already showed up on a lot of Best of 2010 lists, to me this is definitely a frontrunner for my personal Best of 2011 list.